City Council - Regular Meeting

Ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna get started in just a minute.

Right now, we're over the occupancy limit, so we need to just do a quick shuffle around of bodies. So just give us a... a quick, what do we need, Chief?

Two minutes.

Two minutes before we start. You can see right now in the building and fire code mandates that we only limit this room to 93 occupants. So what we need is 20 people that have signed up to speak at open forum to kindly vacate into the hallway while we proceed with the swearing in of the police officers. At that point, the officers and their families are permitted to leave and they will open up spots for you before we get to the open forum portion of the agenda. At the same time, we're working to see if there's anything we can do to put AV services in the lobby so that you can watch our newly sworn officers take their oath. So sounds like a fair deal. Give us another five minutes or so to sort of self-select that 20 people so that we can get to the 93-person occupancy.

Is that what you said? Yeah. The last time I remember was on the account. FYI.

All right, we're good. All right, there we go. Can I, I'd like to entertain a motion to excuse Mayor Bailey and Mr. Jaranek.

I move, go ahead. I move to excuse Mayor Bailey and Councilman Jaranek from the meeting.

Exactly.

Call the roll.

Vice Mayor Bateman, Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Hamlin. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Ms. Hazelbaker. Yes. Motion carries 5-0.

All right. Welcome, everybody. It's great to see a packed house. Thanks for your patience as we sorted out some of the ground public safety to accommodate everybody. I'd like to begin by recognizing staff here. Mark Medler, Director of Finance, Misty Clark, Clerk of Council, City Manager Dave Kennedy, City Solicitor Joe Braun, Captain Daniel Gangler, Chief of Police Michael Gabrielson, as well as former Councilmember Todd Osborne and Hamilton County Auditor Jessica Miranda. If I missed you, I apologize, but there's just so many faces here. We're so thrilled to have so many distinguished guests. And speaking of two distinguished gentlemen, we'll move to Captain Gangwer to take the podium to introduce us to our new officers from the police department.

Thank you. Good evening. City Manager Kennedy, Vice Mayor Bateman, members of council, and several distinguished guests. Tonight is a special and gratifying evening for the Loveland Police Department. We are honored to be here before council to introduce and swear on our newest police officers. On behalf of the department, I'd like to express our sincere appreciation to the city manager and city council for the opportunity to fill these positions within our ranks. We recognize the value of the city's continued commitment to supporting our police department and ensuring that we have the personnel necessary to effectively serve and protect the citizens of this great community. Your investment in public safety enables us to strengthen our organization, enhance the services we provide, and continue building upon the high standards our residents expect and deserve. Thank you for your support and partnership. It is now my privilege to introduce the newest officers. Tonight, I'm privileged to welcome two outstanding individuals to the Loveland Police Department, Ryan Wedmore and Elijah Brown. Both officers have chosen a profession rooted in service to others, and each brings unique experiences, skills, and dedication that will strengthen our department and the community we serve. Give me a chance here, I'd like time to get a little quick bio on both. Officer Ryan Wedmore, we are welcoming back to Loveland Police Department. Ryan is someone many of you already know. He previously served with the Loveland Police Department and has remained a familiar face of the department and community events over the past year. As it turns out, he missed Loveland as much as we missed him, so we're thrilled to have him back. Ryan brings more than 16 years of law enforcement experience to our department. He began at the Brown County Sheriff's Office, where he served for over a decade, and reached the rank of sergeant. Throughout his career, he's earned a reputation for professionalism, integrity, sound judgment, and a genuine commitment to service to his community. His experience, leadership, and strong connection to Loveland make him a tremendous asset for our team, and we are grateful he has chosen to continue his law enforcement career here. Joining Ryan this evening are his wife, Sammy, and their three daughters, Navy, Charlie, and Shirley, who have supported him throughout his career and are very important to his success. Ryan's wife will eventually come up and pin his badge on him. Officer Elijah Brown. We're pleased to welcome Elijah Brown to the Loveland Police Department as well. Elijah previously served with the Dayton Police Department and is excited to bring his experience and passion to serving others back to the community that he has considered home. A Milford High School graduate, Elijah spent much of his childhood in Loveland, enjoying our parks, our community, and he has a genuine appreciation for the people and values that make this city so special. Before becoming a police officer, Elijah worked in healthcare, where he developed a strong commitment to helping others. That passion for service has led him to a career in law enforcement and continues to guide his work today. Elijah is honored to have the opportunity to serve this community that has meant so much to him, and we're excited to have him on our team. Joining him this evening are his wife, Lacey, their children, River and Malachi, several members of his extended family, and his mother. His wife, Lacey, will be pinning Elijah's badge on him this evening. I'd like to invite Vice Mayor Bateman up to swear in the new officers.

Thank you, Captain. And before I do, I just want to acknowledge how grateful we are to you for choosing a career in law enforcement and to making this commitment to Loveland to serve. So with that, I have you raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name. I solemnly swear that I will. support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Ohio, and the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Loveland, and will obey the laws thereof, and will faithfully discharge the duties of police officer upon which I am about to enter.

Welcome back. Great question. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's cute. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Congratulations.

All right. I'm going to just give everybody a brief pause if you want to make any seating adjustments as a result and prepare the room for the next agenda item, which is Hamilton County Auditor Jessica Miranda appearing before council.

Maybe I'll switch over here.

