Council - Regular Meeting

called to order. I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention. Um uh we'll start the meeting with the pledge of allegiance. Please stands nationy for all. Can I have a motion to ex to excuse ner tonight, please? Thank you, Amanda. Thank you, Jim. And uh Anna, will you call the role? Oh, actually,

let's call the role first. And we have a motion and a second to excuse like me. I got it. All right. Sorry. Foster present. Vincent here. Kurland here. Ner oil here. Bilski yes here. Okay ne next we have a motion by Amanda and a second from Jim to excuse Kim ner. Seconded. Okay. Thank you. I did. And um can you call the role for that? Foster. Vincent, yes. Kurland, yes.

Oy, yes. Perry, next, um, I'll make a motion to excuse Ryan from the meeting tonight. Is there a second? Thank you, Stacy. And we call the role for that. Vincent Kurland. Yes. Boil. Yes. Harry, yes. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Um, if there are no objections, I would like to add Pastor Kevin Ringer as the first item on the agenda tonight. Are there any objections? Great. Thank you, Mr. Ringer. Um, also there's a signin sheet just for our records. When you're finished, if you'll sign that, please. the microphone in.

I saw you moved. You can move. Olympics. Okay, got it.

All right. Well, thank you first off for have given me the opportunity to speak. I am so honored as always to be among such great people. Um, we are here. I would have been here last week, but unfortunately we was under the weather um because I am a a resident of Orange Village and um a taxpayer and I love the city and I love the spirit of the people that are here. Um, we've been I am the senior pastor of the House of Restoration. Um it is a 70-year-old congregation. Um the church has been in existence since 1956. Uh it was primarily in Cleveland, but when the opportunity came for us to come here, uh we took advantage of it. My lovely wife is here with me, Tanya. Uh we've been together almost 40 years and we have four sons. Uh so I'm grateful that she came to support me tonight. But more importantly, uh I want to kind of go over why I am here to say anything. And that is um we entered into a three-year lease purchase agreement with New Song. And it was the intention we had to give a large down payment in order to do that. Now, we understand the dynamics of rental when you rent and you lease purchasing. I understand the dynamics and as uh Chief Gova knows there's been many there was many things in the church that needed to be taken care of and as you know when you go into a new facility that's been vacant for a long time you start encountering a lot of things you didn't think you would have to encounter and so we've been

plugging holes ever since we've been there we are entrenched in the Orange Village community We work with autistic children and adults. We have RBTs and those that work with autistic adults and we have people in the community that have partnered with us to work with autistic adults from the ministry component. Okay. Then we also are working with the Orange Community Center uh getting our youth involved and also getting mentors involved as well as partnering with Heritage and with Orange Schools so that we can be a beacon of light for other kids. Uh so I just want to give you a background that we are very involved. We're not the type of folks that just isolate ourselves, but we're the type that want to be involved in whatever's going on in the community. I want to know everybody, you know, and uh that's the reason we're here. We entered into a three-year contract and with the lease purchase agreement with New Song and the way it's set up in the the the agreement is that whenever there is if someone wants to purchase the building that we had the first right of refusal or we had the first right to say, you know, we're going to do we're going to be there, we'll match the dollars or what have you. and we first heard of the building and the development being done uh from this great reporter here, Mr. Whittenberg. um is when we first heard of it and so we were kind of taken a back um because I have people that are really loving being here that are loving working in the community that are loving I mean becoming a part of Orange Cares and we didn't know anything about that before we got out here but now we want

