City Council - Regular Meeting

Hey, hey, hey. Good evening. This is the regular session of Athens City Council for May 4th, 2026. And before we officially begin this evening, I'd like to offer a brief civic welcome. The purpose of this meeting is for government officials and members of the public to come together in the service of the people, planet, and prosperity of our community, reflecting our shared vision of Athens as a welcoming, forward-thinking city that honors its college town roots while growing sustainably. Members of the public sometimes ask how council's work connects to our community's values and priorities. So, I'd like to note that tonight's agenda includes several items that reflect that shared purpose, including support for new housing opportunities, clean transportation infrastructure, such as electric vehicle charging stations, parks and recreation improvements, and continued investments in essential public systems like water, sewer, and public safety infrastructure. Together, these efforts help strengthen our community, steward public resources responsibly, and support a healthy, sustainable future for Athens. Our first item of business is to establish quorum. We have six of seven council members here. So, we do have quorum. And I'd next like to move us to approval of the agenda. Do we have any proposed amendments to the agenda this evening? Seeing none,

we'll have an amendment later. Member Club Felder, would you like to uh offer a motion to amend the agenda at this point? No. All right. Great. Um then how about a motion to approve the agenda as is? So move. Do we have a second? Second. All right. Any discussion? All in favor of approving the agenda, please indicate so by saying I. I. Any oppose say nay. The agenda has been approved unanimously. Next we have the disposition of the minutes. May I have a motion to approve the minutes for our regular session held on April 20th, 2026. So moved. May I have a second? Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion on the minutes?

Seeing none, all in favor of approving the minutes say I. I. Any oppose say nay. The minutes from the April 20th session have been unanimously approved. Next, we move on to communications and reports. Do we have any communications or reports from council members? Member Swink or would you like to She beat me. Member Thomas. I just have one just uh a reminder again that the community relations commission has an open seat. So if anyone is interested in joining that commission, they can reach out through the website and fill out the paperwork. Thank you. Member Thomas, do we have other communications? Member Swink?

Uh I have a couple here. One very very positive one. Um and I'll just read a portion of it. As everyone knows, NOPEC is our gas aggregation supplier for the city of Athens. And we received in the last 10 days uh an email from the executive director of NOPEC. And I'll read the first couple paragraphs. Uh it's addressed to the mayor, but somehow it ended up in my inbox, too. Says, "Dear Steve Patterson, I wanted to share with you your residents and small businesses. Good news about our summerfall 2026 natural gas pricing. This isn't what you buy at Super America. This is what you comes and pipe into your house. I am pleased to announce that our standard program price for Columbia Gas of Ohio customers will be decreasing from.719 cents per cc to 0.635

per CCFow which I've done the math on that is a 13.2% decrease

in the gas that we'll be buying uh beginning in June and running through December. For those customers who prefer even longer periods of predictable pricing, we will be lowering our fixedterm product prices as well. The new pricing for those options will be for 12 months 645 and for 24 months 625. These prices are in line and largely below what is currently being offered on the applesto apples shopping website. The beauty of this, even if you do sign up for a 12 or 24month period, should the NOAEC rates go down even further, you can switch without fee or cost. So 13.2% uh decrease starting in June for those who are NOCAC aggregation customers and that will extend uh through December and we'll have new pricing at that time. Hopefully it continues to go down. Uh the second piece of uh communication I received I received this morning and it concerns the Johnny Apples Seed Park. And I'll just read one paragraph. This was received from a Westside Mound Street resident. Over the past several weeks, equipment and heavy machinery have been stored in the park. Last Saturday, I realized that piles of concrete debris have been dumped in the park. Approximately half of the park's surface has been turned into a huge dirt pile. All grass has disappeared. The recently planted memorial tree is leaning over due to the dirt and mud being dragged by the moving of heavy equipment. The storm sewer is plugged and water is accumulating on the road. I drove up this afternoon to take a look at that and it appears that the necessary construction for bearing the utility lines has used that as a staging ground and it is going to take a complete and comprehensive uh restoration when this is all said and done. Uh and I would say probably digging down as much as six inches to a foot because of the way all the gravel has settled. I promised the resident that I would share

that with council tonight and I was reading that the mayor nodded. So obviously administration is fully aware of that. Thank you, President McCary. Do we have any other communications or reports from council members? Member Wood.

Uh just very one quick one. Uh I neglected to mention in one of our last meetings that um as I've been doing the rounds meeting with different uh city administration departments in my role as chair of the city and safety services committee, I wanted to thank uh Gerald Balderson and his team who were uh very good to welcome me to the the headquarters of the public works and uh show me the extensive amount of planning and work uh that that department does. It really is. The number of projects that they have going at any given moment is really quite uh astounding. Um and um I just want to thank him and his team for doing that.

