City Council - Regular Meeting

It is Tuesday, February 17th, 6:32 p.m. and we're going to call the meeting to order. Teresa, would you like to call roll? Yes. Tiffany Hollis here. Ryan Green here. Donnie Barard here. Matthew Huggin here. Kyle Cook here. Jeff Bar, present. Nicole Shook here. And tonight's devocation is going to be given by uh Councilman Kyle Cook. Please stand.

God, we just uh thank you. We thank you for this day. We thank you for this city and the citizens within it. We thank you for our staff and our first responders. And pray you just continue to bless and protect us. Thank you, Lord, for being here in this room and going before us in everything. And we pray that we just reflect you and and our actions, in our speech, and in everything we do. We pray, Lord, that you continue to help us to walk out in the strength and knowledge that we currently have and trust you in the outcome. In your name we pray, Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen. [clears throat]

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.

Real quick, Teresa, how many speaker slips did you have? I have received seven total I think two seven

seven. Okay. Um I'm just going to I prepared statement. I I'm just going to read that before we get to the approval of the agenda for tonight. Um I just want to take a moment and acknowledge that it this is our city manager's final council meeting uh tonight. Public service is not easy work. It requires long hours, difficult decisions, and a willingness to stand in the middle when conversations are complex. On behalf of the city, I want to sincerely thank Shawn for his service to Johntown and for the time and energy he's dedicated to our community. We wish him the very best in his next chapter. I also want to acknowledge that transitions like this can bring emotion for council members, for staff, and for members of our community. We recognize that many of you are here tonight because you care deeply about this community and our city and and our your voices. You want your voices to be heard. That type of civic engagement really matters and it means a lot to us and we welcome it. It's exciting to actually see it turn out. Um, that being said, tonight's meeting will proceed in accordance with our adopted council rules and standard parliamentary procedure of [snorts] Robert's rules of order. As preciding officer, it is my responsibility to maintain order and ensure that our meeting is conducted lawfully, respectfully, and efficiently. There is no legislation on the agenda this evening and no motions before council regarding personnel matters. Decisions previously made by the majority of council will not be revisited tonight. Public comment is an opportunity to address council, but it is not a forum for debate or dialogue. All remarks must be directed through the chair and we will adhere to established time limits and decorum standards. I will ensure that everyone who wishes to speak within those guidelines has the opportunity to do so. I will also enforce our rules consistently and fairly so that we can conduct business of this city with professionalism and

respect. With that being said, we'll proceed with the approval of the agenda. I'm going to make a motion to approve the agenda. I'll make a motion to um approve the agenda as written. I'll second. All in favor? And opposed? Is uh Shauna here? Yeah. Oh, I didn't see her. Okay. Um next on the [clears throat] agenda is presentation from downtown Johntown. Just their annual update of all the fun stuff they do. [clears throat] I'm just back. I [laughter] I didn't see you coming in. Thank you. Thanks for being here.

All right. I felt like public speaking. Sorry if I [laughter] really fast. Um, my name is Shauna Winston Reed. I am here on behalf of Downtown Johntown, Inc., also known as DJI. DJI is a local nonprofit established in 2008 comprised of neighborhood residents, business, and property owners. Our mission is to foster a sphere of community pride to strengthen, revitalize, and promote the downtown area. Our 2026 board members include president is myself, vice president is Jack Pavone, secretary Laney Alexander, and treasurer Audrey Bank. I know we also always give a special shout out to Craig Boning, who's not here tonight, so we call him our perfect guy. [laughter] We let him do all the important stuff that I would screw up. Um, some of our favorite past um contributions to the area have been the trail head, the digital sign on the square, and of course the Koopa. Uh we love to host events on our beautiful town square for the community to enjoy. Uh that includes live music, food trucks, and family entertainment. In 2025, downtown Johntown hosted Springfest, the 17th annual Koopa Classic car show, and our fall fest. We were also a part of the fireworks event where we hosted the dump tank for the third year. Thanks to those of you that joined. Um and if anybody would like to join this year, please let me know.

I'm I'm back in the game. You're back in the game. Yeah, I'm back in the game now. Okay. [laughter] Anybody else? I like to put you on the spot because I know this is recorded and I know there's [laughter] Kyle's in Jeff. Sure. You've been in there. I've been I thought I thought that was a once every three year program, but No, I think it'll be great. [laughter] It'd be great. I welcome the crowd out there to to come and throw stuff at me. It's a great fun. Make some money for the community.

Yes. Um, in fact, getting to that, uh, proceeds from that, we were able to donate $1,517 to Angels Persist just from throwing balls at these people. Uh, we were also involved in the PTO homecoming event where we gave away pom poms and felt favors to all the kids and the Christmas parade where we gave away crafts and light up items. Um, other proceeds from our events went to we donated $3,500 to the Drawtown Orphage Food Pantry so they could buy gift cards for the holidays. And we also adopted 10 children um through the program in town to adopt them for Christmas. Going forward to 2026, uh we've got four events that we are hosting. Springfest will be on Saturday, June 6th from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. Summerfest this year, uh as most of you probably know, this year is the 100th birthday party, the third birthday of the Masttoon. So, we're having a party. Uh [laughter] we are joining with the historical society and Mastadon Ice Cream as well as some other local groups. I think John Lifestyle is going to be involved. CCL we've invited everyone to come together. That will be on Saturday, August 8th. Again, 5 to 9 on the square. Our fall fest event will be Saturday, September 9th from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. And then the following day will be the 18th annual Hoopla Classic Car Show from 10:00 to 5:00. Um downtown Johntown is currently seeking sponsorship for 2026. So, if anybody's interested in that, please let me know. Our sponsorships range from $100 to $500 and obviously we count on our sponsors. So, we pay for the bands, things like that we did for that we do for the events so we can use proceeds to give back. Um, as well as that, we are always looking for new members and new volunteers. Our meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at the library. Typically last about an hour. Next one will be held on March 11th. Feel free to check us out on Facebook. We always post our meetings on there and all of our upcoming events.

