Conneaut City Council Meetings Back on Air ?

It appears Conneaut City Council has reached an agreement to ensure complete coverage of local meetings to the Conneaut Ohio community. On the other hand, work sessions will be "off -air."

On Monday night, the Conneaut City Council was ready to put in place the controversal ordinance, that would remove cameras from the council meetings and move local comments from the audience to the end of council meetings. The proposed ordinance had several local resident's up in arms as they felt this was a form of "political censorship", restricting their freedom of speech to express their ideas and comments to both Council and the City of Conneaut, over the airwaves.


Ward 4 Councilman Dino Julio who introduced the original idea to remove cameras from the council meeting, came to Monday night's meeting with a ammended proposal. This ammendment would allow all the public comments to stay where they are at - and allow for the council meeting to be broadcasted. Members of the public will only be able to discuss legislative matters at this time.

A proposal by Ward 2 Councilman, Charles Lewis to bring camera's back for Council Work Sessions was defeated by a 4-3 vote. Castrilla, Julio, Council President James Jones and Councilman-at-Large Jacob Chicatelli opposed the motion, while Lewis, Campbell and Ward 3 Councilman Greg Mooney supported it.

On a side note: Council also approved a 15 percent increase in municipal sewer rates to help the waste water department finance some capital improvement projects, pay accrued wages to a retiring employee and maybe assist in the purchase of a new sewer jet machine. Members approved the rate hike by a 5-2 vote, with Campbell and Lewis opposed.