City Council - Regular Meeting

is seven thirty we're gonna go and get started i'd like to call this meeting to order this is a duly noticed regular meeting of hudson city council held in accordance with the sunshine laws of the state of ohio section one twenty one point two two and the city of hudson charter article three section three point zero two for tuesday august eighteenth two thousand twenty six it is seven thirty p m I'd like to take a moment and welcome everyone who is here in attendance tonight, as well as those who may be watching remotely via the HCTV video feed. We will close Section 1 and move on to Section 2, Pledge of Allegiance. If you are able, please stand and join me. Thank you, everyone. We'll close Section 2 on our agenda and move on to Section 3, which is the roll call. Mrs. Wheeler, will you please call the roll?

Dr. Byrd?

Here.

Mr. Brezevik? Here. Mr. Rameau? Here. Dr. Goetz? Here. Mr. Sutton? Here. Dr. Weinstein? Here. Mr. White?

Here. Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. We do have a quorum tonight with all seven members of council present. We'll close section three and move on to section four, which is approval of the minutes. Item A is number 26-0066. These minutes will include the August 11th, 2026 combined council and workshop minutes. Do we have a motion from council to accept the minutes as provided?

I move we accept the minutes as provided.

Thank you, Councillor Gatz. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Councillor President Byrd. Is there any discussion on the minutes as provided? Seeing none, Mrs. Wheeler, will you please roll call a vote?

Dr. Byrd? Yes. Mr. Brzezic? Yes. Mr. Rameau? Yes. Dr. Getz? Yes. Mr. Sutton? Yes. Dr. Weinstein? Yes. Mr. White?

Yes.

Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. The minutes as provided are approved by a vote of seven in favor to zero against. We'll close section four and move on to section five. This is an honorary resolution tonight. Item A is number 26-114, and I will read the main section of this resolution. Resolution number 26-114, an honorary resolution designating the crosswalk at North Hayden Parkway and Victoria Parkway as Clark Rumizer Corner as an honorary street intersection name and providing for location of a sign at that intersection. Whereas Mr. Clark Rumizer was a crossing guard for 53 years and served at the intersection of North Hayden Parkway and Victoria Parkway for 26 years, And whereas for generations, Mr. Ruhmeiser was a beloved and trusted presence in the Hudson community, providing families and students with a steady sense of comfort and security while demonstrating the true meaning of public service. And whereas Mr. Ruhmeiser demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to public safety, responsibility, patience, and care, strengthening the safety, well-being, and community spirit of Hudson. and whereas Mr. Ruhmeiser passed away on August 4th, 2026, and whereas Hudson City Council hereby finds it fitting and appropriate to recognize and honor Mr. Ruhmeiser for his extraordinary dedication of 53 years of continuous service as a crossing guard for the Hudson City Schools and the Hudson Police Department. and whereas an honorary street name sign for Clark Rumizer should be placed below the intersection signs of Victoria Parkway and North Hayden Parkway where he provided his last years of service as a school crossing guard. Now therefore be it resolved by the Council of the City of Hudson, Summit County, Ohio. I will ask Council do we have a motion to pass honorary resolution number 26-114.

I move we pass Honorary Resolution 26-114.

Thank you, Councillor Gatz. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Councillor White. Are there any comments from Council on Honorary Resolution 26-114? Councillor White?

Yeah, just want to say this is an amazing way to pay tribute to an incredible fixture in our community. I wanted to thank the mayor for working with his family and community for bringing this forward. I'm just glad Clark's memory's gonna live on with his impact, so thank you.

Thank you, Councilor White. Additional comments from council members? Council Member Duramo?

I think this is just a very fitting, that this is the first day back for the kids at Hudson, and I picked up my girls every day from kindergarten, and I just love seeing them on that crosswalk, rain or shine. So this is really special.

Thank you, Councilor Doramo. Additional council comment tonight? Council President Byrd?

So first I'd like to thank the local journalists because the story was picked up and pushed out to a lot of different places so a lot of folks in Northeast Ohio got to read about Clark so that was really cool. Secondly, safety is a really hard thing to measure sometimes because you're trying to capture something that didn't happen. So we'll never know the numbers of kids that he saved, but undoubtedly we know that there are kids that are, they went to college, they got married, they had kids of themselves, kids themselves, and they became successful people that had rich lives because of what Clark did, because Clark undoubtedly stopped some very tragic things from happening. So that's just good stuff.

So thank you very much. Thank you, Council President Byrd. Additional comments from council members? Councilor Weinstein?

I'll just reiterate and say thank you to the years of service to this community. It means a lot to our kids and our community to see someone so dedicated to service to others. Thank you, and I'm very glad we are honoring this memory in this way.

