City Council - Regular Meeting

At 7 o'clock, it's time to start our meeting. Amy, please call the roll.

Mr. Marmy. Present. Mr. Neely.

Here.

Ms. Newman. Here. Mr. Brooker. Here. Ms. Blind. Present. Mr. Chu.

Present.

Mr. Cos.

Here.

Ms. Ingle. Here. Mr. Libutis. Here. Mr. Lumley.

Here. Everyone's here tonight. Would you like to stand for the invocation by Mr. Libutis?

And please remain standing for the pledge.

Before we pray this evening, I'd like for us all during prayer to remember the family of Mr. Jeff Hodges. He was our former parks director who passed over the past couple weeks, was a great servant of the city and a friend to a lot of us as well. So, shall we pray? Heavenly Father, we come to you to pray this evening. We thank you for this day that you have given us and the blessing that it has been. I just ask that you be with us this evening in our conversations. Be with us as we make decisions on the city or about the city. I would also ask that you be in the meeting and provide a hedge of protection around our safety forces as they continue to keep our city safe. We also ask that you would be near to the family of Jeff Hotchkiss and that you would continue to surround them with people and the community and their love for him as they support their family in the coming weeks and months. Be with us this evening. Help us keep in mind your vision for our city. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Join me in the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag 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.

Next on the agenda is caucus. Do we have anything that pertains to the agenda tonight? Okay, next is minutes of August 3rd, 2026 meeting. I have a motion motion by Mr. second by Mr. Parker all in favor say aye. Same sign that passes appointments. There are none reports of standing committees without objection would be received and file reports from city officials. Ryan both city author operating report for the period ending July 31st, 2026. Brenda Cooper tax ministry income tax revenue reports for the period ended July 31st, 2026 communications. Emails regarding the drop in center and that's up. We have comments from citizens drop to come up and speak, ask you your name and address and keep your comments about 3 minutes. Do we have anybody here tonight? They'd like to speak.

to our attention about Mr. Hodgkins. He was a wonderful person. I worked with him on a number of projects and always appreciate his graciousness and hardworking nature and the great job he did with his employees. I would like to encourage people from this area to think about signing a petition. To ban data centers and to consider not having them in our area.

I don't think the public has been informed.

Sufficiently about the consequences of the data that's been contained, nor how many people are going to be benefiting with jobs having gone to meetings before I wanted the topic. I can see where a lot of people are not as informed as they could be. And I would like to encourage people to sign the petitions. Also, in terms of the e-bites, paper about an adult who was almost run over by a child on an e-bike. I am observing a number of kids and adults working while being both on the sidewalk and the street because of the way the street is being laid out now. Thank you.

Anybody else like to come up and speak at this time? Come on up.

I came to South 2nd Street. I'd like for somebody to shut off the rain for this week. Also, just a couple of things. I've been doing some research on some things and stuff like that. You know, Why does Licking Memorial get by as a non-profit organization and not have to pay taxes to the city? Because they're a profit organization. Believe me. Look at some of my medical bills. I mean, and they pay their employees, they take taxes out of their employees. Why don't they have to pay city taxes? And the same way with Goodwill. Goodwill gets stuff donated to them. They take it in the store. This guy, he's making thousands of the stuff people bring to them. And he don't pay taxes. He's got his campground up there at the old Owens Corning. He should be paying taxes also. That ain't fair to the other businesses around here. That ain't fair at all. and we had an incident on second street the other night when they might go carton down the street somebody come off the road like we'll stop stop sign luckily the kids swerved out around and they didn't get hit but they shouldn't be on the road but that stop sign needs to be okay also so the two wrongs don't make it right there and basically that's all i have to say thank you thank you

Anybody else like to speak at this time?

Come on up, man. I would like to address with the fact of tax. Why I'm paying taxes for a fire department to get shut out for a fire engine. That several times saved my husband fast pass now. so now you guys are taking our help from our district but we're worried about all this other tax cut in why why so my house catch is on fire i have to wait for a district to show up because fire engine five can't run where is that right to the community i pay taxes i want the same help as everybody else in this city

All I've got to say, thank you. Anybody else at this time? Come on.

