ARTICLE
At its regular meeting scheduled for 4:00 p.m. today, Toledo City Council is expected to vote on a package of ordinances regarding “wage theft” and wage related information requirements for all employers in Toledo. Wage theft is a term used for the denial of wages or employee benefits that are owed to an employee. The ordinances include the following: • Ordinance 146-17 which would establish a minimum penalty of $250 and a maximum penalty of $1,000, and between three days and six months in jail, for wage theft violations. Violators would be liable for the total compensation owed to the employee plus two times that cost. • Ordinance 147-17 which would require certain notices and postings of wage related information, maintaining of payroll records, and establishing a civil complaint procedure for wage theft to be investigated and enforced. • Ordinance 148-17 which would prevent the issuance of business licenses to employers convicted or found liable of violating wage-theft laws. • Ordinance 149-17 which would prohibit award of a contract in excess of $10,000 to employers that have been convicted or found liable of violating wage-theft laws. The Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce has expressed concerns about Ordinances 146-17 and 147-17 as they impose penalties and other requirements that are duplicative with the responsibilities of the U.S. Department of Labor and the Ohio Department of Commerce. Council also will likely vote on the following legislation: • Ordinance 390-17 which would give consent to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to replace and improve the I-75 Disalle Bridge over the Maumee River and the South Avenue and Miami Street interchanges. It would also allow ODOT to reconstruct South Avenue between the southbound and northbound ramps, and authorize demolition of ten structures for the upgrading of the South Avenue interchange. • Ordinance 398-17 which would approve Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson’s nomination of Baldemar Velasquez for re-appointment to the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority Board. • Ordinance 401-17 which would re-appropriate $3 million in water bond proceeds for the Maintenance Facility and Chemical and Filter Building Improvements Project at the Collins Park Water Treatment Facility. The ordinance supplements funding for maintenance and storeroom facilities and renovations to the chemical and filter buildings. • Ordinance 402-17 which would re-appropriate $2 million in water bond proceeds for repair and rehabilitation of the recarbonation, flocculation and sedimentation basins and clearwells at the treatment facility. The ordinance supplements funding for a variety of specific upgrades for these projects. Also on the session’s agenda is Resolution 399-17 which would urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to designate the waters of the Western Basin of Lake Erie as “impaired” under the U.S. Clean Water Act. It is not known what action Council will take on the measure. In 2016, Council passed Resolution 247-16 recognizing that the Clean Water Act does not directly provide for the regulation of “non-point” sources of pollution such as agricultural runoff, and asking Congress to update the Clean Water Act to allow for regulatory controls over such entities. All Council meetings are held in Council Chambers on the first floor of One Government Center, located on Jackson Boulevard in downtown Toledo.