City Council - Regular Meeting

[clears throat] children about. [snorts] [clears throat]

And also guys, just so you know, um we have Justin Lake is our assistant finance director. Um he's sitting in for our finance director tonight, um who had a prior obligation. And then Mr. Eric Henry is sitting in tonight for a city manager who got called away today um due to illness and immediate family. So um we'll have to lift him up. So just to let you guys know what's who the new faces are tonight. And then we did um you saw us leave. We were in the chambers for just a second. Um that [snorts] was in the meeting. We always um like to recognize um the Lord and we were we just said a quick prayer. So thank you. Which we'll have another one right before we get started.

[clears throat] [clears throat] [snorts] All right. Good evening. All right. I'd like to welcome everyone to the regular meeting of the Zena City Council. Today is Monday, December 22nd. We will have an invocation. Um, our pastor is not here tonight, so Mayor Ursel will do that invocation followed by the pledge of allegiance and um, if you could please rise. Go ahead and rise. Thanks.

All right, let's go ahead and pray. Father, first off, we just, uh, thank you for this time of year. Um, I know uh a lot of folks have a lot of things on their plates and uh hard things uh don't stop during this time of year, but uh I just thank you that uh we have a God that's willing to come to earth and take a body like ours and go through all those hard things, Father, that we go through so that uh tell us in the book of Hebrews we can boldly come into your presence and with our issues because you we have a great high priest who uh who understands us. And so, thank you so much for that and um thank you for this time of year for us to just stop and reflect on that. Thank you for everybody that's come out tonight and I know this is a busy time of week and for their interest in the things that we're doing. And God uh we just uh thank you for the public trust we have with uh with us here on council. Help us be good stewards of that tonight to it says in Proverbs to uh to listen well and uh to hear hear and lean hard on your counsel. And we thank you for uh our our folks that uh from the city that are out on the streets while we're in here where it's warm. Uh Father, we got uh firefighters and police and public service that uh that who knows what they're going to be encountering tonight. Uh you do already. So we just pray for their protection and safety. Give them wisdom. Many of them have to make some hard split second decisions on things. And so help them to to do those with wisdom. And that's going to look out for the best interest of our community. Praise. things in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Right. You can face the flagg 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. Thank you very much, Mayor Ursel. At this time, we'll call our meeting to order and we'll go with the roll call, please. Mayor Ursel, here. Councilman Reynolds here. Councilman Crawford. Councilman Propes here. Councilman Walker here. Councilwoman Sice here. President Smith here. Mr. President, I move to excuse uh Councilman Walker. Thank you. Sorry. Well, he and Crawford. Sorry. I [laughter] pull the West.

That's right. Hey. All right. So, we have a motion to excuse Councilman Crawford tonight. Um, I'll second that motion. Is there any discussion or comments? All right. Get a roll call to accept that, please. Mayor Ursel. Hi, Councilman Reynolds. Hi, Councilman Propes. Hi, Councilman Walker. Hi, Councilwoman Sice. Hi, President Smith. Hi. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Next before us on the agenda is approval of minutes. These are the regular meeting uh minute notes from our regular meeting on December 11th. We have the minutes before us. I'll entertain a motion to accept the minutes. So, move.

Thank you. Moved by Councilman Reynolds. We have a second by Councilwoman Sice. There any corrections or additions need noted to the meeting? notes. All right. Not seeing any, we'll get a roll call to accept the minutes, please. Mayor Ursel, I. Councilman Reynolds, hi. Councilman Propes, I. Councilman Walker, hi. Councilwoman Sice, hi. President Smith, hi. Motion carries. Thank you very much. We have no special presentation for tonight's meeting. So, that moves us right into audience comments. This is the opportunity for anyone who would care to come forward to the podium. We do ask for your name and address. uh limit your comments to the three minutes and [snorts] um we'll go ahead and open the floor for that. Thank you,

Mr. President, mayor, members of the council. My name is Michael Bryce Keller. I live at 1615 Kylemore Drive here in Zena. I've lived in Ohio for 14 years. I've been an attorney for 12 years and I've lived 5 years now in Zenaia. I'm an Air Force veteran and a local defense attorney [clears throat] and I have submitted my application to the council at the uh December 10th through 17th window for council applications. I wanted to come tonight to introduce myself as the window was still open when I intended to see the meeting and observe last week or two weeks ago. Understand? Mhm. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you.

