City Council - Regular Meeting

Excuse Councilman Jason Kyle. So move this evening's meeting. Second. Thank you. Lawson. Hi. Workman. Hi. Miller. Hi. Woodward. Hi. All right. Ter, if you want to take the role. Steve Workman here. Dennis Miller here. Angela Woodward here and Lawson here. All right. Please join me in the pledge of

allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [snorts]

Well, good evening and welcome everyone to the December 2nd meeting of the Ashlin City Council. [clears throat] This is your first time here, welcome. This is not your first time here, welcome back. So, first item on the agenda will be the approval of the minutes from the November 18th meeting. If there are no additions, deletions, or corrections to those minutes, I'll ask for motion to approve as submitted. Move to approve. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Lawson. Hi. Workman. I Miller. I Woodward. I.

Minutes will stand approved. [clears throat and cough] First ordinance this evening will be an ordinance providing for the 2026 temporary appropriations for the city of Ashlin, Ohio to meet the operating expenses of said city pursuant to the authority of the Ohio Revised Code section 5705.38 and declaring an emergency. Move for non-reading in full. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Lawson. Lawson. Hi. Workman. Hi. Miller. I Woodward.

I. Very good. Well, tonight our finance director is unable to be here. So, I will go through these next three items. These are very routine always when we come to the year end. We are in a situation where we need to move money between different line items where some line items might have cost us more than what originally was expected at budget time and other line items might not have been spent down as we thought they would be at budget time. But this first of these three items deals with the council approving us to continue our business into 2026. And that's why it's called a temporary appropriation because up to this point, we've only approved appropriation for 2025. And it will be very soon that we're entering January of 2026. And our finance director is just getting things in place so that business can continue once we get to the year end. So, it's a routine item and we ask for your support. Any discussion? Hearing none. Is there a motion to approve on the first reading?

So, move. Second. Thank you. Workman. I. Miller. I. Woodward. I. Lawson. I. I'll move to suspend the rules for three separate readings, three separate days. Second. Thank you. Miller. I. Woodward. I. Lawson. I. Workman. I. Motion to approve the ordinance. So moved. Second. Thank you, Woodward. I Lawson. Hi, Workman. I Miller, I. Ordinance 94-25. [clears throat] Next ordinance will be an ordinance authorizing and directing the director of finance to make the following transfers within the 2025 appropriations and declaring an emergency. Move for non-reading in full. Second. Second. Thank you. Workman. I. Miller. I.

Woodworth. I. Lawson. I. Very good. The second item is just as you stated, it's transfers of funds from one fund to the other. And most of these funds are being transferred out of wage [clears throat] line items where maybe they were not spent and now are needed in other line items such as uh maybe oper city health insurance cost. For some of these, it's I see it's being moved into Medicare line item. Others are being moved into training, health insurance, wages, and so on. But again, it's just routine at the end of the year. We're always cleaning up everything and making sure that uh everything's ready to close for 2025.

Very good. Any discussion hearing? None. Is there a motion to approve on the first reading? Move to approve. Second. Second. Thank you. Miller. I. Woodward. I. Lawson. I. Workman. I. I'll again move to suspend the rules for three separate readings, three separate days. Second. Thank you Woodward. I Lawson I Workman I Miller I motion to approve the ordinance move. Second. Thank you. Lawson I Workman I Miller I Woodward I. Ordinance 95-25. [clears throat]

Then we have an ordinance authorizing the director of finance to amend appropriations for the calendar year 2025 and declare an emergency. Move for non-reading in full. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Miller. I Woodward. I Lawson. Hi. Workman. I.

