City Council - Regular Meeting

Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Call the role please. Mayor Bailey here. Vice Mayor Baitman here. Mr. Goodyear here. Miss Hamlin here. Here. Hazel Baker here. Mr. Janick

here. Welcome everyone. With us tonight we have our director of finance Mark Medler, assistant city manager Chris Wynich, our clerk of council Misty Clark, city manager Dave Kennedy, city solicitor Joe Braonn, fire chief uh Huber, police chief Michael Gabrielson, the entire fire department is here, officer Sproul has joined us today. Um we also have former council members Todd Osborne and Padmate. So, welcome everyone and we will start with Executive Officer Bruce Hawk.

Uh, good evening, Mayor, Council, and members of the community. My name is Bruce Hawk, and I'm the executive officer from the Loveland Sims Fire Department. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. Uh, on behalf of LSFD, we appreciate your continued support and partnership. And this evening, we want to share a positive outcome. Uh, one that demonstrates how preparation, teamwork, and leadership work together to save lives. So, with this time, I'd like to ask Mr. Dave Hagen and his daughter, Camille, if you'd come up and stand with me at the podium. I'm going to review an incident that that occurred recently. Uh, our c our crews responded to a medical emergency involving Mr. Hagen and he was in sudden cardiac arrest. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of our communications center, our responding crews, and the support of city leadership, Mr. Heagen survived and is here with us today. I'd like to briefly highlight the three key parts to that success. Uh, first, we want to recognize our emergency dispatchers. The incident began with a 911 call. It was an emotional and high stress. Our dispatchers immediately took control, gathered critical information, managed the response, and provided clear CPR instructions to the caller uh until until our crews were able to arrive. Uh those first minutes matter. The calm professionalism and clinical guidance provided our disp by our dispatchers played a direct role in Mr. Heagen's survival. Second, we'd like to recognize uh the responding firefighters and paramedics. When the crews arrived, they encountered a true life ordeath situation. Through rapid assessment, sound clinical judgment, and disciplined teamwork, they initiated advanced cardiac life support in a challenging environment. Because of their training, ability, and ability to operate under pressure, Mr. Hagen regained a pulse and was transported to definitive care. And this outcome reflects the professionalism and commitment of our me members. And finally, we'd like to thank um Loveland City Council and the community.

Successful outcomes like this don't happen by accident. They're made by uh they're made possible by ongoing investments in staffing, training, medical equipment, cardiac monitors, defibrillators, and communications technology. So, your support ensures that when our residents need help, our crews arrive prepared and equipped to make a difference. So, at this time, I'd like to recognize the members that were that were on that call, starting with dispatcher Casey Brewer. If he could come up to the podium,

Captain Ray Carin Thank you for stay

firefighter paramedic Jacob Shelley. firefighter EMT Daniel Kelly. Great job.

And then receiving their second life-saving award of 2026 so far this year is uh Assistant Chief Joe Houston.

Outstanding. Congratulations. And also receiving his second award is firefighter paramedic Cody Wilmus. Thank you so much.

Great job.

Great job. Way to do it.

So, we'd like to now give Mr. Heagen an opportunity to speak if if he would like to.

I'll try. Um, just said I'll try. Thank you. I shouldn't be here. Thank you to the city of Loveland for all the support you've given them, for the equipment. I have no business being alive. I don't talk about it. So, this is the first time probably therapeutic for me. So, thank you. We moved here three and a half years ago. Should have moved here a long longer ago. I grew up in Montgomery. I lived in Northern Kentucky for over 20 years. And my family wanted to move over here. So, we decided on Lovelin and I obviously made the right call. But I I can't encourage the city to give whatever they need to help other people like myself because without you guys, I like I said, I wouldn't be able to be here speaking to you. I wouldn't be able to see my kids get married. They have grand grandchildren. My wife's birthday is today. Wouldn't be able to see that more anniversaries. And I'm just forever thankful for what you guys have done and what you guys have done. Thank you. WELL, IT SEEMS, SIR, THAT SOMEBODY thinks that you should still be here. So, we thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing your story. If you wouldn't mind, can we get a picture with you and with the all the all the ones

that got the award? We'll stay back here since there's so many of you. I do this in a while. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Josh. Oh, Gro, too. All right. Josh Torbach, executive director, Claremont County Parks.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you, council members. Um, appreciate the time. It's uh I've been kind of going around the county talking to different uh organizations and it never fails. I always follow some heroic amazing story which is great for the county. Obviously there's uh great organizations across the county but it kind of you know I seem a little less exciting when I get up here. But um kudos to your fire department and your safety services. It's pretty amazing story. Uh I came here to talk about two different things. Uh I'll be brief on both. Happy to answer any questions anybody has. Uh the first is uh about a mile up the road is property that we own uh the old Grailville property and it's I'm sure you've been seeing signs out there forever wondering when this is going to happen. Uh just want to let you know that we officially went out the bid. Uh we plan on awarding the bid mid May and hopefully construction starts June beginning or late June. Um we'll see. Uh we put it uh finish date uh April 1st of next year. We're hoping it gets done sooner than that, but uh we're giving it till April 1st of uh 2027. So, you should see groundbreaking machines coming in, earth moving, uh things like that. Uh just a quick recap on the property. We acquired it with clean Ohio funds about 116 acres, which limits what we can and can't do on that property, but we were able to obtain about a little less than three acres from Cardinal Land Conservancy. So, we can do whatever we want on this three acres. So, we are packing everything we can every into every square inch of those three acres. Uh, it goes fast. Um, brief uh description of what's going there. Obviously, drive-in parking lot, restrooms, uh, little pavilion connected to the restrooms, a beautiful natural playground that I can't wait to see the finished product. Uh, we're working with Burgess and Nipel as far as the design and they came up with something wonderful. Uh, we'll have an outdoor theater, our outdoor classroom. We've

