City Council - Regular Meeting

ready. All right, if you could rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all for being here this evening. Jody, could you call the role, please? Jay Dennis, here. K. Dennis, here. Elliot, here. Holland here. Musgrave here. Odicio here.

Okay. The uh minutes from our March 2nd meeting were distributed for your perusal. Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes? Hearing none. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor say I. I. I. o same sign. Jody, do we have any correspondence this evening?

We have one item this evening. The 2026 fee document from the parks and recreation department was distributed to council prior to the meeting. Fees fees adjusted were admission fees to the BG pool and water park. These fee adjustments were approved in 2025 as part of the three-year plan to increase pool admission prices by 10% in 2025, 2026, and 2027. No action is required from council.

Okay. Thank you very much. That brings us to the lobby visitation portion of our meeting this evening. Uh prior to starting that, let me just say that uh we do have rules of decorum that regulate the way we conduct meetings. Um certainly I want everyone to be able to speak uh their truth. But uh just be mindful that uh if any disparaging comments are made about individuals, particularly individuals or groups of individuals that are not even in the room right now, uh I will ask you to be finished. That being said, who do we have tonight?

John Sanfordino.

John, if you could give your name and address. Um, hi. I'm John Sanfordino. I live at uh 1259 Cambridge Boulevard uh BG. I'm a former uh member of uh city council and uh this is a much cooler room than we used to serve in. Um but I was on council uh when the board of utilities uh added the sir charge on households with um so uh rooftop solar. Um you know I by and large stayed away from council meetings since uh since I've retired. Uh it's kind of an unwritten code of the road that you basically uh you you disappear once council's over. I don't ever think of I've seen any other council members here from the past. Um, you know, and you kind of step aside from the role and and leave you guys to the the pressure cooker that that the job is. Um, but um, you know, I think I've been to maybe two council meetings since, maybe three. Uh and another meeting I attended was when there was uh it was known that there was going to be a number of speakers talking about the uh rooftop uh solar sir charge. So I came to that meeting because uh it's an issue that's uh very important to me. Um, you know, I remember really clearly the night council was informed about the uh the the charges that were being uh imposed on on rooftop solar. And I I tried to start formulating questions that night. It was new to me. Uh came as a shock. And to be honest, I've been trying to figure out how to way to say this, but my uh my questions were pretty

much uh quashed. Um so um the questions and concerns I had at that time uh still remain. So I I thought I'd come tonight since the issue seems to be uh rolling back around. Um, as I understood it then and as I understand it now, the um, uh, rooftop solar uh, households were having added uh, we're having fees added uh, to pay uh, their fair uh, um, for helping BG maintain its utility system. Um, the existence of a rooftop solar would increase the cost for those uh, without such a system. Um, I began to speculate uh that night I learned of this that there were appro maybe 10 uh solar uh systems in town and uh since then it seems like that number was pretty accurate uh speculation um you know I wanted impact information at that time and even now would be terrific um of what impact on other people's bills uh 10 uh solar rooftop uh installations could possibly have um 10 in and I believe there's about 5,000 uh units in town and again that number you know may be uh inaccurate but that's my recollection of how many uh structures there are in BG. Uh so if that's accurate uh 10 installations is about uh 0.002% of the rooftops in Bowling Green. Um, so you know, maybe someone can tell me where I'm wrong, but it felt to me at the time that if there was uh 10 rooftops solar inst installations and

5,000 units that the impact on others that didn't have uh rooftop solar had to be a dollar at the most and probably well under that. Um, I'm not here tonight uh thinking that um you'll adopt Joe Dear's uh ordinance. Uh I am here tonight to encourage you to uh consider what you want to do uh about this situation. Um you know, I think any action that is taken should be generated by council and I think that's um what I'm hoping you you'll consider. Um, you know, the main thing I I' I'd hope you would consider is uh were the changes that were imposed on on rooftop uh uh solar systems uh necessary in the face of what was probably 10 households at the time. Um, you know, my feeling at the time was that the board of utilities acted incredibly prematurely in imposing the fees. Um and that the decision reflected uh concern over a possible and uh seemingly very negligible impact on others utility bills. And those concerns seem to be uh uh given much more priority than uh thinking about our environment. And you know unfortunately you know with global warming being a reality for 95% of the scientists in the world um you know we've seen a lot of legislation where environments were given uh uh little to no consideration and and I hope you can uh you know transcend that reality. Um, you know, having followed the last meeting, uh, I believe that there's language in the charter that would allow council to, uh, revisit the board of, uh, utilities decision. Um, you know,

