City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello. Alec, you look like you're on a mission. Oh, it's cuz you're 4 minutes before start time. I see. Oh, Matt, if it makes you feel any better, I washed my truck twice today. I washed it parked in the garage and then a bird pooped on it. So, on the way here, I said, "Well, I'm going to go." Pooped on it in the garage. No. Although, the birds have been getting in my garage lately cuz if the garage door's up, they come in and then they can't figure out how to get out.

pretty good job. Yeah, this isn't as exciting.

All right, let me know when you're ready, Amanda. I'm ready whenever you are. All right. Well, let's let Lori get sorry. Six o'clock. Yeah. Yep. All right. Now I'm ready. Good. This is a call to order of the city council work session for May 4th, 2026. Uh also in attendance, we have city administrator Matt Peoples, mayor Joe Steer, law director Thad Bogs, and development director Lucas Hair. Uh roll call, please. Mrs. Damic present. Mr. Bennett here. Mrs. Deweiler here. Mr. Mclofflin here. Mr. Moore here. Mr. Payne here.

Mr. Shay present. All right. Apologies. I did that a little out of order. Um, but we're going to go right into a request for council action. First up, we have resolution 26-022. Uh, clerk, will you please read

a resolution to create a tiff area pursuant to section 5 5709.40 40 OB of the Ohio Revised Code declare improvements to certain parcels of real property located in the tiff area to be a public purpose exempt from real property taxation 100% of those improvements require the owners of those parcels to make service payments in lie of taxes provide for the distribution of the applicable portion of those service payments to the Canal Winchester local school district and Eastland Fairfield Career Center. Establish a municipal public improvement tax increment equivalent fund for the deposit of the remainder of those service payments. Specify the public infrastructure improvements to be made within the tiff area that directly benefit those parcels and approve a tiff agreement.

Thank you, Mr. Hair.

Thank you, Mr. Moore. Um, this is the second part of the tiff that we reviewed back in March, um, which was the incentive district. This is for the commercial portion of the tiff. So this is for the multifamily uh the 221 units that are being um constructed as part of the Miller Farms development. Um so this is a parcel tiff uh just on those parcels for the multifamily. It's a 30-year non-school tiff which means that it'll be in place for 30 years. The school district will be made whole uh both Canel Winchester local schools and Eastland Fairfield. So they get all the money they would have got but for the tip being in place. The rest of that incremental increase is then put into a TIFF fund that's used to reimburse the developer for public infrastructure improvements. Um, that's where the money will go first. Um, the agreement we've come up with will be up to $6.5 million in reimbursements for the public off-site public infrastructure improvements. Uh, plus interest that interest rates up to 6.5%. Um, so this would be for the widening of Oregon Road. Um, the new turn lane to be installed on Liopoolis Road and then offsite utility oversizing that we're requiring to serve future parcels that are outside of the boundaries of this parcel. Um, after the developers reimburse, then the remainder of the TIF funds could be used to benefit any public infrastructure improvements that would benefit the this parcel. Um, so as long as it has a nexus to that, it's written broadly enough that it could be used for multiple purposes. Uh, be happy to answer any questions you have regarding um, this resolution.

Mr. Sh, I heard uh, up to 6.5 million in reimbursement. Is that a number that's based on something or is it arbitrary? Yeah. So, we have um their engineer who's advanced civil design has done their engineers estimates of probable costs. And so, we've reviewed those um you know, they're very they're very conservative estimates, so they're likely higher than what the bids will come in. That's what they've found recently with other projects they've done. Uh but it's up to that amount. So, if it's any more than that, then they would be responsible. So, it also helps to ensure that they're controlling the cost on the project.

Okay. Thank you. And that is our only form of reimbursement to them. Correct. Mr. Bennett,

Mr. Hair, in the past we've talked about, you know, we're exempting the schools from this. I think at one point through the Miller Farms, we'd also talked maybe about or the subject had come up of um exempting any of the levies for uh Madison Township Fire. Is that part of this or do we need to consider that? because I think we've also discussed that some of those uh levies that have been passed aren't able to be sort of um put into a tiff. Is that I'm probably mixing up a few things.

Yes. So, we have we have two separate types of tiffs here. Um this is the commercial tiff. Um there was a previous incentive district tiff that covers the single family residential. When you pass an incentive district tiff, you need to come into agreement with the county on what are protected levies.

