Housing, Community Development & Public Health Committee - Regular Meeting

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of Martinez, McPherson, Meldon, Williams, two present.

Thank you. So today, we have gathered to hear about Scott, an organization dedicated to sickle cell awareness, sickle cell disease, sickle cell trait. This was definitely a a personal thing for me and and definitely a way in order to get more awareness considering that I have sickle cell trait. And, also, I know plenty of other people that have that as well. And just the work that you do definitely needs to be highlighted considering you are the only one that does this type of work here in Toledo, and also you said Michigan when we had first met as well.

So we will definitely hear more about your organization, what you do about sickle cell, and then following that, we will, get into the lead hazard reduction grant through the housing department to hear a little bit more about their plans, when it comes to the grant as well as the lead program. So other than that, please take it away, doctor Scott.

Okay. So you're able to hear me now? Okay. Thanks for having me. And today, we are gonna talk about just some facts about sickle cell. I just wanna give the disclaimer. I am not a medical professional. However, seek out, you know, seek out services if that's what you need to do. And before I can start with sickle cell, I have to talk about my why, like how I got to this point. So I am a mother of four Maison boys, two of which have sickle cell disease and two have sickle cell trait.

So with that being said, everything that I do is with purpose and I am very intentional on making sure that our community is very aware of what sickle cell is and how it impacts our community. I know a lot of people think that it only impacts African Americans, but that is a myth. Any person of color at this point, and we'll dive into that a little bit, but I just wanna make sure that we understand that this impacts our entire community. So Scott Scott stands for Scott Center for Observation Treatment and Transition. We were established in 2022 as a five zero one c three, and our purpose is basically to eliminate health disparities in underserved communities.

And we act as a liaison between medical professionals while we're reducing the stigmas within mental health, sickle cell, and then we also focus on infant mortality. So our goal is to make sure that we are empowering our families and our patients to have better health outcomes. We service 11 counties in Northwest Ohio and Lucas is our biggest population of course. We we do a lot of transition programs which makes us the first and only non profit in the state of Ohio to do that for sickle cell patients while combating mental health. So there's a lot of stigmas that are associated with sickle cell disease and people of color being able to tolerate more pain and we're trying to make sure that we're not creating more mortality or morbidity rates here in Lucas County or Northwest Ohio in general.

We have our support groups. I'm also the newborn screening coordinator. So, as of March 1990, it's been mandated in the state of Ohio to test every baby at birth. And my job is to make sure that I educate those families on their diagnosis. So there's over 250 different types of hemoglobinopathies, and I am well versed and trained in those areas, and I'm the one that's educating those families. So what is sickle cell disease? If you are new to the area, you don't know what that is, it is an inherited red blood, excuse me, an inherited red blood cell disorder that affects all of the hemoglobin in one's body. This is not contagious. You are born with this disease, so that means both of your parents carry the trait. That is the only way.

You are you don't catch it later in life, you are diagnosed at birth, which causes your blood cells to, cause your vessels to block be blocked as well as severe anemia. It also can cause extreme pain to one's body and as well as organ damage. So there's a lot that goes on with that. Who are impacted? Individuals from Saudi Arabia, India, Spanish speaking organizations, so Turkey, Greece, Italy, all those places along with African Americans are impacted.

So one in 365 African Americans, one in 16,300 Hispanic Americans which we know here in Toledo is very diverse. So this is why my work is very important to make sure that we know if one plus one equals two, if we have two people who have the trait there is a twenty five percent chance in every pregnancy to have a baby with sickle cell disease and there's a fifty percent chance of having a child with sickle cell trait. So if we can start educating even in the schools, that's something that we we typically do. We are educating school districts and students so that they understand the impacts if they decide to have children. Some of the myths or stigmas that are related that this is due to racism is perceived a lot that, patients don't live past 30 years of age.

That is not true. In the past, yes, in the seventies patients weren't living as long as they're living today, but we have patients that are well into their eighties now. So that's that's a blessing. Drug seekers, when they go to the emergency rooms, they are considered drug seeking, especially as an adult. So I don't know where it goes from being a child and being innocent to now my black son is now seen as a threat and he's drug seeking.

That is not true. Many of these patients have this medication at home. They have lots of opiates at home. They come to the hospital because they've already been in pain five to seven days. They can no longer tolerate the pain, they don't want to overtake the medications that are prescribed to them, so they go to the emergency department, but when they go they have to dress up professionally.

They can't dress just in regular clothing because they are perceived as drug seeking. They're considered liars. Their pain isn't real because you can't physically see it, it doesn't exist. The yellow of their eyes that they perceive that as liver damage possibly, but a lot of times when patients are experiencing jaundice is because their blood cells break down every 10 to 20 days whereas a person who does not have sickle cell disease, it breaks down every 120. So they are very fatigued, they're tired, their body is pumping and working harder than a person that does not have a chronic condition.

Another myth is that only people affected by this disease is of color and as I explained that to you earlier. And then in some cultures, they believe that prayer will heal them and that is also a myth. There's a lot of things that come into this. So I try to educate our community and our patients as well. I talked to you about the statistics already, so twenty five percent chance of having no child with sickle cell disease.

If both parents have trait, fifty percent chance with trait and a twenty five percent chance of disease and that's in each pregnancy. I'm going to skip these things because we already talked about the mandation of that. So if you are playing sports, if you are athletic in any way, there's a thing called sickle cell trait in the athlete. With that being said, if there's over exertion and dehydration, these patients could potentially die, their blood could sickle. We know that NCAA is requiring patients to or all individuals who plan to participate in sports to provide their newborn screening result because Wright University was sued back in 2008 because a football player died on the field.

So that's where they came from. So if you are flying high altitudes with the trait, you are at risk. If you go to Colorado, you are at risk because the the air is very very thin. It could cause your blood to sickle, it can make you feel like you're having an asthma attack, but in reality, you are losing oxygen. My friend, you skydive, you could have had a complication. So we just have to make sure that we are reaching out to our medical professionals to make sure that those are things that we can do. So scuba diving, no. Yep. So the question is, can sickle cell disease be cured? There are there is no universal cure for sickle cell disease.

However, there are gene therapies that do exist, so it's promising. The only cure that there is, is bone marrow transplant and not everybody qualifies for that. Not everybody qualifies for gene therapy, that's a $2,200,000 process and then and that's per patient. And then with that being said, there's also a whole eligibility criteria that you have to go through. So it's age based, it's how many crisis have you had, are you able to withstand this transplant, I mean excuse me, this gene therapy because they literally make you go through chemo.

So then now the family is impacted because you can't work, they can't work, it's all this traveling. We are, I know Nationwide Children's is getting ready to open up a hub here to do some of those gene therapies but right now a lot of our clients that are going through the process here in Toledo have to go all the way to Cleveland. So then that is a travel expense. So it's very expensive to do so and it's almost a two year process. So just to kind of put that out there.

I'm gonna go

ahead, so how can you get involved? You can connect with our organization, you can work with our local support group which is also tied to our organization as well. You can volunteer in a hospital unit for sickle cell patients. I mean a lot of times they just want someone to be there to talk to because some individuals don't have the support systems, they don't have family to help them navigate through this. And then our partner Red Cross is here today as well.

You can sign up to be a donor because patients are in chronic transfusion so that may be weekly, biweekly, monthly, it just depends, it's patient by patient. And there is a lack of minority blood donation. So being able to be a part of that or to support our patients in that way will be greatly appreciated. And then we have upcoming events, I have flyers here, minority health month is next month, so we have our sickle cell warrior and siblings day, we have our sickle cell mind body mental health education, well as bridging the gap between sickle cell wellness and housing assets. That's for April and then we always host our five k in September which is the third Saturday, September nineteenth.

