Council - Regular Meeting

about ordinance 2026-12. If adopted, the ordinance will permit the Planning and Zoning Commission to administer chapter 1162 of the Orange Village Zoning Code, which establishes standards for off-street parking and loading facilities and would permit the commission to permit deviations from the standard if there is good cause. The amendment would also permit the ability to land bank of parking, which I would love more clarification about. Upon terms and conditions set by the commission and the modifications or rescission of the land banking as directed by the commission. So if anybody would like to speak tonight, they can go to the podium.

There's a sign-in sheet.

Yes, and after your comments are over, you can sign in in the sheet behind the podium. Maybe the mayor to just give a basic comment. I can do that as well from the P&Z.

Great.

I'll let the mayor go first, but feel free to make comments after it's introduced.

Thank you.

President?

Madam President, the purpose of this ordinance is to allow for us to add more green space wherever we can in parking areas. Parking for the most part by our code is prescriptive. you need this many cars to accommodate it, irrespective of whether those numbers of cars are really necessary to support that business. It allows us the flexibility to consider a lower number of cars or, for that matter, loading spaces for businesses, in which case that land would be banked. future parking should that parking be necessary down the road. It allows us to have less asphalt and more green area on our sites. something that's done in a lot of communities and it's the given that the Planning Commission usually has the office over the decision as to what extent that parking could be reduced or should be reduced to allow that to occur

That makes a lot more sense now. Thanks. And Kim.

Well, that's basically, you know, that's basically it. So the point the point is, is to the land cannot be built on. It is set aside essentially and it could be planted on to reserve that for future parking should it become necessary. whenever anything comes before the Planning and Zoning Commission and we are looking at plans we absolutely do count the parking spots that are with that building to make sure that it is meeting the requirements of the law so there are times however when there are too many spaces in that business you know believes that they wouldn't need as many spaces at least in the near future sounds great does anybody from the audience want to make comments

You have to go up there. I know you, but for the record, can you state your name and your address?

My question is, does this ordinance pay only to commercial properties, or would it happen to pertain to maybe some of our parks? It is for only commercial.

That's where we have business-based parking regulations and drive aisles that are necessary in order to allow circulation on the commercial sites. It doesn't apply to residential sites.

No, because there's no requirement for a certain number of parking spots for residential. There are regulations with respect to garages and building the size of buildings and the size of outbuildings on a residential lot, but not with respect to number of cars that need to be able to park there.

Thank you. Stacy, did you sign in on the sheet too, please? Thank you. Anna says thank you. Okay, anybody else wanna speak to this? If there's no more comments or questions, I will call the special meeting, the special council meeting for June 3rd to order. We'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance.

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.

Foster? Here. Vincent? Here. Kurland? Here. Hallner? Here. Boyle?

Here.

Bielski?

I didn't hear from Ryan that he was going to be absent, but I'll make a motion to excuse him tonight in case he is absent. It's a special case. It's not needed.

It doesn't need that.

Next, any motion to confirm the appointment of Michael Radabaugh, Jr. as housing zoning inspector of Orange Village? Make that motion. Second. Thank you. Who would like to introduce?

Brandon Hughes. Brandon, thank you.

the construction for the last 15 years as a contractor mike brings experience and knowledge related to construction and restoration field inspections and code compliance and he is already familiar with building department operations plan review permit issuance and inspections knowledge of residential and exterior building systems including roofing and siding structural components and he has experience identifying deficiencies and safety hazards and code related issues in the field which will certainly be beneficial to him working as orange coverage's housing and zoning inspector mike is certified by the ohio board of building standards all right interim residential limited commercial building inspectors license which expires june 30th of 2029 so in the next three years he will be required to pass his examinations and obtain full certification and michael also decided to work towards obtaining other inspector licenses as he gains experience working as an ability inspector We're excited to bring him on board. And thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, Brandon. All right. Anybody have any questions? Comments?

Great.

The roll.

Foster? Yes. Vincent? Yes. Kurland? Yes. Allner? Yes. Boyle? Yes. Perry? Yes. Thank you.

Okay.

Next, I need a motion to approve this.

I got to swear I'm in. Right hand. Repeat after me. I, state your name.

I, state your name. I, state your name. I, state your name. The rules, regulations, and charter of Orange Village. The rules, regulations, and charter of Orange Village. And that I will faithfully, honestly, and partially. And that I will faithfully, honestly, and partially discharge my duties as housing zoning inspector. Discharge my duties as housing zoning inspector of Orange Village and the state of Ohio. Of Orange Village and the state of Ohio. During my continuous and settled hours. During my continuous and settled hours.

Congratulations.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Congratulations.

One's for me.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Brandon. OK, next, I need a motion to approve the special council meeting minutes of May six six to have a motion. Thank you. Stacy, you made the motion. And Amanda seconded it. Great. Any thing anybody notice? All the roll. Foster.

Yes. Vincent. Yes. Kerland. Yes. Allner. Yes. Boyle. Yes. Perry.

Yes. Thanks. Next, I need a motion to approve the council meeting minutes of May 13th, 2026. Do I have a motion, please? Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, Amanda. No, Stacy. Anything anybody wants to talk about with this?

Just briefly, I was not at the meeting, so I'll abstain from voting. But I would like to, I appreciate the comments in the minutes referencing Prosecutor Melling. He was a true gentleman in all sense. I mean, it's not like he's dead. He is a true gentleman in all sense of the word and certainly worthy of recognition by this body. Just a, I mean, a pleasure to deal with and a guy who really knows the law. So I saw that and I'm happy for him.

a point of order you don't have to abstain just so you know well i read the me i don't know though i read the minutes and watched the meeting but yeah whatever you choose foster yes yes kerland yes ulner abstain oil dane yes thank you Okay, next audience comments related to agenda items. Is there any audience comments? Then we'll move on to old business. Ordinance 2026 dash nine is amended an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police. This is on for third reading, but we're going to table that till next week. Um, next is no, I don't think so. Right.

You could take one or not.

That was good object, but the same by object to tabling. We are we tabling? I'm sorry.

be some clarification. Special counsel needs to answer a few more questions.

Okay. Then no, I don't object.

Sorry, I just wanted to understand. We're going to go into executive session.

And special counsel's coming tonight.

Okay. Perfect. Great. No problem.

No. Okay, great.

Okay, next is ordinance 2026. 12. And ordinance amending section 1162.08. Improvement of the parking areas of chapter 1162 off street parking and loading of the codified ordinances of Orange Village. This is on for third reading tonight and we had a public hearing. Do I have a motion? I'll make the motion. Thank you, Amanda. And anybody want to ask questions on council?

So if if there's something that's already established and another company moves in or another business takes over Are they grandfathered with their parking lot or does it get does it fall under this?

It's exactly the type of circumstance when they would come in for Addressed at that time and so if there had been land bank parking and a new development is going to require additional parking

then they have that available to them.

So yes, it gets addressed. Also, the question came up regarding residential. I went back and looked in the chapters dealing with residential development, and there are specific driveway provisions for that. This is, although it doesn't say so, in this particular section, it applies only to commercial developments.

Any questions? All right, Anna, will you call the roll, please?

Foster? Yes. Vincent? Yes. Merland? Yes. Allner? Yes. Boyle?

Yes.

Perry?

Yes. Thank you. Next is Ordinance 2026-14, an ordinance engaging Bricker, Graydon, Wyatt, to provide special counsel to Orange Village in matters related to the financing of capital projects and declaring an emergency. This is on for third reading tonight. Can I have a motion to open this? I'll make the motion. Thank you for making a motion and thank you for seconding it. That was Stacey. Great. This is the firm that Bryce Finley works for? Yes. Correct. Okay. Questions from council?

If I may, Madam President, I've mentioned this on the floor before and I've discussed it openly as well. I have lots and lots of questions and I don't want to say reservations, but there's a lot of unknowns about what is happening relative to any project finances, timing, location, et cetera, et cetera. And I was pretty clear in my last comments that I do not want to see any penny spent on lawyers. As a lawyer, George, sorry you got to hear this. I don't want to be against my brothers in Esquire, but not you.

It's another matter.

I just don't like the concept here of moving forward on this without a firm understanding of what exactly we are doing. So when it comes up, I don't know whether it's going to pass. I've spoken to the president about this and the mayor, but I do not intend to vote for this, not because I'm against Bricker. They do great work. I've used them. in my current job and are using them right now but rather I just don't know where we are and I don't want to be in a position where we're spending money on something that maybe isn't right now or isn't right ever and so I'm not asking I'm not soliciting people to do anything that's just my vote and I just want to make sure that I put that on the record I don't I'm

when we discussed this previously, but I thought if we approve this, it's just saying that he can hire them, not when the need arises, should the need arise, but not that he's going to.

