City Council - Regular Meeting

Excuse Mr. K. So move. Second. Thank you. I I here here. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. [clears throat] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Well, good evening and welcome everyone to the March 3 meeting of the Ashlin City Council. To our viewers at home, thank you for joining us. To the members of our audience, thank you for being here. Members of council, Mayor Miller, Attorney Bush, Director Paxton. Welcome all. First item on the agenda this evening will be the approval of the minutes from the February 17th meeting. If there are no additions, deletions, or corrections to those minutes, I'll ask for a motion to approve as submitted. Second. Thank you. I I

minutes will stand approved. First ordinance this evening will be an ordinance authorizing the purchase of certain real property located in the city of Ashland and declaring an emergency. Move for non- reading in full. Second. Thank you. Lawson I Miller I Woodward I Okay, this deals with the Arthur Street School and this is a project that we've talked about for some time. Most recently, you probably read about it in the Ashen Source when they covered the land bank meeting. If you're not familiar with this property, it's actually over in the Arthur Street School area. That's where it is. And it is what it's Maple and Arthur Street, I believe, at the intersection of Maple and Arthur Street.

And uh the building has had a number of owners in these recent years. And each had a good intentions about bringing it back to life, but in every situation, the resources that it would take to bring it back to life, they just weren't enough. And so it switched hands several times. and ultimately it ended up in the ownership of Simplified Living I believe is the name of the LLC. And uh this particular gentleman is not in a position to be able to uh handle the property any longer both financially and otherwise. And so it is falling into a bad situation. Uh, People's Bank out of Gambir, Ohio, I believe, has a lean on that property in the neighborhood of about 95,390ome dollars. And in order for us to get a hold of that property to clean it up, that lean would have to be satisfied. Well, with the help of a local realtor and myself, we actually began negotiations with the bank, through the help of another attorney that's kind of representing Simplified Living, and we were able to negotiate that price down to 65,000 to settle the cost of that lean. So, we believe that's a fair number. And then once we were able to negotiate it down to 65,000, we took it before the land bank board and they are in agreement that this needs to be a priority project to clean up that neighborhood and revitalize those uh that property. So they are willing to share the cost of purchasing this property. So tonight I'm bringing to you, the city of Ashland, an ordinance to purchase the property for $65,000. However, as soon as we purchase the property, we will then invoice the land bank and they will split the cost with us.

Now, we Why would we do this? Well, the city is in a much better position to qualify for grant funding to help clean up the property than a private property owner would be. We've already got an estimate from Simonson as to what it might cost to demo the building and prepare the site for redevelopment. and it's probably in the neighborhood of about $200,000. So that's no small price tag. And we now if we approve and take owner, if you approve the purchase of this property and the city takes ownership, we will immediately and we've actually already started the process of talking with the state about getting a grant to demo the property and uh prepare it for redevelopment. I know the neighbors in that area will be thrilled because they have waited a long time to see that property cleaned up and it just continues to get worse

vandalized and absolutely the windows are knocked out and all sorts of issues. Yeah. So, I know a lot of people have strong feelings about what they consider to be old historic buildings, but the reality is if a building is such that it would merit to be fixed up, you could probably find a developer to do it. But most developers that have seen that property have come to the conclusion it was insurmountable to do so. Yeah. So now, if you have unlimited money, I'm sure you could do it, but most aren't willing to put in unlimited fun.

All right. Any discussion hearing? None. Is there a motion to approve on the first reading? So moved. Second. Thank you. Workman. I. Miller. I. Woodward. I. Awesome. I. I'll move to suspend the rules for three separate readings, three separate days. Second. Thank you. Miller I Woodward I Lawson I Workman I motion to approve the ordinance. Move to approve. Second. Thank you. Woodward I Lawson I Workman I Miller I. Ordinance 11-26. Thank you so much for taking that step and I have a feeling if any of the neighbors are watching they might have just cheered. Great

to see that it's moving the right direction. You know it tells me the cleanup continues. That's exactly right. One at a time. Yes. So, yes. Thank you, mayor, for your good work. Uh, next we have an ordinance authorizing and directing the mayor, director of public service to enter into a contract with Simson Construction Services, Inc. for the design and construction of the Ashlin Public Transit Facility via the design build delivery method in the city of Ashlin, Ohio, and declaring an emergency. Move for non- reading in full. Second. Thank you. Workman. I. Miller. I. Woodward. All right, Lawson. All right.

