Athens City Council approved the final fire station payment after a lengthy debate

By: Charlie Ihlenfeld
Posted on: Wednesday, June 18, 2025

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Athens City Council narrowly passed an ordinance to approve the final payment for the new fire station Monday night as one council member initially balked.

The payment has been delayed since November after the city was scammed out of more than $700,000.

Because there were only five council members present at Monday night’s meeting, the vote required unanimity among the members.

This became a problem when Councilmember Michael Wood announced he planned to abstain. Wood has long expressed his displeasure with the city’s administration about how they handled the final payment. At each reading of the ordinance, Wood emphasized it was wrong for the city to go forward with an additional $210,024 added to the final payment without consulting the council.

To cover the additional amount, money was taken from several sources, including the Fire Department’s supply budget.

During discussion, Wood said it was unfair to the Fire Department to have funding taken away. Councilmember Jessica Thomas argued the costs were part of the overall fire station project. These include maintaining the green space, the fitness court and the parking lot near the soccer fields.

Wood, the son of a firefighter, said he was happy to have the new fire station, but he was not pleased with the manner in which the city responded to questions about the increased costs.

“When I first brought it up,” Wood said afterward, “the answer was, ‘Do you want us to tear out the facility?’ That was obviously not the point.”

When the time came to vote, four of the five council members said ‘Yay.’ Wood remained silent. The room turned to Wood, waiting for his response. Wood re-stated his belief that he would have approved the money with no problem if the city had talked to the council about the decision first.

Wood finally relented and voted yes, but said he hopes the city’s administration takes notice.

He said the administration works with the trust of the council. While members of the City Council work for the city part time, Wood said, the administrators are in the “driver’s seat” because they work full time.

“I do hope the administration understands the message,” Wood said about his decision afterward. “And it’s a little more mindful and communicates in a more respectful and direct way.”