City Council - Regular Meeting

Good

evening, everyone. I'm gonna call to order the City of Green City Council meeting for Tuesday, 12/09/2025. 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. K. Is roll call of council members. Nicole, could you please call the roll?

Sure thing. Mister Miller?

Here.

Mr. Neugebauer?

Here.

Mr. Noble?

Here.

Mr. Spate?

Here.

Mr. Maker? Here. Mrs. Babbitt? Here. And Mr. DeVitus?

Here. Thank you. Next is council study session. First on the agenda is TMP five thousand one eighty five approval of the 11/10/2025 council meeting minutes. And again, this is the November 10 meeting minutes from two council meetings ago.

Motion to approve. Second.

I have a motion and a second to approve TMP 5,185. Any further discussion?

Call the roll.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Neugebauer? Yes. Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Noble? Yes. Mr. Maker? Abstain. Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. And Mr. De Beas?

Yes.

Okay. Motion carries.

Okay.

Before we go on, tonight

I don't know why I get choked up.

Tonight is the last council meeting for two of our colleagues here today, missus Babbitt, who served with us for eight years, two terms, and mister Miller as well. So anybody that has served this role, has gone through an election process, knows it's not easy. And I think we all do it to serve our communities. I think Mrs. Babbitt and Mr.

Miller have both clearly showed their commitment to the citizens that they represent and always looking out for representing those citizens' opinions, thoughts, and trying to do the business of this council knowing people that they interact with, the people that they represent, and whatnot. So I want to say first that it's a pleasure serving with both of you this evening. And so we do have some plaques of appreciation that I'd like you guys to come forward, and we'll present those to you for just as an appreciation for what you have contributed to the city over over the time that you spent here. Mr. Miller, come over here.

We're gonna do the same thing for you. Let's just do that all together. All right. Next on the agenda is our public report. We do have one person signed up, Mrs.

Karleski.

Pam Karleski, 3878 Greenfield Road. Once again, I would like to compliment Parks and Recreation on the senior holiday lunch. It is an opportunity to greet old friends, meet new ones, and enjoy conversation. The menu this year was different, and I really liked it. A lot of seniors are on the hot dog ground beef chicken cycle, so a braised beef entree was a welcome change.

And the beef was tender and well seasoned. I played bingo, but have not won yet. My grandnieces enjoyed the picture of me with Santa, Rudolph, and a merry elf. I appreciate all the effort that goes into the lunch. I especially appreciate the men who drove the golf cart in the cold to get us to and from the parking lot. Thank you.

Thank you, Pat.

You can publish the thing.

Thank you.

Good job, Valerie.

I will pass it on to the staff, Pat. Pat, thank you. Thanks

again.

Director Carr, how many about how many people do we get to one of these things?

I think we had two twenty this year.

Very good. Well attended. Thank you. Okay. Next, reading of correspondence.

All right. Well, we just have one, and it is the Planning Department's November 2025 monthly financial summary.

Thank you. Okay. Next is new legislation. Items on first reading.

And there is none.

I believe that is the first time that I can recall that that was the case. Thank you, mayor. Anytime. Okay. Next, we're going to redo the report of councils or report of committees, I guess. Thank you. So our first committee to report out is our Finance Committee chaired by Mr. Neuchabauer.

Thank you, Mr. President. Finance Committee did meet at 05:02 p. M. This afternoon. All members were present, myself as Chair, Clark Davittas as Vice Chair and C. J. Meager. We had a number of items of legislation that I'll go through at this time. The first being Resolution twenty twenty five R48A, a resolution approving and adopting the 2026 annual capital appropriations for the city of Green and declaring an emergency.

Just a real brief discussion about this year. It's a $24,000,000.177440 dollars budget for capital. It's about 90% more than last year, and a lot of that was attributed to the anticipated work on the Arlington Road corridor project. So at this time, being on fourth reading, I would like to make a motion to adopt Resolution twenty twenty five R48A. Second.

I have a motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five R48A. Is there any discussion?

Mr. Noble? Mrs. Babbitt? As I have a history of doing, I like to give an explanation when I'm going to vote no on anything and especially something like the capital budget, which is a significant item that comes before counsel every year.

And I want to make clear that I'm not voting against the entire I mean, I have to vote no on this piece of legislation, but I am not opposed to the entire capital budget. A lot of it is appropriate and makes sense, and I know how much work goes into it. So I'll start first by saying I know there's a process, in the way that we come up with our capital budget. I've been a part of it as the finance chair and as the planning, chair before. And I know that we like to to cite that process, when we talk about how we arrive at the budget because it it makes it sound a bit more like a neutral kind of process.

But there really is a lot of room for interpretation in the in the ranking of projects. So it's not it's not perfect. I'm not saying it's a bad system, but, I'm I'm not speaking from a place of not understanding how we get to the point of coming up with the capital budget. And I appreciate all the work that goes into it and all the research that goes into all the projects and the and the consideration. The reason I'm gonna vote against the capital budget this year, is not because I wanna be a thorn in anyone's side or because I wanna be negative or, anti the administration.

But after eight years of these budgets and eight years on council, I am concerned with how we are allocating our significant parks capital budget. We're very, very fortunate to have these the parks capital budget that we have. And over the years, I've just I've seen us devote, in my opinion, too much of it to legacy projects and personal interest projects, and I understand we're a strong mayor form of government. I I've had a council person before say to me that maybe I just didn't understand that. I do understand it.

