City Commission - Regular Meeting

Call to order. Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts.

Here.

Mr. Rigsby.

Here.

Mrs. Tackett. Here. Mr. Wallace.

Here.

Mr. Roof.

Here. City Manager. Yes, Commission, we have one work session item tonight, and that is on our new utility billing software, which is SpryPoint. And with us, we have our Finance Director, Katie Evason, our Utility Revenue and Income Tax Administrator, Brandy Bupp, and Senior Billing Specialist, Kevin Walters. So with that, I'll turn it over to them.

All right. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. Tonight, we wanted to provide an overview of the city's transition from our legacy utility billing software to our new system that went live this past December. We'd like to review why the change was necessary, the selection of the software, and highlight the operational and customer service improvement the system provides, as well as a demonstration of the customer portal. So this slide shows a screenshot of the city's previous utility billing environment, which was a text-based, menu-driven platform that had been in place since the 1990s. One of the challenges with the system was its limited ability to integrate with newer technologies. The platform also required significant manual processing by staff for many day-to-day operations. This system relied heavily on keyboard navigation and memorized function keys, Ongoing technical support and long-term maintenance limitation became an increasing operational concern for the city as well. Based on those limitations of the legacy system, the city identified several priorities for a new utility billing platform. From a customer service perspective, the city wanted to improve the customer experience and expand self-service options. city also wanted to improve billing payment and field operations while reducing manual processing from a technology standpoint the city wanted to improve reporting integration and maintenance and support of the software the city issued a formal request for proposals for a new utility billing system and received nine proposals an evaluation team consisting of staff members throughout our organization reviewed and scored proposals based on criteria in the RFP. Following the initial review process, interviews and demonstrations were conducted with the shortlisted vendors. Following this process, SpryPoint was selected as the city's new utility billing platform. Of the nine proposals received, SpryPoint was the lowest and best proposal. The cost for implementation in the first five years of service is $1.2 million. So to provide a better understanding of the overall platform, I'll go over the different modules within the SpryPoint system and the role each one serves in daily operations. SPRI CIS serves as the city's core utility billing and account management systems and has streamlined a number of billing and payment processes. It has eliminated the need for numerous manual file uploads and filed transfers between systems when generating statements, reducing the margin for error. SPRI Mobile supports mobile field operations by replacing paper-based work orders with electronic service orders. Previously, field technicians had to return to the office throughout the day for new work orders, and office staff manually grouped hundreds of service orders by area. The new system includes an interactive map allowing technicians to complete work orders remotely by area, reducing manual data entry and improving overall efficiency. Spry Engage provides the customer portal and online bill pay access, allowing customers to view account information, billing history, and payment options online. The city's new online payment system integrates directly with the utility billing and cashiering systems allowing payments to transmit and reflect on customer accounts immediately. The previous online payment system could take three to five business days to appear on customer accounts. The new system is fully integrated, allowing payments to reflect immediately. The system has also improved reporting capabilities. With the old system, we often had to rely on our information technology department to assist in generating reports in the old system. Overall, the implementation was a significant organizational effort involving utility billing, the city treasurer's office, information technology, field staff, service center staff, and the vendor implementation team. And now I am going to hand it over to Kevin and he is going to do a demonstration of the portal.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Commissioners. Brandy's already walked through why we upgraded to the SpryPoint software. I'd like to take a few minutes to introduce SpryEngage, which is a customer portal connected to our billing system. For today's presentation, I'll be using our test site so we can demonstrate the system without displaying any real customer information. The test environment mirrors the live site and includes all the same features and functionality. So this is the login page. Right away, customers from this point have a few different options available to them. If someone doesn't know their new account number, they can look it up using their old account number here and just confirming some information that would make the right account for them. All the account numbers did change during the transition. You can also click Pay My Bill here, which will take you to make one-time payment. For many residents, that might be the primary feature they use. However, customers who choose to register their account gain access to a number of additional tools and features within the portal. For this demonstration, I created a sample customer with two properties. So after logging in, they'll see a list of their account. Most residential customers will only have one account, so they would just go directly to the list of accounts. One helpful feature to mention is that when you log in for the first time, you're offered a quick guided tour of the portal. Of course, optional, but it can also be accessed anytime. Once you get into the site, we'll go ahead and sign in here. If this was my first time logging in, it would invite me to take the tour. Since I've logged in before as this customer, like I said, they have multiple accounts with those. But you can also take the tour. It's kind of hard to see, but up here is the little car icon. From here, I'll just highlight a few of the key features available throughout the portal. So from the home page... which is where we landed here. You can view account details, including balances, billing statements, and payment history. You can sign up for bill forecast alert here. If your bill is expected to be over a certain dollar threshold, you can get the alerts by text message, email, or whatever you prefer. You can also access all your linked accounts online. down here you can actually link multiple accounts i already have two here but if this person bought another property that account as well they can all be managed from within the same login um also have the option to enroll in and manage auto payments um we do encourage people to sign up for auto payment if that's um you know it makes it easy you're still going to get a notification that you know your this amount will come out on x date um you'll know about it ahead of time but it's just going to automatically out of your account and it's free um You also have the option to enroll in or manage paperless billing, if you're interested in that. Some usage water summary down here, and then consumption information here. Not a lot of history, since this is not a really good book. couple of tabs here on the side. Services, there's just a couple of options. Under form, we currently have just one form here. It's for leak adjustment requests, but additional forms could be added in the future as the city's needs fall. Customers with, only customers with multiple properties will have the account over tab here. And there's a lot of different places where you're going to see kind of the same information about your account. This one in particular, though, you can select one account or multiple. So you can see water or sewer volume, and then you can also see cost. So if you had 50 properties, you could select them all, and you could kind of get a sense of trends for forecasting. The financials section here, it's current account balance. Only one section there, billing, has current account balances, billing history, payment history. And then any of these, most of these kind of tables in the system, you're able to download. So like I said, there's not a lot here, but if it was years worth, download all that pretty quickly. Also a link here to make a payment as well. Profile. Here's where you can update communication preferences. You can add or remove contact methods. You can grant guest access to, say, tenants, property managers, or other third parties. You could also track the status of submitted forms here. Hit on this here. So for guest access, I have, like I said, two accounts as customer. For guest access, we have a tenant, a property manager, Going to look at the property manager. And so the property manager has access to pay bills, view bills, view consumption data, but they can't manage paperless billing that form to auto pay. So it's completely cut back to file. So you can manage, actually, alert subscriptions for this customer for the different accounts. We've set up a couple of alerts for, you know, there's a bill due. They're going to get a text message here. New bill, they're going to get an email here. And you can customize date range that you want to. There is a, kind of covered all that. There's a help in FAQ, kind of standard or common customer questions can be found there in answers. Provides quick guidance on using the portal. And then there is a contact us link. It's going to have our office number and information here. There's also a form that can be submitted. It goes directly to an email account that's monitored by our office by somebody different today. That's going to get to us quickly. Certainly attempt to respond as quickly as possible. So you can see our customers have a lot of options available within the portal. If they haven't already, we suggest they give it a try. And for anyone that is having a hard time with some aspect of the system, give us a call. We're happy to help. We take hundreds of phone calls every day, and we're happy to help walk people through any issues they may have. I'd also like to mention that SpritePoint regularly updates its software with new features, enhancements, and fixes. So we expect the platform to continue improving over time, providing a better experience for both our staff and customers. Thank you.

Just to highlight as well, reemphasizing that signing up for paperless billing is We pay for postage. We're not immune to that. So a way to reduce costs for all of our rate payers across the board would be to sign up for that paperless billing. Also highlighting here that the demonstration that we all just witnessed for the customer portal, that previously was not an option for our customers. There wasn't a portal for you to go out and be able to see your usage. One of the things that I just want to thank Commission and previous commissions for is the continued support of projects like this as we update our technology infrastructure. And really just to close out tonight's session, I want to emphasize the importance of what these projects represent for the future of the organization. Replacing and modernizing our core systems, which we've done post-COVID over the past three years. It's been a long stretch of updating systems. That includes our ERP system, our utility billing software, which we're talking about tonight, our platforms for our service center and community development, which is CityWork, and our payment systems. It's been one of the largest operational transformations that the city has undertaken in decades. So I don't want to lose sight of that. These investments are really about helping the city operate leaner and more efficiently while continuing to provide high quality services to our residents. These tools help streamline operations, improve service, strengthen accountability, and ensure we're being good stewards of taxpayer and ratepayer dollars long term. I especially want to recognize staff across all departments involved, many sitting at this table, many in the audience. they've continued managing daily operations while learning and implementing entirely new systems and that takes a tremendous amount of work and dedication behind the scenes these improvements are already creating efficiencies across the organization you've heard about many of those this evening and they'll continue benefiting both staff and residents for years to come so again thank you for your support and investment in the future of the organization And with that, we take any of your questions.

Thank you. Have you thought about or have you had any sessions like at the library where you could do exactly what you just did for people that are interested in learning the system, the different system?

That's certainly something that we consider. We also have a, or can consider, but we also have a demo available on our website at springfieldohio.gov as well.

Yeah.

What a great suggestion.

