City Council - Regular Meeting

Will you join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Call the roll, please. Mayor Bailey. Here. Vice Mayor Bates.

Here.

Here. Here. Ms. Hamlin. Here. Mr. Hart. Here. Ms. Hazelbaker. Here. Mr. Janice.

Here. Welcome, everyone. With us tonight, we have our Director of Finance, Mark Medler, Assistant City Manager. our clerk of council Misty Clark, city manager Dave Kennedy, city solicitor Joe Braun. We are honored to have our city engineer Kelsey Richards and Captain Gangwar tonight. So welcome everyone. Also former council member Todd Osborne. All right, open forum. Mark Katalasky.

Mark, geez, Mark Katalasky. I want to approach this one like delicately because I like a lot of you guys up here. But I'll just say I'm not a big fan of the flock cameras. And I just find them creepy. I don't know how else to say it. I don't want to bash anyone for the way they voted on it. It's not my style of doing things. But I just feel they need to be taken down. I don't know how else to say it. That's all I got. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

All right, next we have review and approval of the city council minutes from August 11th, 2026. Any changes, additions to those?

Move to approve as written. Second.

Call the roll, please. Vice Mayor Bateman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Ms. Hamlin. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker. Yes. Mr. Jarenick. Mr. Jarenick.

Yes.

And Mayor Bailey. Yes.

Motion carries seven to zero. All right, we have a second reading of the sale of conservation easement. You want to go ahead and read it and we'll see if there's any comment.

Ordinance authorizing the sale of a conservation easement to the Little Miami Conservancy over a portion of city and property located along Riverside Drive. Declaring the property subject to the easement as not needed for public purposes and authorizing the city manager to execute all documents necessary. Thank you. Does anybody have any further comments on this? Call the roll, please. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazelbaker? Yes. Mr. Jarenick? Yes. Mayor Bailey? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Ordinance 64 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. Mr. Warnick? Yes.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. If you recall, back in March of 2025, Council approved a design contract with Choice One Engineering for the design of the State Route 48 and Butterworth sidewalks. Those have progressed to a point where the right away drawings. So basically the drawings that depict what which right away we were going to have to acquire as part of the project has been identified. This is just a brief summary. This is an ODOT led project, similar to Loveline Madeira. So there's certain things we have to do as part of the project. And one of those is to bring a right away consultant on board. So we did a quality based selection. We put out a request for qualifications. We received four letters of interest from four different right-of-way consulting firms. And the LOIs were all reviewed in-house. We took a look at them, we ranked them, and West Erie Realty Solutions actually came out on top through that process. So at that point, as part of the process, we entered into scope and fee negotiations with them. Their scope and fee, well, their fee is a ODOT formula. It's based on certain aspects of the project. And I kind of listed out why this is considered a medium to high fee in accordance with ODOT's fee guidance. And that's because of the project location, which is between multiple counties. There's a combination of permanent and temporary takes. There's multiple interests being acquired per parcel on a couple of the parcels. And then there's complex ownership, such as the railroad and nursing home properties. Those all factor into the ODOT fee guidance and how they come up with their price. The cost that they proposed was $134,180. But keep in mind, this project is a, part of it is a federal, federally funded project, 9010. That is the State Route 48 portion of the project. So based on that, and based on 100% of the cost being local on Butterworth Road, we would be on the hook for $42,164. This is a critical piece of the design process. Getting this approved and moving along will keep the project rolling. So we do recommend from a staff level that we enter into this contract.

Thank you. Any comments or questions? Mr. Hart?

Just a quick clarification question.

Long-term, what is the timeline? If you could remind me what the timeline is on this whole project.

Yeah. So we'll finish up the right-of-way acquisition as a full calendar year. So we are 26, 27. It'll be the 1st of 28. So 1st January 1 of 2028, it's supposed to go out to bid. Okay. Thank you very much.

All right, anyone else? All right, I'm very excited to keep moving this project forward. I know everyone up in Warren County is too, I'm sure. All right, we'll go ahead and read the resolution.

Resolution awarding the Right-of-Way Acquisition Consulting Service Contract with State Route 48 and Butterworth Road Sidewalk Project to West Erie Realty Solutions. Call the roll, please. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Mr. Jernick? Yes. Mayor Bailey? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Resolution 65 is approved by vote of 7-0. Mr. Richards? Yes.

