City Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah. I just think it's a courtesy. Yeah. Rick, you're good to go. Yep. I'm good to go. I just print what I want, so I have an abbreviated version. I haven't been able to print. I had to print on my little printer. But good evening, guys. Welcome to the 2020 or March 2nd 2026 city council works Canal Winchester City Council work session. Uh can I have a call to order please? Miss Sam present. Mr. Bennett here. Miss Deweiler here. Mr. Mclofflin here. Mr. Moore here. Mr. Payne here. Mr. Sheay. Motion to excuse Mr. Sheay. So moved.

Uh motion made by Mr. Moore or I'm sorry motion made by Mrs. Amic. Second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Miss Aley, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Miss Deweiler, yes. Mr. McGofflin, yes. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Payne, yes.

All right. Thank you. Back with it now. Um, also in attendance we have uh construction director Bill Sims, finance director Amanda Jackson, city administrator Matt Peoples, mayor Joe Steager, law director Thaad Bogs, and development director Lucas Hair. Um, and we'll go straight into request for council action. Clerk, will you please read an ordinance to authorize the mayor to enter into a contract with Strawer Paving Company for the construction of the 20126 street program project. Mr. Sims.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Moore. Um, so this is uh u our annual street maintenance program. It also includes our sidewalk program within it. Um and the uh uh low bidder this year was uh Strazer Construction again from we did it last year. Um and uh the uh prices were uh very competitive this year. We had three biders but uh um they were a pretty good distance under our engineers estimate. Um so we wanted to move forward with Strower paving for the street program. Um we did have a couple we had three alternates in the contract just to bring that to your attention and we selected two of the alternates um to that are included in the contract amount on the ordinance. Um and you know we do have some wiggle room there then in our budget that we may be able to work some other things in to the street program as they come up.

Thank you Mr. Sims. Um quick question on those alternates. So those those aren't including your we'll call them wish list items that you want to also add in.

So they were things we had identified um and you know we basically add them in a project in case we had good pricing to see if we could work them in. They would have been things we probably would have added in next year initially. So, um, there was they were kind of natural fits for the street program this year, um, with, uh, East Fairfield Street being right off the end of TR Street, the north end, kind of just had a continuous work there. And then, uh, the short piece of Thrust Drive from Deets to, uh, Pierce, uh, is adjacent to the the Deavement work. So,

okay. And Miss Jackson, this might be more of a question for you, but um when we put that into the budget, I'm sure I could go back and look, but did we put in the budget the engineers estimate? So that is that what we budgeted for the 1.310?

No. So typically what we do is we we try we we talk and put a number in there. I think we were at 1.5 this year um is what we put into the budget and then um Mr. Sims in conjunction with Mr. people's kind of do their magic to see what we can fit into that 1.5 based on the engineers estimate and then as Mr. Sims alluded to these alternates, you know, are things that were kind of down at the bottom of that list that if numbers came in, you know, low, we were going to add in. So, generally speaking, that's how we work it is we come up with what we think is reasonable to get a decent amount of work done and what streets we know we need to get done. Okay. So, we're about 300 then under budget, give or take. Yes. So, but of the one I'm

not spending money, don't worry. Of the of the 1.5 million budget,

the bulk of that is the street program. I have two other separate contracts that we do each year. One for uh crack filling and one for uh pavement rejuvenation that we do outside the street program contract. So, I have 70,000 set aside for that. So, that left us a balance. Um, we have a couple other things that are kind of on our agenda for this year. We're we're going to have to contribute to the Lyopoulos Winchester uh road resurfacing that we will partner with Fairfield County on. So, we we had some of that budgets in there for that as well. So, um so we are under but not 300,000.

Yeah. Well, no, it's great either way. I just want to make sure my math was mathing. So, thank you. We've seen it not We've seen it go the other way before. Yeah. Sure. Anyone else? We're talking about Rick's mathing, not budget. Not not your budget. Yeah. To be clear. Motion to move ordinance 26004 to full counsel. Second. Motion made by Mr. Bennett. Second by Miss Aik. Roll call, please. Mr. Bennett. Yes, Miss A. Yes, Miss Stweiler. Yes, Mr. McGofflin. Yes, Mr. Moore. Yes, Mr. Pink. Yes.

Motion passes. Uh, next we have ordinance 26-005. Clerk, will you please read? An ordinance to authorize the mayor to enter into a real estate purchase agreement for the purchase of 650 Bowen Road, Canal Chester, Ohio, owned by Charles R. Smith and Deborah S. Bicknell.

Uh, Mr. Hair. Thank you, Mr. Moore. Um, this would allow the mayor to enter into a contract to purchase uh this property located at 650 Bone Road. Um, it's approximately 20 acres of the 22.49 acre tract. Uh, the sellers are retaining a 2 1/2 acre parcel. Uh, so that's yet to be surveyed. So, that's why I'm saying approximately because we don't know the exact acreage yet on what that will be. Um but their intent is to well they're under construction on a barn um on that parcel currently about a 9,000 square foot barn on that parcel they're going to retain um there is an existing easement that allows access to the parcel. So the city will be purchasing the land that goes all the way to Bowen Road and then the sellers will retain an easement that already exists to access their parcel there. Um the proposed purchase price is $2 million uh that the seller is financing this purchase uh over a three-year period at a 6% interest rate. Uh so the city will be paying the seller uh over the next three years. That'll help them defer some of their capital gains they'll have on the property. So they preferred to to have it sold in that way. Um, I believe we have 60 days to to close on the property from the time of entering into the contract. And then the sellers are going to retain a 5-year lease on portions of the property. And so, this property has a number of large agricultural buildings on it. Uh, the city has a desire to use some of those buildings for storage purposes and for utility purposes. Um, but then the seller wants to keep some other horses on the site still and there's large stables and things that we wouldn't have any use for as a city for our operations in the foreseeable

future. So, they would like to retain the use of the stable area. And then a building I'll describe as like a a threecar garage. Um, it's a little larger than that. It's uh it's 24 by 64. um and they would retain the use of that building for storage of all their um trailers and farm equipment and things like that that they would keep on the site. Um the buildings on the site include a uh 108x 180 ft clear span arena. Um and then that building also has a 12t overhang uh for the whole 180t length. So, it's about a 17,280 foot building. It also has a 500 square foot office with restrooms attached to that building. Um, so there's a lot of utility that we would gain from from having that that space. Uh, currently that is a dirt floor building. Um, but it has large overhead doors that we could drive any of our equipment into. Um it's the doors were designed to be able to drive like a combine in. So they're very high. Um and they open double wide essentially. So it would allow us to get our equipment in there. Uh there's also um a barn that they used for sawdust storage there. uh which is designed in the same way that we would design a building to store mulch or to store salt or things like that that we would use bulk products. Um you know so that's very beneficial as well for for our use. And then there's a 60x 96 block uh barn building there as well. Um so that's a little over five uh 5700 square ft. And then it also has a 16 ft enclosed overhang on the on the side of that block building. Um, so a significant amount of space there. The