Each year, if it's a good year, in some of our funds, we may generate more revenue than what we thought we would when the original estimates were put together in January. uh at the end of the year, of course, some of that money then that we have collected over and above what we thought we would in a particular line item now needs the council's approval to spend. And so that's what this additional appropriations ordinance does. It's basically saying in this case some of the to the tune of about $300,000 from the general fund revenue fund and $200,000 from I believe that's the income tax transfer in fund needs to be appropriated so we can use it to cover general expenses as well as some wages additional salt for the street department some of the service contracts in various departments and it even includes I guess an auditor expense of $17,600. $. So this money was collected but was not expected at budget time and now you're required to authorize the expenditure of these funds before we can do so.

All right. [clears throat] Any discussion, questions? No. That being the case, is there a motion to approve on the first reading? So move. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Woodward. I Lawson. Hi Workman. Hi Miller. Hi. I'll move to suspend the rules for three separate readings, three separate days. Second. Thank you. Lawson. I Workman. I Miller. I Woodward. I. Motion to approve the ordinance. So moved. Second. Thank you. Workman. I Miller. I Woodward. I. Lawson. I. Ordinance 96-25.

All right. Not quite 710 yet. We'll move through our agenda here [clears throat] briefly. Uh there are no resolutions. We have no old business or new business unless council has something to bring forward. Finance director is not present to provide a report. Mayor, do you have anything else to add? The only thing I would add is reminding everyone that the Christmas parade is this weekend at 6 pm in downtown Ashlin. Immediately after somewhere near 7 pm, we will expect to light the city's official Christmas tree.

So, and of course, people have asked if we'll have fireworks again this year, and yes, they are expected to be back again this year. So, hopefully we have another successful event. Great. How about that guy on stilts? Will he be there? They will be there. I think we have three or four of those folks coming. I always look for them. Even the mirror man. Yes. And this year they'll be in the form of different characters. We've had toy soldiers in the past, but I think this year we might have a nutcracker. We have maybe a Christmas tree and I'm not sure what the other characters. A candy cane, I think. So, good. Good. Looking forward to it. I really meant Did you have anything else to add on behalf of the finance director? No, not on behalf of the [laughter] finance director. Okay. No, he can speak for himself,

but we're always glad to hear about the parade. All right. I thought you were [laughter] giving me my report. So, with that, uh, we'll move right to council comments. Mr. Miller, uh, kudos to the street department for doing a great job this morning. They were out real real early and, uh, I saw them all day. So, they did a great job in clearing the streets. So, kudos to them. I won't steal the mayor's thunder, but Saturday was uh, the opening of Candy Cane um, trail, and even though it was freezing, it it was magical. I would say it was magical. So, exactly at 6:00, I I think the mayor must have prayed because the snow started coming down.

So, as as the music's playing and the choir, it was just the ambiance was perfect. So, kudos to everybody and the um the portals from the cheese barn for all that they do to make that just perfect. It was absolutely beautiful. Certainly, you could say it's always been good. [clears throat] This is the third year, but I will tell you, I do believe this year it is absolutely the best. Yes. The features they've added and walking under the arches and so on. That is incredible. Yep. It was just a beautiful, beautiful evening. Lots of people came out cold or not. So, and we broke the world record once again. Yes. [laughter]

Since we were the holders. 776 trees is what we set as the official world record. And they added more than 40 additional trees. So, we know we went over that. Great. A lot of people may wonder, well, does that mean the number changes? Well, in order to make it official, the way the process works is you have to reach out to the Guinness World Record folks. You have to explain to them the record you want to beat. Then they will assign a case manager for your particular record and you have to pay for that case manager and it is not inexpensive. And basically uh then from that point they verify what the current standing record is around the globe and then on the set day come and actually do the count and they count multiple times and they don't tell you until the final minute whether or not you've broken the record because their theory is you've got to keep it open until you know that no one else on that particular day is submitting an attempt to break that same record somewhere around the globe. So, it is very involved. It's not like you just call them up. We added 40 trees. Change it. You have to actually hire them to come back. And we'll wait a few years before we do that.

Definitely. Well, thank you. Yes. Thank you for your part in it, Mr. Lawson.