And so the county basically objected to establishing the tiff. They're they're essentially going to be reimbursed after 10 years and then any of the protected levies are not subject to the tiff. So they'll they'll be made whole. So um that is not the case on this commercial tiff though. The commercial tiff it basically is making the school districts whole. any other taxing entities, their incremental increase they would receive on the value of improvements would be redirected to the TIF fund to be used for public infrastructure. And that is standard for our other tiffs as well. We Yes, we have only done commercial tiffs or parcel tiffs in the past. We've never done we've only done the incentive district for Miller Farms.

Correct. Okay. that I would add is a function of state law for commercial tiffs. While they contemplate the schools being made whole in the non-school tiffs, there is not a similar statutory ability to redirect tiff funds to other entities for operations. Thank you for the clarification. I have a question. Um, would any changes to property taxation, like if there was the ballot initiative that got rid of property taxes, does that impact the tiff at all?

Well, it would definitely impact the money that comes into tiffs because those are basically service payments that are based on your property taxes. Um, but it wouldn't impact our requirements to pay. So they're only entitled to the money that's generated and comes into the TIFF fund. They're not entitled to any additional funds or any other obligation from the city to pay those. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Did you have an estimate on the revenue over the life of that test

for specifically this portion? It's uh just under $8 million, 7.98. So, it generates about $270,000 a year into the tip. Okay. After the schools are made whole. Thank you. Any other questions? Do I have a motion to move uh resolution 26-22 to full counsel? So, move. Second. All right. Motion made by Mr. McGloin, second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Mrs. Deweiler, abstain. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Payne, yes.

Mr. Sheay, yes. Mrs. Aik, yes. Thank you. Next up, we have resolution 26-023. Clerk, will you please read? A resolution to recognize National Police Week for May 11th to May 16th, 2026. Mayor,

yes. Thank you. Um, if you guys go back uh in the notes of the um the uh council meeting that's coming up and look at this resolution, it is it's pretty well written. It it talks about um how many law enforcement officers we have uh in the country, how many have lost their lives through the years. It's it's a good resolution. And I think it's important that we continue to lift up our first responders, especially our peace officers um our police officers in this day. So the resolution is acknowledging and recognizing National Police Week from May 11th through May 16th and um May 15th specifically is designated Peace Officers Memorial Day. Um, I did two weeks ago I attended um an Ohio University class and they talked about emergency response and uh a lady from the city of Westerville was there and talked about when their officers were killed up there. I think it was in 2019 or 20 and it was just uh really brought to light what that does to a community. So um unfortunately that community had to go through it. Hopefully, we never will, but I think it's important that we continue to lift up our officers, and I think this is a great resolution to do that.

Thank you, mayor. Any questions? Chair, I'd like to motion to move resolution 26-023 to full counsel. Second. Motion made by Mr. Moore, second by Mr. McGlaughlin. U roll call, please. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Mr. Sheay, yes. Mrs. Aik, yes. Mr. Bennett. Yes. Mrs. Deweiler. Yes. Thank you. And last, we have ordinance 26-010. Clerk, will you please read? An ordinance approving approving the editing and inclusion of certain ordinances as parts of the various component codes of the codified ordinances of Canal Winchester, Ohio. M. Jackson.

Thank you, Mr. Moore. This is actually an annual thing we do. Um, this project started in the fall of 2025. It had not been done since 2020 late 2023. But essentially what it is is we have a contractor who updates our codified ordinances based on the legislation that you have all passed. Um as well as updating any parts of the code that were affected by changes at the state level. Okay. So this ordinance in front of you this evening is specific to things that have changed at the state level that need to be incorporated into our codified ordinances. Okay. And this would be up through um I believe it was the end of 2025. So perfect. Any questions for M. Jackson?

Uh do I have a motion to move ordinance for I had questions earlier that I discussed with Mr. Bogs, but I thought it would be relevant and pertinent to bring it to the body is we get all these traffic code changes, but we don't see the actual language that's changing. And then with the vote, we just wholesale change the law. And I had a little bit of concern about that. And I spoke to Mr. Bogs and he ellayed my concerns because he said one that everything is going to be required by state law. It's something that we can't go into conflict with them. And that what was the other thing you said? I'm sorry. drawn a blank. But there was or that was that it I think I think that was it. Okay.

That was the concise version. I was probably wordier but no because my concern was is just Yes. So I just wanted to share that if anybody else had concerns like that. I did ask him about it because you know you get all these codes that you're changing but you don't get any language changes. Yeah. And that's, you know, one thing it's it's indicative that it is in the traffic code and the general offenses code because that is the area those general laws under the home rule amendment are areas where we can't be in conflict with the state. We can't allow what the state prohibits or vice versa in these contexts. Got it. Do I have a motion to move ordinance 26-0 to full counsel?

