City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. It's after 7 p.m. This is the regularly scheduled meeting of Worcester City Council being held here this Monday, February 2nd. Uh we are live in council chambers and also livereamed on YouTube. Our next regularly scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, February 17th, uh due to President's Day. And with that, uh Miss Hamilton, please call the role on those who are in attendance. Mr. Abernathy, here. Mr. Gaffy, Mr. Jose here, Mr. Malta, Mr. Owens here, Mr. Paul here, Miss Warden here.

Yes, Mr. Gaffy and Mr. Malta had indicated last meeting or the meeting before that they were not going to be able to be here this evening due to work uh commitments. So, we still have a quorum and our agenda will remain as presented. And at this time, I'll ask you to stand and please join the members of city council in reciting the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] Do I have from councel an approve a motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting? Motion motion by Mr. Abernathy. Is there a second? Second. Second by Mr. Fuse. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. Move on to communications from the mayor administration. Thank you, Mr. President, members of council, uh we have a big crowd tonight, maybe the biggest crowd that we've ever had here during my time on council and as mayor. And I don't think there's a single person here that came to hear me talk. So, [laughter] with that in mind, I'm going to turn this over to Chief Fischer and let him run with it.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, welcome everybody. Thanks for coming. Normally, it's just me here. So, I appreciate y'all uh being here tonight. Our first award is for Tom Cer. Uh he was nominated for the Worcester Police Department life-saving award by Sergeant Simmons. On January 6 or on January 1st, 2026 at approximately 8 8:00, you and NPO Moss and Sheriff deputies were dispatched to Worcester Memorial Park for a suicidal female. Upon your arrival, you provided the deputies with directions to the trail and then began running down the trail yourself to locate the victim. It didn't take long for you to locate her. And when you did, she was already standing on the outside of the bridge with a rope tied around her neck and the bridge railing. You immediately initiated a conversation with the distraught woman in a calm and personable tone. As you continued speaking to her, you approached her slowly, closing the diff distance between the two of you. When the opportunity arose, you took decisive action and intervened to help the distraught woman. You lifted her over the railing and placed her back on the walkway of the bridge, preventing her from harming herself. Based on this nomination submitted by to me by Sergeant Simmons, outlining your actions at this incident, you are to be commended for your quick thinking and decisive response. Your actions are in keeping with the highest traditions of law enforcement and the Worester Police Department. And it's with great pleasure that I award you the Worcester Police Department's Life-Saving Award. [applause] [applause]

Turn it over to State Representative Meredith Craig because she has a Well, hey everyone. I'm just honored to be here. Um, appreciate uh the city chief reaching out, allowing me the opportunity. Uh, clearly there's a lot of folks here to honor you today. We appreciate everything you've done. On behalf of the Ohio 77th House District, I'm pleased to extend special recognition to patrolman Tom for the heroic efforts you displayed in saving the life of a local woman. An officer with the Worcester Police Department, you demonstrated remarkable presence of mind, professionalism, and compassion while responding to a suicide threat at Worcester Memorial Park. Upon locating the individual standing outside the railing of a bridge, you approached calmly and engaged her in conversation, maintaining control of an extremely dangerous situation. The recipient of the Worcester Police Department life-saving award, you are certainly be commended for your efforts. Through your patience, sound judgment, and decisive action, you safely intervened and prevented a tragic loss of life. At a time when many might hesitate, you acted with courage and humanity, earning the gratitude of the individual and her family, as well as the respect and admiration of the entire community. Thus, with great pleasure, we applaud you on your bravery and salute you as an an outstanding Ohio citizen. Thank you.

[applause] [clears throat]

Connor, you're up. So uh this nomination letter for Connor was written by Sergeant Clint Barola. It's with great respect and admiration that I recommend patrolman Connor [ __ ] for the award of honor that is uh held in the highest regard at our department and I will tell you in 15 years as chief I've never given this before. It's a first. On April 2nd, 2025, uh 2025, at approximately 1649, uh patrolman or performed a traffic stop on a silver 2003 Honda Pilot Sport utility vehicle in which the registered owner was under driving under suspension. This vehicle also matched the description of a vehicle who led officers on a pursuit earlier in that day. The vehicle came to a complete stop just south of Northg Chapel Road. Approximately three seconds after the drive, three seconds later, the driver emerged from the driver's side car door and opened fire at patrolman or in his police cruiser. Two of the first four rounds struck the windshield. One of the rounds hit right behind the steering wheel dashboard while patrolman or was in the driver's seat. So, they have a video of that. Shots fired. Shots fired. Shots fired.

Shots fired. Single 999. Shots fired.

Patrolman or took evasive action and ducked down low inside the police cruiser to protect himself. He radioed his fellow officers and dispatch. Clearly, the shots were being fired. When the shots ended, Patrolman Ore immediately, and I stress immediately, exited his cruiser, drew his sidearm, and steadily, tactfully, returned fire. A later investigation found that patrolman or had struck his attacker prior to him pulling away from the scene. Patrolman Ore then returned to the inside of his cruiser and prepared to give chase. Unfortunately, his cruiser had sustained too much damage from the multiple gunshots and was rendered inoperable. It made it only a few feet before expiring. Trman or showed great courage by attempting to coordinate a pursuit response to this incident. He wanted nothing more than to continue his involvement, capture the suspect, and stop the evil that this individual had brought to our community. He was greatly disappointed when he was informed that he himself could no longer be in the fight. Patrolman or was faced with a deadly scenario that few, if any of us have ever experienced. He responded according to his training, communicated well, and did not panic considering the circumstances. Patrol Roman Or showed bravery and courageous calm during the entire incident under extraordinarily quick circumstances. It is with great respect and admiration that I commend Patrolman Connor or and nominate him for his actions and the award of honor. Sincerely, Sergeant Barlan.

[applause] [applause]

Now that one Connor knew about. This one doesn't know about. Okay. [snorts] This is the only nomination letter I got. Okay. I want to take this opportunity to recommend patrolman Connor or for the 2025 officer of the year award. Within the past year, patrolman or has continued providing outstanding service to the community. He's also diligently sought out criminal activity, particularly narcotics and the never- ending search for search warrants. I'm sorry, the never- ending search for warrant arrests. Sorry, I misspoke. Roman or led the entire department uh in response and productivity. He made 372 traffic stops in which the m majority were drugreated. He made 112 warrant arrests, 23 on view arrests for a total of 135 arrests. Patrolman or investigated 44 traffic crashes as well as 222 recorded incident reports. A typical day for him is leaving the station early and staying late and longer than uh is often expected or desired. Patrolman Ore's service also stretches to the community outreach. For the past three years, he has volunteered as the safety chairman of the Boys and Girls Club. Here, Patrolman Orur assists workers with various activities, including holiday parties. Patrolman Ore shares his time with this program. And in addition to being a devoted husband and father and in alternative events that we just talked about, patrolman O was also involved in a profound life-threatening event while on duty. In addition to being this year's most highly productive officer and a community volunteer, Patrolman Ore was faced with a deadly scenario that few if any of us have ever experienced. He responded according to his training, communicated well, didn't panic, showed bravery and courageous calm during the entire incident under extraordinarily quick circumstances. It's with great

respect and admiration that I commend patrolman Connor or for his worth worth work ethic, professionalism, and acts of bravery in 2025. I highly recommend him for officer of the year. Congratulations officer. [applause]

