City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to Larry City Council meeting for Monday, December 15, 2025. At this time, I'd like to take a moment of reflective silence followed by the pledge of allegiance.

Mr. Callahan, would you please lead us in pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Mr. Callahan. I'd ask that uh everyone please turn your phones to the off or silent mode out of respect for the council meeting. Be greatly appreciated. This clerk, I have roll call, please. Yes, sir. Mr. Callahan, here. Mr. Sierra, here. Mr. Armstrong

here. Mr. Oswald here. Mrs. Mitchell here. Mr. Tolette here. Mr. Lipian here. Mrs. Sorca here. Mrs. Davis here. Mr. Schneider here. Mr. Stewart here. All present. Public hearings. We have none. There are no minutes to be approved. Correct. Remarks and reports from city officials. Mayor Brewbaker. Yes. Over here, Mr. President.

Oh, there you are. Um, if I could, if you would indulge me, if Councilman Callahan, Councilman Stewart, Councilwoman Sorca, and Council Clerk Laco would come out to the front platform here for me, please. As we all know that this evening, uh, these three individuals will be their last city council meeting. and on behalf of the city um and the administration, your fellow council members, um I have some proclamations that I would like to read and present. I will read uh parts and pieces of each one of these and then I'll hand them to you all uh together. Um and then pictures can be taken. Uh but the first one is honoring Michael J. Lotco for his 30 years of service. The city of Valyria proudly recognizes Michael J. LCO III for his remarkable 30 years of dedicated service to Ayria city council and the citizens of Ayria. Whereas throughout his distinguished career in public service, Mr. Laco has held multiple leadership roles, serving with honor and integrity as council member, council president, and most recently as the clerk of council. In every capacity, Mr. Lkco has exemplified strong leadership, sharp attention to detail, and a steadfast commitment to transparency, accountability, and order in government. his professional and public achievements. Mr. Laco is devoted husband to Carrie and the proud father of two sons, exemplifying the values of family dedication and community service. He is known for his pragmatic leadership style and his signature phrase, "Let's just get it done." Mr. Laco has consistently reminded his colleagues of the importance of action, focus, and most importantly, results. Through his three decades of service, Mr. Laco has left an enduring legacy of effectiveness, integrity, and progress that will continue to shape a city council for generations to come. Congratulations, Mr. Laco. Thank you to Councilman Thomas G.

Callahan. The city of Valyria proudly recognizes Councilman Thomas G. Callahan for his extraordinary dedication and service to the city of Valyria, having faithfully served 10 terms as a council large member. Mr. Mr. Callahan has been a steady, positive, and compassionate presence in city's leadership, consistently offering encouragement, guidance, and heartfelt commitment to the betterment of our community. Mr. Callahan has built his distinguished professional career as a sales rep for the Ohio Lottery Commission, exemplifying integrity and excellence in all that he does. Affectionately known as the consmate encourager, Mr. Callahan is best recognized for his trademark phrase, "You're doing a great job." a reflection of his unwavering belief in others and his dedication to lifting up those around him. Mr. Callahan, congratulations. Farewell and thank you to President Victor F. Stewart III. Victor F. Stewart III has honorably served 10 terms on the Yria City Council, dedicating many years of outstanding leadership and public service to the citizens of Valyria. Throughout his tenure, President Stewart has provided thoughtful vision, steady guidance, and unwavering commitment to stren strengthening city government, ensuring it operates with greater effectiveness and efficiency for the benefit of all residents. President Stewart has championed strategic initiatives such as promoting job retention, fostering strong partnerships with both large and small businesses to encourage growth, investment, and opportunity within our community. President Victor F. Stewart leaves behind a legacy of integrity, commitment, and civic pride that will continue to inspire future leaders and strengthen the community for years to come. Congratulations, Mr. Stewart. A salute a salute to Mary F. Sorca, a trailblazer in public service. Whereas Mary Esawork is no stranger to Alyria city council or city government. With her career marked by dedication and

historic first, she has been a vital force in developing our community. Mary served two terms on a city council beginning in 2009 and went on to become the first woman to serve as safety service director in the city's history. A groundbreaking achievement and a testament to her leadership. In addition to her service in Yria, Mary has brought her expertise to other vital roles, including as assistant to former mayor Michael Keys, human resource director for the city of Avon Lake, where she applied her deep knowledge of government operations, personal management to strengthen municipal effectiveness. Mary's personal life is equally full of devotion and joy. She is married to Gary, and together they are proud parents of their son, Evan. Mary is known for her sharp insights and her ability to keep this conversation going and going. Mary has often left us smiling with her signature phrase, "I'm sure I'll think of something else." Congratulations, Mary. Mr. President, that's all I have this evening. Thank you.

Mayor, thank you for those kind words, not only for myself, but I'm sure for Mr. K and Mr. L Cohen, Miss Sorca, just greatly appreciate. I'm sure there'll be some parting comments at the end of the meeting before we go, but uh greatly appreciated. Thank you very much. Is there any other further comments to the mayor? Disussion points? No. Safety service director Pinowski.

Thank you through you. Uh this weekend we had a pretty significant snow event, at least as far as duration goes. Uh we had plows out for probably about 30 hours uh total. Some employees uh doing multiple um cycles of that process coming going home, coming in, going home, that kind of thing. Uh we were able to uh work on some of the side streets as well. Overall, it was a well um ran operation uh with good communication and multiple departments chipping in to help out. So, thank you to those employees that came in and gave a hand with that. Um certainly won't be the last time we plow this year, but it was a good first start. Thanks. And if you have any questions, any comments? Mr. Oswald to Mr. Schneider.

Through you, Mr. President. A few comment comments. First off, thanks for plowing down the uh shared use bike path down East Broad Street. That happened today. So, thank you very much. I did hear a lot of comments about the job well done with the snow and all that. And then I know the answer, but we're not picking up leaves anymore and we got hit with all that snow, so now the people just have to put their leaves in bags. Yeah.