okay i think we're good all right thank you vice mayor and good evening everyone up on the dais and everyone here in the crowd my name is jessica miranda i am the hamilton county auditor the auditor for a majority of the city of loveland and we have embarked on what is called our auditor lovingly named and we are traveling around to all 49 different political jurisdictions here in hamilton county to give this very presentation and to bring the auditor's office to you and our shared constituency here in Loveland. So I'm going to do my best to make this presentation as short as I possibly can so that you all can get to the meat of the meeting with all of your guests here tonight. I came in and the vice mayor gave me a funny joke saying all of these people were here to see my presentation and I said no. That can't be true. No one wants to see this. So I will try to get out of y'all's way as soon as I can. But this is great information for everyone to have nonetheless. So with that, I'm just going to get right into it. Make sure my mouse is working here. Oops. There we go. Okay. So a little bit about me for those who may not know me as well. Um, I started serving my public service tenure on my local school board, then went to the Ohio state house and served as state representative and the Ohio minority party whip. Um, and then down here appointed April, 2024 to county government to serve as your Hamilton county auditor. So I bring local state and now county government experience And that is very important to me and the type of leader that I am because hopefully something you will learn about me as we get to know each other is that the bridges that we build between different levels of government is very important and vital. The more we can work together on a local, county, state, and so forth level, the better I feel our constituencies are served. So that is why I'm here. and hopefully you take away some some good learning material from this presentation tonight and just know if you have any questions at all I will be happy to answer them at the end of the presentation but if you think of anything additionally later open door policy in our office so please reach out at any time With that said, everyone up on the dais has a printed out copy of this presentation. You also have our brochure that outlines all of the services we offer to you and the city in our office. And you have my contact information via my business card, as well as the folks who scheduled this presentation for us tonight, which are my amazing staff of two civil servants that work in my public affairs team. So shout out to Connor and Willow. You'll notice Willow's name is on your agenda, but it's me presenting the actual auditor. Willow just made this amazing presentation and everything that goes along with it. And I thank them for getting me prepared to be out here in the community. All right, so with that, oh, I keep forgetting to hit the right button. Okay, I want to talk a little bit about what the auditor's responsibilities are. I won't cover every single one of these bullet points just for time's sake, but I think it is a point of confusion, sort of, in the community of what the auditor does, maybe versus the treasurer or some other countywide executive positions. So whenever you think of your county auditor, think of me as your CFO, the Chief Financial Officer of county government. We pay all of the bills for every department that falls underneath the Board of County Commissioners. And we are also the statutory payroll agent for Hamilton County's about 4,700 employees. So as you could imagine, the employees of our county are hardworking people and they want to be paid correctly and paid on time. We make sure that that happens in my finance department, which is a job in and of itself, but something that we are very honored and privileged to do. You may know us more so being the real property assessor. In Hamilton County, we have a little over 350,000 parcels. And whenever you see me say or hear me say or see the word parcel in the presentation, just know that that means property. We are tasked with valuing all of those properties on the state schedule, which I'll talk about on a further slide. And we have to do that at what is called FMV or fair market value. So we have a schedule to do that and we'll talk about that a little later. I'm going to skip down here and just point out that we are also the dog licensors of the county. So if you have a canine friend or family member, it is so important to make sure that they are licensed, not just because it's state law, but we just got through the 4th of July holiday. That is statistically speaking when most dogs run away from the loud booms of the fireworks and if your dog is not licensed, we will not be able to determine whose loving home it gets returned to. So if you don't have your dog licensed, please visit our website. We've made a lot of enhancements to make different functions of the dog licensing process electronic and digital on the site now. So hopefully it's more user accessible and we are on a mission to get more of our county dogs licensed for safety reasons. So if you have any questions about that, let us know. And then lastly, I just want to point out the weights and measures function of our department and county government. If you've ever been to a gas pump in Hamilton County or your local farmers market or your grocery store, There's a series of weights machines for produce, deli meats and cheeses. You'll notice my name is on each one of those machines in the form of a seal. That's because my team has been there to make sure that that pound of turkey you're purchasing is actually a pound of turkey and that that gallon of gas you're purchasing is actually a gallon of gas. So this is very much our consumer protection arm of county government. And we have three amazing civil servants who work in this department. One of those three has not missed a day of work in over three decades in the auditor's office. So their dedication to the people of Hamilton County is bar none. And we really appreciate their work, but I truly just really value this piece of the work we do in county government. I think a lot of people don't realize that we are checking these things to make sure that you are not taken advantage of and it's important work that we do. All right, let's see if I got it here. All right, really quickly, I'm gonna just mention on behalf of the treasurer that our second half property tax bills have been moved back. That is because of some unprecedented law changes that happened at our state legislature. Never before in recent modern Ohio history has there been law changes that affect the second half of the tax bills. That happened this year. So we had to make sure that those calculations were correct, that everyone's bills were, calculated accordingly based on two very, very specific bills. And so that has been pushed back. They are all mailed out now, but the due date is now pushed back to July 24th. So just be aware of that. And then also council members, we emailed you the 2025 annual report. We're very proud of this. This is the first annual report we were able to put together under my leadership as the auditor. So if you didn't check it out, I would encourage you to do so. It's also on our website. All right. So we, of course, serve the community in Hamilton County, but we do not serve them all. In other words, not all of our functions do everything in county government. So we certainly do not collect the property taxes. That's our county treasurer, Jill Schiller. We do not manage deeds. That's our county recorder, Scott Crawley. We don't provide surveys or maps, although those are available readily on our property search function on our website. That's our county engineer, Mr. Beck. And we certainly do not make abatement or tax policy. That is you wonderfully elected officials here in the city, combined with your county board of commissioners and your state reps and state senators who serve us in the state capitol. With that said, we always like to talk about the fact that we work in values in the auditor's office, not in taxes. So this means whenever you receive a letter from me in my office about a change in value for your property or your parcel, if your parcel or property is going up or down 5%, that does not necessarily mean that your property taxable follows at that 5%. up or down 5%. So in order to illustrate this, we have provided you a three area comparison. You'll notice Loveland's in the center, Cincinnati's on the left here, and Sharonville on the right in these three columns. All three of these parcels, again, parcel just means property. These are three residential homes, all valued at about the same amount of fair market value. But you will notice on the green bar on the bottom, Each property tax liability or each bill for property taxes is different depending on which pocket of the county you live in. So this isn't an effort for us to show you better than we can tell you that everyone's property tax liability is different. It is very heavily dependent upon where you live. and what levies have been approved in your given area. And on the bottom there, you'll see whenever it says ICC, that stands for inflationary cap credits. These are the credits that we had to calculate on the second half tax bills that just went out. You'll notice if you live in the Cincinnati Public School District, that is the amount that you're getting back. from state government. Also, if you live in the Great Oaks, joint vocational schools were also affected by these ICC credits. That's about how much you'll get back from the Great Oaks in both of those areas. So not every area is affected by both inflationary cap credits, which is House Bill 186 and House Bill 124. There are some folks who only get the joint vocational school credit or don't have either of the credits at all. So again, for everyone listening, everyone on the dais to help our shared constituencies, if any homeowner or taxpayer has questions about this or the credit they're receiving, there's a very specific way you look it up on our website because we like to be transparent with everyone's tax dollars. And you can find how to do that on our social media feeds or by giving us a call. And we stand at the ready to help everyone find what their credits are if they are due one. All right, so the reappraisal process. Again, I mentioned the words transparency. In your auditor's office, we love transparency and accountability. We are watching every tax dollar that goes through county government. And so we'd like to be as transparent as possible about our reappraisal processes. Just know we are valuing property on an annual basis always because there's permits that are pulled in every pocket of the county. There's new construction and development happening everywhere. We have a hand in that and we have to go out and measure things and make sure everything is valued correctly such that everyone's tax bases are correct. but we do what is called the triennial and the mass appraisal on the state schedule on an alternating six-year basis so this year 2026 we are working on what's called the triennial update that is a very much a desktop review we're just looking at comparable sales in each area to make sure everyone's tax bases are accurate and correct the next big one that we do is called the mass appraisal that was originally going to happen here in hamilton county in 2029 However, the governor has moved around a couple of different county schedules where all 88 of us counties are not doing this work at the same time. It's a staggered approach set by the state. So the governor has pushed back our next mass appraisal in Hamilton County to 2030. So just be aware of that. You should receive communications every time we do one of these, but we do always like to share this schedule as well to be as transparent as possible. All right, really quickly, I'm gonna fly through these website slides here, but just know that there was a federal law that was supposed to go into effect this March. The federal government has since pushed it back a year to give county governments and governments period of our size time to catch up, but we had to be completely and 100% accessible to the public. That now means that there's an accessibility plugin on the bottom left hand of our website. You can click on that and change our website into different types of colors to meet different variances of color blindness. You can change it into dyslexia font and so many other options to make the website completely accessible to everyone who uses it. We also have added a translation tool which translates the website into over 100 different languages. This is actually very important because we have about 120,000 unique users to our website every month and they come from about 100 different countries. Real estate business, as you could imagine, is done all over the world. So it is good to now have that tool on the website. And I know it's not the sexiest of government work, but we do now finally have a search bar. Believe it or not, this is very, very helpful. So anytime you're looking for a spreadsheet, particularly for your finance officer here in the city, you can just type it into that search bar and it'll bring it up everywhere it's located on the website. We were able to comply with federal law in time of the original timeline, and we were able to do all of these updates in-house and save taxpayer dollars. So I just wanted to point out those two things. All right, we have also done a lot of updates to other pages on our website. Every page has now been updated, but just know that the BOR page as well has now a three-part video series for folks to learn about what the BOR is, the Board of Revision. So I'd encourage you to take a look at that. This is probably the page you're most familiar with seeing, which is a landing page for any property search. We have a wealth of information on our website for every single property in the county. This is probably my favorite. This is on the tax distribution page of everybody's property summary. This breaks down for each homeowner, business owner, the like of the county. in black and white ink down to the penny where all of your property tax dollars are going. And then we also pop it out in a colorful pie graph as well. So it's available to folks in two different formats. And we really pride ourselves on being able to offer this. in a transparent way to the people of Hamilton County. And if you ever have any questions on this, please reach out. But one thing I will point out that you will notice on a majority of properties in the county, the largest piece of our pie graph is always going to be what? Our local schools. Why? Because school funding is still unconstitutional here in the great state of Ohio. So until the state legislature fixes that balance and makes it a little more even, we will still bear a majority of that burden on us, the property taxpayers here in the state of Ohio.

All right, rental registration.

I just want to make one quick plug about this program. We realize that a lot of municipalities like yourselves are starting your own rental registration programs. We welcome that in the auditor's office. We just want to remind everyone that we are the statutory agent of state law. If you are a landlord, you must file what is called a rental registration form with your county auditor's office. in addition to and hopefully before any that is available in your local municipality or political jurisdiction. So please just keep that in mind. There is no fee for our form for landlords. However, we do have a penalty that we can assess of $150 for landlords who do not abide by this Ohio law and file this form. I will say one more thing as to why this is so important, not just because it's Ohio law, but every year we typically have lots of fraud in this area. There are folks who pose to be landlords in the community and they take security deposits and first month's rent from hardworking folks, never to be seen or heard from again because they were not actually the landlord or the owner of that property at all. The easiest way people can check this is the property search function on our website. You can pull up the registration form, and make sure that that landlord that you are talking to is actually the landlord for the property. And again, a little bit of consumer protection, but we can only post the rental registration forms that are filed lawfully with us. So please, anyone who is listening that may be a landlord out there, make sure that this form is filed correctly with your county auditor's office. All right, the last two slides, council members, are about the two property tax relief programs that we have to administer in our office, in the auditor's office. The first one is the homestead exemption. You've probably heard of this. This is for folks 65 years of age and older. It does now have an income requirement on it. In other words, you have to make $41,000 or less to qualify. There was a time in Ohio history where there was no income requirement on this program. And it was benefiting a lot more of our senior citizens. I don't need to sit here and bloviate to you all of how important senior citizens are to every pocket of our communities across our state. And if they should so choose to stay and live in their home, they should be able to afford to do so. So this is the number one thing that your Hamilton County Auditor, as well as my entire association, the County Auditors Association of Ohio, has been advocating for at the state level. My only ask to you tonight, other than the fact that you need to call us with any questions that you may have, is to please contact your state rep, your state senator, the governor, if you have a line into him, and express to them how important it is for us to move the five bills that are currently sitting in committees collecting dust in the State General Assembly. All of those bills do something in one way, shape, or form to make this program better. or to properly index it for inflation, which is what this illustration is showing you here on this slide. Back in 2014, the average home value in Hamilton County was about 155,000. Seniors who were on and receiving the homestead exemption were getting a little over $500 back as a break on their property tax bill. As you could imagine, that's a good amount, a good chunk of change. Cut to 10 years later in 2024, home values have skyrocketed to almost 70%. And all the while, this homestead exemption has only gone up 7%. So right there lies the inequities of this program. It could be getting so much more bang for its buck. But the program unfortunately has lost all of its luster. Those are my zingers that I'll get in there as quickly as I possibly can. But if you could help me help you for the work that we are doing on the state level, contact your legislators and let them know that this is important, that we make this program better so that we can administer it to more seniors across the county. And then lastly, we have the owner occupancy credit. This simply states if you live in primary residence, you get a certain percentage back on your property tax bill. I would encourage everyone here that's listening and watching tonight to go and check your property on our property summary page. Make sure that you are receiving any of these programs that you think you qualify for. And if you are not and you want to see if you qualify for them, please do not hesitate to contact our office. we will do what we can to make sure you have the proper paperwork and get you updated on either or both of these property tax relief programs if you qualify. With that said, I'm going to go ahead and close it out. Council members, this may look like any closing slide you've ever seen on any good PowerPoint presentation. But I'm happy to report that this one is historic in nature. We now have, as your Hamilton County Auditor's Office or branch of government, our own social media platforms for the first time in county history. So we are posting the information from this presentation and so much more on there. So if you don't already follow us, please make sure you do. We want folks to know the services that we offer and what we have and the things that we are offering. lawfully and statutorily supposed to do for the people of Hamilton County. So again, we understand it's 2026. Whether you think that's a good thing or a bad thing, people are accessing their information on social media. So we want to make sure we are there as well. So with that said, I'll open it up to any questions you may have of me tonight, and then I'll get out of your hair so you can get on with the rest of your meeting.