maybe one thing council can consider is uh establishing a um a more realistic number of installations that would adversely uh adversely affect uh the utility bills for Bowling Green citizens. Um, you know, I'd like to also point out that I did see Councilman Dennis's u uh recent letter to the editor and rooftop solar is incredibly expensive. And you know, I think in a town like Bowling Green, you know, given our cost, you know, our standard of living and and the level of progressivism here that if our number ever exceeded 20 or 25, I I would be stunned. Um, so you know, again, I guess my hope is that you guys would consider uh revisiting the decision. Um, you know, again, let me know if I'm wrong, but I think the impact on those without a rooftop solar was incredibly uh negligible. Um, you know, I guess the last thing I would like to say, if the, uh, fees were imposed, uh, to not adversely affect other people's, you know, bills, uh, this certainly had a spectacular effect on those that did, uh, install rooftop solar. And I think one thing uh I council could consider is maybe grandfathering in those people that put in um these installations before the uh uh board of uh utilities uh uh made their decision. Uh thank you very much for your time.

All right. Thank you very much, John. Jennifer Jennifer Kches. Good evening. Um, I'm here to comment on the writer e controversy. Could you could you give your name and address?

I'm sorry. Jennifer Cartis, 407 North Main Street. Um, I'm here to comment on the writer E controversy. I think residents are proud of the progress we've made in adding renewables to BG's energy portfolio and having our own municipal utilities is a great asset. When I talk to people in other communities and share details of my utilities bill, people are amazed at the level of service we enjoy for so little expense. But I'm not so sure Bowling Green is still at the forefront of investing in renewables today. We were pioneers 23 years years ago with the state's first utility scale wind farm, but those turbines are no longer functional and are slated to be dismantled. In 2017, a new 20 megawatt solar field was built in town that has more than doubled the energy the wind turbines produced. But we are constrained by our 50-year contract to purchase 60% of our energy from the coal burning Prairie State Power Plant in Illinois, which is the top poller in that state and ranked 12th in the nation for greenhouse gas pollution. We won't be able to get much more than 40% renewables until 2055 when the contract expires. Currently, BG has 10 residential and zero commercial solar installations built in the past 20 years. And I think writer E should be revoked as it really does damage BG's reputation as a leader in supporting and investing in renewable energy. We are the only community in Ohio that builds residential solar to recoup any expenses relating to these installations. While we totally ignore all the benefits, unlike BG, there are multiple cities in Ohio that actively promote and

incentivize residential solar. Why haven't any other communities leveled this charge if it's so crucial to maintaining our grid? We've been told that writer E is necessary so the BG municipal utilities will not lose revenue for upkeep of our local grid. But there are many people that believe the city made a mistake in acting writer E. First, there's the 10 families with distributed solar who will have a much harder path to recoup their investment with within the lifespan of their solar panels. In a recent Facebook discussion, David Espen, who works with a national solar provider in financing and installation and is familiar with how different utilities handle these policies across the country, commented, "Very few utilities across the country charge a solar specific search charge. Even large investorowned utilities typically recover grid costs through broader rate structures like service charges or time ofuse pricing rather than singling out rooftop solar. If much larger utilities can integrate dist distributed solar without a specific penalty, it raises a fair question about whether that approach is really necessary here. Besides angering and upsetting other BG residents, this extra charge for residential solar casts a paw on Bowling Green's reputation as a leader in supporting and promoting renewable energy. Forcing families with residential solar to pay an infrastructure charge may sound reasonable, but in reality there is very little benefit to the city. And this is because Ryder E is an expensive solution that was in search of a problem. The cost of service study that was contracted out to Sawville and Associates cost the city $30,000 and is the basis for the $4 per kilowatt hour

charge on residential solar. Then there was the $10,000 the city paid to outside council when it was sued by a resident in 2024. And there is another lawsuit on the horizon with perhaps more consultant fees in our future. How much more is the city going to spend to defend Ryder E? Is it really worth it? I don't think so. There is a total of 90 kilowatts of BG residential solar and multiplied by the $4 charge that means the city gets $361.32 a month from the combined 10 families which would be an extra 2.3 per month per BG residence if there was no writer E. As we know writer E was adopted on October 12th 2020 and fully implemented in July 2021. In 2020, there were two systems installed before the October adoption and six systems installed after that date. Apparently, these six installations are the continued growth when everybody everyone supposedly knew about Ryder E and were just fine with it. But residents residences with solar were notified about Ryder E by letter in December 2020. I don't believe it is fair to count these three installations in December 2020 that were unaware of Ryder E as part of a solar boom after Ryder E was adopted if people only found out about it in the month that their systems went online. There were only three residential solar systems implemented since Ryder E was adopted and implemented in July 2021. That's three new installations in over 5 years. That doesn't sound like a boom. That sounds like a bust. And the state truly is currently booming with residential solar, just not in BG.

