City Commission - Regular Meeting

The next meeting of the Sandusky City Commission, an invocation will be offered by Commissioner Pujol followed by the head of Sandusky.

Let us bow our heads. We give thanks for the privilege of serving Sandusky. Grant us wisdom, understanding, and respect as we work together for the good of Sandusky. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Ms. Myers, will you call the roll, please?

Yes, Ms. President. Mr. Pujol? Here. Mr. Tucker? Here. Ms. Fargo?

Here.

Mr. Waddington?

Can I get a motion and a second to excuse Commissioner Waddington and Commissioner Coons this evening?

So moved. Second.

That motion is approved. Thank you.

Ms. Wilson? Here. Mr. Koontz?

He's excused.

Mr. Crable? Here.

Thank you. Commissioners, you have received the draft of the May 11th meeting minutes. What is your pleasure?

Madam Chair, I move that we accept the May 11th, 2026 minutes as presented. Second.

Any discussion? Hearing no objection, that is approved. And then the first thing tonight that we have is the 2025 annual report recap from our city manager, John Orszag and Tom Horstman.

Is there questions?

Start with me. With our big gallery tonight, just checking to see if we'll offer, they'll be able to ask questions as well, or is this just for the commissioners first?

This is just for the commissioners. So I'd like to thank the commissioners for giving us a few minutes to touch on the annual report. Very pleased in going through and reviewing this as it came out. I shared it with you and then I'll touch on some of the topics. But the annual report's been done for over 10 years now. Every year, the annual reports that are done are all the way back in 2016 on our website. So any of the previous annual reports, anybody can go and find them. We organized the report this year on six pillars that are in our strategic plan. All the components have been associated with the goals and each of the categories. The six categories are neighborhoods, housing, waterfront, economic development, municipal services, and arts and culture. And as you know, when we do our agendas and we're providing communication to the Commission, we also state our goals and how those are going to meet there. So that's so that the public and the Commission's well aware and we support or we thank the Commission through this initial strategic plan and then as we're building on that momentum, this will be the second year, so we're almost a year and a half into it now. Commission's been supportive of all of these different categories and how they fit in to our strategic plan for the good of the community. We want to thank the staff. They do a tremendous job, you know, day after day, year after year, always striving to do what's best for the community. Their hard work and dedication, I can't express enough on what they mean to the community and to get in our strategic plan and our goals for our community forward. I would also like to thank the residents, businesses, partner organizations who also make the city a success and how we're able to operate every single day. And then I also want to give a small shout out to Leslie Messenberger, my administrative assistant, and Tom, and then a lot of the directors and their staff. They give Leslie and Tom all of the information, plug it in, and then Leslie organizes it and drafts it and proofreads it and spends countless hours on this. So it's very important for us to show the community what we're doing every day. And there's printed copies that are going to be out soon. Those were ordered, but on our website, www.cityofsindusky.com backslash annual report, you can find this annual report, and like I said, the other ten prior to that. And with that, Tom's going to touch on just some stuff in our annual report, and I can take any questions that the commission has afterwards, but again, I want to thank you for allowing us to continue to build on the momentum and successes that Sandusky's had.

THANK YOU, JOHN. AND I'M JUST GOING TO WALK THROUGH THE DOCUMENT AND PULL OUT SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF SOME OF THE WORK THAT WAS DONE LAST YEAR. AND WE'LL CONTINUE TO, NOW THAT THIS IS ON OUR WEBSITE, AND WE'LL BE PUTTING IT OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND OUR NEWSLETTERS FOR THE PUBLIC TO SEE AND PULL OUT SOME HIGHLIGHTS. SOMETIMES THE DOCUMENTS CAN BE A LITTLE DENSE AND INFORMATION HEAVY, SO JUST, IT'LL BE KIND OF OVER THE NEXT MONTH OR COUPLE MONTHS JUST HIGHLIGHTING SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WE'VE, THAT WE HAVE IN THIS REPORT. Let me make sure I have all the settings correct. I'm not used to doing both these things.

Okay.

