City Council - Regular Meeting

like this. Yeah. I think but thank you for offering. Yeah. So, all right. Are we in? All right. I'd like to start today's council meeting. Um I'm sorry.

Okay. Today is January 22nd, 2026. for our council meeting. We're going to have the invocation by Todd Martin from Liberty Life Church and then we'll have the in he'll do the invocation and then it'll be followed by the pledge of allegiance by Councilwoman Sice. All right, let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your grace and your mercy um that you have shown us. Lord, tonight we come together and we pray over our city. Yes.

We pray Lord that you would guide and lead. Give us wisdom and discernment on steps that we are to take, Lord. And I pray over every city official and all of our first responders, Lord, that you would take care of them and bless them and protect them. And uh Lord, we we just give this time to you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you. I [clears throat] pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Well, welcome everyone. I'd like to call to order the regular conference for the city of Zenaia Council for 20 22 20 uh 22 uh I'm sorry, January 22, 2026. Um, a roll call, please. Vice President Crawford, [clears throat] here. Councilwoman Serie, present. Councilwoman Huffman, here. Councilman Rubio, here. Mayor Reynolds here. President Smith, Mr. Vice President. I move to excuse uh, Council Member, sorry, Council President Wesley Smith. Okay. Thank you, Ethan. Do I have a second? Yes. Council Sice. Thank you. All right. Call the

now. Can we have a roll call? Vice President Crawford? Yes. Councilwoman Sice? Yes. Councilwoman Huffman. Hi. Councilman Rubio. Hi. Mayor Reynolds. Hi. Motion carries. All right. Next on the agenda, we have the approval for minutes for January 5th of 2026, a special meeting. Are there any additions or corrections? Mr. President, I move to pass uh approved minutes of the last meeting. Okay. Do I have a So, do I have a second? I'll second. Okay. So, Mr. Rubio second it and Mr. Reynolds approved it. Roll call. Okay. Roll call, please. Vice President Crawford, I. Councilwoman Sice, I. Councilwoman Huffman, I. Councilman Rubio, I. Mayor Reynolds, hi.

Motion carries. All right. Next, we have an approval for the minutes of January 8th, 2026, the regular meeting. Are there any corrections or additions? I move to approve the amendments of the last meeting for January 8th, 2026. Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. Uh, do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Rubio. I. Roll call, please. Vice President Crawford, I. Councilwoman Sice, I. Councilwoman Huffman, I. Councilman Rubio, I. Mayor Reynolds. Hi. Motion carries.

All right. Tonight we have a special presentation. Um, and we're blessed to have him here. Um, his name is Joe Braden, the West Central Lison with the Ohio [snorts] Auditor of the State. is here for a special presentation. Thank you for [clears throat] coming. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, it is great to be here tonight again on behalf of auditor state Keith Favor to present the honor of state award with distinction to the city of Zenaia. Key word there being again. Um, I spoke with Ryan Wright just a couple minutes ago. Seven years in a row. Is that correct? It's been nine.

It's been nine years in a row. Oh, sorry. Nine years in a row. I started in late 2017 and you've come every year that I've been here. Fantastic.

Well, I I stand corrected and that's that's a great thing to be corrected on to have two more years there in nine years to note this. It's very important to note this puts the city of Zenia in a very select group. The auditor states office audits about 4,200 entities annually and we audit about 6,000 entities in total and less than 4% of the entities are even eligible for this award. The outer state award with distinction is presented by local governments and school districts that meet the following criteria of a clean audit report. Now every year I like to read through this audit report because or read through the criteria so that everyone knows what it takes for city of Zenaia. Let all your constituents know and let them know what the finance department went went through to make this happen. First, the entity must file a financial report with the auditor states office by the statutory due date without extension on a gap accounting basis and prepare an annual comprehensive financial report. The audit report must not contain any findings for recovery, any material citations or material weaknesses, any significant deficiencies, any uniform guidance findings, or any question costs. The management letter must not contain any comments related to any of the ethics referrals, any question costs, any lack of timely annual financial report submissions, any bank reconciliation issues, any failure to obtain a timely single audit, any findings for recovery, any public meetings or public records issue. and the entity shall have no other financial or any other type concerns. This award represents as as I like to point out the whole city and all the city employees and the financial staff who make an effort every day here to

attain accounting excellence. I want to recognize the mayor. I want to recognize all the council members, city manager, everyone here that have done an outstanding [clears throat] job here at the city of Zena watching over every single dollar. But Ryan, if you'd like to step up here, I'd especially like to recognize your finance director, Ryan Duke, for his outstanding leadership, professionalism, and exceptional commitment to fiscal integrity. On behalf of Ohio Auditor State Keith Favor, I would like to present the Ohio Auditor State award with distinction to the city of Zenia. CONGRATULATIONS [applause]

[applause]

SO, thank you, Mr. Braden, for for coming uh to present this to the city. Um, it it really is a a testament to um to our staff, to uh to our entire organization. There are a lot of people that work hard to to make this happen. Um Jason Lake, our assistant finance director here in the audience, uh puts a lot of time into this report and there are several other people in the finance department who put a whole lot of of time and effort into making this a a great report. But really across the the organization, uh people doing things the right way uh results in us receiving this this reward. So I'm thankful for um for the many people across the the whole organization who are doing a really good job stewarding the the taxpayers dollars to to make this happen. So it's a testament to that. Um, so thank uh thank you for coming and and presenting it and uh we're honored to receive it.