All right. Okay. Anyone else care to come forward at this time? All right. Okay. All right. Very good, folks. We're going to go ahead and go into old business. So, our first item tonight in old business is ordinance 2025-33. This was tabled at our last meeting. Um, so we have an approval for a major change to the concept plan for the 52.36 acre Timber Ridge plan unit development. Um, we'll turn this over to Mr. Henry first. Untable it first. We have to unt. Okay, very good. We are gonna have to vote first to unt.

Okay, great. So, I'll accept [snorts] a motion to unt item. I'll move. Thank you. Moved by the mayor. Do we have a second? I'll second. Seconded by Councilman Walker. Okay, we're voting right now just to unt item. Okay, roll call, please. Mayor Ursel, I. Councilman Reynolds. Hi, Councilman Propes. Hi, Councilman Walker. Hi, Councilwoman Sice. Hi, President Smith. Hi. Thank you very much. All right. Now, Mr. Henry, thank you.

Yes. This is for the uh Arbor Homes uh PUD change on the Timber Ridge uh property. Uh it's been a lot of back and forth, a lot of spirited uh debate uh from residents, and we really appreciated um that level of dialogue. Uh so at this time I don't know what more can be said uh from staff's perspective but I do have the planning and zoning coordinator here happy to answer any questions that anyone may have. All right. Thank you very much. All right. At this time we um I'm going to ask any of my colleagues if you have any questions either for city staff or Mr. Forsner.

I do have a question to Dette. Just asking this. Um, is there any reason, you know, legally that we could vote to deny this? They there's no legal violation. Um, basically what your decision is going to have to be, it's a factual one. Um, you've been given the standards and you have to decide based on the facts and the evidence presented to you whether or not you feel this proposal meets those standards. Um, there's no constitutional violation. There's no legal violation of which I'm aware. Um the [clears throat] decision for you is a factual one. Um and only council can make that.

All right. Very good. Yeah. So um sure. Let me ask um Eric had one question which we discussed earlier today and I think it'd be good to bring that out with everyone. So the the um developer was proposing uh two phases for the development.

Correct. And uh it was not clear to me, at least the way that I read the material, whether the what he was proposing for phase one would also include the access from the development to uh US68. And so uh if if you or Brian could could address that as to whether uh if we move forward with that and the part of the concern with with that the way we talked about too was that if if the developer should should initiate phase one but delay phase two or and as we've seen in other developments may not even you know due to economic issues may not even execute uh the phase two. Uh there was just a lot of concern as to whether folks would be routed strictly up through Timber Ridge if that access was not there, might be left there for a long time, right?

Or if they would be required that we would have that uh access on Route 68 so that if the phase 2 uh was delayed or [clears throat] did not happen within a certain time period, we would still have that access to Route 68 on the alternate route. Yeah. I I'll leave it to to Brian to maybe fill in more, but [snorts] um at this time both those uh ingress egress from US68 and Ridge Road are locked into phase one. Um Brian, there's certain restrictions as far as the amount of homes that would require that ingress egress. So yeah, basically to answer your question, the the the new entrance from 68 will be built in the first phase.

In the first phase, right? So, um, and that's important to staff because we don't want traffic to be forced to go through the existing neighborhood to get to the new neighborhood. Correct. They'll have their own entrance. Right. Okay. So, we're sure that entrance will be there even if the phase 2 is delayed or does not That's correct. become executed. Yeah. It's part of phase one, right? And then the um the water retention pond is going to be part of phase one as well too. Is that correct? Yes, that's required because for the storm water they have to have that in place before they start developing lots. Right.