Okay. This is an exciting project to talk about tonight. Lord knows we've talked about it many times at council meetings over the last several years, but tonight we have before you an ordinance asking you to approve the hiring of Simson Construction Services to construct for the city of Ashland a 14,500 square foot new public transit headquarters. It will be located on the city-owned property on Third and Union, right next to the Council on Aging and right behind our Ashlin City Fire Department, station one. The contract bid amount is 2.410 040. So, a little over $2.4 million. We did get another bid and it was substantially higher. So, this is the one that has been selected. And I will tell you that uh if you do approve this contract, we're hoping that the work can begin this spring and chances are it wouldn't be complete until next year, but you never know. Simonson can move fairly quickly.

What about the state grant? That's just what I was going to comment on next. So, when it comes to how we will fund this, we actually were successful at receiving a $1.9 million federal grant to put toward the cost, a $175,000 state grant, and we believe our odds are pretty good that we will get another $125,000 grant through the Brownfield grant program. So, we haven't heard for certain about that one, but I would say we're getting a pretty good deal. Nice. Because if you added up those numbers, they come dangerously close to covering the entire contract amount. Sure. Three.

Yeah. What? Three years? Yes. At least. Yeah. Yes. It would be nice to have this parking lot a little bit more open. Absolutely. Well, and let's face it, all of these projects are where? right next to the pump house district. So, the county office building, they just of course accepted bids and hired a contractor to construct their building on Fourth Street, which is in view of this transit building. We've got all the work being done with the new apartments and the Hill Hotel. And now we have this project just down the street. So, it's going to be a busy corridor when this is finished. If you build it, they will come. I think so. [laughter]

Well, not to mention, we'll also have vehicles inside the building. stored inside outside. So, it'll have a small office space and the thought is that the go bus and other opportunities exist at the new location that don't exist here. So, I think it'll be a good addition to the city services. Sure. And as Mrs. Woodward stated, it will free up this parking lot. Oh, yes. Which is needed. Yes.

On certain days. And we are hoping to be able to resurface this parking lot this year because it has taken a beating and it is with the cold weather and so on. We knew it was in need but it's starting to really need it now after all the thawing and freezing. So any further discussion hearing none. Is there a motion to approve on the first reading? So moved. Second. Second. Thank you. Mr. Lawson Miller I. Woodward I. Lawson. Hi. Workman. I. I'll move to suspend the rules for three separate readings, three separate days. Second. Thank you. Woodward. I. Lawson. Hi. Workman. I. Miller. I. Motion to approve the ordinance. So moved. Second. Thank you. Lawson. I. Workman.

I. Miller. I. Woodward. I. Ordinance 12-26. Then we have an ordinance to vacate certain alleys. You have to do the hearing. We're going to Oh, it is 7:10. We're going to move right down to public hearing items since it is 7:10. First uh public hearing item will be the vacation of the alley at Electric and Buck. Okay. Then we'll move back. Yes. To the vacation.

So, if you'd like, I can introduce this. I think most people up there on the screen can make out what we're talking about tonight. But we have two alley vacations that we've asked the council to Tonight is the public hearing. That means of course anyone in the neighborhood or around the city can come in and speak either for or against it or ask questions. The reason why these particularly vacations have come before us is because our engineering staff as they're out doing their work and tracking all the streets and tracking where the water and sewer lines are and so on, they come across alleys that are not developed. And here is an example. Here's Electric Avenue. Buckeye Street and the first portion you can see runs behind all these properties but there is no street and so the question that they always ask is does it serve a public purpose and clearly it's not even developed so the public is not using it. So that's the first portion right there where we left off and that same undeveloped alley continues over here. There's also a section that crosses south right here and that is serving as a drive for that entity and of course in that case but the feeling from the engine it would make sense to vacate it as well. So that's what we're considering during this hearing. All right.

Does that what that portion belong to just one homeowner at the bottom with that house? Is that just one person? I'm not certain. I think it's two. I almost think it's two. Let me see if I can look that up here real quick. Just looks like it's their entire driveway. The north and south section.

