City Council - Regular Meeting

I don't have your phone number anymore. How you doing? Did you want to keep that? How you doing?

[clears throat] That's what it was. Is it perfectly? [sighs]

[clears throat]

You're talking. That's good.

[clears throat]

question. [clears throat] I'll still make sure I didn't pay for Sunday chicken Monday the way they've been playing. I'm right here. [laughter] According [laughter] podcast,

[laughter]

Yes, I did.

[laughter]

How are you? That's me.

I came in this morning. the only person. [clears throat] You see that face? [cough]

Well, very little. So, it's not just always years ago. 8 10 12 I'm trying to All right, everybody. It is 6:35 and I am opening our parks and recreation committee meeting this evening. Um, I'm going to take a quick roll call. Um, Mr. Diaz

here. Thank you. And Miss Meyer present. Okay. Tonight we're gonna do this a little bit differently. We've had a lot of a lot of input from the community via email and phone call and so we we know where a lot of people stand, but I wanted to utilize this time here tonight for the committee itself to discuss and ask questions of our deputy law director um and make sure that we all are understanding what's going on and then once we are satisfied I can open it up to the rest of committee this evening. So to begin, Mrs. Meyer, do you have anything that you wanted to share since you're right next to me?

Um, yeah. Um, gosh, well, you kind of caught me off guard.

Sorry. So, it was important for me to read through and I think all of council received the email um from uh Miss Brinley with the questions and and um laying out her concerns about the easements. Um and then we got the response from the law director. Um, so I really went through that and the the major concern for me was that if we did indeed put the easement on and then gave the park back,

did not keep it. um that it would that easement would be able to be extinguished that that would be able to be taken off and and it can be. Yes. Um so that was really that was what was important for me to see uh that that could that we weren't putting that wasn't going to be a a a true hardship to the family

if we did this. Um, yeah, I guess that's all I want to say at the moment and then I'll see if there's, you know, if any other questions come up from what people have said. Go ahead. Thank you, chair. I just want to um I did give um everyone a letter here from Mrs. Yolanda Adams from um representing the Greater Grace um Greater Mitchell Chapel AM Church and a Grace Episcopal. um she brought that today. So I did want you to read that as well. Um and also let to let the public know that we have received countless emails, you know, um from those who are um in support of the easement or as well as those who are not support. So we want you to know we do get a lot those emails. We don't read them all because we'd probably be here all night, but if you are out there, you're watching live stream, um we all get them and we uh we we do consider them um greatly, but I just wanted you guys to know that this letter was raw today. I can I correct some I mean

we read them we just don't read them into the record. Yes. [laughter] Yeah.

Um Mr. Madden, can I ask you to explain again what happens if the park if we ever return it?

Yes. Yes. So this would be uh a reversion. This park was uh donated to the city of Mansfield in uh in 1942. It was donated to a parks committee in 1941 that then donated to the city for use as a park in 42. That grant contains language that that dictates that the uh property is continued to be used as a park or for a proper public purpose. So if that stopped that would create what's called a reversion right. Uh reversion right it's it's an aberration. So it is different than what what everyone's used to. But in the event of a reversion, [clears throat] title would basically dial back to 1941. So the heirs would take title as of and and the court would apply it as if they had title in 1941. So they could sue to quiet title and they could eliminate anything that the city of Mansfield did with their title during the time it was held by the city.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for that. I you know this this property we got a a brand new fresh map of what we're looking at and what that means for the the actual footprint. Um, and I know there's a lot of different people who utilize this area. And you know, I've been on council for six years now. And one of the things that I have harped on probably ad nauseium for the last six years is that the environment that we live in and the opportunities that we have to preserve the unique species, to preserve our water and air quality, these are things that are very important to me. And I made that very clear when I came on to city council. And honestly, this is probably the first time in six years that I've really had an opportunity to get to put my words into action. And that's exciting. But I'm also thinking future case here. We could have school groups coming in and getting to see, you know, the last meeting that we had, Mr. Miller talked about the species and and the ways that we could incorporate the community. There are things for children. There are things for garden clubs. There are ways for people to be involved that are maybe a little bit outside the box of what we normally think about when we think about a park. And you know, we've talked a lot in the last six years about how we'd really like to see the public and private groups coming together and working for a common goal. and this is a lovely example of that maybe being put into action now. So, it's a great thing um that we have an opportunity to even discuss this and um I'm very appreciative of all the opinions and all the education that we've been granted

throughout this this process. I've I've learned a lot. So, right now, do either of you two have any more questions or comments or anything you want to add? I just I was

Go ahead. Yeah, I was going to I just wanted to echo that you and you and I have had conversations and I do feel like we do consistently talk about the importance of um public private partnerships and we've got an organization here who is here saying we're here to help and they were willing to give of their time and their talents and I I think it would a slap in the face to not allow them to um you know offer up and and and it it sets a bad precedent. I mean we won't we won't have other people you know step up to to help. So that being said, thank you.

Thank you. All right. Now, does anybody else on council have a question or comment that they would like to discuss? [clears throat] Miss Mount,

thank you. Um, from the exact wording that I'm reading here, I'd heard it said that we wanted to clarify this would provide no hardship to the family. It appears that the family will still, if it was to ever revert to them, have to sue to clear this. That costs a lot of money. So I would according to this legal opinion provided us it would appear that it would indeed provide a hardship by us doing this if we cannot find another way than the way it is currently presented to us. That is a that is a good point. Can you maybe elaborate a little bit more on what that process entails if we were to reach that? We're not planning on it, but

in the event of a reversion, if if this all if this all flowed down, I would anticipate legal expenses to be between three and $5,000 for the family. Does that answer your question?

In 2025. I don't know when this would be. Yeah, good point. Okay. in 2025. So meaning

who knows what it'll be like. Yeah. Okay. Any other questions? Yeah. Um, so Miss Mont is thinking that if this should happen, it will cost the family x amount of dollars, but also if it should revert, does it automatically revert if there's a um a breach of contract or you still have to go through spense say there's a cost in doing that too?

Yeah. So there's uh there's two paths that that I can see uh to a reversion. The first would be a voluntary deed by the city where they literally deed it back. Although that would actually not be a reversion. That would be a deed from the city. So in order to affect a reversion, they would actually need to bring suit to enforce the reversion rights. So they would have to file suit for this to be reversion. Yeah. Which possibility is what we're talking about. So I'm just thinking that even if she they're thinking that the easement would cost the family money but also the reversal would cost the family money also basically.

Uh yes, you know in in most instances when you get away from you're going to have some legal expenses, right? Whichever way you take it is still going to cost the family if it reverses. So I mean it's not because of the easement. That's all I'm saying. But that is only in the case that the city makes the decision that they no longer want. And I I this is not just you know like on a random I am for it. I'm just saying that this part that with the e saying as if the easement is going to cost the family when if you reverse it it's still going to cost the family. So I mean just for yeah other people to know.

Okay. So, Mr. Madden, let me want to get some clarification on the uh guarantee acknowledgement. The North Central Ohio Lands Conservancy, Inc., Ohio. Now for profit corporation to guarantee the guarantee by duly an authorized trustee hereby agrees that upon receiving this easement it is in its expense it acts accepts the responsibility set forth. The guarantee further acknowledges that this right of the easement is subject to the period due restriction as recorded in the previous trans uh record of 1945 1941 and 1942. Right? So then on 11 it says when the North Central um conservancy if he sees this as a debilitating event then that any citizen of Richland County may institute legal action to have guaranteed right under the easement transfer to the natural conservancy for a similar

organization. So what I wanted to know is number nine nullifies number I mean number 11 nullifies number nine and also um want to know too that yeah can you help me understand that

I mean I I disagree with your interpretation of uh clauses 9 and 11. Clause 9 is an acknowledgement that really has almost no legal meaning. It is uh been included as a result of public comment because we wanted it to be clear to the community that the grantee of this easement acknowledges and understands that their rights are subject to the reversion rights from 1941 and 1942. So this is this is just a statement of legal reality. This doesn't create that reality. This is an acknowledgement of the legal reality. Uh and then number 11, this is what would happen in the event that the grantee organization, North uh North Central Ohio Land Conservancy, Inc. if they went defunct or suffered a debilitating event. This is a device that allows another community group uh such as um you know the the churches that included these letters or or whoever wanted to could take the mantle up and could continue to maintain that conservation easement in the way that it was intended by the grant of this. However, in the event of reversion, um section 11 goes out the window with everything else. So that's how that would

Thank you.

