City Council - Regular Meeting

To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for its one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Cler of council, Mrs. Amy Skang, please call the attendance role. Mrs. Carter, present. Mr. West, here. Mr. Mulligan, here. Mayor Slam here. Mr. Lawley, present.

Our first order of business today is citizen comments. A professional presentation free of foul langu language is expected. This is not the time for debate, debate, questions, and answer, or any back and forth conversation. This is a time for you, our residents, to be able to present in front of council on record uninterrupted and have the floor. After the meeting, your comment card will be given to the city manager and she will assign a member of staff to reply to you as appropriate. We have received one comment card to Thank you. We have received two comment cards this evening. I will prompt each speaker for their next steps when they reach the podium. I would like to call Karen Dupee to the podium. [snorts]

and you may stand or sit according to your preference. Please adjust the microphone and speak directly into the microphone at all times. Before we begin, please state your full name and Middletown residence, work address, or interest in the city for the record. You will then have four minutes of uninterrupted speech. Please commence.

Hi. Uh, my name is Karen Dupy. I am My address is 61215th Avenue, Middletown, Ohio. I am a liflong resident, born and raised here in the city and uh, I would like to address an issue that uh, concerns me and it's uh, well, first of all, let me say good evening mayor and city council. Um, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak today. I am here to formally request increased security measures and installation of surveillance cameras on the south end of Middletown due to ongoing and escalating violent crimes that is directly impacting residents safety and quality of life. This request is not hypothetical. It is personal. Recently, my home was struck by over 50 gunshots. That was not an isolated incident. And it was not random fear. It was real violence occurring in a residential neighborhood where families live, children sleep, and seniors have resided for decades. The emotional, physical, and financial toll of living under this constant threat cannot be overstated. The south end of Middletown has experienced repeated gun violence, property damage, intimidation, yet residents often feel forgotten, un under underserved when it comes to preventive safety measures. While police response is appreciated, reaction along is not enough, prevention must be part of the strategy. I am respectfully requesting the

installation of visible high quality surveillance cameras in high-risk areas on the south end. Increase security presence or patrol visibility, especially during evening and overnight hours. Ongoing evaluation of crime data to ensure resources are equally distributed across all parts of the city. Surveillance cameras serve as both a deterrent and a tool for accountability. These measures protect not only residents but also law enforcement by providing evidence and reducing response time. Every residents, regardless of zip code, deserves to feel safe in their own homes. Safety is not a privilege. It is a basic right. I urge this council to take immediate action to address the conditions on the south end of Middletown before another family becomes the ne next statistic or the next victim. Thank you for your time, your service, and your commitment to this community.

Thank you, Miss DP. Next, I would like to call Marva Gaston to the podium. and you may sit or stand according to your preference. Please do adjust the microphone to speak directly into the microphone at all times. Please state your full name and Middletown address for the record. You will then have four minutes of uninterrupted speech. Please commence.

Yes. Um my name is Marva Gaston. I reside at 913 6th Avenue here in Middletown. And this isn't the first time that I've been here on this subject as you know, but um again I want to get an update on the Middletown paperboard site. Um the last time I was here, you said that there you had some plans. I noticed today just today that there was a bulldozer over in that area. And I'm just wondering what your plans are going forward, and if I could get any type of itinerary as to what you're going to do, when you're going to do it, as I'm hoping that this is the beginning of what I've been asking for for the last what, eight, eight, nine months, and that's pretty much all I have for today. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Miss Gaston.

This concludes the uh public participation for the evening. The next agenda item is council comments. We will begin to my excuse me, left with council member Lai, followed by Vice Mayor Carter, then to my right with council member West and uh followed by Council Member Mulligan, and I will speak last. Mr. Li on now. There I go. All right. Well, first of all, I want to say congratulations to our city manager Cullums on her 10 years of service with the city. Uh, I appreciate your hard work, your perseverance, and your resilience and longevity commitment to the city that I know you've worked hard over the last 10 years. It's always good to see when we get employees hit that 10year milestone. And it's kind of always been uh something that a lot of employees strive for. I remember as a firefighter, we weren't considered real firemen until we got 10 years on. Although you always wanted to argue with all the older guys that before your 10 years. But thank you for your 10 years of service. And uh congratulations. It's an awesome feat. Uh secondly, I want to thank the uh Butler County Commissioners and the Middletown Community Foundation for approving the $5 million donations to the revitalization of the uh downtown. the uh vision of a uh incredible downtown de uh development is finally taken some shape that brings together the future with glimpses of the past and uh uh just it's a an exciting thing to see. We're going into some real realization of that. Uh so thank you to staff. Thank you to Joshua Smith and the

