Council - workshop

Alright, welcome to the council workshop meeting for Tuesday, August 25th. I'd like to call the meeting to order and can we get a roll call?

Mayor Siders?

Here.

Mr. Todd?

Here.

Mr. Fogle? Here. Ms. Gregory? Here. Ms. Metz? Here. Ms. Richardson? Here. Dr. Francis?

Here. Alright, first up we have the presentation from Stillwater Crossings.

And then I'm sure there might be some questions, but since the last time that I was with work, you know, you've had some changes. It was good to meet Kyle. Ron and I had the opportunity to do that about a month ago.

And we got to do a ton of things, but I wanted to take the time tonight.

residents to purchase their property.

You're probably already aware of that. Last October, StoryPoint took operational control of that facility, and we actually corresponded with the team that's looking to do the purchase this week, and we were given a date of October 1st for when that real estate transaction is targeted to close. So at that point, those parcels would change hands to entities that story point work. So just by way of update, that's what we can share with you on that. Also, since we were last with you, I think before we had shared that Irwin Brothers had an interest in one of the commercial parcels. And again, you're probably already aware of this, but I can report that we do have a signed contract for one and a half acres for them to put in a convenience store. Ron and I are planning to work on a half acre just adjacent to that on a car wash because Irwin Brothers, that's not something that they were interested in operating themselves. But that would fall into line with what we had talked about in the past. And then Ryan Homes is still under contract for the remaining home sites where the pile of dirt, Mount Stillwater exists. Let me bounce to the north side and then come back to the south side for just a second. So I have shared before, and I will share again, that I'm aware, you know, The whole process has taken longer than certainly we want, I think certainly than anybody would like. We have now a term sheet with a lending institution for construction of the apartments. That was crucial. to getting to a closing table on the bond. And so things are falling into place in a way that they have not before. Part of the challenge has just been, as we have pursued other avenues of financing, we would get down the road and it might be six or eight months until we would run into some obstacle and have to start over. And then work on that again. And so we've been through that cycle a couple of times. Never got to the term sheet. We now have a term sheet. And so things are starting to fall into place. We are working closely with Kyle on some processes, some things that he shared with us. Close the TIF, close the bonds. towards the end of the year. Again, we're not going to try and push anything through where there are steps that we need to work with council and or planning on. But that really starts the whole snowball of events, moving the dirt, getting things completed on the south side. Two things that I'll mention just with a little bit more specificity for the south side and then open it up to questions. We have been working with Wagner Paving and then also with Village staff on anything that might be needed as far as repairs on the south side in preparation for a final course of asphalt. So we are working to that end. And then I know there has been some conversation about sidewalk. Again, we're working with Kyle on what was in the original plans and what things might be done in the more immediate future. But we do have some plans for some things prior to the end of the year, the roundabout. And there are some common area lots that have sidewalk on the approved drawings. And so working to get some of those things done. So that's what we've been doing. Like I said, it's been a good working relationship so far. And we're continuing to work through some things. Kyle's been great at guiding us on what needs to be done. But with that, happy to answer any questions.

With StoryPoint having this real estate transaction on October the 1st, what is their plan? Are they planning to keep moving forward with the cottages like Randall Residence did? What's their plan moving forward?

To the best of my knowledge, yes. That is the plan for those parcels that had villas or cottages already constructed on them. We have reached out to them and let them know. Because we were contracted with them. We built the four that exist. We have let them know. We're happy to continue that. And they had always just been in planning stages. So I don't know anything more than that I believe they plan to do that. On the main building, there is another parcel over there. And I am not aware of what plans they may have for that

Question two with the mowing. What is it, the mowing company that you have that you've contracted with, and how often are they mowing both or taking care of that area on both the north and the south side? Because I'll be honest with you. It doesn't look good. I would hope that when you see it, when you come into town, you see the same thing I see every day I go home, every day I go to work and I come home. It does not look good, especially the north side because everything has grown up so much there. I know there was one time there was going to be a control burn of the old clubhouse there. Don't know what the plan is with the old pole barn that Kermit had equipment in and all that type of stuff, but... What's the frequency? How often do you have folks that are going out there that are mowing and taking care of the weeds? Sure.

So let me address the south side first. I think what we've had in the past is just a contractor with an attachment for a skid steer, a bush hog type attachment, that's gone through and mown the larger parcels. What we are working on or moving forward, it may not fall into place I'm going to say on a consistent basis until next year, but working with one of the contractors that is out on a weekly or every other week basis with the HOA. and only to take advantage of that efficiency. I'm not talking about anything that would be a cost to the homeowners in Stillwater Crossing. It's, you know, those contractors kind of establish their routine for the year, how much work they can take on. And so what we're trying to do is get on board with them so that next year when everything rolls into place, you know, they come out to mow the entrance and the common areas that they would have personnel that could take care of the other areas. For the remainder of this year, we're going to increase the frequency that the contractor we're currently using gets out and mows. Kyle shared with us some of the ordinances relative to some of the parcels. I think there was a thought that, hey, we could mow a 25-foot area at the you know, the front of a parcel. But the way the ordinances read, I think it's more like 150 feet if the parcel's over a certain size. And so we're looking at what needs to be done on the north side. At different points in time, there have been some individuals who have cut the grass for hay. But as you're aware, it's tall now. There's bales that are sitting there and have been there for some time. So I think our thought on the north side is we want to get between 571 and the parking lot taken care of, and then some distance that's agreeable past the parking lot So it's not an eyesore. I don't think our intention on the north side is to mow 94 acres every week, but certainly to get past the point where it's a burden or, like I said, an eyesore when people come into town.

Okay. I got two other questions. The Wagner paving, do you have a projected date when that is going to happen and when that will occur?

Yeah. They said they have capacity before the end of the year. I know they've met with Ben and Tim, or at least had conversations, my understanding, to look at some of the repairs that might need to be made prior to a second course. And then the other thing that we would want to look at before work would begin is making sure that we knew exactly where they were going to do that work. And by that, I know along Folly Road, that's where the dirt is. Would we put in a second course in front of the empty lots and then proceed to haul all the dirt off over the final course? So there are a couple of tweaks, but Wagner has shared with us that they believe they have capacity before year's end.

And I know you talked about, you know, with the Irwin brothers coming in, do you have any other, you know, projected folks that are interested in anything? I know one time Buckeye Burger was an interest. I don't know where that's at, but do you have anybody else that's interested in the south side?

I would say not beyond just initial conversations. So we have had some conversations with a couple of different groups that might come in, different businesses, a bank. The last we talked to Buckeye Burger, there was still interest. But it was a matter of them being able to get all of their business funding in order so that they could go into a retail space. We have also talked to some folks that have interest on the north side. People like what is forecasted. Rooftops is always kind of the response that we get that, hey, get some more rooftops in there and show us a little bit more of what's planned on the residential side. And that gives us the base to think that they're going to be successful.