And you're welcome to continue and I'll try to look that up while you continue your hearing. Right. This is a public hearing, so we'll open it open the floor up to anyone who would who would like uh to speak to council on the matter. If anyone is here, please step up to the podium, state your name, what ward you live in, and feel free. If you would, sir, that way our our microphone can pick it up for the minutes. Good evening. I live at 761 East 8 and the alley it runs from 7th to 8th. That's the one and that'll be the next hearing.

I think that's for the next hearing, right? And yeah, I own on both sides of the alley. That's never been opened. I didn't even know there was an alley there really. Yes. And uh it could be this one. My friend Bill there, he lives on the other end. You're talking about down at the bottom there. That's okay. Here runs from seventh to 8th cross. Yeah. And what is this back here? Is this another home?

Okay. But the point is it's your property, right? Yes. Okay. And that's what we were thought. Yes. Okay. And then your property is where yours is up here. I'm right behind him. I'm on both sides of I own both sides of the Okay. So, you're here and here. Okay.

Right along my place. Okay. So that's your drive that's your driveway there, correct? Okay. Well, that's great. The two property owners are telling us. Wonderful. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's a great testimony to have at [laughter] a hearing. So, you would have no objection to the vacation. Okay. Very good. All right. [laughter] Either one. Well, we really appreciate you coming in because that makes the job easy. [laughter]

The city has never I've lived there for 45 years, but the city has never done anything. Yes. I've tried twice to get him to replace the do that. So, I for all the expenses that went into that to make it what it is now. Well, then you deserve to own it [laughter] because that's what happens. Agree. Yes. All right. Did Did you want to comment anyone?

Okay. And so do you have any thoughts on whether or not you support it or oppose it? You're you're supporting it. Okay. Great. All right. Thank you for three for three. All right. That's good.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak to the potential alley vacation? All right. So, the Oh, he's got another question.

Yes. So, [snorts] half of it will go to the your property and half will go to the north property behind you. Yes. Yes. Probably 11. What would it be? 11. I don't know what the footage of that is. We'll probably be able to get you an answer by the time this is over, but I believe it's I think it's 126. Okay, that would make sense. Yes. Okay. All right. Very good. All right. [clears throat] Well, the first step Go ahead. Are you Well, maybe you need Well, I was going to let the council comment if they had any thoughts on No, I think it's great that they're all here. Yeah. Okay. Good. Good.

Pretty easy. Clearly, nobody knew it was there that we've got a building that's built over the top of it, part of it. So, absolutely. All right, mayor, I'll hand it over to you for the board of revision and assessment.

Okay, so the first step in the process to vacate an alley is to have the hearing. Now, we've had the hearing and before it can be acted upon by council, the board of revision of assessments has to consider it and make a recommendation. Now, the board of revision of assessments includes the finance director, Mr. Paxton, the law director, in this case, assistant law director Andrew Bush, and the mayor. So, we're here. So, we'll have our meeting. So, I'd like to call to order the meeting of the board of revision of assessments and ask if we have a motion in regard to this particular alley vacation. recommend to vacate this.

All right, we have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a second by the assistant law director. Any further discussion?

I think it needs to be clear that the alley will be divided between the property owners. Uh if there's any infringement on one property owner to another, they'll have to work that out because once the gives up that right away, it then is dated over or added, not dated, but added to their property or their deed. And it does become their property and their responsibility. That would have been helpful. Would you like me to repeat that? I'm sorry I my mic was not on but uh in essence what I was saying is once this is vacated it becomes your property and your liability. If you have a building that it fringes on that property on your neighbor's property that unfortunately becomes your responsibility to work that out. Uh, I don't see that in this map, but I think that it warrants that statement.

All right. Any further discussion? No. If not, then we'll have the clerk take the vote. Miller, I. Mr. Pax, yes. Yes. All right. So, the motion carries and now the board of revision of assessments is making a recommendation to the council to vacate the alley. All right. And with that, we'll move right to the hearing for Would you like to act? Uh we'll take that up after the hearing okay of the seventh and eighth street if that Oh, no. It's fine with me. Purpose. Okay. So, with that uh we'll open up the hearing for the East 7th and East 8th

uh Birch, which we've already discussed with our audience, but I'll ask the council, do you have any thoughts or concerns with this alley vacation? No. to speak on Mr. Lawson. Okay, with that, mayor, I'll turn it over to you and the board for Okay,

this one is a different I don't think we have anyone here in the audience who is here to talk to this particular alley vacation, but if anyone's watching at home so they know what's going on, here's Union Street. Here's 8th Street. Here's a little bit of Seventh Street. So, this one, many probably realize it exists, but it starts out here by AKA, the Ashen County Community Academy. That's the charter school that sits here. It's across the street and runs behind this warehouse manufacturing building. I believe it's Lane Allen, right? I believe that's the name, right? Isn't that the name of the business that's in there?