Absolutely. Congratulations again. Uh, do you guys want to get a a picture with you obviously and Joe? Yeah.

Should we sing happy birthday to you? [laughter] I've been here starting August 17th. So that would have been in 2018.

No, it's all good. I was actually.

Okay, next we're going to move into audience comments. Um, is there anyone in the audience tonight who would like to address the council? Please step up to the podium and state your name, your address for the record, and we ask that you limit your comments to at least three minutes. Is there anyone that has anything they'd like to share or talk about? Okay, there's nobody coming, so pass that on. And we're moving on next to old business. Next, we have old business. The first item is ordinance 25-39 which was introduced and tabled on December 22nd of 2025 and will remain tabled. All right. We have two public hearings that are scheduled this evening. The first is ordinance 2026-1 authorizing the execution of a lease agreement for the western portion of the first floor of the Zena station building located at 151 Miami Avenue to Caba House Zena LLC. Mr. Mayorman, do you have a report for that?

Yeah, just brief overview. Um, as discussed with city council, um, we have recommended and pending tonight is approval of a lease um, with Cava House um, where they're looking to expand their operations um, also into the facility. Uh, Zenia Station was originally designed uh, to house uh, retail and since its inception, we've never been able to achieve that. So, uh, this is a good opportunity to have more utilization of that space. Um the terms of the lease are consistent with the directions that council gave us and so this evening we would request the public hearing and then approval of the ordinance of the laws to execute that lease agreement. Very nice. Thank you.

All right. At this time I will open for the public hearing ordinance 2026-01. Does anyone wish to speak for or against this ordinance? And if so, would you step forward to the podium um and state your name, your address, and give give you three minutes to speak on that? Anyone? Okay. I'd like to ask the council members due to the fact that nobody has come. Is there any questions from the council members on this particular lease? No. Okay. Yeah. I'd like to close the Mr. Okay. It is. I'd like to close the public hearing and ask for a motion.

I so move to approve ordinance 2026-01. Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. Um, and is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Miss uh, Councilwoman Huffman. Thank you. All right. Um, please call a roll call. Vice President Crawford, I. Councilwoman Sice, hi. Councilwoman Huffman, I. Councilman Rubio, I. Mayor Reynolds, I. Motion carries.

Very good. The second the second public hearing ordinance 2026-02 amending the official zoning map of Zeno, Ohio to reszone uh and appropriately approximately um 651 acre property on Vine Street located between 693 Vine Street and 338 North Orange Street. from R2 Family Residential District to B3 General Business District. Mr. Mayorman, do you have a report on that one?

Sure. Just a brief overview. [clears throat] Um, the applicant is requesting the resoning to expand u the marketability of the site and and potential business options. Uh, known uh no known businesses anticipated at this time and the applicant may choose to just uh market the property with the amended zoning or may choose to build something on it uh as per our code. um based on staff's review um that resoning uh meets the criteria that we would apply and it is recommended uh to council that you move forward with a public hearing and ultimately pass the ordinance to reszone.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Um at this time I would like to open up the public hearing on ordinance 20 26-02. Does anyone wish to speak for against this particular ordinance? Okay. At this time, I'd like to ask for any um any of the council members any any questions or comments on this one? Okay. All right. I'd like to close the public hearing and ask for a motion. Um since I introduced it, I'd be happy to make a motion to approve ordinance 2026-02. Thank you, Councilwoman Source. Um [clears throat] is there a second?

Second. All right. Thank you, council. Well, mayor, council mayor [laughter] Reynolds, all things, right? All right. All things. For all things. All right. Um, a roll call, please. Vice President Crawford, I. Councilwoman Sice. Hi. Councilwoman Huffman. Hi. Councilman Rubio. I. Mayor Reynolds. Hi. Motion carries.