[applause]

So again, an honor to be here um on behalf of the Ohio House of Representatives, 77th House District, Truman Connor for your extraordinary bravery, professionalism, and courage in the line of duty. And I think those words can't even explain the situation that you found yourself in. An officer with the Worcester Police Department, you demonstrated an exceptional presence of mind which you can be proud by reacting capably in a crisis situation. In April 2025, you initiated a traffic stop when you were suddenly and without warning, fired upon in close range. Despite rounds striking your patrol vehicle, you acted with remarkable composure, immediately alerting fellow officers, and returning fire to stop threat. Your actions under direct and deadly assault reflect extraordinary courage and dedication to duty. the recipient of this Worcester Police Department award of honor and officer of the year. You are certainly to be commended for your efforts. Your willingness to place yourself in harm's way in service of others exemplifies the highest standards of law enforcement. Our community is safer because of your courage and we are deeply grateful for your service. Thus, with great honor, we commend you for your bravery and salute you as an outstanding Ohio citizen. Thank you, sir. [applause] Mr. Mayor, I have no more awards to get. [laughter]

It's hard to top that. It's very hard to top that. Um, well, I want to thank everybody for coming. appreciate see a lot [snorts] of people in uniform and out of uniform here truly Mr. Spinus and our representative of the force. So glad to have you on our team and you thank you for coming and you don't need to stay.

Oh, come on. Everybody wants to see us. hard to top that. Yeah, I was just like did we follow that? We might as well [laughter] just feel like we should have left. You are looking at an IT policy security policy. I mean, right. Yeah.

I don't know if the mayor could top that. [laughter] If I was smarter, I'd just shut her down. [laughter] I think we should all shut down. Yeah.

Oh, really? I worked with him for three years on Boys and Girls Club. He's outstanding. He's just We're fortunate to have him amazing. Looks good. 360, says the construction architect OCD guy. I got my tape in my truck. We can go check. Sure you [laughter] will. You do.

All right. Well, we'll go ahead and continue. That was a fantastic presentation. And to point Mr. Mayor, I mean, we've got some really great police people. So, that's we do. We have, you know, and again, this was all about the with some Worester police officers and them, but that, you know, our quality employees are not limited to that department.

Absolutely not. get them have them throughout the city and we're very proud of them. Um just a again this is going to be very an anticlimactic at this point but a quick rundown of the last two weeks. Um we did two sessions with Wor Community Hospital. I think everybody made one or the other. Um uh Jen and Tyler and uh Mr. Sanders and uh Drew did both. No, I did not do both. Oh, okay. No, Jen did the one. Jen did the one. Everybody call one.

You know, the one thing um I think it's good for uh particularly maybe the new people to have a little refresher of of the relationship between the city and wish community hospital and how it's a joint community enterprise involving some of the some but not all the townships in Wayne County. Um, also the the thing that um he mentioned uh that I'll kind of focus on is that the payer mix is so important to the financial health of the hospital. And for the same reasons as a city that we are we're chasing and and going after that young workforce family or individual. Um it's not just important to us financially as a city, but it's important to the hospital. It's important to our employers. So, we're making a concerted effort to to to pursue that. And it's not just because we like having young families and kids because it feels like more of a community, but financially we need that to survive.

Mr. Mayor, can I ask a question? Yes. And I and I should have asked it there and I forgot to ask it. Are are is the hospitals seeing an influx of more cash payers? There's there's new uh I don't want to call them insurance plans, but benefit plans. Uh, and I know the predominant one is called Sidecar, which is essentially acts as a self-pay. It has a deductible, but it it works as like a cash payment plan, and it's a it's a pay upfront type of deal. Do you know if the hospital is seeing more of that? Because I know that they kind of mentioned, man, I wish we saw more of those. And I know those are becoming more prevalent to work around traditional insurance these days.

I can get you. I don't know the answer to that. Jason will be the one. Oh, go ahead. I do because my company is start has started to offer that and so I um in the in our benefits meeting I reached out to Scott at the hospital and he said no. Um and he said to be very cautious about those plans. In fact, that there's there's a lot of pitfalls involved in them where you can find yourself really um I guess owing a great deal of money and and that hospitals are often times not open to taking to taking on those types of plans because there's no real guarantee that they're going to see the payments. I know our workplace used it for a year and and it was really really good for for certain

for certain things but if you have special needs it becomes very challenging but it was very curious because they did make the comment like man I we just wish people could just pay cash or credit card and I was like well there is that that option out there. I think the truth of the matter is as from a practical standpoint um even though we get build for our co-pays you know we all do and things like that from a practical matter what they don't get from Medicare or Medicaid or private insurance almost is negligible

um the the out-ofpocket payments are again they can be important to to me or to you when it's coming out of our pocket but in terms of the overall hospital receipts I don't know they move needle that much. Okay. Thank you. Sure.

Mr. Mayor, you also talked about our wonderful city employees. No exception at the hospital. That was evident in the statistics that they went over. Um I know that there are shortages everywhere in the health care system. And the only thing I'd like to say to the public is is that if you have a relative who's looking for a great opportunity and a great place to live, um, we can use you at Worester Community Hospital and, uh, it's a well-run organization. You'll be taken care of and, uh, we'd love to have you here.

On behalf of Scott Boy, thank you for that. [laughter] Yeah, recruitments and again it's it's kind of a symbiotic thing as he said um and that's part of our challenge is we want to provide quality of life we want to provide housing opportunities to recruit you know whether it's at the hospital whether it's at you know Sheffler you name it uh we want to make this uh a community where people come to because the demographics show you over the next 20 years Ohio is going to lose population and Wayne County is projected lose population. We want to be an exception to that trend and there are exceptions. It's not going to be uniform throughout the state, throughout the county. Um, Friday was the main street annual accreditation meeting. Um, I'm sorry, that was Thursday of last week. Uh, we sat through that. Um, then uh that that day we had a lunch meeting with the leadership of Jared Logistics. Sunday was our big snow event that we are still thinking out from. And I think Joel's got some comments on that.

Yeah, I had asked Kurt to provide some statistics which I put some of those in the the last memo update. Um, and sometimes you don't realize we we actually had nine snow events. So the one Sunday was just one of those. Um, but we also in that same time frame, we still picked up 200 loads of leaves in starting the beginning of January anyway. Um, obviously we stopped that um before the end. Um, but you could see there we applied over 640 tons of salt. Um, and so far this just in the last four days, 27th through the 30th, we had hauled away over 100 dump truckloads of snow, which they were still at today and will be for a little while. So, we had we had a lot of snow, a lot of hours. Um, and you know, we came close with just one event, a couple of days that we did for some of the averages for the whole seasons in past years. So, the guys did a great job. Um, and

Joel, how are we doing on salt? I know we commended them at the last meeting, but boy, we're we're obviously using a lot more salt this year than we have in the past. Yeah, we're good. Um, we continue we haven't been uh have seen some of the issues some other entities we we continue to get um deliveries of salt. So, um, we were able, we actually loaned a little to Orville at one point, um, that that ran out and but we, we have since gotten our, uh, gotten our reserves replenished, so we're good. Joel, does that also our lack of issues? Does that also speak to the brine making that we are doing in house to kind of help that go further?

