City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, clerks, how are we doing on the tech stuff? Good? We're good? Okay. All right, we had a little technical difficulty that with the power outage, things seem to have gotten, needed to be reset, so. All right, so we will bring Committee of the Whole to order. All right, so I will first move to approve the minutes of the May 18th meeting without the necessity of reading.

Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passed. And I'll just note, without objection, I'll excuse the absence of Councilmember Hamilton-Steiner, who has recused herself from discussion of the Charter Review amendments, having served on the Charter Review Commission out of abundance of caution, so she will not be joining us this evening. for community of the whole. Okay. So we have several items for charter review commission, the charter review amendments. My perhaps overly ambitious hope is that we may be able to finalize these tonight.

As you recall, the deadline to get things on the November docket is the very beginning of September. We are now in the second full meeting of June, which means we only have the two

full council meetings in july unless we call a special meeting to get these done before we go on recess so um so that is my hope um and also so just to go through kind of what we have before us a little bit um we have two versions of the rank choice voting um Two possibilities of the ranked choice voting topic. Then we have Ordinance 17-2026, which is to fill council vacancies. Ordinance 16-2026, which is salaries of elected officials. And then the Ordinance 19-2026, which is redistricting. So the Ordinance 16 and 17 have components in them that are Connected to ranked choice voting in that language in them ties to a primary which could be eliminated where ranked choice voting adopted so earlier today just maybe about an hour ago sent you all another potential substitutes for those three pieces. So I worked with the law department on going through these with the idea that whether or not rank choice voting were to be adopted now, or never or in the future, that the language of Ordinance 16 and 17, which as written currently tied to a primary, would not need to be revisited.

So that they would still work as written whether or not ranked choice voting were enacted.

So we could, and then in Ordinance 19, well, we'll just maybe start with those two. And then, I'll pause there and just say, as regards to interest voting, we've had quite a few conversations about it over several council meetings. At our last committee, the whole concept came up that we, as we said, we have the two ordinances that address it in two different ways, the way that the Charter Review Commission

recommended, which would, if passed, would give council the authority to adopt ranked choice voting by ordinance or resolution, which potentially gives flexibility but puts us at risk of being in violation of SB 63 and losing funding. And then the other option is to have it directly adopted by the voters potentially input into the charter with a severability clause. We haven't dug a great deal into how that severability clause may or may not work.

However, there is still the possibility that because SB 63 was passed by the legislature, that even if it is currently not in violation of SB 63, the legislature could change that.

And then we also have the elections in this coming November, which one way or the other will lead to a new Secretary of State and will also potentially change the makeup of the legislature.

So with all that, some of my thought process at this time is to pause on the ranked choice voting and come back to it after we see what happens in the November election. And part of that I believe very firmly in ranked choice voting. I think it's an excellent tool for democracy and makes, you know, there's a great deal of potential with ranked choice voting. The potential for removing primaries reduces barriers of cost to entry. It puts more...

voices potentially in the mix but at this time I think it would be very confusing to voters if we put the version that puts the option before council and then puts council in the position of having choosing between risking our funding and doing what our voters have asked us to do rather than the legislature who should be the one answering to the voters so with that I'll pause if anyone else wants to make comments regarding ranked choice voting THAT'S VICE PRESIDENT BAKER.

THANK YOU. FIRST, JUST THANK YOU AND THE LAW DEPARTMENT. BUT I KNOW YOU FROM OUR BODY HAS BEEN THE ONE KIND OF LEADING ALL OF THESE THINGS, SO I APPRECIATE ALL THE TIME AND EFFORT. IT DOESN'T GO UNNOTICED. I'LL SAY ON RANKED CHOICE VOTING, I'M OF A LIKE MIND OF YOU IN THE SENSE THAT I THINK IT, TOP LINE WHEN I EXPLAIN THIS TO RESIDENTS THAT I SEE, WHY RANKED CHOICE VOTING? WE HAVE A PRIMARY. NO ONE VOTES IN IT. IT'S EXPENSIVE. So for me, the Lakewood reason for ranked choice voting is that, right? Now, I think that there are other benefits beyond that, which the council president laid out, and I want to do it. I want Lakewood to do ranked choice voting. I'm upset that the state legislator has continued to erode our home rule authority, and what's more home rule than being able to govern how you're LOCALLY ELECTED OFFICIALS ARE ELECTED. BUT BE THAT AS IT MAY, I DON'T TAKE THE WORLD AS I WANTED. I TAKE THE WORLD AS IT IS. AND THEREFORE, I TEND TO AGREE THAT IF WE GO BEFORE THE VOTERS AND SAY, HEY, THIS CHARTER AMENDMENT ALLOWS US TO DO RANKED-CHOICE VOTING, AND THEY'RE LIKE, WELL, WHY THE HECK AREN'T WE DOING RANKED-CHOICE VOTING? I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY FOLKS WOULD BE BOTH CONFUSED AND MAYBE UPSET. AND THEN THE OTHER ONE THAT KIND OF HAS A BACK DOOR OUT IF THEY DETERMINE THAT WE DON'T GET OUR MUNICIPAL FUNDING. I THINK THAT PUTS US IN A POSITION OF STILL LITIGATING IN SOME WAYS BECAUSE AS THE LAW DEPARTMENT HAS POINTED OUT, IT'S KIND OF AN ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTION GIVING US LOCAL GOVERNMENT FUNDS. AS WE DISCOVERED WITH THE CANNABIS FUNDS, YOU KNOW, WITH THE GOVERNOR AT THE TIME. SO THERE'S AN INTERPLAY OF A LOT OF DIFFERENT STATE OFFICES HERE. ONE IS THE SECRETARY OF STATE'S DETERMINATION OF THIS ISSUE, WHICH IS ESSENTIALLY AN ADMINISTRATIVE OR AGENCY RULE WHERE THEY'RE SAYING AT LEAST FOR THIS CURRENT SB 63, WHATEVER IT IS, THAT IF IT'S BY CHARTER, IT'S OKAY. COUNCIL PRESIDENT'S POINT, NEW SECRETARY OF STATE COULD CHANGE THAT DETERMINATION. BUT THEN YOU ALSO HAVE THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE THAT ACTUALLY OVERSEES THE OFFICE OF BUDGET MANAGEMENT THAT CUTS THE CHECKS, RIGHT? SO BOTH OF THEM HAVE TO AGREE WITH THAT INTERPRETATION IN ORDER FOR US TO GET OUR LITTLE GOVERNMENT THERE COULD BE A POINT WHERE WE DON'T GET IT FOR THREE MONTHS. TO NOT HAVE THAT CASH FLOW IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THE CITY OF LAKEWOOD TO BE ABLE TO PAY OUR EMPLOYEES AND DO THE PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS WE NEED TO DO, KEEP THE LIGHTS ON. SO IT'S SOMETHING THAT I THINK WOULD BE GOOD FOR LAKEWOOD AGAINST SOMETHING THAT COULD BE CATASTROPHIC FOR LAKEWOOD. SO I THINK THAT AT THIS POINT, NOT MOVING FORWARD WITH RANKED CHOICES IS THE RIGHT WAY TO GO IN THIS ONE SINGLE COUNCILPERSON'S VIEW OF THE WORLD. although it greatly upsets me.

Thank you. Any other? Councilmember Evans.

Thank you, Chair. I completely understand all the reasoning for what we're talking about, and yeah, we're in a really difficult position we've been placed in by the states. I personally, again, my one councilman's position, I would I would still go through this because I think it's a worthwhile exercise, and I trust our electorate to make the right decision, and we can find our way to a better space here. But again, that's just me. I'm not going to hold everything up over this, obviously. But personally, on the record, I would like to... I do want to see us go through with ranked choice voting at some point. I wish we could do it sooner. I am disappointed, just like everybody else here, in the reasons that we can't do that right now. But for the record, if it were just me voting, I would push this through and work through the consequences. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Bixenstein.

I SHARE THE SAME VIEWPOINTS THAT YOU AND VICE PRESIDENT BAKER SHARE WHERE I CERTAINLY AM IN FAVOR OF RANKED-CHOICE VOTING, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE RIGHT NOW IS THE TIME TO REALLY USE AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION AND REMIND OURSELVES THAT GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT IN SOME CASES, NOT ALL THE TIME, BUT IN SOME CASES. AND, YOU KNOW, I THINK WE KEEP THIS ON OUR RADAR AND REVISIT IT AFTER NOVEMBER. AND I DO LOOK FORWARD TO A FUTURE WHERE LAKEWOOD HAS RANKED CHOICE VOTING IN OUR SYSTEM.

THANK YOU. OTHER COUNCILMEMBERS? COUNCILMEMBER STREBEG. THANK YOU. I'VE EXPRESSED MY DISAPPOINTMENT WITH THE STATE HOUSE ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS AND AGAIN TODAY. AND I AGREE. TO PAUSE THIS SO THAT WE'RE NOT AGAIN PAINTING A TARGET ON OURSELVES FOR THE NEXT STATE LEGISLATOR TO COME AND REWRITE THE RULES AGAIN AND CONTINUE TO TARGET US. SO I THINK THAT YOU'RE RIGHT. I THINK THAT THIS IS THE TIME TO PAUSE THIS. THANK YOU.

COUNCIL MEMBER BROELICH.

THANKS, MADAM PRESIDENT OR MADAM CHAIR. THOUGHTFUL DELIBERATION. ALSO A LOT OF HARD WORK THAT Council has put in, the Law Department has put in, appreciate that. I think we're really showing due consideration to the Charter Review Commission, multiple recommendations, so thanks for that, especially to you, Councilwoman Keppel, because you've put in a lot of work. So nothing to add on what's been said on the I would say on the question of whether a primary is a good or a bad idea, it's possible to separately address that. So if council members or the public thinks a primary shouldn't be in Lakewood, then we can separately amend. I think we did just that with the municipal court, didn't we, recently, not too long ago? We changed the primary rules. Councilman O'Malley put something forward. Although I've heard it argued pretty persuasively by a colleague in another city that there is value to the primary. And I think that person was thinking of a high profile municipal race where attention, if you had a crowded field, for example, rather than multiple candidates go straight to the ballot, you'd have constructive voter attention on winnowing down many to the final two and then that would lift to the top. In other words, using the primary as a constructive tool as opposed to a waste of time. I acknowledge that there are fewer primary voters, but it's not a total cliff. There's a smaller group, but it's not completely divorced from the general election turnout, at least the way we do it in Lakewood. So I could be persuaded either way. I guess we could look at the actuals. ON WHAT THE PRIMARY ELECTION COSTS, BUT IF COUNCIL MEMBERS REALLY ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THAT, THEN WE COULD ALSO CONSIDER THAT SEPARATELY WHILE ANY RANKED CHOICE VOTING CONSIDERATION IS PENDING IN COLUMBUS.

MRS. PRESIDENT BAKER.

THANK YOU, COUNCIL PRESIDENT. AND TO YOUR POINT, COUNCILMAN BLOCK, I SEE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING. I DO THINK THAT SHORT OF RANKED CHOICE VOTING, OUR CURRENT PRIMARY SYSTEM IS is the best way in the sense that you have to get 50.1%, 50% of the vote plus one to get an elected office. And so the primary win, is it down to two or in the case of at large six, I do think that there are some perverse consequences of just having an open field and then letting the top vote get or win because they could have a plurality essentially you can get 30% of the vote and be in elected office. That's kind of the point of ranked choice voting is to eliminate that. Now, why I use the primary as an example, it's not the driving force behind why I think ranked choice voting is better and produces better outcomes. It's just the why Lakewood question. So I think the first one is, I mean, the primary, I don't want to use numbers that I probably could look up pretty quickly. It's like 20% or 30% of the general election turnout. And the general election turnout is already, I wish, better for municipal elections. So it's quite low. And there's typically nothing else on the September ballot. So it's typically only a municipal election. I think it's the best we have in the system that we're in. except for rank choice voting, but we can't get rank choice voting because, you know, yes, because we need funding to do the things we do for the citizens of Lakewood. We need to pick up trash. We need to pay police officers. We need to keep nice parks.

