City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Before we get started tonight, we've got a couple of presentations, introductions, and then we've got the Girl Scouts coming up. So, I'm going to ask Chief Lindsay to come up. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and good evening, council members. So, it's my privilege tonight to introduce Officer Hunter Pyaseki, who is our 54th sworn officer. He was sworn in this morning uh by Mayor Adams. And I want to give you a quick bio for Hunter Pyaseki. He graduated from Valley View High School in 2022 and the University of Toledo in August of 25 with a Bachelor of Science degree in recreational therapy. He made the decision to change his career path and pursue his desire to serve the community as a police officer. And he was hired as a police recruit and enrolled in the Green County Career Center center criminal justice academy in September of 25. He received his peace officer certification after graduating from the academy in February and passed the state certification exam last week. So, as with all new officers, Hunter will start the training period, 3 to four month period with our field training officer, and then when he successfully completes that, uh, he'll be assigned to a a shift with, uh, under the supervision of a shift sergeant. So, we are very excited to have Hunter join our team, and I'm I'm confident that he's going to be have a great career, be a great officer with our department. So even would like to say a few words.

First of all, I would just like to thank the city council. I'd like to thank Mayor Adams, Pete, and Chief Lindsay for this opportunity. Thank you guys for everything what you guys do behind the scenes kind of kind of work you guys do. No one kind of sees it, but we all appreciate it. We really do. Um I'm just really excited to get out there and just keep learning and learning. This is a career field where you're just going to learn and learn every day. just kind of be a sponge and absorb everything you can. I'm just really grateful for that. I would just ready to get out there and do my job. Yeah. One of the exciting things about that, he's a second generation Pyaseki that's serving on the department right now. So, I will ask Monica Jones, our assistant city manager, to come forward. Hi, good evening. I don't have a speech prepared. It's going to be a little bit more of an elevator speech. We didn't have a nice swearing in, but I wanted to introduce you all to Andrea. She is our new HR director. After uh a very competitive process and two rounds of interviews, she decided to join us two weeks ago from the Dayton Art Institute. So, I'll let her um introduce herself and tell you a little bit about her background and just introduce herself.

Thank you. Good evening. Like Monica mentioned, I'm Andrea Deskkins. I'm coming to the city of Beaver Creek with eight years of experience from the Dayton Institute, Morris Furniture Company, and Bethany Village. Um, I'm really excited when I saw this position posted because born and raised in Fairborn. I'm very familiar with Beaver Creek and my parents live here as well. So, it's kind of come around full circle and I'm very excited to join. Thank you. Welcome. Now, I'm going to ask all of these young ladies to come forward. Girl Scout Week is coming up and we're here to honor that. But before I do that, I went to the gold award ceremony yesterday uh at the Caroline Park and one of our gold award winners did not receive a certificate because I didn't have her name. So, I would like for Ashley to come over here, please. Yes, please. Please. This is a mayor's certificate of accommodation, Girl Scout Gold Award. This is to certify that Ashley Nelson has earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest and most distinguished honor in Girl Scouting. Through exceptional leadership, dedication, and perseverance, Ashley has successfully planned and developed and carried out a meaningful take action project that addresses a genuine community need and creates lasting positive impact. This outstanding accomplishment exemplifies the ideals of the Girl Scout Promise,

the Girl Scout Law, and reflects a strong commitment to service, responsibility, and civic leadership. And in recognition of this extraordinary achievement and on behalf of myself and the Beaver Creek City Council, we hereby commend Ashley Nelson for her initiative, character, and contributions to the community. She is recognized as a role model whose efforts inspire others to lead, serve, and make a difference.

And Kaylee did receive her certificate yesterday, but she also reserved received her gold award. Uh, we had three young ladies from uh, Beaver Creek. Was it four? They don't. Okay. See, somebody didn't give me that fourth name either. I'm sorry. Well, we we'll take care of that. But the gold award is an amazing award. It's It's a top award in Girl Scouting, and it takes quite a bit for these young ladies to to earn that award. It's a a lot of work goes into that. I know the Eagle Scouts, uh, the boys boy scouts eagle is a big thing, but I've been told, and Chuck, I'm sorry, but it takes more to get a gold than it does an eagle.

I think they're very similar in scope. They're just a different a different pathway.

So, one of the big reasons we got all these young ladies here is to recognize Girl Scout Week coming up. And I've got a proclamation for them that I'd like to read. It says, "Whereas Girl Scouts of the United States of America was founded on March 12th, 1912 and has since empowered millions of girls with the courage, confidence, and character to make the world a better place. And whereas Girl Scout Week is celebrated annually during the week of March 12th to honor the legacy, leadership, and service of Girl Scouts and the dedicated adult volunteers who guide them. And whereas the Girl Scouts of today are leaders in their schools, neighborhoods, and communities, demonstrating a strong commitment to service, civic engagement, environmental stewardship, and personal growth. And whereas Girl Scout programs promote valuable life skills, including teamwork, problem solving, entrepreneurship, and leadership, preparing girls to be responsible citizens and future community leaders. And whereas Girl Scouts in Beaver Creek and throughout our region actively contribute to the well-being of our community through service projects, take action initiatives and volunteer efforts that address real needs and strengthen civic pride. And whereas the city of Beaver Creek recognizes the important role scouting plays in developing confident young women who are prepared to lead with integrity, compassion, and purpose. Now there therefore be it proclaimed by myself, Don Adams, that the Beaver Creek City Council that the week of March 8th through the 14th, 2026 is hereby designated Girl Scout Week in the city of Beaver Creek, Ohio. We encourage all residents to join in recognizing and celebrating the contribution of Girl Scouts and their leaders and to support their mission of building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. appreciate that. So, thank you very

much, Mr. Adams and council. There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Girl Scouts in Beaver Creek. Um, a very wellsupported organization. We thank the churches and the businesses and the government and everybody who does so much for Girl Scouts. We've got quite a sample of Girl Scouts here. Girls can join Girl Scouts starting in kindergarten and first grade and they become daisies with their blue vest and move on up to brownies and then into juniors and cadets. We have cadetses and ambassadors here. So from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade is represented here and that's pretty representative in Beaver Creek. We've got a really great program here. So that's great. Thank you very much. And before we go, we have gifts.

I know you do. And I know uh I know two or three people that are really looking for those. While you're doing that, I'll go ahead and

Wonderful. Wow.

Thank you very much. Thank you. There's money. No, we're good.

Oh,

okay. We'll go ahead and call this meeting to order. I have a roll call, please. Have a roll call, please. Can I have a roll call, please? Council member Curran here. Council member Der here. Council member Bills here. Council member Lal here. Council member Bales here. Vice Mayor Upton here. Mayor Adams

here. Now, if you'd all please stand with the girls or at least the let's have the gold come up and and lead us in a pledge if you would please. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

You all remain standing just for a minute. Bow your heads with me, please. We gather today as servants of this community, grateful of the trust placed in us to seek the common good. Grant us wisdom to listen with open hearts, clarity to discern what is just and fair, courage to speak truth with kindness, and humility to recognize that no one of us holds all the answers. guide our decisions so they strengthen our neighborhoods, protect the vulnerable, build bridges where division exists, and honor dignity of every person who calls this city home. May our work here today reflect integrity, respect, and hope for a better tomorrow. We ask this in your name, trusting in your guidance. Amen. Amen.

Thank you, ladies. We have an agenda before us. Uh any additions, corrections? Move we approve the agenda, your honor. Second. Have a motion and a second to approve the agenda. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. And now we have a couple of sets of minutes from the February 9th regular meeting minutes. Uh any changes, adjustments, corrections? Motion to approve February 9th regular meeting minutes. Second. I have a motion and a second to approve minutes from February 9th. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. And we have the February 17th work session minutes. Any additions, corrections? Move to approve. One correction. Excuse me. I was not at that meeting.

Move to approve as amended. Second. I have a motion and a second to approve as amended. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I.

Opposed. Next up, ordinances, resolutions, and PUDs. Ordinance 26-06. Ordinance 26-06, an ordinance amending the land use plan in accordance with chapter 158.171D1 of the city of Beaver Creek zoning code and in accordance with the ordinance number 2015. And this is a second reading. Anything else from staff? I have a motion.

Uh, your honor, I would move uh 26-06. Second. I have a motion and a second to approve ordinance 26-06. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Ordinance 26-07. Ordinance 26-07, an ordinance by Beaver Creek City Council, amending title 11, business regulations of the codified ordinances of the city of Beaver Creek, by enacting a new chapter 119, hotel licensing to regulate hotel services and minimum operating standards in the city of Beaver Creek, Ohio.