Installations grew significantly in Ohio. 20,352 installations from 2021 through 2024, an impressive yearly growth rate of 34.3%. So, in review of this data, it certainly looks like Ryder E has slowed down solar installations in BG to a trickle. Two, I wonder if the city overlooked the many documented financial benefits that support the value of residential solar in a community. Benefits such as lowering peak demand during periods of high consumption, thereby reducing what we pay for power from the grid and reducing the need for costly upgrades and/or expansion to our grid, thus enhancing its resiliency. This is where aggressively adding residential solar in BG would lower our utility bills for all residents, rich and poor. Rooftop solar also reduces emissions, supports local businesses like First Solar and the workers that install the equipment that results in increased property taxes and reduced line costs. Residential solar does not have this problem as this power is produced and used locally and therefore totally eliminates the transmission expenses. Furthermore, expanded residential solar and BG could potentially provide emergency power to the community during natural disasters, enabling residents to recharge phones and other devices, keep medicines cold, etc. Please revoke writer E and incentivize solar in BG. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Leah Richi.

Hello. I'm Leah Richie. I live at 349 Derby Avenue here in Bowling Green. Um, thank you John and Jennifer. There's literally nothing I can say after listening to these two amazing people speak. Um, so I'm simply going to lend my voice as someone who also supports um, rooftop solar and removing the fee, fine, whatever um, is proper to call it. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you very much,

Joe Dear. Joseph Rosario Demar, 517 South Main Street here in Bowling Green. Uh I uh spoke to the council on this topic uh last council meeting and I have to say I was a little bit surprised at the council's response. I thought I was actually giving them by pointing out that they had the authority to overturn Ryder E with a with an ordinance. I thought they were I was giving you folks an opportunity to fix a problem which has been plaguing Bowling Green for over 5 years now. Um there has been quite a bit of discussion on this online especially on Facebook. Um, and I just wanted to say, you know, that the response I got to my presentation, the video of it that was distributed online has been almost universally positive. I mean, I had uh many people come up, many people came up to me afterwards and said they uh agreed with what I said and they thanked me for making that presentation to you. Um, I had lots of likes on my, you know, I posted it on Facebook. I got lots of hearts and and thumbs ups. Um, one person said though, I got a text from one person who said that my disrespectful tone is basically what caused you all to sort of circle the wagons and and come out in favor of the penalty. And uh I have trouble believing that. I I I think you know the Irakcoy had a saying that people who are political leaders need to have skin that's 10 spear lengths thick. And I I think you folks aren't that emotionally

sensitive that a perceived uh disrespect and no disrespect was intended um would change your position on this. And so I do want to react just a little bit to some of the what I what I say are inaccuracies in what I saw posted on Facebook and social media. Um Jeff Dennis has uh said that there's basically no impact on solar installations from this penalty. And I'd like to call your attention to the the first graph that I had uh distributed out to you folks. Um and that's solar installations over time. And you can see that the first installation in Bold Green was 2006. Then uh 12 years went by and we had another one in 2018. And then in 2020 what happened was there was a confluence of factors. There was a tax credit. There was a great huge drop in price for solar and that was the year that was the one year that we got five and according to Jennifer's number six solar installations. And we were poised to have the same kind of surge, the same kind of growth in solar that has happened all over the country in places like California, Texas, and the rest of the state of Ohio. But then the the solar penalty was imposed and you could see that's a pretty sharp drop down to zero in 2021, no installations, zero in 2022, no installations, and then one per year after that. So really only three installations since the imposition of the penalty. And you know, I know Mr. Holland is a is a teacher and I just have to you know if this were on a test and you were to show this graph to a student and ask the question was the

solar penalty effective in reducing solar installations. I think you'd have to say yes if you wanted to get that question right. Actually, I would have my students do a considerable amount of research on possible other factors that might have contributed to this apart from just the one that you're focusing on. Fair enough. If I could have a second. What's the source for this? There's no source noted here.

