City Council - Regular Meeting

things to be difficult. If you could please rise and join us 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 roll, please? J. Dennis Here. Elliott Here. Brown Here. Halemba Here. Musgrave Here. Oderisio Here. Okay, the minutes from our April 20th meeting distributed for you to review prior to tonight. Are there any additions or corrections to those minutes? Hearing none, do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Properly moved and seconded, all in favor say I. I. Opposed, same sign. Okay. Jody, do we have any correspondence this evening? We [clears throat] have one item received from the Ohio Division of Liquor Control was an application for a D1 liquor permit for Chipotle 26277 at 1175 South Main Street. Records have been requested. Okay. Thank you very much. Is that it? Yes. Okay. Well, tonight it is my uh honor to uh grant a special presentation to former council member-at-large Greg Robinette. So, Greg, if you could join me.

Okay. I have resolution number 3901. Resolution honoring Greg Robinette, member of the Council of the City of Bowling Green, Ohio. Whereas Greg Robinette honorably and faithfully served the citizens of Bowling Green as the Fourth Ward Council Member from January 1st, 2012 until June 18th, 2013 and as a member-at-large from January 1st, 2018 until December 31st, 2025. And whereas during his terms on Council Mr. Robinette consistently demonstrated superb leadership thorough analysis, thoughtful judgment and an earnest concern for his constituents and the numerous issues that faced Council during his service. And whereas Mr. Robinette's abilities were demonstrated through his open-minded and innovative approaches to problems, astute and comprehensive understanding, and investigation of issues, and solid methods for identifying solutions, addressing his responsibilities as chair of the finance committee, and planning zoning, and economic development committee, and as a member of the community improvement committee, transportation and safety committee, and public utilities committee. And whereas Mr. Robinette's knowledge of government and finance, along with his commitment to research and analysis contributed to a strong foundation for insightful and considerate decision-making.

And whereas during his service as chair of the finance committee, Mr. Robinette instituted quarterly meetings to ensure timely consideration of the city's financial status, and guided the committee through consideration of several significant community advancements, including the construction of the new city building, financing of public safety facilities, and numerous infrastructure enhancements. And whereas as an elected official, Mr. Robinette was committed to balancing fiscal responsibility and accountability with community investment and advancement, and his efforts, excuse me, had a meaningful impact on Bowling Green businesses, public safety, and residents, and helped to guide successful uh managed community growth. And whereas the objective, thoughtful, and logical approaches to difficult government and community problems demonstrated by Mr. Robinette were greatly appreciated by this council. And whereas this council wishes to publicly recognize and honor Mr. Robinette for his many important contributions to civic betterment, his dedicated and faithful service as an elected official, and his meritorious service to the community, be it resolved by the council of the city of Bowling Green, Ohio that the city council of the city of Bowling Green on behalf of the government and citizens of this municipality does hereby thank and commend Mr. Robinette, member of council, for his devoted service, commendable achievements, and remarkable performance of civic duty

while a member of the city council and wishes him much success and satisfaction in his future endeavors. Thank you. [applause]

Thank you. Speech? I would like just like to say thank you. I appreciate the thought. This is This is very nice. As they said in summary, you know, I did serve for 10 of the last 14 years with a small break in there. Uh council looked a lot different when I first started. Um people have changed. But in in every case, every council um was great to work with. I enjoyed my time serving the the community and uh just thank you and wish all of you well. Thank you very much. [applause]

Okay. And I'll just mention as Greg leaves that he's the only person ever to bring whiskey to a council meeting while [laughter] I was in attendance. That we know of. That we know of. Bill could have some here now. I don't know. Okay. Um that brings us to lobby visitations. Do we have anyone signed up? We do. Okay. Faith Elsa? Elsie Elsie Mhm. Yeah. If you could uh when you come up give your name and address for the record, please. Faith Olson Elsie 338 West Mary Avenue in Bowling Green. Please. Okay. I want you to know that I live right on the corner of the West Mary Fairview River. And when we get really bad rains I need a boat because a car doesn't do it. Because the water is so deep it comes up 6 ft into my driveway and I live on a little hill. Oh, but I also live right across the street from the Bowling Green Lake in the Bowling in in the Bowling Green Golf Course. And then on the last time that they had the lake there they got rid of that water by um pumping it down um apparently there are some um discharge [clears throat] um um Well, I don't know what they call those. You know, the the the the um the the Like a storm storm sewer?

It It might be a storm sewer. I don't know what they call it. And they've had some people come from the utility company and run some some cameras down through the middle of some of that that um those pipings right in the right in the main area of um that that corner of Fairview and Mary West Mary. I I've never heard of what the results were or what they need, but to have so much water that comes up so high in my driveways and my yard. And I know that people have said, "Well, maybe you ought to clean off the the grates." And I can tell you I do that. I do mine and I do the neighbors across the street because that water that goes into his drain comes over into mine. And we get full up and we get the river. And it's called the the West Mary Fairview River. And I think that something needs to be done. Now, I can't tell you what needs to be done, but some way to get that water out of there in a much more timely manner. So, do you have any questions you want to ask me? Uh no. I'll just say that uh now that your complaint has been lodged, that we will look into that and find out, you know, what the result of that scoping of those pipes were if if there roots in there or whatever, and uh we will we will take it from here. And will you let me know what the results were? Do you let anybody know that?

