City Commission - Regular Meeting

Is called to order, clerk call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts?

Here.

Mr. Rigsby? Here. Mrs. Tackett? Here. Mr. Wallace?

Here.

Mr. Rue? City Manager?

Yes. Tonight, Commission, we have one work session item, and it's a presentation on our Drone as a First Responder program, and I'm going to turn it over to Assistant City Manager and Economic Development Director Tom Franzen, who's going to introduce our speakers.

Thank you very much, Mayor and Commissioners. Glad to... be here this evening to talk about the DFR program. Obviously, you have approved a couple pieces of this program along the way, so the opportunity to go after the ODOT grant was one piece to it, and then also the last meeting we approved the CalAnalytics, which is the traffic management system that is a part of this system as well. So tonight, before you, is going to be the approval of the purchasing of the equipment itself, the Motorola and brink system that you all have seen so that's tonight but we thought it was a good time to talk to you about the overall program and explain a little bit how we're going to operate it and so i'm going to do some quick introductions and hand it off to the experts because either the guys that have been doing the work to put it together but first i did want to thank the state legislature for the program that put this together and particularly the leadership of Representative Bernie Willis was really instrumental in this. And so we were excited to be one of the communities selected to have one of these programs. So tonight, Captain Mike Kranz with Police Department, very instrumental in getting this put together, Sergeant Tommy, Potter as well. We've been working on this for months. Assistant Chief Brian Leshweski, Captain Chris Cooper, and also Jason Vai was very instrumental in carrying this out too. So I wanted to give him a shout out. He's at a conference and couldn't be here tonight or he'd be down here as well. And then to my left is Rich Fox. He's the Director of the Ohio State Department of Transportation UAS Center out at the NAMC. We were looking up at the faces, and Rich says, I think I've met every commissioner up there that you've all been out and shown interest in this and been supportive, and so we certainly appreciate that. But I'll go ahead and hand it over to Rich and let him kind of kick off the ODOT overview, what their participation is, and then we'll hand it over to our guys to talk about the program.

Thank you, Tom. Mayor, commissioners, glad to be here. A year ago in June, the Ohio legislature appropriated funding to ODOT to kick off this pilot program to support our first responders. The reason they chose us, we're the UAS center based at the NAMC at Springfield Airport. We operate a fleet of 70 aircraft across the state, 60 pilots. We support the ground infrastructure for ODOT. But as we look towards the future, see the technology, we are the leader of integrating that into our workforce across the state. As Tom mentioned, CalAnalytics, an Ohio company, they're working on the traffic management portion of the UAS program. As drones start to proliferate and fly more, we're going to need some form of air traffic control at lower altitudes. The FAA is not going to do it. They don't have the capabilities equipment-wise and staffing-wise to do that, so it's falling to the state. So through this pilot program, the municipalities that are participating will collect that data and provide it to the FAA. When we talk about drone as a first responder, the technology that's used for the program is called drone in a box, and it's very literal. It stays in an enclosed structure. It's heated, cooled, and the drone is powered all the time, and it's able to operate on demand. And the whole purpose of that is to elevate the capabilities of our first responders to get to a scene as fast as they possibly can. Seconds count. So that's why we are piloting this program. Ohio was the first one to create a statewide program. Thanks to our legislature, we're very aviation forward thinking. Bernie Willis is one of our biggest advocates, what you're representative here in the state. And as I mentioned, the data that's collected from the UTM prospect of it will help the FAA change the regulations and the Department of Transportation as we move forward. These are the objectives of the program. As we look at multiple categories there, the main goal here is to standardize, make it a turnkey operation for our first responders. There's multiple steps involved in this pilot program. We've created a turnkey solution where we allowed vendors to come in that the different municipalities can select from. Each municipality has different software stacks. We didn't want to pick one system and force the departments to use that. So they were introduced to these companies. They get a system. It gets deployed. They get trained on the system. It gets installed. We work with them through the FAA process. Anything that flies in the air needs authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration, and there's a lot of paperwork that goes behind that. So the project manager that leads this gets that for them as well. Timeline, like I said, we started back in June. Our goal is, we're in phase two now, we selected eight municipalities. Originally we had nine, one withdrew. We're in phase three where we're preparing and training of the eight municipalities now. Six of them have procured the systems, two are deployed. in the field and our timeline hopefully is to get them all stood up by June. We have an obligation to create a report for the legislature in 27 of what the pilot program generated. And we wanna get a year of operating characteristics from the municipalities so we can have a good report. These are the eight municipalities. The selection process had different criteria. Not only were we looking for geographic locations across the state, you can see where well-spread Athens was in the southeast, but we're also looking at rural, suburban, and urban environments. this technology, as good as it can be, there are some limitations. And depending on where you are, where you're flying, there are going to be some challenges. So that was part of the criteria. We wanted to be well-represented across the state and in different municipalities. We have a strong working relationship with Springfield out of the NAMC, and they've been a great advocate of what we do here locally. To kick the program off, we had an industry day at over 120 participants there, and we introduced them to the vetted vendors. This program focused on American-made products that were National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA compliant. And these were the companies that were vetted that met that criteria. And again, the different departments have different requirements. So that's why we had multiple vendors for them to pick. The role that the state played was a reimbursement role. The city will purchase the equipment and then we will reimburse all the operating costs or the cost of deploying the system back to the cities. So that was the state's role for the funding process. That's the DFR program. And we're excited to see it kick off and hear it in Springfield. Any questions? Brian, go ahead.

Mayor and commissioners, we're going to move on to Our program here, we want to give you a really brief overview of our current program. So currently between police and fire, we have a total of eight drones that we're already flying. They're handheld drones. They're not the DFR we're talking about. We also have 18 Part 107 pilots. I'll explain that here in a minute. And these are just some of the cases that we are already using them for. So our pilots that we already have go through training. They have to be Part 107 certified, which is an FAA-regulated certification they have to go get tested for. We do constant training to make sure that we are FAA compliant. We are also making sure that all the legal issues, we're training all our pilots in that. And we also do a little bit above and beyond. We go into what's called a NIST lane, which is just the skills, kind of a hands-on use of the drone that we do on top of the FAA, or sorry, the Part 107. So I'm going to let Captain Kranz kind of let this. I got three use cases for you that will kind of show you what we've done already, and then we'll go from there.

Missioners, this is actually a Springfield case. Chief King from the Fire Division was flying this drone. And what you'll see on the right is obviously the visible light spectrum that a regular camera can handle. But what you see on the left is the thermal capabilities of these drones. This gentleman that we're currently apprehending fired a gun through a window, shot his girlfriend, and they tracked him down. Chief King was able to see a thermal signature alongside that little building and If you, early in the video, you can see our officers directly across the fence from him. They couldn't see him, but the drone was able to see him. That's Clark County's dog that was able to get in there, and they got him out. In a few seconds here, you'll see a detective pull a gun off of him. He was convicted in April of that offense.

