City Council - Regular Meeting

Call to the public meeting May 18th, 2026. Time is 7 p.m. Mr. Will you please call the role? Member Purp here. Member War here. Member Wyrick here. Member Mine here. Member Master here. Member Pratt here. Member Stalker here. Second present. Excellent. Well, tonight's committee of the whole is a oneperson show. Finance and Property Committee is Florida. Mr.

All right. For those who don't like hearing my voice, I apologize in advance. So um you hear from me a couple times this evening. So first item we have which is item 3A and uh so pull this out. So basically what this is, this is an amendment um which is necessary because of our standard insurance reimbursement rates have changed and this is uh from talking with Gina uh this is around certain medical supplies that we have in the ambulance and so they were not uh set in our budget as the proper amount. So we're just sort of changing the way that we are doing things. um we're going to allow Ohio billing to kind of take a little bit more of a lead with uh with setting the prices for what we seek reimburse for insurance. So I I don't know, did I kind of hit the the high points on that? Anything to add, Jim?

Yeah, you did you did a good job. Basically, it's a housekeeping to make sure that um DMS billing schedule is current and that we're building consistently with insurance standards and what they allow. Um it's just it's allowing Ohio Ohio building to do their job. So, right. And because we want to be paid what we are spending, we're asking this to be an emergency just to make sure that we can uh get this uh rolling right away. So, any questions from anybody else? How far off were we? Uh I don't I don't have an example right here, but it's it's close, but it's minimal. It's minimal, but it's we still want to make sure we're charging the correct rates that we can be charging when they increase. Instead of having to come back to council to increase the rates, we want to be able to charge the correct rates of that cost in Ohio to do that. So there's no lag as things change.

Okay. Okay. Keeping up with current rates and everything's going up. All right. Any other questions or thoughts? Move that we uh send item 3A to the council agenda. Second. All in favor? I car 3B is also finance.

All right. Let me flip to my notes. All right. So, this is uh an appropriation item and so there's there are some things we're uh altering or adding into the budget. Um first were some donations. We had uh $300 uh in donations for Kona. Uh there also were $14,000 in America 250 uh donations, sponsorships, grants, etc. So, we did add that in. And then the other item was is um we had entered into years ago um somebody could add in maybe the year uh when Akran Children's uh hospital built the building over there on Glenwood um through a uh tax item. They they give us $10,000 each year which is to go towards a performing arts pavilion. So we're just uh putting that money into the appropriate parks development fund and that is earmarked for specifically for performing arts pavilion. anything have a quick question. What happens with that fund if we don't ever create a performance artillion?

It has to be used specifically for in this case the performing arts million. So at some point we'll want to because they're they're donating and earmarking that to it's just kind of building up a fund right now. Okay. All right. How long has that been going on? Uh that's approximately 2018. Is it the same amount every year? It changes based off what their um what their um income or their employees got. Thank you. No. Uh any other questions? All right. And I would uh move that we add uh item 3B to the council agenda. Is there a second?

Second. All in favor? Motion carries. And again, item 3 C. All right. So, this is item 3 C is fixing a typographical error um in regards to uh this is specifically the ordinance updates schedules to properly incorporate a 2.8% cost of living increase. I think we said Jim it was in there for 2.7. Yep. It was it was 2.7. So, the way which was a placeholder.

It was it's a placeholder. So the way the budget's spilled is this uh COLA. So chapter 155 which is all the max salaries of all the exempt positions um we the cola is built into that. So whatever the full goes up in the in the third quarter of each year is what um gets put into the budget and so we had a placeholder of 2.7 and then we adjusted that when we knew what that was in the 2026 budget to 2.8%. And then through um ordinance amendments um the last two 12 2026 and 13 20226 um we used the wrong essentially spreadsheet that had the 2.7 that that was um in there originally and so for audit purposes we need to put it back to what it was supposed to be at 2.8%

and everybody's been paid correctly. It's just a typo paper that said 2.7. Yeah. So just correcting that's uh why we're asking for emergency this morning. So all right so I would uh move add item 3C there second second. All in favor I motion carries and 3D that's where it's going.

All right so this is an exciting one. So this is in regards to our fire station and this is the maximum price agreement which is with uh Beaver Constructors and so this is for the physical construction of the building and they've set a grand total not to exceed price of 11,469,88389. So that means that it would cost that or less. So, and also did just want to throw in there that this also does not include some other um yeah so so like architectural renderings or engineering drawings, furniture, things like that. So, but this is for the physical building.

Exciting things for sure. I think there's a list of items and things that's not included with that. It's not parting, but I don't know what those are. So, so they're itemized in there. It's over 2 million in soft costs and those are estimates like you said be furniture, fixture, equipment, um might say 50,000. They might spend that, they might not, but we've appropriated that money and I think the total cost uh if I remember correctly was going to be probably right around 13.5 million. That would be all in with those soft costs and everything else.

Yeah. So what you're approving is the GMP which is um 11,4698389. Soft costs are estimated at 2,ion36,540 for a total of 13,5642389. That's the overall project cost. Does anybody have any questions? I guess I do. So, what was the total on bonds? The bond issued 144.

So, we're under that at 135. And and like you said, the GMP is a guaranteed maximum price. And then a CMR arrangement. There's obviously an incentive for the construction manager. Um if they, you know, they don't want to go over that because if they go over it, that's all we pay. That's what's nice is that guarantees for us that we only pay that maximum price. So there's incentive if they come under then that's good for them. Does anybody have any additional questions?

Just to clarify, what's the overall expected timeline? It's uh the completion date is July of 27. I think originally was July 18th, but in your packet there's a Gant chart in there and it shows every single step along the way in the project that's projected under the scope and it's it's looking like about July 28th of 27. Of course, you never know with Northeastern Ohio weather if that's going to be extended or if they work quickly, it could come in before that. That's the time frame. And as a reminder, we are doing the um groundbreaking ceremony in next two weeks from now, June 2nd with Beaver Construction. And we will have people from the Hoover Foundation there since they gave a significant donate time for that.

In the morning, I think I don't know if we have a time set yet. I think it's in midm morning. We'll let you know when we get time. That's a Tuesday, I think. daughter's getting her wisdom teeth out that day. So hopefully never. All right. So if there are no other questions, I would move we um add item three to council. Is there a second? Second.

All in favor? I post. Motion carries. Okay. I believe finance has completed the tasks of the duty of the holding. I will make a motion to adjurnn. Is there a second? I'll second. All in favor? Opposed? want to take a brief break or you want to get right into it?

That was not a very long meeting. take one of those off of the city council meeting of May 18th, 2026. The time is 10. Next will be prayer. Do we have somebody for that? She would love to do it. That's fine. Never been to a meeting before just right here right now.

I used to be a paid Christian work for a church. Lord Jesus, we just thank you so much for this beautiful day that we hopefully all enjoyed. Was grateful that I can be here and present with our um city council members and other concerned citizens and just grateful for our North Camp community. all that everyone does every day to pour into our community, the people that live here and the visitors that come. Lord, we just pray that this is a place that is welcoming and inclusive and just vibrant. People want to be here. Uh we just thank you for our community. Pray that we keep it safe. Uh and pray that our meeting is productive tonight. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all