This was this was from the city directly. We emailed them, asked them for the number of installations and the dates of installations. This is the data they gave us back. We don't have a way to independently confirm this, but um as you can see, 20 years after the first solar panel went in, we finally have hit double digits here in Bowling Green. And so I think back in 2026, that was actually a windmill, right? 2006, you mean? 20 Yeah, sorry. 2006. Yes. We asked for the data on solar and there was no distinction made in what we got back. there. I'm sorry. It may well have been.

You you were invoked by name. If there's anything you'd like to address on that, by all means. Okay. Go ahead.

Okay. And uh to invoke another council person by name, Caitlyn Elliot. Um, she also posted on Facebook about this and she reminded me of one of the huge values of rooftop solar that kind of get glossed over in in all this and that is that our bill, the city's bill for electricity, what we pay for power is completely dependent on our peak usage. That's what determines how much everyone in the city has to pay for their electricity. And at the top of the city's electric bill from AMP every month, there is the peak number that shows what the historical peak of Bowling Green has because what has to happen is the suppliers have to keep enough power ready to meet that peak again. And the expense of keeping all that power ready, whether we use it or not, is what determines how much we all have to pay. Excuse me, we all have to pay for our electric bill. And if you look at the second graph that I that I gave you folks, um this is California's demand and energy supplies. And this happens to be the the uh graph for Super Bowl Sunday, but this is actually a fairly typical day in California now. And the different colors on the graph, the stripes, those are the different sources of energy. And the big one in the middle, the big yellow blob, that is solar power. And as you could see what happened on Super Bowl Sunday of this year is that for a huge part of the day, solar not only supplied all the power that the state entire state of California needs,

10 hours of the day. Yeah. Okay. That's a that's most of the time people are awake. I I Okay.

Um so solar supplied all the power that the state of California needed. And in fact, if you look at the bottom one, the red line there, which gets kind of wavy, that's actually demand. And in the center part of the day, when people use the most power, the demand on the grid declined. the demand went down because what was happening was all that behind the meter solar, all that rooftop solar like they have in California and Texas and the way we should have in Bowling Green actually lowered demand even though people used more power. And so what this would do, we have here here in Bowling Green, we have increasing demand. We have a data center which is being built inside the city limits that's going to be supplied by our municipal utility. And every time we add more users, we are in danger of knocking that peak higher and increasing the bills for everyone. And in fact, at previous council meetings, it's been stated that the municipal utility is looking at raising our rates. is starting the process of uh perhaps raising rates

for the first time since 2021.

Very true. But if we had sufficient solar, if these five years hadn't been wasted, we could have had a graph like California, we could be keeping that peak down even as demand increases. And in fact, in the state of California, even though they've done a huge number of um data centers, their statewide demand has actually declined by 3% from last year to this because of the behind the meter solar. Joe, I just would I have to point out that I I don't think it's a reasonable comparison to compare the city of Bowling Green with the fourth largest economy on the planet in the state of California.

Well, and in fact, the difference in the utility systems, I think, is more important. You're talking about reducing demand. We, as a community-owned utility, are the provider of the energy, which is really the heart of the issue. when we decrease demand, we are not able to cover the infrastructure costs. That really is the heart of the disagreement you've had with the city, right? That characterization, the the city is thinks that increasing demand means that there's more revenue, but that's not really true because increasing the demand increases the expense. It increases the expense of generation and it increases the expense of transmission. And so if you want to keep bills low, you don't increase demand past that that peak which has been already established because once you do that, bills start going up. And it's a point of pride that we haven't had to increase our bills. But it's easy to predict that we will if we keep along the same path without the benefit of rooftop solar. Um I know I don't want to take too much of the council's valuable time, so I'm just going to conclude here. There's one thing I really wanted to let you folks know about and that is a study which was just released in the journal home air quality atmosphere and health on February 26th of this year. And the title is carbon dioxide overload detected in human blood suggests a potentially toxic atmosphere within 50 years. And what this study showed is they went back and looked at uh blood samples that were taken from a a group of people that created a cohort. It was a national study from 2019 or 20, excuse me, 1919 1999 to 2020. So for those 20 years, they just took regular blood samples from about 1,700 people. And

