City Commission - Regular Meeting

and welcome to the March 23rd Sanduski City Commission meeting. We'll have an invocation offered by myself and then it'll be followed by the pledge of allegiance. Dear God, we ask you for your guidance tonight as we come together to serve our community. Help us make thoughtful and responsible decisions for our residents even when the decisions are not easy. Give us patience, respect for one another, and the ability to work together for the good of all. May we lead with integrity and always keep the best interests of all of our community at heart. Amen. Amen. Amen.

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.

Miss, will you call the role, please? Yes, Mr. President. Mr. Wington, here. Miss Wilson here. Mr. Coons, yes. Mr. Crrael here. Miss Mr. Pau here. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Miss Fargo? Yes. Commissioners, you've received a draft of the March 9th meeting minutes. What is your pleasure? Madame Chair, I move that we accept the March 9th, 2026 meeting as presented. Second.

We've had a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing no objection, that motion is approved. Um tonight we have a couple um presentations and our first presentation will be from the Erie County Health Department lead and paint program, Mr. Jeffrey Hayes. Welcome.

Thank you very much. Um today we'll talk a little bit about childhood lead poisonings and uh hear me now. Okay. Yep. So, why is lead poisoning a health concern with children? Um, their brains are not fully developed until the age of six. So, those that are six and under, um, they actually absorb lead dust a lot faster than those children that are six and above. Um, so we we try to focus and and HUD tries to focus on children that are below the age of six. Symptoms of lead poisoning kind of like the flu. Um stomach ache, headache, tiredness, irritability. Um and typically the only way that we know if a child has an elevated blood level is through a uh capillary blood test through the finger or a venus test. Common sources of lead exposure for children um paint in pre-1978 homes. So, uh windows that are painted, they're friction, um as they slide up and down the jam, creates lead dust. That dust lands on the sill. Kids leaning out the window playing, rubs up against the sill, sticks their hands in their mouth. That's typically uh one of the hazards. doors. As the door rubs the door jam, same scenario. The dust falls to the floor. Child plays on the floor, gets the lead dust on their hands, and ends up putting their hands in their mouth or touching food before they put it in their mouth, and it it uh elevates their blood level. And then we we test soil as well when we do lead risk assessments. Um, a lot of times the paint will fall off the house, um, land in the soil right at the drip line where the gutters

are and there's typically not very much grass right there. So, we take soil samples there and we have found uh have found some areas where the soil has been positive for lead as well. So, how much lead dust is dangerous? Um, if we were to go into a 10 rooms that are 100 square ft with a packet of sugar, okay, if that packet of sugar was lead dust and we sprinkled an equal amount in all 10 of those rooms, that would be enough lead dust to elevate a child's blood lead level. Um, so it's it's very very harmful. So how do you try to eliminate a child from getting blood poisoning? hand washing, um, environmental intervention. So, if we have somebody that calls in, we tell them just exactly what I just told you. You're going to wipe off the window sills. You're going to mop the floors. Make sure that there's no dust. You're going to try not to let the child out on the front porch. A lot of the front porches are contaminated with lead. They have lead painted ceilings, lead painted floors, and if it's peeling and chipping, um, and they get a chip and they stick it in their mouth, it's very, very sweet. So then I' I've been in houses that have the whole window sill completely chewed from a child. It's chewed because it's sweet sweet tasting to them. So our grant funding um our 24 grant was $4.5 million for 48 months and started March 2025. We just received a 2025 grant and they're always a year behind. They released the grant the year before and they they give it to us the year after. So that's the reason why the fiscal year for them is 25 was 4.7 million. Um it

starts this month. Um Ohio Department of Development. We had an existing grant with them. Um through a takeback um they've reallocated $400,000 to us. We that has to be spent by 2026 and we already have projects that uh that have taken up that 400k already. We have a healthy homes program was $1.5 million for 42 months. It started in April of 2025. Unfortunately, we have taken as many applications as that grant will be able to handle. Um so we are currently awaiting to see if HUD releases another grant that we can apply for. That was that's a very popular grant. Um, it allows elderly to age in place. So, we've done walk-in showers. We've moved washers and dryers to spare bedrooms on the first floor. Um, we've actually built bathrooms in a dining room um of an individual that was in a wheelchair so that he didn't uh have to go up and down the steps or try to go up and down the steps. And then our rural um housing program grants, we have one for 135 that was uh issued to us in 2024 and then another one for 75,000 um issued in 2025. Those are outside city limits only. So those are just rural grants. Um can't utilize them in the city limits. And I'd like to take the opportunity to thank commissioners Nicole Groy and staff um for their uh continued support with the uh community development block grant money that they dedicate us each each year. Um when we apply for these grants, when I say 4.7 million, we have to have 10% match. So that's $470,000. and their commitment to us along with

some others including the Dorne Foundation allows us to apply for these grants. Without the match, we wouldn't even be able to apply. So, thank you very much. Um, how do homes enter the program? So, we have an application process. They have application intake personnel that review the application and decide which grants the individual or the family will be eligible for. Um once we approve them based on income, location, family size, age, year the home was built, um etc. Then, uh then we do a risk assessment. Now, families with children under the age of six will take priority every time. Every time. Um and then from there it's uh the uh income level is different between all the grants that we have. It's not the same. So some of it is uh low income, some of it's low to medium income. And then we even had an Ohio Department of Health grant that was 200% of the federal poverty level. So we could we could act or 400% sorry. So, we could actually um do some do some houses where where the income was fairly high as long as there was children in that household um under the age of six. Um but with the the state budget last year, they cut that funding out. So, now we're just operating on on HUD funding. So, here's some pictures of some houses that we've done. Um, this particular house is uh on Decar. Um, that's the before pictures and that's the after picture. Um, here's a house on Mills. That's the before. This is the after.

And this one's on Mckelby. Um, that's the before and that's the after. So, uh, really improving the community, really improving the the looks of the community through this program and eliminating the lead hazards for the children so that they don't have uh, health issues further in life. And then I've got some Sunduski statistics for you. So, we've done 34 LED projects um, in 2025 totaling $798,629. We had 21 healthy homes projects totaling $280,812. And we have uh total funding in the city limits that we spent was 1,79,441.