All right. Thank you so much. Anyone here have any questions for Auditor Miranda?

No.

No, just gratitude. Thank you.

Excellent. Well, thank you again. I think it was great. I just want to commend you for the effort to come out and present this. It goes a long way to have that update. And you can report to all those from your office that Loveland was the hottest stop on the auditor.

That is right. That is right. And you know what? Milford wore the crown before you all. So congratulations to the people of the city of Loveland. This is now the most populated week. Thank you again for the time on your agenda. Have a good evening.

Thank you so much. Okay, moving to open forum. So before we start to call the role here for open forum, I just want to lay a couple of ground rules out. There's a lot of folks I know I've not, I haven't seen in councils. So I just want to go over the the protocol. So those of you that signed up, we're going to go one at a time. If you did sign up for open forum and you're in the lobby, you know, now would be a time to maybe make your way into the gallery. because we'll be proceeding through these names. Each speaker is going to have five minutes, and we have a little timer there at the front, which indicates time. So it's green when you start. When you have one minute left, it turns yellow, and it's red at the end of your time. For the purposes of tonight, please, at the red light, wrap it up and feel free to call it a day early if you'd like. You can defer your time to someone else. If someone says something that you might agree with, there's no need, I think, to repeat if you are so inclined. If you want to say your piece, by all means, that's what we're here to listen for and that's why this section of the agenda exists. Another item is around gallery noise. So if you could please refrain from outbursts or applause, it's really best to try to treat this like a sort of like a conversation and that it's between those that sign up to speak and those of us here on the dais that are here to listen. And lastly, I would say the council has the right to kind of restrict duplicate duplicitous testimony double. If we keep hearing the same thing over and over again, we may move to suspend that section. So I think I covered everything. And please state your name and address for the record when you when you first come up. OK, so we'll start with Scott Wheeler.

Scott Wheeler, 132 Woodcrest. These comments are submitted for your consideration and deliberation before you vote on the amendment to section 111 related to field use fields fees. So the benchmark used to set field use fees is flawed. It ignores that municipalities operate differently. Some rely on all volunteer resources. Others host competitive clubs generating real revenue. LISA, Loveland Youth Soccer Association and FC Storm collected $1.4 million in revenue in 2024. Comparing those situations without adjustment is apples to oranges. In the same memo, city management admits that it isn't even covering its own stated costs. while calling itself extremely competitive with its pricing. That's not something to be proud of. Failing to cover costs is exactly how we lost 10 acres of recreational park with the loss of Boykie. I raise these issues, non-volunteer coaching, excessive outside participation, and field use fees repeatedly and in detail before the July 2025 meeting that approved the new field use policy. Here's the math. FC Storm Zone IRS filings 990 show field use and maintenance spending of $92,000 in 2019, $57,000 in 2021, $73,000 in 2022, and $143,000 in 2023. and 121,024. So a known total close to a half a million dollars in the last five years. That covers their entire operation, not just Loveland. FC Storm markets itself to 23 surrounding communities, right, using Loveland as their home base. And for that, they've been paying the city $10,000 a year. Right, meanwhile the city mows, lines, and prepares those fields for taxpayer expense, at taxpayer expense. That's a double subsidy. Nominal rent plus maintenance and public maintenance, the public funds. The question isn't what FC Storm did with its money, it's why the city gives away community land at this price, while admitting the price doesn't cover its own costs. In the years since I first raised this, as early as February 23, nobody has responded. Not the parks board, not city council, not the city manager, nor the assistant city manager. To be clear, not asking to raise fees to this level but I'm asking council to see the real issue. Years of failed advocacy for youth sports made it politically difficult to simply charge what things cost. Fair market rate for this field use is conservatively $80,000 a year. And FC Storm can't absorb that under its current cost structure without raising prices to families. So I have to ask, right, has correcting this subsidy become something the city is reluctant to do precisely because who it affects? This isn't an inability, it's a choice. The city has had years to enforce all volunteer requirement that stood in the policy and chose not to. Enforcing it would have made covering costs easy, and even more Loveland youth would have had access to the competitive play. City leadership has allowed an unchecked, unmanaged monopoly to flourish on community fields without community oversight. Per its own charter, the board is closed. No open election or vote by families and residents it draws from. We have an organization exercising effective control over public fields while governance stays closed to the very community whose land it operates on. And when it came time to update the field use policy, the parks board didn't do it. They handed the first draft over to the assistant city manager who doesn't even live in this city. I raised that directly with both the city manager and the assistant city manager at the time. What came back stripped the all volunteer requirement entirely and never addressed outside participation or fees. It locked in years of violations and locked out Loveland families who can't afford what FC storm charges. Last point. The memo described losing Berkey Park as eliminated. That's cold clinical language. It isn't what eliminate means. We lost a park.

Are you finished? Mr. Wheeler?

I'm finished.

Thank you.

You have any questions for me? Or anybody?

I appreciate your comment, but now we've got to move on. Next on the agenda is Ben Capodagli.

Good evening, Vice Mayor Bateman, members of council. My name is Ben Capodagli and I'm the owner of Cappy's Wine and Spirits located at 309 West Loveland Avenue in downtown Loveland. I'm also a resident of Loveland and live at 418 Wakefield Street, just four tenths of a mile from my business. I purchased what is now known as Cappy's in 2008. Over the years, I have tried to give back as much as possible. I am committed to doing what I can to support our schools, local nonprofits, and local causes. My staff and I have volunteered to help plan city events like Hearts of Fire, Fourth of July, and the Christmas Tree Lighting. We've been recognized as the Business of the Year from the Chamber in both 2019 and 2025, and in 2018, we were the recipient of the City's Business Enhancement Award. I don't share this looking for recognition. I share this to demonstrate that I've always viewed CAPES as a community partner. Beginning this past March, I started to notice an increase in the number of noise complaints. directed at my business. This is one recent example of those complaints. On Thursday, 7-2, at just 7.30 in the evening, a Loveland police officer responded to Cappies because of a noise complaint. The musician performing that evening was a solo acoustic guitarist who had played monthly at my business for years without issue. Another example occurred on June 4th. A police officer responded to Cappy's after we had already closed for the evening because of a complaint that loud music was coming from our property. Our music had ended more than two hours prior. Our business wasn't even open. The only people there were a handful of employees finishing their closing duties. These situations have become increasingly difficult beyond consuming valuable police resources. Repeated responses create uncertainty for my staff, confusion for customers, and strained relationships with our musicians. When music is interrupted, turned down, shut off, restarted, or questioned during performances, it directly affects the experience we are trying to create here in Loveland. We are located in an entertainment area. We deserve the right to entertain. my question tonight is simply this where do we go from here i recognize there are residents who have concerns about downtown noise those concerns deserve to be heard but it's also important to remember that the presence of entertainment outdoor gathering spaces community events and yes live music is not something that happened by accident it's result of years of Investment in public policy. The downtown strategic development plan published in 2019, which currently lives on the city's website, repeatedly calls for creating a downtown centered around experiences, hospitality, gathering spaces, and activity. It identifies entertainment as a part of downtown's identity and encourages activation of public spaces. Likewise, the city's Nisbet Park Master Plan, also published on the city's website, includes investing more than $400,000 in constructing a new permanent stage as part of a larger vision for an enhanced amphitheater and community gathering space. These aren't my ideas. These are the city's own plans. As a downtown business owner, I've responded to that vision. Myself and many of my fellow downtown business owners have invested in our properties. We've booked musicians, we've hosted events. We've worked to make downtown Loveland the destination where residents and visitors alike want to spend time. Today, however, I feel like I'm operating in a gray area. Recent discussions at law and ordinance committee meetings have repeatedly emphasized the need for clarity and consistency in enforcement. I couldn't agree more. Right now, business owners are trying to comply with rules that are confusing and sometimes conflicting while police officers are being asked to enforce standards that are difficult to apply consistently. No one benefits from that. Additionally, this uncertainty couldn't have come at a more challenging time. Summer is the busiest season for many downtown businesses. It's when many of us generate the revenue that helps sustain us through the slower months. Operating under uncertainty during our busiest times of the year creates unnecessary stress for everyone involved. We need to know what is permitted, we need to know what is not permitted, and we need that clarity sooner rather than later. At the law and ordinance meeting on June 22nd, While discussing a potential change to the noise ordinance, Captain Gangwerth advocated for reasonableness rather than strict adherence to specific decibel levels. He said, if you add something that's simple, that's easy for us, easy for the citizens and the establishments to understand, that's the best way to go. I couldn't agree more. I respectfully ask the Law and Ordinance Committee to move with urgency on this issue and that they keep in mind the vision this community adopted through years of planning and significant taxpayer investment, a vision centered on a vibrant, active downtown. To be honest, I wish I wasn't standing here tonight. I'd much rather be focused on running my business and serving this community, but I also feel it's my responsibility as both a business owner and a resident to speak on behalf of preserving the vision that so many people have worked to create. Downtown Loveland today is vibrant. It's thriving. It's a place where families gather, neighbors meet, visitors spend their weekends, and local businesses invest in the community. I believe there's a way to provide residents with clarity and peace they deserve while also preserving the vitality that this city intentionally set out to create. I respectfully ask council to move swiftly towards clear, consistent standards to reduce that uncertainty, support our police officers, respect our residents, and allow downtown businesses to continue to contribute to the communities we've all worked so hard to build. As you can see from the outpouring of support, I do not believe I am alone in this sentiment. Thank you.

