County Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good morning. It's February 27th, Friday, 9:30. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all for all. Oh, we're cute today. Yeah, that's okay. They're losing. Commissioner Moore, I am here. Commissioner Gallagher, here. Commissioner Redell here. We have a quorum under resolutions number one invest Oh, I'm sorry. Oops. [laughter] Okay,

we have a proclamation today for

Yes, a proclamation and a presentation. Uh very happy to commemorate the occasion of uh for economic development. And today we have we have Ben Norton from Buckeye Bank. We have Steve Ortner. And u I keep wanting to call you Ted. [laughter] Dave Zunis and uh and uh with us today who are the the people involved in this process. And after I read some of the proclamation, I'll turn it over and you can pick up the ball and and give the rest of the story. I don't want to steal your thunder. You wore a tie today. So whereas since 1988, Absolute Machine Tools, Inc. has served as a trusted supplier of advanced CNC machine tools and automated systems providing the essential technology to keep manufacturers competitive in a demanding global marketplace. Whereas is an 100% employeeowned ESOP since the year 2018. Every investment made by the organization represents a direct commitment to the expertise, integrity, and long-term value of its employee owners, customers, and the local economy. And whereas Absolute Machine Tools has recently purchased a building addition in the city of Lraine plans to add additional square footage project that will double the company's warehouse capacity and significantly reduce reliance on outofstate facilities. Whereas, this expansion project was supported by a Jobs Ohio loan and will result in a creation of more than 10 new positions while retaining over 50 existing jobs, reinforcing the strength of Lorraine County's advancing advancing manufacturing sector. And whereas the project is a testament to the power of

of of regional collaboration between jobs Ohio team NEO one Lorraine County the city of Lraine and Lorraine County to ensure businesses remain and thrive in northeastern Ohio. So now before it resolved the Wayne County Board of Commissioners that we recognize and and and commend Absolute Machine Tools for their continued investment, economic impact, and dedication to the workforce and the citizens of Lorraine County this 27th day of February, 2026. You want to take it, Rob?

Why don't you use the podium? Thank you, commissioners. Um, and congratulations to Absolute Tool. Um, this really began uh back in October of 24 during manufacturing month, which is something that the uh economic development is always involved with here in the county. [snorts] And um during that meeting, one of my colleagues, Brandon Timky, actually uh ran into Dave and had a conversation um came back and was telling me about his meeting with Dave. And at that point, um because it was in my territory, I said, "Well, let's go out and visit." So, called Dave. We set up an appointment. We out uh went out and had a meeting. And that was really the connection on this which led to a formal what we call BR&E business retention and expansion visit uh for the economic development team. So we went in and the connection led to the con uh the consultation which really in the followup you know we go in and we look at the operational plans and the long-term vision of the company and see if there's connections we can make or how we might be able to assist or connect uh a business to resources and that type of thing. Um through that we were able to um gather some information see that they did have a very strategic plan to move forward and were able to make connections um with Dave to the city of Lraine uh one Lorraine County and eventually team Neo and Jobs Ohio which led to the outcome obviously of the uh project launch. uh and the coordinate effort provided the necessary framework and resources uh to greenlight the absolute uh machine and tools growth

and expansion plans. And uh this is often how we work behind the scenes. People don't really know but a lot of times you know uh I had an experience this last month where I was out and just knocked on a business door. Um, we ended up finding out the businesses uh needed some resources, just had a gap uh to be able to do an expansion and now it looks like they're also going to be able to do an expansion within our county uh rather than take their business out east, which is what they were looking at doing. So, congratulations, Dave, Steve, and uh we're excited about this project. It's exciting to drive by, see that new uh building up, and know that jobs are going to be here in Lorraine County.

Thank you. Thank Steve. Did you want to Did you want to make a comment? Please do. And Steve, state your name and address, please.

Yeah. [clears throat] I'm Steve Ortner, president of Absolute Machine Tools and um we've been here 37 38 years now. Uh started out with two people. We're currently around 60 65. Um, it's been a pleasure working with everybody here at the county. Team Neo, um, Jobs Ohio, City of Lraine, we appreciate it. Uh, couldn't have done it without you. Buckeye Bank, our local uh, Lorraine County Bank only, uh, did the financing and we couldn't have done it without everybody's help. We appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you, Ben. [clears throat]

Good morning, commissioners. I'm Ben Norton, president and CEO of Buckeye Community Bank. Um, Buckeye Community Bank was thrilled to be invited by Steve Ortner and the Absolute Machine team to assist them to h to create 11 new jobs and retain 53 jobs in Lorraine County. Um, we were and this was a collaboration between the economic development teams and I had to make a list of all the economic development teams that were involved. Jobs Ohio, Team Neo, One Lorraine County, Lorraine County, and the city of Lraine. That collaboration was phenomenal. Buckeye Community Bank's team with the experience with working with these government agencies was frictionless. A lot could be learned of how government agencies and the public private partnership can work from the experience that we had. We felt the synergies within this collaboration and look forward to working together on future projects with all the economic development teams to help create business opportunities and jobs and strengthen the to strengthen the local community. Um, and Steve, thank you for the plug. Yes, Buckeye Community Bank is the only community bank in Lorraine County and headquartered the only bank headquartered in Lraine County. And um we're we're thrilled to uh to see Lorraine County thrive. And we feel that when Lorraine County thrive when Lorraine County thrives um the the communities are strengthened and um it just Lorraine County continues to be a desirable place to do business and to live. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks Ben. We're going to bring Ann up and we'll take photo. Want to do a photo? Yes. Okay. Guys, come on up. [clears throat] Ben's right here.

Didn't know I was going to piss off. Thanks, guys.

See if get a picture of that proclamation before she leaves. They leave. [clears throat and cough] Oh, yeah. Ann, hold on one sec. Probably should have included. Okay. No, that's okay.

All right. Ready to go to resolutions? Yes. Number one, investments. Vote to approve. Second discussion. Commissioner Moore. I. Mr. Roell. I. Mr. Gallagher. I. Number two, appropriations. Move to approve. Second discussion. Mr. Moore. Hi. Mr. Gallagher. Hi. Commissioner Mell. Hi. Number three. There are no transfers. Number four, there are no advances or repayments. Number five, requisitions.

We have two pages today. Looks like two and a half. Oh, page two. Move to approve. Second discussion. Commissioner Moore. I. Mr. Gallagher. I. Commissioner Mell. I. There is no travel. Number seven bills.

