City Council - Regular Meeting

My hands on the inspired. No, just cover here. You need a It is 7 o'clock. It's time to start our meeting. And we call the roll.

Mr. Barker here. Miss Blind present. Mr. Shu present. Mr. Cos here. Mr. Hower here. Miss Engold. Mr. Lemutas here. Mr. Marley present. Mr. Neely here. Miss Newman here.

Would you like to stand for the invocation and then please remain standing in Mr. President? Let's pray. Lord, I want to lift up um this council meeting to you here tonight. Um I pray that you'd just help us with the um decisions that we have here before us. That we would um do all this according to your will. Um Lord, I lift up this year to you as we start on a new one. Um that you would watch over our city, watch over our safety forces who um who sacrifice so much for us. Um and I also lift up the new council members um presenting here tonight. I pray that you'd bless them and bless their decision making um and just bless the service um that they are giving here at the city of New York. Amen.

Amen. Tonight our pledge is by Natalie Drum, fifth grade from far excellent and she's the president of the leadership team at the school. Yeah. All right. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the fathery.

Thank you. Now next up is caucus. Do we have anything pertaining to the uh meeting tonight? Mr. President, Mr. Marmy. Yes. Uh I would like to um vote for the uh committees to move forward. Make a motion. Second. Um positions positions. Um yeah. Okay. Mr. Barker. Yes. M blind. Yes. Mr. Shu. Yes. Mr. Cos. Yes. Mr. Hower. Yes. Miss Engel. Yes. Mr. Lebuda? Yes. Mr. Mr. Marmy, yes. Mr. Ney, yes.

Miss Newman, yes. That has passed 10. Do we have anything else for Mr. President? Mr. Marmy, we've got a couple rule 11s uh that the minority leader and me as majority leader approved to move forward. Uh the first one is um well, I'll go ahead and just say that we'll approve for bill onto the agenda. Yes. We need a first read. Yeah. Go ahead and read 25-86.

Resolution number 25-86 by Mr. Marne, Mr. Cos, Mr. Barker, Miss Engle, Miss Wine. A resolution appointing a discretionary charter review commission pursuant to article 11.05 of the charter of the city of Newark, Ohio, and declaring an emergency. Curren 25-86. toward your wish. Mr. President, Mr. Marmy, make a motion to adopt resolution 25-86. Got a motion by Mr. Marmy, second by Mr. Cost. Do we have any discussion? Mr. President, Mr. Marie.

Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, this is something that we actually identified um late in the ball game with our last uh charter review. Uh, but we did not meet timing requirements. It's basically to remove uh some notification requirements that we have in the charter that are no longer required by the state of Ohio. We can use alternate terms. So, it's going to save the money somewhere between 25 to $40,000. So, that's why we want to put get this onto the ballot right away. Any other discussion? Amy, please call the role. Mr. Barker, yes. Miss Blind, yes. Mr. Shute. Yes. Mr. Cod, yes. Mr. Hower, yes.

Miss Engel, yes. Mr. Lebuta, yes. Mr. Marley, yes. Mr. Ney, yes. Miss Newman, yes. 2586 has passed 100. Uh, next up is a public hearing. Uh, 25-85. Resolution number 25-85 by Mr. Marmy, Mr. Cos, Mr. Barker, Miss Engold, and Miss Blind. A resolution approving the renewal application for placement of farmland in an agricultural district and declaring an emergency.

Reading of uh 25-85. Um this public hearing is now open. Do we have anybody here to speak for or against 25-85? Anybody? All right. We'll close the public hearing. and we please resolution number 25-85 of Mr. Warming, Mr. Cos, Mr. Barker, Miss Zingle, Miss Lime, a resolution approving the renewal application for placement of farmland in an agricultural district and declaring an emergency. Third reading 25-85. What is your wish? Mr. President, Mr. Marmy,