Mr. Member here. Member Warren here. Member Larry here. Member Mtheini here. Plaster here. Member Pratt here. Member Stalker here. Seven present. Excellent. I will make a motion to approve as presented the minutes from April 27th committee and May 4th, 2026 city council meeting. Can I get a second? Second. All in favor? I

opposed. Considerations carried. Okay. At this time, city council invites the finance department to the floor for a special presentation. Awesome. Liam, you talk. Okay. So, we want to talk about the income tax transition as pertains to street painting and as well as the 1.6 million that was brought up a few weeks ago. just we just want to talk about kind of um how how this transition has gone and what we're looking for in the future. So um if you look at the timeline, we're going to start November of 2024. That's the renewal of the street levy property tax failed at the ballot. Um this is this generated approximately $400,000 every year. So that failed. So then following that, council members passed a resolution in December of 2024 to put on a half percent income tax increase um and do away with the fire EMS in the street levy, but and also fund the new fire fire station construction. So we need to talk about these project XLBs because they're collected one year behind and we receive them the following year. So in 2024 they were collected and in 2025 we received them and that was approximately $400,000 like we talked about here. At the end of 2024 the city had approximately $1.6 million left over unspent in the general fund. That amount was added to the general fund balance and in early 2025 um that 1.6 million was talked about publicly about a one-time savings that could potentially be used for the street paving for four years. So, it' be $400,000 for four years added to um street payment. Paulie correctly pointed that out a few

weeks ago when we talked about that. Um so then in May 2025, the half% income tax passed this the increase in the city's income tax from 1.5 to 2% with collection starting this year. So January 2026. Um during July and August of 2025, the finance department worked on the sale of bonds for the new fire station. Uh the city's formal general fund policy required a minimum balance of 25%. And I can get into that more detail in future. We're getting d uh into the weeds, but we can talk about another time. But however, the city's bond rating S SNP global uh told us that our current so we had a 38% um carryover um that was that was 20 which included that $1.6 million that we just spoke about left over in the general fund. Um so keeping those dollars in the fund balance helped support the city's financial position and it resulted in a positive outlook for the city. We went from a double A minus neutral to a double A minus with a positive out. So those bonds were success successfully sold in the city that moved into the 2026 budget process. So then Liam, if you want to go to the next slide, we're going to talk about the budget transition year. So in 2026, 2027, and 2028 budgets, they should be viewed as transition years. The city's moving away for profit tax and into the new 2% income tax structure. The general fund income tax is committed to replacing the fire, EMS, street, and street levy revenue, which totals $2.7 million per year. In additional, the general fund comes up with the million dollars per year for the debt payment for the fire signature for the next 25

years. However, the new income tax revenue does not just come in all at once. There's a timing lag affecting cash flow. So, in 2026, collections from the new income tax projected to be $555,000 less than what that property tax levy revenue would have brought in. Um, it's just a cash flow issue. It's not lost. it'll come over time. Um, and then on top of that, 2026 is a 27 paid period, which creates additional onetime cost for the general fund of approximately $39,000. Again, the general fund has the first million dollar debt payment for the fire station bonds. Uh, because of the collection timing issues and one-time pressures in the general fund, finance cannot recommend earmarking additional $400,000 for street paving 2026. The last collection of the previous street levy was was available the no one on a $400,000 in the 2026 budget and that is what is in the 2026 budget $400,000 that we will be spending on Apple Grove and Ninth and Weber in conjunction with water line replacement projects. So in the additional 400,000 street paving is delayed until 2027 in the city's capital improvement plan. Um so the key point here is the timing issue. It's not a loss of funding. The new half percent income tax will phase in over multiple years. Employers begin employing the new 2% grade from 2026, but individual taxpayers will not fully catch up until they file their taxes in April of next year. So by fiscal year 2028, the city should be collecting the full benefit of the 2% income tax. So in summary, the city is in a transition period. um the formative property tax le the former property tax levies have ended where the new income the new income tax has passed um but the revenue

doesn't arrive fully during this transition the city must also manage the fire station debt payment 27 pay uh year and maintain a strong general fund balance for S&P Global for a bond re so that's why an additional $400,000 for street paving wasn't added to the 2026 budget I did fail Mitch and Miss Albec and city law director are online. Thank you, Gina, for for tying in. I know you're on vacation today. I've got a question then we're going to open up to everybody. When you said 25%, that's 25% of our annual spending budget. General fund revenue. General fund revenue. Okay. And we were at 38%

and then uh the bond people wanted us to be even higher than that. Yep. So we're currently on 58 57%. Okay. So, financial is where a good spot. Yeah.

Finance knows really really well about our general fund balance and the finances overall. So, it's just transition you know like automatically get the 2% phases in and you know we're excited for the future. It's just a time other questions. Well, many of us ran, you know, our elections during that and we were telling people I thought we'd get an additional 400,000. So now what do I tell them? Is the city going to come out with this plan publicly? That's what we're doing right now and explaining it.

So it's put we still have 4,000 minutes which is pushed back to 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030. And be clear, there's still residential road paving happening. And if you think about $400,000, we had uh Matt Barer, superintendent from our street department here at our last meeting, and he put up the pictures and showed the new milling machine, and that was $300,000. In addition, we purchased $130,000 in asphalt. That's $430,000 right there. And that is being used for road paving. So that's there. You know, a few years prior, we had purchased the um PA machine and we got the milling machine to go along with it. So, we are still doing a lot of work. I mean, every pothole that's filled, every crack that's sealed that is residential road repair and paving.

We've filled about what 150 potholes now somewhere around 170. 170. Where did those funds come from? Because I know the voters defeated the streets levy in 2024, right? So are those funds that were spending in 2026 left over from that or so it starts over. So the budget starts over and they put in an asphalt budget which is higher than last year. And so um part of those the doing the uh oh my gosh doing the uh oh my gosh

the projection. No, no. Doing the um asphalt repairs budget. So, is that essentially um does that essentially equal out to being like $400,000 that was committed from the general fund? I mean, because we didn't have the income tax in yet. It's hard to tell because it's only May still. I mean, you know, we could if if the reader rules come in a little bit higher, we could add additional money to the house, but another issue is is planning. I mean,

it takes longer than seven months to plan some streets, especially when you're talking with a sewer grant, water grant. We want to be smart about the money we spend and the planning process some takes sometimes takes a little bit longer than that, too. And I think that the key word is earmarked, you know. Yeah, I think finance felt uncomfortable about ear marketing, but as the money comes in, we we could be able to spend it. My understanding is the budget for Rob and engineering is a lot of times matching money for grants and then Matt has his painting budget, ceiling budget, which is all part of streets, but it's in two different buckets,

right? And it's I think we probably need to rewrite the semantics of using residential paving because we don't separate residential paving from paving. It's all paving. So when when people say you know what is residential paving then you have to go and define it. But 40 tons of crack ceiling and 170 potholes would would mostly go under residential paving probably. So I I don't I we we need to get way of the the semantics of of divide like defining that because I think it's really problematic. I think it's street maintenance and paving, but it's in two different buckets.

Robs is there for grant money and matching our share to make sure we don't lose out on that. Right. Then Matts are there to fix potholes, ceiling, capital maintenance. Yeah.

And Robs are usually larger projects that at times do require a lot more planning. Sometimes a consultant is needed whereas the smaller ones can just lengthens width and they can you know do it um with the equipment we have and uh there's a you know we trust our engineer who's been doing this a long time too in in the assessment of what's needed. So people always want to know when is my street, what is my street, you know, it he does have to look at the most traveled the most, you know, traveled um you know main thoroughares and arteries, you know, and and then make his assessment that way. And then he goes to scats and has to you know again work with grants available out there and plan these out several years ahead. What was our total that Apple project? We got a grant for that.

Yeah. What was our cost from the city? Yeah, draw makes our money go a long way with respect to I was thinking it came in like

any other questions for finance?

