Fostoria council adopts personnel manual, street resurfacing and multiple ordinances on unanimous votes

Fostoria City Council unanimously approved a slate of ordinances at its May meeting, including adoption of a revised personnel policy manual and authorization of the city’s 2026 street resurfacing program.

The council adopted the revised personnel policy manual on third reading and declared an emergency; the clerk recorded the motion and the ordinance was assigned number 2026-31. Council then approved an ordinance authorizing the mayor to advertise for bids and enter into a contract for the 2026 street resurfacing program, covering pavement removal, surface planning, tack coat and final surface course; that measure became Ordinance 2026-32.

Council also passed an ordinance granting the mayor authority to enter contracts with the Ohio Department of Transportation as the local public agency (LPA) to complete pavement repair projects, which became Ordinance 2026-33. An ordinance authorizing the director of public service and safety to advertise for bids and enter into a lease for 16.5 acres of farmland adjacent to Reservoir No. 5 was adopted as Ordinance 2026-34; that parcel was described earlier during public comment.

Members voted to suspend the three-reading rule on appropriations and related transfers and then adopted the permanent 2026 appropriations ordinance and transfers, which became Ordinance 2026-36. The Director of Finance had introduced smaller adjustments including a $19,000 appropriation for final airport terminal design costs and a $2,500 transfer within the fire donations fund to buy smoke and CO detectors; the director asked the council to waive the three readings for those items during the meeting.

All roll-call votes on the adopted ordinances were recorded as unanimous among the members present: Layman, Podak, Cassidy, Baker, Grind, Mendoza and Gernzy. Several other items — including a proposed sewer services agreement with Seneca County and a Community Housing Improvement Program submission by Great Lakes Community Action Partnership — remained at second reading.

What happens next: ordinances adopted on emergency declaration or after suspension of the three-reading rule will take effect per the city’s ordinance rules; items still at second reading will return to a future agenda for final action.