Thank you. Counselor Weinstein. Additional comment from council members who have not spoken. Any comment from staff?

Yes. I just want to say how honored we are staff. We're going to make sure that that sign gets put up and is maintained for decades to come. Uh, he truly was a public servant and watched all those kids safely get across that street. And we will, we take that very seriously. And I know our police department too, also does. So, uh, thank you to his family and thank you to Clark.

Thank you, Mr. Sheridan. Chief Tabak, I know you're in the back there. Is there anything you'd like to say? I'd like to give you that opportunity as well. You'd have to come forward to the microphone, though, sir. Please. You're on staff. Please, sir.

What he loved Thank you, Chief. Additional comment from staff members or council members who did not speak?

Seeing none, I will say from my side, first off, to the family and everyone who knew Mr. Ruhmeiser, my heartfelt condolences on his passing. And I would like to recount an additional memory that I have with Clark. It was his 95th birthday. And I stopped out to his corner to say hello and talk to him for a little bit. And previously, when we were in one of the grade schools, I had given him a recognition certificate and one of my kindness coins. And then on this 95th birthday of his, I gave one of the city's 225th anniversary coins. And I was talking to him out there, and he said that he had kept my previous coin in his car in case he ever got pulled over. You know, he could pull it out. And I said, Clark, I don't know if that's going to do you anything good. I'm not sure that's going to buy you anything. But my point in saying that all is I'm just grateful that I had the opportunity to personally tell him and show him what he did for this community and how this community appreciated everything he did. So I'm very grateful for that. And I'm honored here today to play any part, a small part, in bringing this resolution forward tonight. So thank you. Any additional comments before we move to a vote? Seeing none, Mrs. Wheeler, will you please roll call a vote on the passage of honorary resolution 26-114?

Mr. Brezovac? Yes. Mr. Rameau? Yes. Dr. Goetz? Yes. Mr. Sutton? Yes. Dr. Weinstein? Yes. Mr. White? Yes. Dr. Byrd?

Yes. Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. Honorary resolution number 26-114 passes unanimously by a vote of seven in favor to zero against. And if members of the family would come forward, it'd be my honor to present you with a signed and stamped sealed copy of the resolution.

pretty nervous, but I know my family is very thankful and blessed at all the love and support you've shown my grandpa over the years, and we're so thankful that his memory's gonna live on on his corner, and we just thank you very much.

Thank you for coming.

Yeah, I just want to, I'm his daughter, and I just want to say thank you for honoring him and being with him all these years. And I know he loved, you know, the kids and talking with them and bringing the acrylic bars. And he was bummed when they stopped making them because he wanted to keep, you know, passing them out. But, you know, but thank you again. I'm honored to accept this for him. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you again, everyone. We will close Section 5 and move on to Section 6, which is for public comments. Counsel and myself value and respect comments from the public. aligned with the City of Hudson Codified Ordinance 220.03, titled Rules Item G, subtitled Decorum. I'm kindly asking everyone in attendance to remain respectful of the process and display courtesy, professionalism, and order at all times. Please mute your electronic devices if you have not already done so, and if you must leave the room prior to the completion of the meeting, feel free to, but please just do so as quietly as possible. Also, per Ordinance 220.03 and Sub Item G, public comments are to be kept within five minutes. There is a device on the lectern to remind the speaker of that five minute time limit. You'll turn green at the start of that five minutes, turn orange at one minute, start flashing at 20 seconds, and then turn red at the end of that five minute period. Therefore, per the City of Hudson Charter Article 3, Section 3.02, if there is any resident of the municipality here tonight who would like to speak to City Council regarding any topic that's relevant to the City of Hudson, kindly raise your hand, gain my attention, and as you are called upon, Please approach the lectern, state your name and address, and council will hear your remarks. Is there anyone here tonight who would like to speak to council? Sir?