As we move on to a fire case, this is a salvage yard here in Springfield we had. What we use the drone here for was to help the ground crews that are established water supply, making sure they're putting it in the right place. Here in a second, you'll also see this drone go into a thermal capability. So I'll have you look at this white tank right here, just for perspective, because when we turn to thermal, what I'm going to show you is there's a little bit of a signature there. So we're kind of looking at where the heat's going, but you can see this is the same vision. It's the same time of day. It's just we're using the thermal camera there. kind of get heat signatures so this next one I'm going to play this video it's going to be about 15 seconds before I let you see the thermal and I want you to see if you can see the person that we're actually looking for so right now this is a normal view so this is a camera like on your phone or like your eye here in a second you're going to see it go to thermal and I want you to see how easy it is At the bottom of the screen there, you'll see the missing person who we actually found. Using this technology, we were able to find that person within about 10 minutes. That's after the drone deployed. Of course, with DFR, we're going to reduce those times significantly. So as that was our regular program that we're using currently, the DFR program, we were looking for something that's going to increase officer and firefighter safety. in the way that they're going to have that overview so they can give us eyes in the sky. Um, it does have some evidence for preservation cause it can do 3d mapping. Um, But the incident response efficiencies, so we'll talk a little bit about that. So when we deploy a DFR drone, it'll go up in the sky. It'll get there within about 45 seconds to a little over a minute, just depending on travel time. Our response times are sitting right at five minutes, six minutes. The drone will get there early. So, for example, if we're going to go out on a structure fire, we get called out for a structure fire and it ends up being just a pile of trash in the backyard. We can actually... decrease our response so we don't have as many units going to that call at that time. It's also going to free up officers so that you can get rid of some of the lower priority calls so that the officers can handle the high priority calls. The improved de-escalation, the next video, I'm going to let Captain Franz set.

So this is actually a brink video put out by the company that we're going, the vendor we're going with. It's a little pokey, and I apologize for that. But what you kind of need to watch for is there's two gentlemen that end up staying in a parking lot, but you can't see very well as they have a firearm in their hand or what appears to be a firearm in their hand. That's the whole concept behind this video is to show how the drone can be used to deescalate situations and allow a safer, more controlled response than we would normally face.

911, what is your emergency?

I think I'm being robbed. Three guys at my store and they have a gun.

What is the address?

Jack's Mini Mart. 6316 North 83rd Street.

Responder one en route. Arrival in 45 seconds. Edward 9, 3 minutes out. Edward 11, ETA in 6.

Caller states two white males standing outside, possibly armed. One white male inside the store.

Edward 9, copy. And we have our generational perspectives. We have our armed robbery in progress. Pull up the drone feed. Yes, sir.

Three suspects are on foot. Alleyway adjacent to the food mart. Wait, is that just a lighter?

Unit, stand by. It appears to be a lighter.

Responder one, affirmative. Objects appears to be a lighter and not a weapon. No, we're not copy. Go on the live feed. We'll make contact and advise.

It's not hard to imagine how this situation could have gone differently. BRAVE is building a system to give first responders more information before they arrive at emergency.

What you see there, part of the system allows that immediate communication of that video. They can have officers actually log in, see everything that pilots are seeing in real time.

Just to go over this, Rich already talked about the vendor day for the procurement process. We did attend the vendor day. We're able to talk to all those vendors. We went through the standard RFP process, then submitted vendors, did an interview. Then we selected Brink. We've been through contract reviews. Now we're here. So this is the drone that we are going with. We'll have two of these Brink responders. Wanted to give you some of the capabilities of this drone. One of the things is it does have a parachute. So if there is a malfunction, it will deploy a parachute. It has two-way communication, as you've seen. It does have emergency lights. It's about 42 minutes flight time. That's dependent on weather, wind, that kind of thing. Thermal camera, I showed you that. And it will do optical avoidance. So this is just a coverage map. This is not an overall. This is just the general area that we get the best flight times out of. Those are positioned currently here at City Hall and then over Station 8. Part of the grant is we're looking for interoperability with other departments as well. So you're going to see that we have quite a lot of interoperability with Springfield Township, German Township. some of the other townships around us and as well it also covers the highway for us so as you know we go out on the highway quite often and that helped us find the accidents and also gives more safety to our providers that are out on the highway. As we go through the process, we are going to be looking at data. As Rich also said, we're looking to help the state and some of their data points, but we're also looking for our data points and being able to provide to you the benefits of this program. So you can see these are all the parts that we're actually going to be looking at.

There is some concern from the public on civil liberties and transparency. These are not going to be a patrol drone. They're going to only be launched under specific circumstances to go out and handle calls or go to look for some specific thing. So they only have a 42-minute life or flight time. You can't fly up and down the street looking for things. There is no facial recognition technology on it. We cannot weaponize or will not weaponize these drones. The video footage in this is going to be stored very similar to the same way that our body-worn camera and our ink are all going to be. Amazon web storage, cloud-based storage, and we will do regular audits. That's part of the reporting to the state as well. We're gonna have the ability to, or I'm sorry, all video is gonna be subject to FOIA requests, just like all of our body-worn camera and in-car cameras. We're gonna retain it for our department policy. Probably one of the biggest things on here that we like about the system is the transparency reports that it can generate. Each flight will generate a flight report, and we put that on a transparency portal that can be very easily made public. Uh, Rossford PD up there, Toledo has this system and we, you can log into their webpage time. You want to look at all of their flights and tell you, right. They'll tell you right where they went.

Yeah, and this next slide is actually just what ours would look like. This is a Brink transparency portal. Again, if you go to Rossford, there's no username, there's no password. This is public information. It's linked right on the website, which is the same thing we'll have, so that the public can go and see exactly where the flight was, and you can actually scroll down the street level and tell exactly where the drone was at every flight. And that's what we have. Any questions?

I have one. I was just... Go ahead. All right, I'll go first. I thought you said go ahead.

Having somewhat of an emergency management background, I can see where this is going to be very, very beneficial to especially the fire department and the hazmat team. uh hazmat situations usually take an extended period of time and uh the fact that your drones are limited as far as how long they can be in the air this just augments that and uh and you know if we have a situation that ends up being day and night i just i can't this is just going to be great it's going to be great addition to that and so i'm very happy to support this

I was up here thinking these are all incidents, like active incidents that we were watching. Are we able to use this for prevention? Like I'm thinking of the fire department being able to kind of go up onto the buildings if we have issues on top of the buildings to kind of check out the infrastructure. Maybe it's bridges, safety of bridges. Are we able to use that for this?