Lori, can we Sure. We can let you know directly or via your council members. Do we have a contact information Jody if you Yes, if you can leave something there we can get in contact you once we have that information. I would appreciate that so that I would know what to do. If there's something more that I can do, you can ask me. But don't tell me but you can ask me and then I can decide whether or not I can do that. I'm not a I'm not a young person but I'm also very strong and I can take care of things that I need to take care of. And I just want to know what I can do better to make it safer and and better for my property because all of the whatever is left in the in the street on West Mary comes down because it's governed that way to come down to that corner to get rid of the stuff but they leave that stuff in my grass and on my driveway and so I have to clean that up. And I don't want to put it back out there if it helps to fill that, you know, those um pipes and stuff and I just want [clears throat] to do it so that it's it's just better for the people that live on that street. Okay. Okay. All right, thank you very much. Debbie Thompson Thank you. I was told I might want to keep one for myself. [snorts] I can't read it if I give them all back.

[laughter]

Well, if you have it memorized, you know. That's a lot to memorize. Okay, thank you. Okay, just a moment. There we Now I can see you. Debbie Thompson, 1003 Chelsea Lane, apartment 32. Um I just wanted to come and let you know about a project that myself and two other Bowling Green residents is residents are doing. Um it did appear in I think BG Independent today. But um Three local residents will take an active role in shaping a safer, more accessible community as a result of being selected to participate in the 2026 Walking College, a project of America Walks. The program is designed to build capacity and support growing national nation-wide interest in walking for transportation, exercise, and mental well-being. This year's fellows from Bowling Green include Debbie Thompson, chair of the City of Bowling Green Sidewalk Commission, Rod Nab Bordner, a retired occupational therapist, and Zack Hayes, the sustainability coordinator of the Bowling Green State University office of campus sustainability. They join a national network of advocates working to improve walkability and expand access to vibrant, safe public spaces. The

three-month program includes readings, videos, written assignments, discussion groups, one-on-one coaching sessions, and interactive workshops. Fellows identify a specific issue within their community and work collaboratively with mentors and peers to develop actionable strategies for meaningful change. When asked what motivated her to apply, Ms. Bodner cited her belief that safe accessible travel, regardless of ability, enhances physical, mental, and social health for everyone. Ms. Thompson, who also leads the transportation mobility action team of BGSU, said her lived experiences navigating our sidewalks by power chair provides a critical perspective on accessibility challenges. Mr. Hayes added that connections between the community and the Bowling Green State University students can be strengthened through advocacy for pedestrian level improvements. The Walking College is funded by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity in support of Active People, Healthy Nation Initiatives. Any questions? Um no, thank you very much for the the update and for your active involvement in the community and for using large type.

Well, I wanted to be able to read it [laughter] myself. I think I did pretty good reciting what I was saying that.

The bigger the better for me. And this program started mid-April and it goes to mid-July. So. Okay. Will you give us a report when you're all through? Oh, definitely. We'll have more than a report. We'll have some information for the city on that. So. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. David Neuendorf. Oh, come on. Thank you. Good evening. David Newendorff, 1057 Carol Road, Bowling Green. Um I'm kind of new to to uh Bowling Green. I only moved here in in uh 2022 I August but we were bought property before. But uh I we came from the Old West End. And the Old West End had a problem with urban blight. In fact, I was part of the movement. There's a building there that was abandoned by somebody who's now gone out of business out in Maumee, but it was called Old St. Luke's Hospital. It was an abandoned building. Through neighborhood efforts it took us 10 years. We sued the city of Toledo. We won and they said "We're not going to do anything." We sued them again. They tore it down. There's the Agnes Reynolds Jackson Memorial Arboretum on that site today. It's owned by the neighborhood, not the city. A lot of people think it's the city park, but it's neighborhood owns it. Anyway, there's a party that's going to I wonder if you're going to have a I'm being sarcastic. I wonder if you're going to have a party in June cuz we have a a special event happening on June 12th in 2024. We had a big fire in town. And I I consider it blight because it's still there. It's got a big fence around it, but it sits there. And so that's why I'm here to address you today and I've got some handouts and I probably don't have enough, but I

will do what I can. Here's a picture of the fire in the Bowling Green Independent. You guys are going to have to share. I'm sorry. I apologize. Yeah, that's And the reason I I say this is that I remember in 1992 there was a gentleman named Jack Ford was city councilman. He later was mayor of Toledo. He He has since passed away, but Jack Ford and I were down at a meeting and for uh trying to get the fire escrow act passed. If you look on the second page there, you will see that's the state regulation that says if there's a fire, the money's supposed to be set aside to guarantee that all the debts are paid and that the property is if if the buildings destroyed, which these buildings were, that they site was cleared. Two years later, it sits there with a fence around it. And I'm I'm a kind of a sensitive person because I invested 10 years of my life in getting the old St. Luke's Hospital removed. And I'm in Bowling Green and I consider this unacceptable. I consider it a waste of resources and a lot of people have to still live and see that building every day that live in that trailer park. Now, if you look carefully on this document on the second page of the document at the bottom, it says something that's very telling and that's what I'm here today. The bottom paragraph says, "This division only This division only applies to municipal corporations or townships that have adopted a resolution ordinance or regulation authorizing the procedure described in section C and D." In other words, I'm asking you, did Bowling Green sign on to the fire escrow act or not?

