City Council - Regular Meeting

It's 1.30, and our next committee meeting of the day is the Parks and Recreation Committee. Those committee members are Connor, Lombardo, Davis, Hannah, and Boyce. We have all committee members present except for Councilwoman Davis. Whenever you're ready, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much. May I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes from our previous meeting, please?

Motion to approve.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. We have one item coming before us on the new agenda. It is ordinance number 30, authorizing the mayor or his designee to enter into a contractor contract's without the formality of public advertising for bids with Youth Success Summit to support the organization's operations, coordinate activities for after school and summer programming providers, and deliver technical assistance and coaching to programs serving Akron's youth and declaring an emergency. And I'm gonna turn it over to Daniko Buckley-Meyer.

Thank you and good afternoon, Council. As mentioned, we are asking for supporting the support of Youth Success Summit, which is our partner who has assisted with creating an out-of-school time ecosystem to prevent violence and provide opportunities for youth.

Thank you. Do we have any questions, comments, presentation?

Yes. All right, so again, I appreciate having an opportunity to give you all a quick update related to youth opportunity and the strategies that we're setting for the City of Akron Mayor's Office. As always, a little bit about myself. I'm born and raised from Akron, Ohio, North High graduate. Went to Malone University. Did some work with the YMCA for about 15 years. I'm also a qualified mental health specialist, a certified community health worker who also serves as a site manager for Access Point Community Health Center. Also was a family resource coordinator for the United Way. I am the guy that gets cussed out if East High School lose. I'm the office coordinator, and I am the father of three boys, ages 20, 19, 11, and I have one daughter that is six years old. So one of the things I wanted to update you all is around the VIP strategic plan. We released the VIP strategic plan in 2023 with the goal of reducing violence among youth and young adults by the year 2028. One of the important areas that I wanted to make sure that we accomplish is hearing from the community. So in front of you, you have what the community identified as eight focus areas that they wanted to see the mayor's office intentionally have some investments and some resources towards. to provide opportunities for our youth, but specifically with the goal of reducing violence. So there are eight approaches ranging from mentorship to recreation, reentry, police-youth relations, mental health, gun violence reduction, community awareness, and workforce development. Within the strategic plan we highlighted in 2023 that we had a pending initiative and that pending initiative was to develop an out of school time ecosystem to provide opportunities for youth with the goal of reducing violence. Prior to that kind of focus, we in our community did not have an organization that focused on the youth serving the works in out-of-school time space. There was not a kind of convener that made sure that from a systems approach, systems was being built. And because of that, we partnered with Dr. Ellen Williams-Woods to create an out-of-school time ecosystem. I'm going to pause and pass it to our partners, Rachel Tekka, executive director, and Dr. Element Williams-Woods, who will share a little bit more about YSS, where we started and where we're going. And I'm also going to try to pivot and change the slides while I do that. I'm going to pass it to Rachel.

Did this come up? Good afternoon City Council members. Thank you so much for having us here today. We are really excited to give you some updates on the work happening in our community to support our kids in the out of school time space. We've had the opportunity to share a little bit over the last few years of the work that we've been doing. But I think, you know, just wanted to kind of keep us rooted and what the mission of the success summit is, which is to expand opportunities for all kids. Oh, there's my slides. Thank you. I don't know what this is clicking. Maybe that would help. And in the three roles that the Youth Success Summit plays is around training and resources for out-of-school time providers. It's about connecting our families to work high-quality after-school programs are. And the third piece is around systems building, making sure that we're working with many, many different organizations to solve some of the challenges that youth-serving organizations face every day. We've been at this work for less than two years officially, and 2024 was our first kind of official year. kind of being this convener and support for out of school time providers. And the reason why this community invested in out of school time space was this basic statistic that 80% of a child's waking hours are spent outside of a school. Right, we know that that's untapped opportunity for our kids to really grow and thrive. And what Youth Success Summit does is coordinate those services and provide the training and the technical support so those are high quality experiences for all kids based on the things that they're interested and passionate about. We support organizations that are in that arts and enrichment space. We support organizations in the sports and wellness space. And we also support organizations in that college and career readiness space. Currently, we have about 130 plus different after school and summer learning providers that are part of our YSS network. But I really think we're just really starting to scratch the surface. There's a lot of people in this community who care about kids. And as soon as they get Connected to us and we are able to come in and support them or whatever it is that they need to be their best I spoke to this already But I really wanted to focus in on the summer for all initiative Around this prevention strategy knowing that kids spend 80% of their waking hours outside of the school day Summer is that biggest gap right? students are out of school for about three months and with beautiful sunny weather, hopefully not today, but usually beautiful sunny weather with not a lot of structure and opportunities to do things they love with some support. So we at YSS as a network really started thinking about how do we transform the community into a classroom where learning can happen all summer long. And so we've done that over the last two or three years. The first year we kept some data, but officially starting in 2024, As you can see on the slide, we're tracking the number of youth who are participating in something positive and structured in the summer hours. And so in 2024, you can see about 6,800 kids participated. Last year, we were up to 8,400, and we highly anticipate 2026 exceeding that as well. We really spend a lot of time making sure there's something for everyone. And for us, a lot of our high school kids, they want work opportunities in the summer, right? Paid work opportunities in the summer. And so over the last two summers, you can see we're continuing to increase the number of students who have those paid work experiences during the summer. And I don't know, Deniko, this might be a good time to introduce your two interns.

Yeah, sure. So with me, we have two of our summer youth employee employment interns from our summer program. I have Anthony Felden and I have Gerard Ivory. So I'm going to allow them to quickly introduce themselves and share a little bit about their internship over the last two summers with the city of Akron.

Hello, my name is Anthony. I am a high school graduate that attended East High School. I'm a two sport athlete. I play football and basketball and my internship working here for Danico has been great so far. I've been here for three years now and Danico honestly working here and being a part of meetings like meetings like this was very special to me because this is my first time actually doing it and just helping him out around in a mayor's office is actually important like the favorite project that I have so far that I worked on was the Akron City Festival and working with him we're talking about what vendors and what people would have we should have there and actually having my voice be able with the youth that I Like having a voice around and he actually listening is very important. And I'm like that I'm feel included. I didn't pay him for that either.

Hi, my name is Jara. I'm a student athlete and rising senior at Firestone High School. So far, this is my second year working here. I think I know the best part of my experience here so far was we did a health and wellness grant for organizations. I think that was important to get to visit different places and learn different things about people and deciding which organizations to help was definitely the best part of here.

Thank you. This is an example, a great example of the power of these experiences for our kids in the summer. Last summer, we had over 900 kids working with caring adults who were giving them those work experiences that we hope help them the rest of their lives. When we started this whole concept of Summer for All, we started with a aspect of that is around what we call the fifth quarter. And the fifth quarter is a partnership between our out of school time providers and Akron Public Schools. And so those two organizations come together and they plan a three week summer camp solving a problem in our community. And so the first year we had two sites, two middle school sites. Last year we had over 33, which included both fifth quarter and everything else happening in the city. We also highly anticipate that this summer it will be well over 50. I know this because our fifth quarter sites are going from eight to 11. And we're really excited for our kids to really get that academic aspect of it, the camp fun and feel, but also coming up with authentic solutions to problems our community faces. So you can see eight of those sites are middle school, three are for elementary, and we're gonna continue to expand the fifth quarter opportunities because we believe in the model and it seems like we already have pretty long wait lists at each of these camps for this summer so we know there's a lot of interest from our kids the one camp that i would love to highlight is our partnership with the city there is an esports camp being held this summer at the lawton center We'll have an APS teacher who taught eSports at Buchtel, partnering with a Big Brothers and Big Sisters employee. And they are solving this problem that I highlighted for you here. Their summer is going to be spent researching and pitching How might esports campers design and implement a community-driven initiative that shifts public perception of esports from a recreational activity to a legitimate sport while creating inclusive opportunities for skill development, competition, career pathways within the local community? They're pretty passionate about this topic. And so I wouldn't be surprised if they want to come to city council and pitch their solution to making sure there's more esports programs throughout the entire city. So that's just a little example about what fifth quarter our kids are doing in the community to solve local issues. You know, the list that you see on the screen are all of the many, many different organizations who offer something this summer for our kids. as members of YSS, we then provide stipends to all of those organizations who submit their data so that we can keep tracking our progress, right? We also stipend them for participating in some of those program quality measures, right? So the one this summer that we're focusing on is youth voice, getting feedback from the kids who attend summer experiences, and then using that feedback for them to continue to grow and get better at what they're doing so next summer they just take the input from the kids and keep adjusting their practices. It's a huge undertaking to get 50 people through a youth survey this summer, but we are really dedicated with our staff to make sure that that happens and to help our organizations continue to grow and thrive.

Committee chair and the rest of the council, it is also a great honor to talk about being selected, this greater Akron community being selected as one of seven communities across the country for a Wallace Foundation grant. The Wallace Foundation in this out of school time city partnership space across the country, they are the premier foundation organization. If you get to work with Wallace, you feel like you've sort of arrived in this sector. And so we're thrilled that kind of so early on in our joint partnership with the city that we were selected one out of seven communities to work with them on a six-year venture. And we're just going to give you a quick update on where we are in this process. As a reminder, because we have talked about this here before, but the Wallace Foundation grant, it's called advancing opportunities for adolescents. It focuses on youth sixth through ninth grade. And the original focus is on one zone, and that is in the east cluster, is where we're starting. But then as we learn everything that we're going to be piloting and starting in the east cluster, we'll be able to spread that out to other clusters throughout the city. So it's for the youth sixth through ninth grade. And basically there's four major components that will have an impact in the east cluster and then eventually across the city. We're gonna expand youth opportunities and really focus on what the youth, like those esports that the youth are very interested in. We are focusing on eliminating barriers and increasing access, so there will be very specific strategies about where program is located, how are we offering transportation, hopefully how are we offering all the services free so that we eliminate any barriers for families to access. One component is also providing one-to-one navigators with youth, so one trusted adult mentor who will help the youth map out goals for themselves and help them achieve those goals. And then there's a whole nother component of it's not just providing opportunities for youth, but how do we also support the neighborhood as a whole so that we're building the resiliency of the entire neighborhood so when the youth are going back into their homes in the neighborhood, they also are feeling supported and resourced in that neighborhood. Where we are right now in terms of planning is we had a year It's 18 months total of planning before we actually launch services. We have to submit a plan in December, this December. We have 60 member team right now meeting designing, and those are people from the East Cluster, they're residents, they're youth, they're parents, they're organizations that serve youth in the East Cluster. They have been meeting half a day every single month for six months now, designing what they want across those areas that we saw, increasing more youth opportunities, navigation, one-to-one kind of mentors, and that neighborhood resiliency piece. So this is from the neighborhood, them designing what they want to launch a pilot in January. And so 2027 will be a pilot. I'm sure we'll come back and give you an update on how things are going. But it is a full six-year project. So then we'll have five years once the pilot launches to keep building, implementing, fine-tuning. This is the... The key organizations that right now have been part of the design process and who we stipend, again, all of the organizations, the time that they participate, they're getting paid and honored for their time and hours, and then there will be money that will flow during the pilot that as they sign on to provide services, we'll be able to support them in all of that expansion work.