Thank you, Mayor. So the West Loveland Avenue and Lebanon Road intersection is currently operating at poor levels of service and is experiencing significant queuing, particularly on the westbound approach. So to remedy this concern, a flashing yellow arrow traffic signal for the westbound approach has been recommended. Flashing yellow arrows replace the traditional green ball when turning left, so it gives drivers more opportunities to turn left. And it's been proven by the Ohio Department of Transportation to reduce left turn crashes by up to 40% and minimize travel delays by providing more turning opportunities. Because there is currently a standard left turn signal for southbound Lebanon Road, traffic turning east onto West Loveland, it is recommended that the signal also be replaced with a flashing yellow arrow for consistency and to provide a uniform signal configuration at the intersection. So originally, the city received a quote for the flashing yellow arrow traffic signal for $12,800 and it was included in the 2026 CIP. When Capital Electric further researched adding that flashing yellow arrow for the westbound approach, it was determined that the traffic signal cabinet needed to be upgraded to allow for the additional controllers that would be required for the flashing yellow arrow that turned the actual power on for that signal. So with the cabinet and the signal update at the West Loveland and Lebanon Road intersection, the total cost upgrade is $50,022.10. So the staff recommends to adopt the presented resolution authorizing the upgrade to the existing traffic signal cabinet and the addition of the flashing yellow arrow traffic signal.

Okay. Thank you. Any comments or questions?

I want to thank you for this. Is this going to be different during the time of day?

So there is. We would have to discuss that further. Okay. But there is an option to either turn that on or allow that to be on during certain times. During school hours? Yes.

Okay.

Yep. That would be discussed further as it goes on.

Thank you. Great job.

All right.

Any other questions, comments? Ms. Hamlin? Yeah, I have a question regarding the, so the quote sheet says that the cost does not include a LEO, which I had to look up what that meant. I'm assuming it means law enforcement officer. But on the detailed price sheet, it shows that there's a cost for a LEO of $960. So there's a disconnect. Can you comment on that?

Yes. So I did reach out to them, Capital Electric, about that. And the first page they did say was a generic, like a boilerplate. So they said the second page would be the most accurate. So they just send the first page out with everyone. They don't review it, unfortunately, with each contract.

So it does include the Leo. It does.

Yes. Okay.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments, Ms. Hazel Baker?

Thank you. I really appreciate this. I mean, everybody who's driven there, you get stuck there for a while because going to school specifically. The kids actually brought this to me when I was at LIS. How would this impact the crosswalks there? It is definitely a high traffic walking area for the kiddos. Could you kind of talk through what that means with that flashing and what that'll look like?

Yep. So once we do change the timing of this light, again, everything will be changed on the crosswalk. That will be looked at. So they're not just going to change everything and then, you know, shorten that time. It is everything will be looked at for the intersection.

Perfect.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments? All right. I want to read the resolution, please.

Resolution authorizing the execution of a purchase order to Capital Electric for traffic signalization improvements at the intersection of West Lebanon Avenue and Lebanon Road. Please call the roll. Mr. Hart.

Yes.

Ms. Hazel Baker. Yes. Mr. Jernick. Yes. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Ms. Hamlin. Yes. Resolution 66 is adopted by vote of seven to zero. Mr. Medler.

you mayor good evening council for you we have seven ordinances this isn't something we do annually for the street light assessments this process is a subdivision we'll get together and have a vote to see if they will want to get this lighting district in there maybe have some special i would say fancier looking lights out there but then also to cover the cost of the lights so as currently stands, each of these districts, the city gets sent the lighting bill each month from Duke and we pay that amount. And each year we take all that information together, determine the entire amount over the year that's been paid for electricity and divvy it up by parcel. And that amount gets put on taxes for each parcel. As I said, we do this each year. And similar to what we do with our utility assessments, we do it as an emergency to get it to the counties. So this has to be into the counties by the second Monday of September, which is why this is an emergency.

Thank you. Any comments or questions? All right. So we'll just do these one by one.