Again, this is a second reading. Anything from staff? Anything else? Uh just a couple points, Mayor. Um one, um page 136 of the packet, section one is still with the typo. It's still with the previous massage parlor related service that I pointed out the last meeting. So just one to clean up ahead of time. I think that's it. Mayor What else? page 136. It's section one uh of the actual ordinance um of which I'm the sponsor. So it starts ordinance number 26-07 and then 3/4 of the way down section one it's from a previous ordinance just make a motion to amend that work. This probably is minor enough to be called a scrier's error, but if you want to make a motion to amend to fix that typo, there's nothing wrong with that.

Mayor, I I move to amend the typo in section one of page 136 of the packet. Second. I'll second. Have a motion and a second to amend uh that section of the ordinance. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed? Do I have a mayor? I move to approve ordinance 20 ordinance 26-07 as amended. Second. Okay. I have a motion and a second to approve ordinance 26-07 as amended. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Opposed. Uh, ordinance 26-08. Ordinance 26-08, an ordinance by the Beaver Creek City Council establishing a new fund, specifically the grant pass through fund, fund number 206, in conformity with federal and state laws and generally accepted accounting principles and declaring an emergency at the second reading. Yep, this is the second reading. So, anything else from staff at all? Councel? Uh, your honor, I'd uh move to approve ordinance 2608 as an emergency.

Second. I have a motion and a second to approve ordinance 26-08 as an emergency. All those in favor signify by saying Oh, there's roll call, correct? I'm sorry. Roll call, please. I'm sorry. Thank you. Council member Kern. Yes. Council member L. Yes. Council member Derer. Yes. Council member Bailes. Yes. Vice Mayor Upton. Yes. Council member Bills. Yes. Mayor Adams. Yes. Okay. Now we got Ordinance 26-09.

Yeah. Ordinance 26-09 to approve supplemental appropriations and certify additional revenue and authorize interfund transfers for fiscal year beginning January 1st, 2026 and ending December 31st, 2026 and to amend ordinance 25-26. Good evening, council. Um so what we have here really um this appropriation adjustments and certification adjustments are boiled down into three categories now that you've established fund 206 um that is the fund that we will utilize to account for those pass through grants that we talked about at the work session where the Ohio Department of Transportation grants us the money but pays the vendors directly and we have to run it through our books as if we had received the money and paid it ourselves. So um the first item is actually the 2026 budgeted items that were in those various street operating and capital accounts. Um so we were asking to reduce the appropriations and certifications in those funds by those grant dollars that were budgeted in those individual funds and to move them to the fund 206. Um the second uh item, these are grant pass through dollars from prior years. As we've talked, a number of these ODOT projects take up to three, four years to actually get completed once the grant is awarded. So we have a lot of incumbrances or purchase orders out there. Um so this would be uh what we will be doing is closing those purchase orders and but we will need the certification and the appropriations in this new fund 206 in order uh to reinstitute those purchase orders uh in this new fund. So um and then the

third item uh there are two funds. Um these are more of a budget cleanup item. Um so what happens is when we're going through the budget in September, we're trying to guess at what our cash balances and incumbing incumbrances are going to be as of December 31st. Um sometimes we miss the mark by a little bit. in this case, you know, no, there aren't major changes, but um both of them are grant type related where we're trying to spend down the the money. Um so we're asking for uh additional uh or appropriation adjustments, reducing appropriations in the drug uh enforcement and springhouse park funds. Right now um these funds have more money appropriated than what is available, which is budgetary non-compliance. Only the IRS can plan to IRS, sorry. Only the federal government can plan to spend more than what they bring in. So, um, this is just a a budgetary cleanup item.

Thank you very much. This is an ordinance. It's a single reading, so there will be public input. If there is any, if someone would like to come forward and speak to it, please come forward. State your name and address. You'll have three minutes. Watching everybody jump up to come up here. I'll assume that the public's portion can be closed. Council Hammy, your honor, I move 2609. Second. No, it's a single reading.

Second. I have a motion and a second to approve ordinance 26-09 as a single reading. I need a roll call, please. Council member Kern, yes. Council member Derer, yes. Council member Literal, yes. Council member Bales, yes. Vice Mayor Upton, yes. Council member Bills, yes. Mayor Adams, yes. Ordinance 26-10. Ordinance 26-10, an ordinance by Beaver Creek City Council enacting a new chapter 39 income tax to the codified ordinances of the city of Beaver Creek, Ohio. Mr. Graham.

All right. Well, thank you again. So, um this will be uh had a number of meetings talking about a variety of of scenarios for um how our future would look um with income tax and a number of variety uh uh including the 1% income tax with 50% property tax reduction that we're going to be presenting tonight. But we also talked about things including if property taxes were eliminated completely, what would the income tax rate need to be uh in order for us to move forward? Um so that 2.9% example, we and we've looked at a number of scenarios everywhere in between there. Um, so like I said, tonight we'll be presenting the 1% uh with a 50% 1% income tax with a 50% reduction in the property tax. Um, based on council input, um, we will look at some of the tax code items that council does control. Um, and we will look at an analysis of how this will impact the city's revenue and how it will impact our residents and and even those who work here and are not residents of the city. Then finally, we'll look at a general timeline. So, um, guess behind, I apologize. So, first of all, the tax code decision. Um, the purpose of this uh income tax levy will be for uh general purposes. it will be put in the general fund. General purposes include our general operations, capital needs, infrastructure, uh, and debt. Um, you know, just our normal everyday expenditures that that we have or every year expenditures that we have. Um, the monies will would be moved from the general fund to the various divisions through our budget process and our appropriations. Uh we

encourage the public to become involved in our budget process and understand uh where our dollars are going. Um the rate, as we stated already, is 1% uh annual rate. Um we'll talk about some of the levies that we're going to be eliminating. Um and those will be on the next slide. Um the year that the levies will be eliminated. Now, I want to be very clear because I don't like the language I used here and I apologize. The levies will be eliminated after tax year 2026. 2026 pay 2027 will be the last year these property tax levies that we identify on the next slide would not be collected. So I just want when it says intact year 26 I I wished I would have used the word after in that just want to highlight that. Um the uh income tax would become effective July 1st, 2027 and would be for a continuous period of time and there would be a 100% credit for income taxes paid to another city up to 1%. Um and this credit could only be changed based on the language in the ordinance by approval of the voters. So on the levies to be eliminated, um two goals that uh we were kind of given was one eliminate half of our property tax revenue. Remember it's about diversification, not going away from property taxes and jumping all in income taxes, though we do realize that might not be an option in the future if the constitutional amendment eliminating property taxes goes forward. So what we did was we focused on those levies that the state does not pay the roll backs on. So any levy passed after 2013, August of 2013, the state does not pay

the 10 and a half and two and a half% roll backs on those. So that means the taxpayers pays 100% on those levies. If it was an older levy prior to 2013, the state is actually for a residential property owner is paying 12 and a half percent of that tax liability on their behalf. So obviously we wanted to focus on eliminating levies that gave our citizens the greatest savings and that is those newer levies that the state is, you know, the revenue to the city is the same regardless. It's just where that money comes from. and by using by eliminating the newer levies, those are the ones that the residents are paying 100% of that tax burden for. So, well, actually, let's jump back real quick. So, you can see in total, we've got uh $232.95 of savings per $100,000 of appraised value. Um that would be a revenue reduction to the city of $15.2 million. Now, if you compare that to all of our levies, currently we're getting about $30.7 million. You can see we would be eliminating half of our property tax revenues. Um because we focused on levies that are not receiving the roll backs or the credits, um that's a savings to the taxpayer of 52% per $100,000 of valuation. So, one of the slides we always like to go through is that remember the city only gets 19 cents of every tax dollar you you pay. So, we get 19% of that revenue. Again, the goal is diversification, not elimination of the city's use of property taxes. So, we are somewhat limited in what we can do. We can't eliminate levies for the county um or, you know, any other subdivision. we

only have the ability to address that 19 cents of every dollar that we receive. So this slide um is it shows you the revenue for from Beaver Creek citizens. So the county receives a lot more than that $21.7 million in annual revenue. That's the amount they receive from city of Beaver Creek property owners. So, if you you look through there, you can see, you know, we're still at that 19% of that uh tax dollars come to us. But with this levy reduction, we would be reducing our property tax revenue uh that comes from residents by 9.62%. Now again, this is compared to all of the dollars um which will save the resident a little over 10% based on their current tax bill. So now kind of look at how this impacts the city's revenues compared to what we have now. So, first, um, Miami University conducted a study that's available on our website, um, and indicated a 1% income tax would generate $19.6 million a year. And on that, based on data that we look by looking at other municipalities that have an income tax, we projected a 3% increase per year in that income tax revenue. Um the income tax would be effective July 1st of 27. Uh one of the big factors is is that it takes at least three years for this levy to reach full collection. U based on information from the regional income tax authority. They indicated that in the first year you'd be looking