Thank you. Just to add on to that, to Councilman Nevin's point, you know, I... I didn't start into this to be an elected official. I started as an activist and I'm all about taking on the fight. So I would, if it were just me, I would be happy to take on this fight. But one of the things that I've been thinking about too is how many fights we take on at once. And with this current federal administration and state administration, there may come

A TIME IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS WHERE WE ARE FORCED TO TAKE ON A FIGHT IN ORDER TO PROTECT OUR RESIDENTS.

AND THIS IS ONE WHERE IT ADDS VALUE AND IS A GOOD THING, BUT AS COUNCILMAN BAKER OR VICE PRESIDENT BAKER SAID, THERE'S ALSO A CATASTROPHIC POTENTIAL FALLOUT. IN ADDITION, IF WE

If we were to do the one where it goes directly in the charter and then it has the clause to go, you know, to pull back, then we might end up with the state rules, and then we end up in a partied primary, which kind of makes things less like ranked choice voting, to Vice President Baker's point.

But we have, just to keep things rolling here, because we have just a little over an hour to get through these other three, so it seems like at this time we have some consensus on pausing on this for the moment. I, again, just want to be on record that I strongly support ranked choice voting and think it's a very good thing and will continue this fight with the State House to let us have it and making sure that we, I will be working to elect candidates that support it as well. But with that, if there's no other comment from council members, I'll open up in case we have comment from the public on this topic. Would anyone like to speak? Yeah, come on up, Chris. Push the button so it's green. That's good. We want to hear you.

All right. So I'm kind of glad to hear what I'm hearing as far as I wrote down some questions after the last meeting. Like, OK, if we do pause, like I know it's tied into these other three. So how do we handle that? So I'm glad that it sounds like we've figured that out. So those can still move forward and we still have a way to move forward with RCV when and if we want to. So I'm glad to hear that. My big concern, and I understand that you're not here to answer questions, so I'm just going to pose these and then maybe we can discuss it later or whatever, but I just want to make sure that, you know, I've been following this body long enough that often when things are said, we will look again down the road, they get lost. Sometimes they come up again a year, five years down the road. Sometimes they don't at all. So I just want to know how are we guaranteeing that this is not going to get lost in the shuffle and this will be brought up again? Because I imagine you're going to table it and it's not going to remain on this docket or the agenda for the Committee of the Whole. So what's going to bring it back? I also want you to take that time And, you know, look into more about the severability clause because I feel like we keep talking about it, but it hasn't really been dug into over the last six months or so that we've been discussing this. So I hope that you can spend some time and actually get some actual info on how that will impact Lakewood if we were to take that route. Same thing with reaching out to the partners that have been discussed that are willing to help support communities that do adopt RCV to make sure that if we do run into problems with the state that we're not doing it on our own. That's again something that's been brought up a couple times, but I don't think that's actually been something we've reached out to and discussed with those people. take this time do the constructive work that needs to be done so after november when this comes up again we have the information we need that's all i ask thank you thank you um appreciate it chris um michelle did you want to speak at all push the button so it's green

Thank you so much. I really appreciate from everyone the due diligence that has gone into this. I completely support pausing, but like Chris, how do you get it back? because I do think that even if this made it the ballot language September 4th or whenever, that's just no time before November for people to feel comfortable. I'm designing, however, a series of forums so that when we're ready to pull the trigger, we're ready to pull the trigger, but I'd like to start implementing those after the election. The other piece of this is we will not know The legislation is very sloppily written. It was quick because it was designed to create a problem. However, it's not going to be solved until there is litigation, and right now we are part of a bigger legal table getting pro bono legal help to bring a suit, but we have to have some entity withstanding. We don't have standing. And so President Keppel, I'll probably ask our executive director to reach out to you directly. But this is the type of that we're at this moment in time where and I get it because you've got the trans bill coming down with the high schools. Totally get it, which is exactly why we have to fight at every single juncture that we don't we don't sit for this. So I appreciate this. I do look forward to continuing the conversation. that it doesn't die. It's been two years of my life, and I'm getting too old now to do another two years. So for my sake, y'all, let's have a plan. But thank you, because I've been very gratified to see the work of government in action in real time. And you guys are just tremendous, so I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate it. And I'll just speak for myself and say that I am fully, in terms of how does it come back, I think we continue to work to educate our community and the broader community about the benefits. And I'm certainly willing to be part of that work as well. So we can put some pressure on Columbus to change their ways.

And get people elected that will do that work.

Right. Okay, so with that, thank you both for being here and for speaking and for following along with all this. So let's go through the other three ordinances. So we could just take these numerical orders. So ordinance 16-2026. So this one is related to how salaries are set. And so it's section 6.7 of the charter, salary recommendations. What is before you in the one that I sent today, the director, Assistant Director Swallow and I kind of went over was that we change it to be honored before March 1st of each year in which a municipal general election is held. The Civil Service Commission shall review and make a written report to Council, which reports we filed, yada, yada, yada. And then it so So that unless council takes action, if council takes no action or fails to decline to follow the suggestion within 90 days, the recommendation shall take effect as if council had adopted them by ordinance approved by the mayor. So this changes it instead of being tied to the presidential election, it's to the municipal. The Charter Review Commission, when they were looking at this, and Assistant Director Swallow, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but the idea was to have salaries reviewed more option because particularly, I think the way it was written before, the ward council members and the mayoral, because no salary effects can take effect during a current term, And so they would meet, and then they'd make a recommendation that it can't take place for another four years. And so it would end up being six years or eight years. So we kind of went through and did the math. So because if they meet in March, another section of the code says that any changes to salary need to be in place 30 days prior to the filing deadline. And that's the reason it's tied potentially to ranked choice voting is because the filing deadline, if we did not have a primary,

would potentially be August when the school board is because for the November election.

So this way, doing it in March would give us the 30 days back for it to be on before the filing deadline as well as the 60 days or the 90 days for council to take action, which gives us the cushion for it to be in place before either

a filing deadline, which would be June if there's a primary for a September election, or August if there's no primary for a November election. I'll pause there, just that makes sense to people.

Councilman Bullock.

I'd be happy to make a motion to adopt the red lines on the screen.

All right. Yeah, it's actually... There's a difference. Yeah.

So the honor before March 1... of each year in which a municipal general election is held. So you don't have to make a motion right now if there's more to say, but it makes sense.

OK, great. Thank you. Yeah, so I think the version on the screen has this.

But that section of the March 1st in which a municipal general.

So if we approve of the version that is... Council President?

Yes. So something was brought up to me after this was sent around today that referencing a general election, if we go back and look at what the... Charter Commission recommended. They actually pulled out any reference to an election. And it was pointed out to me that a general election is going to be anything other than a primary or a special election. So if there is some ballot issue that comes forth, that could be considered a general election. So I think our conversation that we had earlier today was to make sure That any salaries were decided prior to the filing deadline and because Lakewood's council and mayoral elections occur in odd years Would it make sense to just change that what we have before us on or before March 1st of each? odd numbered year and take out the reference to any election and

Um, yes. Does that make sense? Yes. So an odd, odd numbered years cause it was presidential in the, how it stands correctly. So if we make an odd number, it would be.

And the charter review commission recommended July 1st of each even numbered year, which if, if we're doing it March 1st, I still think that's fine. Excuse me to do it on an odd numbered year.

Okay. Okay, so would we want to say in which a municipal general election is, or no, which then- We want to say- In which a odd- I think we want to say on or before March 1st of each odd-numbered year, comma, the Civil Service Commission shall review. Yeah, okay. Correct. And strike each odd-numbered year and strike in which a municipal general election is held. It would just be each odd-numbered year.

Correct.

OK. All right. So I will move to amend to read on or before March 1 of each odd-numbered year and then strike in which a municipal general election is held. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? And I think the reason for the odd-numbered year versus the even is because if you do it in the even, then you're in the middle of a term, and so then you're still in the same problem of...

Correct.

So that was why the march of the odd. Okay. And then the other change in the version that was sent around today that... Oh, yeah, yeah, sorry. Yep. Let's go ahead and vote on the motion to amend. All those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. Thank you. All right. And then the other thing that's different in the version that was sent around today is towards the end. And Assistant Director Swallow, do you want to talk about that a little bit?

Certainly. So I staffed both Charter Review Commission and I regularly staff the Civil Service Commission. So when Charter Review Commission was meeting and the issue of salaries came up, I brought that back to the Civil Service Commission as well, because obviously they're part of the process and should have some you know, say if they had thoughts about that. Both the Civil Service Commission and the Charter Review Commission recommended striking the last line of Section 6.7 to remove the 10% cap and the number of years. They both felt that if it was a recommendation from the commission that council either approved or chose not to act on, that in certain circumstances that could exceed 10%. And one of the things that we talked about is that administrative employees typically follow the same salary increases that the unions get annually. and those regularly exceed 10% over that period. So it would allow for the potential if it was recommended for slightly larger increases to help catch some of those positions up. And if anything were recommended that council felt was inappropriate, you certainly have the ability to lower that amount to make sure that it's not egregious.

Thank you for that explanation. And so I had, when introduced this, put eight years instead of 10 because terms are four years. So it doesn't really make sense to do that. But if we strike the whole thing, it doesn't really matter whether it says eight or 10. So any thoughts on striking that section?

I'll go ahead and make a motion to strike the last sentence, starting with however and ending with 10 years or eight years.

I will second. Any discussion?

Yeah, Madam Chair, I'd prefer, thank you, I'd prefer to leave in some version. Maybe if the thought is that 3% compounded adds up to 11% or 11.5%, then you could say 15, not to exceed 15% over eight years. I think the whole reason this exists is because of the uncommon circumstance in which this body has voted on its own salary, and even the mayor's salary has been pretty rare. There's an argument to be made that city council be compensated more or be compensated more closely to a full-time position. If that's the intent, then I think it would be important that we talk to the public directly about that. Right now, though, we're a part-time council. And so I don't really prefer large, regular increases. And the statement that city union employees regularly exceed 10%, I don't know if that's always true or that's always going to be affordable. It's been sometimes true. I think we have to have a little bit of fiduciary responsibility about that. I remember, you know, Jen Swallow, you remember, too, years when that was definitely not the case. We're happy to not have layoffs, and we're happy to be able to provide good benefits, which we always have done in City Hall, but I don't think we can assume, like, all these good times. So, if the intent is to keep City Council at approximately our current pay arrangement, but to keep with inflation, I would think 10% should be fine or 11% should be fine. And in the spirit of fiscal, I don't know, moderation, I'm not excited about the idea of potentially the civil service says, okay, we're recommending that we're going to convert city council to a full-time rate of pay. That's a valid thing, but I think it should be done not administratively, but the direct conversation of voters. So to me, I'm not comfortable with the language completely being removed. Thanks.

Thank you. I think it's important to note. So, you know, I had some concerns. This body is always uncomfortable talking about our own salaries and did not introduce it that way originally. But when it was pointed out to me that both Charter View Commission and Civil Service Commission asked for this language to be removed. So that's two bodies that deal with this that asked it to be removed. And as I recall, So it doesn't in any way guarantee any sort of increase. In fact, by allowing them to look at salaries more often, it also gives them the flexibility that should there be some horrible recession, they could reduce those salaries. And council has the authority to take that on as well and say, we're not. In fact, I believe we did during

I FEEL LIKE THERE WAS A CONVERSATION ABOUT THE POTENTIAL OF INCREASING COUNCIL SALARIES AND WE DIDN'T TAKE IT UP RIGHT THEN BECAUSE WE DIDN'T WANT TO WE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK WOULD BE. AND SO WE DID NOT TAKE THEM UP ON THAT OFFER. BUT SO ANYWAY, OTHER COUNCIL MEMBERS THOUGHTS? VICE PRESIDENT BAKER.