Do we have any other communications or reports from council members? Moving on to other elected officials. Law director. No. Um treasurer. Mr. Mayor,

just an a couple items to share with council tonight. Um um thank you, Council Member Swank. I saw several emails, so I I'm in receipt of several emails of concerned citizens over Johnny Apples Seed Park, um which is right off of North Lancaster. Um the shity from the contractor is that the the Johnny Apples Seed Park will come back better than what it was received as with when this uptown improvement project is completed. Knock on wood. Not for the Apple Seed Park. That'll be returned um as found and better. The other thing, I mentioned this to council the last time I had a communication and that was that there will be a open house for uptown businesses for the uptown improvement project. Um that date has changed. Um I believe I when I was at council I mentioned that it would be tomorrow evening or tomorrow. Um that has moved to May 19th. So that's when uh for businesses and interested citizens with the uptown improvement project, it will be on May 19th as opposed to um when was earlier mentioned.

At what time, Mr. Mayor?

I don't know off the top of my head what the time is. I can get back to you and we can make sure that that gets out um on the city's website with that particular meeting. And um but I I know the date has changed. The other thing I want to share with council briefly is that the Ohio History Connection had reached out to us because there was an individual quite famous who came through Athens back in the early uh part of the 1900s. And that individual was Colonel Charles Young. He made a historic ride from Wilberforce um that part you know Zena area of Ohio to prove a point in that that he was highly capable of continuing to serve in the US military in the army at the time and he he rode by horseback from there through Athens. Uh and as we can tell he spent an evening here in Athens. um and then continued on his journey to Washington DC to make a point before the War Department that he was he was certainly capable of continuing his service to the country. He was a colonel, as I'd mentioned, who was a black individual serving in the US military. Um, and so that all said, there is a historic marker that'll be going in either in front of city hall or the curb bumpout over by the parking garage, which does have a properly planted tree and properly soiled area over there in front of the parking garage. Um, just to set the record straight on a previous communication um, that came before city council that uh, the the marker will go somewhere in that vicinity. So this I will share more with

council as to when that actually happens because I would encourage council to attend that unveiling of this historic marker for a young black officer who quite courageously, you know, to ride continuously from um the Zena area all the way to Washington DC to make his point that he was still fit to serve um in the US military. uh and that we have the honor of hosting one of those markers here in the city of Athens. Um the last thing I want to share with council is as I think you're well aware that uh we have had several individuals in the city of Athens. Um this is our due diligence of responding to the request of the citizens to um manage our budget differently. Um, and therefore we have about 13 individuals who are retiring from the city of Athens in the month of May. We have several retirement ceremonies or parties or whatever you want to call them that are taking place in the uh the month of May. Um, and um, so I'm I'm proud of those who have worked for the city of Athens for as long as they have served and worked in the city of Athens. It's sad to see a lot of these individuals go, but we have a number of retirements taking place. And the very last thing I have to share is that tomorrow is election day here in the city of Athens and encouraging the citizens of Athens to make sure you get out and vote for whatever is on the ballot that is of interest to you. And I would hope most importantly the city income tax increase is of value to you. And I'm I am personally encouraging you because I can as an elected official to vote in the affirmative to pass this income tax so that people continue to get the services that they have expected um over the past

many decades here in the city of Athens as we move forward with city operations. Carrie, thank you for letting me speak openly. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for that report. We'll now move on to ordinances for third reading. Ordinance 29-26, an ordinance authorizing the conveyance of a surplus city-owned parcel on Hudson Avenue to Community Building Partners LLC in furtherance of the Welcome Home Ohio Grant Program and authorizing the mayor to execute all related documents and declaring an emergency introduced by Council Member Swink. Uh, President McCary, I would move that council pass 2926 this evening.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Do we have any discussion? This is the excuse me, this is the first step and the necessary step to begin a first tangible affordable housing project uh in the city on a small scale, eight homes at the end of Hudson Street. Now, we have to do this first and hopefully the other pieces of the domino begin to fall in place so you see a shovel in the ground in 2026. Do we have additional discussion from council members administration?

No, I just concur with everything that council member Swank just said. This is a a city project using state funding that we received, $2 million um is basically a diminishing returns revolving loan fund to build these homes here in the city of Athens. Desperately needed affordable housing as council member Swank indicated. One thing I failed to mention, these are owner occupied homes. Owner occupied. Do we have any comments or questions for members of the public on this ordinance? Seeing none, we'll move on to a vote. All in favor of adopting ordinance 29-26, indicate so by saying I. I.

Any opposed, please say nay. All right. Uh, ordinance 29-26 has been passed. Next, we have ordinance 30-26, an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a one-year agreement with Sunday Creek Horizons, a consulting firm introduced by council member Swank. Uh, President, thank you, uh, member Staser for letting us know that you're recusing yourself. And we'll now move to discussion from council members before moving on to the administration and the public. I'll wait till you get out of the room. President McCary, I would move that council pass 3026 this evening.

Second. We have a motion and a second discussion.

