City Commission - Regular Meeting

Call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts?

Here.

Mr. Rigsby?

Here.

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

Here. City Manager? Yes. Commission, we have one work session item tonight, and that is the annual update from the Solid Waste District. I do want to say Director Chuck Bauer is here, but we're going to hear a presentation from Bonnie Martins and Sam Perrin. So I'll turn it over to you.

Okay, thank you, Mayor Ryu and commissioners for giving us a few minutes to go over our happenings in 2025. We do have a small facility. Our director, Chuck Bauer is sitting behind me. I am Bonnie Martins, the program manager there. Sam Perrin is our education specialist. Our other full-time person is John Hoy. He's our facility manager. We have two deputies that we contract with, Deputy Tillman and Deputy Bennett, that oversee our environmental enforcement and pride program. And then the facility operators are our part-time employees that, intermittent employees that help with our specialty recycling program that we'll get to here in a minute. Just a little update for those who might not know, solid waste districts were created by House Bill 592 back in 1988. And the goal is really to work with the Ohio EPA to reduce Ohio's reliance on landfills. It's the reduce, reuse, recycle information and education that we all provide. There are about 52 districts throughout the state of Ohio, districts and authorities. The main program that people are familiar with with the Solid Waste District is our specialty recycling program at the 1620 West Main Street location. Here we've got the building open. It happens weekly on Thursdays. The billboard that's on the photo is a little difficult to see. And then the first Saturday of each month. Residents can bring a multitude of items. In 2025, we had over 3,000 paying customers to get rid of items such as fluorescent bulbs, compact and tubal fluorescents. The HHW, the eight tons of that, is your household hazardous waste. It's your chemicals, automotive fluids, pool chemicals, herbicides, pesticides, things that shouldn't go out with your curbside trash. paint, tires. In 2021, March of 2021, we started a, in the bottom right corner, a bulky item disposal to help curb hopefully some of the illegal dumping that was happening by allowing people to bring Mattresses, the bulky couches and things that maybe some trash companies either don't offer as a service and or the person can't necessarily afford what their curbside service charges. So bulky items like the mattresses and couches are $10 per item. If you have something smaller, a desk chair and tables, those kinds of things that are less than that four by four, but cube are just $5 per item. Each are per item. We do accept electronics that are broken, your vacuums and such. The only electronics that we charge for are televisions and computer monitors because we're charged, and it's a nominal 10 cents per pound fee, as well as anything with Freon. That's a flat rate $5 fee. So your air conditioners, refrigerator, freezers, those kinds of things. The contract that we have with our two environmental enforcement deputies, we get calls daily, weekly about complaints related to litter and or illegal dumping along public right of ways. That's what they primarily handle. We had about 305 calls in 2025. The majority were in the city of Springfield, but we are a county organization. So anywhere in the county, they will go out and investigate and see if it's something that they pick up, which is primarily those bulky items, a mattress, et cetera. If they get out and it's a civil dispute or something maybe on private property, then they direct it to the health department, code enforcement, et cetera. The inmates that they oversee. They help with, in that bottom right corner, is an example of something that we might get a call about mattresses in an alleyway. Above that photo, the inmates, the pride crew, providing responsibilities for inmates who the duties to the environment or the environment. They process cardboard that is brought to us by businesses and we have a collection route that I'll get to in a bit. They bail it and then it gets loaded onto a truck and recycled from there. They also help with community programs such as the parade route, making sure that it's as litter free as possible. They work with the fairgrounds to help with events and programs out there, our park systems, et cetera. We also contract with the Clark County Combined Health District. They also receive complaints countywide related to odors and such. And we go back and forth. If it's something that we think goes to the health department, they handle it and vice versa. They'll get calls that then they transfer to us. The health department then... inspects the trash trucks, the haulers that are in Clark County, any compost facilities, and then the tire sale or used for sale facilities in the county as well. To my left is our education specialist. He is the one that primarily goes into all of the Clark County public and city schools, K through 12, although probably the main focus is K through eighth grade. He did 153 individual classroom programs and visited 16 different schools in the 2025 calendar year. Between the two of us, we also do in general community programs. A Girl Scout troop or boy in Cub Scouts wants a tour of the facility. Organizations ask us to come to their meetings to do a recycling program. We both share those programs. I'll get to it a little bit more here on the next slide, but we do have our Keep Clark County Beautiful Facebook page, which in 2025 had over 130,000 views. We promote our specialty recycling and other programs through that page. And then he sends out newsletters to the teachers twice a year. Our Keep Clark County Beautiful board is made up of about 18 members, typically two of which are Clark County high school students. They're considered youth representatives. Currently, we have two from Kenton Ridge that are on the board, but we've had them from a variety of the Clark County and city high schools. What you'll see is kind of the three main programs that the board members themselves participate in. Adopt a Spot is a program that the Solid Waste District promotes where groups and individuals can adopt a spot, which would be a bike path or a park. Or adopt a road, which is usually a two-mile section. Businesses, churches, individual families have all adopted these. And usually once to two or three times a year, they clean up those spots and or roads. We provide the gloves, the trash bags, et cetera, for those groups to do that. And the board helps the city plant mums, usually at the gateways. We've been doing that the last couple years. Probably the biggest program that... Ugh. we attempt to fund each year is that the different townships and villages can apply in the spring for each. We provide for $250 perennial plants that can be own flowers, et cetera, or up to $250 worth of a tree that they may be planned. If a storm came through and knocked them out at a cemetery on, on public property, township properties, et cetera. The program that we support with Keep Clark County Beautiful is our Great American Cleanup, lower right. It happens March 20th through June 20th. In 2025, we had probably just over 900 volunteers giving more than that hours, hour, hour and a half, two hour cleanups. It cleaned up 61 public spaces, parks, bike paths, around churches in neighborhoods, and 270 bags of litter were removed. Our Earth Day program is the downtown cleanup. We have been, in 2026, it was our 16th annual downtown cleanup. We had 67 volunteers and cleaned up about 40 blocks of this core kind of downtown Springfield blocks. In 2024, we initially got a grant for the recycling roll off that you see in the upper left and about 10 each of the bins that you see in the middle, the black trash and the blue recycling. program went over so well we applied for a second grant for 2025 and received it the biggest issue was where do the event organizers store these portable containers how do we get them to them and store them after the event before we pick up the items on Monday so in 2025 in the lower right corner we got the grant and for that trailer and both the recycling frames and the blue and black containers plus bags are all stored on that and then we can deliver that to any food truck heavy event summer arts festival if any of you've been to that food truck competition jazz and blues fest these are the events that we take this container to One of our other countywide programs that we have, if someone would like to recycle, but either curbside recycling is not available or you have to pay additional for it and it's not in the budget, we have six drop-off recycling locations throughout the county. You see the example of the one at the bottom, at old Columbus Road and Route 54. We contract with Rumpke to pick up the containers to the left, and they reported about 954 tons of commingled recyclables. That's your cans, glass, plastic bottles, paper, and even some cardboard that they'll pick up. The district runs those six routes for the cardboard only bins that you kind of see closer to the building. Those then are delivered to our facility at the 1602, and those pride inmates bail that cardboard as well. And this just gives you a map of the two locations in the city of Springfield, one at our site, one over by the health department in Springfield High School, and we have one in Mad River Township, Kitchen, South Vienna, and in the north at Moorfield Township. Okay, I kept that pretty short and sweet, hopefully. I will, Sam or myself can answer any questions that you might have. It's most of our programs, we try to keep either low cost or no cost like the recycling.

And thank you. I just want to say this is when I first got elected. This was one of the first organizations I learned about. And it's always been done with excellence and passion. People working there are passionate about what you do. And this is one of those things that if it's not done well in a community, you will notice it. And you guys do so much. And it's probably a lot of unsung things that you do so well. And so we just appreciate what you guys do and how you're always looking for opportunities to keep our community looking good. So thank you. Other commissioner comments?

I've got a quick one. Besides the city cleanup and the recycling that we offer, you also offer a program for neighborhoods that if a group gets together and they want to clean up their neighborhood, what will you provide for them to do that?

Similar to the trailer that I showed for the recycling events, we have what we call a community cleanup trailer. We need at least five adults, whether it's with a church or a neighborhood. We deliver this trailer, which has a mower, trowels, push brooms, sweeping brooms, string trimmers, etc., so that... It's not really intended for someone's specific private property. It's a neighborhood event. We also don't want people going on somebody else's house because they deem that house doesn't look appropriate. But if the community members all get together and someone, you know, you know, says, would you like your yard mowed and they have permission or, you know, something like that. The church will go along. We provide also gloves, trash bags, et cetera, if they want to walk around the block and public spaces through an alleyway around the block and pick up that litter. It's essentially free. We ask for a deposit, but that $25 deposit is given back If all the equipment is returned over that weekend cleanup, we will actually be at the Enon National Night Out with that trailer. So if anybody wants to see what it looks like on the inside, that's coming up in August of, well, next month.

That's a great program. Thanks.

I just want to comment similar to what Mayor Rue shared. You guys are kind of the unsung heroes of the community. Nobody realizes what's happening behind the scenes. And you guys do so much to keep our community beautiful. I know that the one time that I got to go out, we went to, we were near the art museum and I couldn't believe the stuff pulled out of the river there. So just things that we don't even consider happening. You guys are amazing. flying under the radar taking care of for us. So thank you very much for that.

Excellent. Is there a motion to adjourn the work session?

So moved.

Second. So moved and seconded. Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

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

Yes. Thanks for being here. Thanks for the program. The public comment period for city commission is called to order. Just a minute. Before we do this, I want to just tell the audience here, you may not know, but we got to honor the Kenton Ridge High School softball, girls softball team tonight outside at about 6.15. The entire team came. and well 95 of them and it was just really cool this is the second time we've been able to honor this team two years in a row back-to-back state champions so it was very cool so parents coaches were here and as a city we got to honor this great team so just wanted to let you know that we're going to go ahead and begin public comment period 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 constructive and productive dialogue and engagement for the community. Those wishing to speak need to fill out a public... comment card and provide their name and address for the record. A state issued ID and driver's license must be provided while filling out the card. Those residing in 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 this informal part of the meeting. Those have determined to provide false information on the card will not be permitted to speak at this meeting or the next scheduled city commission meeting. We're truly committed to making the meeting an environment where people have an opportunity to share their ideas, their thoughts, concerns. We truly respect the First Amendment rights of all individuals. Disruptions of any kind or 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'll be notified that they're considered trespassed and barred from attending future City Commission meetings. As a reminder, city participation guidelines allow comments on legislative agenda items. Each citizen may comment up to three agenda items per meeting with a total speaking time of three minutes. Our first speaker is Diana Daniels.

Good evening. Just 10 short days ago, America celebrated our 250th anniversary. Small and large towns and cities celebrated with decorations, huge and small parades, concerts, and fireworks. I'll let this rest right here. Oh, we did have a concert and fireworks. Gee, thanks. Springfield has made a huge contribution to the creation of this great nation, stretching back to the 1800s and beyond. We were the city at the end of the road, the national road, and it here for a time. The place where settlers came, some stayed, to gather the necessities to continue their voyage west to cross the Mississippi and settle the rich prairies across the Midwest and the plains. In the 1910s and 20s, we were known as the City of Roses. Three dozen or more greenhouses dotted the area and produced more roses than any other place in the world. We were a stop on the Underground Railroad. We were the powerhouse of agriculture. We were known as the champion city. From the Civil War to the 1950s, most of the agricultural machinery in the United States was built at the East End shops right here in Springfield. The champion reaper, crop harvester, revolutionized farming and put Springfield again on the map. 1955, William Whitley invented the mower. The son of Cyrus McCormick, together with Benjamin Warder, created a company which became International Harvester. Springfield is the birthplace of the 4-H, known across the U.S. and around the world. And how did Springfield celebrate? Hmm, let's think about that. Was there a parade showcasing our great city's many contributions through 250 years? Was the city dressed out in patriotic red, white, and blue? Was there bunting on the city building and other key buildings? Were flags evident in and on businesses? Did you know that some businesses in this town do not display the American flag because they're afraid to? Oh, but you better fly that pride flag, right? Oh boy. What a golden opportunity to showcase the above city fighting some more. That opportunity was squandered by misguided and misappropriated priorities. Driven by a small faction, in my opinion, anti-American individuals, an opportunity was lost to show America Springfield's place in our American story. The front page of the news on Sunday, July the 5th, should have been plastered with pictures of the parade demonstrating our civic pride or the family gatherings throughout the city. Instead, the front page had this. There you go. There's your story. Inside was more with free advertising for the organizations. What a disaster. What a shame. Shame. Shame on all of you. Shame on the city and civic organizations who can expend time and money on misguided priority projects like 2051 but could not find either the time or the money to put together a celebration worthy of our place in America's history. Shame on you. Shame on every single one of you.

I don't receive any of that shame. I think the city does a fantastic Memorial Day parade honoring veterans. So anyway, thanks for your dive. David Rose. Hi, David.

Hey, here in a couple weeks, I expect to see all. commissioners at the march. We'll get the chief of police and also the sheriff of Clark County. I want y'all to be there. I want y'all to partake. I went to Dayton on two different occasions and was invited down there when the mayor did a walk and the community come together. That's why I'm asking now. The second thing is, Rob, the shelter's shut down now. I'm wanting to buy all three buildings. For my organization. I don't want to hand out. From the community. I want to put back into the community. Take the money that you just funded. The firehouse. From the Dayton organization. I want to put the money back. Into the community. I don't want to hand out. I don't want no grant from the city. I want to take the money out of my pocket. And my organization. The money that we've raised for this. And put into the community. Because we're doing recovery services. In the last 90 days, I've taken 31 guys off the street and 30 stayed in the recovery. We do a lot behind the doors that's not even spoken on. But I'm just asking, give us a chance in this community and let us produce what we can produce in a positive direction. That's it.