Yeah, I have a couple things to say on this topic. So, this is a reactive conversation that we're having because it was promised to the citizens back in January of 2025 and it was put out there in multiple formats by city and campaign committee people that hey, if you vote yes on this issue, we will put this money forward and we will have residential paving. I believe that citizens hear the words residential paving and they think just that it's going to be near my residence. And I can tell you that as I stood here as a citizen and asked this council at the time to please include some additional funding for that. That's absolutely what I was talking about because I also talked about how poorly my street is crumbling. And so I don't know that I like getting rid of the residential paving title entirely. I think there does need to be some form of separation for the average citizen to understand what they're getting for their tax dollar. I don't think that pothole filling holds a lot of value to me at this point. Crack sealing is something that I'm sure we need to maintain our roads and keep them good, but it also does not hold much value to probably the average person. What holds value to them is did their street actually get paved and that's not happening. So, we have some alleys that are getting done. Um, I'm going to take a guess that that's on those high priority lists for a reason. I'm not a streets expert, but we're not paving actual residents roads, and that's what was promised. So, it's my understanding um that we've had discussions along the way where maybe this was included in the budget discussions, but yet when the questions have been asked on the floor of council over the last few months, nobody's been able to say this is why that money is not available. And that's concerning. And so I did pick up the phone and call finance last Monday and it did lead to this presentation. And Jim, I really do think you did a great job of putting this together. It makes a lot of sense

now. Um, but it's unfortunate that if we knew back then during budget planning, which forgive me, it's September, October, somewhere around last year, then we knew about this back then, but we didn't tell anybody about it. And so just as much as we had people say go vote for this levy and or this issue and we'll pave some roads, we should have come back to them then and said we've got a little change of plans here and here's why. And I think the average person would have understood this and said yeah that bond rating piece is important to the city. It makes sense. Um but we did not tell anybody and it's why the questions are coming up here on council and why there's been some I think degree of frustration. So, I just want to say um it's unfortunate it took this long to get this information. Um I don't want to lose sight of what is to me one of the most basic services this city could provide its citizens and that's its streets and their longterm delays that we've seen. I've lived at my residence for 16 years and my road is still not paved. I don't know how much longer mine's going to go, but I know there's others just as bad. I was approached by a citizen at the 720 over the weekend specifically about Persing. Um, and so this is important to people and equally important to them is probably clarity and transparency when something that's important to them changes. And I think that, you know, the city probably could have offered up that information sooner. So, um, we're here now and we understand it. And I think when we get to budget planning at the end of this year, we need to come back to this and say, are we still on par? are we still on schedule to meet the timeline we just said we were going to meet and just make sure as we're getting closer to that it's it's following the way that we thought it would

just to be clear with the community was you know like we said that was mentioned so far back in you know July of 20 four right and then the changes and you know on council I think we had some changes to the chair of finance at that time this was all discussed budget. Everybody that was here on council, this was all discussed. I don't recall remember Gina talking about the 27 days and the carryover and how long it would take for the incremental time for the taxes for the increased on the income tax to come in. I remember having that discussion specifically talking about the budget the road issue being delayed.

I think that that would be something that would probably stick in most people's minds and so they wouldn't then ask the question where where is the money because it had already been said to them. Similarly, I would expect that the city would have that fresh in their mind and when the questions asked, it'd be an easy answer. So, I don't know what was discussed in budget, but it clearly did not hit home with most people. Thus, all these recent questions.

I would I would have liked to find out found out sooner about it just just because uh it's what people selected voted for. So any change you have to think that um as soon as that was a thought being shared. I also appreciated this information. Uh it's not the way that I would like to move on but is what it is.

I think it's complex to explain as you can see. So I think when ever asked before, I don't want to speak for finance, but when Jim and Gina before, I think it's complex. It takes this level of having to break it down to explain it. So I think that's why maybe saying it wasn't so a readily available answer was maybe just because it is so complex. So I think you did a great job and I hope it's is it clear now? Does everyone understand? We will definitely make it a priority for the accepting. Well, and I would suggest when when each of you go through the budget process and you have your priorities because that's always asked.

You you make that to a point that that finance earmarks that. I mean, you guys control the purse. When did finance find out about it? Find out. What do you mean by that? The original plan was going to be delayed. some of them during during budget season.

Yeah, it was like he said it was all three of these things. It was realizing a 26 pay is now a 27k pay. Gina came to the budget meetings to say this is an anomaly happens every what 11 12 years whatever. So that's an increase. Um like Jim mentioned that with S&P recommending that we have a higher carryover than we ever normally had before because we've never really ever built a building of $14 million or gone out to buy bonds. that was all new process and learning that and S&P being our bond consultants really telling us that we had to have a higher carryover. She came to budget meetings and for those of you that are new on council we meet individually with each council person and that's what Matt is mentioning is that we say what are your priorities? What do you see? What do what do you want? What do you need? Let's and then we look at the whole budget. You're looking at all of the different departments. We've met with all of our department heads saying this is everything they need. These are projects. here's our capital plan and then we try to work it all in. There's several iterations. Things get cut. You always hear, you know, came in with the wish list and then the things get cut that can't happen. Um, so that would be at that time in the budget when we were talking about all of this and Gina kept saying this. We we made this statement. We kept saying when you get a raise, it's a great raise, but you don't get it all in the first paycheck. It comes in incrementally over all your paychecks. That's what's happening with our income tax. So, so what I'm hearing is there were two separate anomalies that occurred that finance was not 100% aware of at the time that any campaign was going on or any statements were being made or any budgets were being voted on by council. Would that be a correct statement?

I would say at the time of the budget, we found that that this year is a 27 pay year. Yeah. And then figuring out the income tax, we found that it would collect $555,000 less property tax will collect this that we would that would have collected. And then I would say then with the fire station million bond, we have to be able to fund that bond. So since there's a timing lag, that's essentially why we were able to an additional form.

I mean, we could say that maybe just mistakes were made, right? I think whenever I always think of something when people make a statement they make it a statement with the information that they have at that time right it's like a decision you make with the information you have in that moment it seems like a great decision then 2020 hindsight it wasn't and so when Ben said that did he know there were 27 pays no did he understand you know what would have to do with the carryover probably not also that lag he may not have knew the number or calculated out the number that it would be for the lag on the

I would say communication definitely is so I obviously wasn't on council at the time voting the budget, but I but I was here as as a resident watching and I certainly uh recall the discussions about t the income tax being collected in a rears and and the timing of such. So, um Jim, I appreciate the fact that you put all this together, that you're explaining it. Um I I wish that we had arrived at this sooner, but um I don't know. I guess I I I app I appreciate what you're doing here too and I and I and I appreciate that the the explanation to to help us. Yes.

I would say going back one of the things that we could have fixed is and still can um when there are new council members in they should get the budget as presented from stage one through an individual sitting down in instead of just the overview. I think that would have helped especially at that time. I think that would have helped everybody. I think going forward we need to do something on that.

Just to be clear though, I think that because we were so vocal as a city with the citizens that this additional funding had been located and allocated, not allocated yet, excuse me, to be earmarked for that purpose. It would have been just as easy to say when we discovered we could no longer meet that timeline to say that on the floor of council. I don't want to lose sight of that part of it because it's very important to people to understand that we're going to give them that information when we learn it and not eight months later. Um, Mr. Young did cover with us on the floor at that time the additional amount of pays that year. I specifically remember that in his presentation. He covered a lot of these anomalies. So, the only one that I'm I'm concerned about is the 1.6 carryover that apparently was going to be delayed due to the bond rating. The explanation makes complete sense. It's the delay in getting that information that's frustrating. The rest of it, the extra pays, the the waiting for the new income, you know, to to generate revenue, the taxes, all of that makes sense. I think we all are comfortable with that part of it. So, just to clarify, it's really just this 1.6. And now we we know. And so, to your point,

I'm going to bring it up when I have my one-on-one discussion as a council person, but I shouldn't really have to, right? Because we're having this conversation now and it's on the books. is public record. This is our plan. It should already be there hopefully and I won't need to bring it up. So, that's what I'm looking forward to. Yeah. Just want to clarify. The bond rating was after Ben left. We did not have the bond.