Um members of council today received a couple of emails with some questions and concerns about this ordinance and I'd like to address those briefly. Uh the first was um with the city's money situation right now, why would we be spending $120,000 on a consulting and lobbying firm? Um, essentially the services they bring to the city are beyond the current uh scope uh of experience and expertise of members of our staff. Uh, if we were to hire for this position, it would take at least one if not two people. And at today's going salary rates and benefits factored, it would be well more than the $120,000. The second part of that is these people at Sun I shouldn't say these people the the crew at Sunday Creek Horizons has worked with the city on behalf of the city for several years and establish the necessary relationships with the people who can help uh with the city's funds as we have projects. But specifically some of the things that they do is that they're very responsible in uh grant acquisition and grant administration. Um, sadly, uh, when we lost former city planner Paul Log, uh, a a great bit of institutional wealth, knowledge, and the ability to do these things, uh, left us. And it takes a while to bring someone up to speed to address that. some of the projects they've taken care of. The armory, we had at least five or six different funding sources for that that Sunny Creek Horizons was able to keep on the tracks and got it finished in a reasonable amount of time. And for anyone who's been in the Armory, it was a job well done. They also were able to help secure the $300,000 we have uh once some additional money has been raised and I will emphasize that once some additional money has been raised for the pavilion that will go up on the city wreck the multi-purpose pavilion uh which will be occupied couple days a week by the farmers market but also be a multi-purpose facility with many many

uses throughout the year. They also provide uh project oversight. This year, their major task in that regard is completing the city's disability plan, accessibility and disability plan. And they've assured us that uh that will be something that they can pull off and finally have that behind us. And a third thing is they lobby for us at the state level and also at the national level. Uh a couple of the members of Sunday Creek Horizon are former elected officials and know the ins and outs of their way around uh I won't say city hall, but the state house. and um they've already established and had a very very good working relationship just this past week uh with both of the representatives that represent the county of Ohio and also our state senator on an economic development plan. So for those reasons, that's why I uh I made the motion that we pass this tonight and I think this would be a continuation of a contract that has served the city quite well for the last several years.

Thank you for getting us started on that discussion. Member Swank, do we have any comments or questions from council members? Seeing none, we'll move on to the administration. Mr. Mayor, any comment on this ordinance? No, just to echo everything that Council Member Swank just mentioned, I I would add to that um the $2.5 million that the city received from the state for the fires training center at the end of Kenny Drive was also part of the work that Sunday Creek Horizons had done with us to be able to um work their connections at the state level to acquire that funding or secure that funding for the city of Athens.

Thank you. Do we have any comment or questions for members of the public on ordinance 30-26? Seeing none, we've had a motion in a sec. Oh, yes, we do. Uh, please approach the podium and there should be a sign-in sheet. We'd appreciate you letting us know who you are, if you're representing yourself or an organization, and you'll have three minutes to speak.

Um, okay. Um, I'm just uh wanting to kind of raise awareness, I guess, about the lithium harvest that Sunday Creek Horizons has been involved with as well. Maybe that's just common knowledge, but I feel like maybe it isn't. Um, I think that all needs to be on the table. Uh from 2024, Sustainable Projects Group Incorporated or the company, a green technology mining company focused on sustainable lithium projects in the United States, today announced that the company's wholly owned subsidiary, lithium harvest, APS, has entered into a partnership agreement with Sunday Creek Horizons. Pursuant to the partnership agreement, Sunday Creek Horizons and Lithium Harvest will work together on securing financing and feed stock supply agreements for several lithium operations in the Ohio River Valley. Okay. So, I mean, I see that this agreement has something to do with uh EV charging stations, and this makes sense. And as we're moving toward localization in uh renewable energy, this kind of makes sense. But this is Appalachia where extraction and mining has caused a lot of environmental um racism and harm. So, uh I' I'd like it to be out in the open what this organization is doing um beyond the pretty things. That's it. Thank you. Do we have any further comment or questions from members of the public on this ordinance? Seeing none, we've received a motion and a second. And we've had discussion. So, we'll move on to a vote for ordinance

30-26. And if all council members who are in favor of this um would say I, I'll take your vote. I I. Any opposed indicate so by saying nay. All right. Uh then with that ordinance 30-26 has been adopted. Next for third reading we have ordin we need to allow member ster to come back in. Okay. Great. Terrific.

All right. We're now moving on to ordinance 31-26. an ordinance amending ordinance 16-26 authorizing the service safety director to close streets in the uptown area for 2026 special events and to change requested dates or cancel the events as necessary introduced by member cluber.

Thank you, President McCary. Um, so by way of a brief introduction, um, many people who attend these meetings normally or regularly know that we usually try to handle all of the proposed street closures related to community festivals at one time and we get a whole bunch of them. We ask people to apply well in advance and we just try to handle all of them at once, but it never works out that way. So that we had previously received two um proposed street closures for community festivals after that and those were already in this as an amendment. But then last week we got another one for an event in May 17th. So, um, I say all that as an introduction to propose that we amend this ordinance 031-26. And I make a movement, a mo a motion to that effect. And before we take that vote, I need to recuse on this one, too.

Okay. Member Thomas is recusing herself. And member Claude Felder moving sidewalk here pretty soon. Member Claudefelder has made a motion that we adopt ordinance 31 that we amend. Oh, that we amend ordinance 31-26. Do we have a second on the motion to amend? Wait, is that is that the amendment as outlined in the packet? No, it's another one. So, there would be a May 16th and a May 17th event. Yeah, which we'll get to if we amend. Yeah. So, what are we what what is the amendment? Have I just for clarification, have I heard a second? No, we haven't heard a second. So, you got to offer an amendment. What what what is the amendment? I'm moving that we discuss the amendment. If someone would second it, then we'll discuss it.