YEAH, THIS IS FRAUD ANYTIME WE'RE TALKING ABOUT ELECTED OFFICIAL SALARIES. THE ONE THING I WILL SAY IS THIS WON'T AFFECT, RIGHT? SO IT'S LIKE YOU CAN'T VOTE ON YOUR OWN SALARY DURING YOUR TERM. THIS BODY TURNS OVER QUITE OFTEN. YOU KNOW, I THINK I'M THE THIRD LONGEST TENURED PERSON HERE, AND I'VE ONLY BEEN HERE FOR FOUR YEARS, I THINK, OR LESS THAN A FULL TERM, IF YOU DO THE MATH. AND I THINK THAT HAVING SUCH A RESTRICTION IN THE CHARTER IS JUST A LOT. Who knows what inflation does, right? These are things that you're kind of needlessly limiting yourself in a way that maybe you can't be competitive for mayor or for council people if you can't pay them their appropriate wage because it's 11% or 12%. SO THAT'S WHERE I THINK IT'S JUST UNNECESSARILY RESTRICTIVE. AND THERE STILL IS A PROCESS BY WHICH CIVIL SERVICE COMES OUT. AND BY THE WAY, I THINK THAT THERE WILL HAVE TO BE OTHER THINGS ABOUT FULL-TIME, PART-TIME COUNSEL IN THE CHARTER. I DON'T KNOW THAT FOR SURE, BUT I THINK THAT THIS WOULDN'T BE THE ONLY THING THAT DID IT. BUT IF CIVIL SERVICE CAME FORTH AND SAID COUNSEL SHOULD BE PAID 90 GRAND A YEAR OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, WE COULD JUST NOT ACCEPT IT, RIGHT? And there would be public meetings about it. And the public, I'm sure, would hear about it and let us know how they felt about it. So I think that I'm of the mind that, you know, there's nine elected officials in this city that represent municipal government. We're seven of them. If people are upset about what a civil service commission is recommending, they can come to us and tell us they don't want us to do it. And then we cannot do it, right? So I like giving us more flexibility, which is why I would support this amendment.

Thank you.

Yeah, and it also goes to the point of, should there not, just because Civil Service Commission, they may or may not make recommendations to increase, they could make a recommendation to decrease, and then if it's been eight or ten years with no increase, but then the city's in a better position, it wouldn't allow catch-up, so we could be in a position where positions are under... So anyway, it's just the question of how much should be in the charter versus how much flexibility. So that's kind of where I, even though it's uncomfortable to potentially talk about this, since both charter and civil service recommended it, that's kind of my thought. Other council members?

Thoughts?

All right. Well, we have a motion and a second to strike that last line. However, no increase in salary under this section shall exceed 10% of the salary for the Office of Mayor or Council. There's been no increase in salary for the office in the preceding eight years. So on the motion to strike that, all those in favor? Aye. And opposed? No. Okay. And that motion passes. I will... Make a motion to refer favorably as amended back to full council. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? No. Already said aye. OK. So that one is done. Huzzah. All right. So let's move on to 17-2026, which is council vacancies. All right, so this one, the critical section is Section B. All right, so really the only believe the only change in what we sent around today was so this one because the way it is currently in the charter is tied to so this is just background so council vacancies so this actually recently happened which is rare but recently happened the council vacancy occurred with Well, it's common for council vacancies to occur. We've done many a council appointment, which is partly why we're up here. So we've had the practice since I've been on council, and I think well before that, of having a pretty open process. And the charter view we talked about was just codifying that process.

So just because we have had that open process doesn't mean future councils don't. The way the charter currently is written, it just says council shall appoint, but we could just sit up here one day and be like, I'm making so-and-so.

I would like to nominate so-and-so and vote on it, and there's no process. So this codifies it to say that prior to making any appointment, council shall first issue an open call for all interested candidates to submit applications upon council's review of the applications. Hold on a minute. shall hold candidate interviews in public session. And so that just is describing what we've been doing, but just says that we shall do it. And then the other section is if the vacancy occurs more than two years and 120 days, as it currently reads, before the municipal primary election. So that would be the part that was tied to RCV. So when I submitted this, I put filing deadline.

So that way, the filing deadline, again, as we discussed, would be if there's no primary, would be in August most likely for a general election versus June for a September election. Now, one thing as I...

was working backwards and breaking my brain going backwards in time trying to figure out how these dates would work. The version I sent around today changes the 120 to 30 days ahead of the filing deadline instead of 120. And the reason for that is because So if you, like what just happened fairly recently when Council Member Schachtner stepped down, that actually triggered this clause, which is somewhat rare, that there was more than two years and 120 days left on the term. And therefore, Council Member Evans, if you want to keep the seat, had to run in the next even-eared municipal or odd-eared municipal primary or election in order to serve the last two years of that term. So the idea here by saying 30 days before the filing deadline is that if in the future we were to adopt ranked choice voting, the voters would not have to come back to this section.

It's already done. We don't need to amend it to say primary.

or if we were to eliminate a primary in some other way. But 30 days before the filing deadline still allows two years and 30 days before the filing deadline allows if it moves to August, that increases the likelihood of that person having to run versus

which makes it more likely that the voters get a say, is what I'm trying to say. So if we tie it to the filing deadline, then if someone were to leave in July and we no longer have a primary, then this would still apply, and then they would run in the next municipal election if they wanted to keep the seat.

So attempting to increase the opportunity for the public to weigh in on that person's seat. I will pause there and see if any of that made sense or if people have questions or concerns. Yes, Councilman Bott.

So I follow in general, but some of the detail of the timeline was a little confusing. So first of all, what is the current filing deadline? Is it 90 days? So 90 plus 30 equals 120?

Yes, right. The current filing deadline is 90 days. It's in June for September primary.

So the current language would keep the current timeframe, and actually it's a curiosity of mine. I don't know where the original charter language came up with that timeframe. I've never had the chance to look into it. suppose it's as good as any so no no objection to keeping that same time frame but then I didn't fall apart about maybe if it shifted to August sure so just to give you an example so so in other words if we had ranked choice voting right filing deadline would be 90 days prior to November whatever which would fall in August

So therefore, if the election's not till August, then if the vacancy were to occur in July or June, then this would still apply.

So you're airing in favor of the voter.

Airing in favor of the voter.

Yeah, right.

And I can go through backwards timelines, which I've done a million times with Councilman Shatner and Councilman Evans issue to make if you want. But so like in that particular instance, it would be tied to the election for the next term of that office, which would have been November 2027. So two years and 120 days before that takes you to May. So in this situation, if the filing deadline is June, 30 days before would still be May. So it doesn't really change if we don't, it doesn't really change anything 30 days before the filing deadline instead of 30 days before the municipal primary election.

It just moves it with the change of whether or not there's a primary.

Any other questions or comments, concerns? Okay, so with that, then, really, I think, and Assistant Director Swallow, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the only thing that we changed is striking 120 and replacing it with 30. That's correct. Okay, so I will move to amend to strike, replace 120 with 30. Yeah, moves. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. Then I'll move to refer ordinance 17-2026 favorably back to full council. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. All right. And then that takes us, we have one more. which is ordinance 19, 2026. So this is redistricting. This one is not really tied to RCV per se. And the change here So this one is setting a process by which we handle redistricting. So again, I have no concerns that anyone in this current body would gerrymander intentionally or anything like that, but as we've seen with norms eroding, it's good to codify things a lot of the time. So per the Charter Review Commission's request, this would be establishing a process that sets up some best practices. Now, we've amended this so that that City Council, so it's the same language as the Charter Review, or as the Civil Service Commission, essentially, that if Council takes no action or fails to decline to follow suggestions within 90 days, the recommendations shall take effect as if City Council adopted them by ordinance approved by the Mayor. Now, we had some students 7-2, OK. No, we had some language. So we've already adopted those changes into this substitute version. And then we have some additional changes that Council Member Bullock had proposed. regarding that the wards be run north-south and touch Lake Erie in the north and the southern part of the city to the south. So the language that is sent around today would have that language essentially that Councilman Bullock suggested. However, the way this is written here would strike out natural boundaries or street lines, which I don't think is the intention. I think that was part of the best practices that the Charter Review Commission wanted. So if we want to do the north and south border, what Assistant Director Spallinoy looked at was saying each ward shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory, be bounded by natural boundaries or street lines, comma, and be bounded by Lake Erie to the north and the southern border of the city to the south. So a little, just keeping that. Yeah, yes, I would want an Oxford comma, actually. But just so keeping in essentially the line of, and I can repeat that, but with an emotion, but just wanted to give some background on that. So I'll pause there for comments from council members either regarding keeping in north adding councilman Bixenstein.

Thank you, President Keppel. Thank you for all your work on these topics there. IMPORTANT BUT REQUIRE A LOT OF DETAIL. THANK YOU, COUNCILPERSON BULLOCK. I DO APPRECIATE YOUR LANGUAGE THAT THE SPECIFICITY OF ENSURING THAT WE KEEP OUR NORTH SOUTHWARDS AND WE'VE TALKED BEFORE ABOUT SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES THAT COME PARTICULARLY SOCIOECONOMICALLY and representation with having that. I think my one question is with regards to natural boundaries or street lines, I think that language makes sense. But in practice, I think what I see is oftentimes wards are divided down the middle of a street. And so I had an instance last week where I visited somebody on Waterbury. And I should have done my homework and realized they technically weren't in the ward, and I need to actually connect them to the right person. But it turns out they were on the wrong side of the street. And I think I realize that this is for a later discussion, and right now we're codifying our policy. But when I interpret natural boundaries or street lines, in general, I would think that would not mean down the middle of the street whenever possible. Just a comment that I have.

Yeah, I think that, and most of them aren't. I think, well, actually, I'd have to go back and look. The ward council members would know better than I do. They're all down the middle street? OK, all right, never mind.

So maybe you guys, you know, if this gets adopted, you'll need to go to the planning commission meetings and ask them not to do that in the future. I guess I would hesitate to put that in the charter, though, that they can't split the street because just numbers wise, that might have to happen.

Right. And that's not my intent. It's more so just since we're talking about that particular language for future conversation. But I do appreciate that language as well as Councilperson Bullock's amendments.

Thank you. Other council members? Okay. So then I am going to move. Well, let's see. Madam Chair. Yes.

Go ahead. From a point of water standpoint, these versions that we may put forth to full council, when it actually shows up to the voters, it will have the original language with the new language kind of bolded and Strike through. How is this going to look for a voter?

Correct.

Okay, thank you.

You are correct. I want to point out we found several typos, and I will take complete responsibility for those doing this as quickly as I did. I had trouble with this one. It was a Word document sent to me that had been scanned or converted from an Adobe document, and then it was the formatting, and I had to retype a lot of it and cut and paste and whatever. So, first typo is... Towards the end of the first sentence start after planning Commission shall review and make if necessary appropriate Redivisions of the city. There's a Y missing from city Two lines down from there talking about the southern border of the city to the south Well, actually we could just make the north lowercase to make that consistent I

You want northern and southern?

Or capitalize southern and south.

So what I'm wondering is, what if we just work from, we have the version in Granicus. If those typos exist in that version, and then we can just amend to have the sentence that I.

We could do that.

OK, so that's 19.

Let me just double check the, because there's dates also.

And might I suggest that we don't pass these tonight at full council, but maybe we'll give the clerk's office a moment. Yeah, they're not.

We didn't dock at them because I have respect for the clerks and don't want to force them to do that.

And that's also kind of why I was hoping to take care of these tonight so we have a chance to review and catch anything and, you know, but we don't have to have another committee meeting. I think the version that's in, we have it up now, right? Is that the? This is the one that's in Granicus.

Okay. Substitute. Okay.

So if we, because this one has city with a Y, and it looks like the dates. I just double checked. The dates are correct. Okay. So if I then. So the sentence that starts each... Yeah, okay. So I'm going to move to the sentence that ends... as evenly equal in population as possible, period. Each ward shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory, comma, be bounded by natural boundaries or street lines, comma, and be bounded by Lake Erie to the northern and the southern.

To the northern.

To the northern border. Yeah, no. All right. That's missing. northern okay yeah so it should be bounded by lake erie to the north and the southern border of the city to the south that period i think that's it right yeah do we want to do all of them or do we want to move that I think we already, didn't we already do the other ones in the substitute?

Oh, yeah, we did.

Yeah, so that's the only one because we already changed the, unless council takes action.

I'll go ahead and make a motion to do that.

Okay. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any discussion? All right. Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? I think everybody said aye. Okay. And that motion passes. And then I'll move to refer favorably back to full council.

Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion?