That's all I've got. Does anybody have any questions? Commissioners, any questions for Mr. Hayes tonight? I I want to say thank you. number one, what you're doing is so You're very welcome. It's great. It's awesome. I was curious what the average age of the homes are, what the average age of homes the city is. Do we know? Well, we can't we can't do homes built prior to 78. So, um on a lot of these on a lot of these homes, we're talking 50s. Okay. Um is kind of an average point. Um but we have done some 1900s, 1905, 1910. Um so it it varies.

Point of clarification, you can't do any before 1978 or more recent than 1978. Can't you can't do any that were built after 1978. Got it. Okay. Um lead paint was outlawed in 1978, right? So typically we don't see actually we see very little lead based paint 60 moving forward but you do run across some stuff that had lead based paint that were built in the 60s but it's minimal for the most part. And then Jeff I had one more you know you talked about the healthy home project program and you said that um the um applications were exhausted you couldn't take anymore. How many did we have on the table left that we couldn't do? Do we know

we've got we've got 67 projects that we have to do in that grant. Um HUD does we do milestones. So we've got a number that we have to meet. So when I we're taking applications, we've got enough projects right now or applications to approve to meet that 67 number. So currently I'm taking applications for the next cycle. They they may they may issue a grant later this year. Okay.

Um we never had them issue a grant and give us a grant two years in a row for lead and that that happened this year. So I'm very hopeful that uh they'll see how advanced we are and how quickly we're we're going through projects because they see the money that we draw down from them and they know how close we are. So um we're way ahead of schedule in that grant. So, I'm very very hopeful that uh if they release a grant, we apply for it that that we'll get that cuz that is a uh that's a great grant for our seniors. Um it allows uh disabled seniors and children under the age of six to age in place um to try to keep them out of a out of a home in assisted living. So, um, anytime that we can, uh, get that money to try to do that, we're definitely going to try to go after that if they release a release a notice of funding.

Thank you, commissioners. Any other questions? Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I greatly appreciate your time. Thank you. I don't see Debbie. Is she here? Is Gabby here? Oh, she Okay. Um, our next presentation is the 2025 housing beautifification program update. Debbie Eversil, how is Zing development? How are you?

Good. Good. Okay. Um, Madame President and commissioners. Um, so tonight's brief presentation, I'll keep it brief, is a year-end review of 2025 housing development and beautifification program. Um, this program was designed in 2016 to assist property owners to make improvements to their properties. Um, additionally, the program provides assistance to purchase a home located within Sunduski. So, we concluded our 10th year in 2025 and we look forward to many more successful years ahead. Um for 2025, the program assistance uh helped 112 homeowners through the home improvement grant funding or through home purchase assistance. So 17 of these projects were through the substantial development program, which means that the projects were over $20,000. Um so they they got $5,000 for those or more. Um 74 of the improvements were assisted through the exterior repair program uh which assisted with 50% of the total project cost with a maximum grant of $3,000. So we would provide up to $3,000 and 21 people were granted $5,000 for home purchase assistance for purchasing a home within Sunduski. So, the grant awards are mapped here, kind of small, but um I can give you a copy of these if you didn't receive a copy. Um the projects that are in blue or red are improvements. That indicates improvements. Um and then the projects in yellow are the home purchase assistance. Um, so at the very bottom, uh, darker line there, the the blue line, if you look west, um, we went as

far west as McCartney Road. And then if you go the other way, um, we went as far as Remington A and Heritage Drive. So, we do kind of spread it out. You know, people apply from everywhere. Um, and the 2025 budget allocated $400,000. um which the city would utilize up to $300,000 in property improvements and at least $100,000 in home purchase assistance for owner occupancy. So during the program year there were 112 approved applications, 17 were through that substantial redevelopment program, 74 through the home exterior home repair program and 21 of these received home purchase assistance. And that kind of calculates out to more than $283,000 of grant funding was spent on improvement projects alone. And over $2.1 million in total improvement. So that's private and city funds. And then that leverages the private funds by six 6.5 times. Um, and then of the 21 home purchase assistance uh program, the buyers were either uh 19 or 90% first-time home buyers. Two or 10% of these were homes were previously vacant, so they weren't rented or lived in occupied. Um, and 9% nine or 43% moved from outside city limits. So, we're trying to capture all these people from from other municipalities. The average purchase price um just for our program, this this isn't any kind of market, um was $148,500. And couple of visuals. Um we did some code compliance corrections. These

aren't all of them, but at uh Reese Street 317 Ree, the two on the left are befores and then the bottom is after. um they utilized the program through the substantial redevelopment program. They received $5,000 after completion and inspection and the lifting of the code compliance violation. Uh same goes for 1218 Vine Street on the right. Uh the before was at the top and the after is after. Um they also went over $20,000. Uh so they received $5,000 after completion and inspection and the code being lifted, the violation being lifted. Uh we had uh three new constructions that were able to utilize the program. We have 329 Meg Street on the on the left.

Um the top is on McCartney Romero 5410 and then the bottom is 1935 Third Street. And what are we working on for 2026? So, our current housing initiatives um is we'll continue to offer this program. Um so far, we have uh $400,000 in the budget. We've received 55 apps, approved 32 improvement apps, and 14 home purchase assistance apps. So, we're kind of about halfway there. So, everybody's more than welcome to keep going. anybody listening out there. Um, we will continue to seek out owner occupied properties with violations so that we can assist them to remediate those violations. Our code compliance office does a very wonderful job at that. Um, and we'll continue to market lots through our land bank program for new homer new homeowner development, residential development. We'll continue to market the 75% residential tax abatement. That's a big incentive. And then we look to implement a new pilot program for exterior paint. So what is this? This is something that we've developed. Um this is a pilot program. So it's first first try in this recent age. Um, but we've developed a program which can provide a homeowner, an eligible applicant to uh with $2,000 in supplies and paint. Um, labor is not included. So, this would have to be um a project that you can do on your own or if you have family members, you know, or somebody that you know that you can pay to do this project. The homes must be single family and owner occupied full-time and detached garages are um eligible for

this program, which they are not through the housing development beautifification program. So hopefully we'll get a few of those in at least. Um you must be approved prior to purchasing any supplies. Um and the following documents would be received prior to approval. A completed application which will be available April 1st. um estimate for all supplies that will be needed for the job and acknowledgement of lead safe work practices. Um the 2026 program will run from April 1st to October 31st of this year and applications will be available April 1st in our lobby or at www.cityofsenduski.com and people can always reach out to me. My name is Debbie Eversol. Uh phone number 419-627-5832 nd eversol cityofs sunduski.com. So that concludes my presentation and I'll answer any questions.