That doesn't work. Something you have to have specific. Yeah. What do you want to I want to amend this to add another late submission for an event to be held on um Sunday, May 17th, 2026, which will serve as the finale of the 2026 Porchfest on the near east side of Athens. This will be a finale taking place at Jackieo's Tap Room. And so the requested street closure is for the street in front of that establishment between Stimson and that establishment and a little bit uh on the street that goes parallel in front of that business right in front of the establishment itself. So it's Grant and a little bit of Campbell. Second.

Oh, sorry. Second. Okay. All right. We have a motion and a second. Uh do we have discussion on the motion to amend? Okay. All in favor of amending as member Claudefelder has described indicate so by saying I. I. Any opposed say nay. Okay. The uh ordinance 31-26 has been amended. I now propose that we suspend the rules to approve um this proposed amendment as well as the other two that are highlighted in red on this document that we were already considering due to the fact that this um event is scheduled for Sunday, May 17th and we we need to take care of it tonight or it won't get approved in time. Second. Do

we have a motion and a second uh for suspending the rules? Any further discussion on suspension of the rules? All in favor of suspending the rules for ordinance 31-26 as described by member Claude say I. I. Any oppose say nay. Okay. The rules have been suspended on ordinance 31-26.

Thank you. So again, just to be clear, what we're going um what's being considered for approval tonight is the change in location for the DORA opening event on May 16th, uh which will now be held on West State Street from Congress to court and a previous edition that we got to host for to have Athens host the International King Jamberee Cruise in on August 7th from Court Street on Court Street from Union to Washington. Uh, and again that um the King Midgets are cars that were manufactured in Athens from the 1940s to the 1970s. So I think there'll be some residents of Athens who'll be very happy to see those back. And then the one that we just got recently um that is tonight's amendment again would would be the Porchfest finale held on Sunday, May 17th at Jackie's Tap Room. And um that will come with a a noise ordinance waiver. And that will be um the street between Stimson Avenue and the tap room itself and a little bit right in front of the tap room. And the schedule um of the closure will begin that closure will begin at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 17th and conclude by 1000 p.m. and treat the street can be reopened to traffic at 11:00 p.m. after cleanup of the event. So, um with that being said, I move that we approve um this ordinance uh 3126.

Second. We have a motion and a second for approval of ordinance 31-26. Do we have any discussion? All right. Uh, seeing no discussion from councel, Mr. Mayor, just one point I wanted to make.

Um, and this occurred in the 2021 2022 time frame, uh, predating a lot of you on council. the to to council member Claudefelter's point about how you know it's challenging for us to get all these street closings in one ordinance. It's far better than it was pre2021 2022 to where council was having to approve every single one of these on the fly throughout the year. Um, and so that has been that has changed, but you're correct, even with the change to where we're trying to get that slate before council, within the first month or so and typically within, you know, the the year before to where we know what's going to be happening. Uh, we still do have some some asks here and there, but it's far different than the way it used to be to where council you're able to approve an entire slate. So I think from a management standpoint for all of you because you have the the ability to control the public rightway that this is much better than things were pre2022 um to where this was it was eating up a lot of time of council. So we've streamed a lot a lot of that but we will I'm sure continue to see kind of these onesies twozies come at us in the future which is okay. It's so much more manageable for council than the way things were before. Yeah. So, I appreciate council taking the large slate up and being flexible enough to recognize that there we will see some of these that come forward in time with requests for street closings that don't get in under the timeline that we have set forward for approval to get to you as a slate.

Thank you, Mayor Patterson, and we also appreciate the efforts of Deputy Service Safety Director Andrew Chiki, who we know does a lot of important behind the scenes work. Do we have any discussion on uh ordinance 31-26 from the audience before we move on to our vote? Any public comment? All right, seeing none, we've had a motion and a second and discussion. All in favor of adopting ordinance 31-26, say I. I. Any oppose, say nay.

Ordinance 31-26 has been adopted. We now move on to ordinance 32-26 as council member Thomas rejoins us. And this is an ordinance authorizing the service safety director to enter into an agreement with the sustainable Ohio public energy council socive electric vehicle charging stations and authorize their installation on public property introduced by council member Claude Velder. So, um, this proposed ordinance basically says that if, uh, SOP gets the grant funding they've applied for, that Athens is open to receiving electric car charging stations. And specifically, the administration has plans to place such electric car charging stations. Um, they would like to have at least one more in the Athens City parking garage at 13 East Washington Street, in the parking spaces along Armory Street by the newly or the refurbished Armory, and in the parking lot at the Athens Fire Department headquarters at 120 East Stimson Avenue. Um, so it there's more wording here, but it basically means we will accept if they get the money and offer them to us. And I think that's a great idea because we need more EVs. And so I um I move that we approve ordinance 32-26.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Do we have discussion? Member Swink. Um I I don't own an electric vehicle. Uh and I'm just curious. I have two questions. I'm just curious on the roadways in and around town. Uh there are obviously signs that say gas and then there are some that have a little D for diesel. Does that signage include electric vehicle charging stations? It will.

Okay, good. That that's a good answer. Number one. Number two, and I had someone tell me about this. I would assume this new charging station in the garage will be where the current ones are. What would be the possibility of a driver knowing when they pull in the parking garage that indeed when they get up to that third level, one of those spots is open? because I watched somebody the other day and I can't repeat what they said when they got up there and there was no spot available for them. Yeah. Yeah. If I may. Yes.

