City Council - Regular Meeting

Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liyice for all. On the roll, please. Mayor Bailey here. Vice Mayor Baitman here. Mr. Goodyear here. Miss Hamlin here. Mr. Hart here. Hazel Baker here. Mr. Janick here.

Welcome everyone. With us tonight, we have our director of finance Mark Medler, assistant city manager Chris Wynich, clerk of council, Misty Clark, city manager Dave Kennedy, city solicitor Joe Braun, chief of police Michael Gabrielson, former council members Todd Osborne, Kent Blair, and Pat Maize, the president of the Little Miami River Chamber Alliance. I think I've got everybody. I think so. Welcome. Um, and that is our first order of business, Ms. Collins. All right. Um, again, my name is Cece Collins. I'm with the Chamber of Commerce here in town, and um, I'm here about the Valentine program. And I wanted to start by um, first of all, really thanking the city and council for keeping this tradition of having us here alive and always inviting us back. It means a lot to all of us on behalf of the Valentine's ladies. Valentine ladies in um the entire program. As many of you know, the program started in the 1970s, met a while, when the local chamber introduced a unique Valentine postmark for all Valentine cards programs to the office that they were in. Early on, there were only a few folks who recognized Loveland as a special place to send their Valentine to their loved ones. But now the tradition has continued and thousands of people send their Valentine cards here for the Valentine ladies to postmark and to put the special com commemorative seal on there. The Valentine celebration is more than just a simple stamp or postmark. Today there's a Valentine's card printed with unique art just for that year. We're going to get to that. Um, we're also, um, there's also a competitive poetry contest led by Kathy Loren. Kathy, you want to give us a wave right there? U, one of the Valentine ladies. The poetry

contest is held at the schools, the senior centers, and the community at large. Um, keep the submissions coming in if they're already got a couple of them into the office and they're due by January 16th. By the way, um the whole celebration kicks off with a actually a kickoff right here in city hall. It's been that way for past couple years. And then an announcement to the community tonight sharing the 2026 Valentine lady. I'm going to go back to the art. Um one of the our own Valentine ladies submitted her art and um that is our own Lynn Ari. That art is then turned into a note card that can be purchased and it's very special for this year 2026. We have all the years saved at the chamber. So if somebody wants to collect all the years, we can help you with that. But um you're going to want to get this year's because they do sell out. So we'll have some available um after tonight and you can get them throughout businesses in the city um including some of the small boutiques here. chamber will have them as well. They'll be for sale at the post office. All right. So, first I'd like to share the Valentine lady is someone in the community. What a Valentine lady does is someone in the community who demonstrates goodwill and a passion for our town. They are often seen at new business openings, ribbon cutings, special special celebrations, but their most favorite important one is the opening of Loveland Dairy Whip. Isn't that right? Yeah. They do not miss that one. Um, seriously, each year candidates are nominated based on their volunteerism and a positive impact on the city. I'd like to introduce the ladies that are here tonight who all have served as Valentine ladies. And I just want to stop there and seriously say um we're we're very saddened that we did lose two

in 2025. K Napier um she was always our scribe. She was amazing. and Peggy Goodwin. We're going to be celebrating her, I know, this coming weekend. And I don't I don't even know where to start with that one. She's amazing. She just was the most selfless person I knew. Um, but I'm very excited to celebrate the ladies that are here. And I am going to read their names. And if you guys want to, if you want to stand, if you want to wave, if you want to stand and wave, you can do that. So, um, whatever you're comfortable with. All right. So, let's see. I got to see who's here. We're going to start with not the oldest, she likes to say not the oldest, but the oldest of the Valentine ladies from 2000, Annne Fowler. There she is. We can hold applause and we'll do it all at the end cuz we've got got a handful of them here. Um I know Linda Cox wasn't able to come. Um but she was our 2009 um Winky. Nope. Okay, no Winky. Um Janice Foggle 2014. There you go. Sue Lundy, 2015. Thank you, Sue. 2017, Carol Williams. Nope, not tonight. Okay. 2018, the one and only K Bolan. And she has her male escort as well. That um his name's blinking.

Corey. Corey Pardon. He was here Saturday. 2019, Kathy Loren. 2020, Debbie Murray. And for two years, 21 and 22, troublemaker Genie Shoemaker. Stand up or you'll never see. Okay. 2023, Donna Barnes. 2024, Becky Giver. Thank you, Becky. 2025, Lynn Ari. All right. And we're gonna we're going to hold off for the last part. I'm going to bring up Lynn Ari. She is going to read the nomination for this year's Valentine Lady. Thank you.

Okay, so I nominated Cynthia Tate for this year's Valentine Lady, and she is a retired um Lovelin School District employee. She volunteers weekly in Jen Smith's first grade classroom. She was a former beautifification committee and nest volunteer. She is instrumental in the Lovelin Schwarz Film Festival. Gary Giver who is here um had so many nice things to say and I'll kind of sum it up that he spoke highly of her professionalism, communication skills, enthusiasm and commitment to the festival and this is going on the third year of that. Cynthia and Phil husband volunteer at the Fraternal Order of Eagles raising money for charitable organizations. Um, Cynthia answers a call to support events for the Little Miami River Alliance and to weed, water, or local flower beds for the Peggy Goodwin crew. Um, Cynthia is a vice president of the ladies of the Lovelin Women's Club outside of Lovelin. She volunteers at the Legacy Retail and Consignment Shop and Donna Barnes is a part of that, employee of that. Thank you. Um, she also walks dogs for the SPCA. She's something else, right?

Yeah. Um,

oh, I'm sorry. I'm I'm just swinging my head around like I can Yeah, sorry about that. Um, with with her sense of volunteerism, Cynthia brings organization, commitment, and a get it done attitude. In addition, she delivers hers a positive attitude to those activities and to all that is Loveland. It was my extreme pleasure and she is a friend of mine to nominate Cynthia Tate for the 2026 Valentine Lady. All right, the one and only Cynthia Tate, come on up. All right. Wow, that was really nice. Thank you, Miss Lynn. Um, thank you all of you for coming out this evening. I appreciate it. I've been asked a couple of times since I've gotten this honor, uh, what is the program about? What is a Valentine lady? And I think for me it's just about representing and celebrating what a great town we have here. Um, there's a small town feel to Loveland. Phil goes to the grocery store and knows like 10 people uh, walking up and down the aisles. when you go into the shops, uh people know you, remember you and the bike trail you feel safe to walk on. But it also has the feel of a much bigger town because we have fabulous restaurants, uh very unique, cute shops and uh of course we have the Lovelin Shorts Film Festival. Um and and it is true. It's it's like the things that I do to get this honor I really enjoy doing. I mean, for years and years when we were in the beautifification committee, I got to play in the dirt with my best friend, and that was just a wonderful thing. And we still we still get into trouble a little bit, like we'll go weed over at

the stage company or dig up flowers or plant flowers over what will always be the UDF triangle, although UDF's been gone forever. Um, but we keep doing that. And then, of course, I go to the school to the first grade. Um, working in the school was a lot of fun and I missed it. So, I went back to the schools and um, if you want to have your self-esteem go right through the roof or down real fast, you want to go to the first grade because you walk in the door and they're like, "Oh, Miss Tate, Miss Tate, I missed you. Come sit with me, Miss Tate." And then they look at you and go, "How old are you?" You know, um, and you try to be real cute, you know, cuz they're kids. and you go, "How old do you think I am?" And they say things like, "Well, my great Grammyy's 90 and you know, you say get back to work, you know, get back to reading your books." But it's a lot of fun. And again, you know, I I joke about always plugging the film festival, but that also has the feel to me of being in a much bigger city. I mean, how many cities around here have their own film festival, especially one that I feel is done so well. So, I think the thing is, you know, we we have a cooperative effect in Lovelin, the city and the school, uh, the employees. I don't know why people want to be on council, but thank you very much. Um, it seems like a really hard job. Um, one I would not do. And, um, you know, we have the just a lot of cooperation and the spirit of giving. And when I go into the schools uh in February, we're going to have some fun, stamp the cards and read a story. But I hope that they when I leave the schools, I hope they come away with the idea that you're never too young to be a good citizen. You know, help your mom around