Other comments or questions from commissioners? This also helped us become more transparent, help people see exactly what their usage is, get what they would call random bills. They get exactly. Thank you. Thank you for this was a huge under. Good job.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there a motion to conclude the work session?

So moved.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes. We will start in just a minute. So we have a proclamation before we start the public comment period. You know, many of you have heard some of the reasons why we do proclamations. We honor folks by doing proclamations. We also bring awareness to organizations that everybody knows and situations. And we also bring awareness to things that not a lot of people know about. But when we do a proclamation, we get to basically bring public light to an organization or somebody that's trying to do good. So I'd like to go ahead and read this proclamation and then have a family come up, say a few words and take a picture with you. So this proclamation reads, whereas childhood apraxia of speech, CAS, is a neurological speech disorder that affects a child's ability to plan and coordinate the movements necessary for clear speech, making it difficult for children to express themselves verbally despite knowing what they want to say. And whereas apraxia can make communication extremely difficult and may impact a child's educational, emotional, and social development. Whereas increasing public awareness and understanding of apraxia is essential to ensuring that children and families affected by this disorder receive appropriate support, early intervention, and access to specialized speech therapy and services. Whereas speech language pathologists, educators, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and community advocates work diligently to provide resources, encouragement, and treatment to individuals living with apraxia. And whereas communities are strengthened when individuals are empowered to communicate effectively and participate fully in educational, social, and civic life. And whereas Apraxia Awareness Day serves as an opportunity to recognize the resilience and determination of children and adults living with apraxia, and to honor the families and professionals who support them each day. Now, therefore, I, Rob Brew, Mayor of the City of Springfield and President of our Commission, do hereby proclaim May 19th, 2026 as Apraxia Awareness Day, and we ask citizens in Springfield and encourage all residents to increase awareness and understanding of childhood apraxia of speech and to support efforts to promote inclusion, advocacy, and effective communication for all individuals affected with apraxia. Thank you. And I'd like to ask the family to come up and say a few words, and then we will gather down here for a picture. Get right to that mic. Thank you.

Good evening. I am Kelly Matthews. I'm proud to be Kinsley as our child with apraxia. I'm her Mimi and about four years ago she just wasn't talking like all the other children have and we got really you know like you just think oh she's just going to be slower than other kids or You just don't worry about it at first. But as time went on, we started worrying. And we were blessed to get a very good speech therapist that when she assessed Kinsley, she knew right away that it was a practice. She had special training in it and was able to diagnose her. It's not something easy to diagnose because you can't look at her and tell that she has a practice. When she talks, you can tell. But more often than not, she doesn't talk a lot because if she doesn't know you, she's afraid you're not going to understand her. We've been blessed to have speech therapy independently working with her and then speech therapy through her schooling. So she goes to Kenton Ridge. We were the speech therapist that diagnosed her, told us to get her into the preschool there right away. So she gets speech at school and then on her own. And so we are blessed. She speaks well for what we started with. But does she struggle every day? Yes. If you met Kinsley and she was trying to tell you something, 50-50 chance that you're going to get it. But she'll keep crying. We always just tell her, find another way to tell us. And she does that. So we are very, very proud of her. She's a very smart, loving, kind seven-year-old. And these are her sisters and her cousins. And we couldn't be any prouder. So one thing that we do is every year on National Apraxia Day, Elisa has made sure that her class that she's in celebrates it. It's called the blue day. They wear blue. She takes all kinds of blue sunglasses and necklaces and art things, but she also always sends awareness information. So that goes home to their parents. So they also can know what's going on with Kinsley, but also maybe another child because it's only one in every thousand children that have it. So it would be very easy for it to be missed. And so then you have a child who's struggling. without the help that they need because the earlier the intervention the better the result will be so we are very proud of her I'm proud of my daughter and son-in-law because they have done that we also do as you see we're all in our t-shirts our kinsley t-shirts we go on a walk in Columbus every year to it's a fundraiser and with that fundraiser it goes to national practice apraxiakids.org and they are the ones who help us with getting the information to give out to the classrooms also other awareness things they can do grants to help children who can't afford to get speech they can there's just all kinds if you go to their website you can see all kinds of things so if you have a child that you know that's struggling it might be as easy as being something as apraxia And not a lot of people know about it. So I think it gets missed. So we are appreciative and we thank you all for bringing awareness. And thank you.

Thank you for bringing our awareness too. Will you join us over here for a picture? The public comment for city commission is called to order. Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts. Here. Mr. Rigsby.

Here.

Mrs. Tackett. Here. Mr. Wallace. Here. Mr. Rue.

Here. The city commission remains committed to creating a conducive environment for creating constructive and productive dialogue and engagement for the community. Those wishing to speak must fill out a public comment card and provide their name and information for the record. A state-issued ID or driver's license must be provided when filling out the card, and only those residing in Springfield and Clark County will be permitted to speak during the public comment period. Comment cards are accepted after 15 minutes after the start of the meeting. Those who are determined to have provided false information won't be able to speak at this meeting or the next scheduled meeting. We're also truly committed to making sure the meeting is an environment where people have the opportunity to speak, share thoughts, ideas, and concerns. We fully respect the First Amendment rights of all individuals. Disruptions or any conduct that impedes the orderly progress of the meeting will not be tolerated. Should any individual be escorted or asked to leave due to disruptive behavior on three separate occasions, we'll be notified that they are trespassed in future meetings. As a reminder, the citizen participation guidelines allows comments on legislative agenda items. Each citizen may comment up to three agenda items per meeting. The total speaking time of the agenda item meetings is three minutes. First to speak is Gary Armstrong.

What brought me here? three plus years ago, is seeking the truth. I'm just a citizen that had a grievance that has been ignored. Why? Because it's pretty blatant. The former commissioner built a four unit and you've done nothing in four years. You know, and I've listened to so much stuff that's not the truth. And I learned 50, 60 years ago Liars have no value. They are either crooks or just perpetrators of something they want from you. And that truth is still today. And I see it in the federal government today. And why I can't look for protection from the people that got elected to protect us. Well, I knew this in the 90s. The people that get elected for commissioner, some of them are independent thinkers that want to do right and serve. And others just want to serve the people that are the force behind it. The rich people, same people that hired or that went to the China with that crazy dude. They aren't about the people. They're about money. They're about filling their pockets. These people, me, we just want to be served by our charter, the laws, and be treated fairly equally.

And you don't do that. You don't do it.

Then I saw, this is in line with my thoughts of the last 50 years, I saw on the internet, which has some good and some stupid shit, The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak. George Orwell, damn it, Orwell, I read that. And now am I seeing all this coming true? With AI. You guys, the people. The rich people, the chamber, the people, Rob, that you have gotten on board with, they want that. And is that good for the humanity of this town? I have a big doubt, and I don't think so, because it's a tool for the rich. It isn't for the working people. You're going to put a burden on them. It's going to take us down, and it's going to destroy the economy that's already been destroyed. And I'd like to see somebody be truthful for a change and care. I love that little child. And we should all love children. I was thinking of my four-year-old granddaughter when I saw her. So don't get up and tell me that you don't know he's got a four unit and do nothing and be a lawyer and violate your logics. That just is crazy stuff.

Evan Hendricks.

um accountability that's what we teach our youth accountability um so last time i was here i had an outburst due to frustration and as soon as i left i apologized for my act and i apologize again for my act publicly here that i'm here now all right I, Devin Jermaine Hendricks, was falsely named and publicly associated with felony drug trafficking charges, even though I was never arrested, never booked, never present, and had no involvement in the alleged criminal conduct. This matter is not merely a clerical mistake. The available records show that another individual used my name. Officers failed to properly verify his identity. And after the true identity issue became known, criminal paperwork and public records still connected me to drug felony trafficking charges. Even more concerning, I have evidence indicating that the original police report was later altered with a statement that contradicts the timeline and other records. This raises serious concerns of falsification, concealment, and attempt to cover up the department's failure to properly identify the arrested individual. On or about April 8th, 2026, my brother was arrested by Springfield police officers after allegedly being found in possession of suspected drugs. During the encounter, he allegedly gave my name, Devin Hendricks, but did not provide complete identifying information because he didn't know it. Despite that obvious red flag, officers failed to take reasonable and basic steps to confirm his identity before connecting me to serious criminal charges. These steps should have included fingerprint verification, photographic comparison, physical deceptive review, tattoo comparison, which I have none. He has his name on his arm. this dispatch verification, jail confirmation, or other standard identity confirmation procedure, which just issued a warrant a few days before that. A court later dismissed the case after finding that another individual had used my identity. However, by that time, my name and reputation had already been damaged. So I say that to say, A lot of people want to apologize. Shout out to the apologies that I get, you know, behind closed doors. But this was a public thing. I was on the jail roster and nobody publicly apologized to me. Not the city of Springfield, not the police department. Nobody did it. So here we are, you know. Here we are. I've had public association with felony drug trafficking charges, damage to my name, reputation, and credibility, emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, and anxiety, harm to my public face and community work, damage to my professional and civic relationship. You know what I mean? I didn't do all of this to get here. I just wanted a simple apology.