That sounds like something else just to consider too. The street levy failed and you know people really want the roads and they want them nice but when they were asked it failed. We were shocked. Remember that was when the first fire station you know was on and the street levy. So, we were at a watch party and we didn't know how fire station would go, but we were like, we always pass a street levy. And it shocked us when it did not pass. So, that was tough. We were already trying to think about what were we going to do because that money wasn't coming in through a street levy that had always come in before. So, it's a really it was a I think you said it perfect storm kind of of a lot of things. We've never built a $14 million fire station and gone out for bonds, you know, 26 year, you know, 27 cycle pay and uh, you know, getting a new income tax. We hadn't increased the income tax here also in 50 years or whatever. So, it's kind of all new things that happened all at once

and especially if you consider our capital carryover rate was already very high and then we had to put it even higher. But you know the opportunity like the the best way to explain this is is if we didn't ear if we did earmark that money spend it and didn't carry over the additional amount what would it have cost us maybe you know 2%.3% which on $14 million that's a lot of money over 30 years to 50k

I mean so you know the the fiscal responsible answer was to not earmark that money. And also, it's May. We could still spend that, you know, depending on what our e our reader rules are are going to be, but um it sure would have been bad to not get that rate that we got compared to, you know, what it could have been. And if we didn't earmark that money, if we if we didn't have that that money in the the uh carryover, we wouldn't have got that rate.

And I know Rob is looking forward to, you know, his you know, projects coming in under cost carrying over some of these to use for paving next year. So that's he he thinks it's very beneficial to to go at it for next year based off the economies of scale to do asphalt and paving for these roads. So that's one thing we've talked about with Rob about the uh sorry uh when were the uh bonds when did we discover that we needed to have that cap that account balance raised? Yeah. So that would have been in July or August when we went through the S&P bond reading. So last year.

Last year. Yeah. So we would have known this going into presentation a year ago. Yeah. Yeah.

We informally did again at all the budget meetings. Each person was talked about these three items. This was brought up in the budget meetings. So, yes. Should we have done a better job when the new council members got on after all these conversations were had to make sure you knew that. Yeah. That's what I said is like we do an orientation now. In the past, we used people would be elected and we would just say good luck. Figure it out. And it's a lot to learn. And Ben started an orientation and Liam's made it his own. And I think he balances a a line of not overwhelming you with too much information but giving you the right amount. But like Matt said to that point we also learned yeah we should vote the budget should be given and then probably even more detail what was discussed because you missed all those conversations. So these things were discussed.

You know you keep saying that the that this was discussed. I'm sorry. I remember talking about the 27 uh week pay or the 27th pay. I remember talking about how the money would be collected in a rears. Maybe I was just zoning out at that point in time, but I really do not remember delaying the $1.6 million. I really don't. So, I think it's an maybe everybody else maybe maybe all my colleagues will raise their hands say they do remember it. I mean Dave, Christina, John, do you remember because I No, I don't remember. I remember the other things. We did not.

I remember the discussion on how the income tax is going to be collected and how it was going to come up short. It reminded me of Mr. destroy his comment when we go down this path is there's no guarantee we're going to have money for any paving of roads right the first year

and we have to collect the money before we can spend it and I think Christina if you recall there were a lot of great parks things you wanted and you said why does this carryover have to be so big you know it feels like it's a lot it feels like it's a lot because I thought 25% was good then I thought 38% was really good and then when you know Gina came out and was explaining all this about the bonds and and we trust we've never built anything to this size. Gina has in Louisville, you know, she's gone through this before. So, this was something she knew of. She knew how to do this bond process and and how to get the bond consultant and listen to what they're telling us because to what Matt said, you know, not having to get, you know, possibly purchase the insurance or have people not even bid on them. And so, when she was explaining that, do you remember that we were like this carryover, you kept saying, can we cut it down a little bit so we could do more things? We had projects that got cut because of the carryover being so big.

And I guess Jamie, I

I remember there being I remember being told that we did not have the money for the streets that it wasn't going to be in. Now I don't remember which of the monies it was, but I remember being told this is going to be delayed. And I guess, you know, I'm looking back at my notes from whenever I was doing the issue four speaking tour. And what I said is that North Canton City Council has also committed to allocating an additional 400,000 in existing income tax revenue to residential street paving, bringing the total budget for paving up to an estimated $800,000 per year, double what we currently have with the tax levy, which is expiring. So I I said, you know, it will be four years. I don't know that. I don't know if our resolution that we did said it was going to be starting in 26 or did we just say for four years? I'm not sure. Say the next four years. I don't know. But we're still going to have

I think that's still the plan. It's still four years. Yeah. At that point, I mean, the residents are we are still going to be delivering. If anything, it's all right. But again, it's still May, right? To your question though, it was until last Monday on the city's website still under the issue for FAQ that the additional 400,000 would be there for 26 through 29th.

It was there until very recently and it has been removed. So yeah, it it was not just there. It was in the newspaper in a couple different articles. It was spoken about here on more than one occasion. So it was used to promote issue for that's why it's that important to me that we're having this conversation now and probably should have had a long time ago and to my peers sit next to me. I trust that all of you would have answered these questions along the way as we were asking them had you been told that information and understood it that way. So I'm not sitting here in any format thinking you guys knew about and didn't say anything. That certainly I don't believe to be the case for months.

Sure. We've been asking about it for months is right there. four or five meetings where we've asked about this on the floor. So, I just I want to reiterate that it's it's about that and only that for me and the rest of it we know is going to come to us. And so, you know, we'll just stick with this plan and hope that this works exactly as it's written. And if not, hope that we get an update when we find out that we cannot. Yeah. What we have is a four-year plan delayed in a perfect world. And we all know that we don't live in a perfect world. If something were to happen year one, year three, year four and it causes a delay, we still need to get to that commitment.

We can't predict it's going to happen three years from now. Can we have like a quarterly or twice a year where we actually look at this and make sure that it's on track? I think Jim might have mentioned that, but I want to make sure that we're that we're So, it's in our capital. It's in the city's capital plan for additional $400,000 400 400. Yeah. Yep. So, that's plus whatever's left over from this year. Exactly. Okay.

And I think that we were John was asking about Apple. The uh I think the bid was 8 or the engineers estimate was 841 and then the uh bid was 508,949 and then uh the amount that uh the city's actually would end up paying is 50,89. That sounds that's right. Any other questions for Jim Gina legal? Appreciate the presentation. Thank you.

All right, let's move into old business. Mr. Will you please read the title of ordinance 187? An ordinance establishing chapter 165, real property transaction of the qualified ordinances of the city of North Canton, thereby establishing provisions for the disposition of real property owned by the city.

All right, we've talked about this quite a few times. Actually, it feels like this is probably more like the seventh or eighth reading as opposed to the third reading. to survey fields. But nonetheless, uh this is an item that talks about the disposition of our real estate that the city owns. And there's been no changes, at least to my knowledge. Uh any questions or comments by members of council? I guess I believe we pass the third reading of ordinance 18 2026. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I motion carries. Mr. thoughts. Would you please read the title of ordinance 19 of page 26?

Ordinance amending chapter 163 contracts and purch purchasing specifically subsection 163.04A 04A, purchases and contracts over the bidding threshold of the codified ordinances of the city of North Canton to remove the requirement of a voice vote to council for approval of contracts and purchases following board of control approval to align more closely with the board of controls charter defined authority and ensure the same timely and ensure the timely approval of contracts and purchases. The rules committee

yeah basically just said can be voted by council after board of control. And then we just asked it to be shared with everyone in the workforce made a decision like add questions. legal recommended that and we'll bring it to you once control approved.

Motion to adopt second. We have a motion to adopt second reading of 19206. Can I get a second? Second. All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. Move into new business. I will make a motion to suspend council rule 23 to allow consideration of all items from the pre Vegas for preceding the committee of the full meeting. Second second. All in favor? Opposed?

Okay. Liam, will you please read the title of resolution 2026? A resolution amending the rates and fees utilized to establish the budget for the 2026 fiscal year effective April 29th, 2026 and declaring the same to be an emergency. Moving back to finance. All right. Well, we talked about this just moments ago and I can't possibly believe that there have been any changes since we talked about it. Um, so would you like to talk about it any further or No. Okay. All right. So I would make a motion to adopt the first reading of the resolution 2026.

