Hillsboro mayor vetoes pay ordinance; Adkins begins SSD training at city council meeting

In a rare occurrence, Hillsboro Mayor Justin Harsha has vetoed a revision to the city’s pay ordinance passed by Hillsboro City Council in June, as discussed at council’s Thursday, July 17 meeting.

This may have been the first mayoral veto in nearly 15 years, since August 2010, according to Highland County Press records.

As previously reported, council voted to revise the city’s pay ordinance June 12, following a 53-minute executive session called by city law director Randalyn Worley to discuss compensation (and by safety and service director Brianne Abbott to discuss properties).

The pay ordinance revision — the third such change since January 2024 — added or revised several positions and their salary or wage ranges. Those include: code enforcement/meter reader, $23 to $30 an hour (new position); victim rights director, $41,600 to $52,000 (changed from $20-$25/hour), plus a new, additional $30,000 per year for criminal and civil paralegal; paralegal - civil, $10,000 (changed from city building paralegal); and paralegal - criminal, $45,000-$55,000 (changed from municipal court paralegal). 

The code enforcement/meter reader position was revised at the meeting prior to its passage, following a motion from finance committee chair Mary Stanforth. The original legislation presented to council had the range at $23-$35 instead of the eventually approved $23-$30 range. 

According to council president Tom Eichinger, Harsha — who was absent at the June meeting when the vote took place — “had 10 days to act, and he did so in three,” listing three reasons for his objection. Eichinger read the list to have it “on the record,” with council also receiving a written copy from Harsha June 18, according to provided documents.

Harsha alleged that council member Kathryn Hapner’s vote was a “conflict of interest” due to the legislation “pertain[ing] to the salary of the Code Enforcement Officer,” as Hapner “had an unresolved, open code enforcement violation against her property.” Hapner voted in favor of suspension of the three-reading rule and voted yes on the ordinance, but she also seconded the motion by Stanforth to amend the code enforcement salary range.

Harsha further claimed that the passage of the ordinance at the June meeting was “premature and potentially in violation of recommended oversight and best practices for municipal governance,” as city auditor Dawson Barreras was still awaiting “a written legal opinion” on the draft of the ordinance.

“This legal opinion had not yet been received at the time the ordinance was brought to a vote,” Harsha wrote. “Proceeding with a vote while a legal determination was still pending undermines due process and the integrity of legislative procedure. Specifically, the section of the ordinance related to the legal opinion in question should have been tabled until the opinion was formally obtained and reviewed.”

Finally, Harsha pointed out that the “recommendation for modification referenced in support of Ordinance 2025-20 did not explicitly identify or refer to a specific title or position.” Although the legislation was presumably discussed in executive session, there was no reason for the proposal given on the record, nor was there any discussion in open session on what changes were being made. 

“The absence of such specificity raises concerns about the appropriateness and applicability of the recommendation to the salary adjustment in question,” Harsha wrote. “Without clear reference to the Code Enforcement Officer or any defined role, it is procedurally unsound to use this recommendation as justification for the legislative action taken. Legislative decisions, particularly those involving budgetary or personnel matters, must be supported by clearly documented and directly applicable recommendations or findings. In this case, the vague nature of the referenced recommendation fails to meet that standard.”

Eichinger explained to council that Thursday’s meeting serves as “the first formal notification of council” regarding the veto, which starts “a 10-day period now that council can take no action” in response.

“At the end of 10 days and then forward, if council wants to take some action to either overturn the veto or whatever else might be proposed, that can be done,” Eichinger said. “Our ordinance says that council members, three council members or more, may call in a request for a special meeting, or I can, or the safety services director can. 

“It’s up to council to decide what they want to do in that regard. Otherwise, it will just be available, obviously at the next council meeting, if the council wishes to take any action on that.”

In other discussion:

• During the safety and service director’s report, council heard from the newly appointed replacement to longtime SSD Brianne Abbott, as current public works superintendent Shawn Adkins gave the report.

As previously reported, Harsha announced Abbott’s resignation July 7, effective Sept. 12. Abbott has served as safety and service director since Harsha took office as mayor in January 2020. In conjunction with Abbott’s announcement, Harsha named Adkins as her replacement. 

Abbott attended Thursday’s meeting but sat behind city administrators, allowing Adkins to read her report and to answer any questions directed at the SSD.