got a lot of schools that are within walking distance. Uh they helped write letters of support for some of the grants we got. I know they're excited to use those. Uh there'll be an elevated boardwalk overlooking uh some of the natural areas. And then we're having what we're calling work pods. Uh their little shelters. They'll have Wi-Fi uh and electric so people can come there and do school projects or if you work from home, a place you can come um and have a meeting or just work outside. Uh so it's kind of a cool idea that uh we floated around and people seem to enjoy. Uh that's about it. That's for phase one. Phase two uh in the future we'll have uh we have some fading uh failing drain tile in the prairies. So we'll uh get look for some grants to restore those into wetlands and then install some overlooks and some bird blinds. Uh but in the meantime, you'll be able to access all of that area. will have about three and a half miles of hiking trails and they'll connect on both a Banyanville and 48. That is the snapshot of the Grailville Preserve. Any questions I can answer about that?

Any questions? Yes. Just a quick one. Do you have um parking planned off of Bandonville and off of 48 or just off of 48? Just off of 48. Um I so the sliver that we have that touches uh 48 is so small that we were told by traffic engineers try to avoid any kind of accident entrance there. Uh we have hopefully have a future resident next to us on that side and I would love to work with them as far as doing a joint entrance uh where we might be able to add some uh vehicle traffic uh capabilities on that side. Selbaker.

Yeah. Um, so I was um in lead uh Claremont, so I got to meet you and see some of these plans. Um, so I appreciate you keeping the pods because I was super excited about and couldn't tell from the drawing and stuff there and I think it's going to be a great park for the community and appreciate all the work that's um been done from previous councils and all the collaboration together to get make that a happen. So I can't wait. I think we should have council meetings in those pods. So great job. Thank you. We're excited about it. Uh, working with Dave and the city of Lovelin's been wonderful. Uh, it's just Dave makes things easy. So, appreciate it, Dave.

Any other questions, comments? It should be coinciding pretty nicely with our new sidewalks that we're going to be putting up right right heading up that way. Perfect. It'll be perfect. Um, we Claremont County, we found a lot of our parks or throughout Claremont County, it's it's the accessibility of parks by walking or biking is very difficult. So, anytime we can connect to any of the neighborhoods, we're excited to do it. So, bringing the sidewalks up is perfect for us. Very good. Well, yes, that's beautiful land. We were thrilled when you when the park district purchased it and really looking forward to seeing the final result. So, thanks for coming tonight and sharing this with us. We appreciate it. Thank you. And then I got one more thing. Oh, sure. Sorry. I was rushing him.

It's okay. It's okay. I'll be even more brief on this one. Uh just a reminder, this uh this May is coming up Tuesday. uh Claremont County Park District, our 10-year park levy is going for renewal. No new no new taxes. It's about $11 for every 100,000 of appraised value. So, it's I know asking for any money these days is hard. Uh but as far as uh you know, it's it's a modest ask compared to a lot of other uh park districts in the area. So, uh we think we make the dollar stretch and we do the most we can with it. So, uh I just want to remind people to get out and vote. I'm not going to say yes or no. Just get out and vote. Uh if you like what we do and like to see more of it. Uh couple things we've accomplished. Over the last 10 years, we've leveraged those funds for uh getting about $5.5 million worth of grants. Uh it also funds our community grant program, which we give $100,000 away uh to uh different communities, townships, villages, and cities each year to help fund some of their park projects. We've worked with the city of Lovelin on quite a few, but there's uh entities, especially on the east side of the county, that wouldn't be able to do anything if it wasn't for these grants. I mean, they're as simple as just building their first restroom in their park uh or or building their first playground. So, it's been important. It was a promise that Chris Klingman made 10 years ago, and it's something we'd like to continue doing, and we will continue doing if if the levy's renewed. Uh we've added several parks. Klingman Park is our newest one. Graville will uh hopefully be coming online next year. for 10 mile preserve and then we took on Katherine Stagy Mar and go and we have several other properties that are waiting uh with this funding to be developed in the next 5 to 10 years too. So uh we're growing excited to grow uh so hopefully uh the community supports us coming up.

Any questions on that? Yeah, sure. Um thanks for uh that that uh description. My question was really around if if it's a a 10-year renewal uh for the levy, do you how much of that do you anticipate would go towards covering operational costs versus the the expansion that you mentioned? I think one of the things that's notable about the parks district is how much it's grown over the last uh uh several years. So, do you think that within that 10 year if it were to pass that that would enable that track record of growth to continue?

Yes. So operationally speaking, uh the the levy gives us uh so operationally we it's about $2 million to operate day-to-day staffing uh everything like that. We have about $750 to a million dollars each year for for capital equipment uh improvements or land acquisition. Uh, one of the biggest things on our radar is the bike trail uh that goes through Williamsburg, East Fork, and we want to continue it through downtown Betavia and hopefully start linking it farther west. The role of film a couple years ago was about a million dollars for every mile that includes engineering, land acquisition, paving, everything included. So, uh, you know, when I say 750,000 to a million dollars a year for capital and we have, you know, 12 miles worth of bike trail, you can do the math. That eats it up pretty quick. So, we'd have to go for funding, but it also we we'd split it up where we we not going to do, you know, 12 miles all at once, you know, do a couple miles here, couple do a couple miles there, but also gives us the opportunity to continue acquiring land and developing the land that uh that we already have that we just haven't developed yet. So, it covers operational and all of our future capital needs.

