City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to call to order the Green City Council meeting for Tuesday, 02/10/2016. At this time, I would like to welcome from PAC three Thousand three hundred 34, Sam and Ben, up to the mic, and I'd ask you all to please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic of which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Outstanding. Thank you, gentlemen.

All

right. And next on our agenda is the roll call of council members. Madam Clerk.

Mr. DeVitus?

Here.

Mr. Humphrey?

Here.

Mr. Brandenburg?

Here.

Mr. Neugebauer?

Here.

Mr. Noble?

Here.

Mr. Spate?

Here.

And Mr. Maker is absent.

Thank you, ma'am. Moving on to council study sessions. First is TMP 5,220, approval of the 01/13/2026 council meeting minutes. Motion to approve. Second. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Please call the roll.

Mr. Nugibar?

Yes.

Mr. Noble?

Yes.

Mr. DeVitus? Yes. Mr. Humphrey?

Abstain.

Mr. Brandenburg?

Yes.

And Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Okay. Motion carries.

Thank you, ma'am. Next is TMP 5,234, approval of the December 2025 electronic financial report subject to audit. Motion to approve. Second. I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Mr. Brandenburg?

Yes.

Mr. Nunezebauer?

Yes.

Mr. DeVitus?

Yes.

Mr. Humphrey?

Yes.

Mr. Noble?

Yes.

And Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Okay. Motion carries.

Next on the agenda is public report. We do not have anybody signed in this evening, and there are no public hearings, so we will move on to the reading of correspondence.

Okay. We have the 01/28/2026, Charter Review Commission meeting minutes, the Planning and Zoning Commission recommendation for 988 East Turkey Foot Lake Road Rezoning, Planning and Zoning Commission 01/21/2026 meeting summary, 02/03/2026 Veterans Advisory Commission meeting agenda, and the 12/10/2025 Civil Service Commission meeting minutes. And that is all.

Thank you, ma'am. Let's go ahead and discuss new legislation.

Okay. We have twenty twenty six dash r zero three, a resolution authorizing the city of Green to enter into contracts with various engineering, construction management and testing companies for professional services for a three year term commencing 01/01/2026 and ending 12/31/2028 and declaring emergency.

That will be referred to the Finance

Committee. 2026 R04, a resolution approving an agreement between the City of Green and the Legal Defenders Office of Summit County, Ohio, Inc. And declaring an emergency.

That will be referred to the Intergovernmental and Utilities Committee.

2026 R05, a resolution declaring a certain service department equipment surplus property to be traded in to offset a portion of the purchase price for a replacement and declaring an emergency.

That is referred to the Finance Committee. Mr. President. Mr. Humphrey.

The administration has requested first reading passage on twenty twenty six R05. We were able to discuss it at this evening's committee meeting. This piece of legislation allows the, administration to trade in a bobcat, for $11,175.53 They're purchasing a new, Bobcat with associated equipment that will result in a net, cost for the new piece of equipment in the amount of $70,000 But this particular piece of legislation simply authorizes them to be able to trade in that piece of equipment. The committee discussed it. Everybody was good with first reading passage.

And so at this time, I

would move to suspend committee deliberations on 2026 R05. Second. I have a motion and a second to suspend committee deliberations on 2026 R05. Any comments or questions? Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Mr. Humphrey? Yes. Mr. Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mr. DeVitus?

Yes.

Mr. Brandenburg?

Yes.

Mr. Noble?

Yes.

And Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Okay. Motion carries.

And now I make a motion to bypass the three reading rule on 2026 R05. Second.

We have a motion and a second to bypass the three reading rule on 2026 R05. Any discussion? Please call the roll.

Mr. Humphrey?

Yes.

Mr. Nudjibauer?

Yes.

Mr. DeVitus? Yes. Mr. Brandenburg? Yes. Mr. Noble?

Yes.

And Mr. Spate? Yes. Motion carries.

And now I make a motion to adopt 2026 R05. Second. We have a motion and a

second to adopt 2026 R05. Any discussion? Adam Clerk, please call the roll.

Mr. Humphrey? Yes. Mr. Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mr. DeVitus?

Yes.

Mr. Brandenburg?

Yes.

Mr. Noble? Yes. And Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Okay. 2026 R05 is adopted, six, zero. Okay. We have 2026 R07, a resolution modifying appropriations within certain funds in order to provide sufficient funding and declaring an emergency.

That will be referred to the Finance Committee. Mr. President. Mr. Humphrey.