No, that's uh not not absolutely true. Uh we have some uh warmer temperatures coming this week. Uh Wednesday, Thursday, it's supposed to get in the 40s. So I've already spoke to the street department about getting all leaf vaxs out to get one last round to the city. Um even if we have to work on Saturday, um we want to get out there and and do one more pickup because we were cut short of the date that we set uh due to the weather. It's always weather contingent at this time of year. Uh but we do intend to pick up leaves the latter part of this week after the temperatures start going up a little bit. Uh one of the challenges we have is we can't run icy uh snow wet leaves through the vax because it damages the machines and ultimately they'll break down. So, uh, but we are looking at the latter part of this week when it warms up to get back out there and and try and do one more sweep of the city. Uh, residents always have the option of bagging them and putting them out for pickup with their trash. So, that's a possibility. If they got a small pile, that would be great if they could help us out, bag them up, and put them out with their trash. But, we do intend to get back out this week.

Thanks. I'm sure they'll appreciate that. Sure, Schneider. Thank you, uh, Mr. President, through you to Director Pionowski. I agree the roads were really well taken care of this weekend. I actually reached out to uh the mayor to tell him that I had been through numerous communities and ours seemed to be in the best condition. Um other than that though, just curious, is there any update on the number of water main breaks we have going on? I mean, it seems pretty high and we're not even into the thick of winter with temperatures. So, thank you.

Yes, through you, uh Mr. President. Uh we have had a number of water main breaks. We continue to check in with the uh water distribution team every time we have them and they have confirmed these are these recent ones are weather related. Uh so the cold is impacting them. We did have conversations after the last meeting and I think I sent an email to everybody to this effect. Uh we did find some pressure fluctuations at the water pumping plant. One of which we've already addressed. It had to do with one of our customers and when they were pulling water and us uh uh adjusting pressures for that when that happened, but we've addressed that with them. That one should be no longer be an issue. But we do also have a high service pump that we're we have some repairs to make to and because of that it's causing a little bit of complications but they're monitoring it much closer now to uh address those fluctuations. Um but we've confirmed that these are weather related uh the recent ones with the cold.

Appreciate it. Thank you. Any other comments to the safety service director? Very good. Finance Director Pleski. Thank you Mr. President. I'd just like to take a moment to uh thank and congratulate our outgoing councilman Tom Callahan and Vic Stewart, outgoing council president Mike Lotco, and last but not least, Councilwoman Woman Mary Sorica. Mary and I actually go back 63 years to first grade. We went through grades 1 through 12 together and worked many years together here at city hall. So I wish you all the best and congratulations. Thank you. Any questions for the finance director?

Very good. Law Director Deiri.

Thank you. Good evening to you, Mr. President. Um first of all, um thanks you very much to all of our outgoing members. It has been um a joy and a privilege to learn from you and work with each and every one of you. Um, and uh, I hope that um, I get the opportunity to see each and every one of you frequently and and speak and continue to um, bounce ideas off of you. Um, I wanted to let you know, um, that, um, prior to the events of this weekend, um, one of my part-time prosecutors, Matt Marculka, who some of you may have had the opportunity to meet, um, many of you may not, um, has accepted full-time employment with my office as a full-time prosecutor effective the beginning of the year. Uh notwithstanding that um seems to be uh especially um fortunate uh because um Eric Brunig is no longer uh an attorney with my office uh which is bittersweet but for the best possible reasons. Uh he is here this evening not as um an employee of my office but as a friend of the council because uh he uh worked very closely uh on the um zoning update and therefore he's kind enough to join us this evening. uh but um he will be very much missed and um I we wish him the best and I know that we will um be working closely with him in the future uh albeit in a different uh capacity and he is just uh uh across the street. So as we say to people who come to our office, it's uh the building uh across the street from Burger King and across the street from McDonald's. So, um, which don't tell the judges that because they probably wouldn't like

that's how we describe the courthouse. But, um, other than that, um, I don't have a further report. Uh, but, um, you know where to find me if you have questions now or later. So, and also happy holidays.

Any questions for the law director? Very good. Police Department Captain Grooms. I think it's it's on. Yes. All right. Through you, Mr. President. Yeah. I have nothing to report, but I feel like it would be a missed opportunity to say thank you to those outgoing members of council, Mr. Callahan, uh, President Stewart, Mrs. Sorca, and Mr. Lkco. You all have had a profound impact on the Yria Police Department, starting with, uh, retention in the in the recent, uh, past. Um, this has enabled us to start units and maintain units that have impacted the city's safety through uh crime reduction and the reduction of serious accidents. Uh, your impact we hope to carry on in the future and I can't thank you enough on behalf of the police department.

Captain Grooms, appreciate that. Any questions for the Captain Grooms regards to Police Department? Very good. City engineer, Mr. Schneider. Any questions for Mr. Schneider? Miss Sorca and then Mr. Schneider. No relation. Thank you. Through through you. Um I wondered I wondered if you had a chance to check out East River, those manholes. East River between University and the corporate limits. It's paved, but I don't know if all the manholes have been leveled.

Yes. Uh there were probably about seven, eight streets that the manholes have not been adjusted to grade yet. Um I don't know where that it sits right the second I should say from the last time we spoke that's the where we were but I have not heard anything with the weather the way it is. I doubt they're out there adjusting any degrade right now. So uh we probably won't pick some of those up until next spring early next year. Mr. Schneider

through you Mr. President Engineer Schneider. Thank you for taking care of the uh no right on red at uh Bonaire and Abby. I just had one question. I noticed that that one is there, but there's not one at Abbey and Hillyard where you go to make a right and the kids cross the street from the west side of the street to the east. I was wondering is one going to go there or was it deemed that that wasn't necessary because it would be the same objective as the other side. Uh I will look into that. I I did not hear that that one was not installed, but we will take a look at that. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you, Mr. Schneider. Mr. Sephi, human resources.