Because if you didn't, you were foolish. You got big buildings here and every once in a while one of them burns down. As as efficient and professional as the fire department is, think bad things happen. And I want to know if you signed on to this, why the law director has not gone after this money, whatever it is, to get that site torn down. Obviously, it's not going to be redeveloped and we're looking at two years of it sitting there. And yes, they put a nice big fence around it. It's a beautiful fence. And it's secure. But it shouldn't be there. I've said my peace, but I I I just I'm disappointed. Because I've seen a lot of cool things happen in Bowling Green. And that building sitting there at that site should be torn down and redeveloped or or we take it apart. We could have a micro forest there. There are lots of things we can do. But we're looking at 2 years and nothing has been done. And I'm curious. I'm curious why in Bowling Green of all places. Now if the taxpayers end up getting stuck with the bill, that happens. And I'm sorry about that. But that's better than leaving that site there, which some kid might get through the fence if he's enterprising and get in the building and get killed or injured. So, thank you very much for your indulgence. Are there any questions? Um not for you.

[laughter] No, but yeah. Um but thank you. Okay, thank you very much, gentlemen. So, Councilman Council member Musgrave and myself both live in that trailer park. Well, then you know I'm talking about.

So, I I step outside and I see it every day. So, I'm I'm very aware of it. Well, you're very patient people. [laughter] Yeah, sometimes. The question I have I guess would be for someone on the administration. Does anyone know where we're at with uh Mr. President, I can speak to that problem. Okay. Um to answer the gentleman's question, yes, we do have a code that mirrors that of the ORC that you cited. Um the property in question is actually involved in some legal matters which are halting the demolition right now. We should theoretically have money in escrow as you described. Part of the problem with this particular property is going to be that it was built before the Ohio Revised Code and our subsequently our city code changed to up the amount. So, the amount in escrow probably isn't enough to cover the demolition amount on our end were we to do it ourselves. So, I think that might explain part of the reason that we're trying to wait for the legal matters to resolve. Okay, well, that's good. You have to I glad that the city signed on to the uh fire escrow act, but um the law department needs to light a fire under the parties. Thank you very much. Thank you. So, Mr. President, if I can ask a couple of follow-up questions.

Excuse me, is it common for insurance proceeds under this law to not cover the demolition of the properties that have been destroyed? I ask because in my experience having gone through this multiple times, that is the case. Right, yeah, of course. I mean, I think that's also the reason why the amount was raised, right? But, the problem is you're going to have lots of places that the amount won't be at the raised amount because it was enacted after the the building put the money in escrow. And when the city comes in and applies those funds towards [clears throat]

rehabilitating the space, it stays in the ownership of the private party, correct? I mean, we do not assume ownership of it. Correct. Okay. And I know because the mayor and council president and Lori and I were discussing this on Thursday that enforcement actions have been started on this property, correct? Yes. Okay. Oh, I appreciate you bringing it to our concern, and I appreciate you guys for looking into it by the time we asked about it. Um I'm encouraged that action is being taken to get it cleaned up. Same. I don't know, I I find it kind of endearing. [laughter] Said no Said Said no one ever.

Certainly adds a character to the neighborhood. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Um anyone else? That's everyone for this evening. Okay, thank you. [snorts] That brings us to the introduction of new legislation. [clears throat]

Okay, I'll go first. From uh Finance Committee, I have uh two ordinances. Uh 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. And I have an ordinance creating Section 35.42 of the codified ordinances of the City of Bowling Green, Ohio related to deposit of public moneys. Mr. President. Mr. Odoricio. I have a resolution from the Community Improvement Committee. It is the resolution authorizing a partnership agreement between the City of Bowling Green and Wood County, Ohio regarding program year 2026 Community Housing Impact and Preservation CHIP funds from the Ohio Department of Development, ODD, and authorizing the mayor of the City of Bowling Green to execute said partnership agreement. Mr. President. Mr. Dennis. From the Transportation and Safety Committee, I have an ordinance granting an easement to Columbia Gas of Ohio, Incorporated for the Evergreen Terrace Gas Service Upgrade Project and declaring an emergency. Okay. Thank you. Okay, that [clears throat] brings us to official reports. Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. President. Good evening, Council. I don't uh have a formal report, but I did want to add my words of appreciation for