Okay. The last question I had is there's been some discussion about um um street studies. Uh we talked about something about there's a there's there may be a speed study which is which we would be providing information to the state which will be primarily on Route 68 looking at the speed there. But that would be us providing information to the state. The state would [clears throat] be making a determination because that's their their termination not ours. But then there would also be an access study off of Route 68 as well. That was a study that we would conduct and based upon that that would determine whether it would have to be a turning lane, the length of the turning lane, the construction of that. But that but that the that would be at the expense of the developer, not at the expense of the city. Did I get that correct?

That's correct. Yeah, we were we are requiring the developer to pay for studies to determine whether turn lanes are needed on Route 68 and also to determine whether it's possible to reduce the speed limit on Route 68. And all of those studies will be required to be done before the the first section is approved and construction starts. Okay. And then if if those studies recommend improvements to be made, widening or otherwise, the developer will be required to pay for those improvements. Okay.

I have a question follow. Um so if the traffic study were to come back that it wasn't approved, could they still build their homes and they would just exit through Ridge Road then? No, we're we're not going to approve a sub a subdivision with only one entrance for this many homes because the fire code requires a second entrance for any subdivision that's more than 30 lots.

Okay. So, if the traffic study were to come back that they couldn't uh that they can't exit onto 68 twice in a row, then this would stop the development. The traffic study is most likely going to recommend what needs to be done to 68 in order to safely accommodate access to this new entrance. It's uh it's the tra that's what traffic studies do. Uh they don't just typically say no, you can't do it. They say here's what you have to do in order to safely accommodate through turn lanes and modifications and otherwise. So the access study is our study. the speed study as a state study. Well, or that we would submit to ODOT when they're [snorts]

is when you say our study, it's it's really the traffic impact study, correct? Is one that we we ultimately have the authority to decide what what improvements are going to be made to that roadway. Right. With the speed study and reducing the speed limit, that requires additional approval by ODOT. Right. Right. And how many houses are we referring to? Like the first setup it gets everything passes through. I believe that the first phase is phase one's 45 lots and phase two is 43 lots.

43. Yep. All right. Any other questions for Mr. Forcher? Thank you, Brian.

All right, we're going to go ahead and um explain. So, I did, this is a little out of turn. We didn't have anybody come up and speak under audience comments. Although there is not a public we had the public hearing for this item at the last meeting. However, out of fairness and courtesy to those that have are here. If you have anything new that you would like to bring to the table, we really can't consider that because it's not information given to us in the public hearing. But it if there is anybody that's just really compelled that you would like to direct your comments to council, we're going to go ahead and allow that. Is is there anybody here that would like to speak? And and just for the sake of time, guys, I I am going to just ask you to keep your comments brief. Okay. Thank you.

Alyssa Barvel, 2495 [clears throat] Ridge Road Senior. Um, can I ask the developer a question? So, normally it's not a question and answer session. Um, but I'm going to He's here. Are you comfortable with that? I mean, this these are comments that should have been done in the planning and zoning phase. Um, but you can ask him a question. That's only fair.

So, we live on the lot that is backs up to 68. We are the guardrail lot. Um there is a dry pond next to us and then we have like there's a tunnel of you know pipe drain pipe and then it goes through our yard and there's another drain pipe that goes under 68. So my concern is you have a house going there. Well, there was now it's a little bit extended out and then you guys just show that it's going to be a green space. And then you show your retention pond, but I'm concerned for my yard now because it already floods really bad because that dry pond's never been maintained because the developer left. So, and didn't, you know, take care of what it needed to be done. So, what happens now?