Butler County Finance Authority and uh the Middletown Port Authority and everybody else who, you know, encouraged uh all three groups to come together and and get uh get some traction going forward on our downtown revitalization. So, thank you to those groups. And Mayor, that's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Lai. Miss Carter,

good evening community. It's good to see everyone here. It's really uh a good time right now uh because Middletown is moving forward with all the buildings that's coming down and we're putting new buildings up and hopefully more jobs for people and things will look better, much better as you come into the city of Middletown. I wanted to express um I I I don't I I don't know if it's pain or if it's disgust with people who feel that they should take advantage of other people by shooting in their homes and even bringing guns into the community. But that's something that we just have to keep praying about. Peace. We talked about yesterday. We talked about peace day before yesterday and at this time uh that's all we can do other than stay in touch with our law enforcement and they will help you because we have a whole group of people who concerned with down there on the south end. So just take care just uh in something will materialize believe me. So take care. I'm done. Thank you, Mrs. Carter. Mr. West.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, good evening, everyone. Uh, Miss congratulations on 10 years um here in the city. Uh, I know that's it's many challenging days. I've been up here for two years, and I can't imagine multiplying that by five. But, um, I would like, uh, like Mr. Lai said, thank you to Middletown Community Foundation and Butler County uh, commissioners for their generosity uh, to help us get downtown revitalized and in the right direction. Um, with that said, uh, Miss Dupri with the, uh, the shooting. Uh, I was on the phone the other night with with one of your friends and she was telling me a little bit about it. So, I looking at the calendar here, we're about 30 days out from the strategic planning session. um if you know, Chief Nelson and and um you know, [snorts] any of the deputy chiefs and and yourself, Miss Combmes, if there are some solutions that would require uh adding, you know, some some monies if there were some financial obligations that we could make, I like to look at all options because, you know, it's kind of ridiculous that, you know, we have residents that are fearful. Um, and so, you know, and and our police do a phenomenal job, but they they can't be on every corner uh every single night. And so, I I would like to see if there are some potential solutions. I know there's other cities. Um, I want to say it was maybe Baltimore was was one of the first uh cities years ago that started using um some different uh uh camera systems. I know that it's pretty complex. It's not an easy solution, but if there are some things that we can do uh for these neighborhoods to help out, I I can't imagine, you know, going home every night and and seeing 50 bullet bullet holes in your in the front of your home. Um you know, let alone if you know, you have kids or, you know, if your house isn't safe, um that's that's terrible. So, we're about 30 days out. If there

are some, you know, recommendations, um, some potential solutions, I think as a council, we'd like to see them and try and act, you know, as quickly as possible. Um, you know, gun gun violence isn't going to go away. It just it it transforms. Um, sometimes the different communities, sometimes it's generational, um, sometimes it's, you know, drugrelated. on my street several years ago. We had a we had a uh a double homicide and and it was horrible. Um you know, there was a car running and and it just was sitting on the side of the road and it had kind of nudged a parked vehicle. There were two people shot in the back of the head. So, it's not necessarily certain neighborhoods. Certain neighborhoods are worse than others, but really as a city, I think we've made a lot of steps in the in the past few years. and and I really want to applaud Chief Nelson um and his staff for for the work that they've done um the aggression that they've that they've shown to get out there. Um but I think there could be some more solutions and and if that requires some obligations from us financially, I I definitely think it's a great investment. Um and like I agree with Miss Dupri, we we can't allow people to become a statistic. uh if there are some things that we can do to help prevent uh future, you know, acts of violent crime. So, that's about a month away. So, if we can maybe get a plan together and start reviewing some of those even beforehand, um whatever is appropriate for for staff level to come up with with something. But, uh that's all I had. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. West. Mr. Mulligan.