There's a lot of moving parts and moving forward with a levy on the ballot, including drafting legislation, which would likely, I assume, be drafted by special counsel. And that takes time, energy, and money, and that would be before this body gets to decide whether or not it goes on the ballot. And look, we had a community meeting, which was great in some capacity, but left lots and lots of questions. And look, I'm one of seven. I'm not asking the table. I mean, if somebody else wants to, I know where I'm at with this matter right now. And how everyone else chooses to move forward is up to them. my only caveat that i would ask councilman if i is i if it is approved i i i really don't want to see bills and bills and bills on this thing before any real substantive conversation about this thing happens no i i agree with that that's why i was asking about the timing i think if you go to

Sure. The timing of the incurring of fees will start with the drafting of the legislation. As Jim noted, there are two pieces of legislation that council would need to address. One would be requesting from the county fiscal office the millage that's necessary to achieve what the what the village would want to achieve. The second one would be to put the issue on the ballot. That second piece of legislation has to be adopted and down to the Board of Elections by the date of this council's meeting in the first week in August. So practically speaking, you'd have to adopt that piece of legislation in July unless you had a special meeting.

But what you don't need to do is, I mean, if there's some gathering and kind of a recognition of what we're doing, it's a lot easier to move forward, both with the legislation and community support. And we have a very short runway, and the resolution that will presumably come forward, will indicate that this body believes that this is necessary, that it's for the, I mean, it's a pretty significant piece of legislation that I just, if it were placed in front of me now, I don't have the information to say I would vote for it. So, look, I'm not asking to table it. I stated my piece, and I'm not going to vote for it. But it doesn't mean that anyone else shouldn't. Or if you want a table, we can table it.

I have a couple questions, just for clarification. In the contract, it said... The matter described below does not give rise to a lawyer-client relationship, and then later on it says that the village would be our client. Can you just clarify?

Well, the specific individual council members aren't going to be clients. The entity is the client of that firm. I don't know that specific language in front of me, but this is, we've previously entered into this agreement with this firm. It's pretty standard throughout communities. The village would be a client of the firm.

What they always try to disclaim is if they have other clients that may have interests that, let's imagine that they have school boards and they're seeking to advocate something

with the state legislature that only impacts school boards and might adversely impact cities.

I'm making this up.

They're gonna be able to do that and your engagement for this purpose is not gonna interfere with their ability to represent other clients

My other question is at some point in here. It said it noted that they would be working with The committee whatever committee is that our would that be our Finance Committee or would that be a separate committee?

That's formed I think there are a couple aspects that there would there could be some Finance Committee involvement, but it would also definitely be counsel you would be responsible for the passage of legislation and

But to clarify, council was not involved at all in the designs or anything like that, and in fact, was not invited to be part of those focus groups with the architects. I'm just I'm just my my my statement stands unless others were invited and I simply was not. I don't believe that that's the case. And there were council members, myself included, who specifically said that we wanted to be involved in those meetings, those focus group meetings with the architect.

Even if just so that we could listen and hear what was going on so that was not We were not invited to do that or permitted Had meetings back in March when we were Working towards finalizing the design There were no more than about five residents in attendance and and console people that that was an opportunity that we gave the community to interject into the to the design you hire you have PROJECT TOGETHER. THIS IS A PROJECT THAT'S BEEN UNDERWAY FOR OVER TEN YEARS IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT ITERATIONS, AND I WILL BE OUTLINING ALL OF THAT IN A CORRESPONDENCE THAT WILL GO OUT TO THE COMMUNITY SO EVERYONE KNOWS THAT you know this if you will how we got to where we are today and why we're there the importance of it to the community for the future and the timing of delivering it and in order to get us to the to if you will the starting line for the project which is the the voting on a bond issue where we can move forward with a project we need to have the um the legal Council to be able to develop what we need to have so that Council can take necessary action to put it on the ballot and let the residents have their say in the final analysis. I think if people wanted to be directly involved, I understand when we sat down and did programming for the project, knowing how many square feet a fire apparatus room needs to be, doesn't need a committee to be able to establish it, there's lots of standards in that area and the architects and the fire department were instrumental in recognizing those programmatic areas that needed to be organized how they fit together was also a part of how that works and they you know worked very closely with the police on the one side and the fire on the other side to make sure that the elements of the building that would be produced well FACILITATE OUR NEEDS WELL INTO THE FUTURE FOR THE NEXT 30 TO 50 YEARS, AND THAT WAS WHAT WE SOUGHT TO DO, TO BRING IN. Design doesn't happen by committee. Design happens with those who are involved directly with it, organize it, and then you bring it to committee for input and comment. And that's exactly what we did with it. And there were opportunities for people to do so. It was presented at council. People had opportunity to make comments on it. It was presented in a special meeting to present the overall design at the status it was in at the time so that people could weigh in and suggest opportunity there for people who wanted to weigh in and suggest how this thing might want to design or look that was the time for it you got to get to a point where you have a project that you can figure out its value structure and then we can figure out how we're what we're gonna fund for that need to fund for that project we're at that point right now we need the assistance of legal counsel to help us structure what is necessary for the project to move forward I know there were some comments in the public meeting the other night about the drawings still have things to be done. Of course they do. The design happens throughout the process. details and construction drawings that will have to be done, but we don't do those until the bond issue passes. No project, whether it's a school, a city hall, a hospital, happens until the financing is fully in place for those projects to be able to move forward, because you're not going to hire an architect and spend thousands of dollars more to determine whether you could actually do this. That's why we did a very, very detailed cost analysis of the project and a very detailed set of drawings of what the project is so that it could be very clearly considered for pricing and design approval to note that this works. It works for the departments that will use it.

It works for the community that will support it, I hope.

And we need to move it forward.

I just want to fit with all due respect because you were addressing my point. I'm the one who sat there and called the references for every single design firm that came in. Okay. And I have no problem spending the hours doing that and talking to people. And what I heard repeatedly from different references was, make sure that you have council people at those initial meetings with the architect. Please let me finish. Just allow me to complete my thought, okay? we are also stakeholders okay and we were not given that opportunity i understand that you and i are just going to have to agree to disagree there were certain steps in the process where we were and there were certain steps where we were not and that was my point and i think it was a mistake to do that and i'm entitled to that opinion just hold on a second okay The other thing is, this council, you do need our votes for these things. So to the extent that you include us in things and hear us from the beginning, I think it really does help the process. The last thing anybody wants is to have change orders and changes along the way. I am not one of the people that sat in the meeting the other night and thought, oh my gosh, there's details missing and i understand the process my point to you was the initial meetings with the architect where the stakeholders were there where the fire department could say we think we need five five bays we're going to have big trucks we're going to have this many ambulances or for the police department to say we have 13 cars and they need to park we want our cars to be inside because they will not be subject to the weather and idling and the cars will last longer of those things are very valid points my only point was I think that there are council members who could have brought things to the table as well that would have been been considered or at the very least sat there and listened and then been in on the discussions and been able to represent to rep to residents that we knew what was going on that we were behind it and and that we agreed with the process because we were part of it.

That was my only point. I just want to say, because I actually agree with Kim on this, that people have asked me what I think of it. I think that our, I wish that I had been involved earlier in some of the drawings, and I was in the initial plans that the previous mayor had. I was able to have a little, not say so, but understanding really early on. The point is that I know that our safety services need better facilities. I'm going to be for whatever way we can make that happen for them, but it would be a lot easier to swallow if I understood every step of the way. I feel like this is like a train has already been put on the track, a locomotive, and I don't want to get in the way of the locomotive, but it'd be nice if I was there helping to put the train on the track so that I understood why the track is where it is, if that makes sense.

If this doesn't pass tonight, this that we're voting on right now, does that in effect kill the project or what? I don't think so. Or would it go from here?

Oh, you can reintroduce it. I mean, it's and perhaps if I may hearing the conversations, I think Councilwoman owner might might be right on this, that the prudent course would be to to to hold it in some capacity. You know because there's a lot of questions and the bond council doesn't hold it up it you know it does Potentially slow down processes, but it doesn't kill it by any stretch of the imagination the issue Councilwoman Vincent that I that I think we are all dealing with is an extremely short runway as currently put in front of us with residents that are asking questions and the seven of us having whatever answers we have 18 million dollars was dropped on on me on monday and that's a big dollar amount to swallow and there are going to be questions, and my comments have been from the get-go, I'm the newest council member, I wasn't here before, so I'm brand new, and I know what's happened here since January. The residents don't know any of that. And those are the ones that are ultimately gonna be the ones making the decision. And with all due respect, Mayor, I don't take this body's vote to put it on the ballot for granted at all. And I've got lots and lots of questions, and before I decide that I'm okay putting it on the ballot, there's gonna be a lot more information that's gonna need to be in front of me. I don't speak for my colleagues on this issue, Timing, location, dollar amount, why now? What are we doing with the schools? All of these things are conversations that are gonna have to happen if we're moving forward. So, I mean, maybe then if the process is appropriate to table this in some capacity to get some understanding. I don't, I'm not.

