City Council - Regular Meeting

We're going to call the legislative portion of the Mount Vernon City Council for May 26th to order. And we do have a person filling in for Zach, our clerk. We welcome you, Amber Swain. Amber, please call the roll.

Mr. Jacklin?

Yes.

Mr. Ruckman?

Here.

Mr. Hager? Here. Mr. Miller? Here. Mr. Severance? Here. Ms. Keener? Here. Mr. Mahan?

Here. We are in session. Mr. Simmons will give the invocation this evening. Please rise to the invocation. We remain standing for the pledge.

Let us pray. Dear God, we thank you for this day that we can be together in a free country. And we think of just yesterday, Memorial Day, and all of those women and men who have sacrificed their all to allow us to be here in a free society and meeting and discussing city matters so lord we do thank you for those men and women i pray lord for their families even of those that are maybe even more recent that have fallen and just lift their families up to you and just help them and hold them in these days that are so very tough and dark but uh Bless our time now together, Lord, as we look to review resolutions and ordinances that affect basically all of our residents of our city and even us as we live here. So give us wisdom and guidance and thank you again for this time together. In your name we pray. 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. Council, in your packets were the minutes from the May 11th meeting. Are there any additions or corrections? Now I'd ask for a motion for approval. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. They are approved. I see no petitions or communications. We do have some committee reports that are in your packet. I see no liquor control licenses or proclamations, or I have no notice of any persons wanting to speak on matters of city concern. We're gonna move to the legislative portion of the meeting. Council, in your packet, is the agenda, are there any additions or corrections to the agenda? Seeing none, I'll assume the agenda is approved by consensus, and we'll now move to resolutions for third reading. First one is resolution number 2026-44, Ms. Swain.

A resolution approving a written post issuance compliance policy in connection with the issuance of tax exempt and tax preferred obligations by the city and declaring an emergency.

Mr. Mahan.

Thank you, sir. I move to amend resolution 2026-44 as shown in this evening's agenda. We are adding the emergency clause.

Second. Been moved and seconded that this resolution be amended. Are there any comments on the amendment?

Council, I said when we went back to this first reading that we would go three readings, and we have, but we did need to add the emergency clause, and that is for timing in relation to the issuance of the bond.

Okay.

Ms. Swain.

Mr. Jacklin?

Yes.

Mr. Ruckman? Yes. Mrs. Hager? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Mr. Severance?

Yes.

Ms. Keener? Yes. Mr. Mahan?

Yes. The resolution is amended. Mr. Mahan?

Sir, I move to adopt Resolution 2026-44. As amended?

As amended. As amended, yes. Second. I move to second that this resolution be adopted as amended. Any discussion? Mr. Mahan?

Council, again, this is the third reading. You've had a chance to read and hear a committee meeting. Any updated questions on this?

Ms. Wayne.

Mr. Jacklin? Yes. Mr. Ruckman? Yes. Mrs. Hager? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Mr. Severance? Yes. Ms. Keener? Yes. Mr. Mahan?

Yes. The resolution is adopted. Next resolution is resolution number 2026, page 56. Ms. Wayne.

A resolution authorizing the Knox County Commissioners to act as the purchasing agent and governmental aggregator for natural gas for the city of Mount Vernon, Ohio.

Mr. Ruckman.

Yes, thank you, Mr. President. I would like to give resolution number 2026-56 its second reading.

This resolution receives its second reading. Next resolution this evening is resolution number 2026-57. Ms. Swinn.

A resolution authorizing the Knox County Commissioners to act as the purchasing agent and governmental aggregator for electric power for the city of Mount Vernon, Ohio.

Mr. Ruckman.

Yes, thank you, Mr. President. I would like to give resolution number 2026-57 its second reading also.

This resolution receives a second reading. We now move to resolutions for first reading. The first one is resolution number 2026-59. Ms. Swain.

A resolution authorizing and directing the safety services director to apply for the small city program grant through the Ohio Department of Transportation and declaring an emergency.

Mr. Severance. Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. I move to suspend the rule requiring three separate readings and take resolution 2026-59 to its third and final reading.

Second. Then move to second for the suspension of the rules and discussion on the suspension.

Yes, we had a committee meeting earlier, and Mr. Ball talked about this is basically just an application, so there's really no need to take this further to readings. We might as well get this in process. And this would only benefit the city, so that would be a good reason to just move it forward.

Ms. Wayne?

Mr. Jacklin?