We have six pages today. Page two. Page three. Page four. Page five, please. and page six. Move to approve pages one through six. Second discussion. Commissioner Gallagher I. Commissioner Dell

I. Commissioner Moore I. And we're not going to have uh exec today. So we'll save you for reading all that. All right. Was there any I don't Was there anything? Yeah, we have one. William Zimmerman. Um just to give you come on up, Mr. Zimmerman, I just give you a heads up. If you want to talk about item 16, that's fine. Number 15, we are pulling that from the the agenda, but you can still talk about it. I'm just letting you know that we'll be removing that from the agenda. Number six, number 15, we're removing being tabled. It's being it's just being removed until 45 days after number 14. So, you may want to talk about it still since you So, it's a frame issue. Correct. Okay. So,

thank you, William Zimmerman, Avon Lake. So, one of my questions in 15 was it seemed very vague to me in regards to these parcels and where this could be done and stuff like that. I I don't understand that. And was there a map that correlated these places or was it still just the whole county so that that the unincorporated areas and so I'm trying to understand that. That was the point of why I wanted to discuss some of this. Okay. When we get to it, we'll try to answer it. Okay.

Thank you. So my other issue then becomes the domestic relations. So you've hired the law firm for a second time now, I believe, to represent y'all in another suit that was put together by budget people because they're saying we want our full budget. Am I correct, incorrect on that? I'm trying to understand that because from what I hear, there might be more people adding on to suing the commissioners in regards to getting their full budget that they wanted to have. So, I'm just trying to understand those items. I appreciate your time this morning. Okay. Thank you. That is it on public comment on agenda items.

On agenda items. So, number C, old business. See? No, we don't have any. Okay. Board of business. Number nine, approve way the reading of the county commissioner's meeting minutes of February 24th. Move to approve. Second. Discussion. Mr. Moore. I. Mr. Gallagher. I. Commissioner Mell. I. 10. Authorize appointment of Chelsea Freeman and reappoint Mark Adams to the Ohio Trust Children's Trust Fund Regional Council effective February 27th to 26 through February 26 of 2028. Move to approve. Second. Discussion.

Yeah. I'd just like to say these are two very fine people working in the county and glad to see them in there especially with Mark getting ready to retire. Anything further? Mr. Gallagher I Mr. Moore hi Mr. Fell I number 11 adjust siler Lraine municipal court employees which reflects the county's two-fifth share for longevity effective retroactive to February 1st of 26 one Bianca Viller baift new week by rate is $1,34361 and two Peter Torres baift new bi-weekly rate of $1,195.37

moved second discussion yes uh for the public this is these kinds of things appear about five or six times. The the county has a responsibility according to statute for two-fifths of the cost of the municipal court employees and and we do not control those salaries. We do not control the the amount of money. We have a statutory obligation to pay two-fifths of whatever the court deems that its its uh needs and expenses are. Thank you, Mr. Mell. I, Mr. Moore. Hi, Mr. Gallagher. Hi.

Number 12. Establish a public defender commission in Lorraine County in accordance with the Ohio Rice Code 120.13. Yep. We um Okay. I do um I want to add the members. Is this where we add the members? If I make the motion. Yes. That's when we do it now, right? You can put it on the floor first. Right. Right. And then discussion and then add then we'll add them. Okay. I'll move to approve. Second discussion.

Okay. the uh confusion in regards to our um establishing the public defenders board. If you may have, some of you are actually following this. Um, we formed the board. There's a communication uh breakdown between what a board can do and what can who can serve and who cannot serve. And it seemed that the u if you're involved with the government like the judges u judge Cook appointed two members. One was a judge wasn't allowed to this board even between ourselves were misinformed on the definitions of a board versus a commission. So what we did is we tabled it. We're coming back to the table and we are forming a commission today. That commission will then come back to this board and we'll decide at that point on whether or not to form a public defenders board and and get the ball rolling in regards to that. So what we did is we had um the commissioners get to appoint three and u I believe the judge gets to appoint two. So, we had to revisit the appointments. Uh what we learned uh yesterday was one of our appointments, even though we had two attorneys on from the judges, we had to have one of ours had to be a judge. And so, the appointment that we had, we had to uh remove. Uh and I kind of feel bad. I've been trying to reach out to her to ask her, you know, hey, to at least inform her that we'll have to bump her for a lawyer. Um, her name was Amber uh Bronnish and she is an advocate and a volunteer of wrongfully charged persons. She's worked with the retired judge Josea and she's worked with the chief of police in regards to her mother's case and the Ohio Innocence Project. I thought she'd

be an excellent member to work with the uh public defenders. So, um unfortunately I told I sent her a text saying look at if uh the other two individuals that are on there decide to step down, she'll be next in line. So when we started doing this, we are looking at adding uh judge the the judges said they wanted Judge Gary Bennett on this board and attorney Zachary Simonoff on this board. If you remember um he did come in here and protested uh in regards against it. So I think that would be a good addition to have some people that are for it and some people that are not for it. So I think this is going to be uh an interesting board

commission. Thank you. This is why we have our pro, you know. Um another member I'm going to go into is in the audience today is uh Mark Ballard. Uh Mark Ballard has been I I talked to him. I said, "Hey, would you be interested in this?" And he started to share with me some of the stories in his community in regards to how indigent fees and the attorneys treat with people within his community. And I asked him then, you know, would you be willing to serve? And he said yes. And I'm glad with all the all the uh anxieties and pressure that he's under right now with the Lorraine budget cuts on the school board. I do appreciate you stepping up and helping our community out as a whole. And I'm going to throw this at you right now. I'd like to make you um chairman of this commission. [laughter] I thought that looked like a yes to you. So, thank you. I appreciate you serving as chairman. So,

well earned. Yeah. Well, um I just appreciate all the work you've done in the community and I think you'll be a very strong addition [clears throat] cuz I was looking at this financially through the eyes of the finances and these this next individual uh a couple of more people like yourself was looking at through the eyes of the service that people need and are not getting. And so I'm looking forward to see, you know, the work that you're going to do. So the attorney that we had to replace or we with uh Amber was Brian Lee. I think you mentioned Brian would be willing to serve. We have an application on him. He also serves on the Line County Port.

Very good uh participation.

