City Council - Regular Meeting

Hey, hey, hey. Uh good evening and welcome to Athens City Council. Today is May 18th and we are in regular session tonight. Uh we will call to order and we'll establish a quorum. All members of council are present. Uh next we will move to uh approve the approval of the agenda. Can I have a motion?

So moved. Second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. Next is communications. Do we have any communications for member of C members of council? Member Wood.

Yeah. Uh thank you. Uh this evening right now the Walter Cup is happening where Athens resident uh Gwennneth Phillips is playing for the championship. Uh it is game three. It's the deciding game. Started at 6. It's still going on now if you're watching this on YouTube. You can watch it for free at home on YouTube. Um which I recommend way more than watching this. Uh and also to my fellow council members, let's uh let's keep it moving. Hey. Yeah. I have your PCR set. VCR. Any other communications from other members? Uh, members of the administration.

Thank you. Uh, acting president pro Tim Thomas, I will share on behalf of the mayor that today, May 18th, is the first day that the parking garage's new payment system is in effect. So, if you've tried to park into the parking garage, you'll notice that we now have a kiosk that will will require folks to grab a ticket upon their arrival and then park their vehicle, take their ticket with them when they leave their vehicle because they'll need to stop at a kiosk in order to pay that before they exit the garage. Parking meters and Park Smarter app will no longer be accepted. Um, you'll find a press release that is being dis well we have an image on the screen here, but you'll likely have seen the press release too indicating that the parking rates are a dollar per hour. Uh, over 10 hours uh will count as $20 and free parking on Sundays and holidays. Uh, if you forgot to pay at the pay station, you do have the opportunity to use a credit card as you exit at the kiosk. However, there will be an additional fee to do that. So, uh, paying at the kiosk with your ticket before getting to the gate is the best option. And we also have a report from Director Stone.

Uh, thank you, President McCary. Um, several weeks ago, member Swank made the suggestion that we hold an open house for the Uptown uh project 383, the overhead to underground utility project. Uh, that project is under construction right now. Uh several um announcements have gone out as well as mailings to to uh business owners and residents in the immediate area of that project. But just a reminder that that open house is tomorrow at the Armory from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. And the target audience of that is mainly folks that are immediately adjacent to the project if they have maintenance of traffic or access concerns for driveways or or business um opening or you know a specific need as well as questions related to connecting to the electric once the feed comes from below ground. So which will happen later in the project. Um, we're working through that with folks, but this is a chance for people to come in and ask questions. We'll have representatives of the both the city, the contractor, and the design team on hand, and folks can just drop in anytime between 3 and 6 as they are available.

Uh, thank you. Anything from the auditor or the treasurer? Not. All right. Moving on to ordinances for third reading. Uh, first we have ordinance 04026, an ordinance authorizing the mayor to make application and enter into a project agreement with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources introduced by member Wood. Yes. Thank you. Uh would you like me to read the to read as you wish?

Yeah. Uh this is a program that that administered by the state of Ohio that grants money to counties and then to municipalities to do uh a number of projects involving our uh parks and reccks department. Uh there are some donated park spaces that the parks department is going to use to improve. Um, and this is basically saying that we they have the support of the city uh in order to apply for those funds. All right. Do you have any questions for members of council? Can I have a motion to adopt uh 40-26?

So moved. Second. Do we have any additional discussion? Anything from the mayor's office? All right. Uh, can I have a motion to app? Uh, all those in favor of approving 40-26.

Any opposed? All right. 4026 passes. Next, we have uh ordinance 0-42-26, an ordinance amending the 2026 appropriation ordinance 120-25 uh introduced by myself. Uh this is an appropriation amendment to the 2025 appropriations for 65,000 to general fund police to replace a voice logger and radio equipment as that's been discussed in committee and two readings. Also, we have um three appropriations that are being corrected or updated from last from 2025 that were not finished by the end of the year due to timing uh for 313,91 and.33 cents 100,662.40 and 93,2592. Those are from um all for the public safety public safety training facility project 373. Uh may I have a motion to adopt 42-26?

So moved. Second. And any discussion or questions on this one? Anything from the mayor's office?

All right. All those in favor of passing or adopting 42-26 I. Any opposed? All right. 42-26 has been read and passed. Uh, ordinance for second reading 44-26, an ordinance amending Athens City Code, Title 3, Administrative Provisions, Section 3.07.50, Establish Establishment of the Athens Municipal Arts Commission, introduced by member Isherwood. Moving on to ordinances for the first reading, we will start with an ordinance designating Lasher Hall located at 43 West Union Street as a local historical historic landmark introduced by member Swank.