All right. All right. Now, new business. We have um first we have the item as an introduction of an ordinance of 2026-03 amending section 100027B um of the city of Zenaia code regarding provider um mapping data um Mr. Fiser. Fisher oh Mrs. Fischer. I'm sorry, Miss Fischer. I'm sorry. [laughter]

Good evening. Um, what this is in in 2022, council enacted uh rightway administration legislation. And what that allows us to do, while we don't have the right to tell any public utility that they can't locate in our rideways, it does give us the ability to tell them where they have to locate in our rideways. Um, part of that process is that these providers, the public utilities are to provide us mapping data. And it doesn't have to be spot-on. We just need to know, are you on the left side of the street, the right side of the street, but it gives us some idea when we're doing infrastructure projects on water, sewer, our street, of of where their items are located. Um, since 2002, since we've enacted this legislation, the [snorts] the provision of the mapping data is probably the biggest push back that we have gotten from the public utilities. Um, they do tend to usually turn it over, but there's been a lot of concern from them um because that is a security record where their infrastructure is. Well, in late 2022, after we enacted um our legislation, and this section was just demended in last year's state budget bill, the state has made some revisions to [cough] public records law. Infrastructure records of a private utility that are provided to a governmental entity when required by that governmental entity are not subject to disclosure as public records. So there is now builtin protection in the OC for that mapping data. So what this amendment does is amends our city code on the right of administration um to reflect what is stated in 149.433

433 of the revised code to reflect that that exemption from public records law is there and available and to make it [clears throat] very clear to the public utilities that any infrastructure records they give us we will not be disclosing. So that's the amendment that we're recommending to you with this ordinance. Very good. Well, thank you very much. Um any of my council colleagues have any uh questions about this particular ordinance? Mr. Vice President? Yes. I do have one question. So, because have we talked with like AES or Spectrum or anything about this? Let them know that this might be coming and Yes. And I'm assuming they're all now in favor of it because the state law change at this point.

It's a state law change. Any push back we've got regarding mapping data. We have pointed them all to this section. Okay. Um of the OC that exists that protects them. Um I emailed a asked about this a while. It's been a while. Yeah. Yeah. It's It's been I want to say around Thanksgiving and did not receive a response, but they are aware of it. Fantastic. Just make sure they knew cuz that was their big beef last time was it would be public records.

The biggest issue we've encountered as the law director suggested is their fear that upon request that there would be disclosure of of records that they feel ought to be more secure. So, this should allay those fears and I think it'll make our process of getting the rightway permits approved [clears throat] m much more uh much more easily than what we've seen in the past. Fantastic. [snorts] Thank you. Okay. Would anybody on the council would like to u introduce? I move [clears throat] to introduce ordinance 20263. Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. [clears throat]

Next, we have an introduction of an ordinance of 2026-04 amending section 422 uh2 of the city of Zenius traffic code regarding the use of electric bicycles on sidewalks. M um Dette Fischer, would you please comment to that? Absolutely. Um a few years ago, was it last year? Last year, actually, two years ago,

we took on the task of um completely I say we because I have a mouse in my pocket of completely updating the traffic code. Um we went through and revamped the entire thing. One thing that I think a lot of people don't know is the traffic laws in Ohio are considered a general law of the state. So if it's addressed in the state code, you're not really allowed to deviate from that. There are certain areas in the state code that it says we can do certain things, but on the whole, we as a city can't just make up our own traffic rules. So, there is currently provision in state law under 4511.711 that addresses the operation of electric bicycles on sidewalks. And if if you look at your exhibit, um the language that is not bold and highlighted is what state law currently says, and we did mirror that. And it says that electric bicycles, if the motor is not engaged, may be driven upon any sidewalk and sidewalk area. The implication being if the motor is engaged, you may not drive it on the sidewalk. So, the state law prohibits you riding an electric bicycle with the motor engaged on the sidewalk. However, I think the state law is not very clear. Um, this has been a big issue not only in Zenaia, but I hear this a lot from other law directors. Um, everybody's struggling with this issue of people riding electric bikes on the sidewalks. If the motor's engaged, you're welcome to ride them on the streets. State law says you're not to be riding them on the sidewalks. So, really, all this amendment does is clarify that. Instead of it being implied, it's now very explicit. bicycles and electric bicycles

with the motor engaged may not be driven upon the sidewalk or sidewalk area. Um I had conversation with the PD. We think this is going to be easier for the guys to site since it's a explicit prohibition rather than an implied one. Um so that's what this change is. It's it's not creating a new law. It's not changing the law. It's clarifying the law. [snorts] Understood. Okay. Okay. Well, thank you. At this time, will any of my council members have any questions on this particular subject?

Yeah, I do. I'm just curious, how will this be difficult to enforce? I mean, just in terms of how is one going to tell that they have it engaged or not? I mean, it it's that's part of the reason that we used the language about pedal power. Mhm. If if if that bicycle's cruising down the sidewalk and your feet aren't moving, it's probably a good chance that the motor's engaged. Yeah. Unless you're going downhill and we don't have that many big hills. I have a feeling, I mean, I can't

state, you know, 100%. But the majority of these bikes are rather heavy and I don't see very many people um just just from my personal observation only, nobody else's. Um, I don't see a lot of people pedaling them. Okay. So, when I have ex been on the sidewalks, I have experienced people coming by me with it engaged.