Thank you. I guess to take a step back and to look at the broad picture. My question is, is this about conservation? And I am for conservation, but the catching point seems to be I'd say in in many circumstances as an overall idea, the catching point seems to be the per the perpetuity and the giving up control. We're not giving up the park, but we're giving up control of the park. Can another uh proposal be found that would be agreeable to the conservation group, the city, and the neighbors, and address all the concerns that have been brought up that isn't perpetual. a conservation agreement because that would demonstrate is this about genuinely the conservation aspect or is this about the group that wants to gain control of the spark. I do want to kind of push back on that there briefly. The way that this has been represented is that we are just handing land over to somebody else and that we won't the city won't have anything to do with it. And that's not the intention. The land consery is interested in this easement so that they can take responsibility for the work that no matter how advanced and well staffed our parks department is, we do not or will not in the near future have the bodies to do the work to take care of this. And so this is a private organization stepping in and saying, "Hey, we're going to help you and we're

going to help you for free to maintain this area."

Does that answer your question, Mr. I generally understand. Um I I am clear on the fact that we're not giving up the park because if we did that, it would be going back to the family. The sticking point is giving up the control. We are we are giving up the control of the park and we'll probably get to it later. And my other concern is that we still do not have an precisely clear understanding of exactly how many acres because we heard everything from 12 to 17 and a quarter. So I would like to see that very precisely defined before we would proceed on this.

Okay. Uh thank you. Uh yeah, first first uh the control of the park. We we are the city would not be relinquishing control of the park. This is a conservation easement that prevents the city from logging the park. So this would continue uh in my conversations with uh uh city administration. This would continue to be part of the park, be publicly accessible, and I if I understand correctly, they're going to build additional walking path uh with Cleveland Avenue access. Um, I apologize. What's the second part of your question?

The precise clarification of exactly what boundaries, what surveyed points, because we've heard everything from 12 to 17 and a quarter acres.

Yeah. So, there's currently not an existing legal description of this precise piece of property, right? And to generate one is going to be a few thousand dollars. So we drafted section 10 legal description. Uh this uh this creates a process by which the grantee would have a have a beat to go raise some money to uh pay a surveyor to get a legal description generated. Um, this section also includes language that dedicates authority to the public works director who could kind of serve as a backs stop and he would have basically veto power. And if he felt that this uh that the legal description generated would somehow impede the the other uses of the park, then he would refuse to sign the document. So, we kind of put that in as a backs stop to uh protect all of the ongoing and continuing uh uses of the park. Thank you. All right. In the interest of

and again, and again, Mr. Martin, um, this has to be a perpetual. It's not something is going to be at a limited time. It has to be perpetual, right, for the easement.

Uh, yes. Yes, that is true. Okay, I'm going to let everybody chew on that before we get to the actual voting portion of our evening and I will take a motion to close public or parks committee. That's that's wonderful. It's now time for economic development. We'll open the meeting at 7:55. Jodica, if you could come down. Um, 6:55. It even says that there.

Yeah. I'm sorry. 655. I didn't want to suggest you took a lot of time. So, so tonight we're talking about mine is Is that one fixed over there? Should be on. [clears throat] All right.

And maybe did you want to open comment or let Jody could open? Go ahead and give us an idea what what's going on with this uh bill a little bit. I thought you could explain it better. I I think the mayor

I will just a short intro. So um we had uh it's been a long time, let me say it that way, since the city has had its own comprehensive plan. Jodica will tell you a little bit more about the last countywide one. And so this was something that I really wanted to start last year. Um when a developer comes to town, that's one of the first things they ask for is the comprehensive plan. And really what that is is a land use plan. So, it's us all agreeing together how we want to use land. So, um we just because of timing and change, we had to pull it into this year. In the meantime, Shelby also decided they wanted to do one and the county needed an update. So, rather than all three of us paying for three separate plans, we're working together and proposing to work together. So I'll let Jodica tell you a little bit more about why the plan is important and some of the ways that people will able to be inv uh involved in it.

Thank you mayor. You mentioned it's a future land use plan and I and I and I will elaborate that a little bit because it the a component of it is a land use plan but a comprehensive plan is really a guiding document uh that speaks to a region's desire for its future growth and development. So it not only acts as um a visionary tool because it talks to the community's overarching vision for the community but also the goals uh as it relates to infrastructure, housing, econom economic development, quality of life. Um something you just spoke about, you know, our natural resources, how are we preserving them? uh how are we getting ready for um maybe weather you know weather events in the future the changing trends that we are seeing. So it really um takes a very holistic holistic datadriven analysis of not only existing conditions but also future growth patterns and then it uh you know it relies heavily heavily on community engagement uh and uh public participation. So through this comprehensive uh public engagement process and data analysis, it's really able to uh put create a document that can not only guide decision makers and action takers um on making sure that um the everyday day-to-day decisions that are made um really is moving the region towards what

is cons you know what it kind of envisions as its um as its future um as its future. So um in the past um the county has all has had a comprehensive plan. The earliest that we found was from 1975. Um and back then you know the area was booming. We were expected to have 250,000 people in the next 25 years. We even had a bypass. So that comprehensive plan looked very different from a comprehensive plan that we created in 2006. Uh but since then we had the economic recession and you know we you know the region kind of has its had its challenges and I think we're finally at a strategic point where we feel like we're we are turning a corner. We're seeing an upward uh trend. We're seeing development around us. We've seen growth in the central Ohio region that we really experiencing uh some impact on on the county. So, I think it's a strategic time for us to kind of as a community come together, assess, you know, land is limited, right? We're not creating more land. What is the best impactful way that we can make decisions for that land? So really kind of identifying where do where do users go in the most productive way uh when decisions come in front of this body uh or the planning commissions is there something that helps us makes us the right decisions it's a living document so it's not a static document uh as a community you know as um decisions are made and trends change we you know it the goal is to update it, but we want to have something that US policy makers can rely on to

make decisions and a comprehensive plan is really that guiding document to help you do that. Um, and I think I'll just talk to the second part of it is why we're doing it jointly, right? Like why is re, you know, so regional planning commission, we really look at ourselves as facilitators. That's our role in the community. We are here to help you know all the cities, the villages and the townships kind of collectively think about the challenges and the opportunities. So with with uh the city of Mansfield kind of you know deciding to do do a comprehensive plan and this and shall be and you know our our county plan being almost 20 years now. I think this is great because we and I'll tell you this we've had consultants come and talk to us and what they all remark about remark remark was like this is such a novel way of doing a comprehensive plan like the city and the county is looking at this collectively because we are a region like I think everything that the city does impacts the county and decisions that we all the individual communities take impact each other. So we just wanted to make sure that we're having these discussions in a collaborative manner. So I hope that kind of gives a brief background to just the comprehensive plan in general and regional planning put the RFP out. We'll act as the general facilitator of the whole process. Um so there's one point of contact, one um kind of process that the consultant can work with.

Thank you. You're welcome. I think that helps a lot. When are the county and Shelby ready to go and when do you want to start? How long do you think ready to go? [laughter] Ready to go. Yeah, Shelby's committed. You know, we are just waiting on you. you y'all, we've we've put the RFP out. We've had a consultant interviews. We haven't signed a contract obviously, but um okay, we're ready. We're ready any time to get this kick started and an approximate length of time till we'd have

we're looking at 12 to 15 months, I think. Yeah, we think that's a reasonable amount for something. We want to make sure, you know, we get good public input and public engagement takes time. So, 12 15 months Thank you. Anybody else on council that has a question? Maybe our environmental person, Miss Burns.

Yeah, my question is really around like how are you going to get the community input on this? What what methods are you going to be rolling out and about when would you be doing that? So as as soon as we kickstart it, the consultant that we'll begin work with will put together what we call a public engagement plan. And that really kind of hones what are the methods that going to be used. But broadly speaking, we do it like a multi-prong pronged approach like there's no one way. Uh there'll be surveys sent out to know households through various methods. Maybe it's mailing through your utility bills kind of, you know, with trying to ask those questions, those initial questions about, you know, what they think about the community, what, you know, what are their thoughts and feedback and I and we envision like having multiple work workshops for with just stakeholders. So, it might be the business community, it could be downtown merchants, it should it could be community groups. So they could they could be like focused um stakeholder groups and then we'll have like maybe we be out at community events. So maybe during the Richmond County Fair, you know, we could be out there. So that it's going to be multi-pronged and then they at I think around two or three times toward through the process, we'll have open houses. So the public is invited. There'll be material related to the process itself that they can view and provide comments on and we we plan to have a website that will stand up with all the information available at all times so public can go in and put comments throughout the process. So it'll be an ongoing process. It'll be all 12 months you'll have some kind of public engagement going on. Thank you.