The administration has requested first reading passage on 2026 R07. This is a piece of legislation that we were able to discuss this evening in the Finance Committee. Essentially, it covers two things. Number one, when the budget was passed last year, at the end of last year, we did not have a funding of, a fund that was going to both be billed for, medical care premiums for the City of Green employees and also to be able to collect the employee portion, for the cost of that medical care. As a result of that, when the city received an invoice, for that medical premium, we did not have a fund to pay it out of.

And so we need to make sure that we are able to, pay that invoice. And so we have to fund that, first so that that can be paid. And so we are going to have an amended exhibit, and I'll explain that in a moment. But essentially, for this portion of the legislation, the addition is $231,000 Now that's a fund where money goes in, paid by the employees. It comes out when we're billed by the insurance company for it.

So it will be a zero cost to the city of Green. But in order to account those funds coming in and out, this legislation is necessary. The second piece of that is for contracted services for Raintree. Of course, we have a management company that manages Raintree as part of the contractual agreement we have with that management company. There is a fund that they keep that needs to be maintained at $50,000 Obviously, January and February are not great months, at least this year, to play golf in the city of Green, especially when it got very, very cold.

So they haven't had as much play. There hasn't been people out at the driving range. And so because that fund has fallen below the threshold, we need to make sure that there's money in that account. This has nothing to do with how the golf course is doing. In fact, we'll be refunded that money.

Any money that we advance to the management company will be repaid that money when the leagues begin to sign up and pay for the leagues. But the amount of that is going to be $50,000 We did discuss this in committee. The committee was good with first reading passage. And before I make the normal motions on this, I need to make a motion to amend twenty twenty six R-seven to update it with amended Exhibit A that shows a total change for all funds in the amount of $281,000

I will second that motion.

All right. We have a motion and a second to amend twenty twenty six R-seven with amended Exhibit A. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Mr. Humphrey? Yes. Mr. Neugebauer?

Yes.

Mr. DeVitus?

Yes.

Mr. Brandenburg? Yes. Mr. Nobel? Yes. Mr. Spade?

Yes.

Motion carries.

And now I make a motion to suspend committee deliberations on 2026 R-seven.

I second that motion. We have

a motion and a second to suspend committee deliberations on 2026 R-seven. Any discussion? Please call the roll.

Mr. Humphrey? Yes. Mr. Nudgebauer?

Yes.

Mr. DeBitis?

Yes.

Mr. Brandenburg?

Yes.

Mr. Noble?

Yes.

Mr. Spate? Yes. Motion carries.

Can I make a motion to bypass the three reading rule on 2026 R07?

I second that motion. We have a

motion and a second to bypass the three reading rule on 2026 R-seven. Any discussion? Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Mr. Humphrey? Yes. Mr. Neugebauer? Yes. Mr. DeVittis? Mr. Brandenburg?

Yes.

Mr. Noble?

Yes.

Mr. Spate? Yes. Motion carries.

And now I make a motion to adopt 2026 R-seven as amended.

Second. We have a motion and a second to adopt 2020 R-seven as amended. Any discussion? Hearing none, please call the roll.

Mr. Humphrey?

Yes.

Mr. Nugibauer?

Yes.

Mr. DeVitus?

Yes.

Mr. Brandenburg? Yes. Mr. Noble?

Yes.

And Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Okay. Twenty twenty six dash r zero seven is adopted as amended 06/00. Continuing on, we have twenty twenty six dash zero three, an ordinance changing classification of approximately 2.76 acres of land located at 988 East Turkey Foot Lake Road from R1 Single Family Residential to B1 General Business.

That will be referred to

the

Planning and Economic Development Committee. There is a public hearing scheduled for Tuesday, 03/10/2026, at seven p. M. In council chambers.

Twenty twenty six-four, an ordinance authorizing all actions necessary to join Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council's Electricity Aggregation Program and declaring an emergency?

That will be referred to the Intergovernmental and Utilities Committee. Also, is a public hearing scheduled for Tuesday, 02/24/2026 at 3PM and 7PM in council chambers.

And finally, we have 2026 dash zero five, an ordinance approving the plan of operation and governance for the NOPEC electricity aggregation program for the purpose of jointly establishing and implementing an electricity aggregation program and declaring an emergency.

It is also referred to the Intergovernmental and Utilities Committee. There's also a public hearing scheduled for Tuesday, February 24 at three p. M. And seven p. M. In council chambers.

That's all I have.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Next up is our report of council committees. First committee to report is the Finance Committee, chaired by Mr. Humphrey.

Thank you, Mr. President. The Finance Committee did meet this evening. We had several items on second reading. The first is the second reading of twenty twenty six R01.