Okay, great. Thank you. Anyone else? Do you have a third item? Thank you for having me. Okay. Thank you for being here. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks. All right. Next is review and approval of minutes of the April 14th, 2026 meeting. Are there any changes, additions? Moved to approve. A second. Second. Call the role, please. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Pamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazel Baker, yes. Mr. Jick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Motion carries seven to zero. Next, we have a public hearing. Can we get a motion to open that public hearing?

Move to open the public hearing to uh consider request for license JA Development LLC. Second. Second. Call the role, please. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Miss Hamlin. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Jick. Yes. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Vice Mayor Baitman. Yes. Motion carries seven to zero. We don't have anybody sign up. We have a motion to close the hearing. Move to close the hearing. Second. Call the role, please. Miss Hamlin. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Miss Hazel Baker. Yes. Mr. Jick. Yes. Mayor Bailey. Yes. Vice Mayor Baitman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear. Yes.

Motion carries seven to zero. We have the second reading of the ordinance. Can you read the ordinance, please? Ordinance authorizing the city manager to execute a license agreement with Wilderness Capital Ltd, for the placement of a directional sign within the city rightway on South Carl Brown. Any further comment or questions on this matter? Call the RO, please. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazel Baker, yes. Mr. Janick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Miss Hamlin. Yes. Ordinance 39 is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero. Mr. Kennedy.

Um, so the this presented as a resolution to do the phase one of the Oakland roads/ uh State Route 48 Road first sidewalks. Uh we actually started talking about this when the park uh began the annexation and we included this was one of our uh one component. was our Appalachian Community Grant Program, which the city was not funded. uh Claremont County uh they had some administrative funds that they gave us uh the city 17,500 which really was beneficial because it allowed us to survey it uh determine the feasibility of the project identify right away needs and also determine whether or not that storm water area at the low point could be an expansion of the storm pipe or if we would need a walking uh basically a sidewalk bridge which would have changed the project. So um so that money helped plant a seed and the feasibility on this project and uh with the existing sidewalks that we already have in Claremont County which the one and plus those that are coming including lovely Miamiville road and the focus the city has on we realized that with these sidewalks in the Claremont County park we would be able to do this project is much more than simply creating a connection to White Pillars. Uh with that and with the timing on the park we broke it into two phases. First phase is be towards the entrance of uh white pill uh white pillars and then phase two of which will actually go after uh their grant funds to run it into a trail head would be hopefully uh if timing is right would be next year. Um with the sidewalks being on the north side and the entrance into White Pillars, there's been some steps taken. council took one of them last end of last year when you reduce the speed limit uh on white pillars. And then this project will include our RFBs, which is

the RA rapid rectangular flashing beacons. Um apron improvements over on the entrance side uh striping and then um actually the White Pillars HOA is running it from on founders from Turtle Creek to tie into this project. So there will be that continuous there's always been that gap and we've been talking to the HOA for a while. So they're actually going to be coming the same distance. Uh the we're also as I mentioned be storm water work project will include uh it was identified through the easements we need an easement from the arch diocese and from the school district and it was mentioned by the school district that there was a section that it would behoove uh to be thicker 8 in sidewalks because during certain events they drive over those uh that resulted in an 8 in along that section as I designated in the memo the St. Colomb is going to cover that extra cost of around 78 just under $8,000. Uh they're going to cover that extra uh sidewalk on there. We opened the bids on April 9th. Low bid was Husach paving and excavating at 42066150. That's with the alternate of which we said St. Pet uh St. Peter uh St. St. Columbian will cover that. Um it's under the engineers estimate but it is over what we originally budgeted which was 406. So we recommend approving the resolution. I will mention Husack did the Oage project for this city last year and did a wonderful job. I Chris is bit of a sidewalk expert and will tell you that is some of the better sidewalks that we've had in a while. Uh we had a identified a crack uh resident did uh not too long ago and within two days they were up there fixing the that crack in in that O0. So that is uh uh they really do were lucky to get them I think. So and this would be the 42661

we're asking council does include alternate item one. Thank you. Any questions or comments? All right. Want to read the resolution? Resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a contract that paving and excavating for the completion of State Route 40 Oakland Road sidewalk project. Call the role, please. Miss Hazelbaker, yes. Mr. Jarnick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. M. Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Resolution 40 is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero. Mr. Witch,

thank you, Mayor. Uh, before you is a uh an ordinance that would require two readings. Um this is once again another license that is in front of you. Um as you know it has been our um policy for any property uh or any license that are brought in for uh brought to council to have the public hearing. So we had that public hearing here uh just before um and this if you recall this goes back to the Highlands of Loveland. All right. This was SPD number 20. Um, and as part of the development guidelines, uh, we did we did request in there that parking be made available to the to, uh, the excess residents. So, any anybody visiting or whatnot. So, if you recall, we talked about West Main and Highland being very narrow in that area. Um, it's not conducive to on street parking. Uh so with this they're asking for two locations with seven off- streetet parking spaces. Uh one would be on Highland, one would be on West Main and that's uh depicted in your exhibit in the packet. Um the license agreement uh that is in front of you is has been uh you do have a markedup version um that would be the one that would be supplied to JA Development. Um the biggest the biggest things in that license agreement is it provides basically provides protection for the city for any type of improvement, any type of striping, anything that would be need needed to be done to those parking spaces would be on the developer at this point and any future assigners to that. Um, we also put in there some wording that basically the parking spaces have to be as good if not better condition than the surrounding road. So that protects us in that sense. Also um these parking spaces would be used for resident parking um

because they are they would be technically private spaces uh which again goes back to the reasoning that we asked for them uh as part of the development guidelines to to try to get the cars off of the road. Um, with that, I'll take any questions on it. Any questions? All right. Go ahead and uh read the first reading of the ordinance. Ordinance authorizing the city manager to exeute a license agreement with JA development for the installation of off- streetet parking city rideway on Highland Street and West Main Street.