I NEED TO INTERJECT SOMETHING HERE. WHEN I STARTED WORKING ON THIS PROJECT WITH THE COMMUNITY, I STARTED BY ORGANIZING A COMMITTEE OF VOICES THAT NEED TO BE AT THE TABLE TO HAVE THAT DISCUSSION. AND THE PERSON THAT WAS ON IT I FELT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT TO HAVE CONSUL'S VOICE AS A PART OF THAT CONVERSATION. Brent Silver was a member of the initial, you know, he's no longer here. He stepped down from office that made opportunities for other council people to join the council today. But Brent was sat in the design meetings. Brent was the representative of council to listen in and hear what we were doing and to be that voice to give that, oops, give that life to council people. was invited to the school board meeting yeah a meeting with the school board when we started talking about issue we knew that the school board was looking at it there was some discussion about who would which chicken would come first whether it was and initially they said we don't want to get in your way and they stepped back and then they came back and realized they need to come to the table so now they're now they're if you will coincident with one another and it is a short runway but it's been a long ride from the gate to the runway to get to that point where we take off. The committee was made up of those people that really can offer insight and communication, which included Bob Zugan, Chief Roberts, Chief Genova, Bob McLaughlin from the building department, representing planning, myself, amongst others that were part of that design team, the voices of discussion. And when we met, we all met collectively to discuss the design, the process, and the steps along the way. That's what led us to the plan that we saw the other day, that we saw back in March, and that the first time that we talked about the $17.9 million or $18 million wasn't just Monday. It was in Council last month. I brought that to the table and said, we know what the dollars are now. We just got it, and we're going to present the details of it in this meeting so that everyone has an opportunity to see it. at that meeting somewhere at some point or if we're going to deliver this project if we're going to do something for the community that is going to benefit the community for the next 30 years we have to start now we have to plant this tree And it hasn't been done lightly, and it hasn't been done haphazardly, and it hasn't been done casually. It's been done in great detail with a lot of effort and a lot of good thinking about what this is.

And I appreciate Kim's effort to investigate this.

that we ultimately brought to the table.

They were all extremely well qualified.

Many of you were on council when you had the interviews for the architects and made the decision that these were the best choice of architects to do the project for us.

And that was nine months ago, at least, that we did that. And since then, we've put the project together.

What I'm asking here is to have the ability to engage council that we will need to develop the legislative documents.

We can discuss the legislative documents once we have the details of that, but we know it.

I know what this building is. We know what it is. It's been presented in detail.

We know it.

Did you get anything in your email? Did they send all the documents to you in your email?

In the building, not just... The envelope.

Okay. Just hear me out. Sometimes it goes a long way to collaboration when you include people. And when I get things at the same time as everybody else at a public meeting, that doesn't help me feel like I'm part of your collaborative team. So if you want that, my suggestion is information out to council members in advance I'm sure that other council members are getting contacted by residents as I have been with questions and sometimes it's nice if we have information in advance because then we can say oh yeah I saw that and I understand why that is you know sometimes as you well know Judd There have been times where I've gotten questions from residents about something, and I immediately contact you. Hey, do you know what's going on? And then you let me know, and then I get back to the resident, and that's great. That's working together, and it's working together to the benefit of our community, okay? I have never once, ever, in the time that I've been on this council, ever, sandbagged you with a surprise question. As you well know, if I think I'm going to be asking a tough question, I have always given you the courtesy of letting you know in advance, hey, I'm going to ask you about this at council in public. So please be prepared to speak to that. I've done that courtesy to you, which I didn't have to do, but I've done it because I believe it helps us build a collaborative way to work together for the benefit of our residents. My suggestion is my my request is to please give the courtesy to us of the same thing, to allow us to at least be in the know of what's going on at the time, because then it won't feel like a short runway and we will say, oh yeah, we've known that was going on. We were part of that. That's all my comment was.

We can't go back three months. We can't undo that. So I guess my question to... This legislation, this ordinance aside, what would you like to see happen? Let's say we table it or let's say we postpone it or just vote it down, whatever the case may be. What would you want to see happen that would allow us to move forward with the project in the next three weeks, month?

I can only speak for myself. I certainly can't speak for Mr. Boyle, and I think he has a comment to make. I would suggest I'm going to make a motion that we table it for this week. We have a meeting next week. within that one week time period would be a very good opportunity in my opinion for the mayor to have conversations with different council members to get us all to the point where we understand and we can have our questions answered and you know we really we really are on board with it that's to me that would be a good use of the week seeing legislation to put this on the ballot next week no

If this were passed, you could have legislation next week to request certification from the physical office.

So we have to have June, July, and August for readings.

August you don't have because it has to be in by 4 o'clock on the day of the council meeting. So we really need to...

At least if we table this.

They're pretty good. They can probably turn it around in a week if they know it's coming.

Steve, we have a levy going on where I work, and we got it back after the first, we got it back in, I think, less than 10 days. The turnaround from the first piece to the second one, which was somewhat surprising, quite frankly, because it oftentimes takes way longer.

want to clarify something. I don't think because you're worried about the committee being bigger than necessary when it came to this planning. I don't think say that their ideas needed to be part of this plan. I think we want to be able to be, and please correct me if I'm speaking, misspeaking for anyone. I want to be a fly on the wall. I wanted to be aware of what was happening as it was happening so that I could ask the question, so that I could answer questions.

We did a meeting early on, I don't even remember when it was, maybe a year ago, where we sat here and the mayor made it, meeting and I was part of that meeting when we listened to the chiefs talk about it and I remember we sat at the table and somebody zoomed in I don't remember who was the person that zoomed in maybe it was me I don't remember but I just remember being part of that kind it was Ryan right so that was made available it was a while ago it was when they were first talking about what kinds of needs they had what things they were looking for So I feel like, I mean, I don't know that it's ever been, I don't feel like I was closed off. Like, if ever I had questions, I would approach the mayor and say, here are my questions, and yeah. I mean, I can't speak for, I'll speak for myself, but I know I was at that meeting, and Ryan was there too, so...

if i could make a recommendation from from a law department standpoint the the critical spending on this is going to occur after it go on the ballot and they'd be preparing the bond the initial piece of legislation which would which should probably be in front of you next week from a timing standpoint

is not going to be that expensive.

If you approve this agreement, you can continue to do all of the things you're talking about in terms of getting a greater comfort with the project and the go or no go vote in july say is the larger deal where you're actually putting it on the ballot even then you could take it off the ballot as long as you know the board of elections allows it you don't have to have the election at all but by allowing the mayor to move forward with the special counsel this week

you can be in a position next week to have the just preliminary piece of legislation.

And it doesn't mean you're gonna support the project. Everybody has had their speech on, you know, there are still clearly answers that need to be provided.

But, Steve, if I may, the problem is that the first piece of legislation will indicate that this body believes or, I mean, because we use the same law firm, and we have a thing going on right now. I mean, I don't want to belabor it, but it's that we, the council members, believe that this is a fabulous need that the city must have, blah, blah, blah. All these things saying that we believe these things are necessary. What I'm saying is I don't know any of that. I'm not saying that it can't be shown, but that runway of learning that this is something that we must move forward on has not been shown to me to any point that I would say, okay, let's approve this legislation. That's the issue that I have. Now, and again, I speak only for myself because I know what the whereas clauses will say.

Let's approve this legislation, meaning what's on tonight or the next piece.

Once we hire them, they will come back with a piece of legislation saying that we whereas the council believes that this this project should be the best and is vital to the interests of the community and that they believe it should move forward. And all these things that I, as a council member, have no idea at this point. Doesn't mean that I could vote for it.

I mean it doesn't I mean we could learn it like multiple things going on I think that comes first, the chicken or the egg. I think that this piece of legislation is just strictly to hire special counsel to make it so we can get the figures right for the millage. Hold on.

Can I interject? Because, Steve, and with all due respect, President, that's not what the first piece does. The first piece says that this body believes that that it's called a resolution of necessity that that this body believes that this bond issuance is necessary that's the first piece the second piece then we send it to the county they come back with the numbers the second piece is hey we agree to put these numbers on the ballot so the first piece of do we believe it's a necessity for our community is the one that i'm struggling with because not that conversation hasn't happened yet at least to me

true but that's not the piece of legislation that's on tonight i mean between now and next week i don't know if the mayor is going to be able to get you enough information to change change any minds but this piece of legislation doesn't say that you it's necessary to move forward with this project this piece of legislation is necessary to get you in a position

answer the question is it necessary legislation Mr. Boyle is saying is you would be engaging the firm the law firm to create a piece of legislation that piece of legislation not the one tonight that piece of legislation that we would be engaging the firm and paying them to do is will say we're all behind it. Am I? Yes.

And then that'll be subject to the conversation. But that is what Steve is saying is accurate.

And what what Kim is saying is, well, I'm going to make a motion to table this till next week. Second to our council meeting for council meetings, of course.

Not this time. He wants to know if he can speak to that, but it's past that time.

We'll get to the end of the meeting. There'll be another opportunity to speak. I made a motion to table this till next week. We will then be putting ourselves in a position where I like to have items of great importance take three months to read. But we will be shortening that timeline.

We may need to add an additional council meeting in July to accomplish this. If we're all prepared to do that, then that's fine. I want to interject one other thing that I think is altogether important. We didn't just start this process the beginning of this year. We started this process over a year ago, starting to develop an idea that something needs to be done. And I started looking at whether or not we should do some of the things that we are doing including bifurcating this building and moving fire over to another location, looking to how we might acquire a piece of property to build this on and what would be necessary there to accomplish that. Those things happened well over a year ago. We started deliberating and talking about this potential project coming in. And now we're at a point where reality is setting in and we have to

Move forward. Yes, it is a short runway, Jim. Mr. Boyle.

