City Council - Regular Meeting

going to call the uh council committee uh meeting for February 4th to order. We have two public hearings. Thank you, mayor. Yes.

First public hearing is pursuant to Ken codified ordinance chapter 1393. The city of Kent received a request for a local historic property designation for 237 East Main Street, which is the current location of the Kent Historical Society. And pursuant to that chapter, this is to provide the public with an opportunity to speak on this matter. Anybody from the audience wish to speak on this? Okay. Okay. That public hear.

Yes, that public that public hear is over. Now the next one. [laughter] Just just over that. Yeah. Yeah. The second public hearing is pursuant to chapter chapter 929 of the Ohio Revised Code. The city of Kent received an application of um submitted by Eric Cobb Cobbacres LLC for the placement of land um located in the city of Kent in an agricultural district. The permanent parcel number is 17-046- 000-19-00009.

Thank you, Bridget. U Mr. Mr. President, um I would like to first introduce to you um the city's um attorney outside council on this. Um Ben, would you like to introduce yourself? Sure. Thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of council. My name is Ben Shinaki. C H OJ N A CI. You'll never get it right. Don't worry about it. Um, I'm here to lend a hand today uh to assist you with providing some process and and ensuring that the uh statutory protections and procedures set forth in chapter 929 of the Ohio Revised Code as follow as it relates to the application that was submitted to the clerk of council on January 13, 2026 seeking placement of the permanent parcel that uh Bridget so eloquently mentioned uh into the agricultural district. um there's a there's a lot that goes into that process and it's not every day that you likely receive these applications. So, as a matter of course, I think it's appropriate to give you some background about the statute itself, your job tonight, and why we're doing what we're doing in the time frame we're doing it in. As a practical matter, I think it's important to emphasize and I understand that some of you may have received correspondence uh from members of the public who were looking to uh participate tonight, but were unable to in light of the tight time frame between the time public notice was published and the date of this meeting this evening. As a matter of straight statutory law, Ohio law says that upon submission of an application for placement in an agricultural district, you as a legislative body have 30 days to conduct a public hearing. There's no opportunity for an extension of time. There's no opportunity to continue the matter. You have 30 days and if you don't conduct your public hearing within 30 days, the application is considered approved. And then based based on everything that uh we've heard to date, there might be some debate and discussion on that topic. And rather than allowing it to be approved by operation of law, uh this meeting needs to go forward tonight. Does that make sense? Excellent. So now we know why we're here and why we're moving so quick. Uh I'll give you some context into what what what this means and why we're [snorts] conducting the hearing. Be placed into an e agricultural district. Under Ohio law, an applicant has to make a certain

a certain evidentiary showing specifically that the the applicant has to show that during three calendar years before the year the application is filed, the land that is the subject of the application has been devoted exclusively to agricultural production. Agricultural production is a very long statutory definition that means commercial aquaculture. Agriculture meaning the farming of algae, aquaculture, animal husbandry or poultry husband husbandry. And it goes on and on and on with a host of of definitions. And if you have questions about that, we can discuss it. But for now, just know that as you're looking at this, one of the statutory minimums that have to be shown is that during the three calendar years prior uh prior to the filing of application, the land was devoted exclusively to agricultural production. Another method by which you can clear the first hurdle to become placed in the agricultural district is the applicant can show that the land was devoted to and qualified for payments or other compensation under a land or retirement conservation program under an agreement with an agency of the federal government. So there's kind of two different ways you can meet that first criteria. Thereafter, [snorts] the applicant has an obligation to just make two other evidentiary showings. It's an it's an or. So he the applicant either has to show the land is comprised of tracks, lots or parcels that total not less than 10 acres, or the applicant can show that the activities on the land produce an average yearly gross income of at least $2,500 during the three-year period. What will happen after I get done talking is the applicant who has the burden of proof will be entitled to make a presentation on those facts. Thereafter, we do have some members of safety forces who are here. Those members, I would ask that they be entitled to to offer their testimony at that time. And then you would move towards the public comment and public hearing portion of the agenda where anyone who wants to speak would be entitled to provided that they're sworn as if they were informed. The other piece to this is the statute does allow

for uh the council to also consider affidavit submitted by individuals, not emails that you might have received, not unsolicited documents. In order for the process to be fair, the applicant and the city are entitled to have just evident evidence that is subject to cross-examination or evidence that is presented under an affidavit that would be subject to penalty of law if there were misstatements or lies in it. The idea is we don't want some random facts coming in that have nothing to do with uh or no no basis in uh reliability. And so your evidentiary considerations is limited to those facts. Um once you receive the application, you close the hearing. Um, what I would suggest you do because you're acting like the judge, you'll close the hearing and you'll end the trial, so to speak, on the evidentiary matters, and then you'll adjourn into your committee meeting where you can deliberate and discuss the application and the evidence that was presented. Your job at that point is to weigh the facts and apply the law. And ultimately, you have three choices you can make. You can approve the application, you can approve the application with modifications, or you can reject the application. Ohio law is very clear, however, that you have to show your work. You can't just uh reject an application. In fact, the the statute requires you as a council to quote, "Make every effort to modify the application." Meaning, you specifically have to consider ways that the application could be modified that might warrant your approval. The statute gives a couple different ways where you might want to consider that. Generally those would include limitation or modifying the length of time that the property is in the agricultural district. You can limit the size of the property in the agricultural district or you can uh consider other uh statutory protections with the waiver removal of those protections for property that is ultimately placed in the egg district. What that means is once placed into an agricultural district um there is a

provision of state law that says uh the property as a whole uh is can use um the placement in the agricultural district as a defense to a civil nuisance action. Meaning if someone wants to sue someone for engaging in an agricultural use on their property uh claiming it's a nuisance, they can say, "I'm in the egg district and you can't sue me for that because I'm in the egg district." So, you could conceivably have a conversation about not allowing that applicant to u assert that as a defense in a civil action. That would be something for the applicant to consider. Uh but that's a that's for the debate and discussion part and I'm sure we'll talk about it more. Um, if you decide to move forward with rejecting an application, you can only reject the application if it is demonstrated that rejection is necessary to prevent a substantial adverse effect on the provision of municipal services with the within the city, the efficient use of land within the city, the orderly growth and development of the city, or the public health, safety, or welfare. And so, what you will do tonight is debate what you're going to do in that sense. And then ultimately we would ask that you take a vote and give us direction on what you want to do in terms of uh approve approve with modifications or reject with the intention that that vote would then um be memorialized through a resolution at your next regularly scheduled council meeting on February 18th. So I just threw a lot at you. Are there any questions?

Yes, sir. Thank you. Um, will there be a moment for us to ask questions of any of the speakers? Yes, I would suggest from a process standpoint, you would allow Mr. Cop to make his application first and then we can get the safety forces in and out quickly because we'd like to have them go, then allow the public to go and you can have dialogue with them as you go. And then I I assume that that dialogue will result in uh an opportunity and opportunity for Mr. to both address the questions then and also address any questions that you or anyone else may have. Thank you. Sound good? Yes. So during the public hearing portion you're saying or is that in the committee portion?

I would say you do that all in the public hearing portion because your goal is to get everything under oath so that it's properly considered and then the the committee portion is you acting as the judges.

Got it. Thank you. So, I would ask um just for clarification, um in our committee meetings, typically council will talk amongst themselves after the staff has has talked and then they'll throw it back out to the public, come back and talk some more. Um I guess I'm advising you that this is going to be different. Anyone who wants to speak will speak at the public hearing and the committee will just be for you all to deliberate or like ask ask um for any direction or what did you mean by that? You know, what did that law say or what did this law say? Okay.

And certainly to your point if if it comes up that you when you're discussing your when you're fulfilling your obligation to discuss modification, if you want to have conversation with the applicant applicant programs. Okay. Uh, and with that I would suggest you turn it over to the applicant.

Yes. And and let me let me um give the oath to everyone that wants to anyone that would like to testify on this matter, please stand up and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give in this case shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. help you God or under penalty of perjury. Was everyone was that audible to everyone? Yes. Mr. Cole, you didn't stand up. Is that Mr. Cole? Oh, okay. I apologize. Oh, okay. I I apologize,

Mr. Cobb. Okay. Uh Mr. called was not here. So um

so so in light of the fact the applicant's not here, you do have an application that you can consider um from a evidentiary and legal perspective, I suggest that you also take the evidence that the uh public and that the administration is prepared to submit so that you're making your decision with a full record and uh you can show your work appropriately. Um with that being said, I think it's probably appropriate to turn it over to the chief and our law enforcement so they can go Yep. It's it's police away. All right. Good evening. Uh, just bear with me. I'm gonna I'm gonna pull up um some photos of the property that we can um

Will will each of you try to remember that before you start speaking to indicate um your name and um spell your last and give an address, please? My name is Nicholas Shear. I am the police chief for the city of Kent. My last name is spelled s h e a r er and my address is 301 south ofers.