the house. Maybe one time don't slug your brother. You know, just be nice, be a good classmate, and pick up your garbage when you go to the park. you know, things like that because I want the kids to understand what a great city we have here and what a spectacular group of people it takes to make that happen. So, thank you for the honor of representing you this way. Thank you so much. Congratulations again, Cynthia. And once again, ladies, I just want to say you got it right. you can tell how much she gives back to the community. Thank you. Um so Cynthia, as she said, she'll be around to the schools and she'll be stamping Valentine's, the special commemorative stamp starting February 2nd and um all the way up to February 13th at the post office along with the other Valentine ladies. So be sure to stop in and see them. They start at 10:00 a.m. and they go to 400 p.m. They will also be selling this year's the note cards that we talked about and many businesses around Lovelin as mentioned. Um after we've completely exhausted Port Cynthia, we will bring the entire tradition to a culative head and we are going to celebrate all the Valentine ladies including Cynthia at the breakfast at the Oasis. So, it's the Valentine lady breakfast on February 13th at 8:30 a.m. And we encourage everybody to attend that. It's really fun. It's heartwarming. It's um the schools come out. Mayor Bailey will be there, I think. Um is is typically there and it's just it's a great celebration in honor of all that they've done for our community. So, we hope we see you there. Um all the details and to register for that are at the chamber website, lmrchamberalliance.org.

or and um you will also be hearing winning poems at that breakfast. So you want we don't know who the winners are yet. We're getting the submissions, but we'll find out the winning poems and they start at um kindergarten and go all the way up to senior citizens. Quite a celebration you don't want to miss. But that is the basic outline of the Valentine program. And again, thank you for having us and u have a good day and get ready to celebrate. Thank you. Uh Cece, if I could thank you to the chamber for for coming here and then uh letting us be part of this. This is the middle of Valentine lady season. There are lots of events. Uh Council Member Hazel Baker and Councilman uh Jerinick, Mr. Witch, Mr. Kennedy, myself were here on Saturday when when uh Cynthia was unveiled as the as the Valentine lady. And I agree, couldn't couldn't get a better pick a better choice, make a better choice than uh Cynthia Tate. So, thank you all for being here. Thank you for everything you do throughout the year. We love you all. We would like to get a picture if we could.

Absolutely. All of you in front, including you, CeCe. We'll stand behind. So, yeah. Okay. So, ladies, if you you're able to get up there, um we'll we'll get some pictures. I'm happy to be the photographer. Was that rude? I'm sorry. I did not mean that.

As soon as they're there, I always get on my tippy toes. I make sure I Just got to find an opening. Got it. Got it. Yeah. Find find a hole, right? If you can see the camera, it can see you. You don't have to worry about like I know, but I got to like So, we all like No way. Exactly. I had a red suit. Yeah. Oh, we're going with the jackets. And that's what I really made a decision. How are you? I guess otherwise you'd be like

you can be in it. Oh jeez. All right. All right. Thank you, ladies. Thank you, ladies. of all this stuff.

Try not to make a ruckus in the hallway.

All right, next is open forum. Kent player. Being mayor and council, my name is Kent Blair. I live at 1849 Feeasant Hills Drive. Um, I want to talk about your upcoming goal planning session. Um, as many people know, every two years after a council election, uh, the entire council and staff um, gather to uh, spend a day planning goals for the next two years.

It's a it's a very cool day. It's it's open to the public. I encourage anybody that's interested to come. But um during the during that that goal planning session, you guys lay out uh short-term, medium, and long-term goals. Some of which are relatively easy and could be accomplished in one year. Some uh require the husbanding of more resources and money and uh take a little longer. And some of them are um moonshots if you will and require a long time, a lot of money and widespread engagement. It is about one of the latter which I wish to speak upon tonight. Uh a couple years ago, uh the city did a uh traffic study to determine what was the most preferable and efficient and um uh cubrious route for a new bridge over the little Miami River. And uh it was determined that at out of that that uh competition that um a northern route o uh starting at the terminus near um Field Turtle Road was the best one. I am here tonight to suggest that you please make sure that that project is still on your list. Um, as I said to my good friend Mr. Kennedy once, um, wise men plant trees under the shade of which they will never sit. And I think wise council would do well to begin building bridges. It is highly unlikely they will ever get to cross with of course the exception of our vice mayor Andy. Um

he's older than you think. He he will probably still be around but most of us will be long in the wind. And um anyway, please make that a continued part of your goal planning. Um, it is the best, most efficient, and the ultimate solution to the traffic problems in Melbourne. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Blair. Todd Osborne, Todd Osborne, 1100 Sunrise Drive, speaking as a resident and former councilman. Good evening, council. At last month's council meeting, there seemed to be a disconnect between the charter. How one of applies for an appointment and council's duties regarding not just appointments, but in general voting on a motion. First, the appointment process. The public was invited to submit an application. There was a due date. Also, serve those serving on committees, etc. in the prior two years received an email inviting them to resubmit again with a separate due date and then there was a list of requested appointments by the mayor. As the charter reads, appointments shall be made by the mayor with the approval of a majority vote of council. So, council, as was asked at the prior meeting before voting, did you vet the applications? Were the applicants residents of the city as the charter does require for some commissions? Were they truly qualified or placed to rubber stamp? Were there any that may have a sincere uh legal conflict of interest? Were there any disqualifications like the application submission after the due date? Vice Mayor Baitman said he trusted the established process and the mayor's review of the applications and did not approach the appointments with

skepticism. There was no vetting by council at the table and the appointments were approved. Now, if you don't have the information needed to um to vote to have a qualified vote like the entire list of applicants, you should either abstain, table the motion or vote no. And after the period, after the meeting, I made a a public records request of those who had applied for this period and for the prior 2-year period. This year, there were four who applied after the two deadlines. December 1st for the first timers and the third for what I would call the veterans. Of the four, three were appointed despite the deadline and with a healthy pool of applicants. Council passed a motion without knowledge and it went on the honor system last term. There was an issue with parks and recreation appointments. The first appointee rarely attended and quit. The mayor then appointed with council approving 7 to zero an individual who didn't live in the city a charter requirement with an application stating future resident even though they had recently purchased a house in Marammont. This person quickly resigned after it was noted by now council member Hamlin. The third appointed is an active member of one of the sports organizations. So clearly there is a true uh partial conflict that exists but the public is told he knows when to abstain. And then there were two selected from the 23 pool. I don't know within days before the council packet was published the applicants were

magically submitted. So much like this year, it's there seems to be a pattern of not using the pool of existing applicants or selecting someone after the deadline date. And I question if that's ethical, and it's a great question. The deadline terms were plainly stated, and if this were an advertised commercial promotion, it would be considered a bait and switch. the public record was missing information regarding whether they were a resident or not and some commissions require the residency. Lastly, um Vice Mayor Baitman stated he is not HR and for the city, congrats. You are the board of directors and as a city council member, you will be interviewing the next city manager, clerk of council, etc. Likewise, you have an ethical obligation to vet applicants uh for the placing on the boards, commissions, and committees. And outside of this charter stipulations, council has a right to add to committees or even create one. The term nonpartisan seems to be used a lot. So does team. In Loveland, there is only one team, that is the city. Time is up. I'll give you

not an individual. Thank you. Jim Dalmire.