Good evening, everyone. My name is Ron Brubaker. I live at 7593 Partridge Meadows Drive East, Hudson, Ohio. I'm here tonight representing Trail Advocates of Summit County. We go by the acronym Task Force for short. You may know our group from advocating for the full 12 1⁄2 mile of the Veterans Trail to be built from Hudson to Akron since 2019. That's seven years. Wow, time flies when you're having fun. But today, task force would like to congratulate the city of Hudson, city council, the mayor, city manager, city staff, for their support of this project. For many years, task force thought that the northernmost piece of the trail would be the last section to be completed because it was owned by Norfolk Southern. But Hudson has succeeded in purchasing that piece of right-of-way from that company. And today, the overgrowth has been removed, the rails and ties will soon be completely gone, the ballast has been smoothed out, and it's starting to look like a beautiful trail out there. If you get a chance, go look at it from the Veterans Way Bridge. This 1.16 mile section of trail is very special because it will connect three parks along its length. the Veterans Way Park, Cascade Park, and the Ellsworth Golf Course. Additionally, there are three parcels of undeveloped land owned by the city along the right-of-way. So just off the downtown area, there will be a continuous collection of parkland connected by the Veterans Trail going right down the middle of it. Thus, this can be so much more than a typical bike trail. We encourage you to continue to think about what it all could look like in the future. And to support that vision, imagine some future additional enhancements. First, there could be two connections off the north end of the trail. The first is already being planned to connect to Veterans Way Park. But a second could be added to connect the trail to the businesses along Milford Drive, Atterbury Boulevard, and the Hudson Plaza. Second there could be a spur off the middle of the trail into Cascade Park and Third there could be a trailhead with parking where the Terrell crosses Barlow Road This would allow trail users to access the trails to go both north into downtown and south Even as far as Akron when the rest of the trail is completed Parking will definitely be needed for a trail with as many benefits as as this one. I And finally, Task Force would like to encourage Hudson to complete the trail as rapidly as possible. The published completion date is currently 2031. But I've spoken to City Manager Brad Cosco, and I understand that he is working on improving this. One thing that would help would be if a base layer of crushed limestone could be installed on top of the ballast before the onset of winter this year. This would have two advantages. First, people could safely walk and even ride bikes on the trail before it is paved. And second, it would allow more time for the limestone to settle and harden and thus reveal any soft spots that would need remediation before the pavement is put down. I asked ChatGPT for the cost of doing this, and the conservative installed estimate was $150,000. We encourage city council to consider taking action on this suggestion. Again, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. We respect the work of this community that has led to where we have the Veterans Trail today. You have created a tremendous opportunity for the future. Please know that Task Force stands ready to help in any way that we can going forward. I'll leave copies of these comments for you and thank you for everything you do for the citizens of Hudson.

Thank you, Mr. Brubaker. If you can please hand those to the clerk. Perfect. Thank you, sir. Is there any additional public comment tonight? Mr. Revita?

Anthony Revita, 1746 Edgar Drive. A lot has happened in the last 30 days that I was here. I just wanted every one of you to know that Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Pitchford, and Mr. Hannon had prescribed the court to put me in jail for 30 days for actually following the direction of the city staff. Mr. Sheridan had a statement, said, Mr. Revita isn't smart enough to know that he is being run out of town. Mr. Pitchford's statement was Mr. Revita will run out of money before the city of Hudson does. Mrs. Fagnelli, the city prosecutor, this case can't be dropped because Mr. Revita made a lot of enemies at City Hall. Mr. Revita put up a fence without a permit. She didn't even know that I had a permit with this, and it was passed. I met with Mrs. mrs duram duramo and mrs weinstein we had uh we had a very constructive meeting i think a lot of things have been were brought out and i thank both of you for showing up and uh i love your input um mr bird called two days later said he was committed to resolution To resolve this, Mr. Pitchford then sent me a 43-page document of just the most ridiculous questions when you don't have any facts. Basically, he's going off of the AHBR program with no facts from the city. I will hand this to the city afterwards. This cost for these questions and the city of Hudson, Pittsburgh's cost for his firm is probably running somewhere between $80,000 and $100,000 for a $12,000 fence that he's programming with Mr. Sheridan for his narrative. This is simply a narrative. And if everybody understands that, you're just paid $80,000 to $100,000 for Mr. Sheridan's narrative or his fairy tale. Mr. Sheridan has now presented himself as the victim to many of the people here. Mr. Sheridan now claims he lied to the city eight times in 39 seconds because he thought he would be fired if he didn't. Mr. Sheridan said Mr. Hannon was supposed to draw a site plan that would be considered an exhibit only, not to put a timestamp on it, on the site plan, and then present it to court as the original site plan. So Mr. Hannon made up a site plan and then presented it to court. as the original site plan. Number six, Mr. Sheridan has sent out private contractor, that's the fourth land survey that the city of Hudson's paying for. I don't know what happened to the other three, but now that's four. Prior to June, the city employee Dave Rapp came out and completed two land surveys. Pitchford sent another settlement proposal today to me, not any different than possibly the five or six others that he's presented. Paragraph three, Mr. Revita agrees to no longer comment at City Council during its meetings. BE IN A DISPARAGING MANNER TOWARDS THE CITY STAFF, INCLUDING CITY MANAGER AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR OR LEGAL COUNSEL. MR. RAVIDA MUST ACKNOWLEDGE IN WRITING THAT HE IS FOREVER WAVING HIS RIGHT TO SPEAK ON THESE SUBJECTS. Here's my answer to you, Mr. Pittsburgh. I will sign a waiver to the city for both parties to agree not to hold each other responsible for this unfortunate misunderstanding. That's all I'm going. I want people to understand here that in the last three years, I've got deleted a final inspection, That was deleted out of the record. Mr. Hannon did that. That's against the Sunshine Laws. I also have my timeline. I want anybody to look up the zoning code that they charged me with, and then put the timeline against it, and you'll see that I did not break any zoning violation whatsoever. The timeline proves that. Mr. Revita, you have about 30 seconds. Ms. Fagnale, That's her saying that she was prosecuting me for putting up a fence without a permit. Mr. Hannon's case chronology, instead of handing the court the timeline, Mr. Pitchford said the timeline didn't exist. And then as I pushed it, Mr. Pitchford said that the timeline is a privileged information. So now I didn't get the timeline until Mr. D'Souza got it.