So you can get involved in that as well. So there's plenty of opportunities to join us on this cause, on this mission. So before we, if, before any questions, I would love for my son who's also the sickle cell child ambassador for the state of Ohio, Emery, to give his small testimony.

Good afternoon members of Toledo City Council and everyone here today. My name is Emery Scott. I am 11 years old, a sickle cell child ambassador and a warrior. Today, I am not just here to speak. I am here to help you understand what it really means to live with sickle cell.

Sickle cell is not something you can always see, but it's something I feel. There are days when I wake up and my body is already in pain. Pain that starts in my back, moves to my leg, and settles deep into my stomach. Pain that can stop me from walking, pain that can keep me in bed, pain that children like me should never have to feel. Sometimes I miss out on other things kids get to do without thinking.

Sometimes I have to slow down when I don't want to. Sometimes I have to be stronger than my age. But even with all that, I am still standing. When I am in a pain crisis, my family becomes my support support system. My big brother helps take care of me, running my bath, making sure I have what I need.

My parents remind me that I am not my disease. They remind me that I am strong, that I am capable, that I still have a purpose. And because of that, I don't just endure, I thrive. I play flag football, I make the honor roll, I laugh with my friends, and I dream big. One day I want to become a civil engineer.

I want to build bridges, roads, and strong communities. And just like structures I want to build, I am learning how to be strong even under depression. And I want you to hear me clearly today. Sickle cell will not stop my dream. But I also know that not every child has the same support that I do.

That's why I use my voice as a sickle cell child ambassador to speak for the children who are hurting in silence, to stand for families who need support, and to remind leaders like you that this is real. Children in our city are living with this every day. They need access to care. They need community to sort. They need people who understand their fight, and they need leaders who will stand with them.

Because when you support organizations, education, and awareness, you can help children like me not just survive, but truly thrive. And to everyone listening, you can be a part of that change. You can mentor. You can advocate. You can learn. You can give. If you are feeling called to support young warriors like me, please visit scottcenteroh.org/donate. Thank you for hearing my story. Thank you for seeing me.

Thank you just so much for sharing your story, sharing your experience, really sharing just what you do in this community and and with your sons. It really has that exposure and I love it coming from him because it really gives that relatability and also just seeing how this disease can affect as you age as well. I'm gonna go to questions from council members and then we can go with public comment. We will go with council member Gaddis.

Thank you, thank you for your testimony. This is is incredible. I'm so proud of you. This it takes a lot at your age to stand up and do this and you should be really proud of yourself and you are as strong as the communities and the buildings you're gonna bridges you're gonna be building when you're an adult. I am particularly interested in the programming that you're doing.

The one of them you mentioned sickle cell and housing access. This being our housing community committee group, could you explain more of the challenges that people with sickle cell face with housing access?

Yes, so with the chronic, when they're hospitalized, a lot of times they're not able to keep a job. So some of them are on disability, some never get approved for disability because that's a whole process or a barrier. But with that being said, if they are renting, a lot of people are not understanding of the condition, I mean it's a business at the end of the day, right? So if they're constantly in and out of the hospital, how are they able to work, how are they able to pay the bills? But we know with housing if they are owning the home then there's a little bit more flexibility to make sure that they're not displaced. That's great. Thank you. Thank you chair.

We will go with councilwoman Crane.

Thank you chair and Emery, thank you so much for sharing your story. I really, really appreciate your willingness to come here today, and I appreciate you being a warrior and you being an ambassador for other kids like you. I think it's so important. And I have a question about school. Are schools in this area, pretty docile in in terms of working with kids that are suffering from sickle cell? Because I know, you know, there's a lot of laws in place in terms of truancy and you know, I I wouldn't want kids to be punished for missing school when they're in so much pain.

So I I do have partnerships with a lot of schools in the area. I have provided training especially before school starts. I go in and I do a lot of, I guess they call them like service trainings for teachers or staff. But I go in and I'm making sure that they understand what these students are dealing with but then we also ensure that they're on five zero four plans, working with the social workers in the office or administration. Just so that families and teachers, everybody kind of understands the nature of today. It may happen. I mean, Emery missed school today. He's not feeling well. We went to State Capital yesterday and he's exhausted, right? So his body.

He shared his story. His body, some days he wakes up in pain. So it's just being able to communicate. But my experience has been long as we've put that on paper or in place, it has been successful. But I do have kiddos that are not on five zero four plans and I highly suggest that parents do that because of that reason.

Yeah, well thank you for all of your advocacy because I'm sure all those families really appreciate your support. I

actually have a question in regards to just Toledo data. I know that we've talked about this before. But do you have like any preliminary numbers of just what's happening in Toledo when it comes to the disease and trade? And I know that you've recently done a study regarding food access in sickle cell. Can you just elaborate more on the data that you're gathering?

Excuse me, so as far as trade babies, I get about 300 trade babies a year that I am counseling on and I told you I had to get that full number to break it down, but I get roughly 300 babies every year that are diagnosed with some form of trait. As far as the disease, it's roughly between ten and maybe fifteen each year. So it's not a high number, but it's still high, know, I think one is high, right? So it's a little relatively low compared to like a Columbus or a Cincinnati. As

far

as the house, I mean excuse me, as far as the food desert that you were asking me about, that was just a survey of less than a 100 families and they live in food desert areas. So the higher the hospitalization was due to pain crisis but if you're not getting the proper nutritional foods to keep your blood from being sticky so that it is flowy and all those things, that's typically what happens. You're in a food desert that's causing you not to be able to properly take care of yourself, so.

Yeah, know that we have discussed you know probably expanding upon that a little bit, doing some more studies because I just find that very fascinating just how everything is connected especially with the event that you're talking about with housing. Know people don't really think about that of course unless you're in it or personally know somebody who is going through it but that just shows the the interconnectivity of just how life is and how health and housing and food and even just infrastructure, urban planning, just how the city is planned really affects people every day. And like I said with just this advocacy, this awareness, you taught me something when we first met, know when you had mentioned the skydiving. I said I really could have just had issues when I was you know going down and the scuba diving that was on my bucket list, but now that's not. So it's just stuff that just keeps coming up and learning.

There's something to learn all the time and I'm pretty sure my parents didn't know that. I told my parents that. What you had told me, they were like, what? What are you talking about? I I did not even know that.

So this is something what you're doing is phenomenal. It is needed. It is vital. And especially since those numbers are pretty high when it comes to who has to trade, who has the disease within an area, I think that we definitely need to dig deeper in here and really bring that awareness. So thank you for all your work, and please let us know how we can help just to get the name out there, anything that you would need, definitely promotion of events, but we would really like to just offer ourselves for the help in spreading that. And I'm glad to hear that you said it was a hub coming through Children's

Yeah, they're working on

it. They're work okay.

Okay. So that's an advancement, so we're getting it, we're getting there you know. But definitely appreciate that. At this time just wanna open up for anyone in the audience who has public comment or wanted to say something, come on up, come on up. Yep, right there.

Greetings, my name is Sherry Bearhee. I am the grandmother to both of these sickle cell warriors. I'm a trait. I have the trait. And I know that it can be very hard because as me having a trait, I was always constantly tired, having pain in my arms and stuff and I never knew where it

came from

until my daughter-in-law. I never knew that by me being a trait, lot of my tiredness, fatigue, pains and stuff, I never knew that where it came from until, she started going to school and everything and started talking to me about it. So with that being said, I know my other grandson over here, he has books that he's selling today and grandmother already bought her book. So I just would like for everyone else to support in buying his books, they're just a small donation fee of $10 Thank you and thank you.