Devin, you and I have spent, you can stay there for a second if you don't mind. We've spent a little bit of time together the last couple of years. I have seen you come in here many times and the public has heard you try to stand up for the community in many ways. I don't know every detail of what you went through other than it was a mistake and I hate the fact that you went through it personally. And I'm sorry on just listening to your story and the misidentification and being shamed, being publicly embarrassed. That's terrible. And I'm sorry that happened to you, but I know that you're a good man. I've spent some time with you. I know you're trying to do good things out in this community, and I truly appreciate that. And I'm sorry that this mistaken identity has happened to you, and I hope that that wrong could be corrected in some way. I mean that.

Appreciate it.

It means a lot. But we have spent time together, and I do appreciate what you're trying to do. Melissa Rexroth.

The city of Springfield care about their constituents. I've previously asked how each of you research agenda items and what you ultimately vote. I'm not sure you understand the gravity of your power. You make decisions that directly affect all of us and we expect you to have our best interests at heart. I've spoken about the World Economic Forum and their plans for global order. Have any of you watched any of their meetings or read any of their plans? Do you align with their vision of global order, surveillance, immigration rates to keep a certain number of working people in each country? This is not something limited to Springfield. Do you think the entire world needs to have their immigration numbers met stated by the World Economic Forum to have working age people? You use Gravitron Consulting, which utilizes Oracle and their products, which support human capital management. Is that what your constituents are to you? Human capital that you must manage? Do you simply want a certain amount of people in Springfield to work? How many flock cameras does Springfield have? What models? Springfield Newsom states that they don't have capability to pan and zoom, but flock does have cameras that have those capabilities. Do we have them? Does Springfield plan on getting them? Are there speakers or microphones placed anywhere? Smart cities utilize these functionalities, and I'm wondering if Springfield is, if that's in the plans for Springfield to become a smart city at some point. I am formally asking Springfield to cancel their contract with Block. Dayton has done that and I'm asking that Springfield does the same. They can give private information to authorities without permission. I know you're aware of that with immigration problem. Why do you silence Springfield? This is not normal to have everything turned off. Much bigger cities have things turned on. Chicago, their scanners, they're delayed 30 minutes. I understand. I've heard that you're concerned with police and victims. Understandable. Chicago delays 30 minutes, but then they release that information to the public. Springfield is feeling very left out. They're not getting any information. Why did Springfield make NAMC a nonprofit? Did JobsOhio have a hand in that? JobsOhio makes billions as a nonprofit from liquor sales. Springfield's been working closely with them. Is that why we've given so many liquor licenses, opened the door to districts? We can't see how JobsOhio spends their money. Will we be able to see how this NAMC nonprofit spends the profits that they make and what profits they make? What research was done before approving the tax abatement for the data center? This research has been out there, Springfield's electric water rates, they've both gone up. Again, I'm asking you, what are you doing to protect your constituents? Are you aware that many of them have gone without electric in their homes? Are you concerned about that?

Thank you.

Do you have any answers to these questions, City Manager? I was going to ask Chief Allison Elliott specifically on the flock camera program and the difference between what you saw happen just in Dayton versus we do have flock cameras in our community. I'll have Allison speak specifically, but again, to the specific incident that happened in the city of Dayton, our contracts set up differently, but...

Yeah, good evening. Thank you, Mr. Heck. Mayor Rue, Commission, I appreciate it. I appreciate the concerns that are raised by the community. Obviously, with the enhancement of technology, there's always that concern, and we want to make sure that we're always keeping that in mind. We do have 38 total flock cameras in our community placed through hotspot and data-driven identification with those cameras. Just in speaking with our command staff who handles the placement and the identification of locations and just the overall overseeing the project itself. Our cameras do not have microphone capabilities or mic capabilities. We also do have safeguards in place as far as settings with block itself and the system itself with some of the things that you see in other communities, concerns on information sharing and things like that.

Also, how long has our officers been wearing body cams?

It'll be almost two years now.

And that was done because a grant was available from the state that I believe you applied for. We were able to have some matching funds, I think. And also the desire was to be more transparent with the community that people would be able to see. Because that information, once an investigation is complete, is available. Am I right about that?

Yes.

Like a 911 call is, that information is available, right?

People can make public records requests for body camera footage. I will say that with our cameras, I can't take all the credit to get that started. That process started through the state and with Governor DeWine's initiative. That was through Chief Graff who started that initiative. And we were lucky enough to be considered for a partial grant. portion of our grant funding to be able to purchase those body cameras.

Excellent. Other answers or questions?

I can, so just on Jobs Ohio in general, they're a quasi-state group separate from the City of Springfield, so we don't have any control or authority over Jobs Ohio. Tom, you want to speak a little bit to the state and why they set up Jobs Ohio for economic development purposes?

Well, I can just speak to our relationship with Jobs Ohio as the private economic development organization for the state. They've been really good at organizing the development efforts for the state. Tonight on the agenda is a $350,000 grant that the city is going to receive to assist in building a new fence out at the airport to support a mission of the Air National Guard, supporting our military defense installations, helping support the attraction of of those missions as well as new jobs created as a result. Well, so there's lots of examples there. I know there's lots of a large public debate going on about the transparency of the organization. Uh, like the manager said, that's really outside of our purview. So, uh, as a city in many cities across the state of Ohio, we're looking at how do we help advance economic development for our communities? The state of Ohio, whether it be the Ohio Department of Development or Jobs Ohio, those are the organizations that we have to work with. And so we appreciate the work they're doing. We understand there's a larger topic of conversation going on about the transparency of that organization. But we certainly have enjoyed our relationship.

Thank you. And then I was going to have Katie speak on the Oracle side and the human capital management piece and the software that we utilize.

Certainly, specifically for Oracle HCM, this was part of our ERP implementation. For the city, Oracle HCM helps automate and standardize processes that were previously manual or spread across multiple systems. For us, that includes payroll processing, employee onboarding and personnel records, time cards and leave management, performance evaluations, benefits administration, position control, and compensation tracking. So in simple terms, the system that helps manage the city's employees from hire to retire while improving accuracy, accountability, reporting, and efficiency.

part of the efficiency is to save money for the taxpayers if we don't do we don't put these systems in place from my understanding correct me if i'm wrong it will cost more to operate the city so i'm just saying i think that's the reason um i want to make sure data centers are a continued concern for all folks that are paying attention to it we are and so there's nothing before us right now for a data center but it is a concern and i think the responsible use of natural resources is important So I want to say that openly as well. Thank you. Diane Daniels.

Hi, good evening. I'd just like to touch on a couple of things and probably be a little short-winded, maybe long-winded. It depends. I watch a lot of... city commission meetings, council meetings, where it's the way we organize it with the city manager being in charge and the mayor being more or less just kind of like the mouthpiece. And I also watch a lot of city commission meetings where the mayor is in charge. And what we're doing here is vastly different from probably 99.9999999% of the other city commissions. Prior to August of 2023, we had a pretty open forum, which is what this is. This is a forum, an opportunity for citizens to use, exercise their First Amendment, but also to redress their grievances in person to their governing body. First and foremost, let me remind you, and I think we always forget that, that you're my employee. I pay you. I'm your boss. Thank you for the $5.47 an hour. You got it, baby. I know I don't pay you enough, but if you were the real mayor, we'd do it differently. Prior to August of 2023, You know, folks were happy to come down here, address their grievances, talk, chat, carry on, maybe have a conversation. I remember David Thamper having conversations with Mayor Copeland, which got a little heated, but also got the air clear. And those were always fun to watch. But both of them walked away with smiles on their faces. Well, David, not so much. But I miss that. I miss that opportunity to have a give and take. And now what do we got? Well, we've got three minutes. But prior to your three minutes, you basically give your little speech, you're indetermined, and tell us what we can and cannot do, and then intimidate us. If we have a little outburst, a little emotion, well, you'll get escorted out. If you do it three times, then you get a letter of trespass. Well, that's a pretty open... statement you're going to get a letter of trespass is it one day and then the next time you do it you get two days or what is that so when I got mine when I was surprised that I had six days I was kind of hoping for one but I got six City Commission meetings So there's a problem right there. And if you want us to have an open-ended conversation, then something needs to change. I truly appreciate I had wonderful conversations with one city commission meeting member already. That was awesome. And I've had many with another one. And I think that if you don't want to do it here, then at least come up with an idea where we can sit down with different city commissioners in different parts of the city and have this one-on-ones. I learned a lot from you. I learned tons from you. And Brian, when I have an opportunity to meet with you in your sessions, that is absolutely fantastic. So I understand where you're coming from, that this is a business meeting, but why don't you kind of figure out a way to target certain areas of the city so that we all can have that sit down, It's so wonderful talking to you. I learned a ton from you, and I learned that Brian is a really smart guy.

Thank you. Again, two weeks ago, I think I invited you to meet with me. I looked for an email or a phone call. None of those I got from you. I'm willing to sit down with you and talk with you at any point. So that's that's one thing that hadn't happened. And, you know, I know you care about the community because you are here on a regular basis. I was here before I ran for office. I spent a couple of years coming to meetings and there was only one or two people that came and made comments. Not at the most. We had, I think, about 28 at one point. So there were guidelines that needed to be put in place. Those guidelines were already in place. But we had to make sure that we would continue to follow through with those, especially when meetings got so absorbed with comments.

