Portsmouth City Council will be meeting Monday to hear third reading on two pieces of legislation, including an ordinance codifying outdoor lighting standards and another that would authorize the city manager to advertise for bids for supplies.

For second reading, council will hear about ordinancese to make appropriations for expenses for the months of January and February 2024. Council members will also hear second reading on an ordinance to accept $11,487 by the Portsmouth City Health Department from the Ohio EPA. A second reading will also be heard that will allow City Auditor Trent Williams to amend appropritaions to reflect revenues and expenditures and allow him to balance and close the city’s financial books for 2023.

A first reading will be heard on ordinances that would:

-Amend the salary ordinance to add the position of Evidence Technician at a starting salary of $25 per hour retroactive to August 2023; to reflect a 3.85 percent increase for non-union employees effective Jan. 1; contractual wage increases per union contracts, to reflect the removal of 10 percent pension pickup paid to OPERS by the city in exchange for a 10 percent base salary increase for the positions of the City Auditor and the City Solicitor to be effective Jan. 1.

-Authorize the transfer of properties known as Branch Rickey Park, Spartan Municipal Stadium, and the fields west of the Stadium up to and including the softball field next to the Service Department to Shawnee State University.

-Authorize City Manager Sam Sutherland to enter into an agreement with the Mannik & Smith Group for design services for the Coles Boulevard project and the appropriation of $448,820 to cover the local share of preliminary engineering services.

-Authorize appropriation and transfer of funds from the general fund to various health department funds to prevent ending the year in deficits that could cause practical and legal entanglements.

The council meeting will be followed by the city manager’s meeting, which will feature discussion on zoning, blighted properties, and the application for grants. The meetings begin at 6 p.m., in the Portsmouth Municipal Building, 728 Second St., Portsmouth.