I think it works really well, and I think our, administration does a great job of taking care of the city and putting together the budgets. But with regard to Parks Capital, I feel like we've gone, astray a little bit. And having seen us take so much money over the past eight years and devote it to purchases like Raintree and the and the core and taking out debt for the core, I am concerned with what we do with the first of all, those choices and continuing to make choices for big projects like that. I think we need to really and I did vote for both of them, but they're taking a significant amount of money. They're taking they're putting us in debt or at least the core is, and it affects how we can use the rest of our parks capital.

And then when I look at how we're allotting that, I'm concerned because I'm seeing projects come up and get funded haven't been around as long as some other projects and that don't serve the whole community. I'm afraid that we're not using our parks capital budget to serve all the people of Green in the way that we should. And I am making reference, as some may be assuming, to Creek Bomb Park, and I and I appreciate the fact that we just vote that we will vote tonight for a restroom for Creek Bomb. But eight years, I've been advocating for us to do something with that parking lot, get the restrooms, and put a small playground there. We have a whole section of our population living over there, a lot of young families, I mean, in Mystic Point and in in that part of Greene, and they walked through that park to go to Uniontown Park to use the playground.

And I don't think that they should have to, and I don't think that it's necessarily safe, and I think that we need to reprioritize and come up with something that serves that side of town a little better. I I feel like we are just devoting our parks resources in the same direction again and again. And, for example, with Raintree, it it is an asset to the community, but we're not doing anything there to give residents a break on golfing or the driving range or making it kind of a special value to them that their city owns that golf course. I want I I need to see I hope to see just more consideration given to the entire city and how we use our city and how the park's capital can be spent in a way that really serves more residents in Green. I'm a little disjointed with this.

So I will say my replacement, in my council seat is a person that's highly regarded by this group, and my hope is that he will continue to advocate for Ward 1 and continue to press to get some kind of a playground over at Creek Creek Bomb Park. And, yes, I know it's not

in Ward 1, and that's kind of funny that I talk about it all the time, and it's technically not in

my ward. But it's park and that area serves a lot of people in my ward. And I I hope that with a new person in this, in this role as the ward one council person, maybe you'll look more, positively on the suggestion that we devote some of our resources that direction and really take a hard look at how we're spending our parks capital and really, really try to use our parks capital within the capital budget in a way that serves more residents better. So I just needed to say that because I don't take no votes lightly, and I definitely don't take a a no vote on, the capital budget lightly, but I wanted to explain why I would be voting the way that I am. Thanks.

Thank you, Mrs. Babbitt. Anybody else? Nicole, please call the vote.

Mr. Nujibar?

Yes.

Mr. De Beas? Yes. Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Noble?

Yes.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Mager? Yes. And Mrs. Babbitt? No. Okay. 2025 r 48 is adopted as amended, six one.

Thank you. Next on our agenda is resolution twenty twenty five R49, a resolution approving and adopting the 2026 annual operating appropriation for the general fund and all other funds for the City Of Greene and declaring an emergency. The operating budget for 2026 was proposed at $47,940,001 This was about a 6.24 increase over the current year budget 2025. A lot of that cost was associated or some of it was associated with opening the core and the staff that was required for that facility. Not a lot of discussion on it today.

We had a much more thorough discussion over the last couple of weeks. So at this time, based on the committee's recommendation, I'm making a motion to adopt Resolution twenty twenty five R49.

Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five dash r 49. Is there any discussion?

Please call vote.

Mister Neugebauer? Yes. Mister DeVitus? Yes. Mister Miller?

Yes.

Mister Noble? Yes. Mister Spade?

Yes.

Mister Mayer?

Yes.

Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Okay. 2025 R49 is adopted, seven-zero.

Thank you. Next on the agenda was Resolution twenty twenty five R50AA, a resolution modifying appropriations within certain funds in order to provide sufficient funding and declaring emergency. This was introduced on October 28. It was amended on November 10 and then subsequently amended this evening, December 9. This evening, there was some funds that were given back through various departments that were no longer needed for the year and some additional costs.

Director Goodrich gave a nice summary in committee. Essentially, the giveback is $1,482,881.99 The total amount of expenditures needed in this modification was $531,993.54 That resulted in a net giveback of $950,888.45 Committee recommended that we bring this to vote this evening, and so I'll make a motion to adopt Resolution two twenty five R50 as amended again on 12/09/2025.

Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five R50 amended twice. Any discussion? Please call the vote.

Mr. Nujibar?

Yes.

Mr. DeVitus? Yes. Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Noble? Yes. Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Mager?

Yes.

And Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Okay. 2025 R50 is adopted as amended today, seven to zero.

Okay. Thank you. For those following along with the agenda, we skipped the next two items until later in the meeting, and we moved on to Resolution twenty twenty five R55. This is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a financing agreement with Consumers Bank for three twenty twenty five Kenworth T480 five ton vehicles from Kenworth of Canton and declaring an emergency. We had a brief discussion on this today.

Again, this was on third reading. One of the clarifications was the legislation says three twenty twenty five Kenworth five ton vehicles, and one of those will be replaced with a twenty twenty six. Other than that, all three vehicles cost $264,155 financed through Consumers Bank at a rate of 4.17%, resulting in annual payments per vehicle of $58,680 per year for five years, at which time the city will retain ownership of those vehicles when the lease runs out. Again, the committee requested that we bring us to vote this evening, and so I'll make a motion to adopt Resolution twenty twenty five R55.

Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five dash r 55. Is there any discussion?

I call please call the vote.

Mister Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mister DeBeatas?

Yes.

Mister Miller?

Yes.

Mister Noble?

Yes.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Mager?

Yes.

And Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Okay. 2025 dash r 55 is adopted seven zero.

Thank you. Next on the agenda was resolution twenty twenty five dash r 57 a, an emergency resolution declaring the necessity and intention to appropriate for street purposes certain fee simple interests, temporary and permanent easements in and to various premises along County Road 15, Arlington Road, altogether with the necessary appurtenances to be further identified as the Arlington Road corridor improvement project, some CR fifteen-3.55 project and declaring emergency. Essentially, is legislation required to move forward with the Arlington Road improvement projects next year. As we mentioned earlier in our budget discussion, dollars 18,000,000 project, The city did attempt to acquire rights of way for the project from all the property owners in the quarter. We're unable to reach an agreement with some of the property owners, less than 50%.

And so this legislation is necessary to give the city authorization to use the courts then to finish the process of acquiring the rights to move forward with that project. Again, the committee requested that we bring this to vote. And at this time, I'd like to make a motion to adopt twenty twenty five R57A.

Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five r 57 a. Is there any discussion? Okay. Hearing none, please call the vote.

Mr. Neugebauer? Yes. Mr. DeVitus?

Yes.

Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Noble? Yes. Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Mager?

Yes.

And Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. K. 2025 dash r 57 is adopted as amended, seven zero.

Okay. Thank you. Next on our agenda was resolution twenty twenty five dash R59, a resolution authorizing the city of Green to enter an agreement with Brennan, Manna and Diamond LLC to provide specialized legal services and declaring an emergency. We had a brief discussion on this today. Basically, this is the law firm that will assist us in the work of filing the appropriations for the Arlington Road project with the courts and moving to finalize those with the property owners. Again, the committee requested that we bring us to vote this evening. And at this time, I'd like to make a motion to adopt the Resolution twenty twenty five R59.

Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five R59. Is there any discussion?

Please call vote. Mr. Neubauer? Yes. Mr. DeVitus? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Mr.

Noble? Yes.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Mager? Absein. And Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Okay. 2025 dash r 59 is adopted six zero.

Okay. Thank you. And next is resolution twenty twenty five dash r 60, a resolution authorizing a city green to enter into an agreement with Kavanaugh Building Corporation for the installation of utilities and related site work for the installation of a prefabricated restroom building at Creek Farm Park, making an appropriation and declaring emergency. Typically, the city, when we built prior restroom facilities, built brick and mortar buildings. They typically ran about four 100 50,000.

And this time, the administration decided to move forward with a prefab restroom facility that will provide four family style restrooms for those who are at Creek Palm Park to use restroom facilities. This replaces the temporary porta potties that they've used there for years. And so I think it's a good upgrade to that park. The total amount of the contract for Cavanaugh is $76,040 They will be doing the utility work related to the project and the city will be doing the concrete clearing and grading work. Altogether, it's an expenditure of about $104,000 in addition to the $350,000 that was spent to purchase and deliver the prefabbed restroom facility.

Again, the committee requested we move forward on this this evening. So at this time, I'd like to make a motion to adopt Resolution twenty twenty five R60.

Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt Resolution twenty twenty five R60. Is there any discussion?

Nicole, please call the vote.

Mr. Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mr. DeBeatas?

Yes.

Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Noble? Yes. Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Mager?

Yes.

And Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Okay. 2025 R60 is adopted, seven-zero.

Thank you. The next three pieces of legislation, recuse myself. And in my absence, Vice Chair of the Finance Committee, Clerk DeVitus, covered these items. And so this time, I'd like him to go through those discussions.

Thank you, Mr. Neucherbauer. The first item we discussed was twenty twenty five R51, a resolution authorizing the city of Green to enter into a contract with Environmental Design Group, LLC, to provide municipal engineering services from 01/01/2026 through 12/31/2028, and declaring an emergency. So as the title says, this would be for municipal engineering services over a three year term with Environmental Design Group. These firms are put through a quality selection process within our city.

And EDG came out at the top and has been recommended to us by the administration to for us to contract with. We've been working with this firm since as early as 'ninety three. And again, they ranked the highest in this process, and that's why they're before us tonight. So we had discussion on this item at our last two meetings and opened it up tonight, and there was no new discussion brought forth by committee or counsel. And the committee did concur to bring it to a vote. So I will move to adopt twenty twenty five R51. Second.

I have a motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five dash r 51. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. Nicole, please call

the roll. Mr. DeVitus?

Yes.

Mr. Mager?

Yes.

Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Nugibar?

I abstain.

Mr. Noble? Yes. Mr. Spate?

Yes.

And Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Okay. 2025 R51 is adopted. Six zero.

Thank you. The next item we discussed was 2025 R52AA, a resolution authorizing the city of Green to enter into contracts with various planning, architecture, historic preservation, landscape architecture and surveying firms for professional services for a three year term commencing 01/01/2026 and declaring an emergency. Again, very similar piece of legislation as the last one. However, instead of just the engineering services, it covers a wide array of different firms that the city needed a contract with. Again, this went through the city's quality selection process.