And then my last little shameless plug is uh Johnson on a Mission is holding a free community dinner for anyone in need of a hot meal tomorrow, Wednesday night from uh 6:00 to 7:30 at the Legion and the Legion breakfast is a Saturday from 8:00 to 10:00 with donation at cost. So please come out and support your community. If you have any questions, let me know. um you have just just so people can understand a little bit more how you pay for because it's free events everything's free like springfest fallest that's all free so the importance of sponsorship and um donate yeah

yes so sponsorship is how we pay to get fans in that's the big thing um we like to try to have entertainment so whether it's a bounce house we've done bounce house bubble truck um we brought in different games we pay for the dunk tank that we have at the fireworks Um, we do bring in food trucks. Obviously, that's a cost that you have to pay for yourself. Um, so, but the sponsors are how we obtain permits and just all the things to put the event all in. So, anybody can come and enjoy. You don't have to spend any money while you're there. You can come sit, bring your lawn chair, listen to live music. Um, and then anything that we make, which is typically just off, we get a little bit off of food trucks. Um, and then we do a beer and wine garden. So, the proceeds from that we turn around and put in wherever we can. So this year again it'll be the adopted child. If anybody wants to help me shop, let me know. Um the food pantry [clears throat] angels persist for the dump bank. Um and then we're also helping one of the food pantries paint. So we're buying their supplies and then we're always open to new projects in town, too. So if there's anything that anyone can help,

correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't downtown Johntown, you're responsible for the lighted wreaths on the on the polls. Yes. Yes. And we love that. So we want [laughter] that. Yes. Yes. Thanks for helping. Yeah, we purchased them. Jack and his team put them up for us. [laughter] I can't I can't think of anything else. Does anyone else have any questions for Yeah, we appreciate what you're doing. Yeah, we really do. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for having me. And you're a great public. Thank you. MC. [laughter] Thank you. Okay. Next on the agenda, action on minutes. uh the February 2nd, 2026 special council meeting. Does anyone have any uh comment or want to make a motion on these?

A motion to approve. I'll second. Kyle Cook, yes. Duff Bar, yes. Nicole Shook, yes. Matthew Huggin, yes. Lonnie Barard, yes. Ryan Green, yes. Mayor Hollis, yes. And with that, we're going to move right into the speaker slips for citizens comments on matters not on the agenda. Teresa, do you want to call those out? Uh, first one I have is Todd Houston.

Yeah, I'll set it for three minutes. from you. I got my three minutes. Sean, I want to say thank you for everything you've done. Daryl can't be here. She's watching the grandkids, but she's doing the best, too. So, thanks for Thank you, Tom.

I came here 3 minutes. Word smith 3 minutes exactly. And I get here, I'm like, I'm going to throw it all out. It's just not how I usually operate. Um it [clears throat] seems like the start of this uh new council there seems to be at least in my impression a type of scorched earth policy. Uh we started off the year walking away from our our our water utility with our neighbors from Alexandria and Granville. Um that's you know that happens understands. Uh then we get this past week finding out that our city manager is departing under voluntary reasons which I don't quite understand. Um and he's spent countless hours building relationships with people in our city as we try to grow NKS, EMHT, our services for engineering and for uh planning and what do they think of this? My worry now is that we are preceded of scorcher policy and who's going to work with us? So, how much time I have left, I don't care. I have nothing else to say. About a minute 30. I want I'm giving my time back to you, the five of you that obviously felt didn't have confidence in Sean anymore. Please explain to me and my friends here why time is.

Thank you for your comments. got a minute 10 seconds left. Mayor Hollis, any words? No. President Green? No. Thank you. Got 57 seconds left. Anybody has inspiration to say something? [clears throat] No. If he has nothing else. I got 40 seconds. I got 40 seconds left. Councilman Bar, anything. I think Miss Hollis's statement

I've got three minutes. No, I'm talking about the be at the beginning of the meeting. That's fine. Thank you. Is that I've got 23 seconds. I I I will just remind the the community that remarks regarding motives are out of order.

It's not a motive. I just asking for some clarification cuz we don't [clears throat] have anything. That's why all these people are here. We have no answers. Have 7 seconds. Thank you for your seconds. Darl Warnett. Yes. Good evening. Uh, thanks for the time to to speak. Uh, first I want to actually recognize you, Mayor Hollis, and and Teresa for trying to make sure that there's always a chance for public comment, including during the discussion of resolutions. uh that's actually not required, but I appreciate that opportunity to provide you feedback in real time. But my reason for being here is actually to offer a constructive reminder that the purpose of the Ohio Open Meetings Act is at its core to make sure that the deliberations of this council are actually in front of the public. Uh not just the final votes and are visible and understandable to the public. uh the residents should be able to hear not only what the decision is but why the decision was made. [clears throat] In the first few meetings this year, one of the most significant and controversial issues was uh in regards to the waterou and the decision to leave that agreement with our adjacent communities. And during those meetings, several of the new council members spoke to having enough research and expertise for the [clears throat] readiness to vote, but no one explained why they were voting the way they did. And without that from the majority, it was unclear what the benefit was to us as Johntown community. And so that's

especially important when the council itself didn't seem aligned. That would be even more critical to understand the both the majority and minority rationale for the decision. It matters because the people in this room have access to far more organized information than us as average residents. and uh the information and reasoning are to be openly discussed during meetings. If not, it becomes very difficult for us as citizens to understand where we're going and why. When a board appears to quickly align on an outcome with public debate, it can unintentionally create concern that discussions may be happening outside of these meetings and that can lead to rumors and accusations about sunshine or walking quorums and none of us want that. We want to believe in the right way decisions are being made. So my encourage encouragement tonight is please use these meetings as the primary place for open respectful and sometimes even uncomfortable discussion. Clearly explain both the majority and minority viewpoints and the reasoning behind and preferably start with thatou exit. Help us understand that as a community. Doing so protects the integrity of the council, strengthens public trust and [clears throat] fully honors the letter and spirit of the open meetings. Thanks for your time. Thank you for your service to our community, especially you, sir.

Darl, I have I have a few things that I want to discuss with you. Uh I know you don't live in the city, but can you remind me what township you reside in? I am in Alexandria in uh uh Liberty. Liberty Township. Thank you. Okay. Um, and can you explain to me the importance or um what impact our decision has on Liberty Township or what your what your main concern is for Liberty Township?

Yeah, I I appreciate I'm actually not coming from the viewpoint of Liberty Township. I feel I'm a Johnstonian. Uh I've lived on 62 as as part of uh Licking Township. Um, and uh, like I'm part of this community. Uh, so like I'm here. I'm part of our GJPRD, our greater Johntown Parks and Recreation District. My kids go to Johntown schools. So, uh, I have no idea how it affects my house. I care about the future of this town. This is my home.

Okay. I just um there are some fact you know there are some facts that we have available right now to give and we are as a council we will prepare um you know a statement and once everything is completed we have to provide 30 days to withdraw from theou and then there are other like finale things that have to happen but um I do want to remind everyone the school was originally a part of theou and they withdrew May 12th of 2025 um also in an open public meeting without discussion unanimous vote um and and there was no recourse when that happened. Um what I do have that I would like to give to you is the the um comments from the EPA and for our facility plan application and I would love for you to go over that, get a little bit more information from that as as much as you can and I would if you can give Teresa your phone number and email address, I would love to follow up with you in like a week and answer any questions you have. Other than that, um there is a whole lot of information that um I mean I will tell you honestly we've and I can I can speak on my behalf, Sean's behalf, Donny's behalf. We've spent two years digging and overturning every rock like to try to come to some sort of you know, we put a lot of time into this. So that wasn't a motion that was made lightly at all. It was not a rushed motion. it that a lot of information and a lot of decision- making went into that motion. Um,

so so let me say I you may misinterpret. I'm actually not even judging the decision. I'm saying everything you just said. You have to tell us why you're right. I don't want to read this. I want to believe you. Three simple bullet points. I don't want to know where water goes after we use it. But I do know I'm asking for Here's the three simple bullet points for why this is best for jobs. is coming. As soon as we have those um precisely we will we will provide that. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Next I have a Tony Ashbrook.