Yes.

Mr. Ruckman?

Yes.

Mrs. Hager? Yes. Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Severance?

Yes.

Ms. Keener? Yes. Mr. Mahan? Yes.

The roll is suspended. Mr. Severance?

Yes. I move to adopt Resolution 2026-59. Second.

This resolution has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Mr. Severance?

I don't have anything to add.

Okay.

Anybody else? Ms. Swain?

Mr. Jacklin?

Yes.

Mr. Ruckman?

Yes.

Mrs. Hager? Yes. Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Severance?

Yes.

Ms. Keener? Yes. Mr. Mahan?

Yes.

Resolution is adopted. Now we move to resolution number 2026, day 60. Ms. Swain.

A resolution authorizing and directing the safety services director of the city of Mount Vernon, Ohio to enter into the contract with the advocates for children to lease the property with the street address of nine and a half East high street and declaring an emergency.

Mr. Severance. Thank you, Mr. President. We will give Resolution 2026-60 a first reading and probably need a five-minute committee meeting at the next session. Mrs. Swain, thank you.

This resolution receives its first reading. Now I move to Resolution 2026-61. Mrs. Swain.

A resolution authorizing and directing the auditor of the City of Mount Vernon to make supplemental appropriations and transfers.

Mr. Mahan.

Thank you, sir. I move to waive the rule requiring three readings and suspend, excuse me, suspend the rule requiring three readings and move resolution 2026, that's 61 to its third and final reading. Second.

And move to second for the suspension of the rules and a discussion on the suspension.

Council, we have, we're going to make a supplemental appropriation. We're going to bring in money from a federal grant. Mr. Brinkman, you want to help us out with this, please?

Yeah, sure. So the one item in particular that I would suggest moving this to the third reading would be for the first item on the piece of legislation, which is to increase the roads and bridges capital improvement fund $425,000. And that's for a federal grant for the demo and along Route 13. Since it's federal dollars and we're hoping to get this project moving along for engineering, we would ask that you move this piece of legislation along since we're on a little bit of a timeline with some of those.

Any other discussion on the suspension? Ms. Swain.

Mr. Jacklin.

Yes.

Mr. Ruckman. Yes. Mrs. Hager. Yes. Mr. Miller.

Yes.

Mr. Severance. Yes. Ms. Keener. Yes. Mr. Mahan.

Yes.

Roll suspended, Mr. Mahan.

Thank you, sir. I move to adopt resolution 2026-61. Second.

I move to second for the adoption of this resolution. Any discussion?

Mr. Mahan? None other than what Mr. Brinkman has already said, sir.

All right. Ms. Wayne?

Mr. Jacklin?

Yes.

Mr. Ruckman?

Yes.

Mrs. Hager? Yes. Mr. Miller?

Yes.

Mr. Severance? Yes. Ms. Keener? Yes. Mr. Mahan?

Yes.

Resolution is adopted. Next resolution is resolution number 2026, day 62. Miss Wayne.

A resolution authorizing and directing the safety service director of the city of Mount Vernon, Ohio to enter in a contract with the Knox County Land Utilization Corporation for North Norton Street improvements and declaring an emergency.

Mr. Severance. Yes, thank you, Mr. President. I move to suspend the rule requiring three separate readings and take resolution 2026-62 to its third and final reading.

Second.

I move to second for the suspension of the rules and the discussion on suspension.

Basically, this is a project along with the land bank that we really need to get moving forward. It's also going to greatly enhance the intersection here for the for the trucks that need to get back into that area. Think of the air code trucks and some others. And so this is something we need to move forward because this area is really difficult right now for trucks to get in and out of there.

Mr. Swinton.

Mr. Jacklin.

Yes.

Mr. Ruckman.

Yes.

Mrs. Hager. Yes. Mr. Miller.

Yes.

Mr. Severance. Yes. Ms. Keener. Yes. Mr. Mahan.

Yes.

We're all suspended, Mr. Severance.

Yes, I move to adopt Resolution 2026-62. Second.

I move to second for the adoption of this resolution. Any discussion?

Yes. Mr. Sawyers, you have a little bit of information, or Mr. Ball, both of you?