So this is just a reminder of the importance of out of school time and the positive outcomes that it has on kids. We didn't spend a lot of time, but we are really intentionally building those essential skills that kids need for the rest of their lives. We know that it's having a huge impact on reducing youth violence. There's correlation between kids who participate in after school opportunities and their attendance rates. And we know that ultimately it's making sure kids have experiences that help them be prepared for the rest of their lives. This slide that we shared a couple years ago is that for every dollar invested, three to 13 is returned to the community through higher incomes, higher tax payments, and lower crime rates. That's a national statistic from the National League of Cities. And we just wanted to say thank you so much for your continued support of the Youth Success Summit, and we hope we are making you proud.

All right. Thank you very much, Dr. Ellen and Rachel, for providing that detailed update to council related to Youth Success Summit and our partnership with the city of Akron. Also wanted to highlight a couple of other things related to the work around youth opportunity strategies. So I wanted to give you guys a quick snapshot of our eSports lab. We are going to be sending out a notification. We want to do a ribbon cutting next week on July the 1st. But this is the eSports lab that we've been working on in the space of recreation. And I also wanted to, if possible, highlight a quick video related to police-youth relations. Here we go. This is an initiative that I'm happy to do. They are doing a 10-second shop with a cop. Each ward, after school, and basically pick up the time for any of the kids who are in the store. And this was the very first one that we did.

Anybody have any bags? Send them over here.

And the only time that matters is my timer. Okay? So nobody say, no, that's only eight seconds. Right?

Go, go, go, go.

Time, time, time.

Time up.

Time. Go to the counter, go to the counter. Bring it up to the counter. Go up to the counter.

Go up to the counter. Come on. Come on.

So that was just one of the examples of having an intentional focus around police-youth relations, been able to create initiatives like 10 Second Shop of the Cop. And a funny story is we did that. That was their first one. There was a kid that ran directly to the gift cards and grabbed a stack of gift cards. So the police had to honor it, but we have put some measures to make sure that that doesn't happen moving forward. Um, I also wanted to highlight that, um, around gun violence reduction. Um, we also, uh, did a Michael gun, gun violence documentary in partnership with Tom top. Um, and is this not showing? I don't worry about it. I'll make sure this is included in the presentation that you guys will have an opportunity to look through. And the last thing I wanted to highlight around the strategic plan is both Anthony Felden and Jarrah Ivory, who have participated with the Summer Youth Employment Program for three years for Anthony and two years for Jarrah. I made a commitment that once they finish their college, first year of college, that they could come back to the city and I will take them on as a college intern. Some of the other quick highlights related to youth opportunity is National Night Out. National Night Out is an annual community building campaign that promotes police community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live. I am proud to work with you all as council members to host a National Night Out event in each ward and this year we will be hosting National Night Out on Tuesday, August the 4th. There also was a highlighted video with myself, Chief Harding and Chief Henderson, we were able to highlight what we do in Akron for National Night Out with News Channel 5, so that is the link to this presentation. Another initiative that I oversee is Akron City Festival. This year will be our fourth annual Akron City Festival. The goal is to celebrate our youth and young adults in a fun, friendly environment as they kick off the 2026-27 school year. Last year we had over 1,100 youth participate in the parade. We are looking at reaching that goal or more this year. And we also have created it to be a two-day event. Saturday, September 5th, we're going to partner with the downtown library. to do our fashion show, our music show, and our dance show. And then Sunday, with partnership with Lock3, we're going to host the parade and festival, with the parade kicking off at 1 PM, ending in Lock3, which will have a number of things from food trucks, gaming trucks, bouncy houses, free haircuts, nail techs, a big party for the youth and young adults from the city of Akron. In my previous conversation, I was able to present to you all about the partnership with the Aspen Institute and the state of Akron project play report. We just provided Aspen Institute with their contract. So legal is looking through that. We are looking at starting that collaboration in August of this year. And this week, we will be meeting with Aspen Institute as well as our Sports and Wellness Advisory Committee to kind of talk about next steps related to the Aspen State of Play report. I do want to highlight... Do I have enough time? No. I do want to highlight that there is a State of Play Oakland video that Steph Curry... provided that really highlights what he and his foundation Eat, Live, and Play committed to do to support the Project Play State of Play report in Oakland. So we'd love for you all to check that video out when you have some extra time. Connect at the Rec is aimed at teens in grades 6 through 12 to provide recreational opportunities on Friday nights from 5 to 9 p.m. We have three locations, Ed Davis Patterson Park and Joy Park. And at Connected Direct, you can expect open gym, arts and crafts, a live DJ, food giveaways, barbers, nail techs, and guest speakers. And then we also got a video that highlights what we're doing for Connected Direct for you all to check out. Last couple of things. We have what we call a co-leads team. And this co-lead team meets on a bi-weekly basis to plan, strategize around those four areas of the out-of-school time violence intervention and prevention, youth voice, and post-secondary success. Here is kind of like a one pager that highlights our four areas related to out-of-school equitable access and out-of-school time space, services for youth impacted by violence, youth voice and family support, and lastly, post-secondary success. And the last thing I had is just some of the committees that I'm honored to serve on, ranging from Summit Coalition for Community Health Improvement, Summit County Minority Health Advisory Group, Summit County Continuum of Care, Juvenile SIM Committee, the Akron Climate Action Working Group, and our Youth Success Summit Synergy Team. So in partnership with Youth Success Summit, interns, and some of these other areas, Akron keeps me busy in a positive way.

Thank you very much. Thank you to the whole team. We're going to open it up for a few minutes for questions from committee members first. Councilman Hanna.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Buckley-Knight, are they paying you enough? You do a lot, and I want to thank you personally for reaching out to the East Ackland community and connecting with that community and starting the program in that area. It's sadly needed in that area and across the city. And the two young men that are sitting in front of me, you're a beacon of light. And you spoke very well. And it's a testimony that Akron and the programs are working. And I want to applaud you. And it's an excellent program. And just keep on doing what you're doing. And perhaps we can save one life. Thank you so much. Appreciate those kind words, Councilman.

Any other questions from committee members? Councilwoman Amobian, please go ahead.

Thank you, Mrs. Madam Chair. Dicko, I really love the variety of what you're trying to offer the young people. And then what I love so much is that you are trying to attach data to what you're doing so we can get some results and talk about what we're doing. And the fact that we're involved with this leading organization called Wallace for three years. I mean, that's fantastic. Would there be an opportunity after three years to re-up for another three? Or are they done with us after the three? I don't know. But what I love about all of this is that it is absolutely what we need to see. And as Mr. Hanna indicated, thank you, young men, for participating in this. And it sounds like you have an offer on your back young man after you complete your first year of college you can come back and hang with mr denico for another year or two but uh but thank you so much i just love the variety i love what i'm hearing and um this gives me a lot of hope that we are on the right track thank you appreciate that thank you any additional questions comments councilman greer i just want to also echo my colleagues thank you again to mr

Buckley Knight, our two interns here, who spoke really well. And I think that having them as part of your program really helps highlight that ongoing impact. Thank you to Rachel as well and our entire panel here. This work is so important. One of my questions was, you spoke about how that wait list. grows and grows. Typically, how long do these students have to wait in order to get placed?

Yeah, I think he's referencing the fifth quarter. Yeah.

Thank you so much for that question, Councilman. Really, what ends up happening is when they don't get their first choice on that wait list, we try to direct them to other things right away. So it might not be like I didn't get into Akron Sneaker Camp this year, but I got into the Vincent House for their architecture camp. So the intention is to not have any wait time at all, but maybe just keep expanding those really high interest areas for each kid.

Thank you. Again, I just want to say thank you and your willingness to connect with other organizations. I know we've talked recently, and so thank you. Thank you. Appreciate you all.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Boyce. I'll be quick. I just want to reiterate how important Youth Success Summit is to these smaller nonprofits that have been doing hard work for 15, 20 years without any funding or support from the public sector. So just know that the data that you're able to get for them, the connections you're able to make for them, positions them so much better better to be able to serve even more people, not just in their community, but beyond, because a lot of these are neighborhood based, but they they can possibly what they offer has has reached throughout the city. So I just want to thank you and give you kudos for providing particularly that connection to a summit education initiative and the data that comes from there. Thanks. Thank you.

I just want to say on my end, I've had the pleasure of working for Danico for a number of years. with Night Out and various neighborhood initiatives, obviously with Rachel and Ellen. Thank you to the interns. You'll be in these seats one day, don't worry.

Sloner than later.

The work being done in the East Cluster, the partners at the table, the input from not only our youth, our families, our nonprofits, and the ability for them to all work together is truly going to change lives. And I am grateful.

You do have an ordinance in front of you that the committee will need to make a recommendation on.

Madam Chair, we'll go with consent.

A recommendation for consent, please. I'll make a motion for consent.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Motion approved. Thank you. We are adjourned.

Thank you.

Our next committee today is the Public Service, Public Utilities, and Green Committee. Those committee members are Kamer, McKittrick, Wilson, Bolden, and Lombardo. Again, that's the Public Service, Public Utilities, and Green Committee, and we'll get started in just a moment here. Thank you. Okay, we're ready to begin the Public Service, Public Utilities, and Green Committee. Again, those committee members are Kamer, McKittrick, Wilson, Bolden, and Lombardo. We do have all committee members present whenever you're ready, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Sarah. Yeah, I'd like to move forward and call the Public Service, Public Utilities, and Green Committee to order. We do have minutes that need approval from last week. If I can get approval, please. Motion to approve previous meeting minutes. Second. All in favor of the minutes, say aye.

Aye.

Anybody opposed? All right. Thank you, everyone, and good afternoon. We do have quite a few pieces in front of us today, and I'll ask Sarah if she could read in the first piece, please.

Item number eight is an ordinance levying special assessments for the improvement of certain streets between certain termini, 2022 phase one residential resurfacing program by resurfacing such streets with asphalt and concrete 402, 404 and declaring an emergency.

Chris Luttle is with us today, our service director.

Chris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. Yes, this piece and all the way up through 16, I'm going to kind of give the same explanation, but we'll talk about each one of them. So this legislation will allow us to assess the property owners that received improvements, and we call this the 2022 Phase 1 Residential Resurfacing Program. So the final payments, the notice will be sent to them of what the real payment will be. It goes by their front footage, obviously, as it has in the past. The warning has been completed, and now the program is done for that year. The reason why it's that far delayed is With the ARPA money that we received and all the influx of money that water applied for and received for lead services and some of the galvanized replacements, these programs were kind of pushed into future years. So this one is 2022, but it wasn't done until 2024. And then the warranty time was over. Now it's time to assess the property owner. So that's why you're gonna see on some of these, you're gonna ask why was this, why are we just now assessing? Because really the work was just done in the last couple years and now it's time to assess. So it's not the full portion of the 22 program, it was just the portions that were affected. So there's, in some of these it was just two or three streets that we pulled out and then we delayed the resurfacing to the last couple years, so. With that, I'll take any questions.