And the problem, of course, is because it's moving so quickly. And there are general rules to follow when you're on the bike path. I don't believe they're probably the same on the sidewalk. Like rules like um you're supposed to let somebody know when you're passing. Okay, that's not occurring. And I've noticed some folks that look like they might be hard of hearing and somebody's whizzing by on those and you can't hear them because they're electric, right? So, I've seen people get almost knocked down. So, I'm really happy to hear this. Um I just um hope that people respond and do and follow. And I just wondered if you opt not to, what will that look like then if I decide to engage? that will be if you look at that um and that comes down under we didn't change that that comes under F the penalties

um on a first it's a minor misdemeanor if within one of your defense offense it's happened before you've had another predicate motor vehicle it kicks up to an M4 and just keeps escalating the more you do it um if the motor's engaged on your electric bike you're welcome to widen on the street that's perfectly allowed under state law you just should not be on that work. Okay. And do you have to have a license plate or anything on electric bikes? Uhuh. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Most of those devices now will go I think they're governed up to 20 m an hour. Yeah. So if you imagine 20 m hour on a sidewalk or even some trails, it's it's dangerous. Yeah. And that's what we're seeing is experienced it. Yes.

At that speed, a bike hitting a pedestrian would cause quite a bit of damage. Traumatic. Yes, it would be. Mhm. Yeah, I think there's very few neighborhoods where in our in our city where people would be comfortable riding that fast on a sidewalk. Um, but I will say because I have my wife and I, we both have ebikes as well as regular bikes, but those are pedal assist. So, the appearance of pedaling could be I got to say it's up to the observer to to say there's a violation is my point. But, but who again, we're talking about sidewalks, so I'm going to leave that alone. I think it's going to be a tough one to to roll over. That's going to be very tough since they're pedal assist. Yeah,

you can look like you're biking or you could look like you're pedaling, but you're you're putting very little torque to. Yeah, I agree. It's still a judgment issue with the officers. Um, this clarification gives them a little bit better ability to enforce, but there's still very much will be an officer judgment issue at play. Yes, Mr. K. And I have a question maybe for the chief and also for you, Brent. for the chief. Have we had a lot of reports about these bikes being an incident or a nuisance? Have not. We get we get complaints on them. Um a lot of the ones we get complaints on don't even have pedals. They're just all electric and they'll be zipping up and down the sidewalks. Oh. Yeah. Um those are those have been an issue as well.

Okay. Then my next question is like the here it talks about the scooters being banned from the sidewalks. I mean, I know that we've allowed many cities allow scooters, those electric scooters to be driven sidewalks or road otherwise like Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton. I've allowed it on both. So, why are we eliminating it on ours or on B? Is we have an issue with that? We have a lot of people saying these scooters are flying by us. Why are we I I didn't hear your question. For motorcycles, motor uh motor driven cycles or scooters, motorized bicycles or mopeds are not to be driven upon the sidewalk or sidewalk area except permanent exist. None of them may be driven upon any side area. A lot of cities allow that already for the renting scooters which we used to have. State law [clears throat] doesn't. So,

so I was wondering why. So, state law doesn't. Um I I think part of the issue and you know we're unique in that we maintain our own traffic code. Um twice a year I go through and I update that based on changes in state law. Most um I think most [clears throat] cities don't do that. American Legal Publishing does that for them. So if you're not doing it yourself as as the law department, you don't really know what's in there and what changes. Okay.

Um the traffic laws of the state are general laws. We're not supposed to be deviating from them. So if if there's cities that are allowing mopeds or motorcycles on the sidewalk, I'm not sure. It's just the scooters like the birds or lime. Yeah. Mhm. Under state law, they're not supposed to be. Yeah. Okay. That was my other question. Can I ask one more? Sure.

No, I'm just curious just for anybody who might be listening. So, if I'm have a medical condition and I'm on one of those motorized scooters um like that you see folks get around to the grocery store and whatnot on where should they ride at then? Those now those count as D the electric personal assisted mobility devices when it's a medical condition like that and a moped those are allowed to be driven upon sidewalks. Yeah. And they don't go very fast either. No, they don't. So, they don't. Okay. I just want to make sure because I know we have a lot of citizens who utilize those in the city. So,

well, that's been one of the hardest things to keep up with the state traffic code. Bicycles. There are three different classes of electric bicycles. And then you have motorcycles, which is different than a motor-driven cycle, which is different than a motorized bicycle, which is different than electric personal assistive. So, they're all and trying to keep track of what all of those things are. It's It's confusing. Mhm. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. Um, any other comments among them? All right. Would any of the um would any of my colleagues like to um introduce this ordinance? I will. All right. Thank you, Faith. Yes.

Introduced by Faith. All right. All right. The next resolution is 2026-00003 establishing the city's 2026 organizational plan listing positions titles and the number of positions for each title for the city of Zen personnel. Mr. Mayorman, [cough] [clears throat] your report, please.