Thank you, uh Mayor. Uh good evening. And um I'll just add on uh first congratulations to Miss Combmes on 10 years. Um boy, time flies. The uh um I look forward to working with you in the years to come, but congratulations on your work anniversary. Uh to the ladies that that spoke and gave some resident feedback uh uh from my council desk, I I can I hear you. I understand um um what your frustrations are and we're here to find solutions. So, I uh I joined Councilman West in in um happy to hear about any potential short-term solutions or supplemental appropriations that uh council can take to support public safety and help uh rebuild um neighborhoods, you know, block by block. Uh because that that's a fundamental part of of what city government is about. Um I had uh thanks uh to the Middletown chapter of the NAACP. We had the opportunity yesterday to attend a breakfast where Norman Spence from Ketaring Health spoke about uh health in our community and um how we must work in order to fulfill Dr. King's uh vision is that that healthy communities, you know, both in our bodies and our in our in our spirit. Um that that really fulfills the vision. So I was happy to join with many members of the community at at that event. Um and mayor, that is all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mulligan. Uh, and yes, I also want to thank uh thank and congratulate Miss Combmes. It's it's a pleasure working with you every single day. So, thank you so much for all you do for this city. Uh, I'm also very grateful to our commissioners for having voted this morning um to support our downtown revitalization. And also I also concur um I'm I would look forward to um some plans that we can look more into this and also Miss Gaston um if we can have that sent to her as her request goes and also for

healthy cities. I think it is important that we um we do recognize all the good things that are happening here as well and all the things that we provide for our residents, all the good things going on. Um that said, I do want to have a few minutes just to mention some of the things that are coming up to celebrate in Middletown, some things that you can go to. Um, and also to bring up for those of you again who are interested in viewing the CMC properties proposal for the Manchester site in downtown, please visit our website at cityofmiddtown.org. Scroll down to latest news on the homepage and click on city projects. The first link should be the downtown refresh. Click on that. If you scroll down to just before the section for questions or additional comments, you will see a link for downtown refresh documents. Once you click on that, scroll all the way down and click on the link for the Manchester CMC properties RFQ. And I do recommend reading the entire proposal. This Thursday, uh, New Als Brewing and Crooked Dog Comics bring you a Stranger Things trivia night located at New Als at 13:30 Manchester Avenue in downtown Middletown and beginning at 6:30 p.m. Grab your walkie-talkie, gather your party, and get ready to test your knowledge of all things Stranger Things. And please arrive hungry. Larry from BL BBcue will be on site serving up his famous wings and tasty side from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. The perfect fuel before diving into the supernatural natural fun. For more information, please visit downtownmittletown.org. And this Saturday is also a busy day for uh goings on. Begin the fun this Saturday, January 24th, with a brisk winter hike. Join in from 10:00 a.m. to noon for the Metro Parks of Butler County winter hike series. This weekly hiking event will highlight the beauty of Butler County in winter by exploring a different park each week. This Saturday is at Meadow Ridge Metro Park, the largest park in the Metrop Parks of Butler County system and the former Weatherwax Golf Course. The trails wind through restored prairie and woodland while winter wildlife may be spotted around the lakes and ponds. These guided hikes will average about three miles and end with a hot beverage and a bowl of soup. Vegetarian option available. Registration is required and the hike is

$10 per person. No cost for children ages four and under. Please visit your metrop parks.net for more information. Continue your day this Saturday, January 24th, at the beautiful and historic Sorg Opera House located at 63 South Main Street in downtown Middletown. 12:00 p.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m., and 6 p.m. There will be backto-back showings of Monty Python in the Holy Grail. Gather your courage, polish your coconuts, and follow King Arthur and his questionably loyal knights as they face terrifying foes like The Killer Rabbit, The Knights Who Say, and that guy who insists it is only a flesh wound. Expect epic quests, questionable logic, medieval silliness, and more shrubbery than any responsible screening should contain. For more information, please visit sorgoperhouse.org. Continue the fund this Saturday, January 24th, from 1 p.m. to 4 pm. Join for an afternoon of craft beer, adorable pups, and great food for all for a wonderful cause. New Alles is excited to bring you bruise and bullies where some of the most lovable bulldogs will be at the tap room to help raise awareness and connect these amazing pups with potential adopters. Tater Tot Madness Food Truck will also be on site serving up their craveworthy tots, making it the perfect afternoon to eat, drink, and give back. For more information, please visit downtownmittletown.org. or end the fund this Saturday, January 24th, from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. with a soup and beer tasting night at Gravel Road Brewing located at 9:16 First Avenue in downtown Middletown. Tickets are required for this event. The guided tasting will feature four comforting soups, each thoughtfully paired with uh four 5 uh pores of Dan's expertly crafted historic beers. It's a perfect way to warm up, slow down, and enjoy great food and great beer and good company. This is a curated tasting experience designed for adventurous and flexible eaters. For more information, please visit downtowntownmtown.org. This Sunday, January 25th, for $20, you can grab a partner and head over to New Als Brewing and see how quickly you can put together a 300piece puzzle in the tap room against other puzzle fanatics. Please check the upcoming events