And attached to this legislation is a list of the firms that they desire to contract with. We had discussion on this matter at our past two council meetings, And no new discussion was brought forth from committee or council tonight. And the committee did decide to bring it to a vote. So I will make a motion to adopt 2025 R52

AA as amended on 11/25/2025. Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five R52 AA. Is there any further discussion? Please call the vote.

Mr. DeVitus.

Yes.

Mr. Mager?

Yes.

Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Neugebauer?

I abstain.

Mr. Noble? Yes. Mr. Spate?

Yes.

And Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Okay. 2025 R52 is adopted as amended, six zero.

Thank you. The last item that was discussed was 2025 R61, a resolution authorizing the City of Green to enter into an agreement with Environmental Design Group for the development of site improvement plans for Kleckner Park, making an appropriation and declaring an emergency. So this is for a $24,900 contract with EDG to continue our desire to develop Kloeckner Park as an ADA compliant park facility. Obviously, continuing with the adaptive ball fields, this contracted project will be for the design and installation of concrete paths that would be ADA compliant, connecting things like our fields to the bathrooms and dugouts and so on from there. Again, this would be $24,900 We did discuss this with committee and counsel.

No new comments were brought forth tonight. And we did double check with our service director who states that it will probably the project will probably commence in the spring of next year and therefore, would be ready for the summer, I would hope so. And the committee did decide to concur that we should bring it to a vote tonight. So this being on third reading, I will make a motion to adopt twenty twenty five R61. Second.

I have a

motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five R61. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, please call the vote.

Mr. DeBeatas? Yes. Mr. Mayer?

Yes.

Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Neugebauer?

I abstain.

Mr. Noble? Yes. Mr. Spate? Yes. And Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. All right. 2025 R61 is adopted, six-zero.

Thank you. That was all the items we discussed in Mr. Nujibauer's absence, and I'll turn it back over to him. Thank you, Mr. Nujiboutis. The committee had no or no old or new business come before us, and we adurned at 05:42 p. M.

Thank you, Mr. Nugibauer. The next committee to report is Environment and Parks, chaired by Mr. Miller.

Thank you, Mr. Noble. All members of the committee were present. However, we had no items of legislation for discussion, and there were no new or old items of business, so we did not meet.

Thank you. Next committee to report is public safety chaired by missus Babbitt.

Thank you. All members were present, and the public safety committee did meet this evening. First, we received a presentation from Larry Brown and captain McCutcheon of the Summit County Sheriff's Department telling us about, the presence that the sheriff's department will now have here at the cab and how the office structure, has changed a bit. And the Summit County Sheriff's Officers who serve Green will now be able to report here, do their roll call here, maintain offices here. They they will not be bringing offenders into the building.

That will still happen at Fire Station Number 2. But it should having their presence and having them operating out of the cab should make the cab a safer place and really just be good for the administration and for the residents of Green having our our safety force, having them located right here in the cab building. So if you have any more interest in learning about those changes, I say I recommend going back to, the tape of our committee meeting, and you can hear that presentation. We also heard from, mister Pickett, the city engineer, who just wanted to let everyone know that, the administration is considering coming up with a law that would ban the use of truck engine brakes, Jake brakes in the city of Green. He just, told us that, you know, we have that he has received concerns from, residents, and and so it's just something that, they're putting out there for the council to consider, and, hopefully, we'll see some legislation on that.

Well, I won't, but hopefully, some legislation will be seen on that in the near future. And then we had one item before us, a license item that was TMP500186, Kittles Brick Oven Liquor License LLC ownership change, 3700 Massillon Road. And really, this was just a name change on the LLC documents. Really, no concerns over safety or anything that needed to be looked into. It's just a housekeeping matter. So at this point, I will move that we do not request the state hold a hearing on TMP 5,186.

I second. I have a motion and a second to not hold a hearing on TMP five thousand one eighty six. Is there any discussion? Call, please call the vote.

Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Nujibar?

Yes.

Mr. Noble? Yes. Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Mager?

Yes.

And Mr. DeVitus? Yes. Okay. Motion carries.

There was no other business to come before public safety, and we were adjourned.

Thank you, Mrs. Babbitt. Our next committee to report is planning, community, and economic development chaired

by Mr. DeVitus. Thank you, Mr. President. Myself, Mr. Neugebauer, and Mr. Spate were present for planning committee tonight. We did have two items before us, and we held a meeting. The first of which was twenty twenty five-twelve, an ordinance changing the zoning classification of approximately 30.5 acres of land located at the Northeast Corner of Greensburg Road and winning way from R1 single family residential to PD plan development and accepting the conceptual site plan of the proposed Greensburg Meadow plan development. There was a request from the developer to withdraw this legislation as they reconsider their plans, and we discussed that amidst committee.

And the committee did have concurrence to withdraw that legislation. So I'm formally withdrawing at this time. The second item is on second reading. It's twenty twenty five R66, a resolution adopting a moratorium on accepting applications for and the granting of zoning certificates for any vape shops for a period not to exceed twelve months in order to allow the city to reveal review applicable state and local laws to plan for regulations relating to such uses and declaring an emergency. This item does have a second reading passage being requested tonight.

This would be a resolution that halts any issuances of zoning certificates for vape shops as we consider how to move forward with issuing those if there needs to be any regulations or any changes to our ordinances just to make sure we are doing those in the safest manner possible and protecting the well-being of our residents as we have concerns being brought from residents and safety forces and council members as well. I'd like to thank Mr. Spate, Mr. Mager, as well as the city administration for their efforts in bringing this before the council. And I look forward to seeing what kind of solution we come up with before the end of this moratorium.