Yeah. And then the uh the last one's probably going to, you know, freak everybody out. Uh if you were following us for the last five, six years, this last individual I would say has been probably the most one of the most hostile public speakers against this board. And you would think that uh you wouldn't think about this that we do this, but his name is Aiden Fogle, the fifth member to the board. Um Aiden and I have uh had several discussions even though we um have had some heated discussions in public and behind the scenes, but he made interesting cases and documentation of people within the system that are not being represented properly. And I thought maybe his addition would be a good addition in order to have um those discussions. Again, I start I got stacks of paper that I'll be handing out. I was working on this for a year. It's about this thick of all the documentation of how much money people are making off this system. Total of 4.8 million. And we were looking at 20% of that was coming from or 20% was coming from the general fund and the rest was coming from the state of Ohio. Not knowing what's going on in the state of Ohio in the next year or two. We're kind of trying to be proactive because in the past they've gone as low as 50% reimbursement. And so we're trying to be proactive on that in order to I was looking at it more as a financial end. But when I when we first went public with this, what I didn't anticipate is um Mr. Ballard reaching out to me, Aiden Fogle reaching out to me and saying, "Look at um these our communities are not being represented fairly. We feel that a public defender's office is needed." So I'll be looking forward to hear what these reports are. And since I threw this at Mark kind of, you know, in the public arena like that, um really the job is going to be I need someone to be point to at least not let this thing die on the vine, which is a

lot of times this happens when you got people that don't want this program, they'll they'll have a meeting once a quarter and then after two years it just sits and dies. So, I'm hoping with your um involvement and leadership skills that you'll be able to at least move this along and whether it comes to fruition or not, that will be up to the commission to present back to this board. So, so those are the five individual board members that will be that I'm putting out there that we've talked to. again. You I wish Amber was really excited about serving, especially with what's going on with her mother, Nancy Smith, but maybe if you know, if something happens, we can add her back on later. So, does anybody else have anything to add or you want to good?

No, well said. Well, I don't know about that, but Okay, Amy or Teresa, sorry I called you Amy. That's okay. Okay. We're a team. We'll work together. Okay. [laughter] Um, so would you like to amend your motion and second to include those names in there now? Yeah, I'll amend my motion to include the five individuals mentioned in the discussion. And that was that's my amendment. I need a motion. So I need a second. Commissioner Redell had second before. Okay. I second the amendment. Commissioner Moore. Hi. Commissioner Redell. Hi. Commissioner Gallagher. Hi. You want to make a motion to do it all together? Yep. Mr. Moore, hi. Mr. Redell, hi. Mr. Gallagher,

I thanks Mark. What else you have on your plate? Right. Number 13, appoint Christina Kiki as a member to the Mars board effective February 27, 2026 through June 30th, 27 billing on expired term of Robert Stite. So moved. Second discussion. Commissioner Gallagher. Hi. Commissioner Dell. I. Commissioner Moore. I community development 14 authorized county commissioners of Lurine County to issue notification of the creation of a tax increment financing upon sandstone commercial parcels located in Amherst Township to respective township trustees and board of educations. So moved second discussion.

Yes. Did you want to address that? Uh Don Rob will. Rob will. Okay.

Yes. Basically, all we're asking today is permission to deliver these documents to both the schools and the townships, which we've already had discussions with. Um, the creation of the TIFF uh like we said, doesn't come for 45 days after they've reviewed these documents. Um, the good thing about uh this tiff is it keeps the schools whole. Uh, so they'll be made whole in this. So, they're pretty excited about it. They get no students off this commercial, but they do get revenue off of it. And this will also help us with the spline road, which if you remember, we we were kind of required to do because the state required us to put this road in because of where it was in this development, the sandstone development, uh which typically we don't fund roads like that, but we had to for this. And the expenses were a bit higher uh because of the timing of when it went in. So this will give us add additional revenues to help pay off that road.

Anything further? And just for the record, that new spline road, does it have a name yet? Sandstone. Sandstone Parkway. There we go. And I and I I saw yesterday for the first time I saw cars coming out of that onto Route 58. So the world is learning that that road is complete. Yes. Anything further? Mr. Mell, I. Mr. Gallagher, I. Commissioner Moore, I. And number 15. Yeah. Do we have to We just have to tell everybody we're removing it. Correct. We have to make a motion. Y um Rob, could you answer uh Mr. Zimmerman had a question regards to the map and whether it was

Could you address that? Yes, there is a map. All those uh are defined within that 40 acres that are are within that sandstone development. Uh they are 40 acre they number 15. Yes. Okay. Okay. Yes. That was the 40 acres that was originally set aside for commercial development. That's not the whole county. No. Okay. No, it's specific to that 40 acres. Okay. Well, if he has any more questions, he can ask after. Yes. And specifically, it's the 40 acres bordering uh Route 58. Route 58. Yes. Yep. Okay. Thanks.

Okay. Uh domestic relations 16. Line County Board of Commissioners retaining law firm of Wicens Hersza Pansento serve as legal counsel for Lorraine County Domestic Relations Court and Juvenile Court relating to Lraine County Domestic Relations Court and Juvenile Court 26 budget order. So moved. Second. Discussion. Discussion. Judge. Did I see Judge out there in the in the crowd?

Good morning, commissioners. Uh, bring with me Emily Kersh, our court administrator. I'm Judge Lisa Swinsky. Uh, Mr. Zimmerman or whoever had those questions, if you want them answered afterward, I can definitely answer them. Uh, we just have a short statement about um the fact that we need to hire counsel uh because the commissioners have hired counsel and we're going to have to litigate and spend a lot of money and we had hoped that we would not have to do that. So, um, Miss Kersh, good morning, commissioners. Morning. Morning.

Um on behalf of Judge Swinsky, Judge Sher Glass, and Judge Janick, I'm Emily Kersh, um the court administrator. So, the judges have requested this budget item after learning that the commissioners were seeking to retain counsel relating to the court's budget 2026 order, and that happened at the December 19th meeting. Um it wasn't until mid January that the court learned um after it was finally able to get access to the allocated funds for the 2026 budget that Turning Point shelter was allocated $0. Um so as a result of that, Turning Point Shelter is closing tomorrow. Um and the court is requesting council to explore legal legal options regarding the commissioner's um not following the court order.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. The court order was applied was ordered Oh, you don't have to. You're fine. Thank you for coming in. The court order was done before the budget number one. So the court order was done prior. We passed the budget and we had $7 million we had to cut and we were looking at mandated and unmand unmandated services. We retained a law firm to help us guide us through the fact that um is it mandated and is it not? We advised the auditor with a a letter to say that that order is pretty much uh since it was prior to us passing the budget really didn't apply. Um, I think now that you guys are moving forward with legal, I like the email that said we don't want to waste general fund money and you got lawyers that are you got three judges. Each judge has three lawyers that are magistrates. You got a total of what 12 13 lawyers. I don't know. But um the fact the fact is this. I'm going to support voting for this because I was advised by legal our legal that if we did not it would uh be unfair for you guys not to have representation and this representation has nothing to do with I think Mr. Zimmerman mentioned that the sheriff also hired the same law firm. So, I expect, as I said in my last meeting, due to the sales tax not passing, that there was $11 million shortfall, everybody cut 4 million out and left the other 7 million up to us to make those decisions. And so, we looked at those programs that were not mandated by the state of Ohio. If we go to court, which we looks like we're going to now, and we lose, then that million dollars is going to have to come from somewhere else because it isn't there. So, that's my I