Mr. Kennedy. So, uh, when city council authorized the submission of the clean Ohio grant to purchase, uh, the Shelder property, um, that was done with the resolution, our city's, uh, codes require that any acquisition of property requires it be passed via an ordinance. Uh, we are getting close, uh, working with Joe. We're getting all the piece of paper, all the paperwork together to draw down the funds within that period of time. We have a short window to close. Uh so uh this legislation would allow us if passed by an emergency to to move expeditiously to get the property acquired uh and begin um working with the Little Miami Conservancy. So real quickly, the way we did this was the property included an appraiser appraisal of 1,100,000. With that, the city was required to come up with a 25% local match. uh we were encouraged if possible to increase that local match above the minimum uh 25% and uh it was actually Mr. Klingman that uh Mr. Torbeck mentioned who was assisting us with some of the fund issue. So the way we put that together is the Shieldmire family agreed to take 1 million that uh produced what is called a a bargain sale of 100,000 which went towards the city's match. The city committed 150,000 and then the Little Miami Conservancy will uh purchase an easement for the most sensitive area of the of the property along the river. The 100 that brought our total local match to 350,000 uh and or 32%. So with this uh of course I've just for your reference I included the declaration of restrictions which we are required to execute which will be actually recorded with the property. Um you can see that we actually put

additional land use restrictions on there and to help our application. And then lastly, um Chris and I are currently vetting um some planning firms to work on a master plan which would include both the Schelmire property and uh Veterans Memorial. This is probably the best opportunity we have to um to give Veterans Memorial what has been long in need, which is a complete and total makeover.

Um so by combining the two, similar to what Mr. Mr. Torbeck was talking about there's things that will be permitted on the city's own property and things that uses that won't be permitted on the Shieldmire property. Um, and we will be working with that and putting together a planning committee and uh working with the mayor on on some thoughts on that and that will be able to move forward. Uh, land water conservation fund is a very viable uh funding option once the plan is in place as we start to try to start picking that off. So, uh, that's all I had. Uh, but I did request this as an emergency. Thank you. Any comments or questions?

Okay. Well, I will just say I'm really happy to have this happen tonight. This has been a long time in the making, it seems, and really again appreciative to the Shield Meer family and Little Miami Conservancy and certainly whatever entity it is that granted us the Clean Hill money. This is a this is a nice night for our park system. So, Well done. All right, go ahead and read the ordinance. Ordinance authorizing the purchase of 3.86 acres located on Riverside Drive owned by Shieldmar Holdings declaring an emergency. All right, call the role, please. Mr. Jick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazel Baker,

yes. Ordinance 41 is adopted by a vote of seven to zero.

Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. So um the this uh next ordinance requested for two readings would create modify the schedule of municipal positions and create the position of facilities manager. Just some fun facts, the city owns over 80,000 square feet of roof structures valued at over $20 million which does not include the new fire station uh the amphitheater. In addition to that, so uh in addition to that, just in my time with the city, we've invested money in the safety center. Uh city hall for the last five years has received some long overdue work, the new public works building. Uh and uh the city has invested in McCoy and Lever uh restrooms and soon the Nisbet Park restrooms. And uh this has been maintaining city facilities has been important enough that it was included in city council goals in 2024 to 2025 and the 2026 2027 and uh we've been talking about it in department heads and one of the things that Chief Huber has mentioned for quite a while was the need to have someone focus on just the city facilities and I would sort of compare this to three things that sort of stand out. Back in the old days, HR was largely uh done by committee. Uh and now we see the benefit of of all that Julie does every day. Uh we've realized, city council, the importance of focus in on downtown. We now have we now have a a gentleman who focuses on the downtown l uh groundskeeper and then of course also the mechanics position uh which has given us a lot of benefit. And this is very similar in that exact same vein. Um this is just a reference but for example

uh for example the city facilities here uh the the boiler and the HVAC I pretty much poke around on them and uh that's not something you want. But just this winter, I realized we have two pumps that pump the boiler to the heat to to all the boilers. And it was the coldest day it was this winter. And I I realized I never got the other pump uh fixed and installed. Meaning if the other pump, current pump goes out, we would cease to be able to operate in city hall. This is just one of the bazillion things. Now add all the technology that'll be in the new fire station that's actually in this budget that's in the public works and all the different the technology. then add all the backup generators that the city has. We all remember when we sat here and the backup generator didn't kick on and we had to cancel a council meeting. So, I'm not trying to point on all how bad we've been doing everything. It's just it's not getting the right focus. So, um I know I'm pointing it out how terrible it is, but um I didn't mean to do it that way. I'm sorry, but give and we and uh so like we said, we we see this position as overseeing everything. uh much like Bellacor helps us with our budgeting and tells us what we need to do every year for for budgeting for for uh computers and technology. That's what this position will do. This position will take on many duties. If this person is HVAC qualified, I won't even tell you how much money it could save us for HB HVAC. Same thing with its electrician. We don't think we're going to get somebody with both. and being able to monitor, put things on schedule, do all the things that need to be done for something that we will soon be approaching $30 million in value on all of our facilities. And these are just the roof facilities. So with that, we we we felt that to make this to get the right person similar to how you recently had to increase the classification for mechanic, we're recommending that this be a class 7. Uh lastly, as we always do

