City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, it is 2 o'clock. And we call to order the agenda review meeting for July 7th, 2026. Clerk, please call the roll.

Martinez.

Present.

McPherson. Melvin. Morris. Here. Sorrento. Here. Williams. Here. Driscoll. Gattis. Here. Hobbs. Jones. Comives. Here. Kramer. Here. Eight present.

Okay, item number one from the Department of Public Utilities.

Good afternoon, members of council.

Rick Aikman, Deputy Director of Department of Public Works. And beside me is Andy McClure, Commissioner of Plan Operations. The legislation before you this afternoon is authorizing the mayor to enter into an emergency contract for the repairs to the carbon dioxide system at the Collins Park water treatment plant. Authorizing the appropriation and expenditure of an amount not to exceed 85,000 from the water replacement fund and said repairs. Waving competitive bidding of the provisions of Toledo Municipal Code Chapter 187 and declaring an emergency and requesting SEP. We'll yield now for questions.

Seeing no questions, SEP. Thank you. Thank you. My apologies to the court. I looked for number one, and you guys weren't as number one, so my sincerest apologies.

Thank you, counsel, always. We appreciate the opportunity to come before you. My name is Robert Disbrow II. I'm the finance officer at Toledo Municipal Court. To my left is Selma Espinoza. She is the commissioner of court services. We come to you seeking authorization to enter into a new five-year contract for jury services, jury summons. What we do is we piggyback on the Lucas County Common Pleas Court system. at a fraction of the cost would it take for us to set up our own in-house summons. And as a side note, we actually worked with a company called Ideas 42. They're a non-for-profit company that works with government and educational facilities to redesign our summons. And they use behavioral science statistics and put up with a format how to reschedule to make it easier for people if it's a conflict to reschedule, and the data has shown out that if a person reschedules, they are more likely to show up for that jury summons than if they just don't know what to do, they get paralyzed, so to speak, and they end up ignoring the summons. So we've had good, and again, that was at no cost to the city, so we were very grateful to IDS 42 for giving us that. And we seek SEP, and we seek any questions you may have. Council Member Gattis.

Thanks, no question. I just want to, I am so excited you're using behavioral science. I think that we as a city should really adopt that. It has moved so many cities forward, so I'd love to hear at the end how that works out, and super stoked that you're doing it. Thank you.

Like I said, it was at no cost, and they do this for all branches of government, is my understanding, so it could be utilized by anybody.

Great, thank you. Seeing no more questions, Chair Hobbs is not here. Chair Williams? SCP. SCP, thank you. And again, I apologize. Item two through nine from the Department of Finance.

thank you good afternoon chairman martinez members of city council melanie campbell from the department of finance here for these next several items i'll be joined at the table by our debt manager jamie takis and our assessment officer roberto martinez agenda items two three and four are all related to the 2025 assessed services program these ordinances are presented to council annually so that special assessments can be levied against property owners for work that was completed during fiscal year 2025 agenda item two is for street lighting in the downtown area agenda item three is street lighting outside of downtown agenda item four is for tree maintenance so that would be removal or trimming of trees in the right-of-way and then lastly levying assessments for the street services program which includes things like snow and ice control leaf pickup mowing in the boulevards and triangles again the work was completed in 25 the levy ordinances are presented to council and if approved presented to the County auditor and then collected on special assessments property tax bills next year we'd be happy to take any questions if you have them and we are requesting first reading yes first reading is fine on all of those that you've listed thank you thank you Our next agenda item is item six, which is an annual ordinance that we bring forward related to the city's sidewalk program. The ordinance would authorize issuing a sidewalk note in the amount of $2,520,000 for the sidewalk program for 2026, as well as for prior years. The note would be issued in October, and we'd be happy to answer any questions if you have them. We're also requesting first reading on this one.

So I'm not sure who was first, but I'll go to Council Member Gaddis.

Thanks. Could you explain more about the note and if we have a plan on what sidewalks then after that?

So this sidewalk program for 2026 would have actually started very early in 2026 as engineering services worked through identifying an entire list of sidewalks. It's referenced in this ordinance, but it also would have come before council in a resolution to start that program earlier this year. So this note funds that work that's happening because it's paid by property tax owners then over a 10-year period moving forward.

Okay, I see, so it's the 10-year. Okay, okay, thank you so much. Thank you, Chair.

Councilman Sorrento? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So were any sidewalks done last year in 25?

We did not have a sidewalk program last year.

That's what I thought. I just wanted to confirm that. And how does this $2.5 million compare to previous years when we did a sidewalk program?

This 2.5 is the combination of this year's program, which is $1,505,000, and then remaining program years from, I think, 23 and maybe 21 that are still ongoing. And that's the difference there in the notes that we're issuing.

Okay. All right. And you're requesting first reading?

We are requesting first reading, yes.

Okay. First reading is fine. Thank you.

Next, please. THE NEXT AGENDA ITEM SEVEN IS FOR ISSUING A NOTE FOR CITY SERVICES BORROWING. AGAIN, THIS IS RELATED TO THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAM, WHICH INCLUDES STREET SERVICES, TREE MAINTENANCE, AND STREET LIGHTING. THIS NOTE WILL FUND THE PROGRAM FOR THIS YEAR. THEN THE COSTS WILL BE CERTIFIED NEXT YEAR AND COLLECTED THE FOLLOWING YEAR. THE NOTE WOULD BE ISSUED LATER THIS YEAR IN DECEMBER IN A NOT TO EXCEED 30.1 MILLION. and we are also requesting first reading on this one the next ordinance and the next two are companion pieces of legislation relating to the existing but inactive Small Business Assistance Fund. That fund is an enterprise fund on the city's books that was originally established back in 1989 to account for the assets of the Small Business Assistance Corporation, which was dissolved at that time. The assets did include parcels of land as well as some, you know, property and equipment and furniture. There's been no activity in the fund since 2023. It does not have any revenues or expenditures budgeted. The fund does have a negative net position, which would be eliminated through a transfer from the general fund so that the fund can then be officially closed. And we'd be happy to take any questions on this one as well. and we are requesting SCP.

Thank you. So it was established in 1989 or there's been no activity since?

It was first established in 1989, no activity since in 23, 24, 25. Okay.

And then what was the goal of it being established?

i went back to the original legislation and it really just says that the small business assistance corporation advised the city that it was dissolving and they were turning over their monies receivables and assets to the city so the city established this fund then to account account for that okay and then the goal is to put it into the general fund and mix it up the the fund is no longer needed for any operational purpose but it does have a deficit position so that deficit position would be eliminated by the general fund and then the fund would be closed and it's it's not used for any purpose going forward okay okay thank you thank you chair just a quick question what so we had a carrying deficit for how long um it's been several years now um that it's had a deficit position um going back to 2021. um and looks like it's related to kind of tracing the history um you know the disposal and sale of assets and there was a loss on some of those so created the negative net position got it okay councilman surround two i'd like sap on this one councilmember driscoll thank you chair um what so there was there must there was activity at some point in 2022. The activity over the years has been, it looks like paying utilities or property tax bills on the parcels that were the assets within the fund and then the disposal of those assets ultimately and the loss on the disposal of the assets.