So that's- Can I respond? Just give me 20 seconds. So if I recall correctly, and we had a citizen come to you August, September, maybe into December 2024, stood right there, stood right there and asked you for a meeting. with several people, and you said to him, I'll meet with you for three minutes every other Tuesday.

I didn't say that, but you're not allowed to put words into my mouth, and I'm not allowed to put words in yours. So that's not true. Got it? I didn't say it.

okay thank you i was going to say real quick just a plug so one thing so next conversations with the city manager is may 27th five to seven and it's going to be at the new fire station on north thompson uh station five uh so definitely encourage that and then one of the commission's goals and objectives uh from the retreat uh relates to having town hall forum type meetings um with um sunshine law and all that we can only have two at a time that are at those but we're targeting july uh to have one of those town hall forums i think we're looking at uh the first one being at the library uh downtown but uh just like the conversations with the city manager want to rotate those around uh to various parts of the community nicole bethel

According to WYSO, Vulture will be... Would you mind speaking down the mic?

Thank you so much.

According to WYSO, Vulture will be leasing out two mega data centers in the property that they have right now. Yearly, Springfield will receive about $304,000 and Clark Shawnee will receive about $69,000. I'm not sure, is it going to be 20 jobs or 100 jobs? I'm not sure about that, but... Was there a callback clause placed for this? And because Vulture is going to be saving about $6.3 million yearly with the tax abatement in 15 years, that's going to be $95 million, according to WYSO. And will these callback clause reviews be public knowledge? And then let's see, I am under the understanding that there should be an engineering acoustic modeling assessment that Vulture and 5C are to submit. They're to prove that they can provide a 55 decibel limit at the property line and 45 decibel limit near the residence. Will this be available to the public? I'm formally requesting that this will be done. Will the city be monitoring these sounds and will you be testing these? Will you be checking the water around the area, the aquaphor? The aquaphor also feeds our fin. Gallagher fin is the state nature preserve. It's four miles away. A small imbalance of pH, temperature, water level can have detrimental effects. Has Vulture provided the safety data sheets of the chemicals that they will be using for their blowdown process? And are we going to have public knowledge of that? Let's see, and are you aware of, let's see, May 17, PJM, which is the supplier, the wholesale supplier, supplier of the market across Ohio. They work with AEP, First Energy and Duke Energy. They sent a letter to the Secretary of Energy requesting an emergency order under the Federal Power Act. They're saying that we are in an emergency alert level three and they're requesting power. There could be load shedding and control outages. And let's see, they're contributing a lot of this to the data centers. So it's a big deal. And we are in big trouble when these data centers start rolling out because it's going to affect us bad. So what are we planning on doing to stop this or monitor this? And you can't say you didn't know they were going to get big. I can't even build a fence in my yard without getting a permit. So I know. that you are aware of what's going to happen and they're going to be using 150 megawatts 45 megawatts is powers 30 000 homes and Springfield has about 30 000 homes so that's going to be triple the amount of electricity Ohio Edison had to build extra grids just to support these data centers and the citizens are paying for that now. Our electric bills have crippled.

Do we have any answers that you can help her with or Tom?

Real quick on the clawback language. All of our economic development agreements have clawback language. If they don't meet job and investment requirements as laid out in there. Those are all public documents and we can make those available to you and we can actually put something out on our website that just lists or has all those documents associated with that. And then Tom Franzen back there, I'm going to have him talk with you and get a list of all the things that you mentioned tonight. um and then that way the things that we do have uh we'll make those available to you um and if there's other things that we can get you in connection with we'll definitely do that so speak to the noise ordinance the noise level that they're supposed to abide by and how is that yeah there's a general noise ordinance in the city that uh certain decibels and it can't uh go beyond uh specifically into residential areas and stuff so if there is those high decibels and complaints are received we do have to go out there and we do investigate on whether those noise issues exist and then look for a remedy or the company would be asked to look for the remedy of that noise pollution or the noise issue thank you for bringing it to us my clients

Good evening. This evening I want to talk to you, speaking of energy, I want to talk to you about Ohio House Bill 303. This bill, which passed the Ohio House 77 to 8 and is now in the Senate, would establish a community energy pilot program that would make it possible to develop power sources that are small scale and local using solar and other types of renewable energy. Currently, the only sources of energy that are available are from utility companies like First Energy and or an individual generating system like rooftop solar or a geothermal system. Community energy is an attempt to bridge the gap between the two sources, small, local, small, individual, giant utility. Supporters of the bill say that nearly 80% of rooftops are not available for solar. There are physical barriers to solar to be sure, but most barriers are socioeconomic or policy related. Homeownership issues, rental issues, financial and credit barriers, state policy. Community energy would enable those who currently are unable to access renewable energy for the reasons stated above the opportunity to do so. They would be able to address climate change if they wish and to save some money on their electric bill, which I'm sure they want to do. pilot program would allow for the generation of 1500 megawatts of electricity which is enough power between 300 and 400 000 homes one subscriber could absorb no more than 40 percent of facilities generating capacity and any facility must have at least three subscribers but experience in other states indicates that most of the energy would go to homeowners and renter the program would enable enable a developer, profit or nonprofit, to construct a small or mid-sized solar array on vacant land, particularly brownfield, but it could be used on any piece of unused land, And sell the energy by the array to the subscribers. Similar to solar panels on an individual house, energy generated by such a project would go directly to subscribers, not the grid. This is where people, your constituents, would be saving money. Energy from a community energy facility would be a lot cheaper. I would like for you to consider a resolution in support of House Bill 303. While it passed the House with strong bipartisan support, its future in the Senate is uncertain. A similar bill previously passed by the House died in the Senate. This legislation generally is not going to be a cost savings for the city, unless, of course, the city became a subscriber, which is possible. But it will be of great benefit to homeowners and renters. Springfield would not be the first city to signal support for HB 303. Lakewood, Wyoming, Cleveland Heights, and Columbus have all passed such resolutions. I'm going to send you, if you'd like, an email with a fact sheet on the bill prepared by Solar United Neighbors, which is supporting the bill. So thank you very much for letting me speak to you this evening. Thank you.

Thank you for the information. We will look into House Bill 303. Go ahead, Larry.

Mr. Lyons, can you tell us where House Bill 303 is as far as in committee right now?

Well, no, I can't. But I think it's in the Senate, and there is a hearing scheduled. But the actual plan that I understand, and I got it from Solar United Neighbors, is that the hope is that they'll be able to get a vote on the whole bill by fall, like October, something like that. So I don't know exactly where it is, but I'll find out and let you know if that's okay. Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Andrew Divert.

We did in the same. Okay, thank you, Commissioners. Thank you, Mayor, for listening and letting me be here tonight. Thank you to all the citizens for listening and everybody that spoke about trying to help the community, even honoring the speech therapy. You know, it's nice to see some good things, but I want you to remember right now about that little child, what I'm about to say next. So what I'd like to ask for the Commission tonight is to make a motion, one of you, to suspend the rules and take an emergency vote and introduce an emergency measure tonight to fund temporary emergency sheltering for the people and the families that have children and everyone else at the shelters that we all know are about to close. Now, knowing leaving even one single mom with children and they get tossed out with nowhere to go, we've all failed. And you've all failed the children that were just here you took a photo with. I mean, I understand money's tight, but we can figure a way to make up the funds later this year. Now, on a personal note, I'd like to say... Under Article 1, Section 10A of the Ohio Constitution, I am asserting my protective rights as a victim of a felony hit and run. The prosecutor dismissed my case without consulting me or allowing me to be heard. This is a direct violation of Marcy's Law, ORC 2930.06, which mandates my right to confer with the prosecutor before dismissal. I will prove I have suffered life-altering medical harm caused by a repeat hit-and-run offender who violated RC 45-4902, a felony-level offense. I'm here to demand justice and the law quit denying my rights. This was in Sydney News. Traveling south on Pascoe Mountain Road, Kajusti turned left on Marietta Road in front of Millhouse causing a collision. Kajusti left the scene and was later located at his place of work with Honda. This was in Sydney News. This was the same type man who hit me and was allowed a hit and run and then hit another vehicle fleeing the scene. Trust Cure dismissed case. Driving 55 in a 70, driving 70 miles an hour in a 55 in Clark County before my wreck. My original back injury, May, forgive me, of 2004. This is a hospital report from December 2nd, 2023. Heart attack, chest pain, heart headache, hypertension, nausea, and vomiting. Hospital from the day after the wreck, December 20th. Injury of head, initial encounter, strain of muscle encounter. Motor vehicle accident, injury restrained driver, expiration of chronic back pain, aneurysm of extending a order with ruptures, blindenosis of lumbar region. Those two things at the end can cause internal bleeding and bursts in my body since that day. That's a committed felony. He's still on the road. You guys all know you've had a chance to read the letter. I won't have a chance to speak it tonight. Brian is called the prosecutor on my behalf. I've waited and waited and waited, and he's still on the roads, a public safety threat to all of us. And yet, I'm still waiting. People don't want me to get emotional or get mad, but see, how can't I? The blood pressure last time I came here to speak was 220-something over 180. I have constant hypertension. I don't need another heart attacker in this thing in my chest bursting. And every day that man's on the road, this is why I'm constantly stressed.

