City council met early Aug. 7 to avoid the Musikfest rush, and moved rapidly through a handful of working items.

Council voted to recommend a $103,000 pedestrian improvement project at Liberty HS, a liquor license transfer, execute a new lease agreement with the municipal golf course’s Clubhouse Grille, and to award TuWay Communications a contract for a site mapping study to pursue a new radio tower on the Southside.

These items will be open for public discussion at the Aug. 21 meeting.

Mayor Bob Donchez delivered “kudos” to Water and Sewer Director Ed Boscola and commended city employees for helping restore the Musikfest areas affected by flooding, saying, “It was a great team effort. Many people worked through the night.“

During public comment, frequent speaker Artie Curatola slammed ArtsQuest for pulling his comedy act from all appearances following an argument with staff. He said ArtsQuest is threatening his freedom of speech, that its employees treated him unfairly, and that given a lawyer’s opinion of video footage of the event, he may be willing to sue for loss of wages, among other things.

Curatola also made several direct mentions of his suspicions regarding some ArtsQuest employees’ sexual orientation and implied ArtsQuest is run by communists.

Speaking somewhat less passionately, resident Bill Sheirer also targeted ArtsQuest. He said local business owners have told him they are losing money to the large nonprofit, and that its growth deprives the city of tax revenue. He said he feels the organization is now so large that it is appropriating revenue and spending it for the benefit of the citizens, which is what a government does.

Sheirer called the nonprofit entity a mini-municipality within the city, and said, “Let’s just keep an eye on ArtsQuest.”

President Adam Waldron thanked everyone for appearing for the brief meeting and suggested they get out to Musikfest and enjoy the weather.

It thunderstormed 20 minutes later.