I wanted to to um thank you all for for your service here with the with the city. It's been wonderful working with you all. And to remind um Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Oswald, and Mr. Schneider that we will be doing our holiday decorating judging on Wednesday. So meet in HR at 9:00 a.m. Guess that would be for your fancy coats. Any questions for you miss you? Very good. Thank you. Residents referrals and remantrances. Item number one, finance. Item number two, finance. Item number three, finance. Item number four, finance. Item number five, finance. Item number six, finance. Item number seven, finance and utilities. Item number eight, finance and utilities. Items 9 through 10, received and place on file in the clerk's office. Petitions and remases from the lobby.

There are none. Petitions and remes from council members. There are none. Reports of standing in special committees. There are none. Resolutions. First reading. Sponsored by finance. A resolution approving a list submitted by the safety service director for the collection of delinquent inactive utility accounts and directing the clerk of council to certify set accounts to Lorraine County auditor. Mr. Tlette. Mr. President, I ask that this resolution be passed in its first reading under suspension of rules. Second. Second by Miss Davis. Is there any further discussion? Question on the suspension. All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay.

On the passage, all those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. Motion carried. Resolution 2025-57 sponsored by finance a resolution finding that the city has unfit for municipal uh use certain city property. Mr. Tlette. Mr. President, I ask that this resolution be passed in its first reading under suspension of rules. Second. Second by Mr. Schneider. Is there any further discussion? Question on the suspension. All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. On the passage, all those in favor signify by saying I.

I oppose. Nay. Motion carry. Resolution 2025-58. That's all. Resolutions first reading. Resolutions second reading. None. Resolutions third reading. There are none. Ordinances first reading. Sponsored by finance. An ordinance authorizing the safety service director of the city of Ayria to dispose of city property that is unfit for municipal use. Mr. Tlette. Mr. President, I ask that this ordinance be passed in its first reading under suspension of rules. Second. Second by Mr. Schneider. Is there any further discussion? Question. On the suspension, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay.

On the passage, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carried. Ordinance 2025-210 sponsored by finance. An ordinance ratifying and authorizing the mayor to sign an agreement by and between the city of Ayria and the Ohio patrolman's benevolent association full-time dispatchers and declare emergency. Mr. Tlet. Mr. President, I ask that this ordinance be passed in its first reading under suspension of rules and declared an emergency. Second. Second by Miss Davis. Is there any further discussion question on the suspension? All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay.

On the passage. All those on the emergency. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay. On the passage. All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. Motion carried. Ordinance 2025-211. Sponsored by finance. An ordinance amending ordinance number 2021-73 known as the salary ordinance to reflect the correct wages of the Ohio Patrolman's benevolent association full-time dispatcher employees and declare emergency. Mr. Tlette. Mr. President, I ask that this ordinance be passed in its first reading under suspension of rules and declared an emergency. Second.

Second by Mr. Schneider. Is there any further discussion? Question on the suspension. All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. On the emergency. All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. On the passage. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carried. Ordinance 2025-212. Sponsored by finance. An ordinance amending ordinance number 2025-37 known as the 2025 permanent appropriations ordinance to change funds in various accounts. Mr. Tlette. Mr. Mr. President, I ask that this ordinance be passed in its first reading under suspension of rules.

Second by Mr. Sarah. Is there any further discussion? Question on the suspension. All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. On the passage, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carried. Ordinance 2025-213. sponsored by finance an orance to fix temporary appropriations for the first three months of the year 2026 and other expenses of the city of Valyria. Mr. Tlette. Mr. President, I ask that this ordinance be passed in its first reading under suspension of rules. Second. Second by Mr. Schneider. Is there any further discussion? Question

on the suspension. All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose nay. On the passage, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos nay. Motion carried. Ordinance 2025-214. Sponsored by utilities and finance. An ordinance authorizing the mayor to apply for and enter into a water pollution control loan fund agreement with the Ohio EPA division of environmental and financial assistance for the SSO, CSO, WWPCP wet weather program sewer lining project phase one and declare an emergency. Miss Mitchell.

Mr. President I ask that this ordinance be passed in its first reading under suspension of rules and declared an emergency. Second by Mr. Armstrong. Is there any further discussion question on the suspension? All those in favor signify by saying I oppose. Nay. Mr. President. Through you, Mr. President. Pardon me. I I would like to abstain from this just for the record. All right. For the Mr. Lippy is abstaining for the vote on the emergency. All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppos nay. On the passage, all those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. Motion carried.

Ordinance 2025-215. Sponsored by utilities and finance. An ordinance authorizing the mayor to advertise for bids and enter into a contract for the weather program sewer lining project phase one and declare an emergency. Miss Mitchell. Mr. President, I ask that this ordinance be passed on its first reading under suspension of rules and declared an emergency. Second, second by Mr. Armstrong. Is there any further discussion? Question. On the suspension, all those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. On the emergency, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay.

On the passage, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carried. Ordinance 2025-216, an ordinance to incorporate the 2026 Ohio minimum wage for part-time seasonal pay grades and declare an emergency. Um, is that a sponsorship? I'm guessing there was nothing on here. So, I'll defer to the law director and we'll probably have to make a motion. Or is it through you? Uh, Mr. President. Yes. This is without benefit of a committee report. Very good. M uh Mr. Tlette, if you want to make the motion without the benefit of a committee report.

I will uh make the motion without the benefit of a committee report. I would ask that this ordinance be passed in its first reading under suspension of rules and declared an emergency. Second. Second by Mr. S. Is there any further discussion? Question. All those in favor on the suspension, all those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. On the emergency, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay. On the passage, all those in favor signify by saying I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carried. Ordinance 2025-27.

Sponsored by finance. an or authorizing the finance director to advance monies from the general fund to specified accounts and declare an emergency. Mr. Tlette. Mr. President, I ask that this ordinance be passed in its first reading under suspension of rules and declared an emergency. Second. Second by Miss Dave uh Davis. Is there any further discussion? Question. On the suspension, all those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose nay. On the emergency, all those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. on the passage. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carried. Ordinance 2025-218. That's all. Ordinances first reading.

Ordinances second reading. Sponsored by community development. an ordinance granting a conditional use permit pursuant to chapter 1135 of the codified ordinances of the city of Ohio to Hillide Ventures LLC for a multifamily residential housing development at real property located at West River Road North AI Ohio this ordinance has had its second reading public hearing is scheduled for January 5th 2026 that's all ordinances second reading ordinances third reading Chair none.