Anybody else? No, sir. Can I just add since we have Did see you. Sorry, that's okay. You can't. So, uh, since we have such a great crowd in the audience tonight, I do hope that you will keep an eye out for that. Obviously, council, we want your, um, input as well, but um, it's really important. The plan is not as powerful if we don't have that input. So, um, you'll hear about it. I'll push it out on our socials and that, but I did want to also just note this is in the budget. So, we're here because of the cost amount obviously, but um but it was budgeted for last year, so we're not appropriating.

Wonderful. If there's nothing else, I will close the meeting at 7:06 p.m. Thank you everyone.

Thanks for coming. Okay, before I start we start we start caucus um just like to make a quick kind of little housekeeping announcement. If you're planning on making public comment and you have not signed up to do so, please do so if you could at this time. If you want to the signup sheet is back here in this corner over here. Um, so if you need to sign up, kind of quietly make your way over there and please sign up because if you're not on the signup sheet, um, you will not be able to speak. So, okay, with that little housekeeping call, we'll, uh, start the caucus meeting at 7:06. And [snorts] [clears throat] are there any committee reports,

Mr. Diaz?

Thank you, Mr. President. Uh just some um brief events happening between now and our next city council meeting. Um one being tomorrow um the kaleidoscope community conversations. That's something that the Renaissance has been doing for almost two years. That's going to be tomorrow at 5:30. Um and the uh speaker this time is going to be Maya Maya Frasier. So if you're interested in attending that, I encourage you to go to the Renaissance uh website. Second event will be this was recurring but the final um convening will be November 10th at Relax just coffee. It's a partnership between Relax and the Mansfield count Mansfield Richland County Public Library. It's called story time at 10 a.m. So if you have some young onions, bring them to the library and have yourself a coffee as well. And the final thing I want to announce is on November 11th, um the YMCA is going to be hosting breakfast for the brave. So, this is a free breakfast for vets and those who are active in the military. It's going to be from 8:00 a.m. to 9:15 the Mansfield Area Y. So, if you know someone who has served the country or who's currently serving the country, you want to support them, uh please come out. They do encourage a lot of folks to come out and um interact. And those conclude my announcements.

You do, Mr. President. Yes. Also on Veterans Day is the Veterans Day parade and the parade master of sess has once again invited all elected officials to participate and show support for veterans if anybody's interested. Um you know we usually meet there on [snorts] Maran Avenue close to the point. Thank you. Time I knew you. Yeah, I think it's 10 [laughter] 10 o'clock. I'll be there at 10 o'clock. I think a parade steps off at 10:30.

Okay. 10 o'clock. Okay. Any other committee reports, public input? With that, mayor, we'll start with you.

Okay. A few um quick updates. So, first of all, we had a great planning meeting. Uh despite the status of down downtown, we are planning to have our downtown New Year's Eve celebration. Um we may not have both bowl balls able to drop from on high. um just because of that. But there's uh Dan Lu for sure can go ahead and we will have the fireworks. So more to come as we get closer, but I know people have been asking. Yes, we will have Christmas lights too. U probably obviously we're missing some light poles at the moment, so not all the wreaths are going up this year, but we will have lights on the square. We will have um some of the other lights that are uh out and about and there will be a Christmas tree at the carousel that maybe two actually I think we got in the end. Um, so that is happening. More to come. I did put an update this week. I just wanted to give a shout out. We did a a joint drive around earlier this year. Usually it's the admin. We pulled in um the supervisors from the complex talked about a number of projects how we can all work together. One of the things that came out was a uh sign pollution project. So if you ever drive around and notice all of the signs that are everywhere, every every block, there's many of them. Many of them are faded. you can't read them anymore. Um, I think most people know not to park on Lexington Avenue. Um, and yet we've got no parking signs every so many hundred yards. So, um, the engineering team and the streets department teamed up. We've pulled 125 signs so far just on Lexington Avenue, Trimble, and Park Avenue. And I know they've got more to come. So, if you're driving around, you see pink tags, that's what that is. We'll continue to do it. We're not letting anything go to waste. If they're good signs, we'll put them and replace faded signs in other spots. So, um, and I know they've also been talking with Sergeant Lamadoo, too, to make sure if there's things that police need, speed

limit signs in certain areas, we can get those up. So, I think that's just a good, you know, we talked a lot about first impressions this year and trying to get our departments to work together. And I think that was a good win on that. Budget is coming your way. That is why I was late tonight. I have officially handed it off. So, uh, you will be getting that next week and, uh, more to come on that. And I just also wanted to note, I mean, this has been talked about for a while, but we did put the finishing touches on the RFP for the Route 30 broadband project. And for those of you that haven't followed it, because probably doesn't sound that exciting, um the state legislature, thanks to Sen uh Representative Marilyn John, got $20 million in the state budget this year to run uh middle mile infrastructure all along Route 30 from um Akran Canton to Lima. Conveniently, we're right in the middle with an Air Force base or or National Guard base that needs it for the cyber security wing. So, um, our community drove that, uh, push for that. Um, so that's going out after the first of the year. And then we will be seeing some expansion of broadband and high-speed internet. And that's a a a need around here. So, um, more to come on that, but I did want to just give a shout out and make sure everyone knows that that's happening in the background. Director Andrews. Uh [snorts] I'm happy to announce we finally uh hired our new parks superintendent. Uh this is the first time we ever involved city council. Uh we had Councilman Diaz and Councilwoman Burns as part of the interview process. Uh we received about 22 applications and we narrowed it down to five and we narrowed it down to our top candidate that uh I'd like to introduce. Uh so

Mike, will you want to stand up and recognize yourself? Um he was born and raised in Mansfield area. Uh he's dedicated to community and has been married to his wife Sarah for 21 years and have two children uh ages 20 and 17. Mike has a deep appreciation for parks and natural resources. uh developed through personal experience in Mansfield City Park system. He's a descent of Mansfield founder James Hedges. Uh Mike excited to embrace the history and culture of the area and his role as new superintendent. It's really nice to have somebody that has a parks and recreation background running our city parks. So, and he's well connected with the community. He's part of the community. So, I think that'll be an asset to Mansfield City Parks.

Would you like that? [applause] Mayor I've only been on the job two or three days go around to a lot of the parks. A lot of them look the same, but there's upgrades definitely all over the place that we're really encouraging. The staff is great and I told them thank you for five people are working really hard to try to keep 20 parts clean and safe for everybody. So I really appreciate what they've been doing that and really I'm most excited about is being in a room. welcoming me and I [applause]

uh yeah, one of the other things that I was asked to do is kind of give the state of the salt and the snow plowing. Uh we have a full barn of salt and uh we just finished getting our bids. Uh the cost of salt went up about $20 a ton. So uh it's going to cost us a little bit more to uh spread this year. Uh we also have uh delivery schedule for November December. We can't disc we cannot schedule delivery to salt until November. That's part of the bid agreement. So once we're able to do that, we'll start getting more salt. So as we get ready, we have deliveries coming if we need it. Um, we have 11 large plows and six small plows. They're all serviced and ready to go. Uh, we hired two new drivers, CDL drivers, so we can have them in our big trucks. Uh, one is in the water department, one is in the in the sewer department. We have priority zones set up. We re-evaluated priorities since a lot of things changed in the city as well. Uh, we actually have full staff of all of our mechanics. So, we have six mechanics on board. So, as things break down, which they do, uh we can keep things in service and keep them running uh on the on the streets as well. Something new that we set up, we have put in cameras and GPS systems in the snow plows, so we'll be able to see real life what the roads are and be able to assess the conditions. Also, too, we'll know where the plow's been and where they're going and keep a better rack of what we're doing, how many miles we're plowing, the salt we're using. It gives us a lot of data that we didn't have before. This is also going to help us with our preventive maintenance program as well. Uh that's something that we have lacked and this is something that will help us extend the life of our vehicles, but also make sure they're safe and they're out there on the roads. Uh hopefully at the next council meeting or so, we'll give you a demonstration uh of the capabilities of that new system that we're working on.

Uh we're currently still working on leaves. We're really waiting for the leaves to drop on the trees. So, we were all ready to go and mother nature tricked us again. So, we're ready to do it and we're hitting different zones. Uh but we may have to come back and redo things as the leagues come down. Uh also, effective November 1st, we started winterizing our parks. So, if you notice, you go to the parks, the restrooms are closed or the drinking fountains don't work. We have done it traditionally around November 1st. And we're we haven't had our hard freeze yet, but in Ohio it can change within the day. So we're being proactive where we have restrooms. We put port John's temporarily until we get the restrooms back open in the spring. That's all I have to say.

Thank you, Director Porch.

