City Council - Regular Meeting

5:04•MSMargo Sommerville

Good evening. We're gonna call the meeting for Akron City Council to order at this time. We will have our clerk read the roll.

5:35 – 5:53•MSMargo Sommerville

For those who voluntarily wish to do so, would you please stand at this time as we are led in prayer by Minister Reid of City of Joy. Immediately following our prayer, I'm going to ask if Councilwoman Davis will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Minister Reid.

6:46 – 7:23•MSMargo Sommerville

Amen. 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. The minutes from our previously held meeting have been provided. Are there any additions or corrections? Is there a second? Second. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it.

7:27 – 7:38•MSMargo Sommerville

We're now going to move to our public comment period. I'm going to ask all those who signed up to participate if you'll please stand at this time so that you may be sworn in by our clerk.

7:49 – 8:14•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you. Just as a reminder, when you hear your name, if you'll please approach the podium, and you'll have three minutes to speak to this body. And we're going to begin with Trenton. Is Trenton here with us? You can begin.

10:24•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you, Trenton. Reverend Dr. Joyce Penfield.

13:53•MSMargo Sommerville

I'M SO SORRY, YOUR TIMER IS GOING OUT. I DON'T KNOW WHY WE CAN'T HEAR IT.

14:03•MSMargo Sommerville

Sorry. No, your time had expired. Okay. But you can email us the statement. We'll make sure everyone gets it, okay?

17:26•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you so much, Mr. Clark. Jordan Carson says, Is Jordan Carson here with us? Sam D'Amelio?

21:50•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you so much, Mr. Green. Thank you.

24:36 – 24:54•MSMargo Sommerville

Okay. All right. Thank you. So that's going to conclude our public comment period. Again, we do want to thank all those who took the time to come out and participate. Council, we're going to go and address old business, starting with planning and economic development. Councilman Kamer.

24:55•DKDonnie Kammer

Thank you, Madam President. We have item number seven. We have a substitute that needs to be read in.

25:18•DKDonnie Kammer

Thank you, Madam President. The committee's report is favorable. We're suspending the rules, and we're asking for passage.

25:26•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you. Councilperson Wilson, do you have any comments?

25:30•FWFran Wilson

Uh, we had lots of discussion. I appreciate, um, the active engagement by all the neighbors involved. Um, I'm going to vote in support, so I appreciate others doing so as well. Thank you.

25:41•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you so much. So the committee's report is favorable. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it.

25:53 – 26:11•DKDonnie Kammer

All right. Thank you. Uh, number eight is the petition. For 9-11 Merriman Road, we would like to file that. And then number nine, the committee's report is favorable, and we're asking for passage.

26:11•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you. Any further comments, Councilman Kamer?

26:15 – 26:29•DKDonnie Kammer

No, this is unless Mayor Malik or the planning department has any comments, but this is something we took a few weeks' time on. And this is basically to move forward with zoning and the lot sizes here in the city of Akron.

26:29•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you. So the committee's report is favorable. All in favor? I'm so sorry. Councilman Greer?

26:38 – 27:53•MGMark Greer

Thank you, Madam President. You're welcome. I just want to rise and just say thank you to our planning department for the work that they did on this. I think this is a very important step in the right direction. And to just add a little historical context, these lot sizes, these requirements were actually increased in cities like ours this happened all over the country uh... after uh... nineteen sixty eight when redlining was abolished and these larger requirements were put in place really be exclusionary zoning and keep a lot of people of color out nicer neighborhoods and make lots more expen

27:54•MSMargo Sommerville

Seeing and hearing none, again, the committee's report is favorable. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it.

28:08•DKDonnie Kammer

Continue time on the rest of the agenda.

28:10•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you. Time will be granted. Public service, Councilman Kamer.

28:14•DKDonnie Kammer

Thank you, Madam President. We do have one item that we took time on a few weeks ago, and the committee decided to move forward and place that item on the consent agenda.

28:24 – 28:36•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you so much. That item will be placed on the consent agenda. Public safety, Councilman McKittrick. Thank you. Time will be granted. That concludes our old business. We'll now move into new legislation.

29:08 – 29:24•MSMargo Sommerville

Are there any objections to suspension of the rules? Seeing and hearing none, the rules have been suspended. Thank you. The rules have been suspended. The committee's report is favorable. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it.

29:53 – 30:10•MSMargo Sommerville

Are there any objections to suspension of the rules? Seeing and hearing none, the rules have been suspended. Thank you. The rules have been suspended and the committee's report is favorable. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it.

30:39•DKDonnie Kammer

Thank you, Madam President. Committee's report is favorable, and we're asking for suspension of the rules.

30:44•MSMargo Sommerville

Are there any objections to suspension of the rules? Seeing and hearing none, the rules have been suspended.

30:49 – 31:01•DKDonnie Kammer

Thank you. This is for our neighborhood assistance to move forward into our neighborhoods and clear out these abandoned commercial structures, and we're asking for passage.

31:02•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you. The rules have been suspended. The committee's report is favorable. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it.