So, it helps. It definitely helps. Um, you we can still only make so much brine when you have an event like we had. So, there's just and there's only certain instances where we use that depending on temperature. So we use brine and we still use something called beet heat which is beet juice a mixture as well when it gets really really cold where salt won't work. Um and so we definitely use that on some of the areas we know um tend to freeze over and have issues like you know some of our steeper slope roads and curves and things like that.

Speaking of that, I'm I'm I understand that there was a um drive through of a roundabout. Are you familiar with that? like someone drove over through the middle of the roundabout and the the surprise little squall that we had last Thursday. I wasn't aware of one driving right through the middle, but definitely driven drove over the uh that inner part, you know, the cement. Yeah, the red paid for that. But yeah, probably when there was a little They were very slippery. I I was I was complaining about ODOT not taking care of 83, but then I heard that I think it was at Miltown that was Yeah, they are. They went right up. Like, good thing there wasn't that uh clock tower there yet. Right. [laughter]

We did get a call Monday. Uh I think the only negative I heard is we got a call Monday morning from someone that wanted to know when their leaves were going to be picked up [laughter] and uh we had to explain it was going to be a while at this point. So otherwise, I think things went really well. Other than some long days and long hours by our crew this week. Um on the 27th we had our uh every other month warhog meeting and we just decided to go to quarterly on that I guess uh because things are running pretty smoothly. Uh was a good opportunity as much as any as far as pretty much business as usual but was our first chance to meet with Mayor Plyman and uh Steve Wheeler their director of administration and talk to them about um personally about what they went through last week. And obviously uh you know I think well between uh patrolmanor's experience and and their experience that's pretty much the worst case scenario if if as a public official I don't doesn't matter if you're mayor or council person and um you know we obviously literally dodged a bullet there with uh [cough] trollman or and unfortunately Orville's situation turned out much more tragically and uh our thoughts and sympathies are with them entirely. early. Um then on Friday was the Main Street annual meeting. I know we had a couple people there. I think Mr. Jose was there certainly. Um and we did give out an award. I think Joel mentioned that the last meeting that we were sponsoring award for entrepreneurship downtown that was wellreceived. Um nice event. Um looking ahead real quickly, tomorrow is Charles Fis day. every February 3rd state holiday or state recognition. Um to be aware of that. Um Mr. Terski and I are headed out to Triway tomorrow to talk to third graders. Um they want to know a little bit about Worcester history and I I don't know that I got the call because

I'm here because I'm old and but one of those two. We're going to talk to them and see how that goes. Personal experience. That's

personal experience. It's also the the first night of the great decisions program at the College of Worcester. If you've never participated in that, it's I think it's four sessions and over the next two months, it's a good opportunity to do to uh broaden your horizons a little bit. Uh we're also having our first Worcester Growth meeting of the year on Wednesday. Um and we've got a couple things that you know procedurally some of those things go to Worcester Growth first for recommendation will come to council um in the probably the following meeting. So looking forward to that. Um we got a meeting Friday with superintendent tutor and the his board of education president kind of related to the wisher growth events is we're trying to find common ground for the use of some of our economic development tools to make sure we're on the same page. Again, we don't want to bring anything to council that doesn't have schoolboard support. Number one, we don't want to put you in a we don't want to put the school board in a bad position and we don't want to put council in a bad position. So hopefully that'll be a productive conversation. Um Friday afternoon I think we're meeting with Wayne County Commissioners. That's our quarterly recorded meeting with them. [snorts] Um we're doing a new hire orientation session. Um covers four meetings or four programs.

Um it's five days in all the whole city. Yeah.

Okay. Five days. Um and uh we this is the second one coming up on the 10th. Most number of us are also signed up for the jail tour on that one. I think that invitation's been extended to council as well and hopefully number of you will have time to take advantage of that. Then uh just coincidentally the 12th, the 13th and the 14th there's a series of open houses for Wish Community Hospital. Uh if you've not received one, I think the hospitals extended invitations to council to attend the the VIP session on the 13th. Um, again, they're very excited about that. Um, and again, we just went through that, but it should be that new facility should be great, not just for the people that work there, but the people that are making use of the emergency room services. Um, Joel, did I miss anything there?

Okay. Um, looking to the agenda tonight real quickly, we have one item on third reading, that being the proposed amendments to our residential zoning code. We have five new pieces of legislation on first reading. Only the last two are budgeted. The first three are not budgeted items and will require three readings. And since we only have five members here, it will be three readings. Um, I'll wrap up by saying that even though the days are relatively short, January 2026 was a long and grueling month in many respects. I'm not sorry to see it go and I'm willing to take my chances with February. if nothing else. It only has 28 days and two of those are almost behind us. I want to thank everyone out there that helps to keep us safe in our community. Ensuring the safety of the citizens is the primary task of government of all levels. Sometimes the threats to public safety come from mother nature, sometimes from the outside the community and sometimes from within the community. We need to deal with them all. We've been fortunate locally in recent years. Some of that might be attributed to luck, but much of it comes from having good people in place who are well trained and well equipped to deal with whatever comes their way. As the saying goes, you make your own luck. I believe we successfully done that in Worcester. And I want to thank city council for their part in that success. And finally, one happy note to close with. First day of spring is 45 days away.

Oops. I did. I I asked him if he had anything else. He said no. That's my phone. Now he decides he [snorts] does. [laughter] I just wanted to remind you um that you all got a hard copy of our our winter newsletter. Um that'll be online and then there will be a copy in in all of the Worcester weeklys that are going to go out. We're see how that's received. Um see how that goes. Try that once. Um and I just want to give a lot of credit to Landry Mloud, our communications marketing manager for who put this together. Um she just did a great great job on that. So And that is all we have, Mr. President.

All right. Well, thank you. Um, the only question I've got or that I have is when did a notice go out about the tour of the new jail? Anything either? I didn't get anything. I got it through Kuanas, but I didn't get anything through the city. I got it through Rotary. Okay, [snorts] we will. So, we'll fix that. It's all right. I'm going there with the Quantis. Personally, that doesn't matter to me, but I just was questioning when when it went out because I didn't see it. All right, we'll get those out there. [clears throat]

And I I'm going to take some liberties there because it's not my invitation, but [laughter] I think they've been shot guning different groups [clears throat] and I was I thought they' done one out council, but we'll make no take care of that. Go get them, Amy. I me because you're you're the one who go get them for us. Craig's too nice. All right. Well, with that, we'll move on to our petitions and communications from the public, which we have no one that signed up for that. And we do have a liquor control request, uh, which Miss Hamilton, if you'll please read that for us.

We have a liquor control request for a new C1D6 license for Bell Stores, Inc., Bell store number 1168 at 4784 Cleveland Road, Worcester. A C1 permit allows for beer only in sealed container for carry out only. And a D6 permit allows for the sale of wine and mixed beverages in sealed containers for carry out on Sundays. Want me to save you? No, because I have a question. I see that the address on the Ohio Department of Commerce's paperwork and our paperwork don't match. So my question is which is the correct? What's that? It's my typo. Okay. So it's So obviously the state's correct then. Yes. Okay. All right. No worries. I assume so.