All right. Thank you, Chris. Appreciate that. Committee members, any questions or comments for Mr. Luddle? Fran Wilson?

I'm new here, so I'll continue to use that. But is it typical for us to, I mean, from 2023, you know, that's quite a while ago. Are people expecting this assessment?

Yeah, well, they got the notice before the program started, and then they were noticed to why the delays were going on. So your street is not going to get resurfaced in that program year because of the utility conflicts. And then they saw us out there working. So, and I can't tell you exactly if this was done in 24, but then they were noticed again that it is going to come. So then they see the resurfacing. It's then once the year's up, then they receive the bill. They receive an estimate and then they receive the bill. So now we're basically all caught up. So what you're going to see in 2026 is right now we're about halfway through and The contractors will be finished this year. Next year, it sits for a year and they'll get the invoice. Then they could pay it over five years on their taxes or they could send us the money. So to give you an example, residential resurfacing, a 50-foot typical lot in Akron, $6.65 per foot, which is like $332.50, I believe. Next year, they'll see a bill for that, and they could pay it or they could put it on there. But they would notice why it wasn't done in that calendar year.

Is there a possibility, if I may, is there a possibility that there was more than a year that has lapsed since the last letter that was sent and the bill that they will get?

I can get you that answer. I don't know. It was more than a year. Yes. Okay. Yeah. So is this a typical to, for this type of stuff to be, it's not typical, but with the ARPA money and then with the influx of the lead service money, we said, why would resurface a street and come back in a year and do two holes, maybe 10 holes in the street to take out the lead service. So we're going to pull the whole street off. That's why it was delayed. This is not typical at all.

Yeah, maybe I'll follow up. I just have some concerns about the timeline of that and notice given to people. But more for me to learn maybe outside of this venue.

Thank you, Fran. I appreciate the comments and questions. Anyone else have any questions or comments?

Okay.

Is consent okay, Chris? Yes. All right. Committee?

Motion for consent.

Second. All in favor of consent, say aye. Aye. Anybody? Aye. Anybody opposed? All right. Moving on to number nine, Sarah, please.

Item number nine is an ordinance levying special assessments for the improvement of certain streets between certain termini, 2023 Phase I Residential Resurfacing Program, by resurfacing such streets with Asphaltic Concrete 402-404 and declaring an emergency.

Chris? so thank you mr chairman members of committee this is the 2023 uh residential uh resurfacing program and there again there were delays due to utility conflicts now that all the work is done and the warning is over it's time to send the assessments to the affected property owners all right thank you chris i appreciate that any other questions or comments in regards to this one okay can sound okay again chris yes sir committee

Motion for consent.

Second. I have a motion and a second for consent. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? All right, thank you. Number 10, please, Sarah.

Item number 10 is an ordinance levying special assessments for the improvement of certain streets between certain termini, 2023 Phase 1 Unimproved Street Resurfacing Program, by treating the surface thereof with substances designed to preserve the surface and declaring an emergency.

Chris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. This is the 2023... Phase 1 unimproved street resurfacing program that was delayed to utility conflicts. Thank you, Chris.

Any questions or comments in regards to this one? Okay. Consent again? Yes, sir.

Motion for consent.

Second. I have a motion and a second. For consent, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Anybody opposed? All right. Moving on to number 11, Sarah.

Item number 11 is an ordinance levying special assessments for the improvement of certain streets between certain termini 2024 phase one arterial collector program by resurfacing such streets with asphalt at concrete 402, 404 and declaring an emergency.

Chris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of committee. This is the 2024 arterial collector program resurfacing, and a portion of this was delayed due to utility conflicts. Now that the work is done, it's time to send the affected property owners their invoice.

Thank you, Chris. Committee members, questions or comments? Other council members? Okay. Consent? Yes, sir. Motion for consent. Second. All in favor of consent, say aye. Aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? All right. Moving on to number 12.

Item number 12 is an ordinance levying special assessments for the improvement of certain streets between certain termini 2024 phase one residential resurfacing program by resurfacing such streets with asphalt at concrete 402, 404 and declaring an emergency.

Chris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of committee 2024, the residential resurfacing program. that has now been completed. It was delayed due to utility conflicts. The warning is over. It's time to send the invoice to the affected property owners.

All right. Thank you, Chris. Appreciate that. Any questions or comments in regards to this piece? Okay. Is consent okay again? Yes, sir. Motion for consent. Second. All in favor of consent, say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? Aye. Okay. Moving on to the number 13.

Item number 13 is an ordinance levying special assessments for the improvement of certain streets between certain termini. 2024 phase one unimproved street resurfacing program by treating the surface thereof with substances designed to preserve the surface and declaring an emergency.

Chris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of committee. Yes, this is the 2024. unimproved street resurfacing program now that it has been completed. And the warning is over. It's time to send the invoices to the affected property owners.

Thank you, Chris. Appreciate that. Committee members, once again, any questions or comments?

Okay. Seeing none.

Consent okay? Yes, sir. Committee? Motion for consent. Second. All in favor of consent, say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? All right. Thank you. Moving on to the next piece.

Item number 14 is an ordinance levying special assessments for the improvement of certain streets between certain termini 2025 phase one arterial collector program by resurfacing such streets with asphalt at concrete 402, 404 and declaring an emergency.

Chris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of committee. This is the 2025 arterial collector program resurfacing. This program was completed last year and now that It has been a year since the work has been completed. The invoices will be sent to the affected property owners.

All right. Thank you. Committee, any questions or comments? Okay. You got one, Councilman Hanna? Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. What happens if a resident says that I don't think my street needs to be resurfaced?

So what we do is we send them a letter, typically over the winter, and let's talk about next year. So we build next year's program. We're building it right now. We send the affected property owner's registered letter. The process is that if they don't accept the letter and it comes back, we try again. And if they don't accept it, we try again, then we advertise. But either way, we try to make attempts to notify them. Then once they're notified, if they object, then they have a process where they could send in an objection, and then we hold a hearing. And they can come in and they can tell us why they do not think that they should be assessed for this work. And I could tell you a very simply, if they don't think their street is that bad, that's not an acceptable reason. Okay. They could say, you know, I live on a corner. I'm not affected by that. You're resurfacing that street. Well, when your street is resurfaced, it does increase the property value. So you do. This was started back in the 80s assessment process that was established to help increase our program to be able to do more streets. But they do have a process where they can come in and they could tell us or plead their case on why they shouldn't be assessed. one thing that has been adjusted over the years if you're on homestead which if you're on homestead means you have to be at least 65 years old you have to own your home and you have to have a certain income if you're homestead eligible and that's something the county sets up now to us you will not receive an assessment, okay? If they receive a letter by mistake, they call us and say, I'm on Homestead, then they won't be assessed. They're already pulled out of the program. Every once in a while, one of those slips through, right? Every once in a while, property changes hands between the time that the letters are sent and now they're Homestead eligible. That's a perfectly good reason why they would send them an ejection and we would not assess them. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. Any other questions or comments? All right. Consent okay, Chris? Yes, sir. Motion for consent. Second. All in favor of consent, say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? All right. Moving on to the next piece, please.

Item number 15 is an ordinance levying special assessments for the improvement of certain streets between certain termini 2025 phase one residential resurfacing program by resurfacing such streets with asphalt at concrete 402, 404 and declaring an emergency.

Chris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of committee. This is the 2025 residential portion of the resurfacing program. The work was done last year. Now it is time to send the invoices to the affected property owners for their assessment.

All right.

Thank you. Any questions or comments in regards to this one? Okay. Seeing none. Consent again? Yes, sir. Motion for consent.

Second.

All in favor of consent, say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? Aye. Moving on to the next piece, Sarah.

Item number 16 is an ordinance levying special assessments for the improvement of certain streets between certain termini 2025 phase one unimproved street resurfacing program by treating the surface thereof with substances designed to preserve the surface and declaring an emergency.

Chris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of committee. This is the last piece from last year. This is the unimproved street resurfacing program 2025. Basically, the work was done last year. Now that the one year has passed, this allows us to assess the property owners. And if I could add, as you could see in the last three pieces, we've caught up to last year's. So next year, you should only see 2026 program in 2027. we shouldn't have this long laundry list of projects that were delayed. But I could say this also, if we got an influx of federal money to do things, we will take it and these projects could be delayed. It's not a bad problem to have. So we wouldn't have been able to get all that lead out without the 20, 20 some million or whatever it was that we had that influx of money. So it's kind of a blessing in disguise, sir.

All right. Well, thank you for that. I appreciate that. Committee members or council members, any questions or comments in regards to this one? It's our final one. Okay. Consent, obviously? Yes. Okay. Committee?

Motion for consent. Second.

All in favor of consent, say aye.

Aye.

Anybody opposed? All right. Moving on to number 17, please.

Item number 17 is an ordinance authorizing the director of public service or his designee to enter into a contract or contracts after publicly advertising for bids for the construction of Akron emergency water main connections and declaring an emergency.

All right, Chris Little. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of committee. Some of you may remember back in the capital budget, we talked about a couple of emergency connections for our water distribution system. So this legislation will allow us to construct two permanent water connections, one with Medina, one with Cleveland Water. that we will be able to, in the event of emergency, turn on these connections and supply a portion of our distribution system. So this is something that can be used as a temporary basis, and it also could help them too. So the one connection is on Route 18. We used it a couple years ago when we had a problem with our Montrose tank. It was kind of an over the... ground kind of a connection. This is all going to be underground. So if Medina would get into a problem, we could supply them water. Obviously, we would build them just like they would build us an emergency situation. So it's just trying to be more of a make our whole system more resilient and have backup for our customers to limit the disruptions.

All right. Thank you for that. Committee members, any questions or comments? Any other council members with us? Okay. Oh, you've got one for Ann Wilson.

Yeah, sorry. It says on an as-need basis. What's the timeline on this? What do you mean?

Well, the timeline is we have to construct it, but as-needed means... Let's say we have a huge water main break in Fairlawn. Well, until we get the water main break as needed. So we would turn on that connection as needed.

Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome.

All right. Thank you for that. All right. Is consent okay, Chris?

Yes, sir. Committee? Motion for consent. Second.

I have a motion and a second for consent. All in favor say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? All right. Thank you. Moving on to number 18.

Item number 18 is an ordinance authorizing the Director of Public Service or his designee to enter into a contract or contracts after publicly advertising for bids for the construction of phase one of the raw water intake valve replacement and repair project at the Water Supply Bureau and declaring an emergency.

Chris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of committee. Lake Rockwell is our two billion gallon reservoir that feeds our water plant. The water coming into the plant or through the sediment basins, it's all gravity. It's not pumped. We have two mains, one's a 48 inch and the other one is a 60 inch water main that comes basically under the dam and into the plant. Both valves, in the attempt to service them recently, are stuck open. So this project will allow us to bid a replacement program to replace both of those valves. So we'll get down there, we'll replace the one, and then we'll get that one isolated, and then we could shut the other one and replace it. So this project here is just our raw water intake valves. And it's just more about being resilient and being more proactive than reactive to some of these failures.