So one of the top priorities of our strategic plan and of the commission and things we hear constantly from residents and stakeholders in the community is housing being a top priority. And so this is the first category in the annual report as it was in the strategic plan. Most things in here are things that we've actually had recent presentations on. But the first goal of the housing CATEGORY WAS INCREASING THE DIVERSITY OF HOUSING OPTIONS ACROSS THE CITY, AND WITH THAT, TWO OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT PROGRAMS THAT HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKEN WERE THE WELCOME HOME OHIO PROGRAM, THE GRANT WE GOT IN 2024, BUT THE FIRST HOMES WERE COMPLETED LAST YEAR WITH THE FIRST RIBBON CUTTINGS. And it was really just exciting to see people, seeing the houses come together, seeing people move into them. And we just announced last week or two weeks ago the expansion of that program and the opening of the requirements for that. So it's been a great success story and really came to fruition last year. With that is the Housing Development Accelerator, which is still ongoing and should be wrapping up soon. But we kicked that program off to look both at DEVELOPING CITY OWNED PROPERTY INTO HOUSING AND THEN ALSO LOOKING AT CITYWIDE HOUSING AND HOW WE CAN HAVE BETTER POLICIES TO GET MORE INFILL HOUSING, MAKE IT EASIER VIA ZONING, AND JUST MAKE IT AS EASY AS POSSIBLE FOR MORE HOUSING TO BE BUILT. SO A LOT OF THE INITIAL ROUND OF THE PUBLIC MEETINGS LAST YEAR. AND THEN WE'VE ALREADY HAD A PRESENTATION TO THE COMMISSION ABOUT OUR housing inventory that was done in conjunction with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy. But another really important thing for housing as we look at the second goal of the housing category, which is maintain quality of existing housing stock. ANOTHER BIG COMPONENT OF HOUSING IS OUR HOUSING DEVELOPMENT BEAUTIFICATION GRANTS. I WON'T SPEND MUCH TIME ON THIS BECAUSE DEBBIE GAVE A HIGHLIGHT OF THE PROGRAM ALREADY, BUT WE JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE INDICATED ALL THE DIFFERENT GRANTS THAT WERE GIVEN AND ABOUT 2.1 MILLION TOTAL INVESTMENT SPENT ON THE PROJECTS THAT THE GRANTS WENT TO LAST YEAR TO HELP LEVERAGE THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY TO BOTH HELP BUILD NEW HOUSING BUT ALSO DO EXTERIOR REPAIRS OF EXISTING HOUSING, AS WELL AS HOME PURCHASE ASSISTANCE. AND THEN OTHER HOUSING CATEGORIES, WE LOOKED AT WHAT WE DID IN TERMS OF OUR RESIDENTIAL TAX ABATEMENT, LAND BANK PROPERTIES, THE HEALTHY HOMES LED ABATEMENT THAT THROUGH THE HILLARY COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT, THROUGH CTPG FUNDING, AND THEN CODE COMPLIANCE TOO. HOW DO WE MAKE SURE THAT OUR EXISTING HOUSING IS IN GOOD CONDITION AND MAKING SURE THAT OUR NEIGHBORHOODS ARE SAFE and pleasant places to live. And so we report on things like our tall grass abatements, boulevard and trash abatements. And we also, with our housing grants too, looked at how many of our grants went to code compliance abatements. And then the second category was neighborhoods, and this is a wide range of different things. The first goal was create programming and communications that strengthen neighborhoods and relationships. A lot of this is done through our CDBG program, such as helping fund the OGO, the Senior Center, we gave funding to the Warming Center and Cooling Center at New Jerusalem last year, Fair Housing Program, the Love Where You Live Neighborhood Cleanup Series to help people not only just clean up the neighborhoods, but engage with their neighbors and feel a sense of pride of place of where they live, and the citywide cleanups that we hold every year in the fall and spring, in addition to the... Yard waste drop-off programs. So just trying to do a lot to build community and to help people with needs that they have in their day-to-day lives. The second goal is invest in physical enhancements that improve residents' quality of life. There were a lot of different investments, particularly parks last year. Second round of AMVETS in Sproul Park. Investments that we did, which included a new playground and a shade structure that came in after some infrastructure work the year before. Churchwell Park, probably the most significant last year that we held a ribbon cutting for last July, completely reconstructing Churchwell Park in the MacArthur Park neighborhood. The Farwell Park basketball courts upgrading, which we'll be rededicating next month, along with the new playground at Farwell Park, which will be open this year. The park paving projects, the pickleball courts, which are getting their final treatment, I believe last week, and then new tennis courts, which of course, as we know, right next to the recreation center. IN ADDITION TO THAT, THE GOLF COURSE AND THE NEW BRIDGE THAT WAS COMPLETED IN ADDITION TO NEW PATHS GOING THROUGH THE GOLF COURSE AREA. THROUGH NEIGHBORHOODS WE GET INTO A LOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS THAT HAPPEN. PLANTING OF NEW TREES, 270 NEW TREES. demolition of blighted structures using CDBG funding, looking at the 66 segments of roadway. In terms of larger street projects, Camp Street was a large significant project from Perkins to, I always forget what street it went to. Josh, where did it go to? Perkins to France. I can never remember. But we're doing the... France. France. And then this year we'll be doing the last section of that, France to Monroe. And then the sidewalk replacement project, the largest in the city's history. That was 63,000 square feet of sidewalk throughout the city. And a couple of other final projects, West Monroe Street, which was a significant section that we did last year, again, finishing that up this year with the last section, but Broadway to Camp, and then Broadway to to Venice, and then the MacArthur Park, in conjunction with the Churchwell Park project, doing all the infrastructure. The first phase of it, the underground utilities, the roadways, the curbs, the sidewalks, again, phase two happening, finishing up this year. So a lot of significant infrastructure work, some of it just starting a phase and then continuing on this year and in future years. The waterfront is our next category. The first goal is to continue regulatory partnerships and advocacy groups for a healthy Lake Erie and Sandusky Bay. I believe it was last Commission meeting we heard from the Erie Conservation District about the Mills Creek Golf Course project, which started last year, finishing up this year, which is both a benefit to the golf course, but also a benefit to the cleanliness of Mills Creek and Lake Erie. A new brine maker we got through the H2Ohio Rivers Initiative for the chlorine reduction program. And then the second goal is maintain and increase public access to Sandusky's waterfronts. And I think one of the most significant pieces of that last year was breaking ground on the landing after many years of planning. And we'll be opening that early next year and then starting the planning for Lions Park. Again, starting an initiative for the planning that we're continuing. We have an RF queue that just went out for the next phase of that. And Columbus Avenue reconstruction, a project connecting the downtown waterfront to Washington Park and really creating a linear parkway between two nodes of our downtown that opened again after many years of planning. These are things that are continuing to happen. The Sandusky Bay pathway construction was also occurring between Cedar Point Drive and the landing, which again will be opening up within the next month or so. MUNICIPAL SERVICES, THIS IS WHERE THE MAJORITY OF THE INFORMATION IN THE ANNUAL REPORT IS, SO I'LL JUST GO THROUGH THIS RELATIVELY QUICKLY. BUT THAT INCLUDES THINGS LIKE COMMUNICATIONS. LAST YEAR WE CREATED A NEW PROJECT PORTAL ON OUR PROJECT WEBSITE TO TRY TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION THAT PEOPLE CAN FIND ABOUT DIFFERENT PROJECTS THAT ARE ONGOING, BECAUSE BEFORE IT WASN'T ALWAYS EASY TO KNOW WHERE TO LOOK OR FIND INFORMATION ABOUT THOSE. We added some new email lists such as our general news release list and our traffic and emergency alert list and different project specific lists like we had for Cleveland Road. So to help just have people have more direct information coming to us from the city. But then in continuing to invest in our social media accounts and we included all the different metrics that we have there in terms of our followers and views and our highest rated post of the year. So that's something we're continuing to add and continuing to do more and more on to make sure that we can get information out to people the best that we can. A lot happened with recognizing people in our community, whether it's we had 15 different proclamations, a key to the city, the annual volunteer of the year awards, the charter review committee, which we had three different charter amendments pass, and finance. The city was awarded the auditor of state award with distinction for 2024, the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting, and various different grant funding opportunities that we were awarded for different projects and other things in 2025. Every year we highlight the retirements that happened and acknowledge how many years the staff were with the city and just to acknowledge the people who have made long-lasting impacts on the city and how long they were here. We hired 27 full-time employees last year, over 37 seasonal and part-time employees. In addition to HR, we also look at all the different permits that we give every year, so residential permits. We had 886 plan approvals. We had 311 plan approvals for commercial permits. We had 1,300 fleet maintenance repair orders completed. IT did a lot of work last year including implementing state mandated cyber security training for all employees which is continuing to be more and more important as we have just unfortunately more and more threats