Okay, thank you, sir.

All right, Matt Powell.

Good evening, members of council. That's a tough one to follow there. We were just thrown into this a few days back, probably just like Ben was, but I own several businesses around town, four being the Lofts, the Landing, Wicked Pickle, and Bishop's Quarter. There's been a lot of rumors flying around about the noise restrictions, whether true or not. I keep hearing some people about a 9 p.m. cutoff for live music, reduced decibels, you know, whatever. Then we hear from, you know, our GM or one of my partners talking to the mayor the last few days that those concerns may be unfounded. Yet we know that there's a proposal being drafted up by the city manager. I appreciate the council is trying to balance the interests of the residents and local businesses, but we're here to get in front of this before more restrictions may be put in place. If there are legitimate concerns about excessive noise, we should address it. However, more restrictions would be an overreaction with real economic consequences. Business owners took a lot of risk, and love and success didn't happen by chance. We invested millions of dollars, we hired employees, created jobs, we brought entertainment that people wanted. Together with many other businesses, we helped transform Loveland into one of the most vibrant entertainment districts in the region. To put this in an economic perspective, so maybe you can understand our concern, our businesses alone have an annual payroll around $1 million. We pay local and regional musicians up to $100,000 each year. to come to Loveland, we do this because it brings people in and it makes them stay longer. It helps other businesses. We also generate substantial sales tax, property taxes, payroll taxes, and other revenues that help support the city. While I haven't had time to compile every single number, tabulate the taxes, the financial impact is significant. If live music is cut short, restricted, or diminished in some manner by several hours every weekend, those dollars don't simply disappear from our business, they disappear from Loveland. Payrolls reduced, entertainment budgets cut, bands lose work and go elsewhere. Visitors leave early or choose other communities. And the restaurants, shops, and other businesses that benefit from that traffic will feel the effects as well. Not that long ago, I mean, after dinner, Loveland is a ghost town. I mean, you guys all remember. I mean, now it's one of the region's destinations because business owners invested in creating an experience people want to be a part of. I know that when we have a good band playing up top, I mean, it's packed until we close. When we don't, you know, people are gone. You know, and Cappy's is the same. I mean, I've seen that several times in the last few weeks. I mean, it's nuts over there. It's awesome. And people come to hear that. I ask council to consider all of this when and if there's a proposal before you. Public policy should be based on objective evidence and the interest of the community as a whole. Not a solution so broad that it jeopardizes the economic vitality of the entire downtown. If adjustments are needed, let's discuss reasonable alternatives. Enforce existing ordinances or address specific violations. I mean, those are all targeted solutions, but a mandatory early shutdown time or other reduced decibels are not. I may be wrong, but judging by all the comments I've seen on social media, and everybody here, those shirts are awesome, support live music, it's an overwhelming consensus that people don't even see that there's a problem. So I respectfully ask that when you do consider this, not only listen to the few complaints that you've heard, but also the employees, musicians, business owners, visitors, and taxpayers who may never come to this podium, but whose livelihoods depend on keeping Loveland vibrant. Public policy needs to reflect the interest of the entire community, not just the loudest voices. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Kathleen Campion.

Hello, my name is Kathleen Campion. I live at 220 South Riverside Avenue. Thank you for allowing me to speak and voice my concerns. I am addressing City Council tonight regarding the noise levels created by some of the entertainment establishments in downtown Loveland. I cannot call it music because by the time it reaches my back porch, it is no longer music, merely loud nuisance noise. I'm not against supporting live entertainment in downtown. What I am opposed to is the excessive nuisance noise because of the volume levels at which many of the bands are playing that has increased over the past three or more years. My complaint is not directed at any specific establishment, but it is directed at any and all of the establishments that are not abiding by the current ordinances already in place that results in me and my family not being able to enjoy our property. And to be specific, it is not about the duration of time the bands play. It ultimately hinges on the level of noise disruptions in our lives. This high level of noise has prevented my husband and I from enjoying our own music and or conversation with friends and neighbors on our back porch. These noise levels are not occasional like the recent 4th of July fireworks. It is every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights that interrupts the peace and tranquility we should be afforded with the boundaries of our own property and home. Yes, we can even hear the noises when we are forced to retreat into our home because we can't enjoy our porch. There's no logical reason why the amplified levels need to exceed 800 plus feet from the source when the patrons sit less than 50 feet from the band. Over the past month, the noise levels decreased quite drastically, seemingly almost overnight, only to begin creeping upwards again this past weekend. Knowing the Law Ordinance Committee is still working to establish a final and equitable ordinance, one can only assume that the owners have begun to self-regulate the noise themselves. So if they have been able to lower the amplified levels themselves over the past month, why can they not continue to do so going forward? To be clear, I am not here to ask for a law that bans music from being played in downtown Loveland like in the fictional movie Footloose. I am asking that the entertainment establishment owners practice good corporate citizenship and respect for the nearby homeowners in order that we can enjoy our property. And if they cannot or refuse to do so, then as a homeowner, I must rely on city council, the law and ordinance committee, city management, and the police department to control the nuisance noise that some of the entertainment establishments are creating. I am asking that in addition to what I hope will be an equitable ordinance that not only allows downtown's entertainment district to thrive, but it also protects the homeowners who have lived in or near downtown for 30 plus years. Thank you.

Next is Randy Campion.

My name is Randy Campion. I live at 220 South Riverside. We have a lot of people here tonight, and I want to thank you guys for coming. I'd also like to get a show of hands of how many of you live in Loveland. Good. I would assume council lives in Loveland. Okay. Now I'd like to get a show of hands of people that live in the downtown area. Good. All right, and finally, I'd like a show of hands of people that live on Riverside Avenue or Drive, Main Street, or Overlook Drive. Okay, so if you don't live on any of those three streets, Overside Drive is up on the hill. Okay, so if you don't live on any of those three streets, You can't know what we experience on those streets. I need you to imagine a grandparent's given a six-year-old grandchild a set of drums. And he plays them nonstop. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. for hours, for days, until the parents either deal with the problem or they take the drums away. Unfortunately, council, you are the parents. All we hear across the river is the bass and the drums. All we hear is bam, bam, bam, bam, bam for three hours, three or four days. Imagine you're at your home and this goes on for three or four days. We used to play a game in my backyard and we try and listen to the music downtown and you can't decipher what the tunes are because all you hear is the drums. Rarely, you might make out something maybe like Phil Collins in the air tonight, but that's it. In the last three weeks, it's been quiet because Cappy's has adjusted their volume. and are playing at the levels close to current ordinance, but it isn't good enough for CAPIs. They have said that they need it louder or they're going to lose business. If you say you've done that, you say you've done a lot for Loveland, and I thank you for that, but there are a lot of good corporate citizens, businesses, they've done a lot for Loveland. The Wicked Pickle, Ramsey, the Event Center, all of these have outdoor music, and none of them play exceeding the levels of the sound ordinance. They seem to have done well. We just have three businesses, Bishop's Quarters, Cappy's, and now Cindy's has joined them. Bam, bam, bam. Three nights, three hours. It doesn't stop. Let's talk about what Loveland has done for Cappies, because that's what affects us. They've created an outdoor entertainment zone. that many cities don't have. They've allowed outdoor music that many cities don't allow. They've allowed your business to expand. They didn't require your business to provide parking for your customers. They created a left turn lane so you can get into your business, which makes it harder for us to get in and out of downtown. And what did you do in return for us? You played music louder than the ordinance. You've exceeded the city's ordinances. Ben, you told me in the podcast, you said that you lived downtown and it was quiet at your house. Well, you don't live downtown. You live closer to White Pillars than you do downtown. If you hear music at your house other than fireworks, then we've really got a big problem. There's no peace and quiet at my house. We hear the repeated bam, bam, bam, bam, bam for three hours, three to four times a week. There's no way to escape it. It never stops. Sometimes we look at the clock to see, oh, I've got another hour and a half left of this. And then, God, it's over with. And then it just starts the next day. I thank council for the opportunity to speak tonight.

Thank you. Okay, next, David Bishop.

My name is David Bishop. I live at 208 South Riverside Avenue. I moved here in 1980, so I've seen all the changes that has occurred in Loveland. There seems to be a confusion here on people understanding what outdoor entertainment is and what nuisance noise is. I'm not against outdoor entertainment. I'll support them. They can play all day, all night, no curfew. I don't care as long as the music is contained within the property line of these businesses. Once it leaves there, it becomes nuisance noise and I have to suffer the consequences of it. There are already laws in place, the city, the county, the state, and even the federal. that guarantees my right for peace and quiet use of my property and home. And I am not getting that because of the noise from this outdoor entertainment. The simple solution is turn the volume down. That's all it takes. If you don't know what The different types of noises are there's pleasant sounds of like music, babies laughing, the ocean, things like that. Then there's ambient noise, and that's just the sound of the city. It's all the source noises that are blended together that give a sonic fingerprint, if you will, background noise or white noise. And then there are nuisance noise. The legal standard for nuisance noise is any unnecessary or excessive sound that injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace, or safety of others. Noise laws exist to prohibit sounds that reach a volume, character, and or duration that unreasonably and substantially interferes with the use and enjoyment of a person's property. That's what we're bitching about, not outdoor entertainment. Generally defined, nuisance noise is unwanted, unpleasant, disruptive sound that interferes with a person's activities or peace of mind. An activity or condition on a property that unreasonably and continuously interferes with another person's ability to use or enjoy their own land or endangers the health and safety of the general public. The volumes that are played at these bars with the outdoor entertainment is reckless endangerment. They're well beyond the decibel level that the threshold of the decibel level for hearing damage where it starts. It starts at 85 decibels. My decibel readings at these events are 90 to 105, well beyond that. A decibel does not go up like a speed limit. 10 decibel points above a baseline number is 10 times the volume. The thing with nuisance noise is our brains translate that noise different from ambient noise or source noise. The brain kind of discards ambient noise because it doesn't pose a threat. It's background noise. It's homogenous. Source sounds, like pleasant noises, we enjoy. We listen to it. Nuisance noise cannot be measured by a decibel meter. It's subjective. And you can't measure that with a meter. The volume is so loud at my house that it penetrates the inside of my property. So every weekend I start getting anxious because I know that there's gonna be noise and I'm not gonna be able to enjoy my property. And I'm just waiting until 10.30 or 11 o'clock comes to get some peace and quiet. The law is already established for the peaceful and quiet enjoyment of my property And my home, like all of you, have the same right, and it's being violated, and the noise ordinance is not being enforced. I've been filing complaints for over a year and a half, and there is yet to be any strict action, either warnings or citations, that have been issued, and I'm fed up with it. Now, this is not the end of where this can go. It can go to the county and to the state. And the consequences when it reaches that are going to be a lot more severe than just reducing the noise level.