I understand. I'm sorry you've gone through that. I'd like to bring up your original point about the homeless situation. If you look at the agenda item nine on new items on the agenda, we are going to be voting on supportive services for homeless. We have taken, this is something that has never left our minds. So we'll be taking action tonight on that. So thank you.

I would like to let you all know that somebody, a family member of one of the members there did reach out about concerns about residents however they were being treated i understand i did speak with uh uh this oh uh i can't remember it was someone from the city um and then the other thing i'd like to mention also brian knows this uh and i'd like to just go ahead and tell you guys your time is up would you would you please take a seat thank you scott wolf

Good evening, Mayor Ryu, commissioners, staff, citizens. My name is Scott Wolf and I am the president of Springfield Professional Firefighters Local 333. For years, the city and the fire administration have been playing a game of kick the can with the fire division. For those that don't know what kick the can is, it's a tongue in cheek phrase that means to put off a problem today to fix it at some point in the future. Until recently, they have kicked the can with our apparatus and they continue to do so with our staffing. There have been multiple consultants and studies commissioned by the city and by the local that universally say the fire division needs more firefighters. The numbers show that the men and women of Local 333 take more calls for service and do more job-related tasks per member than any other fire department around. The locals ask is simple. Increase the budget that would allow Mr. Heck and Chief King to hire an appropriate level that will allow us to maintain adequate service delivery without major reliance on overtime. The local understands that the city cannot flip a switch and take our staffing where it truly needs to be. It will be a process and it will take time, but now is the time to start the process. We need to stop kicking the can. Now is the time for safe staffing for Springfield. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Wolf. Brad Minard.

Mayor, city commissioners, city staff. My name is Brad Minard and I'm incredibly proud to stand here tonight as a graduate of the inaugural class of the Local Citizens Government Academy. While I'm standing here tonight representing myself and my own experience, I know I speak for many of my classmates when I express my deep gratitude for this program. First and foremost, I want to say a massive thank you to the city leadership, the administration, and every single department head and staff member who helped put this big academy together. For 10 weeks, you didn't just open your doors to us. You gave us an unfiltered, behind-the-scenes look at how our city actually operates. From heavy budgeting to infrastructure, public safety, community development, you laid it all out. More than that, I want to thank you for your patience. We brought a lot of tough questions to the table every single week, and you didn't dodge a single one of them. You answered us with transparency, data, and genuine honesty. That open dialogue built a bridge of mutual respect and trust. Going through this program completely changes your perspective. It taught us that if you want to see real, lasting change in Springfield, there's a blueprint to follow. You learn how the system works, you meet the decision makers, and you collaborate on a solution. That is how things get done. Which brings me to a pattern I see all too often. Every two weeks or so, people stand at this exact podium during public comments just to complain, gripe, and tear things down. But if you truly care about the future of the city, let me challenge you. Stop just venting in this microphone and actually step up. If you want to be part of the solution instead of just shouting about the problems, this academy is the opportunity to do it. It forces you to move from just throwing criticism to understanding the reality of local government. For anyone listening who wants to make a real impact, the next Citizens Government Academy is coming up this fall. Keep your eyes glued on the Springfield City Government website over the next couple months for when the applications open. And I would strongly encourage every single citizen to sign up. Thank you again to the city staff for a phenomenal inaugural program, and I am incredibly grateful for the time and effort you have invested in us.

Thank you.

Ms. Evason, could you briefly talk about the change we're seeing in withholdings and that has come from the state level to where we are now, please? And before you talk, we are reliant on 80% of our revenue is income tax. 80%. It's not property tax. It is not sales tax. It is the income of the working people of our community to support the city. 80%. So go ahead and talk about withholdings a little bit and explain that. Because everything, a lot of the problems we're talking about is money. And if you could just shed some light on what we're going through and what other municipalities are going through in the state as well.

Certainly mayor and commissioners. So as the mayor mentioned, 80% of our general fund revenue, which is what funds our core basic services. So administration, economic development, community development outside of grant public safety. When we look at police fire dispatch, all of these things are funded from our general fund. 80% of the revenue coming into that fund is our income tax, as the mayor mentioned. There are two components of that income tax. Withholding, which is an employee, if you work in the city, that is your paycheck. That amount is withheld. So we receive withholding remittances. And then net profit, which is based on a business's profit. That mix is about 85% withholding, 15% net profit. What we are currently seeing and what communities across the state of Ohio are seeing, I've been in conversations with finance directors in Middletown, in Youngstown and other cities comparable to our size is there seeing stable or growing withholding revenue based on employer activity in their communities right now for Springfield that's holding between three and four percent of an increase over the prior year I would also attribute that to Commission's decision to move forward with Rita to enforce our income tax ordinance and ensure that we are receiving all of that withholding revenue that is due That 15% that is net profit, we are seeing on average a 30% decline. To put that into real numbers, last year for the month of April, we received $2.6 million in net profit revenue. This month in April, which is our largest month, we received $1.6 million. That's a significant swing in our income tax revenue, just looking at April of last year compared to April of this year, close to a million dollars. So when we look at that overall, despite the 4% that we see as an increase in withholding, our income tax revenue is down roughly 2.5%, or that's what we're projecting for the year. um each percent is equal to a half million dollars um so right now um we're trending anywhere to be down between um 1.5 and 2.5 million dollars by the end of the year if those trends continue speaking as to why we are seeing that um several years ago pre-COVID um the state legislature um enacted where businesses when they are filing their net profit return can claim now 100% of their net operating loss for the past five years. The look back period is five years. And that was a slow implementation over five years where that net operating loss was capped at 50%. Beginning with 2024 returns, it was no longer capped at 50%, it's capped at 100%. So when we are looking at those net profit tax filings, in 2025 and continuing into 2026 what we are seeing is businesses claiming those net operating losses that they experienced during the COVID years what's currently on the slate at the with the state and something to advocate for to all of your representatives is they are looking at removing that five-year look-back period to make that essentially never-ending you can look back as long as you've been in operation and claim your net operating loss effectively what that does is replace all or put all of our reliance on withholding for income tax versus what businesses are paying in net profit with that look back for net operating loss so that effectively if that were to happen removes 10 to 15 percent of the income tax that we collect that funds those core services that we carry out that's on top of if we look at over the last decade the state's cut of the local government fund which used to account for 10 percent of our operating revenues when combined with the estate tax the local government fund now accounts for two percent of our revenue that comes into the general fund So certainly sitting in this seat as the finance director, I can tell you that I feel the trade-offs, right? These aren't personal decisions that I'm making. It is what we are all tasked with, with the core services and balancing unlimited needs, right? These are needs. Core service is a need. But we have trade-offs in deciding what is funded and to the level that it is funded in order to support the entire community.

Now, I'll just add on on the state piece. Just as a reminder and history lesson, the state of Ohio, when they enacted their income tax back in the 60s, 70s, the local government fund was a promise that they were going to put that money back locally. And so they... continue to pull those funds back to the state and as the state sits on somewhere close to a four billion dollar reserve fund now versus putting that money back out into communities that can go towards these core services like public safety police and fire like homeless services all the things that we're talking about tonight those priorities that exist in our community it becomes even more difficult when those revenues are are taken by the state.

So please don't ask questions from where you're sitting. But what I am saying, I just asked her to highlight those things because this is the concern for many cities, not just Springfield, because we want to be able to provide some of the better core services and some of the things we've talked about. And this is not a no, this is a heavy load that we have to face as commissioners when you're looking at the budget. And that's why when you see, there'll be things we'll vote on tonight that are grants. And sometimes we'll highlight those to make sure those are heard. Those are monies that were given to us through different various organizations, state grants and things like that, that we can help fund projects that need to happen. And we always are looking for those opportunities, federal, state, local. But please do talk to your state representatives about these concerns, because it's going to, not just Springfield, all municipalities are dealing with this. We're part of an association of 30 mayors in the state of Ohio, and we convene regularly. We're convening next week, and these concerns are similar. Cleveland has these same concerns. Much bigger city, but much bigger budget, and they have the same budget concerns we have. So just want that to be out there. Okay, we'll go ahead and is there a motion to conclude the public comment period?

No move.

Second. No move to second it. Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes. Please, sir, this is the interruptions. Sir, would you please leave? You're dismissed. I've asked you twice. You're dismissed. Thank you. I want to listen to you. We can meet at a different place. I don't want to meet you behind closed doors. We will meet publicly. Thank you. The formal meeting for city commission is called to order. Clerk call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts. Here. Mr. Rigsby.

Here.

Mrs. Tackett. Here. Mr. Wallace. Here. Mr. Rue.

Here. Please stand for the invocation and the pledge. God, we thank you for Springfield. I ask for your peace in our community. I ask for wisdom as we make decisions for our community tonight. In your name, amen. Is there a motion to approve minutes?

So moved.

Second. Clerk call the roll.

Mr. Wallace.

I'm gonna abstain. Mrs. Tackett?

Yes. Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Ryu?