Thank you. Thank you for your heart to help people. Thank you for helping those 33 individuals. Nicole Ethel.

Hi, so some stats that I found out, Springfield City Schools have the worst scores in the county and they rank worst in the state. Clark Shawnee Schools can't get a levy passed. They've had to cut their busing and they've threatened to cut sports. They've reduced their staff. Springfield now is the number two spot as the most dangerous city with violent crimes in Ohio. Our infant mortality rate is higher than the state average. Our property taxes are going up, and they are higher than other cities. Our rate is about 1.69. State average is 1.36. Domestic violence is on the rise. Health-wise, Springfield has 76.2%. 9% are considered obese compared to the Ohio average of 38%. The average life expectancy is five less than Ohio. 28% of children in Springfield live in poverty compared to the 18% state average. Local children in Springfield have a 250% higher average of elevated blood levels of lead compared with the state. OUR POLICE FORCE HAS BEEN UNDER THE MANDATED CHARTER RATE OF 124 FOR HOW LONG? OUR FIREFIGHTERS AND ENT ARE PLEADING FOR BETTER STAFFING. THIS HAS TO DO WITH PUBLIC FUNDS, PUBLIC HEALTH, PUBLIC EDUCATION. SOME OF THIS COMES FROM PROPERTY TAXES. Yet we signed a 100% tax abatement for a data center. We now have a data center that's in construction and we don't know how many more are coming. We've asked, how are you going to protect us and ensure we are safe? Yet we've had no answers. We know the city does not test the aquifer near the data center. They do not test the air quality. They do not monitor sound. They do not monitor EMFs. We see what's going on in LA, Oregon, West Virginia, and within the past week, Wyoming. We have to ask ourselves, why did a million dollar company who was slated to make 100 millions of dollars come to freeload off of our resources with a handful of jobs hoping that their incomes can help our city do you think these workers are going to be local someone's going to benefit from this and it's not going to be the citizens of Springfield we have a petition that has been started that's local to the city of Springfield it will ban data centers in Springfield and it can be we can still collect signatures until the end of August so we need to sign that petition now there still is a state petition going around also so please sign the petition we need to stop this until we can be the understanding that they are going to build them responsibly Mr. Ricketts I do appreciate your moratorium and I wish that you were here when they made the vote for the tax abatement maybe things would have changed then but we just can't guarantee that we're going to be safe once that moratorium is over so we need to sign these petitions and get the ban for the data centers in Springfield

Well, thank you for bringing that up. And I was going to highlight the fact that we will be voting tonight on that moratorium. It can be renewed if we don't feel like we have the right information after six months. So there's already been good steps in the county as far as posting new guidelines. So it's something we're definitely paying attention to. Kenneth Selig.

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, and fellow citizens. My name is Kenneth Seelig, also known as Barron. I'm a Springfield resident, I'm a taxpayer, and I'm one of the people you work for. Tonight, I'm not here because I enjoy conflict. I'm here because I love Springfield, and I'm afraid for its future. Tonight, I go on the record pleading for solutions, not excuses. I expect solutions from those who work for us. The last time I stood on this plaza, I wasn't breaking the law. I wasn't threatening anyone. I wasn't disturbing the peace. I was peacefully exercising my First Amendment rights while carrying a 1776 tea-stained American flag with three simple words written across it. We the people. Those are not just words on a flag. They're the opening words of the United States Constitution. They're the foundation of our republic. They're a reminder that the government derives its authority from the people, not the other way around. For carrying that flag, I was assaulted, I was spit on, my life was threatened, and the safety of my family was put at risk. Think about that. A law-abiding citizen stood peacefully in a public plaza carrying a flag that simply said, we the people, and he was met with intimidation, hatred, and threats. The very people confronting me held signs that read things like, hate has no place here. Love your neighbor. Those are beautiful words, but I didn't experience the love. I didn't experience tolerance. I didn't experience respect. What I experienced was fear. If love your neighbor doesn't include the neighbor who peacefully disagrees with you, then these words have lost their meaning. Tonight, Springfield is once again wrestling with difficult questions surrounding temporary protected status. Reasonable people can disagree about immigration policy. Reasonable people can disagree about how our city should respond. That is what freedom looks like. But no citizen should ever be assaulted, threatened, or intimidated for peacefully expressing an opinion on a matter of public concern. That is not democracy. That is not tolerance. That is not the rule of law. The constitution either protects every citizen or it protects no one. Tonight I asked this commission, is this the Springfield your leadership except, except is this what you want the rest of America to see? Because I fear that if we continue down this road, Springfield will once again become national and perhaps even international. news for all the wrong reasons. I pray I'm wrong, but hope is not a strategy. Leadership requires courage. Leadership requires action. Leadership requires defending the constitutional rights of every citizen, even those with whom you disagree.

Thank you, Kenneth. Appreciate your speech. I understand about being intimidated and being afraid, things like that. Thank you for making your comments. I'd like the chief to follow up with you on your assault. down here on the plaza to make sure that things are taken care of appropriately. Thank you, sir. Terry Atkins.

Good evening. Gary Atkins, Springfield, Ohio. I'm going to tag on something that Baron just mentioned. You know, the gentleman that spit on him was on the front page of the newspaper the following day holding up his sign. I mean, come on now. This is terrible. I was at the rezoning meeting for the city out for the airport properties and something, you know, just wondering if there's any future plan based on what you guys would like to do and let me just say that you know we do a lot of work out there for different entities and it's pretty needed there's some expansion out there um it's a gold mine and this not necessarily this commission but previous You've missed the boat because it's a goldmine waiting to be explored. I mean, there's just more and more things that could happen out there. Along with that, we were at a meeting at Springfield Township and something was brought up in regards to the data center that you guys are putting in at the prime location. of 41 and the fire chief in Springfield Township was asked what happens if there's a fire you know do we have enough Springfield Township have enough equipment supplies to take care of that and his exact words I quote you there's not enough foam in Clark County to handle that place so with that being said what's your guys plan at the airport for example if you put all these other businesses coming in Because I do know, based on what was said at the Clark County meeting, Houston Fire Department is minimally staffed. They have no third shift. It's all going to be mutual aid. I know there for a while you guys did have fire department staff out there when you were trying to run the tower. That didn't quite work out the way you wanted it to. But if you start building a bunch of places out there for business, Something needs to be done because that's an accident, major accident waiting to happen. And, you know, again, with that airport out there, a lot of people don't realize that's a 9,006 foot runway. Air Force One landed and took off out there a while back. So anything can come.

Except the space shuttle.

Exactly.

Everything but that.

If it's on the back of an airplane, it can. Right. But, you know, there's just, like I say, the goldmine. Back to the homeless. You know, I saw the can land in the curb where you all have been kicking it. It's gone dark, man. What's going on? I'd like some transparency if you could. You know, the county is blowing you away on that. First meeting every month. They meet at 530, open forum. Anything you want to talk about, feel free to come and talk about it. You guys give me three minutes and that's it.

need to step up to the plate boys and lady well we i couldn't agree with you more that the airport is a gold mine and uh future for springfield waiting to happen and um we actually are doing quite a bit with homelessness and our city has paid quite a bit of attention to it and working with a hopeful organization that's out of date and that's running a homeless shelter in town we have one and they're now taking intake there's an open intake now so that's just brand new in the last couple days so I know our community development department's been working on that constantly so it's not something that's been left and then we are not building data centers or anything else it's not the city's not doing any of that so these things are happening but we're not building anything like that okay Jennifer Apple

Thank you, Mayor Rue.

Sorry, it's just really in my eyes.

Thank you. Following up on what we talked about on the second meeting in June, when I talked about the problem in the water supply, I know that I talked to some doctors and they said there's still a boil water. What did we do about that? Just following up. Has anybody had the explosive diarrhea? Because if you had, if you have, that's what we're talking about here. In the water. And the next part is violent vomiting. You're doing the best you can. I would have called the polygon man. I would have called the porta potty in front of every house. And I would have shut this place down. And saved your downstream neighbors. It was in Mobile, Alabama, four weeks ago. This is not stop at this point unless I can get a lab to make an antidote to crime. Warp speed 2.0 rolled out by executive order. They pushed the button on July 1st. I'm assuming that's why there was a four and a half hour wait to get into your emergency room on July 1st. This thing is rampant. You are losing people at something like one out of every 40 right now. Please, help me. I am not pushing the button on you, but I am being used to make that happen because of my typhoid Mary stat. And they knew I would. I want to help. They don't even.

Jeffrey Jones.

Good evening. My name is Jeffrey Jones and I have a issue with a ticket that I got, a driving ticket, and I went to court about it and it was dismissed by the prosecutor. No evidence. When I went, I signed the ticket where they said it was with the prosecutor where it was being dismissed. The magistrate said that he was not going to allow the ticket to be dismissed. I don't know what the deal was with that. But the thing is this, I asked when I went to, because I had to go speak, I still got to go back to court on the 27th concerning this. But the prosecutor dismissed the ticket. You know, I asked to see the film and I went and talked to her and nothing was there. So she dismissed it. But then I went to the magistrate back in the court and talked to the magistrate. And he said he was not going to allow that to happen. I looked up on the internet the instances where the magistrate actually, you know, turned over the decision by the prosecutor. And it's almost zero. And I mean zero. And I'm wondering... what this guy's problem was with me. I don't have a bad driving record. I didn't disrespect the police officer. I did everything they asked me to do. But then when I get in there, he's wasting my time. Then he tell me, well, because they wanted to downplay it. And I said, no, I said, I'm not going to admit to something that I didn't do. You know, so it went on and on, like I said, and a prosecutor dismissed it. But he overturned what she said. And when I look that up, I mean, across this nation, that's almost zero. And I want to know what his problem was with me. That's all.

I'm sorry for your difficulty.

If we have your contact information on the card, we'll get that and we'll. reach out to you tomorrow and get more information about that case and look into it and see what we can find out.

I appreciate that because people can see that any different way. I'm a black man, so I can see that. I'm not going to say racist, but there's some prejudice being shown here that's not shown across the whole country.

You need an answer.

Yes, sir.

Yes. Bruce Clay.

Good evening, Mayor, City Manager, Commissioners, and those attending tonight. My name is Bruce Clay. I was kind of apprehensive about coming down here, really, because of all the hate, things that are going on, the division. It's sad to see in the city. I was born and raised here. I retired for a company 42 years ago. And I've been working in the outreach for six years now with the homeless and the homeless shelter, Salvation Army shelter and full time in our outreach. I'm not here to pick sides. I'm here to state some things that need to be talked about. We're not talking about in the outreach in the six years. I've never seen an illegal immigrant on the street and our shelters or anywhere else. And that's good. That's good. But we didn't get to pick who came here. It doesn't matter the color. We can't make this a race issue, but we're being burdened by the open border policies and the influx. And I see it everywhere. It's sad. Our homeless population is through the roof and we protest out here. We March. In 24 hours, they raised $150,000 for new neighbors, immigrants, or whatever you want to call that are being subsidized already. But we can't do anything for our own. It's not about race. We can't make it about race. That's what they want. Race baiters, the division, that's not it. There's only one race, the human race. And our own people are struggling here in Springfield. You know, I do know two people who have froze to death right here in this city. Nothing mentioned. And many others who were put out of their homes due to the influx of things that happened here. I know people who've rented for 30 or 40 years who became homeless. I couldn't believe it until I saw it myself. A veteran with his leg lopped off 40 years put out in the street because they raised the rent. from 550 to $1,500 a month. Rent has more than doubled in seniors and people on fixed incomes and people working in restaurants, department stores, gas stations. They can't afford to rent increase due to the influx. I know many who have moved to Urbana, Fairborn, Xenia, or in with another family member or a friend to make ends meet while their homeless population is skyrocketing. with nowhere to go, rents jumped from 550 a month to 1,030 a month, plus first and last month's deposit, which wasn't required before.

Thank you so much for your comments and thank you for your care for our community. Is there a motion to conclude the public comment period?

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. Rue?

Yes. 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 invocation in the pledge. God, I just thank you for our community. I ask that you would continue to bring peace to our community, bring more peace, and I ask that you would give us wisdom as we govern this city. In your name, amen. Is there a motion to approve minutes?

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. Ryu?

Yes. Clerk will proceed with first readings by title only.

Authorizing the exercise of the city's option to renew the contract with La Hoist North America of Missouri Incorporated for the purchase of quicklime for use by the city's water treatment plant for an amount not to exceed $1,598,750. authorizing all actions necessary to affect a governmental natural gas aggregation program with opt-out provisions pursuant to section 4929.26 Ohio revised code directing the Clark County Board of Elections to submit a ballot question to the electors.

I'm going to go ahead and explain these please.

The first item, 176-25, is renewing the contract with La Hoist for the purchase of the quicklime. This is used out at the water treatment plant and so utilizes the water utility fund for this purchase. This renewal represents a 3% increase over last year's cost. And quicklime is the first part of the process, the treatment process, which softens the water. 167-26 is putting an item to the Board of Elections to place a question on the ballot for the electors related to natural gas aggregation. So over a decade ago, we did move to electric aggregation. Gas aggregation existed as well, but at that time, gas prices were much lower and not as volatile. The market wasn't as volatile. Now we're seeing that change, that catch up in the natural gas market. And so gas aggregation programs allows to place this on the ballot before the voters to decide if we want to aggregate as a community, which helps lock in lower pricing for that natural gas supply to our community. And so with us tonight, I will ask, we have Ross McDonald who can speak to the education of this as it goes on to the ballot and what that means. And again, it's to the ballot for the people to decide. Go right to the podium.

Thank you.