Hello. Uh Jim Dmire, 452 Pintail Drive. Um I continue to hear um I'm talking about POS tonight again. I continue to hear um about residents that are unaware of uh the POS and the um exposure risk uh being a resident. Um the city website has not been updated in a few years. The graph has been updated. Um but it doesn't tell the whole story of what's going on. Uh for example, I don't understand how often we draw from well six, but it usually tests um somewhere time somewhere as much as eight times higher than the accepted rate. Um does that mean that we are more risk than what the average is posted? Um, and the other thing I think the city needs to uh set up a time frame on getting um the new filtration done. I know that we're still looking at um the best filtration for us um and um but I don't know how much that's going to affect the design moving forward with getting that done um and bringing that at the last minute. Uh I know that uh Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Wynch went to an exploratory meeting last week and I can't wait to hear about that. Um, and uh just I to bounce off Mr. Blair's uh comments, I think it'd be great to put this on short-term goals to get this done. Um, I was thinking that, um, if we were worried about getting a $20 million loan that maybe, um, for this water water filtration infrastructure, uh, perhaps we could put it on the spring elections, uh, and get residents to decide on whether or not their uh, water bill should be raised $25 to increase to help pay off that loan. And then we could use the $80,000 from the settlement to compensate um, the residents who are on a fixed income. um expectant mothers and children are high risk in this category with POS exposure and I just uh don't think we

can afford to wait until 2029 to get this done and um really like to see it get done sooner than that. Thank you.

Thank you Cindy Dmire. Hello, my name is Cindy Dalmire, 452 Pintail Drive. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak in front of you tonight. I'm here today to request that Lovelin City Council pass a resolution that states that Lovelin will protect its residents, employees working within Loveland, and visitors to Loveland against the unlawful actions of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, commonly referred to as ICE. specifically that Lovelin Police Department will uphold the law that ICE entry into private property requires a signed judicial warrant and that they will protect people within Loveland from racial profiling and demands of proof of citizenship without cause. Additionally, I request that the Loveland Police Department do not enter into a 287g agreement. 287G is a program for allowing local agencies to act as immigration enforcement agents. These are known as 287 G agreements or memorandums of agreement. 287g agreements are designed to extend the reach of the Trump deportation tactics by getting localities to do the work of or assist in the carrying out of work of ICE at the locality's expense. Lest you think that this is an issue you don't need to consider, there were reports of ICE activity just today in Milford. And the Claremont County Sheriff's Office has entered into a task force

287G agreement. The task force model authorizes local officers to carry out street level policing activities, including traffic stops on behalf of ICE. This is the most dangerous and invasive form of the program. As we see the escalation in authoritarian tactics and violence at and the trampling of constitutional rights, it is imperative. Mayor Bailey, I I saw you writing. I don't know if you were doing something different and now you're not. I don't know if you're I'm sitting here listening to you, Miss Almar.

Great. Just wanted to clarify. It is imperative that Lovelin considers and documents its plan of action when ice enters Loveland in order to protect the people that live, work, and play in our city. I respect and appreciate all the work that the city and police do to keep the city safe and this request is an extension of that critically important work. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak with you and your attention.

Thank you. Next, we have minutes from the December 15th, 2025. Yes, we have two minutes from the first December the organizational meeting. Can we have a any changes addition to that, Miss Hamlin? Uh, yeah. There's just a slight typo on the header. It reads 1215 2023 versus 1215 2025. It's just two years. All right. Do we need a motion for that or is that scrier? Scrier's there. All right. Thank you for pointing that out. Anything else? Move to approve as written. Second. Thank you. Call the role, please. Vice Mayor Baitman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Miss Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazel Baker, yes.

Mr. Janick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Motion carries seven to zero. Next are the minutes from the December 15th, 2025 city council meeting. There any changes or additions to that those minutes? Someone's care to make a motion. Move to approve as written. Second. Thank you. Call the role, please. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Miss Hamlin. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Miss Hazelbaker? Yes. Mr. Janick. Yes. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Vice Mayor Baitman. Yes. Motion carries 70 to zero. All right. Next, we have a public hearing. Can we have a motion to open that hearing?

Move to open the public hearing for SPD 20, Highlands of Loveland, zoning, map, and text case 25-04. Second. Second. Uh, all right. Call the role, please. Miss Hamlin. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Miss Hazel Baker, yes. Mr. Jarnick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodier, yes. Motion carries seven to zero. All right, we don't have anyone signed up for that. Can we have a motion to close the hearing? I'll move to close the public hearing. Second. Call the role, please. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazelbaker, yes. Mr. Janick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Hamlin, yes.

Motion carries seven to zero. All right. And and Mr. Wish will brief us on this when we get to it later in the agenda. Uh Mr. Kennedy,

um tonight, uh city uh council, I have a memo which uh accompanies two separate resolutions. Reminder that uh due to the single issue rule, uh even though they're both regarding vehicles. So throughout the CIP process, we uh Chris and I meet with all the department heads, we go into great detail about equipment and myriad of items. And over the past couple years, we've sort of deferred or reduced the number of uh vehicle purchases and we're trying to catch up a little bit in the 2026. And as we typically do these early in the year, as you notice, city council at their December meeting went ahead and ordered the two uh police cars. That is to get them in line, get them outfitted, and get them on. Um so with that, tonight uh we are uh I have legislation in front of you. One is for the purchase of a battalion vehicle. Battalion vehicle is basically battalion captain responds to all fire and EMS based upon station 63 or from the safety center and um this vehicle is the main vehicle that is utilized. Uh we would purchase this program through the state purchasing program. I've been in government for a long time. I was I remember when the state purchasing program began. It is an excellent program for governments. Uh not only are we getting uh we're contracting uh on behalf of all government bodies within the state of Ohio um we are that creates a significant uh savings to the city also for certain items allows us to bypass the bidding process. So this particular vehicle which would be purchased through Keith McCluskey uh he's he participates in state bidding program which of course anytime we can purchase from local business is important. Total cost of vehicles 51,700. We bid uh we budgeted 60,000 for this vehicle in the approved 2026 CIP. The ex existing vehicle which

is they take great care of will be sold and the proceeds will go will join the balance to pay for the outfitting and we will have uh we will have plenty of money left over. The second vehicle uh is what we call the leak truck. This is a very unique vehicle that the city has. It's an extremely important vehicle. Um, this is the vehicle that arrives on the scene for every water leak. It is meticulously uh it is meticulously uh filled with every valve, every tool, anything that they can use when they're at the leak. Uh the less time they're running back and forth to public works, the more time they're at the leak, the quicker people can have their water restored. This is an important uh vehicle. Uh we had moved this vehicle to the 27 CIP, but thanks to the police department uh giving a city engineer uh an older Fusion that allowed Cindy's uh I'm sorry, I'm going to do that for a long time. That allowed Kelsey's uh pickup truck to be added to the regular public works fleet. That allowed us to take the leak truck and move it in to 26. Um with that uh we budget and we pay for items based the uh pickup truck was budgeted to become from multiple accounts. Uh six uh that's we can't do that with the leak truck. It has to come through the water fund. So we had to get a little creative to help uh adjust the budget. Um what we did was we realized that we could do the uh fence repairs at Union Cemetery uh inhouse that and also uh Chris and I want to re-evaluate uh repairs to the uh main material building at public works. That item is going to be deferred and we're uh so total savings of there was 21,000. The balance then would come from the uh anticipated water cap budget uh uh anticipated water cap fund balance.