Mr. Revita, your time is up. I will let you finish this last thought, please, sir.

Thank you, sir. This is Mr. Hannon's site plan. This was produced as an exhibit and then it was changed into the original site plan and used falsely in the court. This is the site plan that was originated. Your cousin, Mr. Brezovic, is the one who put my fence up. I think you've talked to him. He did everything according to what he needed to by the city. And I would hope that you'd stand by your cousin.

Mr. Avita, your time is up. Are copies of these in the file that you're going to give to the clerk?

The copy of this.

Okay. Thank you very much. Whatever you have to give to the clerk to distribute to council. I will give that. Please do so, sir.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you for your time. Is there anyone else here who would like to speak to council tonight during public comments? Seeing none, we will close section six and move on to section seven, which is correspondence and council comments. If any council member has correspondence that has not already been generally distributed and or council comments, we will hear those now. Please gain my attention and allow me to verbally recognize you and assign you the floor. Are there any comments from council tonight? Mr. Brezovic?

Thank you. Yes, I have two items, both semi-related to District 11 discussions. We have met with groups on some worries about District 11 and the Land Development Code in previous weeks. One of their worries was around some language that they felt might allow for an exception or unique circumstance to override. restrictions. That language has been found, has been called out. We have it on the 60-day tracker as something that can be addressed. The other item on this when presented with the referendum a number of weeks ago, the concept of the required amount of signatures was brought up i had mentioned i thought it was worth looking at after further investigation by the city solicitor it is a part of our charter which would require a charter amendment which requires being voted on there is Long story short is that there's really no good opportunity to do that right now, and charter amendments generally come from our Charter Review Commission, which just finished this past year and had items up for vote last November. So this is probably an item that we're going to revisit when we have our next charter amendment review. That is all.

Thank you, Councillor Brozovic, and I would like to add to your comment there about the charter review. Yes, that is mandated that we go through that on a routine frequency, but council can decide to put something on a charter change and go through the legislative process if council so chooses to do so.

We can. The charter change, and this is, excuse me here, next year's primary election, or November 2027, Hudson does not have primaries, so there would have to be a primary against someone sitting in the Stowe Municipal, which is not scheduled currently. There is not expected to be any primary. So to do that, we would have to pay for an election to be done for the next spring. It is theoretically, as you said, something that could be done next November, over a year from now. So if we still would like to revisit that in, you know, nine months, we could. But now is not the time. Great.

Thank you for the back and forth clarification, sir. Additional comment from Council this evening? Councillor Gatz?

Yes, I'd like to thank Mr. Brubaker for his comments. I, too, am a bicyclist, and the more trails we have, the better. And I also want to thank you for all the times you come to council. I think you have the record for being here in person, and that's what we really like, involved citizens. So thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Gatz. Additional comment from council members? Councillor White?

Thanks. Last reminder, on the e-bike and e-scooter public forum tomorrow at the Barlow Community Center from 6 to 8, I'll be joined by Councilwoman D'Aermo, Council President Byrd, I believe, will be there, and our Police Chief, Tom Eck, will be there as well. We're looking forward to hearing directly from the public, young, old. We want to hear from everyone, residents of all ages, to make sure we are seeing what you guys are seeing, and we want to look at this the right way. Also, I just want to say happy first day of school to all Hudson students and families. I hope the kids had a great day and the parents had a quiet one. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor White. Additional comment from Council tonight? Councillor Durama?

Yes, just wanted to echo the forum tomorrow. It'd be really great if you have any teenagers who ride scooters, they should come and tell us what they think about this. I think that would be a great opportunity. And this Saturday, August 22nd, is Clinton Crossing's Plan and Play Day. You bring your whole family from 11 to two for the second and final Clinton Crossing Plan and Play Day. That's all.

Thank you, Councilor Doramo. Additional council comment, if you could hold, Councilor Goetz, an opportunity for the other members who haven't spoken.