don't know if you want to add anything else. Commissioners,

I'd like I'd like to add that the uh we did have since January, we had about uh four or five weeks of of strong negotiations. Uh we we tried six places to look for the additional money. we we were able to get out of uh jobs and family services. Uh the shelter did qualify for TANF funds, which is temporary assistance for needy families. Um, and we we had asked that we take a look at the uh at the budget for uh Turning Point itself because it's it serves, you know, apparently uh 100 or less uh very needy kids who need temporary shelter while their families sort out other issues. But it's about it was a $900,000 program plus about $125,000 was put in by children's services. So that makes it about a million-doll program for a relatively small headcount. So we'd ask that they take a look at economies there as well as economies from the domestic relations court itself uh to see if there was some savings that they could make and and transfer over. So but the only one that was able to come to the table was uh jobs and family services evidently and the uh it's it's a business decision by the court. They manage the program. I would have liked to have seen that $200,000 keep the shelter open for another 90 days. Uh that wasn't the that wasn't the uh the decision of the court. We we regret that. Um but as the commissioner said, you know, we hopefully we can negotiate this between lawyers and we'll we'll be able to do it. But we retained counsel because it was an area of the law that we were not familiar with. And when you when you disagree with a court order, it's generally called contempt of court. But there are some ex exceptions in the statute that indicate if we [clears throat] don't have the money or

if the or if the request is unreasonable that we can moderate the the request from the court. So, I'm hoping that our council, the county prosecutor uh and the uh outside council will be able to uh we'll be able to uh uh form a three-way conversation and we can negotiate something. But any dollar that goes to the to this project or to the additional to the court will have to come out from another part of the county. And at this point it would be the the court would be the only department or elected office that has not reduced their budget in response to the taxpayers bringing down the uh bringing down the sale not renewing the sales tax uh back in November. So uh we were hoping to get cooperation. you know, we we were trying to avoid the opportunity where somebody's going to, you know, get money and somebody else is going to have to have to give up money. We're try we tried not to make choices based on all or none. We tried to get everybody to take a reasonable piece of the budget shortfall. So, that's that's our background and I I wish the lawyers good luck in their deliberations. I hope that we don't have to litigate this. I hope we can just find some common ground and and move forward.

So, negotiate. So, I don't want to get into back and forth here. We're now obviously going to court. I just want to straighten out a couple things that Mr. Moore has said and continues to say. That budget was not ordered until we came here and there was a public record of all three judges being here. You guys said you loved the budget. We went with our 2025 numbers. We had already cut where we could cut. We did not replace where we didn't have to replace. We adjusted things. You said great. Commissioner Moore said great. I wish everybody goes with their 2025 budget. We waited four weeks to order the budget, which is something that we always do. General division does it. We do it. Everybody does it. You don't even have the courtesy to tell us that you disagreed with our budget. You went and hired a lawyer and the way we found out about it was it was on the agenda. You didn't even have the courtesy or good faith to tell us that you disagreed with it. We could have worked with you, but in four weeks you wanted us to undo a program that serves this community. You wanted us to go lean on children's services to somehow magically come up with $500,000. Nobody has that money. Commissioners, you have that money. The court ordered the budget. Then out of good faith, we tried to work with you even after you violated the court order. We did what we could. You didn't even tell us that you pulled the money from Turning Point. Just like the sheriff, we found out about it when we looked in our account. You didn't say, "Hey, by the way, we're not going to fund Turning Point, so you better start looking for something." We can't just set up memorandums of understanding with eight different agencies and organizations. We actually have jobs. We don't have an extra 30 hours a week, but she did the best she could. We tried to reconfigure this in three weeks. And instead of just funding us this year and saying, "You know what? Next year, forget it. You're not getting

a dime. Now you take the money that we saved you and you're using it for attorneys and now we have to hire attorneys. We don't have attorneys represent us. Lawyers don't represent themselves. We don't do that.

We we think turning point, whatever you want to call it, mandatory, necessary, reasonable. We know what the law is. We think the court will side with us. At the very least, the court will be shocked at the bad faith way that this commission treated this court. We [applause] came to you we came to you in good faith. We've always been fiscally conservative. We I became a judge at a time when the finances were were awful. We treat it like it's our own money. But you guys, you have these ideas that you have no grounds for, no evidence for, and then you make decisions based upon them. Public defenders commission, that's great, Mr. Valard. I hope that we have a public defenders commission as a judge because I know the quality may be better, but it sure as hell is not going to be cheaper. It is not going to be cheaper than what the public defenders office reimbures because we will need experts. They'll need investigators. They're going to need secretaries. It's going to be a whole another bureaucracy up on that fifth floor. So, I didn't want to get into it. But I tell you, I Mr. Moore, you said you were offended by us ordering our budget. You had been on this commission before, you know, we ordered the budget.

But what I'm offended by is that we did everything we could. We chased our tails for four weeks. She and my deputy court administrator did nothing but try to set find money. We're not in the business of raising money. How do I go to Nord Foundation as a judge and say, "I need some money in return for what?" Judges don't do that for a good reason because it puts us and it puts the other person in a bad spot. Who wants to say no? And and so now you taking the money we saved you and you're hiring lawyers. Great. Great. Just like the sheriff had to do, now we have to do it. And I I don't know where you learned your business practices. I really don't. But this is not the way I was in private business. This is not the way you treat partners. This is not what you do. And I'm not going to stand up here and and listen to, let's call it, inaccuracies. So, Mr. Vau, I appreciate everything you have done. That would have been great if we could have worked that out over the course of six months or a year, but to give us no notice and then to have us just chasing our tail for three weeks. Nobody in this county has that money except the commissioners. It's not my fault the levy didn't fail. I mean, it's not my fault the levy failed. It's not the the people of Lraine County. I don't know what the percentage of voting was, but your commissioners, your job is to lead. Your job is to gather input from people and to make decisions based upon evidence, not just ideas that you might have somewhere.

So, I don't know. I I have a comment here, too. Um, I don't know who it is, but it [clears throat] it is sad we're at this point. It's sad we're at this point. I'd like to sit down at a table and and I'm available, but but here hear me out, please. Um, your your honor, it came down to it came down to I'm I'm fairly new in this position and I'm learning my ways, but you guys could have said, "Hey guys, we haven't heard anything. We're going to we're going to we're going to file the the order." In my opinion, it goes both ways there. I You told us you loved it. We waited three weeks.

