Hillsboro City Council passed four ordinances that included two related appropriations measures during a meeting Thursday.

Finance committee chair Mary Stanforth recapped a meeting of the committee to discuss an ordinance to increase the salary of the city auditor. As the average salary for city auditors in Ohio is $64,740 annually, the committee agreed to use that amount for the ordinance.

“I will meet with the law director before this ordinance comes to council,” said Stanforth.

Civil Service-Employee Relations Committee Chair Dan Baucher reported the events of his committee’s meeting to discuss compensation time, health insurance, and overtime policies for city employees. The committee agreed to recommend an increase in available compensation time for city employees to 120 hours from 80 hours as a cost-savings measure.

The committee also agreed to recommend to city council that paid time off for city employees will be considered active pay status for the purpose of calculating overtime, and paid time off will be considered active pay status for employees on call for the purpose of calculating overtime.

Street and Safety Committee Chair Adam Wilkin said a meeting of the committee has been scheduled for Sept. 20 to discuss safety and security measures at city parks and converting a section of Johnson Street to a one-way road.

City Council President Tom Eichinger said plans for the city’s participation in the Electricity Aggregation Program are moving forward. “Residents will be receiving contact letters about opt-in and opt-out very shortly as the ball is moving forward quite quickly on that so we will hopefully see how many people choose to sign up for that,” said Eichinger.

Zoning and Annexation Committee Chair Jason Brown said his committee agreed to make the recommendation to the city council to change 6959 S.R. 124 from a Business C permit classification to Residential D.

An ordinance to amend the city’s ordinances pertaining to signs was unanimously passed on its third reading. “We had a public hearing on this,” said Eichinger. “It changes the zoning code to make the sign structure more consistent and flexible in respect to all areas.

An ordinance to establish a one-way street on Johnson Street was moved to a third reading. “I know it’s going to be in Mr. Wilkin’s committee to discuss based on the feedback that has been received at the last council meeting,” said Eichinger.

An ordinance to adjust compensation for specified city employees was passed to enable the search for a city parks director with a salary range of $52,000 to $66,560.

An ordinance to repeal ordinances pertaining to the police department that conflict with the collective bargaining agreement was moved to a third reading.

An ordinance amending a section of the city’s ordinances related to the clerk of council that specifies the clerk is paid semi-annually to be rewritten to specify a pay period every two weeks.

An ordinance to change the classification of 6959 S.R. 124 from a Business C permit classification to a classification of Residential D was moved to a second reading.

An ordinance amending certain language referencing the tax commissioner and deputy tax commissioner in the city’s ordinances was moved to a second reading. “We are cleaning up our codified ordinances so all references to the tax commissioner will now be tax administrator and deputy tax commissioner will be deputy tax administrator,” said Hillsboro Law Director Randalyn Worley.

Two appropriations ordinances were approved to allow the city to pay $24,954 to replace a damaged traffic signal cabinet before the money is recovered through an insurance claim.

Reach John Hackley at 937-402-2571.