At Village Council’s final meeting of 2020, Council unanimously passed a budget for the new year calling for spending increases amid falling revenues.
The deficit budget, the Village’s first in four years, includes $4.23 million in expenses while projecting revenue of $3.27 million.
Council had been discussing the budget with Village staff since October. Since it was first proposed, staff trimmed some expenses in response to Council member concerns about going in the red.
No citizens spoke at the public hearing ahead of the second and final vote.
Council Vice President Marianne MacQueen emphasized that spending was up in 2021 because reserves have been set aside for years specifically for infrastructure investments.
Did a Yellow Springs police officer use the term “angry mob” to describe Black Lives Matter rally attendees? And should a fellow police officer be disciplined for telling a community member that they did?
Those were among the questions that a Columbus law firm recently looked into for the Village of Yellow Springs.
At issue was whether YSPD Officer Dave Meister violated Village policy and state law by allegedly telling a citizen that a fellow officer, Paige Burge, referred to some attendees of the weekly Black Lives Matter rallies as an “angry mob.”
On Saturday, Sept. 12, Burge was on duty and nearby when a small group of rally goers went across the street from Mills Lawn to ask a man to stop mowing the lawn of the Presbyterian Church. Meister, who was not present at the rally, reportedly claimed he later heard Burge use that phrase, or possibly just the word “mob,” to describe the group, at YSPD headquarters.