Um, because it snowed, I agree with Councilman Miller about the streets department getting out there and helping, but they are still, be patient, they are still picking up leaves, and I appreciate that. And along those lines, I don't want to be a wet blanket, but it was reported to me uh after I had made a comment about two meetings ago, please don't put your leaves in the street. Some people intentionally put their leaves in the street as an act of defiance because that blankety blank city council doesn't have the right to tell us what to do on our property. So, I just want to remind people, you wouldn't put your leaves over on your ne I hope you wouldn't put your leaves over on your neighbor's property to let them deal with it. So, please don't do the same to the street, but also it does create hazards. We We're not just saying this to be dictatorial or autocratic, but it does create hazards and it could clog the storm drains and and flood people's basements and all sorts of things like that. So, uh, I apologize if people felt I was being too, uh, forward and aggressive, but there is a reason why we ask you not to do that. And so, please reconsider, uh, if you want to put your leaves out in the street. But I agree with all the other comments about the festive Christmas spirit and we're looking forward to the parade as well.

Yes, I agree with Mr. Awesome. Uh, regarding the leaves, you know, it's just grass. It'll grow back, right? So, yeah, if you can keep them on your property, they'll be picked up. The mayor assures me. So, with that, uh, mayor, unless you had any other count, uh, comments. Nope. Uh, we'll move right to our hearing for the alley vacation on Walnut Street, and we'll open that up and, uh, I'll just turn it over to you.

Okay. Very good. I'll look here. I just got up. Okay. So, I wanted to make sure that message wasn't in regard to this particular item. So, up here on the screen, what you are seeing is East Walnut Street and between the block of 123 and 12, I'm sorry, the properties 123 and 125, there is an alley and this alley does not lead to any other street. And over the last several years, the city has made a conscientious effort of trying to clean up these situations. And the question that we ask in order to determine whether or not an alley should be vacated is does it serve a public purpose? This particular alley actually services these two properties alone and therefore since it cannot be utilized in essence by anyone else in the city. It is not considered a public purpose. But the first step is to bring it before the community and hold a public hearing to determine whether or not there is in fact a public purpose served by this alleyway.

So, is there anyone here who would like to speak on behalf of the property owners? Sir, if you would step up to the podium, just state your name for our minutes and uh feel free to address counsel. And you know what? Real before he does, I actually left off a part on this one. I forgot which one we were talking about. This one actually does go on through and around. Right.

It does. And if you recall, the reason this came up is because one of the adjacent property owners was concerned about the fact that oftent times when folks do come through here, they [clears throat] damage their existing building on that lot. I apologize not being able to see that street there. I wasn't thinking that it's there, but it's under there under the foliage. And uh the folks that came forward and thought this might be a good idea are saying that you could still access this area behind all these properties off of and I can't think of what street this is. Arthur Arthur Street. Arthur Street. And there's actually another access to the alley. Okay. Okay. So, we'll let you take over. All right. What is your name, sir?

Good evening. My name is Jeremy Brandt. Um, I live at 125 and um, basically uh, like Mayor Miller had said, we want to vacate the alley, that portion of the alley specifically because that our garage has been hit in the past, not while we lived there, but the previous owners had made mention. And if you actually look at our garage, it does lean to the left. We actually have a pole back there to kind of mark where our property is and it gets hit constantly.

Um, not only that, but drivers do tend to speed up and down that short alley. Um, my girlfriend and I have a 2-year-old. We're scared that if she happens to get out of our yard, somebody may not see her. We do keep a close eye on her, of course, but accidents do happen. Um, we are not, you know, we're we're really good friends with our with the neighbors across the street. Um, we are willing to, you know, do whatever is necessary to keep that that up as a shared driveway for both of us. Um, there are two other accesses to that alley. One off of Arthur and the other is just up from Arthur. Um, it actually uh connects with the alley across Walnut as well. So, uh, they are there are multiple accesses. Um, if a question ever arose about fire department access or anything like that, being on a fire department, I would never tell the fire department that they couldn't take a truck back there. Not that you really could, unless it was a smaller vehicle. Um, so yeah, that's really all I have to say. I mean, we're we're we really we're really worried about the building getting hit multiple times and and such. So, you know, that's why that's really why we brought it forward and I do appreciate you hearing what we have to say.

