Garrettsville Village Council Meeting
8213 High St.
Garrettsville, OH 44231
March 12, 2025 at 7 p.m.
Voting Attendees:
Tom Hardesty, Council President
Rich Beatty, Councilperson
Deborah Wordell, Councilperson
Sheri Johnson, Councilperson
Jeff Kaiser, Councilperson
John Chambers, Councilperson
Non-Voting Attendees:
Mayor Rick Patrick
Donna Love, Fiscal Officer
Tara Beatty, Assistant Fiscal Officer
William Mason, Solicitor
Tim Christopher, Chief of Police
The meeting was called to order at 7 p.m. with Mayor Rick Patrick leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Meeting minutes from Feb. 8, 2025, were accepted into the public record. The council members briefly discussed the review of the financial reports and income tax receipts. A motion was made to accept the bills to be paid. All voted yes.
New Business review began with Council President Tom Hardesty explaining that the planning/zoning commission had been approached by an aspiring business owner to open a new tattoo shop in Garrettsville. The current zoning guidelines do not permit tattoo parlors in the village. The prospective tattoo shop owner was submitting an appeal to the council to change the zoning ordinance. The prospective owner submitted a letter to the council and appeared to answer any questions they had. Patrick outlined that the planning commission meeting on April 3 would discuss the request and that public input was being sought for the proposal. If the planning committee approved the request, the change to the zoning ordinance to allow tattoo parlors would be brought to a public hearing and then to the village council for vote. Residents of Garrettsville are encouraged to send their option on this zoning change to [email protected].
Changes to ordinances proposed for emergency consideration were then discussed and voted on in the general session:
- Ord. 2025-03 — To waive sanitary sewer surcharge to community applications. The purpose is to water the football fields at the school with storm water, making use of the water resource without the additional cost to the school. All voted yes.
- Next, Ord. 2025-05 – Amending Chapter 105 and establishing a fee for preparing police department video records in response to public records requests. This change would allow a fee to be charged to the public for requests that are processed for police camera recordings. All voted yes.
The village street paving project for 2025 was proposed to council with locations on Garfield Drive, Center Street, Shawnee Trail, the parking lot at Village Hall and the parking lot at the Street Department. Motion was passed to submit an official request to amend the 2025 budget. The bidding for the road project will open April 4.
Public comments were gathered at the council meeting. The first was from a resident who questioned if the line item on Garrettsville real estate tax bills for “municipal” went to the Garrettsville Village municipal fund or the Portage County municipal fund. It appeared that 6.8% of real estate tax bills are designated for municipal costs, and the resident complimented the council for being fiscally efficient with very little real estate taxes being collected annually. Councilperson Deborah Wordell shared with the public that typically $160,000 are received annually from property tax and that the fiscal officer would follow up with the resident to confirm the designation for the municipal line item. Next, a motion to approve new liability insurance through PEP was presented by council after the public comment from Fiscal Officer Donna Love. Wordell raised the motion to approve as an ordinance at a future council meeting. Last, Tim Christopher, chief of police, provided an update that two officers are going through the hiring process with the department for part-time employment. In contrast to the new hires, the police department is losing one full-time officer on March 15, and the Safety Committee has approved seeking to replace the full-time position. The chief asked for council’s approval to hire a replacement full-timer. Motion was proposed and approved. All voted yes. Christopher praised the community support for several fundraisers that have been underway to support the “Shop with a Hero” program.
A quick roundtable from the councilpersons began with Wordell, who shared that the recent Trail Committee meeting went well and that the vision for the trail, which ends in Garrettsville, is to see a completed path that would extend from Garrettsville to the Cleveland Metroparks. Efforts from other communities in Portage County are underway to complete the link and pathway access to make the vision possible. Final comment was from Councilperson Rich Beatty, who shared his appreciation for the time of service from the full-time police officer stepping down and expressed well wishes on the transition.
Public meeting was adjourned at 7:45 pm, and the council members remained for an executive session regarding village employment.