To whatever property was associated with this, we don't own any longer?

No, there's no assets anymore.

okay so when was the last like small business related uh activity that took place from the fund it i think it really was just the assets that were on the books um and then those being disposed of when did it become a into deficit position then um 2021 okay um Why can we no longer just carry the deficit? What's the genesis of closing it out?

I think operationally we're no longer using the fund. There's no revenues that come in. There's no assets left. It's a deficit position that we want to. eliminate from our books, officially close the fund, and then administratively, we don't have to do any reporting related to it.

Okay, so it's a reporting issue. Was this in the budget for this year? I don't remember if this is part of the budget presentation.

We wouldn't have had anything in the budget because we don't budget any revenues or expenses there.

But did we have it in the budget this year to transfer from the general fund and close the? We did not at the start of the year, no. So this is $115,000 of general fund money that is not budgeted for?

This would be a one-time, yes. And one of the ordinances would actually appropriate that, authorize the transfer.

What would it be attributed to at the end of the year? Where's this money coming from? so it would come from the general fund balance which is negative anyways uh the general fund has a positive fund balance but we do have a fund balance deficit but we transfer yes so this just increases the size of the transfer from the rainy day fund yes essentially okay um all right thank you very much so one quick question just to follow up on councilman driscoll's question so this is a real financial loss or is this just a paper loss

um it was a it was a loss on the sale of the asset so for on the financial statements yes okay so it cost us to sell the money or to sell the property it didn't make sufficient revenue when we liquidated the asset and this is where it's carrying and we've carried that for the last four four years yes yes okay councilmember gaddis

thanks by way of referral can i get a list of all the funds that we have all of them even if they're negative and then what their balances are yes thank you thank you chair okay i'm i'm sorry councilman toronto you said scp scp sir thank you next please thank you

that would be it for you guys right all right so we will move on to department of fire and rescue operations

good afternoon everyone i am tammy powell fire and rescues efa and with me today is dc gallagher gallagher who is our buildings manager and fire is requesting the mayor to authorize and approve fire to enter into a contract with industrial power systems and waive the competitive bidding of an amount not to exceed 40 000 for repair of the hvac system located at fire station six uh fire is requesting council for scp and we'll take any questions at this time our buildings manager would

this isn't really a question but a comment i was with some family over the holiday and one of them is a firefighter at that station and we all know how hot it was last week and for our firefighters who really go into harm's way go into very hot buildings It only makes sense that we take care of our firefighters and that we get these repairs done as quickly as we can. So I can't support this enough, so thank you.

Just for point of reference, where is 60s?

1155 Oak and Passage.

Oak and Passage, got it. Thank you. Councilman Sorrento.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

When was that station opened originally?

12 years ago.

Okay, and already we have HVAC issues?

Significantly. Okay. It's been ongoing for seven to eight years. I took over this position June, July of last year, so I spent a long time learning the process. But I worked the line beforehand, so I know that there's been ongoing problems with this station. The first thing that I discovered when I started digging into this a little deeper is the blueprints and the building called for Daikin equipment throughout the building. And when you call people out, the first thing that they ask for is blueprints. And we have Mitsubishi equipment installed. so it's been a revolving door of contractors for the last seven or eight years to try and get this thing right everybody comes in and has never really been afforded the time or opportunity to start from square one and troubleshoot this adequately and that's what we're doing with ips currently

It just seems troubling that a station that's about 12 years old, and I've been to that station a couple of times. It's a beautiful, architecturally wonderful looking building and so forth, but it just seems odd that we would have those issues, significant issues to the tune of $40,000 with the station that's one of the newer ones. Do we have older stations that are still having HVAC issues also?

We have 18 stations, and to some extent, we expect all of them to have problems with the AC and the heat. They run 24 hours a day.

Oh, I know, I know. Okay, all right. I'm sure I'm the only one on the panel that will ever ask this question, but could you send us, Tammy, a list of each of the stations and the location? Because I see a lot of the numbers, but I need to visualize where that station is. Okay, I'm sure I'm the only one that's ever asked that.

I have that information for you, and your birth date will be attached with it.

Okay, that would be great to know, yeah. That'd be great, because we do have, like the Glendale station is pretty old. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Any other questions? If not, Chair Hopps? Oh, Dr. Jones.

Sorry, quick question. Also in that line, by way of referral, would you have just the possible anticipation of replacement for each of the stations? So specifically for this fire station SIC, you need HVAC. So how many other stations would need that replacement or any other parts, systems that will be breaking down that needs to really be replaced?

And we have the last three years that I

been up there we've spent between five and ten thousand dollars annually on repairs at station six so to do a replacement um and along with the other stations yeah that i think that'll be very helpful just to see what the state of these stations are and what basically basically to anticipate breaking down next so we can be ahead of this so um i'll write that up but thank you very much thank you chair thank you uh chair hops

scp but um in speaking to some of the leadership for tfrd getting a better understanding of the 40 000 um as costs are rising with tariffs and everything else and so they wanted to make sure they had enough to cover all um that needed to be done and then you know making 20 000 A month later, get in there and now it's up to something else and have to come back and ask us for something else. So that's why the 40,000 was we were going to be sure to get everything we needed to get done. And then hopefully we won't have to go back. And, you know, when you have a system that runs for 24 hours a day, getting 12 years out of it is really pretty good because it never is either heat or air all constant going never being able to shut off so that we got 12 years out of the system the way things are being made now it's pretty good so thank you scp thank you okay items 11 through 15 from the department of police operations

Good afternoon, Lieutenant Holmes, Captain Morelli, and Sergeant Bergman, please. Item number 11, this ordinance authorizes the mayor to accept deposit appropriate and expend 77,000 from the Office of Criminal Justice Services for the Violent Crime Reduction Program grant. and the expenditure not to exceed $10,000 from the law enforcement trust fund. Majority of this funding will provide overtime pay to support extended operations of the Special Operations Bureau to reduce violent crime. The remaining grant funds and the trust funds will be utilized to purchase an unmanned aerial vehicle to assist in the reduction of violent crime. There is no match for this grant, and we are requesting SEP.

Thank you so much. Is there any company associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle, or is this going to be just tapped into our own system? What does this look like?

This is going to be bid out, a project that's bid out, so we won't know the vendor until then.

I see. So it could potentially be a flock like the one that we already have, or a different one?

I'm not aware of which drone company we're going to go with yet. It would have to go up a bid. That being said, grants like this, it's probably going to have to be what we would call a blue line drone or a blue list. I really haven't even begun looking at drones at this point.