I will second that. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. I will make a motion to suspend the rules of council requiring three readings. Have second. Second. Favor. I opposed. Motion carries. And now can I get a motion to adopt resolution 2026 under suspension of the rules? Motion to adopt. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I motion carries. Mr. Will you please read the title of ordinance 21, 2026?

An ordinance authorizing appropriations for current expenses and other expenditures for the period beginning January 1st, 2026 and ending December 31st, 2026. Yeah, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I don't think anything has changed on this one and I think it makes sense we move this item forward. So, I will give you a motion to move ordinance 21 or passing ordinance 2126. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Carries. I will make a motion to suspend the rules of council requiring three readings. Can I get a second? Second. All in favor?

I opposed. Motion carries. And can I get a motion now to adopt 21 2026 under suspension of the rules? Motion to adopt. And I will second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. Moving on. Mr. O, will you please read the title of ordinance 22 2026? An ordinance amending section one of ordinance numbers 12-2026 and 13-2026 to adjust the full-time schedules of compensation in order to correct typographical errors and declare the same to be an emergency. Pretty self-explanatory.

Self-explanatory. So I will give you a motion to adopt the first reading of 22 2026. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. I will make the motion to suspend the rules of council requiring to read three readings. Can I get a second? Second. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. And finally, can I get a motion to adopt ordinance 20 22 2026 under suspension of the rules? Motion to adopt. Is there a second? A second. All in favor?

I opposed. Motion carries. All right, Mr. Ox, will you please read the title of ordinance 23 26? An ordinance authorizing the mayor of the city of North Cam upon board control approval to enter into a guaranteed maximum price agreement with Beaver Constructed in Constructors Incorporated for the construction of a new fire station at a cost not to exceed 11,469,883.89 declining Sam to be an emergency.

All right. similar situation and uh I'm very excited to bringing your motion for items 23 2026 in the hopes of getting our firefighters the facility they need. I did want to make a quick point. Uh so this is an emergency u but I'm not asking you to pass on emergency tonight. Uh we'll wait for the June 1st meeting. Uh just wanted to give legal a little bit more time to look at things, make any necessary amendments. Uh we just received that late last week, but I did want to get it on committee and for a first read tonight so you guys could look it over um just so that we can be on schedule for the June 2nd breaking. Thank you for updating that. My motion still stands for 237. We have a motion on the floor. Is there a second?

Second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. Okay. So, we didn't have anyone for public speaks in the first half. That's why we skipped over, but we do have people that want to speak uh for topics that are generally under city authority. So, Mr. Will you read the pre

at this time, members of the public who have signed up to address city council will be called to do so. Each speaker will be given five minutes. Speakers shall be called in the order they signed up. During this section, comments shall be limited to items reasonably under the city's authority. The rules for speaking and the speaker's time will appear on the screen. After you have finished speaking, please remain at the podium to answer questions from the officials at the dates. Patterson, you are first on the list. And would you give us your name and address when you start, please?

Hi everybody. Pat Patterson, 1754 Street Falls. Uh going to report about the uh community walk first of all. Um, we had four on Mother's Day. I'm proud of that. Um, our next get together will be the 28th. We will meet in Hitler Park. What we're going to do is we're going to preview the two mile YMCA raceourse. So, so that'll be be fun. You bring your walking shoes, plenty of water, plenty of adrenaline or whatever because part of that is Hill

fun have fond memories of that as a runner pulling up the uh in 2014 I actually did the whole course in like 40 minutes I still can't figure out what I did including I think that the last mile was Virgin Hill it's like 755 um wanted just to bring up something that's another town that's near and dear to my heart that's going to be happening in a couple weeks right across the street the fishing rode I believe it's number 55 Michigan and having been the winner of number nine is if I'm going to age myself here um I caught a 22 inch pike out of that pond I'm sure I know Jeff's heard the story all the all the uh tackle and everything that a lot of the neighborhood kids lost trying to catch that pike and I caught it on a red work and I've still got people to this day m uh but this year's rodeo is on the 6th the first Saturday of July and I believe registration's 8 goes till 9 and our mayor will be casting the first line we're going to pretend that he's 62 or older for that it's not cast um at 9:00, you know, the kids will follow up till 10:30 and and the judging will happen after that. But like I said, having won number nine, all those years till I did something, I still have the trophy. Uh I'll have to dust that off and bring it on. So I'm I'm ready to uh face the nation. The 28th Good.

Any other questions? Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Heckards. Next.

I am Sarah Hecker. My address 8220 West Guadora Circle. I just know many of you, but um I am majoring getting my master degree in public administration. So, I'm sweeping around the city more often, volunteering more, part of more community efforts and community events, and um I just finished up my public budgeting class. So, this is good timing tonight. And Gina, I hope you're somewhere more than we are. I just wanted to say publicly thanks to Katherine, thanks to Gina, huge thanks to Gina for just providing me so much information. All this, of course, as you guys know, on the website and gov about the budget. I learned so much. Gina, we got an A, girl. Like,

did shake your foot. I did. I just was extremely impressed with the whole budget process that you guys go through starting from yearbased budget every year. It's a little insane, but um good. It's I was just very impressed. I read a lot about the budget, the audit. Um did gobs and gobs of research and um yes, we got an A, but we uh my professor was also very impressed with the the budget and how we operate our budget here in North. So, congratulations to all of you for doing well. And thank you. Awesome. question. You say this is your first time at a city council meeting.

Well, you did a wonderful prayer and I tell I'm just going to make a a motion or suggestion here. If you come back for your second meeting, maybe you can lead us in the pledge of allegiance. So, thank you. Where do you attend school? Um, I go to OU online. I did this I do the same program that Benton did in public. Okay.

So, it's a combination of online and in person, which I really like. So, I don't want to just be online. I want to meet other people working in public service. Uh so we meet in Dublin at the OU campus once a month and I meet other students from all over the state. So it's really fun to just yeah every sector some are from public some are from city Dublin you know bigger cities and some work in like the city of Toledo and the sewer department you know just all kinds of different so I'm learning so much so much exposure to all the out there in How far are you into your program? Um I'm just in my first year so I'll graduate August of 27th. And yay, we got so excited.

She did hear you. Good. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing all that. I'll be here sooner, but it's based off. All right, that's what we have for public speaks. Let's move on to department reports. Mayor Stro,

all night. Uh, thank you, Sarah. Thank you for the prayer and and your speaking. Thank you Pat. Um you'll uh the fishing rodeo is the sixth and uh you'll have to bring the ninth annual award. Maybe bring it out to display to everybody. Um I wanted to say I appreciate the conversation that we had about the budget. Um I do feel there's things we can do better in communication. Um, I think uh I think maybe some sort maybe a quarterly review of something or or something. I I feel like something's missing from that. Um, I feel like, you know, like I I I have a different level of understanding of the budget just because of my background. Um, and sometimes I expect people to have that and that's not realistic. So, um, I apologize for that. But um I encourage everybody maybe we can go through some open gov training together and look at the different budgets and how to access them because it's real time and it's there and finance is your committee. I mean you guys report finance reports to you. So I think maybe maybe we need to do a little bit better on on training so everybody can you know access those points and then when it comes to your priorities um you know where everything stands to get a better picture of that. So what what whatever suggestions you guys have come up with, let's do it because it's to me this this just helps resolve any issues that we have this conversation. It was it was very very effective I thought today and thank you for presentation Jim. Um the Memorial Day parade is coming up so council is going to uh have their own group which I think is awesome that's been missing. Yeah.

It should be on a float. Yeah, mostly hybrid walking. But yeah, so um I don't know where I maybe I'll follow you guys or something like you're behind horses. What's that? You're on horse clean up. Oh, that's You guys better not do that. I mean, come on. That's not good. Um I think that's all I've got. Oh, no. The I want to talk about the Make a Wish event. Um, and I'm sure everybody will talk about that, but can you imagine being a six-year-old

and having a helicopter come down to see you, the SWAT, the fire department, and then all your heroes at that time and hopefully still today are police some firemen. And then uh then I have to come in and read a proclamation. Like not super exciting, but um I really enjoyed it. Um, that was uh it was it was very emotional, but man, I can't imagine being a six-year-old and going through that. That was one of the coolest experiences I think I've ever had. So, thank you for all that were involved in in making that happen. Just absolutely incredible. And that's all I've got. Director of Administration.