calendar at newalesbrewing.com. As a reminder, the city of Middletown accepts applications for a boards and commissions throughout the year. So, if there is something that you have an interest in and you wish to give back to your city in this way, please do submit your application. To learn more, please visit the city's website at cityofmiddtown.org. Lastly, and as always, there are many ways to get involved with your community and give back. Join a board committee, run for office, apply for a job with the city, volunteer at the hospital, pick up trash in your neighborhood or park, plant a garden in your yard, smile at a neighbor, find joint satisfaction for a job well done in whatever work you do, or just have a positive and giving attitude. Find something that you can do regularly and give back. We are all connected and we are all in this together. The care of our city is an adventure in which we all get to share. That is all for me tonight and this concludes our council comments. The next agenda item is city manager reports. City manager Miss Ashley Combmes, you have the floor.

Good evening. So, first I'd like to say we are grateful to the Butler County Commissioners for their 5 million contribution as well as the partnership with Butler County Finance Authority and Middletown Community Foundation. So, thank you. We're looking forward to getting started on that project. So, also I want to mention that the city council strategic plan retreat as that's been mentioned by council tonight will be held at Houston Woods on Friday, February 20th and 21st and the retreats agenda will be released here in the upcoming weeks. So, keep your eyes open for that. First, I would like to welcome down um Jaylen Marshall and the Middletown Youth to present the Middletown Connects Middletown Youth Walk data. Good evening everyone. Thank you for having us down here this evening. Um I know you know we come down here people voice their concerns you know celebrate their wins but I do think it's important that you know we kind of hear from our youth on what their perspective of what a safe and healthy community is like. So with further ado, we have a presentation we would like to give you about about five data points that we um researched and got their insight on and we'll go forward from there.

There we go. Thank you. Okay, you can go to

Here we go. As she said, I'm Jaylen Marshall. Um I'm longtime resident of Middletown. Middletown High School, born and raised here. Was able to fortunate fortunate enough to further my career, go to the Ohio State University and was able to play in the NFL and play some professional football, you know, around the country in many places. But when I was gone, you would always hear stories about, you know, Middletown in all negative ways, right? And so I get to thinking, what can I do to help? Instead of, you know, voicing all these concerns, what what can I do to help? So when I came back home and finished my career up, I was blessed with the opportunity to work with Middletown Connect and, you know, kind of a forefront some youth and get some insight of how to empower their voice so we can make a change together.

Is it not working? Oh, there we go.

There we go. So what happens at day to walk? So we put we put five posters up around the room of these concerns throughout the community, right? The kids spend about 10 minutes with each other voicing their opinions on what they believe to be true. And so then we have our peer-to-peer conversations about what we see in data, what stands out to you and what can we do in our community to make things better. Then we ended that day with our town hall style meeting where our community leaders as such as you came together to hear about how we can work to improve health for everyone in Middletown. So here go ahead. I have my youth here. My name is Will Gibson. I'm a junior at Middletown. Uh I'm in I play football and I've always went to Middletown even through elementary. And I'm Caleb Shores. I'm also a also I'm a student at N High School. Uh I'm a junior and u I've been here my whole entire life. My name is Noah Benry. Um, I'm a junior at Middletown High School and I've recently joined the community.

Hi everybody. My name is Mayel Calhoun. I'm also a junior at Middletown High School and I participate in CCP at Miami. Um, I've been at Middletown pretty much my whole life. My name is Jada. I'm a junior also and I go to Miltown High School, but I attend classes at Miami Middletown. We are improving health outcomes for people living across our focus census tracks across Middletown. So, as you know, Middletown is made up of 16 census tracks. Nine of our 16 census track has a 12.5 years less live life expectancy than others. And so we kind of try to get to the bottom of this. Why why is this the case? You can kind of see from the map where these you know these vulnerable census tracks stand against the other census tracks.