So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Mr. Bennett, second by Mr. Moore. Roll call, please. Mr. Bennett? Yes. Mr. Moore? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Mr. Sheay? Yes. Mrs. A? Yes. Mrs. Deweiler? Yes. Mr. Mclofflin? Yes. Uh, do I have anything for older new business? Go ahead. You go. Okay. I just uh I wanted to have a I had I had a question rather for Mr. Peoples and I wanted to discuss it. So, first off, uh I've seen our uh street staff out there working hard planting trees. They've done a great job. They've been everywhere. Feel like every time I turn around, I see them.

Um uh I did have uh some general concerns brought up to me about uh the planting of trees and rideaways in front of homes and residential areas, and understand those are public rideaways. Do residents have the right to refuse the tree from being planted in front of their property? Because I believe they were in the past, but I don't know if that's still a thing.

Yeah, typically we have tried to accommodate requests, but I mean that our goal has been to plant street trees uh through their uh the um the benefits of street trees are not just for that property. They're for uh the city in general u and general welfare. So especially when we have places that have large gaps um then we are trying to fill that out those up at this point. Um, we have, you know, we were up until um I think it was 2022. Um, we we were we have since since 22 when uh the Walgreens u uh industrial facility out on Winchester Boulevard, they removed a large portion of trees um on their property. Uh and as part of that uh they had to pay some fees in for the those removals. We've since and there there was a lot of um concern within the community uh that they were we were moving them. So, we've dedicated uh I think we put in double the amount of money in their funds the last four years uh to uh to increase the the street tree canopy uh throughout town and and that is part of that effort

and the street giveaway. I would imagine it's probably rubbed into that which by the way this year was my first year participating in that. That was an awesome event. Well ran and so cool. I'm glad I got a magnolia tree. So, thank you. Cool. Yeah, you got a nice selection. Yeah. Good. Um, so, uh, just to backtrack on that, one more question. So, if I understand it's it's, uh, the city's trying to cover, you know, the the city with trees, we're Tree City. If a resident's unhappy or if there's an issue with the tree, uh, they can't remove it, right? It's

no, that that's in the rightway. Um, it is the city's tree out there. Um some of the past concerns have been uh from uh their history with some of the trees selection that we put in years and years ago. Um where there were trees in the rightway that were not they should not have been there. Um we're going through Winchester Village removing I'll say 150 trees um that were planted there that should have never been planted in that space. Not big enough. Um so Mr. Miller's gone through an extensive effort to uh put the right tree in the right place. Um, you know, we we do have an area in um the the villages of Westchester south of Wana Creek on Wilson Drive. It's got a very large rightway tree lawn area that we're putting in larger stature trees, but for the most part part we're in a about a 5-ft tree lawn area. So, we're selecting the right tree to go in there rather than a mighty oak going into a 4ft space. even downtown. Um we we did put um um the honeyloust back in right beside corner smmiths. Uh that was on purpose cuz that's the the look that we wanted down through there. And it's yeah, we're the ones responsible for those uh for those trees down through there and the sidewalk that it heaves. And uh so most of the objections are due to that because of we had those sidewalk heaving. Uh we have a a street program or a sidewalk program uh that we have. We're we're paying um 50% of the cost on that uh because of various uh decisions that were made in the past. Makes

sense. Yep. Well, thank you very much. You're welcome. All right. I'll save it. Um anything else? Um I I do know we have a request for executive session. Um so and since we have a large gap between uh work session and council um I would like to just go ahead and do that now if that's okay with everybody. Um so um a motion for executive session under Ohio Revised Code 121-22 uh G8 to consider confidential information related to a request for economic development assistance.

So moved. I'm sorry. Did you I I was just reading, but yeah, we'll give it to you. Motion made by Miss A. Second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mrs. Aik, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Mrs. Deweiler, yes. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Mr. Sheay, yes. All right. Uh, we'll go hang in the conference room or we can go across. I It's just going through. Lory's legs are short.

Do we have enough no space for just five minutes? Sure, it'll be fine.

Five minutes. Um, time in from executive session 704. Uh, do I have a motion to adjourn work session? Second. Motion made by Mr. Sheay. Second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mr. Sheay, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Mrs. Deweiler, yes. Mrs. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Mrs. Aik, yes. Timeout is 7:05. Uh, we'll start at count start council at 7:10. Hit almost Mrs. Mclofflin. Yes. Hey, look. We haven't had one of those in a while. She's knocking the rest. She's knocking the rust off. And that was a shot.