sellers would retain rights to use that building for the rest of this year. Um, that's the building that they're building, the new building to replace. And so, um, they would they would have the rights to continue to use that building until the end of this year until they could replace that point. So, we'll enter into a lease agreement that'll get into more details than what's included in this purchase agreement. This is just kind of the overall terms of what that lease in those areas would look like. Um, the seller would also retain the rights to pasture uh their horses. And so there's some um I don't know farm terms. There's some fences that are long that have uh you know they can walk the animals through that they don't get out to move them from one pasture to another. And so they would retain the rights to use those areas. There's a a harness racing track on the site. We wouldn't have any necessarily need for that. Um they're not intending on having any harness animals out there. They have cutting horses only. Uh but they have paddics on the interior the infield of that track and that's where they would pasture the horses um to potentially use that area. And so that's described in the exhibit there. It shows you the areas uh kind of in shaded in white. Um those are the areas. There's a round pen that they practice their horses in. So they would retain the rights to use that. the the paddics in the central the infield area and then the the stable buildings um and the garage buildings. So buildings three and four as shown on here we would retain all rights to use buildings one and five initially and then two after the end of this year. So longterm this is really um beneficial for us from a utility perspective. This is adjacent to the Liberman well fields which is our our water well um water wells for the city. Um we have two wells there currently. We can add an

additional well on that Laborman well site. Uh but this would give us the ability to add future wells on this site um as the city continues to grow and have needs for water or if um our wells on North High Street ever need to be replaced. Those are nearing the end of their life. And so, um, there may come a point in time in the notsodistant future that we'll need to replace those wells and the capacity that we gain from those. So, this gives us a lot of flexibility to do that. It also provides us access to the Liberman wellfield. So, currently the only access we have is a driveway off of US 33, which is not the safest way to to have our employees accessing that site. And so this will allow us to put another driveway into the Liberman well fields um to allow us to service those wells, inspect those wells, do all the things that we need to do in a much safer manner for our employees. Um and then it gives us some flexibility for for storage. You know, we're a little tight on stage currently with the construction projects taking place at 400. So this will allow us to be more seasonal storage. So, the idea would be that, you know, items that we're not using in the summer, like snow plows, uh, leaf leaf trucks, things like that would be able to be stored out there. Um, items that are not accessed every day. And then alternately in the in the winter months, we could put lawnmowers and things like that out there that we're not using during those winter months. So, uh, gives us a lot of flexibility for just dry storage space. So, be happy to answer any questions you have about uh the contract or the use of the property.

Thank you, Mr. Hair. Questions? For the record, Mr. Hair, the road maintenance that leads back in there. Um, I think you said that we will be responsible for that road maintenance. Is that correct? Correct. The city will own the the the land that goes out to the roadway and would be responsible for the maintenance of it. We're we're we're taking on maintenance responsibility for the entire parcel. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Bennett.

Mr. Hair, um I feel like I have a pretty well-rounded understanding, but there are a couple questions I would just like to kind of maybe help, you know, in this public forum just kind of help discuss. Um tell me a little bit about um I know the overall total budget, but could you speak to maybe a price per acre and the market range and and where we sit within that um for this and then sort of how those buildings even kind of further sort of enhance the value of what we're purchasing.

Yeah. So we're going to end up with right around 20 acres here um $2 million. So about $100,000 per acre. um you know land cost in our area for for agricultural land you know that could be anywhere from 35,000 acre and up um for industrial land we're up to $175,000 per acre in Canal Winchester so there's a there's a range depending on utilities available you know um for us you know we're not necessarily looking at this as a you know a land um the value being in the land the value is really in the buildings and the infrastructure that's already on the site And so you I mentioned there's a a 17,000 ft building um and another uh nearly 6,000t building there. U just those two buildings alone are you know worth a significant amount of money. So uh when we priced out um a building Matt, what was the specs on the building we priced out for the sewer plant? How large was that? You recall

the garage? The garage is about two and a half million and it was a four bay garage. So, or I would say a five bay garage. So, when we priced out recently building a five bay garage, it was over $2 million to build that.

And so, it was a ridiculous sum of money. Um, you know, we were just like, that's not even reasonable. Um, we wouldn't do that. But that was building it with the improvements we're doing at the sewer plant. So, there was some, you know, the contractors weren't necessarily the most efficient contractors in doing that work. And, you know, there's a lot of reasons we didn't move forward with that. But, um, pricing is significant. Even the the building they're building out here is um, you know, it's in excess of half million dollars for the the 9,000 foot building that they're building there. And so there's a lot of value in those buildings, in the utilities that are there, um, and having restrooms, things like that already in these facilities that our employees could be able to to use while they're they're out there um, you know, on the site and picking things up and all that. There's a lot of value um, and having all the infrastructure already being there. And then really this provides us protection for our well areas and then the ability to continue to to grow and have planned protection for future wells, which you can't recreate that location.

No, no. I think um I applaud the future proofing of our utility infrastructure. That's um it's good planning. one one other follow-up question and maybe this is for you and maybe maybe a little for Miss Jackson, but um you know for the for the general public um you know we we do this occasionally. We did it with McGill Park. I think we did it with this building as well where we do um you know seller financing. Um and I I think there's it's it's a beneficial it's a mutually beneficial agreement that we've done multiple times before but if you could maybe just we don't do it all the time. Could you maybe just kind kind of, you know, share why it's beneficial for at least us as a city and maybe more so than it is for the seller, but why why we would engage in that as a city.

Yeah, that's going to be Miss Jackson.

So, I guess um seller financing gives us a little bit more flexibility to negotiate what we need to negotiate with um you know, a seller rather than us having to go through a bank. Um, and I think that's beneficial for us and that, you know, we can set the terms. So, you referred to Miguel Park, you uh referred to this building. Both of those leases were actually 10-year leases. Um, we also did uh 20 South High Street. I believe that one might have been a 7-year lease if I recall. I Either way, the point is we have that flexibility. Um, so we did work with Mr. Smith on what was best for him and his situation and what worked best for us and we were able to come to a nice agreement um to purchase this property, you know. So, I will say that um just from a an annual payment standpoint, we are looking because it's only three years um we are looking at over $700,000 a year. Um that seems like a very large dollar amount, but don't panic. We have very little debt and we are actually um very close to being done with our payment obligations on Miguel Park. Those will um cease next year. So we're only really carrying a double burden, if you will, for a couple of payments. Um so timing wise, it worked out very very well for us financially speaking. So um yeah, no worries on the financial end from from my perspective. And Miss Jackson, just out of curiosity, um that first payment, is it due at closing or is it due one year from the date? How does how are we have we even solidified that yet?