All right. Any comments or questions? Guess you did a good job, Dave. Yeah. All right. Want to read the first resolution? Resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a purchase agreement with Husky Chevrolet for the purchase of a 2026 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 fire EMS battalion vehicle. Call the RO, please. Miss Hazel Baker, yes. Mr. Jinick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Samlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Resolution one is adopted by a vote of seven to zero.

Resolution one. All right. Want to read the next one, please? Resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a purchase agreement with McCluskey Chevrolet for the purchase of a 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 3500 public works service truck. Call the role, please. Mr. Jick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Miss Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Melbaker, yes. Resolution two is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero. Mr. Kennedy,

so this is just one of many housekeeping items we have today. The Ohio Revised Code requires city formulate designated online auction sites. All sales with uh please note that all sales with an estimated value of greater than 1,000 come back to city council for authorization. This legislation will allow the city to uh we do this now rather than um when we come back for the thousand just in case there's items less than a thousand we've got that path is cleared. Okay. Any questions, comments? All right. Read the resolution, please.

Resolution declaring intent to conduct internet options for the sale of unneeded, obsolete, or unfit city personal property effective January 1st, 2026 through December 31st, 2026. Thank you. Call the RO, please. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Miss Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazel Baker, yes. Mr. Jarnick, yes. Resolution three is adopted by 7 to zero. Mr. Medler.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, council. As Mr. Kennedy said, we do have a number of Housekeeping items since it is the beginning of the year. This is another one of those exciting financial ones. Ohio Revised Code requires us to identify every two years a list of potential depository banks and investment areas that we can put city funds in. this and no um by no means says we have to put money with these banks or that we can't do additional banks but we do have to declare every two years that identifying a certain list. So this is what we're doing. There's no financial impact again just identifying potential institutions.

Great. Any comments or questions? Read the resolution, please. Resolution designating eligible depositories for the funds of city of Lovelin for the 2-year period. Call the RO, please. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Miss Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazelbaker, yes. Mr. Jick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Resolution four is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero. Mr. Medler,

thank you, Mayor. So again, every year we pass a resolution requesting that we get advances on our property taxes. So yearly, if we don't pass anything like this, we will get two hits of property tax revenue from each of the three counties the city's in, which would happen in March and then later kind of towards September. This is asking that we get an advance just to get that money a little sooner. And we typically get a couple advances from each of the county. And then when it gets to that point in the year where they do the the normal distributions, we'll get kind of a true up. They'll say, "Okay, this is how much we've advanced you. This is the total amount." And then they just give us the difference. So this is this is a very standard item that many communities do just to get money coming in.

Thank you. Any comments or questions? Call read the resolution, please. Resolution requesting county auditors make advanced payment of taxes. Call the role, please. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Miss Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Hasbaker, yes. Mr. Barnick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Resolution five is adopted by voter 7 to zero. Mr. Witch,

thank you, Mayor. Um, every year, uh, we we go out and we have to get a renewal for our property casualty and liability insurance. And as you know, we uh utilize we have utilized for several years the public entities pool of Ohio. Uh we refer to it as PEP. Um they've been they've been great for us. Um one of the kind of one of the big things that they provide to us as um as their client or as their as their uh insurance as our as their as our insurance provider, excuse me, is they provide um very good customer service. I think this is something I really wanted to hit home before we talk about the numbers. Um they anytime we have an insurance claim or anything that comes up, they're extremely responsive. Um as well as making sure we are we are fully um compensated for any losses or for anything that happens. Um so we just to preface it, we've been very happy with the uh the service they provided. Um, in your packet, it kind of goes through uh basically uh what we're covering, uh what we have per occurrence, all the deductibles, and those are all outlined. Uh kind of the highlights here is to keep in mind that our total insured value has gone up approximately $2 million from last year. So, obviously, that affects our premium. Um some of the other one other thing that quite frankly I was unaware of up until this um renewal. PEP has historically kept us in kind of a different grouping where they basically we were being charged essentially 12 cents on every dollar sort of thing. Now they they've been holding us at that level but they can't do that anymore. They said they've I don't know historically why exactly um but they said we need we are to this to the point in the size now where we need

to be lumped in as they as they treat their other clients. Um so as you can see there is a substantial increase. Um it's approximately $30,000 over last year. Um for magnitude that's 128,000 to 158,000. Um, we have we did go through a process throughout the middle of last year. It didn't affect our rates last year, but we we relooked at a lot of our values on our current vehicles. They were on some the newer vehicles. They were actually low because of the the way inflation has occurred so rapidly with vehicles. We were underinsuring some of our stuff, specifically our larger equipment with LSFD. Um, so we got that kind of true upped. Um, that's kind of the $2 million is where that came into play because we didn't purchase a ton of vehicles last year. Um, or a ton of equipment, but that's kind of where that comes into play. Um, and then, as you know, I don't have to, you know, this insurance in general unfortunately is ahead of what actual inflation is. Um, so you have the inflationary pressures as well as the the general insurance just rising and rising. um with PEP having over 600 members, they do provide some insulation on that. However, I think we're seeing this increase this year um for that reason. And as I mentioned before, this this whole idea that we were being essentially covered in a different bracket, right? So now we're in this 16 cents per dollar bracket. Um, with that said, through our discussions with PEP, they feel that next year and and upcoming years, we should not see increases like this. Um, we're going to see something a little more stable because they're ensuring us at the proper essentially the proper bracket. Again, um, some of the other things, just highlights from this past year, our

claims were very low. Again, we only had four to five claims. Um overall, um we do we do we are encouraged by PEP because of our limited claims to continue utilizing them for claims when we need to. Um we're not taking any negative hits because of our low low amount of claims. Um so we're going to continue to do that. Um one one thing that we are doing and this does not reflect in what we're asking for approval today. um it could it could only potentially bring this number down. We are doing another review of some of our assets um that we potentially are overinsuring. So some of our older vehicles, some of our older equipment, I do have PEP actively looking at that um and I'm hoping to get it get a response back as to what that does to our number, but it will not obviously will not go up. So, what we're asking for is approval for essentially a not to exceed number of 158,000. It doesn't say that in the resolution. However, just know that there is a potential for this number to go down here in the coming days. Um, with that, I'll take any questions.

Any questions, Miss Hamilton?

So, yeah, and transparency, Mr. Winish and I talked about this yesterday. Um, my question is how often is that review of the value of our equipment done? Because like I I notice we have several older units in here, like 2002. We even have like a 1982 trailer with a $3,000 value and a $2,500 deductible. There comes a point where like the value of the vehicle costs so much to insure, it's just not worth it. So, how often is that done and do we make changes to the schedule? the the um the schedule of values is done every year. However, the looking at what the worth is compared to what we're insuring it for has not been done for several years. So, it is being done this year and like I said, and hopefully we'll see. I'm not anticipating a ton of reduction, but I do think it it was a valuable comment that we we uh addressed and I what I can do is next council meeting at least brief you on what how that conversation went. Um but we will start looking at that on an annual basis. And then another follow-up question if I could, does that also then apply to um some of the scheduled items like for example on page 51 of um of the attachment or the appendix it is it's noted that we have police equipment, miscellaneous police equipment, and it actually says the last time the schedule was updated was September of 2022. I think um if I'm not mistaken, what does it say for Sorry, I'm getting

it's on page 51 of the attachment and it's item 10. Yeah, that's um it's that's interesting to me in general because miscellaneous equipment obviously it's not actually itemized, right? or it's not actually um logged per what it is. So I think and I'll follow up with this question too, but I believe that number is used as essentially a placeholder for, you know, because we're not going to go down to the nitty-gritty and look at everything. So I believe that's a placeholder number, but that placeholder number could be should be looked at. So I will I will have that conversation also.