Sure. And do you think this will alleviate some of that? Oh, absolutely. Um, we're actually if it does happen, we are we are going to um figure out how to close that off. Okay. Uh so it will not be able to be used. Yeah. And um there are people like there are people who park back there off that alley, but um again there's there's alternate accesses. So it shouldn't hinder them in any way. And you realize you'll get half your neighbor will get half. Oh, absolutely. And what you do with it at that point is up to you.

Absolutely. Like I said, our our neighbors, we're really good with our neighbors and such. we are willing to to make that a shared driveway and that way we continue to have access to our garages. Sure. Very good. Well, appreciate you being here. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you.

Let me add one thing here too. At the time I was up here not seeing that. I didn't point it out. So, when he says that folks would have access to the backs of their property, because they do park back there, if you haven't gone out to the scene, and I have a feeling most of you have by now, you can access this back driveway or this alley off of Arthur and then you can pull up behind those residents because I think even the day I was out there, I think there might have been vehicles parked here and here, I believe. So, there is access for folks to park behind their property. All right. Well, [cough and clears throat] council have any comments on the matter?

No. Okay. So, with that, anyone else? Any anyone else here have any comments? No. Okay. Well, we we'll close the hearing and uh prepare legislation accordingly to be considered at uh probably a meeting in January, wouldn't it be? Do we need 30 days in between? I don't think you need 30 days.

No. Okay. Now, do we have our board of revision and assessments now? And then that leads to the preparation of the our finance director. So, I'll tell you for the folks that are here tonight, the next step is for the board of revision of assessments to meet to determine whether or not they approve and recommend to council the abandonment of this ally. And the members of that group are the law director's office, the finance director who's not here, and myself as the mayor. And the finance director did send a note, which I have here, that he would support the vacation of this alley. So,

I believe we could do it now or we could do it um at the meeting where we entertain the ordinance. I don't think it matters, but we could knock it out now. Why don't we? And then we'll prepare the the ordinance. So I'll call the meeting of the board of revision of assessments to order. We have two of the three members present and I'll entertain a motion. Move to recommend to city council that this ordin or that this alley be vacated. All right. And I will second. Any further discussion? Nope. If not, will the clerk take the roll call? I.

All right. The motion carries. So now the board of revision of assessment has recommended the council to vacate the alley and so likely at our next meeting which will be what? December 16th I think. What is today? Yeah December 16th we will present to the council an official ordinance to vacate the alley and at that time they have the final say. Very good. All right with that our hearing is [clears throat] closed. Moving on. Mayor, did you have anything else to add to your comments? I don't believe so at this point. Need an executive session for anything? No. Would you like one? No. [laughter] Not not in particular, but thank you. I Yeah,

they always think they go long. [clears throat] I I do want to say before I hand it over to the audience that uh whoever's we have to thank for these festive decorations, thank you whoever whoever you are. So, Amanda, Terry, joint effort, mayor. Yes. Appreciate appreciate uh the way everything looks here at city halls. Good. Looks great. And have you seen the corner park? Looks pretty good. It looks really good. It look even better when that trees lit up. Yes, it will. [laughter] It does look like there's some one thing missing, doesn't it? Yeah.

So, with that, we'll turn over to comments and questions from our audience. If anyone here would like to address council, you're more than welcome to do so. Don't everyone jump at once. Quiet bunch. All right. Seeing none, then I'll ask for a motion to adjurnn. Some move. Second. Thank you. Lawson. I. Workman. I. Miller. I. Woodward. I. We are adjourned. Thank you all for coming. Thank you.