City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, we're on. We are on. All right, it is 7:01. I apologize for any delay for the people's business tonight. Uh, so tonight we are going to go ahead and start the regular city council meeting for Dayton, Kentucky. It's February 10th, 2016. It is 7:01 p.m. Roll call, please. Miss Klein. Member Horton, present. Member Ner here. Member Neeman. Member Kelly. Member Jed here. Member Leven here. City attorney Edmonson here. City administrator Faucet here. Mayor Baker

here. I spoke with uh Miss Dean uh 20 minutes ago. She uh she's going to try to make it, but she does get a pass for for being absent at this moment. Miss Kelly did not call. She's not going to pass. Uh we'll do a moment of silence and the pledge of allegiance, please.

She's on cruise. She don't care. [laughter] I aliance 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. [clears throat]

Thank you very much. Uh, mayor's report is going to be a little long tonight. Uh, we got a, uh, state of the city. Going to be exciting to read. Six pages of of reading. Uh, also, uh, before we get into that, I I do want to make note of of a event that happened here in the city of Dayton. Uh, Lieutenant Tony Baldwin, 30 years ago, we hired him. And, uh, so he's celebrating, uh, his 30th year of employment with the city of Dayton. So, you can't ask for uh a better person, a better human, uh more dedication to the city. When you put 30 years behind that, that's that's really impressive. So, if you see him, uh wish him happy 30. Uh for the state of the city, that's I'm excited about this. This is good. We've got a lot of good things to go over. It's been a great year. Uh so, good evening, friends, neighbors, city staff, council members, community partners. Thank you for being here tonight and for all that you do to make Dayton the great city that it is. Tonight, I'm proud to say the city of Dayton is strong and moving boldly forward and with full momentum. Dayton's a city that believes in investing in people. You invest in public spaces in the future while we never forget our roots on the Ohio River. And over the past year, we've made significant progress in improving our parks, strengthening our infrastructure, supporting our families, and creating events that bring the community together. So, let's start with the parks because in the parks are where community starts. At Gilen Park last year, we made a more than $600,000 investment in major upgrades and improvements being enjoyed by residents of all ages. We've installed a brand new $200,000 playground, constructed four

new pickle ball courts, upgraded four structures inside the park, repaved two basketball courts, planted new trees, installed new fencing and gates on Green Devil Drive, and built the Gaga ball pit. That might be my favorite one because it has quickly become a favorite activity of our younger residents. These improvements aren't just amenities. They're investments. They're investments in our health. our investments in our play and our connection to the city. Across the street from Gillan Park, we've also seen continued investment in our community by Dayton Independent Schools with the construction of the new Green Devil Stadium and Playhouse or fieldhouse. I'm sorry, could be a playhouse. Uh this project located between Lincoln Elementary School and Dayton High School has created a new school campus that will rival any high school in our region. These campus has become an important gathering place that represents school pride, athletic ac excellence and community spirit. Next in our sites, improvements to the baseball field and softball fields at Gillan Park, which were being used with a high school teams and others as well. The city's been meeting with the Cincinnati Red's Community Development Fund, which is on board to help us, and we're seeking other community partners to raise funds for new artificial turf, infields, and other major improvement to our baseball fields. Improvements are also being made inside our schools where education remains a top priority for all of us. City staff meets with the school district staff every two weeks to discuss how we can collaborate to help our children. We're also working with the schools on Read Ready Dayton, which helps ensure that our youngest residents have the tools that they need to succeed early in life because we know that when we're investing in literacy, we are investing in a lifelong opportunity for our residents.

In Sergeant Park, we tackled another impactful park project, a $120,000 trail restoration project, which makes this park more accessible, revitalizes and preserves the importance city green space. And still to come to Sergeant Park is yet another million-doll stream project for Covert Run Creek and surrounding area by the ENKU Center for Environmental Preservation. Thank you very much. Go North up. which expected to be completed in the next couple of years. In Monument Park, right in the heart of our city, we installed a red bike station. Thank you, Newport. Making alternative transportation easy and reinforcing our commitment to sustainability and regionable moability. We've also added new lighting in Monument Park, and we're planning on more improvements to the park this year to make it even safer, more accessible, and even more welcoming. Our commitment to connectivity continues with a concurrent construction of phases two and three of riverfront commons known as our riverw walk. It's an 11mi hiking and biking trail through our river cities. This $2.8 million infrastructure project will be completed by May 1st, making the city of Dayton the first river city in Northern Kentucky to complete our entire riverfront walk project. In addition, the city last year was awarded $1.1 million in federal grants to widen and repave the levy trail on top of the river on top of the flood wall. It's a key link to our Ohio River. That project will be designed this year and is expected to be completed next year. When completed, the city will have a threemile hiking and biking trail loop on the river. That's going to be awesome. These park projects strengthen and recreation opportunities to our city. They improve transportation and spur economic and residential development by