All right. Thank you. Committee members, any questions or comments in regards to this one? Or any other council members with us today? Okay. Is consent okay for this one? Yes, sir.

Excuse me, Mr. Chair. Councilwoman Omobian has her hands raised.

Sure. Councilwoman. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I couldn't get the device fast enough. Is this unusual, Chris, for the valves to malfunction like this?

No, I mean, they're just, the age of these valves have got to be 1980s. I mean, they're 80 years old. So to get in there and try to exercise these and find that they're, you know, now to the point where we can't open and close them, it's just time to replace them at the age of the valve.

Oh, okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman. All right. Chris is okay with consent, committee, if I can get a motion for that? Motion for consent. Second. All in favor of consent, say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? All right. Thank you. Moving on to number 19.

Item number 19 is an ordinance authorizing the director of public service or his designee to enter into a contract or contracts without the formality of publicly advertising for bids with Akron Energy Systems LLC for the purchase and replacement of two boilers located in the administration building and the central locker room at the water reclamation facility and declaring an emergency.

All right, thank you. Chris Little. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of committee. Yes, AES or Akron Energy Systems, I don't know, maybe four or five years ago, we have entered into agreements with them when they started a building services division where they go in and they've done assessments on all our equipment, all our buildings, and this is down at WRF for water reclamation. So the legislation says that we're going to enter into contracts without formality of advertising for bids because we're entering it with Akron Energy System. But we do require them to go out and bid this work. So they went out and advertised and got quotes from companies to replace these hydronic boilers. One is in the administration building, and then the other one is in the central locker room facility. They're both hydronic. They're not steam. So they will manage this project. Both boilers are more than 25 years old. We have tried to nurse them along the last couple years, but by replacing both of these boilers, they're probably 15 to 18% more efficient than we have. and it is time to upgrade these two boiler facilities. So I just want to be clear that they did go out and give quotes for these, and they did it with HVAC companies.

Well, thank you. I appreciate that. All right, committee members, any questions or comments for Mr. Luddle, Fran Wilson?

Do we know the company yet that they'll be working with?

I do not know yet, but I can get you that. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Anyone else? Okay. This one might be suspension of the rules.

Yeah. I mean, the timing of this, they're both now functioning and, you know, I don't want to talk about winter in June, but we know it's coming. So, The lead time on these boilers could be critical. So if we could pass this tonight, and then we can get these ordered. Okay. Committee?

Yep. Motion to suspend the rules with a favorable report. Second.

I have a motion and a second for suspension of rules with a favorable report. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Anybody opposed?

I'm abstaining.

And we have one abstention. You have that, Sarah. Thank you. All right. Moving on to number 20.

Item number 20 is an ordinance authorizing the director of public service or his designee to enter into a contract or contracts without the formality of publicly advertising for bids with business for the purchase of eight Watson Marlowe chemical transfer pumps and four roller assemblies and declaring an emergency.

Chris Little. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of committee. These chemical transfer pumps are something we use in the final finished water. These are in the West Chem chemical building. Basically, what this legislation will allow us to do is buy four pumps with the roller assemblies. This is something, a shelf item, I should say, where we keep these in stock, and as they fail, our own employees provide the labor to replace them. So all this legislation do allow us to purchase and restock the pumps that actually we don't have any spares right now. So this will allow us to buy those pumps. All right.

Thank you. Appreciate that. Committee members, any questions or comments for Mr. Luttel or any other council members with us today? I'd like to suspend the rules on this one, if this is okay, Chris. Sure. Committee? Yep. Motion to suspend the rules with a favorable report. Second. All in favor of suspension rules, say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? All right, thank you. Moving on to 21.

Item number 21 is an ordinance authorizing the director of public service or his designee to enter into a contract or contracts without the formality of publicly advertising for bids with the Kron Liebing Company for the purchase of Gorman parts and pumps and declaring an emergency.

All right, Chris Little. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of committee. We use Gorman Rupp pumps in 32 of our 36 pump stations. These are lift stations. Mostly all, I don't think there's any combination, obviously. It's all sanitary. So when you have a street that's below the gravity sewer, it could be 10 houses, it could be 20 houses, but they flow down to a pump station. The pump station takes all that in their wet wells and they pump it back up to a gravity sewer. Crown Levy is the is the company that is the, we can't buy directly from Gorman and Rupp, I should say, they're the reps. So we buy from Crown Levy. These are for pumps and associated parts. There again, all this labor is performed by our own employees. This is just to restock our inventory of replacement parts and pumps. And by the way, Gorman and Rupp is made right here in Mansfield, Ohio, still made in the United States.

All right, well, thanks. Committee members, any questions or comments for Chris Luddle? Any other council members with us? Okay. Is consent okay on this one? Yes, sir. All right.

Motion for consent.

Second that. All in favor of consent, say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? All right. Well, thank you. Moving on to piece number 22.

Item number 22 is an ordinance authorizing the director of public service or his designee to enter into a contract or contracts without the formality of advertising for bids with Keep Akron Beautiful for the provision of litter control and recycling activities in the city of Akron and declaring an emergency.

All right. Thank you, Sarah. Chris Luttle. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of committee. I don't think I, I think all of us know Jackie. She's here with me today. Um, in our capital budget, we went over this a little bit, uh, what KB and you all know what she does, but I asked her to come today and just kind of give us a brief overview of this year. Um, she started the recycle right a couple of weeks ago and, uh, I haven't got a tag cause I obey the rules. A few of my neighbors ask questions, but that's okay. They need to obey the rules too, but I'm going to turn it over to Jackie. Like I said, this is our annual contract with KEB, and I think she's been out to some of your wards and did big cleanups, so I'm going to turn it over to Jackie.

Thanks, Chris. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. This year, Keep Akron Beautiful is celebrating our 45th anniversary with service to the city of Akron to address litter, illegal dumping, graffiti, beautification, environmental education, and neighborhood improvement throughout our community. As we reflect on that milestone, one thing has remained constant. Residents want to live in a city that is clean, welcoming, and cared for. and I'd like to begin with a simple observation. Operational excellence is often invisible when it is done well, but is immediately noticeable when it is absent. Most residents do not call you or down to City Hall to compliment a clean street. They do not send emails because a gateway is free of litter or because a public space is well-maintained. However, they absolutely notice when the trash accumulates, when illegal dumping sits for weeks, when graffiti is visible, or when a public space appears neglected. The conditions influence how people feel about our city and their local government. They often judge the effectiveness of government by what they see every day. They may not know who does the work, what department, what organization, or who does it. They know whether their community looks cared for and whether someone's paying attention. and that is where KAV comes in. For 45 years, our work has focused on the visible quality of life issues that shape public perception and neighborhood pride. Through our partnership with the city, we provide year-round litter removal, volunteer cleanup coordination that we've done with many of you, graffiti abatement, recycling education through Recycle Right, tree planting, beautification projects, and support for neighborhoods across the city. Since January 1st, our daily litter crews have removed more than 30 tons of litter and debris from Akron streets and public spaces. And during Clean Up Akron Month this April and stretching into May, more than 840 volunteers removed 23 additional tons of litter and debris and 146 tires from neighborhoods throughout the city. The efforts improve appearance, but they also support economic development, environmental health, public safety, and community pride. For every person who enters Akron, they form an impression before they attend a meeting, visit a business, or speak with a resident based on what they see through the windshield of their car or the streets that they're walking. Clean streets, maintained public spaces, and attractive neighborhoods communicate that Akron is a city that cares about itself and that cares about its residents. And one of the greatest strengths of our partnership with the city is that their funding allows us to leverage additional resources from grants, sponsorships, donations, volunteers, and community partners. Together, that helps us to extend the impact of the city's investment far beyond what public funding could accomplish alone. As we celebrate 45 years, we are proud of what has been accomplished through this partnership, and more importantly, we remain committed to the work ahead and to assuring that future generations inherit Akron that is cleaner, greener, and more beautiful than the one we know today. At the core, our mission is simple, to ensure that Akron's neighborhoods, corridors, parks, and public spaces reflect the pride that residents have in their city. We're grateful for your partnership and for council's continued support of this work over the past 45 years, and a special thank you to those council members who have partnered with us this year. Thanks for the opportunity to share our story, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

All right. Thank you, Jackie. Appreciate that. Uh, Chris and Jackie, this is our annual contract with key background. Yes. It was in the, it was in the operating budget, uh, without me looking into my device. So what's the price tag for this, this year?

Uh, 465. So it was, um, 425, the same as last year. And then the 40,000 was for, to manage the recycle, right. For Jackie to, uh, hire a lot of college interns to go out. And we help too, but a lot of her staff, and she hires seasonal staff for the time to go out and do the audits every morning. So they're out there at 5 a.m., 5.30 a.m.?

Between 5 and 9, yeah.

And they work up till 9 a.m. I appreciate that.

All right, any other council members on the committee have any questions or comments? Councilman Lombardo?

Yes, thank you. Thank you, Jackie, for what you do. Just wanted to know, I know you mentioned Keep Akron Beautiful is 45 years old. Okay. And in your role, however long that's been, do you, in your opinion, are you seeing any progress with the city of Akron as far as litter? I don't know. I don't expect you to rattle off some stats, but, like, you know, are we getting better? No. just because, you know, people should be more mindful of it. Well, that's true, but are we getting better? Is the city getting better?

Yeah, so as a nation, Keep America Beautiful just launched their 2026 litter study, and it shows that litter is down across the country. I can share that with you. Litter is down in certain neighborhoods across the city, and as we focus on the ward cleanups like we've done in partnership with you. We can tell over the trajectory if we keep coming back year after year, it gets better and better, just like the cleanup we hosted in Ward 2 this year. There was definitely less trash to pick up in some of the spaces that had been traditionally dumped in. So we notice over time that when an area is clean or cleaned up, it stays cleaner. I mean, not to say there's not lots of work to still be done. I mean, I could rattle off many areas where our crew is at just today alone. But I do think it is getting better.

Okay. Yeah.

And we will be doing our annual community appearance index survey and we'll share those results with you. But we do an annual survey of the city with litter where we drive the entire city so the route has stayed consistent since 45 years ago and we check residential areas and areas with schools and areas with businesses in each of your wards and then we compile that information rate the litter scale of one to four and then come up with a number for every ward and also for the city overall so

Okay, good. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Hanna? Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think I've asked this question two times now since I've been on council. It's why you always pick the same wards each year, such as Ward 2, to start the cleanup. I mean, it's okay, but why don't you pick Ward 5? sometimes and because we need it just as ward two needs that cleanup also where do the residents get those recycle bins from because i don't see any in ward five i'll take the last question the recycle bins come from us they're city provided so if they need a recycle bin at their residence just call 311 and we'll get out we'll get one out there okay yeah we supply those

They're not mine. They're the city's. But for your first question, we reach out to all of council every year asking if anybody would like a cleanup, if you would like one for next year dedicated for your ward. We worked with many of you in the room. We're happy to partner with you during April or May or in the fall. We're doing... cleanup with councilwoman davis in the fall and we can add another one to the schedule that's no problem but we need council buy-in like your buy-in to help us get your residents out to help with the cleanup we do cleanups all across the city every single day we're in every ward based on complaints that come in or areas where we go but to do like a saturday three-hour cleanup where we invite people out we do all the work you kind of just show up and help us and thank people for being there and all of that, but we're happy to do it with whoever would like to. We've chosen Ward 2 over and over again because Councilman Libardo has asked us for help, but we can provide that to you too.