make a motion to adopt resolution 25-85. Second motion by Mr. uh Marmy, second by Mr. Cost. Do we have any discussion? Amy, please call. Mr. Barker. Sorry. Question. Why is this an emergency? Uh, this actually uh needs to be done every year. We're a little behind. Yeah. I may just All right. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Any please call the role. Mr. Barker? Yes. Miss Blind? Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Cod, yes. Mr. Hower, yes. Miss Engle,

yes. Mr. Levut, yes. Mr. Marmy, yes. Mr. Ney, yes. Miss Newman, yes. 25-85 passes uh 10. Next up is minutes of the December 15, 2025 meeting. Do I have a motion? Motion by Mr. Labuda, second by Mr. Hower. All in favor say I. All post, same sign. Next is appointment um appointing Kurt Hurin, Todd Herald, Joe Wal, Luke Burton, and Cara Perone to the uh charter review committee. Um all in favor say I. All oppose.

Um that meeting that charter review meeting will be Wednesday, this Wednesday um at 5:00 right here at city hall. So anybody that wants to attend, you're more than welcome. So, uh, reports of standing committees, finance service, ways and means without objection will be received and file. Reports from city officials. Uh, list of properties being sent to lean for past water, sewer, and storm water bills totaling $3,587.66. Uh, there's no communications tonight. Next up is comments from citizens. Do we have anybody tonight want to give your name and address? try to decrement the three minutes or so.

Hi, my name is Crystal Stamper. My home address is 1298 Granville Road, but I'm representing Far Excellent STEM Academy, and that address is 1350 Granville Road. So, yes, it's right over my backyard. Um, so with that said, I'm here tonight to invite everyone here to the 29th annual community breakfast being held on Martin Luther King Jr. day, January 19th, the breakfast will be at the Reese Center. Um, and there is uh some flyers that if I have permission, I would like to leave them here at the table for you. Um, the reason this breakfast is so endearing is because it was started in 1997, that's why it's 29 years old this year, um, by Reverend Charles Noble, in an effort to bridge our par community to the whole county community. And so the theme this year is called dream and action stem for good and it is all about bridging the community. So you will see you'll learn about different types of bridges and all that. Um see that in our displays but our keynote speaker is Rick Platt who as you know is a great advocate for STEM in the community for industry and education. And so we're super excited to have him as our keynote speaker. And I hope that you guys will all participate in attending our breakfast. Does anyone have any questions about it?

No questions. Great. All right. May I have permission to leave these on the table? Thank you. Anybody else would like to come and speak right now?

Brandon Myers, 371 Oan Avenue. So, seems like a lot of times I bring tough things to the table and I'm I'm going to hold that uh today. Also, um we're staring at a new year and one of the things that I like to do is I like to be able to judge what we call help um through a lens that will measure and say whether it did actually help or not. And so, what I'm going to talk about tonight is vouchers. And before I do that, I'm going to give you some comparison data. Um, so you guys know that one of the things I had issues in the past was that Patricia Perry was handing out needles down on the on Main Street um, and calling it help. And that bothered me a lot. And so we did a lot of work to try to get that stopped. And again, the reason I think it's an issue is because if we say we're helping, then we should be able to look back and say, well, then this help actually gave this metric and it should be able to be measured. Another example would be San Francisco, California spent $5 million last year um giving out free alcohol u to people who have what they would call um alcohol use disorder that would fall under like the harm reduction or the the wet housing is what they would call it. And I know this isn't San Francisco, so I'm just trying to make a case of when you look at the $5 million was spent on roughly 55 people. You have to ask yourself, was there really help given there or did we just help these people stay alcoholics, right? And so knowing that some people's mindset would like to see those sorts of things come to Newark, I feel the need to stand and speak out against that mindset. And this is a very different topic because it's vouchers, but it also has to do with when we measure it, is it helping? And so here's some statistics

