City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to invite troop 888 to please come on up and they will lead us in the pledge of 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. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks, guys. Welcome everyone. With us tonight we have our director of finance Mark Medler, assistant city manager Chris Wynish, clerk of council Misty Clark, Dave Kennedy city manager, city solicitor Joe Braun, our fire chief uh Huber, police chief Michael Gabrielson, former council members Kent Blair and Todd Osborne. We have our current lovelin Valentine lady in the house in Ary.

Um, which brings me to the was probably the saddest news any of us have heard uh this week. Peggy Goodwin passed away. Um, I don't think there's anybody in this room that has not heard that name. Um, she was a former city council person. Um, 2006 Valentine lady. She was involved in the life food pantry, ran the farmers market with Woody for I don't know how many years. Um involved with uh Lovelin Citizens Police Academy. And I probably could go on for 20 minutes. I don't think there's any facet of life here in Lovelin that Peggy Goodwood wasn't somehow involved in um in in volunteering and and helping any chance she she could with literally anything. Um, even my husband who doesn't know many people, we saw her picture. I remember her. She was lovely. She was so nice to me. That was Peggy. She just was unt untiring in her um devotion and and love for this city. So, that is a huge uh void that I think uh this city has to shoulder at this point. And certainly, we're it's a it's a little little less bright in Loveland without Peggy Goodwin. And my understanding is her husband is also um not not doing that. He has having some health issues. So I would ask everyone to please keep uh the her husband and and her family and friends the Valentine ladies when we all didn't know her as well as the Valentine ladies and others that were so close to her and I know how we feel about it. So I can't imagine how those that really spent more time and knew her even more than we did feel about it. So that is a huge loss and um let's just keep them all in our prayers. Okay, with that we have something fun to do with Ariana Wilson.

Haven't done our We haven't We should do that. Let's roll call. I got myself flustered. Uh, Mayor Bailey, I am here. Mr. Baitman here. Mr. Goodyear here. Mr. Hart here. Yes. Vice Mayor Phelps here. And Mr. Pink here.

All right. Now, let's bring Ariana Wilson to the podium. No, it's fine. So, as part of the pres preparations for Lovelin's 150th anniversary next year, the Sesquent Centennial Committee issued a call for art earlier this year inviting community um to help redesign the city flag. Dave's displaying that for you. There's our winner. Um, loveland artists, those who live or work in the city and were at least 18 years old, were encouraged to submit up to three original flag designs. All artwork had to be an original creation. The contest was led by committee members Gina Devel Smith, Debbie Colmes, with additional support from committee member Peter Ston, who assisted with color matching to ensure the design aligned with the city's branding. We received an outstanding response with 68 designs being submitted. After careful review, the Sesquin Centennial um committee selected the winning design by Ariana Wilson. Um she titled the design the heartland and she shared that her inspiration came from the scenic views along the Love and Bike Trail in the Little Miami Scenic River, noting that it was clear that we put our hearts into preserving the history and beauty of our land. So, we're excited to unveil her sign for the upcoming uh sesquentennial celebration and thank all the artists who contributed to their um creativity in this milestone project. Um Ariana grew up in Lovelin. She's a 2016 graduate of Lovelin High School and she's currently working at the Muro Path and designs their chalkboards for them.

Yeah. So, I'll let the mayor take over from here. I'm afraid I was going to forget. This is for you. Congratulations. Thank you. I think that's amazing. 68 entries, one that we had that many people that were interested in helping us design our flag, but for you to be the the winner out of 68 entries is wonderful. And this is the first time any of us have seen it, I think it's it's awesome. So, thank you. Well done. Thank you. Do you have A

um you know I was pretty sure a flag design with the Loveland Frog Man was going to win. Um I was a little insecure about that. But when I was thinking of references um and what I wanted to embody for Loveland, I've been here. I grew up here and my mama lives right down the way and I've worked here um since I was 16 and this city in this town means a lot to me and everybody that has supported me. I am very insecure about my art and my ability and those wonderful people over there um always encourage me and say that I am better than what I think I am. So without their encouragement, I probably would have even entered this contest. But um just to be a part of something, a part of what you guys have that I grew up with in this town that I really feel loved in, it's an honor. So thank you.

Thank you.

Hold this in front. Congratulations. Let her forget that. I did my You did your Thanks for letting your 10. Yeah, it's really nice. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you.

You got to hold it up. Congratulations. Oh. Oh, I got a picture. Chris, do you want to look? Never mind. See it now. You're good.

I had over We're gonna step out. How cute. That's awesome. gross.

That was what that was a safety. Who did that?

Yeah. Okay. All right. Now, another sad part of this meeting, uh, when we say goodbye to two of our our council members. So our thought is we'll we'll speak from here um and then um Neil you're first if you have a few words and then we have a few things for you. Okay. So um Neil this is his uh last meeting as a Lovelin city council person. Um I'm at

term what's that for this term?

Oh you're going to run again. Awesome. I love it. Um, so I met Neil 2015 when I was first on council, which was a rather tumultuous time in uh the history of Lovelin to say the least. And it was really fun to see Neil's fire and um love for this city and his his very strong sense of u right and wrong and and righteousness and st and is not afraid to stand up for what he believes is right. So, it was a natural that after all his hard work those couple years that uh Neil ran for for a seat on council and has served since 2017. And I've really enjoyed watching you sort of grow into the role of of council person. And it's always hard when you're first elected and I I had had the issues myself of not being not having a lot of confidence in in what I brought to the table and um in speaking and you have just grown into a wonderful ambassador for the city and and your your insight on things that uh some of us don't have as far as um things like construction or projects that are going on in the city. you just bring something that that was very helpful I think to to to us in making decisions and I I just appreciated um these years watching especially the fact that you grew up here um you've lived here for I don't know 60s something years so you brought a perspective that way too that you you could sort of keep us grounded into what what Loveland had been and and make sure we we stayed true to that as we we tried to to sort of navigate inevitable um progress. And so I think that for me that's what I've appreciated of what you brought these last few years and your honesty and integrity and I've really enjoyed serving with you. I'm going to

miss you. I'm honored to call you a friend at this point and uh just appreciate everything you did for the city and you will continue to do in in other ways. Would anyone else like to say anything? Mr. Hart.

Um I always say thank you uh Mr. and for your service to city first and foremost. Um, but thank you also for for your friendship. Four years ago when I ran for the first time, um, both Neil and Ted were incredible to to lean into and just get some insight on how it's normal to not feel super confident what you're going into. And it's it's normal to be kind of nervous about what you're doing, but um they were always both both kneeling to incredible incredible backbone for me at times when I was not feeling so sure. Um specifically, Mr. Or your your um unabashed unwavering uh passion for this city has has never dimmed in the four years that I've been up here with you. Um it is it's incredible that the amount of um love that you have for this community and also have a vision to understand that it can't stay as it was um and and but also keeping us same time on the rails of not moving too fast. Uh I think uh your your your institutional knowledge of this place is going to be impossible to replace. um you don't replace somebody with the years of experience in a town that that you have and your your lens of living here, being here, working here, um having you know family here, friends here, school system, everything. Um you don't replace that lens. So I appreciate everything you brought to the city. Um but personally I appreciate everything you brought to me. So thank you for your service,

Mr. Ping.

Yeah. So, uh, like like John, I had the opportunity to to run four years ago with Neil and Ted as well. And, um, you know, many people that I've talked to that have run together will make the comment that you kind of get a a different relationship with people doing something like that that it's kind of creates a little bit of a kindred sort of relationship. And so, you know, that that was kind of fun and and neat. Um, but I actually first ran across Neil several years before that. The um the theater had had a fire and uh I was asked to to provide some structural assistance and this contractor was volunteering time to help out on the project. And that contractor was was Neil. And you know it, you know, the the loss of Peggy this week is as as the mayor so eloquently put it, just the the loss of the volunteerism. And when you see people that volunteer like Neil does, it's a special thing. Um the aderand chairs that uh Councilman Blair and and Ary put together. I mean, those those kinds of things are are what makes a community special. And um Neil brought that sense of volunteerism as well to his role on council and uh and that's something that I certainly appreciated along with the things I'll I'll ditto I guess Mr. Hart's comments that um you know the the insecurities that come with coming onto this council. Uh that certainly is something that Neil was always there with a smile on his face and like oh it's going to be fine and you know and uh it just he was a very good supporter uh all along the way and so I certainly appreciate your time here Neil and and your dedication to the city.