Thank you, sir. uh as required by city charter uh section 10.06 uh city's council city council's presented this evening with recommendations for the staffing plan for 2026. This is more formerly known as our organizational plan. Uh the administrative steering committee uh presents these recommendations uh which of course includes both the type and numbers of positions to be employed for the new year um is laid out in this plan. Uh changes from the prior for the most part have been discussed with either or both the budget and finance committee or the whole of council. Uh there's two exceptions to that that I'll note at the end of this list. Like to just do a quick rundown of the changes um as presented in the agenda report. Um first is replacing this uh position known as secretary in our in our records with a retitled administrative services professional position uh with the intent that we'd expand the scope of work that those positions can do. [snorts] Um this would result in a slight increase in pay um with the assignment of a different pay grade. uh no additions of positions, just a reclassification. Uh second is addition of a community resources coordinator position and this would authorize one full-time position at paygrade 3. Again, as discussed with council as we look to um provide additional services to help offset some of our hopefully offset some of our public safety cost. Uh next is an increase uh in the number of authorized part-time positions for fire inspector from one and two from one to two. Um and again this is in part in anticipation of of some of the potential annexation and obligations that would come with services for that. Uh next we have an increase in the number of authorized full-time positions for emergency communication supervisor from one to two. Uh in addition here we would delete the public safety technology specialist and the public safety technology analyst positions. Again this addition of supervisor really has been discussed the last couple of years with council and the county commission is also on board with this addition. Next, we have um an item to combine equipment operator and training, equipment operator one and lead equipment operator positions into

one position title to accurately reflect the total number of positions authorized at any one time as totaling eight. Um we would delete the equipment operator [snorts] two position. So again, this is more house cleaning and trying to align these things so it's a little easier to understand how we're currently operating. [snorts] Next is a decrease in the facility and ground attendant uh positions from 3 to two and these are part-time positions. Uh next we have combining wastewater treatment plant operator one without EPA certification too. Uh and the wastewater treatment plant operator one with EPA certification into one position title to accurately reflect the total number of positions authorized at any one time and that is four positions. Next, we have a change uh to the title of court administrator to court administrator/Magistrate. Um, next is a change to the individual magistrate uh position from full-time to part-time. And then finally is a removal of de of chief deputy clerk position and an increase the number of authorized full-time positions for deputy clerk from 7 to 8. And again, these are all items that have been previously discussed. Um, in addition to this, at our January 13th administrative steering committee meeting, uh, the committee voted to recommend to council, uh, two additional changes, uh, from last year's plan. Uh, first is, uh, the addition in the public service department of, uh, one assistant city engineer position. Uh we've had some discussions with council about the total number of projects uh in addition to the number of residential neighborhoods that are being uh added, the pace of development. Uh looking to expand our capacity when it comes to management of projects, management from a construction inspection standpoint. Uh we anticipate that this will be a difficult process in hiring. I mean, I legitimately think this could take a year to to fill. uh because when we posted that assistant engineer position in the past, you'll recall we actually we we didn't end up hiring anybody. We didn't have any qualified applicants. Um so while we are seeking the ability to

bring an additional position on, um I have no idea when we'll have a qualified uh credentialed individual to be able to fill that. Uh the final change that is something that was not previously discussed with council uh pertains to the municipal court. uh upon the request of the of the judge um and the court administrator uh they're looking to exchange a a probation officer position in lie of that um uh at a deputy clerk position. This will decrease the number of probation officer positions from 5 to 4 and increase the number of deputy clerk positions from 8 to 9. Um as detailed in the report um there are some extenduating circumstances that have caused employee to be away from work regularly and this will just help with some of their operations in their department. Uh the judge is here this evening. and I think he'd be happy to answer any questions you might have pertaining to that. So, this is uh the organizational plan approval of um of this resolution as an annual housekeeping. Um again, all these positions have been presented in the budget materials as as council has reviewed. Um so, we've demonstrated for council our ability to uh balance our budget this year with the inclusions of these positions as we presented them this evening. So, we'd ask for um your approval tonight of resolution 2026-3 that allow us to implement our organization plan for the year.

[snorts] be happy to answer any questions and my cohort as well. Thank you, Mr. Mayorman. Um, council members, do you I'm sure are there some questions that we have.

I would just maybe add, Mr. Vice President, um, you know, one of the things we've had abundant conversation with council about is the growing call to volume call volume that we receive and that's not just in public safety, but it's really across the board. Um, uh, the city is definitely our community is in a in a growth phase. uh as we add additional neighborhoods, that development drives a a whole range of activities for us from a service delivery standpoint. And then the other thing that we're seeing is is just the added administrative burden across the board. Additional projects, additional grants, uh additional projects that the council would task us with. Um again, we're trying to keep pace. Um we've had very little movement in the number of positions that that that we employ over the past decade, and we are at a point where we have to start providing some additional capacity to make sure that we're not burning the folks that we have uh out. And I think as we get into our retreat and some other activities um here through the remainder of the winter, uh conversations on what we might need to do from a public safety and public utility staffing standpoint will be front and center. Um we definitely have to make sure that we have the capacity to deal with an increasing population, increasing call call volume, but those will be issues for later on for you to discuss and perhaps you know for 20 2027 2028 as we look at how we keep pace with things. But again, these adjustments will help us to uh to keep operations um uh you know well well represented for the coming year. [snorts]