facing cities and other governments in that way. The law department prepared 312 ordinances and 47 resolutions, responded to 687 requests for public records in 2025. And then we also have all the different planning and zoning certificates of appropriateness, site plan approvals, and all of that data. Recreation is obviously another huge component about what we do, especially for youth programming, that we continue to do the midtown supper clubs, spring break camps, summer break camp, out of school at mills programs, the downtown trick-or-treat, brought back touch a truck after it got rained out in 2024, safety town. So many, many different ways of engaging with the youth, but then also continuing our adult programs like yoga on the pier, peer pressure, or on dusky race series. And at Mills Creek Golf Course had over 15,500 rounds of golf played in 2025 and sold over 100 season passes. STREETS IS ANOTHER BIG COMPONENT OF MUNICIPAL SERVICES. SO LOOKING AT SIGNIFICANT ACTION WE TOOK WAS ADOPTING THE SAFE STREETS ACTION PLAN WHICH WE HOPE TO SOON MOVE INTO THE NEXT PHASE OF THE IMPLEMENTATION FOR. AND SINDUSKY TRANSIT HAD OVER 360,000 TOTAL RIDERS IN 2025. AND HERE WE HAVE GRAPHS OF THE DIFFERENT RIDERSHIP BY MODE. YOU CAN SEE THAT OVER 94% OF THOSE WERE IN OUR FIXED ROUTE. which was over 339,000 rides. And we also added a couple new vehicles, larger sized vehicles to help with the capacity of our system. So I think some good numbers there. We also GET INTO THE DETAILS ABOUT THE FIRE DEPARTMENT AND THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. WE LOOK AT ALL THE NUMBER OF INCIDENTS, FOR EXAMPLE, 5,095 EMS INCIDENTS, 101 INCIDENTS FOR FIRE, AND THERE'S MANY MORE. BUT ALSO, WE LIKE TO HIGHLIGHT THE THINGS THAT OUR FIRE DEPARTMENT DOES IN THE COMMUNITY. I THINK THAT'S A REALLY IMPORTANT THING, WHETHER IT'S THROUGH EDUCATION, OPPORTUNITIES WITH YOU THROUGH OTHER DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS, AND SAME THING WITH THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. YOU KNOW, IT'S NOT JUST THE 22,000 CALLS THAT ARE MADE, filing 12,290 reports, but being out in the community, being out in the neighborhood, all the different events, whether it's with seniors, youth, programming, all the great things that our officers do throughout the year. NEXT CATEGORY IS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. TWO OF THE PROJECTS THAT OUR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM SUPPORTED WERE THE RD, MGD, SUCH AS THE PHASE TWO OF THE YMCA, OLD FORMER YMCA BUILDING, AND THE TOFT AREA EXPANSION, WHICH IS A GREAT PROJECT THAT I KNOW THE CITY WAS VERY EXCITED TO SUPPORT. WE REPORT ON OUR ENTERPRISE ZONE AND COMMUNITY CRA TAX ABATEMENT PROGRAM. And the two goals in economic development are support existing businesses through programming grants, and then also promote Sandusky Region to attract business investments and job creation. And a significant portion of that is our relationship with the Greater Sandusky Partnership, who leads a lot of those efforts on the regional level. And then our last category is arts and culture. The first goal is strengthen and celebrate community life. And so a big part of this are The different events that are put on for the community, Tommy Boy Fest, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Tommy Boy, I think was a great success last year, drawing people from all over the country to come here for a fun weekend. The Strongman Champions League, which is coming back again this year, had its first run in Sandusky that we partnered with GSP and Shores and Islands on. Things like the City Hall Art Gallery, Art Box Projects, Public Arts and Culture Commission, supporting other various activities and art projects. The Skate Dusky event, we just held our second one a few weeks ago. Movies by the Bay, which is a great annual program for Parks and Recreation. Then the last goal is honor and celebrate Sandusky's rich history. So a couple things we did last year, supporting public art murals that talk about Sandusky's history. Beckling's Bend, renaming street, honoring George Beckling. Just two of the things that we did last year we have I know some more coming up in that quarter category specifically this year But really the importance of celebrating our culture and our history and what makes Sandusky unique so Like I said, there's a lot of a lot more information in there we encourage the public to to look at the document You know see everything that we that happened throughout the city last year. I think as we go one of the COMPONENTS OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN WAS LOOKING AT HOW WE CAN CONTINUE TO USE TECHNOLOGY AND DATA AND BROADCAST THAT OUT TO THE PUBLIC, SO I THINK AS YEARS GO ON, WE'LL FIND MORE WAYS THAT WE CAN HELP PRESENT THIS, PRESENT WHAT THE CITY'S DOING, AND HOW WE'RE HELPING RESIDENTS IN A TRANSPARENT WAY. SO, YEAH, I THINK THAT'S SORT OF high level of the annual report. And so we'll open it up to any questions.