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Baker. Um yeah, I appreciate um one just the details and kind of of how you walked through. Um could you walk through kind of like um you said, you know, we love the customer service. I appreciate bringing that up. Just how you compare to kind of other municipalities because when I do a spot check to others, it looks like we're actually well under what we pay compared to other municipalities, which I really appreciated. Um and then if you could also um walk through like um even just to public works the those older vehicles. I just love that we were able to kind of kind of have that maintenance on those vehicles. And so if you could kind of work walk through kind of those two.

Yeah. So the first part is um PEP does um share they do share their um um essentially their proposals with other similar communities with us. I don't I didn't include any of that because we we know at a staff level that we're getting a we're getting a good deal. Should should that be an issue, we would certainly bring it up. I didn't feel that need to put that out there. Um, so yes, PEP shares that with us. They talk to us about how we compare with other communities, um, how we're doing with our um, with our claim status and those kinds of things. So, we do at a staff level monitor that work with PEP on that. As far as the public works vehicles, as you know, I don't know how long ago, and Mr. Kennedy can probably talk to this, but we did we do have the position of a of a um, essentially mechanic at public works, and that has been uh, extremely beneficial. So, you know, the the routine maintenance, the stuff that needs to be done, you know, when you do routine maintenance on a lot of these things, you can really extend the life. And I think having the city uh taking that step to have a mechanic in house has really um benefited uh the community for that, you know, to extend the life of a lot of those things. So, I would say it's it's really just the the maintenance that is done um the required maintenance that is done by public works and keeping keeping a good log of all that.

Any other comments or questions? Vice Mayor? Yeah, I just wanted to um follow up a little bit. You mentioned that uh PEP public entities pool has has about 600 members. Is it is it mainly regional like so those members are within the IO? I mean, I saw I noticed that they're endorsed by Ohio Municipal League and um so is it mainly municipalities within our general area that are members of PEP?

That is correct. So, it's that PEP has um a bunch of arms. Um we are part of PEP of Ohio. Um so, I do believe there's other PEPs for other states and other regions. Um so the 600 is reflective of of keep in mind it's not just governments it's also board board of health um you know MRDs you know all those are all part of that um 600 so yeah they are all Ohio and so there's probably not another pep out there that we could go to that we could pull in and so what you were saying is that because we have sort of exceeded terms of the overall capital value of a certain tier of municipalities. Now we've moved up and that explains for the significant jump.

Yes. Some value changes within our own. Uh so I guess my question is not really a question but you mentioned the customer service and the the the support that they give. I would imagine that because they're sort of an aggregator that that's part of their bread and butter is is keeping costs down for municipalities. Otherwise, the other alternative is to go with a private insurance carrier.

That's correct. Um there are other there is there are a couple other regional type providers that do similar things. Um or you would go to a private one. Um, I think, yeah, I think that is their honestly I do believe that's what they're kind of they sell themselves on is being so responsive and so I mean truly I mean I I you know I get an email back within 15 minutes to our local rep and I don't know I'll be honest he I don't I mean I think he has quite a bit of you know volume that he deals with. But they do they do a very good job with us and I know Mr. Kennedy's been with them for several years, you know, not just here, but in other comm, you know, in New Richmond also, and had success with them. Um, so a lot of people, you know, I haven't heard much negative about, you know, being part of PEP. Um, you do, we do, you know, to everyone's point, I mean, we do have to continue to watch what we're doing and what we're ensuring. Um, I agree 100% and, um, every little bit will help. So, we will continue to monitor all that.

Okay. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? All right, I'm go ahead and read the resolution. Resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into an agreement with the public entities risk pool of Ohio for property casualty and liability insurance for calendar year 2026. Call the role, please. Miss Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazelbaker, yes. Mr. Jick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Resolution six is adopted by a vote of seven to zero. Mr. Witch.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, as you know, here at the city hall and all of our city uh offices, public works, the safety center, uh, we have a phone system. Um, we've used and been with uh, Alta Fiber and Cincinnati Bell prior to that for several several years. Um, there's been a lot of change in I guess the I guess phone systems in general. Um, basically Altaf Fiber is getting out of the business. um they're not they're not really going to be supporting um you know what we have or or really being innovative anymore. They're kind of said you know we're getting out of it. Um so with that said um we knew that our contracts most of our contracts with them are up here in uh June of 26. Um so we actually had a uh third party consultant Advanced Technology Consulting ATC as as they're known around here. um they kind of came in and said, "Hey, um can we do an audit of kind of what you have internet-wise, phone-wise?" Um and it was free of charge. Obviously, they're looking to get future business obviously, but anyways, they did that and they actually identified several areas uh for us for cost savings um out even outside of the phone system. So, some of the internet stuff we've got, we had some redundancy with with some firewalls um that were identified which are going to save us um some money because we were actually renting some of or leasing some of those firewalls from Cincinnati Bell. Um so, that was very successful. So, with that, we said, "Hey, we're uh we we needed we need to figure out a new phone system." Um so, we they they jumped on board and said, "Let us let us help you out and let's go get some quotes. Let's look at what you have internally at all your facilities. Um where we can potentially eliminate some desk phones, you know, let's look at all your phone. Let's get a full list of every phone number you have. We found some phone numbers that weren't being used um that we were able

to pull out. Um long story short, they provided us um with two quotes from uh Ring Central and from Zoom. Um this is kind of the next generation of phone systems. It's called a UKcast system. I'm not super familiar with it, but essentially it's many more tools you're going to have. So, for example, myself, I can get rid of my desk phone now. We won't have to purchase a new desk phone. Everything's going to go through my cell my city cell phone, which has an app. So, technic, you know, I'll still have two phone numbers, cell phone number, city number, but it'll ring through an app when it comes through on my city number. So, those are some some uh measures to save some cost. and we have several several areas and several departments that are going to be taking advantage of that. Um there's a bunch of other you know cool tools and cool things for us to be be able to internally communicate uh with you know video and conferencing and stuff like that. Um but end of the day uh we're saving money. Um so you'll see over the fiveyear cost of ownership we are going to save around I think it's around $30,000 that we'll end up saving. Um so this is a positive. Um and we're getting advanced equipment. So with that um that's the resolution in front of you. Actually, let me preface that. Uh the numbers you see include include ATC as a consultant to set this up for implementation and support. We can go with Ring Central um who is the lowest lower provider for support. However, it's more expensive and they're not local. There's that customer service thing again. Um, we're, you know, big on that because we pick up the phone immediately and and, you know, expect a response. Um, so that those numbers you're seeing are all in. That includes ATC's cost that includes Ring Central. So, there's nothing hidden in there. But the resolutions in front of you are for a agreement with Ring Central and then a second resolution for an agreement with

ATC for implementation and support. This will take some time. Um, it's not a flick of the switch. Um, so there will be, you know, several months that we'll be implementing this. Um, so I'll take any questions if anyone has any. Any questions, comments, Mr. Hart? Just a quick clarifier. Um, over the months of implementation, there'll be no breaks in community's availability to get contact with city staff necessary. No breaks. Okay. Any other questions or comments? Right. Want to go ahead and read the first resolution, please? Resolution authorizing the city manager to enter a contract with Ring Central for cloud-based unified communication services. Call the role, please. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazelbaker,

yes. Mr. Janick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Miss Hamlin, yes. Resolution seven is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero. Read the next resolution, please. Resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into contract with ATC of Ohio for implementation and support of citywide phone services. All the role, please. Miss Hazel Baker, yes. Mr. Jerick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Miss Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Motion carries seven to zero. Adopting resolution eight. Mr. Witch.