It would be at closing. At closing. Okay. Yes. I mean, it's gone one way or the other, but just curious. Any other questions? Chair would like to motion to move ordinance 26-005 to full counsel. Second. Uh, motion made by Mr. Moore, second by Mr. McLolin. Roll call, please. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Miss Aik, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Mr. Deweiler, yes. Motion passes. Uh, next we have ordinance 26-006. Clerk, will you please read

an ordinance authorizing the issuance of one or more series of notes in anticipation of the issuance of bonds for the purpose of Basil Western Road infrastructure improvements and public infrastructure improvements related thereto as provided in the intergovernmental agreement by and among the city of Canal Winchester Fairfield County, the Fairfield County Transportation Improvement District and the Fairfield County Port Authority and authorizing execution of related agreements. minutes. Mr. Hair, let Mr. Box. Mr. Box.

Sure. Thank you, Mr. Moore. Members of council, good evening. So this ordinance would uh represent the next step in a series of steps the council has taken relative to cooperation with other governmental entities for the reconfiguration and improvement of the intersections of uh well the configuration of Basil Western Road around King's Crossing and improvements of those uh road improvements that benefit parcels that are in the city of Canal Winchester, although some of the roads we're talking about are in the adjacent county areas. So, I believe it was in one of your January meetings that council authorized entering into an intergovernmental agreement for the financing of those improvements. The way that financing will work is that the county is entering into a state infrastructure bank loan and also issuing bonds to finance those road improvements. As part of the intergovernmental agreement, the city of Canal Winchester would be responsible for 39% of the debt service on those bonds. Um, there's also the anticipation of developer contributions as a result of development occurring in that area that would impact what the city and the county ultimately pay in that debt service. The county is now preparing to close on the state infrastructure bank loan and to price the bonds that will be issued. And so they have asked for the city to issue notes to the county so that the county in the pricing of those bonds and in the closing of that state infrastructure

bank loan can evidence the obligation of the city to cover its debt service in the form of a anticipatory note which is a financial instrument showing a a promise to pay. So that is the objective of the ordinance that is placed in front of council this evening. The reason for the requested waiver of second and third reading is because the county um is trying to price their bonds at the end of this week and will be closing on the state infrastructure bank loan on March 18th. So once these things get moving, they sort of get moving. Thank you, Mr. Bogs. Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Bogs?

Do I have a motion to purs to move ordinance 26-006 to full counsel? So moved. Second. Motion by Miss Ach, second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Miss Ach. Yes. Mr. Bennett. Yes. Miss Statweiler? Yes. Mr. Mclofflin? Yes. Mr. Moore? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Thank you. Motion passes. Um now for old new business. Uh we'll start off with OTH26-002 uh daily pool pass pricing. Miss Jackson.

Thank you Mr. Moore. Um with all the changes that we have discussed making to um entry to the pool this season. Uh we believe that we have the ability to move to a resident non-resident daily pass rate. um that requires action by city council. So, we wanted to discuss it with you this evening prior to bringing any legislation forth. Currently, it is $8 to enter the pool for guests between the ages of 2 and 59. Um we would like to keep the $8 for our residents, but we would like to increase that to 10 for non-residents. Um and then we could look at something similar for um senior members, those ages 60 and over. Currently, I believe it is $3. Um, we could do a $3 resident, $5 non-resident um rate for them as well. We do not believe that we need to change membership rates unless that is the desire of city council. Um, but all those rates are contained in the same piece of legislation. So, we would at least need to amend it to update daily pass rates if council is amanable to that. Thank you. Sorry, I'm trying to think of a way to word a question. Go ahead, Mr. Bennett.

Miss M Miss Jackson, I understand um we've talked about resident non-resident rates. Um do we have any kind of projections on what this $2 per entry increase would would bring?

No, I can't say I do because we don't track resident non-resident now for daily passes. So I really have no concept of how many non-residents are visiting the pool versus residents. Um I do believe that we are going to see a decline in daily member or daily daily attendance due to these new procedures that we are putting in place. So um you know this extra $2 may help offset that just a tiny bit but I really I really can't predict it at this point. And there would not be a change for membership pricing between resident and non-resident. Correct. Correct. We are proposing to keep membership pricing where it was last year.

Do do you know where that what that looks like maybe in other cities like let's say the Warthingington pool. Do they do the the same thing or what does that look like as far as memberships or daily passes? Membership.

A lot of places do resident non-resident um rates. So we again we went to that many many years ago. Um and really we just get the the typical push back I live here when in reality they don't. They just have a Canal Manchester mailing address. So um I think not making changes to the memberships might help ease the uh anxiety that changing the daily pass is going to bring to uh some people this this season. It may actually entice people to get a membership. I'm I'm not really sure, but we'll see. Okay. Thank you. Um Oh, go ahead.

Uh Mr. Jackson, do you find uh covering some of the or covering the procedures we're putting in place for this pool season or that have been planned? I know we were talking about pool pass pricing u but you did mention procedures and how they may have a negative effect. I just want to know. So, we discussed this um a few months ago now that we are requiring everybody to essentially be verified prior to entering our pool, meaning they have to have um an account made and verified by city staff. This will occur in our building. It will not occur at the pool, which means it will only be done Monday through Friday, normal business hours. Um, and what that'll essentially do is in the system will allow them to then purchase a a daily pass at the pool. It will have their name. It will have a parents name if they are under 18. Um, we are still trying to work out the picture thing, but ideally they will have a picture as well. Um, so that they can make sure that these kids are who they say they are. Um, and it will notate uh resident non-resident. So, if they are a non-resident, they will not have the ability to purchase a resident rate, a pass at a resident rate. Um, so it's got some built-in uh stops, if you will. Um, but it's also going to make purchasing a daily pass at the pool a longer process. um meaning that lines are could be longer um because there is more there are more steps for the kids selling these passes uh these daily passes at the pool to go through in order to sell it to them. But that is the goal so that we have a better idea of who is entering our pool every day. Um you know there's other things that we are looking at doing. We are going to be doing some minor construction over at the pool to add a window to the front facing the turnaround. That is going to be the admissions uh window for those who have

to purchase daily passes. This will allow members um to enter and exit the pool more smoothly. There won't be that bottleneck hopefully um at the current entrance. So, these little things hopefully will uh ease this burden this year because I it is going to be a learning curve for both us for um individuals in our community who want to visit the pool as well as the kids who work at the pool. Um Miss Jackson, first of all, I love that idea, the separate window. I think that'll really help

at least get the members in and out as they need to come and then the daily pool pass will have their own window. So, that's great. Um second of all with the when we do the open houses um in the evening for people just it's a few days two three four days um that you guys do that will you be allowing um daily pass people to come and sign up at that time as well? Yes, we um

the goal is to get as many people pre-registered as possible prior to the opening of the pool because what this means is that someone cannot wake up on a Saturday morning when it's 90° and decide they want to go to the pool anymore. They will have to have come to us and gone through this whole process prior. So, we are going to try to encourage people to do that on the off chance they want to visit the pool. There is no cost for them to do that. It's just a matter of essentially paperwork, showing your IDs, things along those lines. And I assume we'll have proper signage at the pool and probably some signage coming out.

