City Council - Regular Meeting

Everybody, we'll get started in just a second. Yeah. Yes, we do. But you know what else? Control keys in the wrong spot. Okay, are we ready to begin? Let's call to order the meeting of the uh public works and sustainability committee. Uh it is Tuesday, February 17, and the first item on the agenda is to approve the minutes from the January 20 meeting.

So moved. There's there's a motion to approve. Is there a second? Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I.

Opposed? The eyes have it. Thank you. So that takes us to the tree ed advisory and education board annual report to the committee and the council and the community by extension. Uh thank you for uh preparing the report and for being here to make the presentation really give us all a chance to focus on what turns out to be very big um topic. Urban forestry is not a a simple or small matter. It takes a lot of work. There's a lot of layers to it and it takes persistent um practice over time. Otherwise, you you don't see the gains. Um so, um why don't I actually open it up to committee members or colleagues? Do you have any opening comments or questions? And uh Councilman Evans has been the the chair. I'm now chair this year, but Councilman Evans, you've been kind of intellectually leading the work for the past 12 months. So, I don't know if you have any comments you want to open with.

Sure. Thanks, chair. Um, I'm just excited to see the progress today. It was it was um truly a privilege to uh be the uh council leazison to this board. Um they do some really fun and inspiring work uh this last year. There have been a lot of great things you're about to see about uh hear about. So, looking forward to the presentation and uh I'm sure you'll enjoy your time liazisoning with this board. Leazing with this board, Councilman Bulock. Thank you. Okay. Any other comments or could we uh hear from the board and it's uh chair Rita Stevens? Yes. Although try again and maybe. How about now?

Perfect. Better.

All right. Well, uh again, yeah, my name is Freda Stevens and I have Allison Welch here in the audience from the treeboard also. So, two of the f two of our current four are here. Um, this is our annual update. Um, Linda Grandstaff, our former chair, uh, spoke with you about a year ago on this. So, um, Oops. Which is the Okay. So, um, tonight I'd like to to cover three points. one um a brief background just to provide some context that can lead us effectively into talking about the key program areas that uh the tree board has chosen as priorities and then finally to talk about what our current priorities and needs are going forward. So let's start with some background. Um first of all the people uh what I've included here or who I've included here in the pictures are um members that have been involved in um creating the content for this report. So the 2000 up through 2005 uh we had um both Matt Bixenstein as well as Linda Grandstaff who are on the upper right photo with myself on the board. Um circling counterclockwise uh um that's Mary Kennedy with Matt. Um and then Kelly Kellaher is who our brand new appointee and then um finally um Linda with um Allison who's with us this evening. So um I want to commend the pickers who have uh gone through all the applicants. We continue to have an extremely strong set of skills and I think really well balanced for um the tasks at hand. And and and Rita, just a quick interjection. Um I should say chair uh Stevens the So we we were down one. Is that right? Because

yeah, because Matt's appointment Matt got a new Mr. Pickinstein got a new uh he takes on a lot. So he can't serve in that role. Um but but we did appoint for Linda. Is that correct for the vacancy for Linda? Um I have not heard any news of who the new appointee is. Okay. Are we down one or two? Chair, we're down one. Katie Keller was the was the Yes. replaced. Understood. Okay. Yeah. Katie replaced Linda. Yes. Very good. Who filled her term. Okay. Thank you. One one vacancy.

Okay. Right. So, and then uh just one other background slide that I want to just uh bring forth um to to remind everyone that um the last county assessment of tree tree canopy coverage was done in 2019. And you have a picture of it here in the upper right, a map of what showed the change over a a six-year period between um I can't quite read my own slides here, 2011 and 2017. Um what what concerns us is that the city of Lakewood was the largest percentage loss in canopy relative to the entire county. And so you might say, oh, you know, um everybody's struggling because of the built environment and what do we do with trees? But I think that that Lakewood has a a specific set of needs that we keep a focus on building canopy. And I'm sure that this was discussed prior to my uh tenure on the tree board, but that that um this informed the 2022 um our existing city of Lakewood tree action plan where um the adopted goal has been to increase canopy coverage from approximately 23% to 33% by the year 2035. So that's our big overarching goal that the tree board uses to step back and say, well, where how can we best contribute to making that happen? Um what's really a a high priority for the tree board is the rec recognition that while we have incredibly strong and effective um maintenance and and growing of our public tree canopy, we really have not until um fairly recently had formal programming and support to

develop u canopy on private property. Um, and if you go back into the tree action plan of 2022, um, it stated that probably, um, in the order of about half of the canopy needed to grow to get to our goal of 35% canopy needs to be on private and about half on public. And so what the tree board decided about three years ago was to um hey we have a a unique role here to work in partnership with um the city to focus in on um the public or the private property part of trees. And um kind of as an illustration, here's a um a streetscape that's taken in um the um the Birdtown area. And what you can see is that we um are looking to get not only street trees which are very nice canopy but if you have the private trees as well as well as especially in the backyards that we can collectively have a situation where we can get to this 33 35% I'm sorry 33% by 2035 goal established. So, um, I'll I bring this up the the focus on the private and that that most of what you're going to hear tonight is um focused on the private property trees that um we understand that the um the the city staff has already in the last couple of months updated you as far as the the public tree end of things. So, we've decided to to not incorporate that for this evening. So, let's with that background, what I'd like to do is go into the key programs. We have three. Um, community canopy, that's physically helping our residents plant and grow canopy, plant and grow

trees. Um, the second is um a public engagement and awareness and and the willingness and the staying power because we know it takes a generation to grow grow a tree and we're looking for a long-term program. And so there's a lot of uh supporting education and and empowerment of people to be confident in growing and planting their trees. And then finally um we've really um started to get some traction in regional network. So it's working with um entities such as ourselves beyond the the city of Lakewood where we can provide um expertise in terms of our experience with things and we can also learn from them. So, I'd like to step um into each of these topics for you. Okay. So, the first the first program, community canopy. Um you probably are familiar with it. We're going into our third year here where we said, let's just physically help people get trees in the ground. Um, we've partnered with the Arbor Day Association so that we could really make it pretty much a turnkey operation and minimize the amount of um, city staff um, responsibilities for it. Um the way that it works is that um the Arbor Day Foundation contracts with the city of Lakewood for X amount of trees and um they um basically handle they have a an online portal that handles all the the um the ordering, the Q&A, the handholding of residents in terms of questions um and then delivery of the trees that we specify to city hall. And so then the city does of course come and um deliver them to Bernese Pike Park is our distribution site and um then volunteers take it from there in terms of uh doing demonstration tree planting,

helping residents with um getting their trees home, etc. Um we started it as I said um two years ago. So um we've had four events so far, two per year in 2024 and 2025. And um before I leave this slide and and give you some some numbers, I just want to shout out to our partners that it's it's just been um seamless working with multiple departments as needed for different aspects of this program. I've mentioned the forestry department, the planning department has taken care of the contracting um on our behalf on this and then the social media um folks have been um instrumental in making sure that we're getting the word out to residents through uh city channels and um it's been uh working really well. So, we're getting ready uh to go into our fifth this spring. Um and then I I mentioned the Arbor Day foundation in terms of how they're working with this and then monetarily we have had um support from Healthy Lakewood Foundation as well as from Neograph. So there's been um some nice building of the portfolio for how do we um support this and of course the city has has um taken on expenses there too. Okay. So um the the second and last slide about the tree giveaway. Just wanted to give you a couple of visuals here. Um, this map happens to be just the um 2025 map, but what what we have is we have a record now of what species and where it got got taken to hopefully planted. You know, we we some we uh we have spot checks on things but haven't been to every single home. Um but in the 20 to 24 2024 to 2025 time frame there's been 610 trees. We um and that there has been

participation I think spread very nicely across the city. I think each ward um from north to south has been involved in this. Um in 2026 we're planning to do 400 trees over two events and that um well I'll just back up. Why the 610? Well, the 10 um shipping error, they gave us 10 too many and said, "Give them away." So, we did, but we we started in 2024 with 100 trees and then we went to 200. And we said, I mean, 200 for events. So, for the year, 200 for 2024, 400 for 2025. And so, we said, well, 2026, let's let's just keep it steady. You know, we kind of a couple pilot years and let's let's try one more thing here. And that is we um we have a sense that um there is a demand by residents to have some help planting trees and that if we could come up with some way to do that that this program could be grown farther. And so, um, we have made association with, um, the, um, the Western Land Reserve, um, tree stewardship program where they have trained tree stewards that, um, are going to help us selectively in helping residents plant trees this spring. So, um, that's where we're headed with it. A couple of, um, or some small pictures there just to give you a sense. This is a picture out of the portal of we'll be offering eight species. And um another thing that we've done is that we're we're calibrating ourselves on how large of a tree um individuals can take. You know, some lots are very small and constrained in terms of built infrastructure. And um we

have now gotten to a point where about three4s of the trees are things that can build be planted proximate to buildings, power lines, that sort of thing, and not get in the way, but still maintain some selections for residents that have properties that can get a little bit bigger. So, um that's a scoop on the tree giveaway and I think it's something that um we uh are very um proud of and and also um very confident that it's something that we can continue to grow and sustain once we have um more hands. And that's this the tree steward pilot on it. Um, some you might want to before I leave this topic, you might be asking yourself, well, is this a drop in the bucket? Like, you know, where how how impactful can this be to the um goal to increase our canopy coverage to um you know that 10% bump in it. Um, if you go and look at um the master tree plan, there is an estimated number of trees of how many it takes to to get that. And I did just a quick back of the envelope. If we were stayed at this 400 trees per year and every single tree lived to maturity and we did it for 10 years, we'd get pretty close to meeting the private property portion of that. So it's, you know, and you know, not all the trees live. You know, they don't they don't make it to their maturity, etc. But I think we're at least in the right order of magnitude in terms of the program. And I think that if we can boost this a little bit stronger as well as um as residents learn about trees planting um hopefully valuing the trees

they have like they will start growing in knowledge and it's not just what you're planting and growing but it's also preserving what you have. So, um I think significant but not sufficient would be my um statement in terms of is this going to get us there? But I think great strides. Um the second program and therefore that leads into the public engagement of how how do we reach people? Um I'd like to talk about three items. one is the traditional outreach events where you know we we do the tree giveaway. We go to to Madison Park for the Lakewood Community Festival and hold a booth. Um so we have those kind of things but we also have two new programs that we are piloting in 2026. One is the tree stewards which I mentioned earlier and we'll tell a bit more about and the other is the community arburedum that I'll tell you about too. So just one slide on on outreach events. As I mentioned, Treeboard does two um dedicated that where we lead, but we really try to collaborate and to add on to and support um other entities um activities, the library story walks, Garden Lakewood, Lakewood Garden Club, and Friends of Madison Park. um you know, Lakewood is just um so strong in terms of um local organizations that um are um aligned with uh growing canopy in in a lot of ways. And so we're not looking to reinvent the wheel, but to rather support what's going on. Okay. Um so let me get into the second of the three um public engagement end of things, and that is tree stewards. So basically um what tree stewards are is they get about I think it's something in

the order of 20 hours of hands-on training so that by professionals so that they can end up really knowing and and being able to do best practices with respect to planting trees, mulching, tending them, structurally pruning small trees, anything that it takes to get um trees up and going And um these tree stewards are alive and well and active in the city of Cleveland, but the program up until now has been limited just to the city of Cleveland. Um we have been in conversation for a couple of years now with this organization um continue to express our interest. How can we bring something like this to the city of Lakewood? And what's really exciting is that the time has come that um they um the the existing uh Cleveland Blaze tree stewards are um going to be offered the opportunity to help us with the spring tree giveaway so that we can give some um percentage of residents help with planting their tree. Um but um funding apparently has come through now to be able to to um expand their training and and go beyond the uh footprint of the city of Cleveland and to include Lakewood. So we're very um optimistic and and looking forward to uh midy year to be able to um begin to engage in um this tree steward program at some level. um to be determined, but um I think we're gonna um really make a nice step in the right direction, not only in the the ability to support our residents for the tree giveaway, but when you think of the whole um spectrum of educational and engagement kind of activities that we might be able to do,

it might be an activity of hey here um come here and we'll teach you how to take care of your first of all how to prune and to take care of your pruning shears. that there's um just many many opportunities that this will avail us of. So I think in terms of leveraging um the community engagement in in knowing um how to and and to confidently grow trees on their property. Okay, keep rolling here. And then the third is fi of public engagement is that we recognize that um we will tenatively be you know always I should say always be people limited like you know we we can only do so much programming and and to really reach everyone in the community. We need to combine our active programming with with passive the ability for um our residents to be able to at their own time at their own leisure um avail themselves of training and learning about trees. And so um what um actually Allison in in the audience here with us brought to the tree board is there is an organization arbnet run out of the Mor Morton Arboritum internationally that supports communities in creating arborita. Um the tree board started with a vision. It's like why would we even want to do this? And we said well in in the the end we want people in all of us in in Lakewood to to feel like we are living in a we living in an orum. you know, it is Lakewood and um that that um by uh starting to um think about um and to create educational opportunities around trees that um we can achieve um this vision of a community that deeply values trees. That um individuals are empowered to preserve and expand the canopy. and