But you can see it starts off by their building, so you would almost assume that it is part of their property, but it is not. Then it runs behind this other property. Then it runs across behind all these this warehouse. And uh the bottom line is from the engineers office perspective and I did go out and see it as well. It really it would just serve as this building. It would be a place and I went out there and there were no tracks or anything at the particular time I was out there

that showed there was any even activity back there. You can see there's two areas where it between two homes. But again, it's the same situation where it's a shared driveway for those properties. Do you see that? And you can also see in the past at some point the council already located vacated. It wasn't this council, but past councils vacated that one, vacated that one, and a whole variety of these other areas over through here. So the the small piece of the where it says 50 right there, is there not fence on that? I don't know if there is fence today or not. Is there

There is a there is a piece somewhere in that area that's fenced off by somebody. Somebody has fenced off a piece of pavement. Okay. So, I guess I don't know. I can't remember if there is or not, but I believe you. I was just trying to decide if that was the same piece of property. I don't know if I can look that up quickly to see or not, but but if it is, that shows that someone's obviously not using it for a public. I always found it to be odd that a piece of pavement was stop when you when you're in that particular area. You would never know that that is a street for an hour. You would not. No. On on a map, it looks a little bit more Yes.

substantial, but yes, sure it isn't. Now, I think people do travel down the the back part, though. They could as an out. Yes, they could as an out. Yes. Right. Yes. But again, I don't think it's commonly used. It's probably not the public's cut through. Yes. If anyone, it might be those property owners back. Correct. And they would probably appreciate it not be there. So, all right. With that then is there anyone from the public here to discuss the matter one more time? All right. Seeing none.

Okay. So then we will call to order once again the board of revision of assessments and I will ask if there is a motion regarding this particular alley vacation. I move that the board of revision of assessments recommend to council that this particular alley be vacated. Okay. We have a motion. Do we have a second? I would second it. Okay. Any further discussion? I do have uh uh Councilman Woodward, you are correct that there is a small section of that does have a fence that does join that, but it's a it's like a privacy or a chain link fence down across there.

Okay. Uh I would ask, has the fire division reviewed this alley vacation? I'm not sure if they have or not, but one way or the other, the the if you're concerned about the street that's running behind the business, I mean, it it's open to the truck traffic of the business of the business. So, I would assume it can accommodate fire apparatus. So even if the alley is vacated, the business would be the recipient of some of this land and have access to that for in the unfortunate case there would be a fire.

Even if the city were to vacate the property, the fire division would still be able to get to that.

Um, and you are correct, mayor. In previous councils, they have vacated some of those other rightaways to get back to that those structures. So it it given the chainlink fence and the vacation of some of those other alleys and the ability of the business to still function on a private alley rather than a public rightway and the fire protection of that. Um, I I really do not see a need for the city to to uh maintain or to continue to own this right away, particularly since the residents will still be served by it. Uh some of those shared driveways may be a little interesting uh especially if you when you have to have two neighbors that are using the same function but they already do that. So it's not a case of anything new uh they if they long as they get along with each other well I guess that's all right but uh they will get half of those alleys that'll be vacated. It'll still be up to the property owners to share that driveway. Uh only they'll own it this time rather than having someone else do it.

And they they are not able to deny the neighbor the use of it. Absolutely. Absolutely. To Larry's point and probably repeating something we've talked about. Ownership of half of the alley goes to one side, half of it goes to the other side, but each side retains an easement in the whole of the alley. And so it stops being an alley for the public, but for adjoining land owners, it really remains an alley. So Larry called it kind of a private alley. And I think that's a good way of describing it.

