Nov. 3 council meeting: a full room, 11 speakers, answers promised later

Residents filled the council chamber on Nov. 3, and 11 spoke about the gas plants. The city attorney asked council not to question city staff that night, because of cases still before the state siting board. The mayor said council was there to listen, might not get to every concern that evening, and would give answers "as quickly as possible," without giving a date. No one answered speakers' questions during public comment.¹

Who was there

Every seat was taken. People who were there counted 17 more standing. The audience area has about 50 chairs, by attendees' estimate, so roughly 65 to 70 people came. These counts are attendees', not the city's. The mayor said there were 12 speaker cards, and 11 people spoke.¹

How the meeting was set up

The agenda listed a presentation by Michael Williams, executive director of the Ohio Power Siting Board. It had no item on the PowerConneX 3 settlement the city's lawyer had signed the day before.² The mayor said the presentation was for council to hear from the board, not a public question-and-answer session (at 0:03:14). Before public comment, the city attorney asked council not to question staff that night, because the city is negotiating in cases still before the board. The mayor asked speakers to keep to three minutes (0:55:27 to 0:56:46).¹

What residents asked for

• Who authorized the city to sign the PowerConneX 3 settlement, and when. The resident asked twice and got no reply. They also asked for a roll-call vote on a motion they had sent council, and said they had filed a records request (1:21:35 to 1:26:28).
• Public air monitors in the business park and a few miles out, with the readings online (0:57:18).
• Someone looking at the combined emissions of all seven plants, not one at a time (1:04:01).
• A pause until Ohio EPA reports on health and the environment (1:10:32).
• A local meeting where the city explains the projects and listens, before it recommends approval (1:40:16).
• Several speakers, including two physicians, raised fine-particle pollution and children's health, and asked council to do more (1:17:38 to 1:34:57).

We haven't named residents. The video does.¹

What officials said

• On monitoring: staff said a sustainability plan is proposed in the 2027 budget, and independent air monitoring "could be" one of its first recommendations. If council approves it, staff said the city would seek proposals by the end of January and pick a consultant by the end of March (0:49:33 to 0:52:32).
• On the city's approach: staff said the city chose to take part in the state cases rather than oppose them, because opposing and appealing was unlikely to succeed (0:29:31 to 0:38:12).
• On complaints: Williams said residents can bring complaints to the siting board when a plant doesn't meet its conditions, such as limits on noise (0:43:06 to 0:45:13).
• On the settlement: no one said the city had signed it the day before.¹

The Reporting Project wrote that "about a dozen" residents told the mayor and council to "do better."³

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