So, as I said, I'm just bringing up some photos of the property that we have from um evidence photos. Um, Sergeant Fuller, one of the officers here behind me, uh, went out and he took some photos when he was there and he also took some follow-up photos, uh, during daylight hours. Um, so, uh, I'm just going to kind of introduce this a little bit on on behalf of the police department. Um, whatever reason that's not coming up. Um, so on behalf of the police department, we have been in contact with this property. um call Bakers uh over the course of about a year and a half to two years. Um primarily our involvement with the property has been uh noise complaints. Um what we have been able to discern is that that noise is coming from uh a diesel engine operating a pump on the property. Um that's creating some disturbances in the Forest Lakes development here in the city. Um over the course of that time, we have been to Call Baker several times. Um I think the first I think the first time we were out there u actually was officer Brooks who's one of the officers here to speak. Um over the course of that Mr. Cobb has received a total of four summons for unlawful noise. Um because of the noise being generated by this pump. Um this really um kind of became more of a problem uh creating our involvement in the in the issue uh in the fall of 2025. In the fall [clears throat] of 2025, starting in October, we began getting more and more calls about the noise coming from the property. We were out there a total of four times between midocctober and the first week of December. Uh, of those four incidents that we responded to out there, Mr. Cobb has been issued three different summones to court for unlawful noise. Um the two officers behind me were both uh responding officers to the property, observed the the condition of the

property and observed the the noise violation uh coming from it. Um so you're all aware those court cases are still pending uh and um have not been fully um litigated through court yet. Uh so with that, I want to first introduce Officer Matt Brooks. Uh and and Matt will talk to you a little bit about um the property, what he observed. uh both visually and audibly when he responded to a call out there.

Hello, my name is uh Officer Matthew Brooks. Uh last name is BR O KS. My address is 301 South of I Street, Kent, Ohio. Um so [clears throat] like uh Chief Shear had mentioned uh we had been going out to this property for about a year and a half, two years, something like that. Um, I don't remember the specific the specifics of the case from the beginning. Uh, but my most recent interaction with the property was on the November 29th of last year. Um, my trainee and I got dispatched to the property at 100 Johnson Road for noise complaint. This is around um 9:30 at night. um which I guess per our noise ordinance is where it's more strictly enforced by us if we observe the violation. Um my trainee had gone out to Johnson Road and he had observed a pump or an engine out in the middle of the field and um it was running. He could audibly hear it running. Uh, I responded to Sunset Way right there at the dead end by Winward and I had also observed the um noise coming from the the middle of the property. It was quite dark at the time, so I couldn't necessarily see. I spotlighted the area, but um um I didn't necessarily see what was causing the noise at that time. from previous incidences where I have gone out to the property during the daylight hours. Um the property essentially looks like um um a big mud pit because of the um stuff that's being dredged from the existing

pond out there. Um from there, my trainee and I went and spoke with one of the residents uh who had called in the complaint. His name is uh Darren Hartman I believe. Correct. Darren Hartman. And uh we spoke with him. He advised of the complaint. Um, and then we from there made contact with uh, Eric and um, spoke with him about the noise and um, and then after some um, other conversations with um, our city prosecutor and the chief, we ended up issuing a summon to Eric for the noise violation. Now, I'll introduce uh Sergeant Jim Fuller. Um and as Sergeant Fuller goes through um what he has to say, the photos that you're going to see up on the screens were taken by Sergeant Fuller both the night he responded to the noise complaint and then he went back out, I believe it was the next day, and took some more photos during daylight hours. Uh so you can kind of get a better idea of what the property looks like. Uh what the the pump that's generating the noise looks like and just kind of there's I'm not sure if it'll play the audio, but we also have he took a video of it during the daytime hours. Uh so everybody can hear the sound. I'm not sure Kathy if it's going to play the audio well or not, but we'll give it a whirl.

From James Fuller, FU L E R. My address is uh 301 South Pister Street. I'm a sergeant with KMP PD. Um my first uh dealings with this uh issue was a couple years ago. I'm on afternoon shift at that time and um people would call and discuss their displeas with the noise in the back. Um back then I didn't investigate as much as was needed at that time. um didn't know the property and everything like that. Um through the next year and a half found out a lot more about it. Um so this last incident I had was November 1st of 2025 at 23:17 hours. That's 11 p.m. 11:15. Um, we had a complaint on Winward and I when I first arrived in her driveway, her the back of her house butts up to the property. So, and she was in the back of the house. I could see through the window before she came to the door. And uh, she said about the uh, noise, which when I got out of my cruiser driveway, I walked just to the edge of their drive. It's a side entry garage. So, I was able to walk to the edge of the drive which was open to the whole backyard and the the field which you're seeing part of on the screen. Um, from that I heard some noise. I talked to her and she we talked maybe 10 15 minutes and she discussed about, you know, they can hear it inside the house. Um it was cold at the time so they weren't out on their patio and stuff and she was it's just an ongoing issue. Um dealing with this in the past and I had spoken to prosecutor Frink in the past about it and um I knew who

would be responsible for the property. So I did issue a summon for that to Mr. Cole. go through some of these pictures. So, you see some more pictures. This is in daylight hours. The next morning, I took these photos showing the area. You see the houses behind the uh you see some water there and stuff. Um I've taken a couple complaints from some of those houses. Some of the houses to the left that you don't see which you can't see uh the complaint on this one's house. There were like six houses in from the left to the left. You only see the first four houses from Sunset Way, which is over to the right, the dead end that Officer Brooks had talked about. So judging where that blue machinery is at that pump all the way down toward the left um probably her house was six houses in. I took complaint a couple years ago or a year and a half ago probably 15 houses down. So, it was a distance away from it and I could hear it at that time. Actually, Officer Brooks and I went out on afternoon shift, I believe, and took one of those first calls. Um, so there's the pump that night. I went there after I had uh talked to the PR, took those pictures, and the pump was running. You can hear it. I could hear it from her driveway

once I talked to her. I went couple steps down in her backyard before I left and heard it more pronounced. It It did go like up and down in volume. It was like different gears. Like it would be in one gear, a little lower, and then it spike up to another gear and then come back down. So those are the photos I took in the morning obviously the daylight other one's at night and then the audio will work for that.

No, but that audio would be from Johnson Road from the front of the property if it were to light. on you could just your computer

while we're dealing with the audio issues. Um, Chief, if I can just show you these copies of the complaints and you could just confirm that those are true and accurate copies so they can be a part of the record the council considers the application. Yes, these appear to be true and accurate copies.

Thank you. Just going to give them to our team council. So, what I'll do in talking with Ben is um the audio is not playing through the TVs. Um I can bring this up to you all so you can uh maybe get a better idea just through the sound on my computer of what the noise sounds like. Is that daylight?

Yeah, that's from it is consistent to what I heard that night. Sergeant, while while you were at at night and on Johnson Road, did you observe any uh farming, growth of hay, growth of uh flowers or anything on the property? But during the day, did you observe it?

Thank you. So, just to quickly reiterate a little bit, I'm sure that most of you are familiar with our noise ordinance and how it works, but essentially anytime between 9:00 at night and 8:00 in the morning, if noise can be heard beyond the property line of the of the property it's coming from, it is a violation of our noise ordinance. So, the video that you just saw was Sergeant Fuller standing on Johnson Road. He was not on the property. Um, and obviously that that sound is clearly audible in the video beyond the property line. Um, I think what he just said was that was the same noise he heard the night before um from standing on a property in the Forest Lakes development, which is again obviously beyond the property line of Mr. Culp's property. All right. Could we ask a question?

Can I question? Yes. Sorry. No, it's great. Um, from your observation or investigation, would you say the sound is related to agricultural production in the way the state law defines it?

Um, based on what I know about the property, I would say no. Um, it's my understanding that Mr. Culp is using that pump to um clear water out of the area uh because it's a very mucky property and he's trying to use excavation equipment back there that is unable to be used on that wet of of ground. Um so and that's actually I've had a direct conversation with Mr. Culp um and he told me that that's what he's doing back there. Um, as a followup, um, as an expert in public health and safety, do you have any concerns about the use of agricultural um, the current use of agricultural production on the land related to the to health and safety?

I'm not sure I completely understand the question. Um, I I guess the the precursor to that was I don't believe based on my conversations with Mr. call and what I know is going on on the property that it is agric being used for agricultural purposes. So, let me start over. Um, outside of your investigation as to the the noise complaint, um, have you observed any concerns about about his use of the land related to public health or safety? Do you have any concerns about that?

So, when it comes to public health and safety, that's difficult to say. Um I would say that um you know certainly the noise disturbing residents in the community um could definitely be linked to health in some ways. Um where I think this really comes in and I think what what Ben talked about is public health safety and welfare. Um and I think that it's more related to welfare um than the other two. Thank you. Thanks. Um you've you've been out there at that property. Is that correct?

It's been a long time. I've seen it before, but it's been a long time since I've been out there. I have not been out there to observe the noise. Um the the officers have responded multiple times. And so your officers have been out there after beyond the 9:00 hour, beyond that one particular complaint that your officer um reported on and actually issued a citation. There have been other calls out there, sometimes with citations, sometimes without. outside of that 9 900 pm cutoff for for noise and there so there have been several occasions where you have been it has been observed by law enforcement that they're making noise that really loud vibrating noise after the 9:00 hour.

Yes. So Mr. Cobb has received three summons um in between November and December of 2025. Um all three of those times we were out there, the officer was able to hear the noise emanating beyond his property line. Um so the summones were issued. There was another um call out there in October of 2025 where the officer responded and there was a we were he was on another call. So there was a slight delay from the time he the call came in till the time he got there. Um he was not able to hear a violation when he went out that night. But those are like the four most recent incidents from October through the first week of December of 2025. Thank you. Another question.

I have a question. Um, [clears throat] how long is that pump going to be there? Do you know how long it's been there? Um, so I believe it's been there since um 2024. Um, I think summer to fall of 2024 is roughly when we started actually hearing about it. Um, when I spoke with Mr. Cobb again, and this is just what he's telling me. When I spoke with Mr. call uh on the phone uh I believe it was last week. He told me that his hope and goal is to have the project that he's working on completed by April of 2026 with all of that equipment removed. I'm sorry.

Does he plan so completed all those trucks and the pump everything shut down? Whatever he wants to do with that ready to go. that that's what he communicated to me is he well specific to the pump more so that he saw he his hope and goal was to have the project completed and not need to run the pump anymore after April of 2026 and a followup did he so when was the last time that he told that to you? That was uh I think it was last week. Okay. Thank you. Thanks chief.