Do you want Sure. Yeah. And I'll be quite frank. I I really didn't get to hear your comments. Okay. On the property next to us. Um, and it's there because of drainage and it was put there by the previous developer, but it's never been maintained or taken care of the way it was supposed to. So, our property floods and there's a drainage pipe that goes through and then it goes through like the yard and then there's another drainage pipe that goes like under 68 and so in the renderings it's gone and my concern is what's going to happen to my yard. Sure.

I never really like thought to ask so I apologize.

Yeah. I uh Brian heading 21104 Keer Lane. can't speak to the current conditions on the site. Um I can tell you that you know we will get storm water plans designed by a licensed engineer. We'll go through [snorts] all the regular processes and approvals to make sure that you know it's an adequate plan and kind of addresses all the the regulations kind of required. So it's as much as I can give on this specific situation. I think you know any improvements there you know that investments we're going to make would make things better. I would think, you know, we are going to have these, you know, everything kind of engineered as it should be. So, this is as detailed as I can go into into that issue that I'm not aware of right now. So,

thank you. Yeah, that's fair. Anyone else? I I thought I saw a hand go up, sir. Maybe not with a hat. Yeah.

Kurt Sanders, 2485 Ridge Road. Um, thank you very much for opening this. Um, I I appreciate that. And we we did bring all this to the planning zoning committee as well as council. So, I you know, I'll try not to go over the same things I did before. I I really think Zena can do a a little bit better on this. I I I think the density is a little large. I'm not sure we uh there were 90 homes proposed and and we gave up one to have uh sort of a jungle gym and a mulched patch. Um, I really think if you if you dig deep, I think you can delay or push this back and and listen to the residents. There wasn't a single residents in every meeting I attended, not a single one that that thought this was a good deal.

And and I think that should resound upon you. your your job is to really take our input and hopefully push on the city planner to work with Arbor to come up with a plan that's maybe not so dense or the lots that are only 5 ft apart from each other uh effectively 10 ft that's right next to each other. We have $600,000 homes in our neighborhood. And I think if I look at the PUB section that you're looking at, some of it has to do with house values, vegetation, wildlife, things that can really be kept as long as you do your job and push back and just simply say this isn't good enough. We can do better. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, sir. All right. Can I ask one more? Yeah. We've got a question real quick and then we'll get right with you, sir. Yeah. Brian, could you come? I got a question for you pertaining to that last discussion. Excuse me. [clears throat] ask.

So, Brian, when we have um a new set of development next to an old established area um and as we're doing like our storm water studies, okay, because this developer obviously has his responsibility there, but we have the responsibility for the overall, you know, city storm water abatement there. Um what what occur what how who who who ultimately has the responsibility then to ensure that that the storm water is not only abated within the new development but that we haven't done something in the old development to cause problems there based upon the new topology that's been laid out.

Yeah. So uh by law the developer is not permitted to make the drainage any worse essentially. So they are required to capture drainage that is generated by the new development within the new development and detain it and gradually release it offsite using the detention features on site. So so to to address the concern that was raised earlier um we you know we will require the developer to produce plans. We'll review those plans. our city engineer will review those plans to make sure they're complying with city and Ohio EPA standards that prevent storm water from running off the site. So, so basically we will it will be up to the city, our city engineer and ultimately um each section gets approved by our plane and zoning commission and council um to ensure that that doesn't happen that the there are you know the the drainage situation is not made any worse than than it is today.

Okay. But we'll have an opportunity to review that with Chris or the [snorts] other folks on the staff. Yeah. Our city engineer Dominic Miller will review that. Apologize Dominic. Right. Right. Yeah. That the the detailed drainage plans will be prepared at at the final plat stage. Correct. Right.

So that's after this is approved then the developer will prepare detailed plans engineering plans for the roads utilities including the storm water drainage plans and we will review that um at that point when they submit it. So, those plants haven't been prepared yet, but they will be and we will we'll have an ability to hold them to those requirements and that they meet the laws and they don't discharge water off site and exacerbate any existing drainage issues of the Okay. All right. Thank you. All right.