I see. Okay. And so this would just be used to go during an emergency situation and to be able to view it or what's?

So it would be used for a few different purposes, but this isn't like the DFR drone for first responder, big giant drone, right? This would be a drone that is more of an out, I guess I would call like an out of the trunk, right? Comes like in a big pelican case or a big plastic case. We would pull that out. We would use that for operations if we were doing like a violent crime sweep or if we were using it like for hotspot policing like we've had a couple incidents downtown now where we're policing and we've beefed up special enforcement in the downtown area, right? We would utilize a drone like that so we'd be able to take it to different locations with us and have it readily at hand. Also, if we were to do... any type of surveillance on, like, a gun buy, right? If we were buying guns, we would be able then to utilize that to track a subject, find out where people are coming from or going to to pick up, like, a weapon. And then we would also use that to, like, any kind of violent crime search warrants, robbery series, things like that, just to enhance officer safety.

I got you. Thank you for those answers. Appreciate it.

Councilman Driscoll?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. What's the balance of the Law Enforcement Trust Fund?

We can take that by referral.

Okay, sounds good, thank you.

Seeing no more questions, Chair Hopps? SCP, please. SCP, next please.

Item number 12, authorize the expenditure of an amount not to exceed $147,000 from the capital improvement funds for the purchase of mobile data terminals and for the mayor to accept bids and award contracts for said purchase. These MDTs will be installed and utilized in the 14 new vehicles previously purchased. We are requesting SEP, please.

Dr. Jones? for my understanding what is a mobile data terminal what do you use that for it's the computers in the car okay okay thank you thank you

Item number 13 authorized the mayor to enter into an agreement with the Bureau of Justice Assistance through the Office of Criminal Justice Services to accept and deposit appropriate and expend the 2025 Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grant in the amount of $32,455.39 for equipment and supplies for the Toledo Police Forensic Lab. and authorizing the mayor to accept bids and award contracts. These funds must be allocated for opioid related costs and will provide equipment and supplies for our lab. There is no match for this grant and we are requesting SEP please.

Seeing no questions, Chair Hopps, your pleasure.

SEP, please.

SEP. Next, please. Item number 14 is this ordinance authorizes the mayor to accept bids and award contracts for the expenditure of an amount not to exceed $105,000 from the law enforcement trust fund for the purchase of a laser scanner for police. The 3D laser scanner will be utilized by our traffic section. The scanner greatly reduces the time to process crash scenes as it quickly collects evidence without missing details, minimizing human error. The collected information is then utilized to create a two-dimensional or three-dimensional diagram, analyze velocities and momentum, and create courtroom animations of the accident scene. And we are requesting SEPs. see no questions oh um thank you just a quick one do we have any of these laser scanners already we have one in our siu unit but this would this one is specifically for our traffic investigators okay thank you

I was just going to add, very cool. I'm always impressed with the technology coming out to help ensure that things are solved quickly and efficiently and effectively. So thank you for this. Chair Hopps?

item number 15 this off this ordinance authorized the mayor to accept deposit appropriate and expend one hundred ninety four thousand eight hundred and eighty eight dollars and eighty eight cents in grant funds from the Ohio Peace Officers Training Commission this is the second quarter for 2026 and authorized the mayor to accept bids and award contracts there is no match for this grant and we are requesting

Seeing no questions, Chair Hobbs, it's your pleasure.

SEP, please, thank you.

SEP? Thank you so much. All right, thank you. Item number 16 from Department of Public Service.

Good afternoon. Commissioner Karen Rainey-Wolkins from the Division of Parks and Recreation. Forwarding an amendment to the ordinance 138.26. This is the capital expenditure fund for the park system revitalization of parks infrastructure. It's a simple little amendment requesting to add the phrase capital equipment necessary for maintenance of the parks. This is a very simple addition. We neglected to put in when we first passed it. I'm happy to answer any questions.

See no questions? Chairman, oh, hold on one second. My apologies.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What kind of equipment are we talking about specifically?

So the best example I can give you would be we have some trucks coming that will likely need some plow packages and salt dispensers in the back, that sort of thing. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

SEP, please.

SEP. Thank you. Okay. Clerk, it's all yours.

all right under the clerk reports we have a resolution declaring the intent to vacate alleys north of western avenue east of linden street we have a second resolution declaring the intent to designate the building at 4500 north detroit avenue as a historic landmark under items from zoning and planning we have the vacation of a 16-foot wide alley running northwest southeast from bancroft to uticus uh president williams

Yes, I just wanted to explain because it did come from November of 23. The reason it took so long is when the Islamic Church asked for the vacation, it was approved by the Board of Revisions, but it had some. fees that were astronomical attached to them, so I am waiving those fees for them. They've been a good neighbor to that neighborhood, and they've really done a good job at being a part of that neighborhood. It's right behind the gas station on Bancroft, and the vacation of that alley will help them continue with their good work.

so i just wanted to explain that because it says november of 23 it we just discovered it and i wanted to make sure i explained that thank you chair and next we have the vacation of the remaining portion of an alley located within 24th and saul street and then we have uh amending to later municipal code section 1108.0401 quality and installation regarding native plants We have an item likely to be related to zoning and planning, declaring a moratorium until November 30th, 2026 on the issuance of permits for new gas stations or fueling centers.

Councilman Driscoll.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We'll be amending this legislation to just request a study from the Planning Commission. There won't be a moratorium included with this. And again, the primary thing we're studying is the zoning categories in which gas stations can apply for an SEP. Most notably, I don't think they should be allowed to apply for them in neighborhood commercial zoning districts, but that will be the purpose of the study. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

Chair Hobbs?

I'm sorry, could you say that again? The last part, I didn't hear your voice drop.

Sure. I feel very strongly that the neighborhood commercial zoning district, which would be like neighborhood mixed use buildings like the Mickey Fins building, the Black Kite building, I don't feel like gas stations should be allowed in that zoning district. And that's the question that I'm asking the Planning Commission to study ultimately. Right now they're still allowed to apply for an SUP in those districts. i think they should be combined to industrial zoning districts or regional commercial zoning districts which is why i voted yes on the sup on the monroe street gas station that came before us at our last meeting but i feel you know the forward toledo plan i think lays out walkability what we want to see in our neighborhoods what we want to see we want to see mixed use development and i think gas stations are sort of antithetical to that and so ultimately i think this is an issue that the blank commission I know we're updating our zoning code anyways over the course of the next few years, but it's gonna take, I would assume, probably close to a half a decade to finish that process. So I think in the meantime, I think we should be very conscientious about the kind of development that we're allowing, especially into our legacy neighborhoods.

Council Member Gaddis.