Um, thanks Cal Swank. Um, you know, the I'm going to take you guys in the wayback machine just for a second. You know, the the charging station spots is what I'll call them in the parking garage. You know, those were early early adoption to where when we received our Nissan leaf um leaves plural for the code enforcement office, we were given by the program D. They were charging stations. They were basically a level two. Um we were able to put them wherever we wanted to. And so we located them in the parking garage because it made a lot of sense and the individuals would pay just the basic meter rate that exists. Um yet they're plugging in and the added benefit of being able to charge their vehicles. With these instead they're I if I my memory serves me correctly the app associated with these charging stations will indicate what charging stations are currently open

for charging. Um that would include the Armory Drive or Armory Street charging station and the fire station headquarters um fast charge charging stations as well. And I'll just kind of put a full stop there with those. We currently do have charging stations as I think most people recognize down at the city swimming pool outside the swimming pool um which were from Charge Point um and we were able to put those in. We've had them there for quite some time. Those were our first ones. Uh, and I I don't recall whether they have an indicator as to whether that is currently being used or not. But with the technologies that are out there these days, they typically is part of the package for um the charging stations to have that indicator as well as to what's being charged uh or what's being used versus what isn't being used, what's available. You know, my plan for the park my plan the city plan for the parking garage would be to have some charge ports, you know, on all floors of the parking garage ultimately, uh, which would expand that particular service as we do see more and more EV drivers, you know, uh, people who want to purchase an EV, which makes a lot of sense when you look at the price of gas these days. Go figure. Um, so more to come on what things will look like at the parking garage, but I appreciate the question because I I I if I again, if my memory serves it correctly, that there will be that component within these newer charging stations here in the city of Athens.

Thank you. I will go back to the mayor for an opportunity for further comment in a second, but do we have any further discussion from council members? Mr. Mayor,

you know, I'm just going to say um number one, hopefully council, you pass this. Number two, over the past 10 years, we have made such a concerted effort to become a more resilient community to where we've got started with our micro grid down at the water treatment plant. If everyone remembers the do that impacted the city of Athens in 2012, I remember it well. My daughters were all of four months old and we had no power um to store milk in our house, which was a train wreck. Regardless of that, to get to work and create a micro grid down at our most valued asset in my opinion, which is your water supply of clean, fresh, pure drinking water. to have that micro grid down there to help offset future issues. Then to have the 2.1 megawatt solar array down at the community center to armor both our wastewater treatment plant, but our community center and our seasonal swimming pool and and three other municipal accounts to the Armory having solar on the rooftop and the community or the the uh fire station headquarters having both geothermal and solar at that asset. And now for something like this to provide service to people who are visiting or for our own citizens if they feel like they have to hop on something and get a quick charge um here in the city of Athens quite honestly is the most responsible environmental thing that we as a community can do for the citizens who live in this community and those who don't. um you know to to recognize that we're doing everything we possibly can. I will also say this because I think this is important to remind individuals.

We had a greenhouse gas inventory that was done in 2019 showing that our carbon emissions per capita in the city of Athens were the lowest in the state. We beat everybody by a long shot when it came to carbon emissions per capita. We are also in the top 10% of this nation. The nation's average is 20.2 tons per capita. The city of Athens, it's five plus five plus. We are chasing Tacoma, Washington for that number one spot. And I think that with the 2.1 megawatt solar array, with things like EV charging stations throughout the city and continuing to start looking and exploring other things like repurposing our former landfill, which is 26 acres, to become a solar farm in the future and use that as another asset for the city and also kind of rethinking some other things in the city. continuing to push the envelope on a city that has a population of 25,072 people who live here in the city of Athens to do this kind of work becomes a model for other cities that are mid midsize and in particular a city that's in rural America and in my our case in Appalachin rural America to have something like this. So I just I'm sorry I got on my soap box. I just had to do that because this means a lot. Not to me. I look at our youth in the future. I look at those who are going to be leading the city of Athens in the future. And if we're not doing our part to make sure we're leaving a better environment for the next generation of local leaders, then we're failing. And I think we're doing a pretty darn is that a is don't believe me on that. a pretty good job at doing that in

the city of Athens and want to continue to do that. So again, this is just one more example for doing the right thing for our community and the right thing for the environment and the next generation. Thank you, Mayor Patterson. Any comment from the public? We've had a motion and a second and discussion on ordinance 32-26. So, we'll now move on to a vote. All council members in favor of adopting ordinance 32-26, please indicate so by saying I. I. Any oppose say nay.

All right. Ordinance 32-26 has been adopted. Next for third reading, Ordinance 33-26, an ordinance amending the 2026 appropriation ordinance 120-25 to reconcile federal and state pass through payments introduced by council member Thomas. Uh thank you. This is as a reminder just reappropriating um funds for fate and state and federal pass through payments from 2025 that did not get processed by the end of the year. Um and I would move that we adopt 33-26. Second. We have a motion and a second. Discussion from council members.

