Council - Regular Meeting

I'll call this meeting of the st. Mary's City Council order all right please

like them to be made so I pray you'd be with us this evening and just help them in the decision-making that would help this community move forward and again a special prayer tonight for Zach Farrell as he is moving on to be a judge so pray that that he would also serve this county community well we ask these things in Jesus name please join me

All received a copy of the minutes in the last meeting. Are there any questions or comments? If not, may I have the motion to accept, please? Mr. Luntz, Ms. Slater, council vote to accept, please. All yeses. Under petitions and communications, First thing I'd like to do is this council welcomes Mr. Jeff Squire as our law director at this time. He's been appointed by the mayor at this time, and we'll go through the process later. So welcome, Mr. Squire. Thank you. Looking forward to it. Next, we have a legal notice. Notice is hereby given that the City of St. Mary's Council hold a public hearing on August 24th, 2026 at 6.15 p.m. in the Municipal Building Council Chambers, 101 West Spring Street, St. Mary's, Ohio, to hear comments regarding the request to vacate all that portion of the road right away up Plum Street being bounded on the east by the west line of a 16 1⁄2-foot north-south alley extended in the East Addition Block 11, being bounded on the north by Lot No. 1 of the East Addition Block 11, and being bounded on the south by lot seven of JHD8 Barrington subdivision of out lot 61 in the city of St. Mary's. This triangular shaped portion of Plum Street right away lies between Pine Street and Pear Street, west of the west line of a 16 and a half foot alley extending, and to your comments regarding your request to vacate all that portion of an existing 12 foot wide east-west alley being bounded on the north side of out lots 48 and 49, and being bounded on the south side by the north part of Outlot 50 in the city of St. Mary's. This alley lies east of Front Street between Spring Street and South Street. Copies of this request and drawings are shown in the area of the questioner on file in the Engineering Department, 101 West Spring Street, St. Mary's, Ohio. Also, under Petitions to Communications, this is the time people have the opportunity to address council if they wish to do so. Does anyone wish to address council at this time? Okay. Thank you. Under Reports of City Officials, we have the Mayor's Report. Mr. Fox, I'll do it. Mr. Harris, I have nothing to add to the Mayor's Report. Any questions or comments from council?

I do. Number 8, under Engineering, it says...

Next we have the tax commissioner's report, Mr. Foxholder. I have nothing to add unless our tax commissioner has something to add. She says no. Okay. Any questions for Congress or council?

Next we have the director of public services safety report, Mr. Foxholder.

I have nothing to add, but I'll be glad to answer your questions. Mr. Dillon.

Number eight, which says final plans, was there a final decision?

We're going to extend it back further so we can get more semi-stacking in there. So that's part of the project that's going down the road. will you be done before they go into full production will will you be done with this modification before

Any other questions or comments from council? Okay. On the reports of communities and city council, we have none. On the readings of ordinances and resolutions, ordinance number 202611, an ordinance to approve disproved generation fee emolishment repeal for the Albany County Solid Waste District and to declare an emergency. Any questions or comments from council? If not, this being the third reading, may I have a motion to pass, please? Under second reading, we have Ordinance 2026-12, an ordinance vacating a portion of Plum Street road right of way, located in the J.H. and B.A. Barrington subdivision of Outlook 61 in the city of St. Mary's. Any questions or comments from council? If not, this will be back for the third reading of the next meeting. Next, we have Ordinance number 2026-13, An ordinance vacating a portion of an existing 12-foot wide east-west alley being bounded by outlocks 48, 49, and 50 in the city of St. Mary's. Any questions or comments from council? If not, then this will be Dr.'s third reading at the next meeting. I've been asked to take a few things out of sequence here, so under new legislation, May I have a motion to read Resolution 2026-10? Mr. Aguero, Mr. Gilliland, council vote to read 2026-10. All yeses. Resolution 2026-10, emergency resolution authorizing the director of public service and to accept bids and award a contract for the McKinley Road-Spruce Street intersection improved at Mr. Foxwood. Mr. Bullard's going to talk about this one.

So we're wanting to bid this project out as soon as possible. So the project itself widens the intersection of McKinley Road at the northeast corner. We're going to take that right lane. This is awesome. Sorry. Back up a step. The through lane, right lane. We're going to widen that to the north so we can get more semi stacking in there. The left turn only lane gets two semis in there. We'll have enough room to get semis around them and keep the traffic flowing. Currently, the way the intersection is set up, if you get two semis stacked in on the left only lane, you're not going to get around them to go through or right. So we want to bid this project out in a short time frame here. We feel we've got contractors that are still able to do it yet this year. We're already here in August, so construction season is winding down. So we'd like to get this ordinance passed to give us authorization to bid this, keep the project going, and hopefully get it done before the end of the year. So you're requesting suspension?