when we create legislation for the schedule municipal positions, we repeal the most recent which was March 10th uh 2026 30 23. Thank you. Any comments or questions, Mr. Hart? Um I I hate to put you on the spot a little bit, Mr. Kenny. Can you talk about the the the qualifications of this like what you're looking for if you were a you ideal candidate? What what

uh our our ideal candid candidate would probably be a jack of all trades, but maybe would specialize in HVAC or would be a full-fledged licensed electrician. We're speaking to Chief Huber about this a lot. We don't know that we're going to find somebody who's got all of those certifications. We would think uh we would anticipate identifying maybe even a public works employee that would sort of saddle up with him under certain conditions uh would help him with the scheduling when we're dealing with the restrooms that he would do that that he would would be able to know that this person would be at his disposal to help with some of the maintenance items that uh he would learn the basics from John Fry on how the our cameras and all that work. But mostly it would be someone who is very skilled in HVAC, electrician, even plumbing. Any of those items, more than one of those would be ideal. But I think by putting it at a class 7, given all the other benefits that come with a state uh governmental pension, I think we can attract the right person and uh that person will be have the freedom to learn everything, put be at the fire station, know exactly when those filters need to be changed. um know what I just did so you'd have some cold air in here. Knowing all the different things that that make us actually maintain our building so we're not waiting till the roof till the mayor sees that the tile is stained because we haven't got the roof fixed. It's just it it just falls under the simple thing we need to take care of our stuff

and I don't know that we're doing it enough. Fully fully supportive of that. The last last follow-up question to that would be are we open to providing some level of training for somebody that has a lot of those characteristics but may be looking for some Yes. Yes. some professional training something other area and we hope that we may have an employee who works for the city who's who's younger who may actually be able to to learn and we would support that person getting some certifications too so we have a we have a long-term process too. That'd be wonderful. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Any other question? Yes, Vice Mayor.

Uh, just to follow on Mr. heart's uh uh comments. I um I think it's great when uh we create a new position like this uh and we've done so in a couple of other areas uh as it really establishes a level of uh sophistication in the organization that shows we've got you know you know subject matter expertise and and the need uh to dedicate and allocate those professional resources to to items like what you mentioned that may have been uh neglected. My question is really or not neglected like you said it's hard to talk about it without going into the idea that uh I know the sky is fall maybe a little

but uh uh just in terms of somebody to look at it holistically and from a high level uh strategic point of view I think is is great. Uh do you have any idea of when in an ideal world this this position would be filled?

Uh we were actually just talking to Chief Huber about this beforehand. We if we would likely have the bid the advertisement go out the day after the second reading. We'll be writing that now. We're actually putting together a team that will be involved in the interview process and um uh and we would anticipate that I think what'll get a lot of interest. I'd like to think that we'll be bringing that person in maybe in uh sometime in late June or early July. we would be bringing that person in here and uh uh to be uh to get the oath to office. Great. Sounds good. Thanks. Sac,

um I actually like the way you positioned it because I think we can always do better. So I don't I think you've just getting smarter. Um and I love that um investing in people. So I appreciate that this is now the right solution for us right now. Um I know you're always so conservative in like what you want to spend. So, I know the thought process before and I know that this makes a lot of sense now. So, I appreciate it. Yeah. Actually, I mean, all due honesty, this was Pete Huber's idea. I didn't I mean, I gave him a nod. I I I I I it just made a lot of sense. And um and uh just it it just made a lot more sense the more he talked about it. Did he see you out there tinkering one day?

The butter the butter knife story is pretty legendary. Any other comment? Oh, any other comments, questions? Yes. No, I think this is a great idea. Uh my question is who did it before? Was it just people in their departments? Yeah. Everybody just just chases it around. Yeah. Everybody there's no there's really no set schedule. This is going to be more organized. Yes. I love it. Any other comments, questions? Well, this is a first reading only. Want to go ahead and read the ordinance? Ordinance establishing the classification position of facilities manager and appealing ordinance 202623. Thank you Mr. Witch.

Thank you mayor. Um I just wanted to give council an update on the electric aggregation where we're at. As you know um we did we did make the move to pause the program uh a couple weeks ago. Um we've been monitoring what's been going on uh not just nationally but locally. Um we've got several communities around us that are in a similar boat as us where they were holding out um and kind of hoping we would see something under 10 cents. If you recall, um although it's not specifically spelled out in the emergency ordinance to allow us to extend the aggregation program, when I brought it to you, I did talk about uh our goal was under 10 cents and we weren't there. We're watching communities around us. Hamilton Township uh last week just signed an agreement for uh I believe it was for 12 months for 10.2 cents. Um, so we're seeing we're seeing communities and uh residents um buying into the fact that we're not going to see anything under 10 cents for a while. So, what I wanted to kind of update you on, although we don't have to do anything with uh formally with the ordinance, um we are going to be I think we're we're going to look at potentially signing something in the 10.2 cent range here soon. Um I I think you're going to see although Duke is lower right now, what we're hearing is by by July Duke is going to be well above 10.2 in the close to the 10.4 cent range. So we feel like even though we've had to put a pause on this, I think we are still still doing right by our residents currently, but I think we need to consider and um sign potentially that that agreement that's closer to 10.2 2 cents. Um, so again, there's nothing formal that has to be