Lisa Howard, 68 West National Drive. I'm also here to discuss your fire department. Makes my job a lot harder being an dispatcher for what I have citizens that call in for help. because of staffing. It also isn't fair to our men and women that are working at Newark Fire Department to put the burden on them by not getting them to full staff. I can't tell you how many times I have to stay on the 911 call with someone Who is in need and they're asking me where are they? Where are they? Where are they granted? Some people think we can teleport them there and that doesn't happen. You know, there's drive time, but when. We're taking an engine out of service that is vitally important to. Fighting fire assisting medics when they have a cardiac arrest. It's very concerning for me as a citizen as well as a 911 dispatcher. My parents live in Station 2's district, and they haven't had a medic running out of Station 2 for a very long time. They crossed out. And now it's only Engine 2. So if my parents' house would happen to catch on fire, no, okay, good deal. But my mom and dad have had to call 911 for themselves for lift assist. They're older. And I worry about my parents not having adequate staffing from fire. So I'm asking city castle to take a look at that budget and give work fire the money they need to operate with the proper amount of staffing. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else like to speak at this time? Okay, next up is ordinance on the 2nd, reading 26 dash 26 number 26 dash 26 by Mr. Mr. cost.

Mr. Parker is blind as angle and ordinance amending section 254 dot 11 of the codified ordinances of the city of New York Ohio regarding travel allowances heard the reading of 26 dash 26. what is your wish as president?

Mr. make a motion to adopt ordinance 26, 26, second motion by Mr. second by Mr Parker. Do you have any discussion? Amy, please call the roll.

Mr.

Yes.

Mr. Neely?

Yes.

Ms. Newman? Yes. Mr. Parker? Yes. Ms. Blind? Yes. Mr. Chu? Yes. Mr. Cost?

Yes.

Mr. Hauser? Oh. Ms. Zengel? Yes. Mr. Lebutis? Yes. Mr. Lemley?

Yes. 26-26 passes 10-0. Next up is ordinance on the first reading. There are none this meeting. Next up is resolutions on the second reading, 26-43.

Resolution number 26 dash 43 by Mr. Mr. cost. Mr. Parker is by missing gold. His name in a resolution appropriating monies for current expenses of the municipal corporation for the reading of 26 dash 43. what's your wish?

This president's tomorrow make a motion to adopt resolution. 26, 43 seconds got a motion by Mr. second by Mr. Parker. Do we have any discussion? Can we please call the roll? Mr. Marmy?

Yes. Mr. Neely?

Yes.

Ms. Newman? Yes. Mr. Barker? Yes. Ms. Blind? Yes. Mr. Chiu?

Yes.

Mr. Cost?

Yes.

Ms. Ingle? Yes. Mr. Libutis? Yes. Mr. Limley?

Yes. 26-43 passes 10-0. Next up is resolutions on the first reading is 26-44.

Resolution number 26-44 by Mr. Parker, Mr. Cross, Mr. Marmy, Ms. Klein, Ms. Engel, and Ms. Newman. A resolution approving and ratifying an updated solid waste management plan.

Resolution 26-44 will be held until our next meeting, which will be September the 8th. That completes our ordinance and resolutions tonight. That's up as comments from citizens. Do we have anybody else? Come on up, sir.