Thank you. David Nielsen.

Hello, my name is David Nielsen. I live at 612 Valley Woods Court in Miami Trails. My wife and I always talked about moving to Loveland. We our careers were fairly new when we first started looking for a house. We decided we needed a house a little faster. We ended up moving to Mainville. during the bubble. We got stuck there for about 12 years, but about a decade ago, we finally made the move to Loveland. The reason we wanted to move to Loveland is because we saw the investment that they were doing in their community, the walkable downtown space, the entertainment, the new restaurants opening. We knew this was going to be the spot. We didn't move for a house. We moved here for a community. And it paid off. The Dora District, the festivals, the choice to make downtown the heart of this city. And it's not just us. Our children from 14 to 29 years old are talking about living here in Loveland. That's unheard of. Every kid is trying to get the hell out of their parents' community. Let's be honest. And that's a direct result of decisions this council made, right? And it's not just about Cappies or Bishops or Ramseys. It's every business downtown that hires Lego musicians, that pays wages. Live music is woven into our identity. And this council knows it better than anyone because you host concerts right here on your own lawn. So I want to tell you that I witnessed personally, I was at this event, a single acoustic guitar player singing. The volume was very reasonable. I have no idea how the complaint even came in. We saw the police arrive and we were thinking there was something completely else going on. There's no way it was about the noise. So let's be honest. When complaints come in at that volume, a single acoustic guitar before sunset on a weeknight, they're not about the sound. They're about proving a point. All right, we're not asking to upset anyone or ruin anyone's homestead. We're asking for clear, concise rules that every venue can follow and count on because clear rules protect everyone. A venue that allows them is safe, and to complain against a venue that follows them can finally be seen for what it is. But hear me on this. You live in a town. Towns grow. They get louder. They get bigger. They over swell their boundaries. That's just a fact. There are millions of acres in Ohio where you can go to find silence. You live near downtown Loveland. There's one and only downtown Loveland. And with that growth going to come noise. I'm sorry. This town made a choice to move forward for families like mine. And I heard that promise. We came, our children heard it and they're staying. Loveland families will keep moving here. If we keep moving forward, if we start moving backwards, Everything this council will work for that is bearing fruit will die on the vine. Thank you. I concede my time.

All right. Next is CeCe Collins.

Hello, my name is Cece Collins. I'm the president of the Little Miami River Chamber Alliance here in Loveland, Ohio. I'll be brief because I think we've heard pretty much from both sides. But first, I want to get up here and thank city government. I know there's some things coming to light. I'm not sure how we got here, but I want to thank you guys and thank the Law and Ordinance Committee. I know you're up against a lot right now, and I trust that you're going to come up with the right solution. So what I wanted to say to everyone here is, first of all, I think it's wonderful. The chamber, our main job is to serve as the leading advocate for the businesses and help them grow and thrive. So I am here on behalf of the businesses. I think we have to remember, you're not gonna like this. You have to remember, we gotta have our residents happy so they continue to come down too. Looks like we're gonna do that based on what's in this room right now. But the city is working to help the businesses. I know. I've talked to folks on the city side, the city government side, the business side. I've heard from pretty much everybody. They're working. They're not going to get rid of music. They're not going to stop the music. As a matter of fact, I think this is going to work out better for us from conversations I've had. Yes, they will take care of our residents. I can understand. I don't know what time you have to get up for work. I wouldn't want to hear thumping and all of that either if I had to get up for work fairly early. I don't know if that's the situation, but I am sympathetic. So with that said, this is the task at hand, and I believe law and order will take all that into consideration, and I want everybody to know the city is taking this serious and working on it. So let's just give them a minute to get this right, and I believe they will. One last thing. When we're launched into the limelight like we have been, I think it's been said that no press is bad press. I don't know about that. So I just wanted us to keep that into consideration as we're out there and making comments and talking to different people. And again, just trust the process. They're getting through it. I do ask city to get through the process as quickly as possible. I understand that takes ordinances and regulations and meetings and people in town and all that good stuff. So we'll be respectful of that. But other than that, I just want to say thank you for everyone that's here. And I have all the faith in the world and I'll continue to keep my eye on the ball. And I'm happy to talk to anybody about this as well. Thank you.

okay next i don't i can't quite make out the signature it looks like dell hall hall it looks like dale dell going once next okay we're going to go to the next ricardo inesta

Hi, my name's Ricardo Onesta. I live at 120 East Broadway Street in the Brownstone condominiums right across from Eads, mile 42, if you're familiar with that location. So I come here, I wasn't planning on speaking tonight, but I wanted to sign my name as just a resident that lives in downtown. Loveland and moved here because of the private community that we see. About seven years ago, I lived in Mason. My wife and I would frequent here on the weekends a lot. And we decided that, you know, hey, we'd be great to live here one day. And we actually wanted to show this place to my parents. And my dad and my mom came here and we walked them around and they said, this place is fabulous. I can't believe this place exists. My dad, Raul Iniesta Jr., is a full Puerto Rican, hence the name Ricardo, for those of you wondering. And he said as a child, I dreamed of this place. This is what America looks like to me, Mayberry. And he said, you two have to move here. And sure enough, a year later, sold our place in Mason. We've been here ever since. And I couldn't have been more happier in that decision. Lived in a lot of different places in my 57 years. And this is by far my favorite place. It's not the nicest place I've lived. It's not the biggest place I've lived. But it's my favorite place to live because of the thriving community, the walkable parks. entertainment and all these establishments. I've met several musicians, several business owners who are here tonight, and I'm glad to call them my friends. The energy that CC has done and the team has done here for the city, the events, Oktoberfest, we bring our friends into the community, our family into the community, and they want to live here because of the entertainment. And so I know I may be getting a little bit off, but as a resident, I just want to talk about it. We're going in such a great trajectory. I hate to see that change. Like I said, we've convinced friends of ours to move here and they have family members that want to live here now. And to mimic this gentleman's points, our sons and daughters have considered moving here as well. So and I just ask the council again, nuisance noise is subjective. We chose to live down here and we live within 50 yards of the train and a dumpster that comes every morning at five o'clock and motorcycles that love to ride in and out of town and people would consider those nuisance noises. We knew that and we're okay with it because we wanted to be next to all the action that this town has to offer. That's all I have to say.

Alright, Daniel Burton.

Hello, I am Daniel C. Burton, grandson of the first chief of police of Loveland. I came here tonight to address the chief and the prosecutor. You both need to learn how to do your jobs correctly. And then I'm going to address what the city saying here tonight about the noise. We have a noise ordinance of 11 PM. There's a reason why that's set in place. I'm sorry for the citizens that have to sit here that live in the entertainment district, but that's where you choose to live and where you guys have lived for 30 plus years. And I know a lot of you, I'm sorry for the facts that you guys have to go through this, but the reason we have noise ordinance there is in place for a reason. What these businesses do and the revenue they bring into our city is exponentially better than what the residential taxes are for anybody. I'm sorry, but if you guys don't like living there, move. It's simple for any of us. If we don't like something, move. Simple. But now, Chief, I'm going to address this to you. ORC 4513.071. brake lights. Only two are permitted to work. If a motorist is driving down the road, has three brake lights, only two of those lights have to work. I'm tired of seeing your officers harassing and not knowing the law and harassing the citizens and collecting money off them for those purposes. What goes into any of your pockets is trifling of the acts of what you guys do. Like you told me, Chief. Well, Mr. Burton, somebody was complaining at the town hall meeting about this, so I told the boys to target this. You're on video saying it. You understand me too, mister? You understand what I'm saying? I got all this. You can use this in our court case. It's in District 1, you know it. What I gave you the letter intended to sue on. What was that about? Threatening a citizen over addressing you guys in the course and duty of your actions? Threaten a person with obstruction? Obstruction is a physical act, not a verbal act of addressing your public servants in the course and duties of their job. Are we understood we have to do a better job at policing here instead of what you guys are doing extorting and collecting off the citizens? The six weeks of training your officers get? is a joke. Each one of you need to do more research and study the law. And I'll end it there. You all have a great night.