Miscellaneous and unfinished business. Oops, excuse me. Committee calls. Committee development request the law director, safety service director, building inspector, and engineer on Monday 12:16 immediately follow the council. That's not right. No, time is 6 p.m. Yeah. Okay. All right. Strategic planning. Yeah, that's right.

Request the mayor, safety service director, finance director, and law director on Monday 16 immediately found the council meeting. That's all the committee calls.

Okay. Did I say that wrong? All right. Strategic planning request. the mayor, safety service director, finance director, law director on Monday 15 immediately following councel. All referred items. Amen. Very good. I just read them. Miscellaneous and unfinished business. Law Director Derry.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh there is an agenda item 13. Um it is an ordinance without benefit of committee report. Um it is an uh it is a contract uh that is timesensitive brought forward from the uh Ayria Police Department. Um and it appears uh before you and it was served with the rest of the packet. Okay. Well, I guess we'll get a motion. Uh, safety service director, do you want to make any comments in regards to

Thank you. Yes, sir. through you. Uh, this is for a add-on uh feature uh to be added on to our Axon um services that we use for body cam and incar cam. It is for uh Fucus uh technology. And I believe that Captain Grooms is here to describe what that is if that would be helpful. But it is kind of a late offer on their part, Axon's part. That's why it was late getting it to council. Uh, but it is a 10-year obligation or 10-year agreement, which our Axon contract is as well, but this is like a $17,000 a year add-on as additional technology that we don't currently possess or there isn't part of our contract. So, that's why we're here um asking for it. And I believe the pricing changes after the first of the year, which is also part of the motivation. It's a little bit cheaper than uh if we wait. So, if Captain Grooms, if if you would like a description of what Fus is, that might be helpful. Captain Grims, if you wouldn't mind come up kind of talk about in generality of what's being proposed here in front of this council.

All right. So, Fus is part of the uh crime reduction strategy. It uses cameras to um respond to and uh I would describe it more as like a reactionary um crime fighting measure. Um, right now I believe we have the ability to stream 150 cameras. This would add 100 more cameras to that streaming capability. Um, at this point, uh, like the director said, it would add about $17,000 a year. U, but the coverage that it it would uh it would expand our coverage throughout the city. Two things I'd like to bring up um that the current cameras have helped us solve are a hit skip out on uh that Reer uh Point um Parkway where uh a man was struck by a car late at night. Uh our camera system was able to help solve that that incident. Uh the other most recent incident that I'm sure you heard of was the K Jew Jeweler robbery. Um that uh that was solved through Fus cameras. Um so those are very high profile cases uh violent crimes uh crimes involving serious injury and they've helped us. So any expansion um of essentially 100 cameras would would be that much more beneficial to the city.

Quest uh Mr. Tlet? Not not a question. Anything uh that we can do to protect both officers and the public at the same time. I think this is a great idea and very well worth the money. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Any other comments in regard to see what's being proposed? So, it's been read. I'm going to need to get a motion without the benefit of a committee report. Three of us for Yes. Um if um the clerk would would read the uh caption of the ordinance. An ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter to a 10-year agreement with Axon Enterprise, Inc. for fuses technology for the YA police department and declared emergency. Mr. Tlette,

Mr. President, uh without the benefit of a committee report, I would ask this this ordinance be passed uh under suspension of rules and declared an emergency. Second. Second by Mr. Sarah. Is there any further discussion? Question on the suspension. All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. On the emergency, all those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. On the passage, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carried. Ordinance 2025-219. Thank you, Captain Grooms.

Any other miscellaneous and unfinished business? Mr. Lipia.

Thank you. Through you, Mr. President. Well, I would be remiss if I allowed the minority to be silent on sharing and some of the compliments of our outgoing colleagues on council in particular. Mr. President, I always found your application of Robert's rules of order to be fair. You always gave the minority a fair hearing, even if we didn't always agree, and I've always appreciated that. Councilman Callahan, I found you to be a gentleman and a scholar. And I missed the times when you were minority. I was minority leader. You were majority leader and you mentored me personally and professionally and I always appreciated that. And to outgoing member Miss Siraka, your ver class and tendency to sometimes go against the grain speak for themselves. I often found that you stimulated council into a lot of important action and your presence will be missed, but we will always have your example. All members of council will be missed. Thank you for your service. Thank you for the kind words, Mr. Lipian. Anybody else? Mr. Pleski.

Thank you, Mr. President. Through you, just a reminder to the council clerk's office that I will need, excuse me, certified copies of ordinances 213 and 214 to submit to the Ling County Budget Commission. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Schneider.

Thank you, Mr. President. through you on one of your final addresses to the council as president. Um I just want to take a moment and thank uh the four of you. Um you've all over the time span I just think of what you've done in a 30 20 however many 30-year period that you've been out here. The amount of people you've worked with the administrations residents economic environments money no money you name it you guys have pretty much been through it. So, I applaud you and thank you all for your service to uh our community and our council. Um you've all been wonderful to work with professionally. Um I guess the best way to describe it is it kind of reminds me back in my day when I started in planning commission, which is not nearly as long as you guys have been up here, but I think it's 10 or 11 years now. Um, I've gotten to know many of you and and I kind of describe it as similar to what the school district does where you have a link crew and you have the link leaders who kind of show the underassman around and uh mentor them. And you've all been pretty good link leaders, I guess you could say. So, I wish you all the best in your retirements and your future uh endeavors. Thank you,

Mr. Schneider. Miss Mitchell,

thank you, Mr. President. through you. I wasn't going to say anything, but I can't let this moment pass to say how grateful I am to have worked with Mr. Callahan, Mr. Lock, Mrs. Aorca, and you, Mr. Stewart. I have almost 18 years here. Um, so I've learned a lot from all of you and I appreciate you. And people think it's easy sitting here and it's not. It's not an easy seat to be in, but you all have done it with class and with grace, and I thank you. And I value your friendships that we formed over the years, and we'll stay in touch. Thank you.