Uh we discussed this in detail last week in committee and it was uh enthusiastically uh advanced out of committee for first reading today. Uh the title says it all. Uh the process for this will be today, first reading, second reading. Um on June the 1st, also uh on June the 15th, we will have a public hearing as we're required by the Ohio Revised Code. And uh if that all goes well, uh third reading on June the 15th. And again, this is to uh designate Lasher Hall historic building, a building that's well over a hundred years old and the former home, original home of the Athens Messenger in the uptown area. And this will be used for a museum as well as a tourist attraction and a way to uh not only preserve history, but to continue uh what has become a lost art in much of the United States and around the world.

We have any questions on 45-26. Anything from the administration? Just one note, I did have some inquiries today from the director of real estate at Ohio University uh related to um the designation and I got a email ready to send back to him. Uh title 45 does require notification of an owner if a property is going to be uh designated a historic property. It doesn't require their concurrence, but it requires their notification. So, we'll ensure that we notify Ohio University that council is considering uh creating a uh a historic property designation because it does trigger some additional requirements for that. Thank you.

Anything from the Audi's office, treasur's office and any questions from the public? Uh, ordinance 4745-26 has been read for the first time. Ordinance 46-26, an ordinance amending ordinance 36-24, the Athens Uptown Designated outdoor refreshment area expansion and hours of operation and declaring an emergency introduced by member Swank.

Uh we also discussed this in committee last week and it was advanced. Essentially what this does is expand the Dora area contiguous to Uptown in the far or in the west side area. whole bunch of streets. Foster Place, West Union Street from Foster to Smith. Uh the west side of Smith Street from West Union to Bard Street, south side of Bayer Street, the east side of North Schaffefer Street from Bayer Street to West Washington Street, the west side of North Schaffeer Street from West Washington to West State Street, and the south side of West State Street from North Schaefer to Central Avenue. Uh also we will be increasing the number of signs of the door signs from 82 to 105 so that people know the designated areas and the legal areas in which they can uh participate in the door experience. Um similarly we will need a hearing for this. Uh the hearing will be on June the 1st uh which is two weeks from today. Uh also next week in committee uh member Thomas will be leading a discussion uh on this with some additional information based on a survey uh that has been put out to the citizens of Athens. Uh should be very interesting uh results. And then the uh third reading would be on June the 15th. So that's the uh schedule for 4626 going forward.

Any additional questions or discussion from council? Uh, anything from the administration and anything from the public? All right. 46-26 has been read for the first time. 47-26, an ordinance approving the continuation of the Uptown designated outdoor refreshment area introduced by council member Swim. Uh the Ohio Revised Code uh requires municipalities that have adopted ADORA to uh review it every 5 years, whether to continue it uh or whether to sunset it. Uh and I got ahead of ourselves a little bit here. It is in regards to this that we'll be discussing the uh survey that was put out and quite a few people have participated. Uh once we complete this u and again the hearing will be on both topics, the expansion and the continuation of this, we'll be able to move on to second reading and then on to a third reading on June the 15th.

Uh I would add that so far we have 163 responses on the survey. Fantastic.

Yeah. Any other discussion or questions from members of council? Anything from the administration, auditor, treasurer, and anything from the public? All right. Moving on to ordinance 48-26, an ordinance authorizing renovation of the pre kindergarten playground located behind the community center project 394 introduced by member Isherwood. Uh so this is a request from the uh parks and reccks department to renovate and repair uh uh equipment and the pre kindergarten playground that if you were at the community center, you might not often see this. This is not the one that you can see from the parking lot. This is behind uh the building. Um and uh this um will be using the source well cooperative purchasing agreement to uh secure uh the required equipment. Uh there is also um so the the intention is to expend up to $105,000 um for this project. Um and uh this is something that I you know I think a lot of children use this playground equipment at the back of that the community center and based on review by staff at the uh um parks and rec department. This is something that is needed and

yeah additional questions from council. I'm curious to um do you know member Isherwood if the parks department has a plan to take the current playground equipment to another park facility? I I don't know that that is a question that maybe um director Stone might be able to answer, but my understanding is that a lot of the equipment it's uh 26 years old and I think a lot of it would be passed that's used by date and I think the plan would be it's it's not of a a nature that you would take it somewhere else but I don't know that director. Certainly, if there was an item that was usable that maybe is a subcomponent of an item that is unusable, but you know, that usable subcomponent could go somewhere else. Um, we could certainly consider that. It won't be in the city of Athens.

Okay. Do we have any additional comments from the mayor's office? Kind of jumped out of out of my own order here. And any questions from the public? Wait a minute. I was going to come back around to kind of But we're first. Are we first? Yeah, because it's regular session. I'm out of I'm out of my uh That's okay. Out of my norm here. Member Swank.