And I did confirm at the last meeting when we introduced this subject and you set the hearing. Council member Jason Kaio brought up the fire department concern or that he was concerned about the fire department and the fire department did approve it. Okay. So they have approved Great. Great question. So, any further discussion? No. If not, then we'll ask the clerk to take a roll call vote. Mayor Miller, I. Mr. Paxton, yes. Attorney Bush. I. All right. The motion carries. So, we're recommending to the syndication of the alley involving E7 Street, Eth Street, and Birch Street.

All right. Very good. It is 7:28. We have one more hearing and that will be in regard to the proposed 2026 appropriations. Larry, would you like to summarize? Does this mean you do not want me to read all 130 pages? That would be the definition of a summary. Oh, okay. Move for non-reading in full. Sure.

Wow. Rough crowd over there. This is a uh proposed 2026 appropriations. Uh it is uh a little later than what we certainly anticipated for uh this year. Uh things have uh pro progressed, but uh we've had some other issues that we've had to deal with uh most recently. uh it does find uh it's not a budget, it's an appropriation and the difference is is the city cannot spend any money until this body adopts the appropriation. Now we have been operating under a temporary appropriations that is good through the end of March which then it expires. This here actually sets in stone how much each department each fund can uh take in and spend. Not the revenue but the expenditures of that. And in doing that uh it does fund all of the departments of the city currently that we know of. Uh it also uh takes into consideration capital improvements projects that are on the board or currently under design uh to enhance uh the city services as well as then extend uh or replace uh utilities that are in dire need of being replaced. Uh it does uh fund all of the uh the intergovernmental uh funds that the city has as well where

uh departments that operate for the good of the service of other departments. Uh that is uh important as well as our enterprise funds. Uh the overall budget would be about uh $94 million. Uh unfortunately we or fortunately uh we've had to take into consideration uh we've talked for a year or two about the uh need for utility improvements or enhancements or extensions uh to our city in an effort to provide more services or better services to our residents. uh that does not come cheap. And in doing that, this appropriation also takes into consideration the possibility that city will have to borrow money in an effort to uh complete those jobs or extend those services. Speaking of speaking of the sewer and

mostly sewer uh but uh there are some uh mandates as well that the city must meet. So the equalization basin at the

wastewater treatment facility. Mhm. Uh and and so in doing that, that has uh raised that uh appropriate appropriation up to $133 million. Worst case scenario. Now, we're not going to be able to do all of that at one time. This is something that will take a period of time to finance. Uh it's taken a period of time to engineer. Uh that's not something where you just magically uh get out the sheet of paper and start uh drawing a uh retention basin or a new sewer line. Uh that takes uh a good amount of time to design and and things like that.

Uh so uh in the overall the appropriations was $133 million. Worst case scenario, if we had to borrow a lot of that those monies in an effort to complete those jobs, not something that's going to happen overnight, probably won't be done completely uh by the end of this year, but it is something that we have to get started on in an effort to complete at some point in time. Uh the uh the people always ask how much the city spends on wages and benefits, personal services. Today we have about 262 employees working on behalf of our citizens in our community. that uh between the wages and the benefits, the city will spend about $23 million this year in an effort to to support and supply those employees with uh benefits, wages, uh supplies in an effort to have them safely do their jobs and uh just uh continue to work for uh our citizens. Uh along with that uh the city is like every other community or every like our individual homes. We have utilities that we have to pay for. Uh streets resurfacing is also a big ticket that we have very successfully been able to do uh throughout the uh the years. uh as well as continue to uh enhance our our safety forces which are things that our citizens uh you know I hope appreciate that uh

those are things people that you really don't want to call but if you do have to call them you want them to be there and uh that is a 27 24-hour job uh 365 days a year while we're home for Christmas, somebody has to work as well as those people at the wastewater and the water treatment plants. So, that's kind of what I have at this point. I can certainly read all 131 pages if you wish. Uh be more than happy to do that. Uh the meeting will be over about midnight. Uh but uh other than that, I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

All right. So, I think it's worth noting that at the end of 2025 when they finally closed out the books, we finished with a very healthy balance. So, we had a good year in 2025. And what's important is we need to finish with a good balance because that's how we're able to pay the bills when we start off 2026. So, we're blessed that everything worked out in 2025. We thank you and your staff for helping us get through the year in the black. Of course, we have no choice, but still we uh we we did all the projects we did and still ended up with money in the bank by the time we started 2026.