Get it.

Good evening. Welcome to the Canal Winchester City Council meeting for Monday, May 4th, 2026. The chair will be leading the pledge of allegiance this evening. I aliance 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. Roll call, please. Mrs. A, present. Mr. Bennett here, Mrs. Dweiler here, Mr. Mclofflin here, Mr. Moore here, Mr. Payne here, Mr. Sheay present. Thank you. The next item will be the approval of minutes 26-016. This is the city council work session meeting minutes for April 20th, 20 26. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Moore, second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Mrs. Dweiler, yes. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Mr. Sheay, yes. Mrs. A,

yes. Thank you. The next item is the approval of minutes 26-017. These are the city council meeting minutes for April 20th, 2026. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Moore, second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Mrs. Mrs. Dweiler, yes. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Mr. Shay, yes. Mrs. A, yes.

Thank you. The next item is under communications and petitions. We need to set a date for uh the notice of appeal for Express Wash Concepts LLC. And uh Miss Jackson, keep me honest. I believe we've set uh requested June 15th for that. That is correct. Okay. Any objections? zero.

Okay. So, the notice of appeal hearing for express wash concepts will be set for June 15th at 5:30. Okay. The next item is public comments. If you wish to address council with public comments, you are welcome to come to the podium and state your name. As you're coming up, sir, let me give you a few um items here. Public comments are limited to 3 minutes per individual. There'll be a clock up here for you to see. Your time will not begin until you begin speaking. Your time will be displayed on the screen behind me and more time may be granted at the discretion of the chair. Let it be noted that this is not a time for council to answer your specific questions. If you do have a question, you may ask it during your time and we will attempt to uh have your question addressed throughout the remainder of the meeting. If you do not feel your question has been addressed, please reach out to a member of council or an appropriate city director after the meeting. Okay. You may begin, sir.

Thank you, members of council. Mr. Mayor, um about this time last year, um a member of the Westchester Golf Course was uh charged and convicted for uh shooting birds, geese on the golf course. Um the state wildlife officer had uh mentioned a uh email from the mayor giving that person permission to uh discharge the firearms there uh on the golf course. Um I live on Buckner Street. Holes uh two and three are there. Um they're out there again this year. And while the state gave permission for them to do so, um um the mayor also apparently gave a variance for that as well. Um now I've been to a lot of gun ranges outdoors in my time. Um I've never been to one that um 360° surrounded by houses. So I would say that's not a gun range. probably not an appropriate place to shoot firearms um completely surrounded by houses um and fairly close quarters. I'm asking that the mayor remove the variance at least for holes two and three preferably, you know, it's unsafe there to have that done. Um, now I'm not calling the golf course a liar, but I will say that they probably have not been doing the non-lethal items that should have been done prior to the application that they gave to the state in that I'm sufficiently familiar with these uh means to non-lethally remove the geese and I have not seen any of them employed. Um, so I don't think it's an appropriate place for firearms to be discharged. Um, with the houses, they're that close and I'm asking the mayor to remove that variance.

Thank you, sir. For the record, would you state your name, please? Andrew Boso. Oh, thank you, sir. All right. Take care. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bos. Okay. The next item is reports of city officials and staff. And the first item is Mayor Steager. Uh thank you, Miss Aik. Um so the mayor's report is in your report uh for the mayor's court. It's um pretty typical of the court. So you can read through that if you want. Um and that that's all I have for this evening.

Thank you, mayor. Is there a motion to approve the April 2026 mayor's court report? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Moore, second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Mrs. Dweiler, yes. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Mr. Sheay, yes. Mrs. Aik, yes. Thank you. The next item um for the staff report is from city administrator, Mr. Peoples.

Uh, thank you, Miss A. Just wanted to add a couple things to my life or to my uh to my report. Uh, as we kind of talked a little bit earlier, drinking fountain has been installed out at McGill Park. Um, apparently we had a mechanical issue with it today. Um, that I'm not sure what the status of it is at at this moment in time. Uh, but that's been a long time coming. We had a grant for it. Ended up not being for the right one. They said that they were going to give us a replacement for that. Didn't happen. Here's where we are. So glad it is did get installed. Uh, and then, um, wanted the Sean Starcher wanted to make sure thank the sustainability commission for the, uh, the help that they did with the, um, with the cleanup day. Um, that helps his crews out tremendously. Picked up a lot of trash with that and, uh, knew that they were out there doing doing a lot of work. Uh, and then one last thing, uh, just want to point out that, uh, one of our operators at our water reclamation facility, Payton Young, passes class two test. that is very quick a quickly after he just passed his class one test. He's only been with the city for three years and I think first year was um uh as a summer help. Um so he's done a very good job uh learning quickly.