Any comment or questions from Mayor Patterson, members of the public? We've had a motion and a second and opportunity for discussion on ordinance 33-26. So, we'll now move to a vote. All council members in favor of adopting ordinance 33-26 say I. I. Any oppose say nay. Ordinance 30 33-26 has been adopted. Next for third reading, Ordinance 34-26, an ordinance amending ordinance 121-25 authorizing 2026 staffing levels introduced by the finance and personnel committee.

Thank you. Uh this ordinance reduces the staffing level of the environmental coordinator. Uh and we are now going to uh put that out for professional services to the Athens soil and water district. And we just need to amend our staffing ordinance to reflect that. And I would move that we adopt 34-26. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Do we have any discussion from council members from members of the administration? Mayor, treasurer, I should have asked if you had anything to share. Uh, and anyone in the audience, any questions or comments on this ordinance? Seeing none, we've had a motion and a second. So, we will move to a vote on ordinance 34-26. All council members in favor of adopting ordinance 34-26 say I. I. Any oppose say nay. Ordinance 34-26 has been adopted. Next for third reading, ordinance 35-26, an ordinance amending the 2026 appropriation ordinance 120-25 introduced by council member Thomas.

Thank you. Uh in this one we are just appropriating uh 8,500 to general fund fire for thermal imaging equipment grant. And then for we're decreasing the water fund personnel, sewer fund personnel and storm sewer plant personnel each by 25,000 in the transaction class 100 and increasing the transaction class 300 to professional services for all three of those plants for the environmental coordinator position. And I would move that we adopt 35-26. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion from members of council? Uh, Mayor Patterson,

just to share the the money that's coming out of um each one of those departments that was just mentioned by council member Thomas. Again, it's because all of those departments fed into supporting the staffing um for that position in the city of Athens. So therefore, since we're not going to have uh since we're transitioning to the health department, then it's reallocating to make sure we can support that. And we will continue, we're mandated to have that by EPA to have a coordinator. Um and so the health department has decided that they are more than willing to step in and fill that position and and continue to work with the city.

Anything to add treasure, members of the public? We've had a motion and a second and discussion on ordinance 35-26. So, we'll now move to a vote. All council members in favor of adopting ordinance 35-26, please say I. I.

Any opposed, please say nay. Ordinance 35-26 has been adopted. Next for third reading, we have ordinance 38-26, an ordinance authorizing the purchase of a replacement dump truck for the sewer department and disposal of the current dump truck. Intro introduced by council member Isherwood. Um this is exactly what the ordinance says. We are purchasing a new dump truck for the sewer department. They need this for critical work that that um uh department does. And we are disposing of the current dump truck. uh and this is authorized the city's already identified uh what they want to do with this and this is authorizing them to go and get the deal done. Thank you members.

So I move that we pass uh 38-26 second. Let's give it to member Swank. All right, we had a motion and a second. Uh and now we'll move on to discussion. Any comments from member? Uh, Chairman Isherwood, do I remember correctly that the city is actually pursuing a used dump truck?

Uh, that is my understanding that they have identified a that there is a system with which cities can access um uh vehicles and equipment like this that the city safety service director has, I believe, identified the truck that they want. And as you can see in the ordinance, we've identified that the the the 2007. This is a dump truck from 2007 that we will be disposing of. So, this is a this is a truck that's given good service to the city of Athens, but it's time to let it go. And um yeah, that they my understanding from talking to the city safety service director, they're very pleased with the one that they have identified. I think it's a very good, very good condition piece of equipment. Very happy with it. Thank you.

Thank you for that question, Member Cloudfelder. Do we have any other discussion from council members? Mayor Patterson. Uh members of the public. All right, we've had a motion and a second, an opportunity for discussion. We'll now move to a vote on ordinance 38-26. All council members in favor of adopting ordinance 38-26, please indicate so by saying I. I. Any oppose say nay. Ordinance 38-26 has been adopted. Next for third reading, Ordinance 39-26, an ordin ordinance authorizing a contract with the Washington County Commissioners and declaring an emergency introduced by council member Isherwood.

Uh this is an ordinance that we do each year. This allows uh for the city in the event that we do not have uh room within the city's own facilities to house prisoners that there would be a standing understanding with the with Washington County to use their facilities to house prisoners if it was uh ever needed. Uh this is my understanding is not a this is a backup as a safety issue. It it is not one that we typically have ever needed to utilize, but it is important to have this in place. Uh it's good forward planning if in the event that an incident was to happen in the city and the um city administration or the Athens Police Department was to need um the housing of prisoners uh that we have this in place beforehand. And so I would move that we pass 39-26.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Now an opportunity for discussion by council members, Mayor Patterson, members of the public. We've had a motion and a second and opportunity for discussion. All council members in favor of adopting ordinance 39-26, please say I. I. Any opposed, please say nay.

Ordinance 39-26 has been adopted. We now move on to ordinances for second reading. Ordinance 40-26, an ordinance authorizing the mayor to make application and enter into a project agreement with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, introduced by Council Member Wood. Ordinance 42-26, an ordinance amending the 2026 appropriation ordinance 120-25 introduced by Council Member Thomas. We now move on to ordinances for first reading. Ordinance 44-26, an ordinance amending Athens city code title 3, administrative provisions, section 3.07.50, establishment of the Athens Municipal Arts Commission, introduced by council member Isherwood.

