City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, well, good evening, and welcome to our regularly scheduled meeting of Worcester City Council being held this Monday, June 1st, 2026. Tonight's meeting is obviously here in council chambers and live streamed on YouTube. Our next regularly scheduled meeting will be on Monday, June 15th. With that, Ms. Hamilton, please call the roll for those in attendance of the meeting this evening.

Mr. Abernathy.

Here.

Mr. Gaffey.

Here.

Mr. Hussey.

Here.

Mr. Malta.

Here.

Mr. Owens.

Here.

Mr. Paul. Here. Ms. Warden. Here. All right.

We have a quorum, and the agenda will remain as presented. At this time, I ask you to stand and join the members of city council in reciting the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

Do I have a motion from Council to approve the minutes from our last meeting? So moved. Is there a second? Second. All in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All opposed? All right. Minutes are approved. Communications from the Deputy Director of Administration. How are you this evening? I'm good.

You know, I impersonated the mayor at the parade, so let's just keep it rolling with tonight.

I forgot to ask you the other day. I was going to ask you on Friday who played Bob.

That was me. And that was my dad in the back and my son in the back, too. So it was a really cool moment. But I've got definitely some awkward looks. And former Mayor Brenneman, I think, almost... I think he almost stroked out when he realized it wasn't a mayor in the car. His face was like, yeah, yeah. So I just have a couple.

That would be worth coming home to watch. Yeah.

I only have a couple things tonight. Kept counsel apprised of this, but we are running a new website. It launched last Tuesday, as explained in all the correspondence to the public and to counsel. There were going to be bugs. There are going to be bugs. We will work those out as they come. So far, heard good news. Feedback on it. I'm actually looking for the negative feedback. That way we can make upgrades as necessary. One of the cool things that we just today got worked out was there's an e-notify section on our website where we can pick certain pages on the website where people can sign up and they can get directly emailed if there's a problem. Addition to that page and where this comes into play is road closures. If we put out news articles, if if there's events going on, and we'll obviously ask the public what they actually want to be updated on. But instead of relying on social media to get updates, they can directly go on and subscribe to what they want. And be notified when these pages are updated. Um, so it's, it's a unique feature, uh, to revise or revises the new system that is going to be, um, hosting our website. It's a really cool feature. Finally worked out. We're going to work on some online tutorials to put out to the public on how they can use it. Uh, we feel like it's going to be a really good benefit to keep people in the know. It's something that we've heard. from residents in the past. And the only other thing is we are going to be putting out communication to the public about electric aggregation. Actually, as soon as the mayor and Joel get back, I just want to get their okay on it. We are not going to be re-upping our aggregate contract. It ends at the end of June. And the reason for that, it's complicated. It's hard to explain to people out there, but the regular choice or the... Not the SEO, the price to compare that is offered for is considerably lower than what a lot of the aggregate companies are willing to offer right now. Meaning, uh, I was through this in a different municipality number of years ago where volunteer energy, uh, entered into contracts with municipalities across the state. And, uh, when the prices spiked, uh, they filed for bankruptcy, they couldn't meet the, they offered too good of a price. So a lot of companies are hesitant when the prices are like, they are now to offer those contracts. So, uh, Palmer energy is our consultant in this. They advised us. They said, hey, listen. The contracts we're getting back are right around the 11 cent range. Your customers right now through price to compare are sitting at about a 9 or a 10 cent. It does not make sense right now to get into a contract, allow them to stay on the price to compare. We will continue to evaluate rates and get into a contract once it makes sense. And we're going to put that out to the public as best as possible. Typically, it's me that whenever residents call and asking questions, because I've been through aggregation in every city I've been to, uh, going to explain that. But we're waiting on numbers from Palmer on what the savings have been since we've gone into aggregation. Um. The numbers are about 1.2Million of savings for our residents that we've saved them by offering a aggregate contract. So it is working. It's just this summer is kind of everything's up in the air. So we will get that out to the public as soon as possible. But I want to counsel to know ASAP. We're going to put out some infographics just so people realize that, you know. anytime you move to something and then you you pause it, people are going to have questions. We want to make sure we anticipate those questions and put the answers out beforehand. But I'm letting council know that now because the contract does end at the end of the summer or at the end of this month. So any questions?

So will the so if it's at the end of this month, I mean, that's a pretty quick turn time. I assume services and for our residents Will they just automatically flip back to their previous service then? Or are they going to have to re, sign up with their electric providers?

They won't they will go back onto what is called the price to compare direct offer directly through. So, they won't see a change in service. They won't see a change in anything. They'll just go back to the variable month, the month rate that AP offers. Um, and then once we. Contract or under our aggregate program, we'll get an opt out notice saying, hey, the city's secured new pricing. If you don't want to be a part of this, you have 10 days to opt out 14, whatever the time period is. They won't get that until later in the summer. I've already had people calling expecting that. And we've been trying to work it out with Palmer on what, where the rates are going to be and they just don't feel comfortable in getting us into a contract right now with the pricing that they're seeing. So. And I can take phone calls or answer questions if anyone else has any follow up, but we will be getting that out to the public as soon as possible. But again, I want to reiterate that the aggregation program since the inception 2 years ago has saved about 1.2Million dollars across all of the residents for Worcester. Just the electric. Gas is a little bit different. We're getting those rates now, but that doesn't take effect until the end of October. So gas will be re-upping a contract.

So with the aggregation, we were locking in a price for a long-term period for people. With the price to compare, do we know if that stays stable?

So should there be a change in direction in the future, and this would be a TIF without consent technically, There would not be revenues coming into the fund. So what this mechanism does is it establishes the ability for the. City to say, we're making civic investments. They're going to generate long term revenues for, um, uh, not only the city, but our fellow taxing partners. Once we develop streetscape, there's higher appreciation in order to help fund that. we're going to take a look at this particular piece of property where we're anticipating future development. Streetscape would be a benefit to this development as well as everybody else along South Market Street. And to help fund that, we're gonna redirect those tax revenues that are newly created Uh, for a period of 10 years, so, um, the existing tax valuation that's there that remains unchanged, uh, that affects nobody's revenues. Uh, but, uh, the amount of revenues that we anticipate coming in will depend upon the quality and stature of development that ultimately takes place on these particular 5 parcels. So, if there is a change in direction, say, you know, we, we end up with a, you know, a coffee stand, uh, there would be just a small amount of revenue, uh, as they're presently planning to build, uh, we're anticipating roughly, um, around 500,000 over time to come into that fund. And again, that allows us to lower assessments and speed us up toward further investment in downtown. But that being said, it will be contingent on how they decide to develop. So, since it's without consent, it is not. Uh, a project where you have a development guarantee. Uh, so there's not a written agreement between the city and say, the developer. Uh, that's 1 of the differences from how we've operated with TIFF before a lot of commercial tips do operate this way, where it is technically without the consent of the owner. So you don't have that written agreement in place. and what i guess will be the the rationale for doing it that way if you mentioned we usually do have a development agreement in place so uh that that would where we've utilized it would be with say the residential development uh tiff projects that we've used we've had a known developer uh making investments and the tiff in that case At least a degree of it was an incentive for that particular developer in this particular case to our knowledge and incentive is not required for this project to move forward. It's desired. Uh, but, uh, the development we understand is going to take place with, or without city participation. In this case, we always talk about a but for when it comes to incentives. So when we're talking about a tiff for a commercial purpose like this, the incentive is for the taxpayer for the city. But for a tiff, we would encroach a much higher expense to be able to do streetscape on South Market Street, and that that would also but for Constrain us in our future development for making these types of investments. So, in this instance, we can anticipate that this development will take place with or without government intervention. What we're saying with the TIFF is that we would like to redirect a portion of those funds that are newly created in order to better this streetscape lower everybody else's costs equally across the board. Um, so in that that regard there, there, there would be a benefit, uh, because anybody who would pay an assessment and this developer would. Be 1 of those payees, um, everybody would equally see that 73 dollar reduction that we spoke about in our last meeting. But in this case, it's the fund, specifically the public infrastructure, which again supports the development that we see coming. But that development can still move forward with or without us doing streetscape. But from a comprehensive plan standpoint, we view the streetscape as being essential for supporting our downtown plan and adding value to the surrounding real estate.