Madam Chair. Councilman Bullitt. Thanks for the accommodation of the change that I proposed, kind of in the spirit of what other council members were saying. I think it's a good process. This is a good... Leadership by example, I know that's what's also intended for the Ranked Choice Voting, is some leadership by example in the municipal church, so we can get this one in. It occurs to me that the, it is possible, and we even already have this to a degree, the wards aren't perfect rectangles north to south. There's a little bit of jog, for example, in Ward 2, I think on the, between Ward 2 and 3, so that could, maybe accommodate what Councilman Bixenstein was saying, that you wouldn't split down the middle of the road if needed for the numbers balance that you were talking about, Madam Chair, that maybe they could jog a little bit so it wouldn't look like, you know, locking keys or Jenga pieces or not Jenga, but Tetris pieces a little bit, something like that. That's neither here nor there. But there is a little bit of flexibility for the district lines to vary from what we see today.

And that could also, particularly with Ward 4 moving to the other side of the street, may address the slight discrepancy in the number of residents. But we'll let the Planning Commission worry about that if and when this comes before them. All right. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. All right. I think that brings us to the end. I want to maybe just clear out these communications that are in here. Yeah. just marine would i just make a motion to um receive and file the communications and uh okay so i will make a motion to receive and file the two communications on the docket tonight second motion's been made and seconded any discussion hearing none all those in favor aye and that motion passes um on the rcv ordinances 21 and 27. Do I need to move to table them?

We just won't take them up. If I table them, does that affect what's on our docket list, Maureen?

Yes. If you table them, then they'll no longer appear on the docket until they're brought back.

Right. Or fall off. Yeah, but I wouldn't docket them anymore. Because we just schedule different things to. All right. Well, just for the point of clarity, maybe I'll just move to table. I probably should do this one at a time. Ordinance 21-2026. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. And then I'll move to table ordinance 27-2026.

Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. Okay. With that, we have nothing else before Committee of the Whole. Without objection, we are adjourned.

All right.

We will call to order the June 15th meeting of council. If you're able, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Now pause for a moment of silence.

Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Vice President Baker.

Here.

Council Member Bixenstein. Here. Council Member Bullock.

Here.

Council Member Evans.

Here.

President Keppel. Here. Council Member Hamilton-Steiner. Here. Council Member Striebig.

Here.

Reading and disposal of the minutes of the regular meeting of Council held June 1st, 2026.

Move to approve without the necessity of a reading. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes.

Item one, report from Committee of the Whole meeting held today, June 15th, 2026.

Colleagues, Committee of the Whole met earlier this evening to go through the remaining charter amendments that were before Committee of the Whole. We voted to table the two rank choice voting amendments. Council members noted that although Many of us support ranked choice voting. The particular situation we find ourselves in is untenable and would potentially confuse voters to place them on the docket before them at this time. So we're looking to move forward with the other three. ORDINANCES, WHICH ARE ORDINANCE 16-2026, THAT WOULD REFERRING TO ELECTED OFFICIAL SALARIES, THAT WOULD CHANGE THE FREQUENCY WITH WHICH CIVIL SERVICE REVIEWS ELECTED OFFICIAL SALARIES, THAT ORDINANCE WAS AMENDED AND REFERRED FAVORABLY BACK TO FULL COUNSEL. ORDINANCE 17-2026, WHICH IS TO It adds requirements to the process by which council appoints new members to fill a vacancy. So it codifies our current practice of holding call for applicants, open interviews, and then appointing, it does change the date structure for that so that if there is a lengthy vacancy, as recently happened when Council Member Schachner sat down of more than two years, we amended that language so that whether or not there is a primary, so should ranked choice voting be adopted in the future, that voters would not need to come back to this section of the code. So we're trying to lay some pathways there so if we come back to ranked choice voting or when we come back to ranked choice voting, when sands shift, that those will not be needed to be amended. And then Ordinance 19-2026 was also, and Ordinance 17-2026 as amended was referred favorably back to full council. ORDINANCE 19-2026, WHICH IS ESTABLISHED A PROCESS AND REQUIREMENT FOR WORD REDISTRICTING IN THE CITY OF LANGUAGE WAS AMENDED SO THAT ESTABLISHES BEST PRACTICES SUCH AS WORD BEING CONTIGUOUS AND SET BY NATURAL BOUNDIES AND WE ADDED IN LANGUAGE REGARDING RUNNING NORTH-SOUTH AND BEING BORDERED BY We're essentially running north-south, one element being by the lake and one by the southern border. So that was Ordinance 19-2026 was also referred favorably back to full council. And then Ordinance 21 and 27 regarding ranked choice voting were tabled at this time. And with that, I will move to receive and file that report from Committee of the Whole.

Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. And you? Actually, without objection, let's move items four and five to the top.

Item four, communication from Councilmember Hamilton-Steiner and President Keppel regarding Juneteenth National Independence Day.

Councilwoman Hamilton-Steiner? Yes, thank you. Thank you, President Keppel. Dear colleagues, Juneteenth became a federally recognized holiday in June 2021, and this year's Juneteenth National Independence Day will mark the sixth celebration of Juneteenth in Lakewood. Juneteenth, which can also be referred to as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, or the Second Independence Day, marks the date when federal troops came to Galveston, Texas and informed the last of the enslaved that they were free. This occurred two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. June 10th is a time for celebrating freedom, but it's also time to remember the suffering and contributions made by the enslaved. It is also a time to reflect on the existing conditions of the black community and the still existing systems of oppression, which caused the enslavement of fellow human beings. It is a time for hope and to look forward to the future and continue a path forward to achieve liberation for us all. For none of us are truly free until we all are free. We encourage all in the community to celebrate and reflect on Juneteenth. The community is invited to join Madison Court Community Coalition, MC3, and Lakewood Black Caucus, LBC, to celebrate together, Black Party style, on Saturday, June 20th, at the courts of Madison Park from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. All are invited and welcome to come out and celebrate community. Thank you. I will move to receive and file that communication.

Second. Motion's been made and seconded. And I just want to thank Councilman Hamilton-Steiner for leading us in this effort again. Proud to be a co-sponsor, as always, and grateful to our community partners at Madison Court Community Coalition and Lakewood Black Caucus for hosting this now annual event that is always a great time and very meaningful to have in our community.

other council members. Councilwoman Streepin.

Thank you. 161 years ago, Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas, years after the end of the Civil War. People were freed from some things, but many were still not free to do some other things. As I reflect again this year on the difference between freedom from and freedom to, freedom from enslavement was one with the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War. Freedom to was then very much under attack with Jim Crow laws, job discriminations, and redlining. I consider the world in which people gain and lose freedoms and oppressions, freedoms from oppressors, freedom from religious persecution, freedoms to love and live authentically, freedom of self-governance and home rule. And I can only conclude that those oppressors only know sorrow, hate, and neglect. So I recommit to lifting all people and giving love and forgiveness without forgetting where we've been AND THE WORK THAT WE WILL CONTINUE UNTIL WE ARE ALL FREE TO GO WHERE WE WANT TO GO, DO WHAT WE WANT TO DO, AND LIVE HOW WE WANT TO LIVE. I'M HAPPY TO AGAIN SUPPORT THIS RESOLUTION TO RECOGNIZE THIS IMPORTANT FEDERAL HOLIDAY, JUNETEENTH, WITH THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY AND ALL OF OUR DIVERSE NEIGHBORS HERE IN LAKEWOOD. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

OTHER COUNCIL MEMBERS? COUNCIL MEMBER EVANS.

THANK YOU, PRESIDENT KEPPEL. PROUD AS ALWAYS TO STAND WITH MY COLLEAGUES AND SUPPORT THIS SHORTLY IMPORTANT DAY AND I'M THANKFUL TO COUNCILPERSON HAMILTON STEINER PARTICULARLY AND TO PRESIDENT KEPPEL FOR BRINGING THIS BEFORE US. THANK YOU EACH AND VERY HAPPY TO SUPPORT THIS.

Thank you, President Keppel, and thank you to you and Council President Hamilton-Steiner for bringing this momentous holiday to the forefront of our minds, where it should be this time of year and really throughout the year. I've been fortunate enough to be able to watch Madison Court Community Coalition kind of grow and evolve over the last five years, and I have a great deal of admiration for the work they've done, both THE GRASSROOTS WORK TO STRIVE FOR EQUITY AND ALSO TO ADVOCATE ON BEHALF OF THE PARK AND PARK IMPROVEMENTS AT MADISON. AND THIS CELEBRATION IS ALWAYS A SPECIAL OCCASION, THE JUNETEENT CELEBRATION BY MC3, AND I LOOK FORWARD TO ATTENDING ON SATURDAY.

THANK YOU. OTHER COUNCILMEMBERS? COUNCILMAN BLOCK?

Thanks, Madam Chair, and thanks to my colleagues for keeping the celebration of Juneteenth and demarking, demarcating, that's not a good word, marking the holiday annually. It's new. It should have been acknowledged years before. I think I see members of the community who are on the front lines of organizing our celebration of Lakewood. Thanks for doing that. It really is True, freedom is not complete, independence is not complete in America before this date. And really, it's ongoing. So thank you all for participating and for continuing that important work.

Thank you. Vice President Baker?

Just happy to support this and thank my colleagues for bringing it forward.

Thank you. All right. So we have a motion and a second to receive and file the communication. Any further discussion? All those in favor?

Aye. And that motion passes. Item 5, Resolution 202635, a resolution to honor Juneteenth National Independence Day and spread awareness of Juneteenth as a federal holiday to respect the significance of June 19, 1865, the date on which federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to free the last of the enslaved people, which occurred two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Move to adopt.

Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? Councilwoman Hamilton-Steiner.

Thank you, President Keppel. The Emancipation Proclamation, as Councilwoman Striebeck has said, of 1863 did not fully liberate the enslaved across what was the United States of America. It would take Union troops arriving in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, as the last of the enslaved Texans, which totaled around 250,000, were informed of their freedom from forced enslavement And it would take the ratification of the 13th Amendment on December 6, 1865, for slavery to be abolished in this country, except as a punishment for crime. Juneteenth has been largely celebrated as early as 1866 when free Texans organized a first annual Jubilee Day held on June 19th. In 1979, Texas became the first state to recognize Juneteenth as a holiday. In 2021, Juneteenth became a federally recognized holiday when President Joe Biden signed it into law on June 17th, 2021. And then in Lakewood, we celebrated its first Juneteenth celebration since the federally recognized holiday with Madison Court Community Coalition, MC3, and Lakewood Black Caucus organizing community events to honor this celebration, and they have been doing that since. In this country, there can be a variety of versions of Americas, one for rich, one for poor, one for educated, one for non-educated, one for able-bodied, one for those not as able-bodied, one for old, one for young. one for black, one for white, and so on and so forth. And to intersect with these truths, we have two Independence Days, one celebrating the founding of this nation, which when founded excluded many, and enslaved thousands, and the other celebrating and honoring the freeing of that last enslaved in Texas. July 4th, 1776, the founding of the United States of America with the Declaration of Independence. June 19th, 1865, the last of the enslaved in the Confederacy, native Texas, are freed. And it's possible to celebrate both. One representing the ideal of who we could be, July 4th. The other representing the reality of who we are, June 19th. The Juneteenth flag, created in 1997 by Ben Haith, founder of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, is red, white, and blue, the same colors in the American flag, to represent that those enslaved, blacks, are in fact Americans. An arc symbolizes a new horizon for hope that stars a nod to Texas where Juneteenth was first celebrated. The verse outside the star, the star represents a new beginning. And that is that new beginning that we all need to continue to strive for. Thank you.

Any further comments, discussion? All right. Hang on. Do we have anyone who signed in to speak on this? No? Did anyone want to speak on this? Yep. Come on. On Juneteenth? OK. We'll give you a time to speak about the other. All right. Jessica, do you want to come up? All right. Come on up. Push the button so it turns green. We're having trouble with the clock, but I'm sure you probably won't go more than five minutes. All right.

Yep. Okay. Can you hear me? Okay. So this is going to be quick, but I just want to say thank you for recognizing this holiday every year. It's very important with our history that just recognizing Lakewood is about the community and everything. So thank you.