Thank you, sir. So, the fire department uh was just recognized by the American Heart Association for for meeting or exceeding the 25 the 2025 mission of lifeline standards for prehosp stroke and cardiac care. So, this is the first time that the fire department has received that recognition. So, I'm definitely uh very proud of the fire chief and the crews for getting that uh that recognition from them. Uh just to update council. So we were we were expecting a new squad to arrive within this month, but then we were notified that there was a recall from Ford. So to put that in perspective, we've been waiting for this SC squad for almost three and a half years. So the time that you either fire engines or squad, we're even as we move forward, we're being told that those time uh lines are going to be longer. So to keep that in perspective. So I know I know the fire chief wasn't happy about that that news, but obviously we want to make sure that any recalls are taken care of before that piece of equipment's put into service. For the police department, the chiefs have informed me that trickor treat went very well, was a huge success. Uh the officers did a lot of trunk and treats throughout uh the city and obviously uh that's always a big a big win. And then we're continuing to do foot patrol Friday and Saturday night in the downtown area. So, uh that has been going on for at least a month. That will probably continue for probably about a month month more while the weather is is nice. Just so everybody's aware of that. And that's all I have.

Thank you, Director Converse.

Thank you. I'll be brief. I just want to let you know that um as the mayor indicated, we're working on the budget. We just got her version of it back. We have to do recalculations and updates of payroll information and then we'll see how everything works out with that again. and there might need to be a little more conversations to have with the mayor. Again, our goal is to have um well, we'll be submitting the legislation request tomorrow for the next meeting. So, you'll have um the document and to discuss in caucus and have first read at the next meeting and then you'll have the two full meetings in December to review and discuss it even further if you would like. So, you'll get three full reads for it before you will need to act on it. And um we will definitely have it to you no later than the 14th. So it'll be the Friday before the next council meeting that you'll have it to review over the weekend if you want to take that time to do so. Um but we may need to push that time. Scott is going to be on vacation for a while during this time and um he is the one who handles all of the transfers for that. Thank you.

Thank you. And last but not least, Deputy Director Madden. Uh, no updates from the law office. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. With that, we shall proceed with legislation. So, we'll start with bill 25-164. We'll call in Mrs. Meyer. Thank you, sir. Um I I I hear I hear him out in the hallway. So um we want to have the we want to have our police dog come in. Is it Mikuel M. Okay. Uh oh. [laughter]

Yeah. [laughter] Welcome. Sydney Sydney.

So, we are honoring Say Say it. Muel. Muel. Okay. That's that's what I thought. Okay. Honoring K9 Muel upon his retirement from the Mansville Police Department. And Delane, would you like to go ahead and read this now? Okay. [clears throat]

Okay. That this council on behalf of the government and the citizens of the city of Mansfield is privileged to honor and pay tribute to how do you say his name again?

K9. Mikuel Mikuel upon his retirement with the Mansfield Police Department K9 unit on October 16th, 2025 after almost six years of service with the Mansfield Police Department K9 unit. K9 Muel, a Czech German Shepherd, began his service with the Mansfield Division of Police on February 15th, 2019 at one and a half years old. Over the last six years, Mikuel faithfully served citizens of Mansfield before officially retiring on October 16, 2025. Throughout his career, Mikuel demonstrated his exceptional skill and unwavering dedication. One of Mikuel's greatest strengths was his remarkable tracking ability. Over the years, he successfully tracked and located at least nine suspects who fled from officers and vehicle stops with two of those tracks stretching an impressive 1.3 miles and 1.4 miles. His talents extended beyond criminal cases. Muel located four missing children and two elderly individuals who had wandered from home. Kell's patrol career also included four official apprehensions. One breaking and entering suspect, one burglary suspect, one domestic violence warrant, and one mentally disturbed, possibly armed suspect. In addition to his tracking and apprehension work, Muel also contributed to narcotics and article searches, including assisting in a case that helped put a drug dealer behind bars. Of course, no K9 career is without a few learning experiences. One of the more unforgettable moments came during a call involving a suspect threatening homicide and suicide. We found the suspect lying perfectly still under a blanket. When I commanded Muel to apprehend, I pulled the blanket back and Muel bravely and enthusiastically attacked the blanket. [laughter] The suspect wisely surrendered without a

scratch. Through every track, apprehension and success, K9 Mccel had been a loyal partner, a fearless protector, and a beloved member of the Mansville Division of Police. His service will always be remembered with gratitude and affection. On behalf of the city, we extend our sincerest appreciation and gratitude bring Muel's years of loyal service and wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.

[applause] [laughter]

I just want to say thank you all for doing this for me. Okay. I cannot go without saying thank you to my family because it takes a I always tell young officers who's thinking about getting a K9. It takes a family, a supportive wife and a supportive kids. My wife Jessica, son Nathan, daughter Grace. Okay. [clears throat] Uh I spent six days in the hospital about two years ago, three years ago. And you know, instead of getting morted, she took care of him. They took care of him. And even when, you know, we'd be at home and would be I'd be laying on the couch watching TV, my wife would take a ball and she would just go hide in the woods or go hide in the field and message me, "Come find me." And we track. And that's no doubt in mind, his strengths and his skills come from my family and also my hard work. Uh, like I said, off duty. My son would would sometimes Corey, I'm sorry about this. [laughter] Cory's my training supervisor. My son Nathan would put on, you know, the bite sleeve and he take bites. Okay. My daughter Grace, she would, you know, take the articles and she throw the articles out there for me to go and find them. We did this several times a week to keep this his skills going. I cannot also thank [cough] go without thanking our trainers supervisor Cory Kaufman for doing a great job. Uh [clears throat] my initial training officers Steve Hornbeck and Sarah Napier and also my fellow officers Denny Kiner, Jacob Black, John Stevenson. Those guys are the future of the K9 Police Department and they're going to kick some butt. Um guys, [clears throat] um this is by far one of the hardest things I've ever done in my career. [clears throat] Retire him. I'm telling you, when you get into a situation,

these dogs make you feel 10 foot tall and bulletproof. [laughter] You know what I'm saying? [clears throat] And you have the worst days or the best worst days in the world. You always got your pup behind you. He's got your back, you know. multiple times. Suspects, you know, I'm a big man, okay? I'm I'm not at large. So, these guys are always thinking about running from me. I jump out of the car, I say, I'm telling you, you run, I'm going to lose my dog on you. A lot of times they back up. They don't want they they don't want to give up. They don't want to get bit. So, talk to you and get 10 more dogs. Okay. [laughter] But, thank you very much. I appreciate you. [applause]

screeching. Really? Is there any other question, comment, discussion on bill 25-164? Can I just add if if people haven't noticed, we do put the K9 retirees on our retiree wall downstairs, which you should have seen when you come in. So, I'm not sure if he's up there yet, but he will be soon. Good. Very good. Good. Okay. Next is bill 25-165. Mrs. Meyer. Uh, thank you, sir. Uh 25-165 will be approving the presentation of police department K9 Mikuel to his handler. Any [snorts] questions, discussion on 25-165?

Okay, moving on to bill 25-166. Mr. Diaz. Thank you, Mr. President. Bill 25-166 is amending section 339 uh.202 2002 of chapter 339 commercial and heavy vehicles of the Mansfield of city to the city of Mansville codified ordinances of 1997 and declaring an emergency. Any questions on 25-165? M

not a question but just a comment. Thank you to the administration for working on this because I know trucks not following a truck route has been an issue for a while and I'm just glad to see something brought to us that will hopefully help address this problem. Okay. Anything else on 165? Mr. President. Yes, Mr. Fit.

Just uh maybe a question or comment. I had found out um during my research on this that there's a plan for some additional signage. I also um if is this the heavy truck one or is that the next one? The um this one. Um the heavy trucks seem to be if they can stay on the state route, this does not affect them. It's when they're going off into the neighborhoods or downtown Mansfield or wherever there special permits and things. So, I didn't know if anybody on administration had any comment about future signage that was going to enhance um make it even more apparent to wayward truck drivers that they knew or should have known.

So, I'll step in there, Councilman. So, the answer to that is yes. So, uh, the, uh, engineer is planning to put new signage both in the north part of the city and the south to improve, uh, truck route signage to make that obviously more visible to the truck traffic either coming approaching from the north of the city or from the south. Uh obviously uh I hope we never have to write one ticket, but it's uh we want to make it very clear we want the the trucks to stay on the the approved truck routes uh so they're not mixing in with pedestrians in our downtown area and obviously not uh ruining our city streets that are very costly.

I just want to note that we've done quite a lot of patrols. I thank the chief for doing that. Um, sure enough, as soon as you go out, it quiets down for like a day and then they're back [laughter] and we, you know, I think maybe Do you mind talking about the the thing about this ordinance that it's not an automatic $1,000?