So the realistic point is, Apple Creek Bank is not needing this to incentivize them. The plan is they're going to do it anyway. We're doing the TIF for the city's purposes because the sidewalks down there are a little bit under disrepair. They don't look as good. It's time for us to invest in that area. And the TIF helps us to invest in that area, not to incentivize like we had to use in the north end to maybe incentivize the developer. So that's why we're not necessarily going to have that agreement. They don't need it.

And then lastly, Jonathan, so if, uh, let's say across the street or down the block, another 1Million dollar development pops up that could we utilize that into the South market street tip as well? Or do we create a whole nother tip off of that? I guess how does that work?

So you would, in that scenario, if we wanted to, if we came across that opportunity and wanted to pursue that, we would create a whole new TIF, but it would probably be called the South Market Street TIF number two. And you could allocate that toward that same project as long as you're making that investment that somehow provides a residual benefit to that particular development. So like we couldn't use it, for instance, to redirect tax revenues and put a dog park up on the north end, because that really doesn't benefit that parcel. But if we're doing streetscape right in front, that's a public benefit. Maybe it's not necessary for the development, but there is a benefit to that by connecting that walkability and growing that downtown base. So as long as those metrics exist, it's certainly appropriate to explore that as an option.

Well, yeah, I I am leaning towards being more in support of this than I think the mayor dubbed it the Thanksgiving Day Massacre. I do like, I see the method behind the TIF madness being a little more targeted with how we're using this and then the letter you sent as well, you know, from the bank in support of the project and this methodology, I think, really kind of lends itself towards a lot, goes a lot further.

Mr. Malaya, for the sake of the public, and I've had a lot of conversations about TIFs with people over the last couple weeks, I kind of want to go through the numbers real quick and just make sure that I'm accurate in my assessment. I think we've competed priorities here by utilizing the TIF. There's a perception from the people that live on the south side of town that the city has been somewhat reluctant to invest in that part of town, whether that's right or not. is enough for discussion here, but this is an opportunity for council to show that we're serious about redevelopment of properties down there. Secondly, though, emotions are running high with the school district right now, and anytime you start talking about taking money away from students, it's going to create some stomach acid for some people. So I want to make sure that I've got the numbers figured out correctly so that I can do that. Looking at the numbers you presented, you said if we had no TIF, projected revenue from the site was $26,368.

Correct.

Okay. Talking to you and Mr. Doherty, a fair amount of that would go to the school system utilizing, because of the variances in income tax and other taxes in town, between 73% and 78%. I use 75% as a number. Is that acceptable for an estimate?

Oh, as far as what would tip?

Yes, correct. Okay. So 75% of $26,368 is $19,776. So it was important for me to understand what they get. And then with the TIF, based on the information that you gave us, we're estimating that for the next 10 years, instead of that $19,776, that they'll be getting $11,250. Okay.

I don't have the specific figure in front of me, but they will effectively see a 40% reduction versus what they would have.

Okay, so our numbers are close.

Sorry.

By my numbers, that's a $6,592 takeaway from the school system for a 10-year period. If you take that over 10 years and then you look at what they're going to get, the $38,015 starting in year 11, based on your data, it's going to take through year 16 for the school system to make up what they lost in the first 10 years. The difference of having no TIF and having the TIF over that 10 year period is $85,260. I want people to understand what this means to the school system. Current enrollment in Worcester City Schools is 3,100. If you count preschool, it's 3,300. The larger the number, the less per student it costs. But it also says there's a slight trend downward. So for the sake of estimates, I use 3,000. If you take that $85,216 divided by 3,000 students, the cost per student for this is $37.50. And over the 10-year period, it works out $3.75 per student per year based on the numbers that we just went over. I think it's important to understand if we're taking away, are we taking a large amount away from the students or are we doing something that will give a lot of value to the community? And at the same time, I have complete confidence in the treasurer of the school system, Amy Baker, in being able to find $3.75 per student if necessary. But I think the idea here is that we need to assure the public that we're not taking a major money grab from the school system to accomplish what we're trying to do. The upside of having Apple Creek Bank happy as an investor in the community and the upside of further development on the south side makes a lot of sense to me. Like my colleague, Mr. Husay, I'm definitely in a better position to support this particular legislation individually than what occurred before I assumed council. But I wanted to break that down, cost per student per year. And so I think for $3.75 a year, you've got my support on this. Thank you.

You're welcome. Well done, Mr. Paul. Thank you for that breakdown.

Now, to be clear, we are going to do the streetscape regardless of this TIF. Yes. So it's in the comprehensive plan.

Yes. So our comprehensive plan says that we want to do this. Yes. So materially, by utilizing the TIF, what this does is we have a one point seven five million dollar project and this brings five hundred and six thousand on or about those numbers can change a bit. Um, but it brings that into our. Funding for downtown and so by applying that to the streetscape. That gives us the confidence to be able to approach this faster. Accomplish it sooner and additionally as. Things move forward in the future will be that half a million dollars ahead on being able to pursue the next project for downtown within our comprehensive plan, because this gives us that financial flexibility to move forward. Okay.

And we are doing this without without the consent of apple creek though. They want it legally. Yes.