at about 60% uh collection. Year two 85. year three hopefully you get to that 100% because we're implementing it mid year seven on July 1. Um obviously that that impacts especially the first year where you know you're not going to get anything for that first month. So now you're down to five months of of collection. So um the next section deals with our property tax revenue projections. Um again property taxes tend to grow one to 2% maybe per year. Um and then the reductions uh based on those projections that we would see and you can see our net property tax revenue. Um the the green section up there section labeled C uh additional property tax levies for gone. So, um, in past, uh, presentations that I've done to council, we have discussed how we operate off of levy cycles and that those levy cycles exist because, as I said, property tax revenues, voted levies, do not have an inflationary factor on them. 91% of our levies are voted levies, which means the only additional revenue we get is from that new construction that occurs, new construction. um amounts to I mean if you look the last two years it's less than 1% but we generally over time look at that one to two percent uh per year but again as Beaver Creek gets built out um you're going to have less new construction so uh and you can see that the net impact on each of those years so during the implementation years from 2027 to 2029 we're looking at about a $3.5 million deficit um and even In 2030, uh, based on our projections, we're looking at an $874,000 deficit. Now, again, these are based on projections. You know, um, actual

results could vary, but it's important to understand how we relate to other municipalities in the area. So, currently, we have one of the highest property tax rates in the area. Um, under this proposal, we would see a a reduction. Uh, we would still be one of the higher on property taxes, but we're much more competitive um, on that property tax side. Uh, obviously, nobody has a lower income tax rate than what the city of Beaver Creek has right now. Um, but even if it goes up to 1%, we are still significantly less than other municipalities in the area. So, who would pay uh an income tax? So, those working in the city, that includes 12% of the workforce that both works and lives uh in the city of Beaver Creek and 88% of those our city workforce that resides or yeah, resides outside of the city limits. So, they would be subject to this income tax. um individuals who aren't currently subject to an income tax. That would include people working at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, people who work in a township or work in a municipality that does not have an income tax. And then of course, businesses whose profits are generated within the city would pay income tax. So, who would not pay? um residents who are working outside of the city of Beaver Creek that are already paying an income tax to another municipality. Now, there's 1% credit. So, um you know, or 1% income tax, we only give you a 100% credit on that 1%. So if you actually resided or lived worked in an area that had a half percent, you would still be subject to

the income tax, but I I think there are only three villages that have a rate that would be a reasonable uh distance from us um that uh have less than 1%. So um and then who else wouldn't pay those who don't have an earned income. So remember, your retirement income, pension, social security, interest, uh dividends, all of these are things that are not subject to a municipal income tax by Ohio law, not based just on what we're doing. So, so the other thing we have to look at is, you know, you don't want to say who benefits, who doesn't benefit, but the impact on the average family. So in this case, the average family is defined by uh their average home value is $300,000 and the average household income is $110,000. So you can see the resident who is not subject to a municipal income tax currently. That would include that 12% of the workforce that work and live in Beaver Creek. That would be uh people at the base. You can see that they would have an increase uh a modest increase in their tax burden under this model. Um if you look at those people who it's a monthly annual

this is annual. Yes, this is an annual projection. Um, so if you look at those who uh work outside of the city and are already paying a municipal income tax or those who have no earned income, um, they would see a tax savings from this. um the non-resident who's working in the city, it's really hard to measure what their impact would be because it depends on the if they live in another municipality, do does that municipality give them a credit similar to what Beaver Creek's 1% credit would be. Um, so it's hard to measure what the actual impact is on that individual, but what I will say is that those people who are driving to and working in Beaver Creek and utilizing the services that Beaver Creek provides, that money will go to the city because you pay first based on where you work. So, future events. Um, today we have the first reading of the income tax ordinance. Um the second reading is scheduled for March 23rd. Um the ordinance would become effective April 22nd uh at the April 27th meeting. We could pass a resolution to place the income tax on the ballot and then that would have to be certified to the board of elections by August 5th and the election would be on November 3rd. So with that, we are happy to answer any questions following the public hearing and comments. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. At this point, we will open it up to the uh public. Anyone like to comment on this, please come forward, state your name and address, and we'll have three minutes. How you doing? Bob Trout, 2187 Basset Court. Do have a question as to why it only indicated on the levies that they're going to be deleting. It only referenced the voted millage, but there's a significant difference on the actual millillage that applies to it. I'll give you an example uh where the first one says 0.9 mil uh you're actually charged.167 now because it's an old one. So basically all these things add up to 10.85 but the actual savings to the or the actual cost to the individual is 6.716 mil. So are the taxpayers going to be paying a little bit more? So that that is a question that I do have also in reviewing the documentation and everything else like that. I didn't see any protection gates whatsoever. Whereas section 10.5 states that provides that the city council shall have no power to adopt a levy without a majority vote of the city uh electors. And I think it would be appropriate if we had something very similar on a replaced section 10.5 that would say something along the lines of whereas section 10 10.05 5. The charter of the city of Beaver Beaver Creek, Ohio shall be amended to state any increases or decreases of the baseline 1% city income

income tax will require a majority vote of the city electors voting to accept or reject the proposed change. I think we need that as far as uh being able to maintain some semblance of control to where our money's uh being assessed or anything along those lines. So, it's it. But the other thing that really caught my mind is we're going from a one paragraph requirement on our charter and now we're planning on adding 99 pages or basically 95 pages of regulations. So, the question that I do have is where did that document come from? They didn't indicate that whether it's from the state or from AI or anything else like that. And I do have a question as to where it was originated. But I do have some concerns and I do know that it's a going to be a pretty big hill for the city council to get this thing posted. But if we don't have any controls, I think you're going to have a real hard time getting it passed. Again, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Anyone else? Seeing none, I'll close the uh public portion and I will start with councel. Mr. Bales. Okay. Well, uh I'd like to give Mr. Graham uh an opportunity to respond to Mr. Trout's millage question. So the all the models were based on the effective tax rate. So when we were using the projected revenue, it was based on the commercial and industrial rate using commercial and industrial values aggre effective rate for that property class. So uh while we referenced the full rate on the sheet, it's because it's only done to two decimal places where the effective tax rate goes out to six. Um, but all of the numbers whether we're talking about the savings or the revenue are all based off of those effective tax rates. So to put that uh plainly, we are comparing apples to apples.

Absolutely.

And the citizen saving is indeed what say it will be correct based on current tax rates. Again, you know, if a new levy's voted on, you know, our our 10% reduction may actually end up being a five. Well, it would have been a 15% increase if it were just a 5% levy, but yeah. Yeah. Based on existing facts. Yes. And if I may help on answering that question to the u last couple tries that we've done the income tax, the auditor of state, secretary of state, sorry, secretary of state uh has mandated that the levies that are being terminated, the format in which is used is the original uh mills, not the effective rate, but the original mills and the year. So again, whichever way it's used, it comes to the exact same dollar amount that's being figured. There's no manipulation of the dollar amount to be saved. It's just what is going to be displayed on the ballot would be the actual not the effective rate, but the actual uh original millage rate is what would be. So that does cause a little confusion. It's not we if it was up to us, we'd put both on there so people would see both numbers, but it's not up to us. Secretary of State controls the ballot language.

Well, along those same lines, maybe our our city attorney can talk about the income tax ordinance language and why it's 95 pages long and and so forth. So, this is very similar to what's been done in the past. You pass the income tax ordinance in advance of passing the resolution. place it onto the ballot. Uh it's so long because there are so many state regulations that you're trying to match. Uh in terms of who it applies to, exemptions. I mean, just putting in the charter that any income tax requires a ballot initiative doesn't tell you what has to be in the actual income tax ordinance. So, um it was drafted by my office. um if someone's no AI was involved if that was a a question. Um and it was drafted based upon the OC requirements. Thank you. Uh I have um I have many thoughts and I know we're going to get an opportunity uh multiple times in the next couple of months to talk about this issue as we uh move through the ordinance uh and then we decide uh to put it on the ballot. But I think um I'm gonna make my stance very clear tonight that um our community needs uh an income tax and I will support the legislation for the this ordinance. I have uh taken some time to compile multiple reasons why I am in support and so I just thought I'd share that with all of you and those listening at at home and um that way I can repeat them as time goes on too. Um and a lot of them will be a kind of a regurgitation maybe some of what Mr. Graham has already said. But I think this initiative provides meaningful property tax relief for our homeowners. I mean, this is what we hear time and time again is our property taxes are getting too