It is a shorter runway than I would have liked to have had. My original goal was to put it on the ballot last May. But that, I came to understand very quickly that we weren't gonna have enough information let alone a complete design package to do that. So we moved it forward and said we're going to go move this to November to give us a reasonable amount of time to get through the process. I'm more than willing and happy to sit down with anybody and everybody in this city to talk about the project one on one or multiples on one.

understand the project better and what we've done and why it's important why it's important now and and what we're doing mayor I'd like to be specific though before I vote to table or not table I want to know what needs to or should happen in the next week because that's all we're giving ourselves is seven days to make a difference by voting next week as opposed to this week so what would you like to see happen what needs to happen what should happen in the course of the next week because we don't have a lot of time we have seven days so

Here, I'll tell you what I need. Here's what I want. I want a traffic study. I want to know what our plan is. I was at the mayor's meeting at the school board where the school board said, we're going on the ballot this November. And the mayor said, tell me what I can do to support that. Now we're undercutting them. So I want to know how we plan on coordinating with the school board. I want to know all the, have we talked to the neighbors down there? These are the conversations that should have happened months ago. And with all due respect, Mayor, I heard a lot of I's, not a lot of we's. And there's seven of us that have to make these decisions. I wasn't part of that because I wasn't a member of this council. So to that extent, I'm starting from ground zero on this thing. And now I'm just angry because now at this point, I don't want this to sound like we've been asleep at the wheel. That's not fair. It's certainly not fair to me, and I'm not speaking for my colleagues here, but if you want to get, and what your plan is to get this thing past the ballot, and I told you this when I talked to you this afternoon, Mayor, the last three things that have come on this ballot in the Chagrin Valley, 32, the charter in Pepper Pike, and then the proposed rezoning over at Beachbrook, or is that where it was, Beachbrook? They got smoked at the ballot. You know why? Because they didn't have a plan on how to do it and didn't sell it to the residents early and often. And what I'm seeing now with this short runway is no plan, no understanding how we're going to get it. That's what I need to see in the next week. Sorry for raising my voice.

So. And I think taking this week to have individual conversations with each council member so that their questions can be addressed and answered would be a good thing. And Mr. Boyle raises an excellent point. It's one thing to get on the ballot. It is another thing to get to get it passed. There's no reason. Look, I want good facilities for our service people. I've always been very supportive of our service people, always. really no point in my mind to spend all this money and throw more money at a project if it's not going to pass at the ballot box to pass at the ballot box I believe it needs the support of all the members of council and I think it's worth it even if there's just one person who has reservations take the extra week to get everybody on board and very important when when issues go on the ballot levies go on the ballot you have a four to three vote or five to two vote that is not a good that is not going to help it pass we would need a 7-0 vote on the ballot take the take the extra week I hear you that it's going to cost us our time. And there's going to have to be a third meeting for us in July. And that's our time. And I get it. And I'm willing to put in that time. I just, it's important that we speak as a body on this. It's very important.

And I'm glad you guys are bringing this up.

Any comments?

I just want to add one thing.

When I took

my seat as a council person 28, 29 years ago, however long ago it was, one of the first things that I was assigned to do was to head a committee called Buildings, Grounds, and Utilities. And in that committee, I had some residents join the committee. Our first thing to study was The lack of space in the fire and police departments, the building was like six years old and it was brand new when it was being built. They had to cut back in the cost of the construction and they they made everything smaller. And it was a problem from the day they moved in. It was built for the staff that they had currently then, and they didn't have room for growth at all. know stitch things together the best that we can for all these years but it's time to um respect how the world has changed the calls have gone up significantly for both police and fire the world has changed a lot and we have more employees we don't have adequate facilities for either the police or the fire departments and i i strongly support this new building and plan. I think it will work for the village. So much work has gone into it already that I have been included in and been hearing about all along. I don't know why you all have not. It wasn't separate meetings between me and Judd. So it was in finance meetings. It was in council meetings. When Judd invited me to the meeting with the people from the Orange School Board, I was invited as council president, but I came back and reported what they had said.

Nina Small.

right thanks for every meeting and and i all the information keeps coming forward so i will be voting yes for this ordinance and for putting it on the ballot when we get to vote for that just saying okay so i have a motion to um table anybody want a second no we already did

Yeah, it's already been.

And Anna, will you call the roll?

Foster? Yes. Vincent? Yes. Kurland? Yes. Allner?

Yes. Boyle? Yes.

Perry?

Yes.

Thank you. Okay.

We're going to move on to Ordinance 2026. establishing the standards for obtaining senior transportation services from the village through the orange community education recreation orange senior center and declaring an emergency this is on for first reading I wonder if we need to suspend the rules of we met with the senior center we have we have

but figured out something that we need to do.

What will ultimately need to happen is council will need to determine how much money it wants to appropriate for the program, which authorizes transportation for any .

and there's a long and arduous story involved with this which I would recommend that this, that the issue be referred to the committee and have the disc have the in-depth discussion and then the ultimate outcome of the process will be there's you know what's the amount that's currently appropriated something like six thousand a quarter yes okay

Yeah, there's 4,000 left in the budget for the rest of the year.

So the question is, are you going to allocate more resources? And if you're going to do that, what's coming out of the budget? Where are you going to do it? And that's really more committee work than doing it here. We had originally thought that this ordinance would have solved the problem.

They can't accept our program given their grant money.

So we had patterned this ordinance behind our snow plowing ordinance.

which is how you qualify for village paid for snow plowing.

We'll be back to you with the revision of this ordinance that addresses that program, because that's our program. This will now work to resolve the issue we're having with the Orange seniors. And we learned about that on Monday.

Yeah, so referring to finance is fine. It's gonna come back here.

Yep.

And the question I'm going to have, so I'm gonna tell you now so that it could get answered, okay? I would like to know, for the last three years, the number of seniors who have utilized the program and If there are seniors who would have liked to have utilized the program but were unable to do so, if so, why is that? Those are, I think, the two. The mayor and I spoke about this previously. Those are two issues, I believe, that we had discussed.

data and that's fine so there are a couple of those really quickly because i talked to maggie runyon is the director of the senior center and i work with her regularly she said that orange has about 14 to 16 riders registered and only about four of them take rides regularly most rides are used for medical purposes but the rides can also be used for other trips to the senior center or to physical therapy or to things

that are related to it if you would like um i don't know if this would help or not i'm happy to invite her in just to answer questions and talk to so you guys have direct answers if we just we just had the meeting with her and and we know that the the answer to the question um how is this going to change is how much money does the village council want to spend and you need the data understand that to answer that question so my recommendation is the matter gets referred to the finance committee you discuss it there the ultimate outcome would be a change in the appropriation ordinance which you're going to have to do with some of the employment stuff you're dealing with later anyway so you've got one of those coming and so my recommendation is to refer this to the planning commission those were my questions and concerns because

We have the data that you're asking for. And we discussed it the other day when we met with the folks from the senior center. And that really goes to the idea of utilization and basic cost. And we came to understand where their costs come from and how it's being utilized. They have this, as Steve mentioned, there is a grant that they have that some of the cost for the use of this senior transportation system. And it comes down to how many rides we want to pay for because we now know what those numbers really mean. It's an allocation number that we have to work out. So it makes sense for finance to look at it and then make a recommendation back to council as to what might make sense for us to spend for that service.

Sounds fine. Thank you.

Next is Ordinance 2026-16, an ordinance authorizing the Mayor enter into an amended employment agreement with Anthony Urgrinick Jr. and declaring an emergency. This is also on for first reading. I'll make a motion to suspend the rules. Is there a second? Thank you, Stacy. And Anna, will you call the roll on the suspension? Foster?

Yes. Vincent? Yes. Kurland? Yes. Allner? Yes.

Boyle? Yes. Perry? Yes. Okay, next, do I have a motion to adopt Ordinance 2026-16? So moved.

Who said second?

Stacey.

I got the first. I missed the second.

Amanda.

We saw the changes in the version.

I just took kind of an innovative and

hard to hire now for some positions. And we see it with our building people, we see it with our safety forces, etc. And to you have to move quickly and innovatively to bring in talent into this. And I have a great deal of respect for the work that you guys did in doing this. And I, as I mentioned to the chief, his family is well known in the in the law enforcement community, I think it'd be an excellent addition of the force.

a lot of publicity to from other communities seeking police officers coming in. So there's definitely a lot of competition for people out there.

Well, the nice thing about this also is that we now have the template in place if we identify future candidates. Inventing the wheel.

Mike, did you want to?

I don't have anything. I was just prepared to answer if one of those was a question.

My only question would be, when do the benefits kick in if we pass this? Do the benefits kick in immediately, or is it still after the tests are passed?

Well, it depends on which benefits. He would start accumulating the time, the sick leave and the vacation leave as of the date of his hire, which is May 16th. And then when does our medical coverage?

That's six months?

Immediate. No, immediate. Oh, I'm sorry.

Immediate.

The ordinance dates May 16th.

but it would start May 16th. It's in the, yeah.

Okay, any other questions, comments? Anna, will you call the roll on adopting 20-16, please? Foster?

Yes.

Perlin? Yes. Allner? Yes. Boyle? Yes. Perry? Yes. Thank you. Next is Ordinance 2026-17, Ordinance Amending Section 145.01, composition of, comma, doesn't need to be there, Composition of Chapter 145, Fire Department of the Codified Ordinances of Orange Village. This is on for first reading. Larry, do you want to comment on this?