No, thank you, thank you. Did he want to say anything about his book? Can talk about your book if you want.

Hello. You

can buy the book for $10

I just want the money.

Go ahead, ma'am. My name is Joyce Stubblefield and for many years I worked with the Sickle Cell Support Group. And I would like to speak a little bit on children missing school because of sickle cell. When you look at school attendance, you not only have to look at the child who's missing school because of their illness, you have to look at other family members. For example, I am from a family of 13 siblings.

Two of us had sickle cell anemia. The whole family suffered from the effects of sickle cell anemia. Sometimes both my siblings were in the hospital, my mother and father worked, So that put pressure on, I shouldn't say pressure, but responsibility on the older ones to take care of the younger siblings. So a lot of times we were missing school because we had to take on responsibility of taking care of the younger children. So you have to look at the whole family as far as the school system is concerned in attendance.

Another problem is that during those days, before you could receive a pint of blood, you had to replace a pint of blood. So therefore my parents spent a lot of times begging their family, coworkers, and associates to give blood so that my siblings could live. Thank God for the when the Red Cross came into play because everybody had access to blood. But my main thing here is that look at the whole family when it comes to school attendance. Thank you.

Thank you for that. And you did mention that you work with the schools?

Yeah. How do

you identify

Hi, my name is Tykiela Smith and I do have sickle cell anemia and I have a daughter that has the sickle cell trait and I'm going to piggyback off what she just said about missing school. My daughter is missing school because of me. I have to go to the hospital. My husband misses work because of me because I'm in the hospital or I have transfusions that I have to drive an hour or two hours away. They don't allow for his FMLA to kick in anymore to help me out no more.

So I'm there by myself or sometimes I can't get treated because I don't have someone there with me. And then with her missing school because of me, sometimes twice a week, the teachers won't allow her to make up her work even though she have a note from my doctor stating that she has to be with me or is with me while I'm getting treated for sickle cell. He bluntly threw her work in the trash and told her that she couldn't make it up. And that's a problem that we have that people don't understand. My husband's job, Amazon, did not allow for him to take off and say that I never even heard of sickle cell before and thought he was lying.

And that's another problem that we have. And then being treated in the emergency room, I can't even get treated here. I have to go all the way to Cleveland now. And that's a problem that I have too. But I just want everybody to know like sickle cell is out here, like we are being overlooked and we need to be heard and it's about time that we start to get heard. Thank you.

No, thank you. You've identified a lot of things that we need to take care of especially workplace with the schools, like that's shocking. That's very shocking. But again just the understanding of that how everything is connected and everybody is affected, that is the issue. So I know that we have a lot more to talk about and a lot more to see how we can really spread this awareness but again, we are here. You can definitely sell your books, so don't worry about that, you know. We got another commenter. Yes, go ahead.

My name is Kelly Mofield. I'm the executive director Foundation of Northwest Ohio, and we sublet space and share space with the Scott Center. And you might wonder what kidney disease and sickle cell have to do with one another, but we have a lot of commonalities. First of all, if you have sickle cell disease or trait, your kidneys are at risk because the kidneys are very vascular organs that pump a lot of blood and clean waste out of the blood. So if the blood's not good and has the sickles, then your kidneys are affected, as are almost every other organ in your body.

So that's something to keep in mind. You know, the other thing is that we share a lot of health disparities among the populations that we serve. We know that if you are a person of color, you're three times more likely to end up on dialysis than people in the white community. So we both have a lot of joint work that we're doing to address those health disparities and provide the resources to people that they need to be successful. Thanks. Okay.

Thank you for that.

Hello everyone. I'm Chelsea Benton with the American Red Cross, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention, We work really closely with Doctor. Scott, and we love working with her. We are going to have a link on her website soon, where if you want to donate, it'll take you directly to our redcrossblood.org website. We are participating in events with Doctor.

Scott to build awareness in the community. And also, if you just want to donate, just go to redcrossblood.org or call one-eight hundred RED CROSS, and someone will assist you in terms of scheduling. Also, a last thing I'll say is the events that Doctor. Scott has on her website, we will be participating at a majority of those events. So if you have any questions, you can always reach out to Doctor. Scott and she can get you into communication with me or with someone from the Red Cross. Thanks so much.

Thank you for that. Come on now.

So my name is Emily Mills and I'm the special education coordinator at the school where Evan and Emory go. And I have worked very closely with Doctor. Scott and we kind of co wrote their five zero four plans, so I just want you all to know that if you're having trouble with schools, you should not be. Just I would, you know, I think there needs to be more education around parents' rights and special education because there's a lot that schools can do to support students and their families with sickle cell. So we allow them extended time, and we send home Chromebooks.

If they miss a certain amount of days of school, teachers, two of their teachers are right there and they let them make up assignments and we can, we have cats and they are allowed to sleep if they get too tired or they get excused from gym. Like there's an endless list of things that we can do to support them. Hot. So And we have snacks.

Always with the snacks. We gotta have snacks now.

So there's just a lot that schools are legally obligated to do and can do. So I just wanna encourage parents to research what their rights are in Ohio.

And now that you bring that up with the services for parents in schools, what are certain legislation or policies that you're kind of battling against or trying to expand on?

There's so many and there's if you go on Ohio Department of Education's website and you look up it's called the Parents Rights Guide in Special Education. It will have it's a whole like booklet of information to Okay. Look

because I want to definitely look more into that to make this easier.

I think that would help a lot of parents.

Yeah and even if that can expand something into the businesses because you had mentioned Amazon and, well no, she had mentioned Amazon and really missing work and them not understanding like what kind of question is that? That's what's really startling me right So yeah I'm gonna look more into that and like I said we're gonna talk. We're definitely gonna figure out something. Any other public comment? Okay, well thank you.

Thank you for having us.

So, so much. And is there an event tomorrow?

Oh yes, the luncheon.

The luncheon, okay.

So we'll talk about gene therapy

but Yes, okay.

Are you coming? I

thought I had a registration, I didn't see a registration for that. Can I just pop up?

You can come.

Okay, thank you. Because it's already in my calendar so. But thank you so much. I'm very just honored to have met you and apparently my son is as well. But just the work that you do I really really we really want to support that and so we'll figure out what we have to do especially when it comes to these obstacles and just that awareness but thank you and thank you too and thank you especially Warrior just for what you're going through and really just stepping up and bringing that awareness and telling your story, your Other than that did you have anything else?

I do not, but thank you for having us.

Problem. And you're welcome back anytime, so you know just let us know. Sounds good. You, thank you, thank you. Okay, next up we will hear from Deputy Director Ali about a lead resource grant that was presented earlier today.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I am Deputy Director Colina Ali with the Department of Housing and Community Development. And with me is Jerry Kukalski who is going to be the program manager for this grant that we are getting ready to talk about. So once again, thank you for allowing us to have further conversation on this. I do understand this past Tuesday there was quite a bit of conversation, some questions, and even perhaps some concerns. And so I just ask one favor of city council on this particular setting right here. Can I not go after such a cute family? Because we're not that cute.

I'm sorry, you know. We're gonna keep that in mind,

you know. Yes, please keep that in mind. But now and I'm also gonna give you a trivia question or a trivia note, okay? So the very first nurse coordinator that we had in Department of Housing Community Development started last year, which was in fact the husband, Eric Scott, of Doctor. Scott. He was part of our department and he is now working in Detroit, but he this is part of our family, so to speak, too. Yeah. So a little trivia for you. But we wanted to come today and talk a little bit further about this lead grant. First of all, we're very excited that we received.