My name is Kevin Garwick and I represent as president of IFF Local 109 and I represent the firefighters and paramedics of the Newark Fire Department. I'm here tonight because our community has experienced a reduction in fire protection and the public deserves to know what that means. As of last Friday, daily staffing was reduced from 17 firefighters a day to 16 firefighters a day. The reduction in daily staffing from 17 to 16 but operationally has a significant consequence. It means engine fires have taken out of service, increasing response times on fire calls for the residents and businesses who live by the Sharon Valley Road fire station. Simply put, this is a reduction in fire protection to the community. No one wants to see emergency response reduced when a family is trapped in a house fire, when someone's loved one is having a medical emergency, or when firefighters are responding to a dangerous incident. Every minute matters and every resource matters. As part of this staffing change, another medic unit has been added to the daily deployment model, which we have needed for a long time. As call volumes continue to climb, so has the demand for emergency medical services. Our firefighters and paramedics see the need every day, and we fully support expanding EMS resources because it benefits the people we serve, but it should not come at the expense of fire protection. Gaining one emergency resource by eliminating another is not an increase in services. dangerous consequences. We should not have to choose between providing adequate EMS coverage and adequate fire protection. New York deserves both. The solution is not to move firefighters from one address to the other. The solution is to hire enough firefighters to staff the additional medic units while keeping Engine 5 in service and providing both EMS and fire coverage, which would maintain fire protection, reduce overtime, and better serve the citizens of New York. Increased overtime expenses this year has led to this change, and we understand the city's concerns about the massive overtime tab. We have worked these hours, often being forced to maintain the daily staffing levels. So we understand the problems with relying on overtime to maintain daily staffing. The current trend of overtime is significant and not a sustainable long-term solution. We agree that something needs to change, but a reduction in staffing is also not a long-term solution. answer to this as well. Something needs to change with staffing also. The answer to high overtime costs is not fewer firefighters, the answer is enough firefighters. If we were fully staffed for a budget number of 83, we would not have the overtime expenses that we do and we would not have this reduction in service to the community. For years, Newark firefighters have been asked to do more with less day with professionals with dedication. We had even buried one of our own who could not live with what he experienced as a firefighter paramedic. At a certain point, it's not doing more with less, it's doing too much with not enough. And that is where we are today. We all need to recognize that any reduction in service to the community is not acceptable. We need to find a long-term solution that funds and prioritizes fire department and public safety staffing by hiring additional firefighters and

I wish to go on record as supporting the fire department. I mean, I've been confused that although the fire department recently got a gift from. The community. for funding, but AMS seems to be getting a lot of that. The police department seems to be getting money. The fire department is not. I live in the area near the fire department that's been affected.

And during the 4th of July, there were lots of

fires that were happening because of our policy of not having a policy on fireworks, which threatens their lives as well. I heard the alarms going around. It's, I think, shameful that our city is depending on Granville, a village, For services, and I am seeing Granville fire department serving our area instead of us. It doesn't make any sense. Thank you.

Anybody else city officials. There's somebody in the back. Oh, come on up, sir. I'm sorry. I didn't see.

at simple maps, Google Maps, Apple Maps, from that fire station in our house, it's approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Coming out of Station 1, or out of Newark, or out of Granville, you're looking at an average of 20 minutes. A lot of damage can occur. The firefighter that spoke said that the fire department is understaffed. However, if you look at the City of Newark website, need to make sure my house and my neighbor's homes are protected properly as I'm sure you hope your neighbor's homes are protected properly and if you have to wait on a fire truck to come from Granville or Heath or someplace outside where you have joint services signed up with eventually those people are going to get tired of that and they're going to say no way I'm sorry we can't support you and then we'll be left in a lurch how many homes will be lost Having to use extreme amounts of overtime. I'm open to any suggestions from this council on how to improve the situation. So that. All everybody in the city of Newark, not just where I live, but all the sections and city in Newark are properly protected. Both fire and if it's necessary. Thank you.

Thank you. Go on that.

It seems like that's what we got right now as far as with the fire and the police not being able to afford to have more officers on duty, not be able to have more firemen on duty. So, but how can it be double sided where if you want to do something between that sidewalk and the curve, you gotta get the city's permission. Like plant a tree or something like that.

But it's our responsibility to keep it moving and take care of those areas.

That shouldn't be, that's a too standard flow. So that's all I have.

Thank you. All right, anybody else? All right, so the officials.

Well, director fast, thank you.