Commissioners, any questions for Debbie or comments? I kind of sped through it. So No, it was good. Good information. Very good. Very good. It's awesome to see it expanding. Um, I know that, um, Colleen, you you were really in on the paint, um, program. And I'll credit Commissioner Wington for Well, he wants to get and we need to recruit people as well to do the painting. That's we got to get I'm glad that we're finally doing it because I was told it was illegal. You can't do it. If a kid falls off a ladder, but our uh, new attorney here took care of that. Different read of the law. Yeah. Any other comments?

Hey, Debbie, I want to ask you a quick question. You know, I remember years ago the um beautifification money would be gone like it'd be like hot cakes off the shelves gone. So um we still have availability right now currently. So if you're listening, there still is an opportunity to apply. Yep. Okay. Yep. Thank you,

Madam Chair. I think a lot of that has to do with our um changing of the uh program to fit homeowner um occupied uh dwellings is what the program's focusing on right now. It used to be open to rentals and and all that. So um the money didn't doesn't go flying out as fast as it did, but um we did uh use it and utilize it for home ownership to recognize those folks that are invested in the community. Yep. Makes sense. Thank you very much. Go ahead. Thanks, Debbie. Okay, it um it is audience participation time. So, anyone with comments on tonight's agenda, please step to the podium, state your name and address, and please limit your comments to three minutes.

Uh good evening. Tim Schwanger, 362 Sheffield Way. Couple items. Uh first one is item B, which is uh changing the rec board and the Bayront quarter committee meetings to quarterly instead of monthly. These two committees have been meeting monthly for I don't know how many years, maybe decades. I I don't know for sure. I lost track. But one when it comes to informing the public, a lot of times the public gets more information out of these two two committees that they what they do right from the city commission. So I think it's important that we keep our community educated on the rec center, anything else that's happening along the waterfront. Uh instead of uh going every four months, three months that it should stay monthly. Item number D, which is the Alliance Park application for a grant to do the waterfront. I'd like to have uh Mr. Orzac and I talked about this through email. Uh none of the none of the three options. And the third one is the option that was picked for 2.75 million. Going back to 2009, which was the master plan for Lions Park, it mentioned the break wall being rebuilt for a walkway and for fishing access. None of these three options mention fishing access in the uh fine detail. So I'm looking for something that uh a comment that would dedicate that whatever whichever we choose and options that that break wall be reconstruct should reconstructed and also be available for for fishing. You don't want people fishing from the beach for obvious obvious reasons. Okay. But it's it's fine to separate those pe the fisherman from the swimmers over onto the break wall. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Schwanger. Hi,

Toby Winry. Um 1021 Tiffen Avenue. I'm here about section B. Um the quarterly meetings are uh being considered this evening. Um all we hear from the city is we want to hear your voice. And now you want to tell us we only want to hear you four times a month. The Rex Center was a seed planted by Gary Pack and then he would never allow it to go down to four uh uh meetings in a year or what needs to be um noted is $700,000 a year was raised for this rec center and and not have a a monthly meeting about how it's going, where it's going, where the ideas are going, where the programs are being thought of. All that takes time as well as the construction. So, all those things could be thought out during these meetings. It's not that much time extra. And we just okayed $200 million at Battery Park. We should know what's going on with the Bayront. Again, it's just if you want transparency and if you want to hear our voice, then don't make it easy to not hear our voice. But with the four meetings, people listen to these things. And I hope that you reconsider or consider highly that it's not that much time. I know it's volunteers, but you know, it's your eyes and ears for they answer to you. They answer to the folks that live here. They work for us.

That's all I got to say about that.

Thank you. Westpool 1939 East Old Gate. Uh I have a comment about item number one dealing with the transit rental. Uh I couldn't find any document that contain the definition of declining geographic area identified in the legislation. So what I'm suggesting is that you should I think currently I think you need to vote no because what you've added as defined in the comprehensive plan or similarly formally adopted planning document in the city changes absolutely nothing because there's no place that doesn't exist. So I'm trying to figure out if you would explain why you would put that in and what you're resol you're solving. There is no there's no such definition in any document that I could find. I could be mistaken. So uh please in your discussion you know correct my error and have staff identify where that what why this is of any value whatso whatsoever. Uh addition uh item B the recck board quarterly meetings. I really can't make a definitive comment about whether it's a good idea or not simply because there's no information about why you're doing it. So I'm not ready to make a judgment about it. But I do think in general uh recreation programs are at top of the list of services that are provided by the city. Uh Cedar Point brings 3 million people here a year. That indicates to me that recreation to individuals to people is is kind of like important. Uh staff time invested uh and getting community feedback and keeping us informed on the programs I think is is is time well spent. So, I'll just have to wait to figure out why you're making a big deal. The uh the other committee, their contribution is pretty minimal. Not much would change if they

meet on meet quarterly because they don't they don't offer very much. But, uh with recreation board throughout summer, not getting any feedback on how programs are going uh or the public's input doesn't doesn't strike me as a good idea. Thank you. Any other comments for the commission on the agenda?

Go to the regular agenda and um specifically to I'm sorry sir, could you state your name and your address? That's okay.