that um ultimately we are strengthening our identity as a place where nature and people come together. So um lofty vision the the second and final slide for this is that um we are taking a first step this year partnering with the um the Cove community center um with their intergenerational programs that um and that that's a a a quick um graphic of of the Cove Community Center and their their outdoor space and and how it's being used. But basically we are going to be going for level one certification. So um and the requirements are you have to have a govern an arboritum plan a governing group will will combine treeboard and cove community center um people on that someone who manages it. You know we already have in place uh the Cove community center along with city forestry department um a labeled collection. Um we have already done this. we've inventoried the trees and and have them ready for people to be able to passively walk through and say, "Oh, that's a such and such." And then finally, um public access and at least one event per year. And it's the the events I think that are going to make the difference here is that this this in essence um establishes the property around the green space around Cove Community Center as an arboritum and one that um has the bones, you know, the bare bones. It's level one, but it it has um identified um species for people. It's got a really nice diversity of species as it it turns out to be and one that um we can now have a place where we can host educational activities as well as offer passive you know we can have you know on your phone you click here and we'll take you around

these different things. So our vi, you know, I I won't go back to the vision at this point, but our vision is that we um grow Arborita throughout the city of Lakewood. So maybe we go to Madison Park, maybe we go to Kaufman Park. And I why not every park? U but this is our pilot year. We said let's uh get to know the Arbnet Foundation. let's uh work with uh you know what we already have in place at um at the Cove Center and um we'll grow it from there. So there's our public engagement and then finally just a quick um quick commentary on our key our third of three programs the regional network is first of all Tree City USA um I don't know if you've heard but we have just achieved our 50th year of certification as a city of Lakewood so kudos to uh many people whose shoulders we're standing on to have gotten that. um the Western Reserve Land Conservancy tree stewards that I've already spoken to that, you know, are already now holding hands with us and helping us get our our uh dreams come true as far as growing a um a set of trained volunteers who can um really boost the um program. And then there's two other um uh professional associations. One the North Coast Urban Forestry Conference and the other the Kyoga County Tree Summit and Tree Board Network that are just amazingly um wonderful um source of information as well as networking of our colleagues from other local communities. Um, I just put up a um a the a picture of the the flyer from the last Kyhoga um tree summit that was held and it was just to give you an idea. Each of these will have a theme. Um this last scene was

tree supply chains. So they're really looking the researchers of gi given the state of how our climate is changing and our infrastructure is changing you know what are for instance what what should we be planting and what do we expect to um you know be thriving in these kind of conditions 20 years from now so that um recognizing that trees are something that um takes a generation to grow. we better be thinking years in advance in terms of how we think conditions are going to be changing. So that's just one example and one that um I think that we as a city of Lakewood are starting to be able to offer back as well like you know we've been able to help people for instance um learn from what we've done with the tree giveaway program and uh take it to their community as well. So, I'll wrap up with um priorities and needs. Um as I started out the conversation here that um we really are focusing in on planting and preserving residential ca canopy recognizing that the city is doing a great job on the public spaces. Um we're going to continue to double down and refine the tree giveaway program. Um and also um we are beginning to and and want to um continue to create basic materials around tree preservation. You know the tree giveaway is very much around let plant new but let's all take care of what we have as well. Um as far as engaging residents um we we have as a top priority getting that arburetum certification at at the Cove Community Center. Um we also recognize that um our tree related content on the city web is um uh often difficult to find. You know, you you pose different kinds of questions and and there's probably gaps

in there. And so we have plans to at least um uh kind of wireframe what's there and how does it relate and to um uh do our best as far as um making it easier for our residents to be able to get what they need. Um and this is in conjun this is in partnership with the city. So it's both from what they need for their private trees but also what they need to understand from the city perspective. And then um of course to continue to offer and and um as we build capacity to offer more educational events. Um it's a big ticket set of things. I think that we ha we know what we need to do. Um but I think that um there are only five appointees and we recognize that that nothing happens without a lot of um capable volunteer core. So, we are really prioritizing partnering to get tree stewards in place in the city of Lakewood, as well as to um continue to strengthen partners and funding, which I think we've got a good solid start, but um there's uh you never let that sleep. So that's uh that's our current state and I thank you on behalf of the tree board to be able to present it to you and to um offer any responses to questions.

Well, pardon me. Thank you, Chair Stevens and for the the thought put into this extensive report and uh you know future projection of what we're going to do this year. So I've got a list full of questions, but let me open it up to colleagues. Mr. Baker and then Mr. Evansson and also Councilman Bixenstein of course is an alumni alumni of the organization. So I'm sure he has good things to say. So Councilman Baker uh thank you uh Chair Stevens. Um and and I appreciate the report. I I always look forward to it and you know I'm always that chart is always or the map I think it was in the plane dealer Cleveland.com that shows the loss of tree canopy in Lakewood is always hard. um having lived here in 2012 and getting married a week after supertorm Sandy Sandy, I remember why, right? The age of our canopy and then pretty tremendous uh storm event um kind of double hit us. Um and and I I love you know the work that you and the entire advisory board are doing. Uh two things that kind of come to my mind or a couple things that be interested in working with the uh education advisory board on is so we're doing tree giveaways and this is going to take some collaboration if it would ever work but for example you know there's an obligation for people in Lakewood to maintain their sidewalks the city um can can do it and you can pay them essentially you know a set rate and I'm wondering If there's some kind of collaboration then that the city can with its purchasing power essentially work with residents where you can get a tree planted on your property um for a set price and then there's like a warranty period associated with it for someone who maybe doesn't have the physical ability to maintain a tree or or do that. So, I wonder if there's a

way like the city can use its bulk p buying power to help people in their backyard or on their private property uh in a way that would be similar to how we do the sidewalk program, which essentially there's a contractor that has a set amount per tree, per age, per you know uh DBH or whatever it is. Um and and go from there. Second, and I and and this is something I've I've been trying to conceptualize, and I actually just saw I think it was South Uklid came out with a large preservation tree ordinance that they're debating now, one of those communities. Um and it's I think it's still going through their committee process and you know interested in working with education advisory board on like h how do we create a system because I think about you know planting trees covering the lost canopy is really important but then preserving our mature trees that are healthy is is also very important. And so is there a way to like have a stick and a carrot, right, as it relates to a private property owner in a tree? Um, private property rights, people can do what they want on their property. Uh, we do have zoning though. You know, there are ways in which government can incentivize or deincentivize certain things on property. Um, wondering if there's like an impact fee that someone would have to pay if they wanted to take down an otherwise healthy, mature tree. I also understand it takes a lot of staff time to kind of monitor those things and process those permits. Um, so it would take a lot of collaboration and a lot of work. Um, but that's something I think I I' I'd like to try to work with the tree education advisory board and and I think the public work or the public safety or the public this committee chair is a member of the taab. Um, and so I commit myself to working with you guys on that. I know it's not going to be easy. uh especially when you're dealing with

people's private property rights. But a large tree doesn't just provide benefits to the property it's on, it provides benefit to the adjoining properties. Um and then lastly, something that I've tried to work with my colleagues on for a long time and it's finally coming into fruition is like a lot of the excess lands on I90. Um it used to be just limited access rightway for ODOT is now going to be city-owned property. Uh, so we're actually going to acquire them and plat them and we've always had the maintenance obligation on them, but never were able to do anything on them.

Uh, but we will own them this year. Um, and we can do whatever we want with them, uh, as long as it's a public use. Uh, so I think that will be an opportunity for some public planting that will also provide a nice noise buffer and kind of canopy for the folks that live near I90. uh which and I know we have less canopy south as we go further south in Lakewood I think. Um so those are the three things I wanted to and praise your work u but and if you have anything to add as to what I said I appreciate it.

I just um thank you and and noted and I think the tree board's uh willing and able to work with you on each of these. I I'll I I will say that um there is a um program in place for a resident to be able to purchase a tree and have it planted at the same cost of what um uh the the contractor that we use to plant the street trees. And um I've just learned from our city staff at our at our February meeting that um they are looking into well how how might you um be able to arrange the pricing for somebody to have it in their backyards as well recognizing that you know there's extra effort um associated with getting a tree back there. So, um I think that's a case of where we have a program that many people don't know about it. And I think it's a good case in point of um you know why let's let's get that web looked at in terms of making sure that it's there and then use PR etc to um let people know that that that exists because I think we've got the the system in place to do that. Um I I'll just comment on the ordinances that I I recognize that it's not a straightforward and easy thing to do. Um but um myself and uh one other member of our our tree board do have experience in tree ordinance work from other communities. And so um I think it would be something for us to sit down and think about what what form that might take to to be able to support that. And then uh third, just exciting news to hear about the excess lands and uh if there's anything that uh we can do to help support that. We're all ears.

Thank you. Uh thanks, Chair Stevens and Mr. Baker. And I, by the way, support what you're talking about. So, I I'm glad you're kind of daylighting a a possible intention to explore how the city encourages or requires or regulates private tree management. Um, another concept we have kicked around over the years would be storm water um rebates or storm water incentives. Um, I don't know if that works as well for our storm water district as it does with the countywide regional sewer district, but it's a concept that way you'd have it. And you talked about carrots as well as sticks, so that that's a possibility. Councilman Evans,

thank you, Chair. Um, just a few comments to build on what uh, Councilman Baker was talking about. I think a logical place to start looking at how we can as a city incentivize planting on tree trees on private property is at least one street per year. We're completely rebuilding and we're losing most if not all the trees on that street. City's replacing those street trees, but at the same time, can we offer trees to the property owners on that street at a reduced price? You know, as we're buying so many trees to begin with, so that might be a logical place to pilot that program um or at least a good place to start.

That makes sense. that I may add, are we making sure that we're not taking down mature trees as much as possible? And I that that's a road construction matter that I think we need to spend our time on. Right.

And then just two quick comments. Um one, one thing I really appreciate about this board is you're really able to find a sweet spot between being aspirational and being realistic. Um you're taking on it seems like just enough to make really thoughtful programming throughout the year that that makes a difference. So, I appreciate that. And lastly, on the Cove work, um, you know, this is really great because this is additive. Um, it's it's not just about trees. This is about programming at Cove. And actually, the idea of doing this led to, um, Cove receiving some grant dollars and the possibility to receive more for intergenerational learning, which this is a part of.

Um, so this, you know, it's really great when we have programs that build into each other, mesh, and, you know, work together to get resources. So, really appreciate that. Councilman Bickenstein.

Thank you, Chair. Um, thank you, Chair Stevens and Allison for being here. I just want to really sing your your praises a little bit uh for the two of you as well as for Mary and Katie. Um, I have a great deal of admiration for the um the tree advisory and education board here in Lakewood. Um the fact that by the end of this year you guys will have um have have led to 1,000 trees being planted on private property in Lakewood is um is really significant. Um and you know I I certainly don't want to overlook what a accomplishment that is. You know even as we're looking at a long-term 10-year goal. Um that that's really significant. And when you look at think about um you you mentioned the Kaga County um uh canopy assessment that um they're probably due to um do a new assessment here soon, but you know they use satellite imagery for for making that assessment. And um my understanding is the satellite can't register a tree unless it's um at least 12 feet tall, 12 to 15 feet, somewhere in that range. So what you are doing, what this board is doing is the epitome of planning for the future. planning and planting for the future because you're you're getting trees in the ground. Um recognizing that it'll take time before they um register um on a on a county um tree canopy assessment satellite, but knowing that they're they're making immediate impact uh for their for their new o owners, for residents, for entire neighborhoods. And um you know, I I really just want to commend you guys on your great work and look forward to continue to assist wherever I can in my new role. So, thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilman. And we're running up on time here. So, perfect.

Um, I'll um contact you and and Allison both for a a separate followup to do a download as I can get caught up on all the great activities you're doing. What strikes me here is that you've really expanded the public education aspects of this work and that's important. And I might have missed it, but in addition to the number of trees given away, how many people did we reach or households? U well it is a one per household although um we have about a about a 10% redirect for each of our giveaways where something happens and people can't take it and then we end up you know giving it let letting people have a second tree. So,

so easily 500 people we could say, you know, and so that's significant. And the um that that's that's an asset that's probably a good metric for us to track in terms of our success at at promoting and maintaining urban forestry across the city, right? And and that's a new layer that I think in the early days we may not have had as much focus on. So, good work and thank you um for that effort. Um so, I'll save all the rest of my questions for another time, but super.

And Allison, thanks for the initiative on the Arboritum um Arborita Arboriti. I wrote down that we could easily find multiple locations such as um Celeste Park, West Clifton and Clifton and um uh Bernice Pike Park would be another great place. you know, the the possibilities are are many many fold. So, thank you. Okay, without objection, the uh public works and sustainability committee is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you. Just take a quick minute to regroup and then we'll start the uh housing planning development committee comm meeting

Right. I will call the February 17th, 2026 meeting of the housing planning and development meeting to order. We do have all members of the committee present. Um, two items on the agenda. First is the approval of minutes from the November 10th, 2025 Housing Planning and Development Committee. Do I hear a motion? So moved. It was my wedding anniversary. Second. I'll second the motion to approve. All in favor? I

I. Motion carries. Thank you. Next item of business ordinance 02-2026. Um this is uh regulation establishing regulations for front yard plantings. Um this is something that's come back on the docket. We spent some time last year about this. Like to thank Councilman Baker and Commissioner Parmy for their work on this. thus far. Um, and bringing this back to the attention of the committee and full council. Um, without further ado, I'll turn it over to uh, Commissioner Parmaly to talk about where we are now as opposed to where we started and what the next steps are and take it away.