Mayor. Mr. Marty. Thank you. Mr. President. I need to call a finance committee meeting for Tuesday, September the 8th. Um, I'm gonna start off by comment on a couple of things that folks, uh, Mr burner, the, the reason why the city has a right away on your property is still your property in between the sidewalk and the curve. It is a right away. And trees are not authorized to be planted in that right away because it causes destruction to the curves and other things. And that's the purpose of that. It is still your property to maintain, but the city does have a right away, just like a utility has an easement or there's other easements on a property. The other thing, your comments about Licking Memorial not paying taxes, that is not a completely accurate statement. They pay taxes, but they don't pay what's called a profit tax, a business profit tax. That's a little bit different. It would be an addition if they show a profit as a corporation or an organization. or an individual who's running a business, a sole proprietor in the City of Newark, if your business creates a profit, then that business owes that profit tax. But you still, as an individual or as an entity, have to pay taxes on any type of a business or organization. Miss Howard, I would like to know the examples of the times that a fire truck was not available. So I want to get with you after this. I want to know those times and dates that a fire truck that was not available. Okay. You mentioned that that happened. So I want I want those states place because I've never heard of that happening where fire truck wasn't available for that. A lot of things have been said. Mr. Guskin, I am going to comment that the fire department has not been cut at all. The budget has not been cut. We have seven firefighters who are out of service due to injury. That is what has happened and caused the massive amounts of overtime. The chief is trying to work within his budget. He came up with a plan in order to make sure that he could work within his budget and that they would not run out of money. He's done a lot of other things other than just the decision that he's made here. And I support his decision going forward. I do believe that we do have a concern and an issue that's a long-term issue with our fire and EMS. And fire and EMS is one, they are together and their budget is together. I believe that there does need to be a new model for the city of Newark, a more efficient model. I know that there are concerns also about EMS runs and the number of EMS runs of which 80% of them probably from what the chief has told me, 80% of them are not actually needed. It's a show up and educate and try to work with folks, but they really don't need it. I know we have some issues also with transportation and folks are calling just to be transported to the facility and they really don't need EMS services. In order to transport, so there are a lot of things that the chief is working on. I support his efforts and trying to come up with solutions. I have not heard of the movement forward. I approached him 2 years ago about modeling. About a year ago, I presented, he and the Deputy of Vermont in a full-page PowerPoint presentation of different models that are available. I even indicated that those models may not be for Newark, but maybe a hybrid of such models. I still haven't heard anything. I believe that that has to happen within the City of Newark to be more efficient. I don't believe that we need to cut services. I believe we need to be more efficient. and maintaining response times. Our highest need is EMS, so the chief's decision to focus on those highest, it does not diminish and he does recognize and is aware that other services, there is going to be a difference in response times, but he's focusing on what is his priorities. I support his decision and the decision that he made in order to do what's best for the community and for his organization. Lastly, I just want to mention Mr. Hoskus He will be greatly missed. He was a servant to the city of Newark as an employee. He was a servant to the community. He was always willing to help. Even when he retired, he would help the city out. His daughter went to Newark Catholic same time as my son. He was always helping at Newark Catholic. Other things that were going on in the community, he would show up and help out. Whether it's a clean up or whatever it is, he will be greatly missed and I'm proud to say that, you know, I got to know him as a friend and also as a colleague within the city of Newark and. You just, you can't say enough about the gentleman and I really do appreciate all that he did for the city, the community. And also, I know he was a wonderful father as well. So, and with that, we'll pass. Thank you.

I will pass.

Thank you.

