Columbus City Council Meeting May 23, 2022 [Video]

Columbus City Council Meeting Highlights:

• SUPPORTING SUMMER YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS: Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Padilla, chair of the Neighborhoods and Immigrant, Refugee, and Migrant Affairs Committee, and Council President Shannon G. Hardin are sponsoring ordinance 1462-2022 to authorize the expenditure of $1,865,688 by the Director of Neighborhoods to enter into service agreements with ten non-profit organizations for summer employment for boys and young men of color. These organizations will serve at-risk boys and young men of color between the ages of 14 and 24 to help ease the challenges families face due to the current COVID-19 public health emergency.

• BUILDING INCLUSIVE WORKPLACES AT REC & PARKS: President Pro Tem Elizabeth C. Brown, chair of the Recreation & Parks Committee, is sponsoring ordinance 1278-2022 to authorize the Director of Recreation and Parks to enter into an agreement with Trinity Transition Consultants (TTC) for $126,750 to provide support services in developing a sustainable, diverse, equitable, inclusive and anti-racist workplace culture that reflects the Department’s core values, mission and vision. TTC has been working with the Department for the past year, and this agreement will continue that relationship into 2022.

• HONORING COLUMBUS WOMEN’S COMMISSION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SHELLY BEITING: Councilmember Shayla D. Favor is sponsoring ordinance 0095x-2022 to honor Shelly Beiting for her more than 15 years of distinguished service in Columbus and for her leadership as the Executive Director for the Columbus Women’s Commission. Under her leadership, the Columbus Women’s Commission has influenced policy and promoted equity by increasing access to free menstrual products, mobilizing housing partners to address retaliatory evictions, and securing Paid Caregiver and Family Leave for City of Columbus employees. “Establishing the commission is reflective of the Mayor and the First Lady’s commitment to providing equal opportunities for our community with gender equity being a focus of this work,” said Beiting. “We have the opportunity to bring awareness to the unique needs and challenges facing women in our community. I’m proud of this Administration and honored to support this important work in our community.”

• APPLYING A COLLECTIVE IMPACT APPROACH TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Councilmember Emmanuel V. Remy, chair of the Public Safety Committee, is sponsoring ordinance 1281-2022 to authorize the Director of Public Safety to accept an extension to the Improving Criminal Justice Responses Subgrant Award for its inter-agency response to domestic violence. The Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women program provides funding that allows state and local governments to support a broad range of activities to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking by strengthening services to victims and holding offenders accountable.

• CONSTRUCTING GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN NORTH LINDEN: Councilmember Rob Dorans, chair of the Public Utilities Committee, is sponsoring ordinance 1303-2022 to authorize the Director of Public Utilities to pay the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund Loan Fee of $4,275 to the Ohio Water Development Authority for Blueprint North Linden 1 green infrastructure construction. The goal of this project is to provide detention and water quality improvement to rainwater that will be redirected from the sanitary sewer system by future Blueprint projects.