Mm-hmm. All right. Anyone else want to speak on this topic? Yep. Yep. Coming up, Nathan.

All right. Hello, can you hear me? All right, great. Yes, thank you for doing this now and every year. And to Councilperson Hamilton-Steiner and all the things she said, it is the whole reason we come together to put on these community block parties to show that no matter the color of your skin, no matter what altar you worship at, no matter what country you're from or your descendants may be from. We all come together. We all eat the food. We all listen to the music. We all have a great time. And that's the whole point. And so thank you very much for the recognition and for everything you do. Thank you.

Thank you, and back at you. We really appreciate Madison Court Coalition and Jessica for your work on LCRAC and anti-racism task force, so thank you. Okay, any further discussion? All right, after I presume we will adopt this, we'll do a picture down front, and if you'd like to come up and join us, and we have a copy of the ceremonial resolution. All right, so we have a motion and a second to adopt. All those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. All right, we'll do a quick photo down front.

Thank you.

Amen.

item number two resolution 2026 32 a resolution to take effect immediately appointing two volunteer citizens to serve on the community reinvestment area housing council so this one we

I would need to fill in the appointees on. We have two very qualified applicants, so I would like to move to appoint, to fill in the appointee slots with, yeah, they're both the same. Okay, so we'll, the first one with Adam Brands come, and the second with the name Troy Brotz. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none on that amendment, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. And then I will move to adopt as amended. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? I'd just like to thank both of these individuals, well-qualified individuals, for their willingness to serve on this committee. All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes.

Item three, communication from President Keppel regarding council budget priorities for the 2027 city budget.

Dear colleagues, attached to this communication is a summary of the 25 council budget priority worksheet drafts submitted following council's retreat on May 11th. Priorities address a wide range of topics, some of which build upon existing investments, whereas others offer brand new ideas. Some priorities include an estimated budget and others are more policy focused and budget neutral. Some of these priorities were developed by council members individually, some in small groups of no more than three council members, and some in collaboration with staff or community stakeholders. The goal of identifying and announcing council's priorities early is to ensure that council and the administration have ample time to collaborate prior to the introduction of the city's 2027 budget. As the next step in this process, I propose that this communication be referred to committee where the priority drafts can be discussed in greater detail, the administration can better understand their impact on the city's 2027 budget, and the public may provide input. In preparation for that discussion, council members are encouraged to continue researching their priorities speaking with appropriate staff and external stakeholders, and refining budget estimates. I expect that the drafts may be revised and refined based on the public discourse and continued research, and that final versions will be completed in time so that they may be included in the proposed 2027 budget when it is introduced this fall. It is my hope that this process will allow for a smooth and collaborative budget season. MOVE TO RECEIVE OR NO, I'M GOING TO MOVE TO REFER THIS COMMUNICATION TO FINANCE COMMITTEE. SECOND. MOTION'S BEEN MADE AND SECONDED. DISCUSSION? COUNCILMAN BULLOCK.

THANKS, MADAM PRESIDENT. FIRST OF ALL, THANKS FOR LEADING CITY COUNCIL IN NOT ONE BUT SEVERAL YEARS IN A ROW OF STRATEGIC PLANNING RETREATS. I think city council has gotten better and better each year. And I certainly appreciate working with Director Mahoney and Mayor George and the administration on all this. And I look forward to working in the finance committee or whichever committee this gets referred to. A lot of good ideas on here. And most of these are ideas we've talked about previously, so hopefully it's not a complete surprise to the administration. And any new ideas, we've got an opportunity to discuss that. The one thing, I did have a chance to talk a little with Director Mahoney. If feasible by July 30, if we were able to complete this deliberation, then that would be compatible with the schedule for at the administration. The Director Mahoney shared at least with me their standard calendar is approximately August 1st. CITY DEPARTMENTS BEGIN DISCUSSING WITH THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT ALL THE ANNUAL ROUTINE OPERATIONS, STAFFING, CAPITAL NEEDS THAT THEY HAVE ANYWAY, THAT THAT THEN GOES INTO THE PREPARATION PRESENTATION OF THE BUDGET BOOKLET MID-NOVEMBER. ideally city council's budget priorities, whichever of those that we do support as a majority support, could then be considered as part of that administrative process. I just wanted to share that outside of a meeting that we had, I had a one-on-one conversation with and she conveyed to me that July 30 is an ideal date. It's not a requirement, but if it's feasible for us to work that quickly, then we'd be right on track.

Thank you.

Thank you. Director Mahoney, anyone comment on that?

Sure, and yeah, I appreciated the conversation with Councilman Bullock. Just the one thing that I also relayed to him is just like every other department, we can't fund everything, unfortunately. So if council would prioritize, this is the most important, and maybe the top two or three, so that when we look to add or subtract things, we can consider those in the budget process.

Thank you. Yeah, I think it's a little different because these aren't like council office priorities. We're not talking about things suggested. We're talking about citywide priorities. And what I'm really hoping that this process, as we talked to last year, that we are able to incorporate so that it's not a yours and mine budget and that we don't have last minute amendments, but that we're coming collaboratively to this together and have a pretty clear picture that a budget that works for all of us. So I appreciate that. And I know I'll let Vice President Baker talk.

YES, SO THANK YOU, PRESIDENT KEPPEL AND COUNCILMAN BULLOCK. I OFTEN SAY YOU'VE FORGOTTEN MORE ABOUT THE BUDGET THAN MOST OF US KNOW, SO ALWAYS APPRECIATE YOUR INSIGHT THROUGH THIS PROCESS. BUT THE WAY, AND I REALLY APPRECIATE COUNCIL STAFF AND COUNCIL PRESIDENT PUTTING THIS TOGETHER, BECAUSE AS YOU LOOK THROUGH THESE SUMMARY SHEETS, IT'S NOT ALL WE NEED THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY APPROPRIATED TO THIS CAUSE. IT'S KIND OF MORE SHARED PRIORITIES. The public may or may not be aware, but we certainly are. Open Meetings Act requires at any time more than three of us are talking, it has to be an officially noticed meeting because you can't deliberate public issues with the majority anywhere except at a publicly noticed meeting. So this gives us an opportunity to let our colleagues know what we're interested in, where we can share, you know, work with the administration that isn't necessarily budgetary. It's not a position, it's not a program, but it's a, code update. It's a procedure. And so it lets the administration know that we're interested in these things. We want to work with them on it. And it also has budgetary items. So this is a little bit, you know, it's kind of like council's priorities and most things affect the budget. So that's why it's going. We had a little bit of discussion about whether or not this should go to community of the whole or finance. We determined that finance is probably the best place for it. But I just want to say that sometimes all seven of us, we have, you know, full-time jobs or doing other things, it is very difficult for us to row in the same direction. It's just seven different people. And this, I think, has been the closest thing I've seen to getting us going in that same direction. So I really appreciate it. And as we talked about, you know, Councilman Bullock mentioned, if we can kind of finalize these and kind of have really fruitful discussions about them with the administration present before July 30, before the August recess, I think that will tee up the administration so they can know what is important to us before the August recess. And then we talked about in the Finance Committee a couple months ago that Director Mahoney would be willing to come sometime in September and talk about kind of like collections and where we're at in the 2026 year to see what that looks like, kind of what you have to build on to go into the 2027 budget year. So then I think those two things coinciding in July and September will really provide us a good basis And that's November and December is when we have the marathon sessions on the budget. But I think we'll have a lot of good pre-work to get there so that it will help us influence the administration's budget and ultimately consider it and then move forward in a really collaborative way. So thank you, President Keppel, and look forward to working with the administration and my colleagues on this.

Thank you.

Council Member Streetman.

Thank you. And thank you for the explanation on why this went to finance, although I'm on that committee and I'm happy to talk about it there. I was thinking that this would go to Committee of the Whole because I don't know that everything requires money because I think there are a couple educational campaigns in here that were more about strategy AND USING THE TOOLS OF THE CITY TO COMMUNICATE AS OPPOSED TO JUST SAYING WE NEED TO SPEND THIS KIND OF MONEY. SO I APPRECIATE THAT CLARIFICATION, ESPECIALLY COMING INTO THE FINANCE COMMITTEE. SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

VICE PRESIDENT BAKER.

YES, AND WE, I WAS PACING AROUND MY BEACH HOUSE ON VACATION LAST WEEK TALKING TO PRESIDENT KEPPEL ABOUT THIS. AND THE IDEA BEING THAT Every one of these line items will produce a separate piece of legislation or communication, and that will go to the appropriate committee. So it's kind of, it was 50.1% one way or the other, so we kind of just made the call to go finance. But we see this as kind of needling out into all the different committees eventually once we get to the point of legislation.

And I'll just add to that too is that the elements that have to do with the budget are the ones that have the most pressing timeline to work into this collaborative process.

So doing the work in community of the whole that we started to have this worksheet process, but so for instance, you know,

one of the things on here is the short-term rental regulation that's going to be primarily policy work there is potentially a budget element to it because of some software i think i think was on the worksheet but it's primarily policy so um we yeah we went back it could go to either but just because the timeline of what director mahoney and her team needs for the budget that's why we thought finance

Councilman Evans.

Thank you, President Keppel. I just also want to thank council leadership, President Keppel, and council staff for putting this together. This has certainly been extraordinarily helpful to me. I've already had like a couple of happenstance instances with colleagues having looked at this document and see, oh, that's what you're working on. this maybe is with you, or I can help you with that. And it's been really helpful. And thank you to all of you for taking the time to put a lot of thought and effort into this document, because that's what's going to make this work. I mean, you can just list, hey, I'm interested in this. But there was a lot of detail, a lot of thought that went into every single one of these. So thank you all for working together to make a process that's better. And thank you to the administration for working with us on the timing of this making sure that council's priorities are making their way into the city's budget.

Thank you. Other comments?

Madam President.

Mayor George.

Yeah, if I could just add, you know, this is certainly an ambitious list. A lot of work went into it and a lot of work will go into reviewing all of it. I would just encourage council members to meet with the appropriate directors and city staff. Some of these are already in various stages within the administration already. So I think it would be important to have those meetings get a full grasp of, you know, where we're at on some of these or where we can be at some of them to talk about, you know, potential costs and potential implementation.

Yeah, absolutely. That's definitely, yeah, that's really the point. That's really, you know, what the, as I said in the communication is that we're, hopefully working together on these and some of these, you know, it's can be challenging for all of us to without having this process, you know, we may have and we do have, there's several things that all council members, you know, care about, but we can't all seven be working on. So this is a way for us to identify those as well as to know, we don't always know what is being worked on by the administration until we reach out and say, hey, we want to work on this. So this is a way to get us all identifying those and hopefully working together.

And just to provide some additional information, when I was on council, there was a process within council to identify top priorities or to kind of whittle through all of these. I'll give an example. One of mine and council was to rejoin the League of Cities, which was a $4,000 cost. Council had a deliberative process and at that time they decided not to join League of Cities. So I think it's important also for Council to have communications and to piggyback of what Director Mahoney said to figure out some of these top priorities because within this document, you know, we've got millions of dollars of budget requests and we do just have a finite number and the vast majority of city dollars go towards funding general city government fixing potholes responding to public safety and all of those things so i just encourage council to really speak together and kind of identify those priorities so we can actually accomplish some of these together sure again that is the point

I'm sure.

Yes. Councilman Black. Oh, two points. First, I count 24. And I want to respond to the mayor, but also then ask a question. So first of all, Mayor, I think this is the wide end of the funnel. Am I on? This is the wide end of the funnel. And some of what our work in the next six weeks is going to be to narrow it a bit. Some of these are very long-term. For example, the Lakewood Community Circulator, excellent issue. Will we cut a ribbon on the first circulator at January 1, 2027? Maybe not. But I think the concept here is to start now working on something that's long and complex. Also, how this list was produced was to say, all right, somebody putting it forward, not is there a majority. So that portion comes in front of us. So I think we do appreciate everything you're saying about affordability, complexity. Also, some of this is intentionally overlapping with some of the good work the administration has been doing for quite some time. It's about incremental refinement or expansion or adjustment of some of what we're already working on. Even though this is an overly long list and already overly ambitious, my question for the Council of Leadership is, if something else comes up that happened to fall after a cutoff, aren't we able to also add that or work on it regardless of whether it appears in this list? Because, for example, residents will come to us and say, hey, I'm experiencing this problem in my community or in my neighborhood, and please, I'm asking you as a council member to do your job and work with me on this. So there's at least two examples of that, one of which is on this list, but another is not. And, you know, you could probably think of other hypotheticals. So this, I think the point is this is a management tool, planning tool. You know, I hope we're not overly, literal in our use of it. And if something comes up later in the year, we still afford ourselves the discretion that the charter allows for council members to work on whatever might come up.

