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Canton City Council adopts multiple ordinances including police pay change, water projects and tax incentives
Summary
At a regular meeting, Canton City Council approved several ordinances and a loan application, including changes to probationary police officer pay to enable lateral hires, a new zoning ordinance, a community reinvestment tax‑incentive deal, water‑system work and a $7,500 K9 grant.
Canton City Council voted to adopt a series of ordinances and a water‑loan resolution during its meeting. The council approved a change to probationary police‑officer pay to allow the safety director to set salaries for lateral hires, adopted the City of Canton zoning ordinance, and approved several infrastructure and economic‑development measures.
The council reconvened after a judiciary committee recess to adopt ordinance 10, which permits the safety director to set probationary police officers’ initial salaries commensurate with experience and to accommodate lateral transfers. The police chief described an “extensive” vetting process for lateral candidates that includes background checks, personnel interviews and review of disciplinary records and use‑of‑force history.
On third reading, the council adopted ordinance 13 to reauthorize the City of Canton zoning ordinance. The council also adopted ordinance 14, authorizing a community reinvestment area agreement and job‑creation tax incentives for Good Feather LLC, Both Brewing Real Estate LLC and Hillshire Clark Electric Company; the measure authorizes incentives “up to 60% of income taxes for a period not to exceed 10 years” and passed 11 ayes to 1 nay after council questions about the job count and the composition of proposed positions.
Other measures the council adopted included ordinance 15 (administrative acceptance actions), ordinance 16 (acceptance of $7,500 in grant funds from AKC Reunite to purchase one police K9) and ordinance 17 (authorization to advertise, receive bids and contract for the Cromer Reservoir Improvement Project and to create a project fund). The council also adopted resolution 18 authorizing application for a water‑supply revolving‑loan account to support drinking‑water facility planning, design or construction.
Votes were recorded orally at the meeting; the clerk recorded multiple roll‑call results as 12 yeas for many items, and ordinance 14 passed 11 ayes, 1 nay. The council set its next regular meeting for 04/14/2025 and scheduled committee meetings that evening.
The meeting included considerable public comment focusing on housing, policing and child‑welfare concerns; council members also asked for agenda rules and department reports to be provided in PDF format for public access.