So they, yes, they, uh, are their leadership has indicated that they're very much in favor. Uh, they, they provided us a letter of support. But legally, this is with or without their consent. So when we file what's called the DTE 24, it's Ohio Department of Tax document that should this be approved, we would take the legislation that council passes, our correspondences and so forth, and we have to mark on there that this is being done without the consent of the owner and there are several reasons why you may want to utilize this um in other scenarios uh we may have a uh you know wonderful development that we're excited about but it's going to be very high density and generate a lot of traffic and we don't have a way to assess that property owner for the need for the funds that it's going to take to alleviate a traffic congestion that that particular development causes. So that's why that mechanism exists within the rules. What we're doing as a city is we're taking a look at our development as a whole. And whether we're talking about new housing, or in this case, we're talking about a multi story building that is We're going to expand the fabric of our downtown. So street scapes a fitting way to kind of bring this in and street scape is is naturally an element that we want to have in that area with that style of development. So the city saying. In order to better this parcel, as well as meet our comprehensive plan goals without consent to the owner, we're going to cause that redirection of revenues to happen to pay for that public infrastructure. So, um, even though they were supportive of it, whether or not we passed, if they're going to pay the same exact tax bill that they would otherwise, it's just that a portion of those funds will arrive to, uh, pay for the bricks and mortar going in along the sidewalk. First, which will then separate from the calculations here, we anticipate and would hope to see about a 10% appreciation and property values along the streetscape area over time. That should generate a pretty significant bit of revenue over time that would hopefully mark down some of that. Three dollars we spoke about earlier, but that being said, uh, that that's why the law provides us the ability to utilize that without consent. And most tips from my understanding generally are without consent. Uh, just the nature of you have a commercial development. It may or may not be held by the same entity. They may sell it in the future. Um, but what the community is doing is they're. Creating some revenue to cover infrastructure costs connected with. with that development.

Jonathan, it's not a guarantee we would do this. We when we did this back in November, we voted no on all these tips. This went away. We voted no on this again. It could go away again.

Yes.

So there is value to the fact that as the city makes their plans, if we pass the TIF or don't pass the TIF, it could determine whether the project gets done. Now, I know, again, comprehensive plan doesn't mean we're doing it. I've seen the comprehensive plan. We have big plans all over the city, and they're not done.

But the idea is if we say no to it, we'll continue to have the right to do so. All right, thank you.

We'll move on to unfinished business. We've got second reading of Ordinance 2026-12. Ms. Hamilton, if you'll read that for us, please.

Ordinance number 2026-12, an ordinance declaring the improvement to certain parcels within the city, an area here in reference as South Market Street TIF, to be a public purpose and exempt from taxation pursuant to ORC 5709.40B, providing for the collection and deposit of service payments and specifying the purposes for which those service payments may be expended and allowing for immediate enactment.

Mr. Abernathy, the floor is yours. Thank you, Mr. President. So we're looking to raise about a little over $500,000, it looks like, here to try and get some additional revenue to help with some streetscape projects based, I think, primarily off of the new construction for the Apple Creek Bank building that would be newly constructed. We did talk fairly at length at the last meeting, so I don't have anything particularly new to add on this. Jonathan, do you want to add anything new to the conversation?

I don't know if I have anything new, but happy to help answer any questions or go into any topics on this.

I would then go to any of my fellow council members. Is there anything new?

Jonathan, I don't remember if we touched on this at the last meeting. So we're going to create the South Market Street TIF, I guess, fund. Is that tied to the fact that if Apple Creek Bank moves forward or decides to change their plans at all, are those two things linked? Or would we create the fund should they decide they wanted to go a different direction?

I believe the TIF has to be connected to a new construction, doesn't it?

Uh, it has yes, that or some substantial new improvement. So, uh, should there be a change in direction in the future? And this would be a tiff without consent. Technically, um, there would not be revenues coming into the tiff fund. So what this mechanism does is it establishes the ability for the. City to say we're making civic investments. They're going to generate long term revenues for, um. uh not only the city but our fellow taxing partners once we develop streetscape there's higher appreciation in order to help fund that we're going to take a look at this particular piece of property where we're anticipating future development streetscape would be a benefit to this development as well as everybody else along south market street and to help fund that we're going to redirect those tax revenues that are newly created uh for a period of 10 years so um the existing tax valuation that's there that remains unchanged that affects nobody's revenues but the amount of revenues that we anticipate coming in will depend upon the quality and stature of development that ultimately takes place on these particular five parcels So, if there is a change in direction, say, you know, we, we end up with a, you know, a coffee stand, uh, there would be just a small amount of revenue, uh, as they're presently planning to build, uh, we're anticipating roughly, um, around 500,000 over time to come into that fund. And again, that allows us to lower assessments and speed us up toward further investment in downtown. But that being said, it will be contingent on how they decide to develop. So, since it's without consent, it is not a project where you have a development guarantee. So there's not a written agreement between the city and, say, the developer. Uh, that's 1 of the differences from how we've operated with TIFF before a lot of commercial tips do operate this way where it is. Technically, without the consent of the owner, so you don't have that written agreement in place.

I guess will be the rationale for doing it that way. If you mentioned, we usually do have a development agreement.

So that that would where we've utilized it would be with, say, the residential development tiff projects that we've used. We've had a known developer making investments, and the tiff in that case. At least a degree of it was an incentive for that particular developer in this particular case to our knowledge and incentive is not required for this project to move forward. It's desired. Uh, but, uh, the development we understand is going to take place with, or without city participation. In this case, we always talk about a but for when it comes to incentives. So when we're talking about a TIF for a commercial purpose like this, the incentive is for the taxpayer, for the city. But for TIF, we would encroach a much higher expense to be able to do streetscape on South Market Street. And then that would also but for incentives. Constrain us in our future development for making these types of investments. So, in this instance, we can anticipate that this development will take place with or without government intervention. What we're saying with the TIFF is that we would like to redirect a portion of those funds that are newly created in order to better this streetscape lower everybody else's costs equally across the board. Um, so in that that regard there, there, there would be a benefit, uh, because anybody who would pay an assessment and this developer would. Be 1 of those payees, um, everybody would equally see that 73 dollar reduction that we spoke about in our last meeting. But, um, in this case, it's the fund specifically the public infrastructure, which again supports the development that we see coming. but that development can still move forward with or without uh us doing streetscape but from a comprehensive plan standpoint we view the streetscape as being essential for supporting our downtown plan and adding value to the surrounding real estate so the realistic point is

Apple Creek Bank is not needing this to incentivize them. The plan is they're going to do it anyway. We're doing the TIF for the city's purposes because the sidewalks down there are a little bit under disrepair. They don't look as good. It's time for us to invest in that area. And the TIF helps us to invest in that area, not to incentivize like we had to use in the north end to maybe incentivize the developer. So that's why we're not necessarily going to have that agreement. They don't need it.

And then lastly, Jonathan, so if, uh, let's say across the street or down the block, another 1Million dollar development pops up that could we utilize that into the South market street tip as well? Or do we create a whole another tip off of that? I guess how does that work?

So you would in that scenario, if we wanted to, if we came across that opportunity and wanted to pursue that, we would create a whole new TIF, but it would probably be called the South Market Street TIF number two. And you could allocate that toward that same project as long as you're making that investment that somehow provides a residual benefit to that particular development. So like we couldn't use it, for instance, to redirect tax revenues and put a dog park up on the north end because that really doesn't benefit that parcel. But if we're doing streetscape right in front, that's that's a public benefit. Maybe it's not necessary for the development, but there is a benefit to that by connecting that that walkability and growing that downtown base. So as long as those metrics exist, it's certainly appropriate to explore that as an option.

Yeah.

Well, I yeah, I I am leaning towards being more in support of this than I think the mayor dubbed it the Thanksgiving Day Massacre. I do like, I see the method behind the TIF madness being a little more targeted with how we're using this and then the letter you sent as well, you know, from the bank in support of the project and this methodology, I think, really kind of lends itself towards a lot, goes a lot further.