Thank you. So, 1st, thank you to everyone who gave comments tonight and for. Our safety forces and firefighters, especially for being here. I know we've got a lot of smart and dedicated people in this community. We've got some work that we need to do around fire service. I hear this from neighbors and I do want to clarify. I mean, you guys, some of you are very dedicated. There was not a council vote that was taken on this. This was not a city council action in that. But that being said, we do take actions every week on how we spend our funds. And so those are directly related and I think there's some bigger discussions and some creative problem solving that needs to happen. And so you are heard and thank you especially to our 911 dispatcher who's talking about You know, firsthand what that sounds like, when you're talking to folks and so just please know your concerns are heard and I think all of us have work to do on that front to have better outcomes. So thank you all for being here tonight and doing that. We have work to do ask for Mr. I just have to share 1 quick story about Jeff. I used to be the executive director over at Canal Market District and I felt like it was a hazing ritual my first Christmas out of the pavilion. And Timbuk Farms delivered a 15-foot Christmas tree, which I thought I could just get into a stand like I would at home. Um, I am not getting you 15 foot Christmas tree into a stand. Um, so I think I first called David roads and he was like, Jeff's your guy. I'm going to send him over. And Jeff comes rolling up in his truck and he looks and he's like, Michelle, would you get yourself into? Um, and he quickly, he got weighed over Eagle welding with a, like some sort of. device that was able to world it up and get this tree up. I'm half near tears because like we've got this massive holiday market that's coming up and I'm like this Christmas tree has to be upright. And Jeff stayed with me and got all sorts of people together to figure out how to get this dang tree. up in the middle of the pavilion and it was stood I think three different windstorms that holiday season and stayed up and just he was there for everything every ridiculous thing to help and out at canal market district and I never had to worry about it and I just he was always such a bright light and my love goes out to his family. And to his coworkers, I know there's so many folks here who've worked with him for a long time. And so Newark is a better place because of all the work that Jeff did. And so just sending lots of love to his family and with that. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Parker thing. Mr. President, I need to call a service committee meeting for September the 8th. As everybody should pretty much knows the station 5 is there in the 5th ward and I did put out a statement last week about it. So I would, you know, anybody who asked me, I would. Ask you to read that statement, but, you know, it's always hard to go after Mr army too. A lot of a lot of what he said, I echo, and he, and I have had these conversations about different modeling for the fire department and so I would, I would just say that I trust the chief. None of these decisions are easy. None of these are anything that we made these decisions. We, as being counsel, but, you know. There, there is always room for improvement and efficiencies and I look forward to seeing what the chief can bring to the table with that. I pass.

Thank you. Mr. President. I'd like to thank all of our staff for being here tonight. It's. It's such an honor to have you in the same room with us, and we just appreciate you very much and miss Howard. Thank you. She has been honored again and again for her service and she's also an educator and I appreciate your time tonight. You know, again, agreeing with Mr army, this staffing model is something that that will fit new work and we have a great chief. All right. he's not here tonight but this is going to fit newark i'm looking forward to seeing how this comes forth and i know we look at it right now we think there's bumps in the road but this is an opportunity this is an opportunity to get better and we can do it we have great people in this city i look forward to seeing how all this is going to turn out for the best I'd like to thank Mr. Bruner for coming and you are referring I know as well to 4th street where there are an abundance of trees planted up and down 4th street. And and I understand they do need a lot of maintenance and therefore I take your point and I will go forth and research to see what we can do about that. All right. I appreciate you coming tonight. Mr. and school is starting and one of the things i remember about jeff is how he considered the parks for the kids and he would look at a park not as real estate but how it would function in that neighborhood how it would be different for the kids in that neighborhood And I'll miss him a lot. He would challenge me and say, are you sure you want to undertake this? Yeah, I do. He said, well, let's consider this. And let's consider this. And he'd give me some very good points to mediate in the process. And I'll be forever grateful for him. But as school is starting, consider our kids. And not just the transportation, the buses and all that, which is very, very important. But school in itself is a mission. It's for our parents, our students, certainly for all of us to consider as a city. Because these kids are our future. And we need to pray for our kids and to pray for our teachers. A long time ago, ben franklin said that we shouldn't forget god who was our who was our good friend in every process and so as you go out the door pray for your kids pray for the teachers pray for the schools and it won't be a time lost thank you all for coming tonight it means a lot that you're here thanks thank you mr shoot