I would like to ask Brian, can I ask you something? Um, so I've heard a quite a few times about um folks having a concern [snorts] about um since this 30 years has, you know, happened initially there there were larger homes. They're valued at a high value. And so I'm just wondering how we went from having those homes. Now we're looking at these smaller homes on smaller lots. And I wanted to get an idea of what that was driven out of. I could guess. I know in the fall there was a planning and zoning workshop for the community that anyone could come to. And I know at that time we did a few different exercises. We looked at what the needs are for folks um what kind of living arrangements people are looking for especially as our society in general gets older in the population. So um and then it gave folks an opportunity to actually state what they would like to see in this particular community. I remember that workshop I attended. So I was curious is that kind of driven out of that or I know myself from being on planning and zoning for years. I have seen the cost of building you know it's it's just exorbitant now cost to build. So I didn't know is it driven out of need? Is it necessity? Is it the cost of building now? You know what what is it? How is this come to this decision to put the smaller homes on smaller lots or is it a combination of both?

All the above. The short answer is yes. And um the so the the plan for this community was created uh 36 years ago. Um

or actually was approved 36 years ago. built 36 years ago. Um, a lot has changed in those three and a half decades. Um, just since 2020, the cost of of new homes has increased by over 50%. If you just compare if you just look at entry- level homes as an example. Uh, that's comparing sales in Sterling Green Crossing in 2020 to Eden Bridge in 2025. So costs have skyrocketed. um average people per household has decreased considerably as well. So on in 1990, which is around when the subdivision was approved, you had an average of 2.7 people per living in each home on average. Today, that is 2.3. That's as of 2022. It's been dropping um you know for for several decades. The median age of the population has increased from 35 in 2010 to 40 in 2023. Uh construction costs have skyrocketed. Um so you have a mix of a population that that doesn't need big lots and big homes anymore. Um you have small fewer people per household. You have people who are aging and want lower maintenance options. This is something that came through in the the the zoning workshop that we had earlier this year. Um, and you have skyrocketing costs of both home sales and construction costs. So, as a result, we have not seen a request for a subdivision with lots narrower than 65 ft since before the Great Recession, well before the Great Recession, which was in 2007208. So those are the things that are driving this.

And for for context, the houses we're talking about,

Brian, please correct me if I'm wrong. I say this dispassion dispassionately. It's just again have the the facts out there that the houses we're talking about are 300 to 400 ft less than the current. So, if you look at the average square footage of all of the potential home models that Arbor Homes might build in this in this community, on average, it's about um three it's between 3 and 400 ft less than the current average of homes in Timber Ridge. So, that's a difference of about, you know, 3 to 400 square ft on average. the prices um that that's looking at data, you know, like actual square footage data in of existing homes in Timber Ridge and comparing it to the homes that that will be built and the home the lots adjacent to the existing homes in Timber Ridge will will be on average higher than that because the the minimum square footage on those lots will be 1,600. So that means it'll eliminate the smallest homes in Arbor Homes range. So the on the the lots that are adjacent to the existing homes that that average will be higher that average square footage will be higher. Yet the the typical sales prices of the new homes will be from the high 300s to many in the 400s possibly edging into the the 500s. The current if you look at the past year or two of sales in Timber Ridge you did have one home sale at about 633,000. And you also had one for 400 in the low 400s. So you have some overlap in the price range between the new section and the existing section. And you have some overlap in home size. And you also have a 25 to 30 foot buffer that will be in place between the new and the old section. I sw

um and which will provide opportunities for preserving existing trees to the extent that they do exist and or installing new trees uh to provide more of a buffer. Okay. Thank you. [clears throat] You want to talk about the criteria and we drove through there? No. No. Okay. All right. Great. All right. Any other questions for Mr. For?

