Council sidesteps dilemma with energy supplier

The City of Findlay has participated in an electricity aggregation program for about 10 years, but this is the first year Findlay City Council has been faced with a "moral dilemma" in selecting a supplier. At its regular meeting Tuesday, the City Council voted against renewing the city's energy aggregation program with Energy Harbor, Akron. Government aggregation programs allow municipalities to use their purchasing power to help manage supply costs for their communities. Energy Harbor now owns the Perry and Davis Besse nuclear power plants in Ohio. The plants were formerly owned by FirstEnergy Corp., also headquartered in Akron. In July, former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, a Republican from Glenford, was arrested on a $60 million federal bribery case connected to the taxpayer-funded bailout of the nuclear plants: House Bill 6. Federal authorities have accused FirstEnergy of funding the scheme to get Householder elected to the speakership and to push HB6 through the Legislature. The company has denied wrongdoing and has not been criminally charged. Mayor Christina Muryn said she would be more comfortable with another choice of suppliers, and not having the City of Findlay associated with "a company that does business that way." City officials also questioned Energy Harbor's ability to uphold the terms of its four-year offer on rates to Findlay residents, considering the litigation surrounding the case. The council's vote was 5-3 on the renewal, with only council members Grant Russel, R-at-large, Jim Slough, R-4, and Beth Warnecke, R-3, voting in favor of the renewal. Councilmen Tom Shindledecker and Jeff Wobser, both R-at-large, were absent from Tuesday's meeting. The council then voted 8-0 to approve a renewal of the city's electric aggregation program with Constellation, Baltimore, Maryland. The council waived its three-reading rule and approved the legislation after only two readings. The motion to suspend the rules was approved 8-0. In other business Tuesday, the council heard the first reading of legislation that will update the city's zoning map. The legislation updates the zoning of 6,770 parcels within city limits based on their current use and lot size. There are a total of 16,732 zoned parcels in the city. The city's original zoning map was adopted in 1956 and has had few updates. The outdated map has caused a number of inconsistencies between current zoning, property use and the actual zoning code. Updates should help property owners who want to make improvements or sell their property. A draft proposal of updates to Findlay's zoning map, along with a searchable database, is available on the city's website: www.findlayohio.com. Residents can enter an address into the online database to check the zoning. The database provides a side-by-side comparison of current and proposed zoning, and is parcel specific. More information about the proposed changes is also available by contacting the Hancock Regional Planning Commission by calling 419-424-7094 or via email at mcordonnier@findlayohio.com. If approved by council, the new map will become effective in 2021.