Yes, ma'am. Um uh at the committee meeting last week, I expressed some concerns and uh in the last seven days, those concerns have multiplied uh exponentially and kind of fall into three categories. I'll just take one at a time because I uh hope there's other discussion from other members of council about it. Uh the the first uh the first concern I have is need. Um, I've been down to this playground three times and it's interesting on May the 11th, this came before committee last Monday and I expressed um concern about it uh a after uh of going down to view it. Uh, interestingly enough, the self inspection took place the very next day, the self inspection of the playground. And what I'm interested in is what did the two because these self- inspections are required four times a year. Uh which means every quarter, every 3 months. What I would be interested in is what the 2025 inspections look like. Uh did we suddenly see on May the 12th um that uh we need to replace this or did previous inspections indicate that we were moving in this direction? Another thing I'd like to see is this annual state inspection. Um, tile centers like this are evaluated by the state twice a week or twice a year. Once announced and once unannounced.

Uh, I'd like to see what that state mandated and conducted self inspection looks like before we move this forward. And then the third question I have in terms of need, is it repairable or does it have to be replaced? I think those are three four uh concerns that would like to kind of have addressed uh before we move this forward. Uh Madame Chair, I don't know if you want me to go on to the other two or just go one at a time to share the opportunity for other members of council to to speak before we go on or

I guess let's see if anything from the administration to answer any of that and then we can see if there's additional questions and go one by one.

I'll do my best. All right. So um self inspection self inspection is a subcomponent and you do have to do it four times a year. It's a sub component of the of the state inspection. So you do your self inspection, give to the state, they look at your self inspection and they validate what you do. Um not to say that we would um ever want to place children on an item that is um unsafe and we don't. And that's why we're uh we're we're starting now to to get this uh replacement plan in place. However, we also don't want to to um cause ourselves to fail a state inspection when we're not prepared to replace the item because if we fail the state inspection and they require us to take the item out of service, then we no longer can use it. So, you know, to that end, you look at your your system and you go, "Ah, it's probably okay. We probably get another year. We really need to get there. We'll mark it as okay." Versus going through and saying, "Yep, it's failing. Uh, yep, it's failing." because then when the state inspector looks at it, he goes, "Yep, I agree that it's failing and you need to replace this." And so that's, you know, the uh the way that those individual inspections work with the state inspections and I will get member Swank the annual state inspection for you for your review. Um, second point is we will repair what we can repair. So fencing for instance will be a portion of fencing that we can repair. Um, there are some items on here that we simply can't repair. There's a broken slide. There's a broken feature that u I think it's a like a gear feature the kids play with. There are several um platforms where there are bolts that connect the steel grading. And if you stand on it, uh it flexes pretty significantly. And if you go and you stand on it in other uh locations on other playgrounds, that stain steel grading doesn't flex significantly. Now, um is it going to fall through tomorrow? No, it's not going to fall through tomorrow. But again, this is uh this is probably one of our more heavily used playgrounds and our more heavily used playgrounds by our

smallest patrons.

Um these are for our variable children that are are our folks give us and are in their care in our care. Um in both before and after care, although more importantly in the prek. Um of note, our prek uh classes are doubling this fall. uh we're filling a need. Typically, we have a significant waiting list. Always have a significant waiting list because it's a it's a dire need uh in the in the city. Um we uh adjusted some things, got another uh employee certified such that we can and we think we have the space internally to now double the size. And so we're very excited to be able to offer that. Also, our summer camps, which also use this for the youngest children, um are are are, you know, are really going to be taking advantage of this summer. So, we're excited about that. We don't want a situation where um some of this equipment ends up having to be taken offline and then we have another several months basically where we have to take an item or the entire playground perhaps off offline when we have this much demand for the use. And so, you know, just like you don't wait until a a bridge is um completely failed to replace the bridge, um we are not waiting until this playground is completely failed to replace playground.

Does anyone on that same topic have I do actually. Um, so I was pretty moved by you going down and taking the photos and I appreciate that. And as the liaison on the wreck advisory board, I felt like I should go down as well. Um, so I did talk to Director Jordan and Katie who's on staff there, runs the child care program. um actually talked to the staff uh which I think is important and uh they were really clear that that these things have been sort of uh building up and are now as as Andy Stone said uh to that point where we have to deal with them. Um I also brought some photos. Uh Brian, if you would be so kind as to put up the first photo. You can see what Director Stone is talking about where the grading is separating uh from it. That's the spot. If you stand on it, it goes squishy squishy. Uh the the metal grate should not go squishy squishy. Uh pretty sure that's the technical part. Um also, if you go to the next slide, please, you can see where things are rusting out. Um Katie brought my attention to that. I said, "Doesn't everything rust? Everything is going to rust." She said, "Yes, but and that is part of the deal uh that we have to replace that. can't have rusting equipment like this. Um, and so 25 years that shows up. It doesn't show up on, you know, your zoomed out photo, but if you actually go and look at the structure, you can see those things. And just the last one, if you would be so kind, the where the slide is actually splitting um again, which is why Beth uh we can't reuse it. It's, you know, it's coming apart at the seams. Um, so that was really interesting to me. And I think that that helps clear up why we need these. Um, also heard from uh Emily