Okay. So, um, I I've sat up here a long time and [clears throat] unfortunately every development that we've had in the last 5 years, no one likes it. They don't like the Van Eaton project, Summerbrook, Highland Green. I I get it. Nobody likes farmland taken down. Nobody likes woods removed. Um, you know, I've lived in in Kinsey Meadows for 23 years. 19 of those 23 years, I had an empty lot behind my house and then neighbors bought a lot and built a house. I didn't have any recourse. I don't own that land. And and so, and I'm not making light of your situation. You know, I have residents that call me because I because I live in Kinsey Meadows off that their property um butts up against on Constitution Drive a farmland and and I get probably one call a year. Is that farmland getting ready to be developed? And I I tell them, I don't think so. That wouldn't be a question of [laughter] planning. But at the end of the day, they're like, is there anything we can do to [clears throat] stop it? And there really isn't because as long as the criteria is met by the developer, our system has to approve that. Would would you say that's fair?

I think that's fair. Yeah. Right. Right. So, all right. Does anyone want to go ahead make a motion to call the question? I believe we're required to call the question statutoily. We don't we can't have the option of of not calling the question. Is that fair? Well, I I think you have to take an action either for or against. Um there has to be a final appealable order if either side would want to file an appeal, right?

And they can't do that if there hasn't been a decision of some sort made. Um, now if if you don't pass it, technically that operates [clears throat] as a denial. Um, but there's no findings of fact in that case. In which case, if it would get appealed, the court's going to substitute its judgment for yours. Right. Understand that. Okay. So, this was introduced at our last meeting. Would you move for passage? Passage. Thank you. All right. Do we have a second? Are you closing off the other comments? Oh, wait. See, yeah. Ask I we we we interdicted and we didn't let the rest of the folks have an opportunity to finish.

Okay. Is is there anyone else that did not get to speak at the last meeting that would like to speak again? [clears throat] Nancy Sanders, 2485 Ridge Road. I have um a question and then a request. And my question is of all the people on the planning committee and the city councilman and the managers, how many of those people live in Zena? All of us. All of us. You live in Zena? Oh yeah. Ki court. I've lived in Zena since 1984. Oh okay.

I couldn't be on council if I didn't live in Zena seems like Yep. you know, you're a little detached, but I understand it's government homeowner since 1984. Okay. Right.

Okay. Now, my uh request is I I realize this is most likely going to go through, but I have one request. If there is any kindness left in your hearts, could we not connect the neighborhoods? You've heard a lot of reasons why people don't want you want the new division to be coming through Ridge Road. And my husband and I uh we walk every day two miles. We have no sidewalk. But if you're going to have 90 or 100 more cars coming through, that's not going to be possible. And I don't understand the need to have that neighborhood come through ours. Why can't you just keep their entrance and and exits the same? Or or you might have to add another, but why inconvenience us? That's all I have to say.

Sure. Do you have an answer, Brian? Is this something that has to be done? Again, it's not a question and answer session, but I will put out I believe it is due to um regulations with the fire department. Brian, do you want to address that? Yeah, she wants to sit down. So, it doesn't

So, not sure where to start on. So, the um the connection to Ridge Road is being made because um you can't per the fire code again, you can't have more than 30 lots being used by one access road. So that new entrance off of 68, if if we don't connect it to Ridge Road, you can only have 30 lots on that property because that's that's the only entry.

And the and I guess I also want to speak to the core of the concern, which is that there seems to be a concern that there's going to be hundreds of new cars a day traveling through the new neighborhood. And I I don't think that's true. Um I because if you look at I' I've measured the distance the driving distance to every single proposed lot in this subdivision. And if for future when it get when it all gets built out in the future if you're driving northbound on Route 68, it will be shorter distance-wise to every single lot in this new neighborhood by taking by going through the new entrance, not going through the new neighborhood. Now, if you're coming southbound on US68, there will be 18 lots for which it will be shorter to drive through the existing neighborhood. For the remaining um 72 lots, it will be quicker to use the new entrance. So, essentially, you're talking about 18 homes that have the potential if they're going to and from North Detroit Street to drive through that neighborhood. So that is, you know, assuming half of those people do their daily drives to and from North North Detroit Street, that's that's nine homes a day track additional going through the existing neighborhood.