Uh so this is came out of um our city and safety service committee last week. This we've had a number of discussions about this. This is about uh amending the number of members who can serve on the Athens Municipal Arts Commission. And as you may have noticed over the past several years, we have seen a huge influx of the amount of public art in the city, which I think is a huge benefit uh to the community. And so this commission would like to be able to expand their membership. uh it's expanding it from uh seven to nine members and having that five of those members shall be electors of the city and four members may reside outside the corporate limits but within Athens County. Um and um I I I move that we pass 4426 for first reading of course. Yeah. I'm getting carried away.

So uh the it's been read for the first time. Do we have discussion? Member Swink. Think about this last week. Um, five members of the commission shall be electors of the city and four members may reside outside the corporate limits. Can we have six members who live in the city and three that live outside if we can't find four?

Member Clapelder. I'm the city council member on that commission and that was discussed in the last meeting and uh the consensus in the room was that they wanted it to be five and four but that is a may I mean it could happen sometime that six would be from the city and and only three from the county but um but they wanted to have I think they had some people in mind from the county so they want four spots for the county. Yeah. Four available but not mandating but not mandated. Okay, good. That was my question. Thank you. Yeah, I believe there's also additional comment for me.

Five members shall be. Is that not like saying five have to be as opposed to it's not saying a minimum of five shall be? So my reading of that is that five have to be electors of the city and only five huh and only five. I mean I don't have strong views on this. I think the goal is that uh to limit it to four members from being outside of the city. Um but um that I defer to you if you're actually on the commission with the sense of the commission.

We could certainly tweak the wording. My understanding from being in the in the last meeting and listening to the people who've been members of that commission much longer than I have was that it wasn't meant to be an only. It would be five or more could be from the city. Um, but I think that the four from the county was kind of a a hard limit. Um, so it could be six and three, it could be seven and two, but it couldn't be, you know, five from the county and four from the city, if that makes sense. We'll u move to member Thomas and then to Mayor Patterson. Um, having listened to this discussion for the last year, um, I think they just want the option to be able to have four. Yeah,

they're not saying they have to, but they want to be able to if they have four people that live outside the city, they want to be able to to uh use those people. Um, yeah. Thank you, Mayor Patterson.

The friendly suggestion to council, and I'm fine with this because I'm the one who ultimately asks council to approve appointees to AAC, is to change the shall to a may. May gives a lot more flexibility moving forward in time. it still achieves or accomplishes the same goal at the end of the day and that is to have nine individuals serving on AAC because of the load that they have. So, um, as I was reading because I'm going to lean on the law director for a moment, there's a there is a significant difference between shall and may. Shall means that this it's going to be five and it's going to be four versus may meaning that it's nine individuals. Now, you can correct me if I'm wrong. I'm seeing a headshake from the clerk of council.

Um, do we have a response from members on that? What if we said this? At least five members of the commission shall be electors of the city and four members may reside outside. Yeah, that sounds good to me. Um would go I would entertain a motion to amend. Member Bruce Swink. Uh I would move that we uh add the words at least before five. We have a motion to amend as member Swank just described. Do we have a second to amend? Second. Our member Clawfelder has offered a second. Any discussion on the proposed amendment? Member not member mayor Patterson.

I used to be a member. Uh I I' I'd still like to get a comment from the law director on the significance the difference between may and shall or must and I know must isn't in here. I think well shall mandatory obviously May leaves it open. I think though at least five members of the commission shall be electors of the city and four members may reside outside. Probably fixes it and that's fine. I'm I'm fine with that at least. I think that's wise as council. So,

we have a motion and a second to amend. We've had some discussion uh with input from the law director. Do we have any further discussion on the proposed amendment? Okay. All council members in favor of the amend amendment, please indicate so by saying I. I. Any opposed say nay.

All right. Uh the ordinance has been amended and read for the first time. All right. Thank you very much for uh the hard work and diligent persistent effort of the Athens Municipal Arts Commission and thank you Member Cloudfelder for continuing to support them. Uh that concludes our ordinances for first reading this evening which means we can move on to announcements and other business. Any announcements from council members? Member Swank. Uh we have at least two members of city council who are small business owners and I sure I'm pretty sure that back when they decided to do this they wondered how long will this last and they got through that first year sigh of relief can we make it through two and then they hit five and then they hit 10 some have hit 25 well we have one businesses in this town one business in this town that on May 8th this Friday will celebrate their 100th year of continuous operation

and that is the former Dwight Rutherford Insurance Company which is now Athens Insurance Company and I think that is a noteworthy accomplishment for a business to be able to thrive to employ people to support community through taxes for that many years. So, if you happen to be in that area over on uh draw a blank, Richland Avenue, stop in, say hi on May the 8th, and congratulate them on a 100red years of continuous business. Nice. Thank you. Member Swank. Other announcements. Member Club.