Thank you. And [clears throat] I do have a question. Um at this phase of our of our discussions, [snorts] what is the combined if there's such a thing a combined financial impact? Did we did we did we tighten the belt? Did we are we into greater expenditures because because there's a lot of pluses, minuses, pluses, minuses. I was curious. Yeah, I I'll weigh in and then maybe let the finance director weigh in as well. Um, so as we met with the budget and finance committee and discussed a lot of these changes, um, we're cognizant of any added increases in cost. Uh, things like in public service, those those types of positions in the engineering, so forth. Um, those are costs that are distributed over multiple fund sources. So, water, sewer, streets, general fund. Um, so we have broad distribution of those costs. So, there's very little impact to any one particular fund. Um, obviously there are some increases in here. um you know some net increases and that will increase our cost but all the budget materials that you have seen up to this point include all of these. So when we say that we're able to meet our um our our financial management policies and goals in terms of our reserve policy maintaining a positive cash flow and things like that um th those items that are presented to you are inclusive of assumptions about these positions and I'll let Ryan add anything else. Yeah, I think several of these that most of these that are listed here are simply reclassifications or kind of a realigning of the organizational plan to more more easily understand the way that employees are are um are classified. There are a couple of additions. All of those are things that we've had a long time uh discussion about. For example, the fire inspector has been incorporated in uh the impact analysis related to central state for for many many years. Um the the dispatch supervisor is something that is split with other entities because our our center provides services to the county and other townships, villages throughout. Uh so that's been a point of discussion for a couple of years. Um and and the

assistant engineer position uh those types of positions as as uh the city manager pointed out a lot of these are distributed uh for a lot of other services. So that assistant engineer has responsibility for you know the water sewer utilities that are being installed in these new neighborhoods. And so uh a lot of these changes the key operating funds are not bearing the brunt of of those additions and those adjustments. So um there is a an increase overall and the cost uh but these are things that we've been planning for for uh for several years and that we're uh equipped to to take on.

Thank you. Just one final addition if I may. Um related to that assistant engineer position, I should point out that we have a um a construction inspector that's due to retire I believe in just over two years. And so we anticipate that we would re-evaluate at that point in time with this position whether or not that one needs to be refilled. I would suggest that if we continue with the development on pace that we've seen, we probably would, but we would have a point uh in the not too distant future to be able to reduce expenditures there if we felt that the the capacity wasn't needed or otherwise we had to tighten belts. Just want to point out there's an opportunity for uh us through through attrition to be able to make a reduction there in the future if we need to. Very nice. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Council members, do I have a motion on this? And do I have a second?

So moved. All right. Thank you. Um um Councilwoman um Huffman and thank you council member Rose. It's like you got to read and talk at the same time. Roll call. Oh, roll call, please. Vice President Crawford, I. Councilwoman Sice, I. Councilwoman Huffman, hi. Councilman Rubio, hi. Mayor Reynolds, hi. Motion carries.

All right. Next is resolution 26- um 004 waving the cola increase for water usage rates for 2026 pursuant to Zenaia code section 1010.05C. Um Mr. Duke, do you have any comments on this one?

Thank you, Mr. uh Vice President. Uh in November of last year, city council adopted ordinance 2025-31 uh which increased the city's water rate effective March 20 uh 26. Uh that increase was uh connected to what we believe is is required in projections and it it differed from what is in our codified ordinances as far as uh simply doing a cost of living adjustment each year. So, in our um in our uh presentation to council, the agenda item that was presented at that time, uh we had communicated that our intent was to wave the COLA increase that would otherwise take effect. However, because it's in our codified ordinances, uh we need council to actually take an action to approve that resolution so that that COLA doesn't go into effect. If council were to not uh officially wave that via resolution then in addition to the other increase that was approved, there would also be a COLA or cost of living adjustment that would impact those rates. And so we're requesting tonight that council approve this resolution uh to officially wave the cola increase as it relates to water usage rates for 2026. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Very good. Council members, any questions for Mr. D? Okay. All right. Do I have a motion on this one? So moved. All right. Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you. Um, Sice. All right. Uh, roll call, please. Vice President Crawford, I. Councilwoman Sice, I. Councilwoman Huffman, I. Councilman Rubio, I. Mayor Reynolds, I. Motion carries. All right. Finally, we have a resolution 2026-005 authorizing the execution of a lease for 56 East 2nd Street, parking lot 8 with James W. Smith. Mr. Mayor, do you have any reports on this?