Thank you, Mr. Severance. This would actually improve North Norton Street where about, what, Mr. Paul, a year or so ago, we had a truck fall through the aqueduct. So we are improving this along with the land bank to... increase the load that can be carted through that area. Trucks that would be taking significant loads through there now would actually be more like Becker would be coming through there. So this is a joint project between us and the land bank. This was something that was budgeted for. If you remember back in budget season, there's that tab in your non-general fund Identifies a lot of the projects one of those you can see would be that Norton Street aqueduct project this was listed in this what you're approving now is just the Agreement that we have worked out between we try to avoid the handshake deals anymore so we just want to make sure that Yeah, we've identified what we're doing because some of this is public property and then some of this is the private property. That's Heartland Commerce Park. That's a land bank. So we want to distinguish what we would be doing, what they would be doing as this joint partnership moves forward. So Mr. Ball can identify any other piece that he would like to as well.

Basically, if you have questions. So originally when we did the budget, we planned to run the project as a city bid. The land bank has graciously agreed to run the project. So there was a note for sort of other expenses that was their share paying us. So the only difference really is they have chosen to run the job and we are paying them. And then we will be part of the inspection. We've been part of the design. And the project is in the public right-of-way and then on private property. But the aqueduct serves the city up to Madison Street and then almost all the way to Main Street. So this is a large drainage area that is a communal asset.

Any other discussion? Ms. Swain.

Mr. Jacklin?

Yes.

Mr. Ruckman? Yes. Mrs. Hager? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Mr. Severance? Yes. Ms. Keener? Yes. Mr. Mahan?

Yes.

Resolution is adopted. Final resolution for this evening is resolution number 2026, day 63. Ms. Wayne?

A resolution supporting the abolition of the Clinton Township Water and Sewer District and related utility governance and infrastructure matters.

Mr. Ruckman? Yes, thank you, Mr. President. I move to give resolution number 2026-63 its first reading and would also like to ask for a 20-minute committee meeting. It's the second reading, right?

What's that? Is it? I'm sorry, it's the first reading, you're right. Sorry. This resolution receives its first reading. We now move to ordinances. Third reading is ordinance number 2026-11. Ms. Wayne.

An ordinance to amend provisions of the codified ordinances of the city of Mount Vernon regarding vehicle storage within the city.

Mr. Jacklin. I would like to move to adopt ordinance number 2026-11. Second.

I move to second for the adoption of this ordinance. Any discussion? Mr. Jacklin.

I feel like we've talked through this one pretty thoroughly. If anybody has any questions... All right.

Any questions in this ordinance? Ms. Swain.

Mr. Jacklin.

Yes.

Mr. Ruckman. Yes. Mrs. Hager. Yes. Mr. Miller. Yes. Mr. Severance. Yes. Ms. Keener. Yes. Mr. Mahan.

Yes. The ordinance is adopted. Next ordinance is ordinance number 2026, stage 13. Ms. Swain. Ms. Swain.

An ordinance amending the zoning classifications of parcel number 66-07885.000 and number 66-05577.000 from R1 Single Family Residential to GB General Business District.

Mr. Jackman. I would like to move to adopt ordinance number 2026-13.

Second. I move to second to adopt this ordinance. Any discussion? Mr. Jackman?

Well, we didn't hear anybody speak against it. I think it's a good thing. All right.

Any other discussion? Ms. Wing?

Mr. Jackman?

Yes.

Mr. Ruckman? Yes. Mrs. Hager? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Mr. Severance? Yes. Ms. Keener? Yes. Mr. Mahan?

Yes.

The ordinance is adopted. May I move the ordinance for a second reading? The first one is Ordinance Number 2026, Day 16. Ms. Wing? Yes.

An ordinance reclassifying the exempt professional positions of city inspector, human resources director, and public works director.

Thank you, Mr. President. I am going to give this its first reading and second, sorry, second reading. And can we have a five minute committee meeting at the next one, which may get canceled if we don't have any questions on it. Okay.

All right, this ordinance receives its second reading. Now move to ordinance number 2026, day 17. Ms. Swain.

An ordinance to replace the section 919.11 of the codified ordinance of the city of Mount Vernon regarding backflow protection and declaring an emergency.

Mr. Rockman. Yes, thank you, Mr. President. I move to suspend the rules requiring three separate readings and to take ordinance number 2026-17 to its third and final reading. Second.

It moved and seconded for suspension of the rules. Any discussion on the suspension?

Yes, counsel, we talked about this earlier in a committee meeting. As far as the suspension of the rules was concerned, I asked if anybody would have an issue with us moving it forward, as we are in the wrong side of the EPA on this, I guess. Noncompliant. What? Noncompliant, the technical term, yeah. So that's the reason for my suspension.