high. And so, I think it it shows that we have listened to their uh issues and come back even stronger in this attempt with a 50% reduction in property tax. Um, for many homeowners, this represents a noticeable annual savings uh and provides relief to residents who have seen property values and property taxes increase recently. This initiative protects residents living on retirement income. The mun municipal income taxes in Ohio do not apply to retirement income such as pension, social security, and most retirement distributions. And so it shifts part of the tax burden away from property taxes and towards income taxes, thus saving our retirees money. Um, this initiative creates a fair tax structure based on the ability to pay. Property taxes are based on the value of a home rather than a person's current financial situation. An income tax is tied to earnings and therefore reflect a person's general ability to contribute more accurately. Those actively earning income contribute proportionally while those who are no longer working are less impacted. This initiative is largely funded by non-residents. And I think it's important for us to understand that and say it again. Non-residents pay a lot of this initiative. Thousands and thousands of people travel into Beaver Creek every day to work and they earn an income while relying on our roads and our infrastructure and our public safety. And a municipal income tax allows a portion of that cost of maintaining those services to be shared by those people who are earning their income here but live elsewhere. And uh as Mr. Graham stated, that's 88%

of those employed in Beaver Creek are non-residents. This initiative creates a diversified and resilient revenue stream for the city and it's one that we've talked a lot about as council needing a diversified re revenue stream and not being totally reliant on property tax. Almost our entire budget is dependent on property tax. This proposal introduces a second major stream of revenue. And if property values decline like they did in the housing crisis in 2008, uh income tax can stabilize that. And conversely, if we have a downturn in our economy, um and income taxes are affected, our property taxes uh continue to be reasonably steady. So, diversity is really good. In my opinion, this initiative reduces long-term pressure for future property tax increases. So when property taxes our primary source of revenue, we have very little choice but to pursue additional levies all the time as the cost of living increases. And so by having an additional revenue source like an income tax, it reduces the the the times that we're going to come back to the voters and ask for more and more money. Uh it ensures strong public safety and essential city services. Residents expect dependable police, road maintenance, parks, senior services, and a stable and balanced revenue structure helps ensure Beaver Creek can maintain the service levels that we all expect. And it strengthens our city's ability to plan responsibly for the future. Beaver Creek plans our infrastructure projects years and years ahead, five, seven, 10 years sometimes ahead. And so this

sustainable revenue source gives us the ability to do those proper uh long-term planning. This proposal aligns with the city's revenue model with a modern economy. Municipal income taxes better reflect modern economic activity by capturing wages and earnings generated within our community. 99% of Ohio cities have adopted an income tax model to ensure their revenue structure reflects economic activity occurring within their city. Establishing an uh income tax also creates a direct connection between economic growth and city revenue. As new businesses locate uh in Beaver Creek and existing businesses grow, the city benefits from those economic activities. This creates greater opportunity for economic development, strengthens our local business community, and supports long-term financial viability for our infrastructure. This is not simply adding a tax. Rather, it's a balanced restructuring of city's revenue. So, this proposal pairs a modest 1% income tax with a 50% reduction in property tax. The goal is not to simply add a new tax, but to create a more balanced and sustainable way we fund our government. This initiative shares the cost of city services more broadly. City services benefit residents, employees, businesses, and non-residents. By incorporating an income tax, the cost of maintaining roads and public safety services is shared more broadly rather than being placed on the backs of just our property owners. And to me, that's just more fair. Uh it supports Beaver Creek's continued

growth and quality of life as the city grows and gets older. It must maintain our infrastructure, invest in our parks and recreation, and continue to provide high quality services. A balanced revenue helps ensure Beaver Creek can continue to make those investments so that we have a very strong quality of life and parks are very important to me. This initiative keeps Beaver Creek competitive with surrounding communities. The only nearby city without an income tax is Bellbrook, which is one of only three cities in the entire state without an income tax. And Beaver Creek is five times larger than Belbrook and provides a much broader range of services and infrastructure. This proposal allows Beaver Creek to remain competitive while responsibly funding the needs of our large city. Other cities in the Dayton region, as Mr. Graham alluded to rely on municipal income taxes ranging from 1 and a half to 2 and a half%. And so even with a 1% income tax, Beaver Creek Beaver Creek would remain the lowest uh with the exception of Belbrook along amongst any of our Miami Valley communities. This means our citizens who work in other cities with an income tax will not pay one penny more than they do and their property taxes will be reduced. So, it's a pretty good deal for the majority of our citizens. Um, this initiative stabilizes our city budget which is always very scrutin scrutinized and Mr. Graham alluded to it as well. People are encouraged to come out and participate in our budget process. Each

year, our budget process undergoes a thorough review with multiple work sessions and public meetings when residents have their opportunities to provide input and the final budget reflects the priorities of our community. There have been some suggestions that the city should just cut spending uh and overlook the fact that reductions would require eliminating programs, right, that our residents really value. And that's what those budget work sessions and and city council listens to our community and we talk about those. And so what we're offering today is what our citizens really want to have in their life. So just cutting our budget to me isn't the right way to to approach this. The community has expressed concern when we cut hours to the senior center and uh we've removed playground equipment from our local parks. So without additional funding, further cuts would have to happen across multiple departments. And so another reason why we need more uh revenue Uh this initiative also recognizes that the state of Ohio will not solve our problems. Sometimes we have it has been suggested that the state will step in and bail us out, but in reality the state of Ohio will not bail out the cities that are facing revenue challenges. Uh, I understand that the property tax issue going on with the state largely revolves around school funding, but it's dramatically impacting local municipal funding. The state is not going to be bailing us out. This initiative prepares us for the uncertainty with that statewide property tax

proposal. There is a strong citizen movement about a po possible constitutional amendment that could eliminate property taxes in Ohio. And as I've stated for a while now, we rely on them completely. Establishing an income tax now provides an additional revenue system and stream that will help protect the city's long-term stability and the significant property tax investment um that residents have made in our community. Without this solution now, we risk losing Beaver Creek as we know it. And finally, I will close with this. This initiative recognizes our shared responsibility that comes with living in Beaver Creek. Let's face it, nobody enjoys paying property taxes. Me included. No one in income tax, property tax. Nobody enjoys paying taxes. But I love living in Beaver Creek and I love the services that we have. I love the police protection that we enjoy. I like living here. And that requires investment. So under this proposal, some residents will save money while others may end up paying a little bit more depending on their circumstance. Each resident will have to make their own personal calculation and decision. And in my case, I'll end up paying more, but I believe it's worthwhile to ensure that Beaver Creek continues to strive uh thrive and remains really the city of choice in the Dayton region. So, for those reasons, I will support this ordinance. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Vice Mayor Upton. Thank you, Mayor Adams. I won't go into the length of detail that Council Member Bale said, I appreciate it because those are all very valid points. Uh, one's certainly worth repeating. U, but I'll save everyone some time. Uh I do have a couple comments based off of what's been presented tonight. One I want to just bring some clarity to uh because it was questioned of me earlier um uh from a citizen. The ordinance tonight, if you look at our packet, the first bullet point says implement a 1% municipal income tax. I just want to draw and it's been said a couple times, but I want to draw attention to section four of that ordinance uh that says the council directs the question of the income tax uh to the to the electors of the city. Right. So, our actions tonight and at the second reading are not passing or enforcing an income tax, but it is the the ordinance needed uh for the first step forward. Just point of clarification there. Um I do feel a bit of obligation to speak out as part of the 12%. I I live and work in the city of Beaver Creek. Uh while all of us on this dis collect a salary as as a council, uh the income tax will impact each of us, but I do my full-time job is uh remote. So I am here all the time. Uh but I will say with that in mind, you know, I I fully appreciate that we get what we pay for, right? And we want to maintain quality services uh in our community. Um we want to ensure those services continue going forward. Um and to shore up uh revenue streams uh diversifying revenue streams uh is imperative. uh through my own experience uh you know serving uh previously I can tell you

this ordinance is one of the best ordinances put forth on an income tax uh it clearly defines what levies will be eliminated that is something that has lacked in the past we've uh put that forth through resolution we've talked about it we've committed to reducing property taxes but this ordinance specifies which ones uh will be impacted so I'm I'm very pleased with that. Um in addition to that, the only thing I can add on I I believe the 1% is the right number. Knowing what we know today, right, we don't know what November brings. Uh with the property tax initiative, uh I believe going more than 1% might be biting to too much um for the electric to swallow. Uh, and it also gets us away from what we truly want, which is diversifying the income streams and solidifying our own financial um, foundations. Uh, so I believe the 1% number is a good number to to seek forward. Um, and unfortunately, because it will, like I said, impact me as part of that 12%. Uh, I don't want to pay more taxes. It's no fun, as was mentioned, but, uh, it's the right thing to do uh, as a member of the community. Uh so I look forward to more dialogue over the next couple of weeks on this topic. U but uh it is something we need to move forward with. Thank you.