Very good, Mr. Tuttlet. Through you, Mr. President. Even more, as important as serving the residents are, all of you grew up in this. As children, you participated in this. As young adults, you participated in this system before you became council members. And I think that's what made you all such strong leaders. And I will miss you. and you will not be forgotten. Understand that. So, thank you. Means a lot. Thank you, Mr. Sarah.

You, Mr. President. I I too want to echo a lot of these um accolades. You know, I came on in 2014. Uh had no government background whatsoever. and you know whether it was Mary or any one of my three colleagues here um you were nothing but you know open and fair and anytime I had a question or needed a push in the right direction or even had conversations where we didn't agree I I just can't replace that knowledge over the years and I appreciate it very much from all of you. Thank you sir. Yes.

I just want to personally congratulate Mr. Brunick on his new position. Good luck to you.

And I'll just say a few comments in regards to what's been talked here tonight because I think it's important. You know, you you sit back and you 20 years of service. It's just, you know, my dad always said, you know, you give back to your um to the community and you try to make it better than what you found it. And it's been a tough challenges to Miss Mitchell's points. It's never easy to be up here because you're affecting somebody. A decision that you make is affecting somebody. And sometimes, you know, they're not popular, but it's something that you do that you think is the right decision based on the information that you're gathering and making those meetings with your department heads and your administration and your finance directors. You all compile that information. You make a decision on it. And that's what I would encourage obviously for this council to continue to and those new council members are going to be coming in here after the first of the year. Just gather all that information. Um these will be incredible mentors up here for you to bounce things off and just sit back and learn how it works and because there's a lot here it's going to be thrown at you. Uh but I'm greatly appreciative of all those administrations that I've worked with. Um the law director's office there was three of those with Mr. Schilling. It's got Mr. Sarah and law director Deiri Sarah. Yep. So and the council person who's been over through his finance director for Plescu who's always seen us through these difficult times. Um very thankful and grateful for all you here, the relationships that I've had and endured, but you know, thankful for my family, Mr. Callian. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. And first off, I want to thank all council members here tonight for the kind words

and also the department heads that have uh sent me messages and cards. Uh it was very uh I appreciated all of that. Uh thank you Mr. Latco for your service. Um I lost track how many years that is, but it's quite a few. So

and yeah, m Mrs. Sorca and all the positions you've had and everything you've brought to the table here uh over the years. Uh, I've learned a lot listening and uh I've listened a lot. So, uh, I appreciate your good work and uh, for the best to you as well, Mr. Stewart. I appreciate your uh, steadiness as president. We came on board uh, 20 years ago and uh, 20 years went by like that. It was fast. And I want to thank you as we came in together that you we decided that you would take the uh seniority over me. So that gave you the position of president. So thank you for carrying on that heavy load. You you did a great job. And as far as I'm concerned, it's hard to believe it's been 20 years. And I was just thinking about that a couple of days ago and I realize now I'm just now getting the hang of it. Seriously, we have a good city council here. We all respect each other. Each one of us brings a little something different to the plate. Uh a different approach and a different style. But what we all have in common is what we want, what's best for the city of Valyria. We have a good leadership team on this council. And I also believe that Gina, Matt, and Ed, when they start their term on January 1, they will be quick learners and they will have a positive impact for the city of Valyria. So, I want to thank each and every one of you again. It's been an honor to serve with all of you and wishing everyone continued success. Good luck and stay healthy. Thank you. Mr. Laco and Mr. Work,

I want to go before Mary because she's got more seniority than I do, which I didn't realize how many years she's been participating in this and and and I know obviously Ted's been around forever. And again, thanks thanks to all the department heads for all their their help over the years. The the city workers have been great. Um, you know, I wish the new council the best and uh, you know, I think most of us will still be around somewhere. Uh, you can always call us and ask questions and I wish the administration. I think they're doing a great job and continued success. And, uh, you know, when I first ran and they talked me into it, I said, I don't really want to run for council. I have no ambitions of being on council or being a mayor or anything like that. and and I never really did, but all these years it's been a it's been I've really enjoyed it. It's been a pleasure and a privilege. Thank you,

Mr. Loa. Thank you. Thank you for all the kind words. I have been doing this a long time. I totaled it up. It's 47 years that I've been involved with municipal governments. Um I've enjoyed all of it. Um I've seen a lot. I've seen a lot of changes. I wish everyone well moving forward and Yria is a great town. My heart's here. We'll always be here. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Okay, I think that'll do it. With that being said, Mr. Callahan.

Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Seeing no further business, I would make a motion to adjurnn. I'll second. We have a motion. They have a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Nay. This meeting is ajourned. We're going to take a fivem minute recess and then we're going to go into strategic planning.

Thank you. Time words. Yeah. I know it's hard. It's hard. for Monday, December 15, 2025. Yeah. So, at this time, this is the matter of um the matter of review of the proposed zoning code. The proposed zoning code will result in the reszoning of all parcels within the city of Valyria. I know this has gone on for some time. There's been some town hall meetings in regards to what's being being proposed. Um so with that, I'm going to turn it over to city planner Mr. Shonig to discuss the findings and you know based on the consultant and then these efforts that were put forth.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. through you. Um I'm going to go through a brief presentation here just to give you all a summary of what we've been working on in the last few years. Um and I will open the floor for questions from there. Uh but overall the proposed planning and zoning code will be a complete reszoning of the entire city, every single parcel. This is a replacement for uh part 11 of our codified ordinances and that includes title one planning title uh or title three I believe it is for the subdivision regulations and title five for the zoning code. Um so like I said we'll go through a brief presentation here. Um but overall the introduction and purpose here purpose of this it comes from our comprehensive plan which was approved by city council in 2024. Um the purpose of this update is to modernize our terms terms that are within the zoning code. The last update occurred back in 1998. Uh a lot of national trends have changed since then. Mixeduse development. Walkability has been a focus in many cities and you have to consider that Yria is what we would call legacy city. Uh there it was designed around walking less around being around vehicles such as Westlake, Avon, other neighboring communities. Um overall uh streamlined language tables and graphics have been implemented as well to make this process a little more understood by the general public. So our zoning map overview uh we are looking at here the proposed zoning map which is also available on the city website. But uh overall modern modernization simplification of our terminology all adjustments have been made to the boundaries. However, areas that are residential predominantly will remain residential in nature. Uh we'll