This is highly competitive. You know, we had to compete and I don't know what the final number would be but I would imagine hundreds of other municipalities throughout the country wanting the same amount of money. Because there are so many old cities, you know, we're considered a rust belt city so that means we have older homes. Majority of our homes were built before 1978 and they need help. They need lots of help for a lot of reasons whether you are a homeowner, whether it's rental property, these homes are old and they need help.

And so how do we do it? A grant like this gives us that opportunity that we can make a difference, that we can work on some doors, we can work on some windows in different areas of the home to bring them in compliance so that these children are safe. And one of the things that wasn't talked about today when they were talking about sickle cell, you talked about food, you talked about housing, but is there an intersection between lead poisoning and sickle cell? Something to think about. So this may be an answer unknowingly to those families that do have sickle cell involved with them.

And so that might be one of those long term, longitudinal type of studies that need to go on, but this can help those families that are getting exposed to lead. Because we do know lead poisoning does negatively affect children, particularly those that are under six years of age. They affect them neurological, they affect them health, they affect them in a lot of different areas. And so to have this grant means we can make a difference. This particular grant, over four years, will be able to make a difference for a 141 homes.

It may not be a lot, but that's still a 141 families that can make a difference. And by hitting those 141 homes, doing our program well, the next round of funding in four years, we'll be able to also compete again. We used our money well, we used our money responsibly, we did what we needed to do and we made an impact so that in four years we can go after this grant again and maybe hit another 141 or maybe this time it's 200. Who knows in four years what that is really going to look like? And so, that all of that being said, and I'm I'm sure there's so much more that can be said, I'm going to kind of leave it there and open up to any particular questions or concerns related to this.

Both myself, Jerry and I, will hopefully be able to answer those. I do know there were some questions about our lead resource center. And behind me, I have Candace Buckley who is the executive director, the new executive director of our Lead Resource Center. She is also here if there are any particular questions. So I'm going to leave that there and open it to you.

Thank you for that. Do we have any oh, I see something go I don't know who came first.

I was trying to remember thank you for being here today. Sorry. I just jumped right in. And thank you, Cher. I was trying to remember the conversation. It seems like it was a long time ago even though it wasn't. But I think there was some question. Was there marketing dollars built in? Yes. What what is that used for? Could you speak to that a little bit?

Yes. And so in this particular program, we have allocated $55,000 over four years. $55,000 over four years, which equates to 13,000 and something per year. Sounds like a lot, but it's not. Here's an opportunity, we will use this money to do outreach to families and individuals to make sure that they are aware of this program.

And you say, they should know anyway. Well, it's not that easy and it wasn't even easy on the previous grant that we received. We did well enough to get a new grant but we want to make sure because every year or every cycle it becomes more and more competitive. So we want to make sure that we hit that 141 and even potentially have another pipeline so that when we go again we can say hey HUD, not only did we hit 141, we have another 141 in the pipeline because of this outreach and the marketing that we've been able to do. Helps us stay in compliance with the grant. It helps us to do the outreach, you know, to individuals and families about this program so that they are aware that it exists.

So does that in terms of the marketing material that's used, is it postcards

that are sent out?

Is it social media? Is it

what does that look like?

It's gonna be all the above. Okay. We have not created and Jerry can add some more to this, a very specific marketing plan which we will be working on. And do you want to add anything to that Jerry or? So

certainly we'll incorporate things that we've used before in the past. The way that the grant is structured, there's 41 high risk census tracts in the city of Toledo that will be targeted. So in those areas we'll be doing things like we'll be putting up billboards that are providing information at least where to apply for the grant. Obviously brochures leave behinds. We do once we get the grant rolling and off the ground, we attend health fairs.

I think I mentioned on Tuesday, part of what the program does is we meet with the rental property investors networks. So we always you know we need things for leave behinds for presentations. We set up tables at the when they do vendor type things. So all of that, you know, brochure development, billboards, etcetera, etcetera, that type of stuff is what's going be coming out of that marketing budget. I think it's important to say too is that so we put together a four year budget to make sure that all the costs were eligible for HUD and get it approved by HUD.

This is by no means like everything is set in stone. By the end of year two and certainly by the end of year one, but we are constantly looking at our budget to say, hey, where do we spend? Can we move this into this area, etcetera, etcetera? We certainly hope to, you know, we say a 141 units that we're gonna try to get done. That's what HUD has agreed with us that should be our target.

Programmatically, that's the minimum we want to do. We want to exceed that. So our budget is designed as far as cost is to meet that 141 units. However, if we start to exceed it, if our units are becoming more expensive, then we go back into our budget and we say, okay, gee, we might have $20,000 left in the marketing line. We're going to move that into this item for construction or whatever it might be.

I think it's important to note is that in the overall budget, 82% of the entire budget is direct cost. Direct cost in this with this program means you can tie an address to that cost. So that means 123 Main Street, our staff that goes out and does the assessment on that, that's a direct cost because it ties directly to an address. When we do part of the assessment and the clearance, we have to send those samples to a lab, a direct cost tied to that unit. We provide relocation when the work is being when the contractor actually starts work, the unit has to be empty because if you replace a window, you're creating more dust.

You're creating, let's say, potentially a greater hazard. Obviously, there's containment procedures and all of that. That's why all of our contractors have to be lead licensed. Their workers have to be licensed because that's all part of the training and the procedure. But the occupants can't be in the unit while the work is being done.

So we provide relocation in the grant as well. It's a direct cost, etcetera. So our direct cost in this grant is a little over 80%. We've got another a little over 16% that HUD terms as other direct, which excuse me. That basically refers to you can't tie an address to it, but it's a it's a needed expense to continue to have the program run.

So the example with that, we have in the program, have two, they're called XRF instruments, x-ray fluorescent instruments. They look like a Star Trek phaser, quite honestly, but they're also very expensive. And they send out low level x rays. So we test every surf every painted surface in a unit, sends out that x-ray, it bounces back when it hits the lead surface, and then it tells us where the it tells us the paint history of the house. Those things need maintenance and resourcing.

Again, it's not a direct cost because we can't say, well we use it on all of our units, but it's an other direct cost. So it's things like that training. Our rehab staff have to be trained as lead licensed contractors in order to write work specifications. They also have to be lead licensed risk assessors in order to do the initial risk assessment on the unit. Those training costs.

So there's initial training and then there's recertification training every two years. Again, that's an other direct cost. It affects every unit that we do. So when you talk about overhead, which I think that term was brought up on Tuesday, I more or less see overhead as more like administrative costs. This grant right now, as written and as approved by the budget, only 1.8% of the budget is considered an administrative cost. So that's pretty significant. I can talk all night. So I'm gonna stop there and wait for the next question.

No. I thank you. I appreciate that. That was very helpful. Thank you. Council member Gaddis.

Thank you. I'm super excited about this. This is gonna change lives. A lot of the conversations I've had with colleagues are the concern about the different percentages of the budget, which you kinda spoke on. This maybe you could clarify. This was okay by HUD. Right? So this is within what they expect. Yes.

Yes.

Okay. And then is there a current list of people that would like to apply for this or is that do we have to build the pipeline?

Well so when we ended when we ended our last grant we did have let's say a certain number of units in the pipeline. They were mostly rental units. So what we what we plan on doing is, obviously, once once we have an approved ordinance and we can get an SAP budget, we will build an electronic application system portal, if you will. And we will roll that out so that we can have folks apply online. We also have we're fed referrals from the health department.