for you. There's roughly 18,000 units um that are rentals in Newark. And of those 18,000, there's about 10 to 12% um of those are being funded by some sort of a voucher with, you know, aid, help help for the the housing. And my issue with that is not that we're helping people because I like to help people. Um I don't like to be forced to help people, but I do like to help people. And so what we see is we see that the cost on that is it drives housing prices up. And so to give you some real numbers, if say I'm going to rent a a single family apartment for $750 and then somebody comes along and says, "Hey, I have a voucher here. I'll give you 950 or a,000 or 900 or whatever." Then I as a landlord would be very tempted to take that. Why? Because it's higher. I make more money. But in the end, if you think about it in terms of supply and demand, what that's doing, it's actually driving the price of housing up in Newark, which as you guys know, uh, we do have a somewhat of a housing shortage. There's a lot of a lot going on in Newark, especially with all the building and intel and all the stuff that's happening. And so, when you couple those two things together, you know, supply and demand issues with the vouchers, um, I think in the end, if you look back, you might be helping people initially. um you know right there in the immediate but it fast forward that over the span of a longer period and you find that if you're actually bringing the cost of housing up significantly then are we really helping? So that's that's something I wanted to consider as a community. Um, I would like to see my children be able to get into houses. Um, you know, they're getting older, getting married one of these days. Like, it's it's hard to get

started now. I think everybody understands that. And so, I want us as a community just to step back and I'm not trying to throw anybody under a bus, but let's think about what we're doing and then actually measure it and say, is it really helping or does it actually have a negative effect as well? Thank you for your time. Thank you. Anybody else would like to speed at this time? Okay. Next up is ordinance on second reading. There are none this meeting. Next up is ordinance on first reading 25-48.

Ordinance number 25-48 by Miss Blind, Mr. Barber, Mr. Thoughts. an ordinance levying an additional income tax of 1/ half of 1% for the purpose of raising general operating revenue specifically dedicated to police and fire protection on all salaries, wages, commissions, and other compensation earned by the residents of the city of Newark. on all salaries, wages, commissions, and other compensation earned by non-residents of the city of Newark for work done and services performed or rendered in the city of Newark. on the net profits earned on all businesses, professions, or other activities conducted by the residents of the city of Newark. on the net profits earned on businesses, professions, and other activities conducted in the city of Newark by non-residents and on the net profits earned by all corporations doing business in the city of Newark as the result of the work done or services performed in the city of Newark requiring the filing of returns and furnishing of implications by employers and all those subject to said tax, imposing on employers the duty of collecting the tax at the source and paying the same to the city of Newark. providing for the administration, collection, and enforcement of said tax, declaring violations thereof to be a misdemeanor, and imposing penalties therefore, and declaring an emergency.

Per 25-48 emergency, what is your wish? Mr. President, uh before I make a motion, I'd like to make a comment for clarity that the attached emergency clause is solely for the purpose of getting the legislation on the ballot by the February deadline. And so with that, I'll make a motion. Second motion by Mr. Blind, second by Mr. Barker. Do we have any discussion? Mr. President. Mr. Barker.

Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I would like to amend this ordinance. Um, in our discussions and in the committee discussion, we talk talked about some language changes and one of them was uh how the half percent was actually introduced. So, I'd like to make an amendment and all council members have this in your packet. uh on the first sentence there changing the only change on it is one half of 1% uh making it a uh income tax of a half percent. So it's taking out a few words but it gives clarity to the voters. With that I make a motion to amend. Got a motion by Mr. Burger to have a second. Second by Miss W. Any discussion? Okay, Amy, please read the role on the uh amendment.

Mr. Barker, yes. Miss Blind, yes. Mr. Shu, yes. Mr. Cos, yes. Mr. Hower, yes. Miss Engle, yes. Mr. Leutus, yes. Mr. Marmy, yes. Mr. Neely, yes. Miss Newman, yes. The amendment has passed 25-48. Um, now we're back to the original um 25-48 which we already have a motion in second. There any discussion on that? Mr. President, Mr.

