Board of Trustees - Regular Meeting

All [snorts]

right, everyone. Welcome. Happy new year. It's our first business meeting of the year. And uh Mr. Cable, let the record reflect that all trustees are present. Click here. Also, if you would like any public comments at all, we've got note cards right in the back. Fill those out and come on up uh here in just a moment. But uh first off, let's recognize and bring up uh Lieutenant Jason Ruse. Come on up, sir. 20 years of service and uh Chief Clemens, I will throw it over to you first.

Thank you, Mr. Dills. Uh tonight we're recognizing Lieutenant Jason Rims for 20 years of service to Union Township. Uh Lieutenant Runs is currently stationed at station 51, which is the water tower. Uh he takes on additional responsibilities. It includes our pre-plans for any new or alterations uh to structures within the township. The plans go to him to review for fire suppression uh and life safety um items. So, he's uh he done a great job over the years with that. Um and we every year we run our our final numbers and and collect some data. And I believe Lieutenant Rooms is two years uh running uh the most runs made by a company officer. So lieutenants and captains, Lieutenant Rooms has made

more runs than any other officer the last two years. And um for for as busy as he is on the additional task that he takes takes on, the the runs are the priority. And he's done the most out of anybody. And uh he doesn't complain and we appreciate all the all the work he does for us. And 20 years is a long time and we appreciate everything he's done. That's great. Thank you, Chief. The uh Trusty Becker. Yeah. Any any thoughts on highlights or low lightss over those 20 years? It's been an interesting ride. Any particular memories? Lots of good ones, lots of bad ones. It's you know how it is. All right. Well, we appreciate your dedication and your service. Thank you very much. Trusty B or sorry, Trusty Logan.

Yeah. No, Jason, we just we really appreciate your 20 years of service. Um, stick around, continue, keep up that pace and set set the example, lead by example for the younger generations. Really applaud you for for your impact and having you here and having your family here, I see. Right. Two of them. That's wonderful. Well, thank you. We really appreciate you. Thank you. Yeah. Lieutenant, uh, known you for quite a few years now. Appreciate you very much to your service to to township. And did did you want to introduce your family real quick? Notice the hat. It's my wife, Lisa, and my oldest daughter, Brandon.

Appreciate you being here, support. It's great. The uh It was funny as um Jason, you you would always uh uh put up pictures of your Jeep and then I match you and get one and then you you all sell yours. And so, uh that's the greatest day of my life. [snorts and laughter] Hey, you're good people. Appreciate your veterans and I know uh you always help uh the younger firefighters as well. And I appreciate you doing that, man. You've been great for the township and I appreciate you being here for 20 years. It's a long time. So, uh, thanks for coming out tonight, letting us recognize you. So, appreciate you very much, sir. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. And, uh, did you have any words at all for us? Anything you like to say? No, I just appreciate everything giving me a shot way back in 2006 when I was very green. Yeah. The first day I thought I was going to quit.

Absolutely. Yeah. I think I made 12 runs in 12 hours on my first day. That's incredible. That's incredible. I appreciate you, sir, very much. And so we got you this award like to recognize you sir. So appreciate you very much. Yeah. Thank you. Yep. Absolutely.

Jason, congrats. You want your glasses on? That's one thing. [applause] All right. And moving along. Hey, apologies. Uh, Mr. Campbell, I forgot correspondence. Is there any correspondence tonight?

Yes, sir. I have one. It's a liquor permit transfer of ownership, uh, from Betavia Sea Store, Inc. 1158 Old State Route 74, Betavia, Ohio 45103. [snorts] And that is transferring to Yuma AMCO LLC. Um 1158 State Route 74, Betavia, Ohio 45103. Uh Mr. McCormack is assured me that's it. It's it's in the right uh zoning and u police department has said they have no obligation or no objections at this time. So with that, that concludes the correspondence. Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Thank you.

Uh, no personnel actions. Next is, uh, public comments. And, uh, Miss R, is there any public comments back there or does anybody have one? None. Okay. Oh, you do. Yeah, please come on up.

Thank you, miss. Appreciate you very much. All right. Perfect. Yeah. Gotcha. And then right up to the podium, please. [snorts] And then uh just state your name and address for the record. Uh my name is Karen Weinley. I live at 4254 Illiam Avenue, apartment 6133, and I'm over here in the Union Common Flats. Great. Yeah. What can I do for you? Yes.

Well, um I haven't been there quite a year. rent has been raised already. Um, what we are mostly I'm in the senior building, by the way. It's way in the back. And there have been a lot of things going on that myself and uh friends that I brought here. We all live in that building have seen happen. Um, the rent was raised. They're moving people. It's supposed to be a 55 plus building. They're moving 18 and 19 year old people in there with young children. Uh there's been a lot of problems with uh one of the buildings to our right is section 8. The buildings to the left are HUD. There's been a lot of problems with um drugs. Uh the Union Township Police visit there every day, sometimes three, four times a day. And you know, we were told when we moved in, when we before we signed our lease, we asked, "How much will our rent be raised?" Most of us moved there because our rent had been raised $600, $700 everywhere. We moved there from Kennedy's Landing. And they said, "Oh, well, it'll probably be never be raised more than 20 or $30." And we were we re we've re received notices. Some of them have already signed their leases that um it's going to go up anywhere between $119 to $169. They ch they gave us free spectrum at first internet and now they're going to charge $50 for the spectrum. So we just feel that it's been it's been a bad wrap all the way around. I just wanted to bring that to your attention.

