GAMBIER — Monday evening, Gambier Village Council became the 29th municipality in Ohio to pass an anti-discrimination ordinance that bars discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and public services.
Most Gambier councilmembers attended the regular monthly meeting remotely via the Zoom app, with Mayor Leeman Kessler, village Fiscal Officer Kathi Schonauer and Village Administrator RC Wise attending in person at the community center. Their busy agenda saw a village employee wage ordinance pass upon third reading; included discussion of a new factor relating to negotiations over a new contract with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO); and took in a discussion of whether the village should attempt to impose on customers that they wear masks inside village businesses.
Ben Nutter, a councilmember and Kenyon College student, said he was glad to see the ordinance will protect residents from discrimination involving sexual orientation or gender identity. It also protects them from discrimination based on age, color, disability, education, familial status, gender expression, marital status, national origin, race, religion, or sex. An audience member at the meeting commented that the ordinance should be able to better protect village residents from housing-related discrimination.
The complainant would have 180 days from the time of the incident to file a written complaint with the village administrator, who is then to review it and provide a copy to the council’s police and personnel committee as well as the village solicitor. The committee is asked to take action within 90 days of receiving the complaint, a process that may include collecting evidence and holding a hearing. Any person found in violation of the ordinance is responsible for a civil infraction, “and upon a determination or admission of responsibility shall be subject to a civil fine of not more than $500, costs of prosecution, and such other costs, damages, expenses, sanctions, and remedies as authorized by law.”
Councilmembers then went into executive session to discuss the ongoing contract negotiations between the village and KCSO, which according to the police and personnel committee report issued April 27, has made significant progress. The current contract expired on April 4.
The police and personnel committee has reviewed a draft of a possible four-year agreement with the sheriff to provide 80 hours of coverage per week and including a minimum of eight hours per day. It would allow for termination by either party at any time with 60 days notice. Currently, two sheriff’s deputies patrol Gambier, including parts of Kenyon College, at a cost of $157,000 per year.
The committee report said Wise was pleased that under the new plan the village would be paying the cost of village coverage instead of paying for individual deputies, which “would allow greater flexibility to meet our actual security needs, e.g. the number of deputies patrolling at any given time.”
One issue early on in negotiations was what say the council would have, if any, in the officers the sheriff deploys to serve in Gambier. That subject became an issue early this year when the Black Student Union of Kenyon, and its sheriff’s committee, came before the council to state that one of the two deputies patrolling Gambier, Kevin Williams, has harassed African-American students at the college. Williams denied the allegations and has since been switched to the day shift.
Nutter said he is concerned that problems involving “harassment” and “bad relations between villagers and police” are not addressed in the draft agreement. Kessler, however, said the sheriff’s office does have a formal complaint procedure that Kenyon students or anyone can use if they feel they have been improperly treated. Sheriff David Shaffer has previously said any reassigning of sheriff’s officers must go through a union process with the Fraternal Order of Police.
In other matters, the council:
•Passed on a third reading a wage ordinance that will give employees 3 percent raises. Council President Betsy Heer had asked that the raises, which would be retroactive to April 1, be put on hold temporarily until the village has had time to analyze the economic impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on village revenue. But councilmember Liz Forman said it would be unfair to hold up the pay increases employees have earned and counted on.