Thank you. This is kind of a retooling of our organizational chart, creating the position of fire marshal on the position will lead our fire prevention efforts, which include conducting and coordinating other fire inspectors in the annual inspections of each of the commercial spaces within the village. monitoring firework displays, witnessing annual tests. There is a long list of duties in which a fire marshal is responsible for. Over the last years, I spent many, many years in what would be this position, but as the village has grown over the last decade, the demands of this position have increased dramatically, and the demands are going to continue to grow through ongoing and planned development. So this is more of, it's still a part-time position. It will be from someone within the department. Currently, Captain Brian Hitt is in charge of our fire prevention. But this is kind of a re-imagining of the position. because this position is more administrative and less towards response. As time goes on and our succession planning goes on, this doesn't necessarily need to be a job held by someone, a ranked officer. There are individuals on a department that are not a lieutenant or a captain that might have interest in having this more administrative position in time. So it gives a little more flexibility. It also allows for the addition of a line officer, so we have more line supervision, which helps with scheduling and a myriad of other things. We already have this built into the budget, so this is no additional cost. So again, it's just a little bit of a retooling of our organizational chart.

Are there any additional training or certifications that come?

So anyone who goes out and conducts fire inspections has to be a certified fire safety inspector with the state of Ohio. It's an 80-hour course. In looking forward to this expanding the role of the fire marshal, currently I'm the only fire investigator on the department, so that would require additional training. That's another 80 hours.

hours of of training for that um so just kind of transferring some of the responsibilities and you know more division of labor with respect to suspending the rules um if council wants to be able to make the appointment in july they would have to suspend the rules and adopt it this meeting you you have a functioning fire marshal at this time just not designated

in the department as a composition right so compensation could suspend the rules and adopt it tonight and just be done with it or you could bring it back for two or three readings do i have a motion to suspend the rules i'll make that motion i'll second it thank you anna please call the role friend uh it was amanda thank you

Foster? Yes. Vincent? Yes. Kerland? Yes. Yes. Boyle? Yes. Perry?

Yes. Make the motion to pass. I'll second. Thank you. D.C. made a motion to pass, and Kim seconded. Great. Any other comments, questions? Anna, call the roll.

Foster? Yes. Vincent? Yes. Kurland? Yes. Allner? Yes. Boyle? Yes.

Perry? Yes. Thank you. Okay. Now, finally, we have audience comments, which help advance the good of the village. But if you will please take the mic. tell us your name and address and then sign the paper behind you when you're done um

listening to the conversation amongst the council members for the building is a perfect example most of the residents of this community don't see a sign of the building they drive by they walk in they see this really nice area But the residents aren't gonna look this down, not by far, unless the village establishes the need, which I have not done. So it's extremely important we recommend it to the police chief that maybe give towards the facility, talk about the need, but there's a zero chance of passing. You're wasting your time and money unless you establish the needs of the residents, which is not good enough. Thank you for your comment. stranding the residents that participated, so that he knows. So again, it really goes back to how we communicate with the residents, how we communicate with each other. I'm not sure everybody's aware of that, but it's a strand of many people. So that was Thursday on my way home from the meeting in Detroit. I got a call. My phone was ringing all the way back in my car. People said, I can't believe this happened. So I just want to make sure that everybody's aware of this and we change our ways.

Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Any other audience comments?

Please sign in.

Oh, you need to sign in.

Bennett. Can you sign in on the, there's a form there.

You're signing.

Sorry.

Where's the, where's the ordinance for? Oh, the charter discussion. OK, thank you. It's coming up. OK, that's next. So next on our agenda is a discussion of proposed charter amendments. I hear, Ned, you will be a spokesperson for your committee. We appreciate that. Thank you all to all the committee members and the chair. Scott, thank you so much for your hard work. Ned, can you give us a brief synapse of what happened?

A little closer.

You almost have to eat the microphone.

My name is Ned Van Valkenburg. I was with the Charter Review Commission. I don't think it's on.

I'm Ned Van Valkenburg.

There we go.

Time's a charm. Now you're there. I'm up here just to talk very briefly about the Charter Review Commission. We had a great group of people, a lot of concerned residents that took part in it. It gave us a great degree of backgrounds that brought much to the mix, a diverse set of opinions, and at times that... led to some pretty spirited debate. We also at times had some of the council members show up and add their input, which was wonderful as well. In the end, we ended up making nine recommendations that we're forwarding to council for review and consideration. you know very briefly you know some of them were just kind of cleaning up some language and things and you know others were you know a little little bit different twist on things for example one of the ones was we just cleaned up some language instead of referring to a state militia under article three We started referring to them as the Ohio National Guard just to get rid of some of the outdated language. We also... send a consideration forward for a little bit of a change on what our expectations might be from council as far as what's required for the position, as far as length of residency and attending the regular council meetings and not missing too many. I know there was something in the news within the past couple of months about another, The city had some trouble with someone who just apparently didn't show up for quite some time and they had no way to address it. So we're just trying to help make sure that that doesn't come about. The next item that we considered was considering some of the mayor's powers and we gave a little bit extra verbiage here with the guidance of the law director. to allow the mayor to delegate some of his authority under appropriate sections or under appropriate terms. And then we put a little finer point on the treasurer and how they come to hold that position and what's expected of them. We did also, we distracted the law director and talked about his position for a moment. And then also there's some language that was adjusted in here to allow the council, should they need to, to seek out some special counsel outside of the law director, should there be a reason for seeking a different perspective on it. And the architectural board of review, we discussed the makeup of that and changed some of the language to make sure that a quorum would consist of at least four members, including one of the architect members, just so there's good direction on that. Some of the old language was removed as far as levies that are no longer active And then also, many members of the commission felt that they didn't quite have enough time to their duties as we were you know kind of in a rush to get things done and with some of the spirited debate we sort of ended up a little bit in crunch time so what the recommendations were and they were hoping would be adopted is that the Charter Review Commission rather than meeting every eight years would meet every six years and kind of get an earlier jump on things. So there was time to work on things appropriately and feel like we made it all the way through and achieved closure. So that's pretty much what we had. So we'd just like to thank you all for your consideration.

Thank you, so we'll stay there for a second, because I, Ned, can you stay up here for a second? I have a question about one. I heard what you said, that you wanted more time to discuss things or deliver.

Yes, you know, it was a relatively brief period of time from our first meeting to when we needed to be completed with things, just so they were done in a timely fashion. March. It was the end of March, if I recall properly, February 9th, okay. Yep.

You should probably use a mic.

I don't know if I spoke very loudly.

It's for the...

Wait, let me give you the mic right there. Wait, wait.

Thank you to give you the mic here.

There's a mic right there.

Microphone.

Thank you. Our first meeting was on February the 9th. That was not a substantive meeting. That was some housekeeping and onboarding, and we really didn't get going until the 23rd of February, and we concluded our work on May the 11th. So it was pretty concentrated.

I have a question regarding that. Are you having a follow-up?

Go ahead. It's along the same range.

Is it more that you feel like you need to do it every six years, or is it more that you need to be appointed earlier to make it? My question is because—to the law director, please educate me. I think the charter then goes to the voters to approve. How does this work, right?

That's correct. Theoretically, under the Ohio Constitution, you could submit— the recommended charter up to 60 days before the election.

As a practical matter, that can't work because the state of Ohio has changed the election calendar and they have to be sending things out.

So the recommendation is to have it done and ready to go on the timeline as everybody else. What that means is by the first week in August, if you, as Orange Village Council said, we needed both the first and the second Wednesday to do our work, we'd let the Board of Elections know and they would accept that. I've had that conversation with the folks down there before and they're very accommodating.

What are the costs involved to the village to put it on the ballot? if we're on a general election we don't i don't believe they they're passing on okay general elections okay that was my only concern would be incurring more costs i don't to me six years eight years i mean if that's what you guys feel is necessary i can respect that i just okay it does seem to me though that maybe uh we should make an effort as a body to um appoint the commission earlier in the future so that they feel like they've got enough time

recommendation is, is the process that they would follow would start in July of the previous year. So essentially, they'd have about a year.

Yeah, and that's fine. Yeah, I read that. And that's the shortens the time between charter review commissions to six years from eight years.

I guess I'm a little confused because I'm hearing about the...

I think the intent was just to address that you were trying to cover too much territory all at once. Some of the ideas that people had we really didn't get to explore. So if it's done a little bit more frequently, it just gives more bites at the apple where things could... you know be looked at and you know um you know some because some of the time was spent on just cleaning up language and removing outdated you know uh levy information if you can get some of that out of the way a little bit more frequently it leaves more time for you know a little bit more in-depth work

This is 100% of the recommendations, though.

Yes, that's correct.

So I guess I'm not understanding the need for six years versus eight. I absolutely get the need for the one year.

There were some members of the council who wanted to be able to consider whether a change in the form of government, recall that the Cleveland Heights just went from a city manager form of government to a mayor form of government. Others have gone the other way, and sometimes that's something that charter review commissions like to discuss. Remember, ultimately the council votes, and it would require a vote of five members of this council to put any recommendation on the ballot. And so that sort of steps into how this is gonna be handled procedurally here. My recommendation is that as you talk through these, you develop a consensus on the recommendation. If you get five people, we'll draft up legislation to put it on the ballot. If anybody objects, we'll set that ordinance aside so somebody could vote against that recommendation so that the specific issues, and if there are any that have unanimous support of everybody as cleanup, we'll just do it all in one piece of legislation.