Thanks, Chair. Maybe Councilman Driscoll can answer this, but A, will this be amended then to drop the moratorium? And B, do you have a timeline on the study that you wish to see or has Planning Commission been able to give you a rough timeline? Councilman Driscoll?

Yeah, we are striking the moratorium, so it's just requesting a study. We will not be doing a moratorium. The legislation will not be requesting a moratorium. And it sounds like the staff have been thinking about looking into this anyways, and so I think that we're looking at less than six months. This study should be done before the end of the year.

Okay, moving on.

All right, our resolutions in attendance. We have recognizing Dr. Trax on his retirement. Item likely to be released from the Committee of the Whole is also a resolution in attendance recognizing Crisis Intervention Team.

President Williams?

Yes. I'm excited to bring this forward, resolution of attendance. The crisis intervention team is celebrating 25 years of working in the community, and they have a lot of advances. So I want to celebrate what they've been doing, how they've been working with the mental health agencies, and how they have grown to every officer being trained in crisis intervention. So I'm excited to bring them forth and celebrate 25 years. Thank you.

okay under appointments from the office of the mayor we have an appointment to the administrative board of zoning appeals gloria shepherd an appointment to the toledo community improvement corporation robert pasker a reappointment to the plumbing board of control jim coyle an appointment to the home improvement and home remodeling board of control april weber then new items from city council the first is authorization for three years plus two one year renewals of contract with granicus

uh next is the resolution providing for an election of one quarter percent municipal income tax levy for neighborhood safety police and fire president williams yes for the for these two ordinances or resolutions we're going to turn this over to deputy mayor arnold and the legal department to speak about these two ordinances thank you

thank you madam president mr chair members of council i'm abby arnold deputy mayor i'm joined with dale ems and eileen granada from the law department we're here to present 301 301-26 as you know the city of toledo continues to face a significant structural budget deficit this is not the fault of toledo ends but rather a structural wound inflicted by severe cuts at the state and federal levels Together, we cut $9 million from this year's budget, but the problem is that we've already cut to the bone. We spend less per resident on city services than any other major city in Ohio. Less than Columbus, less than Cleveland, less than Dayton, less than Akron. We cannot cut our way out of this deficit. Further cuts will impact service delivery, and those cuts reduce value for residents, not cost. I believe we all agree the safety of our residents in the neighborhoods in which they live is our top priority. This is why we want to ask voters to approve a new temporary quarter percent income tax to support neighborhood safety. If approved, this would make Toledo's tax rate the same as the state of Ohio's and would generate $25 million annually. which, as you know, will not solve all of our budget challenges. But what it will do is keep Toledo firefighters and police officers on the job, disrupt criminal gang activity, and invest in Toledo's neighborhoods, not just downtown. So next Tuesday, Council has the opportunity to place the Neighborhood Safety Income Tax on the November 2026 general election ballot. Council's vote is not to raise taxes. It is a vote to trust Toledo residents to make that choice for themselves. Thank you.

Council Member Kramer. Thank you so much for being here today. I just wanted to make sure it is clear that this is an earned income tax levy that is being proposed. So it is only on active income, is that correct? That is correct.

Okay. Earned income only. It would not affect retirees, that type of thing.

And it will be for anybody who's working in the city of Toledo, regardless if they live here or not.

That is correct.

Who's earning income.

Anyone who earns income in the city of Toledo. Got it.

And it can also be used for costs incurred by violence interrupters, Monsey, those kind of programs as well.

Yeah, it's neighborhood safety, so the types of things... You know, this would absolutely allow us to continue having police and fire classes, you know, do all the things to support the fire and police services, equipment, those types of things to continue to meet the service needs of our residents, but also clean up blight, demolish unsafe structures, design roads to make it safer to, you know, ride or play in your neighborhood.

thank you very much for that clarification because we do know that safer neighborhoods means you know cleaning up a lot of stuff improving lighting all that stuff so okay thank you dr jones you're next thank you chair i actually i'm on um the tail end of council councilwoman's uh kramer's comment because i really wanted to make sure what this money is being spent for based upon conversations not even in-person conversations but on social media people are still understanding this that they do not know where this money is coming from they feel that this is just another tax they don't know where it's going so that's why i really implore with this messaging to be on point and i'm glad that you mentioned the different things that it can be used for. I did mention Monsey before. I would also mention Code Blue so that they can have some permanent line item as well. I know that you mentioned blight and things of that nature and I think that will probably I don't know how to really say this because it is neighborhood safety, but I think the definition of neighborhood safety also has to be expanded upon too, because we automatically think of police and fire and we're thinking of, of course, staffing over time, but we also have station repairs and new stations and things of that nature. but we also need to understand what exactly would relate to the person that's doing everyday things. So that's what I had mentioned with Mansi. That's what I had mentioned, and you mentioned the demolishing of buildings. it's still really anything goes. So I would really implore just focusing on what is really needed at this time. And then of course, phasing in and talking to those who are part of just what constitutes as neighborhood safety. Cause I feel that the residents really need to know they are watching the pockets and they really need to know what specifically this money is going for. But again wanted to reiterate what councilman kramer had said this our vote would only place it on the ballot but it is up to the residents to impose this tax and i i really want to make that clear and i thought i know that we're going to make that clear as well but just what the the current discussion is it's kind of up in the air right now, so I just really want you all to be specific with what exactly this can go towards, even though it's not specific within the actual ballot initiative, but this is a way to make up for that revenue, and we'll just see how it goes, but just honing in on that message would definitely help out a lot. Thank you, Chair.

Councilman Sorrento, I believe you're next.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to confirm here. When you say a temporary tax, that means that every four years it would have to be renewed by the voters in the city. That is correct. Am I correct on that?

That is correct.

Okay. And this also includes combating gang violence in the city of Toledo?

Absolutely. I think that the council and the administration agree that there's a lot of things that make a neighborhood safe. And so, absolutely, gang activity would be one of those things. I mean, all the things that you mentioned, Dr. Jones. Ultimately, those are decisions that can be made with this body annually as we do the budget. So, yes.

Great. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Councilman McPherson.

Thank you, Chair. Two clarifications. On the resolution amending, can you speak to the amendment, the TMC 1905? Can you speak to that amendment?

Yeah, I might ask the law department to speak to that. You're talking about 301-26? Yes.

I think it could be dangerous, but I'm pretty sure I'd rather you do it.

What we're going to be doing is amending the code in order to incorporate the new tax.

Okay, for the record, I'm asking the questions because I know these are questions that we will get asked, but since you're here, you can explain that. Also, just to follow up, you mentioned this tax is for those that are employed, and you started to mention some persons that will not be taxed on this, which you continue to clarify. You said persons receiving...

Well, this is, it would be anyone who earns an income. So anyone who's not earning an income, I specifically called out someone who's retired, it would not impact. But anybody who's not earning an income would not pay this tax.

I'm asking for clarification so it can go on the record so people can hear this. Would Social Security be one?