bringing new residents and visitors to our cities and our city's businesses. We are also working hard to improve city streets and other public infrastructure. At the request of the city, the state highway department last year rerouted Route 8 from Clay Street to Main Street, which reduces pedestrian traffic conflicts near our schools in our new spanking new stadium. This year's residents will see about $1 million in repaving and street improvements from storm water projects in the city. We also expect the second half and final phase of the Dayton Pike project will be completed. This $325,000 [clears throat] construction project will allow our children to walk safely to school and back to their homes and provide our residents with the missing sidewalk between Dayton and Fort Thomas. Once this project is done, we will make improvements to repave Dayton Pike. These improvements represent progress to towards a better traffic flow, pedestrian and biker safety, and regional access changes that benefit our residents, visitors, commuters, and businesses alike. We're also making Dayton greener, literally. This past year, we painted more than 40 trees citywide, improving our urban canopy, beautifying our neighborhoods, and creating a long-term environmental benefits for a brighter, greener future. Now, let's talk about something that every one of us in this room feels. That's taxes. For the second year in a row, we have lowered our property tax rate. That doesn't happen by accident. That happens because of responsible budgeting, a growing economic base, careful planning, and a commitment to being good stewards with the taxpayer dollars. The continued renovation and resale of our homes in our city, and construction

of new residential developments in the Manhattan project are key reasons that the city has been able to reduce our property taxes. The VO Riverside apartment complex, that's the one on the end there, the by Manhattan Harbor, was constructed in 2024 for $48 million. Last year, it sold for $77 million. That's $77 million on the tax books. The Cincinnati Business Courier reported that that sale of that 265 unit apartment complex was the largest publicly disclosed in real estate transfer in greater Cincinnati in 2025. That happened right here in Dayton, Kentucky. We're also seeing new businesses pop up on our Avenue. Wayfair Tavern, Rump and Roll, and Senior Pig added to our city's growing reputation, letting the region know that we are a dining destination. And then we have two more businesses that are opening soon in our central business district. I'm gonna I am really going to screw this word up. Nomia.

I'm not sure. Yeah, I think so. LLC.

Is it Namia? All right. I didn't screw it up. That's amazing. Nomia Bar and Restaurant is going to be coming to 626th Avenue. The old uh Barb's Cozy Cottage. We love Barb. Uh we welcome new residents. Uh and Little Mind's Play and Learn, which will be open in the old post office building that's at 511 Dayton Avenue. Uh that building has been vacant and boarded up for decades and we will now have new life in that building. But a city is not defined just by our products. It's defined by the people and how we come together. This year Dayton hosted and supported incredible community events including a pop-up bike shop, yoga in the park, Final Fridays, History on the Square, Light Up Dayton, the Golden Egg Hunt, and the community Easter egg hunt. We did uh also have a lot of pickle ball events and we are planning more this year. These events do not do more than entertain. They create shared experiences and strengthen the bonds that make Dayton feel like home. Each event reflects something special about our city. Creativity, inclusion, tradition, and fun. None of this pro none of this progress happens without the dedication of our city staff. And we've got the best staff in Northern Kentucky. I put them up against anybody. Thanks, guys. Our volunteers also the best in Northern Kentucky. And our council members, thank you for your service to our city. I want to thank each one of you for your time, your passion, and your belief in our city. Looking ahead, our vision remains clear. a city that is familyfriendly, financially responsible, environmentally conscious, and communitydriven. We are proving that even though we might be a small city, we think big. We deliver big. Thank you for trusting me as your mayor.

It's the honor of my life to serve. And thank you for helping me write the next chapter of Dayton's story together. God bless you and God bless the wonderful city of Dayton, Kentucky. And that is the six page state of the city. Well done, sir. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And it's a pleasure to to to report. Uh so next on the docket is going to be the approval of minutes. Do I have approval? Do I have a motion to accept the minutes from January 13th? So moved. Member judge made a movement. Do I have a second? I'll second. Second by member Horton. All in favor? I.

I. Any nays? Any abstensions? All right. Eyes have it. Uh, next up, we don't have any presentations on the docket for this evening other than the one we just did. Uh, so we would now like to open up the podium for any comments from the public regarding legislative items on tonight's agenda. So Jerry, you want to talk?

All right. [laughter] Uh, so now we're going down to the ordinances and orders. Uh, first one is a first reading. Ordinance 2026-1. Miss Klein, please. an ordinance amending the city of Dayton, Kucky's annual budget for the fiscal year running from July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026 and estimating revenues and resources and appropriating funds for the city to the full extent authorized by KRS82082 and interpretive case law.

So, we're halfway through the budget year. Uh January was the halfway mark and we also are done collecting our city taxes and the pilot payments for the IRB buildings on the river. So, we thought it was an appropriate time to make an amendment to the budget to reflect those payments and some of the expenses that uh were different than what we anticipated. So, Jared Burks, our assistant city administrator and budget director, is going to do a presentation. This is a quick and easy amendment. Um, first we're going to look at professional services line. increasing it from 100,000 to 160,000 and that is because of the social worker contract with the police department is $50,000. Um but that money is going to come out of settlement funds. So it's not actually however it general funded budget. The second change is in economic development from 50,000 to 75,000 and that's to account for legal fees and attorney fees for code enforcement. That fund is being used to pay those costs. However, those costs will be recouped when those um leans and fees actually are paid by the residents. So again, this is an increase in expenditures, but the city is not actually expending those funds. Lastly is the TIFF fund. We are increasing from $850,000 in TIF payment to $1.4 million. And the reasoning behind that is in the past we would deposit the property tax payments or the TI funds come from to the general fund. Then we would move it

over to the TIF fund and a part of that back to the general fund. In this case, we deposit directly into the TIF account and then the TIF account pays the city. So, it's going to show up as an expense the first year doing that. And that amount paid to the city was over $600,000 which counts difference. $500,000 of that is the um money toward the city hall building,

right? Which which they did, which is in a fund uh which will stay in a fund until the city building is constructed. So we we under the TIFF agreement, there's a total of $2 million that the developer has to pay to the city for a community building, which is a city building. uh they were supposed to pay the five first part of that $500,000 this past year, which they did because we deducted out of their TIFF funds. Otherwise, they would have gotten those funds. We deducted that and then we gave the difference to them as they're entitled to under the um tiff agreement. The other $ 1.5 million is further down the road and it may be years from now because there's there was no timeline like this one. when they had a timeline of this year for payment and the other ones will be paid I think after the developer gets reimbured for all the expenses they have. So that could be a while just so you know.