Good evening. Uh, where we are now is where we left off. Uh, we had, you know, budget season hit, um, elections, all that good stuff. thing kind of didn't fall off the radar. Uh 2025 was a really busy year for housing and building. Um 26 hasn't slowed down either. So, we're looking to get this thing through. Um I anticipate one more committee meeting um because part of my homework was to update figures one and two um in the proposal, which I just flat out didn't have time to do. So going to carve out some time and get that done before next committee meeting. I just wanted to clarify because we had a couple edits here. Um understanding folks want to use more of the corner lot and the interior lot. Um so just for my own edification so I know what I'm doing. I look at the two-foot setback from the public rightway which would be the private side of the sidewalk. give us two foot buffers there along with the two-foot buffers on either side of the interior lot. Um, which would essentially give us a 4ft sight triangle, which the sight triangle is something I was trying to accomplish in the beginning. Um, so we don't have this, you know, ev everybody has their own opinion on what, you know, well manicured natural landscaping looks like, but uh, being kind of the third leg in the stool of public safety, I just want to make sure that, you know, right away pedestrians, folks on bikes, taking walks, um, aren't going to be in harm's way when cars are backing out of driveways. It's kind of my primary goal here. um try to limit that stuff to three foot. You know, understanding that some folks really don't have much of backyards and they want to do raised garden beds out front. They want to plant their veggies and some tomato

plants and stuff in the front yard and welcome those pollinators. Uh without them, none of us would be sucking air right now, honestly. So, I just want to make sure that I'm correct um when it comes to these setbacks that we edited. Uh, again pulling it a little closer um to the right away on the corner lots which I'm not opposed to there. There is a few lots um it's going to be the northwest corner of Clarence and Franklin is one that really catches my mind. Uh the guy's got some growth. Um he's gotten better over the years uh not having stuff hanging over the sidewalk. My my problem is your front tires shouldn't have to be on the crosswalk to look left and right. Um kids are already on top of you, you know, or that guy that runs. I obviously don't. Um but those folks that are out there trying to enjoy those public pathways. Again, not trying to regulate what you plant your front yard, although there is regulations in here. um just to kind of help manage the height and give the property maintenance inspectors clear directive because those are the folks boots on the ground that have to enforce, you know, especially when it comes to the high grass rags. So, that's what I'm looking for uh this evening and just some clarification so I can get these figures dialed in. Uh those figures are important with with this ordinance. I mean, a lot of folks are visual learners and to be able to have something to show them beside reading, you know, some boring black and white context, that's that's hard to interpret.

Thanks, Commissioner, for the background. Um, I'll just say from from my um I heard a lot about this over the summer on the block party circuit. Um, a lot from people who already are doing this in their yards and and their concern is obviously what's, you know, can I now can you now just come and like mow down two feet of mine? it's not going to happen. Yeah. Um and then the other concern just with as it's written is the 8 in um for that that twoft buffer um seemed a little uh low to them given the types of plants they're using. So that's just the feedback I've been hearing. I'm going to turn it over to my colleagues too because I know they've been hearing about it as well.

Um but that's that's from me. But um do either of my other colleagues on the committee have any questions or comments at this time?

Yeah. And and this is so there were and thank you Mr. Sure. And thank you, uh, Commissioner Parmley. And this to to kind of give some procedural history of kind of why we're here and kind of what has come before. Um, you know, the basically the way based upon feedback from keep beautiful and a couple committee hearings, some public input. Uh, the really all we've changed here is some of the buffers, right? I think uh originally as introduced the buffer was a little bigger. I think two feet is essentially lawnmower width. You know, it kind of was what I was thinking when we did this. And really what it does is then we also point back to section 177501B and section 177502 which nerdy talk uh 177501B is it can't hang over the sidewalk. So if you have a plant that hangs over think of the visual plane of the rightway, right? So, if a plant hangs over and it hits your stroller or your bike or you when you're going by, you can't do that. And then, this is actually a typo. Uh 177502 is is where the 3 ft comes from, right? That's so it it it already in our code enables the the um building housing department to site someone if it's above 3 feet and it's a safety issue because you can't see from the road or the public right away. So, what we're trying to say here, and welcome any input, um, because this is the best I could come up with as I drafted it, uh, or edit it from Commissioner Palmy's introduction was you can't have turf grass above 8 in in that area, right? In the, well, you can't have turf grass, you can't just let turf grass grow. Can't do that. Building department will site you. We don't want some absentee landlord saying, "No, that's a native, you know,

planter meadow or whatever." You want to be able to site uh for those purposes. Uh but beyond that buffer, you have a little bit more kind of uh freedom as a property owner because it doesn't affect the public, right? Uh the further you are from sightelines and the ability of people to safely go from point A to point B, whether it's in a car or walking or in a stroller or a mobility device, uh it's more kind of your zone of influence. the property owner and you can plant a sunflower outside of those buffers. You can plant tomato plants, you can plant whatever you want. Um, and this this ordinance will allow it. Right now, this is going to kind of codify what's already happening in Lakewood. Uh, in some senses, as you go around, you see folks with, you know, trelluses and planters in their front yard. I thank you for not citing them for having those things because they they look okay. But I I think we're just trying to provide people with more certainty, regulatory perspective that they can have those things. Um, so that was kind of the intent of of where we're going with it. Uh, Commissioner Parley is going to update the exhibits, which I think will be helpful because it is helpful for people to see. But really what this is about is about keeping the traveling public, whether they're traveling in cars or walking or biking or on a mobility device, safe, having some uniformity, but giving people the right to do what's acceptable on their private property. Thanks, Council. I appreciate that for hopefully people watching at home, too. Um, this has been a hot minute since we've talked about this, so the background is is certainly welcome. Um, yes, Councilman Bulock.

Um, Councilman Baker, where where's the typo? uh in uh the new proposed provision 177503 in B4 it says section 177501B and it should be and section 177502 um it just says 1175 so that's the typo on mine I think it says okay is that how No, it's supposed to read 177502. There's a there's a double one.

I was trying to par the reason I asked I'm trying to make sure I I'm pars. It's all parsing exactly, but um Okay. I I appreciate the discussion, Commissioner Parmaly. You've been working on this for a while going back to 21 when we adopted 027750. Um, what is the practical enforcement for tree lawns? If I understand this correctly, what we're talking about is front yards. Yeah. Not tree lawns. People do plant all the time on tree lawns.

If it's if it's in if it's 3 feet high and it's uh blocking right away, right now it's already not allowed and the proposal doesn't this what we're discussing today wouldn't change that, right? Although it kind of negative. It doesn't touch anything on tree lawns. That's that's public. So what do we do now when tree lawns are overgrown? Yeah. If it's high grass, we sight to cut. Okay. Does the si is the city going to go out and take action or that would be a later step, not the first step. Take action on tree lawns if if they have plans out and do it ourselves.

Are you talking about the tree lawn or you talking about the front yard? Well, the the tree lawn if it's obtrusive and it's growing on the public rightway, that's a conversation we'd have to have with public works. Okay. But but first step would be you'd advise the property owner or no tree lawn or front yard tree lawn. Tree lawn. Tree lawn. Well, again, if it's high grass, right, we we sight to cut it. But if there's folks a there should be no growth on the tree lawn because that's not their property, right? They should probably obtain permission from the public works director to do that. Uh, do people do it all the time? Yes. At Edgewater Lake.

I'll let I'll let Director Gordon know. He's going to have a may I plant patunias email.

But again, I mean, if it was obstructing the public right of way. Yeah, we we'd cite them. I mean, do we I mean, last year I 380 400 high grass notices. I mean, we're not going to knock on everybody's door and remind them that they have a civic duty to take care of their property. Um, with a rolling out a new ordinance when it comes to enforcement, are we going to reach out with some kid gloves in the beginning? Probably, just like we do anytime we roll out a new ordinance. Um it it it's related that because I know your concern is a good one which is how do we efficiently first of all how do we have a clear standard to know what's allowed what's not allowed and then secondly how do we enforce really building department

fair statement is 80% public education 20% enforcement so um but I was thinking of you're planting tall sunflowers on the tree lawn it's not ugly but it could certainly obscure at least some views, right? And and currently your action would be to advise them to take it down. Well, if they're planting sunflowers on tree lawns, that's not covered in this ordinance. So again, I assume the public works director would have issue with that. Okay. Okay. So that's an important point. So the building department is not going around including the tree lawn in its um

in this ordinance? No, just general this one for highass before. If it's if it's high grass, yes. Okay. Thank you. That answers my question. Y um so so I'll I'll when I guess if we're bringing this back, you know, I'll make sure I've given it a a detailed reading beyond what's here. I I I think I think in general we're we're in the right um place. I I guess one my one last question for the committee is how do we are are anybody's plantings grandfathered in? You know, I can think of a lot of people, well, some people who have invested a fair amount of for years on their properties and

right

I mean one we take it as a casebycase kind of complaint because these are complaints that come through but to Councilman Baker's point that if it's in intruding into the public rightway it's already not permitted. So we we already have the right to be able to cite that. Um like on our street, you know, XYZ address with the blueberry blackberry bushes that have come up from time to time, you know, she those are planted up to the public right away, but once they start hanging over into the public right away, you know, it's an issue. So if if a complaint comes in, we have a new ordinance on the books. I I hate comparing codified ordinances to state building codes, but you know, there is the Ohio existing building code that lets existing conditions exist. And we've all worked with each other for a really long time. Um I'm pretty liberal when it comes to enforcing some of these codes, especially new ones. Well, it'll be a uh it'll be a learning curve for all of us.

Okay. And and so also it's not a proactive thing. So will building department personnel who do exterior code compliance. I think we do a great job with our system where we proactively will walk streets. Yeah. And assess 1 2 3 4. That's different though than issuing a citation, right? Um but I think you you said it before. I just want to make sure I understand that what we envision for enforcement under this would be complaint driven. It's it's I'd say going to be about 90% complaint driven. And I mean, we tr trouble finds us. We usually don't have time to go find it. So Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thanks.

Yep. Yeah. It's not going to be a witch hunt, you know. We're not going to be looking for these. But you know again if there is something that has existed and uh it's intrusive and it's growing across you know the public right away then

yeah I'm not my questions aren't driving it anything and and I'm trying to understand and think it through myself because there's cases where clearly there are problems that need to be addressed. The city needs to have a clear set of standards and a system to address it. There are other there are going to be other cases that um by the reasonable person I know it when I see it standard aren't going to be problematic for most people. And I guess the implication here is that those probably aren't going to generate complaints. They may be technically non-compliant, but they may not find themselves getting a citation.

Yeah, it's going to be a coaching moment with the property maintenance staff for sure. Any other members of council not in the committee who have any comments or questions? I'll make a motion to to amend to remove to to edit the just so we have the right version the next time. So, I I'll make a motion to amend um 177503B 4 to strike 11502 from the last sentence and add 1775.02. Have a second.

All in favor? I I All right. Uh thanks everybody. I I think I think I agree with everybody. We're we're there in the spirit of this and I I tend to agree that the the eight inches in that two feet makes sense is that's basically now universal for everybody, right? Everybody's playing by the same rule. It's just kiss theory way as and I can see how that makes it just a simpler thing for everybody involved instead of having two separate completely separate different rules for different sets of folks. So I appreciate that. Um, with no other questions, um, at the at the request of Commissioner Parmaly, I will, uh, make a motion to defer. We'll talk about this, uh, one more time briefly in committee and before it comes back to council.

We did. Uh, motion is made and seconded. All in favor? I. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Commissioner Parmley. There's no more business before this committee. So the meeting of the housing planning development committee is adjourned. Thank you. read my email.

I'm good. How are you?

Wrong place. Take care. We'll see you.

That's it. I'm not sure.

How are you? Good. over here.

Make the world go around,

right? temperature control, you know, Right. each other.

He always gets the crack. So, You don't have

a lot better. I know. Like what? So, I gave her till next Wednesday. She said she thinks she could have it tomorrow.

I just think it's something that we should do because Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. When I have it and um I'll do an updated letter and I'll get you a copy. I don't know that much will change, but at least you'll have

a record and know It's pretty uh going crazy. Okay, thank you. Thank you.