Yes. ODOT has agreed to pay 56% of the cost, if you want to talk about that a little bit.

We did receive a grant this year through ODOT's Department of Jobs and Commerce. They're paying 56% of the project, so we're estimating the project to around $140,000. So ODOT's share is going to be around $78,000 of it, so we definitely want to take it forward.

Any other comments from council?

I guess maybe, I don't know if you talked to ODOT about it, about maybe doing a traffic study a couple years down the road once they get going to see if there's any additional improvements on top of this.

that's all ODOT stuff. That's on the side of state limits, so we'll be working with ODOT on that as well.

Then we'll have actual numbers instead of guesses.

Yeah, makes sense.

Any other questions or comments from council? We have a request All yeses. That being the case, may I have a motion to pass? Mr. Gerland, Mr. Fitzgerald, council vote to pass, please. All yeses. Thank you. And next we have resolution 2609. May I have a motion to read, please? Mr. Aguero, Mr. Gellerian, council vote to read, please. Just stand in front of me. All yeses. Okay, resolution 20-26-09, a resolution of appreciation to Zach G. Farrell. Whereas this council wishes to express its sincere appreciation to Zach G. Ferrell for his service as law director for the city of St. Mary's from January 2020 through July 2026. And whereas prior to his appointment as law director, Zach Ferrell served as assistant law director for the city of St. Mary's from May 2014 through December 2019. And whereas Zach Ferrell has provided valuable legal counsel, guidance, and support to the city of St. Mary's council, administration, and department staff. And whereas Zach Ferrell drafted and coordinated the preparation of legislation for Council's consideration, and will therefore be resolved by the Council of the City of St. Mary's, Ohio. Section 1, Zach Farrell devoted countless hours to providing legal guidance and support in attending meetings with the Council, its committees, and administrative staff. Section 2, this Council and administration recognizes Zach's professionalism, leadership, and dedication to the city of St. Mary's and extends their gratitude and best wishes to Zach T. Ferrell for his years of public service and wishes him continued success in his future endeavors. And Zach is someone I can always count on. I can always call and get good answers. Just beside Mr. Noble. May I have a motion to pass, please? Ms. Slater? Mr. Fitzgerald? Council votes to pass, please.

So in doing this, I've been asked to make a few remarks. During that time, we did provide invaluable service to the city. We were drafting legislation like zoning, or when you're abandoned, vacate a town if title searches need to be done. Jack has performed innumerable services to the public in general, serving as president of Rotary, being involved in the Chamber of Commerce, chair of Summerfest, along with his spouse, I think, Summerfest Parade, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, it's called something else now, the YMCA, and he's been very active. And now that he's assuming, or will shortly assume the judgeship, it has been over 60 years since we have had a judge in a common police court, whether general or probate division. So he is the first person in 60 years, from St. Mary's,

I didn't talk very much up here very often, unlike my predecessor, so I think I can talk a little bit longer right now. No offense, Greg. It's coming from your pocket. I just want to thank everybody that's here tonight. It warms my heart to see so many friends and family and staff that I work with with the city. We had lots of, especially with the staff, we had lots of fun times together. I'm looking at the Angie's group, utility and taxes, especially early on with the tax cases that we fortunately found better solutions for. But also, I just want to thank, first off, Jeff and Craig for all the support through the years, through the office. Craig, just 40 years of law director experience, always being able to bounce things off of him. And then the leadership from the city, both currently with Mayor Harlberg, but also previously with Mayor McGowan, and then Greg Foxoven, who's been the service director since I graduated law school and up to this day. His leadership and mentorship has been really invaluable as well into these positions. So if I left you out specifically, I apologize, but I don't want to try to name everybody and list everybody, but thank you all so much. And also, council, it's been an honor to work with all of you and also the previous councils. There's been a lot along the way. I just want to leave some words of advice just for everybody. Marcus Aurelius wrote of how we should do the right thing, whether it's cold or warm, whether we're tired or well rested, whether we're despised or honored. My advice for everyone in the room is to do the right thing. It's that simple. But it's never easy. Sometimes the obstacle is the way. Thank you.

Under State of the Slave Business and Closing, do you need a committee meeting? No, sir. In that being the case, is there anything else come before council? Mr. Lunds.