City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the Canal Winchester City Council public hearing for Monday, May 18th, 2026. Roll call, please. Miss Aik, present. Mr. Bennett. Miss Deweiler present. Mr. Mclofflin. Mr. Moore here. Mr. Payne here. Mr. Sheay present. Thank you. Do I have a motion to excuse Mr. Bennett? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Moore, second by Mr. Shay. Roll call, please. Mr. Moore. Yes. Mr. Sheay, yes. Miss Aik, yes. Miss Stweiler, yes. Mr. Mclofflin. Mr. Payne? Yes.

Thank you. And is there a motion to excuse Mr. Mclofflin? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Moore, second by Mrs. Deweiler. Roll call, please. Mr. Moore. Yes. Miss Deweiler? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Mr. Shay? Yes. Miss A? Yes. Thank you all. The purpose of our public hearing today is to discuss ordinance 26-012. Clerk, will you read the ordinance, please? an ordinance approving and adopting the 2027 tax budget.

Thank you. And uh welcome to the podium, Mrs. Jackson. Thank you, Mrs. Aik. Hard to believe that it's only maybe a little over miday and we're talking about next year, but here we are. Um for those of you who have sat through my presentation before, some of this is just going to be review for our newest council members. Um hopefully this will give you a little insight into why we are doing what we are doing um this evening. Uh so why are we doing the tax budget? Because the revised code says we have to. So 5705 is the chapter that governs um all the budgetary requirements that I have to follow as part of my job as finance director for the city. Um and that section says that we have to adopt this tax budget on or before July 15th. Uh because of your meeting schedule. That is why we are here this evening in May talking about this so that we can ensure that it is passed prior to July 15th. Um and then I have to file this once it is adopted with the county auditor. So we use this to estimate the revenue that we expect to get next year. It does in fact show expenditures but we are solely focused on revenue at this point. Okay. Um what we are doing is we are setting a limit of how much money we are going to have to spend next year. So, we're going to look at what we anticipate ending this year with, what we anticipate bringing in in revenue next year, and those two numbers combined are what we are allowed to appropriate um for 2027. This tax budget will go to the county budget commission um and they use it to adjust tax levies as required by law. So, let's get into um some more of the meat and potatoes of our tax budget. So, our general fund is our largest and least restrictive, meaning we can use it for pretty much

anything that's legal um under the revised code unless, excuse me. So, this is going to account for all the revenue sources um unless there is a specific restriction on a source of revenue. So, we'll talk about those restricted revenues um a little bit later, but right now we're talking about taxes, both income and property taxes, um licenses, fees, permits, um all kinds of charges for services. Well, I shouldn't say all kinds. We only have a couple here. Um state funding that we get both from the state and from the county that's passed through. Um but you all know that by far and wide, our biggest source of revenue are income taxes. Okay, so this is a snippet of the tax budget that is included as an attachment to this ordinance showing you just our local taxes. So there's essentially uh three taxes that are showing up in here, property taxes, income taxes, and then what is referred to as other local taxes. Those are our bed taxes. And then we actually have a franch TV franchise fee that we charge to um cable companies in that operate in Canal Winchester or provide cable service in Canal Winchester. Um so as noted up there they have to pay us 5% of gross revenues every year. Um and those are considered taxes. So for 2027 um we are anticipate anticipating 12.875 million in income taxes. As you can see this is actually less than what we took in in 2025. Um we like to stay very very conservative with these numbers. Um yes Mr. Moore.

Just for the record Mr. Bennett is here at 535. Sorry to interrupt.

You're okay. Um, so again, this is comparing 2025 actual um to what we are anticipating for 2027. And this just goes to show you how much uh we rely on those income taxes. Okay. So, in 2025, out of all of our general general fund revenue, 75% of it came from our income taxes. Um, we with the 2027 budget as it is today, we're anticipating that to go up and we're relying a little more heavily on that. Um, and we'll kind of touch on why that is here in just a second. This is historic income tax collection collections. Um, so you can see that the darker red, which is what's going to be on the left hand side of each year, is what we actually took in. The more orange color is what we projected. So we brought in well more than we projected each year. And then if you look in 2026, that is where we are anticipating ending this year based on where we are today um through collections that we have received as of May 15th. All right. So I guess the point of this slide here is to show you how far we've come in a short period of time. If you look at 2017, you know, we were at roughly $7 million and now we're sitting here looking at just under $13 million. So, a lot of growth has occurred. All right. And then where does that income tax come from? Um, you know, this is something we we this is a conversation we tend to have a lot with our residents is where is that money coming from? Um, a lot of it's coming from withholdings. Now, that is not only businesses that operate here. It's mainly businesses that operate in Canal Winchester. Um, but it's also people who are working in a municipality that does not charge an income tax. Their employers will withhold a residence tax and that is also going to show up as

withholdings rather than as like an individual paying an income tax. If that does that make sense to everyone? Okay. And then that 15% um number, the orange slice, that's net profit tax. So you can see that we are really more heavily reliant on payroll withholding than we are net profit. All right. So in 2027, again, I said this earlier, we're staying very conservative. We're going to keep it where we're at in 2026. Um, we are ahead of where we were this time last year, but I can tell you that in two of the five months of 2026, our collections in those months were lower than the same month in 2025. Okay, this is why we're going to keep we're going to anticipate revenue staying flat for 2027. Kind of see if some of that's just based on timing, when people pay their tax withholdings, how the calendar falls, things along those lines. But it's something that I do keep an eye on. Um, important reminder, this is what we know of today, right? Um, I mentioned a little bit ago that we are 30 days ahead of where we typically are when I present this to you. So, you know, a lot can change in 30 days. So, this um information will change between now and when I present to you the final appropriations for 27. Um, that'll be probably in the oct roughly October time frame. Um, and a lot's going to change between now and then. So we will update this information then. All right. Um property taxes. I do want to say this property tax information does not take into account any of the proposed changes at the state level. Okay. We are operating as is. Um assuming that everything is staying the same. When and if things change, we will adjust accordingly. So currently we have a millage of 2.0. That is not going to change unless you're well that doesn't

change at all. Okay. That is nonvoted millillage. All right. So part of this exercise is more for the county budget commission to change voted millillage to agree to an amount of money that that municipality or uh political subdivision needs to raise in order to meet their obligations. We are not in that boat, which is why this is just an exercise for us. So the county budget commission isn't going to change anything. our millillage will always be two. Okay. Um, our revenue that we take in is only going to change based on property values. So, property values go up or down, we have new construction, things along those lines, that's what's going to change what our taxpayers are going to pay. So, you as homeowners, if your property value goes up, you are going to pay us a little bit more. That is not a result of anything we, the city, are doing. That is based purely on the value of your home. Okay? All right. Um, real quick, there is a difference between inside and outside millillage. This is very confusing um, for people who don't live this life uh, in government finance. So, this is sort of how I like to try and break it down for people. Um, inside millage is going to be things that are unvoted. The statute gives us 10 mills total across all political subdivisions that can issue a tax. Okay. So, we kind of have to fight a little bit for it, if you will. Uh, see who gets to it first. But one mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Okay? That's not market value. Assessed valuation is 35% of market value. Okay? So, if you have a $500,000 house, you're not paying taxes on that. You're paying taxes on 35% of $500,000. Okay? Um outside millillage

has to be approved by the voters. All right, we again we don't have any. Um so then outside millillage can be reduced. This is where the budget county or county budget commission comes into play is when they go through and they start doing all their math and it's very complicated, but they can reduce that millillage um based on increases in property values and all kinds of different things to ensure that the amount of money that that political subdivision is taking in is appropriate. Okay. again not does not affect us. Okay. Um this slide is purely illustrative. It shows you where our um property values are in Canal Winchester. So this is from Franklin County. So anything that says in county is Franklin County. Anything that says out of county is the Fairfield County portion of our city. Um so you can see that we did go up in valuation. So Franklin County is currently doing a trienal property value update. Okay. that happens every three years. They do a reappraisal, full-blown reappraisal every six years. Fairfield County just did their reappraisal in 2025. Okay, so these values are kind of constantly changing, not just because of new construction, but because of the requirement for the counties to do these um updates every 3 years. All right, let's talk about other revenues. Okay, so these revenues these are called intergovernmental revenues because as that says we get them from other governments. Most of these are formula based and they those governments will give me estimates of these amounts because we are so early in this process. None of those estimates are available. Usually they don't come out until June. So some of these numbers are likely going to change. I don't think they will change significantly. This is based on historically what we've taken in from these um various sources