Thank you very much Bills.

Um also in the means of saving everybody's time. Thank you for your comments, Pete. Um they were thorough uh well said and certainly in agreement with everything that you stated. Um I I'm also in that boat. Uh this will also be more expense for my family. Um and yet I stand in uh total support of this because I think it is the only responsible choice uh with what's coming down potentially at the state level also about you know creating more solid base for our city um with diversification revenue. Um, as to the number, the specifics, I certainly am in support of whatever we ultimately agree on. Um, I could be in support of a higher number, uh, a 1.5 potentially. So, that's kind of where I'm at. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Councilman K.

Thank you, your honor. Uh again, I would support uh uh Council Member Bale's comments reflected by uh uh the Vice Mayor also realizing there is a challenge here. Certainly uh to move this out into the public and to be able to get their response to it. But I think uh the time has come. We have to do that. Uh everything has been pointed out tonight I think is very legitimate which council member Bales pointed. I think it's important here to look at that first item up there. Uh in the past we've had individuals come forward who said h no no no. You have to specify everything in the income tax who gets what what where. This is uh this is not correct. The council has to have the capability to be able to move dollars if they're needed and uh the income tax gives us that authority as an elected body. All of us serve the public. All of us are accountable. I know that causes some irritation in the audience, but and we'll probably hear something about it out on the road, but uh that uh that general fund is exactly where the dollars go and the council as a body has to have that capability to move it because from time to time we're going to have situations which will require us to do it. As we well know today, the one levey may be in excellent shape, another levy may not be in good shape, but we can't move it by law. And so, we're stuck. So, I u I see this as a very important point uh that we'll have to address uh before the public in the in the months to come. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Literal. Thank Thank you, mayor. Um, I just want to thank Councilman Bells for going first. I appreciate I appreciate everything you said. Um, Vice Mel, I can't agree with anything that you said anymore. I mean, you kind of said it all. You did cover a lot. I do want to the only thing I do want to touch on is the fact that the the 88% of the people that come to this city who pay these who are already paying income tax most of them not every one of them the majority of that 88% that come to this city pay an income tax back to where they reside and a lot of people don't understand that they they're coming here they already they're working here but their home where they reside they are paying an income tax to their home where they're where they're from. And I I want everybody to understand that because now the one question I did have for um Mr. Graham and you did excellent job over the last few months,

I really Yeah, it's been it's been amazing. um the 100% return that we would provide to anybody that is has an income tax back where they're at. Can you tell me if because ours is only 1% it's most likely almost 100% of the time going to be not not a 100% 98% of the time it's going to be lower than what they pay at home. Right. So when you say 100% that means that our 1% is lower. So if they're coming from a place that that has a two and a half% where where where they're at that I I I guess I'm just confused there. Is it a is it we get zero from that and they get the 2% is paid to their to where they reside. So the the credit is what you offer your residents. So um let's use a situation where you live in Beaver Creek but you work in Zenia. Zena has a 2.25% uh income tax rate. So because they're the rate you're paying where you work is more than what the cities is, you get a 100% credit and you don't pay any income tax into the city.

Okay? If you reverse that and say, "Okay, you now this doesn't deal with that credit issue." So, well, let me let me finish on the credit side. I apologize. So, um, Village Jamestown has a half percent income tax. If you live if you work in Jamestown and live in Beaver Creek, you would still be subject to a half percent income tax in Beaver Creek because we can only give you credit up to the rate that you are currently paying. Okay. So, and like I said, the the number of scenarios where somebody has a a municipality has a lower rate than what Beaver Creek does are very few and far between. Okay.

Did that address your question, council member?

Yeah. Yes, it did. You Yes, it did. I appreciate it. Um, I just I I it goes back to what Councilman Bale stated. The majority of all this all the money that would come from any type of an income tax would be brought to us through people that don't live in Beaver Creek. They reside in Beaver Creek. And the public needs to understand that. The the the other thing is this diversification for the city is absolutely not I I don't believe it as something that we would like to have. I think it's something that we need to have. I think anybody who tries to run a household or an investment portfolio. You have to be diversified in in it the way that you run it. If not, you're subject to potential disaster if anything unforeseen changes. And we we see with the proposed um income um property tax elimination that's coming on the ballot, it'll probably make the ballot. Whether it passes or not, we can't speculate anything like that. That would trigger a whole another act of processes we'd have to go through obviously without being diversified. And that is the that is number one goal. I think the 1% is where we should be. I am in complete support of putting this on the ballot and I feel like it's not not a it's not a want of the city. I believe it as the need and I think it's been needed for some time. I appreciate it. Thanks.

Thank you, Council Der.

Thank you, mayor. Uh, one question, one comment. The question is to the city manager andor the legal council andor the finance director. Um, it's a it's a followup on my question from the February 23rd meeting. Uh, the city manager on that day gave a very good and thorough uh answer to my question. It's a hypothetical of if we didn't have an income tax and if the property tax uh abolition occurred in Ohio, what would happen to the city of Beaver Creek? Um, paraphrasing quickly, the city manager is welcome to expound. Uh but in effect um by mid to late 2027 uh the city would effectively have to shut down. Uh there'd be uh no mechanism of property tax collection. Uh there'd have to be layoffs and effectively that would end. So my question as a followup is what happens next? Um who governs uh the city of Beaver Creek? uh even in that event of of shutting down of disbanding

it wouldn't completely shut down. You David and I both have worked on the revenue. Um it's a as I think I described it's a cascading effect. Um you pull out the what what's that game with the blocks that Jenga?

Yeah, Jenga. you pull out the bottom block and the whole thing falls and you're left with whatever's at the bottom that's still standing. That's that's a real good description of what would happen because everything else as far as your fees and fines and and uh investment income and all that would collapse once you pull the biggest chunk out, which remember for those that weren't listening before or watching before with grants and our all of our property taxes, that accounts for 72% of all of our funding. Then, you know, a simple million dollars of our budget is uh in um investment income. Well, once we drain the account, that mean there's another million gone. Uh fines and fees once you have no employees to collect any of it, that's gone. So, it starts cascading really quick. Uh but you end up somewhere around the $2 million what's left. uh you'll be getting gas tax uh and auditor or uh tag tax which only can be spent on those certain roads and freeways that can't hire people with it. So, I don't know how I don't know how that works, but you have about $2 million in a regular 35 38 million operating budget to fund what you would need. And that's really not enough. $2 million. How many cops can you hire? How many snowplow drivers and infrastruct? You you can't. It's really essentially skeleton. Um you'd have to hire a city manager that's purely part-time or by contract because the charter outlines the powers and authority of the city manager. I'm sure I would be gone along with most staff. You'd have to have somebody in finance balancing what's little left. Uh so yeah, you're exactly right though. By the the beginning of next year because you have to or middle of the following

year, you have to get out in front of it because you have all the liabilities of payouts that you owe, unemployment as you begin to lay everybody off. Uh yeah, it it becomes expensive and you can't wait till you have no money in the bank to do that because you have liabilities to pay out. So there'd be about $2 million that you'd have to and of course I think throughout the state we wouldn't be that we're gonna be in the worst because we're the largest with no income tax assuming that that wouldn't pass. Uh but you know probably the state would put us on emergency watch and and I don't know what else we could do with no revenue or very little revenue but have a uh because we have to have uh offer remember as I said too in case those are listening didn't listen before uh we'd have no fire department either because the township has funded uh the levy property tax for the fire department which then the city would be responsible for funding a fire department which we probably would not have very much have one at all as well. So, it really cascades. It'd be a skeleton to pay what you can. We're mandated to pay seven council members. Um, probably a part-time or on contract city manager appointed. You'd have to have somebody in finance, I guess, a couple cops that, you know, by the time you pay electric and whatever else, you have a couple potholes. I mean, it it's you're spent. So yeah, that's the extreme that we would look be looking at. Um how you how you could stretch that or anything. I it I don't know it the state probably would definitely put you on fiscal watch and everything else, but there's there's not a suggestion in the world that they can do that we wouldn't try other than raise revenue. But uh if we're stuck because our residents don't want that then it is a

service level that we will have to provide that of the revenue that we have in legal mindset. I mean I think you've covered it. Um there's a there's a process for dissolving villages in the state. I don't that doesn't apply to municipality and um I don't know of any city in Ohio that's ever been dissolved. Um so you basically be working with whatever bare bones budget you could to stick around. you just wouldn't be able to do much as as the city manager indicated. That'd be long gone if there would be I you'd have to I don't know if you would there's no way to get a law director probably under the budget you would have

it would be lawless I mean and I I I say that for as a joke but it's it's true it would be lawless