Good evening council. Good evening community. I don't get out a lot so I'm looking forward to this. I'm here with my wife. We're uh we live down on 197 North Oregon. If you don't know where that is, that's where the Adams Middle School football field is. And now that they're going to be building a soccer field and a concession stand and putting lights up, um we've been working with the school as best we can, not to be an obstacle, but to be a support. In fact, we were just on the phone with them tonight due to some things. And once again, we're positive. It's about community. I've been here a long time. I've been through the system. My kids have been through the system. So, I want to be very clear tonight in my short amount of time that we are pro Johntown schools and we're pro community. However, um when you're building something like that, you got to look out for the community around the place. You just don't drop something in the middle of an old plate. That's a landlocked old piece of property down that way, if you know what I'm talking about. So, everybody's lived there. They've got roots there. And so when you put in a stadium with big lights and you rake all the trees out and all you got to do is go down 197 and look at my house. I you're going to see me in my kitchen doing dishes now. And I get it. I live by the field. I chose to do that. I just want to make it clear that when that happened and we've gone to zoning committees and we've been researching and once again working with the school, we felt that there was not a replacement of trees or landscaping along that fence line in the plans. And even though zoning ordinance 1183.09 09 requires it to do so. If you go down the other way by Johntown Point, the the the new homes that they put in, the nursing homes, if you look to the side, they got a really nice landscape safety thing there, which divides the community from the

buildings. Everybody wins and and that's the goal, right? That's all we're asking for in that community. Not just our home, but also the homes align that fence and the homes two roads down. Because when those lights turn on at 11:30 at night and they're still going, we used to live in Kyber Run. We could hear and watch the football game from Kyber Run at the high school. Can you imagine? I'm going to exaggerate a little bit, but I can walk out my front door now and tap tap the coach on his shoulder. That's how close the field's going to be to my front door. So you can imagine with the lights what that's going to do to that community. All we're asking and why I came tonight is to inform you of that if you didn't know and let you know we are active positive community members not just for ourselves and our property but for our surrounding neighbors. And we just think it's important that you know the zoning continues to work and we continue to work with the schools but that something has to be done. Um the brush was pulled out which we were very excited that it happened but they pulled trees that were much bigger than brush and now like I said when you go down it's just a rake field. So we just want to be positive with our community and see if we can both win. Thank you for your time. Thank you coach.

Thanks uh Bill Boance. [clears throat] Bill Boance, 4709 Sportsman's Club Road, Johnstown, outside the city limits on Sportsman's Club Road. I'm actually here for a selfish plug myself, but I'd be remiss if I didn't uh address what I learned this morning. I learned this morning that um your city manager uh last day on this for a meeting here is tonight. So, I wanted to address that. Um let me be clear, this has nothing to do with the JAG with you pulling out of theou that's your business. But I do want to thank Shawn and I want to say a few words. My com comments are specifically focused on Shawn and my experience working with him over the years. As a trustee in your neighboring township of Liberty Township, I've had countless opportunities to work and interact with Shawn. [clears throat] Shawn has always been willing to pick up the phone or meet face to face on any topic. We have had some tough conversations and we haven't always agreed, but from those interactions, I will tell you that Shawn has always had Johntown's best interest at heart. The schools, the city, it's always been about Johntown. Um, Sean has always been open, honest, and professional. John, I've enjoyed working with you, and I wish you only the best in your future endeavors. Thank you. And now for my selfish plug. Again, I'm Bill Bugans. Um, I'm running for L King County Commissioner. I've [clears throat] lived in the community for nearly 40 years. My wife Melody and I raised our six children on a small farm outside of Johnstown on Sportsman's Club Road. We love our rural way of life. I am an elected official and I'm entering my third term as Liberty Township trustee. I have over 30 years of corporate leadership experience managing teams of over 750 resources with budgets over hund00 million. I'm

also a small business owner and I own my own um uh real estate brokerage. I've worked at the county level on an initiative such as the framework project that concluded in 2023 and I've been asked to serve on the county comprehensive planning committee which will commence towards the end of this month. I'm a lifelong uh conservative Republican. I am a defender of life, liberty, and our second amendment rights. As your county commissioner, I will serve proactively. I will listen to all sides. research the topic and make decisions that are in the best interest of the community. I will work to balance economic growth with preservation of our rural character. I will work to collaborate with the jurisdictions to ensure your input is heard prior to making decisions that impact our community. I respectfully ask for your vote in the upcoming Republican primary. I have about 5,000 of these and a bunch of hundred signs. So, if you'd like to give one, I'd be happy to give you one. Thank you. reset this. Sorry. [clears throat]

Sorry. This isn't really easy to reset if the time doesn't work. Give me just a moment. You're fine.

Maybe It's met his quota and up here. He gets tired. All right, I might just keep time on my Oh, there it goes. Okay. All right, we'll reset. The next uh slip I have is Justin Hartfield. I'm just going to say what Daryl said, only less good. Here we go.

All right. I'm Justin Hartfield. In uh January, the council chose to withdraw from the municipal utility coalition. This was not an issue I had paid any attention to, but the manner in which this council chose to withdraw concerned me. I have a few questions that I am requesting. I guess not now, but at some point, ideally now, um, council would answer, "What benefits to Johnson are there in withdrawing from the municipal utility coalition? What benefits were there to withdrawing at that specific time?" Did seem a little rushed. Not saying you guys weren't educated, just watching rush. What disadvantages were there to remaining in the municipal utility collection coalition? Um, is a connection between Greenville, Alexandria, and John's Towns water system still being considered? From my background, my understanding is this is good for redundancy between the the systems. Um, what would that cost in total? I assume this has been worked out. And what um how much of that cost would have been borne by Johntown itself? Um and then um has council like all the members ever would like to know if they've been briefed by the utility coal coalition by licking regional water [clears throat] by the county commissioners. I mean all the interested parties I would hope that you guys have discussed this with all these people. And then as for myself you know I we all have connections right? So just to be blatant my aunt is Melissa Hartfield. She's the mayor of Granville. is extremely invested in this. At the same time, I have done work for and value Southwest Licking now from Regional Water. So, I see what they provide and I see the service they provide and the value it adds. What I would like to know from you guys is why you made the

decisions that you made so I can understand what you did. And as of right now, I don't really know if I like what you did or you did. I don't like what you did. I just don't have that information and that's what I'm requesting from you all. And I think it would be good if you know I know Donnie assumes he's still in favor of it to you know give a rundown of what it was and maybe somebody who voted against it to give a rundown of what the coalition is just you know as members of community so we can compare that and understand it because it is a bit opaque right you see municipal utility coalition or whatever it exact name is and it's not it's not something that just pops for you so that's it for me thank you Thank you.