Um, thank you again for the lights. Um, I know that was several months ago, but what a tremendous difference there when you approach that area either from town or coming back into town. So I'm sure the residents out there tremendously like that safety wise as well. So appreciate that. Yeah.

I have a couple questions. Over a year ago, there was a piece of legislation that we didn't pass, and we didn't pass, and we didn't pass. And then we were told that we had to pass that to get the dirt moved from the south side to the north side. And we were told that that was the final piece of legislation to get that dirt removed from the south side to the north side, that that was going to free up bonds so that you could pay for it to get that dirt moved. Dirt's still there. What is the date of getting that dirt moved? Like what's the actual date since we were told, I mean we were told over and over that that was causing the problem. So we solved that and then it's still there. So like what like what's the date of that what's the plan of that like when when is that happening and like i've heard before the end of the year for a couple years so like i'm looking for an actual like october 7th date right which i don't know that you have that but that would be really beneficial i think for the people that live there

Sure. Yeah, I mean, Sarah, you're right. Number one, we've been in front of you before. We want it done as well because, like I've shared, it's just a... a drain on resources for us as well when we have the land sitting there. So we want to get it done. I hope it wasn't me that said, hey, if you pass this piece of legislation a year ago, then we're going to be out next week. Because if I conveyed that, I didn't intend to convey that. I don't know the exact piece of legislation. I think the message should be that once the bond closes, That is the first thing. So clearing and mass dirt work are the first things on their list, because they need to balance the dirt. There is not enough dirt on the north side. There's a gas line that runs down near the center of the property, and so we have to build up so that we are a certain distance above that. Yeah, so you hit the nail on the head. I don't have an exact date to tell you. And if I gave you an exact date and then missed the date, we'd be having the same conversation. I can tell you that we're working with a team of people. Kyle's on those calls that we have every other week with the bond team. And there are a couple more steps that need to take place. But we would like to be closed on the bond before the end of the year.

So what does that look like? Does before the end of the year look like December, or does it look like September, October, or November?

My understanding from the last call is that there is a cooperative agreement that would need to be approved by the council.

and yeah let me jump in so um again i guess i want to be clear those are two separate things right the dirt moving and the bonds closing are two separate things but to the point i think that jason is making the north side is obligated or needs more dirt so they are waiting to move that until they have a development on the north side to move the dirt to so I will say that is part one part two that if we want to talk about the bonds would be on the north side this council has passed the tip agreement which is the base of our economic pathway which is the infrastructure component you have passed the CRA agreement which is the document that then gives the incentive or the abatement of property taxes for different things which is the residential and the commercial components last but not least though is the cooperative agreement which actually obligates the village to give the money to the certain things that we've agreed to, right? So if the TIF says there's roads that are going out, there's sidewalks that are being built, there's utilities that are being moved, that bond will pay for those specific things, right? So the cooperative agreement is that connection that ties together the fact that we've already obligated ourselves to create those economic incentives. It is what authorizes the actual payment then for what happens so i think to jason's point what they're saying is that on the north side as they start moving dirt to try to build the next components that they are building on the north side they will take dirt from the south side to make it even in terms of the timeline that cooperative agreement has not been signed it has not been brought back before you yet so that is the next step in that process as jason alluded to as well we've been working through some more foundational documents or things that need to happen both on the south side and on the north side on the zoning side and so as we work through those and finalize those we then have a better baseline to be able to approve additional agreements on top of that so from that point i would just say again our goal the timeline that we have before you this evening is to get preliminary development plans, modified, updated, final development plans for the sections that need that, which is the Irwin Brothers, and then moving forward with kind of the north side after that. So it would be very likely that you would see legislation in October for the actual cooperative agreement. but I will note the cooperative agreement itself has not been negotiated yet. So that still has a little bit of work to be done, but that is very likely that in the October timeframe you will see, so probably September workshop, a month from now, we'll bring you some discussion items, and then we would look to adopt something in October if you were comfortable with those items. Is that fair, Jason? Fair.

That's what we've discussed, yeah. and then do you have a plan for like the car wash you just talked about like what's the plan for that like do you want our wind brothers to be finished um not necessarily well uh they would be finished before the car wash we have talked to them even though they would not own that parcel or the building uh they are open to something with us where you know if a customer went to the pump that you know just like you often do you you want a car wash So we would have that kind of linkage. But I can tell you Irwin Brothers reached out to us today, you know, looking for a little bit of a status update. And we've shared with them some of the processes we're going through. But they are eager to get started. And so as far as the car wash, it would come online, you know, just a little bit after Irwin Brothers.

Okay. Are you aware of how long of a build Irwin Brothers is?

I want to say in the six to eight month range.

So if it's approved in October for a final development plan, theoretically, they're probably not breaking ground until spring?

Or do you believe they'll break ground and move around? I'd want to talk to them to see. I mean, one of the first steps is excavation for the tanks. And that corner, like the rest of the property, has rock. So that's something that's already a known quantity. And I think that can happen in any weather. You know, the rock doesn't get too soft in the wet of fall. So they may get started on that. But, yeah, I'll check with them to let you know because we're – We're selling them the property. We're not doing the build. They've got a contractor for that. What we are working with Kyle on is making sure that standards that would be related to a convenience store that backs up to some residential is done as anything else in the village would be.

Thank you. Can I ask you a question about StoryPoint? So just to clarify, Randall Residence sold to StoryPoint?

So my understanding is that Randall Residence is selling to a REIT, a real estate investment firm, Well Tower, and StoryPoint is their operator in this area. okay so a reach is building out the cottages or challenges yeah i mean the the funds are from well tower and again they they might utilize us to do that they might utilize a a third party to to do that um what i can tell you and casey i know because we've talked a little bit about it before like what's planned there. I can tell you two things that I know. One is right now the way the infrastructure is set up on those parcels, it's set up for those villas and not anything else. The other thing is the parcels that the villas are on have to make minimum payments for the bond and that would probably be difficult to do if it wasn't a commercial in nature end product. So I don't think they're going to take it and build a bunch of houses on it or something like that. Gotcha. And let me throw in on that as well.

So and I think it's important as we kind of go through this to try to educate the public and everybody about how the setup exists. Right. So, again, as the master developer, they laid out the initial plan. That preliminary plan has different sections. So some of those sections like we're talking about are those commercial pieces that are along 571. Those are a separate section. Then there is the. I don't know if it's just assisted living, independent living, care component, which was Randall House, and now is being transitioned to StoryPoint. Who owns it is obviously – I mean, as it being a REIT, you will never know that. You will know it as StoryPoint, right? And so they're obligated to their portion, which includes the undeveloped portion along those roadways that are built but not – with anything and then obviously the ryan holmes component is the 134 homes 117 of which have been constructed so those kind of components all pay in to cover the bond that exists right and so each of them have their own obligation to it so when jason says that they they have to cover their costs there's an explicit value that has to come out of their portion to be able to make those payments. So it does not, as of now, it would not allow them, or it would not disallow them from doing almost anything, but there is no incentive for them to do that because they have to hit a certain value so i can tell you and again i can't get into details because i i don't have details to share but the reit has reached out to the village we have had initial conversations about what their goals are and i will admit wholeheartedly as i kind of got into this and understood it a bit better i reached out to every party that has ever existed or had interest in the village of west milton so um again the goal that i have is to act as that intermediary in these conversations and to make sure that you are all as knowledgeable as you can be because in the end as the master developer sends sells this land to different parties they may not be you know controlling or in charge of certain portions of the site which in this case again randall house transitioning to story point it's different but what i can tell you is those initial conversations are that yes they are looking to develop it some of those conversations revolve around timing it is a benefit to our community to have all of those constructed at one point in time and not to be constructed one by one or to take a long time we would like to see development all occur at once so there's some additional conversations occurring oh thanks any more questions

Thank you for coming. We're excited about Irwin Brothers. Yeah.

