City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. We will call to order the Committee of the Whole. We'll first move to approve the minutes of the September 28th meeting without the necessity of a reading. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. All right, we have one item on the agenda tonight. We have the Lakewood Public Art Master Plan proposal that's been worked on for a good part of a year, I think. Great. And we have folks from the planning team here to talk about us. And of course, leading the charge is Amanda Kramer from the planning department. So I'll turn it over to you guys.

Thank you for being here. Yeah, if you push that, it should turn green for you.

Thank you so much for that overview and for all the work on this very impressive plan. I'll just note, I mentioned this before, but my undergrad degree is a BFA in sculpture. And my final project was redesigning a bridge in going into Little Italy, the bridge you walk underneath and it's really ugly. And so like redoing that so it's functional art. So it's very exciting to see all of this take place. I'm also really just very interested. I think that this intersects really nicely with some of our other large scale plans. So we have the ADA transition plan that's looking at all of our rights of

Thank you, Chair Keppel. So this is, some of you might know, this is a very exciting day for me. So it was over 10 years ago, Councilman Bullock was at the table with me at the Beck Center with some other folks from the community at Lakewood Alive and just said, how can we start making public art a part of who we are? as a city. And this kind of product was just a figment of our imagination at that time. I mean, an absolute dream. So to get here today and to actually see this put into place, it's just, it's very exciting. And the highest compliment I can pay to the team is, you know, you talke

Thank you. And you're here. I did have a question, actually, that reminds me. On the slide, there was one mentioned about folks mentioning volunteering. And was that meaning wanting to be engaged in a public participation project? We weren't talking about artists volunteering their time. Is that correct?

Great. Thanks. I just wanted to make sure that that's what we're talking about to Councilman Evans point. I also another note I had is about with the nature art love seeing the youth concerned about that. But it also seems when we're looking at all the pavement potential and trying to break up some big chunks of pavement, pavement, it could also go with our tree to also ties into our tree canopy plan. So If we can combine that with adding green islands and large paved areas that are also art, we can tie a lot of our goals together. So lots of opportunities to do that. Okay. I will stop talking

Thank you. And thank you, Meg Cheney, who is a Lakewood resident, by the way. And so, you know, as a career and then as a resident, I'm sure you're interested in this. Thank you, Planning Department. Thank you, Councilman Evans. A COUPLE THINGS AS I READ THROUGH THIS, VERY EXCITING, VERY GLAD WE'RE TAKING THIS STEP. I DID NOTICE THERE'S NOT THAT MUCH IN WARD ONE. I'M NOT NORMALLY VERY PAROCHIAL WHEN IT COMES TO LIKE COUNCIL STUFF, LIKE WE'RE ALL TRUSTEES FOR THE CITY, BUT SEEM TO BE THAT LIKE WARD TWO AND THREE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE GOT A LOT OF PUBLIC ART, AND THEN WE'RE MISSING SOME ON THE END

Great. Because as I think about it, you know, a lot of the gateway features that we talk about, which I think are very important, those are just all Public Works' bailiwick, right? It's either going to take some third party getting a permit to put it over our road, or we're going to maintain it, right? And so when I think about that, the glow-in-the-dark asphalt is really cool. Actually, they're doing it in Detroit. So I've been to Detroit. I went to a special park district forum there. There are parks in Wayne County that are doing this in Huron County. And so it's not like it's not being don

Thank you. Other council members? Councilwoman Stubid. Thank you.

Thank you to everyone that was involved with this process. I mean, so impressive. I mean, just a master class on how to put a plan together, really. I tried to, you know, as I went through it for the last couple days, just everything has been included. And I'm very interested in a couple things. The youth engagement that you did with the students, was there any degree of them wanting to also participate in creating any of this artwork? I know you went specifically to the art classes, and I can't imagine that it was just give us your opinion. They were probably interested in also making some of

Yeah, sure, absolutely. Before we leave the youth, when I talk with the Lakewood Youth Council, they and the students across the city, the area probably, are so anxious for teen spaces, this third space scenario, and I'm wondering how we can tie how we can start to work with the recreation department and the schools and this art idea to put all of that together and come up with something really cool. Of course, you know, when all of you are teenagers, and I, too, you want to be left alone, but you also want a little bit of structure. You want to be able to do cool things. but you don't want to