Gooseman who is a PhD and involved in child psychology and uh development. Um, she also stopped hanging out at Porchfest and said she wanted to be clear that this is a great thing. Um, she's on Rec Advisory Board as well. Uh, and while I was there this afternoon, um, one of our smallest patrons, Maya, uh, one of the preschoolers came as well. Um, and she strongly, uh, agrees that it'd be nice to have some of slides. So, uh, I locked up that boat as well. Thank you. Anything else on this topic? And then, yeah, sorry.

No, you're good. And then your next, you had some other questions. Yeah. Uh, and Director Stone, I really appreciate that. Um, I'm not a big fan of what they called defer maintenance. What my late father-in-law would have called that was neglect. So, I agree that, you know, getting ahead of the ball game, uh, is the way to go here. And I appreciate those slides. That's good. I'm glad someone else went down and took a look. Uh, second concern I had was the plan. Uh on the self-evaluation item number third 14 said shaded area is provided and there's a no check there. And in the plan that we uh are looking at um this uh this uh quote from uh Pinura company up in Brighton uh Michigan uh doesn't show anything related to shade. And that's a big concern of mine. Uh you look at uh good playgrounds around the country and there are there are shade structures whether it be trees or awnings or the like and that particular playground starting at about 8:30. I went down there this morning sees sun and it sees sun all day. Uh the second part of the plan that concerns me is the fact that this plan is going to have some of the poured area replaced by turf, artificial turf. And that that raises a real red flag because today artificial turf in most cases uses a black crumb rubber fill to make the turf stand up. And there are studies right now around the country being done that shows that there may be uh um risks related to carcinogens and cancer. Now, you might say High University football team plays on this type of field with the black all of that, but those young men are in uniforms. Uh, I was showing Clerk Walker, my three-year-old grandson who's coming to town. Three-year-old grandkids,

three-year-old kids, four-year-old kids, 5-year-old kids in shorts in the summertime like to be on the ground where skin is actually touching the uh the material. Um there are um companies sports uh sports fields incorporated for one that use coconut shells instead of black crumb rubber. So I do have a concern about using the the the turf for that reason. But more importantly heat.

Turf can get as hot as 180 degrees and there is no shade down there. And turf is about 30% hotter than the poor fill that we the poor PO R not P R but the poor fill the poor surface that we have now and that's a real concern that this plan and then the third part unlike the poor turf comes in sheets rolls and it has seams and if you're not careful where you place the seams like if the seam happens to be going this way and the slide happens to be going this way. Over time, those seams come apart. What was the young lady's name? Maya. Mia. Maya.

Maya. The last thing we want is Maya tripping over one of these scenes. So, I have a real concern with the plan as it relates to a lack of shade and turf and the inherent issues that come with the installation of that material. any additional information from the administration on that?

Sure. Um certainly we can take a look at a shade structure independent of the of the um you know there's different options you know for uh shade sales and that sort of thing. That could be a separately installed thing. But I'll take a look at that specific concern. Second thing turf. You know turf versus a port surface and why we want to go in that direction. Number one, all turfs aren't the same. And the turf that we want to use is a very specific playground turf. That's an anti-static turf. So, if you think about in a lot of cases, uh, and not all the turfs that get used in playgrounds historically have been this. Um, but you know, you scoot around on static and then you touch the guy next to you and you zap him. Um, and this particular turf is actually anti-static turf, similar to what we used at the uh, Southside Park. Number one. Number two, um maintenance of turf is actually something we can do with our staff vice maintenance of the poured uh the uh those poured surface uh um items and and and that's something that was important to us. Um you know, to be able to we evaluated both, right? You know, because we got poured surfaces as well, but um the maintenance staff thinks long term we can maintain that turf better. Um, I will have to check into those carcinogenic aspects and if coconut shavings are an option and I I promise I will go and do that.

All right. Any additional questions on this topic? All right. You have one more.