Thank you, Mr. President. Um I'm in uh support of uh moving this forward for the voters to decide to see um if an additional tax of a half percent uh will be beneficial for our safety forces. Um I I am here to say that um I am in only in support of moving this forward if uh the money is to be spent on those safety forces as it is legislated here in the language. Um I have further talked with the auditor's um office and we will be coming up with a a manner in which we can track the half percent and this council will have the authority to either move it to something that is justifiable uh towards our safety forces. So it is dedicated as it is being legislated. Uh currently our safety um is our safety percentage as far as as far as what we spend on our safety forces is at about 53% of the general fund. Um that includes the safety department and adult probation. Uh now there are other uh amounts in which uh can be justifiable and will be justifiable in mind because like our HR department provides support to those departments and so does our auditor's office. Uh so but it'll be uh proportionate to the number of employees or we'll come up with a formula that is justifiable. Um, I don't want any of our taxpayers to think that this is anything other than a

safety tax levy in which it will go towards our safety forces. And so therefore, because I have confidence that the auditor's office and uh and this council will make sure that the funds go where it is going to be voted to go towards. Um, I am in support of putting this on the ballot. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Any please?

Yeah. Thank you. I I appreciate uh Councilman Mary's pledge to trust because truly that's what this is about. It's about trust and transparency and transparency to public record and everything we do here on in the finance committee on and on council is visible to anyone and everyone who would like to see. So, but trust is earned through relationship and resistancy and we have to be sure that we do just that. We are trustworthy and we are consistent and the money does go exactly what it is legislated for. So, I grateful for Mr. Mary's charge on this and this is for the voters to decide but truly this trust is on all of us and we need to make sure that it comes to the further.

Thank you. Anybody else? Any please call Mr. Barker? Yes. Miss Blind? Yes. Mr. Shu, yes. Mr. Cross, yes. Mr. Hower, yes. Miss Engle, yes. Mr. Leutus, yes. Mr. Marmy, yes. Mr. Ney, yes. Miss Newman. Yes. 25-48 passes 10. Next up is uh resolutions on the second reading 25-81. Resolution number 25-81 by Mr. Marmy, Mr. Toss, Miss Engle, Mr. Rat, a resolution appropriating monies for current expenses of the municipal corporation. Further reading 25-81. What is your wish? Mr. President, Mr. Marmy, make a motion to adopt resolution 25-81. Second.

Got a motion by Mr. Marmy, second by Mr. Barker. Do we have any discussion? Amy, please call the RO. Mr. Barker, yes. Miss Blind, yes. Mr. Shu, yes. Mr. Cos, yes. Mr. Hower, yes. Miss Engle, yes. Mr. Levitz, yes. Mr. Marley, yes. Mr. Neely, yes. Miss Newman, yes. 25-81 passes 10. Next up is the resolutions on the first reading 25-82.

Resolution number 25-82 by Mr. Wrath, Mr. Claus, Miss Engle, Mr. Marmy, Miss Blind, Mr. Barker. A resolution authorizing and directing the director of public service of the city of Newark, Ohio to enter into contract without competitive bidding subject to the appropriation of funds for the purpose purchase of a new dump truck and bed for the water distribution sewer maintenance department through Sourcewell, the state's cooperative purchasing program.

25-82 will be held until our next meeting uh Tuesday, January the 20th. Next up is 25-83. Resolution number 25-83 by Miss Blind, Mr. Cost, Mr. Barker. A resolution providing for submission to the electors of the city of Newark, Ohio of the question, shall the ordinance providing for a one half of 1% additional levy on income specifically dedicated to police and fire protection within the general revenue fund of the city be passed in declaring an emergency? Further reading 25-83. What is your wish?

Yeah, Mr. President, this is uh the same process as the previous the emergency clause attached for the purpose of getting the legislation to the ballot by the February. So with that, I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 258. Got a motion by Miss Blind. Second by Mr. Barker. Do we have any discussion? Mr. President. Mr. Barker.

Thank you, Mr. President. Uh again, I'd like to make a motion to amend uh this legislation 25-83 to reflect the same change uh where we're taking out the language of 1 half and 1% and replacing it with a half percent. So with that, I'll make a motion. Got a motion by uh Mr. Burner to make an amendment. Do I have a second? Second by Miss Fly. Do we have any more discussion? Please call the role of the amendment. Mr. Barker, yes. Miss Blind, yes. Mr. Shu, yes. Mr. Cos, yes. Mr. Hower, yes. Miss Engle, yes. Mr. Leutus, yes. Mr. Marmy, yes. Mr. Ney, yes. Miss Newman, yes.