Thank you. Um, so we had a great 720 yesterday aside from the rain. I think it was okay. You know, it was people in the beginning rain cleared out and then some troopers came back. So, that was great. And I'm glad you mentioned Memorial Day parade because we won't be meeting again, you know, until then. And I heard heard you were participating, but I didn't know if you guys were sitting on a car or what, but you're walking it. It's a short walk. Are you going to have a little sign that says who you are or like they're just going to say, "Who are these random people?" Mr. Pratt has volunteered his golf cart, so some of us may not be able to make the full thing for physical reasons, but there is some signage. M put together some signage for us. We're doing a little decorating. Dude, I'm doing my best to bling it up.

How far we've come and it I it just warms my heart you're doing this. I remember for years saying like five of them aren't counsel in the Why are there elected officials? And I asked previous council before and they were like, "No, no, no, no. We're not going to do that." So, I'm so glad that you guys want to do it. I mean, you are elected by the people, so you might as well wave at them and hopefully bring some candy to give to the kids. So, that'll be great. Um, I just want to report that, uh, you know, Apple Growth Project has started. You've seen it. They milled the two curb lanes today. They're going to mail the two inside line lanes um tomorrow. Keep going. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday after holiday. Um you know, it shouldn't be too long. They've got until I think June 15th, but Rob reports that probably will be done before that. Uh the merch top coat, he does say does need to be 65 degrees or higher for that to go down. So like, who knows? It's like 80 today. I don't know. I've heard it's going down to 60. So, you know, weather dependent again. But that wonderfully 90% grant covered project is a minor, you know, inconvenience in traffic, but we'll get through it for it to be better eventually. Um, today mayor and I went to the Akan Canton airport and we got to meet with Ren Kamacho, the CEO of the airport. We took along Tad Martinez just because of the changing of the guards. They did so much with Brian up there. As you know, the airport is on our water and they are our largest water customer. Of course, we were like, "Thank you for the revenue." and um that they brought their whole operations team with us because again those operational people knew Brian very well. Um so you know Tad's been up there been around some of the operational guys. I think it was the first time he met Ren and uh just talked about we have that booster station up there that was one of Brian Hill's last water distribution projects. That's huge. Um booster station's finished the generator. So, it's not operating independently yet until the generator gets going, but the generator's in place. There's just a little bit more to do and that will be done. And uh just learned a little bit of more about their

operations up there. And uh like their cool fires that they do that they told us they actually have a what do you say it's like a makeshift makeshift fusel that they pretend. That would be awesome. And then they have their own fire, but they're going to go on our fire suppression soon as we finish that project up. And so they do that once a year, we said September, where they have to simulate that and then get into, you know, um get into positions to to be able to handle something like that should something like that happened. Um so I just uh just finally want to say thank you to Sarah for me throwing her the uh hey, can you do the prayer? Because Sarah wants to work in public. She she's getting her masters in public administration. So, I thought she would

I wanted you to see things get thrown at you at any time. You get questions. You get and I think what you're learning in the program because Sarah came in and she shadowed with us and she said, "I might want to work in public." And so, Ben was talking to her and he talked to her about his program at OU and that's what got her that interest on that. And uh you know, you downplayed yourself at the at the podium. She's quite a community person. She's in North Canton Chamber. She's in the Rotary. She's part of the downtown the dart assessment team. She's a a stakeholder there because there was a business uh owner on Main Street as well. So, um very involved in our community and we appreciate it. And I think what you're learning um is in your program hopefully about providing good public value, being a public employee. We're all doing the best we can and learning in your class about municipal financing. It's complex and you know, I just want to say this discussion was really great. I think we've learned a lot from it. Um, but like I said, you know, we are all doing the best we can. If things weren't done correctly or right or timing wasn't or communication was lost, I just want to make sure that we do have these good conversations to respect both sides and just keep building that public trust because public trust is huge. And you know, any anytime anytime we even give any kind of inclination that there's trust issues on either side, that affects us as a city. I mean, we're both trying to do the best thing for the city, right? Elected officials working for the constituents and then we're working, you know, to keep all the operations going with all the employees and they're working to manage a, you know, multi-million dollar budget and there's a lot of moving parts and pieces and things happen and then we can look back and go, should we have done that or h could we have done better? But I think the dialogue is good. So thank you Holly for bringing it up and then further had let's have a meet. We had a meeting about it and agenda did a presentation. And that's what my saying all the time when people make mistakes at work because we've had mistakes. We've had

operational mistakes, costly mistakes, issues is you know there are no perfect people. I you know I can't hire a perfect person. There's we're human and we may make a human error. It's how do we move on from that? Don't don't continue to make mistakes. don't repeat ones you made before and learn from, you know, what what's transpired. So, um I think it was good that uh we had the conversation and the meeting and you did a great job, Jim. That's all. One question. How's the pool coming along? The pool will be opening up.

Good point. Memorial Day weekend is right upon us, right? So, Dogwood is filled. In fact, there may be an article coming out because a repository uh photographer showed up last week and he got a picture and he said, "Boy, that is some crystal clear blue water." And it does look nice, doesn't it? So, um it's doing well. Still very cold. You know, ground temperatures need to come up. Steve reported to me it was 72 degrees. So, you know, got a few more of these warm days will help it. But it's set to open uh Memorial Day weekend. I don't know what the weather is for that. Might be a little rainy. Uh, Arrowhead is also working on getting theirs. They're still repainting. They do have a concrete pool, no liner. So, they have a lot of little chips and repairs they had to do. Once that set, then they had to paint. Then the paint's got to cure. And they needed like three consecutive days of no rain to do this. And that's been a challenge. But they're reporting to me that they also should be open on Memorial Day. So,

and the golf course looks great. If you haven't been up there, all of the, you know, restoration is done over by the well. So, aside from the little issue on the green, if anyone saw some damage, which was unfortunate, but Cleveland. Yeah, they made it on the Did it really today? Yep. It should be a good Memorial Day. Greens are sacred. That's for the green.

Mayor will be doing his first mayor memorial day ceremony. So, it's not just the parade. We also wind up at Goodser Park and have a nice memorial ceremony. Bennett Cannon, who is a Lions Club member, is the chair person. Grand Pa, I don't know what it's called. The the guy that leads the parade. Grand Marshall. That's what it is. Grand Pa. That's all. Thank you. Um, would the director of finance like to add anything to the meeting? No, I think Jim got it all covered really well tonight. Okay.

I just want to say thank you for the opportunity to talk. I mean, you know, there's obviously always room for improvement and I know we're excited to work with you guys and do the budget, you know, later this year for next year. You all know our doors always open. Come in, ask questions, call us. We're we're here for you guys. We're here here to, you know, give you as much knowledge as we can. kind of know Genie and I have plans talk talk budget just you know periodically once a month or whatever that might be. So just come in talk to us you know we're here for you guys if you ever need anything. Thank you.