but they they will change once I get those numbers from the other entities. All right. Um so on this slide we kind of talk about all the other sort of I don't want to say miscellaneous revenue but everything else that goes into the general fund. Um and down below are definitions for you or sort of explanations of what is considered um revenue for each of these line items. So for example, our pool revenue pool is, you know, on the top of my mind right now. It opens Saturday. We got a lot to do between now and Saturday. So um that is considered a charge for service. So if somebody buys a membership, somebody buys a date pass, it's a charge for service. uh somebody wants to come in and build a new building, they have to pay building um permits. That's considered fines, licenses, and permits. U miscellaneous is the biggest thing you're going to see in miscellaneous is going to be our investment interest. Okay. Um and then the last thing I want to point out on this slide is the advances in uh for those of you who have been here with us for a little while, you know that back in 2015 when Brewog came to Canal Winchester, we purchased Tanner Park from them. Um and we have slowly been repaying ourselves back from the gender road tiff fund. We are last on the list to get repaid. So if other things are happening, you know, we may not get our advance that year. But fortunately, the general rot fund is not very healthy. So we can repay ourselves in a consistent manner. We still owe 100 owe ourselves $120,000, which is where that $40,000 a year is coming into play. Um, I do want to point out that you probably notice that the fines, licenses, and permits number, the expected revenue is down. development is slow to be quite honest with you. You've heard um Lucas talk about the lack of open lots for residential building. You know, so these are things that we anticipate. These are things that we are we have planned for and are prepared to weather. So, all right. And then our total budget budgeted revenue for the general fund is

just over $16 million for Oh, that should say 27 um not for 26. All right. Real quick, let's talk expenditures. So the majority of our expenses are paid from this fund. Um we try and make our expected expenditures equal our expected revenue every year so that we're not really dipping into our fund balance. But as you know our fund balance has grown. So we are using our fund balance when we have to um to keep things going. A lot of this is more reference especially for our newest council members about what is considered um you know appropriate for each of these groups these um headings. can't think of the word I'm looking for. Um, but so if you're looking for sheriff expenses, you're going to look under security of persons. If you're looking for like what we do for the street program, that's going to be considered transportation. Most of the city employees are paid out of the general government line item, so that's why it's going to be much larger than some of the others. All right, let's talk salary and benefits. Um, we have salaries budgeted to increase 3.3% over 2026. This includes a cost of living raise. Um, this does include a few changes to staffing. we've got, you know, some thing some people who are earning um various licenses and things and we do incentivize that uh when that happens. So that's all built into that. Um benefits, we say this every year, we sound like a broken record, keep going up, up. One of the big things that has happened to us in the last couple of years is we have had a boom in the younger generation getting married and coming on our insurance. So they went from single coverage to family coverage. And so that is um affecting our benefit budget a little bit. Um so you know all of this together is where we're coming at that 15%. Again this is just where we think we're going to be. We will have a much much better idea about this stuff come fall.

Yes Mr. Bennett. 15% 15% of what? What's the total increase? When you say 15%. 15% when comparing 26 to 27. Do you know the dollar number, I guess, is what I'm asking. Oh. Um, in the general fund, it's going to be a couple hundred,000.

Um, down at the bottom there, you see the total percent of general fund budget. So, salaries and benefits makes up 27 and a half or 27% of the total general fund budget. And then I list the 24 and 25 actuals for you basically to say, yes, we start out this way, but it never ends up being that high. But that is normal. About a quarter of your budget being your s your people is normal. All right. Um this is a list of larger expenditures. Contract services. You know that we do contract contract out a lot. We are a small group. Um couple of the ones I want to point out to you obviously the shop. We know we're going to be adding um some bodies again next year with our assuming we're going to be meeting with the sheriff's department. That was the original plan. We'll see if that plan is still what they believe to be appropriate. But we have included enough money in there for that. Um we are talking about updating our parks master plan next year. That was last done in 2017. So 10-year um period time to to up that. And then of course we have the council approved contracts. Some of these are up this year. So we are going to be bringing these as discussion items to you hopefully sooner rather than later so we can get those that conversation moving so I know what is appropriate to budget for when I do appropriations. Um, these are just estimates kind of based on where we are at currently with those contracts with a slight increase. Um, but obviously subject to change based on what council decides to do with them uh this fall. Um, some other large non- capital expenditures, you know, we have uh income tax sharing agreements both with Violet Township and with the schools. Attorneys aren't cheap. Um, and then utilities. Our utilities have continued to go up. I'm sure you have all noticed this at your houses as well. So, we are, you know, budgeting appropriately for that. Um, and then the lease purchase payments. Uh, 2027 will be the last year that we have a payment on Miguel Park.

So, that will be falling off the books. Um, not too long after this building will fall off the books. But, if you recall, we did pick up the Smith property. Um, so that will be on for the next 3 years. The other agreements are all 10-year agreements. the Smith agreement is only three. So, um, for the next three years, we're going to have a much larger lease payment out of the general fund than we have, but we can withstand that for three years. Um, and then debt transfers. In order to pay the debt, I have to transfer money from the general fund to the debt service fund, but that amount has also gone up, which we will touch on here in just a second. Um, capital outlay. Again, not an inclusive list, but these are things that we do every single year. We do the street program. We plant trees. Uh, we got to paint a pool next year. We didn't have to do that this year. It's on a rotation. Um, we are uh going to be purchasing two shared vehicles next year. That is part of our contract. So, that's a um expected cost. And then total budgeted expenditures for 27 over just over 17 million. So this we're showing an $833,000 deficit, meaning we're spending more than we are anticipating to take in. We have a very healthy fund balance. So that number does not scare me in the slightest. You can see in 2017 we finished with $6.7 million in fund balance. In 2025, we finished with $18.7 million. Okay? So we have grown exponentially. Using our fund balance is something that we've talked to you guys about a lot. Um, so you know, my bringing up the Smith property purchase and the fact that that is a three-year and we're going to have a larger lease payment, we're good. We can withstand that. All right. Special revenue funds. I'm not going to read all of these to you, but basically a special revenue fund has a special source of revenue. That revenue can only be used for certain things per the code. Um, this is a list of those special revenue funds and where their revenue comes from. I'm really

just going to concentrate on a couple of them. The street maintenance fund. So, this is where like if you go renew your tags and things or you go get gas, we get gas tax. That's where this money goes. The majority of it anyway. Um, we do pay people out of this fund, which is why I like to bring it to your attention. The majority of the expenditures from this fund are to pay our people in the street department to go out and plow snow and clean up leaves and, you know, all that kind of stuff. So, all right. Um, a couple other smaller ones, just some things that we have um, sort of earmarked coming out of these funds. I mentioned the Hanners Park purchase earlier and where we're at with that. Um, bed tax fund. I know we talked a lot about the bed tax fund. Here's what is uh, estimated to come out of that fund next year. Nothing else really worth talking about in these funds if I'm going to be honest with you. So, moving right along, let's talk about debt. Um, one of the things that I wanted to point out about the debt is that this number has gone up because of the debt that we have issued with Fairfield County for the Basel Western Road improvements. So, um, the last few years this number has been a little over a half million dollars. Now, we're looking at $800,000. In the grand scheme of things, we have such little debt. It is really not, you know, anything that we cannot handle. So,

and Mrs. Jackson, that number would actually go down based on development in that area. Right. Yes. So, the plan is that as that area develops and money comes into that tiff, that money will be used to pay down the debt that we have with Fairfield County. Um, but until that development occurs, we are on the hook for 39% of the total debt that was issued by the county. We we owe it. Yeah.