You're right. But we also had people after you. And that budget was not to be determined until we got everybody together. And by getting everybody together, we're like, "Oh, we need six or seven more million dollars." We took a $2 million cut ourselves. So So the thing is in in expenses, you know what? We're all looking for costsaving things. I'm not out in the public saying where the cost savings that I'm working on because I don't like it. I'm not that guy. So the thing is is we're out there working hard diligently. This is a part-time job. We're all putting in 40 plus hours a week, right? I can tell you that. And

and I appreciate that, Commissioner Gallagher. I know you're new and I am giving you all benefit of the doubt and I've worked with Mr. with Mr. Adell, but what I'm saying is if you would have come to us and said, you know, we're not going to fund Turning Point. If you would have given us a clue, how we found out about it was my fiscal person happened to look in the account and saw zero. I can't do it $200,000 at a time. Commissioner Redell, do you think if we could, we wouldn't, we would. We have already borrowed from other accounts to keep it open until tomorrow.

We we are searching for ways to find money for the programs. We support the program. It's not anything with cutting it because we want to cut it. It's we're looking at the mandated things in that the Ohio Revised Code has. And if we can if we don't have the funds for that, the other ones have to go. And that's where we're at. Unfortunately, the tax did not pass. That's unfortunate. Maybe it comes up on another ballot this coming fall so we can fund these programs. I'm a big believer in social services. Just so you know, my daughter's a social. I do know that, Commissioner Gallagher. That's why I specifically left you out of this. I just

I just think that this was a big miscommunication that's going to result in hundreds of thousands of dollars. They don't bill at courtappointed rates. The private lawyers who fight each other, they bill $300, $400 an hour. Now I have one. You have one. Maybe Emily needs a different one. I don't know. So, all that money that we that we saved is going to go to attorneys. And all you had to do was just say, "This isn't working. Let's figure this out." Instead of just undercutting every single time, Commissioner Redell called Judge Janick the day before and said, "Don't worry about it. We're going to cover your budget." No, it wasn't covered. And so, I'm sorry. I realize you have your job, and I don't mean to get in a back and forth as a judge. I'm not supposed to, but I can't sit up here and let that narrative stay. We have done everything we can. Some of the other judges think that we're actually degrading ourselves, that we're we're running around with our heads cut off trying to satisfy you because, as you said, you instructed us to do some things. We've been a good partner all the time. Doesn't matter political parties, doesn't none of that matters. We have always tried to do what's best for the taxpayers, but I have a job to the children of this county, to the juveniles of this county, to the families who are getting divorced and in the middle of custody cases to abuse, neglect, and dependency. And that turning point was important. And now I'm going to be looking at putting a 12-year-old or an 11year-old in the DH for a kid who's already been traumatized as most of these kids have trauma. And then they're going to be locked up.

Judge. Judge. To save $700,000. Judge. Oh, are we No, I think I think I think I think we're good. I think we're good. Thanks. Thanks. [applause] Anything else? Anything else? No. Anything else? No. Good. Okay. Call it. Commissioner Redell. Hi. Mr. Gallagher. Hi. Commissioner Moore I county ad ministers. Okay. Thanks clerk. You anything? Nothing? No correspondence. Move to wave the reading of the board correspondents.

Second discussion. Mr. Moore. Hi. Mr. Redell. Hi. Mr. Gallagher. Hi. Is there any new business? No. No. Um, I don't think so. Did you say you don't think so?

No, there just if we want probably should brought up under old business, but for those that are watching the uh two two of the of the of the [snorts] projects that we funded with some ARPA dollars over the last year and a half are closing out this year. And uh for those that want to go see the progress, the uh the new facility at Rocking on the River is going to be topping out next week on Wednesday or Thursday. They look to have a public announcement based on the weather. They're going to be putting up the pavilion, the new pavilion that will be the benchmark of the project. Also, I I found that uh I've been notified that the go-kart facility uh which is is intended to be a a good tourism draw uh is on schedule and will be opening in May, but that site is also able to be seen and uh so you can see your ARPA dollars that went to work for permanent uh good of the county.

Y I appreciate uh Mark Ballard coming in. He uh wasn't coming in for that moment. um he has even a worse job as a school board member and uh um so they had their marching orders to get out and back into the community with all the electeds on every level. That's what he told me. So that's why he's here really um to try to start looking at ways to fund the schools. You know, we had a $7 million shortfall. I think you said $18 million is what your shortfall is. And you're not the only one. Um, the Chronicle did an editorial pretty much shredding us on the sales tax. Why should we bring it up? Schools bring it up almost every every time there's a levy. When it fails, they try again. When it fails, they try again. Uh, we're going to start looking at the sales tax again. I don't know if the three of us will be able to uh discuss that uh whether or not it's appropriate. I think it's appropriate this time because I believe that um the people said no, they are being taxed enough. But hopefully since only one other than the three of us, only one other elected or two other elected officials came out and supported that sheriff that the sheriff having his own revenue stream. Maybe the other um 12 will now step up and help support the funding of the county. If they're unhappy with how things are being funded, all the elect all the elected officials, then maybe you can help us step up and see if we can fund it through a an additional sales tax. If not, as we move forward this year after our first quarter, we'll start presenting the budget on a probably either a monthly basis or a quarterly basis. We're looking at it right now. We're going to start looking at everybody's elected officials, how many people do they have employed, what are the salaries, what are the expenses, and we'll be matching that up with what we

passed December 19th. So, this isn't going to be where we all wait until August and we pass a temporary bud or a temporary or whatever it's called, the tax a tax budget to tell the state of Ohio, here's what we're thinking. And then in December, we have to pass the the actual budget, which I said is a living document. It will be changing for the better, for the worse depending on the revenue that we do get as a county. And we'll we'll have those numbers hopefully by April. And we're going to start looking at it. And Casey's probably going to be the one that's going to be doing a lot of the work. But we're going to be start showing everybody on a monthly basis where everybody is spending, what they're spending, and how much they're spending. Are we on track or are we going to be short? And so that's just to give you a heads up. Um, I mentioned the uh sales tax at a meeting and I mentioned the seven districts and the only reason why I mentioned those two things is because the sales tax people were complaining about the cuts and the seven districts was people were complaining about representation. Well, that's why I brought it up. And if we don't see a ground swell for support for either one, uh, then you probably won't see it on the ballot. But if people continue to say we want we need more money, then they need to be going out in the public arena and telling people why they need their money. just like the judge just did. That was passionate and that's what the public needs to see and the public needs to hear. And so that's my only comment. I think the sales tax will probably be revisited and it will give everybody a chance to go out in the public arena and tell everybody why they'd like to see that increase. So that was just my, you know, I guess bring it up on a new business because we're probably going to be discussing the next three to four months. So

yeah, sorry we lost the judge. She she left. Oh, did you leave? Okay.