to help the seniors and help those that are in need and so we worked we've been working with New Song we are not behind We weren't not paying, not doing anything. We are consistent with everything. And as I keep saying, Chief Gov, because that's the last thing is to get our electrical work done in the building. We were responsible for everything that needed to be fixed. This wasn't a new song thing. This was us. So, they were treating us as if we own the property, which we know we don't. And so when I saw this in the paper and I immediately reached out and talked to different ones to get some clarity so I can understand and what I could not understand is why we were never informed. We understand the process of selling property and all of that. We we we get that but it was the fact that we were discarded or or or or not regarded in the process. Okay? You know, it's kind of like human decency, you know, where you say, "Okay, these people have been there. They've been on time with their payment. They pay their utilities. They've been working to get stuff fixed in the church, but yet we weren't considered and spoken to." So, I don't I want to applaud you for being who you are, the way you are. Uh I I love I don't know if love is a strong word for for Jud for uh for Mayor Klein, but I love him. Uh, and I love all of all all of you because to me, you all are God's children. And um, so this is kind of where we are. Um, I reached out to New Song and they said, "Well, you need to get a retraction because that's not accurate." And we're like, "Well, where did the information come from?" You know, because we never were discussed. Nobody sent us a letter. I mean, it's just a common decency thing is what what I'm

saying. You know, it's not about if you can afford this or afford that. Give us the give us honor the agreement that we had. That's all we're saying. You know, if it's sold, it's sold. If somebody else comes in, they come in. We understand that. But our thing is we don't want to leave the community. Okay? We don't want to leave this community. Be me and my wife, we can't leave anyway. We got a house on Emery. Excuse me. So, we're not leaving anyway. But as a congregation, they have really stepped up to want to be a part of this community. And so I just ask you to consider thinking about us whatever way you can. Your your hugs, your smiles, your prayers is always solicited. But I want you to understand, we did not know. We didn't know anything. We just found out. And so, um, there are others in the community that have reached out and said, you know, pastor, what's going on? And we've shared what we knew, you know, um, and so that's kind of where we are. And the last thing I'm going to say on a biblical sense, we kind of liken ourselves to David and and and the situation to Goliath. Okay. Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you very much. Some comments I'd like to make. Do you would you prefer I hold them for comments or would you like me to make them now? It is in regard to this. Um, Pastor Ringer, were you planning on staying for our meeting? It should be fairly short and our comments should come at the end of the meeting if that's okay. Not a problem. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you. Thank you for speaking and we'll move through things pretty rapidly tonight hopefully. Okay. Can I have a motion to approve the treasures report for January 2026?

Thank you, Stacy. Thank you, Amanda. Um, Dana, you want to take it away?

Yes. Uh, so you have your January report. Our bank accounts have 18,753,97.94 in all of our accounts. Um, our January revenue from all sources was $961,15.76. Our expenditures for January from all the funds was 1,422,6347. Um, the largest variance just was in 402, the capital equipment account. We had um $369,000 in expenditures and that was for the purchase of the fire engine chassis. Um then you have the general fund revenue and expenditure line items. Uh 112th of the year or 8% of the year is over in January and our total revenue collected was 7.16%. Our total expenditures was 7.88%. So, we're on target for that. There were a couple variances um in the budgets that have to do with annual software or annual um insurance purchases as well as some of the January bills are from December that were carried over that were a different rate than in the current year and those are all noted on your detailed report.

Great. Thank you. Any comments, questions? Foster, yes. Vincent, yes. Kurland, yes. Oy, yes. Perry, do I have a motion to approve the tax administrator's report for January 2026? Yes. Thank you, Amanda. Second. Thank you, Stacy. Okay, great, Dana.

Okay, you have the tax administrator report for January. Our gross income tax collected um from all of our sources was $698,211.90, which is just under $25,000 more than what it was in January of last year. Um and then you have our monthly gross worksheet showing from 2023 through 2026 and you have our monthly cumulative as well. Great. Any questions or comments? None. Anna, will you call the role? Foster. Vincent, yes. Boil, yes. Harry,

yes. Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda is a discussion for the bills to be paid for the month of March in the amount of $443,460.87 and additional January expenses in the amount of $102,725.93. Any questions? Um um are there any audience comments related to um agenda items?

Okay, we'll move on to old business ordinance number 2026-7, an ordinance amending a portion of section 1174.04 04 of the codified ordinances to amend the definitions of senior single family detached attached dwellings. This is on for second reading. It was referred to planning and zoning last week. So I don't suppose we have anything from that.

