Mary Alice Reporting –
With the first reading of mobile food and special event ordinances, community members brought questions to Uhrichsville Council.
The latest meeting started with a report from Mayor Jim Zucal that included a public hearing to be announced for Bellstores, looking into grant opportunities, and the sale of the 2014 police cruiser.
Zucal also addressed legislation given to council for special events and food truck vending, saying again that he supports events but there needs to be city permits and regulations for liability protection.
During the visitor portion, community members asked questions about the proposed ordinances and some concerns were the need for social security numbers, if the language applied to the “cottage food law”, and that fee accumulations may cause a burden on vendors to setup.
Nikita Richardson noted that the nine communities looked at to help draft the ordinances, like Akron, Canton, and Marysville, are not equal in terms of the city population size at 5,275 or poverty percentage of 22.5. She added that at the Safety, Health, and Service meeting, attendees were not provided the opportunity to speak or ask questions.
“They moved to bring this ordinance that they received a few hours before [the meeting] to a reading. There’s no way the Safety Committee had enough time to rip [the draft] apart. We could be the innovators in Tuscarawas County. This is a chance to work together. [The Farmer’s Market] has never denied that they want a permit system and try to get something that fits Uhrichsville because it feels very rushed to me.”
There was still a question of why the committee has not asked the Uhrichsville Farmer’s Market about the permits they obtained in 2023, but looking to move forward is organizer Whitney Manson.
“I would like to offer for a meeting to take place between the Safety, Health, and Service Committee as well as myself and any other organizers that would like to put on events to discuss this together and come up with a great system together.”
Council did not respond to the collaborative meeting requests. Anyone with further questions about the two ordinances was asked to submit them to the city’s law director. The ordinances are expected to have two more readings.
Other topics brought up was the Twin City Youth Baseball season soon to begin and Stephanie Haney concerned about her son allegedly being discriminated against as he seeks to be rehired at the Uhrichsville Waterpark. The mayor responded by saying “if someone doesn’t get hired at the city of Uhrichsville it’s because it’s not in the best interest of the city.”
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