The DFR program is more about that response where we have our handhelds. The handhelds would be what we would preference on that because we could launch them from anywhere. And again, we have batteries we can swap, we can land and swap. These also, if they're out on scene, Commissioner Rick's point, we can be at a scene and land this drone wherever we're at, change the battery and then take it right back off. And then when we're finally done, it'll return to home. So we do have the ability to have some extended scene times. And then in collaboration with our handheld drones, it's just going to even be better.

Thank you.

How are they going to handle the drone feeds to responding units? In other words, are the cars going to have access to the drone feeds as they respond and the engines, ladders, battalion?

Yeah, so this feed is able to be piped to iPads, which every apparatus has. So as you've seen, he had it on his phone. So anybody that has the access to it can access those feeds.

And it'll support multiple feeds?

Yes.

Excuse me. What steps or procedures do you have in place to make sure a captain or somebody doesn't abuse the drone process? Is there any steps in place to when you use a drone? Is there someone that has to okay it? Is there steps in place to make sure it's not being abused by someone or misused?

Yeah, so we only have certain pilots and every pilot is certified through the FAA. So they have to follow the rules and regulations of the FAA.

I'm sorry, I mean like if one of you are misusing it and somebody tells them, hey, I need you to get the drone up in the air and it's not normally the reason for it to go up. Is there policies in place to make sure somebody is not misusing the pilots and telling them to use it.

Yeah. We both, both organizations, both divisions have policies that are in place that deal with that.

Every flight of these drones is going to be reported as well. It's going to be pretty obvious if there's somebody doing something wrong when we do the audits as they're conducted. I think it's going to be pretty obvious.

Good.

Thank you.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

So moved. Second.

Clerk, call the roll. Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for coming. Thank you, gentlemen.

I'm just going to add real quick. I forgot to introduce a couple folks from Motorola that are here. They weren't part of our presentation, but they're over here.

So if we have questions, the night goes on.

But Jordan West and Mike Swope from Motorola are here, too.

Thank you for being here. Thank you. Thanks, Tom. Public comment period of the city commission is called to order. Clerk, call the roll. Mr. Ricketts.

Here.

Mr. Rigsby.

Here.

Mrs. Tackett. Here. Mr. Wallace. Here. Mr. Rue. All right.

If anyone in the audience would like to address the commission, you need to complete a comment card and hand it to the clerk. There is a three-minute limit per person. The City Commission remains committed to creating a conducive environment for 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 address for the record. A state issued ID or driver's license must be provided when filling out a card and only those residing within Springfield and Clark County will be permitted to speak during the public comment period. Comment cards will be accepted up to 15 minutes after the start of the formal legislative meeting. Those who are determined to have provided false information on the card will not be permitted to speak at this meeting as well as the next regularly scheduled city commission meeting. We are truly committed to making the meeting an environment where people have an opportunity to share their ideas, thoughts, and concerns. While 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, they will be notified that they are considered trespassed and barred from attending any further City Commission meetings. As a reminder, the citizen participation guidelines allow comments on legislative agenda items. Each citizen may comment on up to three agenda items per meeting with a total speaking time of three minutes for all agenda matters. First turn, Mr. Scott Wolf.

Good evening assistant mayor Tackett commissioners my name is Scott Wolf I'm the president of Springfield professional firefighters local 333 over the last several weeks I've spoken in this forum on the importance and need for staff safe staffing for the Springfield fire rescue division and for the citizens we serve tonight I would like to urge the commission and the city administration to be proactive in staffing the fire division the process to get a member hired and on the streets is in most cases approximately four to six months, and then additionally trained and fully functional can take up to 42 months. Considering this prolonged hiring and onboarding process, our authorized strength needs to be at the very, very least maintained. It must be treated like the rock bottom and not as the ceiling. As a reminder, our current authorized strength is 130 uniformed firefighters. The city charter mandates 127 uniformed firefighters. Today we sit at 128. But we have two firefighters that are in the end process of obtaining medical retirement and will never be on the street again. So in essence, and very soon in fact, the fire division will fall well below the authorized strength and below the charter mandate. We are responding to more calls for service, broadening our services and specialties, and doing it with the same number of members that was sufficient 35-plus years ago, but not any longer. This needs to stop being a tomorrow problem. The Fire Division and the citizens of Springfield need a now solution. Safe staffing for Springfield. Thank you.

Thank you. Melissa Rexroth?

I have not been listened to here. I've been dismissed and treated disrespectfully. So I took my concerns to the state house regarding the data center. I believe it will cause issues. And I've been trying to warn you, I have data facts and put in hours of research. Why is it that a chronically ill constituent has to do what you should have done prior to approving attack debatement? If you do not listen to your constituents, we will go above you. We are tired of you silencing our voice and controlling what the media says about Springfield. The more you try to silence me, the more I will speak out. I've been silenced by Springfield more times than I can count. The court system silenced me by lying and saying I was court ordered to not disparage the courts, judges, lawyers on social media. I believed them for two years until I went to the courthouse to find the order and there was none. My abuser has tried to silence me. Lawyers and judges have allowed my abuser to use the courts to harass me. My own lawyer told me I didn't have enough to win a protection order as I walked into the courtroom. He said that after he pulled my abuser's lawyer into a private room. In the hearing, my own lawyer accused me of filing it to get back at my abuser when I provided proof of every claim I made. My lawyer then sat on his phone the entire time I was questioned by my abuser's lawyer. And my abuser's lawyer laughed when he was shown pictures of bruises on my arms, choke marks on my neck, and a butcher knife stabbed into my table. Is this how Springfield treats all domestic violence victims? Or just me? So you can thank my abuser, my two corrupt lawyers, my abuser's lawyer, the sheriffs who did nothing when I called for help, the guardian ad litem who let my son suffer, and the way you treat us in these meetings for forcing me to grow a spine and gain strength and now be a thorn in your side. You can thank Springfield Corruption for me being here every two weeks when I'm healthy enough to be here. And again, let me remind you, my health issues directly tied to the physical abuse I endured by my abuser. This is not where I want to be. I want to be home with my family, but my soul won't let me rest while you're running a majority of your constituents to the ground. Or is that your plan? Drive the poor out and build nice new things to bring a better demographic here? Police don't come when we call. Fire isn't staffed appropriately. I could go on and on, but you get the point. I'm tired of being silenced. You dismissing me and pretending I don't bring valid concerns to you will only push me more. I'm tired of being run over by Springfield. I blame those of you who voted to give these data centers a tax abatement for bringing this into our community. You gave them incentive to come here. Again, I ask what research did you do before voting on that abatement? Did you think to do research or did you believe the pretty package they sold you and see dollar signs? You should know better than any of us how business goes. You only talk about the good points and have talking points ready to defend that stance if someone questions it. Businesses love uninformed people. They're an easy target. You are either uninformed or you didn't care about the cost to your constituents. I've been asking every meeting, do you care about your constituents? Do you care they are being bled dry and can barely survive? They will be living right next to these data centers that spew poisons in the air and possibly water. Or is it the money you will receive from the company be worth your constituents' health? air and land pollution, heat dome it will create, disruption of wildlife, sounds and frequencies that are emitted, and more. We expect you to make good decisions for us, not ones that will harm us. I am asking for a moratorium on data centers in Springfield.