Yes. All right. So, um, real quick look at our debt. We've got maturity dates anywhere from 2029 to 2049, which really isn't that far out. Um, and this kind of gives you an idea of just how much debt we have outstanding. Just over 1.2 million in OPWC, all interest free, which is fantastic. And then we have basically two long-term debt issuances totaling $1.2 million. So, those will be going away here in the next few years. And then again, we talked about the Fairfield County loan. Um there's two parts to that, but in total we're at just under $4 million um obligation on that. All right, water, sewer, storm, they primarily get their revenue from user charges when you guys come come in and pay your water bill. That's where this money goes. We do have a separate fund specifically for anything that happens sort of in the canal point area. That water, as you know, is purchased from the city of Pickerington. So, we have it all separated to for better tracking. And then we have the connections funds. So anytime anybody wants to tap into our lines, they have to pay a connection fee. Those go into separate funds. All right. So one of the things that we had talked about very briefly um at the council retreat was about our um rates, our water sewer rates. So that ordinance uh 2026 was the last year on that four-year rate ordinance. So we are looking at um maybe a larger increase than what we have had typically in the past for those user rates. Okay, a lot of things have happened. We've got projects, you know, we've talked the headworks project to death and the number or the dollar amount associated with that, what the debt payment is going to look like, but we also have to start thinking about the water plant and where we're going with that. Um costs in general continue to rise. So, we have to anticipate where we're going to need what we're going to need over the next four years for this rate ordinance. Okay. Um we are still working through

that but this does anticipate an increase in that rate um for 2027 the revenue that is being shown in the tax budget. Okay. Expenditures, same thing for the salaries and benefits as a general fund. Nothing new there. Chemicals. Again, these things have gone up so significantly in the last several years. We we're going to need to look at those rates to keep up with that increase. um debt payments. Good thing is that 2027 is going to be the last year on some debt for the water department both on the plant and the well field. So that approximately $290,000 a year is going to fall off the books after 2027, which is great. Um especially considering we're having discussions about future water treatment plant expansion and that debt that will come with that once that occurs. So, um, sewer has very little debt right now. $34,000 is it? Um, but that doesn't include the Headworks project. So, the Headworks project because it is ongoing still, we do not anticipate having to make any payment on that debt until 2028. All right. Storm water fund. Um, the thing to point out here is in the expenditure world. So, we had two uh projects, if you will, out of this fund. one being this east waterlue storm sewer replacement project that um happened just out front here. That was a grant loan combination. Fortunately, the loan portion is going to be very very small. Um project is not quite closed out yet, so I don't have an exact dollar amount as to how much loan that is. It's a 10-year zerointerest loan. Um, I'm anticipating no more than about $22,000 a year on that loan payment because of the size of it because it is going to be quite small. And then we also are replacing our street sweeper that is going to be paid

from the stormwater fund. That is a three-year lease purchase agreement through Huntington Public Capital. Um, so we're looking at about just over $88,000 a year for three years on that. Um, we talked a little bit about the water and sewer connection funds. two things that we have planned out of there, emergency repairs and in the sewer. Um, we're using that balance to offset the loan amount for the headworks project. So, we kind of take a look at what's what we've already anticipated using out of there, what's going to come in, and can we afford to bring that balance down anymore and lower our loan over the long term. So, there is some money set aside in the sewer connection fund to put more cash towards the headwork project next year. All right, quick summary. not the final budget. I'll say that over and over. Final appropriations will come to you in the fall. Um, yeah, we're spending money, but we're in a very good position to do so. With that, I've talked enough. Does anyone have any questions? And if you don't have any tonight, feel free there. We're going to do three reads on this, so you can hit me up at another meeting if you have other questions. Yes, this is I didn't hear you say anything about the 33 maintenance costs for the stretch stretch of road that we're going to have to pick up the maintenance on. Is that a 27 expense? I'm going to defer that one to Mr. Peles if you will.

Yeah, we we are still working with ODOT on that. That is um probably something that'll be discussed uh next week uh I'm sorry. Yeah, next week with them uh as well to try to figure out the timing of that. Uh it'll be a reimbursement with them uh until they get done with the um 33 mainline widening. Is it material in terms of dollars? Like is it Yeah, that that's what some of our questions are is what what does this even look like? What we don't know what it takes to do this. So, uh that'll be part of that's part of our comments on the uh on the agreement itself. And then again, there'll be a discussion uh to kind of go over those points. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Peoples. You're welcome.

And then Mr. Jackson, you are extraordinarily skilled about answering these questions. So, if you could really bring it down to my level. At the at the mayor's retreat, we talked about the property tax. Um, and the amount is I think it's 800,000 for 2027, which is in in a corporate world, you would go like whatever. Um, however, you explained some additional impacts. Should there be movement in the direction of zero property tax or impact of property tax? Can you bring that down a couple levels for me and explain what those impacts are?

So the one impact that I am most concerned about with that are in relation to tiffs. Okay. Because all a tiff is is the redirection of property tax and we put it into a separate fund for specific public improvements that have been identified. So if we eliminate property taxes, are we eliminating that as well? I see.

You know, we again we have these public improvements that we are sort of relying on this revenue to pay for and we don't know what is happening with that at this point. So that it it it's not a general fund implication currently, but if that all goes away, we still have public improvements to do. Where is that money going to come from ultimately? general fund or debt to be paid from general fund revenue at some point. So, okay, thank you and well done. Thank you. This is an excellent presentation. Thank you, Mr.

Um, Miss Jackson, for the uh the projects that are related to the potential uh increased rate in the water fees. Are any of those projects or prospective projects things that could be offset by like capital budget requests at the state legislature?

So we are in very early talks about the water plant and what we are looking to do with that expansion new plant etc. So ideally we would love to take money from a capital capital budget uh to help offset that cost but we are just so early on I can't really answer that question yet. Um so you know obviously the headworks project in the sewer department is you know 20 plus million dollars. Um you know we're looking at around a million dollars a year in debt payments. So you know that's our focus right now. But we do know that this water plant, we got to start building up. The water fund, while it's healthy, it is not building as quickly as the sewer fund did. Um, so we know we have to do something to build that up so that when we do get to the point of building this plant, we have we have a little bit of cash we can put towards it. Um, even just to pay for the planning, the design, the engineering, and all of that, you know, we we need some cap or some money to do to do that as well. So, stay tuned on the actual plant.

No, good things to think for in the future. Yes,

Miss Jackson, one of the things um I think you and I had had a maybe a sidebar conversation about at one point was um the way previous council had sort of divided up the bed tax grant. Um, I don't need to make that a big conversation for tonight, but I know there was some discussion with staff about, you know, previous council sort of set up 3% here, 2% here, 1% here, and it's sort of I don't want to call it, it's complicated um, from a financial point of view. And I think what you communicated to me was it would be easier if council wanted that money just to go to a specific fund to dedicate an amount set amount instead of percentages. And if we could just formalize it in a in a much more direct way, it would be much cleaner.

So um what you Mr. Mr. Bennett is referring to is there is actually an ordinance in your codified ordinance that spells out exactly how that bed tax money in the bed tax fund the 205 fund is distributed each year. um you know 10% to CWIC I think there's 10% to the JRD you know all these things maybe three

one of my thoughts on that is we are now paying some of these organizations out of different buckets of money um and so I think that it's a very relevant conversation when we talk about these contracts you know do we have a better use for this bed tax money can we just talk about increasing what we're giving them in the contract rather than giving them money from this pot and this pot and this pot, you know, so trying to streamline it, I guess, is what we would ideally like to discuss with you when we talk about these. That's a great way to frame. Thank you. So, yeah, I think this might be a great time just to kind of set up that conversation. Absolutely.

So, that would mean when I ask you like how much money is destination getting out of this, you would say, well, they get this out of this, but they get this out of this account and this out of this account and this out. So, destination gets money out of the general fund and out of the vet tax fund. Okay. Thank you, Miss Jack. And like the JRD is a good example. They get money out of the general fund. They get money out of the bed tax fund in two different places. They get it out of the bed tax grant program and then they get it out of the codified ordinance that gives them another 10%. So there's money from lots of different places. Just is Matt laughing at you? Yes. So yes, in future discussion there's also a bunch of money for the bsentennial.