Okay, good evening. It's nice to see so many familiar faces. My name is Sharon Scovanner. I live at 155 Overlook Drive. Loveland is a tight-knit community, family-friendly, encompassing only five square miles. The close proximity we have to each other requires residents and property owners to support and respect each other. As a member of a small neighborhood community, hi Bill, I care deeply about how my actions impact those around me. If I as a neighbor was told that some of my actions would be of a concern to them, I would certainly try to make changes to correct them, as I know my neighbors would too. It's just the neighborly thing to do. Isn't that the kind of town we all want to be a part of? There has been some talk about residents wanting to take away entertainment in downtown Loveland. That is not how I feel. I want to see our local businesses succeed. Property owners have the right to use their property as they see fit, provided it's lawful. The right to quiet enjoyment is a foundation of property rights in the United States, supported by both common and case law. A landowner is entitled to use their property in such a way that maximizes their enjoyment. However, that enjoyment must not unreasonably interfere or disturb the rights of adjoining property owners or create a nuisance. Simply put, a landowner can put their property to any lawful use as long as they do not deprive adjoining owners the right of enjoyment of their property. It's really a simple, straightforward concept. The City of Springdale's noise ordinance says all noise from amplified devices shall be contained to the property, which makes a lot of sense and would be easy to enforce. On any given night, outdoor amplified sound can come from Cappy's, Bishop's Quarter, the Wicked Pickle, the Landing Event Center, Cindy's, Hopps and Berry's, Cocoa Muse, and the many events in Nisbet Park. The sound travels north to neighborhoods as far as Randy Vine, east to almost Grailville, and west to the Heights. Between these points are many residential neighborhoods with amplified sound extending far beyond the source property lines. As residents, we too have invested money in our properties and pay property and income tax. Some business owners and patrons may not live in Loveland. There are many, there may be residents who do patronize downtown but live far enough away that they are not impacted by the noise at their homes. That doesn't change the fact that other residents are impacted. It's easy to say, who cares? Play the music loud if it doesn't affect you personally. I hope we are better than that. We have to have a genuine care for our neighbors as ourselves. So what's the solution? Fortunately, there are many. Number one, the easiest thing would be to turn down the volume. Loud music is not healthy for patrons or employees. This would be simple and cost nothing. Number two, locate musicians indoors, preventing sound from traveling beyond the property line. Three, install mitigating sound barriers, such as acoustic fencing, sound blankets, outdoor curtains, soundproofing panels, or masonry walls. Number four, move musicians from elevated decks where sound can travel the farthest. As I said at the first law and ordinance meeting, I think it's important that effective residents and businesses that are playing outdoor music come together to figure out a solution that everyone can buy into. I welcome the opportunity to do so. Thank you. And I want to mention that Ben and I have talked this evening, and we're going to sit down and talk about this. So we appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you, Sharon. Justin Beard. Going once, Justin.

Justin Beard. Beard.

Beard.

Beers. Beers. Next. Justin Beard.

Okay. All right. That concludes everybody that signed up. I know you all are here for a, did you?

It's not time for that.

Mark, I have you signed up for the public hearing. Okay. So I know you guys are all here and thank you so much for taking time to participate in local government. I'm so glad that there were a lot of ancillary topics on the agenda that you were able to witness, but I'm sure that you're really here to kind of get some... What's that?

Did you want me to sort of summarize where we are with the process?

Well, yeah, exactly. I will ask you to do that, but before we get to that, I wanted to just offer... My thanks for your participation in this process because it's very valuable. As you can see, this is a subjective issue, so it's important to garner as much different perspectives as possible. And while there are other avenues that would be mentioned in terms of media and our online presence, this is the best way, bringing your opinions here for the record, for us to talk and have a dialogue together as a community. is how we're going to reach a consensus on this. I would like to offer some time to my colleagues, but before we do that, I'll let Brian Goodyear take a stab at giving us a sneak preview of the process as it is in real time. I think we have a meeting coming up next week. We do. For law and ordinance. So I'll let Brian give us all an update on the process as it stands.

All right. Good evening, everyone. I want to echo what the vice mayor said. I really appreciate everyone being here showing this amount of interest about Loveland, about our city government. I just want to give you a little background of kind of where we're at and why we're here. Loveland city ordinances have basically three different places that impact noise in the city. There's a zoning ordinance and there's other ordinances. And frankly, it's very difficult for someone to sit down and find the ordinances and understand what the standards are and what you have to follow. So because of that, some time ago, we started talking about the idea of having Law and Ordinance Committee, which I'm the vice chair of, having Law and Ordinance Committee look at the ordinances and come up with a single unified ordinance that's more simple to understand and easier to enforce. And it was mentioned earlier about Captain Gangwer's comments at one of the Law and Order meetings we've had. We've already had two meetings, by the way, about this. We're gonna have a third on July 22nd at 6 p.m. So everyone certainly is welcome to be here and speak at that as well. But the idea here is simply to create an ordinance that makes it easier for the police to enforce and it balances the needs of businesses and residents. So let me first say, it seems like there's some concern about the idea that somehow city council is gonna take some action to either eliminate or severely limit the idea of playing live music outdoors. And that's completely untrue. There is no desire on our part. Certainly, it's not even been discussed. Anything we've discussed in law and ordinance, any of the potential ordinances we've been discussing just generally so far, none of that has ever even discussed the idea of eliminating outdoor music. The only issue is trying to make sure that things are done in a reasonable, balanced way. And that's usually, and I know it's been mentioned, right now we have levels based on decibels and decibel meters, which is very hard to enforce for a number of reasons. And then there's another possibility of going to a standard where we just look at whether in the circumstances for the time of the day and the activities, whether it's reasonable. And that's what we're discussing right now. So we haven't come to any conclusions. We actually even haven't seen yet a draft of an ordinance. I think we're gonna start doing that at the next meeting. But I just want everybody to understand, this didn't start as some effort by the city to undermine businesses or to make it more difficult for residents. This was just an idea initially for us to try and make our city ordinances more understandable and more efficient. And I think that at some point along the way, some information got out that maybe wasn't accurate. But again, I appreciate everyone being here. Everyone's speaking. This is something that obviously we care a lot about as well. But I just wanted to make sure everyone understood that's the context of this. That's where we are. And as we go forward, as I said, the next meeting, July 22nd, 6 p.m., you're certainly welcome to be there and come and speak and be a part of the process. And you'll have a chance to see us actually discuss each portion of the ordinance, each different idea we have about how we're going to go forward with this. And I can tell you from the discussion we've had so far, the absolute focus has been trying to balance this in a way that works for residents and businesses alike. And no one has even thought about the idea of trying to ban live music outdoors. So that's kind of a summary or synopsis for everyone here. Mr. Kennedy, anything to add?

What Council Member Goodyear said is correct. It actually was my responsibility to get this to law and order probably sooner than we did. The one thing that has been very clear from my conversations with Ben is just tell us what the rules are. Councilmember Goodyear was very correct. There is a provision specifically for the noise in the zoning, and there's one specifically in the general, what we call our general code. It's very confusing. It needs to be, if we did nothing else, the zoning one actually should be enforced by the zoning officer. That's not going to happen. So that is a clarity. I will say we are leaning towards what we would call a code written on reasonableness clause. There would be under severe backup, you could have a backup where a decibel could be used under certain circumstances, but that's only more or less a side note. What would be presented to law and ordinance at the next meeting is it would be very generic sort of reasonableness based upon all the different ones that we've looked at. And then what they will do is my concern with coming out with a real hardcore ordinance at this meeting is there wasn't, there would not have been a lot of public input yet on that. And that doesn't necessarily seem fair. The message that I've heard from Ben and also FROM ANOTHER BUSINESS OWNER WAS JUST TELL US WHAT THE RULES ARE, GIVE US TIME. I THINK THAT THERE IS THE COUNCIL HAS THE ABILITY TO WRITE A CODE THAT GOES WITH THE SEASONS, THAT CHANGES WITH THE DAYS, THAT IS SET FOR, YOU KNOW, IT WOULD HAVE CERTAIN TIMES DURING THE SUMMER, CERTAIN TIMES DURING THOSE But all of that needs to be hashed out. I guess I was more or less covering myself in the sense that what would be presented to loan ordinance at their meeting is still very generic. It's still just to get some semblance of some input from the residents and the business owners. Ultimately, it's my responsibility to work the loan ordinance. Loan ordinance works just like the Planning and Zoning Commission does. They work. They're the stewards. They put together and then they hand it and say, here, we think this is what council should adopt. And council can then hold separate public hearings and then do that. But that's what the loan ordinance is working. They spent more than a summer working on a lighting code. If you recall, that was fun. And then but I'm just saying that they are we are working on it. And I just was just not trying to set any expectations that what will be on the agenda for the 22nd. It's just a framework for what would be a reasonableness clause.

And let me if I could say one more point regarding the timing of this. As Mr. Kennedy mentioned, obviously we've had the experience of doing other ordinance. We had tree ordinance we worked on, a lighting ordinance we worked on. I was on law and ordinance before I was elected to city council, so I've been doing this for a period of time. And I can tell you that the flow of the timing of doing this is really dependent on two things. One is the complexity of what we're trying to do, which in this case is relatively complex. We're basically starting from scratch and trying to create something that's going to work for everyone. But in addition, you have, you know, obviously a lot of volunteer members of a committee. You have to try and balance schedules and things of that nature. But I can tell you so far we're working on our third meeting and roughly a month, a month and a half, which is it may not seem quick, but it's lightning speed. for law and ordinance. So, um, believe me, our goal is to try and get something. And I, I certainly understand the comments about summer and this is kind of unfortunate timing about how this happens, but the goal is the hope is that for many summers to come, this isn't an issue that is resolved in a way that everyone can live with that can be enforced in a reasonable manner by the police department. And we don't have to come back and deal with this any further. Um, but believe me, we understand the desire to get this done quickly. And we're trying to do that.

Thanks. Does anyone else have any like picked opportunity to make comment?

