{"id":80276,"date":"2016-09-27T07:33:25","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T12:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=80276"},"modified":"2016-09-27T07:55:37","modified_gmt":"2016-09-27T12:55:37","slug":"marshall-resigns-city-council-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2016\/09\/27\/marshall-resigns-city-council-position\/","title":{"rendered":"Marshall resigns VW City Council position"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Van Wert City Council accepted First Ward Councilman John Marshall\u2019s resignation on Monday, largely because of health concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, I do not feel as if I can give 100 percent to my position on City Council because of my health concerns and schedule of medical appointments,\u201d he noted in his resignation letter. \u201cWhen I cannot give 100 percent, I feel that it is time for me to step aside and let somebody else take over. Therefore, I am resigning from my position as First Ward Councilman effective today, September 26, 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"City
First Ward Councilman John Marshall is shown in healthier\u00a0days. Marshall tendered his resignation letter on Monday, citing health concerns.<\/strong> (VW independent file photo)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Noting that he had enjoyed his years on City Council and thanking the voters who elected him, Marshall also thanked \u201cthose he served with and worked with over the years. I have truly enjoyed your friendship and appreciate all your help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marshall also stressed that his primary reason for getting elected was to help clean up the city. \u201cI remember how things were when I was growing up in Van Wert. People took pride in their property.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marshall also noted that he felt Mayor Jerry Mazur\u2019s administration was \u201cdoing a great job in this area and I hope that they will continue on the same path.\u201d<\/p>\n

In closing, he asked city officials to \u201ccontinue to keep me in your prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

After reading the resignation letter, Council President Pete Weir was visibly emotional, noting: \u201cI don\u2019t have any words right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he recovered his composure, Weir had a message for Marshall: \u201cJohn, if you\u2019re listening or you\u2019re out there, thank you for all your service and time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council requested that Mayor Mazur create a proclamation thanking Marshall for his years of service to the city. Weir will also contact the Republican Party Central Committee for the purpose of having it choose a successor to serve out the remainder of Marshall\u2019s current term, which was to run until December 31, 2017.<\/p>\n

Prior to its regular meeting on Monday, Council members discussed the 2017 tax budget and possible ballot language for a ballot issue that would allow a portion of the half-percent income tax dedicated to street construction to also be used for sidewalk repair and replacement when a street is reconstructed.<\/p>\n

The five Council members attending (Second Ward Councilman Joi Mergy was absent, as well as Marshall) also prepared an ordinance providing for a less stringent definition of what is a defective sidewalk. Although cracks can now be wider and more uneven, sidewalks made of bricks or pavers were both considered to be defective.<\/p>\n

During a discussion of the 2017 tax budget, City Auditor Martha Balyeat said Council needs to come up a fix for the city\u2019s worsening General Fund budget situation.<\/p>\n

Balyeat said use of up to two-thirds of the .22-percent safety capital tax revenues for police and fire salaries and benefits is not a permanent solution to the problem, noting that the city would eventually be faced with either increasing revenues or cutting costs to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident that we have enough for 2017, I\u2019m fairly confident we have enough for 2018,\u201d the auditor told Council. \u201cAfter that, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

A good part of the problem has been cuts in state funding, including the elimination of the estate tax and a decrease in money received through the state\u2019s Local Government Fund.<\/p>\n

The problem with cutting costs is twofold, Balyeat said, noting first that there wasn\u2019t a lot of room to cut costs in the current General Fund budget, while adding that cutting costs would likely also affect services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the (city) departments are actually pretty frugal,\u201d the city auditor told Council, while Councilman At-Large Jon Tomlinson said cutting expenses would likely involve cutting jobs, since approximately 80 percent of the General Fund budget deals with personnel costs: salaries and benefits.<\/p>\n

Balyeat also noted that, while budgeting a 15-percent increase in health insurance costs for 2017, she had lowered that to 5 percent in 2018, noting that costs could be higher than 20 percent for both those years combined.<\/p>\n

The next regularly scheduled meeting of Van Wert City Council will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday, October 10, in Council Chambers, on the second floor of the Municipal Building, 515 E. Main St.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Van Wert City Council accepted First Ward Councilman John Marshall\u2019s resignation on Monday, largely because of health concerns. \u201cAt this time, I do not feel as if I can give 100 percent to my position on City Council because of my health concerns and schedule of medical appointments,\u201d he noted in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 15:46:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}