Thank you, Miss Wley. The um apologies for raising of the rent and all that. And then uh Mr. Wright and uh Chief, are you both taking note of that as well? Yep. Okay. Fantastic. Thank you, Miss Wley. Appreciate it very much. Is there anyone else that like to speak tonight?

Okay, seeing none, moving on. All right, department reports. Uh we'll start with our fire. Uh Chief Clemens. Thank you, Mr. Dills. In the month of December, we responded, the fire department responded to 166 fire and service calls, 609 EMS details. We made patient contact with 545 patients and transported 443 of those patients. We completed 1,100 hours of training. We're a part of 11 public education details. We completed two life safety inspections and 14 inspections in conjunction with the Claremont County Building Department. And that concludes my report. Great. Mr. Beck, do you have anything? No.

Mr. No. Thanks, Chief. Chief, good report. Appreciate you. Uh, Chief Ree,

thank you, Mr. Dills. In the month of December, the communication center handled 4,968 calls for service for police, fire, and EMS, and 4,968 total calls. Our our public records section processed 505 juvenile and adult court related documents to be processed for court. They processed 178 court notices that required officers personal appearance in court. They processed four rule 16s for the prosecutor's office, issued one vendor permit, handled 129 records requests, and redacted 54 body camera videos. In the area public affairs, um our officers were pretty busy in December. Uh I know the trustees are aware of the our WAW wa openhouse uh competition with the fire department and we won't go into [snorts] that again. Um we did a a demonstration and drone uh K9 demonstration and drone demonstration at Somersside Elementary. Uh we attended a career day at West Claremont Middle School and probably the biggest thing in December was our annual uh ride with Santa Claus. Uh very wellreceived. I think we hit just about every neighborhood between police and fire in the township and uh the citizens really seem to love it again this year. So, really good event. In the area of operations, uh we took 323 incident reports, 128 crash reports, made 558 traffic stops, issued 168 citations, 411 written warnings, made 59 criminal arrests, 83 traffic arrests, and 96 warrant services. And our officers attended 32 hours of training in the month of December. I just want to add one thing from uh to add on to Miss Wley's comments. Um we are doing a lot over uh Union Commons. We actually have an agreement with them. Union Commons is has agreed to purchase flock cameras for the roundabout. Um they haven't been installed yet, but I'm really hoping that those flock cameras without getting into the to the to the uh the benefits of them and I really think they're going to make a difference when with keeping out the criminal elements. So,

thank you. Thank you, Chief. Thank you. Yeah, Mr. Becker. Yeah, a couple things. So, on the top, was it Union or Union Commons? Union Commons. Okay, that's two different places. Is is is there any legal recourse that um that the building is supposed to be for grade over 55 year olds? You [clears throat] got younger families moving in?

Not not to me. Sure. It's really [clears throat] to address it with the Ohio housing, you know, through who the entity where the tax credits, the permissive tax credits are issued. we would not have any um for us multif family is multif family it's really a use distinction there's not and we can't we we can't get into age restricted or non-agger restricted housing so and Mr. McCormack's going to get all kinds of uh fair housing training here in the next week or two as a result of the uh um policy that you guys adopted from that settlement from a while ago. So if there's a concern about how the how the utilization of that is I would urge them to reach out to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, OFA, that's what we call it, OHFA, and to lodge those uh to to just they probably have a help line. I would call them. So

Okay. So these tax credits, those are state tax credits. They're state tax credits. Correct. Okay. There is no tax abatement on that project. So, it sounds like if they're in violation, seems reasonable to me or logical. Those tax credits could get clogged back by the state potentially. Uh they they would probably I imagine there's probably a series of recourse. I've never seen that happen or whatever. But you ladies might want to contact Jean Schmidt, your state representative, and tell her what's going on. Yeah, she's actually she'll she's not shy. She'll reach out to any state agency. Yeah.

Yeah. She's she's high energy. Uh Chief Ree, um whole new topic here. So on the Facebook page, uh from time to time there's a lost dog, stray dog that gets posted out there. Um those posts are very popular with with the public and people are are are concerned and they kind of want more information. Did the dog get reclaimed? The dog being fed, you know, on and on and they reach, you know, they ask me and I don't, you know, I don't know anything. So, what I what I I guess what I'm asking you for is kind of give us an overview, you know, high level kind of a process. You know, do do people bring these stray dogs to you? Does somebody report them out in such and such neighborhood and you guys go out and, you know, catch them, the dog catchers, and take them up to and and there's a cut kennel behind the building. So, you know, they're fed, they got water. I don't know if it's heated or not, but you know, they're they're they're it's a shelter. And then how long are they there? And then they go down to Bavia to the animal shelter there. And I guess how often and in what process with all that do they get reunited with their owners? I know that was a lot but whatever you know.

Yeah, we do have an outdoor kennel. Typically uh people will call us for the most part. We come out if we can capture the animal and we do have some equipment to assist with that. We will and typically that is what happens. We'll bring it back to the kennel. It's overnight hours. Our dispatch, we we usually put something out on Facebook pretty quick. If we don't get a response there, uh there's after hours numbers that our dispatch calls, they won't come out in the middle of the night to pick them up. But the animal control and the um the shelter down in in the county is pretty good the next day about getting up pretty quick and they come up and pick up the animal. So, we don't keep them more than 24 hours. No, not not more than 24 hours.