So, yes, we've had um a discussion about signage. Uh unfortunately, people don't read signs, but we are going to put some up. So, we'll see what that does. Hopefully, it helps. At least a couple people. Will uh members have the or I'm sorry, if you purchase a membership like a a Yeah, if you p purchase a membership, can you bring a guest? No, currently. Okay.

So, we've done that in the years past and there is absolutely no tracking of it whatsoever. Um so, with council's desire to know who's in the pool at all times, it gets too difficult for us to do. So, um the really that only matters when the pool orig like first opens for the season when we only allow members in. Um because after that that they're free to bring whoever they want because they'll just pay the daily pass rate anyway. But they will still have to be vetted.

If a member wants to bring a friend, they have to come in and make sure that we have an account that includes mom or dad or guardian. you know that they're signing off on the pool rules and we have contact information, you know, all of that good stuff.

Um, and last question for me, the and this is just my two cents or actually I just have a question before I can throw in my two cents. The 60 and over increase. Um, I know a lot of our seniors use other communities facilities. Um, as far as maybe it's the senior center at Groveport or the the rec center at Groveport, obviously because they're the closest. Do you do we know if Groveport charges our seniors more money? They do. And they have a resident non-resident rate. I didn't I don't know if I didn't know if it if it went with the senior center too. I don't know about senior center.

Yeah, I don't know about that either, but center in the pool. Yeah. Okay. Just curious. I want to make sure we're on a I guess a fair playing field and not charging outside seniors more money if if they're not. So, we already for senior memberships charge them more. Um, it's $20 for a resident, 40 for a non-resident. I mean, it's okay. A heck of a deal for, you know, three months of swimming pool visits. So, they always have that option, too. Okay, perfect. I appreciate it. Um, Miss Jackson, do you mind for the record um talking about specifically what the residency requirement is and how we will let people know what that is. So, there's

So, the residency requirement is not changing from what it's been. They have to be a corp limit resident. Okay. um not school district corporation limit resident. So um we that's why we do everything in house because the teenagers that work at the pool see an ID it says canal Winchester they automatically assume that that individual lives here and we know that is not necessarily the case. So it will be corporation limit residents are considered residents. Everyone else is considered non-resident. Have we considered putting a map on these signs to kind of help with that confusion? um because it will probably still come up. There's a map on our website.

I mean, it's on the website. I think it gets a little difficult um to print. It gets kind of small and hard to read. Um

you know, there there are certain questions that we can ask, you know, very simply to figure out where an individual lives. I mean, obviously those of us who work in the city have a a pretty good understanding of all of our street names. Um, but something as simple as, you know, who do you get your water from or who collects your trash? Those what color what color trash do you have? Those are indicators that they do not live here. Um, usually those indicate more that they are within the city of Columbus. Um, you know, going out the other direction, sometimes we do just Google, you know, we pull up the auditor's website and look up an address and we can tell them where they live. So, okay, cool. Thank you. Mhm.

Who's going to manage that from U staff's perspective? Me. My team. It's what we've been doing the last four or five years now. Okay. Yeah. Any other questions? Just as a reminder, Miss Jackson, if you do need volunteers on those uh weekends and evenings creating passes, I'm sure members of council, at least myself, uh happy to come in and help facilitate however we can because we know it is extra work that we are sort of looking for your help with. So

it is um we we may allow returning members to do their verification via online um a sec basically a secure portion of the recreation software website that we use where they can upload things like copies of their IDs um that only certain individuals in our office would have access to. Um then they would merely need to come in and get pictures updated. Uh, as a reminder, we do pictures for the entire family, but we only make the children do them every year. Um, it's amazing how much a child can grow from one summer to another. So, that's why we do that. Uh, us adults tend to change a little less. Um, so we we do uh we do make the kids come in uh before we will activate a pass um just for the safety of everyone at the pool. So,

well, just I'm all in favor. So, thank you for putting that together. Thank you. All right. And I assume future legislation to follow on that. Yes. If everyone is immutable to changing the daily uh rate to resident non-resident, we can bring that forward at your next meeting for consideration. I would say six of us are. Yeah. All right. We will bring it forward at your next meeting. Mr. Sh, I mean, you still have We're not going to be asking for emergency. We have plenty of time to do this. So, there's still room for discussion. Yeah. Thank you. Uh, anything else for new business?

I have something, Mr. Moore. Um, earlier this week, I sent an email to council about the need for two new housing council members. Um, Mr. Hair, did we settle on I know there were two dates for the tour. Did we settle on March 24th? March 26th. March.

26th. Okay. And basically what this is, it's an opportunity to um visit locations where council um at some point in the past has granted an economic incentive to an uh building. and the you go and you visit with the building owner or the building manager and you ensure that they're doing business as they said they were going to do that the building is in good repair um and that they're meeting their payroll targets. Mr. Hair takes care of a lot of that in advance. Um it is a long day and you do need good walking shoes, but it is a very informative day to go through. I don't know, we probably go through 15 businesses maybe. Um, and I highly encourage if there are two members who are able to give up May 26, we start about 8ish in the morning.

March or sorry, March and Thank you. and end about 4:30ish in the afternoon. Um, depending on how fast we move and Mr. Harris sometimes has to herd cats because it is so interesting. So, um, if there's anyone that's interested in doing that, please let me know. Let Mr. Hair know. Um, and then we'll formalize that here very shortly, but it is March. And, um, so please, um, give that careful consideration. Yeah, we do we do need two appointments from council. It can be a council member or a non-counsel member. That's just someone that is appointed by council, but we need to have two members appointed for two-year term.

Thank you. And this is um filling the expired terms of Mr. Buskerk and myself. Could we give that some thought for I know we're coming up. We just need it done by the next meeting. Yeah, that's Yeah, would have to be available on the 26th of March. Perfect. Is there is there anyone here on council that believes you can give up that day to do this or I cannot.

Okay. Okay. So, um, if no if no one on council, I will do it again. It again, it's one of the highlights of my time on council. I will do it again and then if we kind of figure out who to appoint off council. Um, we'll get back to you on that, Mr. Hair. Great. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Mclacklin, I believe you had something.