the uh the service of Mr. Robinette to the city of Bowling Green. It was my um fortunate experience to serve with Greg while I also served on City Council and then obviously had the opportunity work with him when I became mayor and as the uh resolution did a very good job of highlighting Greg was always a very conscientious, dedicated public servant. And I just wanted to also express my appreciation for his service to this community and note that in my view his service continues through his involvement in various uh local veteran organizations. So, again, I would just want to express my appreciation and thanks to Mr. Robinette for his service. Completes my report. Subject any questions that you may have. Does anyone have any questions or other comments for the mayor this evening? Okay. Thank you. Municipal Administrator, Miss Tretter. Good evening. I have asked Assistant Municipal Administrator, Communications Director, Amanda Gamby to provide an update on city communications this evening. So, I'll turn the microphone over to Amanda, please. Okay. Jody has us up and ready on the screen, so I'll direct your attention that way. Um instead of a traditional report, um we're going to have a little bit of show and tell because we have a a lot of exciting new uh programs that we're using within the communications department. Uh some of them um have been incorporated already, some of them are new and we're still learning, and some of them will launch here very soon. Um the first is uh our website. As we've reported, we switched over to CivicPlus as our website provider about 5 years ago and completely put the website under a redesign at that time. As part of our service agreement with

them, we're allowed a refresh a minimum of every 4 years. Originally we sort of we kind of let it go at the 4-year mark because we didn't really changes that you know, they could really make our site that much better. However, I'm happy to say that this past few months we've been working directly with them. So I'll show you here our old site. If we scroll through some of you are probably familiar if you visit frequently. Our search bar is kind of up there in the top right. We've had a lot of calls from folks who seemingly don't see this feature. And so when we direct them to it, it can be a very helpful tool for them to find the information that they're seeking. That's one thing that we wanted to address. We also wanted to make sure that we were being as accessible as we possibly could especially with some of the new stricter ADA guidelines that are coming into effect through federal law. We also wanted to make sure that our website was responsive on mobile devices. Over 50% of our folks who are visiting our website are coming to us through some type of mobile device which is a flip from past years where we were still seeing the majority on desktop. So there were several factors kind of at play there. I'll show you a sneak peek. This site will launch we're scheduled May 21st. So we still have a little bit of cleanup work to do here, but this is a preview of our Whoopsie. Oh, I just closed it. I got fat fingers. Look at me. Don't look at all this mess. Pay no attention to this. This seems like difficult navigation.

No, it's user error, I can assure you. Oh. Well, then I'm doomed.

IT will vouch for me. Um So, you'll see here that uh the search bar is now right smack in the center of that page. Um we also have um again, some of this goes back to ADA compliance and contrast colors and things like that. So, you now see a little bit more of the color pop there when you hover over buttons. Um scrolling down, um you'll see the icons here when we hover over, we know that you're selecting these. Um we've also added a popular resources. And we can change these seasonally. So, if we have um something that's more popular um in the summer months, we can customize these to be a bit more tailored. Um say it's tax season, which we just came out of. Um we can swap these out with, you know, some of the direct links that folks are looking for for that particular time of year. Um you'll see that um the spotlights and the meetings and events calendars look a little bit different. Everything just has a clean and refreshing look, and we're hoping um will help um assist folks with finding things a little bit better on the page. Um this look will be applied throughout the entire site. And um department headers for utilities, police, economic development, parks, those folks will all have this same kind of treatment as well. So, again, May 21st, this is just a sneak peek. So, if you hop on there today, you're still going to see the old sites. Um, but very grateful that this has been a pretty um, easy process for our team. Um, all of this happens behind the scenes and we're told that when they flip the switch, it's pretty seamless. So, fingers crossed that's the case here. Um, did want to talk a little bit about ADA. Um, we've done a couple of um,

extra additional things to our websites. Um, one of them is called AudioEye and AudioEye can do a couple of things. One, it can scan our site for us kind of in the background and um, fix some known ADA issues. Um, it can also alert us to issues so that we can correct them as we're building pages so we're not making the mistake right off the bat. Um, [snorts] it also has this feature here on the side that if you click this as a user, um, it gives you some options to adjust your view to your needs. Um, maybe you need the text a little bit bigger, maybe you need the color contrast to adjust. Um, there's a number of different options here, but I'm going to close out of that because it can really mess up my screen pretty good then I'm really in trouble, so. Um, the other thing that uh, we did, uh, let me click on um, [clears throat] we'll just I already have one open here. Um, so what we're learning is under these new federal guidelines, which I should note currently for the city of Bowling Green, we are under a population of 50,000. So, we're not going to be held to some of these stricter standards until 2028. Um, it was 2027, but that has been recently extended. Um, but it's kind of one of those situations where when we know better, we do better and we were learning that under these new guidelines, only two of our 2,500 PDFs that exist on our webpage we're meeting all of those accessibility parameters under the new 2028 rules. Um so we added a product to our website called Doc Access. So I have up here um the council meeting agenda for this meeting. When I flip it into an accessible transcript view, this automatically puts it into the ADA compliant format for a