So when the health department goes out and writes orders on properties, typically, they're writing orders because in the history of that property, there's been a lead poisoned child under the age of six. So when they write those orders, they actually will send those to us as a referral. So over the last, I'm gonna say, probably three months. And in fact, within the last week, we've confirmed what addresses that we have. So that there we'll have a pipeline of those at least that have orders on as well so that we can reach out to them.

We've actually started to reach out to a few of them to, you know, let them know about the grant, how to apply for the grant, etcetera. So we have a certain amount of a certain number of units as a pipeline to start with, but we'll also, you know, again, be putting the application out. Typically, when we put the application out and there's we do the media releases and all that, we're flooded with calls for the first two or three weeks. Some of them eligible, some of them not. We're also hoping that because we're putting it online, people won't necessarily have to call.

We used to do it as a paper application, so folks would call us first. We'd kinda go we'd have a little spiel, like sort of a, you know, okay. Well, you know, what's your income level, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And then we mail the application out. What we're hoping is to alleviate folks to have to call and take that extra time for that as well because they can just apply online. So all of our stuff will have the website where to go to do the application and it'll be both for our owner occupied owner occupied owners sounds redundant. And then also for the rental property for the landlords and then their tenants will have access to that process as well.

Yeah. And I do want emphasize you know to your question was this a HUD approved budget? Absolutely. And so first from the application process, providing our application to HUD, it met the threshold, that opening threshold so to speak. So that allowed us to get to the point and say yes, we want to work with you Toledo.

And then there's negotiation period which I think you guys had some discussion on last this past Tuesday and that's where it's kind of refining. Are you sure this is right or maybe have you looked at this and we want to break this down a little bit further as what, you know, they may require or this all goes together. But at the end of the day both from a threshold perspective and the final budget was reviewed and approved by HUD and met their guidelines.

Okay. Thank you for that clarity. I'm just have a request that you any marketing if you could share with counsel, I'd be happy to make sure that I can get that out in the networks as well. I think this is is gonna change so many lives. My district's an old district and it's really in need.

So, I I would like to help encourage as many people as possible to utilize this and then, as far as I think one of the things that I I also heard from council is that we would like to hear how things are going as the process is going along so that we have information to share with our residents. Will we be getting updates regularly, annually? How how are we gonna get the information that this is going awesome? And we

can certainly do any type of report to you and whatever type of cadence. I would say coming out the gate, you know, you say quarterly that's fine but I'd also say coming out the gate maybe wait two quarters before that because it's usually the setup period, getting it really launched and such but after we have it fully implemented then we can say well maybe we want something monthly, know, twice a year but we can most certainly report back to you just like our lead ordinance individual who's also here today. She does a annual report. We can also include it there or do it separately.

Okay. That's great. Thank you, chair.

And we're I'll just add this too. So even once I'll say even once this passes next week, I'll be positive. There's still some things that we have to do through the startup process to submit to HUD and all of that. The funds have been approved. They've been released, all of that good stuff.

We need that obviously the ordinance to set up the SAP budget. But there's still benchmarks that we're submitting to HUD, policy and procedures, action plans. It's fortunate that this is not our first rodeo, so a lot of it is going to be revisions that we can turn around fairly quickly. But even HUD doesn't really expect to see a whole lot of production within the first one or two quarters.

Thank you. Just one more comment. At a time when the federal government is being so stingy with the tax dollars and have rolled things back, this is this is really important to the citizens. So I thank you for your hard work. Thank you for the lead resource center and all their hard work, and thank you, chair.

And and I will add this too. So we talked about the rollout and the application process. So as even though we're a seasoned grantee because we've received these grants before, we're still considered a new grantee because this is a new award. Our orientation is near the end of next month. HUD has gone through some changes.

The new federal administration has made some changes to different things. So there are a few things that we still have to find out to make sure that when we put that application online and we are looking at eligibility that we are, let's say, not putting the city of Toledo in the program at risk and that we're also not providing false hope to potential applicants. Specifically, haven't been able to get a determination on whether they're gonna require citizenship and what that's gonna look like. Yeah, there's a lot of things that, let's say, will not be a rubber stamp from the last time we ran this program. So hopefully, we will get all these questions answered and everything resolved at this at the training conference next month and then that will ensure that once we put an application out, we're collecting everything that we need that HUD is going to require that's going to allow us to do the appropriate eligibility reviews and all of that.

So

going back to the citizenship, they are they're asking you to ask for citizenship with these with these applications? So

we don't know yet. Put it simply. Right.

So I forget the name of the federal act that was passed and I apologize for that.

But

basically, what what I've been able to understand is that with many of these federal programs, our HUD lead program, potentially our CDBG entitlement and our home entitlement dollars may be requiring proof of citizenship. I don't know what that's gonna look like. It it to me, it asks let's say, it generates more questions because, certainly if you're looking at specific to my program, because I I don't work with blinders on, but it I had they have that tendency. For an owner occupied unit, it's pretty straightforward if that's what the requirement is. We just have to figure out is it documentation?

Is there a website that us as the grantee have to access? But when you look at a, let's say, a rental property. Now typically with rental eligibility, we don't have to look at the income from the owner. We there are some things we do have to collect from the owner. But eligibility is driven by the occupant, so the tenant.

So it's the tenant's income that we have to collect and all of that. So if in fact we have to do something with regards to citizenship, does it affect both the landlord or the owner of the rental property and the tenant or one or the other. Again, these are just things that we wanna roll the program out as soon as possible, but we also be have to be very careful because we don't wanna put the program or the city at risk if we are doing things, let's say, not the correct way in in the eyes of the federal government.

Interesting. Oh, yeah. So we'll we'll we'll put a pin on that and definitely update us whenever you figure that out.

Yeah. We certainly will.

Because yeah. That Yeah, for what we just did so that's gonna be interesting. My question actually coincides with council member Gaddis' as far as the applicants, the population you're targeting with the homes. Is this also, are you overlapping this as far as like priority addresses? Are you overlapping this with the other landlord ordinance where they had, that if you're in different areas you had to abide by making sure that your home was lead free by certain dates.

Is that kind of overlapping as far as your target areas and target addresses or is more if they're in the NRSA area and then you'll just have those addresses within that radius per se?

Well, the first, the highest priority which Jerry briefly mentioned are those that we had the lead orders from the health department regardless of the zip code or the census track because if you have a child who has elevated blood levels

Oh, yeah. Mhmm.

And they're being poisoned then that is a home that we need to go in and and make some changes to it. That is like the first level that we go to. But other than that in terms of the application process it is open and Jerry can speak to that more.

Sure. Can give you a little bit more detail. So the 41 targeted census tracts those are actually so the funds come from the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes. So that's the HUD office. The 41 census tracts are actually they are the designated high impact neighborhoods that that that this HUD office has, let's say, well, designated.

So it was a matter of they provided they provided a website to go through to see what what their high impact areas are. It's based on income levels, instances of EBL, elevated blood lead levels, etcetera, etcetera. So that's the 41 targeted areas. And in fact, if you look at we don't have the the PowerPoint today, but the that's the the highlighted areas on this map. Mhmm.

Now it's important to say as as Kalina had mentioned, is that that's just that's our target. So that's where our marketing and stuff is gonna be. But any eligible unit in the city of Toledo has the potential to to receive assistance. And then we break it down in terms of children with, you know, units with orders, children with EBLs. Excuse me. Children with high EBLs. And then so a child can have an EBL once

a

child's blood level is 10 or above, that's considered an action level. That's when the health department goes out and actually does the lead investigation with the follow-up orders, etcetera, etcetera. Children can be obviously, you can have an EBL that's under 10, and they're provided case management as well. So basically, child unit that has a child in is gonna be a priority for us. Children units that have significant EBL levels, orders from the health department, that's gonna be our priority.