I just have one build. Sure. Echo the sentiment, appreciate everybody being here because I, you know, I've been on that side before, before I was on council and appreciate this is how we know what the residents and the business owners want. So thank you for coming out. And then I think, you know, very clearly, I think even on both sides as I've talked individually and in these groups, like, People do want it to just be clear, consistent. We want to make sure that it's easy to enforce. And that could be having standards around what's education look around it? What does it look like to clearly communicate it and to have those follows up so chief can, you know, clearly follow through. And I think it's heard. I appreciate each of you coming out. And I think I appreciate law and ordinance and the work that they're doing and look forward to having that come to council.

Mr. Hart?

Yeah, just really quickly, I would just like to say thank you to everybody for coming out. This is exponentially more fun than most of our meetings when there's nobody. I appreciate you guys being here and appreciate both sides of the coin expressing their opinions. And I have a lot of faith in what Lawrence is going to come up with and then we can move from there. So thank you guys so much for coming out and expressing your opinions. It is appreciated.

Okay, and yeah, I will just chime in one last time on this issue and reinforce the fact that this process is really what is helpful. But what I hope the outcome from this really is tonight, outside of everyone being more informed, both on this side of the table and in the community, But if we could just recognize the opportunity to turn down the volume on this as an existential crisis on what we're doing with downtown Loveland. I think we recognize that this is a subjective issue and that it's delicate and it does touch on these themes of what is your town's identity and why are we here? Why do we love Loveland so much? But that's not really what we're trying to solve for. We're trying to understand that there are complaints that have been occurring and we want to recognize that there may be gaps in our legal precedent that is established. So we're looking to try to address that and make sure that the ordinance is reflective of Loveland as it is in 2026. And that's what law and ordinance will be doing. We'll be reflecting that it meets the community standards, which all of you have helped to and contributed to helping us define that today. So I also want to acknowledge the fact that we wouldn't be here if we weren't sympathetic to those who have made complaints and who find this to be an issue. And we recognize that It's not an issue in the same sense, and it's not an equal issue for everyone, depending on where you reside or what your relationship with downtown is. So I hope that you'll find that, you know, I like the Footloose reference. I think that's great fodder for ginning up the sentiment that we have expressed today. But really, on the other side of the coin, another older reference might be that we're not a town without pity when it comes to you know, the complaints that have been raised around noise ordinance. So we hope to split the difference in some level and find a way that we can all come up with a good old fashioned compromise. So thanks for your part to play in that process. So we're gonna move on. For those of you that would like to learn about the 2027 tax or any of the other resolutions, feel free to stay. I'll give you a few minutes to clear out. Have a good night everyone. Yes, sir.

It's getting a little hairy there. Let me... For sure. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. All right. Getting ready. Huh? All right. Next. What's up? Right. I know.

Yeah. For sure. I think that's why the reason we're in this standard.

yes go to the law and ordinance committee give them uh give them your two cents yeah you should all right okay let's go here we go everybody back to the agenda at hand next on the agenda is review and approval of minutes from the last council meeting move to approve is written second call the roll

Mr. Goodyear.

Yes.

Mr. Tamlin. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Mr. Hazelbaker. Yes. Vice Mayor Bate. Yes. Motion carries 5-0.

Next we have a public hearing on the 2027 tax budget. We'll open to a motion to open the public hearing.

I will move to open the public hearing on the 2027 tax budget.

Second. Call the roll.

Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Okay.

And we have a speaker for our public forum. Mr. Mark Kudlowski is here to address us during the public forum for the 2027 tax budget. All right.

But it can be what I wrote on the public hearing, right?

Yes. Okay.

Well, my name's Mark, 220 Cannonade Drive, Loveland, Ohio, 45140. I saw the Facebook post, I think it was yesterday, about the Betty Ray trash and whatnot. Just want to say I have teamed up with a nonprofit. They're called the Onion Bag Litter Prevention Project. They have installed over 200... I can send a picture to you guys, but they have installed more than 200 of these spots where people can take an onion bag with them. So when they're out on a river somewhere across Ohio, um, they can like, they can like clean up the trash. So if the city would like to partner with that, I'm happy to help out with that. And, uh, See if I got anything else. If you want any more information, you guys have my, most of you guys at least, have my information. And now, yeah, that's about it. I figured I would keep it light after that. Thanks, Mark. Thank you. Be mindful of all of you guys as well. Thanks.

All right. Okay, move to entertain a motion to close the public hearing.

I will move to close the public hearing on the 2027 tax break.

Second. Call the roll.

Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Pam Lin? Yes. Motion carries 5-0.

Okay. Next we have an ordinance amending section 110 of the codified ordinance of Loveland for the Mayor's Court fines and costs. Sorry, who's taking this? What's that? Is it just to you to read? Okay, second reading. Second reading. Appreciate that. So go ahead and any discussion around this ordinance? If not, read the ordinance.

An ordinance amending section 111.01A of the codified ordinances of Loveland related to mayor's court fines and costs.

Any discussion? Call the roll.

Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart?

Yes.

Item C4 is adopted by a vote of 5-0.

Okay. Then we have Item B, proposed amendment to Section 111, recreation fees. We talked about this last week. Any discussion? Read the ordinance, right? I'm getting used to the right order. Read the ordinance.

Ordinance submitting the codified ordinances of 111, Chapter 111, Schedule of Fees, Fines, and Other Charges regarding Recreation Fee.

Okay. Any discussion around this? All right. Call the roll.

Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Ordinance 55 is adopted by a vote of 5 to 0.

Okay. Next, in the resolution section, we have the Edward Verne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant submission.

so um as you recall the fire department received uh this council approved a uh lease agreement with motorola solutions for the uh new radios for the lsfd in the 2027 budget we are we were planning on the uh purchase actually the same number uh of radios chargers engraving the entire programming uh the the difference here is that we there is a funding opportunity for the ohio office criminal justice services the edward byrne memorial justice grant uh this program's been around for a long time it is one of the programs that is just a basically a pure equipment style grant uh and uh what we were hoping to is and actually the submission uh council adoption of a resolution is not required for the submission of the grant, but I would be committing a local match larger than the city manager's spending limit of $30,000. The grant requires a local match of 25%. What we do and what is very common is you read back and you go through all the different grants that they funded, what are their trends, what's the amounts, and so on and so forth. Given that we are recommending a local match of 35%, the total cost of the radios is $202,272. That's the whole package. The grant application is nearly complete, actually can be submitted relatively quickly. We just feel that up in our percentage by an additional 10% puts us a little closer into the sweet spot for their average funding. That would be us, the city, putting in a local share of 70,795 and a grant request of 131,477. Okay, any discussion, any questions, comments?

Go ahead and read the resolution.

Resolution authorizing the submission of an Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant application and commitment of a local match.

Okay. Any comment? No. Go ahead and call the roll.

Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Resolution 56 is adopted by a vote of 5-0. That's it.

Okay, next we have Loveland-Madera Road Corridor Improvements, Phase 3.

So this is handled for Chris. And let me tell you, it is something to see Chris maneuver through all of the funding and the requirements and the engineering and so on and so forth, juggling three projects with actually different funding sources. It's really something to see. And I also think that this is sort of an interesting time You heard a little bit tonight about what's happened in the downtown district over the last couple of years. I think you're seeing here the third phase, though it is down the road, you're seeing another step towards what will be a complete and total revitalization of Madeira Road. So I'm just handling this for Chris. He's just done an exceptional job maneuvering through this. So this particular legislation Chris has in front of you would be to secure the services of Choice One Engineering at a cost of 372,937. As he says in the memo, this is an 80-20 grant through OKI. Part of that 80-20 is on the construction and on the right of way. The city is responsible for all of the engineering and the design and also the construction engineering. and otherwise, and then 20% of the construction and the right-of-way costs. So this is the third phase timing-wise would be in FY 2029. As Chris will always tell you, they have different fiscal years, but he has done a great job getting phase two and phase three originally did not have utilities being buried and that is uh really been quite a feat modifying that and still getting all that funding getting additional grant funding for phase two and um so this is straight up legislation this will get the project moving along this is a big portion of the cities uh we will be paying this money up front and then we'll be paying 20 during construction and during the right away phase i try to cover this as good as chris would have but i didn't um So if you have any questions, let me know. There is a red line copy in front of you with four for the legislation. Ms. Hanlon pointed out there was a typo in the resolution that's been corrected. It's in front of you. Thank you, Mr. Kennedy.

Any discussion, questions?

I would just like to say that I think Mr. Kennedy did just as good a job as Mr. Weidich.

He may not have been as loud as Chris.

That's true.

Okay. I just have one vote.

This project has been going for a while in the master plan, but this is the first time I saw the plaza kind of outlined and there was a line item in Choice One's proposal to look at a design concept for that. Could you talk to that?

So that goes back to probably almost three assistant city managers ago. I think that was an element, and I have a whiteboard on my Ask Chris questions when he gets back. But there was back in the original plan, thoroughfare plan and the comprehensive plan that The theory was that there was so much additional parking space within the Shoppers Haven area. Could some of that be utilized through some kind of agreement? So that is at the very early stages. I will get with Chris when he gets back. This was an idea that went back many years. And the thought was, was there a way that... That could be a bit of a, you know, it would have multiple purposes. It could be, you know, a place to stop, get on your bike, work your way downtown if someday that network on West Loveland is completed. But that's what that is. And I'll get you more information as soon as Chris returns.

Mr. Hart? I just was going to speak to that really quickly. In the comprehensive master plan, we did that. There was a lot of communication, a lot of conversation, and Ms. Ham was on that with me as well, about using the parking spaces, hoping to get the property owners on board with putting some trees in there, just break up the concrete in addition to using that plaza, putting some kind of plaza thing across from the schools. And then also, you know, as it pertains to a different phase, using some of the parking space in front of the Goodwill area with those property owners' permission to kind of take up some of that concrete and kind of break up those large parking areas, not to remove parking spaces necessarily, but to create some more green space, to create some more aesthetically pleasing spaces used there than just a sea of concrete. Just as a contextual thing.