Thanks Mr. Bon.

Uh well Neil I I'll echo the same sentiments that uh my colleagues have so far put forward and that's first uh a real debt of thanks is owed to you, I think, not just from from us here for your friendship and service, but uh from the community, I think, because uh in a time when when uh when change was a foot in Loveland and as others have mentioned, um you know, your uh long history here gave you such a great perspective to to lend. Um, but at a at a time when I feel like our the spirit of our community was being threatened, your sense of uh of what was right um outshown everyone else's. You you you jumped to the forefront immediately and and started to set in motion what became um a a council here that has acted in the best interest of the of the citizen every single time uh without fail. and and you you leading that charge as part of the the residentled change initiatives that took place around the time when I started to pay attention and and we knew each other back when I was a a kid out of college and and bartending in Loveland and getting a sense of what of what my hometown was was and was becoming and to see you uh take the reigns of of uh community advocacy like that really was a inspiration um for me personally and so I I will you know on behalf of everyone in the community thanking you personally I'll I'll say that that that has really made a an impact in in the course of of a of what I've decided to do with my life and giving giving to the community and however I can and trying to do so with a a a resident um you know from a resident's perspective especially

downtown this particular neighborhood I think is is near and dear to to all of our hearts. But we have a a a similar uh neighbor feel around here. Um and I've gotten to know your family and and your family's gotten to know mine as it's grown over these years. So, it's just uh it's a beautiful tribute to um the spirit of the community and I think I I'm hopeful you'll you'll um enjoy the the retirement and the the time that you can actually maybe receive some of the blessings that you've given to the community in so many ways. So, I look forward to seeing you around town and bumping into you as often as I can and and just celebrating the fact that we've got such a great town and that we're both lucky to know each other as we live here in it. So, thank you,

Mr. Goodyear.

Well, Mr. Ory, I've served the least amount of time with you. It's been two years now, but uh I will echo what Mr. heart and others have said that first of all um one thing that has always struck me about you is you have always been very open and welcoming to me even when you had no idea who I was. Um you always have a smile on your face. You have always have an open hand to shake my hand and and uh to uh be willing to help me in any way you possibly could. And I agree, you know, you start on city council, you have an idea of what it's going to be like, but you don't really know. when you get into the work of it and having people with experience that are open and willing to help you is is a big thing and I think that the other thing that always impressed me about you and and the same with Mr. Phelps I mean you know kind of the grounding of what your service is. You're doing this not for some political reason or for some reason of attaining power or something like that. you're doing this to help your community and that shines through in what you say and how you approach uh this job and how you've handled yourself and what I can tell you personally is that I have found you to be a very good and very kind and very generous man and I certainly appreciate the chance to serve with you and I appreciate the service you gave to the community. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank vice mayor.

Sure. Um, I I I think Neil, uh, between you and your wife Steve, you know everybody in town, and that has served you really well. And I think a lot of people probably don't know just how much you do behind the scenes. Um, research wise, uh, sweat equity wise, um, you'll talk to to people in the community about issues that are perhaps before council or will be. And um I especially recognize since your retirement you've spent a lot more time I think doing just those things and it's for the benefit of the city and it's well above and beyond what uh you know the job calls for. But I uh really have appreciated being um on council with you and getting to know you and he's the take the shirt off his back to give to you guy and love you. Thank you.

Is there anything you'd like to say, Mr. Ory? Oh, there are a few things. First, I want to start off with Troop 888. I was a member of Troop 88 when I was around 50 something years ago. So, good job tonight.

So, as I look around this desk and I have so much to be fortunate for, so much to be grateful for. to be part of this well-run city. And and that's the bottom line of this whole thing that I'm going to talk about. This city is so wellrun. So, some special thank yous to Dave, Chris, Misty, and Joe. Thank you for all your dedication to our jobs, to your doing your jobs, for your helpful attitudes, for your willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done. John, I appreciate the time we've had on council together and congratulations on the second term. Um, I personally want to thank you for being a good steward of watching our salt supply.

Thank you for making Love a great place for families. That was one of your logos. and thank you for your leadership role at global levels. Hey Neil, pull your pull your microphone up.

Okay, Kip, thank you for uh serving four years on council with me. We ran together. Thank you for your uh role on law and ordinance committee. Well done. Thank you for taking a engineer's way of thinking through our process, analytical problem solving, creative thinking, helping us to understand better as a council. Andy, thank you for serving multiple committees and two terms on council. Now, thank you for each meeting, making it to each meeting while keeping us thinking whether you're going to make it on time, including tonight. You you're a couple minutes early. and thank you for your s your sense of humor as well as uh keeping us up to date on your sporting news. Brian, thank you also for uh serving on council for two years with us. Thank you for serving on the law and ordinance committee and thank you for uh your um legal approach to uh keeping us honest as a council. Uh, Mayor or Vice Mayor Phillips, Ted, thank you for serving three terms, 12 years. Congratulations, buddy. Um, and serving as our vice mayor as well. Thank you for a a great uh being a great servant uh public servant and for our friendship. Mayor Bailey, thank you for 10 years on council and eight years as our uh as our mayor. Thank you for taking a common sense approach to uh uh your leadership and thank you for doing what you believe is right no matter what the naysayers say.

Thank you for your dedication to this city and for being a good friend. I want to thank all the residents of Loveland uh for giving me the opportunity to serve as well those who voted for me. Thank you Chief Yuber and Chief Gabrielson for your support. I want to thank all the staff, department leaders, members of commissions and and committees for making Loveland a great, clean, safe place to live. I want to thank my wife of 42 years for standing behind me, for being my good proof reader and inspiring me along the way and helping me along my campaigns as well. During my tenure tenure on council, I've served on the finance commission, public relations committees and and public relations committee, excuse me, historic preservation committee and CIC. I feel I have done my best in my decision- making and I feel I've devoted myself wisely. I've never been comfortable at comfortable at uh public speaking. What I'm comfortable at is construction. Someone brought this up earlier. Construction, demolition, property management, construction management, project management, and analytics. I've been referred to as the go-to get it done guy. So, I even had a shirt. I told Ze I'm going to wear this to council tonight, but I didn't. It says goto guy. I um I give me the facts. Let me construct my thoughts and ideas and I'll build my conclusion. I feel I followed this path of my decision-making and every vote I made council. Making the decision to vote for to run

for council was not easy for me. I was asked many times over the 30 years, mostly by council member, vice mayor, and mayor Rob Weissber. Thank you, Rob, for being persistent. I stayed away uh from politics because I did not like the the negative relig. It just wasn't my cup of tea. However, 2016 2017, myself and many residents of Loving witnessed a very dark and behavior or behavior within our city council. A very divisive, very very divisive council meeting at that at add to that. I'm going to paraphrase a a good friend of mine, Kent Blair's council meeting minutes or speech in 2017. A portion of our city council members were deceitful in their dealings, full of trickery, and unethical. Can't use the words dugy, you know. Love that. It was just that was a great speech. Then and there I decided it's time for me to step forward. We formed a pack and you we have ultimately recalled our mayor. I bring this up because when we decide to get involved with politics, you take on a commitment that's much bigger than you think, much bigger than you know. You take on the commitment to be responsible to serve the community, community's best interest without any any predetermined agenda

or to grandstand your thoughts or ideas. This is not the place to do that. Shortly after make the decision to make run for city council, I came across a quote quote from John F. Kennedy and I'll read this right here. Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democrat answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame of the past. Let us accept the responsibility for the future. this quote in my faith or my inspiration to for what I I think I stand for Brian you mentioned let's do it right let's do it right the first time and let's get it done being on council for the past eight years has been so rewarding eventful thoughtful it's been fun and I've enjoyed myself and I've made a lot of great friends. Being a native Lelander, I can say Lovelin is the best place to have grown up. Loveland is the best place to have lived as an adult and Loveland has been the best place to serve my community and residents. Thank you everyone for allowing me to be part of this great magnificent community. actually have something for you.