Okay. Do so I so then you don't know what happens after they go to the table. You don't know what happens. How often the owners claim them? Sometimes they sometimes our Facebook posts are successful and we can get the owners to come up and pick them up but more often than not they wind up down at the shelter. Okay. All right. That was good. Good overview. Thank you. That's all. Chairman Mr. I'm good. Thank you, Chief. Uh to both chiefs, hey, great job this uh past Christmas. I saw everything and looked awesome. Yeah, kids loved it. It was a good time. So, appreciate you both very much. U moving on to our service department. Uh Mr. Matt Taylor.

Thank you, Mr. Dills. In the cemetery division, from December 1st through the 31st, 18 burials were performed generating $11,970. Uh six resident grays were purchased for $4,200. Three non-resident grays were purchased for $5,100 and the total amount generated for the period was $22,935. In the parks division, uh staff [clears throat] continues to uh the daily maintenance on township buildings, parks, and landscape areas. And uh the road department uh successfully completed 14 work orders. And staff completed uh the cross tile replacement project on Bell's Lane. And the service department staff treated roads due to snow and icy conditions on December 13th through the 15th. And also just kind of a quick overview on the service department or the service garage. Uh we are supposed to be actually at the end of this week. Um Pat and Danielle and I will be moving in and the rest of the staff will be moving in shortly after that. Uh there's a few small punch list items that uh we're waiting to be completed, but uh it's coming along, you know, very nicely. And that concludes my report.

Thank you, Mr. Kelly. Mr. Becker, Mr. No, I'm good. Thank you, Mr. Kelly. Good report. Thank you. Great. All right. Planning and zoning director Mark McCormack.

Thank you, Mr. Dills. For the month of December, we had 16 inspections for code enforcement, six complaints, two unfounded complaints, three warning citations, one 15-day non-compliance letter, uh, six cases resolved, 316 illegal signs removed, uh, five violations for the month, four reinspections, no nuisances. And in terms of permit activity for the month, we had one commercial permit, two changes of use, eight signs, uh five single family homes, one deck, three accessory structures, and six uh pools or fence permits uh for 26 permits and a revenue of $5,190. And no fire department revenue for that month. And um as an additional note, not in the report, I would add that we did award two more grants in the Mount Carmel area from that Mount Carmel revitalization grant process. Um so half the money has been allocated now. [snorts] That concludes the my report, Mr. Becker.

No, good. Mr. L. I'm good. Thank you, Mr. McCor. Thanks for going on that training next week. Appreciate [snorts] that. Or in the coming weeks. appreciate that very much. Good work. Thank you. And finally, our administrator, Mr. uh Right.

Thank you, Mr. Json. I'll be brief. Um so, uh there is purchase order uh this evening for engineering work and an LPA couple LPA agreements for both a consultant agreement and an ODOT agreement for the old 74 systemic safety sidewalk project that we received a grant from ODOT from and that's in the vicinity of schoolhouse and uh Bach Buckston. Uh access control system upgrades continue. service garage renovations continue. Mr. Taylor's doing a good job pulling the contractor along with a sense of urgency on that. Um uh as far as the OPWC projects, I've heard that we are tentatively funded. Both projects scored very well. Um we will probably not receive a funding letter. They told me until later this year uh as we get closer to the July one award date. We're going to go ahead and get started on easements for the Elmont project because we got a little bit of easement work that we have to to do. when I had a conversation with the county engineer at the T meeting last week. Um, we uh one thing I wanted to uh check with the board here. Uh we have completed our comprehensive review of cemetery fees. Uh just wanted to check the board's preference to see if you prefer to work session format or if you just wanted to have a special presentation at one of the upcoming meetings. It's really whatever the board's pleasure. I can do one or the other. It doesn't matter. Um so just think about that or whatever. Um, we have a potential ODOT systemic safety sidewalk application for Somerside. We're working on that with Choice One and they are also looking at preparing at uh, it's called transportation alternatives funding to OKI to kind of load the queue on these projects for the Icults Road sidewalk extensions and increasing walkability in that. Um, we did submit a safe routes to school grant. Haven't heard back. Uh, we do have a new TIFF district proposed. This is for the land across from the police station. If you remember, we repealed a prior tiff from 2018 or 19 and it actually includes some additional

parcels. So, this will kind of reset the clock on that. Um, the last remaining 2003 tiff extension is under review with West Claremont. I expect that as soon as they bring forward a ratification of that, we will bring that forward to follow up. That was a resolution that was tabled for some changes last month. Um, we do have a purchase order in front of the board this evening of significance to acquire the excess land that we've been working on with ODOT uh on the south side of Cleer Lane. This will give us an opportunity to put that property into productive use again instead of being an unknown unm uh sort of uh decrepit looking area right off of the uh new Kapper off-ramp. So, I really want to express my appreciation to our state delegation uh and specifically Representative Schmidt for her help and pulling ODOT along kicking and screaming throughout that entire process because without that, I don't think we would have gotten where we are. So, that is for the board's consideration. Uh we have successfully concluded negotiations with the PD dispatchers, the communications department, and that is on the agenda for ratification this evening. Uh we have filed all the paperwork we need to to transfer the Huey helicopter from BVA649 to the township. If you remember, we discussed that. And uh we are uh just working through open enrollment. And uh oh, one other note, we did finally receive a release of federal funds for the EV chargers. So that's been, you know, um a year and a half in the making. So uh happy to answer any questions. Mr. [clears throat]

Right. Good job. Thank you, Mr. Recorder. [snorts] No, nothing. Mr. Um maybe now or maybe just a little bit later. Uh but uh Mr. Wright, thank you for for the updated information. You and you said that was a year and a half uh way over schedule on the EV charger. I think it's popular at least a year. Has it been a year and a half since we got the letter from OKI? We originally were supposed to have it um accepted between May and July at the latest. And so, yeah, we're definitely behind. ODOT moves at glacial speeds. No way. Yeah. Right.