Mr. Malaya, for the sake of the public, and I've had a lot of conversations about TIFs with people over the last couple weeks, I kind of want to go through the numbers real quick and just make sure that I'm accurate in my assessment. I think we've competed priorities here by utilizing the TIF. There's a perception from the people that live on the south side of town that the city has been somewhat reluctant to invest in that part of town, whether that's right or not. isn't up for discussion here, but this is an opportunity for council to show that we're serious about redevelopment of properties down there. Secondly, though, emotions are running high with the school district right now, and anytime you start talking about taking money away from students, it's going to create some stomach acid for some people. So I want to make sure that I've got the numbers figured out correctly so that I can do that. Looking at the numbers you presented, you said if we had no TIF, projected revenue from the site was $26,368.

Correct.

Okay. Talking to you and Mr. Doherty, a fair amount of that would go to the school system utilizing, because of the variances in income tax and other taxes in town, between 73% and 78%. I use 75% as a number. Is that acceptable for an estimate?

Oh, as far as what would tip?

Yes, correct. Okay. So 75% of $26,368 is $19,776. So it was important for me to understand what they get. And then with the TIF, based on the information that you gave us, we're estimating that for the next 10 years, instead of that $19,776, that they'll be getting $11,250. Okay.

I don't have the specific figure in front of me, but they will effectively see a 40% reduction versus what they would have.

Okay, so our numbers are close.

Sorry.

By my numbers, that's a $6,592 takeaway from the school system for a 10-year period. If you take that over 10 years and then you look at what they're going to get, the $38,015 starting in year 11, based on your data, it's going to take through year 16 for the school system to make up what they lost in the first 10 years. The difference of having no TIF and having the TIF over that 10-year period is $85,260. I want people to understand what this means to the school system. Current enrollment in Worcester City Schools is 3,100. If you count preschool, it's 3,300. The larger the number, the less per student it costs. But it also says there's a slight trend downward. So for the sake of estimates, I use 3,000. If you take that $85,216 divided by 3,000 students, the cost per student for this is $37.50. And over the 10-year period, it works out $3.75 per student per year based on the numbers that we just went over. I think it's important to understand if we're taking away, are we taking a large amount away from the students or are we doing something that will give a lot of value to the community? And at the same time, I have complete confidence in the treasurer of the school system, Amy Baker, in being able to find $3.75 per student if necessary. But I think the idea here is that we need to assure the public that we're not taking a major money grab from the school system to accomplish what we're trying to do. The upside of having Apple Creek Bank happy as an investor in the community and the upside of further development on the south side makes a lot of sense to me. Like my colleague, Mr. Husay, I'm definitely in a better position to support this particular legislation individually than what occurred before I assumed council. But I wanted to break that down, cost per student per year. And so I think for $3.75 a year, you've got my support on this. Thank you.

You're welcome. Well done, Mr. Paul. Thank you for that breakdown.

Now, to be clear, we are going to do the streetscape regardless of this TIF, yes? It's in the comprehensive plan.

Yeah, so our comprehensive plan says that we want to do this, yes. So materially, by utilizing the TIF, what this does is we have a $1.75 million project, and this brings $506,000 on or about. Those numbers can change a bit. But it brings that into our... funding for downtown and so by applying that to the streetscape that gives us the confidence to be able to approach this faster accomplish it sooner and additionally as things move forward in the future we'll be that half million dollars ahead on being able to pursue the next project for downtown within our comprehensive plan because this gives us that financial flexibility to move forward Okay.

And we are doing this without the consent of Apple Creek, though they want it. Legally, yes.

So they, yes, their leadership has indicated that they're very much in favor. They provided us a letter of support. But legally, this is with or without their consent. So when we file what's called the DTE 24, it's Ohio Department of Tax document that uh should this be approved we would take the legislation that council passes um our correspondences and so forth and we have to mark on there that this is being done without the consent of the owner and there are several reasons why you may want to utilize this um in other scenarios we may have a uh you know wonderful development that we're excited about but it's going to be very high density and generate a lot of traffic And we don't have a way to assess that property owner for the need for the funds that it's going to take to alleviate a traffic congestion that that particular development causes. So that's why that mechanism exists within the rules. What we're doing is the city is we're taking a look at our development as a whole. And whether we're talking about new housing, or in this case, we're talking about a multi story building that is going to expand the fabric of our downtown streetscape fitting way to kind of bring this in and streetscape is is naturally an element that we want to have in that area with that style of development. Um, so the city saying in order to better this parcel, uh, as well as meet our comprehensive plan goals without consent to the owner, we're going to cause that redirection of revenues to happen to pay for that public infrastructure. So, um, even though they were supportive of it, whether or not we passed if they're going to pay the same exact tax bill that they would otherwise, it's just that a portion of those funds. will arrive to pay for the bricks and mortar going in along the sidewalk first, which will then, separate from the calculations here, we anticipate and would hope to see about a 10% appreciation and property values along the streetscaped area over time that should generate a pretty significant bit of revenue over time that would hopefully mark down some of that $3 that we spoke about earlier. But that being said, that's why the law provides us the ability to utilize that without consent. And most TIFs, from my understanding, generally are without consent. Just the nature of, do you have a commercial development that may or may not be held by the same entity? They may sell it in the future. But what the community is doing is they're creating some revenue to cover infrastructure costs connected with with that development.

Jonathan, it's not a guarantee we would do this. We when we did this back in November, we voted no on all these tips. This went away. We voted no on this again. It could go away again.

Yes.

So there is value to the fact that as the city makes their plans, if we pass the TIF or don't pass the TIF, it could determine whether the project gets done. Now I know again, comprehensive plan doesn't mean we're doing it. I've seen the comprehensive plan. We have big plans all over the city and they're not done. But the idea is if, if we say no to it, it's still going to sit on the plan, but it may be kicked out. The can might get kicked down the road a couple of years, maybe never say yes to it. Now, you have very good reason and funding starts to come in and it gives us purpose now to get that done and show those residents down there that we are serious and we are going to invest. But on the other side, if we say no, it could be just like November where this thing just goes away.

So in other words, Jonathan, this is really designed to put a little octane in the gas tank to get things moving down there. Is that a fair assessment?

I'd say so. It allows us to be able to move forward faster than we would otherwise and to accomplish more than ultimately having a half million dollars means that we can get more bricks and mortar into the ground sooner rather than later. So we can start making the differences that we want to see sooner rather than later. The short answer is yes. Thank you, Mr. Rice.

We are still limited by when they actually start building, right? Because you said before we wouldn't see any tax appraisal or revenue until 28, 29 at the earliest. Right.

Correct. So so as far as our revenues go, this this is requiring some long term financial planning on our our end. So much like we do when we're looking at bonds or we're taking a look at some of this is a repayment mechanism. Yes, yeah reimbursement puts us in a much stronger position gives us more security to be able to say hey, we will have those funds we're not going to in debt our future selves in the you know our community's future as much as we would without having access to this tool.

And the schools would not see our. the schools will continue to see the same amount of money they do now.