Well, thank you, Mr. Heck, and thank you, City Commission. Ross McDonald, I serve for NOPEC. NOPEC is the United States' largest governmental aggregator. We conduct opt-out aggregation programs for communities all throughout Ohio, including for the city of Springfield for the electric aggregation program. As Mr. Heck said, we are experiencing lots of volatility in the natural gas market, so we're We have discussed with city leadership about the notion of proposing an opt-out aggregation program for natural gas. The key benefits are everything that Mr. Heck said. I would add to that is a feature that provides consumer protection. We see that through the free markets, there's a lot of really good deals out there on the Apple's website. However, in some cases, those contracts are not the best for residents. They can have volatility in and of themselves as well. So what NOPEC is willing and offering is a public education period between now and November, the election, To have a community meeting here in the city to help answer questions about what a program like this would do. Additionally, we would offer to do a household mailing to every household that contains a registered voter to let them know that the election was occurring. That way, everybody that's registered to vote in the city knows that it's happening. NOPEC would not campaign yes or no on that. It would be solely educational. And really keep it at that and let the Springfield residents decide if there should be a program.

Could you do me a favor and break it down as simple as possible of what you're proposing? What this program is, just break it down to somebody who has no clue.

In a futuristic scenario of a program existing here? Yep. So the way that would work, if the residents were to approve that in November, the city could stand up a program as early as March of 2027. The city would do a competitive proposal process to evaluate various programs that are providers of a program. When they select when the city selects a provider, a letter would go out to every eligible household in the city, letting them know that they would be automatically enrolled into the program unless they don't want to be in the program. They can fill out a form. and exit from the program, they would not be included with the opt-out program.

What would be the reason they would opt out? Or what reasons have you heard why people have chosen to opt out of this?

Some people genuinely enjoy playing the contract game on apples to apples. So some folks really do like to purchase their energy through the retail website. So that is one example that I have heard.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any comments or questions from commissioners on this?

I think we've all seen the rising energy costs. Electricity has gone through the roof, and thank goodness we have an aggregation program that helps stabilize those prices for our citizens. Gas, I never thought we'd see something like this, but gas prices are also going through the roof. And anything that we can do to stabilize those prices for the citizens and let people manage their budgets... is a good thing uh this the nice part about this program is you can opt in you know you can you can get in you can get out and it's your choice there's very few choices like that left left here uh and this is one of them so Thank you.

And this also will be the complete decision of the electorate to decide to do this. So you all will vote on this, whether it even happens or goes to the next step. So we look forward to the education opportunity that you'll be having here and we'll make sure that has probably plenty of announcements.

Thank you, Mayor Rue.

Thank you. Does anybody, does the commission have any other comments on first readings on the first one? Does the audience have any comments on the first reading only? You'd like to go to the microphone, Darlene, please. Thank you.

Sorry, just a question. The educational program would be before November?

Absolutely. Do you have a date on that, sir? Okay, and this also is a first reading, so we'll be voting on this in two weeks. And then after that, once we vote on it, to put it on the ballot and we can have those education opportunities. Excellent, thank you. Clerk, can you go into second readings, please?

amending the zoning map of Springfield, Ohio, by rezoning 2.94 acres located at 2725 to 2727 Columbus Avenue, Springfield, Ohio, from Springfield Township I-1 Industrial District to City I-L-I Light Industrial District.

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Uh, you want to just remind us what we're doing here, Brian?

Yeah, this is a rezoning of a property, uh, that was annexed into the city some time ago. It was a former tech industries property. Um, they have sold, uh, that building to a new company that's working. And as they were working, uh, through some new signage, it was discovered it had retained the old township zoning, uh, despite annexation. So just bringing it in line, uh, I-1 Industrial District from Springfield Township aligns with City's I-L-I, which is the Light Industrial District. Thank you.

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

Mr. Rickett?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Amending ordinance number 91 90 past March 12th, 1991 and commonly known as the codified ordinances of the city of Springfield, Ohio by enacting section 371.061 entitled pedestrian safety in the median and traffic island.

So moved.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Ms. Healy, I'm glad you're here. This is in large part from you bringing up concerns. The commission actually, this is one of the topics that we had in our retreat, which was a long meeting to discuss this. And now if this passes will become an ordinance. Yes. Thank you. Other comments from commissioners? From the audience? Would you like to go? Do you have any comment about this? Thank you. Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Ryu?

Yes.

imposing a temporary moratorium on the establishment development processing review and approval of high density computing facilities within the city of Springfield, Ohio for a period of six months in order to allow for the review, study and analysis of high density computing facilities.

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

Mrs. Packett? Yes. Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mr. Rue?

Yes.

authorizing the purchase of one E88R2 series Bobcat compact excavator with accessories from Doosan Bobcat North America Incorporated for an amount not to exceed $142,156.77 through Sourcewell pursuant to the Sourcewell contract purchasing cooperative program in accordance with the provisions of section 9.48 of the Ohio revised code.

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

Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes.

authorizing the city manager to enter into a public improvements and replat agreement with the community improvement corporation of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio CIC for the prime Ohio two public street extension project.

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

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

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

Yes.

authorizing the finance director to purchase up to 3,450 tons of rock salt for the 2026-2027 winter season from Morton Salt Incorporated for an amount not to exceed $294,837 through the Ohio Department of Transportation Cooperative Purchasing Program in accordance with the provisions of Section 5513.01b of the Ohio Revised Code.

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

Yeah. Mr. Wallace? No, I was going to talk about speaking about the price. Yeah, that's where I was going. Go ahead. Yeah.

So this represents a 23%. increase in the cost from last year and this is the highest since uh 2010 that we've seen in pricing and it's really uh as i talked with our service director chris moore really a perfect storm here we had a very large winter where we used a lot of salt that happened across the state of ohio we've been part of the ohio cooperative program now for a while after There were issues with collusion and the salt companies and so forth. But this case, supply versus demand and demand is high because people are replenishing their stockpiles. And, you know, Chris told me that we actually there were communities in Ohio that did not even receive a price or an option to buy. Correct.

Are the manufacturers citing like transportation costs, increased fuel prices?

Yeah, fuel pricing is driving a lot of their price increase, but again, also that demand on the salt material. And this takes care of us through the winter? Yes, our team always plans out looking at our worst winters and making sure that we have enough on hand to cover that.

And can I use any of this salt for my steak or none of that?

Nope, this is for the ribs. Not enough to go around? All right. Other comments from the audience or call the roll.

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

Yes.

Authorizing the city manager, law director, and the city engineer to do all things necessary to release the performance bond posted with the city in connection with the Bridgewater subdivision phase two.

So moved.

It's been moved in second. I'd say, manager, you want to just explain what we'll be doing here in these days?

Yeah, the next three items are all related as it relates to the Bridgewater subdivision out on the east side of the community. That project is complete and built out now, and we've accepted all of the public right-of-way. And so phase two, phase three, and phase four performance bonds can be released because we've accepted those.

And these bonds are put in place by the contractors to protect the public interest in the infrastructure so that if they were to go defunct, the money would be there to complete the infrastructure.

That is correct. Comments from the audience or call the roll?

Mrs. Packett? Yes. Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts? Yes. Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Authorizing the city manager, law director, and the city engineer to do all things necessary to release the performance bond posted with the city in connection with the Bridgewater subdivision phase three.

