City Council - Regular Meeting

like to call this February 9th, 2026 council meeting to order. If you please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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.

Will the clerk please call the role? Lamb here. Simmons here. Simpson here. Coin here. Here. Hair here. Isabella here. reading of the minutes, Miss Chair. Um, let me get my stuff here. That's what happens when you talk too much to to people. Okay. I move that the minutes from the meeting on January 26, 2026 as prepared and submitted by the clerk of council be approved. Please second. Any discussion on the approval of the minutes? Will the clerk please call the role? Simmons? Yes. Simpson? Yes. Coin, yes. Dalvo, yes. Hair, yes. Isabella, yes. Yes, ma'am. Yes. Motion passes 70.

Reports of standing committees. The finance committee met prior to fin council this evening and will meet again in two weeks. Several items were discussed. Health, safety, and sanitation. Mr. Simpson. Thank you, Mr. President. No meeting scheduled. Nothing to report. Public properties, Miss Hair. Uh, nothing to report and no meeting scheduled at this time. Special legislation, Mrs. Salvo. Um, no meeting scheduled yet. We are uh going to tentatively plan that for March 9th meeting um to discuss uh actions to be taken at that time. Thank you. Streets and sidewalks. Mr. Isabella,

we had a uh our first meeting of the year uh just this afternoon at 5:00. We uh discussed our action items including our sidewalk repair program as well as our future plans for uh parking and safety at the square. Water and utilities. Mr. Simmons. Thank you, Mr. President. No meeting scheduled and nothing to report. Emerging technologies, Mr. Lamb. Thank you, Mr. President. No meeting scheduled and nothing to report.

Request for council action. We have several. We have finance 2634s cyber security insurance renewal 2635 budget amendment carry forward 2636 budget amendments 2637 and then and now for red zone 2638 amends salaries and benefits code 3103 pay scales 2639 fire decks operating supplies and for special legislation for the 9th March 9th meeting uh 2633 establishing a snow emergency uh parking prohibition reports of Mr. officers. Mayor Shields.

Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, just a reminder, a week from today is President's Day, so city hall will be closed, but trash pickup remains on the regular schedule from Monday through Friday of next week. Um, one of the questions we've been getting a lot of lately is about the ice festival. It is always the third weekend of the month, but people feel like it's President's Day weekend, which it has been the last few years, but it is not this coming up weekend. It'll be February 20th through 23rd. Friday will be the fire and ice tower at 7 pm. Saturday is individual ice carving and Sunday is a team ice carving competitions. But again, if you're looking forward the ice sculptures this weekend on President's Day, you're going to be one weekend early. So, it's the following weekend. Uh, two events coming up in February for Black History Month. One is going to happen before our next council meeting, but I want to tell you about both of them. Both are open to the public. one on Thursday, February 19th at 901 West Liberty Street is the Fellowship Baptist Church, 7 PM program. And then one week later, which would be February 26 26 at 451 Bronson Street. It's the second Baptist church. So both churches have a program, one before the next meeting and then one right after the next meeting. Uh finally tonight, I want to tell you about uh a really heartwarming email that I received and uh also want to point out the employees here in the city. So, this involves the sanitation department with an assist from Madina Police Department. This is from a resident. This email gives me the opportunity to praise the care given to me by the sanitary engineering crew who heard my yells as I sat in 9 in of snow that accumulated in my driveway. Thank goodness it was not a hard fall, but just a gentle sit down as I made my way to the curb with my trash bags last week. Two polite young crew members helped me up and walked me to the front door and made sure I got safely inside my house. As an 82-year-old seasoned woman, getting trash to the curb on Wednesdays has become a challenge due to my mobility issues. I was so incredibly grateful to learn from the crew that they will pick up my trash bags from my