Okay. I think it's great to see us moving along on such a massive project, a three-phase project in different stages. Again, also good to see familiar face with Choice One as being somebody that has kind of really helped execute our plans and see them through to fruition. So good to have a trusted partner on this.

And Choice One has submitted multiple of these grant applications. So they have been a wonderful partner in securing this money. They know how the OKI system works. So it's been excellent. Okay.

Thank you so much. No further questions. Go ahead and read the resolution.

Resolution awarding the Professional Design and Engineering Service Contract for Loveland-Madeira Road Corridor Improvements Phase 3 Project to Choice 1 Engineering.

Any questions about the resolution? Okay. Go ahead and call the roll.

Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Resolution 57 is adopted by a vote of 5-7.

Okay, now we have Highlands of Loveland Development Agreement. The resolution for you would have the city enter into a development agreement with JA Development LLC for the Highlands of Loveland. It's a 23 single family attached unit development on highlands. This agreement that Chris has worked through, and this really shows his days from the county, working through all the different details. The development agreement is so important because it sort of lays out the responsibilities of both the public and both the city and what the private... what everyone will maintain, what who's responsible, who will maintain it afterwards. You'd have to see the corresponding drawings that everything's marked that Chris has marked public and private agreement covers a wide range of items. In addition to the maintenance utility, it also addresses bonds, construction, sequencing, work conduct, installation as bill drawings. And I would like to note that the original property owners, the group that bought this from the city originally agreed to take on the widening of the roadway. as a property assessment, and that was very beneficial to the city, having that road widened to the fire standards. But Chris laid it out real well in the legislation, and the development agreement really protects the city very, very well.

Okay, any questions, comments about the resolution? I have one. Deidre?

Three.

I have a question just on the long-term maintenance. I think I read it correctly of after the two-year maintenance period, like what responsibility transfers to the city versus they maintain? And it says the HOA maintains the parking. Is that like intended to be a permanent obligation?

Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

Any other comments? Go ahead and read the resolution.

Resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a development for the highlands .

comment about the resolution.

Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Vice Mayor Babin? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Resolution 58 is adopted by a vote 5-0.

Okay, then and now certificate. I thought this was what everyone was here to see.

The smart ones stayed.

Yeah, right.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Good evening, Council and residents. What we have for you is what's called a then and now certificate. So we have a vendor who provides electrical services to the city and has done so for a number of years, went back through their books and realized that they had not billed us for services in prior years. So after going back and making sure double checking that that's correct, we did not already pay. So we don't just pay invoices that are sent here. We always double check. So after checking that, that we did not pay for the services and that, yes, the service was completed. We also check that. We had to do this then and now certificate since it was above $3,000 and we did not have a current purchase order that predates the service. We have to say that, yes, we have the money available and we had the money available at the time of the service. So that's what this certificate is doing. This will allow us to create a current year purchase order and pay the vendor for the services that were provided to us in prior years.

Thank you for the explanation. Any comments about the resolution?

I appreciate you walking through the double checking to make sure it hasn't paid, the work's been done. Can you walk through just the PO process that is, I think, kind of normally in place that kind of would maybe catch this in that year?

So in the city's policy, we have to have purchase orders for most purchases over $500. So these purchases definitely Take that. The total of the two invoices is $22,737.26. So since this is above $3,000 and we did not have a purchase order in place, that's what triggers this. So ideally, we have a purchase order before something is ordered. Sometimes there's emergencies and there's exceptions to every sort of rule. But when we hire someone to do a job, we get quotes and then issue a purchase order beforehand, and then the vendor does the job. One thing that we don't do is leave a purchase order open for multiple years. You know, not a good audit practice and ideally things like this would be done in a timely matter three years ago. So, like I said, we don't leave purchase order for many, many years. We go through our processes and we have many vendors and it's really not feasible for us to contact everybody for the purchase order and say, hey, are you going to send us a bill? too many vendors to do that you know we we can't do their work for them if they contact us that's great we can work on payment so we in a perfect world we get the purchase order first the work is done we get invoiced and we make the payment since this situation is we don't have a current purchase order they let us know that the work had been done we verified it We got your approval to issue a purchase order after the work was done and then we will make payment. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Medler. Even though there are plot twists, we're always by the book. So I appreciate that.

Oh, yeah, Mr. Hart.

One, I think this is the right way to do business. I completely agree with you. This is the way business should be done. They provide a service we pay. I'm assuming we aren't incurring any late charges or anything because they did not invoice us.

Correct. They, they understood that it was their error and we do plan a business with them and we've been good partners with them. They've been good partners with us. So, and we certainly just said, didn't say, yeah, right. Prove it. And we're not going to pay it. We're not going to do that. If we have a liability, we are going to pay our vendors.

Okay. Um, so any other questions about this? If not, go ahead, read the resolution.

Resolution authorizing the Director of Finance and now Certificate for Payment of Expenditures.

Go ahead and call the roll.

Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Resolution 59 is adopted by a vote of 5-0. Okay.

And keeping it with you, Mr. Medler, the 2027 tax budget?

All right. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Council. So the tax budget is required by Ohio Revised Code, and it is basically a pregame for the budget. So what we do is we provide estimates of resources and expenditures for all of our funds that utilize taxes. So we have income tax and then property taxes. Those funds include the general fund and our fire levy funds. So we have to pull the public hearing before July 15th, which we did earlier today. And then we have to have it approved and sent to the county auditor's office, which in our, even though we're in three counties, Hamilton County is the county that we report to. So we have to have that approved and sent to them by July 20th. So as I said, this is kind of like a pregame, very early estimate for all of our funds that receive taxes, specifically our property taxes. So those are the general fund and the fire funds. And we use basic estimates of what we've got. So right now we're just estimating about a 1% increase in property taxes, which has been in the news, of course. And the auditor talked about that with all sorts of... initiatives to do anything from limiting property taxes to completely eliminate them. So right now, the move to eliminate was not successful for this year for getting anything on to the vote in November. But we're going to keep an eye on it and always watch our revenues and make sure that they're going to cover our expenditures. So as I said, this is a very general first draft of the budget for 2027. We will be going into much deeper details starting very, very soon. We're going to be kicking off things with Mr. Kennedy to get the 27 budget rolling. But as for right now, we will get this submitted. If it is approved, get this submitted to Hamilton County. And this is a requirement so that we may receive government sharing funds from the county.

Okay. And just for our understanding, there's a red line version here that the document we're approving is at the table.

Yes. I used a prior version and there's one year that I did not update. Okay.

No problem. Any comments or questions about the resolution adopting the 2027 tax budget? No? Okay. Go ahead and read the resolution.

Resolution adopting the 2027 tax

Go ahead and call the roll.

Vice Mayor Bateman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Ms. Hamlin. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker. Yes. Resolution 60 is adopted by a vote of five to zero.

Okay. That's just various city manager and staff reports. No updates on Councilmanic and various committee minutes. I've got some announcements. If anybody has anything about... the subsequent issues. I'll go ahead and move to the announcements section. We've got a sort of a traffic sandwich here of the announcements. So we'll start with the top level. Work is underway on the new traffic signal at the Little Miami Scenic Bike Trail crossing on West Loveland Avenue. The signal will improve safety for motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists and will be synchronized with the nearby signals at State Route 48 and Carl Brown Way to improve traffic flow through downtown. Mr. Goodyear, your dream has arrived. It's finally happening. Join us for our first movie in the park on Saturday, July 25th at McCoy Park for a special showing of Back to the Future. Bring blankets and lawn chairs and enjoy this family classic. The movie will begin at sunset. That same day on Saturday, July 25th, the All Nashville Roadshow is coming to Phillips Park. Enjoy an evening of live Nashville music, southern-inspired food, craft beer, and a unique outdoor festival atmosphere. Advanced ticket purchase is required. Be sure to purchase your tickets early before the event sells out, and information is available on the city's website. The city's Concert in the Park series will continue the following day, Sunday, July 26th, from 6 to 8 p.m. on the City Hall lawn for a free concert featuring Astrovan, a Loveland-based band known for its energetic blend of indie pop and heartland rock. Bring a lawn chair or blanket and enjoy an evening of great local music with family, friends, and neighbors. And beginning the week of July 20th, State Route 48 will be closed for approximately seven days between the CSX Railroad and Lyons Road, while ODOT rehabilitates the bridge over O'Bannon Creek. During the closure, motorists will be detoured via State Route 28, I-275, and US-22. Drivers are encouraged to plan ahead and allow extra travel time. uh before we go i i also just wanted to acknowledge uh all of the success of our independence day celebration just recently uh it really struck me how much our city uh writ large everybody involved uh chips in and takes a uh takes a sacrifice of their uh great american holiday to make sure that the residents here uh have an enjoyable time so i It just struck me how hot it was and how much I saw all of the people that work for the city in action and a smile on their face. I don't think, you know, they you probably they would enjoy a time by a lake or time off. But I could sense that there was a sense of community spirit involved in being there and helping out. So. just struck me as a great deal of work and a great deal of effort. And I wanted to extend my thanks. I'm sure my colleagues on council wholeheartedly agree to everyone involved that put forth such a great event, top notch for the region in my estimation. So unless there's any other comments for the good of the order, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

Well, I would like to move to adjourn. And at the same time, I want to say that Vice Mayor, you did a great job and a very challenging evening. You don't normally do this. So thank you very much for your work. And I'd move to adjourn.

Second. Go ahead, call the roll.

Mr. Goodyear.

Yes.

Hamlin. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker. Yes. Vice Mayor. Yes.

We are adjourned.