Yes. How are you, sir? Good. I just saw your email. Go over there at night and see what's going on. I've talked to her. Like when she's like, "Nobody cares." I almost didn't want to send that to you. I know you hear this all the time and it rolls off. I'm gonna talk to her directly. You know what? Let me you turn the light off in the bedroom and show me what you're doing. Yeah. So, what I did was I just kind of took her email

like, "Hey, like to my knowledge you guys were out in January 14th or something." Because I went back and read her email like, "Oh, they were out here today. Somebody was here." I'm like, "Oh." And then at the end, she's like, "Oh, thanks so much for everybody's like attention, this man." And I'm like, "I'm missing something here." Like, so I just like can you confirm the shield was installed because I had you know normally I don't like because most residents are like oh yeah thank you um so I just sent him a follow email like this installed and then is there anything additional

it may come back nothing you know it is what it is the unfortunate I don't mean on the street, you know, and I get it. Like, do I need to get all my neighbors involved? I mean, neighbors. No, but you know, first energy might come back next year's healing. I don't know what this is. This is almost a first for all of us. Yeah, that's fine. See what I can figure out. Yeah, no problem. So, I did send it to them. I think he's out of town till next week. Um Dave Conley until like the 22nd or 23rd. So, it may be a minute. Um, but I also send it to his back.

It's the best we can do, right? Yep. No problem. Very good idea. Very good idea. We are not

surprisingly we do enjoy each other's right to you. with an energy drink. You're never going to fall asleep. Oh, it doesn't bother me. Um, this is a new flavor I found at Target, so I wanted to try it. Next time you're at Starbucks, are you going to grab me this iced coffee you've been telling me about? French vanilla since I like French vanilla.

Oh yeah, I can eat. I have I've been trying to be good. Would not go there. Then then don't feel pressured now. Well, my way lose total. But yes, next time I go on my way in, you got No, you don't have to. I would be glad to. It's just Oh my god. Yeah, I would be removed for language unbefitting of a person around children. Could remove from my house for that.

Great in there. It was Yeah, it was really I mean according according to others in your department, thanks for thanks for putting together. I mean, no, I think you're it's dwindling down. So, yeah. Thanks for obviously. It's nice to have a heartwarming part of the day. Not that we don't ever do heartwarming things over

Exactly. I haven't done a cutting. Yeah, I saw. Yeah, that's a bummer.

So, the taco place open.

So, right now only Amazon is open. It's not like you guys like Oh, damn. I was

like I went on Monday.

It's like one of those places that's truly a replace there's like there's no place Yeah. Natural.

It's It's a big big for sure. got it in.

Folks, you're welcome to come up and have a seat if you'd like. Feel free. All right.

All right. We will call the meeting of council to order. If you're able, please rise for the pledge of allegiance. United States of America. Now pause for a moment of silence.

Madam clerk, please call the role. Vice President Baker here. Council member Bixenstein. Council member Bullock here. Council member Evans here. President Keell here. Council member Hamilton Steiner here. Council member Strebig here. Reading and disposal of the minutes of the regular meeting of council held February 2nd, 2026. Move to approve without the necessity of a reading. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor.

And that motion passes. Um without objection, I'll like to move items 15 and 16 to the top. Item 15, communication from council member Bullock and council colleagues regarding recognizing the contributions of city crossing guards. Council member Bullock.

Thanks, Madam President. One sec. Um, first I'd like to say if you're crossing guard, please raise your hand. Look at that full house tonight. Welcome everyone. and and family as well. Um uh dear colleagues, please consider the attached resolution to recognize the important contributions of Lakewood crossing guards to our community. As we know, the goals of the city of Lakewood include both active transportation and active healthy lifestyles, which make safe walking and cycling conditions a high priority priority for our community. In addition, our identity as a street car town long ranked as Ohio's most walkable cities city and Lakewood City School status as a walking school district mean that Lakewood crossing guards are essential personnel. The benefits of crossing guard service help not only Lakewood school children but also adult pedestrians as well as motorists who are aided by accident prevention that the increased visibility of pedestrians and cyclists uh uh for pedestrians cyclists at a crossing guard provides. The presence of crossing guards significantly improves safety including for vehicle pedestrian collisions and dangerous near misses. Combined with safe routes to schools and intersection improvements, crossing guards are key components of interventions that can reduce child pedestrian injuries by 20 to 50% according to federal statistics. In addition, Lakewood is served by this dedicated group of individuals who perform crossing guard duties on every school day in our community regardless of weather conditions. And boy, have we noticed that recently. They do so for modest pay and are required to work a unique split schedule. And that requires dedication. And that dedication helps others be safe. Just as importantly, Lakewood Crossing guards perform their

duties with kindness, courtesy, and friendliness that bring smiles and neighborliness to our mornings and afternoons and thereby enrich our community. For all these reasons, I hope you will support these important public servants by considering this resolution for adoption tonight. Uh, sincerely. Thank you. Um, I'll move to receive and file that communication. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Further discussion. Vice President Baker.

Yes. Uh, thank you, Counciloman Bulock, for bringing this um, forward. Uh, and thank you to all the crossing guards out there. I know on my walk to Hayes, uh, I encounter no less than three crossing guards every day, and I'm thankful for their presence in our community. Um, you know, I I have to cross with my kids, uh, the marginals in I90, which can become a challenge. Um, and other families have their own, you know, routes that have trouble intersections. And the amount of times that the crossing guards have pointed out, hey, that light's not working, or hey, the the, uh, walk sign is out. Um, so that we can quickly then, you know, let public works know and get it fixed. Uh so not only are they providing, you know, safe visibility for our students, um and everyone that's walking in the morning and in after school, not just students, uh but they're also kind of doing walk audits every day for the city to make sure some of our infrastructure is working, uh and that it's all working well. So I certainly owe just personally as a parent um and also as a student at Lakewood when I was a kid, a debt of gratitude to a few dedicated folks out there. Um, and it's a it's an odd schedule, so we appreciate that you're willing to do it. Um, and this is long overdue, so thank you for coming and thank you for your service to Lakewood.

Thank you, uh, Councilwoman Hamilton Steiner.

Thank you, President Kemp, and thank you, Councilman Bulock, um, for bringing this resolution and just, um, for recognizing our crossing guards. Um, I I think crossing guards uh the crossing guard position is is probably one of the most underrated positions perhaps um in our community, but absolutely probably one of the most important um because the crossing guards are responsible for ensuring the safety of our children and making sure that they get across the street um safely and but also um making sure that your kids, you know, the the kids get to school. Um, and I grew up in Lakewood and I remember um my crossing guard uh Mrs. Williams and um the relationship that we all had with her and she knew all the kids. Um she lived also lived in the neighborhood um on the street uh where my grandparents lived and I remember trick-or-treating and being so excited and going to her house um and seeing her like, "Oh my gosh, this is your house." Um and so that was the relationship that we had with the crossing guard. and the crossing guard is is is you know it also was our mentor because I also was a safety patrol member um and so you got to work um closely with that crossing guard. So I think that you know um thank you so much to all the crossing guards that are here and the dedication and your work and your commitment to the safety of our children in Lakewood. Um I promise you you are making an impression on them and they they won't forget you. So, thank you so much.

Thank you, uh, Council Member Strik.

Thank you, President Keell. Thank you, uh, Council Member Bulock for bringing this forward. And, um, I'd also like to share my thank you with all of you that stand out in every weather condition year round, ushering our children safely back and forth to school. I live near um, Roosevelt Elementary, and I see our crossing guard there at at Lincoln in Athens all the time. And um I sometimes see kind of a shrug when a car isn't doing the right thing, isn't operating appropriately. And I often wonder if we shouldn't army with paintball guns to help the chief identify cars that are maybe breaking the law as they turn into onto streets that you're not supposed to be going on or are not doing 25 miles an hour. But but I Very good. On a serious note though, thank you. Thank you very, very much for all that you do to ensure their safety.

Thank you. Uh, Council Member Evans.

Yeah. Thank you, uh, President Kebell and thank you, Councilman Bulock, for bringing this forward. Um, crossing guards is that's not just a nice thing to have. Um, you're critical um, for the safety of our community. Um, and I'd like to just echo what Councilman Council person Hamilton Ser said. you're it's beyond just the safety of our kids. I mean, you're literally building relationships with them. Um you're the people they look up to. Um and people that they know they'll be safe around. It's just that one, you know, spot or two spots on their way to or from school where they know um for sure that they're safe and that they're you're there to help them. So, um having two go two kids who have mostly gone through Lakewood schools, I certainly personally appreciate everything you do and appreciate everything you do for the community at large. Thanks. Thank you, Council Member Bixenstein.

Yeah, I just wanted to echo um thank you, President Keell, and and thank you for uh bringing this forward. Council person uh Bulock, just echo my my council colleagues here. You guys are unsung heroes of this community. Uh you wake up early, you come out in any weather, you're a friendly, familiar face, you're establishing a rapport uh with um many of the young people in our our community. And um as as uh one one person during the the reception told me um this is this can be a life ordeath responsibility. It really it really is that important and so you serve such a a valuable role. Um for for my family um going to Harrison depending on the route we take we often encounter a um crossing guard at Madison and Quail and um always have such a positive interaction and um the fact that um you know if it's raining out you can't you guys can't hold umbrellas. you're you're holding a stop sign and um you know but but you're out there doing your job with with a smile on your face and um I share in this gratitude and uh thank you guys for coming out this evening.

Mayor George. Yes. I just like to echo the sentiments uh expressed here today. Thank you for all the work that each of you do each and every day for our community and especially our our youngest members of the community which are those that are walking to school. So, as everyone up here has mentioned, you serve a very, very important role within our community, and I truly appreciate it, especially after winter we have had this winter. So, thank you.

Thank you. Um, I'll just add u my thanks Councilman Bulock for bringing this forward. I think it's long overdue. Um, we talk a lot up here about and we hear from our community about um safe paths to school and we do a lot of work trying to build all the infrastructure to make it safer. We work with public works does uh tries to make things uh clears the streets and uh we encourage community members to clear the sidewalks but none of it works without um our crossing guards. None of it we couldn't have a walking school district without crossing guards. People couldn't trust that their kids could get to safety without you. So um the job is absolutely crucial to our way of life here in Lakewood and we very much value it. Um I as I really enjoyed getting to talk with a lot of you during the reception. Um and you know as we were having those conversations uh one of them we had um we said uh well I've only had the opportunity to save one life and um and I over what 15 years was it or 10 years I think 10 years and um but and I thought well well one life is one life right? Um so that's pretty amazing to be able to say that you've saved a life even if it's one in 10 years that's one that we're glad is still here. Um, so I also want to uh thank um as we were talking through that about um when our crossing guards when we have vacancies that our parking enforcement staff steps in, our public works staff steps in and barring all that, our police staff step in. Um I was te te teasing the chief here about that fire doesn't step in on this one, but um but you know, we appreciate the rest of the staff uh chipping in um to help out when when necessary. And I just want to also acknowledge that um because the school board meets at the same night as city council um was kind of hard to coordinate this, but I do have a message to read to you from Superintendent Nwiki and the school board uh who also want to

express their appreciation and um Sergeant Ekllan has uh certificates uh that the school board has created for each of of you as well. So this message is from the school board. Um, on behalf of the Lakewood City Schools Board of Education and our administrative team, we extend our sincere gratitude to our incredible crossing guards. Each morning and afternoon in rain, snow, wind, and sunshine, you stand at the corners of our community with steady hands and watchful eyes, ensuring that our students arrive safely to and from school. You are often the very first city/school representative our children see each day and the last one they see before heading home. That matters more than you may realize. Your presence reassures families, comforts young students, and inspires confidence across our entire community. Safety is not just a responsibility. It is a promise. And you help us keep that promise every single day. Thank you for your vigilance, kindness, constancy, and unwavering commitment to our students well-being. You are an essential part of the Lakewood City Schools family, and we are deeply grateful for the care you show our students. Respectfully, the Lakewood Board of Education and the Lakewood City Schools administration. Um, so at this time, um, I I know, uh, Sergeant Akan, I think, has, uh, some remarks to give. Would you like to do those now? If you want to come on up to the microphone and then, um, if you push the button, it'll turn green. So, um, they can hear you on the recording.

All right. Good evening, everybody. Um, my name is Dave Acklin. I'm sergeant in Special Operations Division. I oversee the school crossing guards. Uh, pretty much everything I was going to say has been said already. So, um, really, uh, just a couple things. I would like to thank Councilman Bulock um first coming up with this idea way back in August when we had our crossing guard orientation and uh we had a little sidebar conversation and he said, you know, we should really have a little ceremony or recognition night for the school crossing guards and I think we both said it should be in the winter winter time. So, you know, this is perfect timing. um the mayor, Chief George, or I'm sorry, Chief Fischer, Mayor George, city council, and everyone who helped organize this. Um your support and recognition mean a great deal. Um the crossing guards, I thank you for your reliability, your dependability, and the job that you do out there each and every day. Um so on behalf of the police department, the schools, the community, and everybody, I just wanted to say thank you as well.

Thank you. Thank you. Um, okay. So, next, um, just procedurally, uh, we do have, oh, we do have one e comment. Do we have anyone signed in to speak? Public comment. Okay. Did anyone who's here tonight want to give public comment on this if you had not already signed in? Okay. So, procedurally, we're we're about to um we're right now the motion is to just receive and file this communication and then next we will vote on the resolution. Um after we vote on the resolution, we'd like to invite all the crossing guards and families, anyone who'd like to be in the picture um up front right here and uh we'll take a picture with you. Um and then you are very welcome to stay for the full council meeting. But if there are other things you would prefer to do with your time, we will not be offended if you want to go after that. Um so and and if you do um please feel free to take any remaining um decaf coffee, hot chocolate um cookies with you um so that our clerks who very helpfully got them organized don't have to put them all away. All right. Um All right. So the next move um is there any further discussion on the communication? All right. So, next we'll vote on the motion and second to receive and file the communication. All those in favor?