front stoop from now on. A few minutes after my rescue, two city of Madina police officers stopped by to check on me. They had been alerted by the sanitation crew and wanted to make sure I was not injured or in need of medical help. A few hours later, completely on their own after their workday, that same sanitation crew, the three of them, came and shoveled her driveway front and back and made it safe for her to come in and out of her house. She said, "This recent interaction continues my special relationship with the sanitation department going back to 1987 when my oldest son worked for the summer city of Madina riding on the back of the city sanitation truck." So, I just wanted these are the three gentlemen here. It's Bobby Cougler, Logan West, and Nico Mccandish. They are uh pretty special as as were the two officers that showed up at her door. But again, these guys after working in a very cold day, you know, starting at 5:00 in the morning, they still took the time on their own to go get shovels, come back and completely clean up her driveway. And had it not been for them that day, I'm not sure how long she would have been out there, what the outcome could have been. So, I just want to tell you about the service that we offer here in the city. and what great employees we have and how caring they are and how this resident made all all the difference for her. So, just want to make sure we shared that we invited them here tonight. They they are going to come in very early. Obviously, they start early with sanitation and they're going to help with some other things even earlier this but uh they also didn't want any they were not happy that they were not looking for any credit but uh Nino and I kind of forced them to get their picture taken there and I wanted to share that with everybody. So, just a great story and says a lot about the city and the people we have working here. So, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Durham, Director of Finance. Thank you, Mr. President. There's a couple things that originated with finance that I'll address when we get to them. Mr. Huber, law director. Thank you, Mr. President. I have no report. This is Marshall, economic development director. Thank you, Mr. President. I have no report this evening. Chief Kenny, Police Department. Thank you, Mr. President. Just a quick update on the municipal hunting program. The season ended February 1st. There were 114 deer harvested through that program. That's up from 18 from last year. There is a press release on the madina.org website for additional details if you have any interest there. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Pakoli, service director.

Thank you, Mr. President. Appreciate the mayor's comments. I know the guys do as well. And speaking of staff, the water guys been spending a lot of time out in the last three weeks and uh looking forward to this weather changing hopefully and warming up because they just been going day and night with water breaks. So, we ask the public be patient. They're doing the best they can, you know, when we have a water outage. Um just that time of the year. Um the other part is speaking of staff, we have a crew coming in tonight at u midnight. some sanitation guys, street guys, parks guys. They're going to clean up the square, remove all the snow in preparation of the ice festival. We usually do that once a year. So that'll be tonight from midnight till I think 7 this morning.

Yeah. Thanks. And there was a couple water breaks that I stopped by sometime on South Huntington Street, one at 6:00 in the morning, and I met the guy there at 6:30. Uh cuz I got a call. There's no water in my apartment. But so I went out there and there was a little fountain going in the street. So, you actually called that in for us cuz you helped us find that one. So, we appreciate that. I was out looking out for you. You are.

And Nino, and I shared with you earlier this weekend, uh, Saturday, I had three residents, four residents on Northeast Street that, uh, called and and had water in their basement and no water pressure. So, I called dispatch. They said, "Well, there was already a crew out at uh Harmony and Northeast Street fixing a a waterline break." They were there for several hours. Uh the the water superintendent, Andy, went out uh to the one gentleman that was kind of the spokesperson for the four homeowners and told him, you asked him, "Well, do you have do you have water pressure now?" And he says, "No, I still have no water." Lo and behold, they come to find out that there was another water main break right on Northeast Street. And they were there probably till that I think a total of 14 15 hours on those two water breaks and they were leaving there to a water break on Broadway. So, uh they were they were so helpful. All the residents were grateful for the the work that they did and and I think every resident should knock on wood when you don't have that problem, but uh be grateful for the the crews that are out there. And I know it's just not the water department that you have other uh people from the service department and and throughout the city that that help them also. So kudos to all of them. Thank you. And and I just want to add that thank you for filling in that giant hole caused by the water at the end of Harding Street there and North Jefferson because that was actually really kind of slippery and people trying to avoid it. The big mountains of of snow made that um a little tricky to get around there. So thank thanks a lot to your crews for getting that taken care of, too.

Yeah, they did a great job. And I had a heated vest on and I was wondering, hey, do you guys want a heated vest? I realized that they work in water. So yeah, but it was a good idea. Didn't want to put them in harm's way. Uh Mr. Patton, city engineer. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. After a little bit of delay because of the weather, the uh Blake Avenue reconstruction project has commenced. Uh residents uh have been notified. That's it. Chief Walters, fire chief.

Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to give council a brief update on a fire that the department responded to this morning. Uh just before 5:00 a.m., the department was dispatched for a commercial structure fire uh on West Road. It's at the uh Reworld. Uh they're a waste uh recycling plant at the corner of Lake and Westmith. Uh crews arrived to find heavy fire and smoke at the at the rear of the building. Uh they worked for a little over two and a half hours to bring that fire under control. Uh we did have one Madina firefighter that suffered minor burn injuries and was transported to uh Madina Hospital by LST. uh he is at home recovering tonight uh with no restrictions and I'd just like to thank our mutual aid partners from Lafayette Township Airheart uh Seville Guilford and Brunswick along with the Madina PD. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dutton, Planning and Community Development Director.