So, over schedule, over my budget because my budget would be zero and um and not something that I've ever heard that anyone from the community wants uh and puts government in competition with business. So yeah, I may hold on to that one, but thanks for the update on that for the highly unpopular uh electric vehicle chargers and that initiative,

Mr. Right. Good report and uh nice job. Good, good, good uh 2025. All right, no public hearings tonight. No old business. Old business. All right. Uh new business, our consent agenda. I'll entertain a motion to approve our consent agenda for the minutes. Approval of the minutes from December 9th, 2025 regular meeting minutes, December 9th, 2025 zoning meeting minutes. 2015, I'm sorry, December 15, 2025 special meeting minutes. And finally, the January 2nd, 2026 reorganization meeting minutes. So moved. Second. Uh, no discussion. Mr. Campbell, roll call. Mr. Becker, yes. Mr. Lo, yes. Mr. Dills,

yes. Motion carries. [snorts] Second item is I entertain a motion for approval of the payments as prepared by our fiscal officer Ron Campbell. So moved. Do you want Mr. Campbell? Do you need an explanation on that? Payments. No. Right. Okay. No. Uh Mr. Camp, roll call. Mr. Becker? Yes. Mr. Log? Yeah. Mr. Dills? Yes. Motion carries. All right. Uh let's see. to entertain a motion for the approval of the monthly financial report as prepared by Mr. Rodon Campbell. So moved. Second, Mr. Campbell. Roll call. Mr. Becker. Yes. Mr. Lo. Yes. Mr. Dills. Yes. Motion carries.

And I see what I did wrong. There's a consent agenda. Whoops. All right. Uh, all right. Next one is our purchase orders uh exceeding $15,000. Mr. Cory Wright, would you mind explaining that?

Thank you, sir. First purchase order is the TEC Engineering uh in the amount of $57,000. This is uh includes a 10% contingency. This is related to one of the um motion items uh for the board whereby we will be authorizing both a consultant agreement and then an LPA agreement. Basically what you do is you go under the the township contracts with the consultant, but ODOT basically pays 8020 on the engineering side and everything else is 9010. So that is for $57,000. Um the second is for the acquisition of the Cleer lands. This is about four acres, a little less than four acres. And again, we've included a little bit of residual. The purchase price is actually 432, but there's a little bit of residual to handle closing costs and other things in that uh for that. That's $440,000. Uh that's to the state of Ohio. Um the next item of business is the uh Highland group for our 2627 property casualty and liability insurance uh renewal. Uh that is for $350,000, an amount not to exceed that. Just a little bit of uh heads up on that. Um you know, we're seeing about a 10 to 14% market increase across the board. And then we added some additional assets which are about 50% of our total premium increase in that. So that is for three not to exceed $350,000 for a purchase order for that. The second is for $80,000 for our cyber uh fraud and social engineering policies. If you remember we put standalone policies in place that's also to highlight last year uh that is a recommendation of both um I believe the treasurer of state, the auditor of state and then also house bill 96 uh you know to have those those. So um those are for our cyber security policy and then our social engineering which deals primarily with fraudulent fund transfer fishing type stuff. So uh we don't expect it to be that but that

again that's a not to exceed number. Uh the final purchase order is Bachman's Inc. for station 48 HVAC repairs in the amount of $19,863. This will repair a deficient uh wall unit or what I would call like a hotel style unit in the bunk room and then also uh deal with a deficient uh HVAC system for the uh the medic the medic [clears throat] storage the EMS supplies gear. So that's in the base. So that will uh help us with that uh problem that we have there. That concludes the purchase orders. Thank you Mr. Right. Any questions for Mr. Right? Okay, gentlemen, entertain a motion to approve the purchase orders exceeding $15,000. Recommended by our administrator, Mr. Wright. Second move.

Second. Any discussion? Mr. Campbell, roll call. Mr. Becker. Yes. Mr. Luke. Yes. Mr. Dills. Yes. Motion carries. All right. Second item is the collectible bargain agreement ratification. Mr. Ray.

Yes. This is just the last item of business to conclude negotiations with the uh Union Township Police Association. If you recall last month we were able just because of timing and scheduling we were able to ratify with the patrol and the sergeants, the dispatchers, we had a productive meeting uh last week and were able to get to a uh a rapid conclusion on that with a reasonable increase and then some other changes that are advantageous to the township. So uh with that I respectfully request a motion to ratify the dispatchers uh portion of the agreement.