And the Far Wash. All right. Thanks, everyone. Thank you guys so much. Yep. Thank you. We have a lot of really fun stuff. You're welcome to stay for it.

No? All right. No. Well, I am.

I'm watching on the way back.

Thought I'd try. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next, we have CM-26-53.

yes all right uh good evening everyone so as we have kind of this is the second workshop where we have changed some of our layout i'm going to go through these legislative pieces of information we are not approving anything this evening we're just going to talk about each of these items and then we will bring these forward at the regular meeting for consideration um so now is the time if we'd like to have additional conversation to have that to have that kind of conversation. So CM 2653 is a proposed resolution to adopt the strategic plan for the Village of West Milton. As you will recall, last month at our workshop, we talked through this. We walked through a lot of different components, and I will not spend the amount of time that I did last month to save you all my voice, but What you'll see within your packet is the completed strategic plan. It is in draft form, but I believe it is in final draft form. It is before you. It includes all of the same tradition, accountability, legacy, and joy that we talked about. It includes all of the goals under those categories that we talked about we did add a couple and modify a couple things based on feedback that we received from the community and so hopefully you can see all of those items it is in draft form it will be in draft form until it is brought before you at the next regular meeting for its consideration and adoption in September If there are any questions that you have of me about this, I can certainly go into them. We talked a whole heck of a lot about this. So what you'll see in this that you didn't see before, just to throw that out, is the first couple pages. There's a nice little letter that I put together. There's a community profile. And then there is some organizational structure documents that we have. So it shows kind of the overall department structure that we have here. And then it also shows our organizational chart of employees. As we kind of talked previously, one of the challenges that I have found as I work through our organizational setup is that our charter and our code of ordinances kind of creates a number of departments and a number of different divisions that we either don't use or don't really have a need for. So you'll see they exist. uh but i don't know that i think we're ever going to fill them so i think some of this is important for us to look at because i think the only way we're ever going to resolve some of these issues is if we look at them and so we're going to look at this and we're going to go do we really need those and maybe in the future that's an opportunity for us to reduce some of these positions formally as we move forward so As of now we're not looking to do any of that, but I think it's important to put it in this plan so we can really understand what exists, what our codes say, and then if we want to change it or we need to modify it, we can do so. With that, the strategic plan is before you for your consideration. If there are any questions that you have on it, I'd be happy to address them. But it is substantially what we talked about the last month with very small changes.

I have a question I should know the answer to. Is this like a working document? So if there's stuff in here that changes, we would just update it and adopt it?

Yeah, so here's the cool part about the strategic plan. I'm going to bring this to you every January, and we are going to modify it for the year, right? So this is going to be a weird one because it's probably going to end up being an 18-monther, right? It's going to hold us through until the end of 27 because we're not going to, I mean, the first one is always kind of either you make it six months or you make it 18 months. So if we get to six months from now, and in January we're like, man, we've knocked out some things, which I believe we will, if we've done that, then maybe we need to touch it in January and re-bring it back and talk about it. But I think this one will probably hold us through until through the end of 27 and then I would say yes in December, January, December of 27, January 28, I think we bring this back, we update it with all of our new goals, objectives, and we make sure that we incorporate who we are at that point in time into our planning.

I think that's great.

Awesome.

Thank you for doing this. This is amazing.

I think this is, again, I said it before, but I believe it very deeply. I think this is an easy way for us to explain what the village does to our residents.

That's all. And to my knowledge, I don't think we've ever had a strategic plan.

I've looked through a lot of files. I have not found one, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, Scott. I've learned that, unfortunately.

Never had one, right, Ben? No. As far as long you've been here. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for doing it. Appreciate it. Long overdue.

All right. Next is resolution CM-26-54.

yes so this is very little to say but this is again my goal to bring all this legislation so you can see it before we bring it for actual adoption so this is the resolution that will be brought before you to enter into a contract with a firm for the branding effort that we're talking about so I can tell you as of now if there's anybody still interested it's still open it's on our RFQ on our website. I've talked with two or three different individuals or firms that are interested in doing this. So if anybody has anyone that's local that wants to do this, please look at the RFQ and submit. Our goal would then be to bring it to you for your consideration on the September meeting for the 8th to adopt whatever contract we have for consideration and it's really not going to be entering to the contract what you're going to be authorizing me is to enter into a contract so i just want to be clear on that what you're going to be authorizing is the group that is being selected as the RFQ. The difference between an RFQ and an RFP is that we're requesting qualifications from people, and so once we decide who we believe meets those qualifications the best, based on a set of criteria, we will then enter into a negotiation to get a contract. So what you will be authorizing is me to negotiate with this person that we've selected within the parameters of which we've agreed to, and then we would have a contract after that. If there are any questions on this, obviously we've talked about this twice now, but it's my intention, hopefully we get a great person or firm who is interested in helping us with this process, and we will hopefully get it done by the end of the year. Within the initial setup, we kind of laid out our timeline as well, so we're hopeful that we would be able to adopt a new brand by the end of December.

Also, thank you for working on this. Yes. This is a good one.

All right. Next is CN-26-55.

All right, CM-2655 is the one that we talked about that I did not have a project for previously. This is the annual OPWC application. So what we are applying for, what ended up winning after discussion with our service staff was the J Street water main replacement project. So as you all may be aware, our utility lines in certain areas of the village are continually seeing issues uh we'll say it as nicely as we can uh this particular line um has seen quite a number of issues um how many would you say ben i think we've had five main breaks and like a one block section yeah so this is uh you know we are It's not ever fun to have to do large projects like this, but it's necessary. And it is one of our mains that actually serves a good portion of our village. And so the great part about this program, the OPWC program, is we submit, they support, and it is a grant. So they give us a fair bit of money as long as we match a certain portion of that. So what this will be requesting is the village cover about 27% of the total cost. So the overall cost is about $409,000 is what we're estimating or the engineer has estimated, which would put us at about $109,396 would be our portion. And then $300,000 would be covered by OPWC. So what we would do is this would authorize me again to enter into that agreement if we were to be granted it. So I always note when we come to grants, a lot of times we're gonna bring you this before it's actually granted. So this is authorizing me to accept it if we are granted it. So we will apply. hopefully um you know god willing we'll get it and then when we get that i will enter into that and we'll move forward and then this would be budgeted as part of our capital budget for 2027. any questions on this one or any more questions about specific waterline breaks that ben can answer on a tuesday you know

How long do you think it'll take to get the OPWC response?