get go on further as to what changes have been made uh just a little more detailed here shortly, but overall we currently have 17 zoning districts in the city. We are reducing that down to nine. A lot of redundancies in the existing code. Like I said, a lot of outdated language. Uh so we're trying to get that up to date. We have I believe it is seven zoning districts just for residential. we are going down to three. So the key differences that we're seeing here are our setback requirements are changing. They are reduced. Uh in many cases we have 30 feet. We are going down to about 20 ft in some instances for our residential areas. This does allow for greater density in the city. Uh we are currently nationally dealing with a housing crisis in the country. Uh so if we can make it easier for individuals to develop uh residential properties within our city uh that that's a good goal I believe that uh we should try to achieve and of course that is mired in our comprehensive plan as a recommendation. Uh moving on here updated sign regulations are also a component of this. Uh there are many concerns due to recent litigation uh all the way up to the Supreme Court of uh cases that have occurred. our language that we have in there for our sign langu our sign language is out of date. Uh so I have worked closely with our law director's office in uh the update for that section. Uh other parking requirements have been changed too. Uh we are implementing uh parking for bicycles uh to promote more of a walkable uh nature in the city as well as changes in our fence regulations to conform to modern terminology. uh as indicated earlier, we have implemented visual representations of the uh you know setbacks and some of the other concerns that we have that we do get a lot of questions from residents in

the community. What exactly is a setback? What are the requirements? Hopefully these visuals that are provided can make this a little more user friendly uh for the layman in our community too. Overall, the benefits that we're looking at here, uh, alignment with the comprehensive plan that was approved in 2024, it supports our long-term growth and development goals. One of those components of the comprehensive plan, of course, was the zoning code update to get this language uh, more up to snuff with uh, modern terminology, mixeduse, walkability, modernized regulations, and transparency. Pretty much a summary of everything that I've presented here to you this evening. So with that I can open up the floor to any questions that all of you have. I know this is a large document. This is 224 pages. Uh about a year ago it was only about a 48 page document. So we've seen significant progress in that year. Um working closely with our law department, our engineering department uh as well as our safety service department uh and building department on trying to create a uh concise tight document for all of you to review. Also, I will add to this that the intent of this document is to treat it as a living document. The current zoning code has pretty much remained the status quo since 1998. There have not been many updates other than legislation that has been passed due to medical marijuana and other changes that have been required from the state level. The intent here is for us to review this consistently. This is a malleable document. if there's things in here that do not work right now in theory and when we start applying them we will make that change. That is the point of my position of course. Um so just to give you a brief overview of what we're looking at here with the zoning code. So thank you and I'm available for any questions.

Very good Mr. Schneider.

Thank you Mr. President through you. Uh thank you uh Mr. Shonig. I know you've put a lot of um work into this plan. Um, I personally do have some concerns with uh corridor type zoning just because when I hear it and I'm trying to visualize it, the only thing that I can see is something like Cleveland Street where you've got a whole lot of everything and not a lot of consistency. So, I'm just letting you know that um I'm having a little bit of struggle with Quarter. I've had numerous residents reach out to me about the plan and they're concerned about abudding to quarter having businesses close to their residences. So, um, can you please give us a little more detail on quarter like if someone's going to have something open up next to their house? We've had people in here numerous times to say they didn't want conditional uses for A, B, and C. And I don't know how this is helping that. You're letting in a quarter, you're abuing residential potentially up to a business. So, if you could please just touch base on that because that's the number one concern that I'm getting from residents as I talk to people about this. Thank you.

Absolutely, Mr. Chair. Through you to uh Councilman Schneider. So, we have made a couple changes since our planning commission meeting. Uh West Avenue and East Avenue were zoned for corridor uh previously. That change was made at planning commission per my recommendation to planning commission. They did approve it uh to reduce that down to residential two. Uh so those areas, West and East Avenue, have been brought back to residential, too, which does restrict more of the uh character of that area. It does still permit for indoor sales and service, some corner restaurants, things of that nature in that area, but it's not as ambitious as a corridor district. Uh in terms of how we have addressed the corridor district, there is a component of there for uh there was a concern from a resident previously regarding drive-throughs. Uh in for example the Cleveland Street area, uh there are certain requirements that have been added to restrict the time in which uh those drive-throughs can operate. uh as well as screening and buffering requirements to shore up any sort of concerns of noise at, you know, odd hours. You know, I believe I I don't have it right in front of me here, but I believe what we put in there was about 10 p.m. to about 6:00 a.m. were the restricted hours of drive-through operation that abut any sort of uh residential district. So, adding some of those uh requirements in there uh was were completed. Um, but of course, like I said, as we move forward with this document or if you guys have any further recommendations, uh, as we move through this process, um, I'm open to them. But, uh, as of right now, those were the significant changes that were made to that, uh, corridor district.

Thank you. Um, just real quick, I don't know if I read that right, but like with the with like a drive-through business, if they abut residential currently, they would be grandfathered in. Correct? because I think of like there's certain drive-throughs around town where they're already there and they abut residential.