I'm uh Brandon Elliot and I represent Falcon Forge from Toledo. However, I come here a lot because when I raised my daughter in Westerville, we used to come up to Sanduski all the time. So, anyway, I moved up from Atlanta last fall. I was crazy enough to move here in November. I survived. And I work for Falcon Forge. And the reason I want to talk to you is because everything that you're looking at in items 1 through six that has budgetary implications, as you know, is subject to the budget bill HB96. Y'all know that bill, right? The state bill where you receive state funding. What people forget is the 9.64 revised code and all the limitations on paying vendors that are now new and uh collecting money and also handling uh data in all of these situations. And what I want to point out is that we solved this problem. We met with Governor DeWine. We've met with Kirk Karath who wrote HP96 and we made a compliance dashboard for counties, cities, and townships that basically shows live where you're at with HP96 and correlates to everything you do, whether it's vendor payments, whether you're receiving money, whether you're handling data, um, ransomware payouts and all of that. Your IT departments and stuff have that siloed probably. um they could produce that information if you want, but I went one step better and last year um John Crisp, who's with the Fulton County Authority, retired from his position there, and he's also testified on the tech and innovation committee at the state house. Uh he's a mad scientist, a good friend of mine from 9th grade on up. And he coded a new program called Athena that does all of this. So, I wanted y'all to know what exists because in procurement, if you don't know something exists, it's usually because you're at a trade show, walking the exhibit floor, or somebody comes along and tells you about it. The good news is I emailed it to you right before I stood up. So, if all of you go

in your email, your regular township email, and you click on the link that I send you, you're going to see what I'm talking about. Basically, what we do with townships in Lucas County, we've already done five. Um we're we're meeting with another seven and some cities. There is uh we keep all of that data in one place where it's access accessible internally. It's an NDA. All of the information shared is encrypted that we put together. But I wanted you guys to know about it. So I took a chance and came here. But it definitely applies to your agenda items where you spend money and where you collect money. The last um item where you collect money, it definitely applies to that. Um this is us. if you want to look at that later. I brought some of these to pass around and we'd love to come present to you guys for 15 minutes on an agenda item or an introduction to a city manager or it where we can come and and let them vet us.

Thank you. But that's it. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Okay. Any more comments from the audience on tonight's agenda? Okay. Commissioners, you have before you several communications from staff recommending legislation. Can I get a motion to accept the communications? So moved. Second. There's been a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing no objection. That motion is approved tonight. Does any commissioner want wish to move any consent items to the regular agenda? Miss Myers, will you present the consent agenda?

Yes, Madame President. Item A is a second reading, approval to amend codified ordinance chapter 1505 for vacant buildings registration. Item B, approval of text amendments to recreation board and bayfront corridor committee ordinance. Item C, approval to repeal ordinance 26031 for the purchase and sale of Welcome Home Ohio 923 ON Street. Item D, approval of H2O Ohio wetland grant submission for Lions Park Shoreline project. Thank you commissioners. Having heard these ordinances resolution, what is your pleasure,

Madam Chair? Yes. Uh I would move approval of uh items A through D on the consent agenda uh in accordance with either section 13 or 14 as it applies in each case. Second. Thank you. There's been a motion and a second. Is there any um discussion? Yeah. The one discussion I would like to say is I did serve on the Bayfront Committee and nothing prevents those committees from meeting monthly if they so choose. So if the recreation board desires to meet monthly, they they can actually call that meeting in the in the ordinance. Thank you. Go ahead, Jeff.

Commissioner Cra,

uh yeah, what I would point out is um uh and this is something that was uh out of a conversation that we had with uh our city manager uh Mr. Orsac. Um and that is uh the the Bayfront Quarter piece. Um it's it's a committee that as I understand it and and please jump in here at any point. Uh that is as I understand it is not a committee that is dealing actively with specific issues that have to you know go before a committee before they come to the commission or anything like that. uh it may well have at one time but does not per se do so any longer. And as for the recreation uh committee, uh Mr. Orzac, could you talk a little bit about what the purpose of the recreation committee is? Because as I understand it, it really doesn't have anything specifically to do with the recreation center.

No. Accord Excuse me. Uh, Commission President. Um, so the the ordinance has that the uh recreation board will uh do long-term planning for the uh programming for the recck department. Um, if you read the ordinance, it also states that um if they want to have the superintendent come to a meeting, then they can invite them, but it's not a uh invite all the staff and and all that kind of stuff. Um, as has been going on. Um the only reason to make a recommendation is that it's consistent with a lot of the other boards and commissions. Um certainly uh the rec center has been talked about and vetted a number of times. Um I would point out that um the uh city website has a capital projects page that uh spells out and updates uh the community on all of the different projects that are going on. spend um time uh doing that so that the information's out there and uh so and as uh Mr. Tucker had said um these meetings um if approved would be four times a year and then if the chair person wants to um call a meeting cuz they need to discuss more about the programming or whatever um that's what uh they can do. So, it's not uh completely restricted them, but um the feedback that I've gotten from uh folks is that the um there's a lot of repetitious um items that go on on both the Bayfront Corridor and Recreation Board. So, um this would uh maybe have a more robust uh meetings at uh quarterly. And like I said, if they want to have more meetings, um we they could certainly uh do that.

Commissioner Coats.

Uh yes. I I just wanted to add that um as a commissioner who served on both of those committees, Bay Front Quarter and the Recreation Board, uh I can speak um personally about uh what I witnessed um on both. And I see one is very beneficial and one that should meet on a regular basis. Even if it's to update everybody about what's going on, particularly when you take into consideration, you're talking about the afterchool program, you're talking about the summer program, you're talking about the golf course, you're talking about the potential partnerships that exist between Boys and Girls Club and any other organization that's dealing with children and recreation. And I see this one hour. one hour every month to update people to actually let people be heard and I'll have a problem with that one if I don't have a problem with anything else which I don't on this entire agenda but that one I've served on both as it relates to the Bayfront quarter. I've served on it two years and it was just rehashing conversation about what's already going on. So that one I'm definitely on the same page, right? That one is just rehashing. And there's nothing that came through those meetings, those conversations, but there's always something that comes out of those recreation committee meetings. So, I just wanted my voice to be heard on that to let everybody know where I stand.

Thank you. Yes, chair.

I am the liaison for both the recreation board and the Bayfront Corridor Committee. And without sounding repetitious to um Mr. um Coat here or Dr. Um, I agree that the Bayfront Corridor Committee, you hear the same things over and over, but um, when it was first brought to me about the recreation board, honestly, and I probably shouldn't say this as an elected official, I was thinking of myself, I was like, "Yes, I only have to go four times a year." But I remembered that um I am elected um as a person for the city and as such every time I've been to one of those meetings something new and different has been said or talked about and so I would hope that um we think again about keeping the recreation board monthly.