So moved. Second. We moved and seconded. Other comments from commissioners? From the audience? Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Authorizing the city manager, law director, and city engineer to do all things necessary to release the performance bond posted with the city in connection with the Bridgewater subdivision phase four. So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Any other comments from commissioners? in the audience or call the roll.

Mr. Wallace.

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts.

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby.

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett. Yes. Mr. Rue.

Yes.

Authorizing the city manager to enter into amendment number one to the sub recipient agreement with neighborhood housing partnership of greater Springfield incorporated to reallocate funding among project phases.

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

Just touch on this, Brian, real quick.

Yeah, so this is for a health and safety repair program that Neighborhood Housing Partnership is a subrecipient of for funding. And it was a two-year agreement. And in the first year, they did not expend all the dollars. And then they utilized some of those dollars in the second year of the program. And so just reallocating those to that second phase or that second year of the contract so that they can expend and utilize all those dollars for the health and safety repair program.

Any comments from the audience or call the roll?

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

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

Yes.

Encouraging the Ohio General Assembly to pass House Bill 303 to establish a community energy pilot program expanding access to clean local energy.

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. I want to highlight the fact that this is a resolution. This is not an ordinance, which means that if passed, we are simply voting together to offer support, to offer the community to support of this House bill. So it's not a law, not an ordinance. Any comments from commissioners? From the audience? Yes, sir. Please go to the podium.

First of all, thanks a lot for taking this up. I talked a couple weeks ago about House Bill 303. It passed the House by a vote of 77 to 8. Pretty good. And just to give people an update on what it is, it's a pilot project of 150 megawatts that can be, it's a four-year pilot program of 1,500 megawatts of community energy, solar and other types of energy. 500 megawatts are set aside for brownfields or other distressed lands or commercial roofs or public roofs. So you can conceivably put one on the roof. No facility is going to be more than 10 megawatts, except for perhaps on top of a roof, which can be a 20 megawatt. And no individual subscriber can take more than 40 kilowatts from the program. The idea is for this to be a community program and not allow one big subscriber to take all the energy. So it's generally for people in middle and lower incomes to enable them to have access to solar or other types of energy separate from the grid. I mean, separate from the utility company. As I said, the House passed Bill 77 to 8. It's made it to the Senate two or three times. I'm not exactly sure how many times, but each time it gets to the Senate, it dies. And so what's happening is the supporters around the state are trying to get to different communities to get them to pass such a resolution so that when the Senate convenes back in November, that they'll see that maybe Springfield will be the 10th one. Maybe there'll be 20, 25. Hopefully, this would be enough for the Senate to get The idea that there's a lot of support for this out there and act on it finally. I think it's a really good approach. Like I said the last time, it sort of fills the gap between the small rooftop solar and the utility companies so that other people that have trees over their roof or a roof that's not acceptable for solar or anything like that, THAT THEY HAVE ACCESS TO THAT KIND OF CLEAN ENERGY AND LOWER BILLS. AND ALSO, I WANT TO MENTION THAT 23 STATES HAVE ALREADY PASSED BILLS, LEGISLATION FOR THIS. AND IT'S BEEN VERY SUCCESSFUL. NEW JERSEY TALKS ABOUT $37 MILLION IN SAVINGS FOR OVER 28,000 SUBSCRIBERS. AND OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON HAS CUT THE BILLS 33% FOR 82 LOW INCOME HOUSES. So it's really good for middle and low income people. And again, thanks for thinking about it. And I hope next time, next week or a couple weeks, you pass the bill, pass the resolution. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Other comments from commissioners? Other comments from the audience? Ms. Diane Daniels? Sure.

Thank you for allowing me to speak. So we start talking about programs for solar for low and middle income. Don't forget that if those are grants or anything else, it comes out of my pocket. I ain't giving up nothing. I BID ON THE HOUSE, AND THE HOUSE HAD SOLAR ON IT, AND I REDUCED THE BID BY $50,000 BECAUSE THE SOLAR PANELS HAD TO BE REMOVED IN ORDER TO REPLACE THE ROOF. WELL, THEY DIDN'T ACCEPT THAT. SO IT'S NOT ALL SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS WHEN IT COMES TO SOLAR, PARTICULARLY IF IT'S COMING OUT OF MY POCKET. IF IT COMES OUT OF YOUR POCKET, FINE.

NEW SPEAKER RICKETTS.

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

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

Yes.

Authorizing the transfer of Ohio Strategic Capital Investment Funds in the amount of $750,000 to the Clark County Convention Facilities Authority and declaring an emergency therein.

So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. I'd like to have staff explain this.

Yes, so we had received funding from the state of Ohio from the Ohio Strategic Capital Investment Fund two cycles ago, and those funds were originally slated for an A.B. Graham Memorial Project out at the 7072 Interchange. We were not able to move forward with that project because funding required from OFCC, the Ohio Facilities Commission, and ODOT required us to own the land, and ODOT That's a limited access area, so we were not able to come to meet those standards to utilize the funds. Instead of those monies going just back to the state, we were able to work with them on a project that had already received funding from this program that the Clark County Convention Facilities Authority received funding for, and the state worked with us to be able to transfer those funds to that project. yeah so that project that the clark county convention facilities authority is moving forward with is the champion city sports and wellness project thank you there are comments from commission from the audience or call the role mr rigsby yes mrs tackett yes mr wallace yes mr ricketts yes mr rue

Yes. Before we move on, just want to highlight the fact that is not general fund dollars. I want to say that again. This is monies that would have gone directly back to the state if we didn't get to utilize it for Springfield and Clark County. So I just want to make sure everybody understood that that 750 is from a state grant that would have gone back if we didn't use it. Thank you. You can continue.

authorizing the city manager to enter into an airport infrastructure grant agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration in an amount up to $1,023,247, authorizing an expenditure of up to $53,855.10 to be used as local matching funds, authorizing the city manager, law director, airport manager, and the director of finance to do all things necessary for the execution of the grant agreement 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. Would you like to have staff speak to this?

Yes, I'll actually have Drake, our airport manager, speak to this project.

Thank you, Brian. Good evening, Mayor Rue, Commission. So this grant has been delivered by the FAA as a 95% matching grant. This is a design phase grant for the construction expected to be next year of the rehabilitation of runway 0624. This will include the edge lighting, the cabling, as well as all signage over there at the airport.

And like I said, this is the design phase, 95% by the FAA.

And then additionally, once this grant has been executed, another 5% will be matched at the state of Ohio. So it'll be 100%, no local dollars.

Thank you. Your comments from commission? I think this kind of goes along with, I think somebody earlier talked about what a tremendous asset our airport is. And this is leveraging money like nothing else. I mean, literally... We've got 95% coming from the FAA, and then a little later on, the 5% that's local, Matt, actually comes back to us. So this is using tax dollars in a way that is as responsible as it can possibly be. And again, I'll echo, the airport is a jewel, and the potential out there for growth is phenomenal, and the return on investment is second to none.