this study went back and looked at the results of those samples. And what they found is that bicarbonate in the bloodstream is increased along the same amounts as the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased. In other words, our bodies are not adapting to the increased CO2 concentrations. We evolved with about 280 parts per million. We're already at 420. The estimates are that in just 45 years the levels of CO2 will actually become toxic. That people will not be able to breathe. They will not be able to survive because we will be poisoned by the CO2 that our plant and Jennifer just told you how huge a contributor it is to the world's CO2 problem. Our prairie state plant is poisoning us. And we literally physically cannot wait for that termination of this contract. We can't keep burning coal for another 40 years. It is killing us and it will kill us. And I know I'm not allowed to turn around and look at the audience, but I I'd like you folks to look out at the empty chairs there and just imagine children in those chairs and telling and imagine having to tell those children, "Yes, I could have changed things. I could have stopped a lot of that carbon from going into the air, but I was told that we have to follow a contract." We were arguing over nickels and dimes and we let this opportunity pass and that's why you are having trouble breathing today because we poisoned the atmosphere and refused to do anything about it even when given direct opportunities.

So that's my that's all I had to say. I'd be happy to answer any questions or any more comments. When you say nickels and dimes, you actually mean billions. Millions and billions, right? Not in Bowling Green. Joe, I represent several communities that you can't just unilaterally terminate the contract. Well, I do know that way. I think you and I probably agree in large part on this issue, but it is a past issue. You cannot just because you have found substitute energy decide you're not going to honor the 50-year contract anymore.

Two points on that. Bankrupt this community. Two points on that, Councelor Dennis. Councilman Dennis. One is that um I know for a fact that the majority of the communities that signed on to the to the Prairie State uh contract want to get out of it. The prices are too high. They've a lot of them have explored different ways of getting out of it. Several of them have managed to break their contracts and get out um because it's a bad deal. Do you know which which communities did break their contracts? Not offhand. I just know there's a at least one and I think a couple. I could get that I could get that information to you.

I I did not and again we agree on this. Um we agree on a lot of this. I I can't speak for anybody else here.

I think we support solar. I mean we built the largest municipal solar field in the state of Ohio. Solar is good. Rooftop solar is good. Distributed generation is good. The question is how we integrate it into our existing system in a way that is equitable for everybody. We need everybody to convert to renewable energy, not just the people that can afford it. We need the conversion has to happen in every possible way as quickly as possible. We need community solar. We need rooftop solar. We need um industrial level solar. But back to what you said about being unable to break a contract. I think if the rule the reign of Donald Trump has taught us and nothing else is that contracts are made to be broken. I mean it's

Donald Trump doing famously well in court. Yes. So but people break contracts every day. People renegotiate contracts every day. And I represent a lot of them.

Okay. Good. And the Rocky Mountain Institute did a study of the Prairie State contract, the Prairie State situation, and they discovered that the savings of buying the cheaper power more than offset the losses we'd have from shutting Prairie State down. And as I said before, this is a question of survival. This is not a question of dollars and cents. This is a question of will our children who are born today and who will be getting to the like the prime of their life in 2070 which is when the the CO2 levels are projected to be toxic. Are those children worth making sacrifices for? I think so. And I think almost everyone in Bowling Green would be willing to make sacrifices too. And so I like I said, we physically cannot keep running that plant to the end of the contract. And rooftop solar is one of the ways that we meet our power needs without continuing to to put CO2 into the air.

Okay. All right. Well, thank you, Joe. If you could please send if you could get that list of people that have been successful in uh getting out of that Prairie State contract communities. I think Mr. Dennis might know. No. Okay. If you've got the silver bullet, please. I'd love to. I'd like to see that, too. Would you please also send the um article, the journal article, the science article, please? Sure. Thank you very much. That's everyone for this evening. Okay. That brings us to the introduction of new legislation. Mr. President.

Miss Elliott. I have an ordinance and resolution from the planning, zoning, and economic development committee. Resolution authorizing the city attorney to petition the board of county commissioners of Wood County, Ohio to change township lines. Ordinance amending and adopting chapter 155 of the codified ordinance of the city of Bowling Green, Ohio, regarding community reinvestment areas.

Okay. And I have an ordinance from finance and ways and means ordinance providing supplemental and/or amending appropriations for the current expenses and other expenditures of the city of Bowling Green, Ohio during the fiscal year beginning January 1st, 2026 and ending December 31st, 2026. That brings us to official reports for this evening. Mr.

Thank you, Mr. President. Good evening, council. I have no report. As always, I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. Does anyone have any questions for the mayor this evening?

