Ward 4
Akron City Council
Development
Education
Environment
Health
Housing
Labor
Libraries
Parks
Criminal Justice
Finance
Politics
Arts
Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024
6:00 p.m. — 7:30 p.m. EDT
1225 Lawton St, Akron, Ohio 44320 Akron, OH 44320 (Directions)
James Williams Community Center
Ward 4 monthly public forum led by Council Member Jan Davis.
Check the source website for additional information
Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Akron - OH Documenters Team
Note-taking by
Cassandra Williams
Summit County sheriff describes efforts to help jail inmates advance their education
Live reporting by
Wittman Sullivan
School officials discuss upcoming levy and bond issue on the November ballot with residents
Hey everybody, I will be Documenting yesterday's Ward 4 Meeting at the Lawton Street Community Center (1225 Lawton Street) with #AKRDocumenters and @SignalAkron
04:52 PM Aug 29, 2024 CDT
Kandy Fatheree (Summit County Sheriff) said her priorities are public safety, professionalism, equity, and mental health She said she raised training requirements to 40 hours a year per employee She said she made the promotion process to be more leadership centered and diverse
She said her generation of officers are retiring and that it is difficult to recruit young people to replace retirees She said she wrote a grant to pay people to go through the academy and waiver the tuition She said the Faith and Blue is October 5th sheriff.summitoh.net/pages/Faith-Bl…
sheriff.summitoh.net/pages/Faith-Bl…
She said she gave tablets to Summit County Inmates that they can they can keep after they leave. She said they can be used for communication and for education up to a high school diploma She said over 80% of inmates don't reoffend 6 months after release
Carla Chapman said that education helps students "win" and "stay out of trouble" She said there is a November Levy to fund Operations and a new North High School for Akron Public Schools costing homeowners $26 per month for every $100,000 in home value akronschools.com/district/news/…
akronschools.com/district/news/…
She said the last levy was passed in 2012 Adam motter said HB 912 freezes public school revenue despite property taxes getting raised. This requires districts to use levys to increase funding oepiohio.org/wp-content/upl…
oepiohio.org/wp-content/upl…
He said the main expense is staff vosts that have risen over the last 12 years since the last levy and APS is a "very good Stuart" of public money Chapman said supporting the levy will support the "good work" at APS is doing to support students akronschools.com/district/news/…
akronschools.com/district/news/…
Chapman said without a levy the district will fall into a $25 million deficit causing a fiscal emergency, requiring state control which could result in meal services, transportation, sports, and all day kindergarten being "chopped" . ohioauditor.gov/fiscal/schools…
ohioauditor.gov/fiscal/schools…
An Akron Police Officer said she has seen more gun violence in the last 5 years than her entire career She said in the last year there have been 160 stolen guns, 981 gunfire calls, 91 shooting injuries, 14 shooting deaths and 363 guns recovered in Akron which were mostly stolen
She said there are a lot of teenagers getting involved in gun violence . She said accidental shootings, gun theft, and suicide can be prevented by gun locks which APD give out for free. She urged those who know gun owners to tell them to lock their guns spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/ne…
spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/ne…
A community member asked if they are partnering with churches to do gun buybacks She said the APD is unable to do them but that the Sheriff's Department does that Fatheree said they've done successful gun buybacks at churches including at Church of God beaconjournal.com/story/news/202…
beaconjournal.com/story/news/202…
A community member said her neighbors and her have had issues with their neighbor's unruly kids at 1358 Peckham Street. She said they had concerns that haven't been addressed since the last meeting. She said the issues are preventing her from seeing her grandchildren
Another community member said that two "little children" came onto her porch, and when asked to leave they came back with a butcher knife and left it on the curb She said they taunted the police and neighbors when the police arrived
Another community member said the kids have been outside at late hours and have been shooting toy guns at neighbors that aren't distinguishable from real guns He said he is worried about the older kids having guns and said that he now carries a gun outside out of fear
An officer said all they can do is fine the homeowner by declaring the property a nuisance and fining them for police calls, as well as turning them into nuisance compliance to continue to fine them
A community member said the homeowner is in prison and that the house might be condemned Jan Davis asked the neighbors to consistently call 311 about the issues and said this is something that needs to be dealt with by Nuisance and by Housing Compliance
A community member said the adults in the home have threatened her and her neighbors by chasing them with cars or by yelling at neighbors that the neighborhoods won't drive them out
She said she requested 1.4 million in capital budgets to remove abandoned buildings on Copley Road, build new restrooms at Erie Island Football Field, and build a new Track, Pavilion, and Pickleball court at Lawton Community Center
She said the Copley Road Walgreens has closed and said she had more advanced notice of the closure than the Mayors Office
She said the beacon will right a story about a retiree who's wall collapsed during the August 6th flood and said sunset view was 'wiped out" similar to 2013's flood She urged community members to go to a City Council on Sept 9th at 6:30 to speak about flood damages
The meeting ended at 7:47 pm. The next meeting will be September 25th at St Sebastian (476 Mull Avenue) at 6 pm. For more coverage check out Akron.documenters.org
Akron.documenters.org
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Agency Information
Akron City Council
“YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTRzlObsoxdg6IFgWSFCOgA/videos
IN PERSON: Council meets each Monday evening at 7:00 p.m. in council chambers on the third floor of the Akron Municipal Building, 166 South High Street. City Council does not meet when a national holiday falls on a Monday, and recesses the month of August and the last two weeks of December.
For accomodations in access: Yamini Adkins, Director of Human Resources, 166 South High Street, Municipal Building, Suite 103, Akron, Ohio 44308, (voice) 330-375-2780. If you require TDD phone service call Ohio Relay at 800-750-0750 and they will assist in contacting the Department of Human Resources at (330) 375-2780.”