Yes. Clerk proceed with first readings by title only.

Authorizing the city manager to enter into a grant agreement with Jobs Ohio to reimburse the city in an amount up to $350,000 for the construction of a security fence at the Springfield Beckley Municipal Airport. And authorizing the city manager, director of finance, and law director to perform all acts and execute all documents considered necessary to fulfill the city's obligations under said grant agreement and to comply with all relevant local, state, and federal legal requirements. authorizing the city manager to enter into change order number two to the contract with Spry Point Services Incorporated to decrease the contract in an amount not to exceed $12,975.10 for a total amount not to exceed $1,207,298.61 and confirming and approving related expenditures incurred from November 1, 2025. Is there anything you'd like to explain about first readings?

123-26, this project out at the airport, so the city of Springfield owns the ground, including the ground around the National Air Guard Base, Air National Guard Base, and specifically for expansion of their missions, we had a fence project that provides additional security as it relates to the airport. And then, as mentioned through this, we're able to receive reimbursement back at 100% for the project that we were able to complete that, again, protects and provides for continued and expanded services from our Air National Guard base out at Springfield Beckley. And then the second item, first reading you heard on Spry Point, you heard about Spry Point, our utility billing software system tonight. And again, we pay for services that are received. The largest change order that resulted in the reduction in the total contract amount came from less on-site visits that were needed that were originally quoted in the project and We don't pay them for things that they do not complete.

The comments from commissioners for first readings. The comments from the audience on first readings only. Hearing none, we'll continue with second readings.

Amending Ordinance 91-90, passed March 12, 1991, and commonly known as the Codified Ordinances of the City of Springfield, Ohio, by repealing and replacing Chapter 1313, entitled Permit Fees, in its entirety.

So moved. Second. So moved and seconded. Are there comments from commissioners? From the audience? Ms. Rexroth?

Yes. Are you like changing this whole ordinance? You have separate agendas there. Is that, are you changing the whole thing?

That's correct. Yeah. So this relates to our building permit fees that have not been updated since 2003. Uh, and so it does remove that codified section, uh, and makes the fee establishment set administratively where, uh, through a journal entry, through evaluation of surrounding communities and their fee structure, that we can remain consistent. Again, it's been 2003 since we've adjusted those fees, and we need to look at the cost of the services that are provided. These specifically relate, again, to building permit, much like you'll see the next one is related to planning and zoning fees, which have not been updated since 2001, so making a very similar change there.

These are likely increases for these fees, right? They've not been consistent?

Yeah, that is correct. Okay. Okay.

Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Amending Ordinance Number 9190, passed March 12, 1991, and commonly known as the Codified Ordinances of the City of Springfield, Ohio, by amending certain provisions of Section 1127.02, entitled Submitting Applications.

So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Are there comments from commissioners? From the audience, call the roll.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Amending ordinance number 9190, passed March 12, 1991, and commonly known as the codified ordinances of the city of Springfield, Ohio, by amending certain provisions of chapter 1507, entitled special provisions.

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Are there comments from commissioners from the audience or call the roll?

Mrs. Packett? Yes. Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Authorizing the city manager to enter into an agreement with Life Safety Inspection Vault LLC to implement a fire inspection software as a service platform at no cost to the city.

So moved.

Second.

Been moved and seconded. You want to speak to this again, please?

Yeah, in the previous item and this item are really related as it relates to inspections involving fire alarms, suppression systems, range hoods, and so forth that would be a part of a commercial facility. And so specifically what we're doing here is creating a more efficient process by requiring these inspection service companies to upload their reports. So when they go out and inspect a hood a range hood and they certify that it is okay to operate and sticker that they then have to go back and submit that report and our fire rescue division will have immediate access to those reports and make sure that that business remains in compliance and operation and so the first item was addressing that those companies would have to upload that and then the second item is the actual software company and software that we will utilize so that we can have access to those reports.

The only thing I will add is one question you'd asked last time about our false alarm reports. So that's roughly 4% of our call volume, which last year amounted to just under 800 calls. And then this year it's already almost at 300 false alarm calls that we have read.

So out of the nearly 20,000 calls we're on track for this year, 4% of those were projected to be false alarm calls.

Correct. So what we're hoping with this software is we're going to reduce that.

That's great. Thank you for providing that information.

Yes, sir.

Other comments from the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Authorizing the city manager to enter into a development incentive agreement, single family residential development to provide for sewer services to real property outside the city limits located at 1741 Theron Road. So moved.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Are there comments from commissioners? From the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Ryu?

Yes.

authorizing the city manager law director and city the city engineer to do all things necessary to release a portion of the performance bond posted with the city in connection with the sycamore ridge phase one subdivision in proportion to the amount of public improvement work which has been completed second it's been moved and seconded our comments from commissioners from the audience

Yes, so all of our public infrastructure projects involved with housing development, specifically this is Sycamore Ridge, which is out at the corner of Burnett and Leffel. We require a bond to be in place that protects the full amount of the investment of public infrastructure, road, water, sewer, all those utilities and so forth that are part of the development. As the developer is completing major portions of that public infrastructure work, they can reduce that bond value. And so specifically here, we will reserve back a little over $200,000 in a bond. for final course asphalt some signage work some ada ramps that still need to be completed that would cover so if that developer goes away we would be able to pull that bond and complete the public infrastructure work that was completed but this allows them that they don't have to carry that full amount because they've had you know the the first course of asphalt's done utilities are installed they can start as those are inspected and and signed off on they can reduce that overall bond amount.

Other comments from the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Approving and authorizing the execution of a tax increment financing cooperative agreement by and among the city of Springfield, Ohio, West Central Ohio Port Authority, Maple Grove Investments of Springfield LLC and Argent Institutional Trust Company to provide for development in the city and declaring an emergency therein.

No move.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. You want to go ahead and explain this in detail, please?

Again, so this is an existing TIF that covers the Maple Grove residential development. This is the development right across from Walmart on the east side of the community. Ryan Holmes, I believe, is the builder. But this is a project just like Sycamore Ridge that we asked the developer to work closely with the school district to work with them on a solution. Again, TIFs are available or made available through the Ohio Revised Code. to any community throughout the state of Ohio. But again, being cognizant of the needs of the school district. And so this development on top of Sycamore Ridge, we're able to work with the school district in identifying kind of their pain point there. One of those pain points being over time, the school district is going to get new valuation and increased dollars, but they have to start planning before maybe they see additional enrollment. buying a bus, adding classrooms, those types of things. And so Maple Grove and the developer there was able to work with the school district to provide upfront payment as it relates to the school district so they can start investing in some of those improvements now. Thank you.

Comments from the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes.

authorizing the city to retain membership in the ohio benefits cooperative incorporated regional council of governments to participate in its obc medical purchasing cooperative and authorizing the city manager law director director of finance and the human resources director to do all things necessary for compliance with obc bylaws and the jefferson health plan agreement all to provide medical and prescription drug coverage benefits for the city's employees for the period of July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, authorizing expenditures necessary to fulfill the city's obligations under the said bylaws and JHP agreement, finding a real and present emergency pursuant to section 145.02 of the city's codified ordinances and declaring an emergency therein.

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. I know that was pretty explanatory, but give us more.

Yeah, so nuts and bolts. This is for our health insurance coverage that we offer to our employees. And that runs on that July 1 to June 30 calendar. And so we're in that renewal phase right now. With the 2026 budget, we had anticipated an increased potential of 10%. With this, we were able to see only a 4.25% increase on those health care benefits. Members, one, going with this cooperative and being a part of this has helped the city, specifically when we went to a self-insured pool. But also the member communities, other member communities, we're seeing north of the 7% range. So for us to be in the 4.25 range is very good.

Comments from the audience or call the roll.

This is packet. Yes. Mr. Ricketts. Yes. Mr. Rigsby. Yes. Mr. Wallace. Yes. Mr. Rue.

Yes.

Authorizing the city manager to enter into a contract with the Shelly Company for the Rehabilitate Tie Down Apron Construction Project at the Springfield Beckley Municipal Airport for an amount not to exceed $459,960 and declaring an emergency therein.

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Comments from commissioners? From the city manager?

Just to say, again, a $459,000 project out at the airport that is an improvement that is needed and necessary. We were able to secure an ODOT grant that pays for $436,000 of that. So for a $460,000 project to have $436,000 reimbursed from the state of Ohio, investing in our infrastructure here locally is critically important.

these projects would not happen without these grant opportunities excellent from the audience clerk call the roll Mr. Ricketts yes Mrs. Packett yes Mr. Rigsby yes Mr. Wallace yes Mr. Rue yes Authorizing the city manager to enter into a contract for the service center clear story roof replacement project with JMD architectural product for an amount not to exceed $269,000 and declaring an emergency therein. I'll move.

Second. I moved and seconded. Why are these emergencies?

Chris, you want to speak specifically on the roof project here?

the clear story roof was budgeted this year it's a 25 year old roof it was damaged in the wind storm back in march portions of it are missing it is leaking and the lead time on materials it's going to be very close to even get it here before winter to get it secured before winter time and

The reason why I asked is because emergency ordinances, obviously, it takes a super majority, four votes to pass these. And when there's several on the agenda, I'd like to make sure that why they're appearing the way they are. Thank you. Other comments from the audience? Call the roll.