I. And that motion passes. Item 16, resolution 20265, a resolution to recognize the important contributions of crossing guards in our community to Lakewood school children, adult pedestrians, and motorists. Move to adopt. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any further discussion? Madam President, Councilman B,

I just want to acknowledge longtime leadership from Captain Stone of the unit that uh oversees uh the crossing guards and many other uh special divisions of our police service. And then of course, Chief Fiser, uh the finance director, Mayor George, because there's a financial commitment to what we're celebrating tonight, we certainly all support it. Um and um there's also a very excellent working group between parents, the schools and the city trying to continue to encourage walking, identify uh improvements um and so on and so forth. So this is a continuing as the school system would say a growth mindset. this growth mindset effort and um all of the crossing guards, you're your own experts in the places where you spend more time than we do and so you're the information that you see, the problems that you detect and the improvements that you can think of that's all part of the drag net of improvement here. So, um I just I just wanted to um point that out and then acknowledge the the police leadership. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, we have a motion and a second to adopt the resolution. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. All right. We'd like to invite you to come down front here and we'll get a picture.

No, no, no. You know what? Sitting back watching. I'm not even

not even born in Detroit. Both of us. No, no, you've lost your mind. Of course you are. You're like trying to hide.

Do you have Nothing really came of it after. They never really like said if anyone was like prosecuted or I don't know. Yeah, it was wild.

Is that it? I couldn't do it.

Any other special items? here for ice resolution.

Okay.

Item one, report from committee the whole held February 9th, 2026. All right. Dear colleagues, the committee of the whole met on February 9th, 2026 to consider the city continue the city hall facilities discussion. We have heard we heard from Oh my gosh. We heard from assistant planning director Dave Boss who presented a highle analysis of the options that have been presented to council. He emphasized that he was only able to consider collected data and that the analysis does not include all factors such as cost. His analysis was based on the establishment of the following shared priorities. One, provide police and court an increase of renovated space to meet contemporary needs. Two, consolidate improved functionality of administrative space while achieving priority one. Assistant director Boss reviewed the process through which he established minimum space requirements for the police department, the court, and the city's administrative departments. Those minimum space requirements allowed for the elimination of the status quo and option one small addition options and left the remaining analysis focused on the following two options. Option two, remain at city hall, add a large addition and retain annex building. Option three, relocate administrative offices out of city hall and divest annex building. Assistant Director Boss discussed the pros and cons of these options and spoke about the anticipated delivery time frame and complexities of each. His final analysis slide indicated that both options achieve priority one and priority two. His analysis slightly favors relocating the administrative offices out of city hall and divesting the annex building. However, it does not consider cost alternate options such as building a large enough addition to divest of the annex building or that in

both options the city would be adding a new construction addition to an old building or that the developer has already committed to adaptive reuse of the Warren Road building whether or not the city purchased it. Council members asked questions and raised concerns about whether relocating to Warren Road would potentially provide excessive space and question the administration's plan for employee growth. Council members also expressed concern about potentially adding traffic and parking congestion to downtown and suggested that the Warren Road building may be better served by accommodating a taxpaying tenant. In his presentation, Director Boss brought up the potential for the city to use the building we own behind the community health center as a temporary staging location during renovation. Council asked about going ahead with moving the basement staff to this temporary location in 2026 so that construction could begin on police expansion and asked if the administration had completed any design work that could facilitate getting started on the police expansion and particularly the police woman's locker room this year. Since the presentation indicated that opt the option two warrant road option would require the same amount of design work time as option one eight months council question why the administration was requesting to take out 16.5 million in additional t for construction in 2026. Since council still has remaining questions beyond the scope of the evening's presentation we will keep the topic in committee and push the vote on the related package of bond legislation to our March 2nd meeting. This will give council the opportunity to schedule another committee of the whole meeting to further evaluate the topic of city hall facilities and most urgently whether now is the time to take out 16.5 million in debt to renovate the Warren Road building which we have not yet purchased. The finance department has requested that we pass the bans by this date uh the March 2nd date in order to allow time to seek an updated rating.

Move to receive and file that report. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. Item two, report from finance committee meeting held February 9th, 2026. Vice President Baker.

Uh thank you. Dear colleagues, the finance committee met on February um Monday, February 9th to discuss a number of ordinances that follow on tonight's docket. Uh the first three ordinance 04 20226, 052026 and 0 or 372025A were proposed by the administration and are relatively routine in nature. Ordinance uh 042026 is routine first quarter transfers and advances ordinance that would authorize the transfers and advances outlined in the 2026 budget. Ordinance 5 2026 proposes to authorize administration to enter into agreements to pay off 11 vehicles over 5 years. While the payment agreements mirror that of a typical consumer vehicle loan, in this case they're referred to as leases, these payments are distinct from notes and bonds separately under consideration. Ordinance 372025A proposes to increase the pay grade of one position and would update stipen amounts uh to match what is in the collective bargaining agreements. After discussion, uh finance director Mahoney uh finance committee recommended that each of these options for adoption. Next, the committee addressed a package of legislation uh proposed by Council Member Bulock and other council colleagues intended to amend the 2026 budget legislation adopted in December in order to better articulate council's legislative and policy priorities. Some of these included traffic calming, public art operational support for Lakewood Alive and infrastructure improvements. Ordinance 332025A is intended to address the approp appropriations for these priorities and ordinances 342025A and 362025A are intended to address the contracting authority. In committee, Council Member Bula came forward with the proposed substitute of the appropriations ordinance. Instead of changing the figures in the budget, the substitute seeks to signal council's priorities in a newly drafted whereas clause and stipulates that those priorities be paid for out of the economic development reserves. After discussion, the committee approved the substitute and made one additional amendment in the whereas clause to correct a typo before

recommending adoption to council. Uh the committee made one amendment to ordinance 362025A to match uh the list of elected officials authorized to enter into contracts with those listed in the codified ordinances and other budget ordinances. The changes uh the change was made in the to the title of section one of the ordinance but did not in section two and I will make an amendment on the floor tonight to make the correction to section two. uh committee members and other members of council presented or present expressed appreciation to council bullock for taking the steps to highlight council budget priorities and was agreed to uh that council and the administration would start conversation early headed in the 2027 budget. And following that discussion, the committee moved to recommend ordinances 3425A and 36 2025 5A as amended to council for full adoption. Uh I'll make a motion to receive and file that report.

Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I I. And that motion passes. Item three, substitute ordinance 33, 2022A, an ordinance to take effect immediately to establish appropriations for current expenses and other expenditures of the city of Lakewood for fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026. And this this one is ready to go. It's the 36. Okay. So, I will move to adopt. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion, Madam Chair. Um, Mayor George.

Yeah, I ju I just have a couple questions. Um, regarding the $50,000 for Lakewood Alive, um, how was that number uh, determined and do we have a formal proposal from Lakewood Alive for those funds and how will they be used? Councilman Bullet.

Thanks, Madam President. Thanks, Mayor. Um the number comes from city council deliberations in um the council retreats is as a an amount that's meaningful to to the organization and to support their activities. Um operating support means it's the most flexible kind of of funding. Um so that that's the simplest answer to the question. And did this take into account I believe it's about $20,000 over budgeted revenue from uh that they've received over $20,000 uh more than they had budgeted for revenue. So does that take that into account as well?

I think it does. The spirit of the amend proposed um amendment here is that the organization does a lot of work. It is often in the position of having to do constant fundraising, which they do a good job of, but then they cannot um always confidently guarantee their operations um as strongly as we would like. Um, the city does make a big investment in the in the organization and at least this council member believes that additional investment beyond what we've already done is helpful, needed, justified, worthwhile. Um,

but no, no formal proposal. Correct.

Uh, not I think that's correct. However, this is with council members who are exofficial board members. Um, I myself have been that, so I'm familiar with their budget. I know how hard everybody works on the board to raise and donate funds. They'll continue doing that. But in many ways, we're our approach has been um if not pennywise pound foolish. Um we we've been we've been modest in our investment. We've um and and and I support additional investment. So that's why I agreed with colleagues who put this forward. Hope that answers your question.

Thank you. All right. Any further discussion on the motion to adopt? All those in favor? I I opposed. That motion passes. Item four, ordinance 34, 2022A. An ordinance to take effect immediately authorizing the mayor, director of law, director of finance, director of public works, director of planning development, director of human services, director of human resources, or procurement officer to enter into contracts for professional services and to advertise for bids and enter into contracts for the purchase of repair, maintenance, and operating supplies, services, and equipment as authorized by the 2026 appropriation ordinance in the administrative code with the lowest and best bidder or biders or as otherwise provided by law. Move to adopt.

Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion. Hearing none. All those in favor? I I. And that motion passes. Item five, substitute ordinance 36 2025A, an ordinance to take effect immediately authorizing the mayor, the director of public works, the director of law, the director of finance, director of planning, development, and purchasing manager to enter into service contracts in accordance with the administrative code of the city or the department of planning development in accordance with the administrative code contracts not to exceed the specified amount shown without separate resolution of council.

Vice President Baker, is this the one that we needed an amendment? Yes. Um, so I I'll I'll make an amendment um I think it's technically two because I think it's supposed to be and or um in in the ordinance and then in section one. Um so the or procurement off the procurement officers should be and or the procurement officer. So I'll I'll make that motion first. Right. Um I will second that. Motion's been made and seconded. Okay. So, uh motions are made and seconded. Any discussion?

In the first two because those are the first two that are on there and then the third one I will make. All right. So, on the first two spots there should be and or procurement officer. All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. And then I will also move to add um in section two I will strike the officials listed and add in uh mayor, director of law, director of finance, director of public works, director of planning and development, director of human resources, human services, director of human resources, andor the procurement officer. Second.

Oh no. Yeah, sorry. That's okay. I'm sorry. I was just um second um motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion, Madam Chair or Mad? Just thank you to the council clerk for spotting these changes and the finance director for likewise doing it. I I I missed those. So, thanks for the attention to detail. It's one of those things sometimes when we are we these came up during our regular budget ones and then we were taking from previous year's budgets and then an error gets in there and then it's easy to miss it year after year. So, so this year they should all be good. So next year we have the same language in all of them and we'll be able to hopefully not have that. But thank you to all for attention to detail. All right, motion's been made and seconded. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor?

I. And that motion passes. And then finally, um I will move to adopt as amended. Uh second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion hearing none. All those in favor. And that motion passes. Item six, ordinance 4, 2026, an ordinance to take effect immediately authorizing the transfer in advance of certain funds. Move to adopt. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. We're just going to go down the line. Yeah. Right. All right. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion?

Hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. Item seven, ordinance 5, 2026, an ordinance to take effect immediately authorizing the director of finance to enter into equipment leases and forms approved by the director of law on behalf of the city of Lakewood. Move to adopt. Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. Item eight, ordinance 37, 2025A, an ordinance to take effect January 1, 2026 to provide for creating positions and rates of pay for full-time and certain part-time annual salaried employees and hourly rate employees not covered by a collective bargaining agreement in the several departments, divisions and offices of the city of Lakewood, including the chief of fire, chief of police, and civil service commissioners and suspending all prior salary ordinances. Um, move to adopt. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes.

Item nine, report from public works and sustainability committee meeting held today, February 17th. Council member Bulick.

Thank you, Madam President. Uh today the uh committee met uh with all um committee members present as well as Councilman Bixenstein which was appropriate because the topic was to hear the annual report from the tree advisory ed and education board of which uh Councilman Pickinstein was recently a member but he has vacated that to become a council member here. Um and so thank you for your service uh Matt on that excellent board. Um, and thanks also to the public works department for partnering with that tree um, board of citizens. They gave a very thoughtful report on their 2025 activities, a thoughtful preview of the intended 2026 activities. Uh there's been quite a lot of um accomplishments that we heard reported uh including as part of the tree uh giveaway more than 600 trees in two years with the intent for another 400 trees this year. If we can be successful, that's a thousand trees in three years. And if we keep doing that and none of the trees die, then um we'll be very much closer to the tree canopy goals. That's our guiding metric for the urban forestry plan of recovering uh around 33 or 35% of um tree canopy coverage in the community which has been strong but took a big backwards step after um Hurricane Sandy came and visited in 2012. Um now of course not all the new trees are going to survive. So, uh, the tree advisory and education board talked about a lot of other activities that they're doing and, um, we remarked that, um, their public education success is really notable because you're talking to a lot of residents, a lot of, um, people who own homes or rent in homes. And every one of us can do a lot to not just plant trees,

but maintain and keep the large ones, which which really are what move the needle on tree canopy. um for the community. Uh final um couple of new programs that the tree board would like to get moving is to try to get a tree ambassador program uh that is operating in Cleveland over here to Lakewood or expanded or or duplicated here and then to create one or more arboritums arborita arborit uh the first being at Cove Community Center where you'd have essentially outdoor tree um museums. That's not that's not the right. It's an arboritum and we discussed how there's multiple parks that would be eligible over time once we get the first one moving. So, um, thank you to, uh, Councilman Brian Evans who, uh, preceded me as chair last year, um, and has done a lot of good work alongside Councilman Bixenstein to get that moving. I know other council members have really been involved in care, too. So, this is a success. We appreciate the partnership and look forward to another good year coming up. Move to receive and file that oral report.

Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor. And that motion passes. Item 10, report from housing planning and development committee held today, February 17th. Council member Evans.

Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Um early this evening, the housing plan development committee met to um discuss an ordinance for establishing regulation for front yard plantings. Uh this is work council started last year. Um we made uh a lot of progress. I'd like to thank Councilman Baker for his all his work on this as well as building commissioner Parmaly. Uh believe we're close on this. um deferring the um deferring this one more time for at the request of the administration to clean up a couple of things um in the ordinance itself. Um but we expect it to um be favorably referred back to council at our next committee meeting. I'll move to uh receive and file this oral report.

Second motion's been made and seconded discussion hearing none. All those in favor. And that motion passes. Item 11, ordinance 2, 2022, an ordinance to take effect immediately to amend chapter 1775 weeds of the codified ordinances for the purpose of establishing regulations for front yard plants. Move to defer. Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. Item 12, ordinance 15,2026, an ordinance to take effect immediately to enact section 12965 of the codified ordinances entitled host community cannabis fund to provide guidance regarding the use of new tax revenues related to the sale of cannabis. This has been referred to finance but hasn't been discussed yet. So we'll move to defer. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes.

Item 13. communication from President Keell regarding opposing proposed legislation in the Ohio General Assembly intended to empower immigration and customs enforcement and promote an environment of fear and surveillance in our communities. Dear colleagues, if you follow the news, it seems like every day there is a new spectacle of chaos and violence unfolding somewhere in our country related to immigration enforcement. That spectacle has been escalating over many months, culminating in the tragic deaths of two United States citizens, Renee Good and Alex Prey. In the face of these unprecedented times, reasonable, fair-minded, and empathetic people are trying to make sense of what they are observing and questioning how this violence squares with the American values to which we aspire. Instead of doing the necessary soulsearching and focusing on strategies that could help unify a fractured nation, Republican members of the Ohio General Assembly are seeking to fan the flames of the current political moment by introducing incendiary legislation intended to empower immigration and customs enforcement with unchecked authority. These bills described in the following resolution contain clear violations of the United States Constitution, specifically the Fourth Amendment prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. They also violate the home rule provisions of the Ohio Constitution. Just as troubling is that these bills seek to force local governments and other entities into complicity with this corrupt agenda, threatening to withhold or withdraw critical funds from municipalities, schools, and hospitals that refuse to cooperate. The following resolution is meant to signal Lakewood's opposition to these tactics which undermined a sense of community that we worked so hard to foster and replace that sense of community with a toxic environment of fear, surveillance, and the worst cases violence. Ohio House Bill 42 would require state

and local government agencies to collect and annually report information about citizenship and immigration status of persons with whom they come into contact including K through2 students even though the US Supreme Court has held that states may not deny undocumented children access to K12 public education. Ohio House Bill 281 would require hospitals and hospital staff to allow ICE agents on premise premises to enforce immigration law and penalizes hospitals that fail to comply with penalties including suspending Medicaid provider agreements and withdrawing grant funding. Ohio Senate Bill 172, which has already passed the Senate, would require state and local officials to allow the arrest or detention of anyone who is or is suspected of being undocumented with or without a warrant and punishes local governments that do not cooperate by withholding state funds. Please join me in expressing Lakewood's objection to these proposals by adopting the following resolution. Move to receive and file that report. communication. Motion's made in second. And I'll just add that there's actually um two additional bills that are before the state house since I've written that. Um further discussion. Council member Steven. Thank you, President Keell, for your leadership and your continued bravery to point out and stand against these unconstitutional and unamerican initiatives from the Republican party and the cult of Trump. We at another critical point in the battle to preserve our democracy. The voices of the people must be heard loudly and in opposition to these cruel and needless efforts. We must all stand together and continue to resist the terror campaign from the current federal administration and state Republicans. When the government turns on the people it has sworn to protect, we must hold fast to our American values of

inclusion. We are the Americans that remember history, believe our own eyes, and stand together to protect one another. In 1946, Martin Neola wrote, "First they came for the communist, but I was not a communist, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the socialists and the trade unionists, but I was not one of them, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not Jewish, so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me. I fully support this resolution and will continue to stand up, speak out, and resist tyranny.

Thank you, Council Member Hamilton Steiner. Thank you, President Keell. And um yes, thank you. Thank you for your leadership and and putting yourself out there. We are truly living in terrifying times and um and I think it's important that we as a municip municipality uphold the Constitution of the United States and that of the state of Ohio. It is our duty and what we swore when we took our oaths of office. ICE operates outside the established constitution and breaks community trust and is causing harm throughout communities throughout our country. We have worked hard to build community in a safe, equitable, and inclusive Lakewood and ICE enforcement outside of the Constitution would destroy that all. We need to do all that we can as council leadership and as an municipality to oppose this um leg legislation that is is pending down in the state house. Thank you.

Thank you. Um further discussion members vice president Baker.

Uh thank you for bringing this forward. It's um you know it's it's it's a long line of you know home rule is established in Ohio as our ability to manage our affairs as a local entity um and and to see you know require in in local government uh and to see requirements that we do things and use our resources in a certain way is offensive to that concept. Um, so I I certainly will support the council president in this resolution. And I will say as as is ju just as a a person, it shocks the conscience to see essentially what is um you know uh civil administrative violations being enforced with military style enforcement tactics. Um, and this doesn't necessarily squarely relate to the resolutions before us, uh, you know, to oppose this pending legislation, but it does come at a harrowing time in our country. um to think about, you know, if if you deputized essentially other civil violations, parking violations, and you um gave them military fatings and high-powered weapons to serve those parking violations, um I think we would all be shocked as we are watching civil violations being enforced as an occupying force. Um, you know, so these are things that I I I think we all recognize are abnormal and anathema to our constitution, both written and um our values as a country. Um, and and so that's offensive, but then, you know, our power and ability as a local government to use our resources as we see fit uh is also offensive. Um, so I support the council president um in this resolution. So, thank you for being

Thank you. Um, further discussion from council members. Uh, we do have, um, one person signed in to speak on this. So, um, Tim Collingwood, if you want to come on up, uh, mic's on, so you can, uh, just speak when you come up. Um, address the chair. That's me, and you have up to five minutes.

Okay. Thank you. Um, I'm a little out of practice, but, uh, I applaud like uh, uh, the president's, uh, resolution. Uh my only question I have is what would um this entail regarding policy? But I am glad that from what I've heard already tonight from city council members including uh my own uh Matt Vixentine uh some gradual support for this effort. Um, I am a descendant of immigrants as most European Americans are and I would really hope that Lakewood would reverse its historical trends towards inclusive trends and that we could continue talking on uh what those policies can entail. Um, I have some peers in our sister city of Cleveland Heights who did start a cle uh an uh immigrant rights group and I and I know there's been conversation, but I would like for us to um not exactly uh parse but share our resources equitably as we can. And uh I see the rest of my time. Thank you.

Thank you, Tim. Um did anyone else want to speak on this? There's no one else signed in on this topic, but if did anyone else want to Okay, thank you. Um yeah, and on that topic is um we are looking at what other municipalities have done and um including Cleveland Heights, what they're working on and East Cleveland as well. So any other cities um there are cities outside of the state of Ohio. Of course, part of why I brought this forward is just as we are trying to get ahead, they're um working to pull away our ability to control our community. You know, if you can imagine just as we talked about the crossing guards tonight, imagining our students trying to walk to school with ICE agents on the street would be um not we want to we want to spend our city resources helping them helping our community members be safe on our streets um and not be forced to use them uh for these civil infections that are not the priority. Um so we'll we'll keep working on that. Uh we're going to do all we can. Um but thank you for the support. All right. So, um, any further discussion on this topic? So, we're still on the communication right now. So, we have a motion and a second to receive and file the communication. All those in favor?

I. And that motion passes. Item 14, resolution 20264, a resolution to take effect immediately to join with the city of Cleveland and opposing a package of unconstitutional legislation currently pending before the Ohio General Assembly intended to empower immigration and customs enforcement and promote an environment of fear and surveillance in our communities. Move to adopt. Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion. I'll just add um that you know everything's kind of been a moving target recently, but there is also uh positive legislation at the state house that the um uh Democrats in the House have introduced bills to restrict. Some of these things require removal of face coverings, restrict where um and protect home rules. So, um I would encourage community members who are concerned about this to reach out. Our own state, uh representative and state senator, of course, are on the correct side of this issue. Um but it doesn't hurt to um voice support to them. And also, um in the observer, uh this week, you'll see an article for me with the specific numbers of um the committee chairs that each of these bills is in front of um to reach out to. So folks can reach out to those persons too at the state house uh regarding both the positive legislation and these bills as well. All right. So any further discussion on the motion to adopt the resolution? Hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes.

Item 17, communication from President Keell regarding charter amendments.

All right. All right. Dear colleagues, as you know, the third amendment amended charter of the city of Lakewood requires a review of the charter by a citizen commission. On July 1st, 2024, after extensive research, deliberation, and reflection, this nine-member body submitted their final report to city council with recommendations for six amendments. City Council and the Charter Review Commission held a joint meeting on Monday, September 16th, 2024 to review their six recommendations. Council held an additional committee of the whole July 7th, 2025 to learn more about rank choice voting. In addition to the merits and details of each recommendation, council discussed the process and potential timeline for placing amendments before voters. Per article 7.5B, amendments to this charter may be submitted to the registered voters of the city by a twothirds vote of all council members. As voter turnout tends to be higher in evenyear general elections rather than municipal, special, or primary elections, placing the proposed amendments on the November 3rd, 2026 general election would allow for the most democratic participation. To that end, following this communication are draft ordinances for each of the charter review commission's six recommendations. Amend article 2.2 to codify council appointment process. The current charter requires city council to appoint a new member to fill any vacancy, but it does not specify process. This body has a tradition of utilizing an open democratic procedure of putting out a call for applications and holding public interviews prior to filling the position. This amendment would codify that process to ensure that it continues beyond our service. Amend article 2.2 to simplify manner of amending legislation.

Currently, revising or amending ordinances requires the current language to be listed and repealed, which can create confusion, particularly for the public. Modern technology allows for redlinining, which more clearly displays the intended changes. The law department suggested the changes as set forth in the draft ordinance and the commission understood the concern and agreed. Add new article 7.2I, create process for ward redistricting. The commission noted that currently there is no requirement for ward redistricting in the charter. Since the wards were drawn in 1971, Ward 4 has seen an increase in percentage of population while the remaining three wards population remains very evenly distributed. Ward forest population is more than 10% higher than the other wards. While our current W shapes follow best practices such as being contiguous, liquid has the opportunity to ensure more equitable representation and set an example of codifying a process that will minimize the polis the risk of political gerrymandering. The amendment as written in the draft proposal would establish that wards are to be nearly equal in population made up of contiguous and compact territory bounded by natural border boundaries or street lines and drawn by the citizens of the planning commission rather than by elected officials. Amend article 6.7 to increase frequency with which civil service commission reviews public official salaries. The current charter language requires the Civil Service Commission to review the salaries of elected officials, the mayor, and city council in each presidential election year, which falls on an even year every four years. Both the Charter Review Commission and the Civil Service Commission expressed a desire for more frequent review of salaries. The amendment would move the required review to municipal election years every two years on odd years on a date far enough advance of the filing deadline for potential candidates to make an informed decision based on the adopted salary for

the upcoming year. Amend article 7.7 to clarify language regarding process to amend charter. The commission found that the language providing for the amendment to the charter was somewhat confusing and they recommended language that clarifies clarifies the process in the current charter. amend article 9.1 and add new 9.5 to enact rank choice voting. The commission recommended the adoption of rank choice voting for municipal elections. In discussion with the commission members, benefits were discussed such as reducing cost to voters by removing the need for a primary, reduction in divisive and negative campaigning, and the reduced barriers to participation by candidates with lower financial means. The draft ordinance would eliminate the primary and establish rank choice voting, barring the passage of legislation at the state house that will affect municipal funding. The deadline to submit ballot language to the board of elections for the general election this year is September 4th. However, it is our hope that council will complete our work on these ordinances prior to August when we traditionally recess. We look forward to continue dialogue about these proposed amendments in committee. I'm going to um move to refer the communication to committee of the whole second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion. Vice President Baker.

Uh thank you, President Keell. And um I just want to commend the amount of work um you put together in this communication and in the ordinances the the charter and and commend the work of the charter view commission as well. Um, as we went through the recommendations, uh, a year or two, a year and a half ago, I I thought we owed them and their service to at least put all of these in ordinance and then talk about them um, and and deter, you know, give a full airing to kind of give each one of them its time and and consideration uh, to determine whether or not we want to go before the voters with them. Uh, this is our constitution. That's what the charter is. Uh and and then you know I think teeing it up for the potential November election is the right thing to do. Um and then it's not an election year for anyone in city government. So it gives us an opportunity um if we recommend these uh to the board of elections to put on the uh election calendar that we then all go out as public servants and and talk about them, right? To inform our fellow citizens of of what, you know, these would do and and why they're important for our city. So, thank you, President Kbble, for taking the the leading charge on this and look forward to digging into it in committee.