So the process is super consistent. It's the exact same every year. So we would probably find out around December that we at least scored well. So it's a very competitive process. And so usually by December, you kind of know, yeah, we're in the top X. and so we're probably going to get it but then in the spring is when they award and so then we would be awarded so what we would have to do is budget um based on the assumption that we got it because we believe the scoring which is pretty common but just to say in terms of timeline if i didn't this would then be a fall 27 project fantastic yep thank you all right next we have cm-26-56 cm-26-56 is the sign project so if you will recall a gentleman ran into our sign on 571 and made it go away and that sign was made of brick primarily. And so we did have insurance. And insurance covered about $10,627 of the cost of that sign. Unfortunately, that's not the full cost to replace the sign. But in looking at that, Ben looked and determined kind of a location, whether it stayed the same. tom tom's on fire um you know that sign is the sign that was there we have not determined obviously any of the the components that are on the sign what was approved as part of this bid was to just put up the brick again so the structure that you see there is to be replaced and then we will have to come back and put a logo what terms if we want terms on it where we want to say home of or anything like that we would have to determine those things and bring those back for consideration but this just authorizes this the brick mason to be able to put up the sign and so as we went through that there was conversation I guess over the last couple months about the other sign or consideration for a second sign on 48. And so what this does is puts the exact same sign on 48 on the south southern border where we know it's unlikely to move. We are not going to move any further south because Union is there. So it does make sense to kind of set that sign as our southern boundary. So this would basically mimic that if you're familiar with the southern boundary of our community kind of outside of aces on 48 there would be a similar sign it would mimic exactly what we've done on ittings and and 40 or excuse me on 571. So this was a bid that went out. Ben bidded out, as noted, on July 20th. We received bids on August 12th. The lowest and best bidder was McFeeran Masonry for the signs. So what you see before you will be a resolution to consider for you to authorize me to enter into a contract with McFeeran Masonry, who was the lowest and best bidder for those two signs.

And you said the masonry, and then if we get a new logo, that would maybe coincide?

We are going to just put up the stone now, and then once we're done with our branding process, we will put up the logo and whatever terms, if we want terms, below. The old sign said something else, and there was consideration for new terms. So we would bring that back.

Okay.

Yep.

So are we going to vote, whether it's Bob Shule or Charles Furness?

Is that going to be a thing? I think in the end, that's what the whole question, I think. I mean, to be upfront, I think the question is, do we want terms? And if we do, who are we choosing and why? And again, I think for me, the question is, is that encompassing of who we are and how do we want to say that, right?

And yeah.

Yes. So the answer is yes. We would term whatever we want it to be, home of whoever. Yeah. Yes, sir.

So we had $10,620 covered by insurance. What do we believe our cost is going to be?

So the total cost is $34,058 for both sides. So our total cost is $23,430.70. Thank you. Ish. Just kidding. It's not ish. That's exactly what it is.

Alright, next we have CM-26-57.

Alright, 26-57, and unfortunately Jason and Ron didn't want to hang out for the other part of our section, but this really relates to Stillwater Crossings. So as Jason kind of insinuated, one of the major components as I got deeper into the Stillwater Crossings development, was the overall approval that we gave in 2017 and then again in 2022 for the actual rezoning and preliminary development plan. So some of this is very technical and so to get at a level that doesn't you know it's people don't get as bored at the long term goal the way that we look at this is when it gets rezoned there's a preliminary plan and so you look at that as a concept right so a lot of us think if you look at something and you say well this is we've got a house and we've got some trees and we've got roads and it's very pretty and we like it and then we have some standards that go with that and we say generally this is what it is Then we come back for every single development that happens, we bring a final development plan back, which is not conceptual. It is designed. It is engineered. It is specific. It is not trees are here. It is not a road is here. It is a 42-foot road with a curb back to back, has a five-foot green space with a five-foot sidewalk, and there's 72 trees. There's a building that is exactly 4,200 square feet that is set back exactly 108 feet. That's a final development plan. So that is the process that our code lays out, right? And so we have approved some things that do not have that level of specificity that I believe is necessary. And so as we talked through it with Ron and Jason, they understood, they agreed. So we're going back through some of these things to just clarify what we meant, right? So we've gone back and we've said, we met this, but we didn't say it exactly in the language. And so the language now will be adopted to clarify where we're at. So the preliminary plan lays out the concept. It lays out the development standards. And then final development plans are going to come on top of that. So this is the preliminary plan for Stillwater Crossing South. And we're doing that as fast as we can because, again, as he noted, there is a development that wants to get a final development plan. But to get a final development plan, you have to have a preliminary plan that you can compare it against, right? And so we need to get the preliminary plan updated to match the plan that we have today. So as you know, as you're all aware, we flip-flopped where the gas station and where the convenience center was from the original concept plan from 2017. We've actually done that in a lot of different lots. We've flip-flopped, we've moved, we've done a lot of things since 2017. And that's okay. That's totally okay. We just didn't document it. And so what we're doing is not documenting. We're documenting exactly what it is and we're setting a baseline. So this is going to come before you. The planning board will hear this case on September 2nd. And then they will make a recommendation to you for your formal and final consideration. That will be adopted and then we will go in October on the 7th to the planning board and there will be a final development plan for Irwin Brothers and the car wash or whatever else they want to bring forward. And then you would hear the final development plan approval on the 13th of October. Does that make sense? Yeah. So again, this is somewhat technical. I understand that. But I think, and you'll hear me say this all the time, the reason we have codes is to follow them, right? And so our code obligates this to be the baseline of our development. and so thankfully jason and and ron are both willing to go and make sure this is all the right you know check all the the boxes and cross the t's and i's so we're going to clean all that up and then from here forward it's going to be a heck of a lot easier it's going to be faster we're going to move quickly it's a lot easier to say yep looks just like what we're supposed to do we're done I will note, though, and I say this just because the public may get this, we sent out 284 letters because we notify everyone within 300 feet of a development process, right? So there's going to be a whole heck of a lot of people that get this letter. If you want to come to the meeting, please come. If you don't want to come to the meeting, don't come. But you're going to get the letter. So I just want everyone to know our goal is to make sure that we're transparent with our processes and you're going to get the letter. If you have questions, it also has an email and a phone number. Feel free to call me.

That's it. All right. Next we have, is there any public comment or anything on the workshop discussions? All right, I see none. Next we have other discussions and updates. First, comprehensive plan updates.