Um so I'll be talking about like the chronicism. uh and why it's worse in other locations. For example, like Rosa Parks is 52% which is an elementary school. And obviously it's on like a different part of town compared to Miller Ridge. And a cause for this could be lack of resources or maybe it could be even parents not um like thinking school is optional compared to Milleridge where maybe they're more committed and the high school is 50%. Uh a cause I think for this is transportation for most students especially I know um if you live in a certain mile radius from the high school you have you uh you are not able to ride a bus so or like if it's raining or snow or cold weather it can be tough for students to uh get to school. Um, another thing I think maybe could help uh is the start time of the high school. It's at 7:15 compared to other schools and like surrounding Middletown. Like I know Fairfield and the Lakota schools, they start later, which I'm sure would be nice for the students and also I'm sure the teachers wouldn't mind it. And uh yeah, that's all. So you know emotional health you know is a very big thing. So the the uh green area is the controlled as like the substance not substance uh the controlled areas that we tested. So that like near parks and uh near baron stadium and places like that. I think what it is is, you know, most of the people in the green, they

don't they have like a one parent home and I think having two parents is a big thing. So that plays a big part into it. Also, they're more know they're more liable to other bad parts, you know, drugs, stuff like that, which that that leads to depression, leads to, you know, you're not feeling hopeful, you know, stuff like that. And you know the thoughts about her hurting myself again. It just comes down to you know what what is there else to do outside of you know staying in the house all day. So you feel like negative hopeful but mean not really doing anything. I think that plays a big part of where you are and uh location matters.

Okay. Today I'm talking about the physical health and I think it's really important especially like sleep or whatever. You can see that they're getting a good amount of sleep but I think that like some a lot of people like younger people their parents like are like oh you got to take care of the kids when it's their kids so they stay up late like taking care of like the youngest siblings so they don't get as much sleep or whatever and then they wake up and they're like do I really have to go to school? So they just skip school half the time. Um exercise I think it's like You got to be able to exercise. And like towards the part we're focused on, it's not really like you wouldn't find nobody walking outside. Like if you go over there, you find like maybe one or two people walking, but like nobody's really walking outside and it's not really access to like Planet Fitness is all the way across the city, so they can't like walk all the way to Planet Fitness. Eating breakfast. Um, yeah, I think that's not that bad because a lot of schools actually provide breakfast most of the time if you get there early enough, but you know, some people be late so they can't get breakfast, but if you get there early enough, most schools provide breakfast before first period. And the weight I think it plays along with exercise too because if you're not exercising or or you don't like sports or you don't like sports, whatever and you're not exercising, you just go home and go to sleep and then you wake up and then you just don't feel like exercising. So yeah, and they don't have any access most of the time. Like I said, you can't you can walk, but like the streets are all like rigged and raggedy. So, like nobody wants to walk on the streets when it's like trash and and like cigarette buds on the ground. Hello. Um my my topic is connections to supportive adults. Um a lot of children in these focus areas have problems at

home. um along with that one parent household that Caleb mentioned um that can affect how they project themselves at school and that's pretty much why they are scared to talk to the adults at school because they are scared that they'll be punished for it at home because a lot of the times when you report things to adults they have to report it to a higher higher like a higher source. So, um I felt bad when I was talking to some of these kids because they're really young. Like they're in elementary schools. So, I just feel like there should be more. We have Hope Squad in the high school and the middle school, but I feel like there should be more things like that in elementary schools so that it can be brought up from a young age all the way to the high school. but relationships with positive adults because hope squad is like you you end up telling the adult for them. So it's not like a burden to have to do it yourself. But I think that's very important for the younger children to have connections to supportive adults even if it's like an older peer. That's another student that didn't make it. So right here is what does this tell us about substance use, right? And as they've been talking about the green being the focus population, not that we're not not focusing on the other ones, but it just in these areas, these percentages are so much higher than the other ones. So maybe we can kind of bridge the gap to where they're kind of even. um in these areas I I I really do believe that the the parents are kind of engaging in these activities with the students or making it okay or they're they see the visual of these things. And we live in a world today where what you

see is what you do, right? This is what everybody wants to be involved with. So, I think if we can kind of eliminate some of that access of these these these storefrs that got these these substance use things on them and just just eliminated some of those access for these young these young students, I think we can kind of decrease some of that percentages for those. Um, here is a chart on the percentage of youth that have used the vape the past 12 months. The 42% I feel, you know, it's very accessible. I feel like we just like cut down on the accessibility and also like made a way for people to know that they can talk to an adult and they won't get in trouble if they quit. and you know just getting help.

Can we get a round of applause for my my young people? [applause] So, as I as I said before, thank you guys for uh allowing us to come here as we all move toward, you know, a better community, a safer community. I do I do believe that it's important that we move together as one instead of trying to move from all these different pockets. And so that's why I I feel so strongly about helping our youth do so. So, thank you for having us. Thank you, Mr. Marshall. Do we have any questions or comments from council? Just want to say um so you these students also spoke with some of the young kids as well. So, they got this feedback from the children themselves. Yes, ma'am. That's powerful. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. No problem.