I think I asked two years in a row if you would connect with Ward 5. And the first year I was on council, I asked you. And then the second year, I asked you, well, why don't you start in Ward 5 and connect with me in Ward 5 like you do in Ward 2? And so I have not gotten an answer that I think that I am satisfied with, because I feel that you only go to certain wards. I asked, and I had to, I did, I spearheaded the cleanup in Ward 5 on the corner of South Street and Brown, South and Grant, my first year. But the only help that I got, and I didn't know what to do, was from you telling us to put the bags on the street, and then they would come back later on that Saturday and pick them up. But I don't think I've gotten enough help from Keep After Me.

We're happy to help you. I'll reach out to you later today, and we can set something up. We can do something this fall. That's absolutely no problem. But we do provide trash bags, recycle bags, gloves, litter grabbers to anybody who wants to do a cleanup anytime where we're a little more hands-off. We're a tiny staff, so we only do a couple every spring and a couple every fall that are larger, heavier lifts. But we're happy to do one in Ward 5.

Okay. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Back to Councilman Lombardo, then I'll go to some other council members and non-council members on the committee.

Yeah, I was just going to make a suggestion. I'm not in the business. I don't drive the trucks to pick up the recycle. But the next time that we order recycled carts or whatever, couldn't they be a different color or shouldn't they be? I just feel bad, really, for the drivers. I think that dark green and that dark blue look the same at 5 in the morning. But, you know, I don't know. Maybe it could be a bright yellow. Just a suggestion.

Sure.

I don't know if anything is better. I know they're smaller. They are a size smaller than the regular trash carts. But, you know, okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman. So I'm going to go to Councilman Bolden, then I'll go to Councilwoman Omoby, and then I have a few others in chambers.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Jackie, for all you do. I know I brought you to my ward meetings to talk about cleanups, usually one of my early ward meetings in the springtime to build that excitement in the neighborhoods. And then I also put it in my ward newsletter. And, you know, we got some people down in Parkway Estates that did it, some other people that did it. And I didn't really do the organizing. I just encouraged our people. And I think that's the important part of how to get these, how to get neighbors to take responsibility for their own neighborhood. And that's what you're helping us to do. And I really appreciate that. I know it's worked the last couple of years. We've got a big one down with Preserve the Valley down there that organizes it. completely without me and organize it with you. And the neighborhood groups can do that. And that's the best way to bring neighborhoods together to help clean up their neighborhood and create some pride. So I appreciate what you do. Appreciate all the work KAB does and you do personally. Thanks, Jackie. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilwoman Omobian.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you so much, Jackie. I can tell you for 45 years I have seen the difference that this program has made. I pass by Judy S. Ross Park almost every day. It is absolutely beautiful, and it is just representative of what you guys have been doing in this community for years. So thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Who wants to go first, Councilwoman? Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just wanted to reiterate the recycle right program is fantastic. So I don't know if folks know this, but we save as a city hundreds of thousands of dollars because of this program. So I'm really excited to hear that we are keeping that $40,000 in the budget specifically for that program, because I know you guys are in the middle of it right now and you're probably paying people already. But I just wanted to give you a big thumbs up on that.

Thank you. Thank you. We're actually taking the city of Cleveland out with us on Thursday so that they can come see what we're doing here in Akron. So that's really exciting.

Next year you should send the invite to the council members. You can come. There's like one morning we can come along for like two or three hours.

You're welcome to. Yeah, we're still going until July 31st. So if anyone's interested, you can reach out to me or... Tell me now and I can get a hold of you and we can go down your streets in your neighborhood. Yeah, you can come with me, Donnie.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Every time I have an opportunity to praise KAB and Jackie, you and your team. Just outstanding work over the years. We enjoyed working closely with you throughout last year as well. But again, just kudos to your entire team. It's a small team, but it's a mighty team. And you all make amazing impact. So again, thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Councilwoman Jan Davis, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to say thank you to Jackie. We recently had the trailer out on Copley Road. We got the businesses involved, did a really good job, and the alleys even got cleaned out, okay? And that hadn't been done Probably in years, I would say. So I appreciate everything that you do. There was an email that went out a few months back that council folks that wanted to schedule a cleanup could schedule one with Keep Back and Beautiful at that time. So this one we scheduled as community. I'm looking forward to the one in October. We've got that on the calendar as well. And we do appreciate everything that you do.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilwoman. I appreciate that. I appreciate everyone's comments and questions. Before I ask for a vote, I know Jackie at the beginning read a statement, and I can't say it word for word, but it mentions about how we as council members and the city gets the phone calls and the e-mails and Facebook messages and any other kind of communication about the litter that they see and you know usually there's not follow-up thank yous and uh that is kind of true and and i will say just for ward seven and i i travel throughout the city but i'll just talk about ward seven and i have a few entrance and exit ramps uh you know from the expressway and and they get really uh ugly looking and nasty and full of litter and uh you know jackie and her team does come out and clean that up and i i notice a huge difference so uh thank you jackie not just for that but for other uh other job-related cleanups that you folks do and everything. So I just wanted to mention that. All right. I think we should move forward with suspension of the rules with this. So hopefully the committee will make a motion to suspend the rules with a favorable report.

Second.

Second. I have a motion and a second for a favorable report with suspension of the rules. All in favor say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Anybody opposed? All right. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you for coming down. And I think we're moving on to our final piece. It's an ordinance approving and confirming the appointments of Mayor Sean Miss Malik with Anthony Daly as his alternate, Steve Fricker with Michael Wheeler as his alternate, and Casey... Shevlin with Dan Dempsey as her alternate as trustees to the summit. Akron Solid Waste Management Authority Board doing business as reworks for the terms ending June 30th, 2029 and declaring emergency. And Chris, oh, yep. I'll start with you, Chris. I'm going to turn this over to Lauren.

Lauren's been managing all our boards and commissions, so I'm going to turn it over to Lauren. Thank you, Lauren. Appreciate you.

Thank you, Director Luttle, and thank you, Mr. Chair and members of committee. We are preparing an ordinance for reappointments of the three trustees and their three alternates for this board. Just as a reminder, this board provides solutions and leadership to empower our communities. to provide environmentally sound, cost-effective recycling and waste management strategies all over Akron. We are just trying to also eliminate the need for annual legislation. So the bylaws have changed with this board and terms are now going to last three years.

Well, no, thank you. I appreciate that. Committee members, any questions or comments or any other council members with us today? Lauren and Chris is...

Consent okay?

Consent is fine.

Okay. Motion for consent. Second.

Second. Motion and second for consent. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Anybody opposed? All right. Well, thank you, everyone. That was a marathon meeting. And with that, we are adjourned.

Our next committee today will be the Public Safety Committee. Those committee members are McKittrick, Kamer, Lombardo, Hannah, and Garrett. We'll get started in just a moment here. Thank you.

Okay, I remember that.

Okay, we're ready to begin the Public Safety Committee. Those committee members are McKittrick, Kamer, Lombardo, Hanna, and Garrett. We do have all committee members present. Whenever you're ready, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Clerk Viviano. I'd like to call Public Safety to order. We have previous minutes to approve. If I could get a motion and a second. Motion to approve previous meeting minutes.

Second. Second.

Okay, all in favor to approve the minutes, aye? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, thank you. We have one piece on the regular agenda which we'll continue time on, and we have six new pieces today before public safety. The first piece is an ordinance authorizing the mayor or his designee if awarded to accept and expend grant funding from FEMA for fire prevention safety grant, which will be used to purchase fire safety education materials and declaring an emergency. Chief Henderson.

Chairman, committee, and council president, along with council members, happy belated Father's Day for all the fathers that are out there. I have Chief Reedy with me today as well, so he's going to go with the fire prevention component of it, but I'll be remiss. I want to thank Chief Reedy and his team, along with Tessa Smith from the grant writing team for actually getting all this underway and helping us actually develop and put the narratives together for this grant.

Thank you, Chief. Council, with these pieces of legislation for all of the grants you're going to see today, these are from fiscal year 2025. With the federal government shutdown and opening up and shutdown again, they were pushed back to this year. Specifically, the FP&S, we are seeking approximately $311,000 for the purchase of a public safety trailer to replace a 30-year-old piece of equipment, an inflatable public safety house, along with equipment to operate some of our smoke fire extinguisher training programs. Annually, these report to different APS schools, daycare, summer camps, touch base at community events, give citizens and children a chance to go through them and learn fire safety. This grant is very competitive. Last year, we had a meeting with FEMA, sat down with them. They ranked us as an A minus on our application. They rounded the funding at A plus. We worked with Tessa and the grant team. We think we put together a good narrative. We're coming to you to seek approval to accept if awarded.

Very good. How old's the trailer we have now? Gosh, it seems like it's quite old. I believe it's 30 years old. That's what I thought. Any questions from any committee members?

Any other council members?

With the grant, is there a time constraint on this?

Yes.

Okay.

It would act for suspension of the rules.

Okay. Can I get a motion for suspension of the rules? I'll make a motion to suspend the rules with a favorable report.

Second.

We have a motion and a second to suspend the rules. All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, thanks very much. Thank you. Okay, the next ordinance is authorizing the mayor or his designee to enter into a contract or contracts after publicly advertising for bids with Fitch and Associates to conduct comprehensive study of fire and EMS operations within the Akron Fire Department declaring an emergency. Chief Henderson.

Yes, Chairman and committee members. So this in part is a piece of legislation that from the Mayor's Advisory Committee was recommended that we do an EMS study. And when we looked at the actual ask from the committee, we said let's take a deep dive, let's look at our fire service as well. We have not had a deep dive into our independent study as far as our fire department in over 40 years. We actually found one in the safe from 1989. And what this does is basically get us and put us in the, I guess, looking towards the future and looking at a strategic plan, not to basically just have a decent and best practice fire department, but a resilient and a sustainable fire department. So that's what the ask is in this legislation here. And what this company does, we actually, this was an RFP, we looked at several companies, and part of their strategic methodology when they're looking at their principles, they actually come and talk to the stakeholders, they talk to council members, talk to the mayor, look at the internal ask and look at our external ask, and we align and look at best practices, and that's what we are looking at with this policy and this legislation. Thank you.

Very good. Any questions from any committee members? Any other council members?

What's the timeline on this, Chief? We're looking at consent because we're looking at getting this underway as soon as possible so we can start implementing and deploying these strategies.

Okay. Is there a motion? You asked for consent as soon as possible? Suspension of the rules. I'll make that motion to suspend the rules with a favorable report.

Is there a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, we'll get that out this evening as well.

Thank you.

The next piece is an ordinance authorizing the mayor as a designee, if awarded, to accept and expend grant funding from the FY 2025 Assistance to Firefighters Grant, which will be used to purchase new fire equipment and declaring an emergency.

Chief Reedy will take it.