Thank you, sir. Over the past year, our staff's continued efforts uh to engage Mr. Schmidt um with the um intent of exploring the purchase of the property that we know as parking lot 8 um and two adjoining parcels which have been leased for many years. Uh acquiring these parcels would give the city a guarantee of public parking for businesses uh operating adjacent to the site which we know is very important to them. Uh while we have still not arrived at terms for purchase, Mr. Schmidt appears interested in selling the property and has requested a temporary lease extension uh with us. Uh the last least ended technically at the end of 2025 uh without an option to extend extend uh so we are presenting council this evening uh with uh resolution 2026-5 which would authorize us to um execute a a lease uh for the next 6 months. Um this would run through June 30th of 26. Um, this would also include up to three additional six month uh sixmonth extensions um as needed uh to allow time for further negotiations and avoid returning [clears throat] to council every six months with an agenda item. So, we'd ask for your permission this evening through approval of the resolution so we can keep the parking lot open to the public.

Okay, very good. Thank you. We've we've talked about this one for a long time. A lot. Yeah, a lot. I'd like to ask the my council members if there's any questions from this committee on this subject. [snorts] I I do have one obvious question on this one. I Is there a reason why we we broke this up in six months and not just went for like a year? I think he requested 6 months initially. Yeah. Yes. So you So this is part of negotiation which he he negotiated.

We're trying to accommodate his request here. Um but again we we have the opportunity for a couple of extensions. So uh the hope would be at the six-month point that we can roll that into another extension if it's needed. Um, and if we have the opportunity to come back with uh an item to seek your approval for for acquisition, we will gladly do that as soon as we can. I [snorts] know. Absolutely. I understand. I'm glad it came from that side. [laughter] Right. All right. Thank you. All right. Do I have a motion on this one? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you, Mr. Rubio. All right. Roll call, please. Vice President Crawford. I. Councilwoman Sice. I. Councilwoman Huffman. Hi. Councilman Rubio. Hi. Mayor Reynolds. Hi.

Motion carries. All right. Next, we have the appointed officials report. Um, Mr. Mayorman, um, what what is it that you're you may have for us as a city manager? I'm honored to start this. I usually am last. So, um, usually in my form, you're first. Perfect. [laughter] And in your hearts, too, I'm sure.

Just a couple of items this evening. First uh we wanted to let uh the public know and we will be issuing some alerts probably [clears throat] tomorrow morning. Uh the forecast for uh virtually half of the country geographically and twothirds of the country by population uh is [clears throat] rather dire here for the uh for the forthcoming weekend. Um, so we want to encourage folks starting tonight, um, if you have medications that you need to get, uh, just make sure you've got, you know, an ability, if there is limited, there's some power outages, whatever might happen in our region, uh, just to take steps ahead of time to prepare. Um, based on everything that we've seen, I I think at least 6 ines of snow and up to perhaps 10 to 12 ines of snow will likely fall here between Saturday afternoon and overnight Sunday night. Uh our crews will be out as uh as as soon as the snow starts falling. We will have pre-treatment on the roadways. Many of them have already been pre-treated. Uh but uh they're projecting at times we could see snowfall rates of up to an inch an hour. And in our business, that's that's really hard to to try to to stay on top of. Um so again, we ask folks to only go out this weekend, uh Sunday, Monday if you if you need to try to stay off the roads. We strongly encourage folks who typically park on the street, please move your vehicles to your garages or to your driveways. Um, we can do a much better job of clearing uh snow on roads if we don't have to zigzag around cars. Uh, so it helps to protect your vehicles and to allow your street to get cleared off more efficiently, more comprehensively if you can do that favor for us. So again, we'll be issuing some alerts and guidance to our general public tomorrow. I'll keep council uh apprised of kind of what we're expecting and what we're doing from a treatment standpoint over the weekend. Uh should we need to modify any of our services or or any closures, anything like that uh for any portion of next week, um we'll keep council apprised of of of how we arrive at that decision and certainly be working with the court and the other appointed officials to that end. Um, on the back side of this weather system,

uh, bitterly cold temperatures with lows, uh, in single digits and, uh, uh, the windchills in well into the negative, uh, teens are expected. So, I would anticipate we'll probably see some water main breaks and that sort of thing on the back side of this. So, we're in for a rough winter weather week uh, ahead and we just ask folks to exercise some patience uh, as well as some for planning um, as we go into the weekend. Uh next I just want to remind council we are still working to lock down I believe March 7th for a planning retreat for council. I think we have everybody generally on board with [snorts] that. Uh we'll be working with C council leadership to identify the specific agenda and publish that pretty soon. I did meet with the council president last week. We kind of talked through the the basic elements of what that agenda probably will look like. So, I'm hoping within the next week, we'll be able to uh to provide some guidance on what that looks like. And and of course, as staff will start to plan ahead, putting together uh some data, some information to help guide uh some of your decision-m in that retreat. Um and then finally, I have for you this evening um a copy of your February calendars that we've assembled for you. Uh meant to distribute that earlier, so I'll do that now. Um and then, Mr. Vice President just ask uh we would like to uh make a request of council that we exercise the executive session uh item on the agenda tonight. We do have a couple of important matters that are needed uh uh to discuss with council. So with that, if you have any questions, be happy to answer them. If not, I'll be quiet.