Well, I would hope so. [laughter] No, that's my typo. I'm sorry. Oh, that's all right. I just caught that. And I'm assuming this is the new one up at uh Smithville Western. Okay. So, with that, we have three choices. We can either have a hearing in our county seat. We can have a hearing in Columbus or we can request no hearing at all. Motion say you motion to wave by Mr. Abernathy. Is there a second? Second. All right. Uh all those in favor of waving the hearing signify by saying I. I.

Any opposed? All right. No hearing. Next item, committee reports, public hearing. We have no public hearings. And at this point, uh I know you guys went over to the committee reports last week, two weeks ago. Uh yeah, I was going to wait and just kind of wrap that in with the unfinished. That's fine. That's absolutely fine. And with that, then we'll move into unfinished business. Uh ordinance 2026-01, it is third reading. and Hamilton, if you please read it for us.

Ordinance number 2026-01, an ordinance amending and replacing part 11, planning and zoning code of the codified ordinances of the city of Worcester, Ohio, and the official zoning map. Muse, floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. President. Uh yes, we've had a laws and ordinances committee to review the uh changes proposed to the residential zoning code. Uh we had a public hearing on this at the last meeting as well. The planning commission touched on this exhaustively. Steering committee gone down the down the line. I think we've uh uh reviewed this uh pretty thoroughly. I've heard nothing but positive comments on on these changes as well. I think these will be uh welcome changes to the city code. I believe Joel made the comment or maybe it was Mr. Marian um that [snorts] our previous code kind of prohibited some of the uh some of the transitional developments that we're looking at here, duplexes, triplexes, forplexes um in some of the areas. Um so I I see nothing but positives coming out of this. I did ask Mr. Marion if he could kind of refer to the maps real quick just on the transitional districts that we are looking at implementing here. Can you just kind of go over the colors were kind of throwing me off. So just kind of where are we looking at for these transitional zones that will kind of be the big change to come out of these uh out of this residential zoning change?

Yes, Mr. Z. Thank you. You'll find the transition areas primarily along the major corridors and and some areas. Well, let me just start from the south and I'll go north. Uh, in the downtown or in the, uh, traditional RT district, uh, this area here that's not red, red being the C4, their central business district for downtown was designated as all uh, RT, residential traditional. You'll see that this is still RT here. Let me see if I can zoom in a little bit more here. And the areas where you see

what are the colors

this here is what the area that was designated in our comprehensive plan as the arts district. You'll see two transition zones being introduced. The darker is a T2 transition, which is a little heavier use. And the lighter uh salmon or brown is a T1, which is your duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes that could be uh uh built in a redevelopment project. And you'll also see the transition zones in the uh around the RT district where our current code allows for single family attached dwellings today. Uh so we've removed that designation and and made those a transition district. Whether it's a T2 or a T1 is determined by the uh uh road that it that it fronts on or the the route or the corridor that it's on. You'll also see some transition area here. And as you head north, we'll look at the hospital area. You'll see some introduction of the T2 here and some T1. that's currently a residential district to allow for more mixed use around the hospital corridor. And then further north in the Miltown Burbank area, you'll see some transition zones on the East Miltown area. You'll see some transition zones that'll allow for a variety of different types of development that fit in with the neighborhood. A mixture of of office, commercial, and residential uh gathered together as well as

as you're heading north here and up route three. You'll see some transition areas as you're exiting the city. Does that answer your question?

Very good. Yep. Thank you. Yeah, I was just uh kind of going back and forth with the you know my rods and cones just trying to make sure I was getting the right zones. Um yeah, so I think this will be a great uh addition um you know to Worcester. I kind of makes me scratch my head why we weren't doing this before a little bit, but we're here now. Um, I'm I feel good about moving this uh, you know, for adoption. If anybody else has any questions, Mr. Marion obviously is the uh, he's the man. I have a question and this I fully support this and as you know I've read it thoroughly but I one thing I wanted to ask is um if if I were to say want to um go to the board of zoning appeals and and and ask for um my property a property that I own to be reszoned into a transition district. Is that more difficult? Are the parameters more more challenging for that because it is new or or is it still the same as every other?

It would be the same process but it' be in front of planning commission I'm sorry planning it would be in front of the planning commission who will hold a hearing and then it'll ultimately come back to city council. So as long as it's contiguous the same exact zoning process for any other district. Okay. No, I think it's I think it's great that we've added that. I think it's going to um be beneficial to the city and and the districts that we're trying, you know, especially the arts district. So I look forward to seeing it in action. question.

Yeah, sure. Stand up the lect turn there. Oh, you want you want to do that in miscellaneous. All right, that's fine.

Very good. All right. So, we have Mr. Montgomery. Well, I couldn't remember if we mentioned this at the last one, just since you were asking about the transition zones. So, this current proposal has quite a bit less transition zones than what the first proposal that we went over with at the steering committee level. So there were a lot more areas and it was through that process, you know, meeting with the with the uh the steering committee and subsequent meetings, you know, with individuals and and feedback that we reduced and removed some of those from certain areas, especially around the downtown. Um and just for the purpose of week see how they work you know and we'll see how they work come up with some design standards you know that could apply to those and then

then we'll see whether we would look at some other areas or sure and as the city grows in multiple directions I'm sure there'll be other opportunities for yeah additional transition transitional zones and I think everybody's going to be looking at this and you know judging it by how it works five years from now will it have made a posit positive impact. If so, there might be less resistance in some of those areas that were originally proposed. On the other hand, if it doesn't move the needle at all or is is, god forbid, a detrimental effect, then we're certainly not going to ask to expand it.

Sure. Um, there is one last question I did forget to ask. Um, so some of the transitional zones are obviously in the downtown area along Bowman Street. Um, and the goal, one of the goals is to increase density. Is the current code addressing also or the proposed changes addressing like that increased parking and how that would um you know obviously we don't want more cars parking on the roads than currently are. Yeah. In order for the redevelopment of this area to develop in a transition district, it's going to require the assembling of several parcels. Uh, and there are parking requirements associated with each of those uses.

Okay.

I do have a a question as well. This obviously this is wanting to try and drive maybe a little bit more, I don't know, to to make more available housing. Um, are we feeling demand from maybe developers who are maybe trying to get in there and renovate homes or create some of these units that would be in the transitional districts? Or are we maybe more anticipating in in order to satisfy maybe future anticipating needs or is there already existing needs or demands that we're trying to meet? There there are a couple of different uh issues that I think come up through this process. One of those is whether or not an existing structure can be converted into a multifamily structure. Uh the initial draft allowed for that to occur anywhere in a transition district. Uh uh through those discussions that has been removed from the T1 district. So a structure in the T1 district cannot be converted. Uh it would take the requirement of assembling like I said earlier several parcels to create an area large enough for redevelopment to meet the art or that meet the transition design standards. In the R2 there could be not the R2 the uh transition to there could be some uh uh conversion again it would have to meet certain standards. So, in terms of uh whether or not it's an incentive for someone to redevelop or to improve an existing home that may be sitting vacant or it may have been sitting and it is decaying or needs work and the owner has a single family structure of of a 3,000 foot home isn't able to to fund the rehab for that

purpose. Now they can look at some options of maybe making it a multif family type development. But again, it's going to usually take a uh an assembly of multiple parcels. I'm trying to think of overall demand for [clears throat] the change. I mean, I was trying to give examples, but it it's a pretty significant change to the zoning. You know, [clears throat] I'm I'm trying to think of what drove the change. Well, and and particularly in the arts district, it's not necessarily all driven by residential, but it's also going to allow some uh uh commercial with again standards that need to be met to be on the first floor of a structure with some residential above it. Uh today that's not possible. Okay.