Yes. So, um, I wanted to discuss the hometown hero banners. Um, it's come to my attention from a couple residents when looking at the application that the $100 cost associated with the application for to cover the cost of the banner that's that's passed on to the to the applicant. Correct. Um, I would like to uh wave the cost of that for the veterans. I know this maybe have been discussion in the past, but uh I feel strongly that if we're honoring these veterans, these heroes, that uh you know that that shouldn't come at a cost to the veterans. Um I do understand the economic cost with printing these banners and how they're they're very pricey. Um um but you know we do have money from you know general fund or whether it be from ventax or whatever that may be able to be uh redirected you know to this

this mr peoples I think you're the expert on this or close enough to the expert on this um

how many how many signs do we hang each year? So, um Hannah had sent out and there were some emails going around. I think Mr. Bennett started um started that, you know, um and uh Miss Am joined in uh as well. So, she um sent out an email with the history of that. Uh when we first did this, this was city residents only. Uh there were 75 uh we designated 75 banners um polls that we could put banners on. That first year we had 47 apply. Um, and we order actually ordered two uh banners perh per hero. That was a cost of about $8,200. Uh, the next year we again we opened it up because we were looking to get to that 75. Uh, spent another 5,000 on 28 new applicants. Uh, and then last year we had received some uh some complaints from uh the public who weren't residents. um that that they wanted also to be on there. They're community members, but not not necessarily residents. Um and uh we we ended up opening up the um the applications to BFW members uh for for the post here. Uh but they did include a a cost because they were non-residents. So I think we had uh 25 we had 13 new applicants uh for a total of 88 uh uh banners that we have now. Uh the cost was um uh $1,200. Uh and we were paid $1,190 uh for those. Um so I think we we covered the shipping on that. Um, so and then again this year it's open to CW residents and members of the BFW post again for the non-resident side of things.

Do we print new banners every single year?

We do not. So we ended up to get because we got more than the 75 originally that we did uh we ended up changing it last year uh that we had basically two people on a banner rather than the original one. We did have some some oddlooking banners because you almost had a face you had because since they're two-sided, you had a face of one and the name and branch of the other. Um, and it was the same. So, we've it was just the placement of the grommet. We figured that out as we were installing them last year. So, we let it go. We are changing that this year to where it'll you'll have two faces and then on the back you'll have two names and branches on it. So, two two separate faces. Um, so we could go more poles. We're keeping us in the downtown area,

right? Uh, for that. So, and again, that was what was decided last year when we opened it up to the um uh to the um council approved open it up to the uh BFW members that are non-residents, but added that charge in there. And that's just for the BFW uh members. What you're saying? You're saying it's for everybody? Because I'm I'm confused. that was for everybody because it exceeded the original 75 that we that we uh that was committed to. We agreed to cover the first the seven yeah when we said we had 75 polls and said let's let's cover 75 polls.

So that did include there. So and last year um because of the some of the community members that were non-residents uh that's like I said we opened it up to that but there was a charge associated with it. But if anybody was to re-up their banner, there would be no cost.

There's no charge for that as well. Um I I think also um because we already have those and as long as we already have that banner uh and it's not damaged, then we were putting it back up for uh for no charge. Uh the the the $100 uh if they buy a new if someone buys a banner, it will go up every year as well as long as that banner is in good condition to do so. Um uh also there was some confusion on submissions for reapplication. Um we're basically just wanting to make sure everybody do does want that if they've moved out of the area or something like that. Um there was some eligibility that um um Miss Woodruff went on and said, "Yeah, I get what you're saying on the u we were looking for eligibility, but it caused a little bit of confusion on the submissions." So she's modified that as well. So, so right now we we don't know if there would be I mean we could just have everybody reapply and there'd be zero cost or we could have

75 new people try. Okay. Correct. And the application process is open but she does look at that on the eligibility first before she takes any payment. So, um no no concern there. I'd still like to wave the cost. Um, yeah, I'd still like to for us to wave the cost and cover. I know that's counter to what we did last year. Um, um, but I don't want to charge the veterans for us to honor them.

You still have a concern on the city resident versus non-resident that we we shouldn't be covering non-resident. I understand nothing to do with the veteran type of situation, but from from our standpoint paying for non-residents for this. Mr. Peoples, do you know if there's any kind of a grant program we could apply for relative to this topic? Are you familiar with any? I do not. I'm not sure if the BFW has anything um or not. We've been in contact with them over the years. Um, you know, Commander Williams. Yeah.

Uh, is frequent uh resident of the community center uh when they rent that for their their meetings. Um, and you know, it was one of the one of the reasons why we opened it up because he was not a city resident, but um, you know, is a very much a productive member of our community and and contributes significantly Did do I remember at one time did they did they initially start this or cover the cost or they were working uh with that I think um it was um Commander Williams and I I can't remember her name lives over here on Columbus Street uh East Columbus. Um they're they're the ones who started it um and got it up and running.

Do I mean and and I agree I would love for all veterans get paid. not not arguing with you, but I also see your point about where we've got to use, you know, the money for residents versus non-residents. Um, is maybe some dialogue. We can have some dialogue with the VFW um and and say, "Hey, do you want to pick up the bill for I can talk to them these these handful of handful of people." Um I mean they the the res or the the VFW um members who are non-residents did pay for their own last year. Yeah. Okay. And I mean I think consistency is key too. Agreed. And

you know going back and forth just adds another layer of confusion to what it seems like there may have already been some confusion about reapplying this year and things along those lines. And if we had a resident who wanted to donate the cost in honor of just a general donation, they could do that as well. Absolutely. How how would we I guess when will all the final submissions be done so we have an idea of what how many new banners we would be the deadline need? I'm sorry. I'm having some I'm not sure what the deadline. Let me see if I can find a deadline for you. You have the same internet that I have apparently, Matt.

Yeah, we're all having it issues tonight.

Well, I'm sure we can get that answered. Yeah, I'll I'll look it up for you. Okay. So, we'll put a pin in that, but get back to it. So, you know, you leave that on there, please. Gordon, can we have VFW's meeting? I mean, the the month is new, so I can chat with them. Friday, April 10th. April 10th. Okay. And I think that is um to give time internally for us to get any new banners printed and them to get up prior to Memorial Day. Absolutely. And just just a note, the cost is going up because the the fewer banners you buy, the more the production costs are. and shipping as well.

Makes sense. $100. Um, anyone else?

Mr. Box, I forgot to ask. Do you have a executive session request? Do I have an executive session request? Not. Okay, good. Just making sure. No. Okay. Um, do I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. Uh motion by Miss A, second by M. McGlaughlin. Roll call, please. Miss A. Yes. Mr. Mclofflin. Yes. Mr. Moore. Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Mr. Bennett? Yes. Miss Deweiler? Yes. All right. Timeout is 650. We'll rejourn at 7 o'clock. Okay.

real quick.

Good evening. This is the call to order for the Canal Winchester City Council for Monday, March 2nd, 2026. leading our pledge of allegiance this evening. It is my honor and privilege to welcome the Canal Clovers 4H club. And our pledge will begin this evening with their president, Mr. Henry Curtis. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you very much robot. Well, here. Scoot it up. And I'll probably have to scoot this down. Yeah.

My pleasure. I just I'm done, too. Internet is maybe for next week. Thank you again to the Canal Clovers 4 Club and uh Mr. Curtis for leading us this evening. Uh clerk, may I have the roll call, please? Miss Amech, present. Mr. Bennett, here. Miss Stweiler here. Mr. Mclofflin here. Mr. Moore here. Mr. Payne here. Mr. Sheay. Do I have a motion to excuse Mr. Sheay this evening? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Mclofflin second by Mr. Moore. Roll call, please. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Mr. Moore, yes.