done um because the ordinance does not call out any type of uh price. I just wanted to make council aware of that before we decided to do that at a staff level. Thank you. Any questions or comments? All right, Mr. Medler.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, council. So, this is the first quarter report for 2026 as we keep moving right along. Main financial item of note during the first quarter has been the new fire station. Of course, through 2025, approximately 2.9 million had been spent on the new station with approximately 2 million spent during the first quarter six. During the second quarter of 26, we will see the completion of the prog progress and the project, excuse me, and potentially the final draw down of the USDA funds that we've been receiving. The city will then enter into the repayment phase. Yay. Uh with debt service schedule being provided by the USDA shortly thereafter. So we we've never I know it's it's very exciting.

Um as you know, this is a project that's been kind of drawing down funds as we go. So we have not received a a set amortization schedule. A lot of the times when we do debt service items, we know exactly when we get all the money. so we know exactly how much we have to pay and when. We're going to get that information pretty soon after we make the final draw. Also of note, we're keeping an eye on property tax issue as there is an effort underway in Ohio to get an issue on the ballot in November to abolish all property taxes in the state. Uh last I heard they're a little bit short on signatures, but that's a process that, like I said, we're going to keep an eye on. While the city relies mainly upon income taxes for the general fund, the general fund still relies upon approximately 1.5 million a year. And of course, our fire and EMS services are supported by levies, which is how we're going to repay for building new fire station. So very important. Moving on to interest revenue. Despite interest rates continuing to trend downward, the city earned more investment revenue in the first quarter of 26 than it did in 2025. So, this has been because we've been moving money from our checking accounts to Star Ohio, which is our main investment account. So, it's never good idea to have too much money in your checking account if you don't need it for expenses. So, you kind of move it from bank to bank and say, "Okay, if I'm only making a fraction of a percentage over here, if I don't need it in this bank, let's move it over to our investment account." So, of course, we keep an eye on all of our accounts and move it back and forth as needed. if we ever need to make any larger purchases. So, let's see. As far as income taxes go, the first quarter 26 saw a decrease compared to 25, but that was expected

because January of 2025 had a just a an unusual higher amount. So, we knew that the first quarter is going to be a little bit lower. In March of 26, we saw higher revenues than we did in March of 25. So, we're going to keep an eye on that trend. Hopefully that'll keep going up and our 26 income tax will take care of our expenses. So once we have the second quarter updated, we'll have a really good idea for the rest of the year. May is the month where we typically get the highest amount of income tax. Makes sense. Tax deadline day comes in April. Then the next month we we see a lot of that revenue come in. So the the next quarterly report in July is we're going to have a good picture where we're going forward. So let's see property taxes which we kind of discussed already affect the general fund and the fire levy funds. If you look at the memo those are down compared to last year but that is due to timing. As you know we are in three counties. So we are kind of at their their mercy of when they send the checks to us. Last year we would re we had received all the property tax revenue in the first quarter. This year we uh didn't get one of the counties until April. So we'll be seeing a truer picture again just like income tax with property tax with our second quarter report. On the expenditure side some vacancies have resulted in cost savings so far in the first quarter but again positions will be most likely filled filled in the new term. Uh, I believe police have some positions and then we talked about just a minute ago the new public works position and of course April in the future April expenses will be a little bit higher because we did has been telling people I just bought a house recently so 100 Broadway. So that's an expenditure that we're going

to see in the second quarter. And that's the main points I have for you. Do you have any questions? Any questions or comments? I just have a question. Vice Mayor, uh, you mentioned that the some of the payments from the PAS design were coming in this year. Are those covered by the PAS remediation fee or are we drawing is there like a one to one equivalent to that in terms of of like the money coming in from the settlement and then the money that So there the settlement and the grants is what's been taking care of that so far. Great. Thank you. As far as the design goes though, it's completely one for one. It is one for one. Yeah. So, the grant is covering 100% of

That's right. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? I think we need a motion to accept the first quarter 2026 financial results. I'll move to accept the financial report. Second. Call the role, please. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Miss Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazelbaker, yes. Mr. Mr. Jarnet. Yes. Motion carries 7 to zero.

For income tax, really not much more to to talk about that I haven't spoken about already. It's trending up as of March and then peeking ahead of April's. April's doing very well. So, we'll keep an eye on that and uh hopefully we'll have some good news in the second quarter.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Next, we have selection of the business enhancement award. Uh, we'll start with that one. We just have one nomination for that. Um, we have the information in the in the memo. Mr. Jiren and Mr. Goodyear are the ones that nominated Cocoa Muse. Is there anything that uh either you want to add or give a brief summary of? Yeah, I I think uh uh Coco the co it's called the co the cocoa muse.

Uh the cocoa muse. um right in that area, the uh the the Loveland Gateway Center. It it really has brightened that area up. It's it it it brings attention. There's a lot of people there. I I think it's great. So, and it's u maybe a starting trend for our West Lovelin business corridor. Uh see a lot more of that. Good. Mr. Goodyear, you have anything to add?