Yes. all right so what you will see within this update section is there's quite a number of them but the first one is the comprehensive plan finalization so as I brought to you last month I was going to bring forward some updates to the comp plan in a hope to get it finalized we did meet with the Planning Board in the beginning of August and we went through half of the code. So that first half was about 95 pages of the 200 page document ish. I have now finished about 180 pages of the document. I've gone through and reformatted and got kind of where we needed to be. So I intend to bring the remaining 90 plus pages back to the planning board for in September for their consideration of those. And then what we're gonna also add, just because I want it to be clear, We're going to finish the document, which means from an internal perspective, I'm going to work with Collabo. I'm going to do all the components that we need internally. And then we're going to have Collabo, which is the firm that we hired. If anybody didn't know, that's the firm that we hired to do the work. They're going to kind of touch it up, clean it up, make it kind of final, final, final. And then as a draft final, we are going to have two open houses. So we're going to do one on October 14th and one on October 15th from 5 to 7. We're going to just open this up and we're going to put big boards in here that kind of show what we're trying to achieve and let people come in and see it. And we're going to talk about it. And then if there's something that needs to change beyond that, if somebody comes in and says, hey, we've been talking about this for four years, but something changed, totally could have, right? Hopefully it didn't. Hopefully we caught everything. But the goal then is to have those two open houses take that final kind of feedback, incorporate it into the final draft, and then have our final review of that at our workshop in October on the 27th. then after the 27th we go for consideration november 10th in our first reading because it's going to be uh i don't know why it's an ordinance but it's an ordinance um is it really an ordinance for the comprehensive plan yeah because it's like a founding document we have to have If it's a resolution, then we're not bringing it back before you until December 8th, because we want to do it in December. Even if we got it done way faster, I still want it in December because it's the end of this year. So we will bring you back for approval. Either it's going to be November 10th, if it's an ordinance, for our first reading, and then December 8th for our second reading, or December 8th only.

Which would be cool, because that would give me a lot more time.

But... Yeah, we're there. We're there. I mean, it's super exciting. I think what I will tell you is from my perspective on the comp plan, the comp plan is an exciting document. I know like I'm a planning nerd, but like it is a really, really important document for us, just like the strategic plan, right? You cannot move forward quickly. We cannot be efficient. We can't be, you know, trying to keep who we are while growing if we don't have these kind of documents. these documents help us make decisions they justify why we're doing what we're doing or they justify where we're not doing something right because again i will tell you right now there's been a lot of um we have not had too many people that have said well i want to come in and invest in west milton That's going to change. And so when it does, I want to be able to make sure that we're meeting the expectations of the community to keep that small town feel, to keep the character that we know, and to be okay with growth, but the right growth. And that's what this document is about. It's about defining the right growth for us. Because I will tell you, we are either going backwards or we are going forward. And so if we don't grow, at some level, some way, we will go backwards. And we unfortunately cannot do that. We need to, as a small community, almost a city, if we're not a city, I think we're like 5,008 people. I haven't counted everyone, but that's where I'm at. I think in the end, if we want to continue to go in that direction, though, we have to know what is acceptable. And we have to be okay with leading that charge, that we're special and we're different and we want to grow. But we want to make sure that we're doing it in a way that makes everyone feel comfortable and is true to who we are and our character. So I'm excited about the comp plan. We're rolling. It's been a lot of hours, but we're getting there.

That sounds like a really good Christmas present.

Yes.

I will take that as a whole Christmas gift.

Yes.

All right, zoning code updates.

Yep, so zoning code, unfortunately, because comp plan has been doing so great, the zoning code, unfortunately, has taken a bit of a backseat. So as you're, well, hopefully you're all well aware, I mean, the zoning code and the comp plan kind of go hand in hand. And we have, we've been working to reformat the zoning code into a development code. And the goal of that is really to incorporate all our codes into one place, make it an easy way for people to understand. So when you say, hey what is my zoning district and we say you're R1 they can go and say okay my fence can be here my you know I can have a pool here I can do this and it's really prescriptive and easy so by doing that it makes everything easier for everyone it makes it easier for our staff to interpret it makes it easier for residents to interpret it makes it a lot easier for businesses who want to expand or grow to understand how they can do it and it makes it easier for developers who want to come into our community and see that we're not going to make them go through these crazy things. We really want them to make this as smooth and efficient as we can. It's really important. But to do that, it takes effort. And so I'm working as hard as I can on that, but that is taking a secondary seat right now in the comp plan, and I'm trying very hard to focus on that, to get that first, and then zoning code. i still think we're looking at a spring 27 um once the comp plan is done the amount of free time available to work on the zoning code will be immense so i'm very excited to get the zoning code done and i think selfishly for me and for our staff i think we want the zoning code done because the zoning code we have is just not it's not it's not a good utilization of what a government agency should be. It makes it a lot harder for people. It makes it harder for our staff to interpret. It makes it harder for a person who's just trying to sell their house to understand what they can do. And I think we need to be more efficient and make it better so people can understand it easier and feel better about the process. And most of the time, the only time they ever interact with government is through a permit. I got to get a permit for a fence? Yes. here's what it looks like you know and it's easy and that's a lot better than saying yes and by the way it doesn't fit so you got to get a variance and now you got to get it you got to go to the board of adjustments and by the way the board of adjustments only meets once a month and by the way you got to pay us to go see them like it's a whole thing right and people that experience then becomes well i don't like the way that our our village functions and it's not true you don't like the way that our code functions our village our people will work with you they'll help you they'll do the best they can they just have to follow a process and a procedure that is very very old and outdated so we're working on it spring 27 is the goal right now i had originally hoped we would be more like january but it's probably going to get pushed more like march so two questions yes sir will you do the same type of thing and have an open house and zone code as well or will you not go to that level yeah i think we should i think i think that the the truth is that is what is probably going to push this longer is we're going to break it into code sections and then i think we're going to talk about it right so like some of our code expectations on um you know residential properties may have more interest from the public than the details on our subdivision code, which is, you know, like, really care what kind of curb we use in this town? Like, you know, I mean, maybe you do. There aren't many people that do, right? So there's a lot of different components that matter to people like Ben and I, but don't matter to the general public. And so we will definitely have conversations about all the major components, but I would foresee us having probably more, because I think The difference is the zoning code has not had the public interaction, the public touching, the public, you know, things that back and forth that we've done with the comp plan, the comp plan for the last four years. I mean, we've had 40 plus public meetings that have discussed the comp plan we've had you know a ton of different public interactions with that plan over the last couple years that's very different to me than the zoning code which has not seen that so i do think we will we will need to be careful and make sure that we're not going too fast and we're incorporating public thoughts and and feelings into that change yeah okay great conference complains a resolution all right Yeah, I'll keep those dates. That just gives me more time to incorporate data. So December 8, then, everyone. December 8.

Community Improvement Corporation.