One more. Yeah. The last one is cost. Um, it's my understanding we did this through source well as opposed to bidding. Um and the the the quote that we have is for $94,295. Uh the first item is landscape structure equipment $32,000 and change. Uh equipment install $11,000 and change. Uh removal and disposal of existing structure $10,000. uh turf um for the cost of turf and the installation $39,000 which seems very high and the reason I'm dwelling on this turf very good friend of mine is a CEO of a turf company and for three years he had me uh help make contacts with schools in the state of Ohio who might be wanting to put turf and to do that I had to uh get educated on this and for the amount of turf we're putting in this small area that would be about a 3,000 $3 million football field and uh we have an example of a turf field right down here at Ohio University and the the turf cost was not $3 million. And then finally freight of 1,700 all added up to $9,400 $94,000. The ask is for $10,000 more than that. This is a very specific bid. The cost equipment isn't going to change. Whoever's doing this calculated install based on what they saw, which is a very, very simple install, uh, removal of the equipment. This would be kind of like getting a roof on your house, and the roofer quotes you $25,000. And you say, "That's good, but you know what? I've got an extra$10,000 if we need to spend it." I know quite a few roofers are going to find a way to spend that extra $10,000. Now, some people may say this is

contingencies because we never know what's behind the wall. You've ever done plumbing in your home, you never know what's back there. This isn't plumbing behind the wall. This is a pretty straightforward project. And I have a real difficult time in this period of tight city budgets of allocating additional $10,000 for this. any additional responses or comments or information? I have one additional bit of information

that I I think that's a those are great points and I think those are all worth talking about. Uh I think that they that we should always be mindful of those issues. And so I asked Director Jordan about that uh this afternoon while we're chatting. Um and she explained how the source well works kind of like the other government purchasing agreements that we that we engage with to bring down prices uh ahead of time. So I think that's uh an important part that they are mindful of that that they do be mindful of. I um I will say that you know the the 10,000 discrepancy is is very worth bringing up. um don't have an answer on that but I but I did uh speak to them about the the cost of of these things and and why it is so much um uh and and basically that that they feel this is already a a very competitive bid because of the going through the source well as a they've already vetted a lot of the the vendors for for the the government groups that are that are buying. So, um I do think we should really check into the 10,000 number uh very much. I think that's worth, you know, uh double-checking the arithmetic on that for sure. But as far as the the initial bid, that's why it came in this way.

Thank you. Yeah. Um I just have a quick question. Is there a timeline in regards to prek and you know daycare happening that needs this needs to be done in a certain amount of time or presuming this august body passes an ordinance that authorizes this project. I hope to get it done by uh fall for the prek period um as school starts in the fall. Thank you. I think the auditor has fit in on that. I know I'm I think we've kind of gone all over.

Um I am going to talk about the $10,000 in the big picture of an almost $100,000 project. Um that overage is not out of line. What will happen if you pass an ordinance for $95,000? Along with that is also an authorization to expend, meaning they can only spend that much. So when they get halfway through or towards the end of a project and they need more money, then they have to come back to council and go through this pro process um while leaving their project sitting there, you know, for however many weeks it takes council to pass for that extra authorization. It's not just the money part, it's the authorization if there is an increase. And um you know, as you've admitted, Alan, I've had my bathroom redone and it was a mess behind the wall. And um it's very easy for things to go up and it it doesn't this isn't like the bidding thing where we necessarily give them the price up up front and then they they know that's their limit and they try to go to that. Um, this is a a quote from a government company that we deal with. And um, as I said, $10,000 is not um, the other thing about it is this will be a project and an ordinance for this project. If we don't spend that $10,000, it can't just be spent anywhere else. It's it's um appropriated for that project only. So, if they leave $10,000 on their purchase order, when the project's done, they close the purchase order out, then that money is is available again in in their fund and would have to come back to council to be appropriated to be used.

Personally, I don't care if it takes six years cuz we're talking about the taxpayers's money here and we're all waiting in bait with baited breath to get the final count on Wednesday. on the income tax levy. Right now it's seven votes. Seven votes. If we pass this at 105,000, this is a public document. And this contractor knows that they can come up with 10,000 more dollars of expenses and that is a flawed way of doing business. Any additional discussion on this? I appreciate those that are getting additional information and we can move this to second reading and have more discussion there if there's more information. Um I certainly understand the concerns on the budget and also on the rust having seen many a small child lick things that you would not think they would lick. Um and the pellets and the turf and whatnot. Um, and so I think that's a good discussion point and I appreciate the auditor also explaining the process of this and that, you know, there is an overage um, and there's plenty to think on. So we will see this again at second reading. Next is ordinance 49-26, uh, an ordinance authorizing a meter upgrade project 395 introduced by member Isherwood. Uh yes, a water meter upgrade project. So this is a uh plan by the uh city to upgrade uh to purchase equipment and install as uh on more than 500 uh residences across the uh county. These would be um water meters that can be read uh much more easily from a remote device. Um that will allow for much more

accurate management of the water system. Um and this is uh an appropriation. This is from funding. Again, this is not from general revenue. So as we wait, as member Swank mentioned, we mention we wait with baited breath um to the full result on Wednesday about the income tax. This is not from that kind of fund. This is from funding that the city has from our water and sewer fund that is set aside for exactly this kind of uh maintenance and upgrade kind of project. This is um the city managing and maintaining the infrastructure of the city in a very effective and um forwardinking way and using uh those funds I I think very very appropriately. So this would be um $650,000 from the water fund uh $650,000 from the sewer fund. Um and uh I I think this is a project that will be very very effective and I don't know if the uh city safety services director wants to add anything.