Okay. Municipal Administrator, Miss Tredder. Good evening, council. Uh we've had an exceptionally busy period for many of our city staff recently. It was a very busy weekend for our safety services and the high winds that we've been experiencing since Friday have been keeping our public works, particularly the arborist area and our electric division, uh very busy. We appreciate that they have been out in the elements helping the community to uh survive these last few difficult days and we appreciate their hard work. We are going to have a storm brush pickup this week. Some people have already put some storm damage to the curb. If people don't get that uh aren't don't have things in time, don't worry. We still have pickups scheduled for April and May on our normal schedule. So, as always, it's just our opportunity to remind folks to please subscribe to the city's newsletter so you can be getting all of the information and reminders about those services. I've invited Katie Thompson, our economic development director, to report to you this evening and share an update on the city's economic development work.

All right. Good evening, everyone. I will try to be brief but thorough. Um, I feel like we have just been experiencing some continued momentum in our community. Uh, we're we seem to be firing firing on all cylinders and all four pillars of our work in economic development. Um, we're developing industrial sites. We're seeing the attraction and expansion um of industry in our community. We currently have the most housing starts in Wood County and um we're enhancing our quality of life here in our community and in lots of ways. And so, you know, we're also working very closely with our community partners like BGSU and Bowling Green City Schools, um, several other partners, and I I feel like they're all experiencing that same sort of momentum as well. So, um, things are moving in the right direction in this community, and it's great to see. So, I'll highlight a few specific things that we have going on. And first, um, I didn't plan to talk about this, but I did attend the planning, zoning, and economic development, um, committee meeting that took place before council tonight, and there were some questions brought up about housing and about whether our zoning code is allowing for the types of housing that we need in our community. So, I did just want to point out a couple of things. Um, because oftent times these developers are um, I'm kind of their first point of contact. Um, so I do I do hear a a lot from them about any issues that come up within their development process and then the successes that you know they have along the way as well. So, we do have um the Summer Grove apartment complex that is 96 units that is over behind kind of the Poly Eyes area and um that was constructed within the last two years and that is um targeting those who um are below median income. So, those are, you know, low-income rentals. They

call them workforce housing. So, that's 96 units that were built right there. In addition to that, um we have Sunset Development that will be um getting up and running here. Um I think they'll be starting construction very soon and that is senior housing also for those that are below the median income and that will be 66 units. So that's I think starting this spring. And so we have seen some success. I don't think our zoning code is hindering the ability to um build a variety of housing for a variety of incomes. In fact, I think our zoning code um the the revision to the zoning code that we did a couple of years ago has been extremely successful not only in seeing these projects that I mentioned, but also the Tucant Springs and the infill development that we've seen through the Progress Point building group. Um all of those are are a result of our modernized zoning code. So, the smaller lot sizes and things of that nature, that is what helped get those projects off the ground. So, I just wanted to point out those few things in case maybe, you know, you weren't aware of those. Um, those have been some incredible success stories. And like I said, we did just see um as of two weeks ago, I was sent a report that we had the most housing starts in all of Wood County. So, I think that's a huge success story for us right now. Um, so now back to my regularly programmed updates for tonight. I also wanted to mention that um we have six active leads that we have submitted sites for in terms of industrial projects. Um that number fluctuates constantly. Sometimes we might have 15 leads in the pipeline. That number changes as companies make decisions, maybe put projects on hold, things of that nature. But we have six right now. And for one of those leads that I mentioned, we were able to host the site consultants and the company representatives for a visit. Um they are in their second round of site analysis. So, we're hoping to u make this next round of cuts and continue on in the

process. So, these are lengthy processes for this type of site selection. Um, we did just tally all of our metrics from 2025 and I'll point out um two of those metrics and that is that 12 companies did create new jobs last year, which is great. That's a sign of growth. And in addition to that, 12 companies, and these aren't necessarily the same companies, reported making a capital investment in our community for a total of $31 million um invested here locally in our existing businesses. In addition to that, we're very proud of two recent projects and um I wanted to highlight those tonight. First was Project Soluable and that was a $1 million jobs Ohio research and development grant um that we worked on. It was given to Smartsolve Industries and that project uh helped fund the creation of their new $3 million research and development center and they are pioneering zero waste packaging. Um it's an incredible company focused on sustainability and uh that was the first research and development grant that we've seen in this community and possibly in Wood County. I don't know that for sure. Um so that was a very exciting project. And in addition to that, we just announced last week that um Project Catalyst 250 um received a $487,000 Jobs Ohio vibrant communities grant toward the renovation of 250 South Main Street. That is the former Cycle Works building. And so this is a project um that the nonprofit Bowling Green Economic Development is running and managing. We're very excited about it. Um, we are redeveloping 8,000 square feet on the first floor for modern office space and that will house the four corner center and co-work which will be a new co-working business in Bowling Green. And the 3,000 square foot second floor will become four one-bedroom apartments. Um, very walkable within our downtown. So, um, another housing success story there. So,