Thank you, ma'am. Claudia Fett.

City Commissioners, Assistant Mayor Tackett, City Manager Mr. Heck, the South Fountain Preservation Board members and neighbors would like to publicly state their appreciation to Chris Moore, Springfield City Service Director, Kurt Tyson, Assistant City Service Director, and their team, as well as James Wills, Springfield City Forester, for helping transform the section of South Fountain Avenue that runs through our historic district. Chris and team have worked consistently to see that the resurfacing of our street was done well. The paint applied to the road surface at intersections and the 25 mile per hour signage have helped alert people to what is expected of them when driving in our historic district. some of our historic street lights had to be moved and new electric lines run due to the street resurfacing the moving of street lights meant that our tree lawns were dug up so grass seed had to be sown and a re-contouring of the soil completed i hold a punch list in hand that details the attention paid to the street resurfacing, the street light moving, and the tree lawn reseeding. James Wills and team have been attentive to our beautiful old trees that we dearly want to maintain and protect in our area. We are most thankful for the diligence shown by these individuals and their teams. This project began in November 2025 and has been accomplished in May 2026. We thank them dearly.

Thank you ma'am. Nicole Bethel.

Hello. PFAs are very resistant to breaking down. They accumulate slowly over time in the environment and body. They accumulate in your tissues, therefore they're not metabolized. Over the time, the accumulation affects the blood, liver, and kidneys. They're linked to high rates of cancer. Data centers are known to use many PFAs, including colins, glycols, fire suppressants, water treatment chemicals, algaecides, diesel emissions, battery acids, and E. E-waste. Northeast Waste Management Official Association performed studies in Ohio, West Virginia, and North Carolina and found that air emissions from generators deposited PFAs in the soil and contaminated drinking wells up to 20 to 30 miles away. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization found PFAs in groundwater moved slower, which can allow for a larger accumulation of PFAs. THE FOREVER CHEMICALS INITIALLY SPREAD 1 TO 6 MILES BUT EVENTUALLY OVER 6.2 MILES. OUR AQUIFOR DOES NOT HAVE A NATURAL PROTECTIVE BARRIER AND IS 20 FEET FROM THE SURFACE WHICH MAKES IT VERY SUSCEPTIBLE TO CONTAMINATION. JULY 2025, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BEGAN FAST TRACKING THE REVIEW PROCESS FOR CHEMICALS USED IN DATA CENTERS WITH A GOAL OF MAKING THE U.S. THE AI CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. An executive order signed directing the EPA and other entities to expedite their permitting processing for data center-related chemicals. May 2026, it's in the works of build first, ask permission later. The Ohio EPA is in the works of drafting general permissions of discharging hot contaminated water into our streams and rivers. VERBAGE IN THIS DRAFT SAYS LOWERING OF WATER QUALITY IS NECESSARY FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH. FOREVER CHEMICALS DO NOT BIND IN THE SEDIMENT IN THE RIVER AND THEY CAN TRAVEL THE ENTIRETY OF THE RIVER DEPOSITING IN OTHER WATERWAYS INCLUDING AQUIFORES. THE TENTH AMENDMENT DEFINES THE POWERS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. IT PROVIDES A HARD BOUNDARY FOR STATES REGARDING EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND GIVES THEM AUTHORITY TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE. states enact the home rule act that grants cities the power to govern their own affairs passing local ordinances and managing zoning without permission from the state we need a moratorium on any further data centers in this city to be sure they are running responsibly we need a committee to monitor the current data center and any future data centers to provide assurance and protection My questions were answered last week and it seems to be that the EPA does most of the monitoring, which we know that they have lowered their standards for Ohio. And a lot of the safety issues are not a part of the Ohio Boarding, Ohio Building Committee. So we need to do something now. We cannot be reactive in this situation. We need to be proactive. Waterville Township in Ohio has done a great committee to protect their citizens. And I feel like we can do this to our city also. Thank you. Thank you.

Dustin Holfinger.

Hi, good evening. My name is Dustin Holfinger. I'm the state government relations director for the American Heart Association and a resident of Springfield. I appreciate the opportunity to comment on ordinance number 13526 to enhance your current tobacco retail licensure program. The AHA strongly supports this initiative. Robust retail licensure programs hold the industry accountable, tracks where these products are sold, and empowers the Clark County Combined Health District to conduct regular compliance checks and ensure the accountability of retailers to not make sales to underage customers. We commend the City of Springfield for taking this additional action to protect our youth. Tobacco companies continually aggressively market to children in retail settings, making dangerous, addictive products far too accessible. And the research shows that compliance is the most effective when penalties and ultimate licensure revocation fall on the store owners, not low-wage clerks or the youth targeted by these predatory marketing tactics. Thank you for adding additional layers to the penalty structure that includes that possibility of revocation. As a citizen of Springfield, I truly appreciate that the licensing fees ensure robust enforcement and compliance checks without placing financial responsibility on those taxpayers. Thank you for your time and your commitment to a healthier Springfield.

Thank you. Diana Daniels.

and what's happening I have to keep pulling up my bridges I hope that's a good sign a couple of housekeeping things met with Brian Heck this past Wednesday and of course on Friday what did you think I found semi-parked on the street again so I called it in and of course called it in again on Saturday and I'll call it in again and again and again housekeeping as well the drones you've used them you've used drones in the past you did that use them in August of 2024 how do I know because I was followed by one or two when I was meeting with reporters from around the country over in Ferncliff so yes they can be used for surveillance At this time, I'm requesting a current copy of the charter. And there's a reason for that. And I'm redoing it now on the public record. I would like to know why there are no videos of the speakers when times pass, there have been. And I would like to know for the record, why the language has changed for the little speech that you give at the beginning, that three strikes and it is any city commission meeting that you receive a letter of trespass for.

How many is any? Just a question.

Forum. That is a word that is out there on this city building. Does anyone know what a forum is? Obviously you do not. By definition, a forum is a public discussion, can refer to a meeting, a meeting house, or any conversation that is available publicly. Forum. A place, situation, or group in which people exchange ideas and discuss issues, especially important public issues. My suggestion is you may want to take the word forum off of city hall because this is not a forum. Thank you.

Thank you. Amanda Richardson.

