Lima council on Monday evening tabled an ordinance for Natural Gas Aggregation in the city.
Precious Grundy | The Lima News
LIMA — Lima council on Monday evening tabled an ordinance for Natural Gas Aggregation in the city. The ordinance was placed on second reading at the previous meeting due to not having enough councilors to approve the ordinance. The ordinance was sent to the utilities committee.
“This had been initially put on after seeing the success of the voters accepting the electrical aggregation,” Council President John Nixon said. “I did ask the mayor to check into the natural gas — the county had just passed this (gas aggregation) at the last November election.”
In May 2023, the city of Lima voted to approve the Electric Aggregation. Community members who are eligible were automatically enrolled in the program. Those who did not wish to join the program could opt out. Nixon also said the deadline for the issue to be placed on the November ballot passed.
“We found out that the deadline to get it on this November election was August 7,” Nixon said. “We attempted but we simply can’t do it for the November election — there’s also some other information regarding natural gas aggregation, which is a little bit different than electrical aggregation. It may be a little more complicated and it may not bring about the similar savings that electrical aggregation did. It does warrant a little more investigation.”
Council also approved an ordinance for Mayor Sharetta Smith to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lima Community Foundation “and others” to aid in operation costs of the Lima Aquatic Center. According to the communications letter, the legislation allows the city to accept and spend funding of up to $250,000 per year for the Lima Aquatics Center operation costs. The letter also states the funding will be given for fiscal years 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028.
The Lima Fire and Police Department received an award from the American Rescue Plan Act First Responder Wellness, Recruitment, Retention, & Resiliency Grant program after the approval of council members. According to the communications letter, 133 first responders received an award of $532,000, a one-time retention incentive.
Council also approved the appointment of Janis Saunderhaus to the Allen County Board of Public Health.
Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.
