Norton Planning Commission elects chair and vice chair, sets regular meeting schedule and completes swearing-in

The Norton Planning Commission elected Ralph Dowling chair and John Conklin vice chair during its organizational meeting, and voted to hold regular meetings on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m.

Commission business began at 6:01 p.m. when the meeting was called to order and roll call recorded the commissioners present. Speaker 3 nominated Ralph Dowling for chair; after a second, the commission closed nominations and approved Dowling by roll-call vote, with the prompted members recorded as voting "Yes." Speaker 3 later nominated John Conklin for vice chair; that nomination was also seconded and approved by roll-call vote.

"I nominate Ralph Dowling to be Chair," said Speaker 3 during the nomination. After the second, the chair vote was taken by roll call. On the vice-chair vote, Speaker 3 said, "I nominate John Conklin for Vice Chair," and the nomination carried.

The commission also approved a motion, made by Speaker 1 and seconded, to schedule meetings for the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m.; roll-call responses recorded the motion as adopted. Speaker 1 framed the vote as a confirmation of a schedule previously discussed in earlier meetings.

During the meeting Speaker 3 informed the commission that the Parks Department had nominated Caitlin as its representative to the Parks and Cemetery Board and that the Parks board had completed that nomination earlier. Speaker 1 also noted that a lot-split application would return to the Planning Commission because the applicant had not completed processing properly; staff said the matter will be formally reviewed by the commission at its next meeting and, if approved, forwarded to City Council for final action.

Following the organizational business, Speaker 3 conducted swearing-in of members named in the transcript and administered the oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, Ohio law, the City of Norton charter and ordinances. The oath text was read aloud and repeated, and one appointee is recorded in the transcript as saying, "I, James Lader," during the process.

The meeting concluded after the swearing-in; the commission noted the lot-split item is scheduled for the next Planning Commission meeting, next Tuesday.