Nice plaque. has something for you as well. Oh, I already have a badge. Yeah.

Oh, wow. I'll pull you back.

You're so proud of the council that this council has already always voted for public safety first and all seven. We certainly appreciate. All right. Well done, Neil. Now we'll have a Now we have Mr. Phelps. Um, so I've never served on council without you, Vice Mayor. And, uh, I'm really not looking forward to starting now. It's been very comfortable having you um, as part of this council. When I when I joined this council and and was elected in 2015, I I was didn't have a clue. And I was elected during a a maelstrom, as we have alluded to. it was uh something else and uh it was wonderful to have your guiding hand those two years to try to navigate that. um you have been just a a a tremendous resource to me over the last um eight years as mayor and I call you and on you often for advice um for ideas for um to talk me off the ledge at times when I'm teetering very close to it. Sometimes I get a little hotheaded and you calm me down which is always a good thing. Um, I really appreciated your thoughtful approach to this job. Um, you you've you've never been one that's looking for accolades or or grandstand. It's all about what is best for this city and you've just always been willing to do whatever you could to move the city forward in whatever whatever was

asked of you and whatever whatever way that looked like. that you you certainly are one of the most honest, honorable, upstanding men that I've ever had the pleasure to meet um on this council or outside of this council. I I value um your friendship. I value your um the conversations I have with you. The the working together with you has been wonderful. And much like Neil, you've expressed an interest in continuing on working um on committees with the city, which thank goodness because I would hate for both of you to step away from doing that. You bring so much to the city and 12 years is a long time to serve on on city council and you were reluctant, I know, four years ago to to do so. Um I begged you to. Um I hope you are happy with that decision, but I'm happy with that decision. and you've been wonderful as a vice mayor. Um I've really enjoyed working with you in that capacity and um I you're big shoes to fill on this council and as vice mayor and and just uh in in everything you've brought to this city. So thank you very much for everything you've done.

Does anyone else have anything they wish to say, Mr. Ping?

Yeah. So, um, I the first time I met Ted was actually when I was put on the law and ordinance committee. I think it was either that or charter review, one of the two. They happened kind of about the same time. And um, the there are certain things that you just find about people when you meet them that you realize, oh, this is how this guy is. He's And to make to make a little bit of a jab, he's an honest attorney. Wow. So, But, you know, when we were when we were on that committee together, you know, one of the things that happened fairly early on is we were discussing, I don't even remember what it was. It was something and we were debating it and uh Ted had a position and I was kind of taking the opposite position and I made a comment that at the time I didn't realize how nasty it sounded until it came out of my mouth. And that was, well, yeah, but that's probably why they have people that are not on council on this committee because I see it differently. And after I said it, I thought, "Oh, that was kind of harsh." And Ted's reaction was, "You know, you're right. I think you're right." And so, yeah, we ought to we ought to keep it the way it is. And to me, that set the tone for the relationship that I've had with Ted since then. Um, open-minded, always willing to be thoughtful about things. Um, always thinking of the bigger picture, the broader scope. um the city at large, not just the immediate um the number of times that there have been comments and things that have been helpful have uh been more than I can remember. And so um you know I I think um when I was considering running, one of the things that kind of came up at that time was well are Ted and Neil running for reelection and you know whether or not that was going to be part of it. Um, it it kind of again made it easier having you two

guys um to to kind of share that time with and uh I I greatly appreciate what you guys have done for the city. Um, I'll stop there because I'm first and I got to leave something for everybody else. So, I'll stop there. Thanks. Thanks, Ted. Thank you. Anyone else? Good. Well, I would say uh much like what I said about Mr. Ory Ted, I found you to be uh open and friendly to me from the very beginning, even when you didn't know me. Um, obviously we knew each other a little bit beforehand because I was on law and with you before I was on council,

but I would have to say that when I think about you, the words that come to mind are calm, steady leadership. Yep. I

mean, that's really what I think of like you are someone that has the ability um to maintain your focus to make uh good rational decisions in whatever the circumstance might be. And I think as a result of that, you're able to lead others to do the same. And so I I respect that a lot. I respect both of you obviously very much. I respect that a lot about you because that's not an easy thing to be able to do. And uh I have found you also to be uh someone who's been open to be friendly to me and and to help me in any way possible even though I've only been here for a short period of time. And I also think just like Mr. Ary, I thank both of you. What I think matters the most is as I said with with Neil, your service is grounded in your love of this community and the fact that you're a good and decent man. And I appreciate the fact that I have the chance to serve with you. Thank you.

Thank you,

Mr. Well, I I remember uh first meeting uh Ted as a as a citizen in the in the gallery during the the the dark times as we're referring to them here. But uh but really what I remember was there was a meeting particularly uh chaotic that ended uh as soon as it began and uh and mi Mr. Phelps was left to deescalate a very rowdy uh gallery and uh they had questions. They didn't understand what had happened, what was the outcome. And uh you know, Ted did his best to explain uh what had happened and how he saw it and what um what the ramifications were and just really did an earnest and honest job of calming everybody down and talking everybody off of what was a potentially volatile situation. And I think as as my colleagues have alluded to, that hallmark characteristic was what I think really has made you uh an exemplary role model for the rest of us um on council in terms of your temperament, your approach, your um your cander, your your experience and and knowledge and expertise. It's just uh it we'd be hardressed to find a better person more qualified to serve in this capacity for 12 years and and it it's shown every day that I served on council and I think you know while we this is unfortunate it's a it's a day of of uh nostalgia and recollection and and appreciation um for all the characteristics and qualities that we're losing uh after today. But I think really that example that was shown is something that those of us here will continue to carry on. Just as just as we've been blessed by the wisdom of councils that came before

us, uh this council will have left a really lasting legacy and and 12 years and eight years of service uh behind that really uh helps establish uh a way forward for the for for the rest of us that's going to go far beyond you know the scope of of the daily meetings that we sit through. So, I appreciate your example and uh I I think that that the city has has benefited greatly from your service and and just thank you so much for for everything.

Y uh Ted, thank thank you for your service. 12 years and you you've almost been on council the entire time I've lived in the city. So, you've represented me and my family for almost the entire time we've been here. Not quite, but um and I appreciate you the approach you've always taken. Um, you know, going back to the the first election, uh, your wisdom and the having already had been through it two times prior to that, uh, you brought a sense of calm to that process that was much needed at times. Um, and, uh, and and that what I figured out very quickly was not that that was just not um, trying to calm anybody else down. That was just the way you approach things in general in this job. is very uh methodical, thought out, rational. Um I've not witnessed you, even when I when I know you're a little frustrated about things, uh the presentation is always calm. It's always level. It's always levelheaded. It is um it's never too high, never too low. Um it's it's always it always seems to have the right tone for the that the situation calls for. Um your decision- making has been fun to watch because of that approach. I can see you thinking through things. I can and the way you present your ideas causes me to reflect on the way I feel about things which um I appreciate. um 12 years is an is a is a long time to serve and and I am appreciative that you've given that much service to the city. The city is better for for you having served. Um and I I appreciate you as not only a fellow councilman but also as a friend. So thank you sir. this story.

I I I to say I have to start I don't know nine years ago when we had this very divisive council there and Ted you were always one that kept you calm. You gave your analytical views. you you were always just on point and um I already I already talked a little bit about about you earlier. So, but I just want to say thank you for 12 years. I mean, you did a great job. You were a great servant of the city. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anything you'd like to say, Vice Mayor?