Yeah, we we are trying to save money for the bsentennial. Yes, I agree. Thank you, Miss Jackson. You're welcome. Any other questions I can answer this evening? Mrs. Jackson, thank you very much. We uh you know, I always like to hear from you because the message is always that of financial health for our community. So, thank you very much for keeping us healthy. Thank you. Okay. Uh any other council discussion? I'm sorry. I need to allow for public comments. Nothing from you, Mr. Owens. Okay. Um, and any other council discussion? Okay. Hearing none. Is there a motion to adjurnn?

So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Bennett, second by Mr. Moore. Roll call, please. Mr. Bennett. Yes. Mr. Moore. Yes. Mr. Payne. Yes. Mr. Shay. Yes. Miss Aik. Yes. Miss Deweiler. Yes. Uh timeout is 6:08. council will or uh I'm sorry work session will start at 610

All right, we ready? Maybe. Okay, this is a call in order of the Canal Winchester City Council work session for May 18th. Roll call, please. Miss Aik, present. Mr. Bennett, here. Miss Statweiler, here. Mr. Mclofflin. Mr. Moore, here. Mr. Mr. Payne here. Mr. Shay present. Do I have a motion to excuse Mr. Mclaclin? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Bennett. Second by Miss Deweiler. Mr. Bennett. Yes. Miss Deweiler. Yes. Mr. Moore. Yes. Mr. Payne. Yes. Mr. Shay. Yes. Miss A.

Yes. Also in attendance today, we have construction director Bill Sims, finance director Amanda Jackson, city administrator Miss Matt Peoples, mayor Joe Steer, uh law director Thad Bogs, and special guest Andrew Moore. Special guest. Um, and we'll start with reports from city staff, Mr. Sims. Thank you.

There we go. Thank you, Mr. Moore. Um the Winchester Boulevard project uh we will be paving this week. Um so I know that's of interest to many people that we will be uh getting that project wrapped up. Um so given the traffic and the efforts it takes to um you know control that by switching you know having two-way traffic on only one side of the road at the roundabout um uh our contractors asked and we granted permission for them to work at night. Um, so we'll be starting on that Tuesday night, uh, with the milling of the existing surface and then we will pave on Wednesday night and then we have Thursday night available if we need it to finish. Um, so we will be getting that done this week. Um, and then that will have uh permanent striping uh will go in uh very shortly after. And we still have some permanent signage that needs to go in as well that'll be done at night just because of the traffic volumes. uh Greengate Boulevard. Um the road is now open uh from Dialy Road uh all the way through to Hill Road. Um so if you go that way, try it out, I guess. But uh the uh so at DY, it is set up currently as a stop sign control street. Um but uh that will ultimately be a signalized intersection with the Kroger development. Uh East Waterlue Street Storm Sewer. Um pretty much all the work is done. There might be one or two minor outstanding punch list items, but at this point the work is done. Um you know, the trench repair,

uh rides like a handdone trench repair. uh not great. So looking at I've sent a proposal to our street program contractor about milling off a full lane wide um to you know do it with a paver so it's much much smoother. Uh kind of in hindsight having that trench in the road a lot of it's in the wheel path it's it's it's very difficult to do that with by hand essentially. So um we'll be addressing that. Uh and we have uh McGill Park is underway. If you've been by there, been moving a lot of dirt. Um here in the last week or so um and that will continue. Uh also storm sewer and sanitary sewer installation are set to begin next week. Um so we can get the underground utilities in. Um so that project's moving along and the street program. Um all the miscellaneous curb repairs, uh the curb work has been completed. Restoration should be getting started this week actually. Uh same with the sidewalk program. The sidewalk panels are replaced. Restoration beginning this week. Um the contractor's currently working at High and Columbus uh right here in downtown as we get those bumpouts worked on. Um, you know, with the crosswalk replacements, it's going to take a couple weeks to do everything at this point, but, uh, you know, getting the curbs in, the sidewalk ramps, um, helps define the intersection a little better. So, you can see that, um, the schedule right now for the paving work of part of this project will start June 1st with Deetsz Drive. So the removal of the deep drive pavement, the stabilization and replacement of pavement will start June 1st. Uh we have

four weeks slated total. Uh it should not take anywhere near that long. Um you know, we've done similar projects. You know, a week per side basically is probably appropriate. Um as long as the weather holds up. Uh one of the nice things with stabilization is rain doesn't impact you near as much. So we we want the the soil to be moist when we do that. So um so that will be getting started. Um and so D road will occur first and uh once that is near completion then they'll go around and uh mill off the surface of the other the other streets. Uh and then the paving crew can do deets and work right into the other streets. So, um, really by right about the end of June, most of the contract work should be wrapped up at that point. Uh, on the private side, Culver's is still working. Um, and, uh, Kroger, you know, they're they're still working on site. It looks like they're moving a lot of dirt in there here right now. Um, so that obviously a substantial project um that's continuing. Um, we had Columbia Gas in town for two weeks working on gas services for Deep Drive. Uh, so they did wrap up the lowering of their gas services uh the end of last week. Um, so they're out of our way now, so we won't be any issues with uh us getting started on June 1st. Any questions?

Just a quick question on the uh High Street Columbus Street. um when it's finished um in the next couple weeks, will that immediately change to that four-way intersection once the work is done? Um do we have a time frame when that is switching over?

So, actually, it's on my list this week is to lay out specific dates. So, we have a there's like a prior notification required just to let people know that the intersection controls have changed or will be changing in 30 days. So, uh we need to get that signage up. Um, so my estimation is if we get that signage up soon, then we'll probably be prepared to, you know, switch it to the actual four-way stop shortly after they're complete. So, great. Thank you. And when did you say the Deets Road paving was going to begin? June 1st. June 1st. Yes.

Thank you. Um, so the residents, they've they've received I don't know about three communications I think from us on that. Um, so I'll probably actually have another door hanger out this week just kind of,

you know, we're trying to address things like, you know, trash pickup, you know, and uh, mail and, you know, things along that line. Just some of the nuances. So, um, you know, very particular information for the people that will be impacted each time. And last question for me um on Deetsz Road the what what the work that Columbia Gas was doing and I don't know if we had any input in this or if it's just kind of hey we're coming in to do this but working on both sides of the road at the exact same time was like not exactly the greatest setup.

Yeah. So what they were doing is replacing the gas services. So the the main was on the south side of the road but they're replacing the services to the north side. So they have to open up they have to open a hole at the main right behind the curb. Then they have to go up into the yard on the other side to make the directional drill and run the pipe up to the meter. Um so they're kind of forced into working on both sides and and going down the street, you know, along the line of homes. Um what added a little bit to it is that we were also at our curb placements. Um, now they co our our our contractor coordinated with Colombia so they weren't in each other's way and our contractor did one side and then the other but um but just the same there was a lot of work um and you know lots of cones and equipment. So

well at least that makes more sense why they were on both sides of the road. They had to be. Yes. It's uh yeah you know it's an unfortunate thing that has to be done to be honest with you because they just they're not very deep. How deep were they? Well, the gas services honestly most of them in time they they out there they were anywhere from you know 10 12 in deep to you know 2 feet deep. Oh

um we're going down you know in the in the neighborhood of 24 26 in. So you know they were all the ones on that side were a problem. Um we've encountered ones that are 4 in deep. They literally are I, you know, they when they put them in, it must have been after the fact because they came up and they're against the bottom of the asphalt. Um, you know, I think I think what we've seen is particularly the older the neighborhood I I think during the development, the amount of uh work that was going on, not just here and in our subdivisions, but in general, you know, during the boom times with residential housing was that they're throwing these things in, you know, and I think Colombia kind of suffered as well from their subcontractors.

Glad nobody busted one. Pardon me. I'm glad nobody busted one. No. Yeah. As far as I know, we didn't break any this time. Uh, you know, this time, but that's something that we have to look at every time we're going to excavate the roadway because we can never be assured of their depth. So, we've always started that communication, you know, 9 months early with with the gas company and the other utilities for them to come out, look at their stuff, do some test holes. you know, we need to know where you're at because, you know, we feel like we're going to have some conflict. So, um, you know, Columbia has been really responsive with that and get gets it done in our time frame. So, we've been fortunate.