No, they would not pay this.

That's why I'm asking. See? These are questions that people want to know. And where we mess up is we don't clarify and make things clear so people understand. Because if you looked on all the media right now, they're blowing us up. Because, oh, this is all you do is throw out another tax levy and tax us. And so I want it to be on the record who, how, how long, and this was, initially, this was proposed through the administration and brought to council.

That is correct.

Council's position now is to make that decision in voting and saying it is best that we not say yes or no, but give it to the voters and let the voters decide whether or not they want this. I'm only doing this for clarification for all the people that are sitting out in the audience and those that are watching Council. Because what happens to council, we get the bullets. We get the darts because everyone is saying, here again, council is throwing this out here and council is not throwing it out here. I believe that any decision that's going to affect your pocket constituents, you should have the right to vote on it. Whether I agree with it or not, you should have the right to vote on it. So that's why I was asking the questions like I did.

And Councilwoman, that's actually a great jumping off point. What you're going to be doing is required under Ohio law is to vote on this resolution that advances this question to the Board of Elections, directs them to conduct the election, and what the people will be voting on is whether or not to authorize this ordinance to be passed. Their question is, shall this ordinance be passed? So at that point, once the people speak, Council will be in a position to move forward.

my final question on the timeline on this and attorney you may be able to clarify this and the timeline and having this done um is there does this have to go to a first read does this have to go How does this go?

No, you're able to vote on it next week. We have it written as an emergency. So you can vote on this next week as long as we go through those procedural things, suspension, emergency, that you typically do. And then we'd have to get it to the Board of Elections by August 5th, pursuant to state law.

Thank you. And then I'm done for real on this one because I got it from some constituents that we are pushing this through really fast. And the transparency issue for all of us, and I want you to hear me, when we do things like this, the trust, of our citizens is in jeopardy because in past instances, there has been hidden agendas. And so when we do this, we ignite or the light bulb goes off again with our citizens. Are they trying to run one on us again? I want you to understand because I listen to my constituents and I hear their concerns and I want them to know that I am asking the questions and that I am sincere about what I do and how I do it and that I am asking it to the administration so that you know the constituents are concerned. And this, I understand that it has to be done at this appointed time to get on the ballot. But then the planning or the lack of planning on our part to have put this out earlier so people could digest, hear, ask questions, all of that, is now diverted. And so I'm saying this because this is what we are getting. And the concern then is, okay, are they really being truthful and honest with us? And then that's where we have to deal with it, as Dr. Jones said, in explaining this. because we have to explain it to our constituents. So I'm done. Thank you for the sermon, sorry.

Mr. Chair, may I just respond? Sure. Thank you. And I appreciate what you're saying. I think the only thing I would say is voting yes on this next Tuesday starts that public conversation. getting it on the ballot is one step, but then we have the rest of until November to have that public conversation. So I just wanted to remind everybody that we have that still.

Thank you. Council Member Gattis.

Thanks. And I appreciate that. I think that piggybacking off of my colleague is that the language would be solidified by council at that point. So there will not be time for a committee hearing, public input. That kind of stuff has been stopped. And I think that that is what she's saying. That process of bringing the community or allowing the community in has stopped. has been stifled. I've received, and I know I've spoke to some people, a lot of calls from my community. They're struggling to get by. They're very fearful of this. They are worried about temporary. To them, temporary, they think about the three-fourths income temporary tax and how we still have that. Because temporary means a different word to our citizens, our residents, how much cuts from the federal and the state government have had on our city that this is something that we need to bring forth to them?

Thank you. So since 2008, the city of Toledo has lost $288 million in revenue that it once could count on from the state of Ohio. And that's just in a few categories that do not think that's all encompassing. That amounts to about $16 million annually.

And then do you have federal numbers at all?

I don't have that with me right now you know I can you know I can cite where we've you know some of the grants that we've had got jeopardized some of that type of stuff but I think the most sustainable numbers would be these the 16 million annually that we used to be able to count on

Yeah, no, and I appreciate that, and I think that our neighbors are feeling that cut too, right, those federal cuts in SNAP and in housing, and all of that is just becoming accumulation of struggles. I think that's all for now. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Madam President.

Thank you. Thanks for presenting this resolution. I think that some things that haven't been said, because I won't repeat anything, but we cut grass six times versus 16 times this year. We also were this close away from not having a police and fire class. We almost are to the point where we will have to lay off on our budget. We will definitely, if we don't figure something out, we will probably be laying off this year. And this next year's budget will probably have layoffs. the unfortunate thing is we are in times where we don't know um where to get other revenue from a lot of folks have some great great ideas but when you talk about people and people's jobs it was hard for me to work on the budget i'm glad and i think this council For sure, we worked our tails off on this budget to find cuts, and it was grueling. The next step is to lay off, and that's something that's real, and I think that it should be spoken to the general public. I understand, because I'm struggling like everybody else. I mean, and that's real life. I actually am struggling, me. I'm trying to figure it out. I got a disconnection notice on my gas bill, so I'm going to promise to pay. But I paid it. It's just everyone's struggling right now, and even the city is. This is a chance that we give. We didn't give them choice with the The trash fees, we didn't give our residents the choice with the license plate fees, but we got to give them a choice for this. And it's unfortunate. And, you know, these are the hard decisions that we make. And as we move forward, we're going to have harder decisions to make. And if this doesn't pass, that we definitely will have harder decisions to make. i mean if the the voters tell us we have to do what we tell them to do so um appreciate our council thanks to the budget task force for working through this because it was rough and that's all i got

Thank you, Madam President. Councilwoman Morris.

Thank you. Thank you for presenting this. This is a hard issue to go to voters with. You had mentioned that we cut 9 million out of this past budget, and this will raise 25 million. It's still not going to be enough. But it gets us in a better situation, and from what I hear, residents I mean it's it's hard it's hard to do everything it's hard to get insurance it's hard to just get your milk and your your butter and everything else that you have to to make ends meet we've got school coming up so we've got school supplies there's just it's a lot and people are really struggling and but I think it's important know people had asked me they said well you know you're supposed to budget I have to budget why aren't you budgeting well we are budgeting the problem is is that we are not receiving money from the state and the federal government that we had had in the past so how much can anyone maybe Abby I don't know if you can if you can tell us how much money do we spend on police and fire out of our budget is it like a What percentage?

I can get you this by way of referral, but I think it's like 70% of the general fund budget is police and fire, and like 85% of their budgets are personnel. I'll get you the actual numbers, but it's something like that.