So, this is an unclassified misdemeanor. So, I met with both municipal judges. Uh so when we look at uh the potential of a $1,000 fine, I I guess I want to make it clear to council and to the public that does not mean that when somebody's uh given a citation on the first offense that it's going to be a $1,000 fine. Now, I also want to make it very clear that obviously I'm not the a judge in the municipal court. That is their perview to decide on on fines. Uh but they have instructed me and told me that uh if we have repeat offenders that yes, that could possibly be the fine of $1,000. Uh we want to make a a very strong message again to those drivers to stay on the routes and hopefully with the new signage that indicates what those potential fines could be would uh persuade them otherwise. So they would probably start off as a normal fine of like a normal ticket and then proceed from there. But again, I for the just so council's aware that is at the discretion of the judge.

Mayor, the engineering department did some work on aligning the street lights on Adam Street this year. So, if you you might have seen the pedestrian push buttons go up. That was part of that. So, there is timing now so that we're trying to also help the trucks move through downtown. Obviously, when you're driving up the hills, um you don't always want to stop uh with a big heavy truck. They have to, of course, but um you know, so we we've also tried to push at it from that way to entice them because when they come down Main Street, they will hit every light just like the rest of us. So, it's really better for them if they go over there, better for us if we go to Malberry. Thanks.

And I'll just add that, you know, hopefully you've had a chance to look at the stats from the police department. Uh I want to thank the chief and his uh people for getting on that. You know, it's the constant complaints of uh that comes from the to the ninth floor and obviously to the chief's office and we're appreciative that uh they've been trying to tackle this problem, but we need another push to hopefully uh curb it. Mr. Diaz, uh Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to dispense of any further readings of this bill. Second.

Been regularly moved and seconded. We wave any further readings on bill 25-166 and bring it forward to council this evening for a final vote. Council should have the motion before them. Motion passes 8 to zero. Moving on to bill 25-167, Mrs. Burns.

Thank you, Mr. President. Um, this bill is authorizing the public works director to advertise um four proposals and then to enter into a contract for our utility collection, printing and mailing services. Um, and after the comment period, I would like to Is there any questions, discussion on bill 25-160? 25-167 [snorts] hearing. None. Mrs. Burns. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I make a motion to dispense with all further readings for bill 25-167 and move it forward to a vote this evening. Second.

Been regularly moved and seconded that we wave further readings of bill 25-167, bring it forward to council this evening for a final vote. Once again, council should have the motion before them. Motion passes 8 to zero. Bill 25-168. Mrs. Burns.

Thank you, Mr. President. And this bill uh is allowing our public works director to advertise for proposals and then end enter into a contract for the disposal and land application of wastewater sludge, which is very important stuff. If anybody wants to talk about it later, let me know. [snorts and laughter] They get bored in here when I go on and on about it. Anyway, um and I also would like to make a motion on this one after the comment period. Absolutely. Is there any discussion on bill 25-168? Hearing none, Mrs. Burns.

Thank you, Mr. President. I make a motion to place bill 25-168 on the floor for um a vote this evening and dispense with all further readings. Second.

Been regularly moved and seconded. We wave all further readings in bill 25-168 and bring a court to council this evening for a final vote. Motion is before you. [snorts] Motion passes 8 to zero. Bill 25-169. Mrs. Burns.

Thank you, Mr. President. Um, this bill is authorizing our public work for work force director this time to purchase according to a um pre-arranged contract with source well contract a Bobcat backhoe loader um for the amount of $82,1638 and also Mr. Falcat um standard question is in stock and when do we take delivery after we approve it? I don't know that this is on the lot. Uh this is something that we would need in the spring. So if there was a little bit of lag time, we would still be good.

Thank you. [snorts] Any other questions, discussion on 169? That Mrs. Burns. Thank you, Mr. President. I make a motion to dispense with all further readings on bill 25-169 and move it forward for a vote this evening. Second. Been [snorts] regularly moved and seconded. Council sh vote waiting further reading readings on bill 2569 and bring it forward for a final vote tonight during council. Motion passes 8 to zero. With that call in bill 25-170 Mr. Diaz.

Thank you Mr. President. Bill 25-107 is authorizing the safety service director to execute lease amendments for all tenants of the Mansville Lom airport in order to incorporate the storm water pollution prevention plan developed and promulgated hopefully I said that perfectly by the city of Mansfield engineering department and declaring an emergency. Any discussion on bill 25-170? [snorts] Okay. Hearing none. Moving on. Bill 25-171. Mr. Falquette.

Thank you, Mr. President. This is appropriating $20,000 from general fund over to permitting and codes for the rest of the year to cover um contractual needs. And I know I saw somebody from there a minute ago. I can take that. Council, anybody have any questions? And if they do, ask him.

So, this is uh obviously we've had a lot of plan review. So, uh that we just need more budget, which is a good thing within codes and permits. So, we want to make sure we have enough funding for uh our plan reviews, uh the electrical inspections, and everything that uh deals with that. We'll cover that for the rest of the year. Any other Oh, sorry. Can I just add that those are pass through fees too. So you we raised those fee rates earlier in the year. So there will be corresponding income coming in for that too.

Any other questions, discussion on bill 25-171? Okay. Bill 25-172, Mr. Pett. Thank you. This one's for $113,681.70 for a software upgrade for um three oh Microsoft 365 for the Mansfield city employees that use computers. And I'm sure it's because the old software is getting out of date and unable to be protected. But I also see Mr. IT in the back row in case anybody has any questions.

I have a question. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, hug on this. You know, it's a lot of money. Is this something that we need to do right away or can we pass it through tonight or is, you know, make a motion to hold? I mean, what's best for you and how's that going to affect the cost? U, so we have to cross this bridge first before we do data conversion. So, that's going to bring kind of everything that we have kind of in our on-rem solution now over to this cloud solution. So, uh, the sooner the bill, uh, passes, the quicker we can get to work on that next step. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else, Mr. President? Mr. Falcett,

there's no further discussion and no objection. I will move to uh place this forward for final passage this evening. Second. Been regularly moved and seconded that we wave further readings on bill 25-1 172 and bring it forward for a final vote this evening during council. Motion passes 8 to zero. Bill 25-1 173 Miss Robertson.

Thank you Mr. President. Bill 173 is expressing support for an internal program name change to the city's 2025 projected uses for the community development block grant funds. Um, Director Acriman cannot be here. She has another meeting tonight. So, basically to help explain this a little bit before I take questions, um, there was a change. Uh, it's it's kind of if anyone's familiar with grants, it's like doing a a budget adjustment. It's allowable within the grant. it's not a problem. But the they're changing from the garden program to the elder program to provide meals. The cost does not change. What was allocated originally uh that we voted on is the same. And it's just a budget adjustment to move it instead into providing for the meals instead of the garden. And I'll stand for any questions if anyone try to answer them the best I can. Is there [clears throat] Mr. Coochie?

Is there any particular reason why they change in the name? It's uh so they're moving the the garden. There was some issue that popped up and they they were going to have some problems, I guess, implementing that. So, they're moving it now. They're just changing the funds to the other program to move it to something where they can start immediately getting these the funds expended and also serving the community and meeting the uh excuse the r the ah I'm losing my train of thought. Yes. Of of the grant itself. So that's why. Okay. So otherwise you're not getting rid of the garden completely.

No no that's my understanding. I mean they're not it I it has to do with the environmental. So with the HUD rules now we have to do a lot more environmental things the garden um and that is on least land and so it was just becoming difficult between the leie and getting all this time in the time spent. So, it's it's functioning and operational and they're just going to, you know, kind of do the move funds from another thing into um the garden and then we'll cover the elder meals for them or the meals. Yeah. Sorry. Are there any other questions? Any other questions or discussion?

Thank you, Mr. President. Bill 25-2. Bill 25-174. Mr. Diaz. Thank you, Mr. President. This bill is delegating certain management responsibilities concerning Minsville Lom airport to the safety service director and his uh design design in order to enhance administrative efficiency. Is there any discussion on bill 25-174 hearing? Miss Mount, I was just wondering if we could get Sorry, just wondering if we could get an explanation as to why [clears throat] this is coming your reasoning.

So, for the sake of efficiency uh of of going through the lease process with the leasees or the lease or that being the city uh was to make that a quicker turnaround faster. Now I know that that causes the process now of that coming back to council every time I guess causes some issues with the lees and it is not very efficient as uh for the law director's office and at this time that's when I'll kick it down to Dave to give further in regards to that.