Hi, my name's Amanda Richardson. I was born in Springfield and I lived here most of my life. And I think it was Nicole that talked about the data center stuff. And funny enough, I'm here to talk about the same thing. So generative AI stands for generative artificial intelligence. That's the stuff that will create text or images or even video. It's not really artificial intelligence. What it really is is called a large language model or an LLM. It's a fancy model of data where they're trying to approximate human intelligence and the way that humans think by linking words together the way that a mathematical algorithm is trying to approximate the way that human brains link words together. This is going to be stuff like OpenAI's chat GPT, Microsoft Copilot, which is just chat GPT with Microsoft Paint on it, Google's Gemini, Anthropix Cloud, Metas, whatever they make us all use on Facebook that we hate. Point being... These technologies are super, super inefficient. They require tons of energy and tons of compute to generate the stuff that they're giving you. And they're not very good at it. OpenAI has a business side and a research side. The research side, they posted a paper in like September 2025 about why LLMs hallucinate. I have a whole other problem with the word hallucinate, but I won't bore you with that. Basically, the latest model of open AI is hallucinating or making up stuff 48% of the time. So every one out of two times you ask it a question, it's just going to make something up. And the reason it does that, and they proved this mathematically in the paper, is that the way the algorithm is built, it gets stuck into a loop, doesn't know where to go, gives up, and then just gives you whatever. For those reasons, it's not very good technology. It is a technology solution still looking for a problem to solve. That's one of the reasons that all this venture capital money has been thrown into this. They're thinking they're going to find the silver bullet of where we really need to use it, and they're going to make... ridiculous amounts of money. The problem is the data centers required to run this technology use so much energy. A lot of them are using diesel generators, not just for when they're out of power and to cover over in emergencies, but for actual energy generation and they require water cooling. So data centers that require water cooling are the ones that we don't want. Normal data centers that use air cooling like this, you guys probably have your stuff in a data center, whether it's the city of Springfields or co-located with other folks. Either way, my main point is I want to encourage the city to stay away from this technology, not just because of the effect in the community with placing data centers here, but the technology is expensive and it doesn't really do what it says it's going to do. Ask Klarna. Their company's kind of falling apart since they replaced a bunch of people with AI. Pizza Hut's being sued for $100 million for forcing it on some large franchises for logistics, and they did really bad at it. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you.

Melissa, I'm sorry. I can't read your last name. It's Skinner. Okay. I thought it was you.

It's been a while since I've been at the meetings, but Lord's really been dealing with me in issues here with the city. So tonight I wanna challenge the leadership and the positions in our city departments of what ladder are you all climbing? Are you against the right wall? What flame have you helped spark? It takes small cracks unchecked to become a disaster and cause destruction. Your choices, you choose affects what happens to the people and the families in this city. We need a standard. We need a structure across the city and our county and each department, our law enforcement, our prosecutor's office to be effective for our citizens. We need to quit riding the fence. Enough is enough. We've allowed generations of choices and some leadership to make Springfield what we have today. Do we have some good? Absolutely, but we need better. As some have said, Springfield needed saved. I don't believe that's what's happened. We need transparency with dialogue, money spent wisely, doing right for all, having law and order that is strict and enforced. We need to work together and let Springfield be the best city that everyone wants to be in and around. I heard from a very prominent businessman and owner, yesterday say this in a group of people that all of his grown children live out of state but he would like Springfield to be a place that they would want to move back home to that's sort of sad because I know this man and he has invested time money and grown roots here just like I have and many others that come to this meeting Think about that and let's get Springfield issues and problems fixed with real solutions. This is the challenge I bring tonight and I want to be a part of helping with that solution to get Springfield safer and prosperous for all.

Thank you. Deb McLennan. Linden. Thank you.

good evening everybody i don't come here very often to speak but i do have something on my mind and please think about what i say i call this a history lesson from november through may i spent one month at the hampton inn six months in a trailer and now one month back in my home due to a house fire I've had lots of time to read about many different things, things like the pandemic that we had, things about how the jabs have affected us and the health problems that have resulted from that. I like history, and I read a lot about a group of people that were called the Tartarians. They were a civilization of very large people and friendly people, and their civilization was wiped out by mudbloods. The reason I bring that up is that like most of the ancient ruins, they've been digging and they have found these Tartarian villages and homes, et cetera. And Springfield is really no different. We actually have been built on top of other civilizations. And I bring this up because there used to be a whole city underneath Springfield, a city of tunnels. And thank you for saying that. I have a friend who has approached the Springfield City Commission. She even got a meeting with Brian. She has spoken to the police chief. She has talked to Rocking Horse Center. And she was in trafficking in Florida for almost two years. So she is a walking and talking typhoid Mary. she tried to find a way to get out of here and approached brian and even offered part of her architectural plans for small homes that springfield was very interested in for free passage and she was giving i'll see about what i can do well it's never happened she's still here she is sick people are going to be getting sicker because what she has everybody's going to have so folks she has proof of these diseases these are new and disabling and deadly organisms they're growing and living within us metastasizing in all of us i just want to see her get the help she needs i know no one wants to believe her please publicly let's open some of those tunnels that have been closed so that she can get to where she needs to go and possibly help our city with this problem i'm not crazy and neither is she if you have questions please talk to byan let's do the right thing for all the people in springfield before it's too late Thank you. Thank you.

Mr. Gary Armstrong.

I got to say, this is the most interesting meeting in three years, and it's all women. There's a few smart guys, I assume, somewhere in here. I was going to start out lighthearted and tell you that you guys may think you know me, and I'm a man of God. Now, that makes me smile, because I've never, ever said that in front of people. A guy did say, I'm a man of God. I said, maybe good. That's God with an extra O. And that was going to be starting out. But the dark cloud that I was really going to aim my stuff is not here tonight. So I'm going to erase that and just play off. I second your emotion. These young ladies have brought facts together. Facts, and I saw your thing at the courthouse. I went, bravo, Melissa. She brought facts. She brought the truth. And that's what I'm against down here when I hear just BS. The truth is everything. If we're not honest with each other, we don't care about each other. And that's who I am. I care about all. And they do. And that girl that told you what AI, AI, I wrote down, AI is a rich man's pimp. It isn't affecting you and I. You guys need to look at everything those two ladies documented. That lady just told us. It's all the truth. People who runs this place down here, I knew in the 60s and 70s. I'm 76 years old. I'm a historian. I'm that old guy that I forgot his name. that lived to be well into his hundreds. Well, you know what? I've seen history, but this I knew at 10 years old. I could read people's faces and tell who was telling the truth and who was telling you BS. And BS is pretty easy. The things she told you were factual, logical, and made sense. Those are the two things I use to tell a lot. Make sense, get logical. Oh, we buried how many thousands of barrels out there in Tremont City and the people down here or in the county allowed it? Because the rich people, the rich people and the wealthy is what is behind our mayor. He's supporting the wealthy and that entities. Businesses being prosperous in this town is positive for us. But if you don't include from the poor people to the richest, You aren't serving the citizens. You're serving one party, rich people. And that's what's happened in the federal government. And they should have been looking in this. And these people shouldn't have bought into allowing that without studies. Because the love canal was created by rich companies dumping their poison because it's cheap. All about money. Not about people. I'm about people. And that's what you guys that came down here to be elected were supposed to be for people, not representing the Chamber of Development, the new name, and the other wealthy people like that big building sitting there empty. You should fill it with somebody that gets a benefit instead of letting them just let things stand across the street and all around here. Rich people holding property for their eventual payoff.