not only were both of these projects meaningful in their own right, but they are both the first of these grants to be used in Bowling Green. Um, all right. And two more updates for you. We are getting ready to start our business retention visits. Uh, this is a fun season where we get to go out and visit our local industries. We're looking forward to it again this year. It's where we get to hear patterns and learn about any um successes and then also challenges that our businesses are facing and then we work to address those. So um getting ready to start that. And then lastly, we just hosted the Bowling Green Economic Development annual meeting for the trustees of that organization and um for the third year in a row brought over 200 people together who care deeply about Bowling Green. So these are leaders from various industry sectors, large and small businesses, partners in the trades, partners at the county and the state. And um as I walk away from those meetings, I just think about how lucky we are to have so many people who are investing in this community and who are passionate about u making this community a great place to live, a great place to work. And so um that was a great event. And that is all I have for you unless you have any questions for me. Does anyone have any questions for Katie?

Um, the Sunset development you mentioned, is that back behind Aldi? Behind Aldi, correct? And, uh, the Summer Grove, uh, are all of those apartments, um, already full or do you have openings in those still? I do not know their current occupancy. Um, I don't know if anyone Yeah, I don't know that information off the top of my head. Okay. You said most housing starts in Wood County. Was that last year, 2025?

No, it was just um it was I I think they do it on a month-to-month basis. It was a report that I received from someone at the county and um so I'll have to look back at what time frame that looked at. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Any other questions? Okay. Uh Lori, do you have anything else? I do not. Thank you. Anyone have any questions for Lori this evening? Okay. Thank you. City Attorney Mr. Brown. Good evening. No report unless you have questions.

Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Brown this evening? Um, have you had the opportunity to look into city council's ability to wrestle back rate setting authority from the board of public utilities?

I've looked into it to the extent that is necessary, which is not a whole lot. The the city, pursuant to city law, we vest the power to set rates with the board of public utilities. So long as that law is on the books, I don't think you can make another law that says no, now we set the rates. So essentially, you'd have to eradicate the Board of Public Utilities and become your own utilities board would be my opinion on that matter or rebuild the system from the ground up. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Uh public infrastructure director, Mr. O'Connell.

Uh good evening. Um, as Lori mentioned, you know, with the high winds, uh, we had experienced some utility outages, electric outages, um, this past couple days. I would say the the the overall effect has been pretty minimal, though. Um, a lot of it has been, um, you know, one customer here, one, maybe two customers there that were serving or sharing a service line maybe in the backyard where a private tree limb may have come down and ripped the uh, the service line overhead that um, off the house. Um, those those types of outages are what we typically been seeing. Um there was a large outage on the west side in the Hillrest uh Rosland area and about maybe 60 to 70 customers were affected, but that was for a couple of hours and they they came we got them back on. Um so overall I would say that with the amount of wind um uh events we've had in the past couple weeks um our outages have been really been uh pretty minimal and we've been able to respond uh relatively quickly and get customers back online in a short order. So um been been pretty pretty uh lucky so far, we'll say. Um, but some of that goes into our um our tree trimming practices and our our ability to uh uh maintain the system uh to a high high level of um um operating standard. So that's all I have for you unless you have questions for me.

My uh my power went out for 20 seconds on Saturday. Sorry about that. Just just long enough to mess up all my digital clocks. Sorry. All right. Uh but you know I was watching the news this morning and uh they were talking about Toledo and that apparently there are parts of Toledo that have been without power for several days. So,

every time I see a story about that happening in another community, I'm always very thankful of all the effort that uh you know, the utility people put into maintaining our lines and keeping trees trimmed out of the way and and the rapid response. You know, a couple of hours is inconvenient, but uh it's better than four or five days. So, yes, sir. Make sure you tell everybody thank you very much. I will do so. Thank you. Any uh other questions for Mr. Okonnell. Okay. That brings us to council committee reports.

Mr. President, Miss Elliott, the planning, zoning, and economic development committee met and had our goal setting meeting before council. We discussed the zoning code and subdivision regulations. Okay. Any other uh any other council committee reports? Uh Mr. President?