And and the same thing along the hospital in the hospital corridor. So more of that multi multi and residential up above. So part and part of the comprehensive plan is to try and deliver more of that multi-use commercial first floor and residential and and I [snorts] think again more of my question is are we are we anticipating it or is there current demand trying to drive it is or a little bit of both? Well, there there are we have one actually just Thursday night, somebody who wants to convert an existing uh uh well, I'm sorry, this past BCA meeting, we had someone who wanted to convert an existing house into a multifamily that was that was not approved. Okay. Uh we have another that wants to redevelop a lot in the RT district, but it's not meeting the architectural standards. So, they're requesting a variance.

Okay.

Uh [snorts] that'll be this Thursday night. real quick. Um, as far as data goes, you know, we did our comprehensive plan and just the data there showed that we were lacking a lot of that missing middle of housing. You know, we and that we needed more apartments and rentals of various types to meet different, you know, demographics and different needs. Then, uh, we participated with Wayne economic development council to do a specific housing study. Um so and that was driven by data and workforce but also on both of those had a lot of public input and they requested um the WDC one for example said you know if you don't live here but you work here what kind of housing would you like to see or would it would it take for you to move here

and so that drove a whole bunch of data and it showed that and they went down to the level of Wor Wayne County but Worcester itself you know you need this many single family homes in this price range. You need this many two-bedroom apartments in this rent range all the way down all the way down the line. Um so it showed a deficit in almost every area. So you know some of the things like the annexations that we're doing um some of the some of the changes to the zoning were all geared in response to those those needs and those studies and the feedback we got from the public. Okay. Thank you. And you're also going, if I may interject some more, you're also going to see some of this is going to end up with smaller actual individual living units

and that's coinciding with the size of our households of two people in some ca in a lot of cases less than two people one. Uh and then hopefully uh that allows options for maybe some of our uh senior population to move into a smaller unit, opening up that house for for for new family development. It does raise just one more question because I I personally I do like the commercial on the bottom with residential on top. But do you think that the city and this could also be a question for you Joel has the even current or future demand to have that much commercial? And do we have the flexibility through this zoning that if it doesn't work out that we're not going to have that much commercial that other residential structures can be built on these in in this zoning plan? Like I know the answer. I just I want to just put it out there to the public. Yeah, there's flexibility there and and and and as the mayor mentioned, we're going to take the next year, probably two years to study the effects of how this is working and if we need to uh make uh edits or tweaks to it. That that is in my five-year plan to to do.

And I'm correct in saying just because it's in a mixeduse area does not require commercial usage. Correct. Or or you know, if you build it commercial and it doesn't fly, you could convert it to residential.

And and and I'm I'm just glad you guys are saying that because the the few questions I've gotten from the the public has been confused in that. And and and they haven't understood that. And so that's kind of why I wanted to have that particular conversation so that that people do understand that it's not necessarily it has to be that mixeduse. There is flexibility within that zoning plan. And if I could add one thing to clarify something Vince said with regards to um the conversion of existing units and he said it would not be permitted or would not be allowed in a in a T1 correct neighborhood. That means it wouldn't be allowed within the zoning code. The variance procedure is still there. We we we didn't change the variance procedure in any way. And the variance procedure is BZA. That's where you go and say, you know, because of the zoning requirements, I need an you need to make an exception for me from the zoning requirements because of my unique circumstances. And we're not touching that. We legally couldn't touch that because it's protected by the constitution. Um, so in the right circumstances, somebody could still apply to convert a single family to multifamily. again they'd have to hit all the criteria that are there now in the in in the in the code and that again that's not being changed at all. So if somebody comes to you and says there's a wait a minute you told me they couldn't do this anymore under the new zoning code well they that didn't get changed. It's still possible under the right circumstances if the applicant makes the right show. And thank you for pointing that out too because that's been another one that's been a big confusion is that that the the confusion has been that oh you're creating this and they're going to take all these homes and turn them into duplexes and we're going to have all these jammed duplexes and triplexes through this and there's there's just and I'm glad we're having this conversation. There has been a lot of

confusion around this and and so it's clarifying some of the small details so that people can understand that stuff like you just said it's it's it's rumor it's not true and there is flexibility within the plan still but we're not making these massive changes where all these houses are turning into duplexes and triplexes all of a sudden. So I appreciate the clarity on that and and doing it in the public manner. So thank you. Maybe I should have said this, too. It's important to note the RT district is not going away. It's it's still in this uh proposed as it stands now zoning code change.

Mr. Mariam, I've had a chance to look at the uh at the data and I just want to get something on the record. Um I've had several people approach me in the last couple weeks about this and that is the zoning respective to where Cornerstone and the old high school is. At some point that building's going to come down. Where are we in terms of zoning for that particular parcel? [clears throat] Well, that zoning is not being altered. Okay. So, specifically by not being altered. Well, I mean it's it's it's zone CF community facilities. That's all I wanted to hear. Thank you. I just wanted it on the record. That's all. Okay.

There's probably been rumors change. That's exactly why I wanted it on the record. Thank you. [laughter] So people there's rumors flying around everywhere about stuff that's not true. [laughter] Welcome to Yes. I I guess to that end to Mr. Marion should am I mistaken? Should city hall not be zone CF or like the community center? Well, we are zoned I believe C1. We are in a commercial district here where we're sitting. Uh, the community center is I believe where are we here?

It's right here. No, no, no. I'm too far up. Right in here. Yep. That's in the C4 uh central business district. It's it's an appropriate use for the for that zoning. Yeah, I guess it just in my head I thought being a public facility they would be CF zoned, but neither here nor there. If there's no other questions, I would move to approve. Mr. President, motion to adopt. Second by Miss Warden. Miss Hamilton, please call the role on the adoption. Mr. Jose, yes. Miss Warden, yes. Mr. Abernathy, yes. Mr. Owens. Yes.

Mr. Paul. Yes. All right. Well, we've got a new zoning code. Let's see what happens. [snorts] All right. Move into new business. Uh, ordinance 2026-03. Um, Miss Hamilton, you please read it for us. Ordinance number 2026-03, an ordinance amending chapter 925 storm drainage of the codified ordinances of the city of Wester, Ohio. Mr. Hussein, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. President. Yes, this kind of dovetales off of uh the residential zoning that we just approved. Um I will just kick this off to Mr. Montgomery who will explain this far more eloquently than I will.