Um and I just like to add as well with the tip expense that is just because of the way we're moving money around. It's not actually a greater expense than we anticipated coming in. So in all three scenarios, city is actually not. There any questions? I would add one other thing is that our revenues were uh exceeded both our estimates both for tax revenue as well as um pilot revenue. So that's good. We exceeded what we had projected. Any questions? First reading. So, no vote.

It's just a first read. First reading. All right. All right. So, there's no questions. You have a month to ask uh Mr. Faucet, Mr. Barks, any questions uh regarding that first reading, which brings us to our next first reading, ordinance 2026-2. Miss Klein, please. An ordinance amending sections 110.06, 110.12, and 110.19 and adding new 110.22 22 to chapter 110 of the city of Dayton, Kentucky code ordinances.

So, this is an amendment to our occupational license ordinance uh in an effort to crack down on business owners who don't pay their occupational t [clears throat] license fees on time or provide required documentation to verify the amounts that they are owed to the city. We decided to clarify what is required under the ordinance and beef up our regulations regarding revoking and suspending occupational licenses for people who fail to comply with these ordinances. It's not fair. We have most businesses that comply and do what they need to do to pay us. We have some that ignore us. And we've gotten to the point where we want to crack down on those who are ignoring us. I mean, twothirds of our budget are police and fire. And if you aren't paying your fair share, then that affects our police and fire services as well as any other services. So, this is designed primarily to clarify what is required, but also beefing up how we can suspend or um um remove licenses of people who are not complying with our ordinance, revoke licenses.

Again, that's that's a first reading. So, uh, if you have any questions, feel free. We also have a whole month to bother Jay about it. Next up are order resolutions. The first is order resolution 2026-3 Romeo. Miss Klein, an order resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an amended an amendment to the Northern Kentucky Special Weapons and Tactics Incorporated Interlocal Cooperation Agreement.

Um, the chief brought this to my attention. U, this is from the county. Uh the counties and police departments in Northern Kentucky jointly operate a SWAT team. Um we contribute money. Every city and county does. Some jurisdictions also contribute the actual officers that are in it. We used to have one on we have had one for a few years. U so they're kind of changing the the organizational manner in which the SWAT team operates and this will um reflect the changes that they're proposing. Chief, you got anything you want to add? That's correct. I was just up here in case anybody try to answer questions. Right. Any questions for the chief?

What is our cost on this? Uh it's 3,000. 3,000 a year. 3,000 for the team. That pays for ammo. uh that pays for uh shields, all types of weapons that they need fund. Every city has 3,000. Every city, no matter the So, Cington,

no matter the size, Coington's not on the team. They got their own SWAT team. Uh they're the only one that's not part of the regional team. So, every Fort Thomas is 3,000, 12,000, pay 3,000. That's the number we come up. It's gone up over the years. We've been part of the team since I got here in 2015. Uh it was,000 obviously how expenses have gone up 1,500,000. No, now we're at 3,000. So I'm trying I'm on the board of uh directors which is so I represent Campbell County, the head of the Campbell County Police Chiefs Association. So I will fight if that comes up try to keep our expenses low for smaller cities like us B South Wilder like

perhaps make it as a per capita contribution

if that if it comes to that if it gets to a more of a bigger expense then that would be something to obviously discuss. It's it's money money uh worth spending when we have an incident of this magnitude because we don't have to pay overtime. Uh we don't have to pay all this gets paid by individual departments. So Fort Thomas has two members on the team. City of Fort Thomas is paying for that officer here taking care of an incident. So with our current force, how many officers would be called out or would in a situation like this with a SWAT situation?

Uh all depends on the situation. Uh we have what we call a SWAT matrix. Uh so it could be an armed subject barricaded uh weapons inside the house, felony warrants, stuff like that. All adds up in this matrix. Uh, and seriousness is the more more people we have. I think we had trying to think of the last time we had some. I think we had something up on ETH. Uh, we actually had uh was that the three 400 block of ETH, right?

We had the we had drones up and we had a SWAT team and it was a barricaded subject and we're able to get him out safely. But and that keeps us uh the other officers who are working the street safer. Um, so that's kind of a liability thing for for us throwing us officers into a situation. Like I said, it's it's it's paid. It's well paid. Even though it's $3,000, when we have an incident, pray to God we don't, but if we do have something, it's it's money well spent. I think really my question is if there was a SWAT situation in another city under this grouping

um would they be pulling officers from the the street? No, we don't have anybody on the team as of now.

Um that is something that happens uh once a year. Uh sometimes maybe twice a year they will have a operator's test where you have to the physical agility test is is pretty extreme. So you have to be in really good shape. And this is a young man's game too because I had to I had to get off a SWAT because I was just getting too old for it because I just couldn't keep up. Um but uh we have another we have a hostage negotiation team. Um so they would be called out. I'm looking to try to get a couple officers uh on the hostess negotiation team, crisis negotiation. Um that's something I'm kind of looking at right now. It's up to them if they want to do it. It's it's something you have to do as a passion,

right? That Yeah. So if if if [snorts] we have currently we don't have any qu anybody qualified per se, right? We have nobody on the team right now. So if an incident took place in um Newport, none of our offers off officers would be headed that way. But if we had a critical incident here, they would all come to us. Gotcha. We we get their help. Like I said, it's money well spent. Understood. Thank you. And they're nationally certified now, too. Nationally certified SWAT team. There's not many like that out there. $3,000 seems like a pretty good deal. Uh, I think we should get a discount though since you're on the board. I mean, like 10% or something like that, right?

I'll be on the board for the next two years. So, I'm going to be the head of the chief's association for the next two years. So, the next two years, I'll be on board county. So, they've had any questions. Any other questions for the chief? Do I have a motion to accept order resolution 2026-3 Romeo? So, moved. Member Ner has made a movement. Do I have a second? I'll second. We have a second. All in favor? I I. Any nays? Any abstensions? I should do a roll call on that. I screwed up. It's okay to admit your impulse, right? [laughter] You guys have it.

Next up is order resolution 2026-4. Romeo. Miss Klein. Point of order. Did you want to do a roll call? You probably should. Yeah, we can do a roll call. Yeah. Okay. Member Ner. I. Member Nean. I. Member Jed. I. Member Levens. I. Member Horton. I. The eyes have it.

Next up is order resolution 2026-4 Romeo. Miss Klein, please. An order resolution of the city council of the city of Dayton, Kentucky, opposing House Bill 518, Senate Bill 112, and Senate Bill 52 introduced during the 2026 Kentucky General Assembly because these bills usurp local police powers of the city and other local governments and adversely impact their government, governance, budgets, and fiscal conditions and future economic development. So, there are three bills that we're currently tracking in the Kentucky General Assembly along with the help of the Kentucky League of um League of Cities who has a team of lobbyists down there. House Bill 518, Senate Bill 112, and Senate Bill 52. All three of these bills usurp the powers we currently have to regulate businesses and properties in our city. Um, one restricts our ability to collect local occupational license taxes. it wants to send those taxes to Frankfurt and then come back to us. We had that done with cable television and when it goes to Frankfurt they take a cut and they give us less than what we got before. So um and also it also has other restrictions which we find um um unacceptable. Uh the other one doesn't allow us to regulate short-term rental properties in the city. It basically says it's hands off and it can go anywhere in any residential district in the city. Um the third one limits our abilities to uh regulate building permits, zoning permits and other permits. So I think these are draconian uh pieces of legislation and it really takes away power of local communities to control their own communities through their ordinances. So, we're hopeful that these will all be defeated, but I would like to um have this passed so that we can send it to our local legislators that represent Dayton and tell them we oppose these three pieces of legislation.

Thank you, Mr. Faucet. That I'm guessing everyone has a good understanding of this. And if not, let's ask Mr. Fos any questions you might have about these ordinances. Are all the other uh cities, at least in Northern Kentucky, on board with opposing this? We had a meeting of the South Bank city administrators today. I know Belleview is passing a similar ordinance tomorrow. I believe Crest Hills is doing it as well. I talked to someone. He's on the South Bank city managers, but he's a friend and he said they're putting some together, too. So, I think many cities are doing it. Uh KLC has sent out alerts to all the cities about these three pieces of legislation. So,

So, KLC is also lobbying on our behalf on this. Yes. all the city's behalf. Yes. I have a question. Yes. Um got talk a little louder. Should I recuse myself? Should I recuse myself? Why would you? Because Yeah. Um you probably might be not be a bad idea. You have a you have a short-term rental, right? That's fine. Yeah. Yeah. Probably probably I would uh Okay. just abstain. Okay. Yeah. Any other questions for Mr. Faucet? Do I have a motion to accept 2026-4R?

So moved. Member Jud's made the movement. Second. We have a second by member Ner. Roll call, please. Member Jud. I. Member Levens. I. Member Horton. I. Member Ner. I. Member Nean. Abstain. You guys have it. The third order resolution that we have on our docket this evening will be order resolution 2026-5 Romeo. Miss Loven, Miss Klein, please. You're sitting next to Miss Loven. I apologize.

An order resolution of Dayton, Kentucky City Council reappointing the mayor and city administrator and appointing Brandy S. Ash to the Manhattan Harbor Architectural Review Commission. So, um, the market Manhattan Harbor architectural review committee, uh, is a committee set up through our zoning code to review designs in the Manhattan Harbor Development District. There's a, um, a book called the pattern book, which, um, sets forth the types of patterns and construction materials and things to be used up there. So this committee reviews properties that developments that come before um the city and make sure they comply with those um patterns and those design guidelines or they can seek a variance if uh if if appropriate. So um Lin Ray I mean I'm sorry Lyn Lyn Adams who um was the architecture architect member of the board passed away. He was served on that role for many years did a great job. So, we had to fill that spot. Uh, so we filled it um with um Miss Sash. She's a vice president and director of architecture at SHP architecture. She's very talented and she's agreed to do that in his place. While we were at it, I reappointed Min and I to the board too because that we are the two two uh government officials that are on that board. There are two me two other members. it's the master developer/homeowners association when the master developer is no longer involved that is um the fourth member and then the fifth member is whoever the developer is so they have the right to have a say and vote on the issues so those are the five members

do I have any questions regarding 2026- 5R [cough] no questions questions. Roll call, please. Miss Klein. We didn't have a motion yet. Do I have a motion to accept? I'll make that motion. Member Neman's made a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Member Ner's made a second. Roll call, please. Member Neeman, I. Member Jud, I. Member Levens. I. Member Horton. I. Member Ner. I. And the last order resolution we have on the evening will be 2026-6 Romeo. Miss Klein, please.

An order resolution of the city council of the city of Dayton, Kentucky, authorizing the mayor to apply for a grant with the Kentucky Department of Homeland Security for 13 duty rifles with sights and mounts. And upon approval of this grant, execute a grant agreement and or other documents required by the department or other agencies to facilitate and administer this grant and to act as the city's authorized correspondent for the grant. So, we recognized Tony Baldwin earlier tonight for his 30 years and with the city. He uh does a lot of the grants in the police department and this is one of the grants he was able to get for us. It's a homeland security grant for 13 duty rifles with sights and mounts, the newest technology. He'll be replacing our outdated rifles that we have now. And uh we have to authorize this through a order resolution. He submits the application which I think we have we will get. Um, we have to get three bids for the uh, rifles under their rules. Uh, and we will execate execute the great grant agreement once you all approve this.

Thank you, Mr. Faucet. Do we have any questions regarding 2026-6 Romeo? So, this is just authorizing to apply for the grant. Should we be should we be awarded the grant? Will this come back to council for cost approval? It's not just applying, but it's also to execute a grant agreement and other documents required by the department. So, it's it's doing all at one time. So, we're applying and then we're agreeing to execute it as well. Do we have any idea what the cost is going to be on this? We know it's it's going to be we we know we pretty much have a good idea. It's uh but it's not we're not paying anything. It's a grant that's coming to us. That's what what our portion of it is.

Yeah. No, we don't we don't it's free. It's free to us. This is a grant that covers the whole cost. Okay. It's not like an 8020 or 5050 or anything. Gotcha. So, they cover everything. Yeah. I think it's what around 11,000. No, around 20,000. 20,000. Yeah. Yeah. And I didn't see anything in the documentation provided, but are there any strings attached to this? Any requirements that we need to add for accepting this grant? I don't think so.

I don't think so. Like I said, Tony's doing the grant or like Jay said, Tony's doing the grant. Usually we did uh this probably this will be our second homeland security grant. Um we did the the first one was the cameras when I first got here. I inherited that one uh in 2015. So usually there's no stipulation. They give you the money and uh just have to have the right

three bids uh from different uh vendors and the the best one that we go with. Unlike uh the transportation grants we often have through the Kentucky uh transportation cabinet where we have to pay everything up front and then um they reimburse us 80%. We were out of pocket 20%. This one doesn't do that at all. It's just the full amount of the grant. We get it and buy the guns. Right. And what is our process for dispositioning the old rifles once we get them?

Um I have to talk to uh Senator Bowman about that. Um Anderson Manufacturing is the company that we bought them from. They're no longer in business. Uh usually we will uh sell them back uh to the arms dealer that we have. We we're able to sell them back. We did that when we upgraded our handguns. Uh we went with Keeslers out of Lexington. So they bought part of the grant was they uh they bought the old guns that we had or they and we put a portion of that towards the money that we spent towards the new So. Yeah. So it would go probably to the same vendor that we uh decide to go with with the newer rifles.

Okay. Thank you. Buy it. Thank you. Any other questions regarding six Romeo? Do I have a motion to accept? I'll make a motion to accept. Member Horton's made a motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Member Leven seconded. Roll call, please. Member Levens. I. Member Horton. I. Member Ner. I. Member Nean. I. Member Jed. I. May. I have it.

Moving right along. Next up is the department directors monthly reports. Miss. Patterson. you have a copy of my report. Um there's not been a whole lot going on with the weather. Um we did have quite a few um reschedules for inspections as well. Um some people called, some we called. Um and about it really. We I've been working on the read ready um with that group. Um we hope to have something really soon to um get going with that. And the school is still looking for mentors. So the information's at the office. You can email me. You can email Tracy at school if you're interested. Um other than that, that's about it. Any questions? Any questions?

All right. Thank you. No citations for grass being too high. Not today. Maybe tomorrow. I hope. I know. That's what I said. All I want to see is green grass. But yeah, thank you. Thank you, Miss Patterson. Chief AFL. I know you get your steps in

popular today. Uh you guys have my monthly report. You guys have my yearly report. Uh luckily I was able to get from Campbell County for the social workers. They were able to give me some type of uh stats from when they started in March to uh December. I was able to put that into the packet. if you had any questions on those or any of the numbers that were produced for the yearly, the monthly or Yeah. What is on that report for the social workers? I had a question asked you yesterday. Uh cabinet

uh the cabinet for families and children uh if if they get involved usually they uh our social workers have a close relationship with the cabinet with family. So if there's an issue with juveniles and stuff like that, they'll Gotcha. They have a really good Yeah. Yeah. Good collaboration because that's almost the majority of the reports as as far as the cause, that's pretty much the majority. Yeah. And you can see too, I mean, when uh Belleview and Dayton are both in that yearly, we're pretty much the same, right? The numbers are pretty much the same between the two cities. So, they've been doing a really good job.

Any other questions for the chief? Thank you, Chief. Have a good evening. Thank you,

Chief Schaefer. Everybody's got a copy of my report. Um, starting off the year, we made 151 runs last month. 57 fire, 94 EMS runs. Uh we did train in forceful entry, fire behavior, PB, uh pediatric arrest. So 192 hours training total just for the month. We did not teach any CPR, uh 19 inspections. And then over the course of the month, we did start uh we've had five structure fires between the two cities and then we've responded to four others. There are eight others to neighboring cities. So, uh, these newer guys are getting their fire experience. So, that's good. But the training is paying off. They're, you know, they're contained to what's burning and so, uh, that's good. Uh, we've met with the developers for projects in both cities. I know the I met with, uh, couple times for the storage unit out there. That's about done. Um, and then dispatch started a new dispatch software that we've been enjoying working the bugs out of. So, uh, during the snowstorm, the big snowstorm, we did bring in two extra people and it worked out great. We brought in two guys, put them in the pickup. So they made they were able to make runs for anything we didn't need a fire truck for, keeping our fire truck off the street and letting Rick and his crew do their job. So made quite a few runs. They would follow the squad and help with them, too. So they were busy, but that actually worked out really well. And then if anybody notices, our ladder truck is missing. That has gone to South Dakota to get painted. Uh it

was it was a warranty issue. So that was six, seven years ago. So they wanted to wait till further on. So that's a good thing, but it is going to be out for probably a couple months. So but we've talked to with that we've talked to Newport and Fort Thomas and so we're covered with aerials. It's just you don't see ours in the garage. That's why. Thank you. Any questions for the chief? All right. Thanks, Chief. You have a good night. Mr. Lucas, not saying nobody else is busy, but man, have you been busy? Just a little bit, but our uh new guys, I guess we trained them pretty good cuz they did a good job. Draw by fire.

What's that? Draw by fire. Yeah. [clears throat] Hey, nice. Yeah. So, they they did a good job and equipment held up and salt was getting a little low, but we end up uh getting some salt yesterday. Yep. And we got 75 ton in. Uh, but the salt place was out of out of salt. They couldn't get any salt. Did a good They did a good job. Yeah, it's a lot of snow. Mhm. And they've been out now cleaning out all the storm drains so that when that snow melting open so when it starts melting

um we didn't have too no pro no real problems with any of the equipment. It all held up good today. We cleaned everything. uh greased everything, got them all, you know, put back together. And let's hope you don't have to bring them back out. Right. Right. But other than that, I mean, how would you say that? Typical dayto-day stuff. And we did order the garbage cans and Yeah. So, we ordered how many did we order from? 10 of them. Metal Solutions? 10. So, the garbage cans that's got the City of Dayton logo on it. We want to replace the ones that don't look like that. So, we got we got a couple that we need to replace and couple different places, but other than that, I mean,

and we also were able to finally we finally got the grates in that were damaged in the bumpouts and they've been replaced, too. And we got I don't know, five of them left or we got some in reserve. So, and we we sent all of our weed eaters and all that kind of stuff out to get uh ready for the spring. Yep. And we got them back today. So only one of them we had to dispose of. So that worked out. I mean we had our hedge trimmers and all that blades sharpened. One of them completely replaced. So we'll be ready for the spring. On the the the grates for the bumpouts. The one that was broken.

There was a line item in the budget for like $2,200. Uh was that for six of them or just one? We bought 10, I think. I think we bought 10. Oh, okay. And we had two different grades broke. Okay. There was one over by the um next to the fire department and then the other one was where was it down by Wayfair or something? Yeah. One one in front of Rump and Roll. Yeah. Rump and Roll. Yeah. So, we wanted to get them because I'm afraid they're going to stop manufacturing them. So, we wanted to have them stock so they match up in the future. So, we got them and we're leaving them outside so they right they weather so they look like the same as the other ones. Yeah. I was just wondering if that was the cost for one or for more than that.

That was 10. Okay, that's pretty good. Well, they're not. Any questions? How are the railings on the steps doing? How's what? How are the railings on the steps doing? Uh, they [clears throat] haven't done much. Right. Right. The weather is not the weather and um we met we met there with Susan and we looked at it and so I was kind of waiting for the weather to break to get back with her. So, we really can't do much work in it right now. So, she's agreed to do it and she she she hasn't agreed. She was she was putting together a proposal, so I was kind of wait. I haven't gotten it yet, but I I was going to reach out to her with the weather starting to break, spring on its way, I thought we'd revisit it

until the weather changed, too. We We were actually blowing the steps off uh once almost once a week about once every 10 days. I'd have my guys go up and check it. So, we are keeping it cleaner, but we haven't done anything since and all that. It's kind of dangerous. What's that? It's kind of dangerous. Oh, yeah. Maybe you could put I don't know what. So, they don't fall over and fall onto iron. I mean, we could Yeah, we've looked at it. I mean, we're on it. We just The weather is just not Well, you wouldn't be able to weld in it. That would be one of the parts where they were trying to put pieces together and stuff like that.

Many people aren't most people aren't using now anyway, but I think once the spring comes, I want to revisit it. Hopefully, she can do it. If not, we'll find somebody else. Try to find somebody else that does it. When's your proposal due? I was expecting it, but I'm not sure. I guess with the weather she I don't know. I have to reach out to her. I haven't done it. Okay. I know she looked at it when we were up there. Yeah, we definitely walked up and down. She took measurements and so she was it was going to you know, give me something, but I haven't got it yet. I was hoping you could be ready when the weather starts breaking or when it starts to be spring that you're ready and not still shopping for people. I mean, what I'll do when we can [cough and clears throat]

and I've even offered, you know, give her a guy or two to help when she goes do it. Any questions for I'm sorry. Any other questions for Mr. Lucas? Thanks. Thanks, sir. Have a good evening. Mr. Faucet, your city administrator report, please.