It's important for anyone watching that maybe hasn't been a part of these discussions before to note that when he talks about borrowing money, we're not talking about borrowing money to cover the operating expenses of the city. We're not talking about that. what he's referring to is new projects that we may take on in 2026 and 2027. So, for example, when we extended the water and sewer line out US 250 here in recent years and underneath I71 to service the businesses and the development out on that corridor, we borrowed money and we've been paying that money. And we've been paying that back. Is it paid back yet? Uh the water has been retired. The sewer has not had.

Yeah. So there's an example of where we borrowed money for those high dollar long-term investments that quite honestly generate income in the future because the more development that comes about because that water and sewer line has been extended that's more revenue for the city more revenue for the county and so on. So I just think it's important to note that when we talk about borrowing money, it will be for those types of projects that are usually infrastructure, right? Major pieces of infrastructure. So all right, very good. One more comment. I'm sorry, but

the city must pass a balanced budget. That is the law that we must follow. uh other governments may not terry so well as we do, but uh in doing that uh as the mayor has alluded to that cash balance but uh is very important but we have to pass a balanced budget. We cannot pass a budget that runs in the red. That is against the law of the state of Ohio.

Sure. Very good. And how refreshing that is in relation to federal government. So, uh, sorry, I digress there. But, uh, with that, this is a hearing. So, if anyone from the general public would like to comment, uh, on council before we take action, you're more than welcome to step up to the podium and have your say. An observation on my part. Uh, as our finance director has explained to us, this is appropriations, not necessarily a budget. And lest anyone be clutching their heart and gasping for air at the sound of 133 million.

An observation, some of these things uh will be covered by state and federal grants. For example, I see the 250 pedestrian facility. Yes. Uh we've we know we're going to get grant money for that. So, no, we're not going to be raising taxes in order to cover this $133 million because a some of this is going to be coming from grants. Absolutely. So, this isn't appropriations. It's not like, okay, we got a $133 million budget we got to cover. A lot of this money will be covered in other ways. Yes. And while we always hope to avoid this, it is a living document. So we can the council could at any time decide you wanted to amend the appropriation or that you wanted to make transfers within the appropriation

but this is pretty important guideline for all the departments as an observation Mr. loss. And I will add that increased numbers in the appropriations also is an indication of growth

within our city. And we've that is real growth since I've been on council and mayor's been in his uh capacity. We've seen every year an increase in appropriations and uh representing real growth to our city and uh that's a that's a strong positive uh in in my book. I'm sure the council feels the same way. So these these numbers shouldn't scare us but uh actually uh be kind of gratifying. Yes. So

with that, uh if no one is here to speak to the uh hearing on the appropri on the appropriations, we'll close the hearing and move back up to our ordinance on the agenda. The first one will be an ordinance to vacate certain alleys situated in the city of Ash, Ohio, and declaring an emergency. This this will be for electric and Buckeye. Move for non- reading in full. Second. Thank you. Miller I Woodward I Lawson I Workman I [clears throat and cough] and with that uh no discussions needed so is there a motion to approve on the first reading so moved second thank you

Woodward I Lawson I Workman I Miller I I'll move to suspend the rules for three separate readings three separate days second thank you Lawson I Workman I Miller I Woodward I motion to approve the ordinance. So move second. Thank you. Workman. I Miller I Woodward I Lawson I. Ordinance 13-26. Next we have an ordinance to vacate certain alleys and streets situated in the city of Ashlin Ohio and declaring an emergency. Move for non- reading in full and this will be East 7th and 8th and Birch as discussed. Is there a second? Second. Thank you Woodward. I Lawson. Hi,

Workman. Hi, Miller. I Again, I'll move to suspend the rules for three separate readings, three separate days. Need to pass on the first. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve on the first read? So moved. Second. Thank you. Clawson. Hi. Workman. Hi. Miller. Hi. Woodward. I. Now I'll move to suspend the rules for three separate readings, three separate days. Second. Thank you. Lawson. Hi. Workman. I Miller I Woodward I motion to approve the ordinance. So moved. Second. Thank you. Workman. I Miller I Woodward I Lawson I.

