Santa is coming to Dover, Police raise approved

Mayor Shane Gunnoe announced Santa is coming to Dover this holiday season. Santa will visit his house on the downtown square each Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. and Saturday and Sundays from 1-3 p.m. The last day to get your requests in to Santa is Sat. Dec. 23.

There is more good news for Dover this holiday season as council passed emergency resolution 25-23 authorizing the mayor to execute agreements with the Ohio Mid-eastern Government Association as the lead agency on two grants for the extension of the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath trail to Dover and its downtown.

“For a little over a year now we have been actively working in partnership with the city of New Philadelphia and with Tuscarawas County in identifying and going through the initial engineering process towards completion or towpath trail,” Gunnoe said. “Separately, the city of Dover has been working to plan for how, once the trail is running through the riverfront park, to put a trailhead in and connect the pathway to get people from the riverfront to downtown Dover.”

The city has been working through the process with the state procured planners and hopes to receive part of the $500 million available from the state of Ohio for large transformational projects.

The city needs to submit an application asking for the grant funding this week. If the city is awarded the funding it needs, the project could start in fall 2024 and take about two years to complete. Dover’s portion of the funds needed comes to about $4.5 million.

“Two and a half million would be approximately for the implementation of the trail, getting it from the north, and getting through city limits to Union Avenue in New Philadelphia,” Gunnoe said. “The other $2 million would be for connector pathways off of the riverfront as well as additional amenities to downtown to help drive tourists in and out for people who are going to utilize the trail.”

The city could be notified about the results of the application in early February.

Gunnoe reported paving projects have been completed in Dover for the year.

“During the past two weeks, paving contractors have paved Broad Street and NOT&L Alley between 5th Street and 7th Street. They also completed paving on East Ohio Ave./County Road 80 between Tremont Street and Cross Street,” Gunnoe said.

The Dover City compost collection site will remain open until Dec. 22 and will close for the season. The site will reopen April 1, 2024.

Fundraising for the high school softball field turf project continues with about two thirds of the funds needed to complete the project already collected. Anyone interested in donating can make a check payable to the City of Dover with “turf project” in the memo line and drop it off at the auditor’s office.

Dover employees are still conducting leaf pickups and will be moving through the entire city more than once. Currently work is being done in zone 4, progress can be tracked on Dover’s website or Facebook page.

Council suspended the rules and passed legislation on the following:

Ordinance 26-23 approves and authorizes the execution of a tax increment financing agreement with Lawver Homes Inc. The ordinance does not authorize the proposed housing development, which still has to go through the planning commission. It just allows the mayor to sign the TIF contract with Lawver Homes.

Ordinance 27-23 approved and set cemetery rates for the Dover Burial Park and Cemetery beginning Jan. 1, 2024. Rates on services such as graves and monuments will go up $50. There has not been an increase in rates since 2021. They will also now accept credit card payments with no additional fee.

Ordinance 28-23 approved a new collective bargaining agreement between Dover and the Dover Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 4 for contract dates Jan. 1, 2024 through Dec. 31, 2026.

“This negotiation went really well, we were able to resolve it in the first round, first day,” Gunnoe said. “The agreement calls for a $2 an hour raise for patrolmen and captains in year one, and then 3%, and 3%, the next two years. If you average it out, it works out to about 4% a year over the next three years. This is in recognition that in the previous three years, they were they were getting about 2.3%, which is well below the state average. We want to make sure we retain our employees and the high-quality officers of our police department.”

Ordinance 29-23 authorized the mayor or safety director to enter into a contract with the Tuscarawas County Commissioners for housing inmates in the Tuscarawas County jail. The cost of housing an inmate will be $80 per day.

Ordinance 30-23 made supplemental appropriations and authorized the transfer of funds to meet current obligations of the city due to funding needs, some that were unexpected. The total supplemental appropriations made were $1,145,212 for needs in the general fund, cemetery fund, health fund, income tax fund, police and fire pension fund, and ambulance fund.

Ordinance 31-23 authorized temporary appropriations for 2024 setting the grand total appropriated for the city budget at $70,145,342.02 for next year.

Ordinance 32-23 settled the dispute with Sulzer Turbo for all services including inspection, storage, and costs incurred with regards to the GE 25 MW known as the Shelby Turbine at a cost of $175,000.

The turbine is presently in Texas and will be returned to the city as a back up for the electric plant. The turbine would still need some work to be operational, but it was noted that it could take four years to get a replacement if needed. The turbine was sent to Texas in 2020 without the authorization of council.

At the end of the meeting, council went into executive session for the discussion of public infrastructure improvements or extension of utility services that are directly related to an economic development project. No action was taken.

The next Dover Council meeting will be held Monday Dec. 18 in council chambers, 121 E. Second St., Dover.