Vice Mayor Byington explained that this is an ordinance to update Section 145.04(E) of the Oakwood Administrative Code, which is the City’s purchasing and contracting ordinance. It was introduced with a first reading at the May 3, 2021 Council meeting.

For many years, the City has obtained insurance and other employee benefits through brokers who are familiar with the local market and who have a contractual fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the City. These broker service contracts have always been exempt from competitive bidding as contracts for professional or personal services, and the underlying benefit contracts have been included in that exemption. However, Council wishes to add a specific exemption for the underlying benefit contracts. This will avoid any specious argument that the broker contract might be exempt while the underlying contracts are not.

Thereupon, it was moved by Vice Mayor Byington and seconded by Mrs. Hilton that the ordinance be passed.

Upon call of the roll on the question of the motion, the following vote was recorded:

There being four (4) yea votes and no (0) nay votes thereon, said ordinance was declared duly passed and it was so ordered.

A copy of the resolution, having been placed on the desks of each member of Council prior to introduction, was read by title.

Mayor Duncan explained that for more than one year, the world has addressed the COVID-19 pandemic. Health authorities around the world have implemented lockdowns, mask mandates, and other measures to help mitigate the negative health impact of the virus, and to ensure that the medical facilities were not overwhelmed. States of emergency have been declared at federal, state, and local levels of government. In Oakwood, Council adopted an emergency declaration through Resolution No. 1871, on April 6, 2020.

After a year of uncertainty and isolation, it appears that things are finally emerging on the other side of the pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers an area to have “high-incidence” of COVID-19 if it meets a threshold of 100 new cases per 100,000 residents. Ohio’s numbers reached as high as the 800’s during the December-January timeframe, but have rapidly dropped through April and May, falling to just 58.3 as of last week’s June 3, 2021 update.

While new case counts and other key metrics have dropped, Ohio has also done an outstanding job implementing its vaccination program. To date, over five million Ohioans have been inoculated.

As a result of these efforts, the Ohio Department of Health has now rescinded almost all health orders for the state, including orders for masks, social distancing, and reduced gathering sizes. Council anticipates that Governor DeWine will soon rescind his declaration of a state of emergency for Ohio, and it is time to terminate Oakwood’s state of emergency as Ohio begins its return to normalcy.

Thereupon, it was moved by Mayor Duncan and seconded by Vice Mayor Byington that the resolution be passed.

Upon call of the roll on the question of the motion, the following vote was recorded: