City Commission - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the September 14th meeting of the Sandusky City Commission. We'll have an invocation offered by Commissioner Tucker, followed by the legislature.

Heavenly Father, bless us tonight and help us make right decisions for the community and bless those that serve on the commission and are here tonight. Thank you. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to

visible with liberty and justice for all.

Mr. Pujo? Here. Mr. Tucker? Here.

Mr. Schwanger? Here. Ms. Fargo? Here.

Mr. Waddington? Here. Mr. Koontz? Here. Mr. Crable?

Here. We're all here.

Commissioners, you have before you the last meeting minutes, and I would like to get a motion to accept those.

Madam.

I should say from August 24th. Yes, Commissioner.

I would move approval of the August 24th meeting minutes and waive the reading thereof. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing no discussion, those minutes are approved. Next on our agenda tonight, we have a ceremonial swearing in of our newest commissioner. Commissioner Tim Schwanger and he is going to be sworn in by Attorney Loretta Riddle.

Raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Timothy H. Schwanger, do solemnly swear.

I, Timothy H. Schwanger, do solemnly swear.

That I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the State of Ohio and the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Sandusky.

That I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the State of Ohio and Charter and Ordinances of the City of Sandusky.

That I will honestly, faithfully, and impartially discharge the duties of my office as a City Commissioner.

That I will honestly, faithfully, and impartially discharge the duties of my office as a City Commissioner.

And not be influenced by any consideration except that of merit and fitness in the appointment and discharge of employees.

And not be influenced by any consideration except that of merit and fitness in the appointment or discharge of employees.

That I am currently qualified to hold the office.

That I am currently qualified to hold the office.

And will maintain all the qualifications throughout my term in office in compliance with sections 4, 6, and 43 of the city charter. So help me God.

It will maintain all of the qualifications throughout my term in office in compliance with sections 4, section 6,

Congratulations, Commissioner. And welcome. And pretty fitting, next on the agenda tonight, I have a proclamation that I'll be giving to the Daughters of the American Revolution regarding Constitution Week. I was just on the East Coast. I was just in Boston this weekend. It was pretty amazing. So I'm very excited to read this. Whereas the United States Constitution, America's most important document, stands as a testament to the tenacity of Americans throughout history to maintain their liberties, freedoms, and inalienable rights. And Constitution Week is celebrated annually during the week of September 17th through the 23rd to commemorate its history. And whereas September 17th, 2026 marks 239 years in the anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention since 39 men put their lives and fortunes on the line to sign this important document. And whereas the celebration of the Constitution was started by the Daughters of the American Revolution, in 1955, Darr petitioned Congress to set aside September 17th through the 23rd annually to be dedicated for the observance of Constitution Week. The resolution was later adopted by the U.S. Congress and signed into public law on August 2nd, 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Whereas, the Daughters of American Revolution have also erected a structure that is built in tribute to the Constitution of the United States. Daughters of American Revolution Constitutional Hall, which is a performing arts center, opened in 1929. And whereas, the aims of the Constitution Week celebration are to emphasize citizens' responsibilities for protecting and defending the Constitution. inform people that the Constitution is the basis for America's great heritage and the foundation for our way of life, and to encourage the study of the historical events which led to the framing of the Constitution in September 1787. Whereas Bells Across America is an annual celebration of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, participants gather to ring bells much as the church bells of Philadelphia rang out when the U.S. Constitution was first signed at 4 p.m. on September 17, 1787. Now, therefore, I, Kate Vargo, president of the Sandusky City Commission, do hereby proclaim the week of September 17th through September 23rd as Constitution Week in the city of Sandusky, dated this 14th day of September 2026. And now I would like to invite Terry Zeman from the Daughters of the American Revolution to come up and just say a few words, she said. So welcome, Terry.

MARTHA PITKIN CHAPTER, NATIONAL SOCIETY DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, I ACCEPT THE PROCLAMATION. Someone did a lot of work to write that proclamation. They found lots of information. And we appreciate the fact that you recognize that this is Constitution Week. As you say, Daughters of the American Revolution were instrumental in getting this passed as legislation back in 56. So we're very happy to accept the proclamation. Thank you.

You're very welcome, and we'll thank Ms. Cathy Myers for helping us greatly with this project. She did a lot of reading. Yes, yes. She did a great job. Thank you, Cathy. Well, it was very nice of you all to come in. Thank you very much. It's very important. I'd like to present this to you.

Thank you.

We're getting a picture of her.

Sure, sure.

Scoot out of this photo. I'll be here. I don't know if I screwed it up or not.

Thank you.

All right. I need those or we could do nothing else. Okay, next on our agenda this evening. is our first public hearing of the evening. It will be PY 2025 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation from Nicole Grohe from the CDBG administration. And once she is finished, if the commissioners have questions, we'll do those. And then if there are any questions from the audience, you'll come forward, state your name and address, and you can ask your question after that as well. And then once that's done, we close the public hearing and we do the next one, okay? All right, Nicole, the floor is yours. Thank you.

Tonight we're going to discuss the Program Year 2025 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report. The executive summary just tells a little bit about the program. The Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report details the City of Sandusky's accomplishments. the program year for 2025, which runs from July 1st of 2025 to June 30th of 2026. It also shows the achievements towards meeting the goals outlined in the City of Sandusky's 2024-2028 five-year consolidated plan. For the program year 2025, the City of Sandusky allocated $699,040 to spend on eligible activities. The annual funding is calculated through a formula through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sandusky administered several activities, including public facilities, code enforcement, clearance into demolition, youth, and public service activities. Of the available funding, $526,728.80, which was 75% of the total, were drawn down by the time this report was made. The city is on track to spend the remaining funds. They are allocated to projects that are actively occurring. But here's a chart that overviews the 2024-2028 consolidated plan goals on the left, and then the next column shows the allocated 2025 action plan funds, and then the percentage that was used, the activity name, what indicator and description was used, what unit of measure, what the estimate was in the action plan, and what the actual result was. And I'm going to go through these in more detail, so I'm going to skip right through the activities. We can go back to that chart if you'd like. Under housing, in our consolidated plan, we have to provide affordable housing and remove barriers for fair housing. So the accomplishment that was done in this program year, the city engaged in a fair housing consultant who fielded 104 calls regarding fair housing questions. They also provided fair housing materials for residents and offered educational opportunities. The total for that was $9,500. For housing rehabilitation activities, the city provided matching funds for the Erie County Health Department with their Lead Hazard and Healthy Homes program for Sandusky residents. This year, it's resulted in 10 homes being rehabilitated, and some of the addresses participated in both programs, so we got a pretty good amount done. $124,000 for that activity. The next goal is neighborhood stabilization. Under the action for the consolidated plan, there is to enhance the quality of life for people living in low and moderate income neighborhoods through public investments in facility improvements and services, as well as the elimination of blight. So for the program year this year, the community development activities consisted of recreational facility improvements at Central Park. That is currently being finished up right now. There was fencing ball. I'm not sure if it's installed, but it will be soon if it's not. Additionally, we had mulch that was purchased for Shoreline Park, and that totaled $69,712.07. Under public facilities this year, we did four segments of road, which included Lane 2, part of Wilbert Street, part of Wilson Street, and part of Perkins Avenue, and that totaled $267,266. $7,052.28. The next goal is special needs assistance. And the goal of that is to promote access to public services for special needs populations that are assumed to be low and moderate income, which include but are not limited to children, seniors, elderly, veterans, and persons with mental, physical, or developmental disabilities or addictions, HIV, or other special needs. So for the program year 25, there were 302 eligible enforcements for code enforcement that was completed for this, and 83% of the inspections resulted in compliance. The total for that was $75,391.28. The youth program was also under this category. And this year, there was 1,059 youths that participated during the program year. The total for that was $51,856. The last group is 620 people. They were assisted through the subrecipient grants. So this year, we supported the Erie County Senior Center's Meals on Wheels program, OGO's Mobile Food Pantry program, and Father's Heart Church. Also, we carried over funds for New Jerusalem to aid in their cooling and warming shelter. And the total for all these was $53,000. Just briefly how HUD categorizes projects. The green areas are census tracts that we are allowed to do CDBG projects in. The gray areas we cannot. So that's why you'll see projects in certain areas. Of these objectives, the LMA is low moderate area. That's what I'm referring to with the green and the gray. These are calculated by HUD and they use census data. The In 25, there were six projects that had that national objective, and the remainder of the projects were under other national objectives. So the other options were low, moderate, limited clientele, which we did five projects for that, and then low, moderate income housing was the last one that utilized two different projects. We also had a public comment period and a meeting with the CPAC meeting. That is a group of citizens that comment and all these things. From that, we also had a posting in the paper that ran from August 7 to August 23. And then the plan was available for people to review on the website. Also, there was a copy dropped off at the library, and it was online. So from all that, there was a comment asked about at the CPAC meeting if New Jerusalem's warming and cooling center carryover funds would be used. It will be used for that program. So that's the answer to that. We won't lose them. They'll just move them on to the next year. And at this point, the presentation's concluded. I would like to ask for questions at this point, I think.

Commissioners, do we have any questions for Nicole regarding her presentation this evening?

Madam Chair.

Yes.

Nicole, this will be on the city's website or it already is?

Yes, absolutely.

Thank you.

Any other questions, commissioners? Okay, audience members, any questions from the audience this evening regarding this public hearing? Hearing none, we'll close this public hearing. Thank you, Nicole. Thank you. Great work.

Thank you. Thanks, Nicole.

And tonight's second public hearing is zone map amendment for 1925 Barker Street. Adam's here, our assistant planner tonight, to discuss that. Welcome, Adam.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So as you mentioned, this is a public hearing for a zone map amendment initiated by recommendation of the Planning Commission for parcel 58-65004.000 to rezone the old Barker school site from the public facilities district to the residential slash business district. So I've got a few slides just for some context. On the left-hand side of this slide is the zoning map. In green is the current district of public facilities. Surrounding that, you'll see a bunch of yellow, which is single-family zoning. And then to the northeast, you'll see which is residential business district, which is what the applicant is requesting to change to. And on the right-hand side is aerial showing existing site conditions with two old historic buildings that have been very well maintained on the outside and neighborhoods surrounding it. I've got a few elevation photos that I took. Here's from Barker Street. That's that elevation, that side of the building. Beautiful. from the late 1800s. Here's Mill Street showing the Barker School building and the old annex, which was built in 1924, I believe. And then lastly, an elevation photo I took from Tiffin Ave. The purpose of the rezoning application is simply to enable the site and existing school buildings to be redeveloped into long-term residential apartments. The reason we're here, the reason a rezoning is necessary at all to do that is simply because the public facilities district does not permit long-term apartments. It's not a permitted use. You can only do public facility uses, right? So because of that, We're here tonight There a proposed site plan was provided just as conceptual and for informational purposes as for this application Which is important because the last thing I'll cover is that? During their meeting on July 22nd of this year the Planning Commission did two things so first and most importantly they recommended approval of this rezoning application to the City Commission and And second, contingent on that approval by city commission, they also granted site plan approval. So that was conditional approval. Effectively, if the commission were to approve after this tonight, after 30 days, the applicant would be, they have their site plan approved, right? And then they would be ready to apply for building permits and get the process rolling. If denied, then... They wouldn't. That's the end of my presentation. Applicant Mio is here tonight as well if you'd like to hear from him or have any questions. Thank you.

Yes. Thank you, Adam. Do we want to have him come up and speak first or do you want to take questions first? Why don't we have him come up and continuity follow up on what we were talking about. Adam will come up and speak on his behalf.

I'll put this one up for now.

I'm speaking on behalf of Barker Street. We are the owners of the school currently, trying to convert it to a 20 apartment unit, which I think we're on board with what the city needs. That's pretty much it. We're not going to do any exterior changes to both buildings. They're going to stay as they are. All the work is going to be done on the interior part of the building.

And you said 20 units?

Correct.

Okay. Commissioners, do we have any questions this evening for Adam?

Madam Chair?

Commissioner Coons.

I have just a couple of questions. You said 20 units. Will you be using both buildings?

Between both buildings, correct. Okay.

And what type of units would they be?

They're all two-bedroom. All of them, they're going to be two-bedroom, two-bedroom.

Okay. Any other questions? I think that's it for me right now.

Madam Chair, I'm on the Planning Commission. It was overwhelmingly supported by this, and we were really excited to see that building being turned into residential in a neighborhood, and they were very excited with the plans of what they were going to do, and there was a lot of support for this.

Thank you for sharing that. Any other questions?

Madam Chair, just one more comment. I can say this because I purchased one of those buildings back in the day for $5. The vision was for those buildings to be used for children or teenagers and I know for a long time that they had been used in that way because they were after school daycare program. But at the same time, I realize the situation we find ourselves in now as it relates to housing. So I feel like that's a good use as well to be able to have housing, 20 units over there. I think there are 20. I don't know how many units are over at the... the old Campbell School building, but I know that there are 22 units at Osborne. So I see those as excellent uses for former schools. I hope it looks nice. I hope you get...

I believe it's going to look great. I hope it's affordable. Yes.

That is a question I have for you. Is it market rate apartments?

We are going to try to keep it with the current market, whatever the market is in Sandusky. That's what we're going to try to do it. We're not going to try to do a Section 8. It's going to be strictly... And there's enough parking? There's plenty of parking, yes.

That was a discussion at the Planning Commission.

Good, good. Those are my old staffing grounds. I taught there for three years.

Okay. That's right.

Make sure it looks good.

I knew that.

Any other questions about this? Yes.

Madam Chair. I know in the past we've had a resident that lives at that corner talk about the fact that that particular corner only has three crosswalks marked. So from the engineering standpoint, are we going to look into that at all to make that corner more user-friendly since we're putting 20 apartments into that location?

I know I've had discussions with the city manager on this. There's some history why there's only three. But, yeah, I mean, we have conversations on it. There's a reason there's only three. And many intersections along Route 6 only have three as well, limiting the pedestrians crossing Route 6 mainly. As you know, as a school, one crossing guard made sense to funnel traffic to one side, so... That's probably a lot to do with why it is the way it is.

For that time period.

For that time period, right.

And that's something maybe, Tim, we can probably put John on and talk about that some more. Okay. Any other questions from the commission? Any questions from the audience tonight on this public hearing? Okay. If not, I will... Mrs. Clark, I didn't get the question. Sorry, Barbara. Can you come forward, Barbara? I'm sorry.

Scott, this is in my neighborhood as well, and I want to make sure I heard him correctly saying, hi, I'm Barbara Clark.

I know... Barbara, what's your address?

My address is 1808 Sandusky Street, Sandusky, Ohio. My concern is that this is turning a school building into a senior home. It's just residential. Anyone can live there. Okay. And you said there are two bedrooms?

Correct.

Okay. How many bathrooms?

Two bedrooms.

Bath.

Two.

Bath.

Bathrooms. Bedroom and bathroom.

Two bedrooms and two bathrooms as well?

Yes.

Oh my goodness, I need one of these apartments. Two bedrooms and two bathrooms that I don't have to share with anyone. Okay, I got it.

Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments from the audience tonight regarding this public hearing? Okay, this public hearing is closed. Thank you very much, Adam. Thank you, sir. Thank you for investing in the community.

Thank you.

Okay, tonight we are on to the audience participation on the agenda items only. Anyone with comments on tonight's agenda, you're going to step to the podium, state your name and your address, and share your questions, and then we'll see if we can't get those answered during our meeting at some point.

Amy Commissioners, Ethan Elziker, 904 Decatur Street. I noticed that several items on tonight's agenda are being introduced as emergency measures in accordance with section 14 of the city charter. I'm wondering if the commissioners can provide any clarity on these many, many emergencies that exist or if there's like one overarching emergency that we should all be worried about. I'm curious what the immediate harm to the city would be if these ordinances were subject to the normal process of being read at two meetings and then waiting 30 days to go into effect. I'm also curious why it's emergently necessary to prevent these ordinances from being subject to a referendum of the people. And I'm wondering if the commissioners are aware of the recent Ohio Supreme Court decisions Let's see, what is it? McNamara Smith v. Grubb that said, quote, language in a resolution that simply parrots the emergency statute by referring to the preservation of public peace, health, and safety of the municipality is actually insufficient. to declare something an emergency. The group decision also declares that citing it's an emergency so that the project is not further delayed is also insufficient language. And if the commissioners are aware of these decisions, are they confident that the language in all of these ordinances being voted on tonight clear that legal threshold?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ethan. Any other questions for tonight's agenda items from the audience? And Mr. Orszag, could we maybe speak to that when we get down into, do you want to do it now or do you want to talk about it during our business? Because we've discussed it before.

I'd prefer to do it now. Stu has, we've talked about this morning and he'll have explanation to explain all that to commission and the public.

Sure. whether ordinances and emergency and most ordinances in this community and other communities in which I've served Cleveland was 100% emergency ordinances Beachwood was close to 100% emergency ordinances. The advantage of an emergency ordinances of course it requires a super majority in order to pass so it's at least among the commission members and non controversial. having it read twice does not seem to be a, no one's gonna change their mind. And secondly, I'm very aware of the recent Ohio Supreme Court case involving a data center. in which the community city council passed an ordinance authorizing the building of a data center. And we are not authorizing the building of any data centers tonight. We do review all ordinances, and the request to make an emergency comes from the administration, whether it's from Public Works or the Police Department or Fire Department or one of the other departments, or in this case, the first one or second one. The tax budget comes from the Finance Department, and you may note that our tax budget is due to the county on October 1st. So if we didn't pass it as an emergency, we wouldn't get it in there on time, and under Ohio law, wouldn't be able to collect our taxes. So that's something we definitely want to get passed tonight if we can. Other emergency ordinances, for example, we're buying a couple of vehicles tonight. In the past... The dealers have no obligation to hold a vehicle for us. In fact, we have missed police cars in the past and other vehicles when we weren't able to buy them. By waiting the two weeks for a commission meeting, they wouldn't hold it that long. So to ask them to have two readings, that's at least four weeks there, and 30 days after that, the vehicle is going to be gone. We get good prices on a lot of these vehicles and we want to get them while we can. The Welcome Home Ohio ordinances, I'm just picking random things from tonight's agenda. These are people waiting to move into their home and the banks are waiting for us to approve it in order for them to move into their home. Adding at least six weeks delay to that seems nonsensical.

Thank you. Stuart, and I would say, I think sometimes we get caught up in the word emergency, thinking the life or death situation. It's about timing, it's about a quote that was given, and they don't hold the quote for very long. Maybe you have two weeks, you have 30 days to get a certain price that you were committing to. So all those things fall under that word emergency, and I know that's a tough word sometimes. Maybe it'd be nice if there was a different one, but that's what it is. So any other questions from the commissioners tonight around that?

Madam Chair, I would like to say there are times that are some items that we have had two readings when they are somewhat controversial or they need that.

So we have done that. Madam Chair, just wanted to echo the comments. I think we have one on the agenda today that's actually...

The zone map amendment.

Right, right. But one of the, I appreciate the examples that you gave, but one of the things that I wanted to do, because we hosted a community circle, and that was basically about the flock, the cameras, and also surveillance. And as it relates to that particular ordinance, can you give just a little background? Because I know the chief, Oliver, did a pretty good job that day actually answering questions from all of the people there, he and Paul Sigsworth, the sheriff. And he, I don't want to speak for him, but he talked about quotes. And I wanted you maybe to speak to that in detail so the public can hear it.

Yeah, well, I can't really improve on what the chief had said. As I said, the request for an emergency comes from the department that's requesting the ordinance. Our job as a law department is to make sure that that's a sufficient reason. And in dealing with safety cameras, that hits square right into the public safety of the city. Why should we delay something that's safer for the city is what our determination would be.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hastings. Any other questions?

Madam Chair, are we putting in our ordinances then? I think the gentleman's question came around the fact that maybe we're not putting the actual reason for the emergency.

Are we putting the reason for the emergency in every ordinance? Okay. It's in the papers.

If you read them. I'm sorry. The language is in the ordinance itself, not in the summary on the agenda.

No, it's in the ordinance itself.

Madam Chair, Mr. Hastings, could you speak a little bit more about that supermajority that you mentioned and how that works?

Yeah, you can only be passed as an emergency ordinance if there are five votes of the commission. If only five members are present, it has to be unanimous. That's a quorum, but our charter is very clear. You need five votes to pass anything as an emergency. You need five votes to waive the second reason. Reading.

Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions, commissioners? Thank you.

May I ask one quick question just to follow on to that? Yes. Let's just say there's four votes. Okay. So does it just automatically go to the next meeting?

Yes. Actually, yeah. A recent example is the Columbus Street Cape had four votes not too long ago. I remember that. And so it did not get passed as an emergency, nor did the second reading get waived. And so at the next meeting, we had a further vote, which my recollection is we got more than four votes at the second reading.

Yes.

Yep. Sure did.

Okay.

Thank you. Anyone else in the audience have any questions this evening regarding the agenda items? Okay, thank you very much. All right, commissioners, you have several communications from staff recommending legislation tonight. Can I have a motion to accept the communication? So moved.

Second.

There's been a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing no discussion, that is approved. Does any commissioner tonight wish to move any consent items to the regular agenda?

Madam Chair, I'm not going to ask for anything to be pulled up, but can we get a detailed explanation on item G and item E?

Currently right now?

Yes.

It would be now because she's just going to read through them and that's the whole idea. Did you meet with John today? You met with him Friday, right?

I did.

Did you go over the agenda with him? I did, yes. Can we do that? You want to do that once we get to that, right? once we get there and vote on it.

You're going to vote on it? Yeah, there's a comment motion. You want me to approve? Okay. Madam Chair?

Ms. Myers, will you please present the consent agenda is where we're going to go first.

Item A, and this is the second reading, approval to amend chapter 961 EMS of the codified ordinances. Item B, approval of fiscal year 2027 tax budget. Item C, approval of budget amendment number three. Item D, approval of modifications to Samaritan Fund program agreement. Item E, approval to execute welcome home purchase and sale contract for 1728 Camp Street. Item F, approval to execute Welcome Home Ohio purchase contracts for 1421 Huntington and 1718 Harrison. Item G, approval of amended CRA agreement with Sandusky Senior Lofts. Item H, approval of zone map amendment at 1925 Barker Street.

Commissioners, having heard these ordinances and resolutions, what is your pleasure?

Madam Chair, I move to accept the consent agenda items A through H resolutions and ordinances as presented to take immediate effect in accordance with section 13 or 14 of the city charter. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? We do have some discussion. So, Mr. Warren, could you speak to those, please? I didn't hear the... Was it D and E?

G was one of them. G and E?

G and E. G... So G is the senior law office amendment to the CRA agreement. It was originally approved for when they submitted it for four full-time positions and $160,000 in payroll. They've asked to amend that to two full-time positions and one part-time. The payroll still remains the same at 160, so it's just the number of employees that they would be required to keep or to have through the process. And what was the other one? E. E. So he is just to Saw the property It would be on the increase from to it was a 265 or 285 to 300 300,000

So there's actually two items that relate to welcome home. I'm not sure what the question specifically is for 1728 Camp Street. This is a new agreement. This is the first time you're hearing it. There has been a request from our development partner to increase, I believe in your package, you received the entire spreadsheet and all of the costs. The majority of the costs that we are experiencing have to do with the actual unit from Unibuilt, the home that comes, nearly complete. So the price goes from $285,000 to $300,000. There is no cap on the price that we can pay for these homes per the State Department of Development, but we are remaining at the net sale price of $160,000 to the end buyer.

Follow-up. Yeah, does that mean that we're gonna be able to build fewer homes then based on the increase?

I probably to fewer homes.

Okay.

Thank you Absolutely, okay, perfect. All right any other any other discussion on the consent agenda Miss Mara's recall the role in the motion, please

Mr. Pujo? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable?

Yes.

And now in the Ordinance of Predictions. Mr. Pujo? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes.

And those items are approved. Ms. Myers, will you present item one on the regular agenda this evening?

It is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager to enter into an agreement for the purchase of real property located at 325 Pearl Street, Sandusky and identified as parcel number 59-00601 for the purpose of future expansion at the wastewater treatment plant and declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter.

Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what is your pleasure?

Madam Chair.

Commissioner.

I move for the adoption of this ordinance under suspension of the roofs in full accordance with Section 14 of the City Charter. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing no discussion, Ms. Myers, will you call the roll on the ordinance?

Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes.

And I apologize, I should have said motion on the motion and now on the ordinance.

Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable?

Yes. That ordinance is approved. Will you present item number two, Ms. Myers?

It is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager to approve the first and final change order for work performed by D2 Excavating LLC of Vickrey, Ohio for the MacArthur Park Roadway and Utility Improvements Project Phase 2 in the amount of $116,296.28 and declaring that this... Ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter commissioners having heard this ordinance item number two What is your pleasure madam president?

I move approval of the ordinance under item number two in full accordance with section 14 in the city charter Second I have a motion in a second.

Is there any discussion? I Hearing no discussion, Ms. Myers, we call the roll on the motion.

Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz?

Yes.

Mr. Crable?

Yes.

And now on the ordinance. Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes.

And that ordinance is approved. Ms. Marsh, will you present item number three on the agenda this evening?

It is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager to enter into a contract with Literal Services LLC of Marblehead, Ohio for the Big Island Water Works primary intake cleaning and inspection project. In declaring this ordinance, you'll take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter.

Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what is your pleasure?

Madam Chair, move for the adoption of this ordinance under suspension of the rules in full accordance with Section 14 of the city charter. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion?

Madam Chair, I'd just like to thank Mr. Schneider and Bill Birch for being proactive and making sure that this is taken care of. This is a big issue for the city, so thank you. You're welcome.

Thank you very much. Any other discussion? Ms. Myers, will you call the roll on the motion piece?

Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable? Aye. And now on the ordinance. Mr. Peugeot?

Yes.

Mr. Schwanger?

Yes.

Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable?

Aye.

And that ordinance is approved. Ms. Myers, we present item number five on the agenda.

It is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager to purchase a 2027 Ford Transit 250 cargo van from Valley Ford Truck Incorporated of Cleveland, Ohio through the State of Ohio Department of Transportation Cooperative Purchasing Program for the Division of Streets and Traffic and declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with Section 14 of the City Charter.

Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what is your pleasure?

Madam Chair, move for approval of this ordinance under item four in full accordance with section 14 of the city charter.

Item five. It's four. It's four. It's item four.

You're throwing me off.

It's not. Yeah, it's four. It's four.

It is four. I'm sorry. You're throwing me off up here. It's my problem. All right.

Commissioner Kuntz, you made your motion, right?

Yeah. Second. Second.

Second. Second.

We're good.

Is there any discussion after that? Okay. Ms. Myers, will you call the roll on the motion? Mr. Peugeot?

Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Kuntz? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes. Now on the ordinance, please. Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo?

Yes.

Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable?

Yes. That item is approved, item number four. Thank you. Ms. Myers, will you present item number five on the agenda?

It is requested an ordinance be passed declaring a 2006 International 7400 Vactor Truck as unnecessary and unfit for the City use pursuant to Section 25 of the City Charter, authorizing and directing the City Manager to purchase a new Vactor Truck mounted single-engine combination sewer cleaner from A&H Equipment Company of Independence, Ohio through the SourceWall Cooperative Purchasing Program for the Sewer Maintenance Division in declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with Section 14 of the City Charter.

Madam President.

Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what is your pleasure?

I move for the adoption of Item 5 for this ordinance to take immediate effect in accordance with Section 14 of the City Charter. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Commissioners, is there any discussion on Item 5 tonight?

This is a very important purchase for the city and a 20-year-old truck, and if you didn't have one, we'd be in trouble. Thank you, Commissioner.

Any other discussion? Ms. Myers, will you call the roll on the motion, please?

Mr. Pujol? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes. And now in the ordinance, please. Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Vargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable?

Yes.

And that item is approved.

Ms. Myers, you present item six on the agenda tonight.

Item six, number one, it is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager to enter into a five-year agreement with DataServe Integrations LLC of Westlake, Ohio for the purchase and installation with licensing and support for two FortiGate firewalls for the Information Technology Division and declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter.

Commissioners, having heard item six, ordinance number one, what is your pleasure?

Madam Chair.

Commissioner Crable. I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

Who was on first tonight?

Yes, all too much. Madam President, I move approval of the first ordinance under item number six in full accordance with section 14 of the city charter.

Second. Is there any discussion on ordinance number one? Hearing none, Ms. Meyers, we call the roll on the motion for ordinance 196.

Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes. And now on the ordinance. Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes.

And that ordinance is approved. Ms. Meyers, you present item six, ordinance number two.

It is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager to enter into a three-year agreement with DataServe Integrations LLC of Westlake, Ohio through the Omnia Partners Purchasing Program for the replacement of the city's cybersecurity program. In declaring this ordinance, she'll take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter.

Commissioner is hearing item six, ordinance number two. What is your pleasure?

Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner Coons.

Move for approval of ordinance number two under item six in full accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Commissioners, is there any discussion? Hearing none, Ms. Meyers, we call the roll in motion.

Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz?

Yes.

Mr. Crable? Yes. And now in the ordinance. Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger?

Yes.

Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Koontz? Yes. Mr. Crable?

Yes.

And that is approved as well. Ms. Meyers, we present item seven on tonight's agenda.

It is requested a resolution be passed adopting a cybersecurity program for the city of Sandusky in declaring this resolution shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter.

Commissioner Searing, this resolution, what is your pleasure?

Madam Chair. Mr. Waddington. Okay. I move from the adoption of this resolution under suspension of the rules in full accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing no discussion, Ms. Myers, will you call roll on the motion?

Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Coons? Yes. Mr. Crable?

Yes.

And now on resolution. Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Schwanger? Yes. Mr. Tucker?

Yes.

Ms. Fargo? Yes. Mr. Waddington? Yes. Mr. Coons? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes.

And that resolution is approved. And now we're going to let someone who knows how to talk tonight.

I don't know about that.

Mr. Orzek, can we have your report this evening? Thank you.

Good evening, commissioners, audience, and staff. I would like to thank Matt. He's our IT manager back in the back of the room. Obviously, there's some cybersecurity stuff. It's critically important that we lock down. We have phishing PH expeditions all the time. Matt came in and got thrown this cybersecurity program by the state, and he did a lot of work with the law department. I also want to thank the law department, Stu, Melanie, and Paige for all of their work on getting this so that we're in compliance with state law, so I want to thank them. I have a couple donations. I would like to thank Hall of Fame barbers and Wiseheart and Wright trial lawyers for donating backpacks and school supplies for use at Mills. Patrick and Susan Joreski for donating a sewing machine for the Make It Sew Easy program. And Deb Joyner for donating caddies and plastic sleeves for art projects to be used out of school. If we can get a motion to accept those donations.

So moved.

Second.

And those are approved. Many thanks to all of them. Thank you.

The state of Ohio auditor's office awarded the city with the auditor's award with distinction for our 2025 audit. This is the highest award level. To be eligible for this award, the city has to have a clean, timely, filed audit with no findings for recovery, material citations, material weaknesses, significant deficiencies. Uniform guidance findings or question cost related to the audit We are thankful for the team of city employees that continue to be great stewards of taxpayer funds Michelle her team the administrative assistants the directors everybody plays a vital role in making sure that our finances are By the book and so we congratulate her on that award that concludes my report tonight.

I'll take any questions commission any questions for Mr. Orsak this evening

That award is very difficult to achieve, and it's quite a hats off to her and her team.

Thank you. Commissioner.

Yeah, I was just going to make a comment on the Internet security issue. I was surprised, maybe I shouldn't have been, but I was surprised when the city manager told me the number of incidents that we have literally on a daily basis. Do you want to share that with the public? No. I mean, if they' re good, they' re good.

I think Mr. Tucker could attest to the thoroughness of

I was on a public site, and I accessed the internet through another IP, which I have, so I don't have to expose my computer when you're in a public site, because it could be there. Within 15 minutes, I got a text or an email from the city saying, did you really use it? I said, yes, I did. Thank you. But when you use public sites, it's a little scary.

Thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Orszag this evening? Michelle, I too want to thank you. It's very difficult. Everything that everyone is doing to make sure things balance and look great for everyone and for us. And you've done this over and over and over. So thank you very much. I know you put a lot of time on it. Thank you.

Thank you. Take the team.

Any other questions? Okay. If not, we will move on to old business. Commissioner, is there any old business this evening?

Madam Chair.

Yes, Mr. White.

Recently, I had another coffee with the commission. There was five of us in attendance, but County Commissioner Matt Olds probably, he joined us and... We had a good conversation with the group that was there on the regionalization of the water countywide. He's got an RFQ out that's sent out, and he should have that back by the end of the year. And then the other thing, through the Blue Ribbon Committee, and I think we got Mr. Cravo, or Commissioner Cravo and Tucker on that, they're looking into sharing the insurance costs. Everybody knows how that's going up every year. and I asked Jeff earlier, maybe you could mention it, or Mr. Tucker, mention that about the insurance costs going up.

I was a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission, which lasted, wow, six, seven months, and submitted a report, and we spent a lot of time on insurance cost and looking at that and I have somewhat experience in that as superintendent when we did some self-insurance years ago and there's some potential for some big savings there with with what what we looked at and it's and it's because of the large numbers in that in there and I'll be very interested to see that report with the information that we we put together with that commission.

And I would, again, thank Michelle and John for working together and talking with the county and working together and looking to see if there's a possibility. And so, of course, nothing's done and over with that, but we're still looking into it. So I appreciate the collaboration and looking to save our city and the county money. So thank you very much.

Manager, it was interesting when he showed up. Commissioner Schwanger was there also. The police chief, Mike Zuhoff, myself. But to freely be able to talk about it where there's no voting and nothing taking place just was all conversation. And I thought that was good. It helped myself as far as working with the county commission going forward.

You have to have those weekly.

What's that?

You're going to have to have those weekly.

Yeah. I don't think so.

Come on, Commissioner Wyington. Any other old business tonight?

Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner Schwartz.

Can we get an update on Lyons Park? We should be getting kind of close to maybe having public dialogue on Lyons Park.

So the team that was selected was out the last week or so doing boring and things like that for the structural component of the project. I think they're close to wrapping up. We're supposed to have a public meeting out there. It's going to be the end of October beginning of November. We haven't locked that date in yet. Obviously, we'll make sure Commission and all the public is aware for that, but that'll be the next kind of milestone. Once that date set, we'll be sure to get it out to everyone.

And to be clear, I did meet with the city manager on that topic, but I think sometimes it's good that we allow the public to also have updates on where we're going on big projects.

Just like they're posted on the website. You can see them under all the projects, too. It's wonderful to see it in different places.

Madam Chair. Yeah, I just wanted to add that I thought the community circle that we hosted, there were 20, about 22 people who showed up for that particular session. I just like to encourage people every chance that I get to show up, come out, anytime you get an opportunity to express yourself, because you have good points, valid points, and sometimes people just want to vent. I understand that, but I think we want to listen to the people, and we want to make sure that we at least try to address I appreciate all the citizens who actually came out for that so I thought it was a good session we tried our best to answer all the questions and I just wanted to say that and thanks chief for being there.

Commissioner coons sheriff Sigsworth called me the next day to say how well he thought it went and he was appreciative and he said anytime we ever needed him again for anything he's willing to be here so it's very well run so thank you. Any other old business? Okay, any new business tonight, commissioners?

Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner Waddington.

Recently, I had Commissioner Tucker and Commissioner Crable help me out for the Volunteers Award, and I believe it's going to be the last meeting in October that we're going to have the five that we selected were John Schlusman, Jeff and Diane Corso, Mark Fogg, and then Ann McGuckie. So I'd like to thank them for helping out with that. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for sparing that project too, Commissioner Waddington.

Who can I hand it off to next year when I'm gone?

I'm looking for people. I appreciate that. Thank you. Any other new business?

Madam chair this is I guess would be new business, but I have to kind of recap some things that happened already. It's related to the welcome home program is also related to some of the the properties that have gone to a certain entities and turn them into apartments which I like to see. I wanted to just find out, and maybe Colleen Gilson can answer a couple questions if she doesn't mind, to talk about our portfolio. When we compare single-family houses that have been constructed so far versus apartment complexes, and I know we have a few for seniors. We have Osborne. We have the one, I don't know what the status is on it right now, on Milan Road that initially started out with about 120 units. I think it moved up to about 130 units. or something like that. But I'd just like to get a picture and maybe a sense of the direction we're going as it relates to properties that might be available, trying to work with other developers besides Unibuilt, which is a good thing. They're the ones who do our Welcome Home program. And then I want to add this to the conversation because we've seen some movement in a community development corporation. And I remember when I first came on talking to you and you said if we had a community development corporation that was local, then we could do more with some of our land bank property that could be used to give more people housing. So I just wanted to kind of get your feel for maybe what you see that could be done in that arena to help provide more housing Because I think it's great when we have Campbell School. I can't remember exactly how many units they have. We got Barker School with 20 units. And then we have the senior living, which my last count was about 152 units. If you add 130 on Milan Road and the 22 for the one at Osborne. And Cleveland, right? And what was that clear. Yes, yes, thank you for bringing that to my attention so you know quite a bit of housing for the seniors coming up we could always use more but far less on the other side for those folks who aren't necessarily section 8, but the people who are falling somewhere in between who work jobs every day and have a hard time finding those apartments. I just like to know what what you think you know because we defer to you for these

Sure, it's a pretty big question. Thanks for laying that on me tonight. I'd be happy perhaps maybe at the next meeting or in between. We do keep an active list of things that are under construction, in contract, in the pipeline, and then things that could be coming up. So I can disaggregate that all by if they're market rate, if they're affordable, if they're senior, and so on and so forth. From the top of my head, that would be a little bit hard. Yeah, I know. I love the movement that's happening within the community around the discussion of a community development corporation. As you know, I ran community development corporations in my hometown and I would welcome it because then the city wouldn't have to be doing as much development as we are. We could be the entity that hands that development off to another entity that may have better luck in attracting grants and different funds. So, yeah, I'd be happy to provide that at next meeting.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Coons. Any other new business commissioners?

Madam chair, yes, I had a question for the city manager. I work midnights, so I drive around town at night and I've noticed that there's a ton of streetlights that are out. There's some streets that have three out. Does Ohio Edison have any software or anything that they keep an eye on streetlights or do we just rely on residents calling in?

I'm not aware of any software that they have. I generally know that they're reported to Ohio Edison. There's a website or a call number to do that. I'll double check and get back with you.

Okay. It's about four or five years ago we had the same problem and all of a sudden magically they were all fixed. And I can't imagine that many people calling in to have them fixed.

Yeah, that's because people do report those often. I just helped a gentleman with that the other day.

Okay, thank you.

If people have them in their neighborhoods, it's best to use that number for Ohio Edison because it has to go through them anyway.

Okay, thank you. Madam Chair, just a couple more things because some of this comes to me late and so I didn't get a chance to talk to John about a lot of this stuff. But I don't know if we've ever received anything about the flashing red light at Jackson and Market. And it's the flashing red light, and I've been over there when this happens, where people come to that and they'll just kind of stroll through it. They'll just roll through that. They don't stop. And I've heard people who live over in that area stop me and will say, man, right here, something needs to be done about this. But I wanted to find out whether or not we looked at that, whether there was any kind of study that was done on whether or not that's going on over there, and what it would take to make that instead of just flashing lights for stop signs. Because people tend to stop at stop signs as opposed to flashing lights. So have we had anything like that that's happened where people have reported it and have you looked at it? Just curious.

I'm not aware of it. We can have the engineering department look at it. But I think it got changed back when Commissioner Waddington was on the commission a long time ago. And there was a mutiny and everybody went crazy about it. Because they were, if you recall, stopped red, green, and yellow. And then we went to the flash in and everybody lost their minds. But we can have engineering look at it. Okay.

Thank you. Yes, Commissioner.

Madam President, I will echo your comments on this. The flashing red at Columbus and Market, the flashing red at Wayne and Market. I am extremely careful when I approach those intersections because there are cars that don't go strolling through. They go blowing right on through that intersection as if the light wasn't there at all. Don't know what to do about it. I mean, I you know, can I chief? Can I grab a license plate and report it to you or does that not even count?

Well, we have to witness a minor misdemeanor violation to order the site. I Unfortunately people don't pay attention to street lights stop signs speed limit signs We do everything we can to enforce those statutes we had a we had we issued a speeding citation the other day was doing 65 and a 35 and So you can only imagine if he stopped at a red flashing light, too. I mean, we're out there. We're trying to do the best we can. But you're right. Sometimes people don't pay attention to those. So we ask everybody to drive safe and use caution. It's the best thing you could do.

Columbus and Market, it's a daily occurrence. It is constant. People either strolling or just blowing through. So are the school safety zones.

We make it a habit to be in the safety zones in the morning, too, for the schools and the afternoons. It's 20 miles an hour in Perkins Ave, both sides, and you should see some of the speeds that come by through there. So we try to be out there. We try to be as visible as we can, and we'll continue doing that.

Thanks. I would just want to let everybody know, I know this weekend we're doing something different in Sandusky. It's called the Sanduskyton. If you've ever watched the show Bridgerton on Netflix, if you haven't, it's fine. It takes you back to the Regency era with parasols and ballroom dancing and orchestras. It's going to benefit two really good causes for our community. One, of course, is the state theater, but the other one is a wonderful young lady, Bridget Sanders, from Lena's Brow. She started a foundation called Clean Peach Foundation, and it benefits young women in talking about health and hygiene, and it's going to, and so proceeds, if you buy tickets to any of the festivities that are gonna go on downtown this weekend are gonna go to that organization, as well as the Safe Theater as well, and I think, too, investing in our young ladies and investing in, hopefully, a really important theater in our community that'll reopen, hopefully, one day, so it's a great opportunity. There's gonna be orchestra playing in Shade Mylander Plaza. All the restaurants and things are involved in having themed meals and things for that era. There's a best dressed contest. Anyone wants to get into that, Mr. Waddington, for your best tuxedo? And there's all kinds of things. I'm just encouraging people to get out and see what the community is offering. And it's for a good cause. So don't forget about doing those kinds of things, too. So that was something I had to do business. Anybody else? Okay, moving right along. On to audience participation. Remember, this is open discussion tonight. Come forward. You can state your question or your concern. You have five minutes. Please state your name and your address. And, again, it won't be a question-answer. We'll get your information, and we'll get your answer to you. Thank you very much.

You too. You're good to go.

Ethan Hunziker, still 904 Decatur. Haven't moved yet. I'd like to continue to talk about citizens' privacy concerns when it comes to the use of surveillance technology in our city. And this isn't just about flock cameras or axon cameras. It extends to all types of surveillance technologies, from cameras to cell tower simulators to gunshot detectors to predictive policing software. First, I want to say that no one is genuinely arguing that these technologies don't work. They clearly work very well. But just because they are effective does not necessarily make them ethical. finding each citizen to their own personal cell and keeping them under lock and key 24-7 would also stop the crime rate immediately. That's obviously an extreme and absurd example, but it demonstrates that effectiveness is not the only metric we should be using when it comes to efforts to reduce crime. I'd like to direct the Commissioner's attention to ACLU's COPS program, which stands for Community Control Over Police Surveillance. They offer excellent guidance with principles for municipalities' use of surveillance technologies. Here are five where I think it addresses some of Sandusky's shortcomings. Number one, local communities, meaning citizens, should play a significant and meaningful role in determining how surveillance technologies are funded, acquired, and used. Seems like common sense. This is number two. The process for considering the use of surveillance technologies should be transparent and well-informed. We've got some work to do there. Number three. Surveillance technologies should not be funded, acquired, or used without addressing their potential impact on civil liberties and civil liberties before they are installed. Municipalities should establish processes for surveillance impact reports which explain to the citizens how this technology works, how it's used, and what safeguards are in place. Number four, at the legislative level, not the internal police policy level, municipalities should verify legal compliance of all surveillance technology in use. Usage data should be reported publicly on an annual basis. Number five, all existing surveillance technologies should be subject to the same oversight, no grandfathering in. That means technologies that are currently in use could be subject to newly established public audits and impact reports. In fact, this is how Dayton caught the abuses of their flock system. flock cameras in 2021. They adopted a similar legislation that the ACLU presents in 2024. Their audit of the system retroactively revealed the misuse of the flock system. There is even actually a full model ordinance here that I will leave with the commissioners to look at that could help jumpstart the process. It could be passed in as little as one night in accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Thank you.

Thank you.

It's me again. I'm Peggy Mayo, 2703 Merryweather Road, Sandusky, Ohio. And I wouldn't be standing here, I won't ever stand here unless it's something very personal. Although, I think when I looked at we've been flocked, I think I've been flocked about 15 times or more. So this is just something to think about. I don't know if that's legal. I don't care. It might have been something to keep me safe. But I'm here now because of you, Mr. Domingo, or whatever, and your helper in your station. I was treated nasty. I didn't get smart with her, and she pretended as if I came there for trouble. I didn't know. And I guess because of, it felt like, because I bought you the action that was going on with my property on, and we did speak thank you for that, that was going on on Columbus Avenue, all of a sudden, I guess the flop didn't work for me, but it worked for my daughter, and they issued a warrant for her arrest through you.