Yeah, thank you. Um, so whenever there's a transaction with a hanger out at the airport, it starts between the hanger tenants themselves because there's actual uh we have the city owns the real property. The tenants build the hangers on top of them and they own the hanger. Um, and it's actually it's it's a little different than anywhere else because they don't own the ground. They just lease it. So these transactions start between the tenants. They sell them to each other and then they have to come to the city and enter into a new lease. um which is very routine. So they'll sit down at the closing table, they'll sign everything, they'll be with uh you know, Director Dockerty out at the airport. He'll take all their papers and they look at him and say, "Well, why aren't you signing it? Why aren't we done?" And he says, "Oh, no." I take these to the law director, they write it up in legislation, they submit it to council. Uh we'll be back here in about 3 weeks with with finalized docs. So, this would allow um the the airport representative to sign the lease on behalf of the airport at a closing table. So, when they close on a hanger, they don't have to wait around for 3 weeks for us to get back to them with updated legislation. Now, that being said, anytime there's a change in lease rates, that would have to come before council, and council would also owe or I mean, um the administration would also need to provide council uh reports at council's uh discretion. Thank you. and Mr. Faul.

Thank you, Mr. President. I I've been chewing on this back and forth because these there's not that many of them and for us to handle them I didn't think was ever a big slowdown, but now I'm hearing it could be three weeks. Um, we've got that responsibility to sign these off. I'm certainly cap believe that any safety service director, current one included, is capable of doing it. But I just wanted to point out um if you're unsure or have some reason that you think they should run by us, um we maybe should talk a minute longer. Otherwise, we just need to remember um that the airport we should get those reports and watch what's going on out there a little bit and watch the lease rates and the cost and things like that. I thought it was nice at least you'd see them going past here, what the lease rates were, but I also feel the uh pain of business people trying to buy a hanger or permission to use it or whatever it is and it just slowing down the process. So, I'm not against it. I just had those concerns and I I think I'm okay with it personally, but I wanted to voice it in case anybody else might have thought of the same thing.

Any Miss Mount? Is this only for hangers that are already built already existing or is this so basically leases that currently exist? If there's anything new, would it come to us? if there was a new build, new lease, something like that, or is it just only for existing hangers that get sold? You know, I I hadn't thought of that question. I think that to build anything outdoor to create a change in use at the airport would require council's involvement. So, yeah, I don't think they would be able to grow the current footprint without without bringing it before council. Mayor,

Mr. President, I just want to note these are the tea hangers. So when you see the larger hangers that Gorman Rup has and many of the others, they they own those. So but the tea hangers operate this way, right? Or am I speaking out of Yeah. Okay. We've had a lot of conversation about should it continue down the road and it we're not in line with other airports on this, but neither are we sitting on a lot of money to go build things out there. So at the moment it's working but um I think you know those hangers also by the way the tea hangers were built in the 40s and 50s. So I mean you know little bit has changed in the world since then.

Okay. [clears throat] Any other discussion on bill 25174 hearing? None. Mr. Diaz. Thank you Mr. President. I'd like to make a motion to dispense of any further readings and uh move forward for consideration. Second. Been regularly moved in a second. We wave further reading on bill 25-174 and bring it forward to council this evening for a final vote. [snorts] Motion passes eight. We'll act on it this evening. Bill 25-175. Mr. Falettes.

Thank you, Mr. President. This one's the one that uh Miss Shetty uh explained, I hope, well, along with the mayor's comments about regional planning and having a um agreement with them to come up with a land use plan in the future. Okay. Any discussion on bill 25-175? Huh? Mr. President. Mr. Faucet, I will make a motion to move 25175 forward tonight. Uh, avoid all further readings and place it on the floor for vote at that time.

Second. It's been regularly moved and seconded that we wave further readings on bill 25-1 175 and bring it forward to council this evening for a final vote. Motion passes 8 to zero. Okay. Is there anything else further to come before caucus this evening? Hearing none, I'll accept the motion to adjurnn caucus. Move to adjurnn. Second.

Been regularly moved and seconded. We adjourn caucus at 7:50. With that at 7:51, I will call this meeting of Mansfield City Council to order. Please stand for the pledge and remain standing for the prayer. 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.

Let's pray. [clears throat] Precious heavenly father, we thank you for giving us wonderful day. We thank you for the change in the season, this beautiful. It's been so amazing just to experience your nature. Thank you Lord. Tonight as we make decisions that affect your city, we pray God that you will guide us. Just give us discernment, wisdom, and understanding to make decisions that will please you. We thank you for your blessings upon our city in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

The clerk will call the role. Mrs. Burns, present. Mrs. Meyer, present. Mr. Mr. Cuchier present. Miss Dailyaly here. Mr. Diaz here. Miss Mount here. Miss Robertson here. Mr. Falcott here. President Scott

present. Unless there is an objection, the reading of the journal and correspondence will be dispensed with. [clears throat] Okay. Before we get into public comment, uh once again, I would remind everybody, please come up to the microphone, state your name and address, and as is common practice rule, um we allow three minutes. So, I will give you a little sign that it times up. So, with that, we'll start start off with yan to Allen. Miss Ellen, good evening. I sent letters and I know you've received emails, but I wanted to put a face behind some of the words that uh you have received. My name is Yolanda Allen. I am a resident at 312 Dale Avenue. I've resided there for over 50 years. During my school years, we lived on East First Street. During my earlier years and my adult years, myself and my family have frequented John's John Todd Park innumerable number of times. We have celebrated birthday parties in the lower parts, picnics, stream waiting, catching tadpoles, fireflies, pickup bas, and just enjoying the beauty of nature. I'm now part of a group called Greater Grace, Greater Mitchell Chapel AM Church and Grace Episcopal, which adopted John Todd Park May in May of 2025 through

Mansville City Parks and Recreation. Our group born out of two churches have spent many hours cleaning up trash both at the top of the park and down in the ravine because we believe it is a very special part of God's creation. It offers playground, basketball, sports and picnic shelters as well as an amazing beautiful forest in the ravine. We want the whole park to be protected, including the ravine, so children and families living in the city can come and experience the majest the majesty of Ohio's oldest forest just as kids in the country and many of us did in years past. We are hoping access and improved tra trails can be added to John Todd Park. Invasive species can be removed and trails made beautiful along the creek. It can be a beautiful park, but is it too much for greater grace or park but it is too much for greater grace or parks and recreation to do alone? We appreciate the resources the land conservatory can bring to help us and also the land being given and also the land being given by James [clears throat] Boyd for for a foot trail to connect the park to Cleveland Avenue is a small measure to give up. My question to council is when a family donates park land, how much control do they have after donating the property? Was it designated for so many years? Does a family pay taxes on that property?

I believe if these endangered species were found in another local park, the residents close to said park would be up in arms to promote the salvaging of these precious resources. We love John Todd Park and we are asking you to join in helping make it a beautiful and unique part park in the city. Please sign the cons conservation easement protecting the 14 acre old growth, the ravine and its ravine. Please vote yes on November the 5th to permanently protect John Todd Park. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, and before I call up the next person, I might add that sometimes we or we do not get into discussion back and forth between the presenter and council. So, we hear your point. We hear your stand on the issue, but we do not get into any discussion back and forth. It's just I wanted to say that so it doesn't seem like we're being rude. So, with that, I'll call up on the next person, Bryant Scott. Hello everybody. Um, I'm just speaking up for the park and our community. I've been in Columbus the last 20 years, but I was born and raised around John Todd Park and um, ever since I was 5 years old. I'm just here to see if I can help get the park redone and make it look nice like some of the other parks in the neighborhood and if we can get the community cleaned up and stuff. That's all I want to say. Okay. Thank you, sir. Next one I believe is Cedric Jones.

He left. He left. Okay. Moving on to Lonnie Crotter. And I apologize if I mispronounce anybody's name.

Hello, my name is um Lonnie Crawford. First of all, I want to say thanks for the work you got done on Cleveland Avenue to the mayor. Appreciate that. I'm here about the um beautifification of Mansfield and the trash. um to ask you guys, I asked a couple years ago to change that law that trash bags are a a container, which it is, but to change it to um that all residents should have um sturdy um animal proof containers with them lids on it cuz I mean, you walk around Mansfield, it's just trash everywhere. you see trash bags all over the place that that needs to be changed to beautify the city. And um so that's all I wanted to say something about changing changing that law to um have animal proof containers outside for our residents. And not only that, the way the landlords are charging rent nowadays, they should be able to afford um trash containers or the animal proof containers for their, you know, for the residents. That's all I had to say. Thanks.

Thank you. Next, Doug Caldwell. I'm going to go tonight.