Thank you. Um, further discussion,

I'll just add um I drafted these um the assistant law director got started with some rough drafts. I worked on those based on our conversations that we've had in committee um since then um and drafted them with based on the discussions that we've had thus far and um continuing feedback with the charter review commission during those um so it's much easier to edit than create. So as we move forward in committee um and invite the members of the public also to take a look at these and bring bring their feedback. Um, so you know, I'm not tied to any specific language or exact verbiage in terms of solving the solutions that the Charter Review Commission brought forward, but I do think that as Vice President Baker said, uh, given the amount of work they put into recommending them and and really thoughtful, engaged dialogue um, from a diverse group of Lakewood residents, we owe them um, looking through them all, thoughtfully considering them. All right, any further discussion? Um hearing none on the motion to uh refer the communication to committee of the whole. All those in favor?

I. And that motion passes. I'm going to move to suspend the rules to read items 18 through 23 which are the charter ordinances together. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. And I do Vice President Baker. Yes. Council member Bixenstein. Council member Bullock. Yes. Council member Evans. Yes. President Keell. Yes. Council member Hamilton Steiner. Yes. Council member Strebig. Yes.

Item 18, Ordinance 16, 2026, an ordinance to take effect immediately submitting to the electors of the city of Lakewood an amendment to the third amended charter in order to change the frequency with which the Civil Service Commission reviews elected official salaries. Item 19, Ordinance 17, 2026, an ordinance to take effect immediately submitting to the electors of the city of Lakewood an amendment to the third amended charter to add additional requirements to the process by which council appoints new members to fill a vacancy. Item 20, ordinance 18, 2026, an ordinance to take effect immediately submitting to the electors of the city of Lakewood an amendment to the third amended charter in order to change the manner in which legislation is amended and to remove the requirement that the entire ordinance or resolution be repealed then a new ordinance or resolution be enacted. Item 21, Ordinance 19, 2026, an ordinance to take effect immediately submitting to the electors of the city of Lakewood an amendment to the third amended charter in order to establish a process and requirement for ward redistricting in the city of Lakewood. Item 22, Ordinance 20, 2026, an ordinance to take effect immediately submitting to the electors of the city of Lakewood an amendment to the third amended charter in order to clarify the various paths in which the charter can be amended. Item 23, ordinance 21, 2026, an ordinance to take effect immediately submitting to the electors of the city of Lakewood an amendment to the third amended charter in order to allow council the option of implementing rank choice voting. Move to refer to committee of the whole.

Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. Item 24, communication from President Keell regarding appointment to the tree advisory and education board.

You guys are hearing a lot from me tonight. All right. Dear colleagues, the following resolution seeks to make one appointment to the TRIET advisory and education board in the seat formerly occupied by council member Bixenstein. Council member Bixenstein was appointed to the board by council in 2023 and has recently resigned following his appointment to city council. Whomever council appoints to fill the remainder of the term will serve until December 31st, 2026, after which point that individual would be eligible for reappoint. You may recall that council received many qualified applicants for the tree board during a competitive appointment process in fall 2025. Given that fact, I am quite confident that council is well positioned to identify a diligent and well-qualified appointee for this position. I move to receive and file that communication. Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. Item 25, resolution 20263, a resolution to take effect immediately appointing one person to the tree advisory and education board for the unexpired term beginning immediately and ending December 31st, 2026. So we could um we could refer this to public works and sustainability since um the chair of public works and sustainability is the tree advisory board leaison or we could do a committee of the whole if we want um council members to discuss it al together or we could rely on a um recommendation out of public works and sustainability. Councilman Bulock.

Thanks madam chair. I I believe I have um another item in the committee that needs a hearing anyway. Um and um although now I'm questioning my whether that's accurate because I'm thinking of the Hillyard intersection that might be in the whole um but at any rate I'd be happy to do a hearing in public works and sustainability. Um, and and to your point, I think in the communication, you know, make use of the applicants that we got not recently. Um, and and I'm I'm looking at the screen now. We still have multiple very qualified people to consider. So, and we could what we could do is since committee the whole's got a lot on its plate, we could just have a public works hearing and operate in the spirit of committee of the whole, but we could find a 20 minute, you know, uh, uh, time slot and and get it done efficiently if you're comfortable with that.

Yeah, I think that's good. and um potentially even do the fiveminute interview um methodology that worked well for however I'll leave that up to your discretion as chair. All right. So um I will make a motion to refer to public works and sustainability. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. Item 26. communication from council member Bullock, Mayor George, and others regarding lowering electricity costs by urging creation of community energy programs. This uh Mayor George or Council Member,

since I mayor, since I got to read one already tonight, I think it'd be wonderful if you would uh do the honors. Thanks.

He's just being lazy. All right. Uh, please consider the attack resolution to support a means to lower electricity prices for Ohio families and small businesses that is under consideration the Ohio General Assembly. Ohio residents have been paying increased electricity bills in recent years and are facing still more increases this summer. Bills have increased 10% or more in 2025 thanks to many inflationary pressure pressures such as tariffs, data center development, and reshoring industry. Electricity price inflation is a top concern nationally and Ohio's governor has joined those has joined those of other states in calling for price caps and energy capacity auctions of our regional grid managers PJM interconnection. Community Energy is a program adopted in 24 other states that has successfully reduced and controlled prices. It creates medium-size off-site energy infrastructure such as solar and batteries and allows businesses and residents to open the option to subscribe to the power it generates for a portion of their monthly bill. These projects can be built more quickly than large base load plants since there are mid-tier and and since they and since they connect to the local grid which is a faster process than connecting to the interstate regional grid. Customers are traditionally offered power subscription contracts with longerterm stable prices that beat inflation. Ohio badly needs more access to lowcost energy with stable prices to help families and businesses lower costs. Please express support for these important matters by considering this resolution for adoption tonight or by referring it to committee of council's choosing. Thank you.

Thank you. Move to receive and file the communication. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion. Nothing. Couldn't have written it better yourself, huh? All right. Um, no. Uh, we do have some folks signed in to speak on this. So, this we're on the communication now, but we'll hear from you first and then we'll vote on the resolution. So, um first up is Tom Smith and it looks like the light is on, so you can just speak when you come up and address me. Get up to five minutes. Okay,

working. Um my name is Tom Smith, 1528 Elmwood. Um and I'm speaking in favor of the resolution. In 2011, a homeowner on Clifton Avenue put four solar panels on his garage. Since that time, I've I keep track of it. There are about 175 solar installations added in Lakewood um on top of civic and commercial and mostly residential uh buildings. Last year was a banner year. About 30 installations were done mostly on homes mainly because of the ending of tax incentives at the end of 2025. You can imagine the number of buildings that we have in Lakewood and in 15 years only 175 counting four that the city of Lakewood did. Um, this illustrates how hard it is to really go solar. It's expensive. You've got to have the right kind of roof, hopefully facing south. Hopefully, your neighbor to the south doesn't have a big tree. Um, you're you really need a new roof. You don't want to put it on an old roof. So the many people who would like to go solar mainly to save money and to have control over outages um find it very difficult to do so. Now with community solar the experience in other states has been that yes it does reduce cost. Usually, it's a penny or two cheaper to uh get through true community solar. And if you are able to get a long-term contract, you can you can hold that. You can say, well, due to with a financial

commitment, these panels are mine off in Madina. And um through um virtual uh electricity, virtual metering you can say those are that's my electricity being created out there. Right now you can't do that. So there have to be some changes in the law. But um again just going back to how difficult it is for all the people who want to go solar and of course apartment dwellers um people who uh are in buildings that face the wrong way. You just can't do it. But this is an easy way to do it. It's worked very well in other states and saved people money. So I'm in favor of this resolution. I hope the state will pass it. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, next up is Glenn Campbell.

Hi there. Uh Glenn Campbell, 15305 uh Lanning Avenue. I am one of the 175 um homeowners or or residents with solar. Um I love it. It's um I I haven't paid the illuminating company for over two years. It's a wonderful feeling. Um but I I am uh in support of this resolution. I urge you to pass it. Our state house needs to be nudged in the right direction at every opportunity. This is one of the rare opportunities where we can maybe move them in the right direction. It's the right thing for so many reasons. It's certainly the the right thing to do for the climate, but um it's it's the right thing to do for people's finances. Um and I want this to pass. I know there are a number of folks here with me who have been working on community solar for a number of years. We want to share what you know the 175 of us um have now with with others. Um this is a such a winner for Lakewood. We have so many renters and it allows our many renters to reduce their electricity bills and also kind of vote with their dollars to to move our nation's energy supply in the right direction with with solar and battery. So to me this is like a nobrainer for Lakewood and I just wanted to let you know there are a lot of us who are willing to come out tonight and and urge you to do what I think you're already going to do. Thank you.

Thank you. It was worth it, Glenn, just to hear you say that you haven't paid First Energy. That's always enjoyable. All right. Uh Roger Sykes, you're next up.

Uh uh good good evening y'all. Good evening to uh Lego City Council, the mayor, and all the the mighty mighty public out here. Um my name is Roger Sykes. I I work with Solar United Neighbors Action. We're um we're an advocacy group. We try to make solar more relevant to working families, try to make electric bills more affordable, and we help groups of families go solar. Lakewood has been one of our strongholds. I know we only have 175 folks who have gone solar here, but that that's actually a lot in Kyoga County. So, kudos to Lakewood for for moving that. Um, I just wanted to add to what's already been said. So, this this program um the community energy pilot program, House Bill 303, it would set up um it would enable 1500 megawws of community solar to be added to the grid in Ohio. Um so, 1500 megawatts, that's enough to to power about 300,000 homes to put it in perspective. So, one of the reasons why I'm excited about this and our organization is excited about this is because it enables mass participation in solar in a way that other other solar tools can't do. Th this program, community solar enables mass participation. Um, and other states have done it and it's and it's working really well. What we see in other states is um for subscribers um you'll save about 5% to 20% on your electric bill. I'll echo that for Lakewood for renters. This is a home run. We want all the renters in Lakewood to subscribe to community solar panels. Um and and the way that the legislation is set up is that any community solar array in the county, so in Kyhoga County or in adjacent counties, subscribers in Lakewood could subscribe directly to those panels. And I'll lift up it is more of a direct like onetoone to that particular community solar array. So it's if you're a rateayer in Lakewood, you'd subscribe perhaps to a solar array on on top of a public school in Cleveland and you you would have that more direct connection. So it is really participatory and it exposes people to solar in in a meaningful way. Um and then just the politics why this is relevant what y'all are doing hopefully passing this

resolution is that so th this statewide bill passed the house in November and it passed uh 77 to8. So, it passed with strong bipartisan support and that's been years coming. That's been four or five years that have got us to this point. And then also the the the regional pressures around electric bills skyrocketing. Uh so it's changed the politics of what's possible. If Ohio can pass this, we need to move it through the Senate. It would it'd be a big move for our state, for Lakewood, but then also sending a signal to other red states. Red states have not moved on this. Ohio could be one of the first to really make a move on this, and it it'd be really awesome. So, thank you so much for being proactive. Go Lakewood. And um yeah, I hope you all pass this resolution.

Thank you. Thanks, Robert. Although I would argue that we are a purple state that's gerrymandered, but that's a whole other situation. Um but anyway, um all right. So, any further discussion on um We're still in the communication. Any further discussion? Council member Hamilton Steiner.

Um yes. Thank you, President Kemple. Um, so something that just came to my mind um is that um the data centers and how states and communities that have gotten these data data centers are seeing their electrical rates skyrocket. And I'm not sure that we're going to be able to oppose these data centers. And I know right now there's one potentially the ex center is a is a potential site and I'm I'm not seeing a lot of movement around opposing that but data centers it is what it is. So I'm just wondering and hoping that if if we were to pass this resolution and if the state of Ohio if if the Senate passes House Bill 303 that you've talked about Mr. Sykes. Um if um that would help alleviate those skyrocketing electric bills. I don't know if would he be able to if he can speak on that or Sure. If if if you if you would know.

Yes. Thank you, Council Person Steiner. and and that that is right on what's um w with the data centers and the the increase in demand for electricity that's obviously affecting electric prices and and the regional grid the PJM grid is is very volatile right now. So and in Ohio we're we're a net importer. We we import 20% of our energy. So we are reliant on on other we're not producing enough locally to do so. So this program this community solar program would help to address that. It'd be all local. It'd be Ohio controlled, hopefully locally controlled. We want local community institutions to own these solar arrays and we'd be producing that energy locally and that would help to lower the peaks. It's all about like the peak energy demands. Producing it locally puts us in the driver's seat and does help to address this. And to put it in perspective, this this program, the 1500 megawatts, that's maybe 2% to 3% of Ohio's overall energy use. So, it's it it is s it's notable. Uh but but it's you know it'd be a small portion. We'd certainly need more, but it's it's a good it'd be a great step and it would help with that.

