EAST LIVERPOOL — On Monday, city council unanimously approved Mayor Bobby Smith’s temporary appointment of Tom Cunningham to fill the unfulfilled term of former board member Tim Clark, who resigned to accept the utilities director position.

The council also approved five of the six pieces of legislation on the meeting’s agenda.

Legislation approved included the acceptance of a $20,000 donation from the County Board of Commissioners to help defray the cost of officers assigned full time to the County Drug Task force; amending the budget ordinance by adjusting appropriations; authorizing the auditor to pay certain vendors; amending the ordinance regarding the rate increase for the deputy director of public service and the ordinance for the wages and benefits of non-union employees.

Council Member Fred Rayl said the donation for the officer does not cover all the cost, but it helps.

The deputy director is to receive a $1.50 an hour increase. The ordinance for non-union employees was amended to read that the council shall be required to consider a wage increase every three years, the same as union employees.

An ordinance to pay firefighter Jason Glista $1,620 for repairs to his truck which was damaged in the fire station was discussed. Rayl said auditor Marilyn Bosco asked for documentation on the damages of the truck and was told none could be provided, so the auditor made the decision not to write a check and requested the Finance Committee consider a purchase order. Rayl noted that there was an incident report from one of the firefighters who said he was carrying a ladder and tripped, and the ladder fell into the truck, damaging it. Rayl also said there was considerable discussion by the committee regarding the purchase order request.

Utimately, council members Brian Kerr and Jeff Kreefer voted to send the legislation to council for consideration. With a six-to-zero vote, council voted on putting the legislation on first reading. When it came to voting to suspend the rules and adopt the ordinance, the vote failed with a five-to-one vote. The legislation will now be placed for a second reading.

Safety Service Director Bill Jones told the council the sidewalk in front of city hall had been repaired. Work matched the previous sidewalk — important because the building is part of the historic district. According to Jones, during construction of the sidewalk a piece of the sandstone steps fell apart. Due to the sidewalk being in the historic district, the city must use a sandstone replacement and is waiting for an estimate.

The state was notified the council had no objections on the liquor license application for The Vault.

A Licensing/Economic Development Committee meeting will take place at 6 p.m. May 21 and a Finance Committee meeting will be held at 3 p.m. on May 27. Both meetings will be held in council chambers.

East Liverpool City Council meets the first Monday of each month at 6 p.m. in council chambers at city hall. The next regular meeting is scheduled for June 2.