Council President Byrd. So yeah, I'll echo those things too about Ron and that presentation about the trail. But contrary to Dr. Goetz's thoughts, actually your attendance has not been that good this summer. You're just slipping a little bit. So I just, let's see how the fall works out. I stopped by the Dream Playground today and all the big kids were in school so the little kids were taken over, it was really cool to see. And then next, I just want to say a few comments in response to the discussion that Mr. Revita just had about the fence. So I thought in the past that most of these conversations should be done privately, but recent public comments convinced me We should address some of this publicly so that the Hudson residents really understand the situation. So the fence is located in the city's right-of-way, an area over which the city has legal control. One needs the city's permission to maintain a fence in that right-of-way, just as I would need permission to build a fence in my next-door neighbor's yard or any property that I do not own. That permission must be in writing, which is why a license agreement is necessary and needs to be signed by Mr. Revita. The city's authority over its right-of-way is established by city code and Ohio law. These are not requirements that city staff or the city solicitor created specifically for one situation. They are laws and regulations that the city is obligated to follow and enforce and have been endorsed by city council and the residents of Hudson. We all have different skills and expertise, areas of expertise. Most of us are not experts in municipal or property law, which is why we rely on attorneys for legal advice. So I would encourage Mr. Revita to listen to and carefully consider the advice of attorneys working with him. He has every right to come before council and make public comments, including comments critical of the city. However, I believe the repeated personal degradation of city staff, the city manager, and the city solicitor is inappropriate. They are doing their job by administering and enforcing laws and regulations that govern the city of Hudson. He's certainly free to disagree with their interpretations or actions, but questioning their character or suggesting that they are acting with improper or nefarious motives does not help resolve this dispute. It also contributes to an unnecessarily hostile environment for public employees who are carrying out the professional responsibilities. I remain hopeful that we can work together and find in a respectful and constructive manner and reach a resolution. Thank you.

Thank you, Council President Byrd. Any additional comments? Thank you. I know Councilor Gatz wants to speak again, but Councilor Wein, Senior Councilor Sutton, I wanted to offer you the floor if you had comments. I APOLOGIZE.

I FORGOT TO SAY THIS. I, TOO, AM HAVING A FORUM. IT'S ON AUGUST 31ST AT 7 P.M. AND IT'S AT THE BARLOW COMMUNITY CENTER AND IT'S GOING TO BE ABOUT SHORT-TERM RENTALS AND LONG-TERM RENTALS IN OUR CITY, WHETHER WE NEED TO LOOK AT CHANGES IN BOTH OF THOSE AREAS. SO I HOPE MANY PEOPLE CAN COME And if you do come, I always have baked goods and something like water to drink or maybe some soft drinks. So come for the food then, okay?

Thank you, Councillor Getz. Additional comments from any council members? Councillor Weinstein?

I can just confirm the baked goods are excellent.