OK. This one's a unique one. Okay, so a CIC, let's step back and just explain what a CIC is. So a Community Improvement Corporation is a tool that is used by communities to act as an intermediary under the Ohio Revised Code. And so what that really means is the Ohio Revised Code sets standards and rules for what this private body, a nonprofit, can do and how it relates to government. So the West Melton CIC, which was created in the 60s, you know, was created in an attempt to do some economic development. So most of the time CICs are used to allow the transfer of property. So if you are aware, the village is not able to sell property to individuals. That is not something that we are allowed to do by law. We are obligated to auction off things. As a public agency, we auction things. A CIC is actually given a specific code language in the Ohio Revised Code that authorizes it to stand in between that process and so we can actually transfer land to a CIC and a CIC can sell land. So what you normally will see, and it's very standard throughout Ohio, is government agencies have CICs. Those CICs act as intermediaries in between land transfer deals. So an example would be the village acquires a property, the village decides that we're going to transfer that property to a developer who wants to put a million dollars into it, we can't do that. So what we do is we enter into a development agreement with our CIC and with that developer. So it's a handshake agreement that goes through the CIC to the developer for a certain amount of money and they have to do a certain amount of things and then it transfers into their hands assuming that they meet all the obligations of the development agreement. So what I would see this institution being, I don't believe we've done any business through our CIC since at least 1995. Yeah, I don't believe so. And a lot of that, again, is that the village has not been doing a lot of development. We have not met with developers or intended to do economic development within our community. And we haven't needed the CIC to be completely upfront. we will need a CIC. And so we are working internally. The finance director and myself and one of my admins is working very hard to try to figure out what we have internally. Lene has also been working on the legal side to try to figure out what we have legally. There are some really big challenges that we have with our existing CIC and the paperwork and some of the reporting that may or may not have happened. So the long and the short of this is we are going to need a CIC. And so whether the CIC is the existing CIC, which, again, may or may not be able to be ours because of some paperwork issues, or we create a new CIC and that CIC is you know, set up the way that needs to be and meets all legal obligations and everything else. I would foresee that we're going to need this in the next, you know, by the end of the year. So it is our intention to either resolve it by getting control of the previous CIC or closing the previous CIC and creating a new one, one or the other. What you will see and what a conversation needs to be had, that CIC will have five members to it. The president is me. By almost all law, it obligates the village manager or city manager to be the permanent president. It will likely have Jill as our finance director on it. We will have one councilman, councilwoman, person who wants to be on it. those three people will be of the village then we will have two people that are not elected or appointed officials so previously in the previous iterations of this board we have had accountants we've had different businessmen in town who are interested. So we would be going out to try to fill those other two positions with interested parties who have investment or interest in being on that real estate, some sort of knowledge that they would have that they could add to our ability to use that CIC. I say all that to just give you the heads up that we're working on it. We're trying to resolve some of the issues that we have. And then again, you're going to probably see something in October come before you, either asking you to formally renounce the previous CIC or formally renounce the old CIC and create a new one, or adopt the old CICs. language, I guess. I'm not exactly sure how we're going to resolve some of these issues. But one way or the other, next month at your meeting, well, no, not next month, in October, I will be bringing you something on the CIC because we will need it as a development tool.

Is this the same entity that had like $5,000 or $6,000 in an account or something?

Okay, well, if you want to ask specifically, yes. So Where we're at is there, last year we received a letter about a bank account that had funds in it that was in a CD that expired and the CD expired and it went And we can't get control of the funds. That's the long and the short of it. There's a lot more to it, but I'm going to sit at that.

Yeah.

So yes, the answer is there is money available somewhere, and we'd have to figure out exactly how to get control of that money, unfortunately.

Great. Thank you.

If no one else on council volunteers, I'll volunteer for the council member spot to be on CIC.

I nominate Fred Francis.

We don't need a nomination today. Today is a workshop. There are no nominations, motions, or whatever. But there will be, again, as I noted in October, we will have a need to create a board one way or the other whether we use the old format or the new one we will need a member of five so you will get a resolution from me that formally creates it puts the terms sets the positions all of that stuff in october so i would say maybe in the september workshop if anything changes let me know otherwise we can move forward with that being the assumption if if everyone's comfortable with that

All right, sidewalk program updates.

All right, this item came before you as I was asked to bring it back. Yeah, so I did look into this substantially. The sidewalk program has not been set up as what I would argue is a traditional sidewalk program. So traditionally, what communities would do in a sidewalk program would be we would go out and we would find sidewalks that have deficiencies in them. We'd mark them and we would say, you know, this year's sidewalk program, all of you have to fix your sidewalk. And people would say, well, you know, great, I'll do it. I'll hire a contractor or I'm not going to do it or I'm unable to or I can't afford to do that. And we would say, OK, we'll do it and we will assess it to your taxes over the next three years or five years. That is a traditional sidewalk program, right? What we're doing here, what we set up under Resolution 2549 last year in September, about this time last year, is a little bit different, right? So what we did, and I think you may all know this, but We intended to create or to fill gaps in sidewalks, not fix previous sidewalks, right? So the program itself is really a gap creation program or gap sidewalk program, not a fixing or deficiency program. So the creation of the program, we put $50,000 into it and said, you know, we will help financially support people that want to go through this process. There's a cost sharing component to that, up to 50% of the work for those gap fills. So, you know, once I've reviewed this, and hopefully you see in my messaging, I do have questions about the overall setup and the goal and the objective that we have. I'd like to talk through what we were trying to achieve, because right now we do have the money budgeted for this year. We've not actually ever, at least that I can see, we created an ordinance, but we didn't actually create process and procedures associated with it. So before we do that, I guess I'd like to have additional conversation about what we were trying to achieve how I can format this organize it in a way that maybe we could be a little think a little differently than maybe we did a year ago to try to achieve what we were trying to achieve my only concern with the program is the consistency of how we manage who gets that gap filled right versus it's easy when you can say this is a deficient sidewalk and we're going to fix it when there's a gap and you know everyone is equal right unless we make a determination of how it's not and so we did have some criteria in there that allow us to do that and so i guess i would just open it up to ask if there's additional conversation i have looked into it i now know the program i understand it and i can certainly speak to you know, components of that.

I think the intent was to bring sidewalks to areas in the village that do not have that currently. Some areas have a portion of sidewalks, but they do not all connect. And there's no sidewalks in that area, especially around Dewar Drive and that neighborhood back in there. The other one I think was, what is it? Stillwater. Stillwater. Stillwater was the other one. Mark. Yeah, market. There's a couple of areas that we were kind of targeting and looking at, and we thought if we provided some type of funding mechanism out there that they could apply for grants to help them put in that sidewalk in that area, that would assist in that program. I know previous Mayor Scott Hurst His son went through the village and did a big study of all the sidewalks and broke everything down with, you know, which areas were the worst and which needed to be or should be addressed first and that type of thing. So there were some things that I know that he did as well at one time. I don't know all the significance of that. He was an intern at the time. Do you know what year that would have been?

24?

No, I'd say probably 24, maybe. There is a document that I've seen that was part of the comp plan that showed sidewalk. But I don't know that it showed sidewalk deficiencies. Are you saying that you wouldn't?

It's in our GIS.