Thank you.

Might be easy to run down. Okay. [laughter] I have a speaker slip from Nicole Shook. Thank you. Thank you all for coming tonight. Thank you for coming off the community. I'll make this brief tonight. It's just not about one person or one vote. It's about process, leadership, and direction of our city. I want to be very clear. I do not agree with the process majority of this council used to get us here. It felt rushed. It lacked transparency. that lacked collaboration and it did not reflect the kind of steady, thoughtful governance the residents of Johntown deserves. Decisions of this magnitude should never feel careless or reckless. They should be deliberate, transparent, and rooted in what is best for the entire community, not personalities, not politics, and not outside pressures. Because whether we want to acknowledge it or not, there are outside forces paying very close attention to Jonestown. There are interests that would love to influence how we grow, how we develop, and how decisions get made. That exactly why steady community focused leadership matters in such this this moment and I'm concerned about the collateral damage we may have experienced already when decisions are made outside the council chambers.

Miss Shook, I'm going to remind you that um you cannot interrupt me. I have remarks regarding motives of other council members are out of order and I will exercise that right to tell you you are out of order.

I'll finish. Thank you. And I'm concerned with the collateral damage experience affects one person. It affects staff morale. It affects institutional knowledge and affects trust inside city hall, in the community, and affects partners, investors, and the stability of our city. Those impacts don't always make headlines. They show up quietly in projects that slow down in opportunities that never return and talented people that choose not to stay and residents who start to lose faith in their government. That should concern us all. It should motivate us all to start paying closer attention to how decisions are made and not just what decisions are made. Process because process matters, transparency matters, and trust matters. Sean understood that. He has served the city as council member, as mayor, and a city manager. That kind of experience and institutional knowledge is rare. And throughout his years of service, he consistently put John south first. You may not agree with everything, every decision he made. None of us will ever agree on things. With his dedication to his community and his leadership, steady leadership cannot be denied. Shawn deserved a process that reflected the respect and has shown the city. And more importantly, the residents of Johnstown deserved a process that was open, transparent, and collaborative. But despite my disagreements, my commitment remains the same. The people of this city have left me to move Johntown forward, to stand for transparency, to protect the integrity of our processes, and to make decisions that serve the long-term interest of this community. We have important work ahead of us, and that must be rooted in collaboration, respect, and a shared commitment that is best for Johntown. So, while I continue to speak up when I believe the process is wrong, I will also continue to show up and do the work and fight for the people who put the trust in me. And Sean, thank you. Thank you for your years of service, your leadership, and for always putting Johntown first. Thank you.

[clears throat] Okay, I have one more speaker slip. Donnie Baror,

you need to go to the podium. I do not check the charter. I've checked the law firm. We do not have to. We can still intersect.

Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority. This is a quote from Francis Bacon, an English philos philosopher and statesman. Bacon believed that authority often protects itself. Institutions can lie to preserve power and truth emerges only when facts are tested over time. As a result, Bacon shifted the world away from decisions based on tradition, authority, and hierarchy and toward decisions grounded in facts, evidence, and verification. I speak from public comment today with the intent to move us as a board in the same direction. I struggle with the fact that this board chose to isolate board members that might descent in efforts to create a city manager vacancy. The process lacked a search for facts as evidenced by not one of us contacting our attorneys that represent over 30 different municipalities to ask them how Mr. Stannard is doing with this job. Not one of us contacted MKSK or EMH&T who work with him daily and asked what he could do better or rate him against other city managers. Not one of us contacted other city managers who work with Mr. Stained and asked how he is as a city manager. And because I was excluded from this process, I didn't know I should be doing these things for us.

Donnie, I'm going to pause you there and remind you to confine your remarks to policy. Being a council member forces you I there's no accusations. I said us. Being a council member forces you to look at decisions making as a whole and not as pieces. We should never go into a process of having your mind made up without facts that can be weighed and discussed. Our new council has already done this two times since the start of the point of order. That is enough.

Two times too many of these constituency that elected us to this council and we owe it to them to be better. Let me make it clear. In my opinion, what we have done here to force a city manager vacancy will set this city back years. At a time when we can no longer move backward, Mr. Stain has worked tirelessly in the city to protect the city from those on the outside that want to profit from our land. He has stepped up to development and made some in licking county angry because he looked out for Johntown and the vision of the community that these members and council collectively. He has been the last stop. Instead of rewarding him for his service with continued trust, we forced him out in the hopes of finding someone better. Let me make one thing clear. Time will tell the truth. And I committed to help make sure that ending the story is a story of which our community can be proud. To do so, we must be better than what has gotten us here. Members of this council, including myself, need to do some deep thinking and decide if we are representing and doing the best for this community. We must stop alienating board members, and that goes for me, with minority perspectives and instead strive for diversity of thought. We must collect facts to have proper debate and evaluation without the cloud of outside influences. If you remember nothing from tonight, remember this quote. Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority. And that's why transparency matters. Because time eventually tells the full true story. Let's be better so this story ends better for Johntown. Sean, thank you for your service and you truly deserve better. [applause] [applause] I did receive one more speaker slip. Rob Platt.

[clears throat] I'll just remind Rob three minutes. Thank you, ma'am.

Good evening, Mayor Hollis, President Green, members of council. My name is Rob Flatt and I serve as the administrator for Jersey Township. I'm here tonight on the board of trust. On behalf of the board of trustees, we'd first like to congratulate those of you who were successful in being elected to a council seat. Some of you we have not met, others we have met, but regardless, please feel free to reach out to any of our trustees or myself. Should you have anything you'd like to discuss, I do realize that this is a public comment section as opposed to Q&A. So, I've formatted my comments accordingly. Over the recent few years, previous councils have been fed misinformation and falsehoods that have created extreme animosity and mistrust of your city by Jersey Township. With regard to the waste of time and money that's been called JAG and the subsequent draft facilities plan, the sad reality is it did not have to happen. It didn't. JAG and the thousands of dollars that have been spent did not have to happen. The county commissioners agreement allows for assignment to third party providers. It never had to happen. Your previous administration spent hundreds of thousands of dollars seeking an unwanted and unneeded change of the water quality management plan or 208 plan when the county commissioner's agreement could have been utilized as it has been amended. Instead of a combative and deceptive attempt to force unwanted and unneeded change, there simply needed to be a meeting of the affected parties to come to a reasonable solution. But that path was never sought. Yes, there were meetings between JAG and licking regional beginning no earlier than October 2023. But those were not completely the correct parties to be in those discussions and certainly not all in the room had the best interest of all the communities in mind. What I would like to express tonight though is that we are encouraged by recent actions of this new council and our and our excitement to work with the new administration. We would like to

thank Mayor Hollis for taking the time and effort to meet with Jersey Township Trustee Dan Wetzel and seek ways that our communities can better communicate, better work together, and better plan together. Jersey was happy to step in and provide assistance during the recent snowstorm in which we understood the city had a truck out of service and was generally in need of assistance during to do snow removal. It is that kind of collaboration and sharing of services that our community should be engaging in. As a follow-up to that, the Jersey trustees have implemented a template shared services agreement that I'd be happy to share if we were to use that in the future. I'd also like to share that as part of Jersey CEDA with the city of New Albany, we have engaged the planning permit of MBBJ and we will be starting a master plan process for Jersey. We always include the school districts in our resonings. We would be and and we will do that with this uh uh seed of process with MBBJ. We would be happy if the city would also be willing to put some uh somebody from your council on that as well so that we can have their input. My message tonight is clear. Our community should be working together and planning together, not trying to force the will of one community over another community. Thank you.