And then it kinda backs off like that. We're actually even able to do vacant units vacant rental units, which is good because sometimes you've got if a if a landlord is actually following what the orders that they get, they're not allowed to rent their unit until they get things addressed. So we're we can't we can't have the majority of our our units be vacant when once we do the work. But we can even do vacant units as well. Those obviously are gonna be our lowest priority.

Right. We talked a lot about the rental. Again, owner occupied, the same type of thing. We get a lot of the referrals that we get from the health department are owner occupied homes too. So if we look at all of them with the same kind of priority levels.

With regards to your question about the the lead safe ordinance, the way I like to explain it is two ways. First off, our lead program was here before the ordinance. And our program will certainly help rental property owners, but we're kinda like a Venn diagram. You've got the ordinance units over here, and then you've got our lead units over here. And then there is a there is a intersection that some of those units that we do will help the owner comply with the with the ordinance.

Our grant isn't targeted for the owner for the ordinance because it's, we cover anything. And we do again, we'll do it as a priority. We'll do it as as we get units in. We may have to bump applications if we get, hey, we've got we've got our pipeline built, but now we get a referral from health department and there's a child that's living in the unit still, that's gonna supersede somebody else who maybe it's a rental unit without a child.

Yeah. And that the the reason for my question was just curious if you already had like a list already of just different addresses but you already said the health department and their referrals take top priority and I was just curious if there was like overlap with the other lead lead initiatives and anything like that.

And I'll say this too so we're we're finishing up a couple of our other lead programs as well so back in 2024, we received money from the Ohio Department of Development. So we've got units with that one. So those units, if we're not able to get them completed through that program, will be merged into our HUD program as well. We we receive settlement dollars from the health department through well, they used to be BP, but now they're Synovus. You know the refinery over there.

So they got fined by EPA which provided money for to do lead work in a, let's say, a certain radius around the refinery. So we work with those monies too. As those funds get used and end, if there's units that are still, let's say, potentially eligible but we just weren't able to address them, Those that part of my job is to say, okay, what other funds are these units going to qualify for? So we're always moving a unit from one funding pool to the next as those pools dry up and we've got the next pool opens up. So we're looking forward to this program because we've got we're just starting out, we've got four years to work with these funds.

I will say that right now as far as staffing, we probably have the best led, I probably have the best led staff to work with who has the experience, have been doing this enough, works very well with all of the applicants whether they're landlords, tenants or owner occupied. We have a, I'll say a relatively new, not really new anymore, but our finance staff has been working with me very closely on the budget, how we need to monitor the budget, etcetera, etcetera. So I'm actually looking, really looking forward for this grant to you. Let's see.

Yeah. This is

To get going.

Exciting is much needed. Yes. Especially what's happening federal wise, we need to act on it as fast as possible. And, I know that there was another question regarding the center. Is that still going to be in Swainfield? Or what is the timeline with Swainfield? I know the center is mostly doing the training portion of this grant, but how, as far as like, future development, I think that was a question as well from one of

the council members. And and when you say future development, you mean in terms of their work activities?

Work activity, location, all that.

Okay. And so the location, the plan, because plan changes, is to have it at Swainfield. And if you've gone past Swainfield and looked at it, especially at night, it's gorgeous with the the new lighting, the new facade, the parking lot, and such. So there's still some things to be out added to that particular property over there. And we think that's a great opportunity to have the lead resource center there.

It's in the Inglewood area. It's in one of our Nursa areas. It's also not only in a Nursa, but adjacent to another Nursa, and these are all areas that have some very old housing, and so to have it there to be part of the community so to speak, and also to be in a new beautiful location, I think that'll be great. So as it stands right now, will say yes, that is the plan. Plans can change, but we're trying to make sure the plans don't change because that's where I think everybody would like it.

And so going back to, their work plan as it relates to this, it's going to be that out, supplemental outreach to the marketing plan that we have, being able to work more and have conversations one on one with families, but also to supplement those events, the tabling events, and different things of that nature. And I had supplied, and hopefully that you received it, there is a handout that was Yes. Yes. Okay. That was written by the executive director, Candace Buckley, for this to kinda answer the questions of what they'll be doing as it relates to this grant.

I think it's it's great that they can be a partner with us on this for a number of reasons. Number one, the city, when they started really looking at lead and they started looking at the lead ordinances and really having some deep serious conversations about the impact of lead, we said we're gonna stand, we're create a lead resource center. Mhmm. And so we did that part of it, and we and we put some seed money in it, we got it started, we were able to bring on a very dynamic executive director who has some deep relationships with a number of organizations and individuals out there, and I think her ability to tap into that is gonna be so great in this case. And I I think about from the moment she started to now, the conversations that she has about lead.

First of all, it's like, how did you learn all that this quick? Because she has done some serious deep dive reading. She's here. She's there. She's everywhere.

So I first of all, I have to give her kudos to something like that, and you could tell there's a genuine interest and heart for this, and I think now that she's deepened her knowledge of it, I mean, she is like rah rah. We gotta make sure our children are not poisoned and our babies this and that. And that heart, that mindset, her experience, her knowledge, and she's such a systems thinker that that part will be built into what we're doing. And while she has a very or the lead resource center has a very particular role in this, I think she'll also help in our conversations when we create these systems. So we we we have it down on pack.

I mean, Jerry's been doing this for a number of years. He does it well, and and we appreciate that, but as things evolve, as we learn new things, and we try to come up with some new ways of doing things, I think Candice will be able to contribute to that conversation in ways that we had not had. We're not having that expert or, you know, to talk about it. And I think we when we talk about lead, we become, I don't know if it's complete, but I'll say this, we have our lead ordinance that has now stood the test of how many court cases, it is now active, and we have, you know, our lead coordinator, Monica Smith, that is running that. She's been following up with them, making sure those who are in compliance, so we have that piece of it.

And then we have the piece of what Jerry leads, not only this grant, but as he mentioned, the BP grant, and as he mentioned, Ohio Department of Development grant, and then we have our lead resource center. And so those three components that we didn't have, I think we're so much stronger for it today than if you would have looked at us two years ago. So a lot of conversation, a lot of things have happened for that. So I don't know if

I answered your question,

but Yeah.

No. No. You did. Because I was just wondering, like, we gotta get her in a space,

you know, just to do what

she needs to do. But, I mean, even speaking of just what the center would do, I know that, it was highlighting the training. Mhmm. Where would the training take place? Or is there, particular partnerships that will be tied to that? How does that look for this?

Yes. And so that's why we need to find a location and why Swankfield is a good location because not only would it be an administrative office, but it'd also be a location so that training could occur there. Right. And so it'll be working with some third party entities that do the training, and eventually, know we wanna be able to have the in house train the trainer so that we locally would be able to increase those lead workers, the lead risk assessors, and such that type of training. So, if you would like, Candace is here. If you have some questions for her, we can certainly allow her to speak, I'll leave that up to you.

Okay. Thank you very much. I don't think there's any questions from council. Miss Candice, would you wanna say something more just about your role in this grant and how the singer's doing?

Let's see. Let me start out with saying, I was sitting in my seat and I'm listening to the conversation, and I always listen to the heart behind the words because that's just how my brain works. And I just wanna first start by saying thank you. I think deputy director, Colleen Ali, said it very well. I am very passionate about what can happen between now and a year, what can happen between now and two years, what can happen between now and my retirement.

Dealing firsthand and interacting with some of these families in our community, it breaks my heart when a mom comes up to a resource table and she's like, I don't know what to do. My kid just got tested. And, you know, then comes the tears. And the professional side of me is trying to hold it together in that moment, but there's there's a part of me where in my heart I hurt along with them because I'm a Toledoan. I raised my kids in Toledo.