Yeah, I think, well, to the first point about this is, as we've said, because we are limited in how we can work together on things that we need to have a process that comes in the public eye of how we're working so that we can all identify who is interested in what and leading the charge on what.

For instance, we're all interested in block clubs, but all seven of us can't work on legislation about block clubs.

So we need to identify who's going to lead the charge on that. So this is a mechanism to do that, those kinds of things. Some of these things are already funded, that they aren't That money already happened in 2026. We're just saying we're going to continue to do that work. So there's, you know, this is a tool with a lot of different components. And then I think it's also ultimately what I'm looking for here is not a yours and mine budget. This isn't the administration's budget. It isn't council's budget. It's the city of Lakewood budget. It's the people's budget. And this is how we can all work together on it. So to the point of, you know, as council members, you know, we have to have some sort of tool to because we can't all seven work on everything altogether. So this is that tool. But we can all work with the administration. So your question about something later, you know of that has a budget prior, you know element to it you know, we've just talked about timeline for For this to be a collaborative process for it to be worked into the proposed budget that that's why we've worked backwards with this timeline like there is a There's only so many hours in the day to prepare a budget. There's only so many budget hearings we can have. There's only so much time we can allocate. So trying to follow that process. Now, if there were something later that comes up, which does happen, like we've had infrastructure surprises on more than one occasion. And so those kinds of things where we surprise, we have to $25 million sewers that we have to line. We have to do that, right? I mean, those are things that happen. So I think, yes, of course, there are things that change, but the purpose here is to try to be as thoughtful and collaborative and work with that timeline together. Council Member Hamilton-Steiner.

Thank you, President Keppel. I also think this document is good for the public view as well, because I think it gives them a glimpse into what council's interests are and what we're working on. Because I think that's the number one question I get in the community. Well, what is council? What are you working on? And so I think this is helpful. And then they can also look at this document and see where their interests are, and they may you know have an issue that aligns with what we're currently working on so i think it there's a lot of purpose and use for this document and i appreciate your leadership and helping to get us there and i think i'm so proud of all the council members that just put together um their priorities um and and you know put it put in the work for this

And that to say, too, is that some of them are more fleshed out than others. And some of these are the beginning of a conversation. And some of them are the continuation of a conversation. So some of them are just, as we've had the retreats and talked about priorities, it can identify a priority that, like the circulation example, are we cutting the ribbon?

No.

But maybe it begins a conversation or the same thing with some of the others. All right, so further discussion on the motion to refer this communication to finance.

President Campbell. Council Member Streep. Thank you. I'm just thinking of going into that finance meeting initially and wondering if, I love this chart, and if there's an opportunity here for Mayor to add a column on this chart to let us know what departments are most appropriate to work with on that specific item. And if somebody's doing it already, if it's the low-hanging fruit and it's one conversation, perfect. Let's do that before that finance meeting so that when we hit that finance meeting, we're on the ground running again because there seems to be a strict timeline with this.

Yeah, I would say probably prior to that finance meeting, because as I said in the communication, prior to that meeting, you would want to be talking to the appropriate directors.

And on the worksheet, it does have identifying which departments you expect to work with.

Now, if we've guessed wrong on which departments are already working on these or that we would work with, that would be good information to have. But council members were supposed to be identifying who they're going to be talking to.

Yes, and just to help with that process here, if you reach out to my office directly to request a meeting on X topic, then we can rope in the appropriate staff to have that meeting, if that works.

Thank you.

Thank you. All right, so any further discussion on the motion to refer this communication to finance? All right. Hearing none. Oh, and I'll just add to that, too. Just because we're referring it to finance, I would envision that does not mean that other council members can attend.

That is a public meeting. And I imagine that Vice President Baker would be accommodating to allowing other council members to speak.

Of course.

so um just because it's in finance doesn't mean you can't go in fact anyone can go it's a public meeting all right so with that we have the motion to refer to finance all those in favor aye and that motion passes item six report from vice president baker regarding may 20th meeting of the lakewood alive board of directors vice president baker thank you president couple uh dear colleagues the lakewood alive board of directors met on may 20th at lake ohio library for its bi-monthly meeting

As council's ex-officio representative of the board, I want to provide a brief update on several noteworthy items discussed during the meeting. The board received updates regarding leadership transitions and board recruitment efforts. Sharon Schulte has agreed to join the board, although that does need to be finalized by the board while additional prospects are being considered. Current board president Julie Warren will transition to the role of past president later this year with Amanda Santa and Jason Weiner assuming the roles of president and vice president respectively. Mike Bentley and Chris Burgin will conclude their board service in July. The board also heard a presentation from a group of young professionals from the Cleveland Bridge Builders on their leadership action project with Lakewood Live. The project looked into strategies to address garage repairs, needs for residents who may not qualify for existing assistance programs. I let them know that the city is very interested in this issue with the zoning refresh project currently ongoing and invited the group to present their findings and recommendations to a council committee. I will follow up with the clerk's office to schedule the meeting. Council members interested in learning more about Lakewood Alive's programs, committees, or volunteer opportunities are encouraged to reach out. As always, I remain grateful for the organization's work to strengthen our neighborhoods, support local businesses, and build community throughout Lakewood. The one thing I will note is the mechanism to have a committee hearing about the garage issue could be this communication. Or we can just receive and file and do it a different way. But I assume this would go to the Housing Planning Development Committee. SO I WOULD MAKE A MOTION TO REFER THIS COMMUNICATION TO HOUSING PLAN AND DEVELOPMENT TO ALLOW THAT DISCUSSION TO OCCUR IN COMMITTEE IN COORDINATION WITH LAKEWOOD ALIVE AND THE LEADERSHIP ACTION TEAM.

COUNCILMEMBER EVANS.

THANK YOU, CHAIR. YES, I'M WORKING WITH LAKEWOOD ALIVE, TOO, AS WELL, TO GET THIS DOCUMENTED, BUT I THINK REFERRING THIS COMMUNICATION WOULD BE A GOOD FIRST STEP SO WE CAN GET THAT PROCESS ROLLING. SO APPRECIATE KIND OF WORK IN THIS ROOM.

both sides and hopefully we can get to talk to them soon because i did do a lot of uh a good work and i think it will be helpful for us to see thanks yeah okay so on um we had a motion to refer to housing planning and development i'll second that motion um any further discussion hearing none all those in favor aye and that motion passes m7 report from vice president baker regarding june 3rd meeting of the complete and active streets education and advisory board vice president baker

Thank you, President Keppel. Dear colleagues, the Complete and Active Streets Education Advisory Case Board met on June 3, 2026, in City Hall Auditorium for its second quarter meeting. I was unable to attend due to a previously scheduled work conflict, but I wanted to provide this correspondence to keep my colleagues aware of the workings of this important board. The slides of the meeting are attached to this correspondence, and the meeting focused primarily on the board's continuing review of proposed shared use path code amendments which have been referred by council for recommendation and are intended to modernize Lakewood's ordinances related to bicycle, pedestrian, and emerging mobility infrastructure. The majority of the meeting was dedicated to a detailed review of the proposed shared use path code amendments. The administration presented a framework that organizes the amendments into three primary categories. One, establishing definitions necessary to support future regulations. Two, creating operational standards for various types of bicycle and mobility infrastructure. And three, clarifying maintenance responsibilities for shared use paths. The board reviewed several proposed definitional changes, including updates to the city's definition of motorized bicycle to align with the higher revised code and the addition of new definitions for bikeway and shared use path. Considerable discussion also focused on how Lakewood should define and regulate emerging mobility devices, including electric bicycles, scooters, and similar low speed transportation devices. Staff presented several options for refining existing definitions to better distinguish between traditional bicycles, e-bikes, mobility devices, and high-powered electric motorcycles. The Board did not finalize recommendations during this meeting and will continue refining this feedback before forwarding formal recommendations to Council. As shared use paths become a more common component of Lakewood's transportation network, these discussions will help establish clear expectations regarding usage, safety, accessibility, and maintenance responsibilities for all users. I'LL CONTINUE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CASE BOARD'S WORK AND KEEP COUNCIL INFORMED AS RECOMMENDATION HAS BEEN CLOSER TO FORMAL CONSIDERATION. I'LL MAKE A MOTION TO RECEIVE AND FILE THIS COMMUNICATION.

SECOND. MOTION'S BEEN MADE AND SECONDED. DISCUSSION? COUNCILMAN BUTT.

THANK YOU. FIRST, THANK YOU FOR THE DETAILED REPORT. SECOND, THANKS TO THE ADMINISTRATION, DIRECTOR BYINGTON'S TEAM, AND REALLY OTHERS TOO. Director Gordon, I think you're involved in that board, and maybe the chief of police, too. Anyway, it's a joint effort. The topics are extremely important and timely. We also talked about this in part at the recent last week. There was a Safe Routes to Schools informal working group meeting with the schools, with parents, with the city. The city's been doing a great job of convening and keeping those coordinating efforts together, we're doing things like evaluating, okay, how did the safe walking to school and biking to school work out this past school year? What do we need to do to improve the next year? Well, the e-bikes, e-scooters issue came up, and it's everywhere, and one insight was parents really probably could use some education because parents are buying these for their kids without really thinking it through, so some parent education really would be called for by somebody. Is it the city's job? Is it the police department's job? We need to think that through. But the timeliness of this work is really vital. I'd certainly welcome, and I'm hopeful that my colleagues will be doing this soon, a city council meeting on the topic, even as the proposed ordinance is also pending in case. One question, I guess, for the law department. I know that we're talking in case about what the rules might become. I would find it helpful if we also knew what the rules are today. So not the future tense, but the present tense, such as they exist. And I expect the answer is going to be partly we have rules that apply, partly we don't or we're not sure. But just, you know, and maybe that's an attorney-client privilege. I don't know if that needs to be or not. But it would be just helpful as a starting point to understand how our current laws might apply to some of these new devices. And also, you know, multi-use path, we're proposing to define the term in what's pending. But even before that's adopted or potentially changed, how do we know what the proper usage of bike lanes the general travel lanes of the road, sidewalks, multi-use paths are for all of these different categories. It's complex. Not saying we have to have it solved right away, but I think it's really, we're hearing constantly from neighbors that this is on their minds, and everybody's motivated by safety, just preventing accidents. Thank you.

Director Varga.

Yes. Thank you, Madam President. Councilman Bullock, I wasn't at the case meeting, but I have had communications with Assistant Director Boss. He has in front of him the ordinances. He's been working with them in consultation with law and others throughout the administration, especially the police department, on those very items. Now, it's perhaps not as comprehensive as it's going to be after this process. But what we have now is what Assistant Director Boss is working with. Thank you.

And could we also get a copy as we potentially head into a council committee hearing or two?

Yes, I'm going to guess Director Boss has sent that around. But in any event, I'll speak with him and make sure you have it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Annette. I'll just, were you also, were you asking about what the existing law is?

Is that what you were asking? Okay. So that could certainly be sent. Yeah. And then I believe my understanding is that because this, the ordinance is also in housing planning and development, And because it's also a public safety matter, I believe the chairs of both committees are looking to hold a meeting together with the case board and try to get this, all the input at one time and finalized and dealt with. So we should see that soon. All right. So we have a motion and a second to receive and file this report. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes.

Item 8, reports from Councilmember Striebig regarding the May meetings of the Community Health Action Team, the Community Recreation Education Commission, and the Youth Council. Councilmember Striebig.