Mrs. Packett? Yes. Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Confirming and approving change order number six to the contract between the city and A&B Asphalt Corporation for the Fountain Avenue Paving Phase 1B project to decrease the contract in an amount not to exceed $27,215.90. For a total contract amount not to exceed $2,453,294.54. And to extend the completion date to May 15, 2026. Authorizing the city manager to execute said change order number six. Declaring an emergency therein.

So moved.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Other comments from commissioners?

A decrease. Yay.

From the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Confirming and approving change order number four to the contract between the city and A&B Asphalt Corporation for the 2025 paving project to increase the contract in an amount not to exceed $57,922.42. for a total amount not to exceed $1,933,984.32 and to extend the project completion date to May 8th, 2026, authorizing the city manager to execute said change order number four and declaring an emergency therein.

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Are there comments from commissioners? From the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mr. Ryu?

Yes.

Confirming and approving change order number one to the contract between the city and the Shelley Company for the Northern Estates Paving Project to increase the contract in an amount not to exceed $209,157.50 for a total amount not to exceed $1,702,105.50 authorizing the city manager to execute change order number one and declaring an emergency therein. So moved.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Just a reminder to the public, we have to stay on top of these asphalt projects, the street projects, as much as we possibly can. Otherwise, communities are going to find themselves in the same spot in 15 years where we have been the last several years trying to make up for what wasn't done for a decade.

Yeah, and this is part of our neighborhood streets paving program, which is a result of the levy that was originally approved in 2017 and then renewed in 2021. And we've been able to pave over 100 streets. This year's project is up in the northern estates area, as this item mentioned. And what I'm glad to see, too, and by that. due diligence by our service department and the working with the contractors they're actually out there working now which a lot of times we're one of the last communities to see paving and a lot of this work doesn't happen until after Labor Day so I'm glad to see that it'll be happening earlier in the summer rather than later this time Brian I have a quick question for you that's pretty substantial increase can you explain why Yeah, this added additional areas. Chris, do you want to speak to those additional streets that are included now?

Yes, Commissioner. So this money was budgeted. This money was in the estimate. But two streets that were part of the project, Vester Avenue and Colony Lane, were not included in the original bid. So although this is increasing the contract amount, it is not increasing the budgeted amount for the project.

Okay, so we're getting a couple of extra streets than what was- Yeah, actually, Vester Avenue's done. Okay, great, thank you.

Thank you. Comments from the audience? Call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Confirming and approving a sub-grant award agreement for the acceptance of up to $119,999 Excuse me, $119,939.75 through the 2026 State of Ohio City of Springfield Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services, authorizing the city manager, director of finance, and law director to perform all acts and execute all documents considered necessary to fulfill the city's obligations under said grant and to comply with all relevant local, state, and federal legal requirements and declaring an emergency therein.

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. You want to speak to this grant, please? Yes. And specifically, I'll ask Chief Allison Elliott if she could speak to this.

Good evening again. Thank you, Mr. Manager, Mayor Rue, Commission. First, I'd like to say that we are extremely grateful that we've been considered through the Office of Criminal Justice Services to be a recipient of this grant funding. What this grant will do, it'll give us the opportunity to identify trends and patterns address and reduce violent crime in our community, essentially through data driven analysis. Additionally, this gives us the opportunity and ability to increase our technological capabilities for crime reduction. And perhaps the most, in our eyes right now, the most encouraging opportunity we have here with this grant is to partner with The Ohio State University through their Criminal Justice Research Center to analyze our data through what's called risk terrain modeling. And essentially this technique is an analysis technique used to identify environmental factors that contribute to crime. So this goes beyond just the hot spot specific enforcement and initiatives. This also, this partnership will assist us in identifying best practices and techniques that will allow us to tailor our intervention and prevention tactics in coordination with our community partners to prevent and address violent crime through these proactive initiatives. I know that's a lot of information, but again, we're extremely grateful to have this opportunity, I think, partner with the Ohio State University through their efforts, which we know they have worked with multiple different agencies through the state of Ohio to reduce violent crime. And through these analyses, they have seen a reduction. And it also gives us an opportunity with these not only enforcement initiatives, but preventative engagement initiatives that this grant funding will provide.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any comments from the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Providing for supplemental appropriations within various funds and declaring an emergency therein.

So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Ms. Cady?

Certainly Mayor and Commissioners. So Commission approves original appropriations which is the original budget in December of each year for the following year and then we come back with requests for supplemental appropriations for any fund that's not a grant fund to increase or decrease those budgets. This is an increase in the general fund. At the last meeting we brought forth the purchase of the ladder truck. We brought forth supplemental appropriations to purchase that truck. What we did not bring forward was the appropriations in the general fund to transfer monies to the permanent improvement fund. So we are bringing that forward tonight so that we can actually complete that transfer. Then in our community activities fund, we are appropriating donations that were received so that those monies can be expended. And then in our permanent improvement fund, we had some elevator damage due to a recent storm out at the air traffic control tower. we have received insurance proceeds for that claim and so now we are asking that we can appropriate those monies that we have received in order to complete that repair and I would just like to jump back to as we're talking about the budget and supplemental appropriations many of the items that you hear on the agenda tonight So when we look at the contract for the clear story roof replacement, for the tie down apron out at Springfield Beckley, when we look at neighborhood street paving, all of these are projects that are presented in the city manager's budget, which we complete in November. We have several meetings with commissioners. That document is available on the city's website at SpringfieldOhio.gov. The reason that this is an emergency is so that we can get those budget dollars in place and get purchase orders in place so that we can expend these dollars.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Other comments from the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Ryu?

Yes.

Confirming purchases and the obtaining of services for the city and providing for payments therefore and declaring an emergency therein.

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Other comments from commissioners? From the audience? Clerk call the roll.

Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes.

The following... A motion to publish tentative assessments to property owners for the 2024 Sidewalk Urban Gutter Program.

So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Other comments from commissioners? From the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Ryu?

Yes.

The next three items have been added to the agenda. Authorizing the city manager to enter into a subrecipient agreement with Homeful for supportive services and operation of an emergency shelter in an amount not to exceed $853,758 for a period of one year with an option to renew for one additional one year period. Confirming and approving related expenditures incurred from May 13th, 2026 and declaring an emergency therein.

Moved.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded, city manager.

Yes, I will have Community Development Director Logan Cobbs speak to this item.

Mayor Rue, Commissioners, good evening. Logan Cobbs, Director of Community Development. Item number 131-26 before you this evening is a contract for the operation of an emergency homeless shelter within our community. The proposed operator of this agreement is Homeful. They're an organization with extensive experience providing shelter, housing stabilization and supportive services throughout really the region and across the state of Ohio as a whole. I do want to note that this partnership is not entirely unique to Springfield or Clark County. Homeful has previously served our community and is familiar with our needs and our challenges and the service landscape as a whole. So as I stand before you tonight, I do, before I talk, you know, contract specifics, I do just want to take an opportunity to thank Homeful for really stepping forward and for their willingness to help fill a significant need in our community during what I'm sure we would all agree is a very important time. Quite frankly, many operators may not be willing to step into an environment that's as complex as this one. I think it's important to recognize and really appreciate their willingness to partner with us and serve our residents. So under this agreement, Homeful will be responsible for all day-to-day operations of the shelter. So that would include staff, that would include intake, facility management, coordination of services. and supportive services for displaced single men and women and families and of course that includes children. So those experiencing homelessness in our community. This agreement before you tonight would become effective tomorrow with shelter operations officially anticipated to launch on Friday. The total contract amount is a not to exceed amount of $835,758. I think it's important to note, as is the case with all of our grant agreements, this is on a reimbursement basis. So we would be reimbursing them based off of the invoices and the funds that they have already expended. So that does not necessarily mean that the full grant amount would be expended. The city will utilize a variety of funding sources to support these operations and associated services. In addition to shelter operations, this agreement also includes supportive services that are really focused on helping individuals and families move toward more long-term stability through housing placement, assistance, case management, employment support, and connections to community resources. So thank you for your consideration. Of course, I stand by to answer any questions you may have.

So since the moment we heard Sheltered Inc. was going to have concerns uh this is the first group we re-engaged right yes sir yeah and that was back when did we first start talking to them again it would have been november yes sir when we first learned that there could be concern when um i believe sheltered announced that they were going to close around thanksgiving they were going to close at the end of the year that's where the city stepped forward and uh helped put a warming shelter together one of the coldest winters we've had in a long time by the way And then from that point, we've continued the conversations to make sure we have a provider. We try to get a provider. And then when we learned that there was an ultimate closing of Shelter and Inc., we continued to engage Homeful, right? this is the same organization that was running the executive in before the city voted that down right yes so this is a full circle vote to an organization that obviously is doing good work in the Dayton area has good marks along the state could you what is their percentage of turning people who are homeless back into the community

I don't have that number off the top of my head, Mayor Rue. I can circle back with you on what their exit numbers look like. I can get that fairly quickly for you.

Well, I just appreciate...

It is above the state and national average, though. I can say that.