candidly I wish we could delay this decision candidly I wish we could kick the can down the road. But given all of this and uh the likelihood of property tax abolition initiative on the ballot in November, I do believe now we have to act. We cannot simply uh sit here and while I have some philosophical support for the abolition movement, um it impacts us very differently in Beaver Creek. Uh I'm grateful for the work that's done. I think the 50 cent uh 50% um property tax reduction is um really well done. Uh I think it provides a lot of opportunity for property tax relief. As council member Bales noted, a lot of our citizens have asked for that. And and I'd also like to note uh in tandem with council member literal that uh diversification is important. We've had numerous Republican party auditors of state that have uh dinged us on uh our city audits for not having that diversification. Uh and so I think uh given the environment uh more broadly um I'm in support of uh this initiative to move forward. uh should it pass um I very much want to maintain fiscal responsibility uh limited size of government. I do not want to grow the government, add major new programs. I want to keep it very limited. But I think for the uh reasons I stipulated, I think we do need to move forward. Uh and even though I wish we could wait, uh now is the time. We cannot simply uh wait until 2027 for the worst case scenario. Uh that is a possibility. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Uh thank you, Mr. Bales. That was a well thought out and done well. It pretty much covered a lot of the same things I was thinking about and now most of you understand why I lose sleep over this whole thing. So because I think about that especially with the property tax initiative that could very well pass and u I don't think people are looking beyond the fix. I don't want to pay more more taxes. I mean I'm honest. I don't want to pay more taxes. I'm I'm retired now. I I get this and that's about it. Um, but I also understand that I want to live in the city of Beaver Creek and we uh we provide great services. I mean, we I don't know too many meetings that go by that we don't thank our street department or our police department or parks or someone for the work that they do out there. That would all go away, you know, and uh I don't want to see that happen. uh they were, you know, controlled by the state. I know. Can you imagine a pothole in front of your house and you want to get it fixed? You call somebody at the state and try to get that fixed. It's not going to happen. They've already told us I I sit on the Ohio Mayor's Alliance uh group out. That's the top 30 cities in the state by population. And we've talked to them and the state has already said if this goes through there will be there will be no checks from the state. I mean, they just came right out and said that. So, that's we This is something that I think uh not just us, but I think prior councils have been telling this story uh knowing that it's going to get to this point. You know, you just can't keep raising this and expect it to stay. Pretty soon it's going to topple over. And I think that's kind of where we're at. That's where the diversification comes in. uh you put all your eggs into one basket,

if you get a hole in that basket, it's you're in trouble. Uh and I just uh I I'm in support of this. Uh there are a couple of things though that one thing I think uh Mr. Kraut said that we had to u change how we put the charter. Well, anything over 1% has to be voted anyway. The state OC says that we don't have to have that in the charter. That is in the state OC. uh you know we we can't put it we can't impose an income tax is that correct

there municipal income tax is controlled by chapter 718 Beaver Creek has its own limitation says any income tax state law is anything greater than 1% requires a vote of appeal so if we pass this 1% if you want to do 1.1% you just added.1% in the future that's going to the voters based on state It has to. So, it's not something we can do up here as a as a body. It just doesn't happen. But I know Mr. Lander had a comment as well.

Yeah. Just real quick, uh, yeah, I was going to clarify that. And the only other thing, you know, we mentioned which is the Ohio uh, which is the US Census on the map data. That's where we get the uh, so US census data with the 88% of people who work here don't live here. Uh the one number we didn't have and it's not available to us until um Miami University gave us the the modeling that they did to develop the $19.6 million for 1%. They also um quoted us that of that 1% of that n 19.6 million 67% of the revenue of the revenue not of the jobs but of the revenue would be from non-residents. So, as uh council member Bells said, much much big huge number well over half over twothirds of the revenue that would be generated by this 1% will be by people that do not live here and I'd like somebody to pay for me. That that's like uh going out to a fancy restaurant and somebody says, "Hey, they picked up the tab for you behind there. Thank you." you know. Um so that that's just something to keep in mind. Again, it affects and impacts everybody differently and that's something every individual is going to have to look at. Uh we hope to have uh in the future if this passes a a calculator that people can go on and do some estimates to put in their home value and do all this other stuff that would you know each family will have that decision to make. Uh, and we want to give you the tools, not tell you what to do, but here's a tool to help you figure out what you may want to do. Uh, so that's that's why we're here for that. But 60 Yeah. 67% of Miami University study said 67% of the funding from an income tax would be uh

from non-residents. So that's significant. And going along with that, Mr. at at 88% of the people that are coming in and 67% of the revenue uh if they're paying an income tax where they live now because if they live somewhere and they work somewhere where it doesn't have it they pay the full amount say two and a half%.

Right? So um this going to to the example and I'll use myself where I live in another municipality they have a 2.25% 25% income tax that my income tax burden municipal income tax burden will not increase. It's just that first 1% would go to city of Beaver Creek and then the remaining remaining 1.25 would go to like the city where I reside. Yeah, that's why I wanted to clarify because a lot of people say it's going to cost me more money, but it's not. It's really going to be it's going to be a wash because they're paying the same amount. just 1% would come here, the other one and a half would go there unless they don't give a credit. But I think most people at this point

and I I I would say I look at every city in the area, but even you know cities that don't give you a 100% credit are usually in that one to one and a half% credit range, but most of them give you 100%. And I know there's some legislation at the state now about that exemption, too. So there's some other things happening there. So yeah, they're not doing us any favors, but I didn't say that. Yeah, take that. Don't put that in the minutes. Mr. Mayor, if I could add another comment. Sure.

Uh this is uh piggy back off what Mr. Curran uh talked about with the general fund issue because that is something we will hear about, right? That's been a concern of our citizens in the past. Um I I learned in May of 2019 and uh Mr. Random can probably appreciate this. Our our dollars today are tied to specific purposes, right? Roads, police, parks, etc. Uh with very little going into the general fund. In May of 2019, when the tornado hit, our hands were tied as how much we could help our residents because the dollars were tied to police, roads, parks. they weren't tied to a general purpose that would allow us the flexibility to help in those one-off type situations. Uh so, you know, I bring that forward just as an example of a time that, you know, this the flexibility would be u helpful for everybody. But I to Mr. doer's comments. Still expect any council going forward to have the fiscal responsibility and the fiscal management in place um through our budgetary process to ensure that dollars are being spent appropriately and where is needed. That's all.

Yeah. And even if this goes through 1% plus 4% there, we're not going to be rich. We're just going to maintain the whole still be in a deficit. So we still are not be able to do the Most of the things we have to do today, there's no no way we can do more things. You know, we can't build a big building. We can't do anything like that because it's we have to take care of what's here. So, all right. Anyone else want to talk? Anything else? Great discussion, Mr. B. Thank you very much for that uh putting it together. That was good. Thank you. I'll move to move ordinance 2610 to a second reading. Second. I have a motion and a second to move ordinance 2610 to a second reading. All those in favor signify by saying I.

I. I. Opposed. Resolution 26-14. Resolution 26-14, a resolution declaring the necessity for the construction or repair of certain sidewalks in the city of Beaver Creek. Mr. Mormon.

Yes. Uh good evening, mayor, members of city council. Um before speaking about the uh 2026 saw program, I'm just going to briefly summarize what we accomplished with the uh 2025 program. Uh in 25 there were four main neighborhoods where we focused our our efforts. Um we eliminated 71 tripping hazards. Uh we got a very competitive price again um in the 2025 program. Uh the way we do it is we structure it where all the streets are getting curb work and um and pavement repairs. We include the sidewalks as well. So since a contractor is focused in those areas, we typically see a lower uh per unit cost on that work. Um overall positive feedback from the program. Uh the majority of the calls that I got were occasionally you'll get some sidewalk close to a property line where they want verification. It's it's mine is isn't my neighbor's sidewalk. Issues like that for the most part. Uh there were a total of 48 properties on the program last year. And of those, 29 have already paid in full. Um, of the remaining property owners, I believe the finance department has sent second notices out to all those to give them every opportunity to go ahead and pay for those sidewalk repairs. Uh, where, you know, obviously there'll be some that that won't where in the future, council will be seeing legislation to formally assess those repair costs to any remaining property owners in that 2025 program. So, uh, 2026, uh, is is a much much larger program than 2025. Uh, again, the way we we pick these streets, they're from the, uh, the curb and resurfacing efforts. We always look at the sidewalks and just by virtue of more streets being curved this year than in last year, we have a lot more sidewalk uh, work to do. Uh, just for comparison's sake, again, last year we had 48 properties. Uh this year we have 154, so about triple the

number of property owners. Um as far as cost, I'm kind of hoping that costs say stay pretty steady and comparable to the last two years that we we've done these uh sidewalk repairs. We're I'm estimating $20 per square foot, which is a dollar increase from the previous year. Um the total estimated repair cost, I'm estimating $148,720. Okay. If city council approves a resolution tonight, some of the the next steps, um, what I'll do is I'll I'll mail a copy of the approved resolution uh to to all the property owners along with a cover letter explaining the program, the estimated cost to repair the walk in front of their property, as well as a flyer that provides more information on the program and spells out in clear detail what kind of options the property owner has to complete those repairs to the sidewalk. Um, the owner will have 60 days to pick a contractor of their choosing if they'd like to to complete the work. And after that 60 days, the city's contractor will be there to complete those repairs. And for what it's worth, it's uh I think it's only happened once in the whole history of the program where a property owner has had a third party contractor do that work as the uh cost in our program is usually much much cheaper than any any contractor could ever complete the work for. and and again the uh bid opening uh for this year is at March the 18th. So we'll have some firm costs on the repairs here uh very very soon. And with that be happy to answer any questions.