[applause] Next, I'd like to invite down our economic development program manager, uh, Michla Perkins, to give an update on our infill housing program.

Good evening, city council and mayor. Um, I'm here today to discuss the neighborhood revitalization program. As you know, the city of Middletown owns vacant lots throughout the city, many of which have been acquired through the land bank and were once the site of a home that was demolished. In the past, city initiatives for offloading different lots throughout the city were the sidelot program and receiving letters of interest. Moving forward with the neighborhood revitalization program, the city plans to roll out RFPs for infill lots that will be developed in a batchphased approach. This would be for the purpose of building homes on these sites. The overall goals are increasing home ownership in Middletown, to diversify our housing stock, and to decrease our city maintenance expenses such as mowing grass, removing trash on these lots that we maintenance, and to have a competitive design review and quality control for the city. For phase one, we have 12 parcels of city-owned land that will be released, and these are spread across different neighborhoods in the community. The criterion are that they must be owner occupied for no less than 10 years. They must adhere to our current development standards when building. Any initial site prep work, such as surveying or consolidation, will be completed as part of the purchase. Construction is targeted to be completed within a year with the possibility of a six-month extension. And when receiving these RFPs, the city is looking for proposals that are visually attractive that will enhance the suburban environment we have to complement the existing neighborhoods through their designs and have a sense of belonging to their community. And once the RFP window has closed and

proposals are selected, staff will present to council for final approval. Once that application is approved, we will draft an agreement for the applicant to take ownership of the property and to begin the process for development. And that's all I ask. Thank you, Miss Perkins. Do we have any questions or comments from council?

I have one question. Um, in in some of the things you were looking at, it says the homes have to be owner occupied for 10 years. I guess my question is why only 10 years? To me, that seems, you know, our intention here is to make these home ownership, why can't it be 20 years or 30 years? Because we what we don't want is these things to turn into rentals. So, I think that the 10 years is kind of short. And um thank you. You said the RFPs, when will those be going out, do you think? Um right now we have a tenative date set for February 11th.

February 11th. Okay, very well. And um with the home ownership, will there be um kind of like a plan or program to help people into that home ownership with uh the cost and things like that? Uh we didn't have anything in place. These would more be uh for developers um giving us proposals. They could also be for applicants though that um they're paying a developer to build. Um so the applicant that will own the home, they could also apply. All right. Very exciting. One question. So, the four neighborhoods that you identified, is there a uh a target goal for how many infill structures that would be viewed as success a success or

uh we don't have any right now since this is sort of the pilot part to it. Um we just base the neighborhoods on just interest we've received from developers that would like to uh develop in uh certain uh lots that appeal to them. But in the future, if there's a direction that council would like us to take with specific neighborhoods, we can specifically tackle those, too. Yeah, I that that was my question. Are you done? No, I was just a rough estimate then of the number in those neighborhoods. Do you think would it be a dozen? Would it be uh do you mean like a year? Yeah, just to develop.

Yeah, in in what what would you anticipate in the next 18 months being built in those four neighborhoods? Uh depending on staff bandwidth, we would like to do probably at least two dozen a year at least of parcels. And they do have the option we have of consolidating those lots for if the house maybe the lot doesn't meet the standard for today, it can be more appealing to consolidate the lots and then that could you know bring more attraction to that land. Certainly like where we have two right next to each other in certain spaces. Right. Thank you. My question, I I noticed the four areas that you're going. What about land that's owned by the city below real boulevard? What about that area?

Yeah, we can. We have that on our list as well. We have a list of all the different neighborhoods and land um that we own and we will just go through in a batch phase just targeting different areas and just eventually hit all of those. Oh, okay. All right. Uh, any other questions or comments? Well, thank you very much, Miss Perkins. Thank you. That's all for me. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Miss Combmes. Next on the agenda this evening is the consent agenda. While the consent agenda is generally for consensus items, do any council members wish to remove anything from the consent agenda this evening and move it to the motion agenda? Okay, seeing none, we will continue. Mrs. Skank, please present the consent agenda. For your consideration the this evening we have to receive and file the following board and commission minutes. The city council minutes from October 7th, October 21st, November 4th, December 29th, 2025, and January 6, 2026. The airport commission from May the 19th, August the 18th, September 15th, and October 20th, 2025. The library board of trustees from October 15th, November 12th, 2025. in the planning commission from December 10th, 2025 to confirm the conditional appointments of Kiara Thompson to the position of patrol officer in the division of police public safety department. Jennifer Ferris to the position of senior account clerk in the water and sewer administration division finance department. Lucas Connley to the position of maintenance worker in the water maintenance division, public works and utilities department. Aiden York to the position of maintenance worker in the street maintenance division, public works and utilities department and James Faulner to the position of mechanic in the municipal garage division, public works and utilities department.