Okay. Um it's it's really not that significant of a change. Um you know, part of the code that we just that we just approved changes some of the area requirements um for R1 and it it's smaller than that. And when we originally um I think it was in the late 80s when we adopted our storm water utility, it was based on a standard number of square feet, you know, in an R1 and everything was based off of a uh a uh a percentage of that. And [snorts] if you notice in the in the changes there, you notice that R1 was one based on 3,50 square feet and then all the rest of them were based on a 60% of that. So this changes based since that R1 is now coming down. We're just saying 60% of that. That way we can leave everything else the same. Um and we're not change, you know, that doesn't change. I think I did I had them do calculations to make sure we weren't impacting um any residential as far as utility go. it was within 1 to 2% depend you know depending on where you were at so that didn't really affect it. Um the 90 the 90 cents um is a storm water maintenance that's just a flat one and that one was part of the uh the fees that we did um about a month or so ago. So

So yes, if you you all will recall this because in the zoning residential zoning code you kind of did away with the old R1. So, it's kind of piggybacks off of that. Um, and Mr. Montgomery, do you do you anticipate other kind of findings in the codified ordinances related to kind of tinkering with that zoning a little bit? I hope not. I'm not going to promise that. Um, this one we sort of saw coming because we knew very this was very clear that we were going to have, you know, a change in the R1. Um, but, uh, I I hope not. it it they really aren't having major changes in in other you know even in the overall zoning code. So I don't hopefully we're not going to see anything.

Very good. And I guess we must leave this on first reading tonight. Yep. All right. So it's had its first reading. We'll move on to ordinance 2026-04. Miss Hamilton, if you could please read it for us. Ordinance number 2026-04, an ordinance amending chapter 160, bidding procedures and contract requirements, section 160.03, bidding procedures of the codified ordinances of the city of Worcester, Ohio, by increasing the competitive threshold in accordance with section 9.17 of the Ohio Revised Code. Mr. Abernathy, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. President. Um, so we're we're looking to try and get aligned with the Ohio Revised Code. Right now, we have a static 75,000 that has to come to council. We don't have any uh inflationary increases built in. We're we're looking to go to what the the Ohio revised code is, which is a 3% annual. Um, and so for example, if if we were to go by what the annual increase is, and I believe it kicked in in 2024, we'd be at 79,568. So not not that much of a difference from where we're at. Um, so they're really just inflationary adjustments. Uh, it reduces these smaller requests to come to council over time. Uh, honestly, it just allows the city to operate a little bit more efficiently and and really I can't I can't recall really any bids of that size that we said no to anyway. So, um I I I I know we can't vote on it tonight. Um, it's not a budgeted item, but something that uh I I do hope that we can move forward in the next meeting or two and uh get get with get our get our ordinances on the same page as Ohio Revised Code and have those built-in inflation adjustments and just be a little bit more efficient. So, with that, um, if there's some questions for Mr. from Montgomery. I can I can open that up

for a point of clarification. This actually became this is what two years now

that the state had had increased these amounts. So basically this is now technically this is the third time that we've seen this. We had ran it through two other times previously and at that point it was advised by certain council members not to proceed with this amount. But as far as I'm concerned, I mean, when as many times as we've had just in the last year, we've had these little bumps where we've got a contract that's at 50 and then something needs to be ordered extra and then all of a sudden it goes above 50 and then we're back looking at the same same piece of legislation or the the modified version of legislation for the additional money. At this point, it really makes no sense. I mean, you know, we're everything costs more. I mean, the chief's cruiser tonight's going to pretty much bust that on one vehicle. So, at the end of the day, we might as well get there now. But, yeah. So, in any [clears throat] event, we'll [snorts] we'll leave it on first reading.

Um, real quick, are are there any mechanisms for uh you know, I can't imagine we're just going to increase the bid limit 3% every year. I mean, so the way the higher revised code that I referenced here is it it's established [snorts] by the department of commerce. Um, and then so they publish it every year. The 3% I think it's the max. And so that I put that piece of paper in I think it's in your

is so it's not something we set. It's something that the state sets and so they publish every year. Here's what the bid amount is. Um, and so so for instance, this was just the one they just issued in January. um that came that's where the 79568 came from. So that's that's how every other village and township and county and statutory city you know right now that's how they operate. They are all at 79568 right now. Um may not nec may not necessarily be every other charter city but to your point every other statutory city or count or county that operates under that this is applies to them.

Right. Because we have a charter and ordinances, we specifically set we can either comply with OC or we can set our own to date. We've set our own which is static at 75. It it does not move with everything else at the state. Okay. Joel, has Wayne County has Wayne County already adopted this? Well, they're statuto. So, as soon as that law went into place, they they've already automatically all statuto. Last year, they were at 77 and some change or whatever [clears throat] that was. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure the next pandemic or recession we're still increasing the bid limit 3% or so essentially we're the chances right like I said the state sets this so it's not some number we came up with y question any additional questions

and so this is just an increase for this year it it would be in or it it sets it locks us into whatever the state makes it okay the wording we requested just adopts the state's Okay. And Mr. President, you said this has come before council before and it's been shut down previously. Yes. Well, we we raised it, but we raised it to another fixed amount. Things kept getting more expensive. [snorts] So, you know that fair

you council is not surrendering authority on this one like other thing. If a future council or this council next fall decides this is a bad idea and we want to go back to 75 that's fully within your power. You could could roll it back to 50. You know why you'd want to do that? I don't know. But if if it just governs the amount of legislation you see probably is the biggest thing because there's stuff that we have to come back to you for that you wouldn't otherwise see. You'd see the expenditure but you wouldn't act act on it. I if I could inter interject I I think that as this body you know we we we control the purse strings and we see big dollar legislation hundreds of thousands millions of dollars there and this is I speak only out of my opinion only there has to be a level of trust that that they can operate on some smaller dollar items which you know it used to be 50 now it's 75 Ohio Revised Code is the state is saying, "Hey, we we trust cities to operate within this dollar amount." And sometimes I get worried that as a that as a group I I don't want us to feel like we're we're overcooking the the egg here, that we know something that the state doesn't. you know, the state has obviously said th this is this is how confident we are in city governments to be able to handle that. So that that's my general feeling on it, you know. So I I want I want efficiencies as much as we can without trying to institute too much control. So that that's just my opinion though. Um Joel, can I ask for next council's meeting um you to pull some examples where having raised the threshold would have prevented you know

us from having to go back through the bid process or coming back to us with oh yeah we had to add you know this thing right where we went with the original person anyways right the easy thing I can do is I I put all I did all that and I can send you what I sent to council there was just a list of common things you know and so you can you can probably pretty easily look at that and say, "Okay, here's a few things that probably bumped over." You might still have the email you sent to Mr. Myers a year ago. Yeah, I'll start there. And because I think I think it answers your question and you you'll see things. I think even in there I said, "Here's a few things that might bump over." I can guarantee they bumped over at this point. It was just a few meetings ago that we I think had to do that to to pay for, you know, an invoice that was slightly over. Yeah. The water

Yeah. the parts for the water department. Yeah. In information's a lot like gravity. You can't argue with it. it exists. This is a procedure that addresses that. Furthermore, it gives the consumers in town and the taxpayers protection in in in alliance with what the state law is. It doesn't allow the council to all of a sudden just go, we're going to get $5,000 more. So, you know, creating that alignment makes a lot of sense and it addresses something that's not going to go away and that's inflation. Good conversation. Anybody else? All right, we'll leave her on first.

All right, sounds good. Next item, resolution 2026-05. Miss Hamilton, if you please read it for us. Resolution number 2026-05, a resolution to adopt and implement a cyber security program for the city of Worcester in compliance with Ohio's cyber security law and allowing for immediate enactment.

Mr. Ros, the floor is yours. Thank you, Mr. Mr. President, uh this is another kind of mundane um resolution we consider. Um the city has to develop and has developed a cyber security program that we have to uh kind of keep on our books in accordance with the Ohio Revised Code and our local IT uh master Mr. Dordia will explain this to us since he introduced it to us.

