Marysville City Council President Donald Boerger laid out his priorities for the city at Monday night’s city council meeting, his first in the leadership role. Above, Boerger, right, speaks with council members Henk Berbee, center, and Steven Wolfe, left.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Mac Cordell)
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New Marysville Council President Donald Boerger wants to send a message to developers looking at Marysville.
“No longer will developers use valuable land while our residents must sacrifice open space and the beauty of our city,” Boerger told council during his closing remarks at Monday night’s meeting, his first as council president.
Boerger thanked new council members Steven Wolfe, Zach Bordner and Scott Hunter for their “passion and dedication for the City of Marysville.”
He told them to remember that as they serve, “what unites us is our love for Marysville.”
He said their election was the voters’ way of sending a message to council.
“During my four years, decisions were made by this government which did not align with our community’s values,” Boerger told council, administration and the community. “I am here tonight, as your council president, to state no one is immune from the voter. Actions have consequences. This election was a referendum on our city. I have witnessed councils’ lack of our ability to hold and create direction.”
Boerger outlined what he believes will “be our priorities for our growing community.”
He said those priorities include executing the city’s comprehensive plan and focusing on economic growth; reviewing the zoning code to ensure every neighborhood is treated equal; creating an identity master plan for the city; neighborhood branding; and creating a connectivity master plan.
“We will no longer use rapid, unsustainable expansion of generic housing development as a primary means to create revenue,” he said.
Boerger said the identity master plan will be a first for the city, noting, “We must ask ourselves who we are and what is Marysville’s character.”
The new president said time has come to “celebrate our architecture and history – the stories which bring us together.”
Boerger explained that a connectivity master plan will “ensure streets are built with the protections for all residents and uses for transportation.”
He added that parks will be used to “link residents to their places they desire.”
The first item of business, Boerger said, will be more practical. He said he would like to strengthen lot coverage calculations to “not include all of the retention and detention ponds.”
Boerger stressed that he believes children growing up in the city should have “the same opportunity to health and wellness as you and I have.”
He said that includes the ability to enjoy the backyards, trees and fresh air.
“As I close my first meeting tonight as council president, I am grateful,” Boerger said. “My success belongs in the hands of our community. You voted for me, for the same reasons I am here tonight — I believe in service.”
He said that when service is “guided by moral integrity, we find reasons to believe in each other and in our government.”
He encouraged community members to serve as well.
“We all have the ability to serve, in our own right,” Boerger said. “Acts of service, either great or small, to help one another will create a thriving city.”
He said the city will succeed “and that success will belong to all of us.”
Boerger began the meeting by setting council’s committees and appointment to other city committees and boards. Boerger appointed Bordner, as well as Henk Berbee and Mark Reams to council’s finance committee. He appointed Berbee as chairman. Berbee had said earlier that he offered his support for Boerger as council president, contingent on his appointment to the committee.
Boerger appointed Hunter and Wolfe, along with J.R. Rausch to the public service/public safety committee, naming Hunter as chairman.
Boerger will sit on the Community Improvement Corporation board, and appointed Bordner to the Logan-Union-Champaign Planning Commission, Hunter to the Ohio Reformatory for Women board and Wolfe to the city’s parks and recreation committee.
City Manager Terry Emery complemented Boerger on am “excellent meeting.”
Hunter thanked the council members with experience for their help with the meeting procedure.