Jeeoff, I've noticed some uh markings on the sidewalks in my neighborhood and so uh perhaps I can have a couple of those pamphlets. Uh, I could get ready to answer my front door and and hand those out. I'm sure there'll be a few people with some questions. Certainly. And yeah, we'll be mailing those out to those those property owners. I'm happy to provide a couple of those to you. Sounds good. Thanks,

Mayor. In 2024, I oppose the creation of the program. I'm going to oppose this uh on the same grounds. I won't rehash. uh but there were philosophical reasons that is you know limiting the size of government that I just mentioned uh as well as practical concerns uh that is uh collections that we've we've heard here and uh certainly uh the estimated replacement cost on a number of these uh but having said that I won't grandstand I won't get in the way uh the will of council has been done in the past and I respect that and Mr. Mormon, I think you've done an excellent job executing the the wishes of city council. Uh and so I I I see no um means of complaint there, but simply to say that uh I'll continue to be in opposition. Uh but at the same time, I'll continue to monitor and there's always the possibility of a change mind at some point, but that day is not today. Thank you. Thank you. Who else?

Not in concrete. coming to me. All right. Just any anyone else? Hello. I I I don't have anything. Thank you. Have a motion. Move to approve resolution 2614. Second. Have a motion and a second to approve resolution 26-14. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. I.

Chief, it's your turn. All right. Good evening again. And we have a new liquor permit request. The Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Liquor Control sent notification of a request for a new liquor permit for Traan Properties LLC located at 4136 Dayton Zena Road. The required record checks were completed for one applicant and staff does not have any objections or concerns with this permit. Staff is recommending this application request move forward without comment. Mayor, I do have a question. According to my records, um, in April of 2025, we approved a new liquor permit for the same applicant for number 4138 Dayton Zena Road. and I'm just seeking clarification uh on that information.

Uh I do not have that with me. I can look into that. Could be adding a different type. Well, two separate addresses. Yeah, this as a new liquor permit. Um yeah, I'm not sure the status of the previous one.

Okay. Yeah, it was April of 2025. It was 4138 Dayton Xenia Road. Traan Properties was the same applicant. It was a new liquor permit. Um, just struck me as odd, but sure there's a decent explanation. I'm just looking looking for it. a little chicken here. I mean, the only thing I know is that if it they applied and it we said no comment because we're not the approving body. We're just not contesting basically. And maybe it didn't go all the way through and it was denied for another reason or they failed to do whatever and now they're

state level. Yeah. At the state level and now they're reapplying because all this information that we get comes from the state. So we're assuming that they got the same somebody reapplied for the same potentially the same thing possible. Yeah. I mean what what's the timeline on that chief to uh far as their request for us to take action? Yeah. April 4th. If you guys wanted to wait, we could uh inquire on it.

We'll get notification from the state after we make our approval what happens from their point after that. But that's something I can look into. I I don't seek to hold this up. I've just It just struck me as an oddity. Yeah, but it was the same applicant. It was Tay Rahan. Yeah, you're right. Um, nothing showed up when you did your investigations, Randy. The drive-thru, it's the same owner, but isn't there a different operator? operator.

So, I think I think the owner probably was getting the license for whoever the operator was. They switched operator, so they dropped the license and now they're back with a new operator. Sounds like maybe what's the possible in my opinion, it's a drive-thru. The owner did all the background checks. I'm not going to hold it up. So, I don't see a problem personally. I'll make we'll approve it, but it goes on the state. They could still do their thing. So, because we're not

and they and they ask for our based on our checks what our recommendation is. So, we have the opportunity to say that we would decline at our level. Um, and so that's our input to the state that we provide. So, in this case, based on our records checks, no issues. So, we submitted to the state that we didn't have any objections, but we're not approving anybody anywhere on that. So, we just approved it here. So, I'll move to accept without comment. Second. I have a motion in a second to uh accept this new liquor permit. All those in favor signify by saying I I opposed.

All right, that brings us to the end of agend end of the agenda. So, time for citizen comments. If anybody would like to come and address council on any subject, you'll have three minutes, but come to the podium and state your name, address 187 Basset Court. Thanks for the comments on the questions that I have, but there's still one that's bugging me to no end. All right. If the city gets that 1% passed and later on we say we need to go back and we need to do a 0.9%. Who is going to approve that and get it in there? Is it going to the to the voters or is it something that the city council is going to do for everything that we're going to increase it above it above the 1% at any time? Do do the voters have an opportunity to wait on it?

We don't normally comment here, but I'll I'll refer to Mr. Lonsbury. He gave the answer just a minute ago. Yes. OC chapter 718 requires any increase above 1% to go to the voters. The only reason we have to go to the voters in Beaver Creek for even that 1% is because of the charter. But after 1% every city is required by law to take that to the voters and so would the city of Beaver Creek. Okay. Now please clarify it's 1%. So anything above 1% the baseline correct has to go to the voters.

So just hypothetically say we pass 1% here and in 10 years we're like we need an additional half percent by statute that will be require voter approval because it is a total income tax of greater than 1%. Okay thank you that helps.

Thank you very much. Anyone else? I do want to thank the Boy Scouts for being here tonight. Uh I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you stuck through all this. It's I hope you learned something. Seeing no one else, I will close the uh citizen comments part and we'll go to council. I'm going to do this again. Councilman Bales,

I have the pleasure of reading anniversaries tonight of our employees and that is all I'm going to say, but we've got a couple pages of them. So, anyway, it's good. Uh, all right. The first group in our public service uh department, Austin Marker, one year. Caleb Ellison, one year. Cliff Kristofferson, one year. Uh Jay Drenan, three years. Kevin Humphre, four years. Andrew Mc um McVicker, nine years. Alex Harris, 12 years. Travis Houston, 12 years. And Matt Fry, 14 years. In engineering, Jeff Bot, five years. In the police department, Kaylee Burnt, six years. Ashley Stone, eight years. Sean Williams, 21 years. Chris Unro, 27 years. And Timothy Lambert, 27 years. In communications, Katie Carico, five years. It's hard to believe, but five years. Uh, in planning, Don Hutton, five years. Eric Connley in golf, eight years. And Ursula Krauss, uh, Carrie and Parks, eight years. and Josh Kersbomb in parks 25 years. Congratulations to all of our amazing employees. Thank you very much, Council Kern.

Thank you, your honor. It was really a pleasure and an honor to be present at both the retirement of Jennifer Stevens. 22 years with the city of Beaver Creek, quite a quite a long period of time. And then uh at the same time this morning as some of us know and were present uh the new officer officer I'm I hope I pronounce this right officer

pardon me. It was really an honor to be present in his uh his swearing in also had the opportunity to attend the mayor's first Thursday at Patterson House. It was well attended and good uh good presentation. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Der.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, I would likewise uh like to welcome Officer Pyaseki uh to the department and thankful for multigenerational service to our community to welcome Director Andrea Deskkins as well. Uh thankful for her stepping in in this role. Um shout out to the Dayton Dragons. It's going to sound strange, but they have a nice program through the schools to encourage uh good behavior and uh strong work ethic and they have an MVP program that provides tickets. Uh so that was just a neat thing I saw in the community. I'll be speaking at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Beaver Creek High School uh in the near future. And just in terms of reflection, um my kids are in uh travel sports and even though I've had to spend weekends outside of Beaver Creek a fair bit recently, just grateful for such uh excellence within our community uh in a range of different sports and for uh young people to have great opportunities. Uh and it links back to the Girl Scouts that were here giving the proclamation. really remarkable what they're doing and just how many people have invested in our young people uh in our community has just made me very very grateful. So, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilwoman Bills.