Thank you. Any other comments? Okay. Would you call the role for the motion? Mr. Wington? Yes. Miss Wilson? No. Mr. Coons? No. Mr. Crabel? Yay. Mr. Pujo, yes. Mr. Tucker, yes. Miss Fargo, yes. Miss Mars, will you call a role on the ordinance? Mr. Wington? Yes. Miss Wilson? No. Mr. Coons? No. Mr. Crabel? Yay. Mr. Mr. Pau, yes. Mr. Tucker, yes. Miss Fargo,

yes. That is approved. Miss Meyers, we are moving on to the regular agenda tonight. Will you present item number one on the regular agenda?

Item one, ordinance one. It is requested an ordinance be passed amending part 11 planning and zoning code title 3 zoning districts and regulations chapter 1129 residential districts section 1129.06 accessory uses of the codified ordinance and depend and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect under suspension of the rules as contained in and in accordance with section 13 of the city charter. Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, item one number one, what is your pleasure, Madam Chair? Yes. I move for the adoption of this ordinance under suspension of the rules in full accordance with section 13 of the city charter.

Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Is there any discussion, Madam Chair? Yes, Commissioner. Um, briefly, I wanted to get some clarification. Sure. um if I can from our law director um on ordinance uh one uh because I didn't want to misunderstand what I thought that I understood um because I saw something about the language related to uh declining geographic areas though is that related to ordinance one or two ordinance one okay so can you just give me some clarification about exactly what that means well um

the ordinance itself Yes, presented last year by Aaron uh in her presentation that was meant to add a little bit of clarity to the definition of that uh tying it to the strategic plan and in our opinion making it more restrictive.

Thank you uh Madam Chair. So I have a few comments. One as relates to this idea of the language um declining geographic area. When I think about what Sanduski is, right? Pick an area. Pick an area. Declining geographic area. There are many of those in Sanduski. So, so what does that mean when we define that? What does it mean as it relates to opening the door to these overlay districts? I have a problem with language that leaves that open. The other thing that I think about when I think of um declining areas, I think about the individuals who own homes in declining areas. I probably grew up in an area that would be considered declining. And what that means to individuals when you start entertaining the idea that people can have transit housing or Airbnbs next to the homes of those individuals who work hard and there's very little they can do when folks have parties or loud parties, music, but those are the areas that you can do that in those areas that are the overlay districts. So, I'm going to always have a problem with that. that that won't be a problem in other areas that aren't declining where those folks have the opportunity to say not in our neighborhood. So, that one is going to be an issue for me.

That's all I have to say on that. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. If I may, um I'm going to recuse myself on on both of these. Um because I own um a transient rental property in town, at minimum there's an appearance of impropriy on my part to be uh participating in the vote, if not an outright conflict. So I'm going to recuse myself on both. Any other comments from commissioners? Mr. Orzac, could you just again just to clarify for the public again, we're not expanding Transient Reynolds here.

Could you comment on that for me? Um, I'll defer to Miss Blair if she's here. Uh, she uh she was um crafted this with uh Mr. Pali and uh the law department. Thank you, Erin.

Thank you. So allowing us to define declining ge geographic area in a planning process because it's so hard to specifically decline or define language would bring a much more public process into that. Right now there is no definition. So it's it would make it even harder. You can't it essentially because there's not a definition of declining geographic area. We won't be able to create any new overlay districts. In order to do that, we would have to have a comprehensive planning process to define the area first, which would be a big community engagement process, which you would adopt, which the planning commission adopt. So, it adds a lot more steps and barriers towards the overlay any creation of any new overlay district than what we currently have than what we currently have. Correct. Absolutely.

So, so this makes it more challenging. Correct. Thank you very much. Any other discussion from the commissioners? Miss Mars, will you call the role in the motion? Yes, Mr. President. Mr. Wington, yes. Miss Wilson, no. Mr. Coons, no. Mr. Crabel, recuse myself, please. Mr. Pujo, yes. Mr. Tucker, yes. Miss Fargo, yes. That ordinance is passed. Um, Miss Meyers, will you call I'm sorry, will you call the the role in the ordinance? Sorry, Mr. Wington. Yes. Miss Wilson. No. M. Mr. Coons. Madame President,

uh, you needed five votes to get to the second vote. So, now we have to have a second reading on this one. Okay. So, we don't and then we can vote on the ordinance. Okay. All right. So, it comes.

Okay. Miss Mayers, we present item one, ordinance number two. It is requested an ordinance be passed amending part 11 planning and zoning code title one zoning administration chapter one one board of zoning appeals section 1111.07 07 appeals of the codified ordinance of the city of Sunduski in a manner and way specifically set forth here and below in declaring this ordinance shall take effect under suspension of the rules as contained in and in accordance with section 13 of the city charter. Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what is your pleasure?

Get a motion. I can't. Does no one want to make a motion? Madam Chair, I move for the adoption of the ordinance under uh suspension rules in full accordance with section 13 of this on the city charter. Second. Thank you. Is there any discussion? Mr. Sure. Zack,

I I would just uh point out that um what we're what we're uh looking to change on that particular uh topic is the board of zoning appeals has normally gone through um the appeal process straight to common police court. It's been the will of a comm the commission to um have those cases heard before them uh currently with the commission instead of uh directly to common police court. So it um changes that border zoning appeals uh to go to commission. Additionally, any um any uh approval of an um transit rental in an outside of the normal areas that they're allowed. So if there's a variance, the variance um for a transient rental would come to city commission for approval as well. So, it's a um check and balance that this commission um uh seems to support and and wanted to see change. So, that's why we're bringing that forth.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. So, just so I'm clear, I wanted to make sure that if the board of zoning appeals actually votes no um for a variance, um traditionally what would happen that would go straight to the court if they appeal, right? But now the city commission will be able to actually hear that first. Yes. Right. Yeah. It would reflects the same thing as the planning commission. So the planning commission um comes straight to commission. This would come straight to commission. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other discussion? Miss Myers, will you call the role on the motion? Mr. Wington? Yes. Miss Wilson? Yes. Mr. Coons? Yes. Mr. Crrael? I abstain. Mr. Bejo? Yes. Mr. Tucker?

