Council - Regular Meeting

It is 6.30. I'll call this meeting in St. Mary's City Council to order. Roll call, please.

gracious god we thank you for being in our presence this evening and father we ask for your wisdom and knowledge as decisions are made and father we ask your blessing upon those who have chosen to be in the positions they're in who have elected to make decisions for others which is not always an easy place to be in may they be blessed for what they do and may wisdom just abound we pray in jesus name amen amen please join me

We've all received a copy of the minutes of the last meeting. Are there any questions or comments? If not, may I have a motion to accept the minutes please? Mr. Quirrell, Mr. Gilman, all vote to accept please. All yeses. Under petitions and communications, this is the opportunity for people in the audience to address council if they wish to do so.

additions or corrections to my report but mr harris i might want to add a few things i want to thank all the council members and our city employees that showed up for the two events over the last couple of weeks the ribbon cutting of our treatment train out on aquadoc road i thought there was a good showing there A lot of people were impressed with that and of course our open house that took place over at the mill. We had about 60 to 70 people initially there for the first part of the presentation. I think we had over 100 or so individuals come through and people were very impressed. Some of the people that I've talked to said this over exceeded my expectations of what this was gonna look like. So I appreciate all you guys being there. and of course representative king was there as well and we received recognition from the ohio house of representatives and that document is sitting back here that document will be displayed in the middle as well so thank you that's all i have any questions or comments from council if not we have a tax commissioner's report mr foxhook mr harris service talking to added the tax commissioners report any questions or comments from council

Next, we have the Director of Public Service and Safety Report, Mr. Foxhound.

Mr. Harris, just a couple reasons.

Any questions or comments from council?

About the report? Yeah. I was just wondering on number eight with yours, Greg. I met with the owner of the armory, and I was just wondering why?

She invited the administration over but she's done a wonderful job. It's really a nice event center. We appreciate her walking us through it. But that really was it. She invited us and we took her up. Yes, sir? Number five, Greg, on yours. I met with the chiefs to discuss the e-bison scooters, where we at. Well, we The mayor and I did meet with our school resource officer to talk about some opportunities there, maybe at the school and have some type of assembly to talk about it.

I might also add that we recently purchased 24 helmets, bike helmets, that we've got here. We've got out at the school with the school resource officer that when he talks with individuals that don't have one, we're going to give them helmets. So we started out with 24. Hopefully it will go bigger. We're thinking about possibly some sort of a bike rodeo in the spring. backed by Kiwanis possibly or something like that. We did it in years past, so it'd be a nice thing to get people some training on the safety issues of our scooters.

Doing nothing doesn't seem like a good option for us.

Yes sir? Along that line, has there been any reports or as far as have we hit

Number two on personnel, just a follow up.

to have their Opah certification. So it's better than it has been, but it's not where we would like to see it. We long for the days where we have 15 or 20 people take a test and we can, you know, it allows us to really get the cream of the crop at that point. These folks that have taken the test look good, but the vast majority don't have Opah certification, so that's And we're hoping to have those done this week. We'll set up interviews and get those done as timely as we can. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Yes, sir. The battery storage project, can you speak on that? We will speak on that in executive session. All right.

Any other questions or comments from council? Okay, moving on then. We have no reports from city. Council Committees, under Readings, Ordinances, and Resolutions, we have no third reading. Under Second Reading, we have Ordinance Number 202615, an ordinance approving the editing and occasion of certain ordinances as parts of the various component codes or codified ordinances of the City of St. Mary's. Any questions or comments from Council? If not, this will be back for its third reading at the next meeting. Also, we have Resolution 2026-13, accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the Oblase County Budget Commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the Oblase County Auditor and declaring an emergency. Any questions or comments from council? Okay, this will be back for its third reading at the next meeting. Under new legislation, I have boarded 2026-16. May I have the motion to read, please? Mr. Lunds. Ms. Slater, council vote to read, please. All yeses. Ordinance 2026-16, an emergency ordinance authorizing the Director of Public Service and Safety to submit an application to the Ohio Public Works Commission for financial assistance and authorizing the financial commitment of the City of St. Mary's to fund the local share of the project. Mr. Foxler.

This grant will allow us to receive $490,000 from OPWC. The rest of it will be through Water, Seward, our building tax fund. The bid will be in July of 27. first. So we would request that we pass under suspension of the rules. Again, it's $490,000. We were told that we were more than likely to receive this grant. Okay.

Just a side, more of a joke. You can't squeeze the last block north of Jackson? No. I'd really like to have that side. I'm sure you would. Okay. Any questions or comments from council? If not, we have a request to suspend the rules. What is counsel's wishes? Mr. Fitzgerald. Motion to suspend the rules on Ordinance 2026-16. Motion to suspend by Mr. Fitzgerald. Second by Mr. Motter. Counsel votes to suspend, please. All yeses. That being the case, may I have a motion to pass? Ms. Slater. Mr. Motter. Oh, yes, thank you. Next, we have Ordinance 2026-17. May I have a motion to read, please? Ordinance 2617, an ordinance authorizing the issuance of notes in anticipation of the issuing of bonds for the purpose of the 2026 Street Program and to declare an emergency. Mr. Fogg.

we need to do is issue a note. A note is a one-year loan that we will get from a local bank. During that time, once we get that paid, we will give the property owners the opportunity to come in and pay their fair share. Some do, most do not. So what happens is once we know what that balance is, we will retire that note and issue bond in that lower amount, which will be lower. Some will pay.

Any questions or comments from council? If not, we have a request to suspend the rules as council wishes. Mr. Lunds? Motion to suspend the rules on ordinance number 2026-17. Motion to suspend by Mr. Lunds, second by Ms. Slater. Council votes to suspend, please. All yeses. That being the case, may I have a motion to pass? Next, we have ordinance number 202614. May I have a motion to read, please? Mr. Gilliland, Mr. Aguero, who wants to vote to read, please? Did I say ordinance? Sorry. All yeses. Resolution 202614, an emergency resolution authorizing application for the Transportation Alternatives Ohio Department of Transportation for the Spring Street Reconstruction Project Phase 5. Mr. Foxhunter.

through this TAP grant, we're looking for $1.3 million

Next, we have Resolution 2026-15. May I have a motion to read, please? Mr. Inquirer, Mr. Gilliland. Council vote to read, please. All yeses. Resolution 2026-15, a resolution clarifying the name of Yorkshire Court in the City of St. Mary's.

to do that.

Any questions or comments from council? Is that changing the plat or just the street sign? The plat. It'll conform with the plat. Plat says drive. Everybody calls it cord. So we're just fixing the plat. Since this does not carry a financial burden onto the city, I can ask for a motion to pass.

The confusion's been there for long enough,

All yeses. And next we have a request to go into executive session to discuss property acquisition. Will there be any action afterwards? No, sir. There will be no action afterwards. So I'm going to have a motion to go into executive session. Mr. Cuero? Mr. Fitzgerald? Council vote to go into executive session. All yeses. Thank you. Council vote to adjourn, please.

It's always the fastest move.