I don't yet agenda. Uh does anybody have any questions or comments about it next month? Uh under new business ordinance 2026-8 an ordinance enacting the new section 931.20 20 fees and deposits of chapter 932 uniform regulations for the use of m municipal facilities, the codified ordinances of Orange Village to authorize the charging of fees for the exclusive use of certain municipal facilities and to collect a deposit and to secure cleaning and maintenance. Is that supposed to say fee? Certain municipal facilities. um amending section 931.02b and repealing certain ordinances and declaring an emergency. This is on for first reading. Administration uh would like us to uh suspend the rules. So, I'll take a I'll make a motion to suspend the rules. Is there a second?

Second. Thank you, Jim. Anna, will you call the role for suspension of the rules, please? Foster, yes. Vincent, yes. Kurland, yes. Boil, yes. Harry, yes. Okay. Now, um, do I have a motion to adopt 2026-8? See something? Yeah. After we open it, will you make a motion? I'll make a motion. Thank you. Thank you, Stacy. Okay. Now, what's your com minor thing, but it's kind of thing that's annoying. It's I guess if Clutter Pavilion and the Pike Road Pavilion are the same facility, it needs to have the same name consistent. I thought I corrected this the copy I have.

Okay. I want to just um I want to thank you Pike. I'm sorry. What page

are the same in there somewhere? Oh, okay. Under paragraph sub paragraph C. Okay. error. Yep. Okay. Uh, other questions, comments?

I had a few questions and I asked the mayor and Anna and I want to thank them both for responding so readily. Um, their answers were really helpful. So, I wanted to just share their answers because I think it's helpful to clarify some things. Um, these costs would be instituted for private event usage only, not Orange Village committee meetings or groups that are hosted by Orange Village such as community garden, homeowners meetings, etc. And I did get some questions about that. So, I just wanted to clarify that. Um, only residents may reserve spaces, which is what it always was. That hasn't changed. Um, and Anna also informed me that she's working with the administration regarding specific information related to when the $200 deposit will kick in to be used for additional cleaning expenses if needed. Uh, with the goal being to help everyone understand that work that goes into reserving the pavilions. She's also working through cancellation policies and what denotes when a deposit or the fee for the room will be returned or when it's forfeited. Um, so those are things that are are undoubtedly going to come up, but I want to thank you for the inordinate amount of time spending uh to get this these these questions answered. Um, and I think that'll be helpful to people when they apply to know when and if they ca have to cancel, if they're going to be getting any amount back.

And can I ask another question too? Is is there still is it a cross the board fee? Although because Stacy made me think of this because she was saying, "Well, not if it's like a committee under orange, but what if it's a nonprofit organization?" You can hear me. If it's a nonprofit organization, does it do they still pay the fee? Yes. I'm not making a judgment. I'm just asking a question. the the the way the ordinance is written, the you must be a resident to get the exclusive use to make the reservation for the exclusive use. Um if somebody if if you wanted to reserve it and you're bringing a nonprofit, you'd still have to pay, right?

There's no distinction for an organization. The key is a person has to reserve it and pay the doesn't matter if you're representing a church or whatever like you're Okay. I had a question. If um if I wanted to bring some burgers up here and let my grandchild play on the playground and cook burgers and the pavilion's not being used, is that an acceptable use or do you have to reserve? You don't

the only you use any of the facil anybody can use any of the facilities. The only way that you can exclude others and say this is this is for this party for this period of time is to be in reserve. Hannah provided us steps for rentals. It's quite um it is quite a lot of work and part of the reason why we're um bringing this forward to charge a fee to help recoup some of the hours put into management.

Can I um so just two things. Um, one is a general rule. I don't like passing anything under suspension, but this is clearly one that that in my mind makes sense. We we're coming up on the season where we're going to have the rents. We need to have the policies in place so that moving forward we'll be all set. Um, the second one, and I, as the newest council member, I hope I'm not opening up a whole another can of worms, but um, when we when we review the payments, we always see the reimbursement of the of the deposits. And there's got to be a better way that we can do this so that and and you know I know we don't we only pay cash or checks. I mean there and I know there's been conversations. I just wanted to say look at something perhaps we should revisit.