The other additional note that I would make is um with the retirement incentive program we have one meter reader retiring and I do not intend to replace that position. Um and this will allow us to read uh remotely. Uh most utilities read remotely at this point. We're still in the business of not doing that yet. um and we need to get to that point. And so um I think you know from a long-term savings with with um uh from uh labor um this system will allow us a lot more flexibility with our with our uh meters across the city. You have any questions for members of council? Member Spike?

Yeah, just a quick question for uh for uh director Stone. Last week we started talking about capabilities and technical and all that sort of thing. Could you give us kind of a highlevel picture of where we might be able to go with this in the future from a technology standpoint and from uh a speed standpoint of being able to address things in a timely manner?

Sure. Um I'll give a a little bit bigger uh picture of this. So um we've got about 5,500 water meters uh around the city. Um some of them are radio read right now. Not that many. Um most of them are either touch read or manual read. And touch read requires someone to touch it. manual read actually requires you to go look at it and write it down and or punch it in the to the handheld. Um, this radio read system on all of those will allow someone to just drive by um with a with a reader in the truck and if it misses one uh the system knows and you can go back and just you know wave the thing a little closer and get it right. Um that's the first step basically to get everything into a radio read system. Um, a later phase if we wanted to get there, which is something that I' I'd like to progress to at some point, would be uh to put fixed points uh around the city on our water towers and reservoirs and lift stations and such that we interconnect with our fiber that we've been using in addition to our telemetry system in order to um just um receive the signals from those RFIDs at the at the at the um individual meters all around. If I put enough fixed points, I think I can cover the majority of the city, if not all of the city, so that I wouldn't even need to drive by. It would just send the send the readings uh continuously. Um there are meters and we would probably start with um maybe high-f flyers to use a a term or or regular customers that we use term that um um you can install and with this technology you can turn them on and off remotely. So, you could shut someone's water off or turn someone's water on as opposed to having to send a person out um either in the middle of the night to shut it off if they're having a problem or but more importantly, you know, when I say highf flyers, I mean folks that, you know, maybe aren't aren't real quick on getting their bill paid um and then are in a rears and have a shut off that you could go and do that. But we could eventually get to the point that we've

got that that uh capability citywide. And and the the value to that is um immediate leak detection number one. So, you know, right now what happens if you have a leak at your house, um, and we get a high reading, um, we will call you and we will tell you, hey, you had a high reading, uh, on your bill, something completely out of line from what you typically use, but that that uh, leak may have been happening for potentially up to four weeks um, depending on where you are in the cycle. So, you could have been using a lot of water uh, during that period of time. This technology ultimately could allow us once we get to that point to to immediately tell if uh there's a significant change, throw up an alert to utilities building and then they could call the resident and say, "Hey, it's looking like you're consuming a lot more water than you normally do. You might want to check if you have a leak." So, that's a benefit to customers that I think we could get to eventually. Um right now, I just want to get these RFID, you know, radio read systems into every single meter and that'll allow us to set these additional technological capabilities in the future. you. We're only first reading the day. Would a month make any difference? In other words, would it help if we fasttrack this thing?

I I don't think so. The key thing I think would be that if it passes I'd like you to pass it prior to recess if if we could. Um you know, my installation plan, we're not we're not paying a contractor to install this. We're going to install this or we're not paying uh the contractor that we're buying the meters from. Uh we might contract with someone, but it's not going to be a bid. It's going to be a lower dollar amount. And I I didn't want to pay the source wall price that they quoted me to the to the point about source in the last thing. You know, sometimes sometimes shopping is better. And so when it comes to installation, um you know, we've got a plan to do that. Um probably starting in August. So if you can uh because it'll take a little bit for the stuff to come in. So if you can get it passed prior to recess, that would be sufficient for our need.

You have any additional additional council questions? Anything else from the administration? Hey, the only other note would be, you know, some of those really really great capabilities are in the future. You know, the key thing is getting getting radio read across the board first thing. So, but we will we will work towards it. Absolutely. Anything from the auditor or treasurer and anything from the public? All right. Moving on to ordinance 50-26, an ordinance amending ordinance 74-25 to increase the authorized expenditure for a new restroom facility at the West State Park project 349 introduced by member Isherwood.