Yes, you open it up to members of the public there after

any members of the public wish to speak testimony Hartman. Darren Hartman um from the Forest Lake subdivision 1181 Winward H A R T M- an I'm just going to read I've submitted an affidavit just going to reiterate what's what's in the um [clears throat] so good evening mayor council members and city administration my name is Darren Hartman I reside at 1181 Winward Lane Forest Lake subdivision which direct ly borders the property involved in the excavation and lake expansion activity currently being reviewed under the agricultural district application. I'm speaking tonight as a negatively impacted homeowner and as one of several Forest Lakes residents experiencing ongoing and daily impacts from this operation. Forest Lakes residents respect legitimate agriculture. Many of us chose to live in Kent because we value the balance between residential living and surrounding rural charact and the surrounding rural character. We understand that agriculture involves equipment, seasonal operations, and occasional disruptions. However, what is occurring adjacent to our neighborhood is not consistent with normal agricultural practice. For approximately two years, residents have observed large-scale excavation and land alteration activity involving multiple excavators, sustained truck hauling and soil of soil and materials, and continuous 247 pumping operations. Based on my direct and repeated observation as well as observations reported by multiple Winward Lane residents, the primary activity occurring on the property is consistent

with expansion of the existing pond into a substantially larger recreational lake estimated to exceed 5 acres in size. The scale of excavation, the sustained volume of earth removal, and the prolonged pumping operations are characteristic of recreational water development rather than agricultural land improvement. Multiple Windward Lane residents, including myself, have personal personally witnessed water skiing and other recreational water activities occurring on the existing pond. Portions of that pond are partially owned by several Winward Lane property owners. The observed recreational use of the existing water body combined with the substantial expansion currently underway strongly indicates that the project is being developed to support expanded recreational boating and water sport activity rather than agricultural production. At the same time, residents are experiencing continuous and reoccurring negative impacts from this operation. We are routinely subjected to to sustained heavy equipment noise including 247 pumping system operations. This noise is audible inside our homes and across reg across the residential properties. The city of Kent has adopted noise ordinances specifically to protect residents from excessive and prolonged operational disturbance and the impact the impacts residents are experiencing are inconsistent with those protections. In addition to noise, residents have experienced reoccurring diesel exhaust odors generated by excavation and pumping equipment operating adjacent to the residential properties. At times, these odors are noticeable throughout the neighborhood and are strong enough to discourage outdoor activities and opening windows for ventilation. Residents have also observed equipment

operating without apparent sound suppression or adequate exhaust mitigation. The combination of cons continuous operational noise and diesel exhaust emissions has created ongoing environmental and quality of life impacts that extend well beyond what would reasonably be expected from agricultural activity. Equally concerning is that these operations have continued for an extended period without apparent efforts to minimize impacts to surrounding homes or operate in a manner consistent with respectful neighboring land stewardship. Ohio revised section 929.02 02 B1 requires council to consider whether approval of an agricultural district designation would create a substantial adverse effect on municipal services, efficient land use, orderly development or public health, safety or welfare based on the scale, duration, and intensity of excavation occurring adjacent to an established residential subdivision combined with documented recreational water use. Residents believe those substantial adverse effects have already are are already present. Horse Lakes is a long established residential community. Residents invested in their homes with reasonable expectations that surrounding land uses would remain compatible with residential living. The expansion of heavy The expansion of heavy excavation and rec recreational lake development immediately bordering Winward Lane undermines those expectations and raises legitimate concerns regarding long-term neighborhood impact. Residents of Forest Lakes are not asking the council to oppose agriculture, but we are asking council to recognize that what is occurring adjacent to our neighborhood is not consistent with

normal agricultural practice and is creating measurable and ongoing residential impact. Agricultural protections exist to preserve farming, not to shield recreational development that disrupts established neighborhoods. What residents are are experiencing is not normal agricultural practice and the impacts to our community are substantial, ongoing, and undeniable. Thank you. I did submit um attached along with the affidavit several videos of what's going on. Thank you, Mr. Hartman. Are you willing to uh answer some questions? Sure.

Anybody have questions for Mr. Hartman? Melissa, thank you. Mr. Herman, um, have at any time have you observed any type of farming from your observation and from your understanding of what farming might look like, have you observed that at all on the property that's visible to you?

Um, there is a few bales of hay in an adjacent property that are laying in the field and snow covered right now. Um, but that's it. Um, other than that, it's it and if you haven't seen it, it is it's very obvious that it's not for farming. Um, even where the soils are being excavated and stockpiled, I believe in the drawings that I've seen are where that's farming supposed to go on and it it can't go on with the way the stock piles are around the property. Have you ever spoken with Mr. Cole?

No. Has anyone that in your neighborhood had conversations with him? Because he doesn't live on the property. Is that correct? He does not. Um, not to my knowledge. I I I believe some of the neighbors um attend the same church as he does and may have run into him at church, but um he's never addressed our neighborhood or our concerns as as what I feel good neighbors should do. So there's no there's no house on the property that's visible to you. There is a is there some type of out building, some type of building? Yes, there's it's not a home.

Several barns um and equip, you know, equipment storage on site. And you from your own experience have observed and have heard and are impacted by the sound of the noise running 247? Yes. For about what length of time? Um about two years it's been been going on. Um and it's yeah it's 247. I go out on my back patio and it's running all the time. Holiday weekends it's it's 247.

So even though he has been cited for this noise at no time was the noise actually was the machinery shut down during the quiet hours after 9:00. No. Thank you. Further questions Mr. Harbor Mr. Hook in think of your your affidavit in your understanding is the the the noise um related to agricultural production that you're hearing?

No, I mean I don't know. Oh, it's a it's a at least a 6-in diesel pump that runs is transferring water. So I I don't know how that would tie into any type of agricultural Can I ask can I ask why it was important for you to come and share this with us now given that this is an agricultural [clears throat] hearing about um moving this property into an agricultural district versus pursuing other avenues for

we have pursued other avenues through noise complaints um and through you know yeah I I think understanding what's going on I I think initially as neighbors would if you know whatever was going on it until it became a nuisance and again I for me when I go out on Sunday morning to have my coffee on my back deck I shouldn't have to listen to a pump running

um in my mind my definition of agricultural You know, if if he's farming and he spreads manure and there's odors from manure for a couple of days, that's agriculture. You know, if there's, you know, a a balor running late at night because they got to get it in before the the rains come. I understand that. I grew up in in a rural community. I I understand what farming is. And there's there's no agricultural farming going on at this property. Just one more question. Um, Mr. Cob's application says that he sold 500 units of hay. Um, is that consistent at all with your observation in the time that you've observed?

Yeah. [clears throat] Okay. Thank you.

Yes. Thank you. um Chris's question to you about why now um partially addressed my con my my question but I guess what I'm curious about is do you believe that an agricultural dis having an agricultural district adjacent to your neighborhood would make the situation worse

believe the My understanding of the the rule is that there's other reasons that this is being pursued and it's not just because he wants to be agricultural. Um I think there's tax implications and I I no I I don't feel that yeah if you told me that that he was going to plant farm fields and and harvest hay and corn and Yeah. But that's not the case. So, and it this isn't the first time this has come up and I I don't think that should I that is not the right perception.

The neighbors have been been fighting this um for other reasons and because of the impacts to the pond that they they have ownership in. And you know, this is just happens to be the time to to voice in this this uh type of arena this current complaint. I mean, I think you could ask this the same Mr. C, but why why this now? But he's not here. Thank you. That's correct. Fleer Bish.

Yeah, I'm done. My question is, do you Well, thank you for coming today. Do you and your neighbors meet about these complaints regularly? Like, is it an ongoing issue in your neighborhood that lots of people are complaining about? And if so, how many neighbors would you say that are angry about this issue or want to see change for this issue? I think yes, there's ongoing correspondence between the neighbors. Um, emails, text chains, conversations on the street walking our dogs. Um, so yeah, that that that goes on. And what was the other part of the question? um when you're talking with your neighbors. So, did you submit this as a maybe a spokesperson for your neighborhood? Like your neighbors know that you submitted this?

Absolutely. And agree with what you said.

Yeah. Unfortunately, I think it was mentioned earlier, you know, because of timing. Yeah. A lot of neighbors are out of town. They they're um some of them are on vacation in warmer air areas and spots of the country and they couldn't be here tonight. So yes, and everybody's very aware of what I've submitted. Um and they were some that submitted emails that can't be brought into this this discussion, but um yes, they are aware and involved and would be here if they could. They could be. So, you're like the spokesperson for the noise complaints in your on your street.

There's there's been others that make No, Sarah. He he can only speak on his swear. So, Got it. He can't speak for everyone else's. Got it. Thank you. Further questions from council. Robin. Oh. But but it's it's not for this gentleman. Oh, it it would be for the uh chief. Well, I I'm not sure we can do Can we do that? Can we call? Right. Yeah.