Thank you, Tom. Thank you, John. I mean, this is just... incredible to look at after we sit here and, you know, you read through things and we vote on things and the days go, the Mondays go by, another meeting, another meeting, and you're voting on things, but to see it all put together and realize the work that all of you have done is pretty incredible. So I hope people take a good dive into this and take a look at the wonderful things that are going around. As I noticed throughout the entire city, throughout all the neighborhoods, throughout all the parks. That's something that's really special for our community. So thank you very much. Commissioners, any questions or comments?

Madam Chair, just a question about housing. Either John or maybe Mrs. Gilson. Have we heard much feedback from homeowners of the Welcome Home Ohio homes on how that's going from their perspective?

Sure. Thanks for the question. We hear from them. I actually am meeting with a young woman who is looking for a mentor. So we develop really deep relationships with our families. And I think it's worth noting that in 10 months, we have 16 contracts for homes. Seven of those are closed. Three are under construction. Five are in pre-development. One's awaiting close. And we have three in the pipeline. So that's 19 in one year. You'd be hard-pressed to find another development entity that's doing that much production. Thank you.

Good job. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Anybody else? Any comments?

Pretty phenomenal to see just the sheer volume of work that is done by your offices, but also by staff more generally. We're very grateful. Thank you.

I think what's special, my last comment is just, you know, it's all, you know, you all know what you have to do, but what's more important is the why, and I think all of your departments really has the why down pretty good, and it's pretty special because it's about the community, and that's the why. And you're doing great things, so thank you.

Yeah, thanks for putting that report together.

Thanks. Okay, we are to the audience participation section for tonight. If you have any comments about the agenda, come forward, state your name and address, and please keep your remarks to three minutes.

Just a question on item C on the consent agenda. We have a contract with Rain Associates for Well, another year and a half, and we're opening up that contract, so there must be some kind of a change or some kind of an addition. Maybe we can have an explanation on that. Item number three on the regular agenda, we're seeing a $67,000 increase for the Sandusky Bay Pavilion. I'm sorry, Sandusky Bay Pathway. I've got the pavilion on my mind. Sandusky Bay Pathway, $67,000 increase, maybe an explanation on that. And finally, the code of ordinances, which is item six for the boathouse building code. I'm sure the boathouse owners might be interested in what that's all about if they watch this. We got millions of people watching this meeting.

Yeah. Millions. Maybe even thousands. Millions.

Maybe even three.

Thank you, Mr. Schwanger. Anyone else, comments for the agenda? Okay. All right. Commissioners, you have several communications from staff recommending legislation. Can I get a motion to accept the communication?

So moved. Second.

Thank you. Any discussion? Hearing no objection, that motion is approved. Tonight, does any commissioner here want to move any consent agenda items to the regular agenda? Hearing no one, Ms. Myers, will you present the consent agenda?

Item A, approval to accept four parcels back into the land reutilization program. Item B, approval to execute purchase and sale contracts for lot 99 Pearl Street. Item C, approval to modify agreement with Ray & Associates for 2025 annual audit. Item D, approval to expend additional funds for Big Island Water Works clarifier building roof and facade restoration. Item E, approval to dispose of used docks. Item F, approval to dispose of two motor graders.

Thank you, Ms. Myers. Commissioners, having heard these ordinances tonight, what is your pleasure?

Madam Chair? Yes, Commissioner. I move to accept the consent agenda items A through F ordinances as presented in accordance with Section 14 of the city's charter.

Second. Is there any discussion? We have a motion to second. Any discussion?

Just a question about item C and that increase of $7,600.00.