Congratulations, Mr. Young. Any questions for Mr. Peoples? Okay, hearing none, we'll move on to the Fairfield County Sheriff. Welcome. Do you have anything you'd like to report on this evening? No, ma'am. Nothing to report. Okay. Any questions for the Fairfield County Sheriff's Department? Okay. Hearing none. Next up is law director, Mr. Bogs. Thank you, Mrs. Amik. I don't have anything further to report this evening, but I'm happy, excuse me, happy to answer any questions you may have.

Uh, Mr. Bogs, just one one quick question maybe for clarification on the um the public comment. Um, I know the mayor has some pretty broad shoulders, but I I do believe that he doesn't have the the right to grant that um variance and that we or council um voted that ordinance in to allow the golf course to to be able to get rid of the animals that were destroying their property. That was that was my recollection um as well. Um, I'm having some connectivity issues here, but want to look that up and can get back with council on on how that occurred.

Yeah, that that is correct. That's how good and I'll check with Sergeant Strong on the the status of that as well. Okay, I appreciate it. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Any other questions for Mr. Fox? Okay, moving on. Next item is um finance director and Mrs. Jackson. Thank you for wearing two hats this evening.

Thank you, Mrs. Aik. Uh just a couple of things I wanted to uh mention to you this evening. So, we have put pool memberships on sale. Um we did have our first pool openhouse last night for individuals to come in and get their memberships registered as well as for daily passes. Um wasn't terribly crowded, but it was steady. So, that's a good thing. Um we're going to have another one tomorrow night, 4:30 to 6:30. So, if anyone is um interested in joining us tomorrow evening, we'll get you all taken care of uh here in this building. And then um I was intending to have the Dr. Bender scholarship winners here this evening. Um I've had a little difficulty getting in touch with them. I got one response finally today. They are going to join us at your next meeting to be recognized. I'll try and get that second one there as well. Um and then I have one more item for you for the next meeting. We are going to be talking 2027 tax budget. Um, keep in mind this is not the annual appropriations. This is merely um a an exercise we are required to go through um to submit information on our expected revenues and expenditures to the county budget commission that has to be approved by mid July. Um given your recess in July this year being the first meeting rather than the second meeting, we had to push it up a meeting. Um, so 5:30 May 18th, we're going to discuss the 2027 tax budget and then that'll give you three reads um before I need to uh send in it to the county budget commission. So that is all I have for you. Any questions for Mrs. Jackson?

I don't have questions. I just want to give you kudos for you and Hannah and Mr. Peoples working together for the communication on the changes to the pool. I thought it was uh I want to say well received, but it was well written. I think very digestible. Um and uh I appreciate your guys' hard work on all of that. Thank you. It's been there has been a little bit of a learning curve for all of us. Um so we appreciate everybody you know working with us and being patient while we we get this process up and running but um I think you know after the first couple rounds of this we'll be it'll be smooth sailing. So thank you. The next item is development director Mr. Her.

Thank you Mr. Zamik. Just a few development projects to update you on um isn't written report, but uh Waterlue Crossing Shopping Center, a lot of activity happening out there. Addition going in between Los Margaritas and Planet Fitness for a five below and another tenant space that remains available for lease. Uh also the GameStop that's located in that location in that central area, uh they'll be closing and that'll be converting into a Little Caesar's Pizza. And then later this month, Walmart will be starting their major renovation in addition to their project. So there'll be a lot of activity happening overall. They've g they're going to have a large storage yard kind of in the Walmart parking lot for, you know, all their construction trailers and things like that. So we're working through all those details currently. Um the Canal Winchester High School has kicked off their projects. They're doing the bleacher expansions currently and they're also relocating the fuel pump which is kind of the precursor to starting the performing arts center which will go in the location of the current fuel pumps. And then Ohio Health has recently received approvals to occupy um 10013 BC road suite 100 which is the corner of DY and BC road. Um they're taking the 90,000 square feet that was originally built out for Wraid and that will be their integrated service center for their pharmacy division. So basically managing all the prescription pills that go to thearmacies throughout their their network of I think they're up to 13 or 14 hospitals now. Um so um that's a a really good tenant for us and h happy to have them continue to invest in Canal Winchester um with the presence that they already have on Waterlue. Uh they'll likely be moving in. They're just waiting on the board of pharmacy approval um which will likely take place in mid to to late May and then they'll they'll start occupancy that space.