I raised my kids in a home built before 1978. So when I stand up and I'm talking to the various groups, and I'll let you in hot off the press on two opportunities that we got to are gonna speak at. It's personal for me because I believe in Toledo. I believe in you all and the decisions that's being made. I believe in the administration, and I believe together.

We can truly make a difference. I don't have many more words to say, but if you have any questions about the resource center, I'll tuck my passion back into my pocket, and please ask me if you have any questions in regards to our efforts.

I mean, I'm very familiar with what you do. So I don't have any further questions. I'll defer to councilwoman Kramer.

Thank you. I just wanted to thank you for being here today, and I can attest that you are everywhere because I see you all over the place. And I I think everyone in the community appreciates what you're doing and the passion that you have for this subject and for keeping our babies safe. And I I just wanted to thank you. So I don't have any questions. I just wanted to thank you for being here today. Thank you.

We would like to open the floor to the public if there's any comments, questions concerning the lead hazard reduction grant. The mic is open. Oh, go ahead.

Oh, I have one final tidbit that I'm really excited about just because I've been in this space for short such a short time. I just want to, let counsel know that the work that we're doing is gaining traction. I've been invited to the Ohio Housing Network, to do a presentation representing our community. I've I have also submitted a presentation for our Led and Healthy Housing National Conference, in which I will be co presenting a presentation around shared action with our Led Safe Coordinator here at the City of Toledo, Monica Smith. So those are just two things that I want to put out there to let you all know that, you know, people are watching Toledo, and they wanna know about our commitment to change, and they wanna utilize some of the strategies in order to improve their community one step at a time.

And again, as I said, we're all better together, so I'm excited to get out there, represent Toledo, and share this information.

Well, congratulations for all of that and and definitely good luck with those presentations. Looking forward to a lot more. A lot

Good afternoon. My name is Blair Johnson. So, I wanna publicly say I hope you guys do approve this because we do need it. Approximately 90% of the housing stock was built pre 1978. And so, with this order doing single family, duplexes, triplexes, quads, and then in addition, I don't know how much will help day cares, but we got a lot of property that falls into that that district's spare point. So I wanted to say that first. So please vote yes. Vote no would be a bad idea. Because like they said, getting funding to actually do something we need to do. But speaking on the other side, I'm a maintenance contractor.

So, one of the things I wanna ask about the outreach process because I know, you know, being clear and transparent, I'm a licensed abatement contractor and a licensed risk assessor. I went through a program partially between the city and the state to get my initial licensing. Had a little bit of a busy last year, so I wasn't able to get us fully active, but I am now using my risk assessor license. With that, I know we got a lot of clearance techs and risk assessors. So, that can identify the problem, but it doesn't abate it, which still leaves us in another issue.

I've had issues trying to get lead workers, people who want to sign up as lead workers to help because, you know, one contractor, some of these projects are not one man jobs. But, one of the biggest things I wanna know is what's gonna be the outreach process to not only reach out to licensed contractors, licensed abatement abatement contract who are already licensed in the system, at least the ones based in the Toledo area. You know, I would like to see something of a a monthly check, you know. First of every month, we just pop on, see if any new names been added, you know, all the information, your usually a mailing address, phone number, at least for me, that's how it's set up. You know, you have some form of contact that's on there and it's public record so it's easily accessible.

Making sure we're reaching out to these people. I know people have to want to do the work, but if we have some because, you know, I have access to a lot of stuff because I look for it, I find it. But you got other guys who may have got licensed people who've met a season who also can help with the training and a different foundational thing and get more people involved. I think that's a big huge deal because we got a lot of stuff on the other side. But if we're not working on the abatement side, none of this really matters.

If we're not working to push, making sure the removal part is involved. So, I would like to hopefully see between the city and the lead resource center that's gonna be activating that we we make a big push to figure this out. Even if there's a like, with the lead workers, the the minimal requirements are very, very it's not the same as contractor and the risk assessors as far as your resume requirement to be able to go through that process. So I would like to say, how can we work with some of the schools, some of the trade schools to possibly see about getting some of these things early because we need lead workers. Like, that's one of the biggest things.

You can have a contractor on-site, but you can only do so much. And what that would do is stretch out these programs. And like they said, when these abatement process are going, depending on the extent of the project, but even when it's, the area has to be quarantined off. And if it's multiple areas in the property, the property has to be shut down. So that displaces the residents. They whether they stay with family or in a hotel. So that's additional cost. So what I'm saying is we don't want this to extend time wise because whatever the cost of where they're staying, that's gonna be an additional cost. And we're already, you know, pinching pennies to get this stuff done. So and that's really my biggest thing is just making sure we're also putting a heavy focus on that.

I know you guys got the administrative side down knowing how to escalate it, get the portals open, all that stuff, but we gotta make sure we have a qualified batch of people to remove it because, you know, like you said, we got four years to do this, and if we don't perform well, we're not gonna get the money again. And if I could it probably would take a year just to go through all the houses to currently determine what's 1978 and what needs abatement work. I grew up in the old West End. You know, all those houses, you know, have regular work. I live in the South End now. You know, my house was built in '28. You know, I know I have it in my house, you know, but I I keep up on my maintenance. But then we also had that side of it. You know, the biggest reason we have these issues because houses aren't maintained properly. We have the chip and paint.

We don't have, like, our grandfathers and uncles all the time going out when they were doing that stuff every summer trying to figure out why he keep painting a different part of the house. He's maintaining it. We don't have that simple thing going on. But I just wanna make sure we put a big push on that because that's that's a big part of abating the overall problem. So I don't wanna just I know the office people and the people that run it are important, but we need to put a big push on the contractors that are actually gonna remove it from our city.

Thank

you. Thank you for that. And that was actually, a question that I had as far as just the recruitment process for the contractors, the licensing. So if somebody was interested in this work, does the center help with that? And then would they automatically be put as far as on the list to be a contractor?

And I will be interested in hearing more about the recruitment aspects of the contractors. I think that we do have a list already. But as far as just those who are still out there that may need that extra push, I would be interested in that. But I know there's a lot of things that still have to be confirmed. I can ask that by referral, but other than that, it's

a good program. I can touch briefly on it. Yeah. So, I've already started to work with purchasing our purchasing department as far as let's say contractor recruitment. What we will actually be doing is putting a request for qualifications out on Planet Bids.

It will be cyclical is not the right word. You can't keep a bid open on Infinitem. So we will once we have everything in place, will be posted at the first of the month, it will close at the end of the month and then repost it at the first of the next month and so on and so on. We have an open process for contractors, so we prevent our contractors upfront and then if the they agree to work within our pricing structure then we were able to award projects on a rotation basis. There are a lot of requirements to be a contractor for the city, not even, I'll say including the project labor agreement process as well.

So all of that information will be on in Planet Bids so that when folks contact me or contact the program or anywhere in the city, we can direct them to PlanetBids for that posting. This is where you need to upload all your licenses, provide your background, your list of licensed workers that you have, your LLC, your tax compliance, etcetera etcetera. So we're doing that, rolling that out with this new program as well because experienced, qualified, licensed contractors are very difficult to get with, let's say, get established in our program. And then as far as, let's say, another list that people might be able to access, we'll certainly provide the contractors that work with us. As far as getting people to apply to us contractors, we typically will, go to the, Ohio Department of Health website for their licensing and we'll do, both email, we'll send emails, an email blast and letters to contractors within Northwest Ohio that would potentially be willing to, let's say, travel to Toledo.