I think that's important for the public to see that, and it's not to pit fire and police against other city services. But at the same time, we have other city services that we have to provide, but we are prioritizing our safety forces. It so that we can have a safe city. So I think it's important for the residents to know that figure and that we and I think that they would trust us as a city leaders if we had a little bit more. I guess. I don't know, lined out a list of some of the things that we would be, I mean, neighborhood safety is a big balloon and it is, but I think if we had some structure, I think residents, I think it would sell a little bit better with them. What are some of those things and what aren't some of those things? When people pass, when the voters pass the roads tax, It has to go to roads. And people, you know, if they understand that it's temporary, and keep in mind the three-quarter of a percent, the roads, those are voted every four years. I understand that's a frustrating statistic that it was only supposed to be temporary, but the voters vote this. when they go to the polls so this would be another vote at the poll um ever it would be for four years correct okay so i think it if we could maybe delineate you know fire police i think we should really kind of list those rather than just say and i know they're they're That might not be a popular statement, but I think it would help a voter. I mean, if it's roads, it's roads, right? But if it's this kind of ambiguous term, I think I, as a voter, would be more willing to support it. I think this is really hard. And like I said, I think this is something that we really are kind of reaching in our conscience. I'm happy we're going to the voters because I trust the voters and I hope that they will make a good decision. Thank you.

Thank you very much. So I'm just gonna make a quick comment. So thank you for bringing this to us. I'm sorry, I can never tell if I'm too low or too high on this. So Councilman Sorrento and I were on council when we were almost bankrupt. And we had to invoke existing circumstances to lay off police and fire. Didn't want to, there was no money. Contracts just didn't work at the time. And I don't want to go down that road again. I've seen the edge of the abyss of what could happen. Detroit, not too far from us, went bankrupt. Had to do the great compromise, and you see how they've rebounded. I firmly believe in the voters of Toledo, and we're gonna make the right decision and help support our safety forces moving forward. But I've seen what the alternative is, or could be, and certainly do not want to make that choice again. I don't think we have to. I think we're far enough in advance of this, and we're relying on our voters to make the right decision for the path of our community moving forward. So I sincerely appreciate you doing this. I think this should have happened a while ago, But I think we've all been very prudent on our spending and how we're utilizing very limited taxpayer funds. I don't see a doge or a fraud, waste, and abuse in terms of how we spend our dollars here. I think, if anything, we overly complicate how we spend our dollars and very scrutinize every single penny and how they're utilized. So I think as we move forward, this next budget cycle will definitely be

a critical path in terms of how the city moves forward and grows so with that being said thank you next please next we have submission to the electors a charter change for section 6.33 and 171 regarding city council employees president williams

The next four agenda items are cleaning up some charter changes that we need to do. This first one, I'll go over all, you can read them all, and I can just go over all of them after she gets done, if that's okay, Chair? Certainly.

Okay. Okay, the second one is submission to the electors a charter change for section 87D regarding term limitations for council members. Next, submission to the electors a charter change for section 13, 14, 17, 83, and 92 regarding city council and mayor elections. Then next is submission to the electors a charter change for section five, regulations clarifying amending the municipal charter.

Okay, so I'll start with the first one. This is for city council. We all have been talking about this for a while, that we need to be in charge of our own employees. So that's what this one is, cleaning it up so that we can be in charge of our employees and not leave it to the administration. the second one is 87d that one was brought forward by several council members regarding our term limits and how we were in a situation where we needed to appoint a previous council member because if we appointed someone that was elected already or won the election they would have two days would have counted for a whole term so this is kind of cleaning this up that if they come at a certain time During that we should be they shouldn't count towards their term And then the next one is some recommendations for cleanups to align us with some Ohio Constitution items and also I would defer to to legal with some of those items that are on there to align us to the Ohio Constitution. And then the last one is to also align us with the Ohio Constitution on clarifying how we amend our municipal charter. If you guys have any questions about any of the charter changes, that's why legal is here in the pit. A lot of them are just cleaning up and some of them are council-led initiatives, especially the term limits. counting and counting towards their actual like two days shouldn't count towards a four-year term that's unfair to the person that's appointed and we want to make sure that that person has an opportunity to be before term so Any questions, I'm willing to take any of them. And we work through a lot of them through our administrative task force. I've been working with legal and also talking to the Board of Elections. I know they reached out to several people here to clean up so we can align our charter and the way we do our elections. So that's all I got. Councilman Driscoll.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can we give just a little more clarification for the first charter amendment regarding our employees? What's the genesis of this? What are we trying to fix? And what will our operations look like in the future if this does change?

Dale Lynch, City Law Director. I think the most consequential change is to Section 171, which talks about who's in the classified service and who is not. And the way it is currently written, I think it's It doesn't include all of council employees. And so what we are trying to accomplish is to make sure that council was in control of its floor in the same way that the mayor's office is in control of its floor. So we added in this last I under 171. If you look at your amended language, officers and employees of city council. And then so some of these other things that are included in the ordinance all sort of bolsters that same concept of defining, redefining who's an employee, dropping some older language. We amended section, or we're proposing to amend section 33, which talks specifically about the council employees. is is unclassified and serves at your pleasure and you could construe that already the officers are included in that but some of you have been in uh executive sessions where we've talked about some of the difficult legal situations that we might face should we bump up against who's classified who's not so that's what we tried so the charter would then treat all of our employees the same way that we currently treat the auditor or the

Clerk, is that right? Even though they're not enumerated in the charter?

That's exactly right. That's the intention is to make sure that they're all unclassified.

So when it comes time to terminate an employee, it would still require an act of counsel though, is that correct?

Well, that's a good question. I'm glad you asked it. Part of the amendment to 33, and this is something that, by the way, was kicking around some seven or eight years ago, but what we're doing also under 33, including enumerating who you know the control that you have over your employees is when it comes to things like hiring discipline and termination we're allowing council then to adopt specific rules about how you might do that and in those rules council rules are already incorporated by reference into the Charter so that would allow you of this flexibility so you don't get into this situation where you arguably are in now where a legislative aid or somebody like that, that discipline or something like that has to come in front of the entire body because this body only speaks through its votes. There's no behind the scenes type stuff. So that's what we're trying to accomplish.

So we would address those changes through council rules. That's right.

And we anticipate helping with that process if you have any questions about how to do that.

I think it would be good for all of us to know what those council rules are and maybe even get those in place before we agree to vote on this. I just think we should be cautious about upending that system.

And just to make it clear, what you're doing is giving yourself the authority to adopt rules. And your rules and the way in which you adopt rules is far more flexible than a charter change. Right, okay.

Just to note too, when you're voting on this, you're voting .

Right, of course. If you could speak into the mic, please.

Sarah Stevens from the Law Department.

Voting on these proposed charter changes is just a submission to the electorate. It is not- Right, got it.

Thank you very much.

Councilman Sorato.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could you clarify something here? I'm going to talk about 87D, the term limits, okay? So under what circumstances would somebody that is appointed to fill a vacancy on council be limited just to the two full terms as we presently have? Because it says here, that all other service on council pursuant to appointment to fill a vacancy shall be counted toward the 12-year limitation.