screen reader um to be able to grab and read. If I have images in here, which I don't I mean on this agenda it's pretty basic. We're not going to have an image. It'll automatically do all the alts, uh the descriptions, and the alt tagging, and the alt text, and everything that's required without us having to go in and do all of that work. Um also came with a couple of bonus features that we weren't expecting until we demoed. Um we can go ahead and turn all of our PDFs into um a different language. So I just need to come over here and select what language I want, and I can turn this document into whatever language that I'm familiar with or I'm used to. If someone is still struggling, they also offer a disability disability assistant hotline. And so folks can get a 30-minute phone call with a live person to help them through the document and to help uh with whatever need they have with that particular uh PDF. Um that's third party. That's not staff having to babysit it. This is all working in the background. And what's really cool, and I'm not sure what kind of wizardry it's using to do this, but even a scanned document, so a signature page, say it's a piece of legislation that has a signature that's been scanned in, it can even read the text on that. Um which is pretty pretty awesome. Um so that is currently live on the website now. So that's something that you can see um today regardless of the website refresh not being complete. Uh one other thing that I will share is we have 12 social media channels and I know if you've been here a while you've heard me rattle through some of our analytics for those. But we've recently switched the company that we're using to manage our social media platforms. And

not only does it help us draft and schedule posts across all of those platforms, but it also allows us to do some listening to the community. And we're still kind of getting training on this and understanding how we can dive in into topics. But if I really wanted to hone in on let's say a human relations and service, it's not only going to look at our social media, it's going to look at Clint's, it's going to look at Jan's, it's going to look at the Sentinel. It's going to look at any local media who's reporting on anything related to this topic and I can adjust my parameters for a day or length of days that I'm reporting back on and it starts pulling all of those posts that have the most interactions. One downside is that if it's a private group like BG Raw or Better BG for example, we still have to go and pull that data manually. And of course we do get a lot of discord on those pages as you're all aware. So, that's some information we do still have to bring in, but it's a great tool for us when we're trying to see what the community is engaged in for that particular day, how they're responding to a particular issue. Say the turkeys show back up. Knock on wood everywhere. We can do a search just on turkeys and see what everybody is saying in the community related to to them. So You've said that two times. Don't say it.

Moving on. I expected Turkey and I did it again. I'm sorry. So bad. It's like Beetlejuice. Mute my microphone. Yes. The other thing that we can do here is we can build out pages for specific topics. So let's say that you're all looking for feedback on something. This is a feature here where we can build out a page, include some surveys, and again it's just another tool that we're learning how to utilize, but another way for us to engage and listen to the community. Um also have sustainability that is managed out of our department as well. We're just coming out of Earth Month, so very successful annual Earth Day celebration, Eco Fair on campus, the Arbor Day celebrations at local schools. It's always a very busy month as we ramp up for spring. But we are excited that the native plant voucher program that we piloted last year was such a good partnership and success with the Wood County Friends or Wood County Friends of the Wood County Parks that we did it again this year and we doubled the number number of vouchers that we gave out. So we gave out 700 native plant vouchers to be used at their native plant sale this past weekend. 692 of those were returned. So 692 native plants are going into uh our neighborhoods and private private landscaping. Um I will mention that Perrysburg is kind of monitoring it and considering a similar program. So it's it's really catching on and the friends are excited to have the extra promotion for that initiative. Um and then I know I've been promising you all a dashboard. Um, Rachel has been

working uh with Mick Murray and his team in public works and also our GIS team. Um, we're going to do this a combination of a third-party provider and our internal GIS team. Um, and um, with this model we're going to have kind of a cross-departmental project that's going to allow our facilities uh manager to take a look at preventative maintenance, um, scheduling different building repairs and how they might uh impact energy efficiency or greenhouse gas emissions. We're going to tie directly into the meters of those buildings, so we're getting readouts of electricity usage and our greenhouse gas emissions and hopefully help us to prioritize and budget for not only needed improvements to buildings, but those that could ultimately enhance the sustainability of those facilities. So, more to come on that, but that team is working hard and really hoping for um, something to share here by the end of the year. I think that's it. Double-checking my notes, so unless you have questions. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for Amanda? I will say I'm very impressed with what you showed me, but I'm impressed when something turns on when I push a button, so.

[laughter] Um, so by 2020, will we be compliant? I'm sorry. I would say that we're actually more than compliant right now and we'll continue continue to monitor um, and attend, you know, any opportunities that we have for training or webinars just to make sure that we can continue to shore up Okay. what we're doing. So. Awesome. Good job. Um, Laura, do anything else? Just any questions that you have.

Any questions for Ms. Tredder this evening? Okay. Uh, city attorney, Mr. Brown. Good evening, Council. No report. Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Brown at this time? Okay. Public infrastructure director, Mr. O'Connell. Um, good evening. Um, on the April 27th, we did present um, the electric cost of service and rate study um, to the Board of Public Utilities. Um, information from that meeting uh, was posted on the on the utility rate web page. Um, that that included a link to the meeting recording as well as the presentation materials that were uh, shared with the Board of Utilities. So, if anybody from the public wants to see that, um, they can see it on our um, electric rate page. Amanda did a nice job of helping us get that um, put out there on Tuesday, the day after we had the meeting. So, um, was trying to be um, as uh, transparent and open as possible with the public about what was being proposed and what was being discussed, but I wanted to go over over that a little bit with you today not in the full level of detail what what as it would happen at that meeting, but um, the the rate study identified three um, important issues for the our electric rates. Um, number one was the current revenues uh, do not meet the current expenses and expenses are increasing um, for capacity, transmission, operations, and capital projects. Um, number two is that we will not meet our debt service coverage ratio in 2026 and 2027 for the JV-5 Bellville hydro project under our current rate structure. Um, and number three is that our electric fund balance will not cover the cost of future capital project capital expenses. Um, so, those are kind of the three things we're trying to address, you know, financially with the rate study. Um, so, to address these, we identified uh, some corrective actions. And uh, the first one would be to uh, make rate adjustments um, beginning in 2026. We typically do electric electric rate adjustments in July.