Yeah. And as we discussed in committee meeting last week, this is simply um you know cleaning up an ordinance. This is um this is not a new appropriation of funds. This is an authorization uh in order to uh architectural fees for the uh new bathroom over on the west bullfields was not included in the authorization. So this is to allow for that to happen and so it is simply allowing authorizing for a bill to be paid. Uh we have the funds already in place. Okay. Any additional questions from council? Uh anything from the administration? or treasurer and anything from the public. All right, moving on to ordinance 51-26. An ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a 2026 to 2028 partnership agreement with the Athens County Commissioners is an applicant and grantee if funded for submission of an application to the Office of Community Development Ohio Department of Development for the Community Housing Impact and Preservation Program and declaring an emergency introduced by a member Isherwood. This is a great project that the city has um partnered um with um Hawking Athens Perry Community Action and the county and in the past the city of Nelsonville. Um this is a program that allows for um uh low-income residents to have uh repairs, painting, things like that done and the cost covers. This is a really good program. It allows for uh badly needed maintenance on uh properties across the city where folks simply can't afford to do those to get that done. So, this is a huge benefit to the community to those uh members of our community who can't afford to do those residents, but it's very good overall for the community to

ensure um the maintenance and upkeep of properties across um across the city. And so this is this is just a really really great project, one that we have partnered in before and um I I look forward to this passing and us applying for this funding again. Uh any questions from member of council, anything from the administration, and anything from the public? All right, moving on to ordinance 52-26, an ordinance amending the 2026 appropriation, ordinance 120-25, introduced by myself. Uh, this is an appropriation we talked about last week in committee. The first one of the first part of this is uh an $120,000 appropriation to the CDBG fund that was appropriated last year but not encumbered. So, we are reappropriating it for the Columbus Road lift station project uh 359. The second appropriation in this is $15,000 to the parking garage fund 730 to cover electric costs and increasing the total appropriations by set amounts. Uh I think we talked about those in committee. And do we have any additional questions from members of council? And anything from the mayor's office, auditor, treasurer?

Uh yeah, actually yeah, I was asked if we could suspend this so that they can move over the parking garage money uh quickly. So first we would need to have a discussion on suspension of the rules. Um I move that we suspend the rules for ordinance uh 5226. Thank you. Can I have a second? Second. there. Any discussion? Just for clarity, can we just get an explanation just for people watching why this needs to be done very so quickly? I'm not opposed to it, but just so people can hear why. Chair, do you want

um they just need to move the money over for the electric cost so they can uh pay bills that need to be paid. Yeah. All right. Uh all those in favor of suspending the rules. I Any opposed? The rules have been suspended. Uh, next can I actually we should see if any motion to adopt 52-26 moved. Second. All right. Uh, any additional discussion? Anything additional? Anything from the public? All right. Uh, all those in favor of adopting 52-26.

Any opposed? All right. 52-26 has been adopted. Uh, ordinance 53-26, an ordinance amending ordinance n 09-9 credit card policy introduced by myself. Uh this is just another updating of wording to match that of the state and includes um explanation of types of expenses allowed to include convenience fees for when they are and are not allowed. Um really nothing exciting here. Just your basic wording update. Convenience fees.

Just convenience fees. Uh do we have any additional questions on this? Anything from the administration? That's funny. auditor treasurer auditor's office

just to say the reasoning they put that in there for one thing we didn't used to pay uh convenience fees for using credit cards and stuff so much but um the fact is our policy through the state has always been uh not to pay um interest or late fees or anything like that it's not a good proper use of you know taxpayer dollars so they are saying now that when you have to pay a convenience fee. It's not because you didn't send your, you know, bill in on time. Um, it is an acceptable expense for the city. All right. And do we have any questions from the public?

Okay. And this has been read for the first time. Moving on to ordinance 54-26 and ordinance amending ordinance 14-23 authorizing an increased expenditure for the West Washington sidewalk and safety improvement project 3035 introduced by member Claudefelder. So this ordinance um is for a project for which the construction has been completed um as far as I understand it. So this is just kind of cleaning up some accounting. Um, the bills ran $2,300 higher than anticipated. And so, um, this is to just make that record complete. And I wonder if the auditor would like to add anything else to that.

That's basically it. Um, this is just uh increasing the authorization to meet the actual amount of money spent. It's no increase in any appropriation or anything like that. Okay. anything else? Just one of those situations where the project gets uh started, it's a pricey one and ends up costing more and then if you need more money, you have to appropriate that, but you also have to increase the authorization to spend that new appropriation.

Okay. So specifically, um, section three, the the key section of this reads, "The service safety director is hereby authorized to expend up to $222,300 as follows. $132,300 from CDBG fund 248, transaction code 500, and $90,000 from street fund 200, transaction code 500 for said project number 335. Do you have any additional questions from council on this one? Anything from the administration?

This project has been completed. We actually were digging into CDBG, all the various CDBG projects that are hanging out there. And in the process of digging in that uh into those files, um the AR's office discovered that there was $2,300 that that wasn't um it was it was spent uh as part of the project um on the project PO, but the authorization didn't match. And so, thank you.