Not looking for commentary. I just a long time member of finance committee and and being here a long time. We're obligated to run all those fees through an H fund, right? Which is you're familiar with this. Oh yeah. Yeah. and to reimburse it in that way. So streamlining that part of the process is impossible. Am I not correct, Dana?

Basically, yes. is that we can't take a deposit and hold it in, you know, hold the check here or hold the $200 in um the finance office and then turn around after the event and hand it back the same check. We have to make that deposit into our books and then cut the check. Curious if we did credit cards or debits or something, we could go different. We'll discuss it later. Just an ongoing talk afterward. Any other comments?

Just before you vote, please recall that there will be a change of a word in subsection C. Pike will be changed to clutter so that everybody's clear what that amendment will be. Great. Call the role. Foster, yes. Vincent, yes. Kurland, yes. Oily, yes. Perry, yes. Thanks. Okay. Next is comments relating to matters which um advances within the village. given your comments, but anybody else? Okay, then uh comments by from the mayor, please. Thank you.

Um announcements and a couple of comments. Uh Kaihoga County Soil and Water Conservation District will host a tree care workshop on Sunday, March 15th, beginning at 10:00 a.m. at Pepper Pike. Uh visit Pepper Pike Park. Visit our website for more information and to register. Um, free first aid safety training will be held on Thursday, April 2nd at 6 p.m. Registration required. Visit the website or call 440498-4400. To register, there's a women's self-defense workshop geared towards college age female residents that will be held Thursday, June 4th at 6 PM. This is a little further out, but we want to now that we've planned it, we want to make sure people are aware of it. Registration is also required. I want to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick's Day. Celebrate safely. Please, um, Orange schools will be closed March 23rd through the 27th. Please drive safely and watch for children. I want to wish everyone a happy Passover. Um, March is Women's History Month and I wish to acknowledge the contribution of women in our community in leading Orange Village, including my predecessor Kathy Moy, current council president Lisa Perry, Council President Prom Stacy Vincent, Councilwoman Kimberly Alner, and Amanda Kurlin. I thank my administrative assistant and council clerk Anna Gerardi, our treasurer Dana Cavender, and all the women in our police, fire, and finance department. We are supported by great work of these and many others who make our community better by their being in it. We are right now in the process of

working with Woodbrand uh who provides sanitary service to much of the village. uh they have uh are pursuing a rate increase in order to for us to um negotiate that. We have hired a special counsel to assist in the negotiation with Woodbrand and at the same time we've we will be hiring and engaging a rate specialist to provide resources for us to bolster the negotiation. While the cost for the the rate specialist falls within my spending authority, I wanted to acknowledge it to council. This engagement is important for the process to go underway and I will be back to council with specifics once information for that is available. Uh most importantly, tomorrow night at 7 pm here will at the village hall will be a presentation for community engagement for the design of the fire and village hall projects. As this is most significant project the village has undertaken in the last 35 years, I would hope that many people will be here to see what we're what we're doing and engage in the process. I'm I'm confident that people will come and we'll have a presentation by the architects that we'll share with the residents. We've all worked very hard in getting it to this point and we're looking to get it across the finish line so that the we can develop the budget for the funding. I've asked the veterans committee sir

to look into developing a program to celebrate our 250th summering thinking about what that might look at. um the uh wayfinding signage program that we received a grant from the Kaga County Planning Commission last year. Uh met today with uh with the village to talk about their update on the program and some of the typologies of signage and the locations and types of signs that they're promoting and proposing for this wayfinding program. Uh they we we had a a good conversation. We we critiqued what they did and they'll be back to us with a final um design proposal in the next within the next month sometime by uh by the end of April. Um with regard to the House of Resurrection, we uh we're very appreciative of that faith-based community being here in Orange Village. And I for one have want to look to work with the congregation to pursue an opportunity to find a way to continue for them to be in Orange Village in some manner, way, shape, or form. So, I'm looking forward to working with you and your leadership, Kevin, and and seeing where we might be able to to take this. And that's all I've got for today. Great. Um, as far as my report, I have just one announcement that we don't have a council meeting next month, April 1st, to celebrate Passover, but we will be meeting on the 7th. Um, and the 8th. Thank you. We'll uh

