Council considers city charter, council rules changes

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SIDNEY — The Sidney City Council heard information on potential changes to council rules and the Sidney City Charter Monday evening.

Law Director Jeffrey Amick led a discussion at the teleconference workshop on the City Council rules and the city of Sidney’s charter.

Amick annually reviews the rules, which were last amended in April 2016. Amick said council’s general rules of standards are reviewed with members during the council orientation program.

The city is working with Lexipol, a consultant company that helps public safety and government professionals with policy manuals, training bulletins, etc., to implement a policy program for non-safety service departments, he said. The city of Sidney currently works with Lexipol for both of its police and fire policy programs.

Lexipol suggested including into the rules some best practices covering standards of conduct for elected officials on ethics, conflicts of interest and unlawful directives.

Council members did not have any questions, but wanted to get feedback from Council member Darryl Thurber, who was absent Monday, on the recommendation.

Amick then moved to a review of the city charter, which he also reviews annually. He said the potential amendments are the same revisions he brought forth for discussion in 2020. Amick noted in previous years council members opted not to initiate action on the proposed revisions until a more pressing issue warranted action and recommended to follow the same course of action again this year. After a quick presentation reviewing the numerous potential changes, council members again opted to take no action.

During comments at the end of the meeting, City Manager Mark Cundiff Cundiff suggested City Council consider adding an amendment to the list of potential charter revisions to automatically send the city charter to a review committee on a set schedule, such as many every five years. He said several communities in the area have such a provision in their city charter.

City Council then went into an executive session. No action was taken when members emerged, but Mayor Mike Barhorst then shared a copy of a newsletter produced by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) that highlights Ohio communities, including Sidney. JETRO produced the brochure in Japanese to share with Japan companies looking to expand in the Midwest.

By Sheryl Roadcap

[email protected]

Reach the writer at 937-538-4823.

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