Thank you. Additional comments? I will say two things about some of the discussion here this evening before my scripted comments. In regards to Mr. Revita and his comments and Council President Byrd's notes here today, Mr. Revita, I'm not sure if you remember early on, I had mentioned that I personally myself have a licensing agreement with the city. When I was putting in my pool and going through that whole permit process, because I have a 25-foot easement to a storm sewer in the back part of my yard, my fence around my pool, which is required here in Hudson for an in-ground pool, the very corner of that clipped into that 25-foot easement. So I didn't want to change my design, and what I did is I got ahold of the city and I said I'd like to have somebody come out, do a site visit, and look at all the property behind my easement and the property that was beyond that even further. So I went through with that, and again, a licensing agreement isn't guaranteed to be offered by the city, but in this case, the site visit came out, and the reason that the licensing agreement is in place is if the city ever needs to take down my fence to get back into that property to service that culvert or something else, they have the right to take that piece of the fence down. or whatever section they need to. So to me that was a good win-win because it was a small little section, there was all this land around it, I made my case to the city, they came back and offered me the license agreement. I signed it and I've got my fence that is literally a three feet by three feet triangle that is on that easement which I'm technically not allowed to do. So it's very similar to your situation. I understand and I don't want to speak for LEGAL STAFF OR COUNCIL HERE, BUT I UNDERSTAND WE HAVE DISCUSSED THE LICENSING AGREEMENT WITH YOU AND OFFERED THAT TO YOU. I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT YOU CONSIDER THAT AGAIN BECAUSE THAT IS SOMETHING THE CITY CAN DO AND IT IS PARTIAL OR MAYBE A FULL SOLUTION FOR YOU BEING ABLE TO KEEP YOUR FENCE EXACTLY WHERE YOU WANT IT TO BE. SO I WOULD URGE YOU AGAIN TO CONSIDER LOOKING INTO THAT. On another note from the e-bike forum that's going on, I cannot attend that due to several other commitments that I have, but I do want to tell everybody a brief story. I was down on the first of Maine Green about a month ago, and I'm sitting there enjoying a Lulu's yogurt on one of the picnic benches there by the pergola. And I see about six kids coming by. Three of them are on a bicycle, three of them are on an e-bike. Mr. Sheridan, I think I mentioned some of this to you, because I sent you that one graphic of different cities that have put different things out there for e-bike regulations. And I was riding my motorcycle that day. It was parked over by Lulu's, but I had my helmet and jacket, and the kids passed right by me, and they said, hey, that's the mayor. And then they said, do you ride a motorcycle? And I said, yeah, I said, it's that red one over there. And so they sat down at that table and talked to me. And because I knew that we were having some discussions and there was other public input about kids and e-bikes and things and scooters and the Razor scooters and all those different classes and styles, I asked the kids what they thought about, you know, their understanding of what they needed to do or couldn't do, and they didn't know. Granted, these were probably 10, 12-year-old kids, but they sat there, and they're asking me, you know, where can I ride this? You know, what am I allowed to do? What am I not allowed to do? And the first thing I did was I looked at the one kid, and I said, well, first off, you don't have a helmet on, and he said, I'll get a helmet tomorrow. So I said, good, do that, because, you know, you want to be safe, so you should be wearing a helmet. But they went on to tell me that... You know, they were being very respectful, they were coming up behind some other people walking on the sidewalk and they stopped or pulled over and they were trying to do the right thing. So I appreciated the fact that they were having this conversation with me very openly and frankly. But the kids wanted to know, what am I allowed to do? And I think one of them said, can I ride my Razor scooter on the street? I said, no, you cannot do that. It doesn't have reflectors. It doesn't have anything. You can't be on the street with that. It had nothing. People want to know, uh, they want to understand what they're allowed to do. Um, the kids want to know, because I think most of those, I mean, those kids that were talking to me wanted to do the right thing. So, um, I'm just bringing that story up because I can't make the forum on tomorrow night for several other conflicts that I have. Um, but we should take the time and listen to the public and decide what makes the most sense. And even if it is a phased approach, uh, let's move forward and allow these kids to be kids, but try to promote safety. Not only for them but also for the residents that are walking around and using the sidewalks and multi-purpose trails So we have to find the right balance in my opinion there. So That's my input to the e-bike form since I can't make it Okay My scheduled comments. I'll try to be as brief as possible I did want to just say thank you again to the Western Reserve community band for allowing me to be your narrator for the Gettysburg piece and at your concert this past Sunday. Councilor Goetz, you were there playing your clarinet and I have to say the entire band did sound amazing. So if you have a chance to see them, please look at their schedules moving forward. The second item I wanted to talk about is I do want to officially on the record congratulate Mrs. Megan Howey. She is the director at Hudson Community Livin, which is across from the police department. Megan was chosen as the recipient of my latest kindness challenge for the month of July, as nominated by Jessica Tosino. She obviously works here in Hudson, and she just recently also moved to Hudson. So I was able to surprise Megan last night at the Hudson Community Livin facility, surrounded by the owners, some of the staff members, and of course several of the facility's residents. And it warms my heart to sit there and witness the multiple rounds of applause that she received from everyone last night. So congratulations again, and thank you, Megan, for everything that you do for the Hudson community. The third thing I wanted to mention was in regards to schools. We heard a few comments here, but I wanna be a little bit more pointed. Schools are back in session here in Hudson. As a reminder now and always, please be alert and safe when driving in and around town. Please watch for school buses and those students who are walking, riding, or rolling to school. If people don't know, the school system has a guideline out there that if you live within so many feet of a school, depending on what grade you're in, they don't offer busing. So if you live real close to a