Yeah, and there again, do we start talking about students helping with that? I mean, of course, if you're the artist and you put your time and effort into something, but could the students maybe help

Thank you, President Kuppel. And I agree with all the comments here so far. This master plan is... and it's just amazing, and I really enjoyed it. And what I really enjoyed, is seeing and calling out the diversity index and in particular looking at word four. And I don't think any of us could be surprised by that data. I know I wasn't surprised by that. But seeing it in actual visual and that you took the time to really draw attention to that and bring attention to the plan tells me that the steering committee and everybody involved was really intentional about ensuring that this plan, that pu

Thank you. I appreciate that. And then my final comment actually just came to me. As I noticed, you drew attention to Cannon Avenue that has their tremendous Halloween spectacular. If you've never gone down Cannon Avenue Halloween night, it's amazing. I mean, and the pirate, and it's fire. I mean, it's just, it's an experience. So I was like, and then we have, you know, the spooky pooch parade. So I'm like, I'm thinking that we may be wanting to rename ourselves for the month of October, Halloween Town. You know, we may want to be, you know, go for that. So thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Evans, you had a follow-up?

Yeah, I just wanted to say, I think that the other main owner or whoever is sitting in these chairs up here because we have to embrace it and we're the ones who have to commit to funding these efforts.

I actually did have a question in speaking of funding, because when we're talking about maintenance, you know, it's for the murals. Well, two thoughts. One is I think sometimes people identify the murals as their favorite because that's what they've seen. That's what's been here. But two is a lot of them that are applied to the brick with the wraps. you don't necessarily need, like, you're not going to have a bunch of, we need to pay for a new wrap, basically, right, to put it back on. So there was a slide that had, like, a five-year budget plan, I think. I don't remember which one that is. Bu

I think so. I think, you know, to Councilman Evans point, like we've on Council, we've expressed wanting to increase the public art budget. But I think we sort of need to have as we continue to increase public art, the maintenance is going to continue to increase. And it's also to the point about who owns it. It's also as it does intersect with all of these other plans is keeping it so it's not just Amanda having to go and be like, hey guys, when you're redoing my street, can we do some art? You know, is that the rest of the administrative team also needs to be aware of this so that there's co

Thank you president couple and thank you all this plan is simply outstanding so kudos to everyone who contributed to it You know, I know some folks already talked about this but some of the things that really stood out to me I love the emphasis on walkability with the quarter mile or half mile walk shed Love the diversity index and this idea of a fair art distribution being really emphasized I also really love As Council President Baker said, installing more asphalt art and really prioritizing pedestrian safety while also adding to the aesthetics of our community. To the point of embracing the

We're going to go slightly over here, but I want to make sure we get Councilman Bullock.

Thanks, Madam Chair. To pick up on a number of comments from you, from Councilman Baker, from Councilman Hamilton, Steiner, and others. So first of all, great work, everybody. Great work. Consultant Amanda, Dave Robar is representative of the Public Arts Task Force or Advisory Board. We've got a great plan. I don't know what motions are in play or not, but let me CONTINUE IN THE SPIRIT OF ASKING SOME CLARIFYING QUESTIONS AND ALSO UNDERSTANDING HOW THIS MIGHT BE USED AND HOW IT STRENGTHENS WHAT WE'VE DONE TO DATE AND HOW WE MIGHT STRENGTHEN IT FURTHER. SO LIKE OTHERS, I THINK IT'S VITAL THAT WE

BECAUSE THAT'S AN ASSUMPTION WE SHOULD BE CHALLENGING. NOT YOU, BUT KIND OF WE. AND SO THIS IS GREAT, BUT IF WE ASSUME THAT THE MINIMUM WAS 200,000 A YEAR, HOW MUCH MORE WOULD WE HAVE IN THIS PLAN, IS MY QUESTION.

That's well said, and I'm not trying to give you a hard time, and I appreciate your... your stewardship of the public tax dollars, not assuming anything. And probably the best point is that we need to, over time, diversify funding sources so it's not all on local taxes or something. But so I think maybe you take my point. Could you explain the 1% concept? Because I missed that in the.