This is a resolution approving a change order number two and number three for the increase in the Barbacus Construction Company, Inc. Contract for the Graybull Road turn lane project at Green Elementary School, making an appropriation and declaring an emergency. Anytime a change order exceeds the 10% threshold, it comes back to counsel so that we can appropriate funds if we, believe that it's appropriate given the change order that is issued. In this circumstance, as they were, making adjustments to the roadway, there were two sanitary manholes that had to be adjusted. They had to adjust it to grade.

As a result of the topography there, they had to go deeper than initially anticipated. And as a result of that, this legislation appropriates an additional $41,821.23 The pre change order cost for this project was $191,152.93 And with this change order and two other change orders, the cost of the project is now $249,747.1 This was on second reading and the committee request time.

Time has been requested. Time will be granted.

The second piece of legislation we had on second reading was the second reading of twenty twenty six-two. This is an ordinance amending Chapter 30 of the codified ordinances of the City Of Green to authorize the recovery of credit and debit card processing costs and bank fees associated with certain payments to the city. When we read this a third time at our next meeting, that will be amended to take out the words and debit, but we'll deal with that at our next meeting. Essentially, because of the increase in people using credit cards, to pay for transactions, within the City of Green, it was determined that the City of Green, over a three year period of time, lost about $165,000 to those convenience fees, over that period of time. Last year alone, we lost around $40,000 because of those fees because, obviously, if you charge a certain amount for a good or service from the city and then that's reduced by 2.53%, then obviously, the city is getting less than the value that is being charged for that good or service.

And as a result of that, order to make sure that we are being good stewards of the tax dollars that are entrusted to us, Director Goodrich walked us through the new policy that I think is a fantastic idea to be able to get some of those convenience fees back. This will be in every area right now except for Parks and Recreation because in Parks and Recreation, we're actually requesting people to pay by credit card. But in every other instance, if you're making a payment to the income tax department or in other areas of the city, you can always use cash or write a check, and so that you wouldn't have to incur that convenience fee. But this piece of legislation, will allow, those convenience fees to be paid by the person that is incurring the expense. Again, this is a second reading piece of legislation, and the committee would request time.

Time has been requested. Time will be granted. We had no items of old or new business and we adjourned. Thank you, Mr. Humphrey. Our next committee to report this evening is Environment and Parks, chaired by Mr. Neugebauer.

Thank you, Mr. President. All members were present this evening, myself as Chair, Justin Speight as Vice Chair and Clerk DeVitus. We did open at 05:33 p. M. We had no items of legislation. I did provide the council with an update from the Park Board meeting, which was on February 4. We talked about some of the issues before the Park Board. We had no old or new business come before the committee, and we adjourned a minute later at 05:34 p. M.

Thank you, Mr. Neugebauer. Our next committee to report is Public Safety, chaired by Mr. DeVitas. Thank you, Mr. President. Myself, Mr. Humphrey and Mr. Neugebauer were present today. Public Safety had no items of business and no old or new business and therefore did not meet. Thank you, Mr. DeVees. Next up is Planning, Community and Economic Development chaired by Mr. Noble.

Thank you, Mr. President. Myself, Mr. DeVees and Mr. Humphrey were all here this evening for Planning, Community and Economic Development. However, we had no items of legislation and no old or new business, so we did not meet this evening.

Thank you, Mr. Noble. Next committee to report is Rules and Personnel, which I chair. Myself and Mr. Brandenburg were here. However, we had no legislation, no business to discuss. Therefore, we did not meet. Transportation, Connectivity, and Stormwater chaired

by Mr. Brandenburg. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Noble and I were both present this evening. However, no items of business no items of legislation, no items of old and new business, so we did not meet.

Thank you, Mr. Brandenburg. And the last committee to report this evening is Intergovernmental and Utilities, once again chaired by Mr.

Brandenburg. Mr. President? Mr. Noble and I were both present. No items in legislation, no old or new business, so we did not meet.

Thank you, Mr. Brandenburg. Well, that concludes our committee reports. Next on the agenda is the Mayor's Report.

Thank you, Mr. President. The first thing I want to address is the high speed fiber contractors. As many of you are aware, Loomis is installing throughout our community. We, and I'm sure many of you, have received complaints from residents throughout that with regard to disruption of their yards and property.

As a city, we use our oversight of the right of way to help hold those contractors accountable and make sure that they respond to resident complaints. Some are better at it than others. Currently, will say this, that Loomis is going basically from border to border in our city, and they have been very responsive to issues that I've raised. We meet with them. It's been on average probably a weekly basis, telephone calls almost daily working through issues.