I would certainly agree. I think it's a um it's a very nice looking, refreshing location and um I've been there. I think it's a very nice business and I think they've done a great job of um taking that area and making it the best that it can be and so I think that's why they deserve this award. Any other comments?

Sure. Yeah, I I I uh am glad to see uh them nominated here. It's a welcome addition to the to that uh terminus there of West Lovelin and uh Loveland Madiraa. Certainly I agree with Mr. Chair that it's uh it's kind of in uh an opportunity in that spot to be kind of uh you know in that sort of gateway to the uh uh to the downtown or even just part of the fabric of the West Lovelin uh downtown area. So I think that it's a deserving nominee.

Anyone else? All right. So, we don't need a motion. We just need We're just Miss Clark will call the the role on whether you say yes or no. If you're going to award the business enhancement award to the Cocoa Muse, Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Mr. Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Mr. Hazelbaker, yes. Mr. Jarnick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Motion carries seven to zero.

All right, so we have two nominees for the Louis G. Rockwood Community Service Volunteer Award. Um, so again, we're not need to read it, but if uh the nom the nominator, Miss Hamlet, if you want to talk about your nominee, Miss DM, Mr. Daller, I would love to. Um, and unfortunately or fortunately, I guess depending on how you look at it, I hate that there are two nominees at the same time because both of these people represent the best of what Loveland has to offer. But, um, I have nominated Mr. Dolmire because of it's just it's it's incredible what he accomplishes. I first became acquainted with him through the parks and wreck board. Um he is a volunteer extraordinary with building parks or building trails. He is the respon responsible person for the Dyson trail, Tomahawk Trail, about eight bridges, you name it. On top of that, he works tirelessly for uh to eradicate invasive species with Love Our Land. He does the same type of stuff over in Sims Township. Um, I just can't say enough about him and he's an incredible volunteer and for all of those reasons he will have my vote.

Thank you. Then Mr. or Vice Mayor Baitman, you nominated Mark Kuallowski.

Yeah, I I nominated Mark. Uh, in a lot of ways I think uh I I kind of have a um at home I'm like the obsessive recycler and like always putting the you know things pulling them out of the trash and putting them in the recycling bins or peeling the labels off. So Mark uh has always caught my eye as sort of a kindred spirit when it comes to that. uh his work uh in the downtown area uh has always been commendable in the sense that he just takes it upon himself to ensure literally every recycling item is uh is sorted and put in the right bin. Uh and it's not to the detriment of our uh you know public works department or anything. It's just more he's like the extra spot checker or the you know the the the volunteer sorder. And I think um you know he I agree with M with Miss Hamlin that it's a it's it's a pity but it's also maybe speaks to the uh eco volunteerism uh current that runs in Loveland that we've got two people here that really uh commit to uh the natural surroundings of our city and and strengthening that and making it more uh appealing and and cleaner uh and and um So Mark's work uh in the sense of of being so uh dedicated to the cause to recycle uh brought in uh some awareness to the city about some availability grants through Hamilton County. We were able to bring in a lot more recycling bins. And I think the anecdote I wrote in the memo was that I just remember even before I was on council going around downtown and finishing a water bottle and not and wanting to recycle it but not having a receptacle to put it in. And I think that it's really through uh efforts that Mark has put in that same time span, you know, just one item at a time. And if you talk to him, he literally knows the number of items that he's recycled over

this journey. I think it's something close to 700,000 uh individual items properly put into the recycling stream. So anyway, I'm I know I'm rambling on a little bit, but I I think he's a deserving candidate and uh I I proudly nominate Mark Golowski for the uh Louis V. Rockwood Award. Thank you. Any further comments on either of these nominees?

Mostly I have to comment because oh my gosh, I know both of them like really well so so hard. Um appreciate again just to echo that around um Mark like I mean helping to get that grant, getting the bins. Um I mean and I do follow his count and his number and he's been all over the world helping um so I appreciate that. And then obviously I love uh Jim and everything that he's done with the building of the trails and all of the work done with um the I mean just you hear his story and I just absolutely love everything he's done for the city. So I mean I don't know if I'm legally allowed to like split my vote for staying just because I'm torn. I know I'm not for sure. Um I I'll cast a vote for sure. Um but just appreciate um just so much love for love.

All right. Just I want to tag on one last thing. Sorry if you if I may. I I appreciate what you mentioned uh Miss Hazel Baker because a lot of times we'll be looking at this on uh you know reputation so to speak but we are fortunate that both of these uh folks have come in and spoken in front of council and in many ways I think we know uh what each of these uh folks is all about. So I'm excited that uh for for for our city that we have such such a tradition of civic engagement. Any further comment? All right. So, when Miss Clark calls your name, you just say the name of the individual that you are casting your vote for.

Mr. Goodyear. I can't pronounce Mr. Kadalowski. Kadalowski. Thank you, Mr. Kalowski. Miss Hamlin, Jim Dalmire, Mr. Hart. Uh, Mark Kowski, Miss Hazel Baker. This is impossible, but for this year, Mark Kowski, Mr. Jarnick, uh, Mark, Mayor Bailey, Mark Kodalowski, Vice Mayor Baitman, Mark Kowski. You have six votes for Mr. Kalowski and one for Mr. Dalmire.

