Clayton renews insurance with $142,398 premium

CLAYTON — City council tackled only two items of business at its Oct. 17 meeting, the first the adoption of Ordinance O-10-24-20, an ordinance to approve current replacement pages to the Clayton Codified Ordinances.

The ordinance is an annual housekeeping measure to update the city’s codified ordinances.

Council also passed Resolution R-10-24-54 authorizing the city manager to enter into a renewal agreement with the Public Entities Pool of Ohio and Burnham and Flower Insurance Group for the provision of property, casualty and liability insurance coverage from Nov. 1, 2025 through Oct. 31, 2025 with an annual premium of $142,398.

Director of Finance Kevin Schweitzer said the city saw a cost increase of 10 percent this year.

“I talked with our agent with the Public Entities Pool and the increase is all on the property side, not on the liability. It’s on the dwellings, equipment, vehicles because it costs more to repair those,” Schweitzer said. “They are seeing this increase industry wide. While we are sheltered from hurricanes up here, he did point out that Ohio had 34 tornadoes this year and they had to cover some of those repairs.”

Schweitzer noted that since the city is part of the pool it receives a discount from credits for being a longtime member of the pool.

“Throughout the year when we add new equipment and take other equipment off, a lot of times we don’t have an increase in the premium,” Schweitzer added.

During her report to council, City Manager Amanda Zimmerlin pointed out that the company the city had contracted with for its electric aggregation had been bought out. Dynegy bought Energy Harbor.

“The MVCC aggregation program will continue uninterrupted at the same rate,” Zimmerlin said. “Residents won’t see any difference in the rate, only in the billing. Dynegy will be sending out notices letting everyone know that they have changed from Energy Harbor to Dynegy but there is no change in service with the rate staying the same.”

She also noted that the city discovered an entrance to Westbrook Park from Flower Avenue is located on private property with no easement. The city contacted the property owners and they agreed to donate the property with the path to the city.

A survey of the property and a right-of-way dedication will be presented to council at a later date.

A transportation plan steering committee meeting was held prior to the council meeting. Zimmerlin noted the meeting went well. Other pop-up community events will be held for residents to come in to talk about the active transportation plan and what they would like to see.

A final transportation plan will be presented to council in January for acceptance.

A thoroughfare plan was also completed and Zimmerlin requested a work session to discuss the plan with council on Nov. 7. A budget work session was also scheduled for Nov. 21 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the 2025 budget.

She also informed council that Arbor Homes purchased 30 more acres of land west of its Hunters Path development currently nearing completion on Westbrook Road west of Union Road.