Chief Reedy.

Thank you, Chief. The 2025 AFG grant is designed to provide funding for apparatus, equipment, training for firefighters. We did a needs assessment internally, looked at the age of our fleet, and made the decision to write the grant seeking funding for a new ladder truck. The vehicle this will replace will be a 1995 AFG. um currently we've been fortunate we've maintained our frontline fleet um the oldest truck we have that is front line i think is a 2017 however after that we have a 2007 a 2003 and 1995. it was used regularly back in 2025. Thankfully, our shop's got things kind of put back on the road, so we haven't had to use it this year. But as things break, as we all know, especially in the winter, these lovely Ohio winters and the potholes, we may have to use it again. And there's some safety concerns we have about putting people in a 31-year-old truck. The safer I'm sorry the AFG grant funds typically about five hundred thousand dollars. I'm sorry five hundred million dollars But they also receive close to eight thousand applications Again, we worked with our grant team test and Tessa to put together a good narrative expressing our need and if awarded our City match would be about one hundred fifty one thousand dollars on the total price and Again, this is, as I'm sure most of you are aware, the fire service, especially with buying apparatus, is kind of in a weird stage where private equity firms have bought up most of the major manufacturers, and lead times are getting exponentially longer. So we feel it's something that we need to kind of move on quickly. So again, this is a grant we'd ask for suspension of the rules.

Thanks for that information. Yeah, I would appreciate that, because I know that there's been some really, really long wait times for rigs in the past, so I get that, especially for a piece from 1995, so.

Any other questions from any committee members or council members?

Okay, can I get a motion for suspension of the rules? Chair, I'll make the motion to suspend the rules with a favorable report. Is there a second?

Second.

All in favor of suspension of the rules, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, we'll get that before council as well this evening. The next piece coming before us is an ordinance authorizing the mayor or his designee, if awarded, to accept and expend an award from the State of Ohio Attorney General under the Law Enforcement Diversion Grant for funding of a quick response team, QRT, in declaring an emergency.

Who is? So we'll basically tag team this one. OK. So what this is is a law enforcement diversion grant. We wanted to fund our quick response team. So we wanted to put it under the umbrella of our REACH team, which is our community paramedicine. So when you're looking at our resource education, advocacy, and our community health, this fits within that model. When we're doing our follow up, those touch points, we average just over, as far as our QR team, just over 500 calls per year. And the same it would be with our reach team as well. So this basically aligns within our model. I don't know if you have anything else to add in reference to that.

So this was a grant that APD previously applied for. They don't want to be a part of it this time. And the reality is talking to our personnel and going out and doing it, a lot of the people they touch base with are people who are recovering addicts. They see a police officer in uniform and they automatically think they're in trouble. They don't answer the door. It's also been kind of dependent on staffing of how often we go out. This would be staffed with a paramedic and someone from the county mental health team. And they have went out on their own a couple times and had better luck with just the two of them without the component of the police officer. The goal behind this whole thing is to have these people who are having these crises and drug addiction issues and stepping in and hopefully preventing them in the future. So the cost for this is about $50,000. It covers the cost of our employee, the county employee, administrative costs, some equipment, and then just some uniforms to differentiate them from a normal response.

Very good. Any questions from any committee members or any other council members? Not seeing any. What's the time constraints on this?

We'd ask for a suspension of the rules.

Okay.

Motion to suspend the rules with a favorable report.

Second.

We have a motion and a second for suspension of the rules. All in favor, aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, we'll get that out before council as well. Next to come before us is an ordinance authorizing the mayor or his designee to enter into a contract or contracts after publicly advertising for bids with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. to provide comprehensive health and wellness screenings for Akron Fire Department employees and declaring an emergency.

Chief Henderson. Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Committee. We'll both tag this in this as well. Chief Reedy, if you can start.

Sure. This was a contractually negotiated item. It went out to bid. We received five bids. UH was a competitive bid. We also received bids from companies that would come in and do mobile exams. UH came in $5 cheaper than Cleveland Clinic. However, the big component on our part was we did not want to handle scheduling. The goal is to see one half of our employees every year for a total of four years. The screening consists of a general wellness screening, vision, hearing, and then the new cardiac stress tests, cancer prevention screenings, sleep apnea, and some other kind of tests that are kind of specific to the fire service. A lot of the recent research has shown that firefighters are at a 200% increase of certain types of cancers. We've had a handful of retirees who have passed away. Previously, through grant funding and other sources, we've had similar exams come in. They found some fairly significant issues with employees and saved us tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is just taking that and putting it under our umbrella. All the information stays private to the employee. The city will get an aggregate report of the health condition at the end of it. Cleveland Clinic is committed to coming in and giving a presentation to all interested parties. So I'm sure when that time comes, you guys will receive an invite as well.

I can interject. I want to thank council members for voting on the contract and the aspect of this being part of what that contract looks at as far as our overall safety. This was in complete alignment with our local 330, with the mayor's administration, fire administration, with a cohesive team. We were able to come up with this as far as best practices. And we should be proud of ourselves. For the very first time in this city's history, we're putting resources towards the prevention aspect of medicine for our physicals, for our firefighters. So I commend all of you.

Yeah, this is a long time coming for this. To be proactive, you look so many times in the healthcare field, it's reactive so much, especially with the insurance companies and so on. So especially with the higher incidences with our safety forces here, being proactive will help and really probably save the city money in the long run. Yes, it will. Any questions or comments from any committee members or any other council members? What's the time frame on this?

Suspension of the rules, please. OK. Motion to suspend the rules with a favorable report. Second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? I can barely see your hand up there, but I see that Councilman Garrett's hand's up there. I just noticed. Sorry, sir.

Thank you, Chair. Appreciate the opportunity. As a member of the Public Safety Committee, I am extremely proud of our fire department and the leadership of the fire department. You guys find ways not only to save money, but to make our city better. I really commend you and both you guys sitting at the podiums there on the hard work whether it's roaches, whether it's making national news of a plane falling, you guys are always there to answer the call. And a lot of times I know it's a thankless job, but I want you to know Um, as a member of law enforcement safety forces that I am so proud of what you guys have done and the work that you continue to do. So kudos to both of you on what you guys are doing. Keep up the good work. Our city is so much better, so much better, so much better because you guys are doing what you do and where you are. Thank you.

Uh, thank you, councilman Garrett. And, you know, like I said, again, I'll be remiss. We have 373 dedicated workers in this city that every day they are looking at the overall public safety. of almost 200,000 residents that come through this city. So thank you for that compliment. Thanks, Councilman.

Any other comments? We've already voted on this. We'll get that out before Council. Thanks again on that one. Thank you, Chair. We have one last piece come before us. Ordinance authorizing the mayor or his designee if awarded to accept and expend the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the 2025 staffing for adequate fire and emergency response safer grant and declaring an emergency.

Yes, Chairman and committee. We're asking within this grant not only to apply for it, but to accept it. And this is for 24 fire paramedics. And what this grant will do, so people that have been here for a while, We've been offered and granted the Safer Grant years ago, where there was pretty much the money was free, where the city did not have to do a match. This is a different program right now, still the Safer Program. We weren't awarded last time. We basically submitted for it. This year, for this application, there is a match. That match comes to approximately $4.2 million. What we are asking from the government is $5.3 million for these 24 personnel over the three years. So that will take our overall workforce, if we're awarded this grant, will take our overall workforce to approximately 404 personnel.

Thank you, Chief. So I know that Recently we had some issues with these types of grants. Has it been structured differently now? Have they structured it?

So, yes, it is structured different now. So what the difference is in the past is the first year we're awarded the grant is 25% match that the city has to pay back. The second year is a 25% match as well that the city has to pay back. But now that third year is going to be a 75% of the overall cost of these employees that the city is going to have to pay back. And then we have to maintain that staffing for one year after it. So, you know, I see the finance director has gotten here, and we're working with the finance team and looking at the best strategy as far as the city, how we can actually implement this if accepted, and what's going to be best for this city and best for our finances overall. So we're looking at it in a pragmatic way, but we did our due diligence and put our best foot forward to be able to get this grant to see what happens next.

Do you have any comments, Mr. Fricker?

Uh, no, I think the chief covered it pretty well. This is something that, you know, obviously we're applying for. We would like to have, uh, dollars to fund staffing like we have in the past. As the chief said, this grant is structured somewhat differently that there is more of a match component. Uh, it's something that we will look at, you know, our financial position if awarded the grant and determine, you know, whether or not to move forward with it.

Okay. Very good. I guess when there is nothing, at least a portion of it is better than nothing. That's correct. Hopefully be optimistic and hope this works out.

Any questions from any other committee members or any other council members?

Not seeing any. Is there a time constraint on this as well? Yes. Can we get a motion for suspension of the rules? I'll make that motion to suspend the rules with a favorable report. Is there a second?

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor, suspension of the rules. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, very good. Appreciate everybody's time today, and we'll get those before council later today. And we have nothing further to come before public safety. We will be adjourned. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Committee.

Our next committee today will be the Budget and Finance Committee, and we'll begin in just a few minutes. Again, that's the Budget and Finance Committee. Those committee members are Lombardo, Omobian, Wilson, Boyes, and Bolden. Okay, we're ready to begin the Budget and Finance Committee. Again, those committee members are Lombardo, Omobian, Wilson, Boyes, and Bolden. We have all committee members present except for Councilman Bolden. Whenever you're ready, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Clerk Viviano. Welcome, everybody, to Budget and Finance. We would like to start off with the approval of last week's meeting minutes.

So moved.

Motion. Is there a second? Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Very good. All right. We have two pieces coming before us. First, I'll read in. Is an ordinance authorizing the mayor or his designee to enter into a contract or contracts without the formality of advertising for bids with Drinkard Enterprises, LLC, for a one-year term to provide data collection and analysis services in support of the street team program, which is also the credible messengers initiative and declaring an emergency. We have Mr. Craig Morgan here today.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I would tell you these two pieces that are before you, they work in concert together. One is for the contract with the City and Minority Behavioral Health Group. The other is with Drinkard Enterprises. Here with me today, well, I should say, just for context and background, The street team program began as an 18-month pilot. That 18-month is coming to a close. And so here with me today, of course, from Minority Behavioral Health Group is Pastor Jeffrey Dennis, Marcel McDaniel, and Dr. Sierra Morgan, and then with Drinkard Enterprises, Dr. Allison Drinkard with the University of Akron, who has performed the data analysis for the project. And with that, I'd like to turn it over to Pastor Dennis. Thank you, Craig.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

President of Council to Chair of the Committee, members of Council. On behalf of Minority Behavioral Health Group, I want to express our sincere appreciation to the Mayor and to the members of City Council for your vision, your leadership, and commitment to creating safer and healthier communities. Your willingness to invest in innovation and innovative community-centered solutions demonstrates a clear understanding that addressing the issue of violence in the city requires partnership, trust, and sustained engagement. We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with the city of Akron and the many partners in this important work. We also want to acknowledge and thank Marcel McDaniel. and the entire street team, we call them curbside counselors. Uh, we thank them for their courage, uh, their dedication and willingness to serve on the front lines of this effort. It's important to acknowledge this because this team will be present in our neighborhoods, building relationships, interrupting violence, preventing harm, and connecting people to hope and to support. Their work represents the very best of the community service and represents an effort toward healing in our community. I think together we share a common goal to prevent violence before it occurs, to intervene when conflict arises, and interrupt cycles of harm that have impacted too many families for too long. We believe that through collaboration, compassion, and commitment, we can help create safer cities, safer neighborhoods, and brighter futures for people in the city of Akron. So violence prevention and safety work are not the work of one organization. It is the work of an entire community entire community around a common purpose. So we thank the mayor, we thank city council, we thank our partners, we thank Marcel, we thank the street team, the curbside counselors for helping Akron move from reaction to prevention and from crisis to intervention and from violence to hope. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And with that, if I could, I'm going to introduce Marcel McDaniel. I'll give you a little bit of insight into the program.