Yeah, I'm glad we only have seven members of council because this is a lot. I uh I respect all of you and enjoyed working with you as well as predecessors uh at this dis and so what you have said means a lot to me so thank you very much um you know I sat down at the breakfast room table here and jotted down a few things I I I won't be more than an hour here but uh obviously we're in the season of Thanksgiving and um this this season is one where I try to be thankful for all the blessings in in my life and my family and I thought gosh 12 years of serving on council. Um I've had a privilege to u do that and uh I'm very thankful for that. thankful for the residents for voting for me and um again it's been really uh a lot of fun in some respects but challenges as well but uh we're not in this alone any one of us so I appreciate all the way the council has has worked well together and uh time goes on we we overcome these difficulties and gosh I kind of agree with you we're in a really good spot now Um, so yeah, besides breakfast room table just raking leaves constantly for the past couple weeks, I've had a lot of time to kind of reminisce uh about the past 12 years. And you know, people ask me, "How did you get into this gig on city hall?" I I I remember uh I was elected as homeowners association and I tell you that was a more difficult job than this one. My wife Ann is here and she can tell you the things we had to deal with. But uh it was uh that kind of was a good

experience um in the sense that you know leadership and trying to I think I had to calm some people there as well. Uh, and then you know their son played not hole baseball at the Loveland Recre League and and got to know other people. And then we went to church for many years at Lovely Eyed Methodist Church. And um, one person in particular was very instrumental in putting her arm around me and saying, "You should be running for council." And that was Pette Leaper.

And uh, she actually called me today said she wanted to be here, but she wasn't feeling well. She's under the weather. But um I I really am grateful to her. She set a really good example for for me. Um aside from her, Brad Greenberg was someone that was uh instrumental in helping me get involved in the city. He put me on some committees when he was mayor. And uh one of them was the the income tax review. I remember that was a hornets nuts there because we didn't want to raise taxes and we had to come up with good reasons how we were going to proceed. and we did that successfully. Um but yeah, I served on law and ordinance uh in civil service upon his appointments. Um just want to thank others that have been um you know the reason I've done this and have encouraged me along the way. Heather Russell, Rob Weisserber, Dave Bedar, Brent Zuk, um and of course my biggest supporter has been my wife and family. Uh Ann is is here and um I I just need to mention also Frank Clay as well. He he was very helpful to me because I sat next to him and I didn't know what I was doing for a year or two and he was very helpful in instructing me on how to handle things. Um and Joe, I have a lot of respect for you. I think you you work hard for your clients and I'd like to say Lovelin's your favorite client, so

I'm going to hold you to that. Um, but yeah, I also have been tapping other sources of, you know, like institutional knowledge. We have a a former council member here, Todd Osborne. You you you knew a lot, you know, a lot. And, uh, over the years, I've appreciated your your involvement in the city. Um, so yeah, besides those reminiscence, reminisce, what do you call it? Reminiscence, whatever you want.

Yeah, whatever. I kind of thought of well at 12 years there's I I identified like there were three transformative events for this city and I I know there's a lot of controversy that was existing at the time but I think over the course of time it's proven to be quite the catalyst of downtown and that is Lovelin Station. I mean that was happening as when I it already was underway but I when I got on it we had to make take some make some votes on on that and especially changes to the station but um say what you want I think it has served a catalyst for for strong downtown development. a lot of what we have now wouldn't be there but for that um the second big event of course was uh May 28th 2017 the fire and um that really brought the community together. I think it galvanized people to work with each other to meet the needs of people and just get us thinking I think more about how valuable downtown is in this this city in general. And then I think the third most transformative event, not necessarily in order by number, but Dave Kennedy is becoming our city manager.

I think Dave's been so smart, he's humble, he's had a vision, he works incredibly hard, and he's very effective and and so I want to point to that. Um, you know, cities have either a strong mayor or a city manager, which is kind of referred to as a strong city manager. I I don't know as if it makes a difference in love because we we've had great mayors, including Cathy Bailey here, and we've also had great city managers. And so between um you know that and just kind of the evolution of a council that has made good decisions primarily because staff brings us the right information and helps us make the decisions. I think Loveland's future is is incredibly bright and I would want to welcome new members to council. Uh Dedra, congratulations on your victory. And uh Sher Hamlin as well, although I know there's u I guess a vote that's or a counting of votes that needs to take place. And then Adam Jirein, I don't think he's here tonight, but um I think just, you know, just in terms of wisdom, words, final words of wisdom, successful communities and successful organizations are marked by several I think characteristics that I just want to touch upon for two minutes here and it's kind of been mentioned uh by Neil and I think he's absolutely right. You know, it to be on council and to be effective, you got to put your ego aside. you don't toot your own horn. You don't think you know everything. Not that you know that's what everybody does, but it we've had people that have not I think tried to coalesce and work collaboratively and it doesn't work. Um, so I I think you know working collaboratively and

developing consensus, talking to people who know stuff, especially our city council is is invaluable um to try to understand which will take some time how you know you've been observing the city a long time and so is Adam uh but there's a lot that you still don't know and again everybody in in this room uh that's on staff or on council or is from our safety departments, they they will be willing to talk to you and they are a font of knowledge and I hope you tap into that. Um so I just would say you know talk to each other, talk to your fellow council members frequently. Um even when there's, you know, hard feelings or your feelings are hurt, you got to do that. You got to maintain the relationship. Uh, this council's been good at smiling and laughing and uh having fun and I I would encourage that to be a hallmark of of future councils. Um, you know, you're you're most of your work done for the city is takes place outside this room. So, uh, that's those conversations you have to have with other council members, but staff. Uh, that's vitally important. Um, and so, you know, you're you're a caretaker not only of the past, but the present and the future, and I know you take your job seriously. Um, lastly, I just want to say no, I I knowing what the is on the agenda, it's as as I look at the fiscal report that Mark Medlin put together and and he's talking about the 20 26th budget uh operating budget and then um some other matters. Um, you've got to recognize from looking at those documents, including some of the graphs, that it's a story of great

success in this city. Uh, year after year, we've been raising uh the amount of revenues the city receives. We've uh kept debt down. We're got planned to to to end a lot of it in the future, which is great. Capital improvements are are way up. um our property values have held and are up as well. So I I'm I'm proud of that and I think you all should be proud of that achievement and um I hope it continues and I know um you know our seats will be filled in years to come with others that I hope will also keep love on that track. So um I'm off to retirement and uh I'll still be around though. I'm I'm going to work on some committee committees and um I'm going to miss the staff and I am basically uh just incredibly grateful at this time of the year and at this time of of my life um that especially for those that voted me voted me into this office and I hope I did a decent job and with that I'll say thank you and see you around. Chief Chief's going to help me out here. Um, as a department head who lived in the dark times, I'm so glad that uh Ted was there to bring us to the light because uh um you know, a lot of people look to the fire department and the police

department and uh to calm their days and it's great to have uh Ted was there to to calm things for our city um years ago and we really appreciate that and all of that success you talk about is the foundation that council people have supplied to us over the years and to build the community and thank you very much for that. Uh you've been a a a great asset for our community. Thank you. Thank you and thanks for this. It's awesome. That's pretty cool. All right, let's show a picture. Okay. Hold your We never do that.

Hold something. You can do it. together. I'm going to hold this You want to hold your All right. Can we get to some business now?

Please. All right. So, we have the uh minutes from the November 12th, 2025 meeting. We have any changes, additions to those? Move to approve as written. Second. Thank you. Call the role, please. Mr. Baitman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Ory. Yes. Vice Mayor Phelps. Yes. Mr. Ping. Yes. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Motion 7 to zero. We have a second reading of the ordinance. Will you go ahead and read it, please? Ordinance amending section 155.09. Matified ordinances of Loveland, Ohio. All right. We spoke about this last time. Is there any further comment? Call the RO, please. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Mr. Ory. Yes. Mayor Fel. Yes. Mr. Ping. Yes. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mr. Baitman.

Yes. Ordinance 95 stopped by vote 70. Mr. Braun.

Oh, you want me to review this? Um, so this is a resolution um approving an agreement for our new Mars Court magistrate. Um, it's going to be Russell Mach. We had to switch magistrates our mayor's court unexpectedly because our current magistrate who you approved just a few months ago is now coming to work at our office. That creates a conflict of interest for him.

So, I will say that we're picking up a really good individual, but we're also going to have someone with a great wealth of experience. Um we're very lucky to have um I'll refer to him as Judge Ma who previously served both on the municipal court and on the first district court of appeals um who's willing to take on this role. It just so happens that he does other communities and has this opening. So we need for you to approve this agreement. We're doing the exact same terms that we had for our prior magistrate. And I think that his experience will bring a lot of help to our court, particularly given that we are now um as we've kind of come out of that COVID period, we're now also picking back up um taking our criminal citations through a mayor's court and I think his experience will be invaluable with that.