Thank you. I actually have a question for you since you're I have a question for you. I I will say again, I don't see these as Q&A, but I feel free. I'm always I came up here for public comment. So I and I provided my comments. Madam Mayor, point of order. Does do our rules allow council to ask questions? And comment should be directed to the chair. Thank you. I I don't mean anybody in disrespect. I'm always happy to grab coffee or jump on a phone call, but I So, do you want to ask your question to Tiffany? Yeah, I ask my question to Tiffany. So, have um Jersey Township um have they dropped their lawsuit against Jonestown yet, Mr. [clears throat] PL?

As a as a matter of law and rule, no, I can say that they they haven't. I don't see how that's relevant here, but I just there is a pending lawsuit that anybody can look up in the common police court of county uh where Jersey has filed a lawsuit against the city of Johntown. village of town Alexandria and the village of Grandville that is continuing on. Thank you for You're very welcome. Thank you.

That was the last speaker I have. Anybody is there anyone else who would like to make public comment? Seeing none, we'll move on with the agenda uh to council committee reports. First is the school district liaison committee. Uh they met on February 5th, 2026. And I was not present for that. I'm not sure who the chair is, whether it's Donnie or Jeff. Is it? It's you. It's me. Oh, sorry. [laughter] I wasn't there.

Uh we we had Jeff there was it was just a meeting um to talk go over some different plans. Uh we talked about um with the new facilities uh things like that. So, it was just a meeting just to get acquainted and go and start forward for this year. A little bit of an update. Um, uh um I'd say the highlights were some renderings of the um their new multi-purpose building going that will be built and open I think in January of 27 and then the North Oregon site um renderings of the stadium and things. So, I think there's a little bit of work to do based on Mr. Rashbrook's comments, okay,

that we can follow up with as well too.

Hollis, if I can add just a little bit. Um, and I think committee members are put on the spot. So, that's uh that's my time to to queue in and help out. So, uh there was discussion that um school board member Frasier uh had brought forth. He did a wonderful summary on some concerns related to uh school district crosswalks and uh so there was a lot of collaborative discussion on what we can do in partnership with the schools as well as the city utilizing the authority that the police have but also sometimes the resources that the school may have uh to implement those. So we're going to continue to dive into the uh crosswalk uh associated with the high school as well as the elementary. And since we have a number of people here, I'll shamelessly plug. We are getting a traffic signal at the Leafyale 37 intersection. So hopefully that will resolve some of the crosswalk issues related to school safety at that particular intersection. So much of the the conversation will start to be with the high school and the intermediate school. Uh probably the Concord piece. So, uh, there was a direction, uh, we'll have this discussion again with a larger council, uh, if you so choose, but to have, uh, potentially a engineering firm give us a proposal on what it would cost to look at, uh, assessing the the crosswalks and what implementated improvements could be made such as bumpouts uh, to shorten that crossing distance as well as flashers. and uh chief had also pointed out uh some of the necessary markings on the roadways to delineate that. So again to summarize looking to hopefully make that a safer crosswalk and in conjunction with the school and I know superintendent's here tonight. So if he has anything to add from that meeting certainly able to do so and I'm putting him on the spot because it's the last time I'll get to. So uh if he doesn't have anything to add I'll at least get that in. I know we um it was at safety and service also, but we was the stop sign over here discussed also on

Chambers Way. It was we brought that up ahead of time um actually prior to the meeting with the school and uh they've agreed to I think evaluate it and make this necessary um signage installed, but it was briefly discussed. So, yeah. Okay. Thank you. Um, next the rules committee met on February 9th. Um, and I don't believe a chair was elected at that meeting. Um, anyone that was in attendance want to give the highlights?

I can give a highlight on it. Um, we did meet on the 9th. I think we're going to appoint a chair at next meeting whenever that's going to be determined. Um, kind of just a few [snorts] basic things that we went over. Uh, first was social media policy for the city. We don't have a written social media policy for cityrun websites. So that or Facebook pages. So that'd be the Johntown, Ohio page or even um our Johntown Police page. So we're waiting on legal counsel to get back on with us on that particular thing. We did touch on uh independent council member pages, but for the majority of the time, those are usually looked at as a personal page, especially if they have an impression on them, if they're run as a politician page and or a public figure page. there's a um they can have a um disclaimers on them that they don't speak for all of council. So any of our independent opinions are strictly that an independent opinion and not speaking on behalf of the city seems to be where it goes across the state of Ohio with those. Um Donnie, you can chime in here. Is there anything else that we discussed in that rules? That was pretty much that was it on the rules committee. So until we hear back from our legal counsel, we probably won't meet again until that

until we have kind of a rough draft of what we want to look at for December. And then you'll bring that back to all the council. Correct. Okay. Uh next was uh design review board met on February 10th. Heather, would you like to come up and give an update? Um we had one application and that was for the demolition of the um equipment and building on track street for the mill. Um we voted to uh move forward with the demolition. That was it. The whole mill's coming down. The equip the equipment you're referring to the silos. The silos. Do we know when that will start?

Uh no. Not yet. We haven't got the contract. There's some contract. Are you sure, Terry? [laughter] We don't have We don't have insurance on it. I know. They won't insure anymore. Yeah. Trying to just protect our butts from the kids that climb up along the way. Yeah. Yeah. More kids. Yeah, I'm sure. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Uh, next is planning and zoning met on February 10th. Uh, I almost said Ryan, but Kyle. Uh we just basically explored further the light manufacturing district, how we can better utilize it and update it so that we get good businesses in there. Uh we should hope after the next meeting to have something to present to council. Okay, that's good. Um was that the only thing you guys That was the only manufacturing. Okay. Um next is the city management oversight committee. We met on February 13th and um Donnie, do you want to give any insight on this one?