Thank you, Mrs. Skank. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion. Is there a second? Second. It has been properly moved and seconded to accept the consent agenda. We will proceed to vote. Mrs. Skank, please call the role. Mr. West, yes. Mr. Mulligan, yes. Mayor Slama, yes. Mr. Li, yes. Mrs. Carter, yes.

Yes. Have it. And the consent agenda is approved. The next agenda item is the motion agenda. We have three items this evening. Mrs. Skank, please present item A on the motion agenda. Item A. to approve the purchase of a snowplow, plow hitch, dump body, sand, and salt spreader, and the installation thereof to upfit a 2025 International HV507 truck from Henderson Products Incorporated in the amount of $140,374.50 for the stormwater division. Thank you. Uh, Miss Combmes, the staff report, please.

The only thing I have to add is that there are sufficient funds available in the garage fund. All right. Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve item A to approve the purchase of items from Henderson Products, Inc. in the amount of 140,374.50 for the storm water division? Motion. Is there a second? Second. It has been properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, we will proceed to vote. Mrs. Skank, please call the role. Mr. Mulligan, yes. Mayor Slam, yes. Mr. Li, yes. Mrs. Carter, yes. Mr. West, yes. Yes. Have it. The motion passes. Mrs. Skank, please present item B of the motion agenda

to authorize the city manager to enter into a professional services agreement with Crawford, Murphy, and Tilly Incorporated develop a safe streets for all transportation safety action plan in an amount not to exceed $250,000. Thank you, Mrs. Skank. Miss Gomes, the staff report, please.

The city has secured federal funding through the Safe Street for all program to develop a comprehensive transportation safety action plan. This the plan will assess the current transportation system, identify trends affecting safety performance with the goal of eliminating roadway deaths. Key components of this plan include goal setting, safety analysis, public engagement, equity considerations, and strategic selection. The primary deliverable will pri prioritize high crash locations and recommend cost-effective safety improvements. After completion, the city can apply for safe streets for all implementation grants and specific projects. The financial impact will not exceed 250,000 with 200,000 funded by the Safe Streets for All grant and the city will cover up to 550,000 from the capital improvements fund. Thank you, Miss Combmes. Do I have a motion to approve item B to authorize the city manager to enter into professional services agreement with Crawford Murphy and Tilly, Inc. to develop the a safe streets for all transportation safety action plan in an amount not to exceed $250,000?

Motion. Is there a second? second haven't been proper properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? I was just curious um when do we think that the for the residents when do we think that the public engagement portion might begin if we have any idea about that? Yes, Scott Tatish, our public works director will answer that question for you. Thank you so much. I would say in the next couple months once we get the uh consultant on board, we'll work with Ken on a communications plan and out pretty soon. So, all right. Well, thank you. Next couple months, that's very exciting. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Right. Seeing none, uh, we will proceed to vote. Mrs. K, please call the role. Mayor Slama, yes. Mr. Li,

yes. Mrs. Carter, yes. Mr. West, yes. Mr. Mulligan, yes. The yeses have it. And the motion passes. Mrs. K, please present item C on the motion agenda. Authorize a purchase of six 2026 Dodge Durango police interceptor utility vehicles from Statewide Ford of Vanart, Ohio in the amount of $369,310 from the middle for the Middletown Division of Police. Thank you. Miss Combmes, the staff report, please.

The Division of Police needs to replace six cruisers, including two K9 unit vehicles. These vehicles are past the replacement date according to the city's 15-point schedule. Each new vehicle will be equipped with necessary electronics. The old vehicles have already been sold on gov deals and are available through the state contract bid and there are sufficient funds in the garage fund for these purchases. Thank you so much. Do we have a motion to approve item C to authorize the purchase of six vehicles from Statewide Ford of Vaner, Ohio in the amount of $369,310 for the Middletown Division of Police. Motion. Is there a second? Second. Having been properly moved and seconded, is there any discussion? Seeing none, we will proceed to vote. Mrs. Gang, please call the role. Mr. Li, yes. Mrs. Carter, yes.