Yes. Miss Fargo? Yes. And now on the ordinance. Mr. Wington? Yes. Miss Wilson? Yes. Mr. Coons? Yes. Mr. Crrael? Abstain. Mr. Bjo. Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Miss Fargo? Yes. That item is passed.

Miss Mars, will you um present item number two on the agenda? It is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and approving a business development loan in the amount of $8,881.85 cents through the economic development assistant program to the Sunduski Packaging Corporation in relation to property located at 2016 George Street, Sunduski, and declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what is your pleasure? person here, Miss Los Wilson.

I move for the adoption of the ordinance as presented and in full accordance of uh section 14 of the city charter. Second. Thank you. Is there any um is there any discussion? Miss Myers, we call the role in the motion. Mr. Wington, yes. Miss Wilson, yes. Mr. Coons, yes. Mr. CrarAl, Mr. Puja, yes. Mr. Tucker, yes. Miss Fargo. Yes. And now on the um ordinance, please. Mr. Wington, yes. Miss Wilson, yes. Mr. Coons, yes. Mr. Crabel, yay. Mr. Pujo, yes. Mr. Tucker, yes. Miss Fargo,

yes. That ordinance is passed. Miss Myers, we present item number three on our agenda. It is requested that an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager to enter into a contract with Girkin Paving Incorporated of Napoleon, Ohio for the 2026 local street resurfacing project and declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what is your pleasure, Madam President? Yes, Mr. Travel. Uh I move uh approval of the ordinance under item number three in full accordance with uh section 14 of the city charter. Second. Thank you. Is there any discussion questions for Mr. Schneider? Anything? Mr. Orzac, you look like you want to talk. M

madam chair, I just wanted to point out um uh Josh got some excellent bids on these uh on the street resurfing this year. So we're able to do more segments of streets. In addition, um I wanted to point out that the $100,000 of what we are um paying is going to be reimbursed by Jobs Ohio for a segment of Third Street by LUCO that we already planning on doing. So, uh the city's beneficiary of $100,000 in funds. Um so, I just wanted to commission to and I don't know if Josh if you have anything else.

No, that's that's correct. Third Street and Lane Street there adjacent to Luca. We're going to upgrade those um in in part with Jobs Ohio. GSP also helped us on uh acquiring some state funds for that. That's awesome. Thank you. Any other discussion, Miss Myers? We call the role on the motion. Mr. Wington, yes. Miss Wilson, yes. Mr. Coun, yes. Mr. Crrael, yay. Mr. PJO, yes. Mr. Tucker, yes. Miss Fargo, yes. And now on the ordinance. Mr. Wington, yes. Miss Wilson, yes. Mr. Coons, yes. Mr. Crrael, yes. Mr. Bjo, yes. Mr. Tucker, yes. Miss Fargo, yes. And that item is passed.

Miss Mars, you present item number four on the agenda. It is requested a resolution be passed declaring the necessity for the city to proceed with the proposed 2026 USDA tree planting project, approving the specifications and engineers estimate of costs thereof, and directing the city manager to advertise for and receive bids in relation thereto and declaring this resolution shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what is your resolution? What is your pleasure? Madam Chair. Yes. Commissioner move for approval of this resolution under item four in full accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Thank you. Second.

Thank you. Is there any discussion? Commissioners. Okay. Uh Miss Myers, we call the role on the motion. Mr. Wington. Yes. Miss Wilson. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Crrael. Mr. Bjo. Yes. Mr. Tucker. Yes. Miss Fargo. Yes. And now on the ordinance a resolution, excuse me. Mr. Wington, yes. Miss Wilson, yes. Mr. Coons, yes. Mr. Crabel, Mr. Bjo, yes. Mr. Tucker, yes. Miss Fargo, yes. And that resolution has passed. Miss Myers, we present item number five on the agenda.

It is requested an ordinance be passed approving and adopting the 2026 5-year capital improvement plan for the city of Sunduski and declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Madame Chair, commissioners, having heard this one, is your pleasure. Madam Chair, I move the adoption of this ordinance in full accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Thank you. Thank you. And before any discussion, we do have Mr. Schneider is going to come up and share some information with us.

Madam Chair, if I can comment real quick u um before he starts, uh I just want to um give Josh and Megan Stucky and his staff um a muchdeserved appreciation. Um, as you know, Mr. Klein's been gone for quite some time, and all of these projects that have been awarded that they're working on, um, the capital plan all take a lot of time and coordination. They worked with all of the directors and, uh, staff to put this together and and to keep the capital plan going. We've been uh, doing the capital plan for a while now. And uh so I want to I want to recognize Josh and his staff and um all the directors that have uh you know put time into this uh plan. It's uh quite a huge undertaking especially with their staff being short-handed. So

absolutely. Thank you Josh.

Yeah. Thanks. Um so I think Tom has this broken out for me in uh projects by year and they're also by uh category. So you can see by department um here public works transportation. Uh and I'm I'm not going to call out every single project just for brevity sake, but um I'll I'll draw your attention to a couple. I'll probably call out the larger dollar amounts. Um obviously if you want the full list and and uh we have this sharable. I think Tom's got this in in this nice format with the pretty colors and color coded things. So, um, I'll I'll get going here. The 2026 local street reservicing, um, and you guys just passed legislation for that. Obviously, that's an annual program we do. We try to get to as many streets as we can. Um, we've paved over half of the the city streets in in the last 5 years. So, um, we've been aggressive on on the paving side of things. uh West Monroe Street, Camp Decatur, this so this involves uh ODOT funding as well as storm sewers. So although it's a relatively short segment, so this you'll all recall this goes from camp to camp to Decatur, the last section, uh I think over the last four years, we've paved all of Monroe Street, east and west. So here's the last piece. Um, Camp Street. This is the last piece of Camp Street as well. This will pick up where we ended last year at France, just south of the underpass, and bring us up to Monroe. So, Camp, another one of those arterial streets that, um, we've we've paved the whole thing in the last 5 years. Um, so there's transportation. I'll jump to sewers. Uh, 46th Street, Hancock, uh, Hancock and Milin. We have, uh, some separations there. We've had some some historical basement flooding and we've also had