Thank you, Mr. Hair. Any questions? Just real quick, Mr. Hair, do you anticipate any closures with the little um Caesars and the Five Below and all that construction happening at relatively the same time, right? Will they close off any of that roadway? Do you know? Uh they're not intending to. So all all of that will take place behind or just on the sidewalk. So there may be some impacts to the sidewalk itself, but not the travel lanes. Okay. There will be lane closures around kind of the this will be the east side of the Walmart parking lot. So kind of along the east side where they do a lot of their outdoor storage of mulch and things like that. There'll be a lot of areas there that are going to be closed with the construction. Okay. For Walmart.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. The next item would be our resolutions for this evening. The first item is resolution 26-022. Clerk, will you read the resolution, please? A resolution to create a tiff area pursuant to section 5709.40B of the Ohio Revised Code. Declare improvements to certain parcels of real property located in the TIF area to be a public purpose. Exempt from real property taxation 100% of those improvements. Require the owners of those parcels to make service payments in lie of taxes. provide for the distribution of the applicable portion of those service payments to the Canal Winchester Local School District and Eastland Fairfield Career Center. Establish a municipal public improvement tax increment equivalent fund for the deposit of the remainder of those service payments. Specify the public infrastructure improvements to be made within the TIF area that directly benefit those parcels and approve a TIFF agreement.

Thank you. The sponsor is Mr. Mclofflin. I move to adopt resolution 26-022. Second. Motion made by Mr. Mclofflin, second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Mrs. Dweiler, abstain. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Mr. Sheay, yes. Mrs. Ach, yes. Thank you. The next item is resolution 26-023. Clerk, will you read the resolution, please? A resolution to recognize National Police Week for May 11th to May 16th, 2026. Thank you. The sponsor is Mr. Moore. Motion to adopt resolution 26-023.

Second. Uh motion made by Mr. Moore. I heard many because I think we all are in favor of this. So, um Mr. Second by Mr. Payne. Roll call, please. Point of order. Yes, sir. Can we read the or can either the mayor or member of council read the reservation? I can read it. I think just given the gravity of this one. Yes.

So, gentlemen, uh thank you so much for coming tonight. We're just going to take a moment to honor you and let you know how much we appreciate all you guys. Um, of course, our department from uh Fairfield County and Madison Township over here. If you look at these guys, they're all wearing uh bulletproof vest except the chief down there. He we know he's a pencil pusher now, but um If if uh you guys just remember at the White House correspondents uh dinner at the Washington Hilton what almost a week and a half ago now um the vest didn't protect the officer there and he was shot in the side with the vest. So um it just it just goes to show how dangerous your job is. It's one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. you're between us and them. And I know I can speak for everyone in this room how much we appreciate what you do for the community, for the state of Ohio, and for for uh our country. You know, you're true heroes. We appreciate you and and this this is for you. So whereas today there are more than 800,000 law enforcement officers serving communities across the United States, including the dedicated members of Fairfield County Sheriff's Department and Madison Township law enforcement. um they are serving enforcement of the city of canal Winchester and Madison Township. Whereas uh since the first recorded death in 1786, there are currently more than two uh 24,500 law enforcement officers in the United States who have made the ultimate sacrifice and have been killed in the line of duty. And whereas the names of these dedicated public servants are engraved in the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington DC. And whereas the service and sacrifice of all the officers killed in the line of duty will be honored during the National Law

Enforcement Officers Memorial Funds 38th Candlelight Vigil on the evening of May 13th, 2026. And whereas the candlelight vigil is part of the national police week which will be observed excuse me this year from May 11th through May 16th. And whereas May 15th is designated as peace officers memorial day in honor of all the fallen officers and their families and US flag should be flown at half mass. And then now therefore be it resolved by the council of the city of canal Winchester in the state of Ohio that this city council hereby recognizes National Police Week 2026 from May 11th to the 16th and to recognize and honor the service and sacrifice of those law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty while protecting our communities. that this resolution shall take effect and be in force from and after the earliest period allowed by law. Thank you guys for all you do. It's highly appreciated.

Thank you, Mayor Steager. Thank you, officers. We appreciate everything you do. The motion was made by Mr. Moore, second by Mr. Payne. Roll call, please. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Mr. Sheay, yes. Mrs. Aik, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Mrs. Deweiler, yes. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Thank you all. We have uh no Yes.