So for now, this is where we stand. I will it's on second reading. So at this point, I will make a motion to bypass the three reading rule for 2025 R66.

Second. I have a motion and a second to to bypass the three reading rule for 2025 dash r 66. Is there any discussion? Nicole, please call the vote.

Mister DeVias?

Yes.

Mr. Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Noble?

Yes.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Mager?

Yes.

And Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Okay. Motion carries.

And at this time, I will make a motion to adopt '20 25 R 66.

Second. I have a

motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five dash r sixty six. Any discussion? Call, please call the vote.

Mr. Degitas? Yes. Mr. Neubauer?

Yes.

Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Noble?

Yes.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Mager?

Yes.

And Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Okay. 2025 R66 is adopted, seven-zero.

Thank you. There is no old or new business brought before the committee tonight, and we adjourned.

Thank you, Mr. DeVitus. The next committee to report is the Rules and Personnel Committee, which I chair. All members were present, myself, Mrs. Babbitt, and Mr.

Miller. We did have two items of legislation on third reading, So we did meet. The first item is twenty twenty five dash r 54, a resolution authorizing the city of Green to enter into an agreement with Zacian Enrich Company, LPA, to provide specialized legal services in the area of labor and employment for the purpose of contract negotiations and declaring emergency. So this legislation, again, is for legal services associated with renegotiating our fire contract. We normally do outside services to institute this these negotiations.

So at this time, I'm gonna make a motion to adopt 2025DashR54. Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt 2025DashR54. Is there any discussion?

Please call the vote.

Mr. Noble? Yes. Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Mager?

Yes.

And Mr. DeBitis?

Yes.

Okay. Twenty twenty five dash r fifty four is adopted 07/00.

Okay. Next on the, next item on the agenda is twenty twenty five dash 15 a, a ordinance amending the rules of the civil service commission of the city of Green. So during a committee, we had a conversation about this. The administration has made a request that that this legislation, become effective immediately after passage. And in order, in accordance with our rules for that to happen, it has to be, declared emergency.

And so, again, this is our civil service rules we have. And the changes to these center around two things, upgrading the rules to address Americans with Disability Act related items to be compliant and considerate of persons with disabilities, but also to give our directors some flexibility in some of the other processes within the civil service process for hiring. There was a multiyear process that this went through between requests from our director, legal opinions on it, working with our civil service commission as well who approved this to get to the point we are here today. So with that, the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to make a motion to amend twenty twenty five dash 15 a to say an ordinance amending rules of the civil service commission of the city of DeGree and declaring an emergency. So we are adding and declaring emergency to to the heading of this legislation.

Second.

So I have a motion and a second to amend twenty twenty five dash 15 a, to include in declaring an emergency, to the language. Is there any further discussion?

Please call the vote.

Mister Noble? Yes. Missus Babbitt? Yes. Mister Miller?

Yes.

Mister Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mister Spate?

Yes.

Mister Maker?

Yes.

Mister DeVitus?

Yes.

Okay. Motion carries.

Okay. And now I'm going make a motion to adopt twenty twenty five-15A as amended by my previous statement here today on December 9. I guess that's all I need to say. Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five dash 15 a as amended on 12/09/2025.

What do I need to say? I think I get confused. The roll, please.

All right. Mr. Noble? Yes. Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Maker?

Yes.

And Mr. DeVitus?

Yes.

K. Twenty twenty five dash 15 is adopted as amended on the floor, today, seven zero.

Alright. Okay. So we have some appointments here. We were given some resumes of various appointments. This is council board and commission appointments. The first of which is, Matt Glasner, for design review board. This is a re up. Mike Hughes from the Veterans Commission is also re up. How do you say this? Is it Stacy or Stacia?

Stacia.

Stacia Brooks of the audit committee, as well. Okay. So what should I do about the rest of this? Should do it separately?

Yeah. That's a separate thing.

Okay. So I am going to make a motion to approve the three board and commission appointments that I just stated. Second. Sorry. Okay. I have a motion and a second to reappoint Matt Glasner, Mike Hughes, and Stacia Brooks. Is there any further discussion? Okay. Please call the roll.

Mister Noble?

Yes.

Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Maker?

Yes.

And Mr. DeBitis?

Yes.

Okay. Motion carries.

Okay. So do we need to confirm and vote on these other ones then too. Is that correct? Okay. So the next item is is the confirmation of mayoral appointments to to various boards and commissions. So I am Yep. Do we want to talk about this at all, Mayor? Do you want to say anything about this or not?

Most of these thank you, Mr. President. Most of these are simply individuals who are being reappointed. Robert Incorvati for Board of Zoning Appeals Curtis Diebold for Design Review Board Mary Tanner for Historic Preservation Commission. Those are all folks who are well established, doing a great job, I'm seeking to reappoint them. The only new person is Todd Daniels for Planning and Zoning Commission. He would act as alternate. Maria Thrasher, the current alternate, would move into the seat for Christy Lodroski, who is resigning.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. So I'm gonna make a motion to approve the mayor boards and commission appointments as indicated in TMP 5,188. Second. I have a motion and a second to approve TMP five one eight eight. Is there any discussion? Okay. Please call the vote.

Mister Noble? Yes. Missus Babbitt? Yes. Mister Miller?