Yep. Because as far as I know, if I'm not mistaken, it was every sidewalk, every street, everywhere he waited. So it's something that you already have at your fingertips that he had put together. So I think that's, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's where that all came from.

uh that we established that grant program so now we're in year two so we've got fifty thousand dollars in there from last year and fifty from this year that have not been yeah so and that's i think where the challenge that that we have so unencumbered money that doesn't you know encumbered money that doesn't get used sits right and so it doesn't really roll over unless you roll it over right so the way that it's sad is we've just got money that has been encumbered last year and was never spent so the reason i bring that up is i guess the question i would have is is that program the way that it is set up um is that the best way to achieve what we want to achieve and so what i'm hearing is we want to achieve road sidewalk connections I would rather, if I was looking at that program, I would rather the village just put $25,000 a year into putting in sidewalks in our community. And then we take $25,000 and we turn it into a real sidewalk or an initial deficiency program, and then we go through and we fix sidewalks. And then every year, we've put $25,000 more of sidewalks in. Right. And the reason I say that is when we want something and it's our desire as the community to have walkable, safe streets, I think we need to be willing to do the things that need to happen. Right. So residents want it, but a lot of times they're not able to. Right. And then the second we put it in, they're obligated to maintain it forever. Right. So I feel like and again, this is my opinion, but I would love to understand I'll do whatever you guys want. If we took that program and we really made it a little more robust and maybe it wasn't 50, maybe it was 60 and we said it was 30 and 30 or 40 and 20, but we were every year budgeting money to put in sidewalks. That way, it's not a program per se. That's a capital expenditure, right? We're just deciding that we want to connect these sidewalks. And so if we know where those gaps are, we can budget. We can say, I know this gap is $45,000, right? So then I will say, we're either gonna save money and we're gonna do a two-year program to do that as our first one, or we're gonna budget 45 for this year, because that's the connection we're doing this year. I would rather that than, the reason I say that is it is really, really hard to value, even with the scoring that we have, what is most important. Because to you it's one, to you it's another, to me it's another. Everybody has an opinion on a gap, right? Because if it's in front of your house, it's the most important. If it's seven blocks away and you never go through it, maybe it's not important. And it meets the needs that we want, right? We want those connections. i would propose that to you now again we have a hundred thousand dollars that exists in the budget what i would argue since we now got that and we haven't budgeted 27 yet what if we by october of this year i brought you back legislation we created a program that kind of did this and did it um and we put the hundred and you know maybe we don't do the whole 150 we just do 100 in the first program and we do 50 and 50, or we determine, Ben and I go and we find which ones, you know, we want to start with, we pick a point, we say we're going to go from here to here, and we start working towards it. Is that reasonable to you? Is that meet your needs?

I love that. So I feel like... That's what we want in. I mean, the comp plan put the deficiencies and where we're not connected, you know, to make it a walkable community and where there's those gaps. And we didn't have a plan. We didn't know how to fix it. And it was just a suggestion. We're like, sure, let's try this match in Grand Shore. It failed hard, right? If there was a petition...

Like a change.org petition of like 900 signatures?

No, like 20 signatures. Oh. Wait, online? The paper one?

I feel like it was more than like... Well, again, what I'm saying is I think what we need to make sure that we're always like in our minds that we're thinking about is how are we creating a solution to the problem? Right? And I think in the end, if we're creating a solution piecemeal, it stinks that it takes forever. But people understand that we're not, you know, we don't have a ton of money. We're frugal and we can only do so much. But we can plan and we can express that plan. And I would see that sidewalk program also trying to further our effort to make sure that we're ADA compliant. So a lot of those intersections have mats that do not meet ADA. And so I would argue as we work through those intersections, we also make those intersections ADA compliant. So we are continually furthering our community's goal of being accessible to everyone.

i love that yeah okay can you uh develop that and get something together that we could talk about at the next workshop that's exactly what i was proposing yes i love that i think the original goal was like the comp plan walkability how do we make and those were things that we could we worked to figure out as council members and that's what we came up with and it

And then, too, the option of do we put all the money into new sidewalk or, like you said, 60-40 repairs and new? Or do we assess taxes for repairs and all the money for new?

Well, and I think repairs you definitely assess. I think that's the part of the process where that's, again, once the sidewalk is there, it is yours to maintain. Now, what I think we can do is we can hold that cost for people over three years or over five years. And so instead of you getting hit, you know with whatever we're going to lower your price because we're going to do it in bulk right so we're going to do you know 200 linear feet or whatever we're going to do and we're going to get a much better rate and so we're going to give you your portion at a much better rate than you could probably get as an individual but we're still going to give you the opportunity as an individual to say no i got a buddy that can meet you know i can do this and as long as they meet our specs Absolutely, you could do it yourself. But I think the question would be is whether it's 60-40, 20-80, or 0-100 the first year, and we just say the first year we're just putting in sidewalks. But I like the idea of a program that says every year we will evaluate and we will determine the project that we want and either we're gonna put in them or we're gonna hold some back and we're gonna do this many replacements, right? And so again, what we have to understand is if we're holding and we're assessing, yes, a homeowner will pay for that someday. It is still a lost fee for us, right? So we're going to always be out. If we put $40,000 down and we put it into sidewalks, we will always be out $40,000 because all we were ever getting is paid back for the money we put down. Does that make sense? So that's where we always have to be careful that sometimes people think, well, we'll just get paid back, so we'll just put $40,000 in every year. And you're like, well, but what if we only get $20,000 back? So now we're out $20,000, and then we're out $40,000, and then we're out $60,000. It adds. So we would have to be aware of that, manage it appropriately, and make sure that we're being cognizant of the funds that we do have.

I will mention one thing, and I think it was brought up already, just so you know. When we did start this, there were several community members that live in the door plat, that area, that got some signatures from folks that live out there that don't have sidewalks. And they came and expressed their concern that they did not want sidewalks. Because there are certain sections in there that never had sidewalks connected. And they like to walk the street instead of walking the sidewalk. And they came and explained that. So I just want to make sure.

Yeah, and I think it's important. for us to express the why right i think everybody understands um you know the majority of the time and again i haven't spoken to those people so i'd love to hear from them but the majority of the time people have that concern is because they don't necessarily want to lose their front yard right and so i think there's considerations and locations where where sometimes it makes sense sometimes it doesn't but i will say and this is just a fact of the matter it is never safe to walk in the street it just it is safe to walk in the street when you want it to be safe but unfortunately you don't control that scenario right the car is still there and so having those connections and making sure that we provide i will tell you the comp plan and our code will require sidewalks on both sides of every street in our village it is standard practice and again I think we have to be cognizant of the situation that they exist and people have concerns. And if it's wrong in that location, then we need to consider that. But I also think we have to be aware that it is important to create an environment that is safe for everyone, whether that's somebody in a wheelchair, whether that's a small child who's riding their bike for the first time. There's a lot of scenarios where it is not safe to be in a roadway.

Alright, do we have any other updates?

Yep. I'll rock a couple other things here. So Rock the Hill happened. Everybody, hopefully everyone's there. Everybody here?

Woo!