This this cleans up the record for auditing purposes. always nice. Anything else from the auditor or the treasurer and anything from the public? All right, moving on to announcements and other business. Uh, I need a motion to accept the April 2026 financial reports. So moved. And can I have a second? Second. Uh, all those in favor? Any opposed? Uh motion to accept the March and April credit card transactions. So moved. Second. All right. All those in favor?

Any opposed? Thank you. Uh moving next to opportunities for citizen citizens to speak on legislative items and city services not covered on the agenda. Uh anyone wishing to speak come up and speak state their name and address and they will have three minutes. I should have pulled this out first. That would be wonderful. Thank you. Okay. Oh, hi. I uh came cuz I had um a couple ideas about the park the new parking garage that I'm not sure if Tell us who you are.

Oh, hi. I'm Michael Bart. I live on Morris Avenue and um with the new parking garage um and the new pay system, uh there's something I did last winter that I don't know if will be um legal to do, but I think it should be encouraged from everyone to do. And that's when you hear that there is a snow emergency coming, I instead of parking a car on Morris Avenue, I put it in the parking garage until the snow emergency was lifted. And I think that that should be encouraged, that the gates should be opened and that there should be public announcements advising everyone get their cars off the street so the snow removal can happen, the salting can happen. And I just think that's something to consider. We got several months till the winter time to have everyone discuss it. And uh another thing with parking garage is um I know the validation is still being rolled out, but I think uh that should be extended to uh people attending city council meetings and people paying their city bill should have their parking validated to, you know, encourage both those activities.

All right. Thanks. Thank you. Anyone else?

Yes. Um good good evening everybody. Um so my name is Nathan Simons. Um this is Jeff Jenkins. We're actually with Hawking Athens Perry Community Action. Um I'm the community development coordinator there. Jeff is also community development coordinator. We were hoping to get on the agenda but apparently that did not happen. Um, regarding this year's CDBG program, um, part of the requirement for applying is that we need to inform the public um, and council and administration of available programs for the CDBG program. So, I'd like to go ahead and kind of lay that out. I just have a quick notice that I would like to read for the benefit of the administration and council and so we can meet that requirement for the application process if that's okay.

Absolutely.

Perfect. Um, okay. Okay, so this is Athens City of Athens intends to apply to the Ohio Department of Development for program year 2026 funding under the community development block grant small cities program. The below mentioned CDBG programs are federally funded and administered by the state. CDBG programs can fund a broad range of planning, community improvement, and housing related activities. These activities must be designed to primarily benefit low moderate income persons or aid in the prevention or elimination of slum and blight. and the city of Athens is eligible for funds in 2026 as follows. The CDBG allocation program, the fiscical year 2026 allocation amount is $150,000. The allocation program is a community development and infrastructure improvement program that is available to all incorporated and unincorporated areas as well as community organizations provided they meet all applicable requirements. The next program available is the CDBG residential public infrastructure program with a maximum funding of $750,000. And this program is competitive and designed to help small rural areas that are working to update their water and sanitary sewer systems. Next is the CDBG critical infrastructure program with a maximum funding of $500,000 under the critical infrastructure program which is a competitive set aside of the allocation program. projects are designed to assist communities with high priority single component projects such as roads, flood and drainage and other public infrastructure improvements with the high communitywide impact. And lastly is the CDBG discretionary program flex program provides means to fund worthwhile targets of opportunity projects and activities not fit within the structure of existing programs and to provide supplemental resources to resolve immediate and unforeseen needs. And additionally, I'd like to note that Athens uh city of Athens will host a

community development implementation strategy meeting May 19th, 2026 tomorrow, um at 1 p.m. where we will meet here at the city building down in the Barry conference room. So, be happy to answer any questions regarding that. I threw a lot out there, so if there's any questions, comments, concerns on any of that. Would you tell us the time again, please? Yes, tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the Berry conference room. Yep. Congratulations. Thank you. Perfect. Thank you. Appreciate you.

All right. Uh we will next be heading into executive session. Um post coming out of executive session, we will come back out to adjourn. But to start, we will need to roll call vote and have a motion to go into executive session. I'd move that uh all members of council move into executive session to discuss matters of pending litigation and sale of property. All members of council, safety service director and elected officials that are present. Can I have a second? Second. All right. And we'll roll call vote. Uh member Alma I. Member Strat Staser. Hi. Member Wood. Hi

member Swank. Hi. Member Claudefelder. Hi. Member Isherwood. Hi. We will have everyone leave. We'll close the doors. We'll have executive session. Uh we'll open the door back up to adjourn when we are finished. Um people are welcome to stick around after that if they have additional questions or if we want to take a few minutes now to do that before we close the doors. Did I get everything? Let's roll. All right.