The comments from the audience. Clerk, call the roll.

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

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mr. Rue?

Yes.

Consenting to an improvement by the resurfacing of East Main Street, U.S. Route 40, between Greenmount Avenue and Burnett Road, project identified as CLA-US40-14.14, PID number 117962. requesting cooperation of the director of transportation of the state of ohio and the planning design and construction of such improvement providing for the maintenance of said improvement authorizing the city manager to enter into agreements with the director of transportation of the state of ohio necessary to complete the planning and construction of this improvement and declaring an emergency therein i'll move to

Second. It's been moved and seconded. You want to speak to this project?

Yeah.

I'll actually have Chris Moore, our service director, speak to this road repaving.

So this is legislation with ODOT to square up a contract you awarded at the last meeting. This will be resurfacing US 40 from Greenmount to Burnett. That will likely take place in the early spring of 2027. It will piggyback on what is happening this year. where we're going from Greenmount West to Spring Street. So hopefully by this time next year, we'll have spring all the way up to Barnard resurface.

That'd be great. I'd like to highlight the fact that we're saving streets. Other comments from the audience? If you could go to the podium, please, sir. Thank you. Just say your name for us. Thank you.

My name is Jacob Putnam. I was just curious as to how it is that you guys determine which roads needs fixed because there are a lot worse roads in this town than that section that you guys are working on.

Good question. Chris, could you speak to this type of project based on other neighborhood project streets that we're working on?

So this specific project was determined by the Ohio Department of Transportation as part of the urban repaving program because that's US 40. They come to us and say, we want to pave US 40. We will pay for 80% if you pay for 20%. And we work through an agreement to do that. On all of the other roads, we look at a variety of factors. We first start to look and see where has the gas company been? If the gas company hasn't been there, we don't want to go there because they will destroy what we're going to do. We then look at our water services, our underground water services, to make sure they can withstand the paving. And then we look at the pavement condition rating of a road to see. There's a number associated with every road to see just how bad they are. Then we look at the type of treatment. Like, for example, this is just a very simple shaven pave. We take off two inches, we put two inches back. Some roads are too far gone for a shave and pave. They take a much more extensive project that takes design. So I agree there are much worse roads than East Main Street. There's no question about that. The section of East Main we're doing this year, the gas company has been there, the water lines are done, and the road is about 26 years old. It's made it past its useful life, so it's a perfect candidate for that, but There are a lot of factors that go into it. If there are any specific roads, I will gladly talk through with people because a lot of effort goes into trying to coordinate all the moving parts.

And if there are potholes that are just have not been, nobody's paid attention to them, the city many times just doesn't even know that. And so if you go to the website, to the service center, or even call the main number, it will get to a list where they will fill potholes.

Absolutely. In many cases, we're getting to potholes within 24 hours of when they're reported. And then there are some roads we get to that as we look at them throughout the summer, we go into neighborhoods in mid-September through mid-October with our own paver, and we're able to resurface, you know, nine to ten streets a year that way.

Again, that report of concern or report of pothole, springfieldohio.gov or the main number is 937-525-5800. Thank you.

Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mrs. Packett? Yes. Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rue?

Yes.

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

I move. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Ms. Katie, you want to explain any?

Certainly, Mayor and Commissioner. So before you tonight is a supplemental appropriation or essentially a budget increase for an estimated two months of fire division overtime totaling $263,000. So throughout the year, finance monitors the department's expenditures, their actual expenses, And when spending begins to outpace that available budget or appropriations, we bring back a supplemental appropriation request to Commission. So through the first six months of 2026, Fire Division overtime has increased 74.5% compared to the first six months of 2025. And they've utilized 94% of their annual overtime budget. with 50% of the year having elapsed. So tonight we're bringing before you to approve two additional months of those overtime expenditures on average. We will continue to monitor that and come back before you if necessary later in the year.

Could you speak to the level of run volume this year to last year or the year before to speak to this increase in amount of overtime?

Yeah, I'll have Jacob speak to the run volume and the decrease on the medic run side. Also going into the second half of the year, so all 10 new recruits are out in company now. The four remaining that We're going through their EMT training, got that and got approved. So they're out in company. We've seen an overall reduction in overall FMLA numbers. Members out on FMLA or modified duty, as well as a couple of our deployments are getting ready to return as well. I know we're getting ready or have a new lateral deployment. employees starting here soon and then we're working through to add staffing to get us back up to that authorized strength of 130.

And I just want to acknowledge, I understand that when you have 10 new recruits coming in into service, I know that there's way lack experience. So I understand that that can be, it's not a burden. It just can be difficult to get these people up to speed. And so I understand that 10 new recruits does not solve this problem of overtime, but just would like you to talk a little bit more about this. All right.

Thank you, City Manager, Commissioner, and Mayor. So what I would say is our call volume, we have seen a significant reduction in our call volume. We're about 900 total calls less than what we were at this time last year, with a decrease of around 1,300 EMS runs. Is that 900 plus 1,300 or just 1,300? 900 total so we've seen a 1300 reduction in ems runs but we've seen an increase in the amount of fire responses that we've had from natural gas leaks to car accidents and so that that increase took over for the ems friends but i would say that action the commission has taken um last year for us to institute the low duty coal um process with regulated nursing facilities has had a significant impact for us on the call reductions for emf i would say is we had the 10 individuals in the recruit academy although we were paying for those and there was 10 empty spots that we were having to fill with the overtime So while we're paying for them, they're not actually out on the trucks until they've completed their program. So that's one of the issues as we face the significant FMLA. But we're starting to see, hopefully, that turning of the tides with the 10 out, some of our personnel coming back from injury leave, modified duty. We did hire our first personnel. lateral entry into the fire division in the history. That's supposed to start on July 27. And so we're looking to welcome him on and enjoy the firefighter paramedic that we're not gonna have to pay for their long-term schooling and program and overtime to back them while they're in class. We are interviewing the next round of our civil service list applicants. And so that's next week. And then we'll be choosing the remaining members to fill us to 130.

So how many more members are you looking to hire?

We're at 128 of our 130 right now. We have two members slated to leave here shortly, which takes us to 126. With the higher of the lateral entry, we're at 127. So we're looking to hire three off our civil service list, which will bring us right back to our 130 charter. I'm sorry, our 130 established staff.

Okay. Other comments from commissioners? From the audience? Thank you. Just state your name for us. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Matt Garrity. Just wanted to say first and foremost, appreciate that this is a continued conversation and we look forward to continuing the conversations. You've heard the numbers on the overtime. Our seats have to get filled and we want to fill those seats. So we're just looking to continue working forward to find the best way to make that possible to serve the city. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks for being here. The comments from the audience or call the roll.

Mrs. Packett? Yes. Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Rickett?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Abstain.

Mr. Rue?

Yes.

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

So moved.

Second. The moved and seconded their comments from commissioners from the audience. Clerk call the roll.

Mr. Wallace.

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts.

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby.

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett. Yes. Mr. Rue.

Yes.