Mr. West, yes. Mr. Mulligan, yes. Mayor Slama, yes. The yeses have it. And the motion passes. This concludes the motion agenda. The next item on the agenda this evening is legislation. We have two items of legislation this evening. Law director, Mr. Alex Ewing. The legislation, please. Item number one, ordinance number 02026-05. approval ofou between Butler County Commissioners, Butler County Finance Authority, Middletown Community Foundation, and City of Middletown and declaring an emergency. Thank you, Mr. Yuing. Miss Combmes, the staff report, please.

The Butler County Finance Authority has a formed a funding reserve aimed at supporting redevelopment in downtown Middletown. The reserve gathers funds from the Butler County Commissioners, City of Middletown, and Middletown Community Foundation, targeting up to 15 million for downtown improvements. These funds will support significant projects including the Manchester and Sunshine building sites first financial bank site, CG& building known as Cincinnati State, and the Gats tower as well as completing park enhancements over the CSO basin project. The city of Miltown will contribute 5 million less 2,350,000 already allocated to park improvements resulting in a net contribution of 2,650,000. This is presented as an emergency measure measure first reading to ensure timely funding by February 15, 2026.

Thank you, Miss Combmes. Is there a motion to approve the ordinance? Motion. Is there a second? Second. It has been properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, we will proceed to vote. Mrs. Skank, please call the role. Mrs. Carter, yes. Mr. West, yes. Mr. Mulligan, yes. Mayor Slam, yes. Mr. Li, yes. Yeses have it. And the legislation passes. Mr. Euing, the next legislative item, please.

Item item number two, resolution number R2026-01. a resolution declaring the official intent and reasonable expectation of the city of Middletown on behalf of the state of Ohio, the borrower, to reimburse its water capital reserve fund for the CJ10AB/CJ11AB raw water transmission main replacement with the proceeds of taxexempt debt of the state of Ohio and declaring an emergency.

Thank you, Miss Combs. The staff report, please. The city was awarded an OPWC grant and loan to replace approximately 9,600 ft of raw water transmission main serving 13 production wells in the water treatment plants wellfield. In April 2025, the city council awarded a construction contract the Lyens Construction LLC in the amount of $5,512,770 with a construction starting in fall of 2025 due to the IRS tax obl obligations on tax exempt bonds. The OPWC must follow specific guidelines for dispersement of funds to local subdivisions. In this project, OPWC will reimburse the city for previously incurred construction cost. The water capital fund will be reimbursed up to $2 million for OPWC funds paid to the contractor. This is an emergency legislation request um so that this can be facilitated to reimburse the incurred project costs.

Thank you, Miss Combmes. Is there a motion to approve the resolution? Motion. Is there a second? Second. It has been properly moved and second. Seconded. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, we will proceed to vote. Mrs. Skank, please call the role. Mr. West, yes. Mr. Mulligan, yes. Mr. Slam, yes. Mr. Li, yes. Mrs. Carter, yes.

Yeses have it. And the legislation passes. This concludes the legislation for the evening. The next item on the agenda is unfinished business. Do any council members have anything they would like to bring up under unfinished business? Seeing hearing none, that concludes unfinished business. The next item on the agenda is new business. Do any council members have anything that they would like to bring up under new business? Hearing none, that concludes new business. The next item on the agenda is executive session. And let's see here. Do I hear a motion to move to executive session under the authority of OC121.22 22 G1 to consider the appointment of a public employee or official and G8 to consider confidential information related to the marketing plans, specific business strategy, production techniques, trade secrets, or personal financial statements of an applicant or economic development assistance or to negotiations with other political subdivisions respecting requests for economic development assistance provided that both of the following conditions apply. A the information is directly related to a request for economic development assistance that is to be provided or administered under any provision of chapter 715 725 1724 or 1728 of sections or sections 701.07 3735.67 to 3735.70 5709.40 to 5709.43 5709.61 to 5709.69 69 5709.73 to 5709.75 or 5709.77 to 5709.81 of the revised code or that involves public infrastructure improvements or the extension of utility services that are directly related to an economic development project. B. A unanimous quorum of the public body determines by roll call vote that the executive session is necessary to protect the interests of the applicant or the

possible investment or expenditure of public funds to be made in connection with the economic development project. Is there a motion? Motion. Is there a second? Second. It has been properly moved and seconded to move to executive session. We will proceed to vote. Mrs. Skank, please call the role. Mr. Mulligan, yes. Mayor Slam, yes. Mr. Li, yes. Mrs. Carter, yes. Mr. West, yes. Thees have it. We will be uh council will now move to executive session.