They'll see a technically change until things go underground. They'll retain the same amount of money that they're receiving right now. And we would project that they would see a substantial increase because they're still going to enjoy 25% of those new revenues that are created. So that will not be unsubstantial coming in for schools. the district. So it'll still be a benefit. It's going to be a net positive. It just won't be as much revenue as there would have been otherwise. So it'll take a little bit longer to get to that 100%. But at the same time that that's happening, and again, it's not part of our calculations because it becomes a little speculative. But every other property that we take a look at in downtown same use same class with, um, streetscape tends to have an appreciation of about thirteen percent increase in valuation over properties without streetscape. So in this case we're generating new. We're opening up an entire new large block with streetscape for the first time. theoretically, based on those current valuations, that should on its own add another $10,000 of revenue as the auditor picks that value up in their reappraisals that they do every three years. So that should be some additional new revenues that they'll see on top of that. So bare minimum 25% plus. Okay.

Because I worry about with the school, it's not a large amount, this one, but based on our previous conversation, they're already foregoing almost a million dollars as it is, right? And so these things continue to add up over and over again. Do we have some of, perhaps some of our existing agreements that are diverting money away from them that will be falling off soon? So that way that might make up the difference.

Yeah, so that that'll happen to the million dollars that you're citing, um, goes toward all of our and enterprise zone agreements that we compile all of them together and we look at what's foregone. Um, and I'd have to say green local school district is, um. A sizable chunk of that, uh, but, uh, with that being said. um we've utilized cra and enterprise zone to help encourage developments that would not have happened otherwise and with that we're generating more than a million dollars of brand new revenues that didn't exist in fact about 23 of the school district's revenues today are attributable to new construction that has occurred since 2010. And a lot of that's been spurred by our investment in the program. So while there's this forgotten amount, there's a much higher amount of. Fresh revenue that is coming in and that's a 1M plus dollars of revenue that is coming into the district that wasn't before that residents are not having to pay, but there's a net gain. There's a net game here.

I want to jump in here and ask Mr. Doherty a quick question. So we do have some. larger TIF zones for some of the bigger developments we've done. Now, with some of the growing valuations in real estate, Does that help the city recapture some of those TIF funds faster that may allow us to end those TIF agreements soon?

Yes.

So that's a distinct possibility as well because we look at some of these areas where we may have had 10 or 15-year TIFs, but if those values keep going up and we recover faster, we might be able to get out of those agreements sooner.

History has shown that actually we did the long road tip. Twenty thirty years ago, twenty some years ago, and it, it, uh. It ended much, much faster than. It was projected to because because of the evaluations.

In that area, so between. Our enterprise zones, CRE or and existing tips through evaluations. There's possibility within the, I won't say the next couple of years, but in the intermediate. We could start seeing some of that tax revenue start to flow back to the schools sooner than anticipated. I don't think I'm out of line saying that if you think that that's an accurate.

Yeah, again, we, that happened with long road. It's actually, it did happen with long road too.

Yeah, I'd say with with the tools that we use CRA easy to categorically we've injected over we're responsible for over 1Million dollars of funding into the schools that would not exist without use of these programs that council created just about 20 years ago now. Um, and that's, um, reflecting the fact that we have quite a few agreements that are still, um, underway and or or getting started. So, the company, 1 of our 2nd, largest building ever constructed, um, is 1 of the, uh, active agreements that that we have within that program. so um when we're taking a look at what's been generated it's been very significant and we've also endeavored to participate in a project called territory transfer so when jared decided to join the city of worcester one of the things that we did as a city was we moved that territory into worcester city school district that doesn't happen automatically with annexation That happens by petition of property owners and coordination with the state. And in this case, we partnered with Green Local Schools to make that a possibility. So we care very much about our school district partners. We've really, I feel, have gone out of our way, as I think every city really should be. Do I think a city should invest in their schools? Um, but that's that's been our pattern of practice and 1 that we hope to continue moving forward with in the future. But between all those efforts being very intentional with our programming. Making sure if we're utilizing tip that we're doing something, it's going to create value. We're not just doing maintenance, but we're, we're doing something that's going to create value that can generate new tax revenue for our schools long term. then we're doing something really helpful, not only to further our comprehensive plan, but build the financial stability that not only schools, but county, library, other districts rely on for

And Jonathan, I just want to clarify something you have in your packet. You noted here that the. If it's reviewed by council twice annually and the budget process.

Yes, so so the, and I promise I don't have to speak at all of these, but if this is approved. You will see it in detail when it arrives to you from a review by our Tax Incentive Review Council. And what we do there for transparency is we show things, as you can see from last year's report, we go year by year, hey, these are the revenues, these are the investments, and this is how it's panning out. So you will see that for this as well. And then you'll also see it as its own budget item in the annual budget process because it has to – It is part of creating the funded. It will truly be a standalone fund in our. Comprehensive plan, our comprehensive annual financial report.

So, hypothetically. If we're running ahead on the revenue, we'll have 2 times a year where we can say, you know what we've made up the ground. We've done what we needed to do. It's time to give it back to the school. Correct?

Yes.

Yeah.

But I do want to stress the whole whole way through with this effort, we will be generating new revenues for the schools even during that first 10 year period will be substantial new revenue coming in with this.

We just can't tell what it is.

No, it'll be significant. I think in our detailed report that we provided earlier, we broke that down. And the nice thing is, had we looked at our more traditional tools like CRA, what's nice about the TIF from a revenue sharing standpoint is that we do have more sharing of revenues with schools when we utilize TIF. we'll be sharing some of the income tax revenues that we have in a much faster rate than we would have if we're looking at something like CRA. So in that regard, it's also beneficial.

Good conversation. Does anybody else want to jump in? All right, this is on its second reading. I'm going to I'm going to take a swing at this and motion to suspend the rules and try to move this forward.

All right. Motion to suspend the rules. Is there a second? Second. Ms. Hamilton, call the roll on the suspension of the rules.

Mr. Abernathy.

Yes.

Mr. Paul.

Yes.

Mr. Malta.

Yes.

Mr. Gaffey.

Yes.

Mr. Hussay.

Yes.

Ms. Worden. Yes. Mr. Owens.

No. Okay, rules have been suspended. Motion to adopt. Second. Seconded by Ms. Paul. Ms. Hamplin, please call the roll on the adoption.

Mr. Abernathy. Yes. Mr. Paul.

Yes.

Mr. Malta.

Yes.

Mr. Gaffey.

Yes.

Mr. Huze.

Yes.

Ms. Warden. Yes.

Mr. Owens. No.

All right. We'll move on to our next unfinished business, which is second reading of Resolution 2026-31. But Ms. Hamilton, will you please read it for us first?

Resolution number 2026-31, a resolution providing for the annual tax budget for fiscal year beginning January 1, 2027.

Mr. Abernathy, the floor is yours. Thank you, Mr. President. We had a public hearing, and Director Doherty went through the annual tax budget for 2027. So I'll open it up one more time for any additional questions for Mr. Doherty. Hearing none, I will go ahead and motion to suspend the rules.

Motion to suspend the rules. Is there a second? Second. Ms. Hamilton, please call the roll on the suspension of the rules.

Mr. Abernathy.

Yes.