Thank you, Gary. Are there any comments from the commissioners? City Manager Heck, any comments?

Okay.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

So moved. Second.

Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

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

Yes.

Meeting is adjourned. The formal meeting of the City Commission is called to order. Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts?

Here.

Mr. Rigsby? Here. Mrs. Tackett? Here. Mr. Wallace? Here. Mr. Ryu? Let's take a moment of quiet reflection.

As we begin, let's keep in mind our shared responsibility to serve fairly and thoughtfully for the City of Springfield. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Is there a motion to approve the minutes? I'll move. Second. Clerk call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

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

Yes.

Clerk, proceed with the first readings by title only.

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 1721, entitled Tobacco Retailer Licensing and Sales. Authorizing the city manager to enter into an amendment to the contract with Windstream to provide for telephone services at various city facilities to update the vendor's legal name to Unity Group Incorporated and confirming and approving related expenditures from May 1, 2026. Authorizing the renewal purchase of 625 Google workspace business licenses and support from CDWGLLC for an amount not to exceed $425,875 for a five-year term through Sourcewell pursuant to the Sourcewell Contract Purchasing Cooperative Program in accordance with the provisions of Section 9.48 of the Ohio Revised Code. Authorizing the issuance of a purchase order for the purchase of eight double-acting rotary vane actuators and training from APA Incorporated for an amount not to exceed $229,600. Authorizing the City Manager to enter into a contract with CW Tree and Outdoor Service LLC for the 2026 Sidewalk Curb and Gutter Program for an amount not to exceed $1,303,837.05. Authorizing the City Manager to enter into a contract with Parham Electric Incorporated for the South Burnett Road and Kenton Street Traffic Signal Project for an amount not to exceed $80,273.70. Authorizing the exercise of the city's option to renew the contract with Southern Ionics Incorporated for the purchase of liquid sodium bisulfite for use by the city's wastewater treatment plant for an amount not to exceed $78,800. authorizing the city manager law director and the city engineer to do all things necessary to release a portion of the letter of credit posted with the city in connection with the fountain village subdivision in proportion to the amount of public improvement work which has been completed for phase one are there any questions on first readings from the commission

I have one. On the amending ordinance 9190, this is 135-26, these laws that we're going to be amending, this applies to the sale of tobacco and vape products to people under 21, correct?

Yes, so this applies to the Tobacco 21 legislation that was previously approved, and then this enhances that legislation.

Are we going to have a copy of that online so that people can look at it for the next two weeks so they can see what those changes are?

Yeah, so the ordinance and those changes are actually available on our website. So if you go to the city government page under the city commission and look at the agenda, we have attached the actual ordinance and the proposed changes in that. Just briefly, one is the increase of the license. So the health department is the one that administers the program and provides the licensing. So increasing the license fees to those that are selling tobacco products to creating a proximity limitation to youth oriented facilities. And then third, adding additional penalties to those that are not complying with the ordinance. Thank you.

Are there any questions from the audience? Clerk proceed with second readings and emergencies.

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, 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.

So moved. Second. Are there any questions from the commission? From the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mrs. Tackett?

Yes.

Authorizing the city manager to enter into a 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. So moved. Second.

Are there any questions from the commission?

No, I'd just like to say it's nice to see a contract that's decreasing rather than increasing.

Any questions from the audience? Mr. Armstrong?

What is that? What's it about? What's the contract? What type of work?

Certainly, so as commissioners and the audience may recall, staff conducted a work session at the last meeting regarding the city's new utility billing platform, which went live in December of 2025. This change order for that utility billing software implementation um is simply reconciling actual travel expenses associated with the implementation for spry point staff to come here and train staff i'm also adding that we will continue customer outreach in addition to the work session at the last meeting and we are currently scheduling assistant sessions at community locations like the library and so you can find that advertised on our social media channels soon And then customers with any questions about the new utility billing software platform can always contact our utility billing division directly. And that number is 937-324-7365. Thank you. Call the roll.

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

Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mrs. Tackett?

Yes.

Confirming and approving the City of Springfield, Ohio's participation in the non-filing delinquency program through the Regional Income Tax Agency, authorizing the finance director to execute the RETA non-filing program authorization and authorization letter and declaring an emergency therein.

So moved. Second. And moved and seconded. Are there any questions from the commission?

Yeah, Brian, you want to touch on this, Katie?

Certainly, Commissioner. So this ordinance confirms our participation in Rita's non-filing delinquency program, and that program helps identify taxpayers who may be required to file a municipal income tax return but have not done so. The program begins with outreach to potential non-filers with a letter, which is what the city currently does. But then for a dollar per subpoena, Rita will issue administrative subpoenas to obtain information needed to determine filing requirements from those folks who don't respond to the letter. Certainly costs to city staff and looking at finance and legal resources would be much more than a dollar per subpoena. But also as you've heard me say many times, and as we're all well aware, we are heavily reliant on income tax revenue to provide the core services to our community that they expect. So taking advantage of this program allows us to fully enforce that ordinance and ensure that we are collecting every dollar that is due to the city to carry out those critical services.

And that's something we couldn't do when we were running our own tax department in-house. We had no ability to go out or limited ability to go out.

We had limited ability to see who wasn't filing because we did not have access to federal income tax data. And again, if this were something that we were to handle in-house, it would require significant coordination and time between finance staff and legal team.

Are there any questions from the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

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

Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Authorizing the city manager to enter into a customer agreement with Motorola Solutions Incorporated for the implementation of the drone first responder pilot program for a period of two years with an option to renew for three additional one-year periods. for an amount not to exceed $239,996 for the initial two year period and declaring an emergency therein.

So moved. Second.

And moved and seconded. Are there any questions from the commission?

Yeah, just this, our current CAD system is a Motorola CAD system. This system will integrate completely with our current CAD and allow information to flow back and forth between the CAD and the DFR and the DFR and the CAD. Yes, I believe that's correct, Chief King, if you want to.

We believe that it will integrate seamlessly to be able to operate efficiently. But during this test study, we'll be working through with the county dispatch center, how to build that, how to make those connections so that this is going to be a prolonged process outside of this test window. We'll have those streamlined for that. We won't see it immediate. We'll be doing it manually.

Are there any questions from the audience?

And you've got a problem with Palantir.

Can you speak into the mic, please?

I'm just going to ask you to step back on that because your system can be hacked. If you spend $229,000, Palantir is going to have taken it over in a matter of months, and you're linking data that you won't be able to unlink. And it's not because you're doing it.