Thank you for your support again clerk. Uh nothing relating to public business, but I did want to say that I went to the 720 market this weekend and by the grace of the 720 people in their request uh was able to check off a major bucket list for me which was witness the glory of the wener mobile. Uh that whistle. Yes, I did acquire a wiener whistle uh which I have always wanted. You can only get them from the wiener mobile people. So you have to see one. Um, and I can only describe it as a spiritual experience to witness the Wii mobile. Uh,

and I just want to wish the best of luck to New York dog that was the Wiener Mobile in attendance, one of six, as they make their way to the Indie 500 for the Wii mobile race. So, we got, you know, somebody that we can cheer for now since they've been here. Whistle. I did not. It's in my office. It's one of my new prized possessions. Excellent. Would the director of law like to follow that? Have anything to add for a report? No, nothing for me this evening. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Um, let's move on to council reports. Mr. Please,

there number of things I wanted to talk about tonight, but uh Mayor Stro, you you brought up um the Make a Wish uh event. I really wish I was able to go to that. Um I just I just couldn't even imagine what they're what they go through and the way that the red carpet was rolled out for Dominic. I just I just thought it was incredible. I I wasn't even planning on saying anything. You brought it up and I was just so moved by the photos that were on Facebook. So, what a fantastic job you guys did well enough to make a cover for the episode. Um, want to thank uh Jim and Gina um for the discussion this evening, for the multiple conversations we've had this past week. So, thank you both very very much for the time, energy, and effort you put in to uh to to to um you know, communicate this uh to the public. So, thank you. Um so, the items that I wanted to just share this evening is one, the 720 market. Um this is their 10th year. Um I was there the very first event I I helped pour beer with the JC's and we were super excited to go. I was looking forward to some jalapeno poppers from Uncle Bacon's. Um like literally I was looking forward to them all week. We were moments from getting into the car and it started raining and that took the wind out of the sales. So I hear that what Liam you said you you went back up later and

I guess we should have gone up shortly around 1 2 o'clock it cleared out.

Well we missed our opportunity but nonetheless I wish them you know much success as they go on with their tech here. Um wanted to also bring up because this is a conversation item that somebody I I just I've had people ask me this over the years and I never knew where to turn until I saw it on Facebook. um veterans memorial bricks as we're coming up here to Memorial Day. They're actually available through the North Canton Heritage Society. So, northkenheritage.org/store if you want to buy one. The big caveat for those listening at home and in our instudio audience, today is the deadline. So, um so pull out your phones and go to the website right now and order your Veterans Memorials. I just wanted to put that out there because I've had people ask me in the past how how do you obtain a drip for the veterans memorial. Um the last uh piece that is is um yesterday um mayor and I joined Doug who also is with the North Heritage Society and uh we're looking at some heritage trail locations for future blackards. And I'm only bringing that up one because it was great to walk around the city drinking the Adora beer um while we were talking about local history. And I just think that Doug is somebody who doesn't get enough. I mean, I I think everybody knows Doug and loves Doug, but I just don't think that he gets enough praise and just the wealth of knowledge that man has and his dedication and love for all things history in this community. So, I just wanted to thank him for the opportunity to be able to work with him yesterday. So, it's exciting. That's all I got.

Thank you, Miss Wy. All right. Um, I was going to touch on the Memorial Day parade, which has been mentioned, but I can tell you that Joe Chevro from the Lions Club did assure me that we will be ahead of the horses. So, we're all pretty excited about that. Good. Good.

Um, and then the Dogwood Pool does open on May 23rd and pool pass prices increase that day. So, you want to get those by the 22nd if you're getting a pass. Um, I'm just gonna keep saying what everyone's already said. The 720 was fantastic. Um, just so grateful for Dave and Lyncho and what they've built there. I was there working for the library in the morning and there was a torrential downpour, but I walked back over later in the day and hung out with uh well, I don't know if I hung out with New Berlin, but by New Berlin's stand. Um, so that was a really good time. Um, and then Sarah, I was going to let Katherine mention that, you know, thank you for jumping in and saying a prayer for us with no warning. I'm highly impressed. Um, and also mention that Sarah and her husband own Koala Cruisers, um, which is a global business that has grown tremendously under Sarah's leadership. So, just wanted to thank you for being here and for all you do. That's all,

Mr. War. Okay, thank you. Thanks to everyone who came out tonight um for the speakers. Sarah, thank you so much. Jim, nice presentation. It was really good. Um that's all I have. Um that was the that was the first uh 720 market I've missed. I've been to all of them and we were in Charlottesville over the weekend, so I've missed that. So, but the shoe cos do a great job. Mr.

Okay, I'm gonna echo Sarah. You're you did fantastic tonight. I was like, wow. As we're praying. Um that was beautiful and um very impressive what you're doing and working with the budget department here. That's very neat to hear about our city's working with a citizen to help them with that. That's great. Um so best wishes to you on that. Um, I was going to say for those that don't know, this week is National EMS Week. Um, so if you see our guys and our gals out and about, say thank you. They are the true heroes. Um, I'm a little bit of a geek. I listen to dispatch when I I get a chance and I couldn't even tell you how many times a day those people are out responding to calls. It's phenomenal. So, um, thank you to them this week. Um and on the same note with EMS, this week is the second annual North EMS conference. This is something that we're holding um locally and I believe others can come to it and they can receive training um renew some of their certifications. I'm going to brave that conference myself from learn. So maybe I can um come back and share some what I learned. But um I'm just excited to be there and and learn more about these people that we support. So I'll report back on that. Um, the 720 I go to a lot of them. I can't even tell you that had to be the most packed 720 I've ever been to. Um, I was super excited that I actually struggled to find a parking spot. Um, so that meant we had a lot of people here in our city. Um, despite the threat of the dark skies, they they did shop, they did eat. So hopefully our vendors had some good successes and we have a lot of vendors that are very loyal to that market and they definitely come back to North Canton a lot. And so thank you to all of them for the way that they come to this community and bring people into it. That's really a great thing. Um but I did not get to see the Wii mobile and I'm very upset about that. So we'll have

to talk. Um something I was going to talk about too that I hear a lot of people talking about and I had the same experience this week is it is a warm weather season now and we do have solicitors out in our neighborhoods. And I don't know, maybe it's just because I'm I'm super aware of it. It seems like there's a real uptick in it. And so, anybody that's not aware, we do have a permit process here in the city. Um, a solicitor or a company has to go to city hall, apply for that, be approved, and then they communicate that out. They put it out on the website and they also put it out through the text message system. So, the good news is is that if that, you know, roof person comes to your house and they don't have a permit with us, you can ask them to see their permit. They have to be able to show that to you. And my experience this week was with somebody, I don't even remember, maybe a solar panel. I don't know what it was. Had a really nice gentleman at my my doorstep. And I just said, you know, hey, by the way, do you have a permit? And he just kind of looked at me. He goes, do you mean for the city of green? And I'm thinking, no, we're in North. And so I, you know, I walked him through it and I he's like, oh, it's in my truck. And I think I understood that he probably didn't have one. And I was like, you know, you should probably go back to your truck and get your permit. Long story short, 20 minutes later, as I'm leaving my house to go somewhere, he's at the end of my street, still at it. And I did call the non-emergency line because I had given him a warning essentially. I wasn't going to be that person. But I was like, he's still doing it and he's pestering my whole street. So, I did call and they did handle it and they did check first to see, you know, is there any with that description, that company that has a permit? And if not, they do go out and they talk to these people. So, I know I'm not the only one calling that line. So, thank you to your people. That sounds like a really petty thing to some people to have to to talk about it, but we take care of it and I think that's one of the unique things about our community is that we don't have to worry about that as much. Um, the Makea-Wish event was phenomenal and I think I knew going into it that it was going to be great. Um, but really, you

know, I gathered over there by Dogwood. I saw that helicopter fly in. Um, which we don't ever see that here in this town. So, that was unique in itself. I felt like a little kid. But to watch Dominic's eyes through through him that experience was extra special and I just want to say um beginning to end I I know he was here for quite some time doing all the innings and outings of everything that we do. Anybody and everybody in this city who had a part to doing that, thank you. Um because I I knew that that left a lasting impression on him and his family. So that was excellent. Um and then on the last topic, you know, thank you Jim for the presentation tonight. I know that these conversations probably are not easy for any of us. Um, you know, I think it's great that we all take accountability when things don't go the way that we had planned. And, you know, as somebody who's representing the citizens, that's my job to ask those tough questions. And as somebody who's working in finance or city or whatever, it's it's your job to be able to also say, "Hey, this didn't work as it planned, and now we can fix this." So, I think it did work out well. I really appreciate the meeting over the week that we had to come together before this. Um, all of that was definitely a team effort and so that is not lost on me and we truly do have great people in finance. Um, I think we have the extra special people in finance here in North Ken. So, thank you for all of that and I do look forward to the future budget discussions. If I think of things that I think we can come up with in my first year, I will absolutely let you know. Um, but we'll we'll continue to to watch it. So, thank you again for that.