That would be correct. So, it would refer to as a non-conforming use if it's not zoned appropriately. Um, and it would if as long as it continues to operate, it can continue to exist in that area. Um, another component that we added to in here, uh, of course is fencing requirements and screening as I indicated earlier too. Mr. Tlette, through you, Mr. President, could any of these zoning changes affect a business owner or or residential owner? Could it affect their personal property tax? In terms of personal property tax, um I would uh defer to law director dear

the law. Yeah, I'm I'm not sure about that. I'm I apologize. Uh I mean through you, Mr. President. I mean I I I don't believe that it's going to I mean if you're you're talking about it's going to affect their property values. I mean any number of things can affect property values and I'm kind of looking over here at at Mr. Schneider. Um but um not I don't believe inherently and and again I can't answer but either direction but I I uh I don't think again a change in zoning is going to inherently uh

it couldn't put them into a different classification if we're changing if we're going from 17 down to nine. Well, through you, I mean, director Vinowski, are you raising your hand? No. I mean, through you, I mean, you're not changing their use. I mean, if if their use I mean, if if if I'm But I mean, again, the zoning is is potentially okaying what you could use your property for, but that doesn't mean you're you are actually using it for something different. If I may, if I'm following your question,

my concern is we change someone's zoning and their property tax goes up because it's now valued as a different classification. Um, okay. I I do hear what you're saying, but um I will def I see the director's got his hand up. President Stewart, so

dire safety service, director Pinowski, if you want to weigh in. Thank you. through you. I I did do tax foreclosures for the county for about nine years. Uh so whether the auditor itself would reclassify the properties at this point and revalue them or through the next assessment process, that question I don't I don't exactly know. We could check with them, but I could see a situation where a property could be determined to be more valuable or less valuable because the uh the zoning is changed potentially when it goes to market or the market around it uh when when it changed. So, hypothetically long-term, I suppose it could. But as to a immediate or next at the next time in the next assessment, which happens every 3 years by the county auditor, that would be a question I I don't have to have the answer to, but we could look into.

That would be great. Thank you very much, Mr. Schneider. Uh, through you, Mr. President. I do think it would probably be like a current and best use determination by the county when they're doing the tax update. So, I mean, if a if a residence or a parcel was changed from residential to a permanent commercial use or more permanent commercial use, I'm sure that would obviously increase the taxes because it would be deemed at a commercial rate. So, that would be my take on it, but thank you. So, there's there's information to gather on that. Uh, Mr. um Oswald and then Mr. Armstrong.

Through you, Mr. president to piggy back on the um if you have a business, a drive-thru, and it's grandfathered in for the old code, okay, and then there's a change of hands, does that wipe out the um the grandfather clause? Three, Mr. President. So, the issue is is is the use continuous? So if you have a drive-thru and you sell it to me, but I immediat and continuously am also running a drive-thru, then there's no break. Okay?

But if you sell me your drive-thru and then I don't have the business running for a period of time and that can vary, then the issue is is, you know, was there a break in that, you know, non-conforming use? And then you're talking about, you know, you use the term grandfather, you know, another term is legacy in, you know, is, you know, did that break mean, you know, I that a drive-through can no longer be um conducted at that property because there was a break in the continuous use. Mr. Armstrong,

for you, Mr. President, um I don't really have concerns. I just want to give you uh your kudos for this. when you sent me that 200 plus page of hard hard reading, I just had to rethink that this guy, Mr. Shonen's been working on this tough for a year and these changes are really going to help our city and I'm very excited for us to get this moving. So, with all these concerns, I do hear my colleagues, but I do want to say to you, Mr. Shan and you, Miss Scott, y'all worked very, very hard on this and I'm very I've been there with you, man. I've I've seen a lot. So, thank you for all your hard work.

Thank you very much. Miss Sorca and then Miss Mitchell.

Thank you. Um, so I've I too, like Mr. Schneider, have had calls about concerns. So, it sounds like maybe some of those were tampered when you ch made some changes. What is the biggest area of Ayria that's going to be affected by this? Is are there blocks of It's kind of hard to see from your little map that you had earlier on here. I mean, are there certain parts of town that are going to be um more affected than others? Um that would be my number one question. My second question, maybe it's more of a concern, is you're making massive wholesale changes, but you're not changing the process. It's still the going to be the same process as someone files with the planning commission clerk. And so, who's going to explain all of that to the people that are applying? The clerk, your office? I I had made a recommendation to the administration a long time ago that if you're going to do this then you should have then you need to change the vehicle that you're doing using for this to make it even more seamless and helpful. If the goal is to help development and to make AIA prosper, then you need to have the easiest mechanisms to do that. And I don't think that we have that now. Those are my two questions.

Mr. Chairman, if I could answer the second question uh in regards to making it easier. One of the reasons we brought a city planner on board was to take over this whole zoning uh program. Everything from zoning standpoint will be run through the city planner. Yes, there are still some things that will have to go through planning commission. There are things that are changed in there to make it easier that can be approved in house. Um but not everything can be done just going through planning commission now through council. We've tried to and Mr. Brun is probably going to talk a little more. We've tried to condense this down to your point. Uh but everything from zoning will go through him. That's why we brought him on. It'll part of this language I believe um changes will change in the ordinance taking the zoning away from the building official and putting it squarely in uh the city planner's hands which is what a city planner is supposed to do with support from the building department engineering and community development. So yes, we've made the process Mr. Brun if you want to speak to that uh as well but we have tried to condense that process down.

President may I? Yes.

Okay. And remember, I'm not addressing you as your legal counsel at this point. Look to Miss Mystery for that. Um, this is just advisory at this point. Um, and I did have a large part in in helping Mr. Shy from the co with the code. I am familiar with it. But that being said, um, Mr. Sorca, one of the challenges that we faced when we were re, you know, revising this code is the fact that we're constrained by the charter and the charter contains certain um language in it that requires planning commission review within certain periods of time, recommendations to council, the process starting by president's referrals to planning commission and then back to council. We had to work within those constraints when we were making these revisions. We tried to make it as user friendly as possible by making a central um depository through Mr. Shonig's office to receive that information, transmit it to council clerks, to planning commission and back so that from a user perspective, they should be dealing with just him or his delegate to um to enable this process to start and to kind of hold their hands through that process. But the process itself can only be changed so much without referendum.

Mr. Worker, did that answer your question or is it just Did you have a follow-up with that or no?

Uh, thank you through you. I understand that and that's probably part of the reason why I asked that question because perhaps changing this then we need to take a look at what's in the charter and how that process goes. So, we're almost we're trying to change and simplify and make it a smoother process, but if we still have sort of hiccups in these other pieces and parts of things, then maybe those should be looked at as well. I agree that there's probably outdated and verbiage is outdated and some of the categories are outdated, but I and I won't be voting on this moving forward, but those are those are my concerns. Thank you,

Miss Mitchell. Thank you, Mr. President, through you to Mr. Shelley. What about daycarees? Home daycarees there. We had a lot of questions on that where planning commission approves it, it comes to us and we didn't know what to do because the rules say this one. So what about home daycarees?