At some point travel doesn't make sense because if you have to you have to rent a place, an Airbnb for the week to do the work, you're cutting into your profits. But we have had some contractors that will travel an hour, an hour and a half to Toledo to get work done, and then just do that on a daily basis. So, we'll be targeting the ODH website and, those licensed active licensed contractors as well.

And if I may add something to it too. What Jerry speaks to is the point of somebody to contract and how we can entice them to be part of the program. But I think to what mister Johnson was talking about was hitting people a little bit early on, hitting that lead worker. Where do you find them? There's only so many of them.

And that's why the lead resource center is gonna be so key to this and and and even to the ordinance is because part of their process is going to be hit that training center so that they can get trained to be a lead worker, be training for a risk assessor, you know, training for a lead contractor so that we have a pipeline of people who can do this work and other works because there eventually are gonna be people who won't be required by the ordinance or won't be able to get in this program that are still interested in having either, you know, total abatement or some type of remediation going on in their in their home or business or day care or whatever, and to have more staff, employees, or individuals who can do the work is gonna be very key, and that's why that lead resource center is there. And that is something to mister Johnson's question that is, is built in there. I don't know if it's

to the level that he would necessarily want, but that is, you know, one of the outcomes that we would see out of this. Well, I mean, that that's good to hear. And, really anything that we can do as far as the recruitment process to just bring awareness of that because I'm very big on, you know, just getting license, having those who are in the trades, really trying to pump that because we not only do we need it, but it's good money. It can be good money, and, we really need to start uplifting just the trade jobs that are here and the opportunities that are presented. So, I would definitely, want to I'll be checking in as far as just how that process is and just what the interest, what are some target areas or something that keeps popping up, an obstacle that keeps popping up that we probably need to address.

And, you know, I would like to be a part of those conversations. But either way, this grant is needed. And so, with that, I I really don't have any other questions. I'm excited that we are that competitive. Oh, you had you okay. Come on up. I'm just excited that we're competitive, enough to receive this grant, against other cities and municipalities, so we are doing some some things here. Go right ahead.

Hey, I'm gonna make it quick. My name is Kimberly Dixon. Toledo resident. Been in the real estate industry eleven years prior to that, a property manager for twenty eight. I somehow sold a house two years ago that was hot, full of lead.

The I heard not long ago that the lead or the health department would be going in with the title company somehow to transfer the information so we know when we're sitting at the table or before we get to the table that this house is full of lead. The young lady that purchased the home, her son is autistic. So there was a dilemma with all that, but we were trying to figure out how can we, as real estate agents, and title companies somehow other than the lead based paint disclosure that we get that they don't make us aware of it on there. How can we get to where the title company can also be informed that the house is full of lead, which would help a lot. HUD is, I'm jumping all over guys, my brain.

Because you answered all my questions that I had in my phone. So now I'm, HUD is sending out this money for lead. Who's checking HUD homes? I'm just curious. I just had my great grandson move into a HUD home.

It's a four unit, but it's peeling paint everywhere. Who are checking their homes? That's another question. I can't think of anything else like I said because you guys answered the question, but I was just wondering if there is a way that realtors and title company can also be informed when homes because I know you guys don't know they're on the market, but if there is a list or something, which I now go to the health department's website just to make sure that the house is not hot after being burnt the way I was, which is very helpful to me. But I know that the title company is not gonna not gonna take that extra step.

You know what I mean? But other realtors and title people need to be informed of what's going on. That's all I had.

If I may speak to that briefly, and I'm actually going to invite Monica Smith, our lead safe coordinator, to come to the microphone. And I I'm not sure I understand what she said, but I'm not sure I understand exactly what it means. And I'm thinking when you said a home that's hot, because we know any home built before 1978, they're all hot, so to speak. But it might be the placard homes?

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Okay. And that's what I thought. I'll say, I think this is the placard homes. And if Monica Smith can come to the microphone and talk a little bit about that.

Thank you. So, yes, Kim. In regards to the placard homes, one of the things we have been working on and working with the Toledo Lead Poisoning Prevention Coalition with is putting something in place so that the placard homes that it is the placards are attached to their titles. That way when someone does purchase a home, they know automatically the title company will say, okay, wait a minute, there's something attached to this to this property title and so it'll prevent that sale. One of the dilemmas with that is that it it costs money to attach something you know for it to be recorded.

And so we're still trying to work through that process. What I can tell you though and Kim spoke of this is that the placard properties they're posted on the Ohio Department of Health's website as well as the Toledo Lucas County Health Department's website and then they're also on the Toledo Lead Safe website. We put that there because we we were receiving calls where individuals purchased a home and unbeknownst to them that house was a placard property. The part that I think people didn't necessarily understand is that if that property is placard through the health department, that placard stays with that property. It doesn't go with the owner, right, to whom the property was placard under.

It stays with the property because it's still a hazard at that particular property. And so then it becomes the problem of that new owner unbeknownst to them. And it can be a costly problem. And so this is definitely something that I know I have been working diligently on. I think it's necessary. I would love to see it happen where we're able to to record it with the recorder's office. That way when people do title searches, they'll know that wait a minute, there there's something here and you might need to rethink this purchase. Yeah, that's definitely something we've been working on.

Thank you very much. We got one more comment and then we got to wrap it up. Come on. I

know city and county relationships haven't always been perfect, but that between the like she said with the recorder and the auditor. And I know not directly putting a lien on the properties because that would go through the court system and be costly. But if we can figure out some sort of partnership with them to where it can simply be sent in because the title usually sends something to these agencies to to read something. It wouldn't be directly a a lien but like she said something that flags up when these properties are are put, you know, and like we have Lucas County, like our our auditor system and everything, something that gets put in the notes on that property because title they search the properties I've sold and purchased. Title, when you actually go through the title prices, it does a pretty good the title companies does a really good check.

So, think that will be a little bit more cost efficient because but also in the future if we get another grant, maybe put a little set aside for some of these things to prevent that because it's a big deal. Because you got some of these houses that have gotten sold and you can't tell I went in a few and I'm seeing I can't tell you know, I'm looking at the map that the risk assessor wrote up with the ABCD on the wall and I'm looking at the wall and it doesn't look like a problem. Because sometimes they're not using a licensed contractor to abate it and they're just cleaning it up and covering it up. So that's an issue too. So, you know, and also a penalty factor for these people who are selling like we're having a lot of issues with these landlords and and certain owners, but a penalty factor as well that could recoup those costs if some of those transfers.

Because I think know you guys got to talk to legal, but it would be nice to have something to people know when they get a get this order from the health department. Mhmm. And so a lot of them are saying, let me just get rid of this and go because then it's not my problem. I got my money from these people. And then you get people like this house per se with a single family, people are already tight on money. And these materials for abatement aren't the same price as the stuff that's on Home Depot and Lowe's. It's not the same cost. The cost is extremely different. And, you know, we got the grants that have a limited number. So, some legal recourse would be good in that, you know, I'm punishment for them.

It's not okay. You know, I apologize that you had a house with lead, but you shouldn't just pass that on to somebody else. And I have a 20 year old nephew that has autism and that that that can be a possibility of having extra recourse with that lead in in the house as well. And that's not fair. That's actually kind of weaponizing homes against people unknowingly.

So those are interesting. Into that and see what we can do. Definitely. Because, if we put all this money into lead work and properties are still getting through, people are still getting poisoned, that's still going to make the job harder. So, other than that, I don't think there are any other questions. Thank you so much for having this time for additional talks about this. Other council members will probably reach out if they were supposed to be here to ask questions. But other than that, I don't think there's any further business. So this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you for your time.