All right. So, congratulations to our winners tonight and we'll be that'll be coming up one in May sometime you think whenever we can schedule it. Oh, yeah. Our next meeting hopefully. All right. Announcements to help ensure reliable water service. LSFD will be flushing fire hydrants in the months of April and May. Between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. You may experience temporary discolored water, reduced water pressure, sediment in your water. If you experience any of these pro any of these problems, let your cold water run until it clears. Hopefully, we'll be sending lots of social media posts that this is happening, right? Yes. Awesome. Lovelin Farmers Market begins on Tuesday, May 5th from 3 to 6:30 and every Tuesday through the end of October. The Memorial Day parade begins at 9:00 a.m. on May 25th, which is Memorial Day, followed by a ceremony at the Veterans Memorial. Can visit the city's website to register for the parade. We do have um a speaker who actually some of us heard at the yellow ribbon event, the let us never forget uh scholarship in honor of Matt Mopin, Chris Cravens, who is a Marine and served in Afghanistan several tours and uh pretty dynamic speaker and so we're lucky I think to get him for our speaker. That

be great. So fun facts about Llin. Misty outdid herself. In April of 1938, the Lovelin Village Council agreed to furnish fire protection to Sims Township for a period of one year. The annual payment was $175. What a deal. In April of 1941, council adopted an ordinance to regulate the speed of railroad, locomotives, trains, and cars to 25 miles per hour. And those found guilty had to pay a fee of $25.

Seems kind of steep actually.

Um, in April of 1954, sounds familiar. Council adopted an ordinance to regulate parking vehicles on streets and implemented the implemented the use of parking meter zones. The ordinance was adopted due to the congested traffic conditions that existed. The new 1954 Here we are. The numerous vehicles using the streets and the custom and habit of vehicle operators parking for long periods of time. So 92 spaces were identified and the fee ranged from 1 cent to 5 cents in accordance with the time limitations. We now have 48 meter spots in our lovely city. I guess I'll read this one even though you didn't really know the answer, but in April of 1957, council adopted a resolution to build a joint municipal building and post office, which we do have that resolution. It was supposed to be on Jackson Street between second and third streets. So, we think across from what is our current fire station down here.

That never happened. Just another wasted resolution. In April of 1963, council passed a resolution urging congressmen and senators to seek appropriations for the construction of Caesar's Creek Reservoir to help control flooding along the Little Miami River.

In April of 1978, council passed an ordinance authorizing the city manager to install two additional civil defense storm warning sirens. We started to count how many they were and I lost interest in that. But we have a lot and we even have some that did that are in our surrounding townships. Correct. That also feed our our area. Um in April of 1986, a resolution was passed to honor Mr. Lewis Rockwood for his 17 years of service to the community as a member of the planning and zoning commission. And at the same meeting, a second resolution was passed establishing the Lewis G. Rockwood Community Volunteer Service Award. So, 40 years. Wow.

40 years of this. Um, in April of 1999, a resolution was adopted to execute a contract with the Ohio Department of Administrative Services for the purpose of conducting a feasibility study for an indoor drrome cycling athletic facility. Must not have been feasible. In April of 1999, council adopted a resolution declaring a state of emergency in the city of Loveland as a result of the tornado of April 9th, 1999. In April of 2008, city council adopted a resolution supporting the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, the Mopin family, and all United States military personnel. Staff Sergeant Mopin was captured by Iraqi surgeons after a battle on April 9th, 2004 and his remains were found and identified by the US Army on March 21st, 2008. Um, this is an interesting one. Not that long ago, in April of 2011, council passed an ordinance placing a moratorum for a period of 180 days for the granting of any permit allowing the operation of sweep stakes internet cafes within the city. An internet cafe was typically located in storefronts or gas stations. The cafes would sell internet time or phone cards, giving customers entries to sweep stakes, games that mimic slot machines. They were seen as unregulated convenience casinos.

Did we have any that we we had to worry about? Because we moratorium moratorum took care of it. All right. Does anybody else have any announcements that would top all of that? It has to Well, it doesn't it doesn't top it, but it is gratitude for our police department. So, uh just a comment, I got to go on the police ride along. I was the last of the new council members to be able to do so. Um again, Chief Gabrielson, you do an amazing job. Um the easy coordination with officer Jesse Moore. Um I got to ride along with Officer Jenna Fisher and it was amazing. I did have to go downtown to Hamilton County Jail. Oh, wow.

I was not quite mentally ready for that. Um but um it made me just again the professionalism, the care, the understanding. I just loved her approach to how like they just know what to do to keep the peace and I appreciate it. So thank you. All right. Anyone else? Yes, Mr. Hart. Um I am probably behind, but after the park board meeting this past week, I went down over to Dist Park. Uh the stone steps have now been placed in the river and where the uh the two you can see where the swings are going to be. and it is absolutely unbelievable perspective. They have done an incredible incredible job. So, if you haven't been down there yet, if you haven't got an opportunity to walk down there, it is impressive. It's going to be something

and I didn't even realize that was something our public works could do. Pretty pretty an impressive project that they undertook with those steps. Um, anyone else? All right, we do need a motion for executive session. I'll make a motion for executive session under Ohio Revised Code section 121.22G2 to consider the sale of property. Thank you. Call the RO, please. Miss Hamlin, yes. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazel Baker, yes. Mr. Jick, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Vice Mayor Baitman, yes. Good. Yes. Motion carries seven to zero.

Can we have a motion to adjurnn? I made a motion to adjurnn. Second. All the role, please. Okay. Mr. Hart, yes. Miss Hazelbaker, yes. Mr. Janet, yes. Mayor Bailey, yes. Yes. Mr. Goodyear, yes. Hamlin, yes. Motion carries seven.