Thank you. The Fairfield County um deputy is like, "Wait, wait for me." Um, we have no second readings this evening. Going on to first readings, we have ordinance 25-01, I'm sorry, ordinance 26-010. Clerk, will you read the ordinance, please? An ordinance approving the editing and inclusion of certain ordinances as parts of the various component codes of the codified ordinances of Canal Winchester, Ohio. Thank you. The sponsor is Mr. Bennett.

Thank you. First reading only. Thank you. That takes us to council reports. Uh coming up, we have a work session and council meeting on Monday, May 18th at 6 p.m. A public hearing Monday, May 18th at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the 2027 tax budget. The work session and council meeting for Monday, June 1st, and the work session and council meeting for Monday, June 15th. And we will also have a public hearing that evening as well. The next council connect meeting will be May 20th at 6:30 p.m. at the Canal Winchester Library. Your hosts will be uh Mrs. Deweiler and myself. The first uh council report this evening will be given by Mr. Sheay for CW Human Services.

All right. I've got some new information from human services. As of May 1st, uh Anna Ross has taken over the new role as operations manager. She'll be overseeing the day-to-day operations across the outreaches and programs. Alana Linderman will continue serving as a full-time pantry coordinator. As part of this transition, we are currently searching for a new part-time program coordinator and a new part-time community partnership coordinator. Food outreach updates. Uh during the month April, pantry served 405 clients, provided 5,55 meals, distributed 6,13 lbs of food. Uh Anna appreciates the city's continued partnership and support as human services moves through this transitional time.

Thank you, Mr. Sheay. Um I'll be reporting on the CWIC. Our next meeting will be here in council chambers on July 29th at 11:30 a.m. Next item is the Canal Winchester joint rec district District. Mr. Bennett and Mr. Moore. Thank you. Our next meeting will be May 12th at 6:00 p.m. Um, also we do have uh quite a few different sports open for um registration right now. So, please jump on cwjrd.com or go to the Facebook page and and look at what's available. Um, love love to have the kids sign up. What about summer camps? Is that registration opening or I'd have to look and see if that's open yet? But

it should be open. It should be open. Yeah. Yeah. There is one. Um, yes, there is one. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Moore. Mr. Bennett, did you have anything you wanted to add? Nothing to add. Thank you. All right. Next um item would be destination Canal Winchester. Mr. Payne,

thank you. Mrs. A May is kicking off a busy season for destination. The art on the canal art stroll is on May 16th from 12 to 6:00 p.m. Uh this year's event will feature a strong lineup of local and regional artists, food trucks, and hands-on activities through our creation station, including face painting, chalk art, and kids crafts. Uh we're also incorporating interactive elements like a splatter paint experience and a live demo demo from Timbo Sullivan who does uh the series is it cake?

Um which everyone's excited about. In addition, we're continuing to build momentum with our summer Sundays at Stradley concert series on May 24th, which kicks off Memorial Day weekend as well as ongoing initiatives uh like the farmers market which begins May 30th. We're also continuing to grow engagement through the Canal Winchester app and community calendar, helping residents and visitors stay connected and informed about everything happening in town. So, if you haven't already, please download uh the app. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Payne and the Sustainability Commission, Mrs. Steweiler. Our next meeting will be this Wednesday, May 6th, and our next upcoming event is the Great Garage Revival, which is a series of community garage sales. Um, it starts May 15th at Friday and then it goes through uh Saturday, May 16th, the same as the art crawl. So, you're going to have tons of stuff to do that weekend. Um, you can sign up to be a garage seller on uh the Canal Winchester website. There's a flyer that you click and then a form you fill out. Um, and you do not have to worry about this garage sale going towards your two garage sale limit.

Thank you, Mrs. Deweiler. I would just like to add too that the first music in the park uh sponsored by the city of Canal Winchester will be coming up on Friday, May 15th and your council members, some of us will be there to serve free popcorn to the community. Okay. Is there Miss Ham? Yes, sir. Um can I give the update for the chamber? Well, I'm so sorry, Mr.