Councilman, I hope everybody got the amended ordinance that we submitted this morning. And I'm sorry it was so late. We've really been working hard in this language and spent some time over the holiday weekend trying to figure out how to best accomplish the suggestion from this body. We could call this the Councilwoman Kramer rule. But you're not the only person who's been impacted by this. But I think that's when we started to hear this conversation come up a little bit more in earnest, which is there is a situation where Councilwoman had just been elected. I think the This body wanted to appoint her from the vacancy that had recently happened, and she rightly, I don't know whether the offer was ever made, but that would have been ill-advised because she would not have been able to serve or even get on the ballot for the third term because of the 12th consecutive year rule. And so that's what we're trying to allow here is that appointed service before somebody's first elected term won't be counted against them. They'll be able to serve that little bit of a vacancy. And it can span depending on how long the vacancy occurs, but it doesn't go on forever because of the rules and charter section 15A.

Well, let me be specific. Let's say you have a council person that resigns from office and there's one year left in their term. So council, by way of the charter, appoints a successor. And then that successor, when that term ends one year later, is going to have to run. Is that person subject again under these, if this passes, to three full terms plus the one year that they were appointed? So it would be 13 years.

Right. Just to clarify, Councilman, you're talking about for the new person who's going to be appointed, is that correct? To fill the vacancy, how long could that person serve?

John Smith resigns his council term early. There's one year left on John's term in office. Council, by way of the charter, has to appoint a successor. That successor gets appointed, then has to run at the next election for John, okay? So let's say they serve one year as an appointee, then they run again. Does that one year, is that held against them?

well in other words would they serve a full 13 years on council we'll we'll call the appointed person jane doe and jane doe would that would not count against her ability to serve for 12 consecutive years because that appointed service prior to the first elected term is now under this contemplated amendment not counted now keep in mind that district members are treated differently than than at-large members when it comes to filling vacancies and when they have to stand for election and something else we did not address because we were not asked to is what happens when somebody is elected to a partial term in that or they're filling in and so that that rule stays in place I think the last time I saw that was with Councilman Cherry, who I believe served about 10 years after he replaced Mike Collins.

Mike Collins, right. So when you say district, how does that differentiate from the at large with regard to this?

I don't have my charter in front of me, but there's a shorter window for district members to fill those roles. I'm assuming that whoever, when they fashioned these rules 30 plus years ago, they wanted the district members to be closer to the people and not have appointed people serve for quite as long. So it's a tighter window when they have to serve or when they have to go up in front of people for a vote.

So by way of referral, could you tell us in terms of if we're filling a vacancy for a district council person, we elect Jane Doe to fill a one year vacancy because the next election for the district office is one year from now. Would that person also be able to serve 12 years continuously plus that one year if they're a district person?

Yes, it's that term of appointed service prior to that first elected term will not count against the 12 consecutive terms. I thought that's what the body was trying to accomplish with a situation which Councilwoman Cramer was faced with.

Okay, but by way of referral, could you answer that? Absolutely. All right, thank you. We just need to know for sure what the effect is for at large as well as district council members.

Thank you. I just got to add one thing. What we also were trying to do with talking about this period of service before the first elected term is to avoid gamesmanship or anything like that. But I don't think it's this body's intention to have somebody step aside. after two terms on council because there's another vacancy that's more appealing and that wouldn't count against the 12th consecutive terms of service. And so that's the line we are trying to walk and that's why this was pretty challenging to try to draft.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Madam President, I'm sorry, I missed your light. Council Member Gattis.

Thank you. Could you talk a little bit more about the change for Section 5, clarifying the amending the municipal charter, please?

Sure. Yes, we are amending the charter to amend a section about how we amend the charter. We weren't part of this litigation, but we were involved with it. And long story short, the process that we currently have in place is not consistent with the process that's set out in the Ohio Constitution. And the Ohio Constitution is superior to our charter, even though we're a home rule form of government. And so our charter calls for these type of questions, the amendment questions, to go forth by way of resolution. And the Constitution calls for them to go by way of ordinance. We have changed that, but what we also tried to do, and I think we have, is to make it easier to understand for people who, whether it's the people who are trying to bring an initiative to change the charter, or whether it's all of us, including the lawyers, trying to figure out exactly what the process is. And so we've just tried to clean it up and make it a little bit more. but the only true substance of change is changing resolution to ordinance. That's the real, the work that we needed to accomplish.

I appreciate your time. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Councilwoman Morris.

Thank you, Chair. And I just want to go on record that I think that all members should be treated the same, whether you're a district or whether you're at large. If you're appointed to a position, I think it should be the same for each. I just think it's important. I will talk with you after this meeting. I just want to have some offline conversations about some of the concerns that I have with this.

Thank you. Sure.

Okay, clerk, please continue.

All right, next we have the removal of the honorary designation of Monsignor Schmidt Way on St. Clair Street.

President Williams.

Thank you so much. This actually went in front of the Board of Honors. There was an application to remove the designation and the Board of Honors voted, the majority voted to remove it. Myself and Barbara Floyd voted not to remove it because there was no actual documentation that Mansoor Smith had. did anything but exert the right of Father Robinson to have legal representation during the meeting. At this point, I still have that same stance. I don't feel like my Sewer Smith sign should be taken down. I mean, Father Robinson was a horrible person, and he did that, and I definitely disagree with what he did, but as we live in a country where you have the right to legal representation, and that's what Mansoor Smith did for Father Robinson, people don't like that they did that, but everybody has the right to representation, and that's all I know. I know Barbara Floyd and myself voted to not remove it, And the other members on the board voted to remove it. So that's why this is here. It's before us to remove it. I don't see any way, I don't have a reason why to remove it, but at the end of the day, this is a choice of you all. um there's been a lot of information sent to us all father robinson is a horrible horrible person and um he deserves he deserved what he got um i i just feel bad that it has gone it went on so long but i don't think that anything was presented to me or the board of honors to remove the sign so thank you chair

councilmember Morris thank you chair and I was not at that meeting I was not part of any of those decisions I just was driving to work today and I was driving past the stadium and I saw Jean cook way and And Gene Cook, to me, is just synonymous with the Mudhens. And he did a lot for even sat on the dais. He did a lot for our community and our country. I think that these signs should inspire. I think they should be held up as pillars of our community to emulate. know i didn't i didn't know monsignor schmidt i i i know that he was he did a lot of things for cyo and cyo you know has honored this this individual but i think this time has elapsed i given that We have family members who are concerned about this, that we have members in the Catholic Church that are concerned, we have young people that are concerned. If it evokes such a negative I think that it's time that it's not there anymore. So I just have to get that off of my chest. I don't have any kind of buy-in to anything here. I just know that we should be standing up really positive people in our community to inspire others. So thank you.