Okay. James Boyd. I'm going to sit down because I take up a little too much room here. First off, I wanted to say I'm James Boyd to 2375 Forest Hill Circle. I wanted to thank council for giving us all the opportunity to speak on this. I know it's a touchy subject at times, but I just wanted to make a statement on this subject of John Todd Park. Um, as I said, I am a local developer, business owner, and conservationist here in Mansfield. [snorts] When I invest in Mansfield, I look for ways and opportunities to strengthen our community while protecting what makes it spe special, just like this gorge. That's not just good ethics, that's good economics. Parks and green corridors raise property values, manage storm water naturally, and attract families, business, and investment. That's why I support the conservation easement of John Todd Park. It does not restrict development. It does not take away the city's rights or limit future growth. It simply says we won't clearcut old growth trees and [clears throat] excuse me, and that we'll allow invasive species to be removed so that the forest can stay healthy. That's it. Nothing more. When General James Hedges settled here in 1807, he chose that ravine not for what he could take from it, but what it could teach future generations about the beauty of Mansfield, Richland County, and its biodiversity. Over a century later, John Todd honored that same vision by donating that land instead of selling it. The easement before you tonight honors that tradition and keeps Mansfield's natural heart intact while still allowing responsible growth all the way around it. As a

developer, I've signed a contract to donate land that connects John Todd Park to Cleveland Avenue once this easement is recorded because I believe protecting this ravine enhances the in the entire neighborhood and that's how communities will prosper. So, I am asking for you to vote yes, not just for the conservation, but for common sense and long-term value and the kind of progress that Mansfield can be proud of. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Von Hoffford. [snorts]

[snorts]

Mayor and Council, my name is Van Hafford and John's Todd Park is my neighbor. I live there right there at 334 Greenale Avenue. And a lot of times you might want to know, well, who's the best, Rolling Stones or Beatles? uh Elvis Presley or George Jones, Michael Jackson or Prince, but there's nothing sounds better than the little kids out there playing having fun. When you hear those little kids out there playing having fun, you know everything is safe and everything is nice. I remember it was a pit bull. He bit he came in our yard and attacked this girl and the girl ran in our yard and mom called came told my brother go out there this dog is biting this little girl and my brother tried to get the dog away off of the little girl but he was just biting. So he end up having to hit the dog and the dog just went up in our yard and sit down like he was a good old dog after that. But my my my thing that I really want to say is that your church has that been coming to the park and they've been reading books to children. It's just been such a blessing for the churches to come. And I thank them for coming and the people in the churches that come to that park and read books to the little kids. And I thank this pastor. And that's all I have to say. And thank you, man, for all your hard work.

Good evening. Um, madame mayor and members of the Mansfield City Council, uh, my name is Father Christopher Hoffer. I live at 106 Samaritan Avenue, unfortunately in Ashland, but I but I am have the privilege to be priest in charge at Grace in in Mansfield. Um over the past year, our congregation has been working closely with the greater Mitchell Chapel AM Church to break down racial barriers through community gatherings, uh joint worship services, and by adopting John Todd Park as a service project to keep it clean and usable for all residents as part of our greater grace initiative. Now, you heard a little about a bit bit of the story. Uh the land was originally intended to be a park uh for the community. It goes back to 1807 when General James Hedges uh envisioned creating a park from his farm. He believed it was the most beautiful part of the forest. He died before bringing this dream to life. Uh but the dream however lived on as John Todd in 1941 decided to donate that land. So the dream of the park goes back 200 years. The land continues to be a vital part of our community. The Greater Grace Initiative and our partner churches have enjoyed using the park for various activities in 2025. We appreciate all the work done to improve the park, removing trash, maintaining the trails, and enhancing its overall beauty. It's a common sense decision to vote yes on the proposed conservation easement. Doing so will help us protect and enhance the entire park, removing invasive species, improving walking trails, increasing accessibility, and safeguarding the beautiful trees in the ravine, which will also prevent erosion. This isn't about us versus them. It's about leveraging expertise and resources to ensure that the John Todd Park remains a healthy, beautiful space for children

and adults alike to enjoy now and for generations to come. We trust that the North Central Ohio land conser conservancy to work alongside city parks and recreation and the greater grace initiative to make John Todd Park a lasting treasure for the city of Mansfield for the next 200 years. Thank you. Thank you.

Next, Mason Mount. My name is Mason Mount and I live at 114 Cliffbrook and uh I am thankful for the neighbors and the uh churches that are working in John Todd to make it uh a good place to be. Uh the only thing I want to bring up about this that's uh John Todd Park issue is I feel that the city ought to maintain control of the situation and enable uh the conservancy to do their work and to and to even if necessary give them resources. But I I do not think it's right for non-elected and nobody that's responsible to elected people. They they need to be responsible to elected people. Um to like right now, okay, the people who own the conservancy or run the conservancy, let's say we trust them, okay, let's say we trust them. Who's to say that they're not going to go corrupt? Most things in life will go corrupt eventually. What does the what does the city have in line in this legislation that's going to prevent a corrupt organization from doing things that we don't want? If we have that in the legislation, I didn't see it. I apologize, but I'm just wanting to bring up the warning. I really think that uh Louis Andress who's a really or the park person who just got hired would be a good resource to oversee it and I think that if we could structure it that way I think it would be a lot safer for the city and for the community and for the

and for the park. The other thing is uh I definitely agree with not clear cutting or anything like that, but once in a while you'll have a tree that gets diseased and it's better for everybody and every tree in the forest if you take that tree down and get it out of there so that the other trees don't get the same disease. So if you have it in your legislation that no tree can be cut down in that consery, you may be hurting yourself. So, those are the things I wanted to bring up. Thank you.

Thank you. With that, Eric Miller. [snorts] Hello. Thank you. I'm Eric Miller. I live at 693 Coleman Road in Mansfield. And I'll just speak to the question about what what happens if NCL LC was going to become became corrupt. We plan for that uh contingency. We put a clause in the conservation easement that says if we're failing to do our job, the city or any citizen in the city can file an action to take the responsibility under the conservation easement away from us and entrust it to another organization that is ready and able to do that. And the reason for that is we don't enrich ourselves by holding a conservation easement. And we're simply pledging that we will be there to make sure the city keeps its promise that it's not going to timber or log those trees. So you make that promise and we're simply a mechanism there by which you make that promise and make it permanent. When you make that promise permanent, then other people are motivated to remove the invasive species that are otherwise going to take over and ruin the forest that you think you're protecting. So, um, it's an unselfish act to say that if we're not doing our job, we can be removed. It's a fundamentally unselfish decision on the part of NC to put that clause in our conservation easements. I hope that answers the concern of Mr. Mount. I

thank you for your time. Thank you. Okay, [clears throat] that concludes public comments. So, we will now proceed with Oh, I'm sorry. Does any mayor or any of the directors have anything to add at this time? I do have a point of clarification. This is why you shouldn't give me a microphone all the time. I did misspeak about the larger hangers. So those still have the land lease of course, but the ones you see most often are those tea hangers and the rest that I said was right. So please forgive me. Okay, that we shall

with that we shall proceed with legislation and I'll call on Mr. Auchi. Thank you, Mr. President. I move with respect to bills 25-171, bill 25-172 and bill 25-174 that the rule requiring legislation by be submitted by Monday of 4 p.m. be suspended and that bill 251 175 171 bill 25-1 172 and bill 25-174 be allowed on the floor this evening second [snorts]

then regularly moved and seconded council shall cast a vote on the motion passes is 7 to one. Mr. Akuchi. Thank you, Mr. President. I move with respect to all bills that come before council this evening that the rule requiring reading on three different days be suspended that each bill be read one time by thro only. Second.

Regularly moved and seconded. Council shall cast a vote on the motion. Motion passes 7 to one. Okay. Um Okay. We shall start with legislation starting with bill 25-163 and Mrs. Burns. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-163 be read and placed upon the floor for discussion. [clears throat]

Second regularly moved and seconded. to clerk shared bill 25-163 granting a conservation easement to the local sorry the North Central Ohio Land Conservancy Incorporated [snorts] an Ohio nonforprofit corporation of 693 Coleman Road Mansfield Ohio 44903 from the city of Mansfield for conservation of old growth trees at John Todd Park Mansfield Ohio [snorts] is there any discussion on bill 25-1 163 [snorts] Miss

um Mr. amount. We have in the the law that um is we have number six reserve rights remove guarante reserves all rights as owners of the conservation property including the right to use a property for all purpose consistent with the agreement. Specifically, granttor may remove dead, diseased or damaged portion of old growth trees when necessary for safety reasons. Okay. [snorts] Any other questions, discussion? Mr. Auchi.