Oh, so you wouldn't introduce, there's nine there. You wouldn't recommend putting nine pieces?

There will be nine separate ballot issues. Oh, I know that. If there's unanimous consent of council, we can do one piece of legislation where everybody votes on it.

Yeah, I know, but I don't know how we can do that. I mean, and you've done in the past, so I assume that it's workable, that we can do that without in some capacity violating our sunshine. I don't want to make that decision outside of the realm is kind of what I'm saying.

We've done it before. We've done exactly the process I'm describing, which is the uniform agreed-upon proposed changes all get submitted. It's all a single subject, putting issues on the ballot. And then if somebody wants to be able to vote against one of the issues— Well, you pull it off. They can vote. We would not put it on any legislation if there weren't at least five people in favor of it. and the person who was opposed to it could vote against that ordinance, putting it on the ballot.

I personally think on this last article doing it every eight years has always worked for us. I agree and hear you and the committee members that maybe giving more time to form the committee, it doesn't have to be done at the last minute. So even if you began it at the beginning of the previous year, taking a whole year of committee work, if you can find people who will do it, that would be great. That may make more sense, and if you whip through the information very quickly, then, you know, it's ready. But I like the eight-year schedule best, personally, so I probably... Talking about making it take a lot more time to do it than doing it much more often means you're going to almost always have

this committee might be a little too much I also would suggest maybe it's seven years if you want to make a little shorter and the reason I'm saying that is to have an odd number right now where you're at if this had started last summer you're starting with a different council but which maybe it doesn't matter

um and then not a bad point changes in january every two years there's an update to council you guys are starting at the last one and it's the most controversial one my recommendation is to start as they're presented to you walk through these see if there's consensus on the proposed amendments we'll put it in legislation You can have the discussion, debate, et cetera. And, you know, you should thank Ned for his time. Yes.

And thank you, spokesperson, too. Many of them seem to be not a big deal. Frankly, that was probably why.

Only the last one for me, Jim.

Yeah, no, I did. I attended most of the meetings and I commend all of the members of it. I mean, it takes You've got to be a lot of work.

Takes a lot of work.

And actually, it's interesting. There was I was at Mayfield Heights. Somebody came in from Mayfield Heights who was tracking the process, which I like. OK, I mean, so there is interest. I don't have any objection to any of them. I thought that the conversations were spirited, were were. And there was a lot of conversation. I understand operationally the need for more time. I don't have any objection to doing it six, I don't have any objection to doing it five years, 10 years, whatever. I mean, I think it's an important piece to make sure that our, kind of our, The document that structures how we operate is reviewed periodically. And what that looks like, you know, the body, the committee met and went through it. I don't have any objection to doing it eight or six years. And if they recommended six, I'm fine with that.

Amanda, we can go through each one or.

We can go through each one.

I think I'm pretty okay with everything.

I just, questions only.

Okay.

I was at most of me. And so I heard the discussion. One thing I would like Scott or somebody to clarify as we move to the last one that I don't think was said was the reasoning behind the six years. And I think if I recall the conversation, it was because they felt that eight years things got dated. I don't want to misquote, you know, but I believe that was the discussion that they felt eight years was just too long a time that we had like we have a whole back page of things that are just irrelevant now. So I'll defer to Scott on that.

I think that Ned did address that, but just to reiterate, having it done a little bit more frequently will allow that group to bring to the fore some issues that merit conversation. serious conversation and we we did we did give some short shrift to a few of the few of the items that they're not part of the recommendation and having having it moved from six year eight years to six years would allow that conversation to take place and they are open meetings and i think that the community should be encouraged to attend them you know they're you know there certainly was you know count Council members were present and they were welcomed and they provided input. All of you who attended did provide input. I also would suggest that if there is some resistance to moving it from eight years to six years, that the other part of the recommendation be followed to give us, give us, it's not us anymore, to give the commission a head start to prepare for its work, because I think that when we sat down on February 9th, we really weren't prepared, and that's what I have to say.

there's any disagreements, please speak up if there is that we all agree with that. I think everybody agrees that we need more time on that. So thank you for that recommendation. And I, I don't even think that's up for discussion unless somebody else. Yeah, yeah. So it's just I just wanted to clarify your reasoning behind the 68 years. So thank you. And I don't have any issues with any of these.

And Jeff, how about? How about you? Jeff?

I don't have any issues in general. I wonder that if you're starting a year in advance, does it kind of make it like seven years anyway because you started the process earlier? I mean, I can go either way, but I'm just saying it's almost like seven years when you're starting a year in advance.

I would be interested in hearing what some of the issues are that you would have liked to have addressed, but just some examples.

Six years from this July. puts this issue on the ballot and the voters approve it, the clock will be running and it'll be six years from July 1 of 2026.

To answer Councilman Ulner's question, the minutes of the Commission meetings reflect, we put them together in outline fashion, and those which did not receive a majority of Commission members, they're there, and you can tell from that, you can discern what items were talked about and ultimately did not.

I didn't know if you wanted to make that part of this public record tonight, but just verbally give some examples.

Well, the minutes are public record, so.

OK.

Some of the examples that were discussed included district representation, not just seven at-large members. Switching, as council mentioned, possibly looking at a city manager form of government for the village. We talked about having criteria for our treasurer. i mean we don't have a criteria just as you'll hire a treasurer uh... i mean those were things that we were we debated we discussed and but things like you know uh... city manager for government i mean that we just didn't have time to really get into the meat of that issue the pros and cons of district representation uh... those are difficult issues i mean it's But those are things that are kind of critical. And one other clarification. The six years, that comment came up because things are changing very fast. I mean, internationally. And waiting eight years, a lot of things kind of get left in the dust. And that was one of the reasons why the recommendation came in for six, whether it's five or seven or whatever. But if you're going to make changes, make them in a timely manner. Eight years is a long time. And there's a lot that changes in eight years.

Now we're commandeering Bob's microphone, but I promise this will be, and I promise also that this will be brief. There were a few items that commission members raised that were important to discuss, but we didn't think as a group that they really for us to make recommendations. And there was one that stood out and it related to data centers. And we had feelings on whether Orange Village should regulate data centers. And that was an example of things that went beyond the scope, but these are people, there are nine people on the commission who cared enough to do this, and these are the kinds of topical things that we should invite community input on. So for that reason as well, I just think it's beneficial, and to do it six years rather than eight years can only help the village. I promise not to take it again.

I appreciate you all and the work that will be happy to support six years, which the commission obviously has given great thought to their comments.

just want to thank you all again and just one other thing with the whole six years it may um give rise to allowing the committee members to be consistent so that we get some of the same people you know who are back eight years is a long period yeah expect somebody to come back to the table so guys all for your incredible work that's coming back for the next cycle no matter what right that's pretty clear so uh and

hearing the extra explanation for that I I've always done it on an eight-year cycle and so I will be in favor of it too thank you for that clarification so are we all in favor of the six year cycle I'm fine with that yes we can do one piece of legislation yes And to this committee, and to Scott, who I feel like I coerced into taking this job, and I appreciate your leadership there. Everybody, thank you. I've done this committee a couple of times, and it's a hard committee, so thank you for your time and effort so much. We appreciate it.

Erica, too, who stood in as a leader many times and took copious notes throughout, so thank you.

Great. Thanks. Okay, so next is comments from the mayor, please.