Authorizing the fiscal officer to establish a super blanket purchase order as authorized in resolution number 6152 for Mercy Health Occupational Health Services in the amount of $40,000 and declaring an emergency therein.

So moved.

Second.

I moved and seconded. Speak to this, please.

Yeah. So this is the Bechtel Avenue sidewalk project. And so this is the appropriation of properties, 30 temporary easements that are needed for construction and one permanent.

I think we're on 28725.

Yes. If you could just pay attention, please. No, you're fine. So actually, Mayor and Commissioners, this is a super blanket purchase order for our Human Resources Department with Mercy Occupational Health for things like drug screens, Department of Transportation, and pre-employment physicals. We typically have a general blanket purchase order in place up to $25,000. That's the procurement threshold for those. But we've seen a significant cost increase per item for each of those things, which has pushed that limit above that $25,000. So before you is approval of a super blanket. Super just means it's above $25,000 and requires commission approval to increase that amount to $40,000 for those screens with Mercy Occupational Health. You're welcome.

I have Dr. Estrop's question in my head that this isn't a fuzzy blanket, right?

It is not a fuzzy blanket. He always would ask that.

Anyway, other comments from the audience or call the roll?

Mr. Rickett?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

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

Yes.

finding the necessity and declaring the intent to appropriate interest in real property in connection with providing right of way and easements needed for the purpose of making and repairing roads, which shall be open to the public without charge to wit the construction of sidewalk on both sides of Bechtel Avenue from Hillcrest Avenue north to the Walmart traffic signal and along the north side of Hillcrest Avenue from the Meyer entrance to Bechtel Avenue as well as updated pedestrian facilities and signal timing and declaring an emergency therein. So moved.

Second. It moved in second. Is there anything else you need? Yes.

This is the Bechtel Avenue sidewalk project. And so this is the appropriation of property. So 30 temporary easements for construction purposes. There is one permanent easement and intersection that is needed as part of the longer term project. But again, putting sidewalk on both sides of Bechtel Avenue from Hillcrest to the Walmart traffic signal. And then also connecting in along the north side of Hillcrest up to Meyer, which at 41 in Hillcrest, there are already sidewalks there and crossings to get over into the neighborhood.

Comments from the audience? Ms. Diane Daniels?

Sure, just a quick question because last winter was pretty snowy and I come down Bechtel Avenue with a new bridge. And who's responsible for clearing the snow off the bridge that people have to use coming down Bechtel Avenue, crossing the railroad track and then going up to Kroger? That's just one. So when you construct these sidewalks, who's going to be responsible for clearing the snow off those sidewalks?

On the sidewalks on Bechtel Avenue and Hillcrest would be the property owners that the sidewalks are on. So the shopping center, for example, where Kohl's, Marshall's, those things are, the property manager of that will be responsible for clearing those sidewalks and all the way up through.

Okay, we'll see.

I agree, and this was something that we did bring up when the snow did fall so heavily is businesses have to pay attention to sidewalk because it is not safe passage for those needing to walk. Other comments from the audience? We'll call the roll.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

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

Yes.

And then we had one item added to the agenda consenting to the appointment of James James Burkhart to the board of zoning appeals and declaring an emergency therein.

I'll move. Second. We moved in seconded. Just want to thank Mr. Burkhart for willing to, he actually has stepped away and stepped away long enough where he can actually participate again. So he still wants to help on BZA. So really appreciate his desire to help us. Other comments from commissioners. From the audience, clerk call the roll.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. Wallace?

Yes.

Mr. Ricketts?

Yes.

Mr. Ryu?

Yes. At this time, we'll have any comments from commissioners and any announcements they have as well.

I have one. This is an invitation to everyone. If you have grandkids, kids, they can bring their friends as well. Saturday, July 18th from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Davey Moore Park, the Student Mentor Coalition is having their seventh annual community cookout. This has been seven years and we've never ran out of food. So I want to really try to run out of food. Free hamburgers, free hot dogs, potato chips, water. For the kids, we'll have bouncy houses, little ones for the little kids and big obstacle course. For the older kids, two game trucks and we will have music. Vendors are welcome to come out and set up if they want. It's totally free. Also be doing a free basketball camp for grades one through four that day in partnership with the boys and girls high school basketball team and the youth program Springfield Elite. And after that, there'll be a cornhole tournament for the adults and whoever else wants to play at one 30. And we're also be honoring four members, uh, to the rock of fame. There's a rock that, uh, the student mentor coalition has put there with names of older gentlemen that, and women that have been, uh, participated in that park and to just honor them and, um, give them their flowers. And four of them, one is Carlton Claiborne, the next one is Tommy Freeman, and then Anthony Threatts, and then Cesar Chilton was honored last year, but his name will be going up on the new plaque, the new billboard that's over the rock, that we can continue to add names that were done by our students from the Dome, our after-school program who built the message board with the plexiglass and everything. So we'll be presenting that as well. It's a very good event. It's a good time to come out and fellowship with each other for one common cause. We are always talking about the violence and there's not a lot of stuff to do for the youth. Well, this is an opportunity to come out and see some of the things that are available for your youth. to participate in. So I invite all of you to come. You don't have to have a burger, but you can still stop by if you want one. Feel free. The food will be prepared by Core 608, Core 4608. They will be preparing the food as well. And Braxton Miller Foundation also partnershiped with us to take care of the game trucks as well. So it's a community event, a lot of community programs coming together for one fun field day.

thank you this saturday july 18th thank you um i want to thank the springfield fire department for um recently allowing me to do a couple ride-alongs and become more informed about what they do a couple are here thank you guys i really appreciate what you do do and i every time i go i learn more so thank you i also want to recognize the clark county historical society they recently had an america 250 event this past weekend at the crable house which is out at the reservoir i had never been there before it was really kind of fascinating to go into that house it's it's not open often and i think it was kind of saved in recent years by them so that was a great experience and so i went ahead and looked up the next time we have an america 250 event here in our county. So we have the fair at New Boston, Labor Day weekend. They're going to do something to recognize America 250. And then also on November 14th, the Springfield Symphony is doing a Star Spangled Celebration at the Clark State Performing Arts Center. So I don't know how they're getting the information out. I came across the Crable event through a Facebook event. And that was probably posted through the Clark County Heritage Center site. So yeah, if you're on Facebook, that's a good way to find out. I'm not sure how else to find out what they're doing. And then I want to congratulate the Conscious Connect and all the partners in the community that recently opened the Dorothy Bacon Park this past weekend. There was a dedication. And also I think it's important to recognize Commissioner Wallace, Commissioner Ricketts and I attended the Kroger unveiling of the Durr Road renovation that they did, 1.5 million that they put back into that store. We wanna thank them for their continued investment into our community. And yes, they have new carts, right? Commissioner Wallace, yeah. We were excited.

Yeah, my wife was very happy.

That's our Kroger. We were excited. Thank you.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

Second. Moved and seconded. Clerk, call the roll.

Mr. Rickett?

Yes.

Mr. Rigsby?

Yes.

Mrs. Tackett? Yes. Mr. White?