Yep. Just a reminder that on April 6th before our regularly scheduled meeting, the Transportation and Safety Committee will be meeting for the purpose of appointing a representative to the sidewalk commission uh and doing a brief review of our strategic goals for the uh current year.

Okay, thank you very much. That brings us to the reading of legislation. Legislation for first reading. Resolution 3904 for first reading. Resolution authorizing the city attorney to petition the board of county commissioners of Wood County, Ohio to change change township lines. Ordinance 9345 for first reading. ordinance providing supplemental and/or amending appropriations for the current expenses and other expenditures of the city of Bowling Green, Ohio during the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2026 and ending December 31, 2026.

Uh I move that we suspend the rules and give ordinance 9345 its second and third readings. Second. Properly moved and seconded. Jody K. Dennis, yes. Elliot, yes. Holland, yes. Musgrave, yes. Odicio, yes. Jay Dennis, yes. Okay. The rules have been suspended for ordinance 9345.

Ordinance 9345 for second and third readings. ordinance providing supplemental and/or amending appropriations for the current expenses and other expenditures of the city of Bowling Green, Ohio during the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2026 and ending December 31, 2026. I move that we adopt ordinance 9345. Second. Properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. Jod Elliot, yes. Helen, yes. Musgrave, yes. Odicio, yes. Jay Dennis, yes. K. Dennis,

yes. Okay. Ordinance 9345 is adopted. Ordinance 9346 for first reading. Ordinance amending and adopting chapter 155 of the codified ordinances of the city of Bowling Green, Ohio, regarding community reinvestment areas. There is no legislation for second reading. Legislation for third reading. Resolution 390 for third reading. Resolution honoring Rachel Fipps, member of the council of the city of Bowling Green, Ohio.

I move that we adopt resolution 3900. Second. Properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? Jody Hollenba. Yes. Musgrave. Yes. Odicio. Yes. Jay Dennis. Yes. K. Dennis. Yes. Elliot. Yes. Okay. Resolution 390 is adopted. Resolution 3901 for third reading. Resolution honoring Greg Robinette, member of the council of the city of Bowling Green, Ohio. Okay. I move we adopt resolution 3901. Second.

Properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Jody Musgrave. Yes. Odicio. Yes. Jay Dennis. Yes. K. Dennis. Yes. Elliot. Yes. Hala. Yes. Resolution 3901 is adopted. Ordinance 9344 for third reading. Ordinance vacating a portion of Coleman Avenue and reserving a utility easement in the city of Bowling Green. Mr. President, Miss Elliot, I move to table ordinance 9344 until it's April until April 6 when the required public hearing will be held. Second. Okay. Properly moved and seconded. Jody Odicio.

Yes. Jay Dennis. Yes. K. Dennis. Yes. Elliot. Yes. Holland. Yes. bus grade. Yes.

Okay. Ordinance 9344 is tabled to April 6th. Um prior to uh is there any other business? You might notice that Bill Harold is not here this evening. You all be very happy to know that he is doing well and that he is not here because he is on vacation. Um, in classic Bill fashion, he prepared a statement for me that he wants me to uh read regarding his absence and in classic bill fashion. It's a little lengthy, so I'm going to paraphrase and hope that I get the general idea across to everyone. Uh this is directed to council, I assume, and it says greetings. Uh and then Bill talks about even before he was elected to council, he often attended council meetings and that he believes he's missed maybe one or two meetings uh in all of the time that uh that he has been visiting uh council meetings. Um he's absent this evening because he and his wife were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and uh he uh took her on a trip to Europe. Uh they tried to schedule the trip again in bill fashion around council meetings but uh apparently the travel company and council schedule did not uh did not mesh very well. So, um, despite his best efforts, he had to miss tonight's meeting. He promises that, uh, in the future, you know, he he doesn't foresee missing any meetings until possibly his 75th wedding anniversary. Um,

was much better in the email, by the way. Well, I'm sure. I'm sure. So, uh, fellow council members, I humbly ask that you excuse me from tonight's meeting. And so, with that, I ask, uh, does anyone have a motion to excuse Council Member Harold? So, moved. Silicon, you guys are so eager. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. All in favor say I. I. I. Okay. Council member Herold is excused. Uh, is there any other business to come before councel this evening? Hearing none, do I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second.

Properly moved and seconded. All in favor say I. I. I. Oppose. Same sign. We are adjourned.