Okay. Welcome. Good afternoon. We started, me and Dr. Morgan, in 2022, we started a program called Mental Health Mondays. And we would bring brothers from the street in and do like group therapy, you know, around trauma. And the source of this violence that you see, you know, not just in Akron, but in communities all over the country, is stemming from trauma, transgenerational trauma. And what Pastor Dennis at Minority Behavioral Health Group understood is that that is the foundation to addressing it, is to go to the heart of it. Because people are hurting, these communities are hurting, and they've been hurting for generations. You know, we couldn't just overlook that. You know, we have, I deal with a lot of deaths, people who are still trying to recover from violence that happened 20 and 30 years ago where these cycles keep repeating. And what we have been able to do with the Curbside Counselor Street Team program is get to the root and give people hope because they see a lot of brothers who were at one time a part of the problem being out there helping to solve these problems. And that speaks a lot about the power of redemption. And it has given people hope. What we hope to do is expand because I want, you know, there to be somebody doing this work in every neighborhood, you know, where every neighborhood they got somewhere they can go to and find somebody just willing to help, willing to be there just as a source of hope. Because this is healing work. At the bottom line, that's what this is about. And I believe that we have been successful. And this is a small pilot of changing the culture around how we approach violence. So I thank city council for supporting this work, supporting the pilot. Mayor Malik, you know, Minority Behavioral Health, and, you know, just the community at large because they have, they really do support what we're doing. So thank you.

Thank you. And if I could then, Mr. Chair, I'd ask Dr. Drinker to, if she could, if she would be willing to talk about some of the insight into the data analysis during the pilot.

Thank you. Good afternoon. The street team pilot started in January of 2025. And I was brought on to start the evaluation in October of 25. So today I'm going to talk about a recent report that I sent out that had six months worth of data. It's this paper, if you have it. So two full-time curbside counselors have been serving the entire city of Akron since the pilot began. And that's all ages. And they've also done extensive work in the juvenile detention center. I worked closely with Marcel to identify what areas in Akron he was particularly focused on where services would be more intensive. And I want to be sure to reiterate, they have served people across the city. But there is an area in Akron where they have very intensively been doing outreach and mentorship, and that is in the green box in the bottom left-hand panel. So what I've learned so far is that this near-term violence interruption, it requires consistent, ongoing outreach and mentorship. There's a violence interrupters program in Oakland, similar to what we have here, and they call it relentless outreach is what is required to reduce risk for gun violence. In addition to that, it is not just violence interruption that makes these programs successful. There is a whole array of wraparound services that have to be delivered as well. And in the street team pilot, these wraparound services were largely around behavioral health and basic needs. But there were 16 different types of wraparound care, referring people for a job and going to court, providing transportation. There's a whole range of things that go into the work that Marcel and his team does. and is one of the reasons why we're seeing such positive trends now. We collect a lot of data. At some point, we may have the opportunity to do a deeper dive. But today I want to focus on the Akron Police Department data that I have received and they have given us shooting victimization data, felonious assault data, and robbery data. Today I'm going to look at the shooting victimizations and felonious assaults. So I requested that data beginning in 2024 so that we could compare it to 2025. There is a final report on the pilot that will be delivered at the end of this month with updated APD data again. But I think that one of the strongest cases that can be made from a data perspective for this project is that if you look at change in rates of violence from 2024 to 2025, Across the city of Akron, there was a 21% reduction in shooting victimizations. But in the street team focus area, there was a 59% reduction. And then similarly, looking at felonious assaults more broadly, there was a 6% increase citywide and a 30% reduction in the focus area. This program is needed. It looks like it's working well. It's particularly needed because the fact is that 81% of shooting victims in Akron are black. Over 3 4ths of them are male and 69% are under 35 years old. So they are directly addressing and serving this population and trend data indicates that this is a successful pilot.

Okay, thank you. I would just close here before questions, just saying appreciate all the hard work that everybody has done. This is not just transactional work, which is intervening in some sort of sense of immediate retaliation, but there is a transformative component of it that we look forward to bearing fruit for many years down the road. And with that, and I should say one other point, it's not, as many of you know, we recently launched our hospital violence linked interruption program. Neither of these programs are competing with one another. They're all meant to augment one another and just, you know, looking at public safety from three pillars, which is prevention, intervention, and enforcement. With that, certainly happy to take any questions.

Okay, thank you. Well, thank you all for what you do. When violence strikes, it's just not an easy thing. So the hope and the healing are needed with not only the victims, but the extended families and so on. So that's very important. Thank you. I'm going to ask Councilwoman Linda Omobian for her comments.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Reverend Dennis and your team. I'm just curious if we can get some more, talk more about the data, because I think what we're hearing is evidence that when you intervene, provide some connection, mentorship, and trying to get people to address some of the really deep feeling of trauma and all the other experiences that people go through that they never deal with. All of this has to have a significant impact because we know that many folks, particularly our black family members and others, don't particularly trust the mental health system as well. So to do that kind of outreach and to try to address some of that has to be impactful. So could someone talk about, I can't think of the young lady's name. I've known her since she was born. Dr. Dr. Morgan. Morgan. I'm sorry. Dr. Morgan, I know you can speak to this, but I don't know if you could just share with us more about the intervention that you're doing, because it sounds like it's really impactful.

Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you to the council and Ms. Omobian, Councilwoman Omobian. I'm going to pass to Marcel. What I'll say is just starting out a little bit about the background and the experience that the curbside counselors also have and partake in. is really impactful to how relationships are built. So it's a very relational program. So when we look at the data, it's supportive and shows how strong their relationship component is, if that makes sense. So we start out, and as Marcel started out talking about, we started with a small group. So we started with Mental Health Mondays and people coming with whatever they had on their hearts, what they were experiencing, what their lived experiences had been. And we used this framework of African-centeredness to engage people. And African-centeredness is important in this conversation because what it centers is harmony, and it centers how we're all here as individuals to continue to be human, That's the whole focus of it, is that many times people are stripped from their humanity, especially when we look at the historical context of black people in this country. And so what we're talking about through this program and what the data is showing is that people are returning to understanding that they are fully divine and fully human at the same time. And that's what Marcel is doing with people. And that's why it is relentless, because it is a constant deconstructing and rebuilding. And so we started with this small group process, but that continues to be a part of the individual and collective experience that people are having within the community. All of, when you talk about the mental health system and mistrust and the reasonable mistrust that's had by a lot of black people in the country of different systems, including mental health. Marcel and the curbside counselors and several other group of men have gone through what we call the 100s. And in the 100, they participate in an African-centered rites of passage and mental health program where they become prevention-certified specialists or peer support specialists. Some of them go on to use those credentials that are credentialed through the state, and some of them use that training and skill in other ways. So they bring their natural gifts, talents, and also are taught through the traditional mental health program or training how to be peer support specialists or prevention specialists. And then several of those men that participate, and not several, two of those men that participate in the 100 then go on and have been curbside counselors. I know you asked specifically about the data. So, Dr. Drinker, I don't know if there's anything that you want to share more about the data. But also, Marcel, if there's anything that you want to share about the intervention component of what takes place on a day-to-day basis.

Uh, yeah, what we do, this is, uh, I give you a perfect example. Uh, last week was the week before last, uh, there was a video online of a 17 year old getting pistol whipped and, uh, the 17 year old, I had been dealing with him since he was like 14 when he was, he was shot at the age of 15. And, uh, When I went to see him, I knew that this could be, you know, some serious could come out of this. It's social media, public humiliation. And when I went to see him with a friend of mine who just helped in the community, and we went to see him and, you know, he had a gun on the dresser. He was already preparing to go retaliate. And so, you know, for the next, the last two weeks, we just had to redirect. You know, we had to redirect, you know, hey, go cut grass. You know, make a few dollars, man. It's summer. You know, go cut some grass. But just being with him every day. Being with him, showing up. He got a court case. We went to court for him Thursday. Showing up with him, intervening in a thought pattern. You know, it's not just getting in between two people about to fight. It's really intervening in thought patterns that they have had their entire lives. And that is the, you know, that's just an example of the work that happens. You know, we have to start that basic, get them out of survival mode. You know, they're in survival mode, then we guide them along. It's not a numbers game. You know, this is relationships that you have to continually show up for them. Just keep showing up. Because the love you pour into them, and then they start loving they self. And then when they start loving their self, they won't put their self in situations where they can harm somebody or be harmed. So that is the intervention component because you have a long way to go to even get them to acknowledge the trauma, but you see it acting out every day. So it's like we doing the mental health work without actually saying, hey, this is mental health work, if that answers the question.

no it it more than answers the question and i thank you because when the dr drinker talked about relentless and staying in there you know that is kind of what it takes somebody being there with the person reminding them that you have an alternative you don't have to retaliate you don't have to you know fight back the way that you've always fought back so i appreciate what you're doing and i think this is the benefit and has been for many years of mental health is using people with lived experiences to help us as a team to create different ways to intervene and get people to change the patterns that they have grown accustomed to So thank you very much for your work. I appreciate it. And, you know, continue the good work. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Garrett.

Thank you for the opportunity. I want to thank the team there, Marcel and the rest of the team, Dennis, for the work that you guys are doing. One of the things that stands out to me most is the data. A lot of times when we talk about data, everything we do should be data driven. any event that we have those high percentages of 80% plus the impact that you're doing in a community, $50,000 toward a situation where we're changing major impact and changing so many lives. It is just my hopes that when we have the data that shows that what is going on in our community If there's a way to come up with, if we're getting these results with 50,000, imagine what we could do if we really focused on the data and put the resources toward the data. I think it's important that we be intentional. It was intentional how we got here. I mean, granted, you put a group of Chinese people or any other ethnicity together in a poor, impoverished food desert without any real resources. It's not just black on black crime. And we need to make sure that these young black boys understand that. I mean, if you put a group of white folks in a community that didn't give them resources or opportunity, they would have the same outcome then. And so it is frustrating a lot of times that we must be super intentional because it was intentionally done the other way. We have to really be intentional, put the resources in place to really reflect the data to make sure it all makes sense. With the resources, and I applaud you for going to the gentleman's house and offering him an opportunity to do something else, redirect. It's really important that we give them the opportunity to do something. I know grass cutting is amazing. I mean, we just had to keep Akron beautiful and we gave them additional $40,000 for people to go out and do audits. Imagine if you were able to give you a budget. So then you can say, hey, I want to redirect you and give you an opportunity to go to this place and get this job or start this career. That's a piece of this. We're intentional. We have to be data driven. And then we also have to follow up with some of the resources that will make a huge difference. I thank you for what you do, but I really would like for our team, the budget, to figure out a way to increase this because the data shows that What we've done with $50,000, imagine what we would do with $500,000 if we were really serious about making a major impact. So I'm just curious and hopeful that this is something that we can consider going forward. Thank you so much, Chair, for your time.

