MAYOR'S MESSAGE

Craig A. Stough 1/11/2008

"City Council Organizational Meeting"

On Thursday, January 3, 2008, Sylvania City Council met at 7:25 p.m. for its required every other year Organizational Meeting. At the beginning of each even numbered year, following the General Election the previous November, Sylvania City Council is required to have an Organizational Meeting to begin its two year session, elect a Council President and form Council committees.

This past November, Keith Haddad, Doug Haynam, Mark Luetke, and Todd Milner were re-elected to four year terms on City Council and Katie Cappellini was elected to the remaining two years of Mark Bula's unexpired term. In November, 2009 the Council seats currently held by Read Backus, Barbara Sears and Katie Cappellini will be on the ballot. All terms are four years long. This staggering of four year terms provides for continuity on City Council and voter input at the ballot box every two years.

During the Organizational Meeting on January 3^rd, the newly elected Councilmembers were sworn in by Sylvania Municipal Court Judge M. Scott Ramey. City Council then passed a motion that it was duly constituted of seven properly elected and qualified members. Next came the election of the City Council president, with Barbara Sears unanimously re-elected to that position. If Barbara Sears is appointed to the Ohio legislature as anticipated, a new Council president will need to be elected and a new member of City Council appointed to serve out the remainder of her term.

The Council president is responsible for determining Council committee assignments. Council has eight standing committees. Typically, each Councilmember serves as chairman of one committee, and serves on three or more other committees. Committees are where the bulk of Council work is done, with committee reports and recommendations presented at regular Council Meetings on the first and third Mondays of each month. Committee chairman for the coming two years are: Finance - Sears, Safety - Backus, Parks & Forestry - Luetke, Utilities - Haddad, Streets - Milner, Zoning & Annexation - Haynam, Employee & Community Relations – Luetke, and Building & Grounds – Cappelini.

Our City Council structure of seven part-time members works well for Sylvania. The good of the community as a whole is always their goal - but can only be accomplished with good communications with our residents. I encourage you to attend City Council meetings, or talk to your elected officials when you are concerned about an issue. We need your ideas and look forward to your input for making Sylvania a better place to live, work, and raise a family.