I only have a couple things that I'm going to defer to Jared u for the rest of the report. U the Riverfront Commons phase two and three, they were making great uh great progress and of course the poor weather hit. So, they basically shut down operations um probably I guess about three or four weeks ago when we've got the weather. So, I'm hopeful that now that the warmer weather is coming, they're going to resume it. They still they were ahead of schedule. So, I think we still have the May one deadline. Looks like it will be met, but uh I'd like to see them back down there and finishing up the project. So, I just want to give you a heads up on that. If you have any questions about that, I'm happy to answer it. If not, I'm going to defer the rest of my time to Jared Barks to talk about the 2026 resident survey, which is hot off the presses today. And Jared's got a little presentation about it. It's about three times the size the past one. Jared did a good job getting word out, did a little Facebook advertising, and we had a lot of responses. So Jared,

this year we received 410 responses. Last year we had 180 years before that. have a copy in front of you if you'd like to watch this will be up on the website. First, I just like to go through the demographics who are the participants. Most of the people are going to be 30 to 70 years old. They've lived in more than 20 years. Most of them are home. This year we had a different category for people that were just visitors. They had some feedback for us. this year for the first time and like I said um according to our survey takers most people are receiving city updates from social media and word of mouth with the city website news and newspaper behind that which is the same that we've seen every year since taking on the survey Um great your experience with the city employee 88% said excellent good so we do you feel safe in the city uh over 90% said um I always feel safe or I feel safe most of the time and those that has been trending upward since we've done survey in the last five years. So year over year we're seeing improvement um just to call out 22 only 25% said I always feel safe and now it's great city streets most said the streets

were good with 55% you can see that good and fair were the largest which is the same that we see here great city of parks um 86% said excellent or good and those have been trained Last year we only had 12% saying they were excellent. Now% I'm sure that all the money infrastructure that we put in. We've really been focusing on those state events. Um looks like good rating was the majority with 53%. Um and those look pretty stable a little longer. They kind of remain the same over The city of Tak business district uh was rated good at 54% as well. Rate the city of Dayton as a whole. And the last year kind of asking them to think about their experience of everything. Um and so right the city of Dayton as a whole we had 85% saying excellent or good um which has been trending up over the last few years as well as the trajectory there at the bottom on page seven. So 72% which is the highest we've ever received the city was headed in the which has been here as well. After that, you will have 40 odd pages of comments to read. Um, I always enjoy reading those because it's anonymous. People can say whatever they want to say and I truly feel like people are telling us their actual opinions of what we are doing. So, I think it's definitely worthwhile to read through those.

We also provide all of the city staff with those with a full report. Of course, this is going to go out to the public and we also give it to all as well so they can determine kind of what they want to do um in the upcoming year. This is also a big part of our budget process. The city council uses this to tell us what the goal should be for the upcoming year. So, this is a big um education to the city, its staff, all the volunteers and the council as well when it comes to what are the constituents feeling and saying

Jared, I just would add that all these comments here are verbatim. We pulled from the not at all

except we will redact curse words and we took a few out, not many. Okay, so that was one of my questions was redactions. Um, so thanks for covering that. Uh, the other thing was I did notice uh Facebook Marketing was targeting at least me to fill out the survey even though I already did it. So that was noticeable. Um, so thanks for getting that out there to help get more more responds here. Um, but speaking of social media, what social media are we currently using? primarily Facebook, but we we have an instagram. Okay, thank you.

Any questions for uh Mr. Barks regarding this survey? Any comments? If you don't have a question, say, "Hey, great job." I'll say, "Great job." Great job. I'll say great job. Yeah, this is this is great. This is what we want to hear. I'd like to thank all the people that actually not only rated did, you know, clicked the button to say good, better, best, but these comments are so valuable and they took time for the people that really think about it and put it in put them in. I know it's 43 pages or 47 pages of comments. I started reading them today.

There's some great ideas in here and I just want to really thank people that took the time to do this. I agree that the participation is nothing. All right. [clears throat] Any other comments, questions, concerns? All right, moving right along. Do we have any audience comments from this evening, Jerry, that you would like to address the city over on anything you can talk about? It's just a state of the

baggage retrieval system at Heathro from 585 Manhattan Boulevard. First of all, Rick, kudos to the guys. Great job cleaning the roads everywhere. I'm all over and it was great. Appreciate that. I would like to know the city council and the city's feelings on the Manhattan Harbor architectural committee makes a decision and authorizes this is the way something is going to be built. It's approved through county and through the city. Who reinforces that? The next step goes to the planning commission. So when what do you mean by who re who what do you mean by that? I'm not sure if I understand

the architectural planning guideline book that we have. Yes. Who is responsible is enforcing enforce enforcing that? Yes. Okay. That's that's Campbell County planning and zoning. Okay. That's official. That's everybody's take, right? because I get differing opinions from the county. Okay. Well, who do they say is responsible? I guess they say us. They don't say anyone because I can never get them to follow up on an issue at hand. When it comes to me as president of the HOA,

in the past, whenever I've had an issue, didn't think things are being done properly, I would call Cindy and they would address it. So like the steps that were built by the blue building, they were inappropriate and I called our he reached out to the developer and they fixed it. So that's what we've done in the past. So I don't know why we wouldn't keep doing that. Okay. Followup to that is is there anything that we as the city can do to get the project up at the end of Barry Street either completed, removed, etc. The one that has the foundation. Mhm.