Thank you. Um I also would like to welcome Andrea Duskins to the city. Um grateful to to have her working with us. I also got to attend the retirement of Officer Stevens and um the swearing in of Officer Pekki. Um grateful for Officer Stevens service and uh hope that all of her future endeavors are successful. Um and I'm excited to see Officer Pyaki's career in our city and I think it's exciting to have multigenerational that says a lot. I think um when you have families that stick around and you know want to pass that down and serve in order. I also got to attend the Green County Food Council. Um they are working together to um kind of pull libraries and city councils and other community groups in um and hopefully make food access uh easier, more informed. at programs um to help our citizens out. So, I enjoy those meetings greatly. I also was able to attend the interfaith concert at Beaver Creek High School last night, which was lovely. Um not trying to make you feel bad. Um but, uh no, that was fantastic. It's great to see our community members get together and share their variety of faiths. Uh we had the Hindu temple there as well, which was fantastic. um the different styles of music and the different forms of worship. Um also thanks to the Girl Scouts for coming. You guys work really hard. I was a cookie mom for the better part of a decade. So been there. I I feel the work. Um and I was also at First Thursday and that was lovely. And thanks to Patterson House for for hosting us and doing such a great job. And that's it.

Thank you very much, Councilman L. Thank you, mayor. I also thank Jennifer Stevens for all her years of service. I knew Jennifer back when she worked at the sheriff's office. Great employee. I know that was not an easy replacement there. That's for sure. I uh attended the steering first steering committee meeting for code uh the new code strategy steering committee. The uh it's going to be interesting. It's a lot of work. A whole lot of work ahead of him of of everybody, but I know definitely for staff it's going to be it's going to be a lot of work. U the Beaver Creek Women's League, I got to attend their meeting. Great turnout over there. They do a good job. I was uh at the MVRPC meeting. I get the opportunity to follow in Councilman Bale's steps. I'm going to be on the executive board and Green County is very well represented. I'm going to be on there with Fairborn Mayor and also um Commissioner Gould. He he was I don't want to use the word promoted, but he was moved to first I think it's called first uh vice president.

First I'm not sure if they use the word vice president ver f first chair. He's first chair. So, um, Green County is very well represented now. So, and also the first Thursdays that was fantastic. Patterson did wonderful job. So, did you appreciate it? All right, vice mayor.

Thank you, Mayor Adams. Uh, just a couple quick comments from me tonight. Uh, do want to extend my welcome to our new staff members. I look forward to working with them in the future. Uh, and congratulations on the retirement of others. I appreciate everyone's service to our community. Uh, I want to say a big happy birthday to my oldest daughter. Uh, her birthday was Saturday. Uh, big nine. So, we had a lot of fun to went to Great Wolf Lodge and enjoyed the weekend there. Uh, and I also want to wish a big happy birthday today to my wife. Uh I will not mention her age, but uh you know, happy birthday to uh two of the women in my life. I appreciate both of them. Uh especially my wife keeping us in line and allowing me to come out to spend her birthday evening with you fine folks. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh I also want to welcome Andrea Deskkins to our our team. I think she'll be a good addition. And then officer Pyaseki, uh, I said it this morning when I got to swear him in is, uh, I've been able to do a father and a son now. I was able to swear his dad in as a captain, uh, and now swear his son in a, as an officer. And I think we did one other with the Lamberts. Tim had 27 years. His son is also a member. And so it's, uh, it's multi more than just one. So it tells a lot about your department and we really appreciate that. Um, I was also invited to talk to a group of students at Wright State University about what they were looking to do with their future. It was kind of like a speed dating thing where you stand at a table and they kind of move around and you just get to know them very quickly. But it was it was fun. Um, I attended the MTSI ribbon cutting along with Councilman Bales. And when I walked out of there, I wanted to take my telephone, my my Amazon Alexa, anything Bluetooth, anything that ties to the internet, any way, shape, or form, and throw it out the window. It is really scary what those guys were saying over there, things that they can do. And they they actually showed us what they could do. It's just it was amazing. Uh I uh attended the paper women's league as well. Learned a lot about Eagles. They had a really good presentation on the Eagles. And then of course Jennifer Stevens when she retired for me that was u I know with for the chief that was one that came on after him and she was when I first started volunteering with the police department she was the first officer that I had a ride along with. So it was it was kind of a a nice nice way

to finish it. But u I was able to attend the dinner at the engineers club. I was invited by the high school or the Beaver Creek school system for the DODIA. It's the Department of Defense Education Action. Uh they give grants to different schools and Beaver Creek High School received two grants for $4 million. They're the only school in the state of Ohio that got one of those grants. So that says a lot about them. And then they spent three days going around all the beaver free schools and some of other areas out here. I was also honored to be a part of a greeting committee over at the uh double tree when the junior uh high school junior ROTC groups are coming in for competitions this weekend. And I'm really happy to say that our Beaver Creek High School Bombers group won the national title again. I think I think it's a fourth time. Somebody said it was a third, but I I think it's a fourth beat. I don't know. I'd have to check to be sure. I'll I'll confirm that. But then I was able to attend the swearing in for the our new township fire chief, uh, Christine Hawker. Uh, Christine's been around for over 25 years with Beaver Creek and brings a wealth of information and education. It's just Yeah. And then thank you to the two girls over here. I was able to attend the uh, gold award ceremony yesterday at Caroline Park and that was a beautiful venue for you guys to do that. He really did a great job. Uh, so, so I was I'm an honorary Girl Scout, so I'm a real proud of that. So, that's all I have. Thank you very much.

All right. Uh, quickly tonight, I would offer congratulations to Officer Pyaseki. Um, if his dad told him anything about how much hard time that I give his father, he wouldn't have came. But I'm glad he still came. Again, I uh promoted uh Brad as sergeant, promoted him to captain, and uh it is good to see um that entrenched and that desire to uh uh to do the same perform the same task. It does. Uh I'm sure he's heard some stories from his father of you know how how uh things can be dangerous and can turn on a moment, but it's also uh probably he has heard how rewarding the job is. So I'm sure that's what uh the desire to serve the community has to be in here to to want to serve. So congratulations. And Andrea's been uh uh been great the last she's been here a couple weeks already, three weeks I think. And uh she's becoming like uh old old school of the rest of the gang already. So we're very glad to have her. And tonight, just a couple real quick items. Conversations, community conversations with city council's coming up March 18th, 8:30 to 9:30 at Lefino Plaza. You know, come out, talk to uh city council. Maybe after tonight's meeting that you may have more meeting uh more questions to ask and that's great. So come on out uh at the Lefino Plaza there uh on Dayton Xia Road that's adjacent to the senior center. So come on out. Uh Beaver Creek Golf Club Junior Golf Camp uh is registration for that golf junior golf camp open Saturday March 14th. So we not just is this Saturday? Yeah, this Saturday is the

14th. So, opens up at 9:00 a.m. for ages 7 to 15, all skill levels. Camp will run uh Tuesday, July 14th to Thursday, July 16th from 9:00 a.m. till noon and register. So, when that opens up, that's registration is at beavercreegolfclub.com and click the clinics and camps tab. Uh summer camps. Again, we're dealing with a lot of summer issues, but uh sometimes uh mother nature does doesn't tell us that summer's coming because sometimes even this week, we're going to have a roller coaster of temperatures, but summer it's coming. So, summer day camp registration is coming uh ages 6 through 13. It's opening uh Tuesday, March 17th. So, again, next week, uh the registration for summer day camps will open. Uh, two camps are offered June 8th through July 31st at fair 31st at Fairbrook Elementary School and then June 8th to August 7th at CI Beaver Hall. Uh, both camps are Monday through Friday 9:30 to 3:30 with extended care times available and view schedule and regular uh, online at Beaver Creek Ohio.com. And uh, we extended this. I'm very glad we did. We already have uh a few more uh that had filled up. So I What's the latest now? 52. So we have 10 openings left. So hopefully 10 people uh step up, get your veterans banner April 17th. Uh no later than April 17th or unless all uh spots have been filled. Uh guys, the last two years because of the program cost, we want to make sure the city's covering the cost. Um but because of hardware and different other things that startup costs that you had to have, uh the price

was $150 uh for the last two years. It is $100. So it's been cut by, you might as well say, 33%. Uh so it's only $100 now to have this. And at the end of the year, you get to keep that banner, hang it up in your garage or or home or wherever you want to hang it up to have a you know, like my father, I have the banner uh from last year that I'll treasure forever on that. So, please sign up uh on our city website uh and get that done before the 10 veteran banner programs fill up. That's all I have tonight. Thank you very much, Mr. Curran. Move to adjourn, your honor.

Second. A motion and a second to adjurnn. All those in favor signify by saying I I No, I'm sorry. We are ajourned.