Any questions for Mr. Right. All right. Gentlemen, entertain a motion uh to approve the bargaining agreement ratification terms set forth within the tenative agreement modification collective baring agreement between Union Township Police Association Division and the Board of Trustees. Effective date uh November 1st, 2025 through October 1st, 2028 which is approved and stated therein effective through March 11, 2029. and further also authorizing the board to ratify and execute the final contract document once all agreed modifications are incorporated and therefore this approval and ratification shall specifically be applicable to Township Police Association Communications Division. So move

second any discussion Mr. Campbell roll call Mr. Becker? Yes. Mr. Log? Yes. Mr. DS? Yes. Motion carries.

All right. Third item is the ODOT systematic safety sidewalk grant. Mr. Right. Yes, this is a uh sidewalk project for which the township was the benefactor of a grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation, the systemic safety program. It's a great program. 9010 they fund basically 9010 on uh construction. Uh the only thing they don't pay for is something called construction engineering which is uh uh basically you have to hire a company to oversee it. Basically, I think ODOT actually just uses their people. This will be an ODOTE project but we have to do the design of it and in that case it's an 8020 uh component. So there's two agreements that you're authorizing. One is the uh consultant agreement. Uh the other with TEC Engineering the other is the corresponding uh document with ODOT that is the LPA. They call it the local uh project. I think it's the local public agency. That's what LPA stands for agreement. So, this is just sort of a housekeeping thing to keep moving that project along.

Good. Any questions? All right. Gentlemen, entertain a motion for the ODOT systemic sidewalk uh safety sidewalk grant on Old State Route 74 and do house dogwood and schoolhouse sidewalk. So move. Second. Discussion. Mr. Campbell. [clears throat] Roll call. Mr. Becker. Yes. Mr. Log. Yes. Mr. Dills. Yes. Motion carries. All right. Number four is the ODOT access land contract authorization. I know you've already gone over, but one more time, Mr. Ray.

Yes, sir. This is for uh excess rightaway. Uh it's the policy of the township to try to pursue uh the ability to put excess rightaway and overby back into productive taxpaying use. Right now it's in tax exempt use owned by the state of Ohio. They don't m really mow it. They don't really maintain it. And they have a program to dispose of that. So this would be to execute the purchase and sale agreement and authorize me to take all steps necessary to uh uh conclude that. We've been working on that for a while. So thank you, Mr. Rick. Any questions, Mr. Right? And gentlemen, entertain a motion for the ODOT excess land contract authorization. So move second. Mr. Campbell, roll call. Mr. Becker? Yes. Mr. Log? Yes. Mr. Dills? Yes. Motion carries.

All right. It's for the property casualty and liability insurance renewal. Uh, Mr. Right. Just a brief explanation. Sure. Again, this is for our annual property casualty liability all perils uh insurance. This covers everything but cyber coverage and social engineering for the township, all our vehicles, all our facilities. Uh, you know, we go through a pretty rigorous effort annually to update our vehicle schedules, update our equipment schedules, make sure our facilities are appropriately insured at a true replacement cost and uh that that we just we do this every year in January. So, all right. Uh gentlemen, I'll entertain a motion for the property and counseling and liability insurance renewal 2026 through 2027. So moved. Second.

Mr. Campbell. Roll call. Mr. Becker? Yes. Mr. Ro? Yes. Mr. Dills? Yes. Motion carries. All right. Last item is uh our uh insurance coverage as well. Uh Mr. Wright, a brief explanation.

Sure. This is for a standalone uh this would authorize me to buying coverage with uh Highland Group CFC and Travelers Insurance to secure a standalone $5 million uh cyber insurance coverage policy from CFC with an additional 1 million in standalone social engineering and fraud transfer fund insurance from travelers for a combined amount to not exceed $80,000. We expect it to come in less than that. But again, the insurance business renewals, they run a pretty tight line tight wire on when the renewals come in. You got it. All right, gentlemen. Entertain a motion for the approval of Union Township Cyber Coverage and Social Engineering Fraud Access Insurance Coverage. So moved.

Second, Mr. Campbell. Roll call. Mr. Becker? Yes. Mr. Log? Yes. Mr. Dills? Yes. Motion carries. All right. Item seven is our Jed point of board appointments. Uh we'll do each one one by one. There's just three of them. Uh let's see here. Gentlemen, I entertain a motion for the approval of the Jed board number one director's membership for Chance Trooper uh worker member term ending on 627 2030. So moved. Second. No discussion. Mr. Campbell. Roll call. Mr. Becker. Yes. Mr. Log. Yes. Mr. Dills. Yes. Motion carries.

Second one. Uh Mr. Becker. Thank you. By the way, I'll entertain a motion for the approval of Jed number two board of directors membership for John Becker Township member term ending on 3:15 2030. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Mr. Campbell. Roll call. Mr. Becker. Yes. Mr. Logan. Yes. Mr. Dills. Yes. Motion carries. M. Mr. Dills. On Jed number eight for Mr. Valardo. That's actually a city appointment, but it is our policy to just recognize their appointment [snorts] just as sort of a Yeah, we got it. Oh, don't need a vote on it. You just just a motion to recognize. All right, fair enough. Um All right, gentlemen. I entertain a motion to recognize Jed number eight, board of directors membership of Ralph Wardo. Uh he just became the mayor. Correct.

Correct. Correct. Yeah. Um for municipal member city appointmenting uh 21 of 2030. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Mr. Kim, roll call. Mr. Becker. Yes. Mr. Log. Yes. Mr. Dills. Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Legislative agenda. Uh resolution 2026-2003. Uh surplus of gov deals. Basically, we're selling off some equipment. But Mr. Right explanation.