Please address the commission.

Yeah. Well, he's buying it. Ma'am, what's your name? You're paying for it, but he's recommending it. At least just step back and take a look at this again, because I think there are some uncovered things that didn't come out in the glossy.

We didn't catch your name. I'm sorry. Jennifer. What was your last name? Apple. Thank you.

Any other questions from the audience? Clerk, call the roll. Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

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

Authorizing the city manager to enter into a pilot program end-user license agreement with Callan Analytics LLC for services related to the implementation of the drone first responder pilot program at no cost to the city and declaring an emergency therein.

So moved. Second.

Are there any questions from the commission?

I didn't speak on it, but I'm really excited about how it can help and save lives and what we're doing with this whole thing. And it's moving us forward as a city and advancing with the technology and using it responsibly. I'm very happy that we're doing this.

Thank you, Commissioner Wallace. Anyone else? Any comments from the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mrs. Tackett?

Yes.

Confirming and approving change order number one to the contract between the city and Majors Enterprises Incorporated for the East High Street Water Service Replacement Project to increase the contract in an amount not to exceed $51,126 for a total amount not to exceed $972,649, authorizing the city manager to execute said change order number one and declaring an emergency therein. So moved. Second.

Are there any questions from the commission?

Yeah. You just want to explain why there's the increase.

Yes. Uh, so this is a final change order. There's eight total items. Uh, but the increase comes from, uh, as we were doing the East high street project, there were houses that were on the side streets, the immediate side streets that had water services that fed into the East high street, uh, And so we went ahead and added those and replaced those as well. So there were six total of those services. So for approximately $8,500 a piece, we were able to add that to the contract and fix those.

Great, thank you. Commissioner Rickett, anyone else? Any questions from the audience?

Clerk, call the roll. Mr. Rickett? Yes. Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mrs. Tackett?

Yes.

Authorizing the city manager to enter into a renewal contract with Superior Dental Care Incorporated to provide for dental insurance coverage for city employees for the period July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028. Authorizing expenditures related thereto. Finding a real and present emergency pursuant to section 145.02 of the city's codified ordinances and declaring an emergency therein.

I'll move. Second.

Are there any questions from the Commission? From the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts?

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

Yes.

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

So moved. Second.

Been moved and seconded.

Do you want to share some of these? Certainly, assistant mayor and commissioners. So just as a reminder, commission must approve budget adjustments both up and down in the initial budget for legislated funds. And that includes the two funds that are before you tonight. One is a net change of $3,000 in additional appropriations for the general fund. There is a reduction in legal personnel savings of $87,000 and we are requesting to appropriate 90 grand in human resources to support outside legal counsel related to labor matters. again with that $90,000 increase and $87,000 reduction that impact is a $3,000 increase in the general fund and then within the city's technology capital project fund we this is a housekeeping item where we are appropriating a hundred and ten thousand dollars that cash that already exists in the fund for previously approved change orders by this commission for the City Works PLL implementation. And that's the city's community development platform used to manage permit, licensing, inspections, and code enforcement activity.

Thank you. Are there any questions from the commission? From the audience? Please go to the mic, Mr. Armstrong.

I'm a poor guy. I have to make out my bills to the penny. And that is so generalized that why can't you put on this sheet what you just said and show which one's getting which amount? Because it kind of bites it in a ball where you can pull hunks out and play games. I don't like that. Because if it was somebody handling my money, I'd go, no, I want to see exactly where it's going and what I'm paying for. And what you just told me told me a lot of stuff and nothing. That's just what I see. I'm no bookie, but I'm no fool either.

Thank you.

That information is available on the website attached to the agenda. So if you go to the city's website and go to the agenda, you can look at every document that's related to every one of these items on the agenda. And it's all there. All the funds are listed. All the money's listed. All the ins and the outs. Everything is present for you and anyone else to see.

I almost need a copy of those instructions because when I write every day that when I have one problem to solve in a 1970, 80, 90, they solved it with an answer right away. Now I have to spend an hour or five hours or 20 hours to do what customer service used to do and they want me to do. I like it simple. I'm a taxpayer. You guys are working for taxpayer money. You should simplify everything to be easy without. What if I'm not a computer literate, which I'm not? I can figure it out, but it takes me 10 times longer than a kid who grew up on it. Can I do it? Yeah, with a lot of hassle. I don't have much time. My time's run out. Not here in life. So I like it to get better, and I've found that corporations in general used to be a lot more honest in their dealings. They treat us like customers, like we're the punks. Just the way I've seen it from 19.

Thank you, Mr. Armstrong.

Clerk, call the roll. Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

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

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

So moved.

Second. I moved and seconded. Are there questions from the commission? Do you want to explain this a little bit?

Certainly, Assistant Mayor and Commissioner. So as a reminder, a moral obligation occurs when the city receives a good or service that exceeds $100 before a purchase order has been issued. And that $100 requirement is part of the city's charter. So again, that's one of the things that comes before commission to approve due to those requirements. As we are looking at some of those that are on the list, which is available on the city's website, if you go out to SpringfieldOhio.gov, to that government landing page to look at the city's agenda. There is a list of each vendor, invoice number, department, and the fund from which it is being paid available on the city's website ahead of this meeting. One of the ones that I'll call out that is repetitive on this list is indigent cremation expenses with Jones, Kinney, Zegman. In these cases, the city is typically not notified until after services have been provided, making it difficult for us to establish a purchase order in advance of receiving those invoices. And certainly as we talk about hits to general fund revenue, this is something that's paid out of the general fund. Historically, the state has provided reimbursement for these costs. However, that has been sporadic over the years, and these costs typically run the city in excess of $70,000 annually as a direct expense out of the general fund. Would just emphasize, too, the reason that these are emergencies is because they are legitimate expenditures that the city is obligated to pay, hence why it's an emergency so that we can pay the vendors timely because we have incurred, as the name suggests, a moral obligation to pay them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any questions from the audience?

Clerk, call the roll. Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

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

Yes. Supporting the application of Park County Land Reutilization Corporation to the Ohio Department of...

Let me start.

Supporting the application of Clark County Land Reutilization Corporation to the Ohio Department of Development's Brownfield Remediation Program and declaring an emergency there.

So moved. Second.

And moved and seconded. Are there any questions from the commission?

You want to explain that one, Brian?

Yeah, I'm actually going to have Ethan Harris, who is the executive director of the Clark County Land Reutilization Corporation, talk about the Brownfield program and how it's going to be utilized in Springfield.