some overland flooding there. So, there's a couple um different directions that we need to address uh flooding in that area. Um uh water items, F Street, First Street, River Avenue. uh if uh if you haven't driven there in a while, that's probably one of the worst streets we have driving-wise, but it also needs uh some work drainage wise. Um one of the limitations on on River A is that we no longer have any right ofways going to the bay to discharge drainage. We gave away over time we've given away roadways that formerly went uh went to the south. So, we we're looking for options for draining that. Obviously, there's a need. Um, that floods quick because it just can't get away. Uh, and then the water line itself that's under the road is in really poor condition. It's unders sized. So, lining it's not an option. It really needs replaced. Um, I believe there was three breaks on River A in November, so before we even got into winter this year. Um, public works miscellaneous. uh causeway wetlands. You guys know what that's about. There's already been uh part of that has been done. Um this is this is a a second phase of this and this is uh pass through money. So this isn't money that we're actually expending of our own. Um these are ODNR that's H2O Ohio uh funding um shoreline protection battery park. And so this is uh this is ramping us up to address uh address the outside of the north and east uh um reventment uh out there

community development. So we have uh Beckling Building Improvements and again there is grant funding listed here as well. We do have um this is state funding I believe from captor's office. No, state state capital

state capital uh state capital funds. So again, we're pass through. This really isn't money out of our pocket, but this is to upgrade the uh the Beckling building, make it usable. um public art. Again, an annual uh pot of money that Aaron and the planning group uh utilizes here for selecting various art pieces in parks and public space. Um transit uh and fleet. I would actually pass the mic to Chief Oliver, but um he he's involved mostly on getting the vehicles and and prioritizing these with the with the various departments. So

that's all I have. Again, you'll get a full you'll get a full listing of these and if if you have questions, obviously feel free to reach out and we'll we'll get you whatever answers you need. I got a question. Mr. Wington, at one time we had, if I'm uh recall right, 23 CSOS that went into the Suski Bay. Is that number still the same? I've had a couple people ask me, did we cut that down? No, that's not the right number. I I'll get I'll get that number for you. I don't know it off the top of my head. I' I'd be lying if I made it up right now, but it's not that. Yeah, just want to I can get that for you.

Thanks, Josh. What's really nice to see is there's stuff going on all over in all the neighborhoods and it's really exciting to see um improvements throughout our entire community. So, thank you. Yep. You're welcome. I'll just point out to the public that um all of these capital projects would come back to commission. um this uh any passage tonight for the capital plan doesn't give it a blank check. So um all the projects will come back to commission. Slow your roll. Okay, Miss Myers, will you call the role on the motion? Mr. Wington, yes. Miss Wilson, yes. Mr. Coons, yes. Mr. Crrael, yes. Mr. Bou, yes. Mr. Tucker, yes. Miss Fargo,

yes. And now on the on the ordinance, Mr. Wington, yes. Miss Wilson, yes. Mr. Coons, yes. Mr. Crabel. Yes. Mr. Bjo. Yes. Mr. Tucker. Yes. Miss Fargo.

Yes. And that ordinance is passed. Miss Myers, will you present item number six on the agenda? It is requested an ordinance be passed declaring a 2012 Ford F350 pickup with snowplow package as a necessary and unfit for city use. Pursuant to section 25 of the city charter authorizing and directing the city manager to purchase a 2026 Ford 3 F350 4x4 crew cab pickup truck with snowplow package from Valley Ford truck incorporated from Cleveland, Ohio through the Ohio State of Ohio Department of Administrative Services Cooperative Purchasing Program for the Fire Department and declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what is your pleasure,

Madam Chair? Yes. Move the adoption of this ordinance in full accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Second. Thank you. Is there any discussion? Nothing for you. All right. Miss Myers, will you call the role on the motion? Mr. Wington? Yes. Miss Wilson? Yes. Mr. Coons? Yes. Mr. Crab? Mr. Bjo? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Miss Fargo? Yes. Will you now call the role on the ordinance, Miss Myers? Mr. Wington, yes. Miss Wilson, yes. Mr. Coons, yes. Mr. Crrael, Mr. Bau, yes. Mr. Tucker, yes. Miss Fargo,

yes. That ordinance is passed. Miss, we present our last item on the agenda tonight. Item seven. It is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager to enter into an agreement with K2 Recovery Incorporated doing business as K2 collect of Aurora, Ohio for the debt collection services for the code compliance division for the period of March 2nd, 2026 through March 1st, 2027 and declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what is your pleasure? Madam Chair? Yes. Move for approval of this ordinance under item seven in full accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Second.

Thank you. Commissioner, is there any discussion? Okay, Miss Myers, would you call the role in the motion? Mr. Wington? Yes. Miss Wilson? Yes. Mr. Coons? Yes. Mr. Crrael? Mr. Bjo? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Miss Fargo? Yes. And now in the ordinance. Mr. Wington? Yes. Miss Wilson? Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Crrabel. Yes. Mr. Bau. Yes. Mr. Tucker. Yes. Miss Fargo. Yes. And that ordinance is passed. And now, Mr. Orzac, we have a manager's report.

Good evening, commissioners, audience, and staff. Um, we have a $100 donation. The police department was received from Hank Soloway family in memory of Andy Dunn. Um, his uh passing was on the 19th last week and uh Mr. Soloway and his family have donated um annually to that. Get a motion to accept that donation. So moved. Second. Motion in a second. That is passed. And thank you for that donation.

I have I have a number for uh parks and wreck. Um I'd like to thank the Ohio Department of Transportation for 90 bike helmets through their put a lid on it program. Every child enro in enrolled in Safety Town will receive a bike helmet. And additionally, uh individuals donated tickets to Midtown Supper Club totaling $950. I want to thank Ro Texas Roadhouse for donating two dinners for two. Longhorn Steakhouse for donating a $45 gift card and and then they were all using the raffle basket. Um they collected $272 in the uh 50/50 raffle. I'm sorry, $738 collected from the 50/50 raffle. And Jim Irvin was the winner and uh thank you for donating $100 of his winnings back to the program. and then Dodie Bowman for donating sealass jewelry. If we get a motion to accept all those donations.