This is uh an annual authorization for gov deals. We have to do this on an annual basis just to enter into and ratify the you know the terms and conditions. [clears throat] Just kind of a housekeeping item. gentleman entertain a motion to approve resolution 2026-03 resolution authorizing the sale of surplus through gov deals incorporated so move second any discussion Mr. Campbell roll call Mr. Becker yes Mr. Luke yes Mr. DS yes motion carries okay uh second resolution 2026-04 uh Mr. direct brief explanation.

Sure. This replaces a prior tiff that was rescended by the board for the property that's basically been consolidated across from the police department. Uh this is uh there is no development approved yet. The board will certainly get a chance to look at a development when uh you know and if a zoning amendment is advanced, but it is appropriate to go ahead and put this tiff on that property considering that we expired the prior tiff. It's make whole. Schools are made whole on this one. It's pretty much perfect what it is. Any questions, Mr. Right? All right, gentlemen. Entertain a motion for the approval of resolution 2026 uh-04, the Glenescy IOTS mixeduse tax increment financing district. So moved.

Second. Any discussion? Mr. Campbell. Roll call. Mr. Becker? Yes. Mr. Logan? Yes. Mr. Dills? Yes. Motion carries. All right. Next one is 20265. Uh, Mr. Wright.

Sure. And uh I'll defer to Mr. McCormack for specific uh questions, but this is just a text amendment initiation. You can initiate a text amendment one of three ways. By resolution of the board of trustees, by you know vote of the zoning commission, or by any person can actually file a an application to amend a text uh of the zoning code. Um so this uh traditionally we've always done this with the resolution to initiate it through the board of trustees. This deals with uh short-term rental uh regulations. Right now we really those are like BRBO, Airbnb. We don't have any regulations currently and then there's some amendments to clearly define what's native lawn and what's not native vegetation. So it's just again little bits addressing kind of a hole in our code and uh another um uh definition on maintain natural lawns and things like that. I I know Mr. McCormack has been working diligently with the zoning commission on this specific amendment.

Thank you, Mr. Right. And just for clarity, this is just the initiation. Yes. We're not voting on it or the specifics of it tonight. Goes to the zoning board and then comes back to us. Correct. And what will happen is Mr. McCormack will take the remainder of this month to perfect the application, make sure he has everything in order. He will file an application with the zoning commission and then it'll go to the zoning commission in February and then it'll come back to the trustees in March per the prescribed timelines in 51912. Perfect. Perfect. Any questions for Mr. Ray? Mr. All right. Gentlemen entertain a motion to for the approval of resolution 2026-05 resolution initiating the zoning tax. So move. Second. Any discussion? Mr. Cameron. Roll call. Mr. Becker. Yes. Mr. Log.

Yes. Mr. Dills. Yes. Motion carries. All right, gentlemen. Uh, resolution 2026-06. Uh, Mr. Wright, brief explanation. Sure. This is a resolution. This again initiates a zoning text amendment case 220 26T. This deals with the regulations governing the uh retail marijuana dispensaries as conditional uses in the township. Thank you. And again, this is to initiate. There'll be a zoning hearing and a board of trustees hearing in March. Perfect. Any questions, Mr. R? Uh, gentlemen, entertain a motion for the approval of resolution 2026-06, resolution initiating this zoning text amendment. So, move. Second. All right. Uh, discussion.

Yes. Uh, Mr. Chairman, I got a number of concerns with the whole concept of the pot shops and and [snorts] there was there was a meeting I gave a a rather lengthy dissertation as to problems [cough] or potential problems. Of course, approving them, you know, that remains whether it's medical or recreational, doesn't matter. It's still a federal crime that they're here. I don't expect a SEAL team or, you know, Delta Force to come and swoop in and take them out. But, uh, arguably that does make this an accessory to a crime. Uh, regardless, uh, increasing the number of them, you know, so, you know, what's the plan here to lower lower the price and and and Union Township becomes the stoner capital of Southwest Ohio? I don't think anybody wants to see that. And, uh, you know, then the next step, we're going to do, change our logo to instead of a tree, make it a marijuana plant. I think they're bad for the community. I don't want them here.

That's all I have, Mr. Lo.

Okay. Um, I see this initiates a process to have public feedback on action that materially reduces taxes and liabilities. Last year, it generated $750,000 from two legally operating businesses. and I support the community benefits agreement that is in place for that. I do know that things are moving forward as far as a schedule three designation from the one of the recent executive orders for medical acknowledgement. Police have noted no impacts negative to the community. Again, this initiates the process to hear from residents, then going to the board of zoning, then for more feedback before coming to this board. I understand that's a structured community feedback process and is something that you're standing against with your three points that you gave there. But I just have to say it's notably different from other flashy political zangers that are not just balancing good policy and good politics. the Becker electric vehicle initiative. That's something I stood against because the nearly $1 million taxpayer spend, the lack of support that I heard from anybody in the community that wanted it with no community feedback, direct conflict with executive orders to cancel these green new scams. But now, as we heard tonight, a year and a half later, it is funded. So, dragging out way over schedule.