Yeah, but the uh all I could say is that this is what budget cuts look like. It's never any fun. The tax was was repealed in 2020. So, effectively, we've been working with less money except for ARPA. We're now living on a 2020 budget plus inflation with a little bit of inflation in the taxes, but we're trying but we're we're not going to have a debate. You're going to get your chance to make public comment and I'm making mine. So, at the end of the day, we're running a 2026 with 2026 expenses and costs operation on a 2020 budget plus a little bit of inflation. That means the cuts had to be made. And while everybody did come forward and make some voluntary cuts, they weren't enough to get us where we had to go. and and obviously we expected that voluntary cuts would be just that, places where we could cut without much pain. The other six or seven million we knew were going to be painful and we said that for over a year that this is going to hurt. Not everybody understood what that meant. I apologize, but at the end of the day, those cuts were made and they and they were out and they were recorded in December and so everybody everybody would have the opportunity to to do what they could to get get to get ready for 26. Uh I know that government comes back and it's always more more, you know, more money for wages, more money for for more people, those kinds of things. And the public said uh actually 7030. The judge is in here, but the tax went down 7030. It did not pass in one precinct in Lorraine County. So that pretty much

tells the commissioners you have to live with the money you have. And that's what we're trying to do. And so we don't like it. There's no manual for it. It's it, you know, everybody teaches you how to grow a business, how to how to grow a department, how to grow service. Nobody teaches you how to shrink it and cut it. And nobody certainly teaches you how to d how to shrink it without without having controversy or disagreement. So, we'll get through this because we always have and hopefully out of it will come some kind of a solution. Maybe it'll be a combination of some new money. Maybe it'll be some permanent shrinking of things. But at the end of the day, we can't spend money we don't have. Only Washington can print money. We can't do that. So, I thank everybody for their patience. And we're going to need a little bit more to get through the next 30, 60 days as we sort the rest of this out. And yes, working into 27 where people expect to have wage increases in 27 and hospitalization costs go up. If the revenue doesn't go up commensurate with that, it'll be more painful in 27 than it is in 26. So,

this is why we're looking at that's why we're looking at what we're looking at. That's why we're doing what we're doing now. Okay. Thank you. I I have a little bit of a comment. Um, one of the things is is

uh you hear about some of the economyy's doing better and picking up and all that. Well, we have the lowest sales tax in the state of Ohio. In a city or a county our size, we are we are significantly different in sales tax. And now I'm not advocating for more taxes by all means. I don't want them just like anyone else. But the difference is is that these budgets are based on money coming in from from different taxes. And you know, and there's that proposed law or that they're going to propose a law to eliminate taxes. the sales taxes will skyrocket through the roof. But the thing is is we all have to, and I've said it before, we have to hunker down. We have to watch our budgets. We got to find ways to save money. If it's not essential, we have to start cutting back. And that's where we're at. Um, it's not fun. It's not easy. I don't want to do this. I don't want you guys coming in here yelling at us. And, uh, you know, I I it just comes down to is we have to do what we have to do. And if you can help, there's other ways. We're trying to find ways to to save programs that are non-essential and we'll do that. Um, we'll sit down. I sit down with many agencies to help them. Hey, can we do this? We're looking for grants. We're looking for all different means of money to help these agencies, but we can't do it alone. Got to make the hard cuts. Unfortunately, we got to do it. It's uh, you know, I'm a business person and I I can't deficit spend that. You know, I can't write a check out of my checkbook that doesn't have money in it. the bank will take it say no and it'll bounce it and that's where we're at in the government. We don't have the money. Thank you.

Public comment. Uh is it Tyler Brickman?

Good morning. Good morning, Tyler.

Sorry, tall. Got to bend down for this. Give me a second. I got to pull this up. I'm speaking on behalf of somebody else. So, my name is Tyler. I'm from Vermilion. I've been up here. I was up here earlier this week. And uh Marty, I want to say thank you for looking at me in the eyes. Appreciate that. You're a real man for doing that. Um I don't know about you guys though. So um so by the way, how about progressive taxes so that the wealthy can pay their share and not, you know, put it on the poor people like us. So um unreasonable demands echo in my ears as I write this and it's a dang shame. Uh, I'll replace the bad words for y'all for your ears. It's a dang shame that individuals elected by the people aren't even for the people and have the audacity to lie to their community about their expectations of what an unreasonable demand is. But yet sit up there before your community making a six figure salaries working part-time. Y'all are talking about working 40 hours, y'all. That's what we do every week and we can't pay our bills. Okay, so here we are and we're going to keep being here until we can pay our bills. So, um, y'all hired a lady that makes $88 an hour. Okay, that's four times what I make to work on that video y'all made for us. What we are asking for is chump change compared to you guys. A fourth of her salary could pay one of us. Sorry, I'm just trying to get through this. It's unreasonable. make it make sense. I want to leave off here with a term I'm sure you don't all hear often, which is statesmanship. We as your employees can't respect you when we can't be respected or even get all of you to bargain in good faith. A statesman is by definition one versed in principles or art of government, especially one actively engaged in conducting the business of government or in shaping its policies. A wise,

skillful, and respected political leader. I encourage you all with the time left here as a Lraine County Commissioners to return to the B bargaining table and study what it is to be a statesman. That's that's all. Okay. Thank you. For the record, Tyler. Yes, sir. I was taking notes on what every individual Tuesday who spoke and I unfortunately I have to look at the paper when I write. So, I wasn't being disrespectful. I was trying to take notes in case someone came back again, I would know who said what and what they wanted, which is what we pretty much do. We write down your stuff. Thank you. So, okay. Thanks, Tyler. You're welcome, Tyler. [snorts] Okay.