Right. Does anybody have any questions or comments? Right. Read the resolution, please. Resolution approving an agreement with Russell J. Mott to serve as magistrate of the city of Cleveland mayor's court. Call the role, please. Mr. Mr. Hart. Yes. Mr. Ory. Yes. Vice Mayor Phelps. Yes. Mr. Ping. Yes. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mr. Baitman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Resolution 96 is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero. Mr. Witch.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, recently the state of Ohio uh passed House Bill 96, which in in that house bill was um part of the Ohio Revised Code uh 9.64, 64, which is requiring every pol every political subdivision to now have a cyber security policy in place by January 1, 2026. Um, as you know, this has been at the forefront of a lot of stuff we've been doing recently. See it in the budget that's coming through tonight. Um, there's a a line item essentially for advancing our cyber security posture. U, but we needed to paper something. We don't have any we didn't have a clear policy um basically on the books um which will also meet the requirements for the state of Ohio. Um our posture has been good. Don't get don't get me wrong. We've been doing things already that they're looking for. Uh multifactor authentication. We've been putting that in place. We've got uh anti virus, all that kind of stuff that most most communities and most places have been doing for a while. Um but what we identified in this policy is kind of some of the things going forward um which is um one of the big things is annual training um incident response. So when we have an issue if the if there's an issue hopefully not if there's an issue how we respond to it um and what the protocol is uh with notifying the state. Um, and then obviously just continued advancement on our protection of our our systems, our back wall, our backbone, all our firewalls and all that good stuff. So, as we talked about, we're going to be um improving that and and and advancing that with our IT third party. Um, they've got a very robust program that they've essentially laid out to us um on what they what they see going forward. So, we're really excited about that. Um but with that, this is a

resolution um to adopt the cyber security policy for the city of Lovewood. Thank you. Any comments or questions, Mr. Hart? Just just so I'm completely clear, this is this is just a policy. This is not an actual cyber security package software.

Correct. This is a Correct. So, um this is just a policy. Um there's very vague guidelines out there from the state on what this policy needs to include. um we've kind of done our own kind of research um and and figured out what they want in this. So, this will this likely is going to be a living document that you may see again when we potentially uh change the policy for what the state may be looking for. Um but no, this is simply a policy, not any type of contract with Velor or any package. Gotcha. Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, vice president.

You just mentioned that that this is a state mandate. Is there any review that they make on a regular thing uh basis or things you're going to have to submit to them? How does it work?

So, as of now, there is nothing that they've laid out. This I believe it was passed, if I'm not mistaken, I believe it was passed sometime in August. And um it's kind of been it's like a lot of things unfortunately that get put into place. There's not a whole lot of background information on what they're going to be doing down the road. So, as of now, um they have not said that they're it's part of any type of audit or anything. They simply have said by January 1, every political subdivision must have a cyber security policy in place. So, we're ready if they come and ask for it. Any other questions? Read the resolution, please. Resolution adopting a cyber security policy for the city of Leland. Call Mr. Ory.

Yes. Vice Mayor Phelps. Yes. Mr. Ping. Yes. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mr. Baitman. Yes. Goodyear. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Resolution 97 is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero. Mr. Medler.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, council and residents. for you is a resolution to pay for our budgeting software clear gov which we have used for a few years now and has saved us an awful lot of time and headaches as opposed to the old system of just using spreadsheet all the time. So it's been very helpful product. This is the last year of the initial agreement phase which kept things flat at 26,400. The agreement does continue but just has for 3% increases after this. So this year will be the same amount at 26,400 and 2027 we'll see a 3% increase up to 27,192. So since this is above the city manager's purchasing threshold of 15,000, we are bringing it to you as a resolution for you to consider.

Thank you. Any questions, comments, Mr. Hart? Uh I just would say from a finance commission standpoint um this this software has made it and I think Mr. Blair would agree this software has made it much much easier for for us to operate. I think it has also uh saved a ton of time um and thus uh money in terms of how much time Mr. Medler and his his staff are working through the budget and and preparing all these documents or finance commissions all that kind of stuff. Um it's it's also provided a great deal of transparency for our residents. So um I think it's been well worth the pro the purchase that we made a few years ago and uh why we're continue to do it.

Thank you. Any Yes, Mr. Baitman. Just a question uh going forward. You mentioned that this will be uh renewing of the 3% increase year-over-year. Is there any opportunity for us to go back to the table and try to negotiate a you know a term rate like we'd had in the past or is that something to be determined in the not too distant future?

I think we all always have options. I think right now 3% inflation on software is amazing. So, but then we there also might be some other options where you know everybody has software has different modules that hey you can use this or you can use this or maybe I don't want to use this module anymore. So as things change that opens it up to different negotiations. So it's something we could look at. Okay. I just curious. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Read the resolution please. Resolution authorizing payment of annual license support and maintenance fees for the city's budgeting software. Call the role, please. Vice Mayor Phelps, yes. Mr. Ping, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Mr. Baitman, yes.

Mr. Goodyear, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Mr. Ory, yes. Motion carries seven, resolution 98 is adopted by a vote of Mr. Kennedy.

Um, the Ohio Revised Code. Um so the city has uh properties that we give uh CRAAS which is stands for community reinvestment area that is the city's largest most valuable most beneficial tax statement tool that we have. It's an economic development tool that we the city will utilize. Uh the uh CRAAS can have a pretty significant impact on our taxing authorities such as LSFD and school district. So, the Ohio Revised Code dictates that any uh business uh with an existing CRA whose payroll exceeds $2 million in any given year, the city is then required to uh co-share the income tax revenue, payroll tax revenues with the school district. For 2024, we have three companies with active CRAAS whose payrolls exceeded 2 million for a total payroll tax to the city of 163014. With that, uh, the city will then, uh, this resolution would authorize, uh, the city to, uh, distribute, make a dist dispersement to the school district in the amount of 81,507.

Thank you. Any comments or questions? All right. Read the resolution, please. Resolution authorizing the issuance of revenue sharing distribution payments to Leland City School District relative to various community and reinvestment area exempted properties as required pursuant to section 5709.82 of the Ohio Revice Code. Call the RO please. Mr. Ping. Yes. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mr. Baitman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Mr. Hart. Uh abstain as it pertains to my employer. Mr. Orie. Yes. Vice Mayor Phelps. Yes. Resolution 99 is adopted by a vote of seven to zero. Mr. Kennedy,

so uh Mark Iron and tag team on this. So the uh 2026 budget is complete and received a recommendation of approval from the finance commission. We just wanted to touch on a couple of the highlights of the uh 26 budget. Budget includes uh 33,240,56 in uh revenues. uh one of the highest in recent memory. That includes an estimated $7.25 million in income tax, which is $3 million higher than it was just a decade ago. That's a significant increase uh in the city's general fund revenue, which has allowed the city to do quite a few uh items. Uh the general fund also benefits from its 13th consecutive year of an increase in real estate tax, which is uh 1,590 uh $1,590,000. This is based on increased valuation which is as vice mayor said we're at a time now when we're not seeing other subdivisions anywhere near the magnitude. We are a community clearly in the midst of an infill stage and we still see our valuations increasing. That's investments downtown. That's investments in the commerce park. That is a higher value of the homes that we do have constructed. All of that correlates to a steady increase in valuation uh for the city. Couple other highlights in the 2026 budget. Uh city council's uh WMR has proven to be extremely beneficial to the city. Uh not only um does it allow the city to be able to take on all uh water main replacements projects uh without it securing any debt, but what we're seeing is uh we're starting to see the water debt that sort of was crippling the water funds uh begin to retire. We saw another drop off this year. $3.6 million in water debt will retire over the next decade. That will significantly help the water fund and will allow the city to control uh

water rates. That is extremely important and we're seeing it happen. Mark and I just went over those funds. Uh same with uh another initiatives council did that very modest storm water increase that they made last year was very beneficial in stabilizing the water the storm water fund. Stormwater fund also has uh significant debt. We're hoping that we can continue. It plays a very active role in a lot of c capital projects and uh uh so that will see 865,000 roll off the next 10 years. Uh the 26 budget uh includes personnel cost rate 3% increase rate that council passed earlier this fall. There are no positions being added to the 26 uh budget keeping our current uh FTEES at 59. Uh capital projects are obviously a highlight of any budget for the city. Uh Love Madera Road phase one will begin this year. Uh going back for master plans since this city been doing master plans uh for decades. the city has been doing uh looking at uh how and why and what they can do to love a madiraa road. So in 2026 that'll finally begin. Uh this will be first the three phases. Chris has done a wonderful job of advancing these projects. So that is a probably one of the most significant capital projects happening this year. The road program will get 880,000 right at what is recommended that will bring the total since 2020 to 6.8 million. I would say that the road program, the WMR are perfect examples of this council looking at two problems that they had. Uh water debt, uh roads that were deteriorating, coming up with a plan and fixing it. Uh 880 is the line that was recommended. We would anticipate being able to stay at that. Pedestrian connectivity remains a focus. Sidewalks will be installed from Oakland Road to White Pillars. City will invest in