A number of things to share with the village tonight. First of all, the women's college aid self-defense workshop is this Thursday, June 4th. Thank you to the police department for offering this important workshop. Many residents that may not have fit the college age demographic have expressed an interest in the program and the police department is expanding it and stay tuned for further details as to how that may unfold. Computer and flag household hazardous waste collection is this Friday, June 5th at the service department. 4680 Lander Road from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Paper shredding is Friday, June 12th from 9 a.m. to noon or when the truck is full at the service department. Orange Artisan and Farmer's Market is June 13th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Orange Service Department Circle at 4680 Lander Road. Orange Arts and Culture Committee is planning summer concerts in the village. I'm going to defer to Stacy on that. They're planning some future concerts as well. I've been able to get some money sponsorship so we can expand this for the summer, and we'll be in touch with people about that. I'd like to thank our sponsors that play a vital role in making our events possible. Pinecrest, Pulte Homes, and NOPEC have given generously to allow us to host events for residents and support our Party in the Park drone show. Save the date of July 25th, beginning at 6.30 p.m. Village Hall offices will be closed on Friday, June 19th, in observance of Juneteenth. The Orange Village Service Department has delivered 742 yards of leaf humus last week. We had a great deal of humus this year. It was located on the parking lot of Pike Drive Park, and you'll notice it's all gone. We had several communities, companies haul away over 300 yards of leaf humus as well. The area is now clean and available for parking, and I'd like to thank the service department for their hard work in both the management of that process and taking care of all of the residents and providing leaf humus. Community-wide garage sale will be held June 27th and June 28th at your home. Register today on our website or call Village Hall at 440-498-4400. Cleveland Magazine's Rating of the Suburbs came out this week, and Orange Village moved up one notch to 17 in the top 20 cities in Cleveland. And we're thrilled to have moved up, and maybe next year with some of the things that are going on, we'll even advance further. I WANT TO ANNOUNCE THAT IN THE SPRING, EARLIER THIS SPRING, I APPLIED FOR A GRANT TO BE INCLUDED IN THE STATE CAPITAL BUDGET. AND I RECEIVED NOTIFICATION THIS WEEK THAT WE RECEIVED THE APPROVAL FOR $75,000 GRANT TOWARDS IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE AMPHITHEATER. I'm working with Bob Zugin and I met today to look at where we want to spend the money. We're actually already committed to a number of different items in improving the amphitheater to make it a much more usable facility for summer events and activities. As all of you know, we talked about a great detail earlier that we had a town hall meeting for the fire station and village hall projects earlier this week. It was very well attended. I think there was a great conversation. I think the extreme value of that meeting wasn't the meeting itself, but the tour that took place afterwards. The fire department, police department, ACTED AS DOCENTS AND TOOK THE RESIDENTS WHO WERE HERE AND MANAGED TO STAY TO THE BITTER END, THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THEIR FACILITIES AND SEE WHY WE'RE DOING WHAT WE'RE DOING. ONE OF THE OUTCOMES OF THAT DISCUSSION AND THAT TOUR WAS WE'RE DISCUSSING CREATING A VIDEO THAT WILL THEN BE ABLE TO BE AVAILABLE TO THE COMMUNITY TO SHOW AND DEMONSTRATE WHY THIS IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT ENDEAVOR. For those of you interested, the Dog Forest will hold its official opening on Saturday, June 13th at 10 a.m. in the park. I want to thank the service department, Bob Zugan, his team, the folks at Tri-C's Landscape Department for all they've done in helping to make this great facility for Orange Village, and it will be used for many in the future. I hope that residents are undertaking United States of Kindness commitment to celebrate the 250th anniversary. I know I've had a number of opportunities over the last couple weeks to do some things that I now have to go to the website and fill in the blanks that we've done them. One of the challenges that we face as a community, and I think it's being faced by all communities, is the issue of e-bikes. These devices are finding themselves onto our village trails more regularly, and I've had recently contacts from residents who've been involved with e-bike collisions. And we have to be mindful that these devices can be very dangerous. And parents who provide these devices to their children need to make them aware that they have to operate them safely. IN THE MEANTIME, THE VILLAGE POLICE AND LAW DEPARTMENT ARE INVESTIGATING A BETTER MEANS FOR PROTECTING PEDESTRIANS ON THE TRAILS THROUGH THE USE WHERE E-BIKES ARE OCCURRING. AGAIN, I WANT TO THANK THE CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE. I KNOW THIS WAS A HERCULEAN TASK. And particularly, I want to thank Scott Lewis and Rivka Claypool for their leadership in making this happen. You guided a very challenging process to a wonderful conclusion that we've now had the opportunity to speak about tonight. Finally, in response to the comments and questions regarding the Village Hall projects, I plan this week to dialogue with all of the council people directly to understand what their questions and concerns are, to share with them the history of the project and how we've gone about its development over the many years that we've been working towards it. And I hope the outcome of that at next week's council meeting will be a much more informed group ready to help us move the project forward. I think it's important for the future of our community. And that concludes my remarks. Thank you.

Thank you. I have no comments tonight, so we'll start with Mr. Foster.

A question. So for the chief, please.

damage or hurt somebody on a trail how is that adjudicated potentially they could be probably a better question for law director to field we at the direction of the mayor and the chief we're putting putting together memorandum to document the current state of law regarding e-bikes. There is room for the village to legislate. Certainly, if you wanted to, you could say no e-bikes on your recreational trails.

That's entirely within your bailiwick.

But let me finish the research.

I know that there is some provision for some e-bikes, like the most powerful one, I think, that has a liability rate, right?

Now, I actually can speak to that from my private law work. There can be significant civil liability, significant. So it is not a good move, especially, you know, these some of these kids are 14. Some of them are younger. You know, that's these parents are really opening themselves up to significant suits. If they if it's a real thing, someone is hurt. It's not a no, it's you're talking big money.

One of the things to remember is these e-bikes can some be peddled and the motor not engaged. So this isn't as straightforward of a thing to produce the right registration requirements. Something that's also enforceable would have to be part of the whole thing. So we're working through it and we're going to try and make it as safe as we can.

Does anybody know what the state is doing about it? I thought the state was looking at a state.

Oh, they have. And, Chief, you commented on this a couple months ago. There's three idiotic classifications that you can't figure out what it is by looking at it. It's... Look, I... What they do in Columbus is nonsense, but at the end of the day, what the ORC has in there does not work on the street level at all. The other piece, Jeff, I hope that answers your question. I'm unaware of anything. I'm not just worried about them causing accidents. These vehicles are silent because you can't hear them. I'm worried about the kid on the bike getting hit by somebody backing out of there. It's rife with trouble. And liability for whatever that's worth.

Include your comments? Oh, yeah.

So I had the privilege of meeting with Stacy Cruz last Tuesday. We're going to try and combine some of our efforts with the Veterans Committee. We'll be able to have a nice program that people will be in and enjoy and since this is our first year for the veterans committee we're kind of putting our stake in our ground to let maybe make this a more annual event great thanks talk about the banners anna wants to know well we have banners that are going to be put up i'll mention the next week but that's okay We have banners for the 250th that are coming up that we're working with Bob and Anna to be dispersed around the community. I think they're pretty attractive. I think the group that was involved in ordering them, it'll highlight the 250th birthday of our community, just in time for the fourth, which is the actual date. I appreciate the work of Ned and Barb Long and everyone that helped move us to this point.

Thank you. All right, Ms. Vincent.

Good evening, everyone. I want to start out by offering my condolences to the families of three Orange School staff members who are a part of our extended community. I'm guessing most of you heard or read about Najee Hardaway, a 26-year-young teacher in the Shaker Schools. His father is the principal of our elementary school. We also lost our beloved bus driver, Shwai, this week and celebrated the life of Orange alum, Chris Polosina, whose mother also works in the schools. All three were beautiful souls taken way too soon and way too young, and I just ask that may all of their memories be a blessing. Arts and Culture met last night, as Councilman Foster mentioned. Our first concert is in two weeks. It is on June 18th. Not only will we be celebrating Juneteenth, which is the next day, but June is also Black Music Month. FOLO Love Orchestra, led by the illustrious Dr. Fred Wheat, will perform music ranging from soul to Motown, from jazz to easy listening. Come out to the Mulcahy Pavilion with your families for a great evening of music and history. You're welcome to bring a picnic dinner with you if you like. We're also working on securing a food truck or two for food purchases. The concert itself is free. Please bring your families and friends and let others know. We're also working on, we're titling it Orange Goes Red, White, and Blue event to celebrate the semi-quincentennial in July. Hopefully we'll be able to offer a few more details at next week's meeting. But we're also grateful to be working with Councilman Foster to create a memorable evening dedicated to Orange Village, our children, our veterans and our service men and women. Mayor mentioned the market, which is scheduled for June 13th. I just want to add a huge, huge shout out to Elizabeth Bach Van Valkenburg and her extraordinary team. This is grown by leaps and bounds. Please come. You'll love it. There's so many great things for everybody, especially with Father's Day coming up. So come shop local and and there you go. Finally, a reminder that the last day of school for orange students is tomorrow. Please drive safely and protect our children this summer.

Thank you.

Thank you, Stacy. Amanda.

Hi. First, I would like to thank the Charter Review Committee. You guys did a great job, and I really appreciate all the hard work and the thoughtfulness that went into that process. Like a maybe weird one is thing, change the subject. There's been a lot of really significant speeding in my neighborhood lately. Yesterday, I mean, I was out walking the dog. I was actually on Jackson and a car came so fast. It was, I think everyone's hard stop while walking their dogs or just taking a walk because it was a beautiful night. And this car came. so shockingly fast. A bunch of people were screaming at the car like I'm sure the car couldn't hear. Just I think it's almost a game to see how fast they can go around the cul-de-sac. It's happened week or something I forget exactly what week where I was out that was late at night and they were hitting all the cul-de-sacs in my neighborhood this was just there it's just in a patrol car did come shortly after but you know I don't know if they were able to ever see the person if I just I think people need to be really aware of safety I don't know who's playing these games again the cars go way too fast for you to identify who's in them I people to remember to be safe, that these are neighborhoods, that these are families, and you could get very badly hurt.

If I could encourage everyone, if you see that activity happening and you know the pattern is going to be they're going to hit all the call stacks, that's a phone call to 911 immediately. We will get down there and try and have an impact on that. I was unaware that it was a cyclic reoccurring event.

It's happened twice that I'm aware of, so I don't know.

A member goes member takes a picture with their phone is that legal and they give it to you for identification Take a picture anything you can see out in public so that that's not an issue, but I don't know if it would That would initiate a legal action

Well, it would allow us to make a contact and maybe try and change a behavior, but I don't know that it would do much more than that. Okay. I'd be happy to try and change that behavior.

Okay, great.

Thank you, sir.