Thank you, Mayor. Um before you is a memorandum which is accompanied by an ordinance which will require two readings. Um this is a zoning map and text amendment for special planning district number 20. Uh which is also referred to as the Highlands of Loveland. Um you have seen this a couple times come through. Uh as you know our SPD process um has a back and forth between planning and zoning and council uh several iterations over. Um on November 12th, just some history, on November 12th, uh city council adopted a resolution uh to accept the con concept plan, development guidelines, and written findings of fact for special planning district number 20. Um basically that's your that's your that's your guidelines. Okay? So everything from that point forward um there cannot be any deviations from that of what you've approved. Um this once again this is a 23 23 single family attached residential dwelling units um in pods of of three and four um situated on approximately 1.74 acres located at the intersection of Highland and West Maine. Um the zoning and map text amendment was brought forth in front of uh planning and zoning commission uh with a public hearing that took place on December 2nd, 2025. um they did recommend approval of the that proposed zoning map and text amendment and you received that action letter at your last council meeting and at that last council meeting you set uh the public hearing which you had earlier this evening. Um again just going back essentially nothing has changed from the conceptual plan to today. Um everything is in the packet um that was has been gone over before. I'm not going to regurgitate it

all, but I will take questions. Um, and keep in mind one the the crucial thing is looking at the and and as you all have already I'm sure the notice of final action that was was sent to you from planning and zoning that l lays out essentially the required findings that are required by section 115108 and those are um enumerated from 1 through 1 through 10 in that final action letter. Um, the developer does have their representative here today, their engineer, should you have any questions for the developer. Um, but with that, I'll take any questions. A reminder, it's a first reading. Mr. Bman, do you want to add anything as the

uh I think Mr. Miners did a nice job of giving the um the present status. I do think it's interesting that this has uh been a sort of a percolating as a project for many years. And so I I um I'll just say that it's it has an interesting tie to uh a previous council's goals to um to create uh through the CIP the the heights grant rehabilitation project. Um, so I just think it's kind of interesting to see this finally come full circle with a project that continues to bring uh solid, you know, foundational investment into the uh uh into that neighborhood. Um, so I I look forward to uh to voting on this.

Any comments or questions? Questions for Mr. Warren? Yes, Miss Hamlin. So I I just not really questions so much but but some comments. Um so I support this SPD primarily for two reasons. One is Lovelin doesn't have a lot of land you know just hanging out waiting for development. So infill is where we have to look very closely at that. Um this fits. Um I also feel that the scale of these buildings fits with the surrounding area. So it makes sense in that space where it might not in somewhere else. But having said that though I I would like to object to a couple of things and that is um there is language in much of the attachments where it addresses um the benefit to the heights. I'm not sure where that ever came from. This is not in the Heights. Um it is close but it's not in the Heights. There's also comments made about affordable housing. Uh the developer made a comment at the podium in one meeting that they were looking at $700,000 as an asking price for these. In my world, that's not affordable housing. And I would suspect that it's not the case for many other folks as well. Um it felt just very much like we were attempting to justify this where we didn't need to. Um, I think it fits because of the infill and the scale. Um, we didn't need to overreach and try to, you know, justify it for any other reason. Um, there's language in there about ingenuity and imagination. U, this is these are single family homes. I don't see anything imaginative or ingenious about that. Um, so again, I I just think we owe it to ourselves to state the benefits and then move on and try not to look for things that aren't

there. That's all I have. Any other comments or questions? Miss

um I think in regards to the factf finding I think just um kind of a recommendation or um back to cleaning zoning is the number five where it does compare to the comprehensive master plan. Um again, just because the comprehensive mass plan does address the heights and this is is near, I would just refer back to kind of a couple pages in the comprehensive plan. Um page 54 was the one um mentioned here that I've got highlighted where it just says that the um the plan proposes a variety of single family lowdensity u multifamily options. This would ensure a wide range of housing options that are both affordable and can accommodate various lifestyle style choices. Um the plan goals and strategies for the residential neighborhoods emphasize the protection of existing scale character of these neighbors areas. New development loveland neighbors should strive to reduce environment.

So again just this is from the comprehensive master plan. So um possibly just reooking at that fact. Any other comments or questions? Go ahead and do the uh first reading please. Ordinance amending the codified ordinances and zoning map of the city of Loveland, Ohio to change the zoning district classification of certain properties located within the RMF residential multifamily zoning district to the special planning district zoning district classification for special planning district 20 highlands of Loveland.

Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. So, um I think what city council is doing with pedestrian connectivity over the last few years and projects that are already in the books that are funded is a pretty impressive story. And it only stands to reason that the city would work on uh cleaning up its own sidewalk program to help encourage private property owners to uh replace uh sidewalks, damaged uh hazardous, whatever you want to call it, sidewalks within front uh that abut their property. Um the city sidewalk program for for what it is is uh within the city code of ordinances 90514 and within that code is um that that includes the owner's responsibility uh notification process funding support from the city all of that is sort of thrown in there. It is um the resident uh it first and foremost which is very common for most vast majority of communities that that I've ever come across the uh sidewalks within and abudding property owners property boundaries is the owner's responsibility. Um so what that one of the items that when you read through 90514 the resident option which is outlined in 90514G reference a program the city hasn't implemented since 2015 and quite frankly when we did it was very very confusing. Um, I would recommend that if at some point in time the city does systematically do uh a joint uh resident option program, we would want to rewrite that uh uh we that particular program. The reimbursement which is outlined in in city uh the H 90514H is is is confusing. It has no maximum and quite frankly it's not actually

consistent with how we administer the program. Um, with this we decided to go for a full whole core revamp of the program. Um, left 905 uh 14 basically alone and cleaned up, removed the items that uh needed to go and then um focused uh 30 days was never enough. Increased that to 40. Part of me wanted to do that to 90, but I think we can always go back and change that. You're dealing with a property owner trying to come to the finances. They're getting their quotes together and they have 30 days. I want to tell that we do not at this current moment in time systematically drive around 99% of all interactions with sidewalk come from the property owner, the property owner's neighbor or through an HOA initiating that program. The city does not drive around and look. I will say that in the program that ended in 15 for the years that that program did many of the very poor sidewalks were addressed. Um the second program which is 90514B uh 90514B is uh decided to focus that just on the reimbursement process. Uh the way this does in the most simplest format is um we would I'm just going to use Mr. Smith as an example. Mr. Smith needs to replace a sidewalk. It meets the hazardous sidewalk criteria from one of those items. That's um the the you got to remember the biggest theory here is that the sidewalks in front of your house are the one item on your property that are for public good, right? They are part of the pedestrian connectivity. So that is why any community sees it fit to do a reimbursement with that. Um

we but aprons are not and curbs are not. Um so what we tried to do was create a program that has a cap similar to the the heights grant program that uh very clearly states what the city will pay. And then what we thought was and we saw this in another community was uh Mr. Smith, you have a $3,000 sidewalk program. The city will contribute $1,500 towards the replacement of the sidewalks. That includes not just the concrete, but the labor. Mr. Smith really needs to get those sidewalks replaced and uh does not have his local money. What we are offering here is that we would place that on a short-term property assessment to get it uh to get this done. And we feel that this is a good program. This will hopefully take people uh who are in a bad situation or really need to get these fixed. Unfortunately, the time that the city engineer shows up and identifies the sidewalks as hazardous through those criteria largely which are defined by the ADA requirements um that we really can't walk away. We need to get those replaced. So, this seems like a good way to do this. Um I'm going to stop with that. I did add uh we did add one provision not in the code section but in the body of the ordinance that we would do a one-year provision. I will report back on ex a specific date and we'll evaluate the program to either expand it to continue it or do whatever. That is very common the mayor and I discussed that is very common when you're trying something new to to put a a bit of a deadline on it. So that's all I had on that.

Thank you. Any comments or questions, Mr. heart.