And so that would be from 2026 through 2030, we would we would look for a 7% increase in 2026 and then 5% increases from that point forward each year going forward through 2030. We would borrow $7 million in 2026 and $500,000 in 2027 to ensure we meet our debt service coverage ratio requirements. This is through rate rate stabilization program that AMP offers. We would pay this loan money back in years 2028 through 2031. We have AMP requires the money be be paid back over a 5-year period of time, but we would try to do that over 4 years if not sooner. This borrowing would allow electric rates to be adjusted gradually over the the 5-year period of time versus a large increase in the early years. You know, it could be upwards of 20% if we didn't have that ability to borrow money, but we have to meet our debt coverage ratio requirements for that project that we're in. And so that's that's the point of that borrowing. The other other borrowing we would look to do would be to borrow $15 million over a 3-year period of time within the next 5 years to help us cover our capital expense projects. This will also allow us to maintain an adequate fund balance in the in the electric revenue fund over that 5-year rate period. So it is important to note that the electric rates have not been adjusted since 2021. So customers are paying today what they paid beginning back in July of 2021. We've reached a point though at this stage of the game that we can no longer delay you know rate adjustments. Along with the rate adjustments in all rate classes that were proposed, there were several other recommendations in the rate schedules that we talked about with the board. And one of those recommendations was to phase out the monthly facilities charge

in Rider E, by reducing it to 50% in 2026, and then zero or eliminating it in 2027. Um you you have heard comments regarding Rider E and the monthly facilities charge in the past. It's been described as a penalty or an effort for us to discourage customers from adopting rooftop solar. Neither of these is true. We don't favor one type of customer over another. Our our goal is to provide a reliable utility service at a competitive price that covers our cost of service to the customers, and that was the way the goal of the monthly facilities charge. Um our main concern when implementing the monthly facilities charge in 2020, again, was to charge customers for electric service that that are they're being they were provided. Um the analysis showed that rooftop solar customers were not paying for the service being provided to the properties. Um for residential customers, the 2017 rate plan um that was the last rate rate time we had a rate study done was in 2017. Um that rate schedule covered 2017 through 2021. Um but it had a relatively low fixed billing component in the monthly customer charge. Um and most of the revenue from residential customers was collected in the variable energy charge or the kilowatt-hour energy charge that you see on your bill. So, from 2017 through 2021 2021, um the monthly customer charge was increased by 50 cents a month in each year. So, it started at $12 in 2017, and it it ended at $14 in 2021. Um that amounts to about 15% of the revenue from a residential customer coming from the monthly customer charge or the fixed component of the bill. Um at that time we relied on uh on more revenue being collected from the variable energy energy charge, um which is why the monthly facilities charge was needed um in the first place.

Um with the proposed rate structure for 2026 through 2030, we've put more of the rate adjustment into the fixed charges of the monthly customer charge. Um so, for residential customers, that means that the um the the monthly customer charge is proposed to go from $14 to $21, um or a $7 increase. That That equates to about a 7% um increase for the average customer. [snorts]

Um the energy charge will remain the same at 13.136 136 cents per kilowatt-hour. Um In future years, the monthly customer charge is proposed to be increased by $5 monthly um in each year, um which also equals about a 5% um annual average cost increase for residential customers. Um in 2030, this results in the monthly customer charge being about 34% of of average customers' bill. You might remember call I I mentioned that that's currently about 15%. Um so, it'll go from 15% up to 34% of the of the the customer's bill. Um when you put these billing components into the calculation that was used to analyze the monthly facilities charge, um it shows a smaller need for the facilities charge in 2026 um and even less in 2027 and beyond. Um another factor in the monthly facilities charge calculation is the avoided cost benefits, which includes capacity, transmission, and market energy that the city receives from from uh behind-the-meter generation, such as rooftop solar. Um we see we are seeing uh substantial increases in capacity prices from PJM, as well as transmission and market energy prices are also increasing. And those are costs that are really outside of our control. We We're We have to pay whatever those prices are. But, these higher prices mean that there is more avoided cost benefit for the city, which [snorts] would indicate that the monthly facilities charge should also be reduced some degree and that causes that also um that driving it of the the facilities charge to go away in '27. So, when you factor in the proposed rate adjustment, um the 7% and then 5% going forward, um and the increased avoided cost benefits to the city, um the analysis that we the same calculations and analysis that we used in 2020, if you plug those new numbers into our 2026 proposal, um it shows that the monthly facilities charge is not needed in 2027 and beyond.