Thank you, Mr. President. I wanted to make sure also that people know it's not the whole It's not the whole John T park is asking for they're asking for only 12 acres of the portion. So not the whole um joint park. Okay, Miss Mount,

I could talk for a while on this, but I'll try to summarize it as short as I can. Um, from my perspective, I have to bear in mind the entirety of the park, the concerns, long-standing concerns of the neighbors regarding the upkeep of the park, the pavilion, the basketball courts, but also my chief concern today, if we cannot table it until a later date, I cannot support it at this point when we do not have the clearly defined precise place this conservation easement will be within the park. To sign over a undetermined part of the park perpetually is foolhardy. I would like to see that clearly defined before we would consider entering into something perpetual and permanent.

Any other questions, discussion on bill 25-163? [clears throat] Hearing nothing further, Mrs. Burns. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-163 be placed upon the floor for final passage. Second.

Council shall cast their vote final passage of bill 25-163. [cough and clears throat] Bill passes 7 to one. Okay, moving on to bill 25-164. Mrs. Meyer. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-164 be read and placed upon the floor for discussion. Second. Moved and seconded. Clerk shall read bill 25-164

honoring K9 dog Mikuel upon his retirement from the Mansfield Police Department. Is there any discussion? We read the the legislation in full in caucus, but is there any discussion on bill 25-164? [snorts and clears throat] Hearing none, Mrs. Meyer. Thank you, sir. I move that bill 25-164 be placed on the floor for final passage. Second.

Been regularly moved and seconded. Council shall cast their vote for final passage of bill 25-164. [snorts] Bill passes 8 to zero. Bill 25-165. Mrs. Meyer. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-165 be read and placed upon the floor for discussion. Second been regularly moved and seconded. The clerks shall read bill 25-165 approving the presentation of police department K9 mccel to his handler.

Is there any discussion on bill 25-165 hearing? None. Mrs. Meyer. Thank you sir. I move the bill 25-165 be placed on the floor for final passage. Second. Been regularly moved and seconded. Council shall cast a vote for final passage of bill 25-165. Bill passes 8 to zero. Bill 25-166. Mr. Diaz. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill where my bill 25-166 be read and placed upon the floor for discussion. Second. Been [snorts] regularly moved and seconded. The clerk shall read bill 25-166

amending section 339.02 of chapter 339 commercial and heavy vehicles of the city of Mansfield codified ordinances of 1997 and declaring an emergency. Any discussion on bill 25-166 hearing? None. Mr. Diaz. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-166 be placed upon the floor for final passage. Second.

Been regularly moved and seconded. Council shall cast their vote for final passage of bill 25-166. Bill passes 8 to zero. [snorts] Bill 25-167. Mrs. Burns. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I move that bill 25-167 be read and placed upon the floor for discussion. Second and regularly moved and seconded. The clerk shall read bill 25-167

authorizing the public works director to advertise for proposals and to enter into a contract for utility collection printing and mailing services and declaring an emergency. Any discussion on bill 25-167? Okay. [snorts] Hearing none, Mrs. Burns. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-167 be placed upon the floor for final passage.

Been regularly moved and seconded. Council shall cast a vote for final passage of bill 25-167. Bill passes 8 to zero. Bill 25-168. Mrs. Burns. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-168 be read and placed upon the floor for discussion. Second. Been regularly moved and seconded. The clerk shall read bill 25-168

authorizing the public works director to advertise for proposals and to enter into a contract for the disposal and land application of wastewater sludge and declaring an emergency. Is there any discussion on bill 25-168? [snorts] Hearing none, Mrs. Burns. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-168 be placed upon the floor for final passage. Second. Been regularly moved and seconded. Council shall cast a vote for final passage of bill 25-168. Bill passes 8 to zero. Bill 25-169. Mrs. Burns.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-169 be read and placed upon the floor for discussion. Second been regularly moved and seconded. The clerk shall read bill 25-169

authorizing the public works director to purchase according to source well contract [clears throat] 020223-EC one Bobcat backho loader from Bobcat 480 West Henry Street Wester Ohio 44691 in the amount of $82,1638 and declaring an emergency. Is there any discussion on bill 25-169? Hearing none. Mrs. Burns. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-169 be placed upon the floor for final passage. Second.

Been regularly moved and seconded. Council shall cast their vote for final passage of bill 25-169. Bill passes 8 to zero. Bill 25-170. Mr. Diaz. Thank you, Mr. President. Move that bill 25-170 be read and placed upon the floor for discussion. Second.

Been regularly moved and seconded. The clerk shall read bill 25-170. Authorizing the safety service director to execute lease amendments with all tenants of the Mansfield Lom airport in order to incorporate the storm water pollution pollution prevention plan developed and promulgated by the city of Mansfield engineering department and declaring an emergency. Is [snorts] there any discussion on bill 25-170? Hearing none, Mr. Diaz. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-107 be placed upon the floor for final passage. Second.

Been regularly moved and seconded. Council shall cast a vote for final passage of bill 25-170. Bill passes 8 to zero. Bill 25-171. Mr. Faul. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25171 be read and placed upon the floor for discussion. Second been regularly moved and seconded. The clerk shall read bill 25-171

appropriating the sum of $20,000 from the unappropriated general fund number 101 for the purpose of paying unanticipated plan reviews, electrical inspections, and other contractual services through December 31st, 2025 and declaring an emergency. [clears throat] Any discussion on bill 25-171? Hearing none. Mr. Falcat. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25171 be placed upon the floor for final passage. Second.

Been regularly moved and second and council shall cast a vote for final passage of bill 25-171. [snorts] Bill passes 8 to zero. Bill 25-172. Mr. Pquette. Thank you, Mr. President. And I move that bill 25172 be read and placed upon the floor for discussion. Second. Been regularly moved and seconded. The clerk shall read bill 25-172

authorizing the safety service director to purchase Microsoft 365 for all city of Mansfield employees pursuant to state of Ohio contract number C 00000018105 from Microsoft at Kerosoft 11493 Sunset Hills Road sweet 100 Reston Virginia 20190 in the amount of $13,000 $681.70. [snorts] Is there any discussion on bill 25-172? Mr. President, if I can jump in there.

Yes, sir. So, just to make it clear to Cong. This is going to be an annual subscription. So, that we're paying this every year. This is not a one-time fee for that software. Mr. President, for how long? I was going to I didn't want to say it. [laughter] It it it is in the budget headed your raid just to be clear. Okay. Well, that's good. Good to know. Good to know. Start a software company when we're done here. Amen. That's subscriptions are the way to go apparently.

Okay. Any other questions, discussion, further comments on bill 25-172? Okay. Hearing none. Seeing Mr. Fquette. Thank you, sir. I move that bill 25-172 be placed upon the floor for final passage. Second. Been regularly moved in and seconded. Council shall cast their vote for final passage of bill 25-172. Bill passes 8 to zero. Bill 25-173. Ms. Robertson.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-173 be read and placed upon the four for discussion. Second. Been regularly [clears throat] moved and seconded. The clerk shall read bill 25-173. Expressing support for the internal program name change to the city's 2025 projected uses for the community development block grant funds. Any discussion on bill 25-173? Okay. Hearing none, Miss Robertson. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25-173 be placed upon the floor for final passage.

Been regularly moved and second and council shall cast their vote for final passage of bill 25-173. Bill passes 8 to zero. Bill 25-174, Mr. Diaz. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 24-174 be read and place on floor for discussion. Second. [snorts] Been regularly moved and seconded. Clerk shall read bill 25-174

delegating certain management responsibilities concerning Mansfield Lom Regional Airport to the safety service director and his design in order to enhance administrative efficiency. Any discussion on bill 25-174? Hearing none, Mr. Diaz. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill dash bill 25-174 be placed upon the floor for final passage. Second.

Been regularly moved and seconded. Council shall cast a vote for final passage of bill 25-174. Bill passes 8 to zero. And our last bill for this evening, bill 25-175. Mr. Falquette. Thank you, Mr. President. And I move that bill 25-175 be read and placed upon the floor for discussion. Second. Then regularly moved and seconded. The clerk shall read bill 25-1 175 authorizing the safety service director to execute an agreement with the Richland County Regional Planning Commission and declaring an emergency. [snorts] Is there any discussion on bill 25-175?

Hearing none, Mr. Falcett. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that bill 25175 be placed upon the floor for final passage. Second. It's been regularly moved and second and council shall cast a vote for final passage of bill 25-175. Passes 8 to zero. Is there anything further to come before council this evening? Hearing nothing, I would accept a motion to adjurnn. Move to close. Second. Been regularly moved and second that we adjurnn. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Post same. We arejourned.