Thank you, commissioners. So a few weeks ago, the state put out this application, a quick turnaround, so that's the need for the emergency resolution. One of the application requirements is that we have a resolution of support from the local jurisdiction where the work is taking place. The former Amaro site is where this particular request for funds is being applied for. 7-Eleven Speedway donated that property to the land bank several years ago. We started doing the remediation work, received an EPA grant about a year ago. They did the testing for us via that grant. It was approximately $50,000. And we're always working projects because there's always grants that are being put out. So we're always preparing for those and working with the City of Springfield staff on sites that Springfield may own or that we might have joint jurisdictional abilities on, or that the land bank itself owns. So about $500,000 was, was available to Clark County and O'Brien. I both got a lot of emails and text messages that day that, that, that program came out. So this funding, the 500,000 will provide enough funding to remediate the horizontal, um, uh, blight, uh, the there, or sorry, the vertical, um, the vertical remediation, um, However, we will still need to go for future funds to do the remediation on the underground issues that are there. So that's a big area that we're really focused on there at the end of Jefferson Street. So you'll see more from us on that. I believe I'm doing a work session here at the end of the month and we'll have maps and full detail on not just that, but all the other projects we have going on in the city of Springfield.

Thank you, Mr. Harris.

in case there's somebody out there doesn't know what a brownfield is and why they need to be remediated like this can you just briefly explain that yeah brownfield is really actually a very broad term and every grant every state law is kind of going to have a different definition for that but in general a brownfield um real high level here is a site that uh formerly had some type of development on it. You know, that's like the basics. A green site means that there's never been something built on it. A brown site basically means that there has been something. And usually it means that you need to go and test before you build on it, right? Because if there was something there before and, you know, 200 plus years of history here in Springfield, industrial history, you got to test before you put anything back on that site. There's a broad range of different chemicals that have been used over the past 200 years. One parcel right next to the other might be perfectly suited for, say, residential development, but You go a couple hundred yards to the southeast or west, and there might be some type of contaminant that has to be remediated or capped in order for it to be developed or reused.

And you can't build on a brownfield unless it's remediated? Um, that is a residential housing. I mean, something like that.

So that's a really nuanced question, and I'm certainly not qualified probably to answer that question. What I would say is you would want to test it and have an environmental professional assess for you whether or not you can build on it or not. There are certainly sites where things have been built before that you're putting a residential structure on. And there are other sites where you're not. But in general, you shouldn't just go and build on it without testing it and having a professional find that for you.

Yeah, and as you know, the city has been very successful in what used to be the Clean Ohio program, as well as now what the land bank has been able to bring to our community. Ethan's point is very valid in the sense that If you enter into the chain of title of that property, you're taking on the risk and liability. And so if you've not done the proper environmental assessments and potential cleanup that is needed or required, then you would be putting yourself in that risk and liability for any of the maybe previous contaminants, even if your development didn't create them without going through those proper channels and getting a covenant not to sue and no further action letter.

on the property you would again you would be taking on that risk of what's happened on that property for years to come and for a land bank land bank is the only entity to my knowledge that actually has an ability we land banks don't take on that liability so the the state recognized that many of these properties these brownfields that do have known contaminants or potentially have contaminants no one's going to touch that right if if That property sat there, been a blight, been a zombie property, as they call them, for 50 plus years. Well, that's because no one, you might have 100 million remediation costs. So they created land banks for many reasons, but one of the reasons they gave the land banks that ability to take on that liability was knowing that there are governmental controls, so we have two county commissioners, a city representative, and other elected officials for the goal and the mission to remediate these sites. So we can hold these properties, and then we can go and get the grants to remediate it when the funds come without having the threat of the EPA coming and forcing the the owner being the land bank in this case and it works really well across the state I mean you're seeing an amazing amount of brownfields being remediated and turned into productive sites and infill right which I think we can all agree that we want infill development because that's where you already have utilities you already have all the services there so that that is in a nutshell, what the land bank is created for to remediate those brownfields and reduce and limit the liability for the community as a whole. Yeah.

I'd like to just, so I know that each county's allotted a specific amount of money, and it's limited, and without the help of the land bank, we probably wouldn't be able to get these brownfields remediated, and the land bank has championed pretty much all the money's been spent in Springfield, and it's through your hard work to kind of get that going, because as we know that like we talked about with infill housing and other redevelopment, it's not possible so many times because of that liability. So thanks for working, getting Springfield the money to start this process.

I appreciate that. I am on the Ohio Land Bank Association Board Legislative Committee. We work hard. We hit above our weight class when it comes to advocating for these type of funds. And as you stated, yeah, in some of the legislation, only land banks have been able to access those funds because land banks are, in general, seen as a trusted source to quickly deliver the funds through the quasi-governmental status that land banks have. So yeah. We're not just brownfields, but we definitely enjoy that work and we do a pretty good job of it.

Any other questions from the commission? Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Any questions from the audience? Mr. Armstrong?

I see what you just said that's positive. There's a yin and yang to that. Here's my yang. the businesses that are going to build on that, who pays for the land bank taxpayer money, I assume, and so we're going to bail out former businesses put in the ground and the taxpayer. I think there should be some payback from who builds on the site, development, whoever the guy is. The poor people shouldn't be paying out of their tax to do what somebody else shouldn't have done, and now he's paying on it. That makes

Thank you, Mr. Armstrong. Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Rigsby? Yes.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mrs. Tackett? Yes. There's one item added to the agenda. Appointing Dr. Ann Morrison to the Board of Health of the Clark County Combined Health District.

So moved. Second.

Moved and seconded. Thank you for serving. Any comments from the Commission?

Clerk, call the roll. Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mr. Wallace? Yes. Mr. Rigsby? Yes. Mrs. Tackett? Yes.

Are there any announcements or acknowledgements from the commission?

I have one.

Mr. Ricketts?

We encourage everyone to sign up for the city's monthly e-newsletter. When we talk about transparency, the city has a website, the city has a Facebook page, and the city also has an e-newsletter that provides updates on city projects, community events, important announcements, and more, and you can get it directly to your mailbox. You don't have to go look it up except one time, and that is to fill out the information so that they can send it to you. And in fact, the next newsletter is coming out this Friday. So this would be a good time to sign up. Signing up is easy and anyone can do it. Just visit springfieldohio.gov and look midway down the homepage and you will find the newsletter signup form. You can sign up for that. And then every month, this information will be sent to your email address. And there's always a lot of good information in this newsletter. Karen does a great job with this. You have to have an attention span of more than a couple of minutes because there's a lot of information every single month. And it's good information. So we would encourage everyone to sign up for this. Thank you.

I like it. The only thing I wanted to share is it's an exciting week always, but this weekend in downtown Springfield, it's first Friday. So we're going to have golf simulators down here. And I believe Jake from the Springfield Country Club is going to be down here giving tips. better line on up bring your club and uh the springfield farmers market kicks off on saturday it is around the heritage center it is a fantastic opportunity to come downtown i believe it runs 9 to 12 30. that sound right yeah so okay all right is there a motion to adjourn so moved second it's been moved in second eight clerk call the roll

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

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

Yes. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you for coming and staying in.