Mr. Malta.

Yes.

Mr. Owens. Yes. Mr. Paul. Yes. Ms. Warden. Yes. Mr. Huze. Yes. Mr. Gaffey.

Yes. Okay, rules have been suspended. Motion to adopt. Motion to adopt. Is there a second?

Second. You got it?

I'm good. All right.

Should I read the names now?

Please roll, yes. Please call the roll on the adoption.

Mr. Abernathy. Yes. Mr. Malta.

Yes.

Mr. Owens. Yes. Mr. Paul. Yes. Ms. Worden. Yes. Mr. Hussey. Yes. Mr. Gaffey.

Yes. Well, there you go, Mr. Doherty. You can submit that stuff later. Thank you. I very appreciate it.

All right, let's move on to new business Ordinance 2026-13 miss Hamilton you can please read it for us ordinance number 2026-13 an ordinance vacating an approximately 500 foot portion of progress Drive in the city of Worcester bounded by lot numbers nine six two four and and 9652 being Wayne County permanent parcel number 64-02030.000 and 64-02030.012 respectively. All right. Ms. Wharton, the floor is yours.

Mr. President, you can recuse yourself. Very good.

Thank you. This is a topic that we just held a public hearing on yesterday. About a half an hour ago, and so, as promised, I'm going to invite Mr. Stalin to come up and speak on its behalf as 1 of the business owners.

Yeah, business owner mailing or address is 1825 enterprise Parkway. From the tell the truth. Um, this is really predicated on the fact that we're getting ready to build a warehouse. So we're getting ready to break around any day, pay my permit fees here. So we can move earth this week. And we would looked at the design progress drive was always. Gonna the plan was for it to connect all the way to guy's chapel. when this was put in 22 years ago jerry baker had a vision for everything from bauer ladder east to guyer's chapel being offices so in the woods down the street would kind of go down and there'd be all these offices and nooks and then you know the market changed and the demand for office uh went to the wayside noble drive bend and drive you've seen a lot of that transfer over from office to residential right so i think this is a continuation of that when we started to look at this site uh not to over talk it but it was like well what are we going to do with this roadway it just goes and just dead ends right um so i think we we talked amongst the the city departments what was the best route and it was like well we might as well just vacate it and just incorporate it into the design we both uh own both of the parcels and we will own everything to guyer's chapel also that gives some uh definitive that the road isn't gonna get all the way through there's 56 acres now of woods coming off of guyer's chapel that we are actively looking at uh what can we do with that um what reuse could we bring back to you and try to do some more infill that we've talked about so this kind of buttons that up and says progress drive dead ends at bauer it can incorporate into our design for the build and it was like it it was always meant to be so um i'll welcome any questions they have but that's really a straightforward request so appreciate you entertaining it thank you thank you does anyone have any questions for mr starlin the city using it for anything

Okay.

Ms. Warden, is there any reason to oppose this?

There's not. And like I stated in the public hearing earlier, and Mr. Stratton clarified as well, they're the property owners abutting this entire portion of the roadway. So it makes no sense to keep it on our books and on our maintenance schedule if it's something that would benefit them. So there's a cost savings. There's a cost savings there, yes. Now you're speaking my language, Jennifer. Normally I would probably keep something like this on first reading, but I don't see any reason to delay this any longer. So I'm going to make a motion to suspend the rules this evening.

Motion to suspend the rules, seconded. And to clarify, it's the very end of it, right? The progress drive?

Correct. Yeah, it's, yes.

Ms. Hamilton, please call the roll on the suspension of the rules.

Ms. Warden? Yes. Mr. Paul?

Yes.

Mr. Owens?

Yes.

Mr. Abernathy? Yes. Mr. Huzey? Da. Recused. Mr. Malta?

Yes.

Mr. Gaffey?

Yes. Motion to adopt. Motion to adopt. Second. Second. Ms. Hamilton, please call the roll on the adoption.

Ms. Warden? Yes. Mr. Paul? Yes. Mr. Owens? Yes. Mr. Abernathy? Yes. Mr. Malta? Yes. Mr. Gaffey?

Yes.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Starling. Keep doing good things out there.

Mr. Huze has joined us again. She brought your track sheets. Move on to the next item, resolution 2026-32. Ms. Hamilton, please read it for us.

Resolution number 2026-32, a resolution authorizing the director of administration to advertise according to law and enter into a contract with the lowest and best bidder for the Christmas Run Park thin restroom replacement and allowing for immediate enactment.

All right. Mr. Owens, the floor is yours.

Yes, so this would be replacing the fin restrooms over Christmas Run Park. As it says in here, that building serves the pickleball courts, the pavilion, playground, a lot of facilities that are serviced by it. And John, in our conversations, the building is quite old. Were you able to identify how old exactly?

We couldn't find a year on it.

Okay, so at least 2,000. So building's 26 years old. The plumbing is also at least as old. John sent me a picture of the plumbing underneath. I don't think it's included in here, but it's a bit of a nightmare looking. Oh, I've got the pictures. Okay.

Let's see what it looks like. That's in the basement. So this, this restroom building has a basement. The plumbing's in there. It's a mess. And you signing up to go clean that?

What's that?

You signing up to go clean that? I would not go down there. No, I did someone else. I will give credit to the photo taker. It was not me. I didn't want to go down there. But yeah, my understanding is they've had numerous issues with the plumbing over the years and they've had plumbers in there trying to figure out what's going on. Just some weird things that they're not. able to figure out so given the age of the building the plumbing the arrangement of the building it just it's time to get a new restroom is it fair to say that if we don't do this it would be a health hazard given the condition of the plumbing uh you go in there and you tell me what you think i'm asking for your professional opinion chief engineer plumbing is uh it's pretty important that it's done properly and there's so it's not a stretch to make that assertion it would not be a stretch okay

Any other questions? All right. Well, it is a budgeted item, so we don't need to suspend the rules. Motion to adopt. Second.

Motion to adopt. Seconded. Ms. Hamilton, please call the roll on the adoption.

Mr. Owens.

Yes.

Mr. Malta.

Yes.

Mr. Paul.

Yes.

Ms. Wharton. Yes. Mr. Hussey. Yes. Mr. Gaffey. Yes. Mr. Abernathy.

Yes. Okay. Very good. Next item, resolution 2026-33 is also a budgeted item. Ms. Hamilton, please read it for us.

Resolution number 2026-33, a resolution authorizing the expenditure of additional funds for services from RETU and allowing for immediate enactment.

Mr. Malta, the floor is yours. Thank you. Mr. Rice is here with me today, tonight. It's getting later and Jen's getting hungrier. We're just looking to throw some extra funds at the engineering service here. Again, it is budgeted. This is at the pollution control plant, my understanding. We've had a lot of big projects going on there. We brought up the lighting that we're gonna be putting in to kill the bugs. So if there's any questions, I will direct them to Mr. Rice tonight. If there are not, we can move forward.

Read the contractor's name backwards. I'm sorry? Read the contractor's name backwards.

Wetter? That's great.

I found humor. Catching up now. I didn't hear you. Sorry. Without any questions budgeted, don't need to suspend, I'll motion to adopt.