Um alternatively, had we put the majority of our rate adjustment in the variable energy charge, so if you use the same kind of a pricing model that we used back in 2017, and you had small adjustments to the monthly customer charge and put most of the cost into the energy charge, um it would have ended up in 2030 with a uh a monthly customer charge um less than $17 per month and the energy charge would likely be over 17 cents, possibly 18 cents a kilowatt hour. Um and it is very likely in that scenario that some form of the monthly facilities charge would have been necessary to um to charge uh rooftop solar customers for the cost of their service. Um but by developing a rate structure that generates more revenue from the fixed billing components, we are less reliant on the variable revenue from the kilowatt hour energy charge. Um another part of Rider E is the rate that the city pays to customers for excess generation. Um in 2020, this rate was established at 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour and we utilized an avoided cost of energy model uh to look at what market energy prices were at that time and what we would what we pay to other energy providers um off the market for that same um same energy and that's how we got to the 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour. Um this rate was revised to 7.5 cents in 2022 because again we used our avoided cost of energy and looking at cost increases in the market energy prices and that that showed that the value of energy being provided to us from rooftop solar was increasing. So we raised that rate. Um additionally the proposed rate for 2026 is is proposed to go to 9.5 cents from the 7.5 cents. So again another increase. Um but we're using the same avoided cost of energy model or or philosophy uh to look at what's happening in the in the the energy markets and that's showing that prices in the energy markets are higher and therefore that

dictates an increase in excess energy payments to our customers. Um hopefully this explains the proposed changes regarding Rider E and it reinforces our cost of service approach to developing our utility rates. So be happy to answer any questions you may have um tonight. Does anyone have any questions for Mr. O'Connell? No? So Go ahead. Yes, just to put a fine point on it, we had a choice between increasing the charge on rooftop solar users or spreading that cost among the rest of our users and we are opting to spread the cost around the rest of our users. We are shifting to a more fixed cost model. Yes, but I would say that the the cost of service study shows that the the fixed cost should be maybe closer to $60 a month not $14. Um that is a um and that the energy energy charge should go down. So we're not following what you know, if you follow the true cost of service model, we're not going to that extreme. Um I would also say that um we could either get the uh $7 or 7% increase from residential customers through the variable energy charge or through the fixed monthly customer charge. So, either way the the cost increase or cost impact to most customers is going to be 7% or $7. So, if it by putting it in the fixed cost fixed monthly cost customers leaving the month leaving the energy charge the same for the 5-year period we're just putting the money into a different bucket. So, the the money that customers will pay would have been the same additional revenue to us. It's just into a in a different category and customers can't

avoid the monthly customer charge and so I would say that the same results were true in 2017 if the cost of service study said that the the monthly customer charge should have been much more than you know, starting at $12 and ending at 14, but historically electric utilities have tried to keep their their monthly customer charges relatively low and put more of their attention in the in the energy charge. I would say commercial and industrial customers are a little bit different in that they have a demand charge which acts like a fixed charge as well and so their monthly customer charges and and demand charges are fixed charges and their energy charge is a little bit less. That's why they they pay less on the energy charge. There's a third billing component there. So, I wouldn't say that we are pushing that cost onto other customers. I would say we're getting closer to what the true cost of service is for customers. I don't think we're just to be clear I don't think we are shifting costs. I think costs are going up and we're finding a way to allocate those, right? If 11% in Bowling Green is 25% everywhere else. So, just just to be clear I'm not accusing you of shifting costs. Yeah, it may be that people shouldn't look at and say, "Well, you're just put you know, making the rest of the customers pay for rooftops." So again, we don't we don't have a preference of one customer versus another. Um but when you put the when you put the billing components um into the same spreadsheet that calculated the monthly facility charge back in 2020, it shows that the uh the need for that revenue source, you know, goes to zero. So, there's no need or no point in continuing to charge for that if we have billing components that uh don't require that revenue from those customers any any longer. And um there's there's not a need to collect that money. So, um

it's it's it's Yeah, like I said, it's getting it's getting the revenue sources into a more true source of where the bucket should be filled from. And that would be the monthly the fixed charges. And ultimately, rooftops only was only ever $350 a month, right? Yeah, every customer is a little bit different, you know, based off of the off of the size of the customer. I mean, total across all users in the entire city. I think the the current collections we get um annually is around $4,000, I believe. Maybe it's close to $5,000 um annually from all those 12 customers. Annually? But it's relatively um small in the grand scheme of things. If you look at the total um expenses and revenues of the electric utility, yes. Oh, I think this great news. Um I appreciate the rate study. I appreciate the fact that this is the first time utility bills, electric bills have gone up in 5 years in the city of Bowling Green. I appreciate the fact that even after the proposed increase, we would be extremely competitive relative to other municipalities. Um you know, I I think probably still the lowest around. Do you have information on that? We did analyze um our rates compared to our 2026 proposed rates compared to Toledo Edison's winter rate. Um Toledo Edison gets rate approvals through the PUCO. And there are rates, the proposed rates for 2026 are below Edison's winter rates. The mayor shared with me today that Edison had filed a new rate case or a new rate study or rate plan with the PUCO today. They would be effective July. I've not not analyzed what those rate impacts would be. And it only covers their their distribution charges. It doesn't really cover the energy charge. That's another another component they have is they separate out their distribution and energy charges. We don't do that with our bills.