That's all I've got. Thank you, Miss Brad.

Yeah. Uh, thanks. Uh, yeah, I guess just to touch base on the road concerns as well. Um, you know, I'm I'm constantly calling in potholes and circus and things like that. and Leon's bench, as I said before, he's been uh very helpful in taking note of those and getting those out. So, um I am and when people vote on something, I want to make sure that they're getting what they're supposed to be getting. Um and so, um I'm happy to hear that this the city won't settle for less than what they were promised. Um, I'm happy that uh we won't settle for less because, you know, I'm a voter as well and um I want to make sure that the streets where I live um are nice. You know, uh people are accustomed to clear streets in the winter and nice streets um in the summer. In the winter, they're hard to keep up around here. Um we've got a lot of dedicated people on the road crews. Um they're out working with the new milling machine now. Um, and so the progress is good that way. But I just want to make sure that we we absolutely uh give the people what they opted for. Um, and so thanks to Jim and Gina uh for the presentation just to uh make it extremely um clear where we're at. Um, look forward to getting updates as they maybe as we hit timelines throughout the year. Um, and um, thank you for that. Uh, as far as I guess other things that I wanted to mention, um, I met with a citizen in regards to maybe getting some more

sidewalk put in. I know getting sidewalks put in, um, you know, is is not exactly an easy thing to do or it's probably pretty much cost prohibitive. Uh there's a a small section that would basically make it um over on Jonathan. It would make it a it would be walkable from the old Orchard Hill School down to the traffic light at Jonathan Everhard. It's on the opposite side. Um but if we went a few more houses, we could have essentially a sidewalk the whole way. So, I thought it might be worth at least um looking at u and uh look forward to having the conversation uh with you guys just to kind of get your thoughts on. But I thought there could be a value in in making that area walkable because it is a busy uh cut through street there. Um and there are um there is a lot of foot traffic. Uh the speed sign is still on Sway following up on a previous uh traffic complaint that the chief's been uh helping uh few few uh different people with over there. So I appreciate that. Um and uh it seems at least every time that I go through there, it seems under control. uh I'm not there during, you know, maybe some of the peak times. I look forward to seeing what kind of a report or something like that we get back from that machine. Um and uh also wanted to say thanks to uh Terry Gorski. I was at uh she works at the in city hall there. when you come upstairs. Uh she was in the process of

clearing my old my old phone that had been given me for a short time and sending it back in for $40. So I thought that that was notable that even on the scale of the city that uh she was taking the extra steps to be mindful of $40, you know, be lost. So I appreciate that. just wanted to say thank you. Not enough. Thank you, Mr. Sparker.

Okay. Thanks. Uh thank you to uh Sarah and Pat for speaking tonight, everyone else for for coming out. Thank you, Jim, for your presentation. Um thank you to everyone who was involved in the Makea-Wish. Um I um don't know why I thought it would be wise to skip the chopper landing. Um I did. went to the swearing in which by the way mayor that was great. I think he got down to his level and he I think he I think he liked it. I think he knows so thank you for doing um also very much looking forward to walking with me council. Um couple things I wanted to talk about. Um it is tall grass season. We had a lot of rain and now we're getting some some heat. Um, last week I had a resident who reached out to me and she had a concern about tall grass um, vacant lot in her neighborhood and Liam's office is now on uh, city's radar. And while it's obviously extremely important that we're kind of keeping on top of tall grass and tall weeds and of course primarily for health reasons, I would ask that if um you're a resident and you see another neighbor's yard that's say normally wellkept, if it's maybe a little bit overgrown this year, um before you reach out to the city, maybe just go ask if you can help. Um, it might be uh a physical situation, it might be a financial situation, but just ask see if you can help. If you can't, then maybe you can get a hold of us. That would be my my first recommendation. Um, last night was uh graduation at Memorial Stadium. Um, so congratulations to you for class of 2026 and that includes my own daughter, Eron. Um it was definitely a joy to see um

students and their families celebrating not only their their individual success but their collective success as classmates and friends. The evening was absolutely highlighted by four student speakers, the class president along with um the Suma speeches. They highlighted the arts, academics and athletics. And as the saying goes, when one door closes, another door opens. So, as any good Viking is looking to do, good luck on there next year. And then lastly, uh like basically everyone else, I would like to talk about the 720. Um I had some morning obligations. So, I missed the super busy time. Uh and so after uh those obligations and the the rainstorm, my wife and I ventured uh down. Um, and because it wasn't nearly as busy uh when we were there as what it was in the morning apparently, um, I did have an opportunity to have some pretty significant conversations or at night conversations with some of the vendors that I was purchasing from. Um, just of note, um, the husband and wife team, they come over all the time from Warren. They they own a candle company. They rave about 720 in North Canton. I also hung out for a bit with one of our favorite North Canton cookie bakers and our favorite North Canton brewer. They all raved about 720 and frankly more importantly they raved about being involved in North Kansas City Center and that's really what I kind of want to talk about. Um, I also have the pleasure of meeting three North Canon residents who happen to be under the age of 40. And I think that these three gentlemen all kind of show what our city center can become. Um, two of these residents, they already lived in the downtown area. one with his wife and their two young children and another who has just

returned to town after being away for 12 or so years after he went to college in Colorado and then lived out in Colorado and then eventually moved to Phoenix there. But all three of them talked about what makes North Canton special to them. The walkability, the easy access to the parks, to the downtown events such as the summer music Thursdays, city hall portico, um obviously 720, um the overall community spirit that North Camp has. or all those things that um that that that are very important to them and I think what is important to a lot of people and it shows that additional commitment and investment um what what additional commitment investment can do um so um I feel like it's an extremely exciting time in the city there's a lot of really good things that are happening a lot of positive momentum and I am just want to say that I'm very enthusiastic about collaborating with all members of council and the administration as we look ahead with the growth mindset.

Thank you very much. Okay, we conclude the report. Um I look around and we've we've had some great discussions. We've had awesome input from that man finance conversations have been good for the city as a whole. And I would be remiss if I didn't bring up another hard decision that's going to be facing us in the near future. And uh our finance department has talked about that. Our enterprise funds, the water and sewer, we talked about that 25% requirement for our reserves and how we got it up to 38 and then the bond people were saying it needs to be higher than that. I believe our reserve funds for our enterprise funds being water and sewer need to be at 100%. We're not there right now and it's going to require some very hard decisions and everything's getting more expensive and we are going to have to do some due diligence on how we're going to be able to meet these requirements.

Yes. So, we're going through a rate study right now and we will bring that to you guys uh next month. Okay. um in terms of where we're at financially with the view of water and sewer and what our um engineers who are helping us with this rate study um believe that we should do for water rates and sewer rates. So, we'll be bringing that to you guys next month. Um it should be finalized here shortly. So, you know, we're we're quickly approaching our our summer break and then we come back to budget time and a lot of decisions need to be made. We need to put those dollars where they're promised, where they're needed, and to make our city as strong as possible moving forward. That is my report. Final call for new business. Let's look at the meeting calendar. We will not have a meeting on Monday. We'll be walking in the parade Monday. I'm not sure my legs will be able to get me to the meeting that night. Um June 1st, I do want to bring up that'll be a city council meeting. I too as my co-consil person here have a business trip to Florida. I do have a business trip to Florida that week. I won't be as Hayrick will be running the meeting on Monday. I am however going to find a way to spend the weekend on the beach since I'm going to be down in Florida for 4 days for a meeting. So won't be here on the first and then we will have a committee of the whole meeting on June 8th. coming up.

I get a motion to adjurnn. I'll make the motion to adjurnn. Your second. and all the favors.