Council encourages student input

by Camden Easterling
Staff Writer

Athens City Council members urged more student participation in local government at last night’s city council meeting, following a lack of student input on student-related issues.

The city allowed the public to address concerns or ask questions about a proposed student-housing complex near Riverpark Towers. Several students were present, but did not speak to the issue. The majority of the students were there as a requirement for a class.

Councilwoman Nancy Bain, D-3rd ward, said students should participate in city government because 75 percent of the property in Athens is rental property and many issues the council discusses directly affect students.

Bain encouraged students to attend a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Athens Community Center on East State Street to discuss a comprehensive plan that will determine policies and procedures to guide Athens’ future.

“It certainly would help to have some other people there,” Bain said. “Come down to the community center, don’t feel like such an oddball for doing it.”

Council members last night also created the first Athens Municipal Arts Complex.

The commission, funded by an undetermined amount out of the tourism fund, will establish policies and procedures for putting art in public spaces throughout the city, said Carol Patterson, D-2nd ward. Five citizens, a council member and another person appointed by Mayor Ric Abel will serve on the board.

Commission members could meet as early as June 6, but they do not have a specific project to work on at their initial meeting, Patterson said.

City council members continued to debate burying utility lines in conjunction with the East State Street widening project. The city heard the first reading of an ordinance to spend $10,000 to explore options for burying the utility lines. The city expects the final project could cost several million dollars.

Council also authorized the mayor to apply for a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The city will ask for $3,000 and will match what the ODNR awards.

The grant money would be used for urban forestry projects, said Jim Sands, D-at-large. Alvi McWilliams, chairwoman of the Athens Tree Commission, said the city plans to use the grant money to plant a row of conifers near West Elementary, 41 Central Ave.

“We want to put a planting there that will show the type of diversity of conifers,” McWilliams said.