That's okay. Thank you very much. Um, so thank you to everyone who helped with our state of the community event on April 22nd, uh, including Mayor Steager and city administrator Matt Peoples. Uh, the recording and presentations are available on the Chambers YouTube page. Uh, we have an event coming up for uh, called the Sunrise Social. It's on Wednesday on this Wednesday, so in two days from 7:30 to 8:30 at McGill Park at the Peggywood Pavilion. Third Street Digital will lead an interactive session on using AI to assist with productivity and everyday tasks. Uh this event is free. Uh also want to welcome the newest member to the chamber uh corpse corpse one remodeling sighting and roofing. And I also reached out to Elizabeth just to ask for an update uh because I want to make everybody aware in the community and on council um how much progress she's made, how much growth she's made for the chamber. Um they've since January 1st of this year, there's been 11 new chamber members added. Um she also uh her and Amanda started Leadership Canal Winchester, which is like a leadership program that's going to be a 9-month leadership program. It's already sold out. Um and it's generated $14,000 in revenue already for the chamber. Um, and there's more programming coming as well in talks, but uh, just wanted to point that out to everybody so everyone was aware of of what's happening in the chamber.

Thank you, Mr. Sorry, I overlooked you. Um, that was news worth waiting for. Thank you. Okay. Is there any new business for this evening's agenda? I would just add to the U list of events for um, the weekend of May 16th. Um the historical society will also be hosting a an open house um for Elevate 1828 on that Saturday as well. So feel free to stop down and uh kind of check out the the new facility. Great. Thank you, Mr. Bennett. It's a happen in place in Canal Winchester this that weekend.

I'd like to I have two things I want to want to mention for uh new business and old business. So, first it was old business. Um, something that was mentioned a few months ago was a safe uh child custody handoff location in our city. Um, and I know that our uh we don't have a location yet, but the the city staff have been working on that. Um, and they're talking to uh Madison Township uh fire and also our sheriff's department to figure out, you know, appropriate location for that. So hopefully uh here soon we'll have an update for that and a location and we can publicize that. Uh for new business, I just want to mention that um there is a uh town hall being hosted by the uh Franklin County Prosecutor's Office here at the Canal West Community Center on June 3rd. It's going to be a public safety town hall. uh June 3rd at uh doors will open at 5:30m. Uh I know Mayor Steer will uh plans to be in attendance. Um I got uh Sheriff Stron's going to be there as well. CPD is going to be there. Uh Shila Favorvers, our Franklin County prosecutor is going to be there. Meredith Lawson Row um and then I think various members of council um have have talked about being there. So I think it's going to be great. Uh June is public or is crime prevention month. So, I think it goes hand inhand with that. It will be a lot of good information and facts on crime statistics in the Canal Winchester community uh and Franklin County in general and uh crime prevention uh techniques and tips from uh our local law enforcement.

Thank you, Mr. Mclofflin. What's the time for that again? Uh doors are going to open at 5:30 with the hope to uh start at 5:45. Tell them how long it takes to get down from downtown, right? We'll find out. Anything else for this evening? I would just one last thing for me. Um just like to commend um the city and Fairfield County Sheriff's Office for the e-recycling and drug takeback event um we had a little while ago. Um there was I I I don't know if we have a a total amount of um I do not have those numbers

weight collected on the uh the drug takeback portion but um the e- recycling again was well utilized um lots of again not maybe as much as we collected the first time we initiated the event but it was a very steady stream of people bringing older electronics through to kind of drop off. So, um, continues to be a great event for the community. Um, just want to, you know, continue to say, you know, these kind of events are kind of what make our town special. So, um, it was, it was a great and well organized event. I know, um, Hannah and Adriana really kind of worked handinhand with that. So, it was well well done.

Thank you, Mr. Bennett. That's that's definitely good to good to hear. So, I love hearing these stories about how engaged our community is. Everybody has a a piece of some activity.

Some people actually So, in during the the ecycling takeback, someone actually came in um dropped off electronics, but then also gave the company that was collecting and managing it all a donation. And he said, you know, for anyone to consider donating any amount of money to help offset the cost of this, it's never like very few communities do that kind of thing. they're usually just happy to get rid of it. But he said, you know, it it just, you know, again, he was just so overwhelmed by the kind of community and the residents that came through, you know, everybody jumping out of their cars, helping out offload, you know, it wasn't just, you know, people just pulled up and just kind of hit the button and the truck like no, they they got out and they were trying to help and it just again excellent.

Um, yeah, I was and I was like, yeah, I that's that's Canal Winchester for you. That's it is very much so. Not a surprise. Yeah. Okay. Anything else? Okay. Hearing none. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Moore. Second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mr. Moore. Yes. Mr. Bennett? Yes. Mrs. Deweiler? Yes. Mr. Mclofflin? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Mr. Sheay? Yes. Mrs. A? Yes. Time out. 7:42.