OKAY. I APPRECIATE IT. THANK YOU FOR THE TIME, MADAM CHAIR.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. Well, we have a copy of this. No, we, yes, we do have a copy of this presentation. So I can go back to that slide where we had the sort of five-year outlay of the funds too. And, you know, I think that's, it's sort of the way that this is, one of the brilliant things about this is the way it is laid out is what can be done for different levels of dollar amounts. So, you know, that it sort of tees up that conversation about the budget. So I appreciate that. We could talk about this all night, but we have another meeting we have to get to. So thank you so much for being her

Thank you. All right. With that, we have. So I will move to refer resolution 2026-40 back to full council recommended for approval. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. And with that, we will just take a quick moment and reset for full council. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.

All right. We will call full council to order. If you're able, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. We'll now pause for a moment of silence. You might think about the guardians while we take it.

Move to approve without the necessity of a reading. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? I just want to particularly thank the clerical team for the work on those. Okay. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. Without objection, I'll move items 11 and 12 to the top.

Thank you, President Keppel. Dear colleagues, Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to honor, support, reflect, celebrate, uplift, and empower the Hispanic Latino community. It is a time to educate ourselves and the greater community about the many contributions that Hispanics and Latinos have made to better society in this country. From labor to the arts and sciences to business and entertainment, Hispanics and Latinos have made and improved life for us all and have joined with other cultures and ethnicities in solidarity movements across this country. This impact is especially true here in Lakew

Thank you. I'll move to receive and file that communication. Motion's been made and seconded. And I just want to thank Councilmember Hamilton-Steiner for partnering on this and also echoing the words of the communication. In addition to speaking up because of current events, it's also important to recognize the contributions of the Hispanic and Latino community TO OUR SPECIFIC CITY AND TO OUR REGION, AS MENTIONED IN THERE, BUT AS WE WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT THE PUBLIC ART MASTER PLAN AND REPRESENTATION, IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE KEEP LIFTING UP. OTHER DISCUSSION? COUNCIL MEMBERS?

COUNCIL MEMBER STREEPING? THANK YOU. THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THIS UP AGAIN THIS YEAR. I'M HAPPY TO SUPPORT THIS RESOLUTION AGAIN AND HAPPY TO SUPPORT AND RECOGNIZE AND CELEBRATE DIVERSITY WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY AND ALL THE RICHES THAT WE ARE GIFTED WITH THE HISPANIC AND LATINO COMMUNITY. SO THANK YOU BOTH VERY MUCH.

ANY OTHER COUNCILMEMBERS? NO? OKAY. SO ON THE MOTION TO RECEIVE AND FILE THE COMMUNICATION, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, AYE. AND THAT MOTION PASSES.

Move to adopt. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Councilmember Hamilton-Steiner.

Thank you, President Keppel. So I do have some additional remarks I want to share. Much of our American history is void of intersections and truth. I have more recently learned of a deep and rich history and intersection between African-Americans, Hispanics, and the global South Americas through a book I've been reading, An African-American and Leighton's History of the United States by author Paul Ortiz. This book centers the history of Latinx of the Global South, Mexico, Central, and South America, and intersects this history with that of the African American black history and culture. Start

Thank you, Councilman. Very well said. Any other comments? Councilmember Vixenstein.

Thank you, President Keppel. Thank you, Councilperson Hamilton-Stein. I really appreciate, in particular, you calling out just the unprecedented and dangerous time we live in for Hispanic, Latino Americans. In Lakewood, we have upwards of 2,000 Hispanics in our community, and across our country, it's nearly one-fifth of our population. So I really appreciate this focus, and thank you for bringing this to us this evening.

Thank you. Other council members? Do we have anyone signed in for public comment or anyone who wanted to speak on this? All right. Nope. Good. All right. So if not, after we pass this, we'll come down front. We do have a ceremony to cop the resolution. And we'll do a quick picture before we go on. All right. So we have a motion and a second to adopt. All those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes.

