The Amherst City Council on Oct. 13 unanimously adopted an ordinance reappropriating funds across city departments and approved a final development plan to allow an unheated storage building on a parcel for North Coast Design Build LLC. Council members also scheduled two finance items for Oct. 20 and were told the Ohio Auditor of States desk review of the citys 2024 audit required no modifications.

The reappropriation ordinance (Ordinance O25-24) was introduced on first reading and the council suspended the rule requiring three readings so it could be adopted immediately. The motion to suspend the rules passed on a roll-call vote of 7-0; the adoption vote likewise passed 7-0. Later in the meeting the council voted 7-0 to adopt the final development plan (Ordinance O25-25) for a portion of parcel 0500044000106 to permit construction of an unheated storage building for use by North Coast Design Build LLC.

Why it matters: The reappropriation shifts budget authority among departments for the 2025 fiscal year and was adopted as an emergency ordinance, allowing the city to implement the funding changes immediately. Approval of the final development plan clears the local land-use approval step for the storage building described in the ordinance.

Votes at a glance

- Ordinance O25-24 — "An ordinance reappropriating funds in various departments of the City of Amherst, State of Ohio, per the attached appendix A and declaring an emergency." Suspension of three-reading rule: motion passed 7-0 (roll call). Adoption: motion passed 7-0 (roll call). (Mover to suspend: recorded as Diminski; second: Janek. Move to adopt: recorded as Dembinski; second: Janek.)

- Ordinance O25-25 — "An ordinance approving the final development plan for the proposed development of a portion of parcel number 0500044000106 for the purpose of constructing an unheated storage building for use by North Coast Design Build LLC." Adoption: motion passed 7-0 (roll call). (Mover: Neihorn; second: Demitsky.)

Other actions and administrative items

- The council accepted the consent agenda, which included minutes from the regular council meeting of Sept. 22, 2025, and minutes of a finance committee meeting held Oct. 13, 2025. Motion passed 7-0.

- Finance Committee: Councilman Diminski, as finance chairman, called two items for the committee meeting on Monday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m.: Resolution A25-33, "accepting amounts and rates as determined by the budget commission and authorizing necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county auditor" (listed as an emergency), and Ordinance A25-34, authorizing the safety citys water pollution control center for 2026 and 2027 (listed with emergency language). The council set both items for that date.

- Audit: Auditor Phillips reported the Ohio Auditor of State, Keith Faber, completed a desk review of the City of Amhersts audit for the year ended Dec. 31, 2024, and that the desk review found the report acceptable with no modifications required. The council accepted the city administrations reports and acknowledged receipt of the monthly reports from the auditor and treasurer; those motions passed 7-0.

- Operations: Director McCourt reported leaf pickup will begin in November, starting on the north side of the tracks and alternating weeks, with efforts later to cover the whole city.

The meeting included routine roll call, the invocation and pledge and concluded at 7:10 p.m. No members of the public spoke during the public comment period.

Details on motions, movers, seconds and roll-call tallies are drawn from the meeting record; where the transcript used variant spellings of member names, this article uses the spellings as recorded in the council roll-call and vote statements in the transcript.