So moved. Second. Thank you very much. That's approved. And a lot of great donations there. We really appreciate it.

Um happy to report the city received four bids for the $9 million recreation uh construction bonds. The winning bid from Robert W. Baird Company had a 3.983313% true interest rate. This rate will allow the recreation center to be financed for 20 years, which will be paid from admission and parking tax revenues. Deadline to file 2025 municipal income tax is April 15th. All individuals and businesses can utilize regional income tax agency website at www.rito ohio.com to file their taxes. Um, public works is part of the Cleveland Road Safety Improvement Pro project. Uh crews will be closing Cedar Point Drive to traffic starting April 1st through May 8th. This allows uh utility relocation and construction of the roundabout. The posted detour will be Sycamore Line to Fifth Street. And uh those uh folks can also look on our project uh city project page on our website. There'll be um annual rep annual or I'm sorry not annual um reports as they come updates and uh also be on our social media as uh this ramps up. The uh idea is uh to have th this uh project completed before the season opens up and uh they're on a timeline to do that. So, um, just wanted to let the public know it's very painful right now, but, uh, it'll be done here in a

6 weeks or whatever it is, 8 weeks, I don't know. Um, projects are ramping up as the weather improves. Stay up to date on city projects. Uh, I just talked about that. Um, community development CDBG 26 action plan draft will be available to review online and is also available by request. The public comment period for the plan will begin March 25th and end April 25th. If interested in commenting, please contact CDBG administrator Nicole Growy at at Nicole Growy or I'm sorry, nrowie at city of Sunduski.com. Her number is 419-627-5730. The city is seeking funding opportunities for a shoreline preservation and uh public access improvement project at Lions Park. Three requests were prepared for the past week for potential funding through the state of Ohio community projects, federal coastal resilience funds, and H2 Ohio wetland funds. Preferred concepts supported by community feedback included renewed waterfront access, erosion protection, water quality improvements, and habitat. Estimated construction cost. Um final engineers 2.75 million and more can be found on the project page. um to uh address the option three on Mr. Schwagger's um thing. The break wall is going to be built um up and out into the bay with a archipel or something like that name that uh has little islands out there that look pretty and they will folks will be able to get out on the break wall out to the um island. So there's going to be access uh for fishermen and the public to um get out into the water. Um the planning division on behalf of public arts and culture commission is seeking proposals for Columbus A public art facilitation. The

selected consultant will conduct community engagement and define a process for the community to commission a public art piece or series of pieces to install on the new streetscape. The RFQ can be found um on the bid opportunities page on the website. Qualifications are due April 20th. And Sunduski Park and Recck would like to congratulate the Sunduski Greenhouse and their staff for being nominated for the Erie County Board of Developmental Disability Community Partner of the Year Award. The award recognizes agencies for pro promoting inclusion and opportunities to individuals with developmental disabilities in Erie County. Here is part of what was quoted in the nomination. Over the last several years, the Sunduski Greenhouse has been an incredible and generous partner, supporting inclusion and providing meaningful space for individuals with developmental disabilities. What makes the Sunduski Greenhouse especially unique is the way they are welcoming without being overbearing or intrusive. And then lastly, the uh Parks and Wreck was notified by the Erie County Community Foundation of being selected to host a summer intern through the 2026 Community Links internship program. Emily Moore of Berlin Heights Edison High uh graduate and current Ohio University student will be spending the summer working with Parks and Wreck. Her internship will be a well- balanced experience including movies by the Bay, community events, youth programming, and making a positive impact to the Suski community through the summer season. Looking forward to have Emily join the city to help further her educational journey near her hometown. That concludes my report. I'll take any questions commissioner has.

I would like to say congratulations on the financing of the recreation building and the time to pay that back. uh for for anyone who's been involved in those that is outstanding and will pay forward a lot in the future. Yeah, absolutely. Any other comments or questions? Yes. I would just like to say I went to the Midtown Supper Club and Tandra Grisby and her kids did an awesome job. The food was great. Um Mr. Mario was there as well and his wife and it was just a good time.

That's awesome. That's awesome. Any other comments or questions for our city manager? Okay. Is there any now old business commissioners? Any old business? Any new business? New business.

Madam Chair. Um, yes. Not necessarily business, but information that I'd like to give out because it'll help uh our residents, any of our residents who are interested in financial literacy. Uh the United Way is actually offering free finan financial literacy uh workshops. They've already done one at New Jerusalem Baptist Church that occurred on March 21st and they've got another one coming up at Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 11th and that one will be on understanding credit and building a savers mindset. The last one is at Father's Heart Family Church which is located at 211 Mil Street and that one is an introduction to investing. So any of our residents who are involved or who actually want free financial literacy workshops, then they can participate through the United Way. Those are free and open to the public.

That's a great opportunities. Very good. Any other new business? I have one item. I need a motion to set a public hearing for the physical year 2026 action plan for the CDBG on April 27th. Can I get a motion and second? So moved. Second. Thank you very much. That is set. That hearing is set then for April 27th. You need a vote on that? Do we need a vote on that? Sue, do I need a vote on that, Mr.? Um, no. Okay. Thank you. All right. And now we're at audience participation or open discussion on any item. Please come to the podium name, address, and please stick to five minutes.

Tim Schwanker, 362 Sheffield Way. One of the items that was discussed at the last recreck board meeting when they were still meeting once a month was the idea of an ice skating rink. We all know we've lost the ice skating rink at JC Park. The one on the Jackson Street Pier is made out of plastic. It's not open the whole winter. It's taken down eventually. idea that came out of the uh public portion of the last rec board meeting was taking the uh detention pond at the recreation center and in the wintertime closing off the uh uh valve that that drains that pond and then filling it up with water through the fire department and making that our ice skating rink in the winter time be right there at the rec center will be a great outdoor activity during the winter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Schwanger. I'm here, Tom. Just want to let you know. Okay. Thank you. Um, okay. No more audience participation. I guess I need a a motion for adjournment.