Okay. Mr. Herman, have you um met with city staff? I I do recall a meeting that I participated in but I'm not

recent to property in question original homeowner. I've lived there 25 years. Uh some of my comments have already been address so they might be a little redundant but um um I have a comment and and a question. Um my comment is uh the land owner has already been cited at least three times for noise violations. Uh, one of the consequences of granting an agricultural district designation is protecting the landowner from civil actions of nuisances and from criminal statutes. These repeated citations demonstrates that the landowner has no regard for his neighbors or for the law. Approving this application will take away our rights to make further complaints. It is clear that Mr. COB has every right to make this application, but the neighboring land owners have rights as well. And I respectfully ask that the council not away our rights. Um the the question that I have is when will farming start and uh I ask this because there are specific requirements when land is designated as an agricultural district. Our one requirement is the land is used exclusively for farming. Um if the farming is not going to start this year then there is no reason to grant the petition and let the application uh be made when the land is ready for farming. And you know I wrote that down before I heard other people's testimony. I I can attest that I in the 25 years I've lived there I have witnessed no farming. Um, if he had bales of hay, I'm not exactly sure where he got them from. He may have got them from just digging up the grass from uh, you know, what was already

there, but I found no evidence of of of any sort of of farming. In in fact, uh, the only thing that he has done is actually uh uh affected the lake in in negative ways. Um, you know, myself included, and so we're all neighbors. We have kayaks, we have canoes, we have paddle boats that we would go out on the lake regularly. Um, my neighbor actually built a dock and we used to be able to kayak right up to the dock and just kind of hop out very easily. But since he's done his excavation, the the water level of the lake has dropped so much that the dock is is completely unusable now. Um, and from some of the other questions uh that I've heard you've asked, but maybe be a little proactive. Um, it was a year ago when he petitioned to have the land annexed back into Franklin Township. We presented a presentation on mass. I mean, we came in here in in force with booklets that we handed out to you guys, you know, saying that we don't want this to happen because we were afraid that if it went back into Franklin Township that all the regulations and the ordinances and all that that are we get from the land being in Kent would all go away. That's all. So, you guys got questions for me?

Any questions? Melissa,

thank you, Mr. Miles. Appreciate um your testimony. In your opinion of looking at the property, you already stated that you've not seen any agricultural activity. Have you seen any type of work that would prepare it for agriculture or is everything focused on the lake that you've noticed? So far everything has been excavation from the um uh diagram that I have seen you know the lake is not that big you know to begin with and from the what I have seen is what I always call a runway you know coming out of the lake kind of at 11:00 toward the corner of Johnson and Newcomer and that was the plan to actually to to excavate this strip and you know my concern was Well, I don't know how deep it's going to be. It was I think it was 105 ft wide. I don't remember how long it was going to be. Um, but where is that water going to come from? You know, what's going to fill up all that digging he's doing? And that's why I have to wonder that's why the lake level has gone down so much. And, you know, and if he does start farming it, fertilizer is going to go into the lake. You know, we we fish in that lake. And, you know, what's going to happen to the fish? Yes. A follow-up question if you wouldn't mind.

So you you have uh you have access through your property to the lake. Is that is that accurate? My property is the first property that does not have okay that does not go into the lake. But when you know originally our houses did not own the pieces of Lapen's farm. Okay. And a couple years after we built our houses, uh, somebody bought that property and sold us the pieces that extended us out. So, at that time, all the people, we all got together and we decided that we would let everybody have use of the lake. Okay.

So, while I do kayak on that lake, I don't personally own any of the lake. Okay. Thank [clears throat] you, Yes. Um, I was wondering, do you ever notice any change in the sounds that emanate from the property uh after police come out? Have you noticed that at all or I have to say because of my the job that I do that I am not really around really testify to that. So, I'm not a good person to ask about the noise. So, but as far as you know, it's just chronic.

I hear I hear my neighbors complaining about it genuinely. Yeah. And we did see it was uh Yeah, we we did have a meeting um in somebody's house uh one time to discuss it. Um you know, I know somebody asked if we got we get together. Well, we did have that one meeting where everybody got together uh at somebody's house to discuss what we were going to do. Thank you. And that's how we got together at the annexing thing and this kind of if it wasn't for the emails, I wouldn't even have known that this was going on. So, um thank Bridget for letting us know that this was happening.

Thank you. Further questions for Mr. Miles? Heidi? So, nobody's really talking about the cons the the concern that the lake will be expanded. At least that's what it's looking like. That's the conjecture that

Well, I saw the plan. I don't I don't recall Maybe it was something that Mr. Culp submitted to council, but there was a diagram that showed what the intent was. Okay. And what would be your concern about expansion of the lake?

Well, it looked to me like since he was making what I referred to as a runway that it was designed that you start your jet ski at that far end of the runway, jet ski into the lake and spin around. because like I said, the lake isn't that big, but I have seen um Mr. Cole out there on speed boatats with water skiers and they just kind of go around in a circle because that's about all they can do. It's not big enough to do anything else. So, it's personal use of recreation. That is what I believe and what other people on the street believe as well. It's a lot of

Any other questions for Mr. Miles? Thank you, Mr. Miles. Appreciate it. Anybody else for testimony? No. Let Bridget. Okay. Bridget

Bridget Susil 930 Overhalt Kent Ohio. Uh I just want to clarify a few things. Um uh thank you Mr. Miles but it was actually 2022 and it wasn't an annexation. It was called a detachment of lands request. If you may remember Mr. Cobb purchased the property and submitted to detach from the city and become part of the township. That was also an Ohio revised code section and Ben actually was our outside council advising us on that. Uh council denied the detachment of lands request. uh it was taken to litigation uh at the court of common please and through mediation an agreement was made to reszone that property from its at that time R2 which was a medium density residential zoning district which did not allow for an agricultural use. It was reszoned in December of 2023, approved through planning commission uh two months prior and in that December by council to reszone it to open o open recreation zoning district which allowed for an agricultural use um which would have met Mr. Cobb's explanation at that time that he wanted to use the site for an agricultural purpose. He actually made that same statement at public comment at the uh council meeting for that detachment in 2022. Subsequent to that uh reszoning occurring, the map amendment occurring in the spring of 2024, he submitted an application for a flood area um uh development application. That portion of that site is in a flood plane. So, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources as the state's um entity managing it for for FEMA um has we each city has a flood plane administrator. That was our Bob Nichi, our chief building official. Through calls with ODNR, a flood plane

permit was issued for excavation of, as he referenced, a runway. It actually is a a long area that extends basically to the northwest off of the lake. Um it it he in his flood plane permit lists that area as 4.8 which is just under the five acres required for a hydraulic uh study. So the permit was issued. Uh we did verify everything with ODNR. the permit has expired, so he will need to get another one, but he can pretty much just resubmit what he had. And just to clarify, the lake is on the parcel that Mr. Cobb owns, but that had been originally part of a subdivision plan, and the properties that extend into it do extend into part of the lake, but the lake is also primarily on Mr. Cops. So, there are properties whose property lines extend into the water line. Um there were agreements, private agreements filed between the developer at that time and those property owners for lake rights. Um but the still the bulk of the lake is owned and on Mr. Cobb's property. Um we've had numerous um reasons for observing the site. Um some were driven by complaints, some are ensuring compliance with the flood plane permit. We are not allowed to trespass. All observations had to be made from Forest Lakes or from Johnson Road. We have observed extensive excavation, no agricultural use and um it was the pump is being used to remove water from the area that is being excavated. The excavation has been ongoing and actually the area is it is it is a muck farm. That is actually a term. It's extremely wet soil. Um it many couple decades ago had been a celery farm but it has not

been used in a long time and he was self excavating and actually one of his large pieces of equipment was got stuck. So that was the beginning of the use of the pump to move the water and keep that area dry so that he could do the excavation and um uh eventually get the equipment out which that took about a year. The discharge of the water from the site into the creek was confirmed with ODNR. You can move water off of a site and into uh an abuing uh uh waterway. So everything he was doing is in accordance with the flood plane permit. Um but uh the information the flood plane permit did not indicate any agricultural use.

Are there any questions from Susan? U thank you Bridget. Um I'm reviewing the information that was shared with the county when he um submitted for this because it had to go to the county before it comes to us. Correct.

And in reviewing this information and the visuals that you provided, it appears that it's about 42 acres total property, give or take a little bit. About six a little more than six acres is was the original defined pond. And it appears that Mr. Cobb has been saying that he's farming for hay, farming hay for the last three previous years, 34 acres uh with approximately 500 bales of hay. Uh in each of those three previous years, um I happen to be married to a farmer and hay doesn't really grow very well in muck. So I just uh wonder about the factual accuracy of this information.

The information that was received that the auditor provided um on uh to us on the 29th of January does show a diagram provided by Mr. Cobb. I my observations of that site and the community development records do not have any record or indication that agriculture is occurring in those areas where he labels as hay which are all around the perimeter of where the excavation is occurring. Um and I've been out there numerous times as well as staff and we have not observed agricultural use in the areas he has indicated on that map.

And when did he originally purchase this property? He purchased it in 2022, but um it did actually wasn't changed to open space recreational until December of 2023. So agricultural uses are not allowed in an R2. So in the documents he provided, he actually indicates that he had been farming it for three years, but two of those years it would have been prohibited under zoning. The open space recreational only went into effect where he would have really actually been able to start in January of 2024. So that also puts the three years into a question mark.

So there's two rather questionable accuracies for this information. When the farming started and to what capacity the farming is actually taking place at the acreage that he's alleging in the documentation he filed. Is that correct? Agreed. Thank you. Further questions for Miss Susily. I don't know if you can answer this or not, but just out of curiosity. Um, other uses of o open recreation,

you you can have recreational uses. Uh, so personal recreational uses, conditionally permitted uses do allow for basically what we call open recreational, but there there it's a conditionally permitted uses. So there are conditions that would need to be met in order for it to be an open space recreational area. Open space recreational business would be a for example a golf course or a um camping area. But again there are requirements that would need to be met other than just having an open space.

Okay. But it could be it could include a business. It doesn't not just for personal use. I I cannot speak to that. It's a conditionally permitted use and an applicant for consideration of a con um a conditionally permitted use needs to submit what their proposed use is and then it is compared to the zoning code requirements. So that would be speculative in nature and I'm not comfortable answering. Gotcha. Okay. Further questions? Chris, um no one from the auditor's office is here today. No, as far as I'm aware. Are you able to speak to the process that they might use to determine um to approve an application like this?