Nisbet, Phillips, and Lever Park. If awarded funding, the city will expand its green space by 4 acres with the purchase of property on Riverside Drive. City will also purchase uh vehicles for the LPD, LSFD, and public works, make traffic improvements with traffic signal modifications at West Lovelin and Lebanon, and will continue making devestments in the downtown. Capital projects also include engineering to for advancing future projects that is obviously highlighted in this city uh with engineering for POS remediation from the city's water supply. Another uh project that will be fully funded through EPA funding that uh Chris worked with to get for the city. That is an critical critical part. I think that puts the city in a perfect position to be right where we need to be by the deadline. Also, the city will advance uh the second phase of love road this s year and the sidewalks on state route 48 for all of the Warren County residents. Uh just to summarize before Mark jumps in, I counted 13 city employees participate in the budget process on top of the finance commission. Uh that is a significant team that we do that budget software has been a gamecher. We don't all have to sit in the same room and stare at each other. Mike can get what he can get on board. the finance commission can go on and look at it. It is an incredible investment Joel made in that software and uh we're just going to keep expanding on it. Um but the the quarterback for the team, that's Mark. Uh Mark's our Joe Burrow. I I had to I had to use a Bengals even though he's a Browns fan because I don't really have a quarterback. So to

Sorry, my foot's okay.

Got two Browns fans over there. So, I I do want to say that Mark's he steers the ship. We all follow his lead for this budget and that's why the trophy case for the budget awards is what it is. Mark wants to throw in some more of the technical details. Told you I'd go for that fast. Sir, well, Mr. Kennedy certainly did get the highlights of this, but um yeah, I think the the bottom line of of this budget is stability. So, the the city's in a very good spot right now. uh our income tax revenue has been been going up and I think it's going to be continue to be stable. Uh we're able to have no layoffs or anything like that. Everything is stable there with our positions, with our staffing levels. Uh 3% increases for non-bargaining people are in there. Uh we have our um two bargaining units are have their contracts up in May. So there are going to be some negotiating there for our officers and lieutenants. As I said, debt service was some that were we've been working on trying to get that uh drop off. We've had there was one item dropped off in 23. We've had some Ohio Public Works Commission items fall off OPWC. There was two items in 2024 25 an item came off. Uh next year we're going we have a downtown revitalization balloon payment of over half a million that's going to be made. So there's some more debt coming off the books for our downtown tiff fund. So all of our efforts to get debt under control and be able to cash finance things has really started to pay off. We're going to be keeping an eye on our real estate taxes. As you know, there's a lot of legislation going through the state affecting that um affecting schools very heavily, but also for local governments. Um we get about 1.7 million of that to the general fund in next year's budget.

And then obviously we have our fire levies. So this is very important issue for us to to keep an eye on going forward. Another thing we keep looking at is our investments revenue. We talk about that every quarter. uh interest rates are going down, but uh thanks to some information talking that we've had with the finance commission, we we brought our Raymond James investment uh analyst in to talk about that. We've been able to do our best to get more investment revenue to keep things going. Uh as rates go down though, we're we're reinvesting some more cash that we have on hand, not just leaving money sitting in a bank, but putting it to work so we can get some some better interest. So, we're definitely making lemonade with some lemons that we get and doing our best, not just sitting around and letting our money go go bad. So, with obviously, oh, another another big issue in next year is going to be finishing up payments for the fire station. That's been going very well now that the federal government is open. I was sweating a little bit for about a month there because the people of Loveland were owed about $800,000. And as I talked to Mr. Witch about that and he had to remind me, hey, you got to watch the news because the feds were closed. Thankfully, they are open again and we're getting our checks. So, um, we're we're getting that project funded and the last payments will be made next year.

So, with that, those are the major issues that I have for you. Thank you, Mr. Hart. You want to add anything from a finance commission standpoint?

Um, sure. Um what I would say is that uh I I appreciate Mr. Medler's thoughts on um the word he used was stability. Um but I would also and I agree with that based on all the work the finance commission did, but I would also say that the more important piece that I that I I was witnessed to was um not resting on those laurels of stability. Um no stone was left unturned. I feel like the finance commission asked some some difficult questions at times um in terms of what our investments are doing and what opportunities exist out there trying to get creative to try to continue to bring in some more money here and there um not all of them were possible but you know until you ask the question you don't know so um folks that are really really invested in the city and really invested in the city's finances um and and I appreciate Mr. Medler and Mr. Kennedy sitting there and and kind of helping bring clarity to all those things and and not um just kind of poo pooing thoughts and saying that won't work. They actually uh were very very open to those conversations. Um because I feel like as he kind of as Mr. Mler kind of alluded to as he went through uh where we're at um in terms of reinvesting in places and changing cash and in into accounts that maybe have some better returns. um those awards that we have sitting over there, they're uh they're they're they're not well earned. They're they're well they're well earned. Um and the stability we have is in large part due to the continued work and um openness to make whatever changes are possible to continue us on an upward trend. So, um I appreciate all the work that that the staff here did. I think Mr. Mr. Kennedy alluded to how many people on staff are a part of that and then the finance commission also putting their time in. It's it's three pretty heavy duty meetings that kind of make my eyes go crossed at times, but um but uh a lot of

good work and I feel like uh the recommendation is a strong one. Very good. Anybody have any comments or questions on this budget? Yes, Mr. B.

Sure. I'll just uh throw my my two cents into the into the uh equation here and and echo what Mr. Mr. Hart said about the appreciation for the staff and and all the hard work of the finance committee to go do this and and sort of to paraphrase what Mr. Ory said earlier that you know this document really is proof positive of a of a a well-run organization and I mean beyond that really uh we we set the we may set the uh uh the agenda at our goal setting sessions and throughout you know our our two-year uh term on council. Um, but it's staff that executes and implements that. And then when we can see that brought to bear in this document to show how all of that work is is uh is done beyond competently, right? Competence is sort of the table stakes that the residents expect. We we see here something that that exceeds that. And I think that's through through Mr. Kennedy, Med Mr. Medler and Mr. Linich's examples of of uh innovative thinking uh problem solving, rolling up your sleeves and and uh digging in to find a solution and doing it with with good customer service and keeping the uh uh the resident um and what's right um you know front and center. And so I think I don't know if this is a a quirk of the schedule u but I think it's really terrific that we we get to uh vote on this first reading and essentially pass the baton to the next council to uh to sign this uh this budget and CIP um you know into into law. I think that's a great way for us to to uh to pass on this this torch of of uh setting a vision and doing it with proficiency and innovation. And so I'm looking forward to uh supporting that

when we vote at our next session. Anyone else? Mr. Goodyear.

I I also, you know, I read this uh entire uh document, all the information we have here regarding uh the budget and the CIP and and I also want to uh thank city staff, excuse me, and the finance committee for all the work. I mean it's a it's a tremendous amount of work that goes into this obviously but you know the budget I think people say budget is like the story of the city right and this story is very impressive. I think that not only from a financial standpoint um we have growing revenue we have uh responsibility in the way we handle our money and the way we invest our money but also we have a real laser focus on achieving goals that the community's asked us to achieve. And when you really look at at all the different items that are going forward in this city over the next that have gone forward are in progress and will be in progress over the next uh two three years. It it's amazing. And so I I read this and frankly it's just so impressive to me to to see where we are to see what's what's done. And you know obviously as Mr. Baitman said uh you know council sets the goals and we provide kind of the macro idea of what's happening but the micro work uh is done by staff and by um the finance committee and it's it's just incredibly impressive and I appreciate it very much and I'm u very happy with what we see here.