If you don't be dismissive, I can do that. That's beautiful. I can do just that. My problem is I want to take another look at...

the ruling on your vacant property laws and the money that you're collecting or that you're attempting to collect on them. I was trying to sell the building and they did something. Again, I'll refer back to Mr. Law Director. to try to get it straightened out. But for lack of a better word, better words is trash. And it singled me out. Because I approached you about one issue, here comes another. And it could be coincidence. It's okay. I just want it straightened out. And I'll sell the building if you let me. Asshole. Excuse me? I couldn't help it.

If you don't have something legitimate to say that we can help you with right now in attacking people that work for our city and our employees, we're not going to do that tonight. So if you want to continue, you may.

Then you need to think about that when they're attacking me. You need to consider that.

I wasn't there, but we're here in the city chamber tonight.

It don't matter where we are. I was just, my daughter was just driving down the street.

Okay.

Okay. That's, that's important too. You know, I'm minding my own business, minding my own business. And also I did speak with him about the other issue and I found the problem and I'm right, but I didn't gloat on that and I'm not going to, but the arrest, that was ridiculous and unfair. So yeah, I need to know, I guess I'm hoping that it's him again that I need to speak with to do something about this law that you guys have for the vacant properties and how it's hidden in all this rigamarole. It's under a bunch of other hidden meanings. Are you the gentleman I need to speak with, Ann?

I don't know.

Mr. Orszag and our law department can help you with the laws and our ordinances about our vacant properties. They absolutely can, and they will get back to you on that and talk to you about that whenever you have that opportunity.

John, I'll give you a call. You're not sure?

I'm not sure what your issue is.

I'll start with you.

Sounds good.

Thank you. Thank you.

Barbara Clark again, 1808 Sandusky Street, Sandusky, Ohio. I have a concern with the e-bikes on our street. These young people, some of them are adults, because some of them not as old as I am, but they're getting close. that are out there riding these bikes without helmets, number one. And they are going a good 20, 35 miles an hour. And some of these young people, adults, are just ignoring all traffic rules. They just look right at you and keep right on rolling as if they are daring someone to hit them. How can we address this to make sure that they are safe as well as the innocent drivers are safe as well? It seems as though it's getting out of control, the disrespect that we have for each other in this city. In this city, disrespect. you know, even on an e-bike. A vehicle, full vehicle, will kill you. It seems as though someone, somehow, we got to come up with a solution with our community to keep our community safe. Because we can't wait until somebody gets killed. getting mingled beyond, you know, coming back to their regular state that they were in before they got into this accident. And I have seen it several times here as I come downtown more often that people just roll on by, stop signs, stop lights, I understand what you're talking about, because they act as if they have no accountability to themselves or to the community. So I'm asking, what can we do? When will we start maybe bringing our community together to talk about safety? Because it's getting out of hand, and I don't want to sit back and wait until somebody is dead or injured beyond compare. repair before we start talking about this issue that we have with respect and safety in the city of Sandusky. Thank you.

Hello. My name is Dr. Morgan Dravik-Hampshare, and I live at 1304 Columbus Ave. I'm a former committee member of the tree commission, the Sandusky Tree Commission, and I am the owner and CEO of M&M Birding. And this is a husband and wife team. We're based here in Sandusky, and we lead birdwatching tours in northern Ohio. And I'm here to discuss the issue of shifting the parking lot at Pipe Creek, which was voted on at the end of July. First of all, I want to thank the city for meeting with a group of people on August 31st at Pipe Creek, and we did a walkthrough there, and we discussed a number of alternatives to shifting this parking lot. I learned a lot there, too, myself. So it was a really good meeting. And I just want to... mention that that woodlot that the parking lot would destroy is a paradise for migrating songbirds. And it holds untapped potential for economic development, hence why I made this birdwatching tour company. And this is just one of the areas where I've led birdwatching tours. The company was founded the end of 2024 in our first spring in, sorry, our first spring was 2026. And with that, with the tours that we've led at Pipe Creek specifically, we've made a profit of over $1,000. I've also been a birdwatching guide for the biggest week in American birding, which is the largest birdwatching festival in the US. And I've led tours at Pipe Creek as well. And the wood lot that's in question, oftentimes we don't even get out of the parking lot because the birding there is so good. And I've led birdwatching tours for people from our city, but also a number of people from outside of our community and outside of the state. And at Biggest Week in American Birding, they lead a 14-day festival there, and oftentimes there's groups of 25 people going there, paying $35 to be there on top of a registration fee just to Pipe Creek alone. And if you do some quick math that I have here, that generates over $13,000 just that week at Pipe Creek at that woodlot. So if shifting the parking lot to destroy that woodlot, we're destroying critical habitat and just a missed opportunity for economic development. With my company, I have reached out to Solstay as well as Pipe Creek Wharf. And this past spring, we did bring business to them. And this is just our first year of business. So I implore you to rely on the expertise of M&M Birding as well as Black Swamp Bird Observatory and the Firelands Audubon Society to come up with an alternate to this parking lot situation before the deadline of October 1st of demolishing this woodlot. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Mary Hartz and I live at 125 East Water Street. I had email correspondence with Mr. Craven and I spoke to one of the sergeants in the police department. My concern is the ongoing disruption and noise that goes on every Friday and Saturday night at the parking lot, 130 East Water Street, which is behind Daly's. about 10 o'clock at night it starts, goes to 2.33 a.m. in the morning. So therefore, anybody that works the next day can't get rest. If you have children, they can't go to sleep during those hours. When you have visitors, that disrupts them. We've Other owners down there have called the police department, including myself. They always come down and check it out and try to do what they can. But honestly, within the first 15 minutes of them leaving, it starts back up again. And the concern is that there's constant drinking, standing outside and drinking. and loitering around. They're out of their cars, but their cars are booming with the bass on their stereo so that inside your unit you can feel the windows vibrating. Also, there's a lot of people that run around screaming outside. cars and motorcycles. They rub their engines just for no reason at all. They just sit there and rub their engines. And their music is extremely loud. You can hear the music inside as well. And so what I'm asking is I know about the new public safety cameras that you're thinking of placing downtown. And I was wondering if you could consider putting one somehow that faces that area. to try to get a hold of that, to control that. That's where it always seems to be as far as what I can tell. And I know that a lot of us that have pets, dogs that need to go out, we won't go out past about 9.30 or 10 because it gets pretty rowdy. So... If you could do something about it, it would be awesome.

Yes, Chief. That is one of the spots we're putting a camera, but please call us. Please. We'll be down there. Our officers are very visible downtown on the weekends. That is one of the spots we check. There are some others, too, but please call us. The camera will have that location captured.

Perfect. Thank you. Anything you can do. We appreciate it.

Thank you very much. Any other questions from the audience tonight? Hearing no other questions.