Go ahead and read the first one. Call the roll, please. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Mr. Jernick? Yes. Mayor Bailey? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Ordinance 67 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. All right, here we go, second one. Ordinance assessing lighting, maintenance, and operation costs associated with the Hermitage Point subdivision located in Warren County, Ohio, and declaring an emergency. Okay. Call the roll, please. Mr. Jernick? Yes. Mayor Bailey? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Ordinance 68 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. Read the next one. Ordinance assessing lighting, maintenance, and operation costs associated with the sanctuary at Miami Trails subdivision located in Claremont Call the roll, please. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Ms. Hamlin. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker. Yes. Mr. Jarenick. Yes. Ordinance 69 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. Read the next one. Ordinance assessing lighting, maintenance, and operation costs associated with the Sugar Tree Estates subdivision located in Call the roll, please. Vice Mayor Bateman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Hamlin. Yes. Ms. Hazelbaker. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Mr. Janik. Yes. And Mayor Bailey. Yes. Ordinance 70 is adopted by vote of 7-0. Next one. An ordinance assessing lighting, maintenance, and operation costs associated with the White Pillars Phase 1 subdivision located in Claremont County, Ohio, and declaring an emergency. Call the roll, please. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Ms. Hamlin. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker. Yes. Mr. Jarenick. Yes. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman. Yes. Ordinance 71 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. And the next one. Ordinance assessing lighting, maintenance, and operation costs associated with the White Pillars Phase 2 subdivision in Claremont County, Ohio, and declaring an emergency. Call the roll, please. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Mr. Derenick? Yes. Mayor Bailey? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ordinance 72 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. And the last one. Ordinance assessing lighting, maintenance, and operation costs associated with the White Pillar Phase 3 subdivision located in Claremont County, Ohio, and declaring an emergency. Call the roll, please. Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Mr. Jarenick? Yes. Mayor Bailey? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Ordinance 73 is adopted by a vote of 7-0.

All right, next item on the agenda is an appointment of John Rost to the Finance Commission. Mr. Rost had been on the Finance Commission I think when I was mayor, I believe, when I was first made mayor and had to get off for personal reasons, business reasons, something, and now his situation has changed. And he is available and willing to serve again and with the vacancy made by Mr. Blair's untimely passing, we need someone to fill the remainder of his term through December 31st, 2027. So I'm asking for a motion to affirm the appointment of John Ross to the Finance Commission to complete the remaining term of Mr. Blair's term which expires December 31st, 2027.

I'll make a motion to affirm the appointment of John Ross. Second.

Any comment? Call the roll, please. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Mr. Terenik? Yes. Mayor Bailey? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? The motion carries 7-0.

All right. We have a few announcements. Tickets for the Mayor's Gala are on sale through August 31st on the city's website. Ms. Clark just ran through some of the things that will be happening that night. Sounds like a very awesome event. So talk it up. Movies in the Park returns Saturday, August 29th with the original Ghostbusters. The movie will begin at sunset at Phillips Park. And now for August fun facts. In 1977, council approved a contract to replace the Little Miami River Bridge. 1979 partnered with Kiwanis to develop Nisbet Park. 1992 began construction of Veterans Memorial. 1995 completely revised the city's zoning code and zoning map. 1996 began the acquisition of White Pillars Cemetery as a public park historical site. 2001 authorized the development of Village Anniversary Park. 2022 began the Fire Station 63 relocation project, perhaps the most important thing to have ever happened in the month of August in our city. In 2014, David Kennedy was named city manager.

i wouldn't skip that never question um all right does anybody else have any yes mr hart yeah i would just uh want to comment on last week's garage fest i don't know if anybody got down to do that it was uh garage beer partnered with one of our local businesses and we had to go to all these you know 11 different places in town and uh i talked to a number of people throughout the week that were filling out their passport and visiting all of our local establishments to get the stamp, to win their prizes, and then all the folks that were down at Caffey's on Saturday night. It was really, really cool to see all the people down there, and just a lot of thanks to Garage Beer, their company, for hosting that event in Loveland, and all the participating businesses for celebrating with them. It was a really, really cool event.

And, I mean, I think it wasn't not Ben Cappy that really, he was spearheaded all of that. That was his doing for the most part. It wouldn't have happened without him. So, thank you to Ben because he benefited every business down here. Anyone else? All right. We have a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn.

Second.

Call the roll, please. Mr. Jernick?

Yes.

Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mr. Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Motion carries 7-0.