Anyone else have any comment?

All right. I I would just say Mr. Kennedy and I talked pretty much every morning and uh for months and months and months at some point in the conversation every day would be well I'm just working on the budget and I think Mr. Medler probably could have said the same thing um for all those months and and everyone else and staff have played their part and uh this is a tremendous effort to put this together into this nice little package that we get to look at um all tied up in a bow but this was a tremendous effort. What what I appreciate is the balance that this shows. Um it has been I think a huge goal of this council over the last several years to live within our means. I know we had an opportunity there was that that water main break um up on Cherokee years ago that was a total mess. Chief helped step in on that to just get water to that to that development for for it seemed like I don't know how long it was but it was not days it was a while. Um, and we went for a huge grant to try to to to take care of that project. We didn't get that grant. Um, and whatever that organization was, might have been an OPWC, I'm not sure, but they came back later and said, "Well, we can give you a million dollars um loan interest free." And boy, we talked about that and decided it's still a million dollars we have to pay back. If this can wait, let's just wait. and what we ended up paying very little on that project um ultimately because we did hold and um made do until we could could get the money and the funding in place. So that's just one example of we don't just see something shiny and go for it. We um really try to be smart about what projects we're doing and we're still able to live within our means and have all these projects um that you see reflected in this budget. And I think that water fund is um one of the the proudest things that that I think that we've accomplished as a council. And that was not without its share of angst. There were many meetings and conversations about that because we were

raising fees. But paying hundreds of thousands of dollars was $600,000 at one point a year just on debt service is just not any way to run this city. And we are slowly but surely bringing that down. When you look at the chart, it's it's going to take a minute, but when we get to 2040, we're down to 17,000 and and that'll drop off after that. And now you've got another 600,000 to actually put towards the water projects, which as you said, maybe that changes what we're charging. Um certainly what we would look at. So that's our goal with every aspect of this city, including capital projects and and as you said, the storm water is is we're we're headed that direction. So, I'm I'm happy that the discipline that we've shown and the balance that this budget shows that we're still able to accomplish these these what people I think have come to expect now is yearly big infrastructure projects which didn't used to be the case and and we're managing to do them and deliver but live within our means. So, that that's a credit I think to to this council as far as the policy perspective but certainly to our staff for for finding ways to make that happen. So, very proud of this budget. So yes, this is a first reading only. I'll go ahead and read it.

Ordinance to make appropriations for current expenses and other expenditures of the city of Loveland, state of Ohio during the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026. Thank you, Mr. Witch.

Thank you, Mayor. As you know, several over a decade ago, um the residents of Lovelin voted to implement a aggregation program for both gas and electric. Um, our current gas contract is up at the end of March. Um, so as you know, we uh utilize a thirdparty consultant in um to you to help us out with the bidding process. Um, we went out for bids. Um, only received two bids back quite frankly that were worth it. Um, Direct Energy and Nordic Energy. Um, some of the other bigger players like Constellation Energy and IGS. Um, Constellation's currently not offering an aggregate program in the gas gas realm and IGS kind of responded that they're pursuing other opportunities. So, it's really it's interesting out there right now on the gas side. Um, but the positive is in comparison to what we saw with the electric dot anticipate us hovering right around the same rates that we were at for the last two years. Uh for the last two years we've been about um 5.94 uh mil thousand cubic feet and that we think we hope um is going to be close right around $6 also this time. So, the reason I can't give you an exact number, if you recall when we did this last time, and it may have even been the time before that that um we elected to use what they call the NYX Plus uh formula, which is basically it's like it's like watching the stock market in a sense, and you actually um lock in your pricing that day. So, we do believe um it's going to be based on the trends, it's going to be right around six. when we did this um two or three weeks ago, it was actually below the 5.94 what we were at. So,

we're we're pretty confident in that. In that chart, you kind of see how that um how that rate is broken down. Um there's basically that retail adder that's coming from that's kind of the the component that direct energy is is taken back, right? So, um, that's in essence that's the number that they were kind of bidding on that we were comparing numbers numbers to. Um, with that said, you see there's options for one year, two year, three year, four year. Um, in our conversations with IEC, we kind of talked about, you know, I had first looked at it and I said, well, why why wouldn't we just sign a four-year? and their their kind of answer to this and their outlook is they don't see an upward push for the next 5 to 10 years on the gas side, which basically what I'm saying there is there's a possibility in two years it's going to be a very similar rate or potentially lower. Um, so that's why they're recommending and they've recommended to several other communities that they represent, one actually right next to us that is doing the exact same thing right now, Hamilton Township. Um, they are recommending we look at a two-year uh, contract, which once they ran through the numbers and showed us kind of those charts, which are all kind of in your in your packet, it does make sense and it makes sense to staff. Um, so with that said, um, that's pretty much all I have for the information on it. Like I said, I can't give an exact number because what this agreement is going to say is going to give the city manager the ability to sign that and it's a day of sort of thing. But if for some crazy reason it would come back way above, you know, way out of out of range, we will come we will sit on it, not not sign and we'll come back to council with an update. But this gives us the ability if I can get this over to them tomorrow, we can lock in our price before the holiday and before the cold

weather. We want to get it in because it is volatile due to the due to the uh changing weather patterns. Um so with that, I'll take any questions on it that I hopefully can answer. Any questions, Mr. hurt. Um, is there a is there like a federal government impact on this? The only reason I asked that because two years keeps us in the same federal administration. Three years potentially takes us out of that or into into a more volatile time from a federal side. Is there a benefit? Does that impact anything or does or is that really not a

Yeah. So, one of the impacts on the upward push is um right now they're opening up additional areas for drilling, right? So areas that we're going to be using our own domestic uh natural gas. So with that said, to your point, I do believe this this administration, yes, I think you've seen in general prices either similar or come down potentially. Um, so to answer your question, yes, I think with a change in administration, there could be a potential uh change, but as you look back on that trend line, so two years ago, we were coming into a new administration and we're basically at the same price that we're we're at now. So, it's tough to say. It's always tough to say. Um, but I think based on what they're looking at and what kind of they're analyzing, they feel that the two-year is kind of where we want to be.

Okay. Just curious. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? All right. And you are requesting this be done in as an emergency for obvious reasons to be that latitude. Okay. Why don't you go ahead and read the ordinance? Ordinance authorizing all actions necessary to support the continuation of governmental natural gas aggregation program with opt out provisions pursuant to section 4929.26 of the Ohio Revised Code. Further directing the city manager to enter into a supply agreement with direct energy services to continue a natural gas aggregation program beyond March 31st, 2026 when the current supply agreement ends in declaring an emergency. Thank you. Call the role, please. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mr. Baitman,

yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Mr. Orie, yes. Vice Mayor Phelps, yes. Mr. Ping, yes. Ordinance 100 is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero. Mr. Kennedy, uh, for you tonight is an ordinance for a first reading to reduce the speed along a portion of State Route 48/ Oakland Road. basically uh it's approximately a little over 1,600 ft from the city's corporation line to the uh east uh to where it currently begins at 30 where it currently is 35 m an hour.