I do ask still for a majority of the board to stand up against that waste of taxpayer funds. I do not want Union Township to be California, where electric vehicles and charging stations catch fire, require special fire apparatuses, $250,000 of fire apparatus at least to be able to put the batteries out or the boats of water that they put around them in California or the blankets that they put on the burning vehicles. Those are costs. Those are real fixed costs in the [laughter] future. and the system replacement in 10 years from now, 12 years from now for again something I've not heard from any community members that want and finally for the government to compete in private business. I think a mile down the road Waw Wa just moved in with a few electric vehicle charging stations. I don't believe we need to be putting them right out our front doors, but private government does not be need to be competing with private business. I did want to get more info on this. Spoke with Congressman Taylor, who's in the Department of Transportation committee to try to see if there's more flexibility on these funds that are already executed and if Congress can do something so we can redirect funds from electric vehicle charging stations that are wasteful and maybe put them into our roads and pave our roads. He's researching it, taking a look at it, but frankly, he said, "No one in the district is considering these wasteful initiatives because it's just really not aligned with the values of the district." Which I guess would fit why I've not heard from residents that are coming to me saying, "Mike, let's make Union Township electric vehicle charging station California 2.0 on the east side Cincinnati." You know, it's just not something I hear from the community that they want. So, I'm still asking for a board member to stand up against this

wasteful spend and help me cancel electric vehicles, charging stations. I hear you on it. You know, there's text about the moratorium for this. I do, but it's it's Yeah, I do. Okay. But but it's about hearing community feedback and why Mr. Becker's against it and he wants to be flashy about saying he's going to put a pot tree on on the brand of Union Township with the same rate. It probably is because inviting electric vehicle charging stations in here like that, you're going down the same path of not getting community feedback. This this is an initiative to res to get structured community feedback. So I support that. Support materially lowering taxes for Union Township. Were the EV chargers my initiative?

Yes, they were. They were. Yes, they were. Okay. That's news to me. Okay. Were they his initiative? I

I don't remember. It's a year and a half ago. Um but uh you know, may maybe we could use a new logo. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. The uh I'm I'll just be very uh short and brief. Um when when the state came up for a vote, I was surprised. I I didn't think it was going to be this much uh for the legalization of medical or recreational marijuana. It was 60% to 40% in favor of it. I I was actually surprised by it. Um so my my thinking and now is I'm I'm going to be in vote in favor of this. So uh the zoning can debate it and decide it and also to um we have two months to get community feedback and if we keep the moratorum at two then it's at two that's fine. Uh or if we expand it to three or four um that's that's fine as well if after we get some community feedback. So that's that's kind of where I'm at with it. Just let's let's see what the committee says. Let's see what the zoning says and and then we'll we'll move forward from there. So, I'm not a hard no or hard or yes on it until I get more feedback. That's all.

Mr. Chairman, just point of information. Waw wall does not have any superchargers, at least not at this time. As far as I know, the only one Union Township, I could be wrong about this is down at Beach My Ford. I know they have one anyway. I'm not sure it's the only one. It's the only one I know of, I guess. Uh and I have made it clear in past meetings, I don't want us competing with Wawa. I want to make sure whatever price we're selling electric at is higher than they can get it at Wawwa or Beach My Ford for that matter, wherever. I don't want to be competing with the private sector. So, you want us to be selling electric though for electric vehicle charging stations? Mr. Mr. Lug, if this is that important to you, let's put together a a resolution. Just cancel the damn thing.

I've been I've been I've been asking for it since I voted no on it. Well, I've been asking for this since I voted no on it. Well, General, how about during like our board comments, we talk about that. Let's let's just talk about the, you know, should we move or not move forward the then and now and then. I didn't know this was an emotional issue for for Mr. Lo, but okay, whatever. But, uh, as far as this, it's not it's it's it's not the emotional issue as you're claiming there. It's the fact that it's picking and choosing which initiatives that you want to support based on what's convenient.

We make those decisions every day. Is there any more discussion on this? This particular [laughter] resolution just this is basically uh passing it along to the zoning uh and uh or and uh yeah, I'm good with roll call for the the initiative to be community feedback and then after that then we vote on it in March is when it comes down to a hard vote. We can we can discuss. But is there any Okay. All right. All right. Uh Mr. Campbell, roll call. Mr. Bucker. No. Mr. Lug. Yes, Mr. Doodles. Yes. Motion carries.

Okay. Resolution uh 2026-07. Uh Mr. Wright, brief explanation. Sure. This is a uh annual renewal for uh what actually happened here is uh Archive Social handles social media comments. They actually got bought by Civic Plus. This is an annual renewal for that. A little bit of housekeeping. Uh so perfect. Uh gentlemen, entertain a motion for the approval of resolution 2026-07, the venal of the civic plus. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Mr. Campbell, roll call. Mr. Becker. Yes. Mr. Lug. Yes. Mr. Dills. Yes. Motion carries.

All right. Comments from the board. Mr. Becker, vice chair. Sir,

is yours? Ah, so some an anniversary that's coming up uh believe it's this Sunday uh January 18th for those of us who are around in 1977. Looks like most of us in this room were 25 below zero. I always had my calendar marked for that. I I'm still shell shocked from from the experience. You know, back then there was a lot of talk about global cooling and a coming ice age. Some of you might remember that there's a book out called uh called the cooling and u so anyway the politics of switch from global cooling to global warming and frankly I believed it back then. Uh moving on. So Mr. Mr. Chairman you might recall four years ago I uh was on a mission to visit every restaurant Union Township and I got very creative in terms of defining what what is a restaurant. And so the idea was to have breakfast, lunch, dinner, or carry out at every one of them. And I accomplished that in about nine months. I got some stories to tell.