school, you are required to either walk, ride, or roll, or get a ride from a licensed driver. So obviously with the warm weather, we'll have a lot more kids out And school is back in session today, but the high school is only ninth grade, so tomorrow the high school will be full. All grades will be there as well as all of the other intermediate grades below that. So with that, though, I did also want to say that I made this statement in my upcoming Hudson Life article, and I urge any parents who have new drivers out there Please talk to your children about traffic laws, safety, and being a good citizen when operating a motor vehicle on our roads. I see it in my neighborhood often, you know, a new kid gets a license and it's this freedom that they feel that I've got a car now and I'm just gonna, you know, maybe they just don't understand the speed limit or how fast that vehicle is going, but new drivers I often see speeding around town and in my own neighborhood, and I think it's the parents' responsibility is to sit down with those new drivers and explain things to them. So that's my plea to the public, if you have new drivers, because now we're gonna have a lot more kids On the roads going to school coming home from school coming home from practices all the sports are in swing You know I was at a tennis game before this meeting here today, so that is my plea to the parents and residents of Hudson And last comment on that adults and all of us could learn and take a reminder as well to slow down, be safe, be alert, be mindful. Try not to be, well, please do not be on your phone, but look, look out for what's going on as you're driving. Two last quick things. Mr. Sheridan, I'm hoping that you can cover an update in a little bit more detail on the senior transportation program. which is set to start here in September. I know there's some public information out there from the Hudson Senior Network and the city as well. And I'm glad to see this project come to fruition and begin yet this year. which will undoubtedly be a meaningful service for our more mature residents out there. So thank you. And last comment, as always, there are so many amazing events, concerts, and gatherings happening in Hudson. Please look to the newer community calendar for more information on all of these. The calendar can be found under Hudson Happenings. You can find that either online or as links on social media. The calendar, you can sort by date, by event. If you want to look at concerts, you can do a lot of filtering there to find out what is of interest to you. So please, to the residents, take a look at that for all the great things going on here in the city. Those are my comments. Thank you. Is there any other further comments from council before we close this section? Seeing none, we will close section seven and move on to section eight, report of the city manager. Mr. Sheridan, I would like to turn the floor over to you to provide any comments to council.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Dr. Byrd, on behalf of your statements, especially for the staff. I know they all appreciate it. We're just doing our jobs. The art on the green is 829 and 830 of this month from 10 to 5 p.m. We talked about the Clinton crossing this Saturday. Fire and EMS, I am happy to report. I'm gonna pause for a second. We are two weeks ahead of our project scope. We are 24 seven as of yesterday. This is a giant milestone. I think you all saw an email I got as soon as I sat down from the fire chief. If you didn't get a chance to look at it, I want to make sure you all were aware of a incident that just happened on the railroad. So we got out there in a timely manner. Again, it was after seven. So it's one of those things we're already reaping the benefits of this. And we have four full-time firemen in there. Renovations for phase one went fine, all within budget. And we're moving into EMS. EMS has now moved over and we began renovating their entire area. So we hope to have that done before Christmas. And then the entire building will be ready to go for fire and EMS and has all their new lockers and all their dorm rooms. So very excited about that and I always like to say I mean when we came to council a few years back just about our report that project to build a new one was millions of dollars and again the staff and all of us sat down and made it work and this phase of a loan is only a 2.3 million bid with a 10 contingency so the next phase we expect to be around 1 million So we are well below the $5 million that was budgeted. So we expect to see a good portion of that return. And we had that discussion today with the, finance director, assistant city manager. Regarding the senior van, the mayor asked. I can easily report on that. We have two upcoming senior network events, one on August 26th in the afternoon around noon, and then the other one is, I believe, on September 9th. We will have the van available there at City Hall for both of those senior network events. Anyone can look at it. They can sign up. We start this program in September 2nd, and we're going to be taking reservations to take people to their doctor's visits, pharmacy, the stores, separate stores on different days, multiple great things within a six-mile radius of 303 and 91. That van, as you know, was financed from the Hudson Community Foundation, including the RAP, and the city is staffing the van with two part-time people. We've got two great applicants. We had 20 total on that. We have two great applicants that have worked with seniors, have worked in churches, have driven, got good clean records. So we equip them with everything. They will be working out of our public works department, and the service will be Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. We're starting out with three days right now. And those two drivers will alternate. They won't be working at the same time. But I wanted to make sure that we had a backup driver because these are very important, obviously, connections that we have to make. And then we also have a backup to that if we need it with existing staff. So they're going to get to meet their drivers, which is good, I believe, on the 9th of September. So we'll have them all ready to go. So very excited about that. And then last but not least, been going over this with staff, but we'll have excess carryover discussion next week on workshop. So if you have anything that you're wanting to use this money for, we're all ears. We're going to try to lay out some base items that we're seeing that we think the council should look at, but it's all up to you guys for approval. So that's all I had, Mayor. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Sheridan. I knew you would have more details on the senior van, so thank you. Are there any comments or questions for Mr. Sheridan from Council? Seeing none, we will close Section 8. Thank you, Mr. Sheridan. We'll move on to Section 9 for appointments. Council President Byrd, do we have any appointments tonight?