Yes.

Mister Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mister Speight?

Yes.

Mister Menger? Yes. Mister DeVitus? Yes. Okay. Motion carries.

All right. Thank you. And I just want to make a comment about the boards and commissions. So we have a lot of resident volunteers that support a variety of boards and commissions. For some of them, they have to take time out of their work to attend meetings.

And they also attend pub they're at public meetings and sometimes get the brunt of of the public as you're doing planning and zoning things or other things. So it's a very important thing for them to do it and have these people to do it. And and, you know, as a councilman and somebody who had sat on these boards and commission, I thank each and every one of them for the time that they serve and the efforts they put into their boards and commissions. So thank all of you. Okay.

Is there any other old or new business, for the Rules and Personnel Committee? Okay. All right. That concludes my report then. We'll move on to Transportation Connectivity and Stormwater chaired by Mr. Meager.

Thank you, mister president. Myself, mister Noble, and mister Neugebauer are all present. So the storm our transportation connectivity and stormwater committee did meet. There were, four items before us, the first being on third reading. That is twenty twenty five dash r 53, a resolution allowing the mayor to apply for federal transportation alternatives program funds programmed by the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study for the Stees Road sidewalk extension project in the current emergency.

So this project is a discussion or to apply for a funding for an extension of the Steese existing Steese Road sidewalk about a quarter mile down the road on Steese Road. The city is requesting a million dollars in TOS of funds, with the current estimated project total being $1,857,250 By committing us to this, the city is gonna be responsible for these 20% eligible costs, and the hope is that additional funds can be obtained through grant process to pay for more, if not all the remaining portion there. We did have Mr. Pickett come up and display some visuals that they used to at a committee I'm sorry, a community meeting at a residence house on Steese Road. So if you'd like to see what the projected renderings look like, you can go back and look at the committee for this committee to see those.

Those are just rough estimates till we get some additional funds to pay for the engineering, but that gives you a rough idea of what that's going to look like. This being on third reading at this time at the concurrence of committee, I'll make a motion to adopt twenty twenty five R53. Second. I have a

motion and second to adopt twenty twenty five R53. Is there any discussion?

Mr. Noble? Yes. Once again, I'm going to vote no on this one, and I'll say why. I think that a sidewalk here is a good idea, as far as a mechanism to get people to the schools and Central Park and keep them safe while doing it, especially kids.

The reason that I'm voting against seeking the grant is because of the, commitment to make the sidewalk eight feet wide. As you or as Steese Road, goes southeast from where the current sidewalk ends, the houses are older and much closer to the road and and just become even closer as you proceed down Steese. And I just don't think a an eight foot sidewalk takes into consideration how much we will be infringing on the yards of those property owners on Steese Road. I think that the same, goal of safety could be achieved by putting in a five foot sidewalk. So, not gonna vote for this simply because of the width of the sidewalk.

I just think we have to give a little bit more consideration to, our homeowners, our residents, and their needs. And Green is not it's not a new community. It's not one size fits all. We have some homes in Green that are older, have been there longer, and are not constructed in the same way or with the same amount of frontage, large front yards that our newer homes have. And I just think that when we're doing these sidewalks, we need to take into consideration the homeowners along the way. And I'm I don't feel that the eight foot proposed here does that.

Thank you, Mrs. Babbitt. Anybody else? Okay. Please call the vote.

Mr. Maker?

Yes.

Mr. Noble?

Yes.

Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Neugebauer? Yes. Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Missus Babbitt? No. And mister DeVias?

Yes.

Okay. 2025DashR53 is adopted six to one.

Thank you. Next up, is twenty twenty five dash r 58. It's a resolution allowing the mayor to apply for federal surface transportation block grant, STBG, fund programmed by the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, AMATS, for the Arlington Road Reservicing Project in the current emergency. So this project project relates to the resurfacing that's gonna occur at East Turkey Foot Lake Road or 619 North on Arlington Road to the outer city limits there. The total project cost is $1,800,000 The city's requesting $1,000,000 in STBG funds, and the city would be responsible for at least 20% of those eligible costs.

This being on third reading, no further, discussion or questions were had about this piece of legislation. So at this time, I'd like to make a motion to adopt twenty twenty five R58. Second. I have a motion and a

second to adopt twenty twenty five R58. Any discussion?

Nicole, please call the vote.

Mr. Maker? Yes. Mr. Noble? Yes. Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. And Mr. DeVitas?

Yes.

Okay. 2025 r 58 is adopted, seven zero.

Thank you. Next up is twenty twenty five dash r 62, a resolution allowing the mayor to apply for federal surface transportation block grant, STBG, fund program at the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, AMATs, for the Greensburg Road Reservicing Project and Declaring Emergency. So this project is similar to Orange And Road's Reservicing project that's gonna occur on Greensburg Road. It's gonna start at Lobby Road and go east towards the eastern border of the city of Green. The current estimated total project cost is $700,000 The city is requesting $520,000 in STBG funds.

And if approved, the funds being granted, the city will be responsible for at least 20% of those eligible costs. Again, this has been talked about three times. There's no further discussion, questions regarding this piece of legislation. So at this time, I'd like to make a motion to adopt twenty twenty five R62.

Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five dash r sixty two. Any discussion? Please call vote. Go.