What I want you to know and residents to know is that we're hearing the complaints and want to work to resolve those with individual homeowners. In addition, we're currently working on drafting legislation, which will become before counsel to give us more authority. Until then, we ask that residents contact Lumos directly with any issues that may arise. We find that that's the most effective to get a resolution. If they're not satisfied, frankly, have them call my office because I have been really successful in getting their attention very quickly and they do respond.

So the good news and the silver lining here is that people have been asking in green for high speed Internet for a long time, and this is the way to get there. And there is temporary pain, but through every neighborhood, once it's through, people are satisfied with the result and many people are moving to T Mobile to take advantage of the offer. So this is an overall good thing. There's pain in the process, but we will be again coming back to counsel with some effort to have these providers be a little more responsive to residents. By way of the ZIP Code update, I've been in contact with both Senators and our congressional representatives, and we're seeing some movement in the Senate and the Homeland Security Committee.

I have a scheduled trip next month in March to meet with our senators and their staff. I want to thank all who've sent a letter of support. And I want to reiterate to our residents and the city council, if you feel inclined to share your thoughts on Unified ZIP Code, now is the time to send in a letter or email. We've made it easy for you by creating a form online. It's cityofgreen.org/onezip.

That would be helpful. It's something that every resident can do to just explain their story with how a unified ZIP code would make life easier for them, both at work and at home. I'm also proud to announce the twenty twenty six Green Leadership Class. This is the fifth class and includes 18 members. They include Rhonda Allen, Caleb Christopher, Sean Dockery, Dustin Ivy, our very own Isabel Curry, Chrissy Kuznick, Max Littlejohn, Sean Milkovich, Kyle Moore, Carla Penny, Gila Pazeshkapur, who is our new Assistant Planning Director, Elizabeth Ringer Joe Sealer Ryan Sheehan Dennis Shawan Patrick Smith Patty Wagner and Anthony Zimbardi.

As more residents utilize electronic payments, we've decided to no longer mail out income tax forms to all residents. These forms are available on our website, in our office at the Green Branch in our office or at the Green Branch Library. And we would be happy to mail any forms to residents who request them. We're also hiring as always, it seems. Some are seasonal staff.

Currently, we're looking for seasonal staff for the following positions. Some are day camp staff, site sports field monitors, park groundskeepers, road maintenance crew members and full time positions currently include that are open income tax administrator and service worker one and two. We're also currently accepting applications for appointment to the City Tree Advisory Commission. Applicants must be residents of the city. Interested citizens can apply online or on our website by four p.

M. On Monday, March 2. Members of the Tree Advisory Commission should have experience in arboriculture, landscape, forestry industry or other related fields. The Tree Advisory Commission will meet on a quarterly or monthly basis. City offices will be closed Monday, March 16 for Presidents' Day. And my first morning meetup of 2026 is Friday, February 27 at the core at nine a. M. This year, I'm adding movement to my meetups. Not only do we get to enjoy coffee together and chat, I'm leading a walk for those who wish to participate. So I invite all of you, those who've not been to the core yet, to come out and try it out.

We'll walk a few laps. And by the way, I'm there often because I love to run that straightaway. And what I'm seeing every night now and every weekend is the community is really full use of the facility. Everyone from our kids and the youth organizations to seniors, it's really encouraging to see it so well received and so well used. So come out and give it a shot. The city is proud to be a partner of a new event hosted by the Green Schools Foundation, which is Battle of the Slice. This is taking the place of celebration of education. It'll be February 28. It's going to have an Italian theme. The major concept is that we've invited participating pizza makers in and around town to come out and compete.

People will be given a passport and asked to decide which is the best pizza. Key is you have to get your tickets in advance. So please check out the Green Schools Foundation website. I think it's going to be a really fun way to repackage celebration of education. There'll be vendors there, there'll be some of the kids entertainment that you see, but there'll be this fun aspect. And I'm doing what I can to commandeer a gondola for photos, for people that want to get a picture in Venice. And Mr. President, that concludes my report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And is there any unfinished business to come before counsel? Any new business? All right. And I would now like to make a motion to adjourn. Second. I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Mr. Spate?

Yes.

Mr. Neugebauer? Yes. Mr. DeVitus? Yes. Mr. Humphrey?

Yes.

Mr. Brandenburg?

Yes.

And Mr. Noble?

Yes.

Okay. Motion carries.

We are adjourned. Thank you.