Mr. Payne, yes. Miss Sam, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Miss Deweiler, yes. Thank you. The first item is approval of minutes. MIN260007 for February 17th worked session minutes. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Moore, second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Miss Deweiler, yes. Mr. McGofflin, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Miss A,

yes. Moving on to minutes 26-008 for February 17th, 2026 city council meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Moore, second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Mr. Moore. Yes. Mr. Bennett. Yes, Miss Deweiler. Yes, Mr. Mclofflin. Yes, Mr. Payne. Yes, Miss Em. Yes. Thank you. We have no communications and petitions this evening. So, the next item will be public comments. If you wish to address council with public comment, you are welcome to come to the podium at this time. Yeah,

Miss We do have a representative from Madison Township with us this evening. Uh oh. Hello, Mr. Andrews. Do you have anything that you would like to address council with this evening? Okay. Thank you, sir. We did also receive a public comment um written um this evening. Um I think we we had a submission, Miss Pierce shared about the parking um it was in regards to parking behind the wigwam and how that's converted from a a free parking to a paid parking lot. Um, I think the only note there is just that that is private property and the owners are allowed to sort of do as they wish.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Bennett. Duly noted. Okay. No one wish to wishes to do public comments. Did we get a response to that? Yeah, Jordan did. Okay. Thank you, Jordan.

Okay. That takes us to reports of city officials and sta and staff. Mayor Steager. Uh, thank you, Miss Ach. Um, a couple things. Tonight, we have um coming up in a few weeks, the 20th of um on Friday the 20th of March, we have the um state of it's actually the state of the region by Morpsy. We have a table for 10 people. We um historically invite some township folks and city council. We have two places for council. If you guys want to um talk about who who would might want to come to that, we're inviting two council members. Um so you guys can just let us know. We have to let Morpsy know on that. And we've extended uh an invitation to Chris at Madison Township as well. So he'll be there. Um again, that is the 20th 11:30. It's at the Hilton downtown Columbus. We'll get you information on whoever's going to be attending that. The mayor's retreat has been scheduled, it looks like, for April 17th. That's going to be over at the library from 9 to 3. So, please get that on your calendar. Hopefully, everyone can make that. And if you can't, we apologize. We worked hard to get a u a good date for everybody. So hopefully we get a good representation there for that. Um the last thing I wanted to announce was today an initiative went out. Um a request for qualifications for the marketing initiative for destination canal Winchester. So we've got that moving as of this afternoon. Uh I didn't see it come out, but they were going to put it out by 5:00 today. So um city of Canal Winchester in conjunction with

destination Canal Winchester is seeking qualified marketing professionals, consultants or firms to submit statements, qualifications to assist in strengthening and promoting Canal Winchester as a vibrant destination for visitors, residents and businesses. So that went out today. The timetable is uh for those to be in by the 15th and then we review qualifications by the end of this month and by the end of the the meeting at the end of the month in April to pick a firm for that work. So that's underway. Wanted to let you know about that. I don't have anything else. Uh Miss Ach, if you guys have any questions for me.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Any questions for Mayor Steer? Just a quick question on the marketing uh qualifications request. Obviously, I'm sure destination is promoting it. Is the city promoting it as well or how I know it's it's more for destination, but I wasn't sure how how to put it out today on our on our site. So, we're going to assist advertise it as well as them. It is a destination initiative, but we're partnering with them on it. Perfect. Thank you. Anything else for Mayor Steager? Okay, next is city administrator, Mr. Peoples.

Thank you, Miss Amic. Just a couple of items from my written report. Um, the emergency planning efforts have started. We have a consultant that we've been working with. Um, there is a lot of information that they are requesting. Uh, there'll be a lot more review that we are going through. Uh, when it comes comes time for uh, city council get engaged in that, we'll let you know. uh if there's any questions. Some of it is just will just be procedural how we do things that type. But u uh as I think I said before, this is going to be a quite a monumental effort uh to to get this up and running. Um couple other items. I just want to say congratulations to James Moving. Uh he's our wastewater superintendent. He passed his water license. So now uh he and Chris Hartung are are licensed in both um water and wastewater. Uh, so it's really nice that for us to have that. Um, uh, we do have a new employee, Brandon Hunley, at the street department. Uh, we did have two, but apparently Friday after I did my written report, they one of them dropped out and didn't start today. So, uh, we got we still have one. We're going through the process. We'll get on board. Uh, and then on a personal note, I just want to say thank you to council members, uh, for, uh, the the flowers sent over and the and the loss of my family. Much appreciated. Thank you, Mr. Peoples. Any questions for Mr. Peoples?

How was the uh the ODOT openhouse for the bridge replacement on Jender Road? How did that go? I was not able to attend because of personal u matters, but I know Mayor Stiger was there. Sean Stark, our street superintendent or assistant director of streets.

Yes, that was in this room. They had several stations set up around the room with the um boards explaining different things. The they had the schedule on a board. They had a map of detours on a board. They had um a picture of what they were going to be doing there exactly and where the road was going to cut off. So, there was a lot of good information. Um I think a lot of people were really worried. They didn't realize that this is not going to happen until 2028. They thinking it's going to happen this summer. So, there's a lot of panic and I'm like, we got a couple years. Let's

um you know, we've got time to plan and and to talk about it. So, it's good. It was a good turnout. Um I think there were 10 more 10 ODOT people here, so there were a lot of people to answer answer questions. It was a good night. Good. Thank you. ODOT did a really nice job that night. Yeah. Anything else for Mr. Peoples? Okay. Um, the Fairfield County Sheriff, I don't see Sergeant Strong, but I do see a representative from the Sheriff's Department. Did you want to address council or you're just here to answer questions?

Okay. Any questions for the sheriff's department? Thank you for being here this evening. Um, next up is law director, Mr. Vogs. Thank you, Mrs. Aik. I don't have anything new to report to council this evening, but I would be happy to answer any questions anyone has. Okay, hearing none, we will hear from finance director Mrs. Jackson.

Thank you, Mrs. Aik. Just one thing to point out from my written report. Um, we will be bringing forth an appropriation amendment um to appropriate the funds necessary for ordinance uh 26-005 which is the purchase of the property that we discussed during uh work session. It will also have a couple other things in it. Um we have some unexpended grant funds in the water department that we would like to reappropriate. um as well as the funds that the city will be putting towards the marketing um initiative that Mayor Seager spoke about before, we're going to uh appropriate those funds as well. So, uh that will be coming at your next meeting.

Thank you, Mrs. Jackson. Any questions for Mrs. Jackson this evening? Okay, hearing none, that will take us to development director, Mr. Hair.

Thank you, Mrs. Aik. Um, I did have a written report, but I just want to address some uh news that came out today in regards to Brew Dog. Um, so Brew Dog's parent company in the UK was it was announced that they were acquired today by a US company called Till Ray Brands. That did not include any of Brewog's US assets. And so there's no change right now happening with what's happening here in Canal Winchester. It'll continue operations. Uh it's likely that they they will have a new parent company at some point in the near future. Uh but it's undetermined whether that will be Till Ray Brands or another company um at this time. So there'll be no changes. But uh I did meet with Brewog uh earlier in February and have been communicating with them. So I'll keep you apprised of any changes when they when they happen here.