Motion to adopt. Second. Second. Ms. Hamilton, please call the roll on the adoption.

Mr. Malta.

Yes.

Mr. Huze.

Yes.

Mr. Paul. Yes. Mr. Abernathy. Yes. Ms. Worden. Yes. Mr. Owens. Yes. Mr. Gaffey.

Yes. Okay. Next item is also a budgeted item, Resolution 2026-34. Ms. Hamilton, please read it for us.

Resolution number 2026-34, a resolution authorizing the Director of Administration to enter into a contract for professional design services with CESO, Inc. for the Silver Road Improvements Project and allowing for immediate enactment.

Ms. Warden, the floor is yours.

Thank you. So now that the grand farm property has been annexed into the city, we have to begin the process of improving portions of the roadway and extending utilities along silver road from venture board. This resolution would authorize the city to enter into professional engineering and design services contract with. CESO Inc. Is that how you say it? I always wonder when we... Okay, great. I should try to read it backwards, though. Maybe that would help. For the construction drawings, right-of-way plans, and legal descriptions for these projects. The objective is for the property to become more attractive to potential residential developers Estimated cost for these services is $200,000. This is not technically a budgeted item, but it does use budgeted funds from other projects for which bids have come in below their estimates. And after I discussed this with Mr. Rice today, I realized that we do not need to place this on third and final reading this evening. And so I will make a motion to adopt.

Motion to adopt. Is there a second?

Second.

Samson, please call the roll on the Mr. President. Can I ask a question before we vote on it?

Certainly.

Okay. Mr. Rice, how far down Silver Road, I guess, are we just stopping at the property line? Are we going all the way to McAfee with this redevelopment?

It's going to be...

Cause if I'm not mistaken from when we did the annexation, I don't think it goes that far down.

It's not going clear to that sharp curve. Okay. No, that it's getting, getting into the annexation area, but not going, no, it's not going clear to that. So yeah, we're not coming like. Correct. Correct. Stop there. Yeah. It's definitely not. Definitely have a little bridge across the bridge and then up past the guardrail that if it weren't there, you'd fall 30 feet into Clear Creek. Yeah, it gets up there.

But then, yeah, before the curve. And then what's the timeline? When are we looking to actually perform the work?

Well, starting engineering this year, the best case would be next construction season at the earliest. It just this is the next natural step in the process. We annex. We obviously want to develop it. We've got to get prepared to get the infrastructure there because whenever a developer wants it, they're going to want us to react. Immediately, so these are just the designs they're just going to design and tell you what it's going to look like. This is just the design for the roadway to infrastructure. Yes. And like I said, construction at the soonest will be. Next year, it could get delayed, but at least. We'll have the plans ready whenever the time is right. Okay.

I want to make sure I heard you correctly, Ms. Warden, and that is the $200,000 is coming from savings that we had on other projects that came in under budget. So we're simply reallocating budget. Correct.

That's the advantage to bidding projects are really we get good prices and we have some funds that we're able to use for other necessary projects such as this.

Okay, well, no other questions. Ms. Hamilton, please call the roll on the adoption.

Ms. Wharton? Yes. Mr. Owens?

Yes.

Mr. Huze?

Yes.

Mr. Abernathy?

Yes.

Mr. Paul? Yes. Mr. Malta? Yes. Mr. Gaffey?

Yes.

Okay. Next item is Resolution 2026-35. It is also a budgeted item. And with that, Ms. Hamilton, please read it for us.

Resolution number 2026-35, a resolution authorizing the Director of Administration to advertise according to law and enter into a contract with the lowest and best bidder for a water line replacement project on Eddy Way between Reed Road and Carter Drive and allowing for immediate enactment.

Ms. Warden, the floor is yours.

Thank you. The city plans to replace the water line on the portion of any way between Carter drive and read road. This is a portion of old cast iron water line that has some leaks. Um, in fact, Mr. Rice informed me today that we've had thirteen breaks or leads. Uh, which require very extensive repairs. It can be very time consuming and expensive not to mention, um, frustrating for the residents in this neighborhood. This is also a very high priority on the water line replacement list. Estimated cost for the project is $150,000, which will reduce operating costs once it's complete. And this is a budget item. Are there any questions? Oh, and it will likely take place in the fall. Any questions? Okay, I move to adopt motion to adopt.

Is there a second second?

All right.

Please call the roll on the adoption.

Ms. Warden. Yes. Mr. Owens.

Yes.

Mr. Gaffey.

Yes.

Mr. Paul.

Yes.

Mr. Malta.

Yes.

Mr. Abernathy. Yes. Mr. Huze.

Yes. All right.

last item this evening resolution 2026-36 uh three readings by mr abernathy but first miss hamilton you should please read it for us resolution number 2026-36 a resolution authorizing the mayor to submit an application to the state of ohio department of development development office of community infrastructure for a small cities community development block grant for Program Year 26 Critical Infrastructure Grant to accept such monies if awarded to execute any necessary documents in connection therewith and allowing for immediate enactment.

Mr. Abernathy, the floor is yours. Thank you. So we're looking to make an application for the CDBG grant for about $500,000. Looking to fund the replacement of some cast iron water line along West Vine and South Grant Street. I feel like we talked about this a little bit last year, portions which are undersized and the extent of which they have an unacceptably high break history. So this is pretty important stuff. I'm trying to remember. We had... feel like is in a different part of town but same concept with these smaller lines do we have pressure issues with some of these these lines from from time to time with them being small it's more of a flow issue rather than pressure because they're they're only some of them um in other places they're as small as four inch and that's

when they're first installed. The cast iron, they tend to get buildup on them, and whenever we cut into them to replace them, it's not unusual to see them down to about a two-inch diameter with all the buildup inside.

I definitely feel like we had some conversation around different parts of town.

I know Gashi Street, we applied for this funding, and unfortunately, we didn't get it. We ended up getting OPWC funding, but there were some pretty undersized lines over there, bad shape that...

We definitely need to continue to improve these water lines. This is pretty important stuff. So I'd open it up to anybody else. Again, this legislation is for the mayor to apply for the grant. But the purpose for the grant is really important stuff. So anybody have any questions in regards to the legislation?

And based on the estimates, this would get us 50% of the way there to doing the improvements.

I like free money, free money works. I think it's also important if I make a comment that is, it's another opportunity for us to support the South side of town. And continue to erode that perception that they've been ignored. Clear clean running water that works is. Essential part of life. There's no, there's no downside to this. We should now enacted immediately.

If we are able to secure this grant for this type of funding, will this bump up the timeline for this particular project? Or are we going to just do it when we do it anyways, and this would just be nice if we can get a part of it paid for?

This 1, I'm not, I'm not exactly sure where it falls on the priority list. I know with part of it is looking at there's only certain parts of town that qualify. So we have to take that into consideration as well. Whenever we're putting these grant applications together for so. I can't say for sure where it would fall otherwise, but I know if we get the funding, obviously we would match that and proceed with it.

Does CDBG, and I'm familiar with different grants out there, but I'm not completely familiar with CDBG all the way yet. Do they put timelines on expenditure of funds?