Thank you, uh Vice President Baker.

Um thank you to my colleagues and and the mayor uh for bringing this forward. What's interesting is is um you look at a state like Texas, right, where like that's oil and gas kind of capital, but but solar has really gotten a a foothold in there. Uh, and it's because of the market driven forces. I don't necessarily know if it's about sustainability, it's about price. Um, and so once a concept gets to the price level, it politics don't matter as much as we want cheaper rates. Um, and what's really interesting is is if you talk about regulatory capture and like producing regulations, that is literally power generation in the state of Ohio where data centers actually might be a good friend here because technically you can't you can't have two data centers and they can't build a solar array and share the power because that's technically a power sighting board thing that you need to get special state per. So the fact that we can disintegrate kind of disintegrate the the kind of power generation is actually really good and this is a proof of concept that would you know basically let the state realize that you can produce this power for cheaper and then hopefully you know you kind of uh Trojan horse them into getting more solar uh because it's cheaper. So I certainly support this resolution. And thank you for everyone coming out and supporting it and whatever we can do because it's not only this sustainability right thing to do, it's also just cheaper. Uh and we all want cheaper energy rates.

Thank you. All right. Uh Council Member Bixenstein.

Thank you, Council Madam Chair. Thank you, Council Member Bulock. Thank Thank you audience for um weighing in this evening. You know, just um to reiterate, in addition to being eco-friendly and cost-effective, I I think it's important just to make special note of the fact that um this this the idea of community energy could help make our grid more resilient. Uh because um all of us in in this room have have seen the um the fragility of the grid and what that can um do to our day-to-day quality of life. And so, um, having a more resilient grid is is also noteworthy in addition to the other benefits, um, that have been conveyed this evening. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, we're well, I'll leave my comments about reliability. Um, all right. So, uh, any further discussion? All right. Um, hearing none, uh, we have a motion to receive and file the communication. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. Item 27, resolution 2026, a resolution to respond to high housing costs in Lakewood by urging state government to create a new option for Ohio families and small businesses to lower their electricity costs by allowing community energy projects and programs to operate in Ohio. Move to adopt. Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Any further discussion? Madam President Bullet. Um yeah, I think I think um in the lead sentence of the resolution, it should say to respond to high energy costs rather than high housing costs. Um now I could make a motion to amend. I do we we don't have a formal printed version of this resolution, do we? We a ceremony copy. We I don't

So So I'd like to I'd like to do that. uh um to move to amend to strike high housing costs and replace with high energy costs. I'll second that motion. Any further discussion on the motion to amend? Hearing none. All those in favor? I I opposed. Okay. I thought make sure I heard everybody. Um all right. And then Mayor George, did you have a comment?

Yeah, I I just have a procedural question. Um I obviously support this resolution. Thank you, Councilman, for inviting me to co-sponsor with you. I noticed at the top of the resolution, my name is included in the buys, and I I don't think I've ever seen my name or another mayor's name included. Is that is that a new procedure? Can I just I don't think I've seen it before. Um I'm not sure if that was intentional, if that was just who was uh brought it forward. um it so I'm I'm being told that it would be stricken in the official um final version.

Okay. Okay. Got and the law director is telling me as well that just the council. Okay. Yes. I think it may have just been since it was introduced by for but then once it passes it has whoever votes for it is my understanding which you would not be able to do obviously. So all right. Um All right. So, we have we have um it amended to have the high energy costs and then it will have the council members who vote for it list at the top uh assuming it passes. Any further discussion? Council member,

Madam President. Yeah, just a couple uh facts and figures to build on what um all of you and the members of the public mentioned some good points here. So, Mr. Smith talked about one penny savings that I to to build on what he's talking about that averages out to $105 a year per penny saved. And so you could save two pennies compared to what um the utility company typically charges and what they charge is not something that they always dictate. It's something that is rising and falling with the auctions in the 13 state region as referred to in the letter. So, another advantage here is that you you you can lock in a savings of a penny or maybe two pennies, which means a h1red to $200 a year saved, and then it lasts for the duration of your contract. So, you might actually be compounding savings because in future years, everybody else is subject to inflation thanks to the data centers that the councilwoman Hamilton Steiner uh alluded to. And there was a study out that says half the inflation that we're paying is from data centers, but 90% of the data centers haven't been built yet. So, it's speculation. It's future speculation. So, we've got some some challenges here. Um, and then uh Mr. Sykes said uh 300,000 uh households could be served by this program if it becomes law. That's about 5% of all customers in the state. So, it's meaningful amounts. Um and and you know, I agree with Mr. Baker. Exactly. It's a dollars and cents practicality. Um, I also like the clean air benefits of this. Um, but a lot of us are just costconscious and if you can get more supply sooner, that helps everybody in the state because we just don't have enough energy anymore thanks to all that's happening.

That can be a good thing that there's so much economic activity, but essentially our um it's my opinion that the energy system is working with 20th century business style and 20th century capital planning and now we're in the 21st century and you've got a digital age industry trying to tie in. It's kind of like trying to connect your iPhone to a photograph record and you've got to splice it in all kinds of difficult ways and it's slow. So, we've got a lot of improvements to make. This is one step and we should certainly consider it in the state of Ohio. Thanks.

Thank you. All right. Um, any further discussion on the resolution? Hearing none on the motion to adopt. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. Item 28. Item 28. Communication from planning director Bington regarding acceptance of 2026 NOPEC Energized Community Grant Program Award and Community Event Sponsorship Award. Before I turn it over to Director Bington, please feel free to go home if you would like to. You won't offend us in any way. You've waited long enough, but you're welcome to stay, of course. All right. All right. Uh, Director Bington.

Thank you, President Keell and members of council. NOPEX's energized community NEC grant program supports city building efficiency and decarbonization projects at government, commercial, and residential properties. Funding can be used for a variety of projects including laser purchase of electric vehicles, traffic signal upgrades, energy efficient windows and appliances, electrical upgrades, tree canopy restoration, LED lighting upgrades, and insulation. This year, Lakewood has been awarded $159,719 through the NEC grant program. Funding from the NEC grant program is crucial for helping support the city's commitment to decarbonization and clean energy and implementation of the climate action plan. Additionally, the city has been awarded $3,500 from the 2026 NOPEC community event sponsorship program. The city awards this money to Lakewood Alive to help defay costs of their front porch concert series at the main library. It is requested that council pass legislation on first reading accepting these funds from NOPEC for the NEC grant program so the city of Lakewood can continue to implement energy efficiency decarbonization and sustainability initiatives. Thank you.

I'll move to receive and file the communication. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion hearing none. All those in favor I. And that motion passes. Item 29, resolution 202607, a resolution to take effect immediately. authorizing the city of Lakewood to enter into an agreement to accept NOEX's energized community grant. Move to adopt. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion. Councilman Bullet.

Thanks, Madam President. Um, I support the resolution. A couple comments about what we're doing and then what we might do in future years. So, first, thanks to Director Bington and uh, Director Gordon for answering some questions and providing some answers. and and maybe both of you should um uh tout the accomplishments that you collectively have have achieved here. Um because it's a meaningful amount of LED street lights have been replaced over probably around 10 years now. Um and maybe Director Gordon could could share that. And and there's probably a savings number that we might be able to calculate that's a really meaningful annual savings to the taxpayer. I I I wonder if the finance department has that or or might be able to study that later this year. Um because I think the the initial analysis was that it these conversions really do pay for themselves in a short amount of time. Is there is there anything director Gordon you can share with the group that you shared with me earlier?

Sure. Um so thank you Councilman Bulock. So the city is currently on what we would consider a replace on failure program. So anytime a a street light goes out of fluorescent street light, the city replaces it with an LED light. Um the replace on failure program to my knowledge has been going on for for a good amount of years. Um and currently First Energy um as of the beginning of January has converted 50% of street lights in the city of Lakewood to LED. Um, and that is continuing to move forward um, in the next I think it has to be completed by 2030 if I recall. Don't hold me to that date. Um, I don't have it off the top of my head cuz council Bull kind of just called me out here. Um, so again um, you know, it it is a replace on failure program. When the fluorescent light burns out, the city replaces it with LED. Um, and then as well with any of our construction projects, uh, i.e. Bunts Road, Lake Clifton Project. Any type of lighting upgrades that we do perform um we look to upgrade to LED lights. Um whether that's 3K or 4K um that is determined at the time um to make sure that the proper street lighting uh projection um is still being provided.

Thank you, Director Bordon. Um, and I think you know to your point um, council member about the uh, financial savings given what we were just discussing um, is relevant. So that might be something I don't not going to put you on the spot director Mahoney unless you happen to have that off the top of your head.

Well, actually there are no meters on street lights. So you're just build per light. So you don't know if you're saving any money or not. Unfortunately you're you're not you're just build by street light by by light. Okay, madam madam president council member. So that that should be then something that we revisit carefully and there are cities that have different arrangements with ownership and and and maintenance. But the the contract that we have with the um the utility, I believe that's for operating and and maintenance and replacement, but I also think we pay an annual electric bill. And I'm hoping that we'll see that that annual bill goes down for the unmetered street lights.

Yeah, we like I said, we're build by street light. So I'm not sure if the electric company is just getting those savings from the but they're not metered. So you can't tell by like I

I understand. All right. So for future discussion and the last thing comment um madam president is um these noc funds have been a good source of of new capital essentially for us over the years um in the spirit of the the finance department's um invitation to council to work through the normal budgeting process starting in June um you know I I guess I'd like to suggest that we think of the not this year but next year's NOC fundings as an option for new activities. I think the use of these funds has been a big success. It's also for the EV charger program and a number of other things that Director Bington named. That's great. So, essentially, we're doing we're following a process where we are using new revenues to pay for the named projects in the capital plan and in the budget that we all approved. Um, but since we're we're going to look ahead to next year soon enough, we might consider these funds as a conversation uh uh for new potential items in the climate action plan or other to meet other needs. It's just a suggestion. I know that um you know that that's a dialogue that we should have with the administration I think but also amongst ourselves.

Sure. That can certainly happen. I think we'd want to be thoughtful about um if we use these elsewhere, which of these programs we would either not fund or where that funding would come from. So, but that's a conversation we can have as we look at budgeting for next year. All right. So, any further discussion on the motion to adopt the resolution? Hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. Item 30, communication from city planner Kramer regarding 2025 pipeline grant Madison Avenue Historic District. Director Bangington.

Thank you, President Keell and members of city council. The city of Lakewood sought support from the Ohio Department of Development via the pipeline grant which creates a pipeline of properties that are eligible for redevelopment assistance through the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program and helps communities and property owners advance redevelopment of underutilized historic buildings. Assistance is designated for a funding for funding a historic district nomination for Madison Avenue which would stretch from Riverside to the west and Cohasset H Hallstead on the east end of Madison. The city will use the funds to hire a consultant through a RFP process to research and assemble a nomination of the Madison Avenue Historic District. The above reference grant was awarded to the city of Lakewood in January. Along with our partners Lakewood Alive and the Lakewood Historic Society, we will ensure that residents, the public, and property owners are a key part of the research and nomination process. For this nomination, a public process will be held with the property owners and businesses to review and discuss the process of and opportunities that would result from designation of a a national historic district. The overall estimated cost of the project is $70,000 with the city's portion of the project being 40,000. The pipeline grant is providing $12,000 and the next item on the agenda, the certified local government grant is providing $18,000. This letter serves to formally thank the Ohio Department of Development and to notify council of our acceptance of their grant award to allow for all the economic, historical, and cultural benefits we would expect after a historic district designation.

Thank you. Thank you. I'll move to receive and file. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. Item 31, communication from city planner Kramer regarding 2025 certified local government grant Madison Avenue Historic District. Director Bington. Thank you, President Kell, members of council. Uh this is just the followup. Um it is the same project. It's just in regard to accepting the CLG grant um which provides $18,000 towards the uh the nomination process for the Madison Historic District. Thank you. Um I'll move to receive and file the communication.

Second.

Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion hearing none. All those in favor? I. And that motion passes. Um don't seements. Okay. So, we are now at public comment. I do not have anyone else signed in to speak. Going once, twice. Okay. All right. Um, announcements from council members. Um, just I'll just mention we do have the um black uh caucus, Lakewood Black Caucus um event this Saturday at the West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church from 12 to 5 to celebrate Black History Month. Um any further announcements from council members? Vice President Baker.

Uh the first case advisory board meeting is coming up next week, I believe. Um, so I'll make sure to put a communication in the docket uh documenting kind of what we discussed so that everyone's aware of it. Councilman Buck, there's also I believe next week. Yeah, there's a public meeting for the um uh city the county's Clifton Boulevard extension um meeting. Maybe Mayor George or or your design might want to

uh Director Gordon. Sure. Uh, Councilman Bol. Um, so yes, that's okay. Uh, yeah, that is correct. The Lake Clifton uh public meeting will be held here at the auditorium uh 6 PM on Tuesday the 24th.

Next Tuesday. All right. Any further announcements? Oh, there's lots of cookies left. So, please take cookies home. All right. Um, take them for your staff, directors. Um, all right. Any announcements from the administration? All right. And then with that, uh, without objection, no further business before council, we are adjourned. My