We have no appointments tonight, but in the next few weeks, we'll be opening up the website for applications to a number of different departments Boards and commissions, including Planning Commission, BZBA, Cemetery, EAC, all those are having terms that are ending at the end of this year. We want to get a jump on those interviews and those applications so that they can be in position for January when those, again, when those terms end.

Thank you, Council President Byrd. We'll close section nine and move on to section 10 for the consent agenda. Council members, if there are any items on the consent agenda that you wish to have considered separately, please allow me to read the item, gain my attention, and state your wishes. Item A, excuse me, yes, item A, number 26-0067 on the consent agenda is a motion to acknowledge the timely receipt of the July 2026 monthly financial report. And that is the only item on consent. If there are no comments on that item, we will move to vote to suspend the rules. Mrs. Wheeler, will you, or excuse me, Council, do we have a motion to suspend the rules to allow passage of the one item on the consent agenda? I move to suspend the rules. Thank you, Councillor Brasovic. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Councillor Getz. Mrs. Wheeler, will you please roll call the vote on the motion to suspend the rules on the consent agenda, item 26-0067.

Mr. Ramo? Yes. Dr. Getz? Yes. Mr. Sutton? Yes. Dr. Weinstein? Yes. Mr. White? Yes. Dr. Byrd? Yes. Mr. Brezevik?

Yes.

Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. The rules are so suspended by a vote of seven in favor to zero against. Council, do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

to approve the consent agenda.

Thank you, Council President Byrd. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Councillor White. Are there any comments or discussion? Seeing none, Mrs. Wheeler, will you please roll call a vote on the motion to approve the consent agenda?

Dr. Goetz? Yes. Mr. Sutton? Yes. Dr. Weinstein? Yes. Mr. White? Yes. Dr. Byrd? Yes. Mr. Brezevik? Yes. Mr. Rameau? Yes.

Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. The consent agenda has been approved by a vote of seven in favor to zero against. We will close section 10 on our agenda and move to section 11 for legislation. Item A is number 26-113. This is an ordinance amending chapter 478 of the codified ordinances and declaring an emergency. This is a second of three readings this evening. Moving on to item B on legislation is number 26-115. This is an ordinance enacting section 11 of chapter 1419, engineering standards and infrastructure construction and amending section 1016.04P as in Paul and section one of chapter 1419 of the codified ordinances. This is a first of three readings tonight.

There.

Councillor Brezovic. I would like to make a motion. I'd like to move to suspend the three readings rule for this piece of legislation in order to take action on this legislation today. My understanding is that a motion to suspend the rules is not a discussable motion. That is correct. Okay, so with that said, I may want to make this motion with the understanding that city staff has put a lot of work into this. We've obviously had a good bit of setback in the time of our projects. We have a lot of yards and areas that were in the midst of this construction when we put the pause, and I'd like to to get those sections finished up. I don't personally feel there is much to gain from delaying through a number of readings. I know it's for notification of the public, but I don't anticipate we make changes to this. So I would like to move to suspend the rules.

Thank you, Councillor Brzezic. The motion on the floor is to suspend the rules on item 26-115. Do we have a second to that motion? Second. Thank you, Councillor Duramo. And again, this is not a debatable motion. And just for council's clarity, a motion to suspend the rules does require six of seven votes based on how our charter and standards are out there. Therefore... We need to roll call a vote to the motion that was seconded. It's not debatable. So to be able to suspend the rules, we need to have a roll call vote first.

Dr. Weinstein? Yes. Mr. White?

Yes.

Dr. Bird? No. Mr. Brozovic?

Yes.

Mr. Amo? Yes. Dr. Goetz?

Yes.

Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. That motion to suspend the rules does fail by a vote of only five in favor to two against. Again, with seven members of Council President, suspension of the rules does require six of seven affirmative votes. Does Council wish to enter any additional motions on the legislative agenda? Seeing none, we will close the legislative agenda, section 11, and move on to section 12, which is our executive session. We do have an executive session this evening to discuss pending litigation. As such, do we have a motion from council to enter into executive session?

Yes, I move to enter into executive session pursuant to Hudson Codified Ordinance 220.05B3 and 5 to discuss pending court action and matters that are required to be kept confidential by law. Invited to this executive session are myself, Mr. Brezovic, Mr. Ramo, Dr. Goetz, Dr. Weinstein, Mr. White, the mayor, the community development director, Sarah Kelly, Delaney Sillman, the city solicitor, and the city manager.

Thank you, Council President Byrd. Do we have a second to that motion to enter into executive session?

Second.

Thank you, Councilor Goetz. Are there any comments? Seeing none, Mrs. Wheeler, would you please roll call a vote on the motion on the floor to enter into executive session?

Dr. Weinstein? Yes. Mr. White? Yes. Dr. Byrd? Yes. Mr. Brezovic? Yes. Mr. Rameau? Yes. Dr. Goetz? Yes. Mr. Sutton? Abstain.

Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler. We will now enter into a private closed-door executive session by a vote of six in favor with one abstention. Please note to the public, at the conclusion of our executive session, we do not anticipate any further public business other than to officially adjourn our meeting. Thank you.