Yes, so in this case, when we're making the application, we'd be committing to having everything, uh, wrapped up, uh, by August of 2028. Um, ideally we could move faster with that if we had visibility, um, to be. quite honest uh the the odds of success are questionable with this grant however there there is a chance and so when there's a chance to obtain funds for our residents uh we're gonna put the effort in to to try uh even though it's it's not a guarantee um we we don't want to leave an opportunity on the table especially um in an area where You know we're focusing investment and trying to bring things back the particular route outlines our arts district. We additionally will see this line supporting also the Wayne county public library, the new art Center which is going to have their opening next month so. David Price- But That being said, we have all these other finance institutions, making investments, and this is something separately our own arts district work, but this is some of the underground unsung stuff that's really important if we're going to help encourage that that redevelopment so. David Price- But we will be committed to a timeline and that that would generally be about within a two year period from right now. But if we don't try, we know for sure we're not going to get it.

From application to award, what kind of timeline is that?

So if we're lucky, we will know sometime by November if this would be successful. So our plan would be to have the application in this week.

Can any of us...

I'm sorry, what's that? Isn't the application due today? The 10th.

Can any of us help you lobby? Is there anybody we can contact to push the case?

I very much appreciate it. But the part of this, this work is actually getting council authorization. So that would be huge if we could get approval tonight. We have asked members of our communities for letters of support, and we've graciously received some. So that'll be accompanying this with the application so that Again, would include Wayne Center for the Arts and Wayne County Public Library. So we're thankful for that. That gets us a couple extra points. That being said, there is only so much lobbying that we can do. They have to be fair to all the other communities too. So it kind of gets sequestered and they go through the rubrics and rules. But we learned that we had a chance for this, so we wanted to present it to you.

And we have received this in the past for a water line over on Lincoln Street, traffic signals on North Street. So it can be done. Yes, it can be done. They're very competitive. But Jonathan does a good job of writing these up and making a good case for the projects that we submit.

Any additional questions or comments?

I'm just curious, I just have one real quick just curious kind of the opposite question of flow but we're going from a multiple sizes, it looks like right on this line to a solid 16 inch pipe.

What it is originally there's a six inch distribution. Four inch or six inch distribution line through there that that just serve those residents. And then at some point they ran a sixteen inch transmission line up through there, which is why we have two different sizes. Okay.

So I just was wondering if going to one solid sixteen inch pipe. Does cause any pressure issues going to a larger pipe instead of a smaller one?

It won't cause any pressure issues.

And one of the interesting things is that this has been patchwork through through the year. So you actually have two separate lines in certain locations serving different sides of the street, which that's just the affordable way that we would have done it 50 plus years ago. Well, it would have been over 60 years ago that this would have happened. However, that's double the risk of breaks at this juncture being as old as they are. So having that resilient single line to replace that, and most of this is already 16 inch, so we're replacing in kind, should make it nice and strong going forward.

Okay. not to be the wet blanket on the giant bonfire here, but if the situation down there is so bad, why didn't we already put this into effect and do this last year or this year?

I wouldn't say that it's so bad. What we're really looking at is our trajectory. So at this rate, we are average per break for linear foot. Let me answer this one, John.

Thank you, Mr. Rice. You're welcome.

So basically, like I said, Jonathan does a good job of writing these up to get us the funding. And in his narrative, he doesn't stretch the truth, but he He paints a very good picture of how critical and how much this project needs to be done. And I think some of that naturally spills over into the request. So it's not that it is a dire situation that it needs to be done right now, but it may come across that way because he does a good job of writing it up like that and Um, pitching that to the committee to review this.

I mean, at this point, I would hope that it was that bad that we would have just budgeted done it. But at the end of the day, I mean.

The dog and pony show here, I get it, but and I almost warned him because I remember the same thing coming up on street that he made such a good case in front of council that it was like, oh, my goodness. Why aren't we doing it like yesterday? So I should have warned him. Sorry. But there's the explanation.

OK. Well, I'm going to motion to suspend the rules.

Motion to suspend the rules. Is there a second? Second. Second. Ms. Hamilton, please call the roll on the suspension.

Mr. Abernathy. Yes. Ms. Wharton. Yes. Mr. Paul. Yes. Mr. Malta. Yes. Mr. Gaffey. Yes. Mr. Owens. Yes. Mr. Huze.

Yes. Mr. Abernathy? Motion to adopt.

Second.

Motion and seconded. Ms. Hamilton, please call the roll on the adoption.

Mr. Abernathy? Yes. Ms. Warden? Yes. Mr. Paul? Yes. Mr. Malta? Yes. Mr. Gaffey? Yes. Mr. Owens? Yes. Mr. Hussay?

Yes. All right. We got through this evening without the mayor. Um... We had no one sign up for miscellaneous, so at this point, we'll get right into council members. So, Mr. Gaffey, if you want to start us off.

I don't really have much to say tonight, other than I heard something on the radio this morning I couldn't believe, and that was that Ohio today supposedly was the only state in the U.S. that did not have rain. So just appreciative of that. Weather's been great. So hope everybody's enjoying it. That's all I got.

We dumped it all out last month.

We certainly did.

And it's definitely dry because I was going down 83 yesterday and there was a guy disking. And at this point it was like the giant dust bowl of the 20s or whatever back in Kansas. I mean, you couldn't see for half a mile. Ms. Warden.

I just wanted to congratulate the Wayne County Fair Board, Friends of the Fair, on another successful event this past weekend with their Wayne County Music and Rib Fest. It was finally really decent weather the whole weekend, and I think the crowds that showed up kind of were indicative of that, and I'm hopeful that they made some good money because it is a primary fundraiser for that organization. I'd also just like to congratulate Worcester Generals graduates this year. One of my nephews is one of those graduates. So very proud of all of them and their hard work. So that's all I've got. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Malta, thank you. Thank you all in attendance as always and watching us tonight. And congratulations to the 2026 graduates this year. That's all I have.

As a student first, I'd like to say happy pride to everyone and invite everyone out. There will be a pride event at Christmas Run Park at the Finn Pavilion from 3 to 5 this Saturday.

Thank you. Thank you. Mr. President got a chance to take my son to the Memorial Day parade. He was thrilled with the event. He loves seeing the new mayor. I just want to say thanks to everybody. He's in attendance and also Mr. Barnett. He's watching it.

thank you mr president that's good mr ball thank you mr president um in the spirit of budgets i learned today that ohio was the first state in the united states that required municipalities to have an executive budget so uh good for us for sticking with the program and getting it done early today but uh uh congratulations the graduates um and uh another successful year of getting our young out into the public and giving back to the communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernathy.

I'll echo congratulations to the the graduates, but some of the folks that get forgotten is I want to say congratulations to the youngsters as well. Those that are going to be moving past the grade schools and heading to Edgewood. This is a big, big moment for you and those that are going to be leaving Edgewood and heading to the high school. These are big formative steps for you guys. And, you know, it's a big move. It's another step in growing up. So, you know, enjoy your summer. Get excited. It's the next step in your journey. So I'm really happy for all of you. So soak up that sun. Have a great summer. And that's all I've got.

All right. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Second. Second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. See you all next week.