Ordinance 14-26. Then we have an ordinance adopting a permanent appropriations measure for the calendar year ending December 31st, 2026, repealing all temporary appropriations and declaring an emergency. Move from non-reading in form. Second. Thank you, Lawson. I workman. I Miller I. Woodward. I motion to approve on the first reading. So move. Second. Thank you. Workman. I Miller I Woodward I Lawson I I'll move to suspend the rules for three separate readings three separate dates. Second. Thank you Miller. I Woodward I Lawson I

Workman I. Motion to approve the ordinance. So moved. Second. Thank you. Woodward I. Lawson I Workman I Miller I. Ordinance 15-26. How do we do Terry? We had a really good rhythm [laughter] there.

Yeah. Good. Good. All right. We have no resolutions this evening. No uh old business or new business unless council has something to bring forward. Hearing none, then we'll move right to council comments. Uh I'll begin by uh just uh asking council to be thinking of a date you would like to get to get get together some evening to make a trip to the uh Worcester City Warco for a tour of their facilities. Ryan Taylor, the director there, has offered to uh to meet us any evening that uh suits our schedule and his and uh since not everyone has seen the War Cog facility, uh it's always good to to get back there and see it and experience maybe a couple calls while we're there. So, see it in action. Um and we can discuss that later, but certainly not going to ask you to commit to anything tonight. And That Mr. Miller, I'll turn it over to you.

I have nothing to know. All right, Mrs. Whitney, this is for the mayor. So, there's been a few complaints about Foundation Plaza. Um, children a little out of control bothering some patrons that are eating pizza. So, you might have already heard this. So, how does the security work in our parks? Do we have somebody that goes around regularly or is that a police call? What What would be the procedure for that? Yes, we do have park security. Uh the report that I had was that

while people were eating out on the patio, they were hearing young people that were playing in the Foundation Plaza area, which is open to the public and open to children, and that they were using foul language and the customers were upset that they were using foul language. Now, I've not heard that they were harassing the patrons, but I have been told that they were using foul language and the patrons didn't like that. And uh certainly if that's going on, someone just needs to let us know because our we we're not at Foundation Plaza normally patrolling. We're usually at Brookside and at the larger parks where there's more area to cover. But they just need to let us know or let let us and by us I would say the police.

You just need to let the police know and the police can stop and talk to the young people if they are being disruptive. Were they there unattended by parents? Well, I'm not sure. I'm not sure how frequent happen older kids. Yeah. And it's typically around this dinner time and they're asking for food. So, I mean, but that's exactly what I said. Call the police when they're there and they're doing that. Just reach out to the police. They'll gladly come and deal with this situation. But I just wanted to see if our park security actually stops at the park and walks through. And if I doubt they spend much time at foundation.

I I doubt so either. I doubt so. So I just wanted to bring it to your attention. So thank you. I have no no one has contacted me with complaints or concerns. So I have nothing to comment on tonight. I did see in our email where we received another uh request for a disc golf. Oh yes. Uh yes. in the area and they cited another location possible location as well. So, uh maybe maybe we'll see that in the future of of of Ashland. I don't know. But yes. Yeah.

Well, all I'm going to say is be ready for a little disruption down there at Foundation Plaza, whether [laughter] you're on the pizza patio or not because St. Patrick's Day is coming up and I'm hoping that it is packed with young people. Now, we'll hope they're using familyfriendly language and not that foul language that has been offensive to someone on the patio. But the St. Patrick's Day celebration will take place Saturday, March 14th. Saturday, March 14th at 11:00 a.m. at Foundation Plaza. And we're encouraging everyone of all ages to deck yourself out in your favorite green or your kilts and come and join us for the parade. This year we've got a lot of colorful characters joining us down at the plaza as we prepare for the walking parade. And we even have a few dancers that are coming this year. So we've got the Cedar Cedar Valley cloggers are coming. So they'll help entertain us as we're getting ready for the morning celebration. Also, once again, we will be choosing the shiniest shamrock. So, any of you who are watching right now that think, "Boy, I'd love to put on a lot of green sequins and a lot of green sass and come down there and compete," you can do so. And if you're lucky, you'll take home a valuable prize if you're chosen by our undercover judges to be one of our shiniest shamrocks. Also, if you're a young person between the age of five and 18, you can enter our coloring contest. Our coloring contest will be used to determine at least six at least six, we may have more, but at least six individuals who will get to help dye the Town Creek green once the parade reaches Corner Park. So, if you're the age five or up to 18, you can go to the city's website, print out the PDF version of the coloring sheet, color it, and turn it into the mayor's office by March 12th