we'll uh get all of our work done in one meeting that month. Okay, great. Um, uh, Jeeoff, how about you next? Uh so yesterday we had a virtual meeting with the veterans council Ned and Deborah Long myself and we have another person that's going to join. Um we came up with some great ideas um per the mayor's request. Um we do have to talk sidebar about budget and how much it's going to affect other people but we have some ideas. Also, I just um all the women that I work with daily being in healthcare. I see some wonderful women. My mother's a wonderful woman that encouraged me to move forward and do lots of different things. And you know, we elevate one whether it's one group women, we elevate all. So, I think we all need to celebrate women and people

for your kind comments. I appreciate that. Um, good evening everyone. The Charter Review Commission met Monday and continued their great discussions. I was glad to be in attendance along with Councilman Bole and Councilwoman Kurland. Uh, they meet again March 30th if anyone's interested. Uh, speaking of meetings, you all are invited to the next collaborative school board mayor's meeting on the Orange School's campus on Thursday, April 9th at 8 a.m. It was just announced this week. Uh, this will be the spring meeting just prior to the board of education retreat the next day. Everyone's welcome. Uh a reminder that the next arts and culture meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 7th. We welcome anyone who would like to help us with the events in the coming year. And just as of now, I have breaking news that we have secured replay for August 15th, Saturday, August 15th, uh to perform once again. They did an outstanding job. We had a big draw last year for them and we just confirmed that tonight. So, we'll get that contract going and I'll keep you posted about everything else. Now, on to the topic at hand. Um, Pastor Kevin, first of all, I just want to tell you, count me in on your team. Um, I don't think I've ever felt more welcome than I did that day that I came to uh, welcome you to the church. Um, people I had never met before came up to me and made me feel like family and I love that and I want to be a part of that and I want to see that continue in Orange indefinitely. Okay, so count me on that team. Whatever happens, you you you've got me on your side. Um, as I predicted, there was a lot of confusion about that site, who owns the property, the changes that are being proposed for it. My issue was never about zoning because zoning was a non-issue in this case. And it wasn't even about the variance because quite frankly, the variance wasn't a huge deal in this case. My issue was about communication and awareness that this very property that was so controversial last year was potentially being sold to be developed. And aside from a few houses that received letters, most people were not aware of this. I understand that builders can do what they want within reason as long as it follows the zoning code. And I

understand that an owner has the right to sell the property as they choose. But we're talking about people here. We're talking about people who are involved who were not informed about this, but are very invested and interested in what happens to this property. if for no other reason than just all we went through last year and asking people to vote on this property. I just think an awareness needs to be there. I'm sorry, but I was only made aware of this when I received my council packet on Monday, a week ago, and I immediately followed up with our attorney and some of those affected despite having been out of commission due to my health. And if I was that confused, clearly others would be too, which has become evident since the story was shared, just as I said it would be. The people at House of Restoration who have acted in good faith and who we welcome welcomed into into our community less than a year ago and wanted to see succeed were not informed about this potential sale as far as I knew. Whether that's the fault of Otto or New Song or anyone else, I don't know. But I do think they should have been informed so that they weren't learning of this potential development in the newspaper like I said they would last week. Um, and they did know. Um, and we could have invited them to council. We could have invited them here if we were aware of it. If I had been aware of it, I certainly would have called and said, "What's going on?" I just didn't have that opportunity to do so. This is why I wanted to table the vote, ask the questions, and have the necessary discussions. You don't know what you don't know, and you can't ask questions about something that you aren't even aware is happening. I believe seriously in the responsibility I have to our residents to keep them informed and communicate to them about projects just like this. Even if there is nothing anyone can do about it, they should still be aware. We have that obligation to get that information to our residents in any means we can. Where was the transparency on this one? And why was there such an urgency to vote last week? I'm sorry, but I do not believe it is every resident's responsibility to go to every planning and zoning meeting. They can. I just