Yeah. So [clears throat] h last fall I think it was House Bill 96 um was passed and it bas requires political subdivisions to uh have a cyber security program. In addition to that it require it's not a public record but interesting enough it it requires the legis legislative authority to actually adopt said [snorts] cyber security program. It also goes into some other things. It says that if you're paying from ransomware, you have to actually obtain council approval because perhaps some entities in the past may not have done so. And then the third uh main item on there is if you do have what they consider a reported incident um within seven days, you have to report that to the Ohio Security uh Integration Center. That's within seven days. In 30 days, you have to report it to the audit state. So that was it. But I was going over we're being audited. So the reason why you're kind of seeing it from me and not the IT department is [clears throat] because I was you know we're getting ready to be have our financial audit and this will be part of that audit and one of the things with the requirements is the council has to quote adopt the cyber security program

and Mr. Doria there's no cost associated with this. We're not building anything out in our No, we've been network basic and we we update it I would say continuously. I know we updated it in December, then we updated again in January. So, anytime that you know there's different guidance or new threats, you obviously have to adapt. Y and this we're just adapting because the state's mandating that we have to approve it legislatively. Yeah. And I think that sort of accountability piece to say, you know, anybody could say, "Yeah, we got a program, but

it's it's not a bad idea in the long haul because from the standpoint, yeah, if there was to have be some type of major breach and then at that point city, you know, community saying, "Oh, yeah, we're covered." And then they're not, right? Yeah. So, not an issue from that, but um anything further, Mr. Jose? Pretty boilerplate. Yeah. And uh we and unfortunately, we can't do anything about it tonight. So, Okay. [laughter] Is there any urgency on it? No. Okay. No, the only urgency is the state asked us to do this is now said we have to do it and so but and we did have this in place prior to the end of the year. Yeah. Um

but uh if anybody's really interested in it, I'd be welcome to schedule a meeting with our IT department and we can sit down and go over this. And that sounds cintillating. [snorts] You can also ask Mr. Owens because because he's he's he went over it today. Excellent. You should read it. I will pages. Like I said, it'll be sillated. I read enough policies as it is. I think to your point, there's enough non-public personal information in that that we need to do what we need to do. So, yeah, read it.

All right. Well, with that, that has had its first reading. We'll move on to resolution 2026-06, which actually is an item that we can move forward this evening. But before that, Mr. Hamilton, if you could please read it for us. Resolution number 2026-06, a resolution authorizing the director of administration to purchase a new Chevrolet Tahoe vehicle for use as a police cruiser, including Upfit, and allowing for immediate enactment. Mr. Rabern, the floor is yours. All right, we're looking to get a new police cruiser not to exceed 75,000. It is budgeted. You know, uh doesn't have a lot of miles on it, but is involved in a shooting and

of which you watched the video tonight. Yes. And uh she's probably not going to run anymore and it's going to be in evidence for a while. So, we're going to need to replace it. Um it's going to have the standard upfits. Uh we should get it this this year, I believe. Uh, so we don't have nearly the lead times we had in the past. So, uh, obviously you saw the video earlier. Um, we got to get her replaced. So, I'll open her up for questions if anybody has any. I think Andrea checked and that is not covered by the warranty. No, I I think the warranty company's going to say no to that. With no questions, I'll motion to adopt. Motion to adopt. Second. Second by

me, Mr. Paul. It's going to take me a few meetings to get everybody's voices back. [laughter] Uh, Miss Hamilton, please call the role on the adoption. Mr. Abernathy? Yes. Mr. Jose? Yes. Mr. Owens? Yes. Mr. Paul? Yes. Miss Warden? Yes.

Okay. Last item this evening. Resolution 2026-07. Miss. Hamilton, if you please read it for us. Resolution number 2026-07, a resolution authorizing the director of fin of finance to issue payment for services rendered prior to the fiscal officer certification of availability of funds and providing for immediate enactment. Uh Mr. Abernathy, the floor is yours.

Thank you. Uh so as you heard, we would be issuing payment to man. Uh this is labor for leaf pickup. Uh the issue here was the PO was in in inadvertently deleted and has to be reestablished. Uh, one thing I and I did email uh y'all so you could understand um in the manager's write up the amount that was listed was incorrect but the legislation amount is correct which was confirmed with Mr. Dordia. So it would be for the amount of $6,853.77. So the legislation is correct. So, uh, got to pay him for the the labor and the PO [laughter] had to be reestablished. Uh, any any questions around that? This is pretty simple stuff. With that, I'll motion to adopt.

All right. Real quick, can you walk me through the concept of the certification of availability of funds?

I can. So any any uh good or service that we obligate ourselves has to has to have a my signature on it saying that the funds are available um or it's not valid. I mean that's just a OC requirement. It's nothing that I made up but it it's there to protect number one the taxpayer number two you the vendor the the funds are available. So and I think I think historically the reason this was adopted I could be wrong. This could be an urban legend but I got into this business long time ago but I remember reading a story like an outgoing mayor like got beat and in order to say how do I say this? In order to cause the incoming mayor grieve they went out and bought a bunch of stuff. you know, they didn't have POS. So, the next year they came around, the mayor comes in and guess what? All these bills are coming in. So, um, and it put a financial hardship on that. So, pretty sure that

not local. No, not local. I'm talking state of Ohio. That's why a lot of those rules come into play anyway. But so yeah, that's and the reason is and the state law currently says if there's anything that's that's 3,000 or under I I can authorize it on my own, but this just happened to be u you know a PO was liquidated. The bill came in and it was it crossed years as well. So um I always do the belt suspenders approach especially something like that. It's if it gets pulled from the audience say well you know it was done after the invoice. So that's a no no. And you can't do that authorization via auto pen, right? It has to be

I can't do either, but I can sign your checks with autopen. Okay. Okay. So the big the big complication to this was partially it got liquidated. It's crossing years and Okay. Yeah. It doesn't happen often. Like I said, I think a couple years ago I looked at it and you 3,000 POS, you may have had one or two that we had to bring to council. So like 0.007 you know rate. So but it it's you know I guess an accountability feature too. So anyway that's why we try you know often we get clean honest is because we come to you with this. I mean

okay Mr. Owens. Anything else? So the money is there. Oh yeah right. It's not like all it is is appeal. It's a procedural thing. Yeah. Absolutely 100%. All right, then I'll motion to adopt. Motion to adopt. Is there a second? Second. Second by Mr. Jose. Miss Hamilton, please call the role on the adoption. Mr. Abernath, yes. Miss Warden, yes. Mr. Paul, yes. Mr. Owens, yes. Mr. Jose, yes.