It's great. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions for Mr. Sims? Thank you, Mr. Sims. You're welcome. Uh, next we have a request for council action. We have resolution 26-024. Clerk, will you please read a resolution recognizing and appreciating the city of Canal Winchester's public works professionals and supporting National Public Works Week from May 17th through May 23rd, 2026. Mr. Peoples.

Thank you, Mr. Moore. Um, as said, this is public works week. Uh, we have a phenomenal crew uh taking care of our city, uh, making it look good, making sure everything operates efficiently. um they do a tremendous job uh and and can't thank them enough. A week is not enough for them, but um this is just a resolution in support of the uh of the crews. Perfect. And please pass along our thanks as always to the crew that they do a great job. Thank you. Anything else for Mr. Peoples? All right. Do I have a motion to move resolution 26-24 to full counsel? So moved. Second. Uh motion made by Miss Aik, second by Miss Deweiler. Roll call, please. Miss Aik. Yes. Yes. Miss Deweiler, yes. Mr. Moore, yes.

Mr. Payne, yes. Mr. Shay, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Next up, we have resolution 26-025. Clerk, will you please read a resolution to repeal resolution 26-006 and approve a final development plan for sub area A of the Miller Farms planned unit development.

Thank you, Mr. Moore. I'm going to try to keep this very brief because this was last discussed in January of this year. So hopefully uh most of you have don't have amnesia and we can breeze right through this because there are very minimal changes to both the uh applicants plans and also the staff recommendations. Uh this um resolution is going to talk about the final development plan 26002 that was approved by recommended for approval by planning and zoning commission last Monday. This is for a revision to sub area A of the Miller Farms single family development. Um this revision is um only for the single family section u requesting to repeal the prior approval from January uh with ordinance 2434, excuse me, 25 um final plan 2511, ordinance 26006. Uh the revision itself is a reduction of 12 lots from 118 to 106. Uh the detail in the lower right hand corner shows um that their minimum lot size uh for the development tax is 52 ft wide. Uh the um single family builder felt that 52 feet was um kind of limiting some of the pricing points they needed to hit to get wider homes, threecar garages, different product styles. So they are proposing to introduce a more or less a majority of 62 foot wide lots. Um that's what that exhibit in the lower right is showing on the left hand side is just the minimum size they need to hit. Uh when looking at this um breakdown the northern half um of the project um north of Lyall ditch is 42 lots and then the southern

half of Lyall ditch is um 64 lots. More or less the configuration is almost identical for anybody just looking at this. Um configuration of streets are the same. Um access points, mailbox locations, pathways are all identical from what you guys last last saw. Um one of the items for staff's review was this reserve H, which is the road connector from sub area B to sub area A. Uh sub area B's plans shows a sidewalk on both sides of this private drive. Um this set of plans shows a sidewalk only on the east side. Um so staff is recommending uh that the um sidewalk connectivity be on both sides of the road so both phases match up in the future. Uh when looking at the utility service plan for the area, this is identical to what you guys saw previously. service will be coming from the villages of Westchester um just to the north of Lyopoulos Road off of Wilson Drive and will reach both sub area B and A by extending down Hayes Road. Uh when looking um I believe this plan said I forgot a lighting plan last time for you guys, so I thought I'd include these glorious exhibits showing they're going to use the CW uh street light detail. Um, this is all subject to change during civil review. You know, optimal placement for lighting, but just to show that they're going to have lighting around the public roads and then lighting for their uh cluster mailbox unit area that's in that kind of south corner of the open space. Similar thing for the southern half of Ly Ditch that phase. Uh, their landscape plan is really aggressive. um when they did the tree clearing um earlier this year uh to make way for the utility installation this fall um they identified 31 additional

trees that need to be captured in this phase. So that little number circled in red in the corner um their number of trees has increased to 187 um for removals. Um in addition to that the landscape plan sheets show um 367 trees across the whole site. That is a number vastly greater than 187. Um when staff was looking at this landscape plan and logistics on how to plant an additional say four trees on every single lot in the future, it it does not seem very viable. Um so staff has counted 171 street trees that are shown um in the public rideway. Um staff has made a recommendation to planning zoning commission which agreed that those 171 excess trees on this landscape plan should be counted towards the lot coverage um and not um hinder the the applicant later to ask for relief for not planting trees on lots when they're in excess at the beginning stages. Um frontage for Hayes and Oregon Road are uh the same as what you guys last saw. There will be mounting, landscaping, the decorative black fencing for the screening. Um their exhibit for their mailbox units, signage, um pillars, and then their their decorative um gazebo space will be all integrated in this phase for the uh zoning text commitments. And then the applicants um drawings here for the home models. These are all just kind of examples. It's not committing to any one of these plans here. Um we're just showing that they have the intent to meet the development text that was um approved by city council. So planning and zoning commission

recommended uh to city council the approval of FDP 25001 um with the following conditions. Um I will note most of these are the same from last time. There's only two changes that I'm going to cover that I'm going to highlight as being changes. Um the first is the applicant provides sidewalk on both sides of the sub street leading to sub area B. Um that was um highlighted as reserve H in their plans. Um number two is a new condition. Again, this is for the 171 trees indicated as uh street trees on the plan be credited um towards their lock coverage for each home. uh that the applicant completes the widening of Oregon Road along the frontage of sub area A South prior to any building permits being issued for phase two of sub area A. So that just for a visual for you guys is um this area here um there is a widening requirement for Oregon Road um that will be um delayed until the phase along Oregon Road um is constructed that triggers the widening. Um so they don't have to make that widening until a development takes place for that phase or that section of the phase. Uh condition number four is that the public access easement be recorded for the open space paths and amenities to allow public access as specified in ordinance 24034. Uh number five is additional road rideways dedicated along Oregon and Hayes as shown in the plans prior to building occupancy. Uh so this is a trigger here that we're requiring the roadway improvements um prior to allowing someone to close out on the homes in that phase so we can ensure they kind of get done before residents start living there. Uh for number six, a public access easement is recorded in all proposed multi pass along Oregon and Hayes prior to building occupancy. Same relative item there. Uh number seven, that the applicant cooperates in the TIFF as well as the NCA

um and shall provide a community development charge equal to no less than 2 mills as specified in ordinance 24034. Um one item dropped from staff's recommendations from the January review and it was for a development text cleanup item um which they have since corrected. So I have pulled that from the recommendations of approval. short and sweet. Hopefully um I can answer any questions you guys have the same way. Thank you, Mr. Moore. Questions?

There was a map in here that had like it looked like a grand master plan with like the next phases in here and I trying to find it, but there's a lot of maps in here. This is probably the most zoomed out map if you're wanting to see sub area A, B, and C. But there was like a B1 and was there like a tributary plan in the utilities? Possibly. Not my presentation, but in the packet. Yes, sir.

Yeah. So, that's um just showing how their sanitary sewer is designed to service the tributary boundaries we set for them. Um, so that is strictly just illustrative to show they're going to plan their sanitary depths to reach the limits of what we're telling them is appropriate. That those future areas like the B1s and that's the capacity that we're build building into it so that if we ever add on out there, it's correct. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Basically, that way the sewer is deep enough now that we don't have to worry about it later. All right. Thank you very much.

Um, Mr. Moore, two quick questions. Can you kind of explain the credit of the trees? So, does that mean when you say more lot coverage, the excess trees, street trees, does that mean that there'll be more trees put on the actual homeowner lots? Is that what that means?

So, the table in the top right corner is accurate, but it's really hard to read. So, I'll kind of break it down for you. Um, and not just because of the text size, but just the order and how you read it. So the developer has to replace trees for the trees they cut down. So that's kind of one calculation. Um another calculation is they have to plant trees for the number of parking stalls they're adding. There's very minor here. So that's you know a small number. Um the third calculation is our residential um section. Our landscape code requires one tree to be planted for every 500 square feet of ground floor coverage of your home. So Rick's house would have a lot of trees. Um you know Sha's house would have less trees. Sort of you know mindset when you're looking at that number. Um a big house with a threecar garage is going to have more trees than you know a smaller ranch house with a twocar garage kind of mentality. So, we don't know what that number of trees are going to be until they pull the permit for each lot. Um, so when they pull the permit, I'll say it's a 3,000 foot house. You know, they need X trees and then they have to figure out how to plant them on that lot.