Um any questions for Mr. Mayorman? Next on my list is our law director, Miss Fiser. Do you have any um anything you'd like to I have nothing additional for you this evening? Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. Um, now, Mr. Duke, do you have anything for us?

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Yeah, just a couple of things. Uh, we are, uh, just note we're going through a a transition with our phone systems. Uh, they're having some minor issues with some call cues and and people's ability to reach certain departments. So, just ask that the public would be patient with us if if uh they're having trouble reaching us via phone. There also a lot of options uh uh other other options to contact the city. Staff is really responsive to to email. So there uh is information on our website um on how you can reach each department. I know utility billing for example is one of those cues you can kind of struggling with here uh throughout the week and so if they're struggling to reach that department they certainly can send an email to that uh group email box and somebody will get back to them pretty quickly. So just appreciate people's patience as we work through uh those issues. Uh and then just uh thankful to um the state auditor for coming uh tonight. Again, there are some pretty minor things that are pretty inconsequential that can happen that can make you ineligible for that award. And so, it's a little bit of luck, but also a lot of uh great people that are um really paying attention to details and making sure things are are done done correctly. Uh so, appreciate u appreciate that award and and all the things that people are doing well to to make that happen. So, just grateful uh grateful to all the uh the people throughout our organization who who make that happen. [snorts] Absolutely. Congratulations again. Thank you.

Um, okay. So, this is now for the council comments and reports. Um, Councilwoman Huffman. Councilwoman Huffman. Yes. Got it. I got to get that right. Um, do you have any comments or anything you like to share? I don't have anything today. Well, welcome. Okay. Um, Councilman Rubio, do you have anything you like to share with us?

President Crawford. Yes, I do. I would like to uh make the motion that the U. city manager and administration um have a look at um traffic um uh calming measures on Hollywood um in a form of uh of speed bumps. Um I'm not sure if any of you guys have ever been out to Jasper Kitchen. On the way there, they have these these great bumps and they look removable. Um, I think it would it would be awesome out there and uh, you know, helped out the um, neighborhood. So, I would like to make that motion.

So, just to clarify, Mr. Rubio, you'd like for staff to put together perhaps a report that would look at the the options and prices of removable as well as maybe permanent and we can provide that. Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay. Very nice. Second. Any comments? Any comments on this one? Any comments? We We have Mr. Reynolds second that. Okay. [snorts] All right. Let's call for a vote. Vice President Crawford. I. Councilwoman Sice. I. Councilwoman Huffman. [clears throat] Hi. Councilman Rubio. Hi. Mayor Reynolds. Hi. Motion carries. Okay. Councilwoman Sice. Um, you have any comments or anything you'd like to share?

Yeah, I just want to say spring is March 1 and it can't come soon enough. [laughter] Um, and also just the nurse and me, just please, please, please make sure if you're shoveling out there, you're doing it yourself and not using something. Um, please pace yourself. It's just amazing how um much internal pressure it causes to shovel and that's a big strain on the heart. So, please be careful, stay hydrated, layer up um and bring your pets inside um and um take care of yourself. And um I also just wanted again to thank Mr. Duke and his department. You uh were very gracious and you accepted that with um humbleness and so of course you guys do a fantastic job. So thanks again to you and your department. So that's all.

Okay. Well, thank you. Um now council well miss a comments from our mayor, Mayor Reynolds and council member.

All right. Uh so this past Monday I was able to attend the Martin Luther King Jr. event at Overforce. It was heavily attended. It was awesome. A lot of folks there choir. It was great. [clears throat] The message was good. Uh then on Wednesday I went to the Zena Business Network meeting with about 12 local business owners. Uh and then uh earlier this week I met with Strong Towns USA. It's a think tank about housing, financial policies, and job creation. I'm looking forward to some follow-up conversations with them. Uh my last thing is uh happy birthday to Ryan Duke, our city finance director. I was going to sing to him, but he said no. [laughter] So and congrats uh to to you and your staff for the award from the auditor's office. It's well earned. So thank you. And that's all I have.

Absolutely. So that that clears out every I have no comments, nothing to say but other than just um just glad to be here and just glad to um see all your faces this morning. Mr. Mr. President, we would ask that executive session uh be invoked under city charter section 13.03 C1. [clears throat] So this concludes our regular session and then so we're going to go into executive session under chapter 13 03 C3. I may just add that there's a possibility there could be an action afterward, but I would anticipate that we will probably be uh in the executive session for an extended period of time. Folks are still welcome to wait if they'd like to.

If you like if if you're if you're a night owl, it's like 9:30 before we we have a [laughter] I move to go to executive session. All right. Do I I'll second that. All right. Thank you. Roll call. Thank you. Vice President Crawford. I. Councilwoman Sice. Yes. Councilwoman Huffman. Hi. Councilman Rubio. Hi. Mayor Reynolds. Hi. Motion carries.