I can tell you the information I received from the auditor. Uh once the clerk of councel informed hope, myself and the mayor that such application was received on January 13th, we contacted uh outside council and um based on that we we sent a request to the auditor to provide the documentation that they use to identify the approval because that is required under section 929 of the Ohio Revised Code. That material was not included with the application that we received that had the auditor's signature. It came to us actually on January 29th and it was destamped the 28th and 29th. So the auditor signed the actual application December 18th, but the documentation received to approve that that's required by the statute was actually not received in their office until January 28th. And that's based on date stamp and uh emails that I've received in correspondence with the auditor. So, so can I can I try to restate what you just said?

The auditor approved this without the corresponding evidence that would seeming without the corresponding evidence that's required by the state that's required by the that is correct. Thank you. Further questions? Okay. Can you just confirm that the ordinance was enacting the legislative change from zoning code to the O district is 2023- 090? Yes. 2023-090 assigned on December 20th, 2023.

And then for the purpose of the record on appeal, you provided the clerk of counsel and council with the documents you received from the county auditor's office. I did. The original application was included in my communication that went out in the council packet and subsequent to that since this information was received January 29th after that was disseminated. It was given in hard copy tonight at the meeting to council members. Very good. I'm just going to give to the clerk of council again for the administrative record. Uh to my knowledge there's no other evidence for the city to present. Um so we would guess the public hearing be closed at this time. Okay. Rob, did you want to talk to have a question for the chief? Yeah. Is it is it okay if the chief answers question?

I'm not certain the chief is still here. He is. Yeah. Oh, there you are. I was just kidding. If I have a question on forcement um issues, there have been what three to four citations issued. I guess it would have been issued by uh the uh city uh police department.

Yes. So there have been a total of four summones issued um throughout that time period we're we're discussing. Three of those were in November and December of 2025 and there was another one issued in 2024. Although we're the investigators of those, not all of those summons were signed by police officers. Some of those summons were signed by residents who complained about the noise. It's would that fall under the nuisance uh law application, nuisance abatement application?

So it can. Yes. Um, so generally I I I don't want to misspeak, but I think it's um more than three enforcement actions in a six-month period of time um gets us to that level of any further enforcement um from that against that property or criminal behavior on that property um would constitute a nuisance. Um, what that essentially does is it's not a criminal violation, but it allows us to charge the person who uh basically is in control of the property a fee for our response. What that usually breaks down to is the time spent by however many number of officers who need to respond broken down by how long they were there if that makes sense. So, if the officers are there for one hour and there's three officers there, uh, and I don't think that it would take three officers in an hour to respond to a complaint like this, but let's just for the purpose of illustration, if three officers responded and they were there for an hour, uh, the violator would get a bill from the city for the salary of those officers, three officers for that one hour. Uh yeah, because usually those applications are applied because of chronic activity at a property which is causing a nuisance to the city and the neighbors. Um, I'm not going to get in because I don't know if it would be appropriate to be discussing anything prior to the decisions going to come to council. But the reality is right now that there's an ongoing

chronic situation for the people who reside in the area. I'm trying to figure out if this noise right now is continual to the point that uh after you do the citations, it's never buried. So, what I will say to that is this. Um our last citation or our last summons we issued in the that first week of December of 2025 is the last time we received a call to respond to the property for the noise. Um so we have now achieved that three enforcement actions. Anything beyond that we can issue we can start that nuisance process. Since that third action we have not gotten a call

might be getting one soon. Um I was just wondering because Robin Mr. Questions only we can't Mr. Turner, we're in the middle of a public hearing regarding this application. I think what what our plans to do in the future for future enforcement are probably not valid at this stage, but we could pick that up later.

Yeah. My my question was just to resolve whether or not that is a situation. I'm trying to determine whether or not that is a situation that exists. now uh as to applications of our rules and laws. Um not saying that they will again we're in the middle of an we're in the middle of a public hearing regarding the application. We we we talk about this later question. I I'll end it with that. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. So what would it be appropriate for us now to go into committee? Yes. All right. So, public hearing is closed. Yes. Um, so I don't know. Are we going to do any more presentation for committee or we're just open up the council discussion? This is your time to discuss. And if there's any if you have any questions of um Ben or myself, we can help you out. Melissa, Ben, I have some questions. If you would come to the mic, appreciate that.

Thank you. So, I'm I'm looking at the documents that were submitted for to the county for um the approval of this agricultural district on Mr. Pulp's behalf. I only see documentation from 2022 and 2024. I don't see his uh profit loss for farming for 2023. He does make uh does actually list something in the actual application, the current agricultural use value renewal application. And it's pretty clear from looking at the map that 34 acres are not currently in production on hay and nor have they been the last three years. So what what is the consequence of information that seems to be inaccurately listed in this? What are our what are our options?

Well, I'll start by saying so in a in an ordinary circumstance, the the this these issues would be addressed by the applicant explaining himself to you. Absolutely.

And so we don't have that situation today. Um, and so as the factfinder, you you have the obligation to determine and weigh the respective merits of what you see in this. Uh, the to be clear, those materials weren't submitted to you as part of this application. This is something the city went above and beyond to do to give you additional context. So, so it's important to remember what the applicant submitted does not include that information. You're certainly entitled to consider it as you go forward with your evaluation, but the applicant's not here to answer those questions. Um, you've heard a lot of testimony from a lot of folks. um that contradict it and and I'm not hear anyone here or I don't I didn't hear anyone to rebut it. Um meaning rebutt the the contradiction so to speak. Um so from a I guess from a framework standpoint your first major task is to determine have you been presented with sufficient evidence to determine that the property at issue here is entitled to placement in the agricultural district. the agricultural district. The standard is that you have to show during the three calendar years prior to the year in which the person files the application. So the application was filed in January of 2026 or December 1st, 2025 depending on how how charitable you want to be. The land was devoted exclusively to agricultural production. That's the first issue he has to that's the first hurdle. or devoted to and qualified for payments or other compensation under a land retirement conservation program under an agreement with an agency of the federal government. You have to ask yourself, have you been presented sufficient information to answer yes to one of those two questions?

That's your first hes. If you answer yes to that, he also has a secondary burden he has to show. He has to show one of two things. The land is composed of track, lots, or parcels that total not less than 10 acres, or the activities conducted on the land produce an average yearly gross income of at least $2,500 during that three-year period, or the owner has evidence of an anticipated gross income of that amount from those activities. The owner shall submit with the application proof that the owner's land meets the requirements and standard established under that section. So, from a a threshold matter, has the applicant demonstrated entitlement to get into all the other meat that we just talked about for the last hour or so. Uh, that's that's a decision and discussion that you guys have to have internally. I can tell you the city's position is he absolutely does not carry that burden, but that's something that you guys have to weigh in your own.

I have one more follow-up question. Sure. What are the implications to the city if this were to have been approved? So there is a tax

so there are some there's some there's some benefits to being in the agricultural district. Uh the the most um correct um are are there's three provisions 92903 92904 and 92905. Don't quote me on that. But basically when you're placed in the district your property becomes exempt from certain assessments for improvements adjacent to or benefiting your agricultural property. two, you are um entitled in a civil nuisance action to use the fact that the agricultural you're in the agricultural district as a defense to a nuisance claim. So, if I'm running my tractor 24/7, you want to sue me for a noise issue, guess what? I win because I'm in the agricultural district. That's the second benefit. The third benefit is there's a limited right for the property to be taken through eminent domain. basically our authority or your authority as um a public entity with eminent domain authority to take property from people is limited. The government doesn't want everyone taking uh farmland from everyone. So there are three distinct benefits in 929 that this property owner would be entitled to if you were to make a decision saying hey you're in the district now.

Thank you. Yes. I'm looking at um if we would consider rejecting or modifying what we what demon what we need to demonstrate.

Correct. And my question is um it has to show that it's necessary to prevent a substantial adverse effect on the provision of municipal surf services services within the municipal corporation efficient use of land. I'm looking I'm very honed in right now on the adverse effect on the provision of municipal services within the municipal corporation. Can that include the amount of time that this property has taken of of this the city staff? Um, you know, I mean, can it can it is it limited to like money kinds of

Yeah. I So, so the case law that reports that's not all that clear. I would suggest that perhaps that's not the way to go, I think. But if you're going to get into that portion of the analysis, you first have an obligation under the statute to consider uh and I'll just read the language because I don't want to misquote it here. You have the obligation to um make every effort to modify the application. Meaning you have to look at whatever effort whatever every ever every effort means. They give you some clues that they want you to look at potentially the length of time the property would stay in the district. the size of the land in the district or if the property owner be willing to wave the some of the rights that we talked about earlier, meaning I I won't use um the placement in the agricultural district as a defense if someone sues me for a nuisance. The applicant's not here for you guys to have that back and forth on those issues, but I think as an obligation under the statute, you have to consider whether those options can be verifiably um explored. My issue and Yes. Yes, sir. Sorry.

Sorry. I I think I think your challenge is that the fact that the applicant hasn't met his evidentiary burden to show he's entitled to the district. You don't have any evidence as to what agricultural uses are on the property. You've got 40 acres of property that we don't know where on those 40 acres are legitimately being used for an agricultural use that's recognized under the statute. Those two things make it very different for difficult for you to one determine the length of time you would modify it to. Moreover, how do you modify the size of the district? you just don't know what the agricultural uses are. So, you have to show your work. You should discuss that and then you should say, well, you say whatever you want to say, but I would suggest the appropriate answer is you don't have enough information to meaningfully modify this application. And in light of the health, safety, and welfare issues that you've heard from the public, you would want to reject the application for those reasons in addition to the fact that he hasn't met his burden of showing he's even entitled to that analysis.