Um we met with the firm. Uh they are going to start uh beginning our search for a city manager. Uh they've worked with many communities in the area. uh they will they'll start interviewing stakeholders uh that the city has designated including all of council members uh to get our outlook on things. Uh they went through the whole process of that search. Uh it we're not expecting to hear a lot from them at the beginning or at the end but they are working on getting things started. Um we did talk to him about an interim city manager. Um at the time they had no one uh in their bullpen. Um they have replied an email that they have two people interested in filling as an interim city manager for the time being.

Does anyone on council have questions about that? I know that was something that we needed to bring back to all of council um after that meeting hearing a timeline to when that inter manager could possibly take place. We're supposed they talked about having a meeting on Friday, a phone call with them on Friday to discuss um individuals. I think they they were still reaching out to individuals um but until Friday we won't know anything. Okay. Thank you. uh facilities committee met on February 13th and uh

we had continuing conversation with the representation from the American Legion on their proposed amendment to their lease. We continue to find some good common ground of of uh working together so that they can stay in the existing building and continue to plan for their expansion as well as um kind of protecting the or mitigating the city's risk. We talked about the insurance that's on there and and to look to make sure it's adequate and appropriate. Um, so we hope we are going to meet on the 3rd of March and from there we hope to have something going to council later that day where we can recommend the recommend uh approving the amendment to the lease. Um, I feel that the committee is pretty confident we'll get that done um and working with the Legion. Is it possible to have um the lease sent to all of council? I don't know if everyone else has it. I have not had a chance to see that yet. So,

we talked about that in our meeting. So, I know that there were some red lines that had to be revised, they'll be coming back to us, but I would imagine um that the contract that makes it to facilities commission can go through the rest of the council. That was the hope was after we would meet before the next council meeting, we would get those red lines taken care of and up to Yeah. so that everybody can have a chance to go through it. Okay. Council can definitely get a copy of that. It may not be the final final draft, but you're referring to the original lease. I have not seen a copy of any of the lease. So, yeah, I would just like All we have is the original lease [clears throat] and then we're working on um Okay. Thank you, Teresa.

So, we'll want to, you know, legal review and other things. That's what we're going to be working through to um get that on the March 3rd meeting. Yeah. Okay. Anything else from facilities? No, just looking forward to seeing what the Legion does with everything. It'll be good. Yeah. Uh, next, finance committee met this evening um before council. Uh, Donnie,

uh, we met tonight. We discussed audit findings, uh, the audit findings from 2020 and 2021. Um, as we know, we they're backed up. Um, we're expecting the 2022 and 2023 to come out, but we reviewed the audit findings. Uh there was nothing uh with our books that was the numbers being wrong like you know we're millions of dollars short or too much. Um it was just how things were reported. Uh so we're looking at making some changes um segregation of duty issues uh things like that just to strengthen our controls so that there are no issues in the future. And then Mr. Liot brought up the J2 well. Um I think most of council was there for that. Uh the J2 well is down. Uh they spent 45,000 so far to get it back up and running right now. It's going to require another 65,000. Um and from that point, we may have to redo J2 uh before we pump put a new pump in it. Um and that could be as much as 400,000. Um we are going to require to have four wells. The J4 is being drilled right now. Uh and we do need all four online. Um, but what we can do is with the J2 well the cost if we have to go the full 400,000 that can be incorporated in our loan for the full water plant so that it's not payable just right now but it'd be spread over with the rest of the water plant.

I had a question for finance [clears throat] and I didn't get to ask it because there was you guys were had a lot to talk about. So, um I was um asking if finance could possibly be able to uh track all expenses for the city manager search in a separate I'm not sure how that would work, but where like every expense that was that has been taken so we could easily access it and see is there is there a way to do that. I'm requesting it. I think there's a way to track anything that we spend on specific if requested.

I'd like that separate though because um we had such a we had such a misinformation about the JAG and where the money came from and what was spent. Was it taxpayer money? Was it enterprise money? And it just wasn't, you know, I just feel that with the city manager search, I think we should be all expenses in a separate spreadsheet out so that it can be easily tracked. I couldn't agree more. I think we should do that with every single thing we spend. I as well. That's great. Dave, you got that. Thank you.

Uh, anything else from finance? Matt, do you have anything from finance? I' I'd like to make a comment on just to be smart in that asking the finance director, not that I disagree with the search, but asking the finance department to track every single thing and report out on it could be quite cumbersome. So whatever we instruct the finance director and his team to track, let's make sure we have [clears throat] good discussion of what's appropriate, why um and and what the objective is in the end. I think you're saying special things track maybe not every

exact. search is a contract for it's 20,000 I believe or was it 20 or 24,000 for the contract for the search um and could potentially the additional cost could be 12 to $1,500 for um background checks and additional marketing materials if we need to do that. So that is just a flat rate for the search and um that is outlined in our previous council meeting minutes I I believe. So, but there's also attorney fees, uh, she'll put Sean's compensation agreement, um, additional compensation for any staff that might occur in her manager. You said that would be separate from that's what I'm saying, but it all fits into the category of the search. Like all costs incurred because of this.

Did we cover safety and service? Not yet. Not yet. I'm sorry. To your point, I feel like we should probably send that conversation back to finance and you guys can figure out the best path forward to um make sure that we are tracking expenses. Sounds good. Is that okay? Are you guys okay with that with finance? Um next is safety and service. They

we covered in our last meeting. Um so we alternate with finance. So tonight was finance, last meeting was safety and service. So, we will have our next meeting. More than likely, we will discuss the J2 well um to get some more feedback on that as that develops. Uh we'll also follow up on the stop sign and uh some other outlying issues. And more than likely, we will bring up roads and infrastructure again um to to have further conversation there. Next is uh director reports. Chief,

you will see a new cruiser out. Um council allowed me to purchase a new cruiser. Uh it is on our on the road. It took 6 weeks. I will our vendor um PAR and uh you should see it out in the community and I will be selling some point hopefully in the next uh four to 6 weeks. I'll have that vehicle on gov deals. Does your gov deal sales go back to your budget or back to the general fund? And [snorts] so we do return it to the department. Okay. Yay. Gives incentive for directors.