Figure looks good. Not bad. [snorts]

Working on that. So anyway, and then uh I guess the last several meetings um I've been uh bringing to the public's attention where I've been getting some good deals on on some carry out or at least most of these are carry out. Uh so I want to continue with that. So for I guess a couple reasons. One of which I want to um promote Union Township businesses and encourage people to you know go go out for dinner and I understand eating out's expensive and that's why I'm kind of advertising if you will where where some of the deals are some what my experiences have been. So since the the last uh I guess we got together in December uh Golden Chen that's by Kroger's dinner for two $18.70. Clean Eats, that's by Jungle Gyms. Dinner for two, $24.58. That's the most expensive on my list. KFC, dinner for two, $1547. A new favorite of mine, Taco Bell. I got a It might have been something for, you know, downloading the app. Get buy one get one free or something. Dinner for two is $528. And I want to give a shout out to the nacho fries. They were outstanding. Long John Silvers dinner for two $15.98.

Steak and shake dinner for two $16.7. And they're offering I need to double check this. The uh I think through the end of the month, show up after four o'clock and you get like a free milkshake. Anyway, I got a free milkshake with with uh with my dinner. Waw wa. My wife and I each got a pizza. Dinner for two. $13.98. Told you I was creative. What's a restaurant? And then uh my my weekly standby and favorite is Gold Star Chili. Dinner for two. $9.80. And Mr. Chairman, that concludes my remarks.

Are you going to be taking uh Mrs. Becker anywhere special for Valentine's Day at one of these places? [sighs] Perhaps. I got plenty of time to think about that. I don't know. kind of liking Taco Bell and his nacho fries. Sounds wild. The uh Mr. Lo, sir. Uh just off to a great start, I think, for 2026. Looking forward to what this board's going to accomplish in this year to come and uh what we'll deliver for the people of Union Township together. So, looking forward to it. Great first meeting back, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, sir. The uh um I'll say this. I uh Mr. Becker, I had three different people, two people called me and one texted me saying that uh that last special meeting that we had that uh uh I came across as bullying or disrespectful or you know, fill in whatever adjective you want uh with you. And uh you know, and it was funny as it's funny as I I called John. I'm I'm a firstname kind of guy, so I say John. I called Mr. Becker and uh I did I apologized and then I didn't realize it came across that way. Uh then I rewatched our 30-inute video and I was like, "Oh yeah, I get it. I get it. That makes sense." So what happened was uh my message got diluted by my apparent rudeness. And so I just wanted to publicly say, "Hey, look, when you're wrong, you're wrong. Uh my bad. Did not mean to um come across any way disrespectful with you." And uh you know, our viewpoints are are different and that's okay. Uh but we're still colleagues. We're still fellow Republicans and we're still fellow board members and so mutual respect.

Yeah. You know, I I personally do not think the $5 fee is a big deal and no one's going to sell me otherwise. I got five vehicles I got to pay on. Um but I'm also a big advocate for the parks and so um so it's both. And so but regardless, that's not the point of tonight. I wanted to just simply say, "Hey, my bad. I'm sorry." And I did not mean to, uh cross the line if I did or come across that way. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Just apologize. Yeah. So, uh, but as far as, um, this year, looking forward to it. Uh, it's going to be a good year. I really do think think so. Um, I think all of our departments are doing solid. Great leadership in place. So, good deal. That's all I got. Um, all right. Upcoming events. I'm not a fast reader like Mr. Lo, so I apologize. Uh, the Union Township Zoning Commission will be meeting this Wednesday, [clears throat] January 28th. January 28th. That is when we have our endorsement meeting. It's also my birthday. I'm very excited to go for that till 2 o'clock in [clears throat] the morning like it was. Was that was that last year? Went till 2 o'clock in the morning. 2 3 in the morning.

This one's on my birthday. I'm really excited for that. I'll be celebrating uh voting that night. Uh so our zoning commission meeting will be January 28th, 7 p.m. to review one proposed zoning map amendment case. Uh the Union Township Board of Zoning Appeals is scheduled to meet on Thursday, February 5th, uh at 7 p.m. Uh pending receipt of cases to consider. Uh if there's no obviously no applicants, there will be no meeting. Board of Trustees, our next meeting will be February 10th, which is the second Tuesday uh 2026 at 6 PM right here. Township offices will be closed in observance of Martin Luther King Day on January 19th. Annual Christmas tree recycling program, Mr. Taylor, I know you love that. Will be on January 31st. Uh trees may be dropped off at the Guine Township Service Department, which is located right be We're still going to do it at the uh behind the police department. Okay. Right behind the police department at 4312 Glenn Winsville Road. Remove all the lights and decorations. Proud of drop off. Last one is considering using [clears throat] our post office downstairs for all your shipping needs. Uh gentlemen, that is it. That is uh a 56 minute meeting. Not bad for the first one in January. Uh, gentlemen, I'll entertain a motion to adjournment.

Second, Mr. Camp roll call. Mr. Becker, yes. Mr. Lo, yes. Mr. Dills, yes. We're adjourned at 6:56 p.m. Thank you all for attending.