Mr. Maker? Yes. Mr. Noble? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Mr. Neugebauer? Yes. Mr. Spate? Yes. Missus Babbitt? Yes. And mister DeVitus? Yes. K. 2025 dash r 62 is adopted 07/00.

Thank you. And finally, on second reading, is twenty twenty five dash r 65, emergency resolution dedicating real property as a public right of way in declaring an emergency. This has been requested by the administration to be passed on second reading. The reason for that has been discussed previously regarding the right of way acquisition that's occurring along Arlington Road and the need to get these under wraps before the end of the year. So this particular item relates to a piece of property that's owned by the City of Green that's right there in Arlington Road where Butler Road dead ends.

And the purpose of this right of way acquisition is to allow for the building of the roundabout there on Butler and Arlington Road. As stated, administration has asked for second reading passage, so we did discuss this at length for at least two meetings. There's no further discussion or questions tonight. So at the concurrence of committee, I'll make a motion to bypass the three reading rule for 2025 R65. Second. I have a motion

and a second to bypass the three reading rule for 2025 R65. Is there any discussion?

Call, please call vote.

Mr. Maker? Yes. Mr. Noble? Yes. Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. Mr. DeVitus? Yes. Motion carries.

Thank you. That was all the items before this

I think

I adopted Oh,

I thought I did that. Okay. Well, thank you very much. So at this time, I'll make a motion to adopt twenty twenty five dash r sixty five. Second.

I have a motion and a second to adopt 2025DashR65. Is there any discussion? Call the vote.

Mr. Maker? Yes. Mister Noble?

Yes.

Mister Miller?

Yes.

Mister Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mister Sate? Yes. Missus Babbitt? Yes. And mister DeVitus? K. Twenty twenty five dash r sixty five is adopted 07/00.

Thank you, mister president and madam clerk for that. That conclude all the items of legislation for this committee. There is no other new or old business to come before the committee, and we adjourned at 06:46 p. M. Our next committee to report is Intergovernmental and Utilities chaired by Mr. Spade.

Thank you, Mr. President. Myself, Mr. Mager, and Mr. Noble are all here this evening. We did have two items in third reading. First one was twenty twenty five R56, a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with the County of Summit for an animal control contract and declaring an emergency. This is renewing our contract for five years, and this covers, help from the, from Summit County with any dog issues in the city of Green. This is third reading. And at this time, I motion to move to pass twenty twenty five R56.

Second. A motion and a second to adopt twenty twenty five R56. Is there any discussion? Cole, please call the vote.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Maker?

Yes.

Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Neugebauer? Yes. Mr. Noble? Yes. Mrs. Babbitt? Yes. And Mr. DeVitus?

Yes.

Okay. 20 25 dash r 56 is adopted seven zero.

And I'm sorry, this next piece of legislation is on second reading. This is 2025 R67, a resolution directing the mayor of the city of Green in coordination with the city's managed IT services provider to set and implement standards to protect against cybersecurity threats and ransomware attacks on declaring an emergency. We did have a good presentation on this at the last council meeting and by Director Goodrich this evening. Basically, by moving forward with this legislation, it will put us in compliance with House Bill 96, which is a requirement by the state of Ohio that we bring all of our security up to speed with state standards. Since this is second reading and the administration is asking for second reading passage, I make a motion to bypass the three reading rule on 2025 R-sixty seven.

Second. I have a motion and a second to bypass the three reading rule on twenty twenty five dash r 67. Is there any discussion? Nicole, please call the vote.

Mr. Spate? Yes. Mr. Mager?

Yes.

Mister Miller? Yes. Mister Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mister Noble?

Yes.

Missus Babbitt? Yes. And mister DeVitus?

Yes.

Okay. Motion carries.

And now I move to adopt 2025 R 67.

Second. Have I a motion and a second to adopt 2025 Dash R67. Is there any discussion? Please call the vote.

Mister Spate?

Yes.

Mister Maker?

Yes.

Mister Miller?

Yes.

Mister Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mister Noble? Yes. Missus Babbitt? Yes. Mister DeVitus?

Yes.

All right. Twenty twenty five dash r sixty seven is adopted 07/00.

All right. We had no new or unfinished business to come before committee, and we have earned at six fifty two.

Thank you, Mr. Spate. Next on the agenda is our mayor's report.

Thank you, Mr. President. By way of update, special thanks to Santa, his team and all city employees and volunteers for making our Christmas at Central Park a magical time for green families. The new addition of the Christmas village around the pond was a big hit. Kids and families had a really good time.

Green leadership applications are open once again through December 31. The City of Green is accepting applications for the Green Community Leadership Initiative, an in-depth civic leadership program designed for businesses. And community leaders who live or work in Green are interested in becoming more engaged in shaping the city's future. We are currently seeking sponsors for our twenty twenty six park events. Sponsorships range from $500 to $2,000 for our smaller events and up to $25,000 for Freedom Fest.

Currently, have several sponsors already, including Sarah Auto Park, who is generously sponsoring our Central Park Summer Celebration, the concert series. Consumers Bank is sponsoring the children's stage at Freedom Fest as well as a supporting sponsor at the summer celebration and Artapalooza. Additional sponsors include Aerial Corporation at Freedom Fest and Evans Insurance, who is sponsoring a pickleball tournament. Details on sponsorships may be found at cityofgreen.org/sponsorships. By way of events, we have officially closed out the Great eight Race Series with the Turkey Trot.