Yes. Thank you. Any other questions? Yeah. So my my question is to the the protections that the agricultural district before and you talked about protection from nuisance complaints and that kind of thing. If the nuisance complaints are not related to agricultural production, so if they're related to dredging the lake to make room for speedboating, for example, is that is is he still protected in that case? He well it depends on what the agricultural use is. um dredging the lake. Let's say it's let's say it's hay bailing.

Uh so I'm not sure how dredging the lake um relates to hay bailing. If he needs to dredge the lake for some reason that relates to the hay bailing, then he would be entitled to that. I that would be his obligation to show why it would be. I don't want to speculate and he's not here to answer it. Frankly, I litigate enough cases a lot of people have a tendency to say whatever helps them. and um it might be to his advantage to make up a reason why or to have a reason why that draining a lake supports his agriculture. He's not here to answer that question though, so I don't know. Yes. Further questions.

So we've we've established through testimony during the public hearing that there have been noise complaints not unrelated to farming. As for you guys to decide, we have uh we've established to a reasonable to a reasonable degree that the noises that were heard were related to reducing the water level and not directly related to farming also for you to

I'm going to say that that is actually what I heard in the public hearing. I heard that we that the noise complaints that continued there were police officers citations and the noise still continued. It was not directly related to farming. So I'm concerned first of all that there was no establishment or evidence that farming was actually taking place. And as the wife of a farmer, I have really love farmers and I love farming. And so it's not that I have predisposed to that. But it's not evident through any of the information that was shared that farming is taking place. And for three years, almost three years, two years, a year and a half, he's been trying to change the water level to the farm. And I find that very concerning. You're fighting with land that maybe wasn't designed for the purpose that you intended to. Um, that's worrying, number one. Number two, we don't see any farming activity and the information that was shared with the county seems to suggest that farming is taking place of hay on 34 acres. Does not appear from the map that was given to us that those 34 acres act could actually support hay. So, I'm concerned that it's factually inaccurate the information that was shared with us. I wish that he had come so we could ask him questions and get clarity, but I think based on the information that we have, I don't think that there is a justification for changing it.

Anybody else? Chris? Yeah, I mean I I think um does feel like there is, you know, I agree with you. There is seems like sufficient evidence to reject the application based on the lack of evidence. And I invite Mr. ult to come back and resubmit an application and show us what we're missing. Um just like a make to make a motion to that then we can discuss the mo that in the motion. No, just editorializing. I'll let Melissa Yeah.

Yeah. Ben Ben, did you have your hand? So I just wanted to add to all the points that you had made Melissa that uh it was evident that for 2 years it was being farmed not being in the O district and so it was farmed when it was in the previous zoning which I forget R2 R3. Um, so that was further case that it's like using in the application to the county that it was like being farmed 500 bales of hay, but that shouldn't have even occurred. So, but I am supportive of the uh suggestion made.

Yeah, I think that it would be great if we had information that we could actually modify. If we had information and facts that would help us help Mr. Cole do what he wants to do to farm, you know, his stated goal. There isn't enough information for us to modify anything reliably in my opinion. Agreed. So in with that in mind, I would like to make a motion. I move to have prepared findings of facts and conclusions that we deny the application of Eric Fold for the placement of farmland in an agricultural district pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 929.02. I'll second that.

Seconded by Heidi. Um further discussion, Melissa, anything further?

I I think it's there has been no establishment that this has been under agricultural production and and yes if it had been and it would have been in violation of the law. So what is it violating the law or so I I I agree and I agree that there does not appear to be anything that we can do to modify regarding the length of time or the amount of land Um because there does not appear to be agriculture use happening.

Anyone else? Agricultural production. Agricultural production. Thank you. Anyone else? We want to do a roll code on this. How do we want to do it? Okay. So, the motion is to to deny the application. Miss Ela. Yes. Mr. Mr. Clapper. Yes. Mr. Dreger. Yes. Mr. Hook. Yes. Miss Schaefer Bish. Yes. Mr. Typton. Yes. Mr. Turner. Yes. Miss Wesley. Yes. Thank you. All right. Motion passes.

That finishes the um land use committee. Mr. Mayor. Yes. See your applicant is here for the one vacancy. So let's go back to the committee of the whole and the interview for the civil service commission. Kai Carpenter, you come to the microphone with your name, your address, and why you want to serve on the Civil Service Commission.

Hello, my name is Kai Carpenter. Uh C A R P N T E R. My address is 1021 Pine Street Kent, Ohio. Um, I am interested in supporting my community, my city. Um, I've recently been on the charter commission and got a little bit of a taste of city government through that experience. Um, through that also, Hope and I became acquainted. uh she reached out to me and let me know of the need in on the um civil service commission, asked me to consider the position um and after talking for a little bit and looking into it, I thought it would be a good opportunity to further share my talents with my city and community.

Thank you. [laughter] Any questions,

Mr. I apologize. Um I I meant to I was trying to thank Ben. Um I meant to introduce her. Um the the reason I asked Kai to see she was on our um charter review commission and I believe that um even uh Kathy will agree with me that she was one of the members that was extremely all the members were great but um she was extremely thoughtful and um in her uh in the words she used in in the in her thoughtfulness in how she talked about each of the amendments. She was very gracious to all of um the other members of the charter review commission and I really did think that she would fit in well with the civil service commission.

Does anyone from council have questions for Kai? No questions for you. So what what will happen is we're going to uh make a decision in a special council meeting at the end of the um meeting. So, um, you want to stick around, you can or Kathy can contact you tomorrow. So, it's up to you. Thank you very much. We appreciate Okay, Dave, no staff updates, right? Okay, so [clears throat] let's go to community development. All right, I'm opening community development. The first topic is the local historic designation. Bridget, take it away.

Yes, thank you. Um, the city received a request for a local historic designation for 237 East Maine, which is the home of the Kent Historical Society. Um, the committee on design and preservation met on January 21st and unanimously recommended council approved the designation. I have Julie here who is the executive director for the Kent Historic Society who's going to speak to the the building and uh the nature of the request and thank you Julie for being patient.

Yeah, I can keep this short. Um do I need to state my name or is that the Julie Keny the director of the historical society? Um the Clapwood home is a historic home. It was originally built for um Zenus Kent is known as the father of Kent and it was built for his daughter Harriet. Um Harriet's brother is Marvin Kent. The town's named after Marvin Kent. And it was actually built for Harriet and her son Charles. And Charles um was a young adult and had a wife and four children. And they really were the main family that lived in the home. Uh the home has only had we're the fifth owner. Um and there were some changes made um the third owners in the 60s and 70s, it was office space. Uh but then when um the p the patent family took over in the they bought it in 79 and they did renovations. They um stripped paint, restored the woodwork, um removed the the ceilings that had been uh dropped and the fluorescent lights. And so it is a uh when we took over, we obviously continued the renovations and it is um it has the historic integrity and the history with the with the Kent family. And so basically it unless you have more questions. It is a historic home and we think it deserves the designation.

Any questions from council? [clears throat] Are there any questions from the audience? All right, back to council. Uh do you have any comments? Nothing further. Seconder. Yes. Do you have anything to say? All right. All those in favor say I. I. I. All those against say I passes.

All right. Second issue. Um the acquisition assistance agreement for Copen Machine for 200 West William Street.

Yes. Thank you. Um, some members of council were not here last year for part of the discussion on this. So, I am going to step back a little bit and give some context. I've actually been working on this property since 2016 for the last 10 years uh when the former property owner was uh trying to sell the property. We've had four different uh developers and um concepts presented over the years, none of which have come to fruition. Um the most recent one was uh last fall. Um and as a result of that a lot [clears throat] of discussion about the um environmental concerns on the site. The site does have it is zoned industrial and it does have uh elevated levels of environmental contaminants. We were fortunate enough to get a grant to help with that remediation. So the land bank got the grant. the property owner is working with that and the city um and the property owner are assisting with the match so the remediation can go forward. The remediation is estimated to take a minimum of about 3 years. Um through this process um the abing property owner Copen machine um had always had interest in the property but the environmental concerns were uh high enough that he was concerned about actually acquiring it. Now with the remediation in place, he stepped forward and worked on is working with Hometown Bank, the owner of the property on the acquisition. Uh the city at that last year, for many of you remember, had a lot of interest in the site. There was concerns in the neighborhood uh with this being converted into a residential use. This is actually the third public meeting where that matter came up because it had been in front of planning commission two prior times. I think Jeff was actually on the commission for one of those. The neighbors did not want the area reszoned from industrial. They uh it is one of our last industrial

corridors. So, the city supports that as well because it is income tax and industrial um production is what drives much of that income tax in our community. So with that and with um Copen's interest, the uh staff met with council last year to discuss potentially doing some kind of acquisition assistance to facilitate the acquisition by Copen Machine of the site that was supported unanimously by council in that informal discussion. So uh staff has moved forward uh with working with Travis. I do have Travis here and I'm going to have him come up here in a minute and talk. Um, I will tell you that uh the the money that would be used if this uh down payment acquisition assistance um agreement moves forward is not general fund dollars. They are actually from our economic development administration revolving loan fund. Back in 1988, the city received a small amount of money and that money has been used to facilitate economic development ever since. So in this situation, this is a forgivable loan that he would have to meet certain benchmarks for job creation as well as providing public parking. There won't be a direct repay of a loan. However, the job creation will result in the revolving loan fund being repaid in uh minimum of 7 to n years. Um, this is based on the new payroll that will be generated, not counting the existing payroll, which by the way, year-over-year for the last three years has grown by 13%. This is a company that's growing and expanding, and I'll let Travis tell his tale because it's a great one. He also the um partners with uh Roosevelt vocational program for the job creation. Uh he's also a history buff. I think he's uh talked to me more about that building than anyone has. Um and we are happy to

say that with the remediation, while there is a small area that will need to be done on the concrete floor, the large building that many have spoken um in terms of wanting to preserve will be preserved and maintained. And uh Travis and his team have actually already been doing just some winterizing and some of their just to deal with the maintenance. Um, at this time I'd like to call up Travis, let him talk about his company, and then both of us will be available to answer specific questions um on the mail afterward. While they're setting up, I did want to mention that uh had a good question today from Benjamin and it made me realize after I hung up that the new members were not in the executive session in December where the terms of this agreement that's before you tonight was app was uh approved I guess by council. Uh so I regretted that afterwards. I thought why Benjamin doesn't remember that and I thought oh he wasn't there to remember it. So I uh so I I just say that to know that these terms are consistent with what we did present to council at that time and um anyways I wanted to make sure you knew that and in the future I guess that's what we're going to say that's typically the process when we have agreements like this we would meet with council we in that room back there in exact session and say here's what we're thinking what are you thinking and then you give us your direction to go forth and then we come back to this like we're doing tonight. So, thank you.