Any other discussion on the suspension? Ms. Swain.

Mr. Jacklin.

Yes.

Mr. Ruckman.

Yes.

Ms. Hager. Yes. Mr. Miller.

Yes.

Mr. Severance.

Yes.

Ms. Keener. Yes. Mr. Mahan.

Yes.

The roll is suspended. Mr. Ruckman.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move to adopt ordinance number 2026-17. Second.

I move and second for the adoption of this ordinance. Any discussion? Mr. Ruckman.

Yes, thank you, Mr. President. As we discussed earlier, you know, for, I guess, the reasons for the suspension, but also this has been something that comes to us from the Utility Commission, so it has been thoroughly discussed, rediscussed, and discussed some more before it's gotten to us, so I would urge for your yes vote.

Can I ask one question? Because I had to have somebody tell me what this is. Can you tell us what backflow is?

It's a good question. A backflow device is a device that you put on your main water system or other systems throughout your property or structures and it keeps, if there would be a loss of pressure, instead of it siphoning like a straw back into the whole entire water system that we provide here, it would stop right there and then we wouldn't have any contamination. It's a safety aspect of it.

What are the potential contaminants?

Well, like if, say, I have a herbicide business. I'm filling up my tank and mixing my herbicides to go out that day. Say we have a water line break where I just slap the hose in there and I turn it off. I don't pull the hose out. they can back and then you can end up and there has been instances with herbicide pesticides and some industrial areas for coolant. If you know you're using water to cool compressors and things like that, you don't want that going back in because it could have higher metals and stuff as it goes through the devices. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions? Miss Wayne.

Mr. Jacklin.

Yes.

Mr. Ruckman? Yes. Mrs. Hager? Yes. Mr. Miller? Yes. Mr. Severance? Yes. Ms. Keener? Yes. Mr. Mahan?

Yes. The ordinance is adopted. Next ordinance, final ordinance, is ordinance number 2026, stage 20. Ms. Wayne?

An ordinance fixing the compensation hours and benefits of certain employees of the city of Mount Vernon.

Ms. Keener? Thank you, Mr. President. We are going to give ordinance 2026-20 its first reading, and we will have a short five-minute meeting on this at the June 8th council meeting, and then we're planning to have a longer meeting at the second council meeting in June. Thank you.

This ordinance receives its first reading. That concludes the legislative portion of the meeting. We're now going to move to remarks of administration. Mayor Starr.

Thank you, Mr. President and Council. I would like to welcome Amber Swain to the team. Welcome. Glad you are here and have been chosen as the Deputy Clerk of the City. Thank you very much. I would also like to congratulate Mrs. Hager for a job well done on the Memorial Day Parade. Very well organized. It was a wonderful turnout. Thank you so much for your passion in doing all of that. And I think you've raised a pretty high bar for your successor, Mr. Jacklin, to take over for next year. Anyway, it was quite a memorable experience, certainly this year of all the years that we've been doing this. I've heard nothing but just raving reviews about the parade and the memorial service and how meaningful and thoughtful it was. Thank you to all the volunteers who also helped out with that. It does take a team, as we all know, but you've got to have it. But LaNan is that big toe, right? Anyway, thank you so much for your hard work on that and making a memorable experience for the city of Mount Vernon. And, Council, I will just tell you that coming up, I JUST RECEIVED A NOTIFICATION TODAY COMING UP ON JUNE 9TH WILL BE A TRAINING SESSION, A WEBINAR THROUGH OUR FRIENDS AT BRICKER GRADE AND WYATT WHO WILL BE PROVIDING US TRAINING ON THE UPDATES, THE CURRENT UPDATES TO HOUSE BILL 184. This has to do with what is disclosed for economic development incentives in open meeting. So the current language is, it gets your attention. Let's just put it that way. So, anyway, this is something, if you would like to sign up for that, please let me know, and I will forward you that. It's free. We're already members of OML and Morpsey, and they are both sponsors to this, so we can participate for free on this. So let me know tomorrow so I can sign you up, or I can send you the link and you can sign up directly. Did you already sign up?

I think I already signed up.