31:35•DKDonnie Kammer

Thank you, Madam President. Committee's report is favorable, and we're asking for suspension of the rules.

31:39•MSMargo Sommerville

Are there any objections to suspension of the rules? Seeing and hearing none, the rules have been suspended.

31:44•DKDonnie Kammer

Thank you, Madam President. This is basically the same from the above legislation, but just different contractor.

31:51 – 32:02•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you. The rules have been suspended. The committee's report is favorable. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it.

33:30 – 34:10•MSMargo Sommerville

This item will be placed on the consent agenda. That does conclude our new legislation for this evening. We'll now move into our committee assignments rules. Councilman McKittrick. 2 p.m. Budget and Finance. Councilman Lombardo. 3 p.m. Planning and Economic Development. Councilman Kamer. Public Service, Councilman Kamer. 2 p.m. Public Safety, Councilman McKittrick. Parks and Recreation, Councilwoman Conner. 2.5. Housing and Neighborhood Assistance, Councilman Bolden. Health and Social Services, Councilwoman Davis. 2.6. Is there anything else coming before Council at this time? Councilperson Wilson.

34:11 – 36:02•FWFran Wilson

Thank you, Madam President. Today we had a very lively public safety committee, and I just wanted to follow up with some feedback, and I hope we can have another maybe thorough meeting. We can talk about that. I just wanted to share some quick reflections and also share where people can find more information and learn more. I personally, you know, I look at what's happening in Akron with how our data is and is not being shared. I see a lot of issues. I don't feel comforted by the discussion today and I hope we can continue the discussion. I think, you know, I'd encourage my colleagues and the

36:07 – 37:02•DKDonnie Kammer

Thank you, Madam President. I just wanted to take a minute to, uh, Say thank you to the Akron Fire Department. I was able to join my colleague here, Sharon Connor, this weekend for the open houses for two of the fire stations, 2 and 12. And it was really nice because we were able to meet a lot of the men and women of our fire department, and I really enjoyed it. And actually was able to visit the fire stations that previously were in really bad shape a long time ago. So it was really nice. I just enjoyed it. I just want to thank the fire department. And obviously we have one more open house th

37:02•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you for sharing. Anything else coming before this body at this time? Yes, Mayor Malik.

Good evening, everyone. I just wanted to speak to the point that Councilperson Wilson mentioned. And I know there was a robust discussion about flat cameras this afternoon. And I hope that it is a discussion that we can continue. You know, I think that this is a really important topic. It's an important topic that a lot of people here in this room and across our community feel strongly about. And this tool is a very powerful tool. And so we owe it to our residents. We are three years in now to using this tool. And it has made an impact in a positive way, right? There are homicides that have be

39:41•MSMargo Sommerville

Any other comments at this time? council person Wilson

39:45 – 40:52•FWFran Wilson

Thank you. I appreciate it. I just want to push on the level of urgency, right? And, you know, there are certain things that we can and can't do as a body. You know, I think it's important for us to understand the authority solely rests on the mayor to be able to cut a contract, right? And there's two ways that you could cut the contract if you wanted to. There's one out of convenience, which would only supposedly cost us about 50K plus maybe some fees and maybe some loss of the ARPA dollars that we paid for this program with. And then the other one is if breach happened on one of the sides. M

40:56 – 45:10•EGEric D. Garrett, Sr.

Thank you, Madam President. I too echo my colleague Fran's suggestion. Madam President, there's been months that I've been trying to get necessary information. And although I enjoy working so far with Mr. Morgan, either one, he's being willfully misled or sharing some misleading information. Initially, we had a situation, Madam President, where I just simply requested how many flat cameras. Initially, I was told we don't know how many we have. Then we were asked how were they distributed throughout the city. I was then told that they were evenly distributed throughout the city. Come to find ou

45:11•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you so much, Councilman. Mayor Mallet.

Since my name was invoked, I feel I should address it. Just a couple points I want to make. First of all, I don't think that anyone can fairly suggest that they are not able to get information in this regard. The reason the Akron Beacon Journal was able to ask the question about officer fields is we provided all of the data about the searches to the Akron Beacon Journal. The reason that Signal was able to ask these questions, we provided all of that information to Signal. I know that the council person is able to get access because I have a meeting on FLOC scheduled for tomorrow with the counc

47:13•MSMargo Sommerville

Okay. One last comment, Councilman Garrett.

47:19 – 49:01•EGEric D. Garrett, Sr.

Thank you, Madam President. To suggest that it's a personal attack, it's not completely accurate, Madam President. I am speaking on behalf of the constituents who felt like they have been misled. Although you may speak of one, one, one solo camera that you may pass in Ward 8, how about you go down to Ward 3 and you talk to all of those people where nearly 75% of them are located in a poor white, black, and brown community. Explain that. This is what we're talking about. I mean, we have a situation where If we really want to get the real information, facts as if they called it, we would have a

49:01•MSMargo Sommerville

Thank you so much, Councilman Garrett. If there's nothing else coming before council at this time, can we have a motion for adjournment? Motion. There are no objections. Meeting adjourned.