How we doing everybody? How are you?

Travis Copen, owner and president of Copen Machine, which is headquartered at 501 Dodge Street right in the south end. And I also live at 7001 Red Rush Road in the township. I am gonna try to keep the time limited because I my ears are bleeding for you guys after the earlier session. Um, so I'm going to stick it to about five minutes. I'm trying to get a video to play. We'll see if this thing is going. If not, find out. You've been given a a little map. Um, these are right off of the portage GIS. So your guys's website and so the quality of them is on you. But the uh what you're looking at is you're looking at a 25 year snapshot of that the oldest industrial site in Kent. Um Copen Machine moved into the south end in 1998. Yeah. So, um, as you look at the 2025 map, you'll see some highlighted, uh, numbers one through five. Those are the current five buildings that can make up the co machine campus as it exists today. Um, building one 1998, building two same year. Building three 2012, building 4 2018

as well as building 5. If you look at the the grassy fields and the the driveway on the 2025 map, you'll see that Copen Machine in fact does have a campus that runs kind of north to south along the railway and we operate from Oak Street all the way down to Harris Street. Um, with the acquisition of the railard, we will be able to satisfy not only our long-term business growth needs, but also many of the needs that uh the neighbors express concern of within the south end. And although I live out in the woods behind behind towners, I am by default a member of the south end because I've been there longer than most and I'm there for just about 12 hours every day. So, um, I know many of the neighbors, including Robin, [clears throat] and and we've had many speaks over the years, uh, on the behalf of the neighborhood, and we care greatly about it. We care about the railard as well. Um, so the goal is long-term a state-of-the-art manufacturing campus. If you'll see the three highlighted streets, that starts at Summit Street and runs south all the way to Dodge where Copen is currently at. Um, and we'll be driving traffic all the way through that primary entrance where we're going to create some dual use parking. We are big fans of the farmers market ourself. We know that they technically don't have anywhere to park just like everybody in Kent. and we're willing to step up and provide some long-term parking there to to make that accessible. And it will be dual use, meaning that we intend to drive our industrial traffic through that s through the Summit Street entrance of

the property, but we're typically not there on the weekends when the farmers market is and when the the members of the community could take good advantage of it. So, we see that as being beneficial. Um, Bridget and I have met at length with uh BRG with Brownfield Remediation Group. We have a real good understanding of the contamination that's there. We understand that there's a a big-time commitment to step up and and take on that risk long term, but we do know that the funding that is required is in place now. And we think that we can get the site back the site back to where it's safe not only for coping machine workers and team members but also for the neighborhood long term.

Wanted to add parking was a question mediation is going to occur on the parcel that includes where the informal public parking is occurring. So development of an actual paved area and that would look dependent upon once the remediation is complete in that area. Um the Travis is referring to that access road. So basically that would be west of the parking they are going to putting in a drive access that can be used for pave parking when that's in or at least will be like you know crushed and finished off. So actual finished parking will be dependent upon what happens with remediation. I can tell you for those of you that are aware finishing up getting a no further action and a permanent letter on a cleaner site. Um even here four years out there are conditions we have to put land covenants in place for what can and cannot keep on that site. So the development agreement does need to be a little with regards to specifics. So we put a minimum number of spaces because when I spoke to the city engineer I said what do you actual parking spaces over there now that are used to and that was 20 um but we there are sort of things that go along with remediation not to sue. So, we can't be too specific about number and when till we have the remediation complete. So, we can work on supporting um and travel then there's other areas on the site that they will be using that are actually paid parking and things like that. So, there's a commitment there but without the remediation being complete it would be difficult to get into that specificity of pay. Yeah, we can take questions if you want.

[laughter] Are there any questions?

Be nice to see the video. What happens when you let the government have a question?

Thank you. Um, thanks Travis uh for um sharing this and doing your best to try to create u you know connection to what the community needs. What do you anticipate when you're at full capacity for this redevelopment? What kind of traffic increase do you anticipate? I'm sure you have given that some thought. Well, to give you some perspective, Copen Machine currently within the existing sites has less than four dozen employees. Um, we're taking up uh roughly about 36,000 square ft. This railard site is almost triple that, right? So, I do know that there will be a lot more cars in the parking lot when we're done, but I don't expect a huge amount of impact into the into the south end neighborhood. I believe that if we develop the through drive that flows north that we should be able to even in fact drive traffic current traffic through that property that's there now out onto Summit Street and then it has an option to go to take Summit Street to the state routes which is a primary truck route or to turn around and go down uh Old Magore Road which then leads back to another state route. So, I think it'll do a good job of of minding traffic. Well, through that the south end.

Thank you. We start the video. We've got it. Just three minutes. Let's see if it three minutes of your life. You're not getting back. But [laughter] in case you're wondering what's going on a mere three blocks from you, because not many people know, Robin knows because he's been down a time or two, but you can see that there's

real hardcore high-tech manufacturing going on in your backyard. 20% of the people that you'll see in this video are graduates of Roosevelt High School. So, we do support the local fan. Sorry about the guy talking. Well, you're going to get me. Dan, you're good at this. Narrate [music] I'm Travis Copen. At Copen [music] Machine, our priority is you, your components, and your business. Our goal is to steadily grow and manage a best-in-class precision machining and manufacturing environment with your needs in mind. We accomplish this by being fully committed to a true culture of continuous.

Yeah. So what you're seeing is is basically a great team of drone video sites. You're seeing parts being made that are our team works tirelessly to manage over 30,000 square ft of state-ofthe-art manufacturing components that are supporting. We operate a fleet of late model highrecision CNC machines along with all the necessary supporting. Our equipment and capabilities include seven and 9 axis CNC Swiss machines including full five axis capabilities with bar capacity as small as 80,000 all the way up to an inch and a half.

Fully automated 4axis horizontal machining centers all with pallet management systems and large capacity tool magazines to manage a wide variety of parts. It's kind of funny. dual spindle CNC turning centers all equipped with Yaxis milling 3-in bar capacity and robotic parts handling capabilities and they're getting fiveaxis wire EDM that CNC centerless and cylindrical grind this is all going on right in your backyard it's been coping machine is fully committed to quality has been at the heart of the business since our founding nearly five decades ago we have maintained an ISO 901 certified quality system since 2009

and apply it to every aspect of our lights out registered operations. Best case scenario timing, whether it be the tight tolerance production parts that our customers count on day in and day out, the internal and external value added processes that we offer. Copen can help streamline your production manufacturing needs. We have developed proven processes and systems for managing many value ads like heat treating, passive, plating, black oxide, nitriting, anodizing. Now, I'm just wondering like what we can also perform light assembly should um the city offers inventory management as part of an LTA or a manufacturing. It's a huge space. I've been in there. It's massive.

At the end of the day, we strive to provide a balance between quality, competitive pricing, and on time CNC machine solutions. Archways and everything else. pride ourselves on high ethical stat that might be a hard question to answer but it's one that I would like to USA world I can give you an idea based on what I know now

um a first and foremost there is a serious remediation that's got to take place the the great thing is is that uh Bridget and team have that coordinated and we're in alignment with that. Uh Copen Machine has uh aligned with Hometown Bank and the city and we're in fact uh stepping up to pay half of Hometown's percentage for the match. So, we're going to have skin in the game for the match, which as an industrial manufacturer, we technically don't need to do, but as a Boy Scout, I have to do, right? Um, that being said, that sets the pace for everything that happens. I'm an entrepreneur. I want that thing up and running tomorrow, right? And and I know like with a lot of historical mill buildings like that one is that, you know, it takes time to remediate it. And we have to follow that pace. We have to stay at arms length from those certified professionals that are hired to do that job. But we do know now because we've been working with them already and COP and team members have been on site all winter stabilizing the facility because Hometown Bank has been so gracious with access to it that only two of the bays which there are seven bays total there are affected which means that Copen can have immediate access to a significant portion of the building and we intend to do And I do want to highlight um some of you have heard my brownfield stories but remediation 90% of the time has complications just because they do assessments they do an analysis but sometimes there are things that need to pivot. That's why we hire certified professionals. But this is also being funded through the Ohio

Department of Development and there are state requirements that have to be done. As of right now, there's PCBs, there's lead, there's mercury and all of the levels exceed levels allowed for industrial. That's how high it is. So, you can sometimes make things worse by touching certain areas. So we have to leave that up to the certified professionals who've been designated by the Ohio EPA as in charge of the remediation. We do work work with them on a regular basis. So Travis will be using parts of that building, but um in order for it to be done appropriately, it needs to follow the state requirements for uh remediation. I'd also like to highlight that if it's not remediated, it will not have a covenant not to sue and a no further action letter which Travis needs to ensure that property. So those are first and foremost the environmental is the most important and I have no problem explaining that and sharing my maps showing just how widespread on the ground and under um the the subsurface those issues are. So that's really priority one. Travis is already, in fact, I've had to slow him down a little bit about certain things that he has to do. So, um, I can tell you I've I've worked with Travis, um, gosh, about 18 15 years, 18 years since I've been in this role, but I know him also personally. Our kids played soccer together and are still friends. Um, he's a man of his word. We will have more jobs created than the minimums that we're establishing. Um, and I should mention for those of you that have not done um one of these agreements with us, it's one job for every 10,000 loan is the the standard. Um, so that's where those numbers came from in the agreement, but we anticipate that those numbers will be exceeded.