Great. I appreciate Homeful being willing to come back into our community and attempt to work with us again. My hope is that their experience as an organization will be better than it was the last time. just to make sure that the citizens understand this is the only, only organization that will be providing services to the homeless community. And we're looking for the energy and the professionalism to help Springfield at this time. So I appreciate you and your staff for working hard and keeping the conversation open. And this wasn't the only organization we had conversations with. We communicated, I believe you told me, with several other organizations. And this was the only one that was willing to enter into a contract or try to have a contract with us. Is that right?

It is. It's a difficult space, obviously. As we know, so many nonprofits are simply trying to serve their own communities. So to ask them to take on another municipality, another community as well can be difficult. So We extended those conversations through email and phone call, and many nonprofits just said, we don't have the capacity. We wish we can help, but we're struggling ourselves. So again, it really speaks to the volume of Homeful stepping up in such a big way and filling this gap for our community.

And there may be other small organizations that want to basically come forward and try to help the homeless community, but this would be the largest provider that we have to address the concern of how many residents are we concerned about? I mean, necessarily that will be displaced as of the 22nd?

Sure. So as of this morning at Sheltered Inc., there are 14 single men. And then as of Friday, there were five single women and four families, and that does include six children.

Thank you. I wanted to point out, too, one of the challenges and the complexities in this is making sure that we're leveraging all the dollars that we can into our community for homelessness. And one of the challenges over the last couple years has been access to TANF dollars, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, which is a county source of funding through the state of Ohio. And a current provider has not been able to access those funds, which created challenges. And so we're hopeful that the county will be able to then provide TANF dollars back into the community to help assist with the homeless, because we certainly need that support and that assistance. We can't bear this burden alone. Logan's having conversations with the state of Ohio. for some of their programs to try to get additional dollars back in here again we heard the budget issues and challenges that exist but we need it has to be more than just the city of Springfield providing those those dollars and those resources to help with the challenges we see with our displaced individuals throughout our community other comments from commissioners yes

Good? Commissioner?

I want to acknowledge the work of the citizens that worked at Sheltered Inc. and the many individuals who have dedicated themselves to serving members of our homeless community over the years. As they prepare to close this chapter, I also want to recognize the many other organizations doing this work every single day. Organizations like St. Vincent de Paul, Project Woman, Mental Health and Recovery Boards, Springfield City Schools, and many others that step in to help individuals and families in crisis. It's important that these providers and community organizations are included in ongoing discussions as we work toward a truly comprehensive and collaborative plan for homelessness in our community. I also think it's important to acknowledge a difficult reality. Honestly and compassionately, not every individual experiencing homelessness is ready to accept help immediately. Some are struggling with addiction or mental health challenges. Some have pets they don't want to leave behind. Some have legal issues or warrants they need to address. Some simply are not ready to engage with services yet. That does not mean services are unavailable or that organizations are not trying. We cannot solve problems we refuse to acknowledge honestly and recognizing those challenges as part of building effective solutions. Thank you.

You want to speak to the microphone, Commissioner? As part of this, can we talk about where the new shelter is going to be?

Yes, Commissioner. The emergency shelter site will be at the former Fire Station 5, which is on Commerce Road. That will be serving single men, single women, and families with children under one roof. Shelter operations will be constructed in a way to ensure appropriate separation and privacy for men women and families. And HOMEFUL leadership has already begun operational planning related to meal service, shower schedules, intake procedures, staffing levels, safety considerations, and really just day-to-day operations of the shelter. this this isn't a permanent site for them out what is the timeline that may happen or if they find something that they can move into what does that look like thank you for that question so absolutely this this site is intended for temporary emergency shelter as operations stabilize efforts will immediately begin to identify and pursue more sustainable

long-term shelter locations but this is by no means the be-all end-all of of services I'd also like to comment I'd like to really congratulate you for for putting this together I know how hard you've worked on this the last I mean for a long time And we looked at other locations. And for one reason or another, there's no empty building. There's no shelter that we can just walk into without spending millions of dollars on updates. The fact that we're able to use a former firehouse that's city property allows us to do this without spending a huge amount of money on capital outlays, which allows us then to put more money towards actual services. And as I say, I know you've worked on this long and hard, and I just want to congratulate you for your hard work.

So I truly appreciate that. Congratulations. But I think this is a congratulations and a win for the community as a whole to have a new operator willing to come in and operate a site that to your point, we currently own that was currently a governmental site is a really big win. And truly, this is a team effort is it is as everything we do here at the city. So thank you.

Thank you.

Comments from the audience.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mr. Ryu?

Yes.

Consenting to the appointment of Scott Hootman to the City Planning Board.

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Are there comments from Commissioners?

Yes. I would just like to note that this is a direct effect of what the Citizen Government Academy is doing. Scott participated in this, and when you're part of this academy, you learn to just be slow to speak, quick to listen, and then figure out where you could belong in something. And kudos to Scott for being part of the solution and not the problem and stepping up and saying he wanna do his part to help the community. So thank you, Scott.

Comments from the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mr. Ryu?

Yes.

Consenting to the appointment of Tristan Quintero to the Board of Zoning Appeals.

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Other comments from commissioners? Appreciate the willingness to serve and be involved. Comments from the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes. There are commissioner announcements and acknowledgements. Before we go, I had the opportunity to GO TO WHITENBERG'S GRADUATION ON SATURDAY REPRESENTING THE CITY. IT WAS DR. BRADY'S FIRST GRADUATION WITH WHITENBERG. VERY ENCOURAGED TO BE THERE. well over 250 some students that went through and got degrees and they were excited. And one of the things I heard in a couple of the student speakers was what the lesson they learned over the last four years of sticking to things, even when there was uncertainty and, you know, and speaking about the university and things we've read. I just, I just thought that was, a lesson learned within something they didn't expect to learn. And I will say that Dr. Brady has grasped the vision of Wittenberg and is moving forward in rapid and excellent speed. And I'm encouraged to hear in the next year the amount of students that are coming into Wittenberg is exceeding, and that is very good for Springfield. So just want to commend Wittenberg, the board, and Dr. Brady for his efforts.

I would like to add on to that and just congratulate all the 2026 seniors across the city and the county and congratulations that they will be hopefully becoming some Wittenberg Tigers and good luck with your future and congratulations.

I want to publicly thank the Springfield Fire and Rescue Division for spending time with me recently on a ride along, although I still was not able to drive. Chief King. I think it's important to recognize that they were recently named the number one fire department in the state of Ohio, which is an incredible accomplishment and reflection of their professionalism and dedication. Additionally, members of the department were honored last week with the Medal of Valor, and I was grateful to attend, along with Mayor Rue, City Manager Heck was there, and staff members, yes. We're fortunate to have such committed public servants protecting this community. I also want to remind citizens that resources do exist for non-emergency support. by dialing 211, individuals can connect with local services and assistance available in our area. And I also want to give a shout out to the Community Health Foundation for putting together the Clark and Champaign County Health Resource Guide, which serves as an important tool to help people navigate health, housing, and everyday living needs, empowering people with information and connections to available resources and an important part of strengthening our community. Also, I WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT LAST WEEK WAS NATIONAL POLICE WEEK. SO THANK YOU TO THE CLARK COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT AND OUR SPRINGFIELD POLICE DIVISION FOR THEIR DEDICATION TO OUR COMMUNITY. WE APPRECIATE YOU AND I HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR DONUTS. AND THEN JUST A SHOUT OUT TO THE FOLKS ORGANIZING THE MEMORIAL DAY PARADE. IT TAKES PLACE MONDAY AT 9 A.M. IT'S AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF VOLUNTEER TIME AND COORDINATION TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE. Thank you for that, and I encourage residents to attend, not only to celebrate the community, but to remember the true meaning of Memorial Day. It's an honor, and remember the men and women who gave their lives and sacrificed for our country. Thank you.

Last year, the Springfield City Commission approved an agreement with the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center to promote fair housing in accordance with Fair Housing Act and applicable Ohio Fair Housing laws and regulations. This partnership is intended to help ensure equal access to housing opportunities for community members. Through this collaboration, we aim to educate the community, prevent housing discrimination, and support both tenants and housing providers in understanding their rights and responsibilities. The first community education session is scheduled for June 1st and will be the first of three planned sessions. We invite tenants, landlords, realtors, property managers, and anyone interested in learning more to attend the fair housing information session on June 1st from five o'clock to 615 at the Clark County Public Library main branch. A flyer and additional information about this session can be found on the city's website and on our Facebook page.

Thank you. I have to say that it's national EMS week as well. So thank you to those folks too.

which is all of our firefighters, right? I think it's, wait a minute, it's National Public Works Service Week too. No joke. Thank you to our public service workers as well. A lot of stuff going on in May. To Commissioner Tackett's point about veterans, we truly appreciate those that have laid their life down, willing to lay their life down for their country. And as a commission, we definitely do honor and celebrate veterans this Memorial Day. We'll be thinking about them and their families. and my nine-year-old's calling me. It must be a late meeting, sorry.

Anyway, is there other comments from commissioners?

Okay, is there a motion to adjourn the meeting?

I'll move.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett?

Yes.

Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Ryu?

Yes. Thank you for coming tonight.