Thank you, Mr. President. I'd also like to thank the members of the fire department for being here and the citizen comments. And I will, I don't usually say too much. I think someone once said, you have two ears and one mouth, use them proportionally. So I try to do that. But I do think in this case, I'm going to respectfully disagree with most of the members who have spoken on council. And suggested, you know, at least for my own part, I'm not a subject matter expert in fire department staffing. So I'm not going to. I think we need to prioritize the fire department simply put and 1 way to do that would be to simply have full staffing at the 83 funded fire positions that we have right now. And we don't, and if the chief was able to hire those positions, I think we would be in a different situation with overtime. So, I think we have to, as council member Newman suggested, we have to really look at all of our expenses as we budget and think about priorities. And safety, if it is a priority, then it needs to be our top priority. And I, for 1, think it should be, I think we should be evaluated. The fact that we don't have these 83 funded positions right now means that the fire department will give money that they were appropriated back to the general fund and it will be spent presumably on something else or. You know, help to balance the budget in the future. I think we should fund them appropriately and I think we should do that with full transparency that they should get what they're funded and and allow them to be fully staffed. That's that's my position. And I will be advocating for that. And I think I will be. On behalf of the citizens of Newark, I will be more closely scrutinizing every expenditure that we have and whether I am in favor of supporting it until we can reach some sort of remedy and we prioritize safety adequately. Thank you Mr. President.

Thank you Mr. Koss. Jeff Hotchkiss was always ready to help. No matter what you needed, you called Jeff, he was there, he was going to take care of it. He will be sadly missed by this city and by all of us. I also want to recognize a gentleman by the name of Tony Galloni, who I read in The Advocate, completed a 3,300 mile bike ride from Oregon to Washington D.C. and was able to raise $8,800 in donations for St. Vincent de Paul to benefit the homeless. I'll pass.

Thank you.

I'll pass that.

Mr. president. Mr. president. I just wanted to pass along condolences to Mr. Hodges. As everyone said, he was always wanting to help out as quickly as he could. And it was an honor to serve with him as the park structure for the city, but also to call my friends. Well, I will pass Mr.

I will pass the present. Thank you. Tonight earlier today, the, we had a power outage and city hall was out of power. Mr. Bruner said he'd like to see the rain stop, but about 10 after 5, Mr. Marmee walked through that door. It was dark as soon as he walked through the door. The power came. So, maybe he's got some kind of power that he can stop the rain for all. I'd like to say a few words about Jeff. This was a hard loss for me. Jeff and I were really close friends. We went to lunch about every Monday because I work 410s on Monday. We went to lunch a couple times in April and then we never went back to lunch. A couple years ago, I had surgery. It was in December. And my grandson had a Christmas concert and I couldn't go. And so all my family was going to the grandson's Christmas concert and I wasn't supposed to be left alone. And they're like, well, we got to find someone to stay with you. I said, well, call Jeff. Jeff said, what time you want me to be there? Jeff came over and babysit me for a couple of hours that night. I actually behaved, so he didn't have to discipline me. I want to, the people that came to his calling hours was, I was blown away. City officials, ex-city workers, people from the community. His service was just, it was just great. His son got up, his son spoke first, did a really nice job. The mayor got up and spoke, and he actually did a good job. I don't hear very much compliments, but I told him that. But he did a really good job. And like the mayor said, it's easy to talk about someone who was a good worker and did everything for you. And like everybody said, you call him, he was there, you needed something, he was there. Um, it's going to be a great loss and, uh, if you ever read about David in the Bible, when King Abner died, David said a great me and has fallen and I feel that the city has lost a great man and a great man has fallen and remember his daughter and son. That's cemetery day. They had a hard time in the end. I don't know if the right words of beautiful graveside, but. Yeah, it was a really nice graveside with the military salute and the bagpipes and it was just it's Jeff. I think Jeff right now would be really embarrassed that we're all talking about because he didn't like to be he didn't like that. He would, you know, he didn't like to be out front, but appreciate all your words for Jeff. With that, our next meeting will be Tuesday, September the 8th. So we got a couple of weeks off. So, and I think the Buckeyes play on the September 5th. So go Buckeyes and high school football starts Friday. It's a good time of year and. And, uh, you'll have a motion motion by Mr. cost. Mr. all in favor say aye. 3 minutes. Yeah, I'm allowed.