Thank you, Councilman Garrett. Councilwoman Jan Davis. Could I make a clarification?

Yeah, this might help the conversation, Councilman Garrett. These two pieces work in concert. There is a $450,000 budget for a year-long term for minority behavioral health group, and there's a $50,000 budget for drinker enterprises. These two work in concert. So we are looking at $500,000 total. That's for both entities. One, for the group that Pastor Dennis and Marcel and his team are doing. And then two, the smaller component, but certainly very critical, Dr. Drinkard and her data analysis. So these two pieces work together. Thank you.

Thank you so much for the clarification. But just a follow-up piece. Does the $50,000 for what Mr. Marcel Is that specifically for his organization? And could that be increased to assist him in what he's trying to do? I understand the mental health piece. There'll be some amazing doctors and clinicians and folks like that pretty much collecting that. but I'm hopeful that he could possibly have an additional budget and thank you, Craig, additional budget so that he can offer hope opportunity and really redirect these individuals with not only just suggestions, but real concrete. Some of these folks need work and that's what we're really trying to get at. But thank you, Craig, for your, for your comment. Okay.

Yep. Councilwoman Jan Davis.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I echo my colleague's sentiments with regards to looking at increasing that component for Marcel. I want to thank each and every one of you for all of the hard work that you do, because indeed it is hard work. I've had the privilege and the pleasure over the last year and a half of being in some of these spaces with Mr. Brooks. And I've been to a lot of meetings, a lot of different organizations focusing on violence. His is as close as I've seen get to the root cause. And we appreciate that more than you would ever know. I had the opportunity to be out with him and his group on the first day of the curbside counseling. It was amazing. And the kids were listening. They were attentive. So that was good work. And hopefully we can keep that going. Another reason why we need to talk, you know, futuristically about helping fund his program. I also believe that we have to begin to educate people on the root causes of violence and what perpetrates violence in our community. I am having Mr. McDaniel do a ward meeting for me on June the 30th. You guys are welcome to come to talk about violence and what perpetrates violence and the systems that we have to and people have to deal with every day. So that's a good start. But Marcel has done, he's put his heart and his energy his soul, I would say, into this work. And I really appreciate that. I appreciate Pastor Dennis for your support that you give him and all the team and Craig as well. So Marcel, I just want you to know that your work is not going unnoticed. When I walk in those rooms and I see young faces that I've seen on the streets out here, that gives me hope. So I'm asking this council, whatever we can do to support this initiative, let's do that because this work that he's doing, you know, he's on the street, he's out there with these young people. He's gone into their homes to talk to their mothers or fathers and things of that nature. So we're on to something here and we need to do whatever we can do to make sure it's sustainable. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilwoman Tina Boyes.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Since we're talking about the data component of this, I just had some questions about the data. Do we track that? How do we track that? Because I'm seeing last year's numbers. Are we looking at it in progress? So monthly, how do we do that?

Absolutely. I provide a monthly update to the mayor, Craig, and our team with the data. And what that looks like is the curbside council or daily log. So daily they're tracking their interactions, points of contact, the services that they provided. And that is a Google form. and so it's automatically updated. The APD data, I make a request every few months for updated data. As I said, we've looked at from 24 to 25, and now we're going to be looking at the first five months of 2026 for this final pilot report, but the intention is to continually update that information over time as well. And then I conduct in-depth interviews with people that the street team works with and also surveys. And so those happen sort of, they unfold naturally. When people are willing to provide an interview and do a survey, then I'll go out and meet them where they're at and do that as well. And that all of this is expected to continue similarly.

Gotcha. And the reason I asked about the timeliness of that, are we making adjustments? How often are we making adjustments based on the data we're receiving back?

I think that because this is the pilot phase, you're sort of trying to find out what's happening, how it's happening, what appears to be working and what's not working. So as we're moving into a more established program, we will sort of hit pause and say here's what we know and what things do we think we need to adjust moving forward. But I will say just through having that honor of speaking with 40 people so far in interviews, the program is as described and it is having a very positive impact on people. And so we will also continue to collect their stories and share their thoughts about the program as well.

the data between 24 and 25 is amazing. Um, I look forward to kind of seeing where we are this year because it feels like we're having public, you know, we're having some challenges this year with violence. So that was my reason for asking. Thank you.

There's excellent momentum. And of course I would recommend, Maintaining resources in that focus area and moving to another area and providing that level of intensive services And in that way you'll have more evidence better evidence about how and why the programs working Thank you All right Any other comments from Oh?

Councilman Eric Eric. Mark Greer.

I was looking at Eric. Sorry, Mark. It's OK. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to rise and say, again, thank you to Mr. McDaniel, Pastor Dennis. Your work has been really impactful. And both Drs. Drinkard and Morgan, thank you for providing that data, which is so incredibly important. I've seen firsthand the work that Mr. McDaniel has done. You bring the authenticity. You bring the heart. And you are truly standing in the gap for people who oftentimes have never had anyone else to stand in that gap for them. So we cannot thank you enough for that, Pastor Dick. Dennis, you as well, you've been doing this work for a long time and I am in full support of this program, showing those positive results from 2024 to 2025 and just seeing that this is This need is so great and to expand upon that really impactful work that you all are doing again. Thank you for your commitment to really stand in the gap and authentically do that work every day.

Thank you. You're good. Okay. So what would be your Mr. Morgan, what would be your pleasure on this ordinance consent agenda, please? Okay. Can I get a motion for consent?

Motion for consent. Second.

In a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Very good. We'll see that that's placed on the consent agenda. All right, and we'll move right into our second piece, an ordinance authorizing the mayor or a designee to enter into a contract or contracts without the formality of advertising for bids with minority behavioral health group for a one-year term for the purpose of operating the street team program, the Credible Messengers Initiative, and declaring an emergency. So again, we're here at the, these two pieces go hand in hand. I think we went through all the discussions on that. This piece is the $450,000 piece, yes. And this contract again is for one year, July 26th through June 27th, right? Yep, June 30th, okay, very good, very good. your pleasure would be consent again? Mr.

Chair, I'm sorry. Just a question if I can.

Yeah, sure.

We keep saying 450,000 and I don't see that on my paperwork.

It's on the attachment. I do.

Where do we see 450?

You see our attached to the second document.

So you're adding two years together? Is that Correct.

So it's a one-year contract for $450,000, but part of it will span into the 2027 budget. So it's $200,000 this year and $250,000 for the first six months of next year.

And so during the pilot program, that amount was $200,000?

I think it was actually about $180,000, Madam President.

$180,000? Mm-hmm. And thank you. Thank you, Steve. I first just want to commend the whole entire team, you know, Pastor Dennis, Marcel. I mean, the work that you're doing is phenomenal. And I think where I find pauses is that the data... The numbers do not lie, and it is showing that this work is important, that it is working, that it is reducing the numbers. And I think that we need to be more intentional in increasing the budget. Again, Marcel, I don't even know how you do all the work that you do with just yourself and one other individual citywide. There's no way. And I think as a city and as a council, we need to provide more support and more resources to the work that you're doing because we – You have shown that it works, right? But you need some more assistance. You need some more resources. I mean, I would like to be able to see where you can hire some additional full-time people so that we can really do a plan where we can cover the entire city. I see a very small footprint here in Ward 5, but I know in Ward 3 we have real serious pockets. I know Councilman Davis has some real serious pockets in Ward 4 and in other places throughout the city. And so I'm just wondering when can we have that conversation to increase the budget so that we can increase the work? Because as Councilwoman Boyce has said, gun violence, you know, that we're seeing right now, those numbers continue to rise. But if we have something that's working, we should put our money and resources towards that to help in this effort.

Yeah, I think the vision here, Madam President, you know, we're shifting from a pilot to, you know, an officially fully funded program. And then we're going to look at a graduated, phased, increased implementation as we go from here. So I think it's mission critical. We'll start with this phase of it and then certainly be looking to expand as we move on.

Yeah, I'll just say that, you know, again, we're talking about people's lives here, you know, and when you talk about, you know, wait and see, you know, we've done the pilot program, they've done the work, they've proved it to be successful, you know, another year of wait and see, wait and see, I mean, more people, you know, are becoming victims. of gun violence. More mothers are having to bury children. So I think that we should be a little bit more intentional and not so much a wait and see, but see what we can do right now. And so I just had to say that for the record. But again, the work that you guys are doing is absolutely phenomenal. I just want to thank all of you. Thank you.

Just real briefly, I echo President Somerville's sentiments that we don't need to wait to see how this works out. We already know. And we again, as she stated, we need to be intentional. If there's something that can be done to increase that budget in 2026, then we need to do it today. or by tomorrow, not by looking at more data. Because again, she's buried many young men. There are going to be more shot and killed while we sit around and wait. We know what the issue is. We know what the problem is. We know what is working and this is working. So I don't think that we need to wait that time out. I think we need to convene whatever committee or talk to the mayor or whatever. And we need to get this done because we'll be here forever. you know, waiting and waiting and people are continuing to die. So it's working. There's the evidence. Let's see what we can do to get this going yesterday, not tomorrow, but yesterday. Thank you.

Mr. Chair.

Yes.

Yes. Go ahead.

There's no question that this team is on the right track. I THINK PART OF THE CHALLENGE IS GOING TO BE FOR REV. DENNIS IS TO REV UP THE PROGRAM. AND THAT'S GOING TO TAKE TIME FOR THEM TO DO ALL OF THAT WORK AS WELL. BUT WE SEE THAT THIS IS WORKING. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT 500,000 RIGHT NOW. AND IF WE CAN DRUM UP MORE MONEY, IT GIVES THEM TIME TO START DOING SOME FIGURING OUT AS TO HOW THEY'RE GOING TO DEVELOP THE PROGRAM MORE FULLY. I don't disagree at all with just asking for suggesting just that we need to be mindful that this kind of program is not going to be developed overnight. And adding people to it is going to take some training, as they've talked about. But they're definitely on the right path.

Okay.

Thank you. Councilman Bram Wilson. I just want to echo everybody's sentiments and Madam President's words. I appreciate everybody's work here. So I think there's a lot of support here to grow it out. So I think we should look into that. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Is consent agenda okay? All right. Can we get a motion for consent?

Motion for consent.

Is there a second?

Second.

Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Very good. We'll put that on the consent agenda too. Again, thank you for your work. Thank you for your time. Keep doing what you're doing. And just appreciate everything. All right, take care. All right, this meeting is adjourned.

That concludes today's committee meetings. Council will meet in regular session at 6.30. Thank you.