And we would use those surplus street trees to meet those asks.

Yeah, they have 171 year. The way I let planning and zoning kind of think about it is, you know, this is not committing that they need those 171 trees on their landscape plans for like our civil review because this is not common space. It's not going to be planned all at the same time. It'll be kind of sporadic. So, um, what I was explaining to the applicant is they could essentially pull that 171 tree count and graphic off of their civil drawings. And I'm not going to say your plans are 171 short that when they build the house, they're going to have to put in number of trees based off of its size. And if they need those to be street trees, now they have opened up room to put them in the right of way to physically fit them.

Okay. And then um the in exhibit D1 where it has the renderings of the potential homes for this development. And I realize these are just sample renderings. Um can you remind me about the the development text and what it says about the porches. I know what the size is. Is every home going to have a front porch? So, the development text um commits that um if you have a front porch, it has to be uh 7 ft in depth and it has to project 4T out past the front elevation of the home.

Right. But that doesn't mean that every house is required to have a front porch. Correct. I was thinking that I don't remember on the top of my head if I want to be honest. came out of the development or the um community plan that about being a front porch community and that everybody wants a front porch. So, I was thinking that we had said there would be a front porch on every home. I would say that there are a few homes in this set of plans that would not meet the guidelines that we had set forth. And I'm just looking at page 48 in our text. If you go to the development text, I apologize, I don't have a laptop where I pull up the text and show.

Are you looking in exhibit D1 where the house renderings are? Is that what you're um but the development text will have a set of standards for architectural and it should be titled like architectural commitments in that text. Um I know there's a line item in there about the porch depth. Yeah. Requirement. I I do not recall at the top of my head saying every home shall have a porch though. It says right here. So it says it says porches shall have a minimum uh of 7 ft in depth and project a minimum of 4 feet. So it's not saying every lot shall have a porch if you do. These are the standards you have to hit.

Is that an upgrade for a home buyer with Rockford Homes? Is that an optional thing? I would say that would be a question for the applicant. But from our kind of review, like the top left corner would be considered a portico, not a porch. It's not a place you're meant to sit. The bottom right would also be a portico. Um, porticos are an approved option for an entry feature per our residential appearance standards, which is what this code is defaulting to with the a couple deviations that have been approved through the zoning text. applicants here if you'd like to ask them.

I do you mind um answering a couple questions about do you is it your from Rockford, correct? Yes, that's correct. Um welcome by the way. You're welcome. Um is it your intent to put front porches on every home? No, most homes. Most homes. Okay. Only one elevation for the record. Jim Lipnos Rockford Homes 999 Flair Parkway. Thank you. Uh but no, I think we'll probably be 85%. I we have one elevation that does not have a front porch on okay on the homes but that's obviously our base elevation which is rarely rarely built.

So if we look at exhibit D1 every one of these homes will come with a standard front porch except for one of these designs. Is that is that what you're saying? Those are indicative of of the home styles that we that we offer. Um, I don't even know exactly which ones those are, but we have say six floor plans or seven floor plans that we're offering. Each one has three to four elevations. Of those elevations, one of them of each house style does not have Okay. So, most everybody would. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Don't forget the laundry shoots. Um, sir,

are you doing these styles of homes that are presented? Are you doing um there's like one area there's an area here and there's an area here when you look at it on the map what uh it's sub area A the north section and the south section same lineup in both same thank you Y any other questions for the applicant or Mr. Moore thanks for coming to build houses in Canal Winchester Mr. more. Can you put up the planning and zoning requirements again? The the list? Yeah, I don't think that's in our packet. It should be in your staff report. My staff reports in there.

Um, what would the new community authority be funding or is that not established? That is I think what council's setting the priorities to fund. Cool. We have not yet seen the wording though of how that is actually. I think it's still on Thad's plate. Is that on yours to create the wording around the new community authority?

Right. So, we have documents uh we have um petition language prepared. I think that um Emma Baney, who I'm working with to put that together, she presented to council last year, I believe, about economic development um tools. Uh one thing that she tasked me with uh coming here today was to talk with uh Lucas about um setting up just a brief meeting with her to make sure that we have that plan um aligned with with what we believe council wants to do. Is that something that we council will vote on the the MCA agreement?

The petition is submitted to council and then council holds a hearing to authorize the creation of the NCA. So yes. Okay. I'm I'm sorry, Mrs. Debiler. Does that answer your question? It does. Yes. Thank you. Any other questions? So major change. 12 homes removed from the original plan just to allow for different sizes of homes to be offered. Love it. Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh there's no more questions. Do I have a motion to move resolution? Actually, the chair will motion to move resolution 26-025 to full counsel. Do I have a second? So moved. All right. Uh motion made by Mr. Moore. Second by Miss Aik. Roll call, please. Mr. Moore. Yes.

Miss Amit. Yes. Mr. Bennett? Yes. Miss Deweiler? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Mr. Shay? Yes. Thank you. Uh, next we have ordinance 26-011. Clerk, will you please read? An ordinance to accept the dedication of real property from Lockpoint Village LLC for use as public right away.

Mr. Moore, forgot I have this one, too. Uh, the um res the uh ordinance here is for the Lockpoint Village uh multif family development off of Hill Road. Um that project um went through planning and zoning commission a while ago, eight, nine months ago. They've been working through civil engineering drawings. They just got those approved. The reason why this ordinance um has waited so long to get before city council is the developers needed to close on the property first uh prior to authorizing the ride ofway for the turn lane improvements um to city council. So this is the the portion to accept that that way they can get started with the um turn line improvements.

And just for clarification, Lockpoint Village LLC is the same as Stark. Correct. Exactly. Any questions for Mr. Moore? If we vote no on this, does that stop the apartments from being built? No. Means don't get a turn lane. No. Okay. Thank you. I don't think the turn lines necessary for a traffic study. I think it was just a line of existing conditions to bring a code to go around your question. Sorry, I answered for Mr. Pollock, but that's not legal opinion,

Mr. Sh. That was Oh, that was a smart response point. Yeah, I understand. So yeah, voting voting no on this right ofway dedication would not be an effective um way to prevent the development of there. Thank you. Some would say that ship is sailed. Um I have a motion to move ordinance 26-01 to full council. So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Sheay. Second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mr. Sheay, yes. Mr. Bennett. Yes. Miss Stewer, yes. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Miss Amit, yes.

All right. Our last ordinance for the night is ordinance 26-012. Clerk, will you please read? An ordinance approving and adopting the two the 2027 tax budget. Miss Jackson, would you like to give a presentation again? I'm good. Thank you. Okay. Does anybody have any questions for Miss Jackson? Motion to move ordinance 26-012 to full counsel. Second. All right. Gotcha. Um motion made by Mr. Bennett, second by Miss Ach. Roll call, please. Mr. Bennett? Yes. Miss A? Yes. Miss Steweiler? Yes. Mr. Moore? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Mr. Shay? Yes. All right. And um no uh old business on the agenda. Does anybody have any new business?

I would just like to Oh, I'm sorry. Mr. Shay or Mr. Sherry, let him go first. No, Miss A, please. I just wanted to um extend some thanks. I Mrs. Deweiler and I did the popcorn for music in the park. It was a lot of fun and Canester eats a lot of popcorn, trust me. But I I just wanted to give a thanks to a couple of what I would call unsung heroes that night and that would be um Hannah Woodruff and Adriana McFersonson. They just quietly go about taking care of everything. And I just wanted to extend my thanks for what they do for Music in the Park. It was a great night. We had a great time. So packed. Yes, it was quite quite busy that night. That's all

Mr. Sh. U Mr. Peoples, one of the themes of the budget presentation was the rising uh utility cost and expenses to operate our utilities and our infrastructure.