“I'd like to thank Mayor Justin Harsha for the opportunity to serve and contribute to the community of Hillsboro,” Adkins said during the council meeting. “Ms. Abbott has big shoes to fill. There's going to be a lot of learning curves for me since I've never done this position, so I'm hoping council will be patient.

“Ms. Abbott will be greatly missed, not only by me, but the city as a whole. We have made a great team. With that being said, I sincerely wish her the very best in her future endeavors.”
    
For an update on ongoing construction, Adkins said that the Crossroads Park project is in the design process; Beech and Railroad Streets will be paved “in the near weeks” with sidewalks already installed; installation of a new parking lot on North High Street will “begin as soon as weather permits;” and Harry Sauner Road paving is set to begin in September.

Adkins reported that the city issued 22 permits for residential/commercial building projects in June. In other economic development news, he pointed out that the recently announced Amazon facility’s construction “is moving like wildfire,” while a new Aldi is also being built on Harry Sauner Road. The city and bond counsel continue to engage in talks with Marriott Hotel developers, and Glo Fiber is “still doing construction” on their home internet project, Adkins said.

The city is continuing to host the farmers’ market on Saturday mornings and “Movies Under the Stars” on Friday nights. Adkins also said that the Hillsboro Planning Commission meeting included the approval of “a variance, site plan and temporary use permits.”

• All eight ordinances and resolutions on the agenda were approved Thursday.

On their respective third readings, two ordinances proposed to vacate unnamed alleys within the city were approved. One is for the alley between 406 and 408 Trenton Street, and one is for the alley between 85 Belfast Pike and 326 Bigelow Street. Abbott said in May that both requests were filed by adjacent property owners.
    
Following a brief public hearing held before their regular meeting, council voted 7-0 to approve the city’s proposed 2026 tax budget. Council also voted to repeal the city budget ordinance and to approve a new, revised ordinance in order to correct the previous legislation.

Barreras did not attend the meeting but submitted the following explanation, which was read by council clerk pro tempore Megan Blackburn: “During the budget, we appropriated the money in the transfer resolution on the general fund side twice, growing our budget by an unnecessary $1,840,000. This will fix the over-appropriation.”

Also approved was an ordinance making supplemental appropriations for payment of the Roberts Lane invoice. That included appropriating previously unappropriated funds as follows: Collection System, $474,530.05; Distribution System, $34,868.93; and Street Construction, $23,781.21.    
A second ordinance making supplemental appropriations in the amount of $25,000 in the Police Pension fund was approved.     

“Due to the increase in the Ohio police pension, we will need to appropriate additional funds to cover the pension for the rest of the year,” Blackburn said of the ordinance.

A resolution approving a “then and now” certification by the city auditor for the payment of $3,950 to contractors mowing at blighted properties was passed as an emergency after suspension of the three-reading rule as well. 

A resolution authorizing and directing the mayor to enter into an updated joint partnership agreement with the Highland County Commissioners for program year 2025 Community Housing Impact & Preservation (CHIP) program to address local housing needs, while also repealing a previous resolution for the CHIP program, was also passed as an emergency following suspension of the three-reading rule. As was the case with the county commissioners’ side of the legislation, the revised resolution was to correct “clerical errors” made by Community Action, Adkins said.

• The only standing committee report was given by utilities committee chair Greg Maurer, as he said the committee held a five-minute meeting July 15 to review an appeal of a six-year-old water bill. Maurer said they voted to deny the request.     

• Under communications, it was noted that the Ohio Department of Commerce contacted the city regarding two separate liquor licenses, one for the aforementioned new Aldi and one for the Hillsboro Event Center on Governor Trimble Place. After a brief executive session for economic development purposes, council offered no comment on either communication. 

• During citizens’ comments, uptown business owner Heather Hughes spoke out against the “severe” consequences of the uptown crosswalks and asked the city “for partnership, for open communication, for shared responsibility in preserving and promoting the heart of our city.

“Parking has been dramatically reduced or eliminated, with no immediate action taken to create alternative parking options,” Hughes said. “Businesses have been forced to close for days unexpectedly, resulting in direct financial losses. Vital signage paid for and installed by owners to reflect their current business identities have been covered.”

Hughes read from a letter, which she said other business owners have signed and which she said included “suggestions” on ways the city “could help us.”

For more from Thursday’s meeting, see the story at https://highlandcountypress.com/sports-hillsboro/city-county-proclamati….

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