I can handle that one. So we did do a five-year agreement for Ray & Associates to perform our audit. It was for fiscal years 2023 through 2027. So going through the 2025 audit currently, they had to test three additional programs, or a total of three programs in the federal grants funds. So it's a good thing, right? We got more dollars in in federal grants, but unfortunately, it came at a cost. So now they have to test three programs where they were usually just testing one program for federal dollars. So they're testing three. It's a little bit additional cost. $7,680 is the cost. And that's just for fiscal year 2025. It will go year by year until we complete the fiscal year 2027 audit to see if there's any additional fees. At this point, it's just for this year. Thank you.

So, Michelle, just to clarify, I mean, we have more... federal money, federal coming in, and therefore it takes more to go through it, correct?

Correct, more programming that needs to be tested.

So it's a good thing, but you have to pay a little bit extra for that as well.

Correct.

Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Ms. Myers, will you call the roll on the motion, please?

Mr. Pujo? Yes. Mr. Tucker?

Yes. Ms. Vargo? Yes.

Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable?

Yes. And now on the ordinances.

Mr. Pujo?

Yes.

Mr. Tucker?

Yes.

Ms. Vargo?

Yes.

Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes.

Okay, moving on to the regular agenda. Ms. Meyers, will you present item number one on tonight's regular agenda?

It is requested a resolution be passed declaring the necessity for the city to proceed with the proposed 2026 Camp Street resurfacing and reconstruction project, France Street to Monroe Street, approving the specifications and engineer's estimate of costs thereof and directing the city manager to advertise for and receive bids in relation thereto, and declaring this resolution shall take immediate effect in accordance with Section 14 of the city charter.

Commissioners, having heard this resolution, what is your pleasure? Madam Chair. Yes, Commissioner.

I move for the adoption of Item 1 as presented and in full accordance with Section 14 of the city charter. Second.

There's been a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Ms. Meyers, we call the roll on the motion.

Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Spargo? Yes. Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yay.

And now on the resolution.

Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Tucker?

Yes.

Ms. Spargo?

Yes.

Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yay.

Ms. Meyers, we present item number two.

It is requested a resolution be passed declaring necessity for the City to proceed with the proposed 2026 Community Development Block Grant CDBG Street Rehabilitation Project, approving the specifications and engineer's estimate of cost thereof, and directing the City Manager to advertise for and receive bids in relation thereto, and declaring this resolution shall take immediate effect in accordance with Section 14 of the City Charter.

Commissioners, having heard this resolution, what is your pleasure?

Madam Chair?

Yes, Commissioner.

I move for the adoption of this resolution under suspension of the rules in full accordance with Section 14 of the City Charter.

Second. Thank you. There's been a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Ms. Meyers, we call a roll on the motion.

Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Ms. Wilson?

Yes.

Mr. Crable? Yes.

And now on the resolution.

Mr. Peugeot? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Spargo? Yes. Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes.

And that resolution is approved. Ms. Myers, will you present item number three on tonight's agenda?

It is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager... to enter into an amendment to the agreement for professional services with the Manick and Smith Group Incorporated of Maumee, Ohio, for the Sandusky Bay Pathway project, Heminger Ditch to Sandusky Point Drive, and declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter.

Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what's your pleasure?

Madam Chair, I move for the adoption of this ordinance to take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Second.

We had a motion and a second. Is there any discussion?

I just had the same question Mr. Schwanger referenced earlier about the $67,000 increase.

Yeah, so the increased professional services on this was inspection and it was driven by the 22-week delay in the bridge. So the bridge is made in North Carolina and unbeknownst to us ODOT made us get it inspected in North Carolina. We don't do bridges on state routes. And we're somewhat surprised that we needed to do this, but it was a requirement of ODOT. So you'll see they're paying a portion of this. And obviously, they paid all of the inspection up to this point. We were somewhat disappointed in hoping that ODOT would share a greater portion of this or all of this, but it is truly driven by ODOT requirements on the bridge itself.

That makes sense. Thanks, Mr. Schneider. Sure.

Thanks, Mr. Schneider. Josh, can I ask you just one of the things I think is amazing in our meetings with John last week was just talking about the total cost overall of $8 million, right? And what we ultimately are paying out of that. And the total that we are actually paying is what? Out of the $8 million.

Yeah, it's a fraction. Obviously, I can get those numbers and bring them.

It's pretty amazing.

It is. It is. That and the Cleveland Road Safety Project as well. But, yes.

Thank you.

It was really impressive to see that bridge dropped in there.

I know a lot of people are excited to use it. Any other discussion? Ms. Myers, we call a roll on the motion.