I don't see that going down anytime soon. I'm sure Miss Jackson doesn't either. She does her budget magic. Is there any um opportunities as you look out over the future and we're building and expanding to build in some energy sources whether they be solar or uh natural gas driven that might help alleviate our utility cost in the future. And just it's a food for thought just to Sure. Thank you. Does anyone have anything else? Do I have a motion to adjurnn? It's moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Bennett. Second by Mr. Shay. Roll call, please. Mr. Bennett?

Yes. Mr. Shay? Yes. Miss Aik? Yes. No, I do. Miss Stweiler? Yes. Mr. Moore? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Right. Time out. 6:47. Uh, city council will uh meet at 700 Yeah.

Ready?

Good evening. Welcome to the Canal Winchester City Council meeting for Monday, May 18th, 2026. Our pledge of allegiance will be led by Mr. Bennett this evening. I pledge algiance 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, Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Miss Ack, present. Mr. Bennett, present. Miss Stewer, present. Mr. Mclofflin, Mr. Moore, here. Mr. Pain here.

Mr. Shay, I'm present. Thank you. Is there a motion to excuse Mr. Mclofflin this evening? So moved. Second. Second. Motion made by Mr. Moore, second by Mr. Sheay. Roll call, please. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Shay, yes. Miss Amit, yes. Mr. Bennett. Yes. Miss Deweiler? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Thank you. The next item is the approval of minutes 26-018. These are the May 4th, 2026 work session minutes. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Sheay. Second by Mr. Moore. Roll call, please. Mr. Sheay, yes. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Payne,

yes. Miss Aik, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Missweiler, yes. Thank you. The next item is minutes 26019. These are the May 4th, 2026 city council meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Sheay. I'm going to say I heard Mr. Bennett next. So second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mr. Shay, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Miss Statweiler, yes. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Miss Aik,

yes. The next item is communications and petitions. The first thing we have is communication 26-014. These are the Madison Township Police statistics for April 2026. And joining us this evening is Chief Boyd.

Mayor, I have a few things that I've been asked to uh share here this evening. I know that we had some officers respond to the uh music in the park, the art show over the weekend and uh they said it was a good weekend. Uh a lot of participants were out and uh our SRO Matt Dkins who's at the middle school uh and members of the fire prevention bureau will participate in the safety town program this summer and are looking forward to that. Does anybody have any questions? Thank you as always. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Uh the next item is communication 26-015, the Dr. Bender scholarship award winners. Um this is I think the second week they've been invited to council. So, Mayor Steager and I would just like to um congratulate Alana Spielman and Kyler Love to be the recipients of those um awards for 2026. Um if you are uh here this um and you are the recipient, just please stop in at city hall and pick up those awards. Um they will be available to you. Next item is public comments. Um, we do have one in our packet this evening from M. Harris Ortiz, uh, regarding some sustainability items. That's PCS26-003. I did speak with um, Mrs. Debtweiler and there is going to be a forthcoming recommendation relative to that public comment. Moving on, this evening, we have reports of city officials and staff. The first item is the mayor's report. Thank you, Miss Aik. I don't have much. I just want to say it's good to be back in town. I had a little FOMO watching the uh weekend events on Facebook. It looks like it was a lot of fun and uh things went really well. So, thanks for everyone who helped with u all the events this weekend. Um, we also wanted to announce or just uh communicate to the rest of council that uh Miss Ach and I and Matt and um Sergeant Strawn, we're going to be meeting tomorrow with the city of Columbus for our annual uh policing and um just our our our annual uh talk with them about um our partnership in u safety between the city

of Columbus and us uh just north of Route 33. So, we're going to be taking a bus tour um up through there and just to discuss some of our concerns and also um get some feedback from them on on uh anything they have to say and uh come back here and have a meeting after that. So, that's uh tomorrow at 1:30. Other than that, if you have any questions for me, I don't have anything else. Any questions for Mayor Steer? Okay, moving on. Uh, the next item would be city administrator, Mr. Peoples. Thank you, Miss Amik. I do not have anything to add to my written report.

Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Peoples. Okay. The next item is Fairfield County Sheriff. Uh, Sergeant Strong. Thank you, Miss Sam. Uh, good evening, council. Um, I don't have anything to add. I have a statistical report I gave you. I believe should be in with you. But if you have I'd be happy to take any questions or anything you have for me or

Sergeant Strong. I had just a and I did not honestly go back and compare it month over month, but I noticed that there's a what I would consider to be a large number of warnings given. Can you kind of maybe just highlight what like the top three warnings? Is it speeding? Is it litter? What what would those top three warnings as far as on traffic stops? Um the three major offenses we are speed uh stop sign violations. Um well those are probably the main two that we have and again it's officer discretion. Okay. Whether they issue a traffic citation or they they issue them a warning. Generally traffic related in some sort. Those warnings issued are Yeah. They're they're through traffic stops.

Okay. So I I I note on there like the list of amount of traffic citations that were issued to drivers versus how many warnings were issued to them. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Any qu other questions for Sergeant Strong? Okay. Next up is law director, Mr. Bogs. Thank you, Mrs. Amic. I don't have anything to report this evening, but I'm happy to take any questions council has questions for Mr. Bogs. Okay, hearing none, let's move on to finance director, Mrs. Jackson.

Thank you, Mrs. Ach. Um, as you all know, the pool opens this coming Saturday for members only. Um, we do have one more open house tomorrow evening. We will be here 5 to 7 p.m. Um, for those who would like to sign up for a membership or sign up for a day pass. Um, so I would encourage you to spread the word after tomorrow evening. They will have to come in during normal business hours. Uh, so for those who work and find it a little difficult, try and get here tomorrow. So, uh, weather's not looking too great for the weekend, but that's okay. We'll make up for it, I'm sure, once it's 90° all summer long. So, thank you, Mrs. Jackson. The water was I drove by today and it looks beautiful and the water's like right at the top and it was quite tempting to trespass today, but I wouldn't want Mr. Peoples tracking me down.

Okay. And I'm sure that water is a little cold. Yeah, I'm sure it is. Mr. Mr. Moore, um, I have a couple questions real quick. Um so how and not numbers but just how does it feel as far as um day pass um slow slow. Okay. So

um I think that we we have a harder time reaching the day pass population than we do the membership population. Um so for members we sent out an email to all previous members to let them know you know what the changes to the process were going to be. Um day passes we aren't able to do that. we don't have contact information for them. Uh so I think it's it's going to be a little bit of a learning curve um once the pool opens to the public. And with that being said, when the pool opens to the public, um

obviously I know there's going to be that that other window for the the day pass um people, is there going to be an adult there um for the first few days? Do we know as far as staffing goes? So let me ask, what do you think an adult is? um not a 15, 16 year old. So we have adult managers, but those adult managers are 18, 19, 20 years old. Fair enough.

Um we do have um one at least one um aquatic supervisor who will be working this summer. That individual is on vacation the day we open to the public, so I will likely be over there, unfortunately. Um, it's definitely going to cause a backup because all of those people are going to have to come here. I will not be doing any verification at the pool. So, um, yeah, the more we can get the word out, uh, we've been trying to spread it to those who are purchasing memberships, like if you want to bring a friend, they're going to have to come and do the same thing that you're doing. So, you know, have them do that sooner rather than later kind of thing. Um, but it's it like I said, it's difficult because we don't really know who those day pass.

Yeah. Well, I guess the nice thing going forward is we will know who those people are and then correct be able to communicate with them. Absolutely. Yes.

Mrs. Jackson, have those young um adults or whoever is manning the the front gate, have they been trained on what to say when someone shows up? Because I can see Susie bringing her cousin and it's like, "Sorry, you can't come in." So, have they been trained on what to say? Yeah. So, the two um managers from Columbus Pool Management are returning managers. Um obviously, this process is new, but they do have experience at our pool. Um as far as just gate workers, everyone including um lifeguards will be there tomorrow for training. Okay.