Keep tough acumen out. Keep them washed. Yeah. Thanks, Chief. Does anyone else have any questions for the chief on his report? Thank you. Next on the agenda, table legislation, we have none. Public hearings of legislation, we have none. Introduction of legislation, we have none. Uh, next is discussion for participation in the water reuse association. Sean, would you like to give us a

Sure. It was requested. I had put it in a previous manager's uh weekly update uh about the water reuse association and it was requested by uh Councilwoman Shook that it be discussed and put on the agenda. So, here it is today. Before you talk about the association fees and things, can you just give like a highlight like just a little recap of what exactly water reuse does cuz it is it's pretty cool, but um it is kind of cool if you're weird and into water and sewer like [laughter] yeah

I throw myself into that category. So water reuse the conceptual piece and then I'll get to the the kind of what it means to the Johnstown in the state of Ohio. The conceptual piece and it's going to sound kind of disgusting is you take the effluent uh the discharge from your water treatment facility after it's been cleaned significantly. Um and with this particular application, it would be cleaned uh a couple additional steps depending on the use. So there's multiple applications that could be used. One is for industrial use. So, in order for industry uh to be able to do some of their manufacturing processes, they don't necessarily need portable water, but they need uh water source either for cooling or some general manufacturing where they'll scrub it. Uh and then obviously after they get done with it, put it into a discharge after they've cleaned it. Um so, with us being at the headarters of of kind of the region, uh our our potential for for gallage is somewhat limited. So, this would be something that we should we should definitely uh pay attention to. Uh so that we could potentially use some of our current effluent again, what goes into the creek uh and instead of just putting it into the creek, maybe there's a possibility that we could use that for some manufacturing applications. So, right now we have a 3 million gallon plant being built. Uh our well field is is at capacity at 3 million gallons. So, uh having additional capacity may be challenging uh again where we're at. So, if we can gather another 2 million gallons from the effluent and be able to utilize that for manufacturing, there's other, like I said, other applications that can be utilized. Some are for uh irrigation for for water. Um golf courses, they actually do some of that uh over in Delaware County. Um if you've ever been over to Delco Water Systems, uh they have a a golf course nearby. They have actually utilized some of the uh some of the effluent out of their particular system. So that's at a high level uh of what the water reuse concept is and

where it applies to the state of Ohio is the state of Ohio 3 years ago. Um in order to start uh really taking the the regulatory piece of this uh and implementing it they needed to form uh an association water reuse board. So we looked to outside states and uh there was already uh water reuse association in existence invited them to become uh into Ohio and since then they needed five communities uh to actually get the organization implemented into Ohio uh Tiffany who's since moved on to Ohio EPA uh reached out and uh Johntown was one of the first members of that particular organization. So, uh, it had borne out of the need, uh, for our potential water, but, uh, again with all of the state of Ohio, Columbus is now involved, Toledo is now involved, Cincinnati is now involved with this initiative, and a variety of others have also started to be in part, uh, of the organization. So, it's a growing organization. Again, it was just started three years ago as far as its chapter in Ohio. Um, they obviously need funding. So the the cost

a lot of that was with the development of all the data centers and to help with the the capacity requirements for

so that was part of the the conceptual piece with the data center starting to utilize a tremendous amount of water uh trying to to find resources associated with that. The technology with data centers and the cooling of that has changed significantly over the last 3 years. So now a lot of the data centers are air cooled which again uh puts a heavy demand on our our energy grid. [laughter] So the resources are being um pulled in parts u by different different entities whether it be water or the energy sector. So trying to balance that and I would imagine they're going to have continued technology that's going to increase the efficiencies. I think they're looking at uh different cooling mechanisms and I won't bore you with all those weird details associated with that. But just as another plug, collages here in Johntown is actually going to be air cooled. absolutely will not need any of our uh any of our current water supply other than just for its regularities. Uh and being our limited supply, I would suggest that moving forward we we utilize um air cooled uh if if there is a desire to continue with any additional data centers. But uh with all that said, the fee associated with this for a year is 11 uh50, so $1,150. Um we've had Rick attend some of those meetings. uh he's our sewer superintendent. Uh we've had Jack uh be a part of those. I've been a part of those meetings. I will say over the last eight months it's fallen off the radar just because other items have come up. So if we do want to be a part of this organization, I would suggest that we identify either Jack or Rick to really engage with uh the regular meetings that happen. They have a variety of subcommittees. I was on a couple. Um and again with just all the other things that uh are happening in our atmosphere, it's been hard to really plug in.

I believe Sunberry is making an initiative. They actually may be one of the first to do the tertiary filters and all the things identified uh that they need to do for for some of their actual usage. So uh we've talked about it with Jacob's engineering whenever we're designing the current wastewater treatment facility. So we have that in mind that if uh if we want to implement that they're they're securing the space uh for that equipment to be put in. Uh not that we have to pull the the trigger on that. Now there is a cost associated with with it but the thought is uh if we can sell the uh the capacity then we could obviously do an ROI on the investment for the infrastructure

that could potentially give us 2 million gallons could additionally uh provide an additional two or potentially three just depending on your total effluent but probably two is more yeah I mean right now we probably safe to yield out only around a half million but as Johntown grows the wastewater effluent will And then to meet the treatment, we would, as Sean said, we would have to add additional treatment, which would be a tertiary filter at the end. And it's probably about a million dollar investment.

And all things into comparison, you've got a plant that could be 63 million. Uh the that's for the sewer. With the water uh facility that we're constructing, we're looking at right around 40 million. So, an additional million to grab an additional two million gallons. Um, I'm not having to sell you too hard on this, I hope. Um,

so the equipment, if it were installed for a million dollars, say has the ability to go up to 2 million gallons to to depending on our effluent. So, how we had the add as many tertiary filters as we so have a little further engineering study. we see what our current ethan u permit says which we're meeting without the tertiary filter right now but it has to be a little bit cleaner if we're going to use it depending on who wants to use it. So we've saved the space for actually a couple tertiary filters if needed.

So if we do decide to go down that path hold back right now is the quantity. We don't have enough quantity to handle any big usage. Now, the upgraded sewer plant will take us to 2.4. We're at 1.2. We'll go to 2.4, which then again can eventually go to 4.8. So, we would have to match a factory what their requirements are on the on how clean the water has to be to run through their system. And then we would base how many tertiary voters we would need to reach that level.

The only last thing that I'll add is is I I don't want to give false sense of hope. The million dollars is for the construction of the facility. Then you have to run the lines to wherever you're going to run it. So strategically uh recommending you would want to implement a certain area uh associated with it to try to run lines everywhere throughout the city of Johnstown for you know a manufacturing district on the north or the east or the west. uh is probably going to be a little bit more challenging and not uh not quite as cost-effective. So um again trying to identify a certain space where you're going to run that main line uh then branch off from that uh in shorter distances would be your most cost effective method if you wanted to utilize this. So that's something council will have to consider moving forward where they want that if they want to make the investment. And then obviously half a million gallons right now the ROI may not be worth it but as we start to grow uh then then we can consider maybe utilizing that. But water reuse association there's different committees that that walk through some of this uh again having Jack or Rick associated with that I think could prove beneficial and uh and hopefully that $1,100 commitment uh would bring some type of value back to the city at some point. So, we would need to, I believe, I think it's appropriated already within the budget, but obviously, um,

need direction. Need direction. Um, since we hadn't had much discussion and and concerns over water and sewer, just wanted to make sure we had everything through you all just to make sure everybody's uh, I think the conversation. I think it's good conversation. I want to hear more about it as I'm sure people would. kind of lengthy for tonight, but um something in safety and service I think this would be appropriate for that. Let's take it there and if everybody's good with that, we'll hear more about it. Is is there a timeline on um the dues were were needed to be paid about 3 weeks ago, four weeks ago? Um so if if there is direction from council um whether to remain in the association or recre that kind of

we can make some type of motion tonight if you so choose. Uh if you make that motion, that'll direct Dave and myself to then cut a check and and then also be a part of the association and then get Jack or Rick connected with uh with those meetings. Can we vet it through safety and service first? Um we can that'll be another two weeks, right? I make a motion to go back into the to go ahead and renew the dues. Does anyone else have feelings one way or the other? So that obligates us for a year. I'll second. Nicole Shook, yes. Matthew Huggin, yes. Donnie Barard, yes. Ryan Green, yes. Mayor Hollis,

yes. Kyle, yes. Jeff Bar, yes. And Jack, um, can you, whether it's you or Rick, can you designate who would be more appropriate for because depending on who's got what meetings and where we're at on upgrades, he might be busy. I would go if I'm in a water plant upgrade meeting, he he would go there. I I don't think we have to designate a person as long as our representative is in the meeting.

