“It’s a tremendous honor to serve as vice mayor in my hometown,” Moon said.
Joe Mulligan said he was “excited to be back on council.”
“It really is a different city from when I moved back in 2006 and when first elected in 2011, he said…. I feel such a different excitement and a renewed optimism in Middletown,” he said. “I’m looking forward to building on that momentum and making a better city and I’m looking forward to working with staff and the rest of council this year and the next four years to come.”
Vitori said, “I’m really excited to be here. As I said before this is a really an honor for me.”
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Council retreat to be scheduled
City Manager Doug Adkins said a council retreat is being planned for late January or early February to discuss various programs and issues facing the city. Adkins said council will be talking a lot about housing in 2018.
He said he would like to review housing opportunities in Middletown with the council to see what might and might not work in various neighborhoods before having public discussions or looking at any individual neighborhoods. Adkins said there are a number of tools that could be beneficial to Middletown that haven’t been used before.
Other business
Council approved an ordinance to vacate a portion of Long Meadow Drive that is no longer needed for public use and will be used as open space.
Council also heard the first reading of a resolution authorizing the city manager to accept and receive state grant funding from an Ohio Department of Transportation program that provides aid directly in support of the local-match grant requirements for any Federal Aviation Administration-supported project.
In 2017, ODOT changed the aviation grant administration guidelines to create a local-match support program in which ODOT automatically contributes half of the FAA’s local requirement for any grant issued by the FAA.
Matt Eisenbraun, assistant economic development director, said in a staff report that application to the ODOT program is automatic with the acceptance of any FAA grant, such as the 2017 Master Plan/Airport Layout Plan update, and that ODOT requires a resolution as an acknowledgement in order to appropriate the funds.
Eisenbraun said the grant funding for projects through the national airport system with ODOT support is provided as 90 percent in federal funding and five percent each from ODOT and the city.
He said the costs for the Master Plan/Airport Layout Plan will be $429,387, with 90 percent FAA funding of $386,448 and ODOT and the city each contributing five percent, or $21,469.
If the city chooses not to use the ODOT program, the city would have to cover the entire 10 percent of the match or a total of $42,938, Eisenbraun said.
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