All right. Dear colleagues, Committee of the Whole met on Monday, September 28th, with members of the administration and six executives from First Energy to hear from First Energy about its plans to make things right and reverse the harm that it has caused to our community. Following prolonged outages in 2025 and 2026 that were not attributed to severe weather, it has become clear to the state regulators and to the city that these incidents are the tip of the iceberg in a systemic problem that is First Energy's decades of neglect to Lakewood's infrastructure. While other communities received a

MOTION'S BEEN MADE AND SECONDED. DISCUSSION?

HEARING NONE, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, AYE. AND THAT MOTION PASSES.

Dear colleagues, we earlier this evening held a Committee of the Whole reviewing the excellent public art master plan that has been worked on for over a year. We had a lot of great discussion with the folks from the county planning team as well as our own Amanda Kramer. AND AFTER WONDERFUL QUESTIONS FROM ALL OF YOU, WE MOVED UNANIMOUSLY TO REFER THAT PUBLIC ART MASTER PLAN OUT OF COMMITTEE FOR FULL ADOPTION TONIGHT.

MOTION'S BEEN MADE AND SECONDED. ANY DISCUSSION? HEARING NONE, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, AYE. AND THAT MOTION PASSES.

Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes.

Dear colleagues, following this communication is a series of resolutions intended to fill council's positions on boards and commissions with appointments set to expire December 31st, 2026. In recognition of the expertise and commitment that existing board members contribute, I propose that council reappoint incumbent members who have expressed interest in serving another term. Resolutions to appoint incumbents are as follows. And they're listed there. In order to more evenly distribute council responsibilities, Council Member Bixenstein has graciously agreed to take over the role of council's

THANKS, MADAM PRESIDENT. I JUST PUT A WORD OF RECOMMENDATION IN FOR SOMEBODY WHO ALREADY APPEARS HERE AS A PROPOSED PERSON, AND THAT IS MARCO ORIELLA ON THE TREE ADVISORY AND EDUCATION BOARD. HE WAS OUT THERE THIS PAST WEEKEND, HANDS IN THE DIRT, TEACHING PEOPLE HOW TO appropriately plant trees, avoid root girdling, avoid volcano mulching, as was another of our appointees, Allison.

And I apologize, her last name is escaping me right now.

But we've got a good group there, so I completely agree with your point that we continue their service while they're interested. Thanks.

Also, I would be interested to know about the person that they're looking for for the Public Art Advisory Board and what type of an artist they're looking for. I know several years ago when they were looking for a 3D artist, they recommended Gina DeSantis, who's a sculptor. I'm sorry, she's a potter and seems to be working out well. So are you looking for... two-dimensional, or what type of artists are they looking for to fill that role?

Yes, so the way that the Public Art Advisory Board resolution that created it is structured, it, as you mentioned, calls for, when practicable, to fill those positions with people of certain skill sets. So in this case, the Public Art Advisory Board is THE WAY WE'RE SORT OF ADVERTISING IT IS GIVING PREFERENCE TO FOLKS WITH ARCHITECTURE, BACKGROUND, OR LANDSCAPE, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE, BECAUSE THAT'S AN OPENING THAT IS ON THE BOARD. ANY OTHER? COUNCILMAN EVANS.

THANK YOU, PRESIDENT KEPPEL. Also, Marco is a great person on the board. I had a chance to just work with him a little bit. So I'm happy to recommend him. And then also, Emily Lindberg for the case board We just had a meeting today with the Safe Routes to Schools Committee. She goes above and beyond every day and is a fierce advocate for equity in our transportation, so couldn't be happier to recommend her. And I'm also happy to see Councilman Bixenstein come full circle and be back with Lakewood alive.

Yeah, couldn't have a better expert there. All right, any other discussion? All right, hearing none, on the motion to receive and file the communication, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes.

Since this is the one that we have a call for applicants out, I'll just move to defer. second motion's been made and seconded discussion um please do that should be on the website now and um i think there's a social media post so but reach out to your networks of folks that you may know that will want to contribute since we now have a great public art master plan that can work with All right, any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, aye, and that motion passes.

MOTION'S BEEN MADE AND SECONDED. JUST SAY THANK YOU TO COUNCILMEMBER STREEPING FOR YOUR CONTINUED ACTIVE SERVICE THERE. ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION? HEARING NONE, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, AYE. AND THAT MOTION PASSES.