Perfect. You're on top of it. That's all we need to know. Okay. Um see, next is other business. Does anyone else have any questions about anything? Okay. Uh, we're going to move on to other business. Miss Shook. Yeah, I have one thing. So, we received um Sean's um last city manager weekly update and I have a question and I look back at my email. I'm not great at Outlook. Um, it's not not my favorite. Um, so I lose things in there sometimes. Number 13 on that Gmail anytime you guys are running Gmail.

Yeah, I prefer Gmail. I really do. I can find my documents in Gmail. I have a hard time in Outlook. It says on here, "Continued compiling transition materials at council's request to support continuity operations. Five pages were provided on Thursday and additional materials are in progress." I don't see an email requesting those and I don't see an email with the five pages. So, did I miss something? A council member had reached out uh requesting some transitional material um again for the for the continuity of things. Um I had compiled some of that. I'm still in process and trying to get the rest of it. On Thursday, I

gave the uh information uh about five pages worth. Again, trying to to give as much download as I can through uh through written format so that uh so that you'll have some of those uh informative pieces so that you can move forward on some of the projects. um HR, uh kind of the outstanding checklist items, engineering, um just the variety of things, meetings, contacts, all the all the above. All things can be sent to all council. Yes. Could I certainly can that be resent to all of council, please? I will. Thank you. So, I appreciate it.

Anything else, Miss Shook? No, that's it. Thank you, Don. We're going to bet. Thank you. We have nothing. Jeff, do you want to go? I just want to take the opportunity. JYAA winter sports are kind of wrapping up uh this weekend. So, I just want to shout out to all the volunteer coaches and parents involved to uh give kids in our community a positive place to participate and stay active over the winter. So, thanks to all those volunteer coaches. Sean, good luck in your future endeavors uh with your new organization. I'm sure you'll serve them well. Um, thank you for all you've done. Appreciate your time. Um, Mr. Bernard,

nothing. Ryan, Legion Pancake Breakfast this weekend on a lighter note. So, expect to see you all there. What's that? Yes. So, make sure that you're taking care of these community events. They depend on it for the money and and it's good just to see people anyway. So, make sure that you meet there. I appreciate everybody who came out tonight. Means it's important to you and I hope to continue to see everybody and and that these issues are important to them. So, thank you.

Uh the only thing I I just before we adjourn, I want to again thank our city manager for his service to Johntown. Um leadership leadership transitions are never simple and they're rarely easy. Um, but this city city is bigger than just one moment and um we'll move forward and I wish you the best of luck. I uh the 911 calls I'm sure we wish we would be able to make. Um but I also want to thank our residents um for engagement this evening. Um civic participation matters and even when we disagree, it matters. It's important. Um and honestly, especially when we disagree, it's important to come and speak and give us an opportunity to debate and um explain decisions that, you know, I think the conversation that happened with the coalition tonight is is a perfect example of um of that. We have a lot to say. There's a lot that happens here and there's not usually a lot of people here. So, um we welcome the opportunity to engage with all of you on a regular basis. Um, this council will continue focusing on the work ahead and long long-term success of our community. And with that, I make a motion to adjurnn. Mor

Sean. Yes. Go ahead. There's one actual formal item of business. I will hand this to you to see if you have a desire for that. Okay. If not, that's fine.

Publicly. Okay. Um, if you don't have a desire, I can I can give a closing. It's not my call, but I will um we do have the option in the um separation agreement with Mr. Stannard to extend uh his resignation date to February 27th. That is something that uh council would need to discuss and make a motion and vote on tonight. Um are you okay with me discussing the the other piece of um extended services that we have? Yeah, I would be able to commit to an additional

week kind of at this point. Um, so if council has the desire as Mayor Hollis and we discussed this this on the phone and with all the things happening tonight, it's easy to forget and so I wanted to give her a note uh to make mention of it if she desired. So um again, I could commit to the 27th. It is if it is your desire uh for me to continue until the 27th past that we would need to reassess it uh at that time. But if not, that's that's fine as well. um happy to serve or uh I think the 20th is is I think my 21st is my scheduled last day but then there's contractual services uh that can also continue. So trying to help with the continuity and

just to clarify the contractual services could extend it till the 27th. Correct. Correct. Those could also continue.

[snorts]

We do have to um pass this as a motion. Correct. Because it's in the agreement. Um there would need to be some type of mutual agreement discussion. uh you all won't meet uh again until after the 21st. So if if there is no desire that's fine. Uh it can end on the 21st. Um but then you won't have a meeting again till March 3rd. So again, totally up to you all. Does anyone have any comments?

I don't know. So, I'll break the silence. Okay. Thank you. If you would allow me, mayor. Yes. Thank you. With the council's permission, if I could make a couple comments, they're not adversarial, and I'll try to get through them if they're better than I did. With your permission. Yes.

I wrote it down. Hopefully, I'll stick to the script. Um, just want to thank everyone for coming tonight. Um, my wife is been a rock. Um, what I've put her through, I can only imagine and I'm forever grateful for her to doing that. And so her rallying people here, not for adversary, but just to show support means a tremendous amount to me. I am deeply grateful and honored for the trust placed in me for the opportunity to serve this community. This community has shaped me and made me who I am today. And I continue to be humbled by the opportunity to serve and get back to the place I call home. I went to a recent graduation party and there was a quote on the wall. It said, "If it doesn't challenge you, won't change you." I think I've had to wrestle with that for the last three years because this has been a challenging job. [snorts] When I stepped into this role, I understood the challenges ahead. Together, we worked through a particular complex period and focused on building a strong, durable foundation for the city's future. Serving as the city manager has been demanding, but has also been deeply rewarding, meaningful, and work that I am grateful to have been a part of. I remain proud of the accomplishments that we've achieved together and I cherish the friendships and the relationships and memories made during this chapter of my life. You all have a special place in my heart. Thank you. And that's it. [applause]

[applause] With that, I will make a motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? Bye. Bye.