Mr. Pujo? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes. And now on the ordinance. Mr. Pujo? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo?

Yes.

Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes.

And that item is approved. Ms. Myers, you present item number four on the agenda.

It is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager to dispose of two 2017 Ford E450s transit vehicles is having become unnecessary and or unfit for city use pursuant to section 25 of the city charter Authorizing the city manager to purchase two new 2026 Ford e450 LTV FS cutaway light transit vehicles transportation equipment sales corp of oregon ohio through the state of ohio department of transportation services cooperative purchasing program for the sandusky transit system and declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter commissioners have you heard this ordinance what is your pleasure madam chair yes commissioner

I would move approval of item number four of the ordinance thereunder, and that would be in full accordance with section 14 of the city charter.

Second. Thank you. We have a motion to second. Is there any discussion?

The last sentence I like, when even in my last position as school superintendent, there will be no budget impact.

lines my favorite lines yeah I see mr. Stacy sitting in the back of the room I just this is the second meeting in a row you don't need to say anything unless you'd like to but I just wanted to say thank you for finding this money for these vehicles for the second meeting in a row

Better be careful. It's becoming an expectation.

I was going to say, what are you bringing next to you?

This is our 10th funded vehicle for a snusky transit system in the last two years.

Kudos, buddy. That's fantastic. Thank you.

All right, Ms. Myers, we call the roll on that motion.

Mr. Pujo? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes. And now in the ordinance. Mr. Pujo? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes.

And that item is approved. Ms. Myers, we present item number five on the agenda tonight.

It is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager to expend funds to Garland DBS Incorporated of Cleveland, Ohio through the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance for the roof replacement on the controls building for digester number two at the wastewater treatment plant and declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter.

Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what's your pleasure this evening?

Madam Chair, I move for the adoption of this ordinance to take immediate effect in accordance with Section 14 of the City Charter.

Second. We've got a motion and a second. Is there any discussion?

Just a quick note, and anyone can please correct me if I'm in error on this, but we're in the midst of major rehabilitation of Digester No. 2. This is separate apart from that. This isn't even the same structure.

It's not, but this is the adjacent building that houses all of the mechanicals and the electricals for said digester that we're putting a lot of money into. And the guys have done a good job in trying to keep this in good repair, but unfortunately the roof is at its end of its useful life. It's a gravel-covered, relatively flat roof. So, yep, here we are.

Any other discussion? That's what I say at my house. Here we go. Ms. Myers, we call the roll. A motion, excuse me, on this ordinance.

Mr. Bugeaud? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes. And now on the motion. Mr. Bugeaud? Yes. Mr. Tucker? Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes. Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes.

And that item is approved. Ms. Myers, will you...

Present item number six It is requested an ordinance be passed amending part 13 building code title 5 additional loan local provisions chapter 1357 boathouse building code of the codified ordinances of the city of Sandusky in the manner and way Specifically set forth here and below and declaring this ordinance shall take effect under the suspension of rules as contained in and in accordance with section 13 of the city charter

Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what is your pleasure?

Madam Chair.

Yes. I move for the adoption of item six as presented and in full accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Section 13. 13.

That's right. Okay. Second. Second. Thank you. I have a motion and a second. Is there some discussion?

I can address the question. So the chief building official had sent our ordinance down to the board of building standards, which kind of governs us through the state of Ohio, and they went through a lengthy review of that. There seemed to be a conflict between what we originally adopted in the early 90s or mid 90s to what the standard is now through a different organization. So they mirrored them together so that there would only be one standard. So there was someone that could go, well, I'm using this standard instead of that standard. There's mostly definitions and verbiage the changes in the ordinance that's getting proposed. So it's basically getting in line with the Ohio building standards and making sure we're compliant and consistent with our interpretation of the code.

Thank you. Any other discussion? Madam Chair? Yes.

Actually, I'm really glad to see this happen. I remember a number of years ago in conversation with an architect and an engineer and having something to do with the property I owned. And we got into a conversation about boathouse ordinances and the codes related to them. And the folks down in Columbus were, what? You're building a house over open water? And it's very unique. We are a very unique community in having boathouses. So I'm really glad to see this update occur. So thanks to the staff and everyone involved.

Great. Any other discussion? Ms. Meyers, will you call the roll on the motion?

Mr. Puzo? Yes. Mr. Tucker?

Yes.