Any other questions from council? Yes, Chris. Um, maybe for Dave. Um, we've been talking about the um this the new sewer line and the lots of maybe developments occurring in the next few years. any concern about the two processes co-occurring? No, as a matter of fact, it's part of the opportunity. Yeah,

the the timing lines up well as he's, you know, planning to make investments in there uh as and as the work proceeds on the planning work from the community side, there's a touch point there, right? And uh he's already expressed an interest to, you know, this public parking opportunity. Um, and Jim's going to be working with the county on Stow Street Bridge and reconnecting Tannery to downtown. And Jim has a few ideas on the intersection there. So, we're kind of excited about it. We see it as an opportunity. So, no issues of I mean, it sounds like a lot of trucks going back and forth for a few years. No,

no, he he'll be mostly internal. So, yeah,

it'll be mostly internal and then turning to the stage route as he said. And I would also like to highlight that uh one of the things that Travis has done in my partnership with him professionally is he really is part of this community. We've been he's bought small properties around his his expansions. So he's actually going to be meeting with Jim and talking about it. But when they do do that redevelopment of that area, he's also going to need to be looking at that like ingress egress so that the drive works for him and also works for the city. So it will be a partnership. Great. Any other questions? How about questions from the audience? Anyone want to ask a question? All right. We will come back to the council and uh is there somebody who wants to make a motion?

I'll move to approve with emergency. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone against say I. Same sign. All right. It carries. Thank you guys. All right, one more. One more for community development. Uh this is on the dual use cannabis dispensary agreement.

Yeah, I'm going to give a little little mini background on this too for members that uh weren't part of this. So uh medical marijuana was approved in Ohio first. We had a medical marijuana dispensary uh Bliss Ohio that uh the owner is is here and under that um the medical marijuana approval through the planning commission there were certain hours of operation uh that were specified. A lot of this had to do with um public concerns that were raised about an unknown right there was going to be a dispensary and and no one was sure how that was going to work. Uh most recently, as you know, adult use cannabis was approved and the state, just for those to be aware, dual recreational, as people call it, cannot be sold separately. They basically have it, they combined it with the medical marijuana. So, they're called dual use. Um while in theory there is uh legislative ability for others, they basically allowed adult use cannabis to be sold at existing medical marijuana facilities. So that is we entered into an agreement on that matter um a couple of years ago and while the agreement specifies the hours that are allowed by the state for a dispensary property owner had uh kept to those more minimal hours because he wanted to be respectful because there was concern again when the adult use cannabis was combined with that there would there would create issues. I will tell you um we I checked with the police. There have been no concerns raised by the public. Only three calls to police from the dispensary for disruptive uh two for disruptive uh um patrons and one for a fake $50 bill. Um so there have been no issues and I'm going to have u Jamie Jul come up the property the business owner to speak to the matter. that currently

all the dispensaries in and around the community are have certain hours and he's just wanting to bring his up to meet that. He does need to get that approved by the state and it would be helpful um if we affirm that we understand he's incre changing those hours and that we do not have any opposition to that. Jamie, come up and speak.

Uh good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. Um, first off, I wanted to congratulate you on the new digs. It's been two years since I've been in front of you. This is this is impressive. Um, yeah, like like Bridget said, we we start off with the same hours that we had in medical. Um, like Bridget said, it's been really without issue. Um the couple of client dis or customer disturbances that we've had um where we've where we've reached out to the police are because we're really trying to adhere to a zero tolerance. Uh whether it's people abusing the staff um you know based on their ethnicity, their sexual preferences, you know, we we just have zero tolerance for that. And we tell people, okay, sorry, you're not allowed here anymore. why don't you go down to Revena? You know, there's a place called Superg Goods. They'll be more than happy to serve you there. So, you know, I'm delighted to report that there really haven't been any instances. Um, all we're simply trying to do here is to match ours with super goods and some of the others in the area. Um, it's within the state guidelines, but I saw no point in reaching out to the state until I came to the council first to try to get that approved. Um, it's really rather minor. I think the b biggest exception is going to be on Sunday which is going to I think be like three or four extra hours. Uh but other than that it's like an hour here in the beginning. Um you know 9:00 versus 10 o'clock opening and then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday where we're currently closed at 8:00 p.m. we'd like to close at 9. And that's it. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Any questions from council? Any questions from the audience? Back to council like to move to approve the expanded hours at the emergency for the emergency. All right. Do you have anything to say? You have the good work. Great. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. And uh that was quite a agricultural lesson to get here. Oh, all right. Stateore. Thank you. We We're in a motion. So, uh, all those in favor say I. I.

Anyone against say I. Same sign. All right. It passes. Unanimous. Okay. And I am officially done. And that's it for community development. Meliss Melissa finance. Yes. Um, so Rhonda is here uh will be sharing with us the proposed 2026 budget appropriations amendment number one. Rhonda, you have the floor.

Okay. So, in front of you, you have the uh budget amendment request and what this is is a reappropriation. Um, this is our first amendment from 2026. Majority of these items or none of these items were actually in the 2026 budget book that was approved in December. Majority of this is are projects that are ongoing and we had to reduce our 2025 budget for the like the Main Street K or the Main Street um project. we would actually reduce our 2025 budget and the estimated revenues because the the expenditures have to follow the grant money and the grant money follows the expenditures. So those are now being reappropriated into any questions from council ready.

Oh, I'm sorry. That's it. [laughter] Just got used to it and I'm just I'm just nodding away like any questions from council. [laughter] No questions from council. Any questions from the audience about the budget proposed changes? Okay, back to councel to make a motion. Move to approve with emergency. Second. All those in favor? [clears throat] I I opposed. You are approved. Okay, that's all for finance. And now streets, sidewalks, and utilities. Miss Wallik is not here. Chair Typton.

Jim, you're up. [laughter] I'll try to be brief. Um, we're requesting council's approval to submit to ODOT's safe routes to school program for $800,000 for the North Vanoway Street project, which is scheduled to start construction in 2027. Are there any questions from the council? Melissa, is there is there a city match? Is there a match that we have to have for this grant? For the safe router school, the match is actually zero. However, we have to cover the rest of the construction project costs. Great. Well done, Jim. Any other questions?

Any question? Yes. Any questions from the audience? Hearing none. Is would it would somebody like to move? Make a motion to approve with emergency. Second. All those in favor? All those opposed. Okay. Passes. Thank you. Thank you, J. All right. Uh, I'd like to move an executive session to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of a public employee or official.

The clerk read, please. So, I need a second. Second. Second, sir. Okay. Mr. Mr. Clapper. Yes. Mr. Drager. Yes. Mr. Hook. Yes. Miss Schaefer Bish. Yes. Mr. Typton. Yes. Mr. Turner. Yes. Uh, Miss Wesley. Yes. Miss Selka. Yes. Miss Wallak has asked to be excused.

Second. All those in favor? I I opposed. Okay. And just for the record, we are going to resume with a special session after the executive session for anybody that's sticking around. We'll give we'll give about five minutes to empty the council chambers and then we'll really have to, do we? We don't have to. You don't have to leave. You can stick around if you want.

Thank you.

Michael next meeting first. We have to adjourn this meeting. I have to adjourn this meeting. So

yeah, I got think here. Is is everybody here? Robin is I'll move to a I move to Well, we adjourned committee doesn't take up.

You don't need to. No, you could just journ it. 9:17. Okay. So, call to order special meeting February 4th, 2026. Roll call. Miss here. Mr. Clapper here. Mr. Dreger here. Mr. Hook here. Miss Schaefer Bish here. Mr. Tipton still here. Mr. Turner here. Miss Wesley here. Miss Wallak has asked to be excused. Move to excuse Miss Wallik. Second. All those in favor? I opposed. Okay. Motion to appoint Kai Carpenter to the Civil Service Commission. So moved.

Second. All those in favor? I opposed. A motion to authorize insertion of the name into draft 2026-10. Second. All those in favor? I opposed. Would the clerk read draft 2026-10 in title only? Draft 2026-10, a resolution appointing Kai Carpenter to the Civil Service Commission and declaring an emergency. Move suspension and Mr. Clapper. Yes. Mr. Dger, yes. Mr. Hook,

yes. Miss Schaefer Bish, yes. Mr. Typton, yes. Mr. Turner, yes. Miss Wesley, yes. Miss Selco, yes. Move adoption. Second. Roll, please. Mr. Dreger. Yes. Mr. Hook. Yes. Miss Schaefer Bish. Yes. Mr. Typton. Yes. Mr. Turner. Yes. Miss Wesley. Yes. Miss Elco. Yes. Mr. Clapper. Yes. Miss Wall has to be excused. Wait. I do. Do Do we already do that? I don't have to. Okay, that covers, right?

So motion uh or draft 202610 passes. Okay, so we're journed. Thank you. Good night, everybody. Good night. Good night. It's for a long