The third thing I want to talk about is the sustainability committee is set to meet next Tuesday. I believe that John Loftus, who's in charge of that committee now, is going to send out an email and see if there's a desire. We haven't had enough committee members interested lately to hold the meetings. Previously, our Focus was really on educating ourselves on all different levels of sustainability. And I think that John is hoping to move us more towards action, but I think sort of we're a little bit in limbo now, so there may or may not be a meeting depending on if we get response from the email blast he sends out.

On that note, Mayor, is there a way to do another blast survey, something to get more, I think we're all suffering from lack of membership. I mean, we started off with 25. We're down quite a bit from there. And there was so much interest initially. Is there a way to, I think the way we got the members last time was through the survey thing, but is there another way we can kind of promote the committees?

We always have something about it in our e-news, in our quarterly newsletter. But more for a direct outreach, we could probably find another opportunity to get something. kind of a co-read announcement to suggest what these things are. There are new people in the community that probably are not aware of what the committees are doing and that they might want to be involved in it. And so that's...

It's back to the communication issue that was talked about earlier, and I would love to see that happen.

Okay, and the last thing? Can I just tag on to that? I have had multiple complaints about too many messages on reverse 911 when it used to be called that, just so you're aware that people get, like, oversaturated sometimes and then they had in they cancel last night at our meeting we had multiple people say they wish they were getting more information that way so times are changing and you know that was a long time ago you could try it but see if you get complaints I'm getting complaints too there's too many

I haven't had complaints lately, but. Of course, it's your committee and you want more people to know about it. So you gotta think of who you're talking to. Different committees, you know, your committee wants people to know. They don't wanna keep getting it.

That's just my perspective, what I see doing and handling the code red.

Thank you.

Okay, go ahead, Amanda.

My final thing is I do want to address our conversation earlier about the new facilities for our safety forces. I was initially toured both the police and fire department over five years ago and it was made clear to me at that time.

God bless you.

Bless you. That they were in desperate need at that time for updated facilities, more space, different layout, a lot of things that needed to change. So as much as I might not like the way and so I want anyone when I'm saying anything negative, I don't necessarily like the way that this came about the way these plans, but I'm not going to get in the way of this locomotive because I think it needs to get to the station. Puns intended with that. So I just want to be clear that I am for very strongly for our safety forces having appropriate facilities and I don't want to put any more time on this because it's already been too long. It should have happened 10 years ago. So with that said, I'm very for it, but I do, like we were discussing communication, that's the theme in this whole, I think this evening's theme is communication. We have to figure out the most effective way to get this information to our residents because from that meeting on Monday night, what I heard numerous people say And I was really trying to pay attention to the audience as much as the presentation was they think this is going to pass. I mean, there was really negative feeling in the room. So we need to figure out how to present it in a way that they'll understand that this is a need for for the village to run up safely and appropriately and for all of us to. It's not just about things being better for our departments, but also

ultimately it helps them be more effective in taking care of us thank you okay uh kim yeah i'll uh piggyback on what amanda's saying i actually intend to vote for it i do support these things i know that our safety forces need them i feel very strongly that we need a united message going to our residents in order to help passage And I believe very strongly that we need to work on our communication and marketing of the need for this. And to do that, everybody has to feel that they're part of the team. And we really do need a very united front on this. I think that's extremely important. I think sometimes when something is tabled, it's so that everybody can get on the page. And when it passes, it passes stronger. So let me just put that out there. So Kiwanis rummage sale donations are being taken behind the tennis courts, the barns behind the tennis courts at the schools, every Monday night from 7 to 9 and Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. And Kiwanis raises, last year I believe we raised $36,000, $37,000, something like that dollars. We are able to give scholarships. We've been able to support small nonprofits. This year we provided, I'm on the International Committee, so I'll speak to that a little bit, but we do a lot of domestic stuff too. But we were able to provide food for an entire year for a school, oh my God, I think it was Kenya, oh my God. Sorry, I'm having a senior moment, but it was in Africa. and without providing porridge and food kids don't go to school so if you provide food then kids go to school then they get an education that's just one of the many programs that we've supported and we've support them all over the country we support them all over the world and more importantly for our local community we support them in our local school district as well this year we were able to provide 10 scholarships to graduating seniors. Congratulations to one of them. And that was 10 seniors going to college plus a scholarship. Those were $1,500 each to an Orange resident, Orange school resident who's going into the Navy. So 11 kids from our school district all now have $1,500 to go help them with their future plans. So it really is a really good thing to do. Please clean out your houses. I know there's stuff in there because I'm doing it right now. My daughter's helping me. there is stuff you guys have not looked at or touched in a while somebody else will want it so donate that those items um i just want to thank um council member foster for obtaining a pepper spray from lowe's which we will be passing out um yeah i was going to ask anna how many people if we know how many people register for tomorrow night's event i'm very pleased See, that's awesome. So I'm very pleased that we were able to sponsor the event and get the police department, and we have had a lot of people requesting for other ages, and I've said, well, we'll certainly look into that. But this, obviously, this is aimed at college age. If you have a daughter who's college age, she doesn't have to be going to college, but, you know, or upcoming senior in high school, this is a perfect opportunity. It's tomorrow night. The Orange Cares Committee is meeting. The next meeting is June 9th, 7 p.m. in the Woodall Room. And then I just want to raise the issue of parking. When we have landscapers who park on one side of the street and then cars that park on the other side of the street and they're very, you cannot get through. Buses can't get through. I'm sure you're laughing because you're service, you can't get through. Just this is an issue. So is there, are they supposed to be parking on a certain side of the street or what is the rule?

Aren't those signs new that say don't park by the hydrants?

That's one of the things is that there's hydrants.

In general, if you see a big truck park, don't park like there and there. You just can't get around them.

We see it all the time. I'm sure the police obviously see it all the time. Every one of our developments, there's no parking on the hydrant side of the street, so that should eliminate because there's hydrants on every street in that development.

I actually thought it was hydrant side, then I couldn't remember.

Yeah.

Okay.

Another issue is the reason that's happening is when the landscape crew shows up, they want to park on the same side that they're servicing, so they're not driving their mowers across the street. I get that. But they should read the room and not create an impassable roadway. So if you see that, we welcome a non-emergency call to the police department, and we'll come down and have a chat.

Okay. And maybe all of us who are in sort of our neighborhood group chat things, we can post to remind people of that.

Let's see your phone number by heart. It's 247-1234, right? 7321. 7321. Oh, sorry. 440.

You've been calling all these years.

It's 247.

I'm leaving a message.

So you all know. 7321.

look it up before I post because I didn't write it down but and one work are people able to put out branches again now because I was asked that and I said I just don't even know and I did say but if we can you have to put them out the right way and you know so okay

Can I add one more comment to your marketing comments? The police and fire departments, Monday through Friday, without an appointment, will provide a tour to any resident guided through each of the two facilities. Some residents have all.

Each council member can start suggesting, you know, meet me at the fire station and let's take a tour or meet me, you know, we can start doing this. I'm just suggesting that we need to be communicating and working as a unit. So that was it.

Mr. Boyle.

Very briefly, one is a question for the law director. The property, the New Song property sold, the transfer is listed on the county website, but the taxes are still back. The back taxes don't look like they've been paid. I don't think you can transfer property without dealing with the taxes. Can you just... see what's going on with it i don't i don't and it's a significant amount of money i mean it's i think it's like seventy thousand dollars of back taxes on it um and while the majority that would go to schools i mean some of that's what's that i thought it was more maybe i don't know i mean it is it's it's it's more than zero i know that um and the only comment that i have and i i did talk to the police chief about this and and kind of briefed him on on what my comments would be um the about two years ago there was a tragic situation in the city of euclid and and i'm using very general terms here because i don't i don't want to be specific about it but that being said um the council members and the administration and the law director are aware that we've received some public records requests and some what I'd say are kind of negative comments towards one of our younger officers new on our force and I don't make light of the tragedy that that happened in the city of Euclid but that being said I want to make sure that that this this officer recognizes that this community welcomes him understands the situation that you and your colleagues you know all the safety forces put in on a daily basis and I think it does matter but I think it's important that that we it can be difficult to be in that in that storm where you know there's for lack of a better description kind of outside sniping at him very personal towards him that have to do with his his job in the situation that he was working in and just want to publicly acknowledge that the support at least from from from me I don't speak for my colleagues but because it's it is important and and if you wouldn't mind relating that to him I believe actually every council member I think we asked you to say something before too didn't we to the officer from our executive

Yeah, I'm in very close contact with this officer about this issue. Mostly it's weekly, but then when things kick up, it's daily. So him understanding the fact pattern there, that we understand the fact pattern there, and that he has all of our support. And now that I get to pass it on, your guys' comments tonight, that will really help him as well.

Good. Are you all done? Yep. Thank you. Okay, next I need a motion to enter a new executive session for the purpose of discussing pending or prospective litigation, the appointment and compensation of village officials, and the status of the union negotiations.

I'll make that motion. Second.

And we will not be taking action afterwards?

We should include both. George Cresci. Director George Cresci, who's here representing Zashen.

our consul and chief call the roll to it back here Jim get back here Kim hello hello Kim and Jim and have to call roll first get back here There will be only a second.

Who's the girl?

Foster. Foster. He just, he. Call and roll for executive session. Okay. Vincent.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.