GREENVILLE — Three pieces of legislation to amend zoning ordinances were voted down during Greenville City Council’s Tuesday night meeting.

If approved, the ordinances would have expanded the jurisdictional territory of the Architectural Review District (ARD), modified requirements for business signs in the downtown, and established prerequisites for downtown murals. The expansion of the ARD, particularly, had met some resistance among property owners living in and near the downtown.

Council voted “no” unanimously on all three measures.

Councilman Leon Rogers said, “I think it needs a little bit more study and a little bit more clarification as to what is going to happen and what might need to happen.”

“All three of these ordinances can be addressed through the current zoning [board],” said Councilman Tracy Tryon. “If there is some slight language change needed, it can be taken up with [Planning & Zoning Director Chad] Henry and the zoning office and the safety/service director. I don’t think we need the wholesale change that we’re looking for.”

Safety/Service Director Curt Garrison addressed council regarding the county’s move to a consolidated 9-1-1 service and MARCS (Multi-Agency Radio Communication System) radios for all county emergency agencies.

“With the implementation of this new plan, the city will no longer have the ability, or capability, to receive 9-1-1 calls,” said Garrison, who noted the city will still retain its emergency dispatchers, but that all 9-1-1 calls will first go to the county dispatch, before being forwarded to Greenville dispatch if applicable to incidents calling for Greenville Police or Fire. The county’s new system should be in place by the beginning of 2018.

Regarding the MARCS radios, Garrison told council the county is placing a .45 mill levy on the November ballot, which will fund current and future emergency communications for all municipalities within the county.

“I believe we need to have a further conversation with the county commissioners on what aspects they will choose to fund of our radio needs,” he said, referring to the need for new consoles in the city’s dispatch center.

“One train of thought is that if this levy passes, the county should purchase at least one console for the city dispatch center. The question to council is, would we want to ask the county to fund both consoles, or do we feel that’s fair to have only one console funded?” he asked.

“We’re going to MARCS April 1. We don’t know if the levy’s going to pass in November. So we have some real questions, as a city, on the direction that we go,” he added, noting the city will begin discussing its 2018 budget in the coming month.

“If the levy doesn’t pass, we have no commitment from the commissioners who pays for the [Ohio Department of Natural Resources] radios, who pays for the programming of the ODNR radios, who will pay the ongoing fees associated with the ODNR radios,” he said.

Council President John Burkett asked if Garrison could get more information from the county, and the topic may be addressed by a council committee.

Garrison also told council that he’d received a verbal commitment from the Montrose Group regarding its fee for setting up Downtown Redevelopment Districts for the city.

Originally, the firm was going to charge the city $20,000, but has offered to instead charge $17,500, he said. The group is offering the same service to the Village of Versailles for $15,000.

In other matters, council approved an ordinance amending penalties for income tax violations.

A first offense for income tax violators will be a minor misdemeanor. A second offense within one year after a first offense, the person will be found guilty of a fourth-degree misdemeanor. On each subsequent offense within one year after the first offense, a third-degree misdemeanor will be charged.

Council also passed ordinances establishing a waterworks surplus fund, a wastewater reserve fund and a wastewater replacement and improvement fund, and a resolution to enter into a contract for professional civil engineering services for refurbishment of the municipal buildings’ heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.

Greenville City Council meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. The meetings are livestreamed on the City of Greenville Ohio Youtube channel, and may also be viewed the following day.