All right. M motion is approved. We'll move on to miscellaneous. Uh we've got two people that have signed up. Uh Mr. Barnett, you're first on the list. Starting to write things down so I don't forget. Uh ago, I'll be 73 next month. Nobody knows the whole future what the future holds. But I do know this. Building this roundabout will depreciate my property and make it much harder to sell. It's going to be about that much. I don't I don't want to move, but eventually my wife and I will have to downsize. And when that day comes, I don't want to lose a big portion of my life savings because of this project. If this roundabout is built, we will take a financial beam. The burden should not fall on the residents who have spent decades building this lives in this neighborhood. I haven't lived there decades. And if I would have known they was going to build this roundabout, there's no way I would have bought this house. It would have been a break a break deal there. There's no way I would have bought this house. And you know what? I think them people knew about that roundabout because I haven't lived there that many years but it will be appreciated probably. I haven't lived up there but a lot of these people have lived up there all their lives. I will take a beating. Everybody will take a beat. I've talked to some people, your mar your market for people wanting to buy

that property is going to be like 5%. 5% out of 95%. I don't know. I'm not going away, folks. I want to be here every meeting, speak my peace. I just I just want to make it clear. I'm not mad at nobody here. I just want what's fair. Okay. And congratulations on your officers, chief. Thank you. Uh Andrew Miller.

Oh, I appreciate you guys letting me speak for two minutes. Recently, I have submitted an application for BCA and it has been denied. I purchased the property fair sale free and clear of many encumbrances and it was denied. I do appreciate the uh some of these zoning amendments. I do think they're beneficial. Um one of those has to do with common areas and developments. So when a developer goes to create a common area, he is stuck with that. He has to retain that or it's dedicated to Worcester City. So in my case now that they can fees to get out of the taxes for years to come on my property. The developer went tax delinquent. And so I purchased it as a tax delinquent property. And the reason why he did that was because he was going to be charged tax for years to come. Well, now I have this property free and clear and it's designated as a common area and I've been trying to build and develop it. And I noticed it says the great seal of the city of Worcester says a community of progress. I appreciate what you guys are doing with the zoning code, but I have been denied to continue with the development of this property. It's being taxed as a buildable lot, and they won't let me build. And I have gone to the engineers as I was told and they told me it's going to be about $25,000 just to even possibly have a chance of getting approved to make it buildable. I think that's a pretty large expense considering that the current zoning code states that my property is a common does not meet meet the definition as 1135 in the code of states because it's not commonly owned anymore in the s owner and also in 1121 it states that a common area can be disposed of as long as the city council approves 75% of a member of the HOA within the development that can

vote against it and also that it's owned by a private owner or an entity to take over it. So at this point I'm not really sure what to do. Um, I mean, I'm trying to do this right. I don't want to take this legal. I've made that clear, but I feel like I'm being shut down and um, I'm not really sure how to proceed from here, but I want to develop this property or at least make it buildable as I'm being taxed on it. I don't think it's right to be taxed on a property as buildable when I'm not able to build on it. It's dishonest. So, thank you for your time. Appreciate it.

Thank you. We'll start with you, Miss Warden. [clears throat]

All right. Um, I would like to congratulate the officers that were honored this evening. Chief Fischer did a great job of presenting the awards to them and very well deserved. We're we're lucky and safer to have folks like them police department here. Um, and then as we all know, we've had extreme snowfall but also extreme temperatures. So, I'm happy that we live in a community where we have warming centers because there are a lot of people that um you know whether it's power outages or you know their their housing situation that they need that this time of year. Um I am grateful for the city crews, maintenance, police, fires, all of them that have you know we're all hunkered down in the snowstorm and you know watching Netflix under [laughter] doing things that you know keep us all safer. So I just wanted to thank everybody for that.

All right. Mr. Owen,

sure. Um, I would also like to congratulate the officers um this evening. Uh, prime examples of what you want out of your police officers, right? The the heroism, the helping people, the not even thinking, just rushing into the danger. Um, I also want to give a big thank you to our road crews. You know, my grandfather was a snowplow driver for ODOT, so I know that was uh not an easy time for them or their families, but I appreciate their hard work and sacrifice so that way we all can be safe and, you know, get where we have to go. Um, happy Black History Month, everyone. As the mayor pointed out, uh, Charles Fest day is tomorrow. If you don't know who he is, he was the first professional black uh, football player. Look him up. He was pretty cool. And with that,

thank you, M. Ruse. Yeah. Thank you uh Chief Fischer to your whole department. Um you do a great job [clears throat] over there and your whole crew does as well. And thanks to the whole city crew for showing up this uh past the when was it last week's winter storm. Thank you, Mr. Paul. Good evening.

I'd like to thank Representative Craig for coming and recognizing the efforts of our officers. I know you have a lot on your agenda and I appreciate you taking the time to come down to a municipality and recognize two outstanding examples of law enforcement and city employment. Um, as a community, we should take pride in that. I also want to thank the road crews. The job that they've done has been truly remarkable. Um, and uh, I got up at St. Mary's the night before the storm and I addressed the congregation. I said, "We're ready for this. we have the right people for it and I'd like to thank them for not making me a liar. [laughter] They just went out and did a a magnificent job. Final thing I'd like to bring up is on Saturday, February 14th, 2026, the Bow Ball is going on. Now, for those of you that don't know me, my last four dogs have been rescues. So, what the uh Wayne County Dog Shelter and Adoption Center does for our pets and placing them in loving homes is a wonderful service for the dogs, for the people that adopt them, but it does cost money and the Bow Ball supports that. It's the biggest fundraiser of the year. So, if you don't have any plans on Valentine's Day and you're planning to take your significant other out, I'd encourage you to look at the ball bow ball and maybe the dinner afterwards. Mr. President, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernathy. Chief, I don't know how to put it into words other than I was is deeply moved by, you know, the the presentation this morning or this after this evening and just the courage of of both your officers. Um, you know, I [clears throat] I don't know if everybody understands Worcester Memorial Park because, you know, I'm I've been running for a long time and I run those trails. the the fact that your officer is able to find her. Okay, you can get lost out there. I'm assuming this was in maybe in the evening. I don't know. If it's dark out there, it is easy to get lost and then to be able to find her and and save her without in that is heroic because that is dangerous out there. We're we're talking you don't know who's out there. You don't know what animals are out there and it is hard. You could break an ankle easily on those trails if you're not paying attention. And he got out there safely and got her out safely. So, fantastic job. And then officer or I mean that that video says it all. Um and and I just I thank God he he got out of there unharmed. And unfortunately for the vehicle, not so much, but very grateful he got out of there. And you know to be a part of your first time ever giving that award is very moving and uh it seems very clear by the just by his resume from the last year alone that is one heck of an officer. So we're ve I'm very proud to have him as a part of our police department and part of the city of Worcester period. So, um, just fantastic job and and great job to you, Chief, having some really outstanding people in your department. So, with that, I yield the rest of my time. Thank you, Mr. President.

All right. With that, do I have a motion to Can I Can I make one final comment? Oh, absolutely.

Mr. Paul reminded me of something that I would be rad over the coals uh by some friends if I forgot to mention um uh on also on Valentine's Day um from 12:30 to 2:30 at the Wayne County Public Library. Um the Worcester Advocacy Group and the Democratic Socialists of America are co-hosting a food drive event, a give and take event where folks can drop off food. If you need food, you can take the food with you. All of the food that is left over will be uh distributed to local food pantries and other uh charities around town. So I highly uh invite you all encourage you all to come by. It's a good time. Um and with that, that is my piece.

All right. So do we have a motion to adjurnn? Motion. Second. I'll move. All in favor? I. We'rejourn. Good evening. Thank you all. We were talking about you last week. Yeah, I think I could. So, this kind of goes back to that discussion we had about just because it's zone something doesn't mean you're required to do