don't think that's a reality or even read every agenda on speculation that there might be something that affects them. We rely on our planning and zoning council liaison and the mayor to share that information with us and we know exactly how big a deal this particular issue was a year ago. So even a small development is certainly something that people are going to be interested in. And it wouldn't have hurt to give the community at large a heads up and the good folks at House of Restoration certainly had a right to know as well, especially since one lives right in our community. The oneweek delay would not have made a huge difference for the developer in my opinion, but it would have made a huge difference in the eyes of our residents who trust us to share what's important. I still don't think I have all the facts. I don't see how any of our residents would when clearly House of Restoration is even confused. As we move into the spring, I hope to restore the faith in our residents that we will be transparent about sharing news of any developments at hand that are of public record and allow them the opportunity to digest what's at hand. No one has ever asked why did you give me this information. People have asked why didn't you tell me? Why didn't I know? We have absolutely nothing to lose by keeping people informed. We have the trust of our residents to gain on that. I also want to share with you one of the most special things I ever had at New Song was when my kids were little. Um, we used to do Easter egg. They used to do Easter egg hunts right there in the front lawn area. And it was a very special time for us. And I was so excited at the potential that that might happen again. I don't know if it is, but I do want to say that speaking of community, on a happier note, I want to share that Kuanas will hold its annual Easter egg hunt on Saturday, April 4th at 1 p.m. sharp at the Grassy Null, just northeast of the Pepper Pike Learning Center. Even with more than 2,000 eggs in hiding, the entire event usually lasts about 47 seconds. So, if you have kids, you're go you're coming to it, get there early. We'll be there from 12:00 on. Uh it will start right at 1:00. It

will be done by 10:01. wish that I wish everyone a very blessed idol fitter, a happy Passover, and a beautiful Easter holiday. Happy spring. Thank you. Thank you, Stacy. Amanda, um, where's the order, please? I don't have too much to say. Uh, I do want to wish everyone a happy Easter and a happy Passover. And I do want to point out that, uh, Ohio is once again failed at spring and it's expected to be wet and freezing this coming weekend. So, be safe out there. It's going to be a dangerous weekend, I think. Thank you, Mr. Bole. Jim, um I was wondering when I got here whether it was

whether it was something I I said that I chased away my my neighbors. It's a very empty feeling on the north end of the day.

Yeah, I I don't know what it was, but um a couple things in in brief. Um uh first of all, uh pastor, we welcome you here. It's my first time meeting you and I obviously wish it wasn't under such circumstances. Um, with that in mind, I is as Councilwoman Vincent said, the main issue here I think is communication and any relationship, whether it's a marital relationship, a business relationship, communication is the key piece to it. And to that extent while while I certainly understand the issues that that arose I you know I I think it's important to know that that that we do as public servants have obligations to do our work. And so when this thing came forward um I I I somewhat disagree with my colleague in terms of the need to move with this with expediency. This matter has been discussed on this floor of council by me twice. Um, I sent an email on February 2nd to the building department asking, "It's my understanding the variance listed above will be discussed at tomorrow's planning and zoning meeting. Can you send me a copy of the publicly available documents regarding the application? I assume this will include some authorization from the property owner to ORO." So, I mean, this issue has been one that's been out there, and I, as much as I I I agree that communication is is important. Um, I think the main focal point of the communication that failed you, pastor, is between the property owner and um and potentially. And for that, to the extent that that I or the other members um owe you an apology, I do offer it. Um but to that extent obviously communication is the the issue that I think has caused um much of the consternation that brings you here today and hopefully next time you'll be hear it under be better circumstances and thank you

all right um we can adjourn the meeting uh I'll second it language stuff and Anna will you call Roll, please. Benson, yes. Kurland, yes. Boil, yes. Harry, yes. Thank you, everybody.