Uh thank you, Mr. President. I have no report. Thank you. Uh next is confirmation of council appointments. Uh, at this time I'd entertain a motion to confirm Bill Lamb, Ward 4 council person be appointed to the following boards and committees. Finance committee, special education committee, streets and sidewalks committee, emerging technologies committee chair, access commission term expiring 123127, and strategic plan advisory committee for term expiring 123126. Mr. President, Miss approve. Second. Any further discussion? Clerk, please call the role. Simpson, yes. Coin, yes. Dalvo, yes. Hair, yes. Isabella, yes. Lamb, yes. Simmons,

yes. Uh, notice communications and petitions, there's none. No, no unfinished business. Introduction of visitors. Members of the public were permitted the opportunity to speak on any issue or concern which pertains to the city during the portion of the council agenda devoted to introduction of visitors. All comments shall be directed to the chair and a a reasonable time limit of approximately 5 minutes will be imposed. If there's a group, please appoint a spokesperson. Speakers should approach the rear microphone and state their name and address so it can be entered into the minutes. Members of the public will be afforded the opportunity to comment on other portions of the meeting as you determined by the chair or by a vote of the majority of council members present. Is there anybody out there that wishes to address council at this time? This is your chance. Nobody. Okay. Introduction of consideration of ordinances resolutions. At this time, I'd entertain a motion to suspend the rules requiring three readings on the following ordinances and resolutions. Ordinance 25, 26, 26, 26, 27, 26, 28, 26, 29, 26, and 30 26.

Mr. President, Miss I move to suspend the uh rules requiring three readings. Second. Any discussion? Clerk, please call the role. Coin, yes. Dalvo, yes. Hair, yes. Isabella, yes. Lamb, yes. Simmons, yes. Simpson, yes. Motion passes 70. Ordinance 2526, an ordinance amending section 13301 of the codified ordinance of the city man Ohio relative to the finance director, city and civil service commission association memberships. Mr. President, Mr. Move to approve. Second discussion, Mr. Durham. Thank you, Mr. President. Authorizing membership in uh Society for Human Resource Management. Any further discussion? Clerk, please call the role on adoption of your ordinance. D Salvo, yes. Hair,

yes. Isabella, yes. Lamb, yes. Simmons, yes. Simpson, yes. Coin, yes. Ordinance 2526 passes 70. Ordinance 2626, an ordinance ratifying the agreement between the city of Madina and International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 436. Mr. President here. Move to approve. Second discussion. Mr. Seals.

Thank you, Mr. President. This is a three-year contract with our team search union. The team search union covers employees in the sanitation, engineering, um, building department, parks, cemetery, forestry. Uh, it's a three-year contract. The 12% over three years. The first year is a 2% raise, 2% pension contribution, and then the following year two and three are 0% raises, but 4% pension contributions. It also has some um language in there to cover us at the city's insurance as far as how much the employees pay toward their premium contribution. If it goes up, it will go up for the employees. Also, we have uh negotiated some uh increases in number of seasonal workers which will help with all the different events we have going on and it also addresses some changes coming with the uh new MUN cord and the size of that as far as the cleaning services that uh how we implement those. So, it's a very good contract and as we talked about today, these are pretty incredible workers when it comes to um the different things they do for us and some of the very difficult jobs they do this time of year. So, appreciate your approval of this contract.

Any further discussion? Clerk, please call the role on adoption ordinance. Hair, yes. Isabella, yes. Lamb, yes. Simmons, yes. Simpson, yes. Coin, yes. Salva, yes. Ordinance 2626 passes 70. Ordinance 2726. an orance authorizing the expenditure to Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for sanitation department. Mr. President, Miss Move to approve. Second. Discussion. Mr. McCulli.

Thank you, Mr. President. So, this is for sanitation department. The um crews do buy new and commercial recap truck tires. Um they're state bid pricing. Um each each truck uh depending on how many axles can hand require up to 10 uh tires for replacement and they're anywhere between $650 and $750 a piece um twice a year they get changed out depending on need. Thank you. Thank you. Any further discussion? Cler, please call the role on the adoption ordinance. Isabella, yes. Lamb, yes. Simmons, yes. Simpson, yes. Coin, yes. Salvo, yes. Hair, yes.

Ordinance 2726, passes 70. Ordinance 2826, an ordinance amending section 3107 of the salaries and benefits code of the city of Madan, Ohio, relative to adopting the revised job descriptions for backflow coordinator and operations technician for the water department. Mr. President, here move to approve. Second discussion, Mr. Polei.