Move to adopt. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? And I'll just concur with Councilman Evans that couldn't get a stronger advocate, a knowledgeable person, so appreciate her continued service. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, aye, and that motion passes.

Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye.

Move to adopt. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor?

Move to adopt. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? And thank you, Councilman Bickstein, for taking that on. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor?

Dear colleagues, the Lakewood Community Recreation and Education Commission met over the summer to discuss youth sports programs, camps, adult programs, swimming lessons, pool use, and facility maintenance. Programs are continually at capacity and Lakewood residents are enjoying the pools as usual, although they are now closed. Facilities are continuously being maintained and upgraded when possible. New equipment is added as necessary and staffing is at normal levels. Fall programs are beginning with new flag football programs for younger players and programs are expected to be full again. Fie

Thank you. We'll move to receive and file that communication. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes.

Thank you, President Keppel. Dear colleagues, LISWAB's meeting on September 16th was well attended by members and included a presentation by a guest presenter sharing information of their community CAT tracking system and database. Appointments were discussed as there are four council appointments which will expire in December. Clerk Bach has been communicating with myself, each appointing council member, and the appointed LISWAB member regarding these appointments. All members are aware of their expiring appointments. ACO Cremley provided an update regarding the shelter. As of the September m

Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Thank you, Councilmember Hamilton-Steiner. And I'll just note, too, I really appreciate Councilmember Strubeck and all the councilmembers giving us good reports, really being active participants in your assignments and keeping us all in the loop. I think that's really helpful as we try to meet our goals. So thank you. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes.

Move to receive and file. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes.

We got the report on this one from the law department, Councilman Evans. All right. I will move to file without objection. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. All right. We are to public comment. We have one. I'm going to guess who that is. So come on up. Come on up. You'll have up to five minutes. Thank you. Chris Carpenter. And you'll have up to five minutes. You dress the chair. That's me. And take it away.

Thank you. Council members, any questions? I appreciate you being here, and I'll just say for myself how much, you know, that I certainly support the levy. So I appreciate you being here and all of the services that we provide to our residents. Councilman Bullock?

Thanks, Madam President. And I agree. And also thank you to you and your team for the mission that you perform every day and all year long. They're members of my family, my extended family. There are people who are professionals in my family also who work with people with disabilities. So it's a calling really that's near and dear to the hearts of many people I know and respect. enriches, you know, lives and makes Cuyahoga County a better, better place, a better society, a more just and inclusive place in society. And so and I know in Lakewood, we've worked with agencies who do food vending in

Thank you. All right. Thanks. All right. So we don't have anyone else for public comment. No. OK. We have, I don't know if we have any, I don't think we have any e-comments either. Everybody's announcements. I'll just... Remind everyone, Spooky Pooch is Saturday, October 10th at Madison Park. Or Madison Bark, as it is temporarily renamed for the day. 1230 and always a good time. And other announcements from council members? Councilman Bixentine.

Welcome to Lakewood is this Thursday. I believe it's 630 start. Is that that right? So hope to see some folks there.

And thank you to Alyssa Garrett and the Lakewood Community Relations Advisory Committee for putting that on. They'd always do a great job. It's a really good event. Even if you're not new to Lakewood, you can still learn a lot about Lakewood and ways to get involved. Announcements. Councilman Bullock.

Thanks, Madam President. This is a backwards looking announcement. It's just a report out on the tree giveaway, fall tree giveaway this past Saturday at Bernice Pike Park. It was successful. Matt Bixenstein has put in a lot of good work there over the years. And complement to public works, there were multiple staff members there facilitating, participating, helping to make sure the coming and going was working well. And then the planting demonstrations were also going well. And 198 of 200 trees were claimed. And a 12 household wait list will easily find the two remaining trees. So this is star

THANK YOU. ANY OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS? COUNCILMEMBER STREBEG?

This Thursday is International Lesbian Day. So I encourage all of you to take your favorite lesbian out to breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And if you don't have any, I'm happy to stand in for them. October 11th is National Coming Out Day. And October 12th is Indigenous People Day. Thank you.

Get out there and vote. Any announcements from the administration? Nope. All right. No further business to come before council. Without objection, we are adjourned.