So so I typically Edison's summer rates are higher than their winter rates. Their rates show that they were already their winter rates were higher than our proposed 2026 rates. So I would anticipate that their summer 26 rates will be higher than our you know, they'll go up even more. I don't have an exact number for that or I can't prove that today. Once their rate plan is approved by the PUCO then we can get a better calculation on what that will look like. But regardless, I don't expect drastic changes from First Energy customers residential rates across the rate classes really. And we we were very competitive with them or below their prices for 2026. [snorts]

Any other questions? Okay. Thank you, Brian. I was going to say, you know, with the elimination of this facilities charge and increasing the kilowatt hour rate, based on everything I've been told for the last year and a half, we should see a boom in rooftop solar. So, looking forward to that. Our rooftop solar rates are competitive with the state of Ohio, but we'll see. I was being snarky. Me, too. Okay. All right. Uh that brings us to council committee report. [clears throat]

Sounds like we have no council committee reports. Uh the reading of legislation, Jody? Legislation for first reading, resolution 3901 for first reading, resolution authorizing a partnership agreement between the city of Bowling Green and Wood County, Ohio regarding program year 2026 community housing impact and preservation chip funds from the Ohio Department of Development ODOD and authorizing the mayor of the city of Bowling Green to execute said partnership agreement. Joel, we need to give that multiple readings. Oh, Mr. President. Mr. Odericio. I ask that we give resolution 3901 its second and third reading. Second. Jody. Elliott? Yes. Harold?

Yes. Hollomba? Yes. Musgrave? Yes. Odericio? Yes. J. Dennis? Yes. Okay, the rules are suspended for resolution 3906. Resolution 3906 for second and third readings. Resolution authorizing a partnership agreement between the city of Bowling Green and Wood County, Ohio regarding program year 2026 community housing impact and preservation chip funds from the Ohio Department of Development ODOD and authorizing the mayor of the city of Bowling Green to execute said partnership agreement. Mr. President.

Mr. Odericio. I move to approve let resolution 3901. Second. Properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Um, is it 3906 or 3901? 3906. 06. Thank you. All right, Jody. Harold. Yes. Hollenbaugh. Yes. Musgrave. Yes. Odericio. Yes. Jay Dennis. Yes. Elliott. Yes. Okay, resolution 3906 is adopted. Ordinance 9355 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. I uh move to suspend the rules and give ordinance 9355 its second and third readings. Second. Properly moved and seconded. Jody. Hollenbaugh. Yes. Musgrave. Yes. Odericio. Yes. Jay Dennis. Yes. Elliott. Yes. Harold. Yes. All right, the rules are suspended for ordinance 9355. Ordinance 9355 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. Okay. I would like to move to adopt ordinance 9355.

Second. Properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Jody. Musgrave. Yes. Odericio. Yes. Jay Dennis. Yes. Elliott. Yes. Harold. Yes. Holcomb Ball. Yes. Ordinance 9355 is adopted. Ordinance 9356 for first reading. Ordinance creating section 35.42 of the codified ordinances of Bowling Green, Ohio related to deposit of public monies. Ordinance 9357 for first reading. Ordinance granting an easement to Columbia Gas of Ohio, Inc. for the Evergreen Terrace gas service project upgrade project and declaring an emergency. Legislation for second reading. Ordinance 9351 for second reading. Ordinance amending and adopting chapter 33 of the codified ordinances of the city of Bowling Green, Ohio regarding employment policies. Ordinance 9353 for second reading. Ordinance creating section 124 of the codified ordinances of the city of Bowling Green concerning short-term rentals. Ordinance 9354 for second reading. Ordinance amending and adopting certain sections of chapter 150 of the codified ordinances of the city of Bowling Green, Ohio regarding zoning code. Legislation for third reading. Resolution 3905 for third reading. Resolution authorizing the municipal administrator to give consent, enter into contracts, and execute appropriate documents for the Ohio Department of Transportation ODOT for project ID number 114710.

I'm sorry. Oh, uh I move that we adopt resolution 9 3905. Second. Properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, Jody. O'Dericcio. Yes. Jay Dennis. Yes. Elliott. Yes. Harold. Yes. Hollemba. Yes. Musgrave. Yes. Okay, resolution 3905 is adopted. Ordinance 9348 for third reading. Ordinance authorizing the development of a solar generation project and authorizing the utilities director to negotiate and enter into required agreements for the project. Mr. President. Mr. Musgrave. I move that we adopt ordinance 9348. Second. Properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Jody. Jay Dennis. Yes. Elliott. Yes. Harold. Yes. Hollemba. Yes. Musgrave. Yes. O'Dericcio. Yes. Okay, ordinance 9348 is adopted. Do I have a motion to excuse Ms. Dennis?

So moved. Seconded. All in favor? I. Opposed, same sign. Is there any other business to come before council this evening? Hearing none, do I have a motion to adjourn? I'll move. Second. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor say I. I. Opposed, same sign. We are adjourned. Thank you very much. Here you used to be. Yeah.