Collectively, the eight race series has earned more than $200,000 with 4,500 total runners. Special thanks to our annual sponsors, Toth Buick GMC and Acme Fresh Market. Also thanks to our in kind sponsors, Dynamark and Mimi Magazine. Tickets are available for our annual holiday concert featuring the Akron Symphonic Winds on Tuesday, December 16 at 7PM at the Chapel In Green. Tickets are $6 for adults, dollars 3 for kids, three to 17.

Kids under three are free. Purchase tickets online at cityofgreen.org or at the door. City offices are closed for the holiday on December 2526 and January 1. City this year is Thursday, January 29 at Green High School. Doors will open at six. The address will be at 7PM. Mr. President, that concludes my report. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Okay. So next is unfinished business.

I do want to make

a couple of notes here. Two weeks from now is 12/23, the '2 the Tuesday before Christmas. There will be no council meeting on 12/23, so this is our last city council meeting for the year. And then following up that, the next time that we meet will be our organizational meeting of the at the beginning of the year, which is on it's a Monday, right? Which is on Monday, 01/05, so January 5 at 5PM, where we'll swear in all the newly elected council persons and do council leadership at that meeting.

So that's the up and coming schedule for us. Is there any other unfinished or new business?

Yes. Mr. President, I would like to say something real quick here at my final meeting as Ward 3 councilperson. I just want say, you know, thank you to a couple of people here, council members who welcomed me into the club here. I've enjoyed working with all of you and being part of all of this. Council Clerk, you helped me tremendously learn and kind of get comfortable as much as that was possible. So thank you for that. The entire administration team, you know, you guys are fantastic. We are blessed here within our community here, agreeing to have all of you here. We have a fantastic mayor.

We have a fantastic team. I want to say thank you to all of you for working with me and allowing me to cause you some problems, Ms. Wax Carr, at times. But we got through it all, and it was an enjoyable time to work through it. So thank you for that.

I had to sit next to you.

You did. Well, I will cover that in a second. I would also like to say thank you to Ms. Pat. You know, you've been at practically every meeting that I've been in attendance at. And I think as a community member, that's fantastic. And I would encourage other community members who might be watching this to come and visit a council meeting periodically or regularly. But it's been great to get to know you, Ms. Pat, and thank you for your contributions into the meetings. We also don't always see eye to eye, and I think that's what's valuable here that you come and you share your thoughts.

And I think that's awesome and it's been a pleasure to get to know you. Those who know me know that I really do appreciate the opportunity to come in and serve and be part of all of this. So thank you for that. Know, thinking back to when I threw my hat into this the opportunity to be appointed into this spot, it was like a lot of things that I've done. I did not know what I did not know.

And but as I've gotten into it, I it also turned out like a lot of things. I was glad that I did it, and I'm really grateful. I trusted those in the room who voted to say, Rick, you can do this. You're the right guy for this. And so I'm glad I trusted all of you, and I appreciate the fact that you guys said, Let's make a run at this. I don't think it's coincidental that I got placed between a former mayor and the law director in my spot because they could elbow me when I said the wrong thing, which has happened a few times, and they could help me kind of along the road. So thanks for guiding me, Ms. Dean and Mr. Neussbauer. It's been great.

I think the last thing I wanted to kind of comment on was I really I do think it's an honor to me to be placed in this position by those who knew what it took to be in this role. And I know that as I ran for reelection, there were people who said, Well, Rick, you weren't you weren't elected. You're not officially a council person, so I'm not going to vote for you because you were appointed. And I actually thought of it the opposite way, you know. I thought it was kind of an honor and I took a lot of pride in being put in this position by the people that actually knew what the role meant and what it took to be a good council person.

So, easy to say for me as the person that lost, I like that part. If maybe 27 or 28 more people had thought that was a good thing too, I'd still be here. But thank you, guys. I really appreciate it.

Thank you, Rick.

Do you want me to speak? You want? Thanks, everyone. It's been great. I don't have a speech prepared like Mr. Miller. It's been a very important part of my life for the last eight years. It's been an honor to serve the residents of Ward 1, and, I appreciate everyone here and the effort that you make to keep Green a great place to live. So thank you, and I'm out.

Okay. Well, I thank both of you and thank counsel, too, for my role as counsel president is coming to an end as well. And so we don't we haven't typically had people hold this role year over year, so you'll have a new counsel president. So I appreciate as well everybody entrusting me with this role and helping me along the way. And much like Mr. Miller, it's like being elbowed through the process, making sure we're trying to follow processes and everything. It's been a pleasure. We'll elect a new Council President on the fifth is what we said. So Mr. Noble, if

I may, I just want to thank you for your leadership this year. And we were in Columbus on a Tuesday, Jeff had to drive home at four or three for a council meeting. And then he drove back to Columbus just aware of the importance of his role as Council President. So thank you, Mr. Noble. You did a great job and displayed a lot of leadership this year. So thank you. Thank you.

Okay. We do have refreshments. There's still cupcakes and cookies and coffee and some water and drinks there for anybody who wants to stay and give some personal well wishes to Mrs. Babbitt and Mr. Miller. But other than that, I will make a motion to adjourn this meeting. Second. I have a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting. Nicole, please call the roll.

Mister Noble? Yes. Mister Spate?

Yes.

Mister Miller?

Yes.

Mister Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mister Meager?

Yes.

Missus Babbitt? Yes. And mister DeVitus? Yes. Okay.

Meeting adjourned.