Um I I'm I'm appreciative of the efforts to put this program into place. I think that uh the the work that we've done as a community and as a city I from staff and comp plan all the other things we've done to increase connectivity in the city um by putting in new sidewalks. Um that's great, but not good enough if we let all the sidewalks we already have start to deteriorate, not help the folks around um do what do you know for you know kind of replace and a lot of the folks that have sidewalks buckling are not the ones that planted the trees that are causing the buckling that in front of their house. So um uh you know putting in place a program that assists our our residents in getting that done while also being a benefit to the greater community at large is is a good thing. and uh I'm appreciative of the work to go out seek out other communities and the models that exist outside of here to find solid options um to help our residents out. So, thank you guys.

Thank you, Miss Hammer.

I'm a huge fan of this. Um I live in the Claybornne subdivision and we have a significant sidewalk buckling problem. Um but a lot of the problems that we have are caused from to Mr. Heart's point trees that were planted inappropriately. They were the developer or somebody years ago planted a tree with a root system that didn't fit between the curb and the sidewalk. And so can can you speak real quick just to like what does this how does this tie into the tree ordinance? And when somebody has to I I would hate for the city to have to pay out $1,500 to replace a sidewalk and then two years later the same sidewalk buckles again,

right? Um so there's always your code ordinances and then there's the policy that is put together by public works. The policy program would require that the tree uh the tree code which was adopted by the city uh end of last end of uh I believe end of 23 into early 25. I'm sorry, end of 24 into early 25. So, um, Sean Hartness, who is our forester, would be a part of the program. It makes no sense whatsoever to cut just the roots off, put in your sidewalks, and within X number of years, it is highly likely that those sidewalks would buckle. That is within we have provisions in our tree code that can require a tree be down. I don't agree that the city the the the city should be using these funds for those trees because quite frankly that opens a can of worms that we would have a hard time unwinding. But uh you know those of you who have ever met with Sean Harters, he's an incredibly good man who will be able to talk with them. We'll help them. We have contractors. But at the end of the day, if you're replacing the sidewalks because your tree buckled them up, it makes no sense to do the one without the removal of the tree. It's uh car without wheels. So, uh we hope that and that is part of the policy we're developing, which is a side item which will be completed before uh the second reading of this ordinance is completed or at least the 30-day period of time. So, trees are critical. So,

thank you. Any other comments, question? Miss Hazelbaker.

Thank you, Mayor Bailey. Um, thanks for the update um and the work that's been done on this plan because this came up a lot as we were um kind of walking with neighbors um both in Claybornne and then uh Fox Chase as well. And Scott um took Adam and I through our council orientation through Foxchase and we got to see a lot of the sidewalks um being repaired. So, we got to see kind of some impact of what this kind of work does. Um could you for the lay person and me walk through kind of what that assessment because a big change on this is to be make sure that it's not coming out of that pocket and you mentioned it but could you walk through kind of where that charge kind of ends up to the resident and how that kind of appears through that assessment process.

Yeah. So um we do I'm a personally we're a big fan of a property assessments. It was uh that was how the city was able to get quite frankly through the assessment process is how Chimney Ridge subdivision is in the city because the city was able to use the assessment process to uh compensate for the expansion of the sewer main up to Chimney Ridge. At the end of the day, the the money as the money comes back into the city, it is clearly designated. Mark receives those money uh sugarree lighting district so on and so forth. that allows Mark to know exactly where each fund gets deposited. All lighting codes are paid from this particular code line item. There's the corresponding money back in. So it would say Mr. Smith's sidewalk assessment. There would be a corresponding number. Uh Mark knows exactly where Mr. Smith's sidewalks were paid out of. That money goes back in. The administrative fee is very minor for that. Um we that is the cost of doing business. That's what we do with lighting codes. So any assessment, it is very well documented. Mark is really good. All those monies go exactly back where they're supposed to go. Um I think assessments are a very viable option. They they work and um if they're good for the public good, if they're doing a public project, it just makes sense.

But but just to clarify, the assessments are voluntary. Oh, yes. I'm sorry. Yes. Is that what you walking through the full process because it was something that for me I had to kind of The city's not going to go and see an issue and take care of it and Oh, yeah. Good point. I'm sorry. Yes. It's all right. Did you have any follow-up questions? Anyone else have any questions? All right. Want to go ahead and read the ordinance? Ordinance amending section 905.14 and creating section 9005.14B of the city of Leland code of ordinances relating to the city's sidewalk program. Thank you, Mr. Kennedy.

So, this item has been in discussion for probably the last 10 department meetings and the this relates to increasing the city manager spending authority. Uh the spending city manager spending authority is defined in section 11507K and it is currently at $15,000. So um the best way to say this is it's sort of a this isn't who's got the highest paid quarterback type of thing. This is really about finding that balance between the proper oversight and efficiency of operations. I I think you add in that you add into that that this city uh runs a water system which at times can need to make some pretty quick immediate uh improvements. Uh so uh we certainly are not trying to run this out where we can uh do uh you know run on tangents with spending. So we are recommending that we take this to 30. Trying to illustrate this. There's three points of illustration. One is how the city compares to neighboring communities. Uh I went uh attached for your reference the last two years of ordinances and resolutions sort of illustrate when we're dealing with uh contracts and software and that I think there's a certain level of understanding that the city can go ahead and get those moving. Uh and then lastly just for another point of reference I pro uh highlight process tried to show you the difference between the 2026 2026 CIP those items that would be approved that would uh would be approved currently and not currently so on and so forth with the the CIP that basically the items that the city manager could approve and then the items that the city manager will be approved if this is expanded up to 30 Um we feel this is the

right balance uh to keep efficiency uh of the operations of the city. I think it was timely to uh uh to do it at this period of time and um this would just be uh first reading for this ordinance. Thank you. Any comments or questions, Mr. Hart?

Um I just wanted to to acknowledge that um just merely just merely through inflation the cost of things this this makes a lot of sense. Um but also over the over the last four years of my time here, Mr. Kennedy has brought many things which are below his spending limits um to us for for review and and for the public to hear. Um and obviously you never want to set a system up where you know you never know who the next what their work would be like. But I would just say that in this current current climate, Mr. Kennedy has has gone um has leaned much more to the decide of transparency and regardless of the this of the spend, but from just an inflationary standpoint and efficiency standpoint, this makes a ton of sense. So,

thank you. Any other comments or questions, Miss Hamler? Yeah, I just want to say when I first read this, I thought, well, just show me the data and then I clicked on the attachments and the data was all there. So, thank you very much for providing that because I it gave me all of the information I think I needed to make a good decision. Um, and I also went out to and I Googled a time value of money calculator and and um you know given the fact that this was last time the spending was approved was what what was it 2011 I think it was. I mean, the current value of that is now about $22,000. And since it'll probably be years again before we make another change to this, um, I think it makes sense. It makes sense.

Thank you. Any further comments? We'll go ahead and read the ordinance, please. Ordinance amending section 115.07K of the codified ordinances of Lovelin, Ohio to increase the city manager spending authority.

Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. Um, we felt that it would be important, especially early in the year that mayor and I were talking that it would be uh beneficial to just do a sort of a a real quick update on our capital projects. We've got uh quite a bit of projects in the works and it's probably uh good idea for council to just sort of um we just sort of went through it real quick. Um the the the city's amphitheater which is now fully funded. We are finalizing the designs. We have one more meeting with KZF. The bid documents are being prepared and that project is should go out in hopefully in hopefully uh soon that it'll go out for bid. We're right in the sweet spot where we'll be in the in the bid period. uh the Nisbet Park improvements, landwater conservation. The city submitted for a landwater conservation grant uh to do renovations to the restroom, pay for an additional adult swing, uh new lighting along the trail and the uh Carl Brown gateway. We will soon, probably at their next meeting, we'll be asking council for permission to go for the Claremont County Parks to create to finish the uh walking trail from where it ends at the uh picnic shelter up and around the amphitheater to where that one will then go to the trail uh the Oakland State Route 48 Oakland Road sidewalks. Those projects at uh these are the sidewalks will go from St. Columb near to the near to the entrance, the white pillars. Uh that project has been well designed. Probably will be going out to bid uh very shortly. Uh with that uh the city will also uh be applying for safe routes to school to help of uh the safe routes to school travel plan. The Sheldermire acquisition. We've been notified uh not formally from the committee. We have been told by the the uh the local committee, the local integr group that

we have been funded for the acquisition of the Shieldmeer property. uh once we get the formal uh from the state of Ohio, we'll be coming forth with county with council for a series of items to uh to step the gateway park which uh at the old mobile station we are under design. We submitted a letter of intent the Appalachian region commission to help fund a portion of that. My last one before Chris jumps in is we have tried to follow up with the Ohio EMA, but we've not yet heard about our uh submission for the uh police drone.

Um the bike trail crossing, as you know, this is an ODOTE project. Um so it has been delayed several times. I've been on ODOT. I need an update. I need an update. The last update I got was yesterday. Um they're the contractors supposed to start boring for the for the electric and for the fiber uh first week of February. Um so I'm hopeful they're going to stick to this schedule. I know they made a liar of me. Um so I'm I'm pushing them. We're pushing them. Um so that hopefully and it should not be a long project. Uh they should be able to get in and out. So hopefully we see some activity first week of February. Uh Love Madira Road phase one. Um phase one again real quick from city limits to Castle Skateland that um will go out to bid Mar uh early March uh they're the ODOT has everything in their their court now. All the rightaway acquisition is done. Um so that'll go out to bid Mar uh in March and then uh you'll see Duke moving the poles. They just submitted their rightaway permit to Kelsey uh for approval, but they'll start moving those back. Um phase two, uh the roundabout portion. Um this has been delayed. Um the post office, this is crazy, but the post office lives by a different set of rules and basically for us to get right away and we have to get right away from them. It doesn't work without it. It doesn't make sense. Um, they basically have these timelines where it's like 12 months till they give you an answer and then like eight months till they give you a final answer. It's crazy. Um, but we've been working with ODOT on that. We're going to keep on it. They've moved it back in their system, but we're going to work to keep it as close to schedule as we can, but just keep an eye on that. I'll keep giving updates on that.

Um, phase three, as you know, was uh partially funded that 8020 with ODOT. We have not had the scoping meeting yet with ODOT. They dictate that. So, we're waiting for for that to come up. Uh PFS, we have monthly uh progress meetings with our uh engineer. We just had our most recent uh progress meeting, the basis of design report, which essentially is approximately 30% plans. Um we're expecting to see that at our next meeting, which is in February. Um things are going well with that. Um, we've made some some decision, some decent decisions on site uh layout and some things with uh chemicals and how how we're going to get chemicals in and out. Um, so uh uh uh uh site basically uh site safety, fencing, all those kind of good good things that are going to go along with this project. Um so it's progressing. Um you will also see or the the community will also see a mailer coming out here hopefully. Um, we've got them off to the printers. Um, but they'll see them very shortly. Um, just an update, a general update, a general, um, outreach of the PAS and the PAS information that we have and what we know today. Um, so they'll be seeing that in their mailbox mailboxes shortly. Uh, Riverside Drive, the survey is complete by uh, US Army Corps. Um, the design is underway. Again, that's a 2028 project for construction. Um, and then just to piggyback off the Nisban improvements, you saw, um, recently, a couple months ago, we got another section of the walkway put in, and you see a blank blank pad out there. The swings are in fabrication. We're hoping to see those installed. Um, after the weather breaks, so probably Marchish, he's almost done with them. And then we're looking to get another set, so you will see some more activity with a potential pad. Well, you'll see a pad with another single swing. Um, we're

really excited about them. The fabricator is super excited. He's been sending me pictures of them. I think they're going to look awesome. Um, so we're real excited about that. Um, any questions for Mr. Kennedy or I I would just uh to set the records. This was Mr. Hart's idea to get an update on this uh at this time. Good move. Yes, you Mr. Goodyear.

Thank you. Um, Mr. Mr. Witch, I know I'm going to express frustration to someone who has no control over this, but I've now been on city council for two years, and for the majority of that two years, we've been receiving uh information that well, you know, next month it's going to start at the bike trail. Next month's start at the bike trail. Two months going to start at the bike trail. And I understand the the situation, ODOT controls it, but honestly, it's probably the thing that I get asked about the most. and I do think it will have an immediate substantial impact on traffic downtown. So, I I appreciate you continuing to work with them. Uh I know this doesn't change anything, but I at least want to express frustration publicly that I can't believe it's taken this long to start this project. Thanks.

Feel better? Not really, but anyone else? All right. Thank you both. That was very helpful. Mr. Kennedy, I think you wanted to talk about the HPPC.

Oh, I'm sorry. I I got out of line. So, um, so the historic preservation regulations require the regulations, this is not the design guy, the historic preservation regulations require that annually the city shall present to city council a list of all projects. I had missed that a couple years in the past, so I'm trying to make sure I leave good notes. This is simply uh it probably won't have a memo in the future, but this is just uh our submission event. You take no action. It just formally shows that I've transmitted that to you. All right. Thank you. Any comments or questions on that? Mr. Wish, think you want to talk about the building and zoning report?

Yeah, I thought it would be good just uh since end of the year, we got the final report uh building and zoning. just a couple highlights or or just a couple interesting uh things that we're seeing um in in that kind of in that report. You see obviously um residential is down from from previous year only by a couple couple permits. Uh but we did see commercial increase which that's a good thing. We saw commercial increase uh permits. One thing we did see on residential is though we had less um less new builds, we saw a lot of renovation and a lot of uh you know add-ons, decks, all that kind of good stuff. So we saw that increase from last year. Um fees collected. I just kind of wanted to bring this one up. Um specifically, well actually the impact fees which is the water. Um we've seen we saw that go up um a little bit. Um, and I think that was uh attributed to council taking that step to increase those user fee or I'm sorry, the impact fees for developers. Um, that was a a a much needed thing. Um, but overall um you know, we're still seeing a lot of a lot of activity um for what we have left. Um so we're still seeing those improvements. I think you're going to see you saw well you're seeing with an SPD potentially moving through the process. I know they're anxious to break ground. I think there's a couple other things in the hopper that we're seeing. Um, so I do think you're going to see some activity uh this construction season with some with some uh building going on.

Thank you. Any questions, comments on that report. All right, city council reports. We do have, let's see, the city's accepting applications for Loveland University. Classes begin February 25th, run for 10 weeks on Wednesday nights from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. You can register on the city's website, and our offices will be closed this upcoming Monday, January 19th for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Anybody have any report? All right, we do have an executive session. Can someone make that motion? Make a motion to go into executive session under Ohio Revised Code section 121.22 G2 to consider the sale of property. Thank you. Is there a second? Thank you. Call the role, please.

Mr. Janick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Bman, yes. Sorry about that. Uh, Mr. Goodyear, yes. Miss Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazel Baker, yes. Motion carries seven. All right. I would just note for the record, Mr. Jarn and Mr. Hart will be present for the first part of the executive session, then we'll recuse themselves for the second part.

All right, we are back at 9:15. Um, we need a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Call the role, please. Miss Dailyy, ma'am, I'm sorry. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Oh, who? I haven't I didn't fix the second page. Sorry. Vice Mayor Baitman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Yes, Mr. Hart. Yes, Hazel Baker. Yes, Mr. Janick. Yes. Motion carries 70.