Okay. Anyway. Mr. President, that is all. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Sagers. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to echo what the mayor said. Linnan, stellar job. I know some of us also volunteered, but it's a bold statement to say we also stood there terrified while Linnan led the show. In addition to that, I want to thank the community for coming out to make it an absolutely wonderful parade and ceremony afterward. I think that's a great reason why people love to live in Mount Vernon. So we showed them. So I also want to say that we had a big day today, swearing in several folks at the fire department and a new police officer. I want to give a shout out to Tom Callen, stepped up as the new EMS coordinator and training lieutenant. He also swore in Nathaniel Wolf and Luke Hallbaker into their full-time roles in the Mount Vernon Fire Department. And of course, Assistant Chief Nate Hines took over. And then in the Mount Vernon Police Department, Joshua Caleb Kraft is our new police officer there. So without these guys, you know, we keep our streets safe, and people can know that when they pick up the phone and dial 911 that they're going to get – a reliable and trustworthy folks showing up in a time of crisis. And that leads me to tomorrow's Washington Forum, which is our theme is Home of the Brave, Stories of Heroes Next Door. So I hope at six o'clock you'll join us. at the Gathering Place at 425 South Edgewood Road and hear about those stories from Heroes Next Door. That's from the Mount Vernon Police Department, Mount Vernon Fire Department, our Chaplains Association, and another special message that will slip in there at the end. That is all, Mr. President.

Mr. Brinkman. Nothing tonight, Mr. President. Thank you. Mr. Stoller here.

Mr. Bruin.

Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank the fifth and sixth grade classes at St. Vincent DePaul School. Those students helped the cemetery department put out American flags on all the veterans' graves in the week before Memorial Day. I think it was much needed and we very much appreciate their civic spirit in doing so. Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. Severance. Nothing this evening. Thank you. Ms. Keener.

Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Salyers, would you talk a little bit about the memorial that happened in the morning on Monday led by the chaplains?

Yes, so that was our first sunrise memorial service led by the Chaplains Association at the chapel at Mountain View Cemetery. Aside from the chaplains, we probably had probably 20 to 30 folks in attendance, and it was just a good time for reflection, prayer, songs. scripture reading, just a peaceful time at sunrise at Mount View Cemetery, and we look forward to doing it again. So keep an eye out. I know the Chaplains Association is starting to do more and more community programming as it contributes to the spiritual health here in the city and to anybody that is in need in the community. So thank you.

Just good job, Lynanne. That's all. Thank you. Thank you.

Mr. Miller.

Thank you, Mr. President. Nothing this evening. Thank you.

Mr. Mahan. Thank you. I want to add my thanks to Lynanne and Taylor, all those involved in the parade and the ceremony. Had the opportunity to have my son up from Tennessee. He hasn't been back. He graduated from Mount Marin High School, but hasn't been back in years and years, and brought a friend, and just absolutely being able to see Mount Vernon again through the eyes of someone who's never been here, the parade, the memorial service, Foundation Park, the chapel at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, and just other real gems that we got to show off. It was just, you know, Mount Vernon's a great place. And I appreciate the work of all the people involved who make Mount Vernon a great place. So I think we should all be We're all blessed, and we should be proud of our folks around here. Thank you, sir. Mrs. Hager.

Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank all of the volunteers that really put their heart and soul into the parade. And Mrs. Hirsch, who was our original chairperson before me for two or three years, she really made this so well organized that really I felt like I would have to be a real – knucklehead to mess it up. But I really appreciate all of the praise because it makes me very proud because I did work really hard to make sure that what her plan was realized. Also, Mr. Sherman, who's our clerk, who's not here tonight, was absolutely critical in making so much of this seamless for me. I don't know if I could have done it without him. I really appreciate you being here. I wish he was here so I could thank him, but I will thank him the next time. And just so much thanks to everyone who participated in the parade. It was just awesome. So thank you very much, Mr. President.

Mr. Jacklin. So we've extensively thanked the parade, and I think that was worthwhile. I do want to thank the city employees that cleaned up after the parade, the massive amounts of candy that didn't quite make it far enough and got ran over and unusable. And I'd like to thank Mayor Starr for carrying the shovel to the end of the parade to pick up all of the material the horses left behind. But overall, yes, it was a wonderful experience, and that's it.

Thank you.

Mr. Reckman. Nothing this evening, Mr. President.

Thank all of you, and thank you again for the parade. The parade was wonderful.

I'll take responsibility for the weather. It was a rainy weekend, but it dried out for the parade. Perfect.

And so thank you, the media, for being here this evening. And that being said, I call for adjournment.

So moved.

Second. Moved and seconded. We adjourn. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. We are adjourned.