Dear colleagues, the following are reports from the meetings of CHAT, CREC, and Youth Council during the month of May 2026. On Friday, May 8th, the Community Health Action Team met for their second quarterly meeting. The meeting was called to order by David Boss and facilitated by Kate Ingersoll. Kate approved the meetings and led a debriefing on the presentation to the City Council Health and Human Services Committee. A CONVERSATION WAS HELD ABOUT THE COMMUNITY RESOURCE GUIDE THAT WAS RECEIVING POSITIVE FEEDBACK FROM FOCUS GROUPS AND THE CHAT TEAM. THE GUIDE WILL BE AVAILABLE TO BOTH CITIZENS AND AGENCIES ASSISTING CITIZENS ALIKE. PRIORITIES FOR 2026 WERE DISCUSSED AND INCLUDE ACCESS TO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH, FOOD ACCESS, ADAPTIVE AND MIDDLE SCHOOL PROGRAMMING AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING. The emerging issues of early learning center and LGBTQ plus resources and support for youth programming were also recognized. The Lakewood Community Recreation and Education Commission met on May 19th at the Taft Center for Innovation. The meeting was called to order and minutes were approved by President Bill Fraunfalder. Leslie favor coordinator of Community Recreation and Education reported that spring and summer programs were beginning and youth youth baseball. Had over 1000 registrations back pool is scheduled to open on June 2nd and fosters on June 9th. Field maintenance is going well and the weather has been cooperating so far this season. Knock on wood. Sports camps are open and registration and adult softball and kickball is starting. Pool rentals filled up in less than one minute and 300 seasonal staff are on board for the summer. New mirrors, bands and cords are being ordered for the fitness facility. Kids Connection Camp has 100 Lakewood residents participating in Safety Town and Camp Can Do are starting. A heartfelt thank you to Lakewood residents for passing issue two was shared. The Lakewood Youth Council met on Thursday, May 28, in the auditorium at City Hall. The meeting was called to order and minutes passed by Mel Diemert. Danica Herberger, chair of the Environmental Committee, reported that emails with the Tree Advisory Board regarding concerns for tree lawn trees were slow and she had no updates. Carol Lulo, chair of the Mental Health Committee, reported that a mental health survey was being sent to Mrs. Chodson and will go to Kevin Weiner for posting on city social media. Sean Miller, chair of the Advocacy Committee, thanked the group for the school levy endorsement. Elections for this group will happen soon. With five graduating seniors and the resignation of one member, there are lots of opportunities to get involved. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll first move to receive and file that communication. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes.

Item 9, communication from Mayor George regarding mayoral appointments to the Community Reinvestment Area Housing Council and Local Board of Tax Review.

Mayor George. Good evening. It's my pleasure to announce the following appointments. Allison Urbanik and Gavin Norris to the Community Reinvestment Area Housing Council and James Romano to the Local Board of Tax Review. As always, I'm grateful to these individuals for their willingness to volunteer. and serve the Lakewood community. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll move to receive and file that communication. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes.

Item 10, communication from Planning Director Byington regarding Webb Park Court renovation. Director Byington.

Thank you, President Keppel and members of council. The administration is seeking approval to apply for the 2027 Cuyahoga County Supplemental Grant, CDSG, in the amount of $50,000 to apply toward the Webb Court renovation project. Webb Tennis Court was installed more than 20 years ago, and attempts were made to repair the cracking surface two years ago. The court surface is now in need of a full replacement. The project includes removal of the existing court and installation of a new court, which would be striped for tennis and pickleball, and installation of new fencing. The city has used CDSG funds to help pay for renovations of other courts in previous years, including the Pickleball Courts at Lakewood Park and the Tennis Court at Merle Bunce. The estimated cost for the replacement of the court and fencing at Webb is $152,000. This project is listed in the capital plan for 2027 construction. A public meeting was held at the courts on Thursday, June 11th of 2026, and the application deadline is July 13th. Thank you.

Thank you. I will move to receive and file this communication.

Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye. And that motion passes. Item 11, Resolution 202636, a resolution to take effect immediately authorizing the Mayor or the Director of Planning and Development to apply to the Cuyahoga County Community Development Supplemental Grant Program for a $50,000 grant to be used for the improvements to the Webb Park Tennis Court located at 1301 Webb Road by replacing the existing tennis court with a new court stripe for both tennis and pickleball along with new fencing. Move to adopt.

Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? Vice President Baker first.

Thank you, and thank you to the administration. I think there's no doubt that the courts are old, and I know we tried to resurface them a couple years ago. The question I have is what kind of community input do we get to determine that pickleball and tennis was what we should put there?

Thank you, President Keppel. So I know that at the public meeting that was held on Thursday, that there was support for both of those. I'm not sure if there was a study done prior to that. I'm not sure if Director Gordon or anybody else was aware of that, but there was the two uses were well received at the public meeting. President Baker.

Yeah, because I, you know, I, I FOLLOW ALL THE PARKS IN WARD ONE PRETTY CLOSELY, AND I KNOW THAT THIS ONE WAS IN NEED OF AN UPDATE, BUT I'M NOT REALLY FAMILIAR WITH ANY, LIKE, PLANS WE HAVE FOR WEB PARK OR PLANNING PROCESS THAT'S BEEN IN PLACE. AND I KNOW, YOU KNOW, AND THIS ISN'T, YOU KNOW, DIRECTOR VARGO AND I GO BACK A LOT, BACK AND FORTH ON THE CHARTER. THE CHARTER DOES TALK ABOUT HOW PLANNING COMMISSIONS SHOULD REVIEW THERE'S VERB TENSES THAT RELATES TO PARKS, YOU KNOW, BUT I GUESS I SUPPORT IMPROVEMENT AND USING OUTSIDE FUNDS TO HELP DO IT, BUT I'M A LITTLE CONCERNED ABOUT, AND IT MIGHT BE THE RIGHT ANSWER, IT MIGHT BE TENNIS AND PICKLE BALL, BUT I THINK A PLANNING PROCESS, YOU KNOW, WOULD BE BETTER, AND PERHAPS IT'S A GOOD CONVERSATION ABOUT PLANNING FOR ALL OF OUR PARKS THAT AREN'T MADISON OR LAKEWOOD BECAUSE There are lots of other parks and I'm not aware of any master planning process we've had for those parks. So I don't necessarily wanna hold, I don't wanna stop our ability to seek outside funding, but I'm a little miffed that, you know, we didn't have much more warning about this. I understand it was in the 2027 capital plan, but we do have planning commission to help with these things. whether it's required or not is a different story, but it may be something that would be helpful. So that's, I'm not going to hold up this resolution or not support it, but I do think that we should be more thoughtful about it in the future.

Thank you. Councilman Buck.

Thanks, Madam President. So, Director Pyington, thanks for the background. I attempted but was unsuccessful joining that public meeting. Can we get a copy of the plan that is envisioned, whatever exists and whatever the background is that we can just review afterwards?

Thank you, through President Keppel. Yes, we'll forward you all the information that we have. And we actually were having an internal discussion in regard to park planning in general and my understanding there was some years ago there was a park planning process and there is a master plan out there. It needs to be updated so we've been looking into possibly looking for funds in the future to update that plan. We will certainly give you all the information we have on this project. Thank you.

And so out of sympathy for the ward council persons in specific, if there's a park in a ward, any ward, we really should be not surprising the ward council person, those of us who are also at large council people care about parks too, so that well in advance of anything close to a decision being made, the council person is looped in because they in particular have a lot of interaction and phone calls that they get passively from residents and may have a partial answer to the very survey question that we would ask to the neighborhood, the broader neighborhood, quarter mile radius around and so on and so forth. To me, what is usually on my mind when I ask questions like this is what's the opportunity cost? So if we commit to tennis and pickleball now, Are we foreclosing other options that might be suited to this park? It seems logical that we have, you know, tennis courts repair and kind of expand and extend. So that's a good incremental investment improvement but like, my colleague, I also haven't had the chance to think this picture or to confer with, usually it's not me, but I'll ask members of the public that I respect who are in the planning world, say, hey, what do you see here? If this was a blank canvas, what are the opportunities here to improve? And so maybe this could be step one of a multi-step process over a course of time. I really think that the city's done a beautiful job over the last 8 to 10 years of improving the neighborhood parks, the pocket parks, the parks that are smaller than Madison and Lakewood. We've also done a good job with those things too. So that's why we'll tend to get a lot of focus from council members on this because it's just such an important and appreciated and noticed part of our city services. Thanks.

Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate that. Thank you. Director Brown, how many people were at the public meeting? I apologize. I was not at the meeting, and Michelle is on vacation, and I haven't had a chance to talk to her face-to-face, so I apologize. I don't know, but I can also give you that information.

Yeah, I mean, I... I appreciate the opportunity to get outside funding, and I don't want to hold that up. And we don't want to have things in our parks that aren't well maintained.

But as we've had conversations about other sports that community members are interested in or things that we may not even be aware of because we haven't put it to them, I think it would be a good idea to revisit our park planning process, particularly for these smaller parks. have master plans like we said for Madison and Lakewood Park but Lakewood Parks is quite old so it's also probably time to look at that as well so that we don't have incremental surprises and things put in that we have to then spend money to undo or impede other opportunities. So I think it's a good discussion to have, and I look forward to continuing to have that conversation with planning. But I also want to make sure that we don't lose potential outside funding to maintain what is there while we work on that process.

All right, Vice President Baker.

Yeah, and one last thing, because, you know, the notice of the meeting came out and I was out of town and I couldn't attend. And so it's also a bad look for a ward council person to not be able to attend a public meeting in their ward. And I do, I'm aware of this funding source. It's typically due the same time every year. We know the general amount we're going for. So I would ask, as a courtesy, the administration would try to at least let the board council person or council know before it shows up on the docket, because it does put us in a position where, you know, we don't want to be irresponsible with outside funds, but, you know, I'm still not sure that this is the right answer. It could be, but I don't know. But I'm not going to hold it up.

Any further discussion?

Hearing none, on the motion to adopt Resolution 202636, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes.

Item 12, communication from Assistant Director Boss regarding zoning refresh project update. Director Bankton.

President Keppel and members of council, last month the city zoning refresh project moved through the final preliminary draft milestone. WITH THE COMPLETION OF CHAPTERS THAT DEFINE THE REFRESHED PROCEDURES AND DEFINITIONS. THESE PROCEDURES AND DEFINITIONS WERE INFORMED BY WORK TO DATE ACROSS ALL PREVIOUS CHAPTERS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OUR PROJECT CONSULTANT TEAM AT HOUSE OLAVINE. PRIOR TO THIS UPDATE, PRELIMINARY DRAFTS OF THE FOLLOWING FOUR DOCUMENTS WERE WORKED, REVIEWED BY BOTH CITY ADMINISTRATION AS WELL AS THE ZONING POLICY ADVISORY COMMITTEE, THE ZPAC. THE SECTIONS ARE 1101, GENERAL PROVISIONS, 1108, NONCONFORMITIES, 1109, decision-making procedures and enforcement. AND 1110 DEFINITIONS. THE INTENT OF THIS COMMUNICATION IS TO PROVIDE THIS FINAL GROUP OF PRELIMINARY DRAFTS TO ALL MEMBERS OF COUNCIL WITH AN OPPORTUNITY FOR MORE DETAILED DISCUSSION IN COMMITTEE AS OUR TEAM LOOKS TO SHIFT TOWARDS PREPARATION OF ALL CHAPTERS FOR FINAL REVIEW BY BOTH PLANNING COMMISSION AND COUNCIL AND THE SUBSEQUENT DRAFTING OF LEGISLATION TO ENACT THE REFRESHED ZONING CODE. AS ALWAYS, ALL INFORMATION, DOCUMENTS, AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGAGEMENT ARE PUBLISHED ON THE PROJECT WEBSITE. Assistant Director Boss.

Thank you. I'll move to refer to Housing Planning and Development.

Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? I just want to acknowledge the hard work of Assistant Director Boss on this very important process. It goes to the whole planning team, but he's really led us through a good process in ZPAC with us. So I appreciate him and the members of ZPAC. Any further discussion on the motion to refer to Housing Planning and Development? Hearing none, all those in favor, aye. And that motion passes.

Item 13, communication from fire chief, neighborhood paramedic program update. Chief Eibachs.