Mr. Love Mr. Lovejoy, Otis Lovejoy of Valyria. Uh, commissioners, I come up here time after time and I plead to you guys and I ask you to uh, understand what we're going through and put yourself in our shoes when it comes to finances and what we have to live off of. Today, I listened to you talk about compassion and coming up here and pleading with compassion. We do that day after day. You don't hear us. We come in here, we do these jobs, we do them to the best of our ability. Every day in our job, we listen to people cuss us out and demean us. These are the same people we're trying to help. This is the same community, but we do it because we have a a greater purpose in what we do. We do it because we know there are people out there who do appreciate it and and they understand that we're there to help them. But the thing is, when we do these jobs and then we have to listen to our bosses tell us how our production isn't where they want it to be and we got our own stresses that we're going through day in and day out. We're still wondering where we're going to feed our kids. We're still wondering, you know, about the medical that went up that you know what, Timmy needs to go to the emergency room, but I can't afford that deductible. We have to b battle with that stuff day in and day out while we're still trying to service the people who insult us. And then we also got to listen to the pressures from our bosses. Everything falls on our shoulders, but no one is there for us when we need the help. No one is there when we need the support. Like you said, how everything is going up. You guys mentioned that today. The one thing that's not going up is our pay. Every year we make less than we did the year before. That is not right. And

the thing is, I want you guys to think about this. At one point, your terms are going to be up. Somebody else is going to be in those seats. At the end, what is your legacy going to be? Because right now, all I hear is all these different departments trying to sue you guys and talking about mismanagement of funds. If you were happy with what you did yesterday, that's fine. But you need to look deep down and find out if there's something you can do to change things. Change the way the public looks at you and change the way that you know what some we got to be honest with ourselves. Maybe change the way you look at yourself. And uh with that being said, I hate to do this, but um the the the company uh that you guys spoke with earlier, the uh Steve, I don't know if you're in here anymore. I'm going to be looking for a new job. So, um, if you're looking for a design engineer, draftsman, let me know cuz I can't afford to stay where I'm at.

Okay. Thank you. [applause]

Sander Jensen, Sandra Jensen, 617 Lafayette Boulevard. I'm very sorry my phone went off. Um, I'm intake for Lorraine County Adult Protective Services and some people do have my personal phone and that was a community agency trying to reach me. So, um, something's not happening right at my desk. Um, I will call her back when I leave here. So, I was here the other day to encourage all four of you to take a seat at the bargaining table because I know you typically send your PE own people to do your bidding.

Um, I'm sorry, I wrote this in pencil and I'm having trouble reading my handwriting.

So, I'm a 10-year employee of the JFS and I'm in my 19th year as a school board member. And in 2015, our marching brand band director of 30 years retired. And if you want to talk about big shoes to fill, try that. Um, we hired a girl, young, confident young woman right out of college. And, um, my daughter was a freshman and I became her biggest supporter. And all that summer and for the next year, we joked about how she was always hearing, "But we've always done it that way. We've always done it that way." And according to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, that is one of the most damaging phrases in our language. Which brings me to an email I received from one of you early in the month. I had reached out to you just kind of like try to be a cheerleader, get to the table, you know, let's hammer out a contract. I I believe I sent a cordal cordial email. The reply I got was very cordial and I appreciate that. But some of us have like little sayings at the end of our email. And at the end of the email, there was a saying from the person who corresponded with me and it says, "Don't be afraid to try something new." And so I again encourage the four of you to take a seat at the table. Right now, you always send your people to do your talking. The four of you can come to the table. Let's try something new. Let's hammer out a contract. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, [applause] Brian.

Morning, Brian.

Good morning, commissioners. Brian Baker, 49822 Greystone Drive. Um, I was glad that you brought up uh Lorraine Schools. Um, I I did go there, Dave, and I do have to commend you. I've been talking to you this since October. we've been having this conversation. Um, I did go to the school board, you know, my daughter's school board president and I know you've communicated and tried to help and it and it's a tough piece. I did speak up last night and I challenged the school board. I challenged Mr. Ballard. I challenged Dr. Graham. They need to come to this meeting or they need to communicate with you because you have always said in this meeting, nobody says there's a problem. If you don't hear from it, then it means that they're not they don't have an issue. I publicly going to come and tell you that I did that because I think I should to let you know if someone's calling you or what it is. I asked Dr. Graham to contact every superintendent in this county. I know the two commissioners went to Avon Lake. Very good dialogue. I think that night I listened to the whole piece. I think they told you their terms. You guys told them your terms. I don't know anything was solved. But I know that everybody needs to work through this issue. I know that we could at least I don't know it's every other year we could do some with the homestead or something but something has to happen with this funding. We talked about economic development today. We got 10 new jobs created. Four school districts. I'm going to give you Lorraine Vermillion and Ammerst. And I'm going to go on the low ends because that's the numbers that I found. 265 jobs will be lost this year in Lurine County in four school districts. We replace 10 of them. Pretty good paying jobs. Every dollar they earns regenerated seven times. Correct. That means you guys are going to lose sales tax. They're probably not going to live in the community because they're going to have to go somewhere else to get a job because all the schools are cutting in Lorine County. Correct. And I do hear a saying that comes up a lot and I talked

to Mr. Ballard last night. My daughter left there in tears last night and I give her a lot of credit. She stuck to her ground. She did what she thought was right. Some people may thought she was right. Some people didn't. But she did what she thought was right. She's communicated with and I've communicated with Representative Deeders. I've communicated with Representative Miller. It's not all the issue here. And I'm not blaming you guys for all of it. I will say that the state has got a lot here. The Fed does, too. But we have to figure that out for our kids. And here's what I'm going to end with. I hear all the time, we have 320,000 residents in this town and you have to represent all of them. Do you guys understand that 17.7% of them are ages 1 through 15 and everybody needs to know we're leaving them behind if we don't figure how to fund this in the schooling. I told my daughter I would do this. She couldn't be here today. My granddaughter's going to Kent State. They had a college visit. She will be here a day to come up here and speak about this. She understands a lot better than I do.

I do understand it. And Dave, you know what my issue is? How they're making them uh carry that debt for all five years. And you commissioners have to vote on it one year at a time. They have to write off another six. It's 6 million. They have to write off 4.8. Yeah. I went Yeah. I went in and talked to superintendent. No. So, and I know the superintendent told me it came, but all the other superintendents are having the same problem. Dave, you live in Ammeris. Well, they got they got an income tax coming, right? Mhm. Lorraine schools for the savings of whatever it is on Homestead. They have 11 mills. Okay. So, I just say to you, please let's work through this issue for our kids. I told my daughter I would come and I will bring her to one of the meetings to speak to you guys. Thank you for your

Thank you, Brian. [applause] Uh, Naen Lavit, I'm sorry on the last name. My name is Naen Plavich. Uh, 2456 Larkmore Street in Lraine. I was born and raised in Lraine. I am a JFS worker who has been on strike from day one. Let me be clear. It's unfair that we are in this mess simply because we want to get back to the bargaining table. We have begged for real negotiations on livable wages, proper staffing, and benefits that we count on. I have been a dedicated worker for years. My co-workers feel the same, exhausted, and undervalued and ready to walk away forever if it doesn't change. The ripple effect is devastating of the strike. Understaffed services mean longer waits for help. help that can't wait. Vulnerable people suffer while this unfair delay continues. Taxpayers foot the bill for your dysfunction instead of solutions. I am frustrated beyond words. I am angry that it has come to this when a fair deal is within reach. Commissioners, you have the power to fix this. Stop stonewalling and return in good faith talks right now. Make it fair. Let us end the strike and get back to what we love doing, serving the community of Lorraine County. Thanks very much. [applause]