Councilwoman McPherson.

Thank you, Chair. I did attend the first honor board meeting and listened to both sides. And I commend the board because then they took time to not make a decision at that time, but to investigate more, get more information, read up on everything that was given, and then they came back with the vote that his name should be removed. I appreciate the honor board for the time that they have put into this and listening and making that decision. And I also appreciate those that presented. I support the removal. Anytime we have this type of dissension, And because of how, what occurred, the timeline, and the hardship that it has brought on to her family, to his family, to the citizens of Toledo, and all those that have been affected by this, and then to drive down and see his name, I think it's time. that it be removed, and I wholeheartedly support the removal of his name. Thank you.

Councilman Svante?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to confirm something that's very important. During that hearing, there was not enough time for people to testify. Council rules were limited to three minutes. Since that time, I have learned and seen with my own eyes two pieces of documents, papers that Father Gerald Robinson signed, waiving his right to counsel for each of the two days that he was interrogated by the Toledo Police Department. He waived his right to counsel for those two days. And the facts of the matter are that Monsignor Schmidt and Deputy Chief Vetter ended that interrogation, brought in an attorney, ended the interrogation. And I find it very interesting that after that, the police department never, never interrogated father robinson again those are facts he waived his right to counsel for each of those two days and i would hope that council would take that into consideration as to what actually happened at that event thank you uh councilman come on thank you so much um i also want to

take a second to acknowledge a letter that we all received yesterday from Sister Ann Marie Borges of the Sisters of Notre Dame. I think some of the more revealing lines from her letter include, that no one is disputing the value that Monsignor Schmidt has brought. However, through the preserved testimony of Detective Art Marks and Lieutenant William Kina in the murder trial of Father Gerald Robinson, Monsignor Schmidt's role in shutting down the murder investigation is unequivocally clear. She later goes on to mention this, and I have to say as a survivor of sexual assault, I know all too well this feeling that she's describing. And I was very moved by this line when she said, because justice for Sister Margaret Ann Paul was so long delayed, she remained invisible and discounted within the Catholic Church and this community. Yes, there was a conviction and her killer was incarcerated, but the presence of that sign keeps her invisible and discounted. And there is no reason that she should be invisible or discounted. So I hope that this council will support the removal of the sign. I agree that its mere presence is enough to tarnish the look, the meaning, what it means. I mean, to any one of us who are a survivor, when we have to be faced by this, it is noticed. And she deserves to be remembered for the good things that she did and not because of a sign that exists now. So, thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Kramer.

Thank you. I will be brief. I wanted to thank Claudia making their voices heard on this issue i think it is very important i also agree with councilmember combs about the way for just yesterday. She actually taught my children at St. Patrick of Heatherdowns. Because I think it's important that we know that there are people from the Catholic Church that feel like that sign should be removed. I do also feel the same as Councilwoman Morris in terms of what the significance of those signs should be. They should be inspiring. They should be for people who make little kids aspire to greatness. And I do think that this sign has not good connotation right now and should be removed. And I do feel that the Catholic Church does have that opportunity for themselves to honor him if they would like to do that. And I have been to the CYO fields many times and I see his name there and the Catholic Church can remember him in that way. But as a city, we can remove that street sign so that people do not have to see that when they go to the Muffins game.

uh thank you for all that you both have done we appreciate it thank you next our final item is uh district 2 district improvement program safety cameras project great thank you so

I'll try to keep this brief. I did email a memo that encapsulates everything we've been working on for the past year and a half. If there's any specific questions, I'm happy to answer. This actually evolved quite a bit. So originally back in 2022 when the Uvalde school shooting happened, one of my big questions was what would happen if something like that happened in the city of Toledo? So I kind of went down this rabbit hole looking at different opportunities at the federal level, state level, for grant funding. We had a new administration come in, and any potential grant funding for school safety was either eliminated or paused indefinitely until such time as the new administration figured out what they were going to do. Then last year in Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Annunciation Church, or school, there was an active shooter situation with little children praying. So that really reinvigorated me to continue my search to see if there was any opportunity for funding to help secure school safety. While I may be District 2 representative, my goal is to be the number one in the city of Toledo and have the safest district. So, what I am proposing in collaboration with the Catholic Diocese, Tulare Public Schools, private and parochial schools, is to create a pilot project that would allow our safety forces to be able to respond much quicker and faster. Some of the lessons learned in Uvalde, Texas was really lack of action. And the whole incident went for like an hour and 17 minutes. And it's like the third mass casualty in our country for children. So what this does is we are working with our partner in the flock. That has its own different connotation, and I'm very sensitive to that. But what this would do is provide a gateway system, which is like a modem, that would allow the school systems and TPD to have access to the exterior cameras only in event there is either an active shooter situation or emergency situation. These are highly regulated. There's a lot of police protocols in place. This will save time, energy, and effort and create real-time monitoring, incident visualization. improve emergency response, and hopefully defer some criminal activity. That is the first part of this. Each school is independent. This is a voluntary pilot project where they would have their separate memorandum of understanding with the police department. They can go through the ins and outs of the data and who shares what, who has access to what. Then the second part of this is to install additional cameras in the public right-of-way near school areas and intersections where we don't have as best coverage as possible for example in the reynolds corner area near rogers high school stadium there was a drive-by shooting there that took a little time for response this would allow eyes and ears quicker faster more efficiently to address a shooter type situation and really make sure that we are keeping everybody safe i as i spoke to all the principals in district 2 trying to understand what their capabilities were, where their deficits were, and you have very sophisticated security systems, and you have sufficient security systems. I don't want to cause panic or anything like that. I think our schools are very safe, and I want to make them safer. I want to make sure that I give tools to our first responders to respond as efficiently and as quickly as possible. So I had a informational meeting, because I wanted to make sure I addressed all of the concerns from not only Tulsa City Council, but Tulsa Public School Boards, our principals, our partner over at FWOC, the chief of police, safety director of mayor's office, our criminal investigating, our intelligence group, so we could all answer all the questions all at the same time. And I put together kind of a FAQ, Also, I invited, coming from the chapter, Senator Paula Hicks Hudson and State Representative Erica White. So this is just the first step. And the second question is, how do we help parents in these types of situations and understand what happens in an emergency situation since cell phones are no longer allowed in schools? So I'll be working with State Representative White to come up with some informational sessions for parents so they understand, get actual facts about their school safety protocols and initiatives. And I'm happy to take any questions. if you have any questions. But I did do offer a virtual option as well as an in-person option. And I appreciate those that attended. I thought it was very informative. There were some conversations that I was not expecting to have about communication strategy. clarification about memorandum of understanding and what those kind of outline in detail so i'm happy to go over all that with you if you see fit so i will be asking to vote on this next on the 14th if there's any other questions please do not hesitate to reach out to me thank you that completes our agenda see nothing else maybe adjourned