Well, the issue with that one is, as I understand Cindy, is they put those that foundation in thinking that they were able to build another building like that next to it, but because the way they did it, they wanted to share a garage and and sewer and water. They can't do it. So, they have to reconfigure that design. And I don't know where that's at. But that's my that's my biggest question. Who is responsible for making that happen? because I get unanswered ears. I

I mean, it's just very obvious that I get blown off and say, you know, we're working on it, blah, blah, blah. Nothing ever happens because that is a total eyesore to the city of Dayton at this point. I don't disagree. I don't understand how you could spend that much money on a foundation like that and then just let it sit there. You would think you want to get a return on that investment, but I don't know. So, okay, that's a conversation I I I should have with Brennan Sullivan because I think that's one of his projects. So, I Okay. Yeah. All right.

Greatly appreciate that. Okay. Thank you all. Appreciate it. You're welcome. Thanks, Jay. Seeing as there's nobody else in the crowd that's not an employee, uh go ahead and close the uh audience comments. any new business that council would like to bring for council there? Um, yeah. So, I did see a Facebook comment in the the Dayton buzz um about Wi-Fi. So, I wanted to get a clarification on that. Somebody said that they shut we shut off the city Wi-Fi. We rebooted the router. It's all good.

They're referring to a Wii router that says the city of the name of the router. So, they were assuming it was public Wi-Fi. We contacted specifically told them no. Got it. Um and that brings up the question though is have we considered doing public Wi-Fi uh in certain places. We I've talked about it at Monument Park initially and we're looking at that maybe this summer. Um it's expensive to do it. A lot of people do their whole downtowns, but I think what we really needed are gathering places like that. So we are we are looking that for this summer.

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions, council administration?

Yeah, a couple months ago I I mentioned this and in hopes that Belleview and Newport and ourselves could I see so many complaints about traffic and I they are valid at rush hour. uh it's it's backed up sometimes to a fallon and and further heading out in the morning and it's even worse in the in the evening rush hour. I would like to see and I don't know if if the Dayton City Council does it or administration or whatever, but to request that uh KYTC do a new traffic study of Route 8X or business route 8 and to have Belleview and Newport also sign on to that because part of the issue is on the other side of the flood wall by the party source which is Newport. Um something's got to be done. It's getting worse. Um, I sympathize with people. I sat through it for 30 years and it's even worse than it was 5 years ago. Uh, I see comments on some of the other pages like the Belleview pages saying it's Dayton's fault and we shouldn't be allowed to build any more

uh housing here. Um, I I can sympathize with that that they're blaming the change on how we've grown here in Dayton. The last traffic report that I saw was done by Cardinal Engineering, I believe in 2013 um with Manhattan Harbor. That was part of the requirements. Um that needs to be revisited. Some action has to be taken on this. And I don't would it be KYTC's job to do that for all I mean we could do a traffic study just for Dayton, but that Bellev could do but it's all tied together. So all three cities have got to come together on this and because it's killing us as far as uh property values, our businesses.

Yeah, it's a state highway. So if anybody makes any changes to it, it has to be KYTC. And what they do is they do traffic studies before they recommend any changes. So I think we could request it. And Bellev, by the way, is getting ready to move forward with the development of a residential development behind uh UDF. So they're also going to be bringing more people to the community, too. So it's not going to stop. So yeah, I think it's a good idea, but I I would talk with Frank and u the city manager in Newport and see whether we could send a joint letter. So you would initiate that? I'll talk to them. Yeah. All right. Great. Thank you. Because uh it's going to be a long process. I know how long those studies take. Yep.

And then coming up with any kind of solution is going to take even longer, but at least to show that we're taking some action on it would be great. Okay. I'll talk with them. Thank you. Do you know how many units that's going to have in Do you know how many units that's that development is going to have in Belleview? I don't know. I just uh Frank Warno, the city administrator in Bellev was talking about it today at the uh South Bank city manager meeting saying that they are moving forward now. It's been a long time development process, but that they're getting ready to move forward with that project. So, it will be a significant number of residential units there.

I want to take a second to address the board. um the boards that were appointed and um take a minute to thank the residents that showed up to the board meeting that we had that was successful. I think we're going in the right direction and I just want to like kind of bring up the as we move and we move people around on the boards and co-chairs and chairs. I just want to go on the record and say that hey I'm okay with you know moving people around. I would just like to see the momentum not stop because we have a really good thing going on right now. So if one board is not moving fast as another board, I would like to not see one board stop the momentum from another board and vice versa. But just want to thank the people for that came to the board meeting and um like to continue to see the success going because I think we have something good. And I also want to say that I had a very good meeting with Jay. I I stopped by the office and talked with Jay and I got a really good understanding on things and for the because a lot of audience watches our YouTube. I didn't know that that they do. They watch and and just want to say that uh we're in a good situation in Dayton that we have a lot of people that work together and we're going to be moving in a good direction as far as these boards go. So, thank you for coming and taking time out when it was snowing and hardly anybody wanted to get out and you still came out and supported us. And that's what we need for the city of Dayton is more community engagement to keep these things moving in the right direction.

Yep. Just one clarifying thing. You were talking about committees. I want to make sure we're not we're keeping the distinction there between boards and committees. So, correct. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other new business? One more thing. Motion to adjurnn. No, hold on. Almost. [laughter] Uh, I I did see that member Kelly uh said she was going to be on vacation today. I said her absence wasn't excused jokingly at the beginning of the meeting. She's excused. I hope she enjoys her vacation. Now, Mr. Ner, you'd like to make a motion to adjurnn? Yes, I would. All in favor? I. Any nays? Want to do a roll call? All right.