Ms. Fargo? Yes. Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes. And now on the ordinance. Mr. Puzo?

Yes.

Mr. Tucker?

Yes. Ms. Fargo? Yes.

Ms. Wilson? Yes. Mr. Crable? Yes.

Okay, that concludes our regular agenda. It's time for City Manager Orzac.

Good evening, Commissioners, audience, and staff. On May 14th, staff attended the Tree City USA Awards Ceremony with the city walking away with two awards, Growth Award, 11 years running, and Tree City Award, 36 years running. Special thank you goes to our forestry staff, administrators, tree commission, board members and city commission for acknowledging the wealth of our living infrastructure, making the maintenance of existing infrastructure and planning for new tree plantings a number one priority. Special thanks to local Boy Scout troop number eight for volunteering to place flags at the veterans' gravesites at Oakland Cemetery prior to the Memorial Day ceremony yesterday. community development. The Welcome Ohio Sandusky program has expanded eligibility to households earning up to 120% of area median income, aligning with current state guidelines. To date, 15 families have entered a purchase contract. Fulfilling the city's obligations under the original state grant the city and community partners are now using proceeds from Completed sales to develop additional homes under the expanded income limits allowing for more people to be eligible for the program finding more find more information and View the updated income limits at welcome home Sandusky calm, and I would just like to comment Miss Gilson made some comments about the statistics. And the program's phenomenal. When we applied for the grant, it was 80% of the median income, and then the state changed that in October, but didn't raise our standard like they did throughout the state. So we've been... running the program and getting people with 80% median income or less into these new houses, which is a tremendous commitment by them, by everybody that plays a role in that, and in addition for the commission to allow us to continue to invest in those homes by putting the money that was used from those previous sales to continue doing that. I know there was a couple that Ms. Gilson was working with that were at 83% or 84% or 85%, which just missed out on that. Her recommendation and what the state guidelines mirrors is what we're moving forward with with the rest of the money that we have to build, I think, up to 28 or 29 homes. Again, kudos to her. Cy Kornegay has completed an art box project on the corner of West Washington and Jackson entitled Lady Justice. This project is supported by the Public Arts and Culture Commission. More art box locations are available for artist proposals. Visit www.studiosundusky.com backslash public art or contact the planning division for more information. And then Sandusky Park and Rec would like to thank Advocate Skate Works and Sandusky Bay Poster Works and the rest of the Skate Dusky Committee for their time and effort in planning the second annual Skate Dusky event. The event was very successful, well attended. It's great to see the skate community show up and take part in the event. Concludes my report. I'll take any questions you have.

Commissioners, any questions for John tonight? I do want to thank you who weren't here yesterday and thank you for your service that you gave for all of us and anyone else who has served out there. We weren't here yesterday, but thank you so much for that. Those are serving that have served for our great country. So thank you. Okay. Commissioners, any old business tonight? Any new business? All right. We're up to audience participation. Come on down.

Can I name an address again? Yes, sir. Okay, okay.

We've already forgotten. It's for the books. Tim, you are going to be in the record books forever.

No, there was somebody ahead of me that spent more time up here. John Guinea.

Oh. Well, you keep going.

Tim Schwanger, 362 Sheffield Way. On the Welcome Home program, ours is a great success, right, at 80%. jumping to 120% of area median income, does that mean that other communities are having a hard time selling their homes and that's why the state jumped up to 120%, no?

No, and that's actually a question for the state, but that is not what they have portrayed to us at all.

Okay.

And it does not preclude people at 80% of median income. Actually, the two we're working with right now are at 80% or lower.

Now, if you all remember, we have the Housing Accelerator Program, and the consultants that we hired, OHM, said that we are very, very short on two-bedroom, one-bathroom homes. Are we locked in with this welcome home that we have to do three bedrooms? We are. Okay. So that's something that you're going to be looking into the future with another contractor, maybe for MacArthur Park?

Perhaps.

Okay. Okay. That's where the shortage is at, right?

There's a shortage in all different types of bedrooms, in rental and for sale. It's not just two bedrooms.

They highlighted that as, you know, all the numbers were there, and there was a big shortage here.

Thank you, Mr. Schmuck. Any other audience participation tonight? I just got back. Okay. I guess I need, we're not going to be in the executive session tonight, so we'll do that when we're all here and strong. I need a motion for adjournment. So moved.

Second.