Uh there's we're actually addressing this for two particular reasons. One is for safety concerns. I was just thinking uh when I got here in 2014, Chief Huber and I were dealing with uh uh pretty continual accidents in that bend in that area coming in from the township. Uh first Saturday in October, we had another Whopper up there and pretty much everything in between. So, we're trying to attack this for for safety reasons. We're actually working with uh uh working with Steve Kelly with the township. they have they follow a little different rules as far as uh some uh signage uh to advance signage on the curve ahead and uh and then we can on our own if we work within ODOT the city has the ability to on our own uh within the Ohio Revised Code uh working with Joe and making a determination the city can make the speed limit change ourselves uh within the city limits. Uh second of all is the capital aspect of the what's going on up there. Um two things. Uh we will hopefully in the spring be bringing you uh a contract for uh the sidewalks on State Route 48 be phase one that will go to the entrance of uh White Pillars. And phase two, which is the other capital project, will go and right into the uh Grailville Park uh that the county is working on right now, which will be one of the more uh it is very impressive uh what they are planning to put up there. And we will actually align that second phase with the trail head. And then if you you tie that with all of the sidewalks up level Miamiville Road, all the sidewalks that are included in the Claremont County uh pedestrian connectivity plan and two schools will be will be setting up a path where the quite a few people are going to be able to walk to this incredible county park that's going to be on this 200 acres of land. So, uh

with that, we need to start taking some changes now. Uh so, one of those is going ahead and reducing that speed to 35. It's recommended by the fire chief, by the police chief, the city engineer, public works director. Uh Chris and I will be working on some RSBs. It'll be part of the sidewalk project. So with that, we think this is uh probably uh this is a good project. We'll keep working with the township to do some things out in the township to advance that speed. Uh uh the the the curve ahead signs uh we're working to get those to be RRFPs. Those will begin to flash. there's the potential that the chevrons on the guardrails can actually be flashed

and then of course we'll have a reduced speed ahead signs. Uh so this would just be a first reading uh puts us in line to have all this finished before the sidewalks go and uh we'll keep working on the other side of it. Thank you. Any comments or questions? Vice Mayor I just I think this was this speed reduction is a great idea and I believe we've had people come in Yeah. and talk to us about that. But again, to the Chief Huber's observation, the city prioritizes safety and I think this is a prime example of that. Anyone else? Well, I drive this often and I actually like it at 45, but yeah,

but it makes total sense to move to 35, so I do support it. All right, you read first reading, please. Ordinance approving the reduction of speed limit on a portion of State Route 48 Oakland Road from 45 mph to 35 mph within the city of Lovelin Corporation limits. Thank you, Mr. Medler.

Thank you, Mayor. So, these we have two items for our quarterly utility assessments for unpaid utility bills. First one is for Hamilton County. Has 11 items on it. the second one. There originally were three, but this this morning I was informed that the first two items have been paid. So for the Warren County, we just need to assess the third item on that one. So again, we request these as an emergency just for our basic process.

All right, any questions? Read the first ordinance, please. Ordinance assessing leans for unpaid utility bills on property in Hamilton County owed to the city of during an emergency. Call the role, please. Mr. Baitman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Mr. Ory? Yes. Vice Mayor Phelps? Yes. Mr. Ping? Yes. Mayor Bailey? Yes. Ordinance 101 is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero. Thank you. Read the next ordinance. Ordinance assessing leans for unpaid utility bills on property in Warren County owed to the city of Lovelin and declaring an emergency. Call the RO, please. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Mr. Ory. Yes. Vice Mayor Phelps. Yes. Yes. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mr. Baitman. Yes. Ordinance 102 is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero.

Mr. Medley.

Thank you, Mayor. So, this item is making adjustments to our current year 2025 budget. So, what we do every year is making sure that our purchase orders and our expenses do not exceed the budget that we've laid out. So there's kind of a balancing act. So we have cash that obviously we can't spend more cash than we have, but we also cannot spend more than the budget. So this is an amendment to clean up the budget. Just make sure everything is on the up and up. And how we appropriate here in the city of Leland, for example, in the general fund, you don't we don't just say, "Okay, here's the general fund budget." There are many different buckets within the general fund. I think about eight 18 different budgets that all of those have to be budgeted and be on the positive side. So there's a lot of adjustments to be made just to make sure that we are in line with Ohio Revised Code.

All right, any questions? Okay, this is not as an emergency, but by our charter it only requires one reading. Correct. That is correct. Okay, I'll go ahead and read the ordinance. Ordinance to make revisions to appropriations for expenditures for the city of Lovelin State of Ohio during the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2005. Call the role, please. Mr. Hart, yes. Mr. Ory, yes. Vice Mayor Phelps, yes. Mr. Ping, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Mr. Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Ordinance 103 is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero.

All right, announcements. Um, first, there will not be a council meeting next Monday, December 1st. As we know, there's a mandatory recount from our election and is it Warren and Claremont have said that they will do theirs on next Monday and Tuesday, the 1st and 2nd. We don't even know when Hamilton County is going to do it. Has to be done by Wednesday, Thursday, something like that. But we don't yet know who's going to be sitting here, although we have an idea, but we cannot have the meeting until it it is certified um and the recount is complete. So instead the meet the organizational meeting will be at 6:00 on December 9th. So we'll have do that right before the next meeting. Okay. Um 2025 annual Little Miami River Chamber Alliance Awards were held a few weeks ago. Mr. Kennedy and Captain Gangler and I attended that. As Mr. Kennedy knows they get a little competitive about how many Loveland businesses win because it's two townships and the city of Lovelin. So, I'm going to tell you I think all but one or Loveland that won and the one that wasn't Lovelin was sitting at our table so it was okay.

She counted that one.

I didn't count that one, but that was okay. All right. So, I'm just going to let you know because it's kind of cool. All of the businesses that won. The Randy K. Stannifer Health, wellness, and fitness business of the year was Spangga. Beautification award went to Cardinal Land Conservancy. Business Community Advocate Award went to Time Savers Heating and Cooling. I think they're actually located physically in Miami Township, but the owner lives in Loveland and is uh active on our committees. Heart of service award to All the Ingredients. Patricia Ferrer Community Involvement Award, Doug Portman. The nonprofit of the year award went to do it for Jack, the Jack Quell Foundation. Womanowned business of the year curated fine furnishings and design. Excellence in social media award went to Positive Tigers. Isn't that the school? Isn't that something affiliated with the school in some fashion?

It's got to be. It's got to be. Um outstanding outstanding community event. at the new is the Loveland Shorts Festival. Young professional of the year, Kim Bailey. Totally deserve that.

Um, chamber choice award DVD brew. Emerging business of the year, Rose Boutique and Wine Bar and business of the year was Cappies. So, it was almost a clean sweep, which is pretty cool. It's a very nice event. Um, announcements. Our offices will be closed. city offices this Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Public works will be making one final pass through town for leaf collection. Um, so you need to have your leaves at the curb by Monday, December 1st. Applications for committee openings will be accepted through Wednesday, December 3rd. The city's annual Christmas tree lighting festival will be held on Saturday, December 6th in downtown Level from 4 to 8. Some of the events include live music performed by American Idol contestant Michael Williams, special guest and MC WLWT meteorologist Randy Rico. Santa will be visiting live reindeer at city hall from 3 4:30 to 6:30. Strolling characters, gingerbread house contest displayed at city hall. Kid train rides, craft vendors, food trucks, photo opportunities, the city's 2025 Christmas ornament, which are for sale for $10. Crafts and games and other fan fun activities hosted by local businesses. The tree lighting and drone show begin at the tree lighting is at 8. Is that right, Chief? Tree lighting is at 8, followed immediately by the drone show, which we need to remind people before we do the tree because they're all so excited about the tree. They're not looking up and over. So I'll try to remember that like pointing yelling last year.

Yes, Randy needs to do tell Randy to do better. Communicate that. Gosh, I will not tell her to do better. But that was not I'll tell I'm just going to be honest with that. It's not I'll tell it's all good. Okay. And then whatever else we have is on the city website as far as that event. So come on down. Anybody else have any any announcements of any kind? All right. I do believe we have Kevin. Well, you're so quiet about it. Yes, sir. Mrs. Ping spent the afternoon in the kitchen and so if you face a microphone, sorry for you guys, but if you face a microphone, I have some cookies before you leave. Oh, so don't leave without your cookies.

Very nice. Nice. All right. So, we need a motion for uh to go into executive session, Mr. Mi Vice Mayor, one final time. Okay. Um I move to go to executive session under Ohio Revised Code section 121.22G1 to consider the employment of a public employee or official. There second. Second. Hold the role, please. Yes. Vice Mayor Phelps. Yes. Mr. Ping. Yes. Bailey, yes. Mr. Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Motion carries seven to zero.

We good. We have a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Is there a second? Second. Call the role, please. Mayor Phelps. Yes. Mr. Pink. No. Mayor Bailey. No. Okay. Mr. Baitman. Yes. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes, Mr. Ory. No. Perfect. Close. Motion carries. Four to three. Just barely