Okay, we all got lightning down. Yeah, so there was a tornado warning. That's a first. That's fun. But it was really good. A lot of people showed up. It was really fun. Thank you to everyone that put that on. It was another great event in our community that... Again, we have just great opportunities in Municipal Park to have fun, so it was really good. Park updates, just to give you a couple. I noted previously the comprehensive plan has now kind of morphed the parks and open space section to really be a small mini parks master plan. So I don't think we're going to need to do a separate one. Municipal Park I did note this previously but we were not granted for funds for the pavilion in 26 so we are not contemplating building it in 27 as we budget a year ahead we're going to have to have a conversation about what that looks like moving forward and what funds are available for us to be able to achieve that we are still doing the restrooms those restrooms have been purchased and are being delivered we're working through permits with the county right now so those will be installed hopefully october is that fair yeah yeah october um At that time, we're also going to be demolishing the old concessions building, which it will be graded, seeded. Are we doing that next spring?

Did you say we're doing that next spring?

Yeah. Next spring, we're going to be doing that. um founders park it's been surveyed um we are planning in 2027 to figure out what it is so you know we are going to probably do uh like i said there's a parks master plan component of the comp plan but it's really high level i think we're going to have some conversations uh internally here with with council uh with our staff and then hopefully with the public to try to understand what amenities make sense in founders park Obviously, as the trailhead to a really cool trail system, it's going to have to have a trailhead of some sort. The question is, you know, does it have parking? Is there a gazebo? Is there signage? A restroom? I mean, what is there someday? And again, this isn't tomorrow. This is Sunday, right? We want to make sure that we're contemplating what we want. And over time, we will then be able to ask as a whole ask for people to help fund the things that make sense. Jay Street Park still has no name, which I'm going to keep calling it Jay Street Park, just so Dan doesn't get mad at me and doesn't call it the courts. But whatever the future name is, that has to still be discussed. But we did meet out there with Ben and I met with the school to talk about fencing. It is interesting after walking out there again to remember that those were sand volleyball courts. So after kind of walking through it and understanding a little bit more, there's probably a little bit of effort we're going to have to go to to get rid of some of the sand and to put some good dirt down before we can actually put something on it. So what we're looking at is removing the old fence, cleaning it all up, kind of Setting the groundwork grading all of that next spring really to just get the part looking a little bit better We're also looking at removing the mini shelter structures along J Street so if you can imagine some of those things where they have just like a random seat and then something we're going to clean all that up there is a monument that's there that we're going to move and put it in an appropriate location but we're not really going to do anything until after football soccer season is over we determined that if we remove the fence there could be some safety issues when it gets dark and all the kids are running around we prefer not to have that happen So the school is actually going to put up their fence, but we're going to leave up our old fence, which is going to cause a little bit of challenge with mowing, but we've got a plan to solve that. So we're working on it. So what I wanted to say, though, is, again, once we've got all that stuff cleaned up next spring, we're going to then do the same thing we're doing in Founders Park and really try to dream what we think can be there and what we want, plan for it, budget for it, make it happen. Last but not least is downtown updates. I've been doing my walkabouts on Friday and they're quite fun. I've met with quite a number of people. Hopefully people meet with me when they want on Fridays. I wanted to note we are doing a business roundtable. We are going to be on September 11th at 12 p.m. at Village Hall. We are inviting all business owners in the community to come and talk or to listen and be part of our first quarterly, hopefully. maybe annually, we'll see, West Milton Business Roundtable, where the goal is that we're going to listen and try to understand how we can help serve our businesses and our community better and make sure that they understand our desire to see them grow here and hopefully convince other of their friends to come here and join the party. So we're also going to mix that with Rotary. So we're going to kind of do it as a joint meeting in hopes of having people understand Rotary in this community and if they're interested in joining they can obviously do that as well Last but not least, you'll see out here, there is still time to take the community survey. Wait, can you... Tom's on fire. So if you haven't taken it yet, please take it. It closes here in a week and a half, two weeks. We will take all that data. I think we're 210 something plus responses so far, but we will take all that data, incorporate it into the comprehensive plan. please please please take it we want your feedback it's very important to us that's all you got can i ask about j street park yes are we still wanting to possibly resurface this fall yes so we've got that what is our timeline for that so i've i put it in the for capital for uh just for discussion for capital for resurfacing those so but that would be a spring of 27.

Yeah, I mean, technically, we could get them in as soon as the weather would be, you know, the weather has to be right, but yeah.

Okay, so that is the goal then. It was not a 26, it's a 27. Correct. Yeah. So I will say with that, just so you know, that is the basketball courts. And then the intention would be to try to turn the tennis courts into the pickleball courts. So that would be kind of a combo. The question is then what you do with the tennis court. Do you also do the tennis court? So I think there's just some consideration about what exactly that is. But it is planned to be spring 27. Yes. I also didn't mention, tomorrow's the first day of school. Sorry. Also be aware at 7.30 a.m. and 3 o'clock p.m. if you're anywhere over there. So be aware.

We'll be there.

Yeah, exactly right. Be careful, please.

Are there any village council comments?

Nope.

Nope. All right. Any public comments? Mike?

It's exciting to hear Kyle talk positive about the town and some of the things to do. I do want to mention and bring it to your attention, you know, if you're looking at the, you know, putting in sidewalks where there were none, like Washington Street, you mentioned Dewar, Stillwater, these streets, if you go and put a sidewalk in, you're going to have to keep in mind that those areas don't have a curb either, so you're going to have to put a curb in. If you put a curb in, you're going to have to put a sewer in for the drainage. Otherwise, you're going to have a massive river wash down all the way down to Main Street or Miami Street. And now you've got a whole different problem. So keep that in mind. Those are going to be added costs. It isn't just going to be the sidewalk. There's going to be the curb. There's going to be the gutter. And there's going to be a drain. I mean, I didn't hear any discussion about that at all. I didn't hear any thought about it. It's one thing to repair, and there's a lot of areas that need repair, like Miami Street and where certain people live. Their street needs repair as well. Just wanted to mention that. And maybe you had thought it, but I didn't hear any discussion about it. Yep, that's all I've got for now. Thank you. Thanks. Anyone else?

My name is James Green, and I live here in town. You're talking about the sidewalks. We have talked about them before you came here or any of them. We've already had three people got hurt pretty bad on these sidewalks that are in bad shape. There's nothing mentioned about us getting them repaired. That's what we need. Right now, everybody is walking in the street. we did note the repair that's the goal the goal is to do both replacement and new sidewalks so the repair would be the replacement portion that you're talking about yeah now you need to read the contract or your codes on your sidewalks and it brought up to Dorman where it went before it doesn't say no we're in there that you can't take them out brought that to Ben's attention here a while back he'd sent me all the information and there's nowhere in there that says you can't the reason why I say that is our one of our ex-mayors paid a city manager for months while he was they was going through the investigation and he was in a contract he didn't have to pay him but he came back and said we don't say we can't I can tell you as we rewrite the code it will say you can okay

Anyone else? All right. We're not doing executive, right?

I'll make a motion to adjourn.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye. Thank you.