I would just like to point out the um the street closures that city council has approved for community festivals that are coming up uh in about two weeks, a little less than two weeks here in town. One is the brand new one that we approved tonight, which is um a grand finale of of Porchfest that will be held at Jackie O's Tap Room on Sunday, May 17th uh from 3 to 10. And um rumor has it that the Wild Honeybees are on the are on the list of bands that will be playing at that finale. And also the day before on Saturday, May 16th will be the Dora opening event. um on Court Street from Washington to State Street. And um I will further go on and mention that Porchfest this year is going to be on Saturday, May 16th on the west side of town. There will be um activities related to Porchfest going on uptown on that Saturday evening, May the 16th, including some busking, as I understand it. And then on Sunday the 17th, there will be the what has become um the really great northeast or near east side porchfest. Uh and that'll be the third year for that, the first year for the other components on Saturday. So there'll be a lot of opportunities to hear good free u music and people only ask for donations to the bands.

Thank you, Member Cloudfelder. Of course, it's quite a season of celebration. And on behalf of all of council, I would like to congratulate all of our Ohio University graduates who just uh enjoyed commencement this past weekend or will do so in the very near future. We have any other announcements from council members. Mayor Patterson,

a few um I know that our city planner, Megan Jennings, has put together a basically a city map with all the projects that are going to be going on this summer. I council may have seen that already. It's not just city of Athens projects. A lot of these are utility projects. As an example, AE has had um over the past week or two, Dair Lane closed off because of pole placement and putting uh replacement lines throughout that corridor. The uh Stimson Avenue project will be buttoning up shortly um within the next month. that that project will be done. A lot of the heavy equipment has been removed from Simpson Avenue. The walkway is now opened again uh because they were doing a lot of paint removal and repainting the steel work underneath that bridge soon to put the railing up and to also put the um undercarriage lighting in place. Um the 68256 roundabout is still, as we all know, is still well underway and will be until November um weather permitting, of course. And but there are other other projects that are going to lead to uh that are either utility projects not in city control, although we're notified when a Columbia Gash or whoever is putting in work. There's OU properties that are being improved um starting today. Steuart Street um was closed down for the Chattic Morrow Art Space Venue building that's going in down there near playground and cost uh off of Stewart and Mill. Um the city will be doing um continuing on with our the deep well has already been dug. People have a lot of people have asked what's the big project going on on

Richland Avenue south of the bridge. That is our new lift station that is going in down there. But once that's done, we've got some other deep digs because that's a really deep sewer line through that area that's going to be happening. So, we're going to see some more street closures as we get into July. Um, so I'm just sharing all that. There is a map that's been put together by the city planner. um if it hasn't gone out gone live already it will be going live that basically says the time frame and the projects going in the city of Athens because you're going to unfortunately because of not just city projects but because of public utility projects utility projects out there by a Columbia Gas or whomever that are going to lead to certainly some disruptions in the city of Athens. They will be short-lived but they will be there. So, we're going to continue to make sure that everyone is well informed as to what the detour routes are for these projects. Um, this summer, unfortunately, has become kind of the the uh summer to where um the city projects, while there are some, they're they almost pale in comparison to these other projects that are going on. The other project that's well underway is Columbus Road that some of you are well aware of is that shared shared um use path uh that is going in down in Columbus uh Columbus Road and that is to accommodate a lot of the business development that's going on in that corridor and and future developments that'll go on that corridor. So more to come as uh we get this information out to you. But just know we recognize that disruptions um impact people's daily lives. Um and so we're going to be doing the best we can to keep everything on track on time and keep the public well informed as to what where the traffic routes will be through the city of

Thank you, Mayor Patterson. Mayor Swink, on that topic, Mr. mayor. Um, if you're Stimson Avenue and you're going to go to Kroger and you're going to go out Stson Avenue, cross the bridge and on that roundabout, there's a sign that just went up that says on May 11th and for 16 days something's going to be closed. Is it the exit that you would take off the roundabout to go to Kroger or is it the next one that you would take to go to Bell Pri? Council member Swank, I do not have the answer to you at this moment in time on that, but I can get you the answer because if it's the one that you would take to go to Kroger, it will have significant impact on traffic on the near east side.

Yeah, Council Member Swank, I will make sure that Director Stone gets me that information and gets that to you. Um, off the top of my head, I I do not recall because it'll be for 16 days. Yeah. And if it is the near east side, would it have a tremendous impact on the porch vest activities? Okay. Can we find out?

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any other announcements from council members? Um, all right. We'll now move on to opportunity for citizens to speak on legislative items and city services not covered on tonight's agenda. So, anyone who's come this evening who has something to share may approach the podium and there's a sign-in sheet, but we'd appreciate you letting us know who you are, uh, your residence and whether you are representing yourself or an organization, and you'll have three minutes to share your thoughts.

Mary Abel, Strathmore Boulevard, representing myself. I want to say thank you. Thank you very much to all those people and especially to Rumpky who were responsible for cleaning up Athens Sunday after graduation. It was a delight to drive down uh Mil Street, Congress, East State Street and not see mounds of trash yesterday afternoon and today. It makes such a huge difference for people coming into this town not to see that after graduation. And I just think they did a yman's job. They were out there with several trucks working. And um I just want to say thank you because living here, we just appreciate our town looking good. So thanks.

Thank you so much for that. Do we have other members of the public who like to speak this evening? All right, seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Uh any discussion. All right. All in favor of adjourning say I. Any oppose say nay. We are journed at 8:03