William Zimmerman to come back up. [clears throat] Good morning, William Zimmerman, Avon Lake. You know, I I I hear these people from JFS come up and talk about getting back to the table. They worked without a contract since September. They've done their part, I believe, from keeping it an even playing field. They gave opportunity for people to still to discuss and work out the problem while they worked without a contract. So now they've had to go on strike to start to protect themselves and to try to get negotiations going forward. See, from my standpoint, I see it more as a lockout now than I do as a strike because they worked for several months to fulfill their jobs and do their jobs so that you guys didn't could potentially talk. Nobody got anything done. And so now they've had to do this as a last resort. And so from my standpoint, it's more of a lockout because they did their part. And you need to understand that they are struggling. They're having difficulties and they shouldn't because they're willing to do the job. They're willing to be there daily. They're not given the opportunity now. So that's my part on the JFS. So as I've said many times before, you all work for us. The three of you

represent the citizens of the county. We the citizens of the county and I don't understand why we have some of the difficulties that we have. Now, I could go into definitions of corruption and how it's unlawful and and dishonest statements and and working so on and so forth, which I I'm not going to just blow past all that. I don't care anymore about that. My my problem is you all took an oath to the Constitution of the United States and to the state of Ohio to represent us zealously. I don't feel like you're doing that. There's too much troubles in our county. Got a judge coming up here. She's got to take off her sweater because she's getting warm and animated and she's making her points about her small problem in the county. And I don't mean to demean it by saying it's a small problem. It's a lot of money and everything, but it's a small fraction of all of the budgets that are out there. And so now everybody's lawyering up and it's just making them money. I've I've called several of you in the past. Marty and I have a small relationship where we talk. I haven't had a chance with Mr. Moore to have those, but we've had conversations here as well as Mr. Redell. And from my standpoint, those are the kind of conversations that need to be done to get something resolved. Our county is struggling and I don't see it getting any better. We have tax levies in Avon Lake going before the voters this May and I don't believe it's going to pass and we're going to become fiscally irresponsible. We'll probably have to operate at a deficit. And that's the same thing that's going

to happen here. We have to come to terms, figure out a better [snorts] plan. I know you all think you're the smartest guys in the room, but you might not be. But you might want to talk to every other person though just to find out. Okay. Thanks. Thanks. [applause] I see I see Aaron Nab hiding over there. You're next, Aaron. So,

I'm never hiding. Anybody that wants to find me can find me. Aaron nap here. Last week I or last time I was here, I talked about um Turning Point getting closed. I know it's kind of funny considering that uh the judge and the court administrator that were just up here actually terminated me on the word of a police chief and I still advocate for that shelter because the kids need it and uh the fact that the judges are in here arguing with you. You you say the sheriff, dude, the sheriff called me right after you guys lost that tax thing and the reason why you lost it was cuz you put a provision in there that said the extra money could go to you and we just don't trust you. There's zero reason we should trust you. You say you work 40 hours, but I've seen Jeff Redell at the checkpoint at 3:00 on a birthday. You guys want to sit here and badmouth me in emails. You want to talk down to people. You want to act like you are the smartest people in the room, but you're not. You always got some little comment to make. You think everything's a joke. Haha. He he. No, it's not funny anymore. Your lawyer denies public records. You guys are zero transparency. Explain to me how your HR director, Arville, her husband, is the head guy of Team Neo. Explain to me how you hired her without a revolving door exception when you just moved her from your LLC on over and gave her a job. Explain to me why you put Dan Petty Court in charge of JFS and now you got Jeff taking illegal legal advice from him. You guys are a train wreck. I've written more stories on you. You give me more hits than anyone. And and so for you guys to sit up here and claim that you're doing the best you can. That's the biggest load of horse crap I've ever heard. You gave the exact same offer both times to JFS.

I've been out there. I've been watching it. You guys wanted them to work for 90 days and not give back pay. Jesus, I wouldn't do that. And I wouldn't work even unemployed and disabled for the wage you're trying to make these people work for. And as a social worker, I know exactly what they're doing. And I know exactly what you're doing. If you cared about the kids of this county, you'd ask the question why African-American kids make up 44% of the juvenile justice population when their parents only make up 12% of the population. And you know, the kids are are are are only 22% of the population. So, you know, you you do some studies, you check all that stuff out, maybe read a couple of the articles that I write once in a while and understand it that people are tired of you breaking the law. And you are breaking the law regardless of whether you want to believe you are or not. The fact that multiple agencies in our county are suing you and wasting my tax dollars to do it is ridiculous. And you guys, if you have one stupid comment to say after when I speak, like, I'm going to lose my crap with you. Okay? Stop with the jokes. Stop with the laughing. And honestly, Marty, no one wants to hear from you. Just be quiet.

Thanks, Aaron. Tammy McGinness. Hi guys. We spoke on Tuesday. On Tuesday, I asked you if you knew what negotiating was. Right after that, Dave, you know, back hallway conversation with channel 3, there's an offer on the table. All they have to do is sign it and they can go back to work. You know what that is? That's take it or leave it. That is not negotiating. That is here's your scraps. Get back in that building. Jeff, you said they're in there working under your deal. Illegal. People online are saying, "Fire them all. Go ahead." Because you know what? Our retention rate because of the pay you guys give us. We'll never restaff that building if all of us walk. But let me just say something because, you know, Dave Moore's got to look at the financial picture. So, here we go. You know that your 3% that you guys pay approximately for JFS employees, the 97% comes from state and federal allocated funds. So, you know, we're going to we're going to split hairs here over a dollar, but you know, you say the agency's running very well with the small staff. The beginning of this year, or maybe it was November, the state changed their um

their policy for funding. They used to determine their funding on our timeliness. Well, that was changed. I don't know if you guys know it because you don't know our jobs. Now, the state is QAing us on accuracy. I really hope your light staff isn't pushing through a bunch of BS because their error rate is going to cost you money. pay us and get us back in that office. Thanks, Tammy. [applause] Thank you. CANDACE. [applause]

HEY, CANDACE. Good morning, commissioners. Candace Mintosh, Amherst. Um, we've heard a lot today about money and money talks and I work at JFS, so I don't really have a voice there. So, I'm going to do what I have for my power and I would like to take my two minutes as a moment of silence to reflect on the state of this county.

Thank you.

Thank you. [applause] Alexandria, was it worsham? I gonna have someone else first. How about Christina? Uh Jackel. She here. Those are the last two. So, no. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. That's all for public comment. We're not going to executive session. So, meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for coming in. Thanks.