Good evening. President Keppel and members of City Council, the Lakewood Fire Department respectfully requests an audience with Lakewood City Council to present an annual update regarding the Neighborhood Paramedic Program. Firefighter Paramedic Oliver Harper will be presenting data on program usage, progress, current initiatives, and potential needs of the program moving forward. Please refer this request to the appropriate committee of councils choosing and coordinate with my office to ensure Firefighter, medic, Harper's, availability. Thank you.

Move to refer to public safety. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye. And that motion passes. Item 14, liquor permit regarding QAJ Enterprise LLC at 14,000 Detroit Avenue. Director Varga, we don't have this one yet. No.

We do not, Madam President. We're really at the mercy of the Department of Liquor Control. And we wait for these things, and they're just not there yet.

OK.

Thank you.

Thanks. Yeah, go ahead, Chief.

Thank you, President Keppel. We did reach out. I actually reached out to Lieutenant Deuker, Special Operations. His crew has heard back nothing.

OK. I know we had some issues with another one of it kind of getting shuffled back and forth, so we'll get it when we get it, I guess. All right. So I'll move to defer.

Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. And that brings us to public comment. We have one person signed in to speak. Welcome back, Mr. Artino. Come on up. Oh, yeah, and we do have an e-comment also, which will be included in the record. Go ahead and push the button so it turns green, and you have up to five minutes. Push it so it turns. There you go.

Is this positioning? All right, good evening. For those of you that don't know me or don't remember me, I'm Joey Artino. I'm a homeowner, business owner, and a member of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce. I spoke recently about living next to an unregulated short-term rental over on Delaware Avenue last month. Lots happened since then. None of it really makes the case for an action. Since my last appearance, two more Lakewood residents have come forward with documented incidents. I had Facebook posts on the Lakewood page, but these two kind of stuck out. A guy named Matthew Kobiak shared, Police reports from May and June of last year for an Airbnb on Elmwood. Some of the highlights, lowlights, however you want to look at it. A juvenile girl was reported being grabbed and threatened by a man who prevented her from leaving. Suspect assaulted a responding officer. The next night, police returned for another all-juveniles party. Apparently there's been a bunch there. After a gathering on the same property, officers recovered a stolen assault rifle near Grant Elementary. Cranford Avenue, Ken Blaze reported that on July 11th of last year, there was a party with around 150 kids that required what he remembered as eight Lakewood police cars to respond and officers were chasing kids down the street. Eight cars, a stolen rifle, Assault on a minor, assaulting an officer, this is the same pattern. Unregulated short-term rentals, absentee owners, no accountability, playing out all across Lakewood, block by block. Cleveland just acted. Last month, Cleveland passed strict short-term rental regulation. Just think about that for a second. Cleveland's a city that Lakewood residents moved to or move away from. You see what I'm saying here. We moved to Lakewood to get away from Cleveland. A lot of us have. Cleveland's next door, and we're a city that's better in almost every measurable quality of life standard. Cleveland looks at this problem, looked at all the evidence, and they acted decisively. 11 to 1, they acted. The only person that voted against it owned an Airbnb. Just trying to figure out what we're doing here. We're supposed to be Cleveland's Cambridge. Speaking of Cambridge, I had a short stay in Cambridge. I was doing a shoot up there. They have a short-term rental regulation. You can't operate an Airbnb for under 28 days unless you live in it, and you must officially register with the city. If you violate those terms, you can lose a permit, and you get charged a couple thousand dollars for every listing without the permit. Permits, penalties, we have a problem here. The penalties for nuisance rental owners amount to nothing more than the cost of doing business. A few hundred here, a few hundred there, a summons that might go to court a few years down the road, kick the can. Meanwhile, the community suffers. This council needs to ask what dollar amount actually changes behavior versus what amount simply gets absorbed as overhead by an owner collecting thousands a month. If the penalty is cheaper than compliance, nothing changes. We've seen that. Recently, housing department is publicly acknowledging that landlords are operating illegal rentals without licenses. And the consequence is a politely worded orange sticker on the door asking them to please call. Police call. There's no fine. There's no deadline. There's no teeth. There's no results. There won't be. Nothing's going to happen. My proposal, tonight I'm asking this council to finish the short-term rental ordinance that you began drafting almost a year ago. First, owner occupancy should be required. If you want to operate a short-term rental in Lakewood, you should live there. Shaker Heights did it. Chicago did it. A lot of places did it. Second, no short-term rentals within 1,500 feet of a school. Those places that I mentioned over on Elmwood, Cranford, my house on Delaware Avenue, these are all places. The one over on Elmwood is 500 feet from a school. where they found that assault rifle. This seems like it makes sense. It's an easy thing. Doesn't cost us any money. Third, a three strikes provision tied to the rental permit itself. Three documented nuisance violations, verified police calls, citations, incidents, whatever. The permit's revoked. Not fine revoked. That's the only penalty. It's simply the cost of doing business. Sorry, I lost my words there. This ordinance should be written to protect the community first, not the landlords. That's the bottom line. It's that easy. The only people who lose when this passes are the ones who were never Lakewood residents to begin with.

Thank you. I'm sorry. You hit the time.

I apologize. I got one more thing to say.

I'll let you finish your sentence.

If I were to come to the Board of Zoning and ask to open a Motel 6 on my street, I would get laughed out of the room. How is this any different?

Thank you. Thank you. And I appreciate your advocacy on this issue. I just wanted to, we touched on it earlier, but we talked a lot tonight, so you may, but that when we are working on our council priorities, this is one of them. So the short-term rental, we cannot, We can only have three council members working on legislation at any given time for sunshine laws. So we do have three council members identified with that. And then, you know, as Mayor George alluded to, of working with the various departments. So working with WAB, with the police, on the building department, on working with this. So I imagine that those three, I won't speak for them. And actually, maybe I'll give any of them an opportunity to speak here on this about, next steps, but I would imagine that they will be working on that because that is identified as a main council priority.

Councilman Bullock, did you want to speak?

Yeah, thanks, Madam President, and also thanks to Mr. Artino. A couple points. So first, and this is also, as the council presidents alluded, we're This is a helpful update to one another in a public meeting so that we're publicly noticed. So I've been working on this. And my goal is by July 6, that's our next meeting, to have a draft to propose to introduce. I don't think it's a finished product. I think it's a starting point. hope to do that collaboratively with colleagues and with the administration. Already had the chance to talk to some members of the administration and send another email tonight. Mayor, I've got a communication into one of your staff members, Mr. Story, also talk with you. Not saying we've got the answers, but we're committed to to be getting the ball rolling and starting and then having a thoughtful deliberation. I took notes on some of your points tonight. Some of them were already on my mind, but you brought up another couple of good points. The property on Elmwood I care deeply about because my kids walked to that school. And I did notice there were a bunch of packages and some refuse stored at that property. And it is less than 500 feet probably from the school property. The, you know, I know that we're also seeking to have something that's just not on paper but is feasible to be enforced with not unrealistic amount of expanded city staff or something like that. The point you're making about, What's the remedy or the penalty? If there's a condition that needs to be abated, what's the city's plan for accountability? Because as I'm thinking this through, the billing code is not really designed to compel anything other than compliance. So if the porch is not in repair, you get notices until eventually your porch is in compliance. So the billing code plays a role but may not be the only rule. So there's things to think about like that while also respecting the various departments. So more to come. Full steam ahead may not be as quick as you're hoping for or envisioning, but I think we can commit to getting well on our way prior to August. I do want to note, I had the chance to talk to Mr. Artino in his neighborhood. I met his neighbor who's one of the Airbnb owners. He very cordially and politely attempted to communicate with him. He happened to be in from out of state doing various maintenance things. And the gentleman would not engage or respond at all. So it's not necessarily an indicator of lack of success. But how do we navigate this if there's a property owner who says, I don't care. I'm just going to do what the rules allow. And I'm here occasionally, but not all the time. I think we have to position the city to time effectively, time efficiently, be able to address that circumstance as well. In fairness, your neighbor has successful rental guests, not just unsuccessful ones. But your point, I think, is that Both of those count, including the unsuccessful ones. And when you've got outright crime in a family neighborhood, that needs to be taken seriously and addressed. So that's a partial update. Thank you.

Thank you.

You know, I'd suggest if it hasn't already happened, can have reach out to the other cities that have passed legislation. And using some of those things as a starter template is a good way to at least kick things off. So that's something that council clerks can certainly help pull that information from the other cities. So it's sometimes easier to edit language that already exists than write it from scratch and work with the appropriate departments.

Yeah. Right. Okay. All right. So that's everybody who has signed in to speak. Mr. Brindle, did you want to say anything else? Nope. All right. No one else is here. All right. So that's all public comment announcements from council members. Vice President Baker.

THANK YOU, PRESIDENT KEPPEL. I BELIEVE THAT THERE IS AN OFFICIAL, UNOFFICIAL, OR AN UNOFFICIAL OFFICIAL RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF YOUR BIRTHDAY THAT THE COUNCIL CLERK'S OFFICE PUT TOGETHER. AND SO AT THIS POINT, I WILL SUSPEND THE RULES, WHICH ARE NO RULES, AND HAVE THE COUNCIL CLERK READ THE RESOLUTION THAT WE ALL SIGNED, THE UNOFFICIAL RESOLUTION THAT WE ALL SIGNED.

An officially unofficial resolution to recognize City Council President Sarah Keppel on the occasion of her birthday. Whereas today, June 15th, 2026, marks the birthday of City Council President Sarah Keppel. And whereas the regularly scheduled regular meeting of Council, which takes place on June 15th, 2026, requires that President Sarah Keppel, having reached an age of responsible adulthood, must forgo merriment and celebration to pursue her public service duties. And whereas we, the colleagues of President Sarah Keppel, acknowledge President Keppel's hard work and sacrifice for the good of the people of Lakewood today and every day that she has served on City Council. And whereas knowing President Sarah Keppel as we do, we suspect that President Sarah Keppel does not mind spending her birthday on the dais, that she might actually revel in it. And knowing firsthand her excellent organizational and planning skills, we think it highly likely that she has already observed her birthday to her satisfaction. And whereas nevertheless, being that President Keppel is considered a good friend, a responsive boss, a valued mentor, and a delightful colleague to this body and its staff, we are moved to take a moment from tonight's public meeting to recognize and celebrate President Keppel. Now, therefore, be it resolved by Lakewood City Council THAT THIS COUNCIL WISHES PRESIDENT SARAH KEPPEL A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND WOULD LIKE TO RECOGNIZE THE TALENT, COMMITMENT, PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE THAT PRESIDENT SARAH KEPPEL BRINGS TO HER ROLE AND AS COUNCIL PRESIDENT WHICH ARE OF GREAT BENEFIT TO THE PEOPLE OF LAKEWOOD. AND SECTION 2, THIS RESOLUTION IS PURELY CEREMONIAL IN NATURE AND WAS NOT OFFICIALLY INTRODUCED ON AN AGENDA, VOTED ON OR ASSIGNED A LEGISLATION NUMBER.

So I believe the idea of formation goes to Councilman Bixenstein, and then the clerk's office took over from there and did this. Thank you.

Thanks, Storm.

Thank you so much, you guys. That was so sweet. I really appreciate it, and the little balloon here also. But it's my pleasure to spend my birthday serving with you guys and with all of you.

So thank you. This is really sweet. So thank you very much.

Okay. After that unofficial business, any official announcements from the administration? Nope. All right. With that, no further official business.

Oh, Council Member Streeping. Okay.

Council Member Streeping.

Other than your birthday, there are a couple other things. I mean, is there anything other than my birthday? Yeah. We recognize June 19th as Juneteenth. 621 as Father's Day, also summer solstice falls on the 21st this year. 628 is International Pride Day. And July 4th, before we get together again, is Independence Day. And I believe there's also a celebration going on for summer solstice down in the park that we'll probably all see each other at. Right? Yeah. Okay. That's it. Thank you. Oh, wait. One more. One more. Strawberry moon on the 30th. Full moon. The strawberry moon. Not quite sure why it's the strawberry moon. I'm sure somebody will send me an email and tell me why. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. So no further announcements. Come before council. Without objection, we are adjourned.