Mr. Chair, through you to uh Miss Mitchell, daycarees were looked at significantly. We looked at the Ohio Revised Code, the requirements that come in from that. Uh type B daycares uh are explicitly called out. They are allowed in any residential district. Uh from my recollection, I believe it's one to six children. Uh so that's explicitly called out administratively reviewed. So it's permitted by rights. So it won't be a concern uh moving forward with type B daycares. Type A daycarees are a different animal. Um there there's, you know, a split in the community. Some people would like to have one nearby, some would not. So we've treated that as a conditional use review still. However, the restrictions that we have in there currently require a significant amount of roadway frontage. I believe it's 300 ft, certain amount of square footage for the property, and it goes on and on and on in terms of parking, so on and so forth. So, what we have in here is a um streamlined version of that. We've removed the requirements of having the significant amount of road frontage and really we focused on the safety of the children. We focused on having a requirement for fencing in the yard to ensure that the children are not going to their neighbors house or something to that effect. Um and just very similar um not similar but really basic requirements um that it still will be filtered through city council so people can still have the opportunity to speak um on it if they're opposed or for it. Um but it's not as restrictive as it was in the current code.

Thank you. Mr. Schneider, through you, Mr. President, to Mr. Shona. Um, one of the, if I recall, one of the things that was happening a lot on planning commission when I was on planning commission was um, signage, and I know you kind of hit on signage, but we were constantly getting waiver requests if it was a corporation franchise where they had design obligations through the corporation and we had to grant waivers. Has that been streamlined at all? Because it seemed very repetitive on the city's part to constantly have these approvals. Do you get what I'm saying?

Absolutely. Uh, Mr. Chair, through you to Councilman Schneider. Um, the zoning code does address the signage uh concern. Uh, of course, there have been still concerns that we have in our designer review guidelines, which are separate. I'm in the process right now of updating those designer review guidelines. Some of those requirements that I believe you're referencing are requirements for uh or rather restrictions on green, orange, certain colored backing of the signage uh which are approved regardless. So we are currently working on revising those design review guidelines which are a separate set of standards from our zoning code. uh they were I believe implemented 20 plus years ago, but those will be uh those requirements will be removed with the updated design review guidelines and you can expect that to be hopefully uh brought forth to all of you I believe would be the proper process early next year.

Thank you. Director Derry,

uh through you, Mr. President. I know one of the things that um among many other uh things that were looked at uh through this zoning really overhaul uh were um topics uh items that uh came up frequently. I know as uh Councilwoman Schneider said, for instance, signs. Uh one of the things that in our office we refer to it and I believe in the building department as well as is the issue of two front yards. Um, and I see some of you nodding the issue. um basically if somebody has a corner lot and they're looking to have it fenced in. Uh the um provisions of of the code treat that is as basically that person has two front yards. And so therefore in order to have a fence over a certain height um then that person has to essentially go ask for a variance. um it's almost 99.99% of the time granted. And so that was one of the things that um was addressed in this update. Those were the types of things among many other things that um I know was a priority that we were trying to streamline um we as a city um because those were the types of things that were um you'd see those on the on the docket for board of zoning appeals for I mean you'd see two three sometimes that was the only thing you'd see on on any given docket um or agenda I should say um and and those were I mean I'm sure um uh Mr. Shonig would say I know that Mr. Brunig would say I mean those those were things that we'd hear from attorneys in private practice. We'd hear from I'm sure you'd hear from residents as well.

You know somebody thinking oh I got this nice uh corner lot you know my kids can play and then they you know their fencing hitting a snag. So, and there were a myriad of things in the zoning code that those were the types of things that that everyday people were were coming into contact with and then of course what businesses were were coming into contact with um or were having issues with as well. So, and we just wanted to bring that to your attention as well. Mr. Schneider, thank you, Mr. President. Through you, me again. Um a few years ago, we had passed zoning overlay. Where does that tie into this or is it eliminated or is it still exist? Thank you,

Mr. Chair. Through uh Council Member Schneider, the zoning overlay has been eliminated. Uh part of the simplification process is to elim eliminate any sort of overlays, PUDS, things of that nature. In terms of planning, those are looked at as almost antiquated in some aspects. Um, not to say that it can't be implemented, but uh, in order to follow our trend of simplifying this process, simplifying and ensuring that this is in line with our comprehensive plan, we work to ensure that any of the overlays were removed from this zoning code. Thank you. I figured, but I just wanted to clarify. Thank you.

Was there any other questions in regards to what's been presented here? This is a monumental effort that you guys had done. I mean is huge and you know praise goes to you um Miss Calbertt Miss Scott um Mr. Farcus the consultant you guys all work together collectively Mr. Bruning so you know I think moving forward it's my recommendation that you keep take the time to look at this review it have any more questions based on what's here contact Mr. Shig, I I would say that it would go to the next um strategic planning meeting for the new council because we do have new council members coming in over and through here. I don't know if they've met with um the administration uh in regards to this. Um I know this is, you know, you know, we're trying to move forward with this. Um but I think it would only be fair to have this new council weigh in on it and ask questions if they haven't already. So I would say that it would go to the next strategic planning meeting which would be the I'm not sure what that meeting is that in because we have our organizational meeting on the 5th I believe. So I would think it would be the following meeting and there is a process for that um as far as public hearings and um going through there. So, um, that's my recommendation at this point is to do that and then talk with the administration and again in regards to what's being brought forth here. Okay. So, when that new council comes in, I'm sure they'll set a date uh for that next strategic planning meeting. And if there's no further question, I want to make a motion to adjourn this strategic planning meeting.

So, moved. Moved. Seconded. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos. Nay. Motion carried. This means ajourned. Merry Christmas everybody. Merry Christmas.