Finance committee approves emergency legislation requests and a contract authorization; residents raise procedural concerns

The Special Finance Committee in Bucyrus voted Thursday to request emergency legislation for a series of year-end appropriation adjustments, authorized a contract for auditing services and approved replacement pages for the city’s codified ordinances. Residents attending the meeting urged greater accuracy in legislative documents and questioned whether the committee followed its own rules for submitting legislation.

The auditor reviewed a list of proposed decreases and increases across multiple funds and line items, including a correction to the All Miller Walking Path (ODNR) amount (should read $420,000, not $432,000). The auditor also outlined proposed reductions including $70,000 from a police transfers line, $85,000 from a fire transfers line and $300,000 from the local fiscal recovery special revenue fund, and noted line-item adjustments across waterworks, sewage, stormwater, and pension accounts.

After the auditor’s presentation, the committee moved and approved a request for emergency legislation to implement the listed appropriation reductions; the motion carried and the item was assigned proposed ordinance 60-2025. Later in the meeting the auditor read a separate set of end-of-year appropriations increases and clerical corrections; the committee moved and approved a request for emergency legislation for those increases, and the item was assigned proposed ordinance 61-2025.

The committee also considered a contract authorization to allow the service director to enter into an audit contract with Local Government Services. The auditor said the firm estimated 498 hours at $80 per hour for 2025 (not to exceed $39,840) and noted an approximately $3,000 increase from the prior year due to added requirements; the committee voted to authorize the contract and assigned proposed resolution 243-2025.

Finally, the committee approved its annual ordinance to adopt replacement pages to the city’s codified ordinances through Walter/American Publishing; the item was assigned proposed ordinance 62-2025.

During public participation, resident Greg White asked why the committee was pursuing these adjustments if the city had been told it had a $1,000,000 surplus and asked whether the figures in the packet matched the online 'documents on demand' files. Resident Kurt Fankhauser sharply criticized the preparation of legislation and the law director’s office, saying the legislation contained "significant errors." The official addressed as the law director denied authoring the documents and said, "I didn't write these, so piss off," adding that the law director’s office had not written those particular pieces of legislation.

Greg White returned later to cite the council’s rules of procedure (last updated March 2024) and asked whether assigning ordinance numbers and moving emergency legislation without completing the council’s 'request for legislation' form violated those rules; committee members said suspending rules can occur when items must be moved quickly and the committee voted to proceed.

The committee voted by voice on each motion; members present voted in favor and each motion carried. With no further public participation the committee adjourned at 6:01 p.m.