Thank you, Mr. Hair. You're welcome. Anything else for Mr. Hair? Um yeah. So Casco is building a expansion on the Waterl crossing building just to get to what's it to close the gap between their two current buildings right there. Lost Margaritas and was it Lifetime Fitness? Correct.

Yeah. Um how do you know how long that construction's going to last and what that's going to do? The parking lot and the and the flow through that because I know a lot of people drive through right past in front of there. Um, I don't believe it'll affect the the drive aisle at all. Um, you know, it may impact the the pedestrian walk. Um, but we'll require them to maintain access through that area, but it'll probably be much less than what's there currently.

Um, if you're walking between, but there shouldn't be any um impact to the overall drive. Uh, their intent, we have a pre-construction meeting scheduled this week and then they're intending to start construction uh very in in the very near future. Um, I don't know what the complete time frame is. I'll have more details on that once we have a reconstruction meeting. Okay. Thank you.

Anything else for Mr. Hair? Okay. Moving on. This evening, we have no resolutions and um we have no third reading ordinances. Uh, for second reading this evening, we have ordinance 26-001. Clerk, will you read the ordinance, please? An ordinance to adopt section 941.041 of the codified ordinances to require pollution prevention plans as part of the storm water management code.

Thank you. The sponsor is uh Miss Steweiler and Mr. Peoples. If you have anything you would like to uh talk about with this one this evening. No, sorry. It was just uh just a code amendment based on some um updates from Ohio EPA. Okay. Thank you. Sponsors, Mrs. Steweiler. Second reading only. Thank you. The next item is ordinance 26-002. Clerk, will you read the ordinance, please? An ordinance to accept the dedication of real property from Kenneth Cole LLC for use as public rightway. Mr. repair.

Uh this would just allow the city to accept parcels um along the uh Lyopoulos Road and Oregon Road rightway for future rightaway purposes for road expansions associated with the Miller Farms development. Thank you. The sponsor is the chair and a second reading only. That takes us to ordinance 26-003. Clerk, will you read the ordinance, please? an ordinance to accept the dedication of real property from Canal Family Farms 2 LLC for use as public rideway. Thank you. The sponsor is Mr. Moore. Second reading only.

Thank you. For first reading this evening, we have um ordinance 26-004. Clerk, will you read the ordinance, please? an ordinance to authorize the mayor to enter into a contract with Strawer Paving Company for the construction of the 2026 street program project. Thank you. The sponsor is Mr. Bennett. Thank you. I'd like to request a waiver um of council rules um requiring a second and third reading. So second

motion made by Mr. Bennett, second by Mr. more to uh wave the second and third reading. Uh roll call, please. Mr. Bennett? Yes. Mr. Moore? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Miss A? Yes. Miss Deweiler? Yes. Mr. Mclofflin? Yes. Thank you. I'd like to motion to adopt ordinance 26-004. Second. Motion made by Mr. Bennett, second by Mr. Moore. Roll call, please. Mr. Mr. Bennett. Yes. Mr. Moore, yes. Mr. Payne, yes. Miss Ame, yes. Miss Deweiler, yes. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Point of order, Miss A. Yes, sir.

I just wanted to highlight that u the the request to wave the the reading um and passes emergency um is due to the timing of the street uh contract. I just want to highlight that. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, M. There's there's actually no emergency clause on this. Um, sorry. Just the just the waiver waiver of the readings. Thank you for clarifying, Miss Jackson. I knew when I said emergency, I was like, that's probably not gonna Thank you for clarifying. Okay, that takes us to ordinance 26-005. Clerk, will you read the ordinance, please?

An ordinance to authorize the mayor to enter into a real estate purchase agreement for the purchase of 650 Bowen Road, Canal, Winchester, Ohio, owned by Charles R. Smith and Deborah S. Becknel. Thank you. Mr. Moore is the sponsor. First reading only.

Thank you. That takes us to ordinance 26-006. Clerk, will you read the ordinance, please? An ordinance authorizing the issuance of one or more series of notes in anticipation of the issuance of bonds for the purpose of Basil Western Road infrastructure improvements and public infrastructure improvements related thereto as provided in the intergovernmental agreement by and among the city of Canowchester, Fairfield County and the Fairfield County Transportation Improvement District and the Fairfield County Port Authority and authorizing the execution of related agreements.

Thank you. the the uh chair is the sponsor and request waivers waiver of the second and third reading and thank you Mr. Bennett. This is for to keep the process moving and to make sure that the development company is able to stay on schedule with their commitments and uh more specifically as well to obtain the best pricing overall for the bonds debt obligations the county will be issuing. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Bogs. Second. Motion made by Miss Aik, second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Miss Aik, yes. Mr. Bennett, yes. Miss Deweiler, yes. Mr. Mclofflin, yes. Mr. Moore, yes.

Mr. Pink, yes. The chair will move to adopt ordinance 26-006. Second. Motion made by the chair, second by Mr. Bennett. Roll call, please. Miss, yes. Mr. Mr. Bennett. Yes. Miss Deweiler. Yes. Mr. Mclofflin. Yes. Mr. Moore. Yes. Mr. Payne. Yes.

Thank you. That takes us to council reports for um upcoming uh information. The work session and council meeting. The next one will be Monday, March 16th at 6 p.m. We will also have a committee of the whole for Monday, March 30th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Do I don't know who's in charge of is there an agenda uh topic for that evening or do we need to discuss that further for the committee of the whole? Yes. Um, we don't have any topics. No, we do not. Many of us will be out of town. Yeah. Okay, sounds like no council the whole spring break week. Oh,

perfect.

Um, the next item is the public hearing for Monday, April 6, 2026 at 5:30 regarding the Bowen Road reszoning. And then following that, work session and council meeting on Monday, April 6th at 6 PM. And as Mayor Stiger already said, the mayor's retreat will be held on Friday, April 17th from 9 to 300 p.m. The next council connect meeting will be March 18th at 6:30 in the evening and the council representatives will be Miss Deweiler and Mr. Moore. I have the um if you will give me one second I will be filling in for Mr. Sheay this evening regarding the um human services report. Give me one second please. Um, so this is from Altha Mullins, the director at Canal Winchester Human Services. She's giving a brief update on activity and upcoming programs at human services. Our community food pantry served 391 people and provided 5,511 meals during the month of February. We are currently preparing for several upcoming events. The community Easter egg hunt will be held on Saturday, March 28th. We're looking forward to a wonderful event and hoping for great weather. The next item is the spring community care day for Saturday, May 16th. If you know of a senior citizen within Canal Winchester School District who could benefit from mulching, weeding, or light yard work, please have them call human services at 614-834-4700 to sign up. And then the last item to

report is there will be a senior financial fraud protection workshop on Thursday, April 16th hosted by human services at that facility on Covenant Way. So that is the report for um Can I Winchester Human Services on behalf of Mr. Shay? Sounds like that uh the last item might be beneficial for the seniors club to be made aware of too. That's an open invite.