Thank you, Mr. President. So, these are minor changes involving the backflow coordinator and the water um operations technician. The backflow coordinator is non-union position. um it had a prior requirement of a class 2 water distribution license which in essence with the EPA regulations a person in their capacity wouldn't be able to obtain that. So we um change that to a class one to be obtained in one year and also took away the CDL um requirement because they would not have opportunity to work in operations. So the operations technician likewise um is involved in the day-to-day operations, water brakes, um handling of the infrastructure. We um change that from a class one to a class 2 distribution license which is attainable um as well as added a CDL um requirement um of B or higher. So thank you. The law department reviewed it. The Civil Service Commission um approved it as well and we're asking for council to adopt the same. Thank you. Any further questions? Clerk, please call the role on the adoption of the ordinance.

Lamb, yes. Simmons, yes. Simpson, yes. Point, yes. Salvo, yes. Yes. Isabella, yes. Ordinance 2826 passes 70. Ordinance 2926, an ordinance amending ordinance number 21825, passed December 8, 2025. Amendments to the 26 budget. Mr. President, Miss here. Move to approve. Second. Discussion. Mr. Durham. number of things here including a pass through and a reduction to get two authorized appropriations. Thank you. Any further discussion? Cler, please call the role in adoption. Ordinance. Simmons. Yes. Simpson. Yes. Coin. Yes. Dalvo. Yes. Hair. Yes. Isabella? Yes. Lamb? Yes.

Ordinance 2926. Passes 70. Ordinance 3026, an ordinance replacing section 3103 of the salaries and benefits code of the city of Man, Ohio relative to salary schedules for employees not covered under the current union contracts for the years 26, 27, and 28. Mr. President, Miss Hair, move to approve. Second discussion. Mr. Durham, thank you. This is to match what what for the non-UN employees what the union employees got.

Yeah. And what council does uh um when when the union contracts are negotiated just to be have parody throughout the city employees uh we ensure that everybody's treated equally and fairly by uh passing on the same raises or the equivalents there too to the various employees of the city Madina that are in the payroll code. Uh there's some that may not be that are handled differently and they're not included but most of them are and and we do this um every time we do it. A little difference here is we plan for 2% raises throughout our 5-year budgeting plan and these are 4%. So there is an impact on the budget about $1.8 million over three years. Uh that will be additional money that wasn't planned for in the budget. So everybody should remember that because it seems like expenses are going up. We got to make sure that we keep an eye on that and make sure that you know they don't uh go up too high, but we want to be fair to all the employees. Any further discussion? Clerk, please call the role.

Simpson. Yes. Coin, yes. Miss Salvo, yes. Hair, yes. Isabella, yes. Lamb, blast, yes. Ordinance 3026, passes 70. Council comments, Mr. Simpson, nothing except in this weather and and everything that's going on. Just remember to be kind to one another. Thank you, sir. I agree. Mr. Simmons, America 250. Pick up your brochure if you haven't got it. The next event's going to be the uh social connect. It's going to be at the foundry. It's going to be on February 19th and it's h free from 4 to 6 for residents. So check it out. Mr. Salvo.

Um nothing. Just uh just want to reiterate um that Nino's guys being out there um I did not envy them one bit. I appreciated everything they did. Yeah, they did a great job. I didn't see Nino out there, but that's Isabella. Uh just wanted to give a thank you to uh all of our residents and our business owners that came to our streets and sidewalks committee meeting today. Mr. Lance, thank you. Uh I just want to um congratulate Councilman Isabella on the meeting that he held on streets. God,

um safety, traffic signals, sidewalks. Um it's um it's a fascinating subject. It sounds like a lot, but we made some headway starting tonight and I'm excited that we are going to tackle these issues as a council work with the administration and we are going to get these things done. Thank you. Thank you. And the only comment I have is remember this coming weekend's Valentine's Day. Just a reminder for people. I don't think anybody should forget that. Just remember that. But uh with that and I hope everybody en enjoyed the Super Bowl. It wasn't that exciting. I mean it was

I guess there's this defense playing. The score wasn't that exciting to watch. But uh I guess we had another Super Bowl Super Bowl 60. Uh which is amazing to me. I mean that's that's a long a lot of Super Bowls. A lot of Super Bowls for sure. So but that was exciting. But uh and great entertainment from before the game through the game. I was I was impressed by the entertainment. Well, I fell asleep before the game was over. if I can. Wasn't there a Wasn't there a puppy Super Bowl, too? Yeah, there was. See that? Right. Yeah. Puppy Bowl. Oh my gosh, that was fascinating. Do you want to hear more about it? No. Okay. Okay. With that, the meeting is adjourned. Thank you.