at 4 PM. So, last year we had fabulous entries, bright colorful entries, and uh but we also had a great group of young people that helped us dye the Town Creek Green. So again, you can find that coloring sheet either on our Facebook page, there's a link, or you can visit the city's website and you just print it off at home. The only rule is that you're the one that does the artwork, but you can use paint, markers, crayons, chalk, whatever you come up with. And last year, everyone was very creative. So, we look forward to having entries into that contest this year as well. And of course, the parade will leave around 11:30. We will walk down to Corner Park where we'll gather together and dye the town creek green. This year the creek will be green two days, not just on Saturday the 14th, but then again on St. Patrick's Day on I believe Tuesday the 17th. Right.

Yes. Tuesday the 17th. So we won't have a parade that day, but we'll still have a green creek. So if anyone has questions, we'd love to have you uh call us and we'll do our best to answer. But I hope you participate and we'll keep praying for sunshine and 65 degrees. So, all I can say is yo ho and up she rides.

Yeah, that's right. That's right. Now, I also want to add that it's not all fun and games here at the city. Spring cleanup is just around the corner. Spring cleanup will start the first week of April. Uh we've put the map on the screen there, but if you want to see that map up close, you can visit the city's website or later you'll be able to see it on Facebook. I'm not sure if we've posted on Facebook just yet, but you'll get to see where we hope our crews are in the first weeks of April. So, get ready to clean up your properties and get your stuff taken to the curb. Also, I do want to comment on leaf pickup. Obviously, leaf pickup finished last year, late last year, but we are noticing that there are a lot of especially wooded lots that are still covered in tree in leaves because some of them have oak trees. The oak trees take longer to fall and some people's lawns look like it is fall. And I've noticed some people have started raking it out to the street. At this point, you would need to bag those and notify the city street department to come out. I am talking with the street department director about possibly in some of the heavily wooded areas just having our crews go out and uh pick up. But in the meantime, if you look up and down your street and you're the only one with a pile of leaves, then you would need to get the yard waste bags and put the leaves in the yard waste bags and notify the street department so they can come because they're not on a regular route at this time. So, any questions about that, you can call the mayor's office as well.

Great. And I believe that's it. All right. Very good. Thank you, mayor. Any comments or questions from our audience? on East Street. Can you go back to the podium? Yes. There's a big dead tree on the left hand side over the road and they've been falling out. A lot of women and children walk through the park and I would hate to see one of them. And it's on Ashlin Avenue. It's on 8th Street. Eighth Street. Oh, 8th Street. Yeah. Just below Ashlin Avenue. Okay. It's on the left hand side of the road. Okay. Going down.

You don't happen to know if it's on a Is it in front of the sidewalk or behind the sidewalk? There's no sidewalk. Oh, okay. Little woods there. Oh, I see. Right the edge of that woods. Okay. Like a little stream running down through there. And then land is out over the road and they've been falling out. Yes. There's a lot of people walk down to the park through there. Yes. Absolutely. Could be a dead asht tree, huh? Yes, sir. Yes. Well, thank you for that. Anyone else like to address council?

Good evening. really quick. I'm pretty sure that if the personnel can be sp personnel can be spared, um might need to be some uh speed enforcement on East Liberty. Uh it's pretty bad. There's uh definitely potential for a tragedy. Absolutely. Um they're very familiar with East Liberty. All right. Because they they Thank you. they were at least for several months were sitting there on a regular basis. So maybe they've

moved to a different section right now. But we are issuing more traffic citations than we've issued in recent memory. Good. Because now we have officers that are doing that exclusively. So it's not making some people happy, but it is happening. Thank you, Thomas. I think you were one you were one of those who suggested a disc golf for the city as well. So be great and I was it could even be that the one cost the city any a dime if you could get businesses around the uh sponsor of the hole. Sure.

And you can have you could start modestly I mean you could start with like a half course like nine baskets. Very good. Spotting a spot for it. Yeah. All right. Very good. Well, thank you. Anyone else? All right. Hearing none, I'll ask for a motion to adjourn. Some move. Second. Thank you. We are adjourned. I I I I I. Now we are adjourned. Thank you all for coming.