So, tomorrow evening, we will be going over and having a discussion with them about how we're going to do this uh for the 2026 season. So, short answer is no, they have not been, but yes, they will be. Okay, perfect. All right, thank you. Thank you again. Mhm. I have a quick question. Yes. Um, if it seems like there is a demand for another open house maybe later in the season, would that be something that city staff is open to just in case there's people who

so are confused? This I struggle with because we give up our evenings and weekends with our children and our families to do this and quite frankly the month of June is very difficult for my staff. Um we have a lot of personal things going on so it will be very challenging for us to do an additional openhouse during the month of June. Um I I I don't want to say we can't but it it will be very hard to find a date. Okay. No. And I think that's important to communicate with the public as well. So, thank you for giving an answer. And tomorrow will be number five. Yeah. Five chances.

Have we like um possibly shared info with the school so they can send it out through their stuff too? I have not know. Um but I don't know if Miss Woodruff communicates with them about this kind of stuff or not. At this point, it's probably a little late. Tomorrow being the last day and eight days left of school. Well, I mean, they can still come in, you know, um before they go to the pool. Like, I mean, obviously they won't be able to come in on an evening or a weekend, but they can still come in and get it done so that they can actually go to the pool. So, and you're here every day 8 to 4:30. We're here 8 to 4:30. Um, we are not here on Memorial Day, but other than that, yes.

Anything else for Mrs. Jackson? Okay. Is there anyone that's going to speak for Mr. Hair or not this evening? Okay. So, Miss Jackson, thank you for doing that. I know it's not on your favorites list, but we appreciate it. Yeah, definitely not on my favorites list, but definitely something that All right, moving on to resolutions. The first item is resolution 26-024. Clerk, will you read the resolution, please? A resolution recognizing and appreciating the city of Canal Winchester's public works professionals in supporting National Public Works Week from May 17th through May 23rd, 2026.

Thank you. Uh the chair is the sponsor and I move to adopt resolution 26-024. Second. Motion made by Mrs. Aik, second by Mr. Moore. Roll call, please. Miss Am. Yes. Mr. Moore. Yes. Mr. Mr. Payne. Yes. Mr. Shay. Yes. Mr. Bennett. Yes. Miss Stweiler. Yes. Thank you. The next item is resolution 26-025. Clerk, will you read the resolution, please? A resolution to repeal resolution 26-006 and approve a final development plan for sub area A of the Miller Farms planned unit development.

Thank you. The sponsor is Mr. Moore. Um, I move to adopt resolution 26-025. Second. Motion made by Mr. Bennett, second by Mr. Moore. Roll call, please. Miss flip that. Mr. Moore is the sponsor. Second by Mr. Bennett. Did I say that in reverse? Sorry. Mr. Moore. Yes. Mr. Bennett. Yes. Miss Deweiler. Yes. Mr. Payne. Yes. Mr. Shay. Yes. Miss Amit.

Yes. There are no um third reading ordinances this evening. So we'll uh nor do we have any where we have a couple second readings. The first item is ordinance 26-0. 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 and Chester, Ohio. Thank you. Sponsors, Mr. Bennett.

Second reading only. Thank you for first readings this evening. The first item is ordinance 26-011. And I'm so sorry. That would be the sponsor is Mr. Sheay. First reading only. Thank you. I can go ahead. We have to have her read the ordinance. Oh, I'm sorry. An ordinance to accept the dedication of real property from Lockpoint Village LLC for use as public rightway. First reading only.

Thank you. The next item is ordinance 26-012. Clerk, will you read the ordinance, please? An ordinance approving and adopting the 2027 tax budget. Thank you. Sponsors, Mr. Bennett. Thank you. First reading only.

Thank you. Moving on to council reports. the upcoming work session and council meetings. The first one coming up will be June 1st at 6 PM. We have an appeal hearing on Monday, June 15th at 5:30 p.m. for Mumu Car Wash. And then following that, we have work session and council meeting on Monday, June 15th at 6:00 p.m. Council Connect will be meeting this Wednesday night at the Columbus Metropolitan Library here in Canal Winchester. We will begin at 6:30 and your host that evening will be myself and Mrs. Deweiler. The next report will be given by Mr. Sheay on Canal Winchester Human Services.

Um the updates I have for tonight's council meeting, the senior transportation outreach updates for April 2026, 361 one-way trips. 297 of those trips were Canal Winchester City residents. We drove 3,121 miles for the month. Thank you. and everybody have a wonderful day. In the words of Altha Mullins, kindness matters. Thank you, Mr. Shay. The CWIC, I don't have a current update, but our next meeting will be on July 29th at 11:30 a.m. here in council chambers. The next up is the Canow Winchester joint wreck. Mr. Bennett or Mr. Moore?

Mr. Bennett, you want to roll with this? It's on his coaching.

Thank you, Mr. Moore. Um we do have a um sort of a leadership style meeting tomorrow with the u city and schools. Um kind of a quick touch base and guidance um sort of on direction for the future of the joint wreck. Again um we did this probably in 2020 um and is slightly probably overdue. Um I think we've talked about maybe trying to see if we can at least make it um I don't know twice a year maybe but but at minimum yearly um touch base between the schools in the city just to kind of um talk all things recreation at the joint rec level. So um with that um our next meeting because uh Mr. Moore might still be coaching uh will be June 9th uh at town hall. I'll be there.

Okay. You sure you're not going to be on vacation? Nope. That's the next week.

Anything else? Okay. Moving on to destination canal Winchester. Mr. P.

All right. Thank you to everybody who came on the Art on the Canal Arch Stroll. It was a great turnout. Um weather ended up being very good. Um so turned out to be a beautiful day. There's a lot going on in downtown Canal Winchester over the weekend. Um next up we have so this Sunday kicks off the first uh summer Sunday of the season May 24th 4 to 7:00 p.m. at Stradley Park. Uh the Hudoo Soul Band will be there. It's perfect um way to spend your your Sunday evening. Um you can grab food or ice cream, a door, a drink from one of the local businesses. Enjoy a relaxing evening in Canal Winchester. Don't forget to bring a chair. Um, then we'll keep the momentum going at the farmers market. Summer season is officially kicking off Saturday, May 30th. So, we're excited to have uh different vendors, fresh products, and community activity back for another summer season. And as always, we appreciate your support and look forward to a busy, exciting summer ahead. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Payne. Uh, Mr. Mclofflin isn't here this evening and I don't have chairman or woman. We I have this uh Yes, we do.

Please. So, um, the chamber has a new board, uh, chairperson, Leslie, and she and the director, Elizabeth, will work on a chamber update, council work session on Monday, June 1st. Financials through April are included in the board packet. Uh, the update, she wanted to thank council president Lori A, who assisted with the connections for a cause golf outing on May 8th, and to council members Rick Moore and Patrick Sheay for participating in and supporting the event. They had a great turnout and a portion of the proceeds as well as 50/50 wrap went to Canal Winchester Human Services. I'd like to congratulate the chamber's new board of officers. Leslie Thornton is the chairperson. Greg Hesterman is the vice chairperson and Jade Basak is the treasurer. The next referral round table is on Tuesday, June 9th at 9:15 at the Columbus Library Canal Winchester branch. Prospective members are welcome to attend as a guest once before joining the chamber. And we welcome our newest member, Kever Bookkeeping LLC.

Thank you, Mr. Shay. And next is the Sustainability Commission, Mrs. Deweiler. So, our next meeting is Wednesday, June 3rd at 6:00 p.m. Um, and this past weekend, we had our large community garage sale. Um, it started on Friday. Uh, there were even some residents who continued on into Sunday. Um, but it was a big hit. There were many, many participants. Um, and then I think there were plenty of people even braving the weather going to the garage sales. So, I think it was a great event. Um, a lot of planning went into it from some of the members of the commission. So, um, an event like that doesn't just happen. So, I definitely want to, um, send some kudos to the commission for putting that together. And hopefully next year when it happens again, uh, we will have less rain. Mrs. Deweiler, I'm I'm a kind of a middle of the road garage sale person, but it was so awesome having everybody, every community all at the same time. So, please thank the commission uh for pulling that together.

Absolutely. Okay, we have no old business. Is there any new business? Okay, hearing none. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So, move second. Motion made by Mr. Sheay, second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mr. Shay, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Miss Deweiler, yes. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Miss, yes. Time out, 7:23.