With the swearing in of two new council members, Athens City Council began the new year with emergency repairs and a poet laureate.
During the first meeting of the new year, Athens City Council welcomed two new members Monday night.
Athens Law Director Lisa Eliason swore in Councilman Pete Kotses, D-At Large, and Councilman Pat McGee, I-At Large, before the meeting.
Monday evening marked the first meeting Athens Mayor Steve Patterson assumed his new role as well, making the switch from city council member to mayor.
He began his term as mayor by asking city council to approve an ordinance granting $90,000 worth of emergency maintenance for storm water repair on North Court Street.
Patterson said Andy Stone, Athens city engineer and director of public works, went down into the tunnel to check on it due to previous problems with the same drain.
"The sandstone infrastructure is beginning to fail," Patterson said. "We're talking about a 150-year-old storm drain tunnel."
The repairs will begin immediately. Patterson and Athens Service-Safety Director Paula Horan-Moseley cautioned residents to be alert while on the north end of Court Street.
"Now that we've been made aware and this has been brought to our attention, we need to go in and make the repairs," Horan-Moseley said.
Athens City Council also approved its first poet laureate for the City of Athens.
Naming Alison Stine to the position, Athens is the first city in the state of Ohio to declare a poet laureate, Councilman Kent Butler, D-1st Ward, said.
The Athens Municipal Arts Commission, of which Butler is a member, recommended Stine for the two-year position.
Carol Patterson, chair of the Athens Municipal Arts Commission, spoke highly of Stine referring to her as "multi-artistic."
Stine, not only a recognized poet, is also a visual artist, a musician and has directed a high school drama program, Carol Patterson said.
"I feel that (Stine) is a wonderful advocate for Athens," Carol Patterson said.
Carol Patterson also unveiled the title of the project Stine will work on for her first year as poet laureate for the city: Words like water.
"Her analogy there was that water is important to our essence, (and) so is art," Carol Patterson said. "Also, the fact that water is our sustenance and anything that threatens that water is an issue to her."
Stine has lived in Athens for the past eight years, had earned a doctoral degree in English from Ohio University, and has a passion for protecting the environment, Carol Patterson said.
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