Most definitely. Most definitely. And I believe the um they it will be presented by US Bank I believe is the presenter for that meeting. So um I had the pleasure of attending the Canal Winchester Industry and Commerce Corporation uh meeting last Wednesday. Um, and I have a couple of updates to give you in respect to that. So, keep in mind if you didn't see the email that the um, grand open, not the opening, but the brown groundbreaking ceremony for the new Kroger's has been moved to March 19th. Um, the vertical building will start to go up shortly thereafter and they are targeting a November opening. And um I found this interesting that they in the report they said that Kroger's had not opened a new Kroger's in 20 years. So um that's a very encouraging thing to have that here in Canal Winchester. So the other things that are noteworthy from that um report uh Mr. Mclofflin mentioned the uh building that is going to go up over by the Mexican food place that is now going to be a five below retail store. Um there is significant amount of activity planned in the old town. Um there's lots of opportunity for uh some new business and then we have some new uh businesses that are already uh slated to come in. The 60 East Waterlue, which is the building directly across the street from us, uh has been leased by Sweets of Grace, um a new bakery, and then there will be a homeschool bookstore that will focus on homeschool supplies. Um, if you recall, the CWIC through their grant program was able to help uh fund the installation of a new restroom

in that building. And what was great about that is it gave an opportunity for two tenants to go in to that facility. Um, there is where the I promo located at 25 North High Street, there's 1740 square ft that is available for lease. Um, if you know a business that's looking for space in Canal Winchester, the building that is currently occupied by Don Hartman Incorporated is um is has lo sorry has a new owner and that has been approved for facade renovation by the landmarks commission. So, some new beautifification happening there. The business will be closing in August and the owner is seeking new tenants for that space. Um the 100 Cemetery Road, formerly Heavenly Treats, is going to be opening up as a new daycare known as Puit's Early Education Center. Um and I believe Mr. Hair, you had mentioned that there is a shortage of daycarees um in and around the area. So this is uh definitely a needed thing and we're happy to have them in our community. The h the holiday hair in Waterl Crossing has closed and will soon be occupied by Ability Chiropractic and Walmart is building an addition that will add and relocate the online pickup that they normally do in front of the store to the east side of the building and then they will be going through a whole store remodel. And um I think at our last council meeting, Mr. Shay asked about a Dunkin Donuts and we said there was going to be one on Winchester Pike. There's also going to be a Dunkin Donuts plan for the inside of the Walmart here in Canal Winchester. And then last but not least, and I'm sorry this is a lengthy report, but there's a lot going on, isn't there, Mr. Hair? The Sticks and Stones retail shop is going to be

closing their doors. The owner is retiring, and that space is going to be up for lease in the late spring. So, thank you for indulging me with that lengthy report, but as I said, there's a lot going on uh in and around our downtown area. The next item is the CWJRD, Mr. Bennett and Mr. Moore. I'll take this one as always.

As always, um our next meeting is March 10th at 6:30 in the old city hall building. Um we are just we've just wrapped up registrations um for our last round of sports. Um finalizing some agreements with uh steel drum band. Everything else is moving as expected. Um so no news is good news on that front. Thank you. Mentioned the rumage sale. Rumage rumage sale. Um I got to get a date coming up. Yeah, coming up. Yeah. Do you have extra sports equipment? be happy to take it off your hands. Taking donations. Taking donations. Sorry about that.

Um, next is destination Winchester, Mr. Pay.

Yeah, this Saturday, March 7th, there is a Winders Farmers Market from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Uh, the art stroll scheduled for Saturday, May 16th. Event planning is um currently in full swing. There's 21 artists that are currently committed and they are also getting uh musicians uh lined up as well. uh the Blues and Ribs Festival scheduled for July 24th to July 26th. Um still receiving sponsorships for that event. Um one cool um aspect of that event this year is there will be a shuttle service um provided. Uh so more to come there. Uh currently seven food trucks committed. There will be uh a ton more as well um for the summer farmers market. They are exploring um live music um as well. Um and Summer Sunday's concert series um bands are booked. May 24th is uh the first one and that will be uh the Hudoo Soul Band. And if you haven't already, please download the app. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Payne.

Next is the CW Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Mclofflin. Yeah, I just want to start by thanking uh everybody who attended the Friday award or the awards night on Friday. Uh the chamber raised $10,000 or had a net income of $10,000. That's their largest fundraiser um of the year. Uh it's a 23% increase from last year. Um they sold out sponsorships early, too. So, it was a great event. Uh congratulations to the business of the year and that would be uh Columbus Metropolitan Library, the Canal Winchester branch business person of the year, Terry Roberson uh of Canal Winchester Wigwam. Uh the pillar of the community award uh congratulations to Robert Wood for winning that member of the year award, Fresh Coat Painters of Canal Winchester. Um, additionally, a chamber challenge coin was presented to Joe Abbott in recognition of his service to our community. Um, an outstanding leadership award was presented to Chamber President and CEO Elizabeth Wood by the board of directors. Um, additionally, uh, Sunrise Social is on Wednesday, March 4th from 7:30 to 8:30 at the Canal Winchester Wigwall. Our guest speaker is Stephanie Fields. Uh, she's the career readiness coordinator at Canal Winchester High School. She will discuss summer internships and job shadowing opportunities. This event is free and includes a free beverage. Uh please RSVP at canal1chester.com. Um and then like to mention that our young professionals kickoff event um happened a couple weeks ago. It was at Ellis and Canal Winchester. Um it was well attended. Um and our next Young Professionals event is in the works for April. And lastly, uh, we want to welcome our newest member, archetype restoration.

Thank you, Mr. Mclofflin. And the S sustainability commission, Mrs. Steweiler. So, the sustainability commission, their next meeting is this Wednesday, March 4th. Um, they are getting a community cleanup day ready to go and that will be Saturday, April 18th. and the registration for that on the day of will be um at Stradley Park. And that is all. Thank you. Is there anything for uh new business this evening? Um just wanted to thank the Canal Clovers 4H club for coming out today and sitting with us and leading us in the pledge. So, thank you all for being here.

We appreciate the uh the attendance. Yeah, if they're available. Um I heard Mayor Stiger was buying ice cream at Johnson's. Or we can just go and I'll buy it. I mean, I'm serious. I mean, I'm serious. You have to be in the club. No, you don't have to be in the club. I'll You're welcome to come. All right. Well, yeah. Everyone, let's all go for ice cream after this. All right. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Bennett, second by Mr. Moore. Roll call, please. Mr. Bennett? Yes. Mr. Moore? Yes. Mr. Payne?

Yes. Miss A? Yes. Miss Deweiler? Yes. Mr. Mofflin? Yes. Thank you. Time out. 7:32 p.m.