The amendment has passed 100. Now we're going to go back to the original ordinance um 25-83. We have a motion by Mr. Blond, second by Mr. Barker. Do we have any discussion? Anybody, please call the RO. Mr. Barker? Yes. Miss Blime? Yes. Mr. Shupe? Yes. Mr. Cost? Yes. Mr. Hower? Yes. Miss Engold? Yes. Mr. Leutus? Yes. Mr. Marley? Yes. Mr. Neely? Yes. Miss Newman? Yes. 25-83 passes 10. Next up and our last one tonight is 25-84.

Resolution number 25-84 by Mr. Neely, Mr. Cos, Mr. Marmy, Mr. Barker, Miss Blind, Missing Engle. A resolution appointing a new member to replace a citizen member vacancy. Reappointing a citizen me member and the local government member to the board of trustees of Newark downtown new community authority and declaring an emergency. Per 25-84. What is your wish? Mr. President, Mr. Neely. Make a motion to adopt 25-84. Second. Got a motion by Mr. Neely, second by Mr. Barker. Do any discussion? Amy, please call the role. Mr. Barker, yes. Miss Blind. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Cross. Mr. Hower. Yes. Miss Inhel. Yes. Mr. Levut. Yes. Mr. Marley. Yes. Mr. Ney. Yes. Miss Newman.

Yes. 25-84 passes 10. That completes our ordinance and resolutions tonight. Next up is comments for citizens. We have anybody city officials? Law director? Oh, sorry Mr. R. Didn't see you. Come on up. I'm surprised you're here after the Browns beat the Steelers last week. Okay. Go ahead, Mr. R.

What did the coach have to say? Uh, my name is Jeff Wrath. My address is 1685 West, New York, Ohio 43055. Uh, community president, members of council, residents of New York. Like I said, my name is Jeff Rat. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here to formally announce that I am running for Lincoln County Commission. For the past 16 years, I've served New York City Council working on budgets, infrastructure, land use, economic development. Should have done this to begin with.

Oh my gosh. uh often during times when growth place real pressure on our roads services and our neighborhoods that experience is prepared to believe when long-term planning and accountability matter most. Lincoln County is growing and I believe that growth should be managed reasonably and responsibly. We can support jobs and economic opportunity while also protecting farmlands, neighborhoods, and the quality of life that makes our economy a great place to live, work, play, and pray. Careful planning and smart infrastructure investments are essential to getting this right. As county commissioner, I'll bring proven local government experience, fiscal discipline, and a commitment to smart, balanced growth. growth that strengthens our communities rather than overwhelms them. I'm running to put experience to work to plan responsibly for the future and to ensure Lincoln County's growth benefits all of our residents. Thank you to this council for the work you do and thank you for allowing me to make this announcement.

Thank you, Daniel. All right, law director. Um, happy new year everyone. Uh, welcome to new members, Councilman Engold and Councilman. Look forward to working with you. Pass. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes. Happy New Year also to everyone. And I hope your holidays were good. I guess they're always good when they come and sometimes they're kind of nice when they go on so be back in normal season. But, um, this will be the last time you see all the beautiful decorations out here. They will be gone next time. Um, welcome all council members to the first meeting in 2026. I look forward to working with each and every one of you and as we continue to move New York forward. So, thank you for serving and again look forward to working with you. That'll pass.

Thank you, Mr. Barker. Thank you, Mr. President. Happy to hear everybody. Welcome to Molly and Michelle. We're happy to have you here. Um, I need to call service committee meeting for January 20th. And with that, I will pass. Thank you, Miss B.

Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to welcome my neighbor, President Miss Engel and Miss Newman to the council. Thank you. Uh it's been a great experience. It really is. Thank you for your service. Uh there's a lot of things that happened over Christmas break. We had a community dinner at a local church on Fifth Street. We had uh over 350 meals served there. It was a great time. And then I was also called by several members in the community to get to play Santa so to speak uh to pass funds out to those who were in need uh children who otherwise would have gone without. So although I can't name these folks, I want to thank them for their generosity. There were a lot of needs met in the community because of their kindness. I'd like to thank Mr. Meyer for coming. You bring up the need topic and it's going to take work but it is a very needed discussion. I thank you for breaking it down. Thank you sir.

Thank you Mr. Sh. Thank you Mr. President. I'll wish everyone a happy new year and welcome to new members and with that I will pass. Thank you Mr. CS. Happy new year. Welcome Michelle M. very happy to have you both here and we look forward to a good year. Thank you, Mr. Hower. Thank you, Mr. President. I won't say anything other than just thanking Molly and Michelle for joining us and best. Thank you, Miss Engle.

Um with all the beautiful um thanks for being here and welcoming. You all have been very welcoming and very helpful. Um I'm grateful and blessed to be here and thank you all. Thank my committees and my friends and everybody who helped me to get here and I'm looking forward to serving the third ward in the city of Newark. So that will pass. Thank you Mr. Le. Thank you Mr. President. Happy new year to everyone and welcome to Michelle. Look forward to working with both of you here on council and then I will pass. Thank you Mr. Marik.

Thank you Mr. President. Need to call Finance Committee meeting for January the 20th. Um I too want to wish everyone a very happy new year. Welcome both Molly and Michelle uh to council. Um I too along with the mayor. Um am anxious for 2026. I think great things can definitely happen in the year to come. Couple of items. Um I want to say thank you to Mr. Myers for coming and uh talking about the voucher system and how that system is in play. Um, if there was a little bit more within our control, I I would say that uh you would have a lot more support. Unfortunately, a lot of that is outside of our control. The only thing we can uh do as far as uh on our end is uh making sure that we support the right and the correct nonprofits that are not engaging in the activity that is driving those prices up. Um the final thing that I want to mention is just uh the safety levy. I'm going to talk a little bit about that. Uh first I want to make sure that everybody's aware that it's only on earned income. It is uh not on any type of pensionable income for anything along those lines. Uh the other thing I was on council when the previous safety levy passed uh those of u the police and the fire knew back then how I was and I will continue to be this time around. At that point uh 27% of the general fund went towards our police and fire and I made sure they had 27% of the general fund after that levy. Um, now you see where it's gone to at this point. I don't have

to track it anymore. We've exceeded that and and we've done well safety courses and we want to continue to do that. So, uh, I am here to make sure that the levy and that um, it is done correctly, is managed correctly and monitored correctly. And uh, with that, thank you, Mr. Martin. Um, Mr. Neely, Mr. President, I will simply welcome Michelle, welcome Molly, and I will pass. Thank you, Mr. News.

Um, I would like to thank all of my fellow council members for really truly being welcoming. Um, as we've kind of started on this journey together. Um, and I also want to say, you know, to the community as a whole, um, you know, democracy isn't a spectator sport, and I want to be able to hear from constituents. Um, and so I look forward to hearing folks who are interested in civil discourse about building a really great community together. So, um, thank you to everyone here who has welcomed me and I look forward to doing great work with the city of And without

Thank you. Um, like to welcome Molly and Michelle too. Um, I forgot the last council meeting we had three birthdays at the end of December and one was Beth, Brad, and Amy. So, happy belated birthday you guys. Um, I want to thank everybody who attended the swearing in ceremony. I thought it was a really nice ceremony, a nice crowd and um and it's always um an honor and pleasure to uh do a public swearing in for everybody. Um I also want to congratulate the North basketball boys. They are number one in the state right now. So, they are really good. So get up there and support the boys. Um our next meeting will be Tuesday the 20th because uh 19th on Martin King Day and uh I the best Christmas present I got this year was the Browns beating the Steelers and then they beat the Ben. Do I have a motion second by Mr. All in favor say I did well. Anyway,