Thanks, Mr. Forcher.

Yes, sir. I think sir, in the back you wanted to speak. So, uh, my name is Ron Taylor, 2461 Ridge Road. I wanted my name on the record tonight because it's been on the record ever since we've talked of Timberidge over 34 years ago. And one of the main comments that was made early on was that we have a covenant. I've been told by the the lawyer here that our covenant doesn't hold water with the city of Zena. The reason the citizens that live on Timberidge now are upset is because we had a covenant that had future plans. 44 lots, all of at least a half an acre. And that's that's the crux right now along with this wedge going through our area that is cut off. Now, I don't know that uh we're going to I don't know that I'm going to succeed. I don't expect to, but I wanted to show my feelings about this because I have deep feelings about Timber Ridge. I've given it all that I've got to try to save the integrity of it. I wonder if phase one is going to knock down the hill that protects us from 68 or is phase one just going to knock off all the trees as well because there's not going to be many trees left and I don't expect the hill to survive. And I know when you take that hill down and expose us to 68, we are going to struggle with lights and we sure are

going to hear the 18 wheelers all day long. You guys need to keep this in mind. Try to open your minds to what we are trying to deal with and we are concerned with 89 homes do not belong on 34 and a half acres. Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right. If there's no one else, Madam Mall director, do you want to I know you spoke briefly on covenants last meeting, do you want to

I haven't I haven't researched it, so I can't really give you a legal opinion. Um, just based on what I saw, they're section one covenants. Um, so that would not include the new area. Even if they were applicable to section two, the city does not have the authority to enforce those. Um, covenants are enforceable between the neighbors, one against the other. So, if they felt there was a violation, they could seek to enforce those against the the developer. Um, I think that would be hard because the developers changed, but if there's a belief um that they're to fight there, then they may want to speak to an attorney.

All right. Thank you very much. All right. So, we'll go back to uh the agenda here. We have an item that uh we brought back from being tabled. Um it's been introduced by the mayor. Do we have um a second motion to approve this?

I'll second it. All right, we have a motion and a second. If there's no other discussion, we'll go ahead and get a roll call. Mayor Ursel, I. Councilman Reynolds, nay. [snorts] Councilman Propes voting no because I think it's going to negatively impact the existing neighborhood as well as the environment. Councilman [clears throat] Walker, same here. I have to say no as well. I think it's going to affect our neighborhoods and I don't mean trees are going to be removed, but I just think I don't agree with Councilwoman Sice. No. President Smith,

abstain. So, where's that put us? I can't abstain then then. All right, I'll vote. I'll vote yes because legally I I we don't have a a ground to stand against it. I'm sorry. Um motion fails. So, pardon. Motion fails. Motion failed. So, where does that put us then? The motion failed. You've made a final decision. I heard findings of fact being made. You're done.

All right. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you folks. If you'd like to stay, you're welcome to. We are going to move um through our agenda. Um we do have our next item. Ordinance 2025-35. This is a public hearing on amending chapter 884 titled motor vehicle license tax. This is for the city city of Zena code and repealing table AP 8.6 of the city fee schedule. Do you want us to just give you a moment so you can I I'm assuming you all want to probably step out if you don't have to, but it [clears throat] looks like you might need a moment. So, if you want to feel free to do that at this time before we move on with business, we're we're all right with that. So, I just wanted to give you that that opportunity if that's okay to say.

Yeah. Okay. All right. So, um, this was introduced by Crawford. Thank you folks. Merry Christmas everybody. Thanks for coming. Um, so again, our agenda is really long, so we're going to press through this. Um, so this was moved by Councilman Crawford, who's not here tonight, so we'll see if anyone else will introduce. So, we're going to go ahead and, um, turn the floor over to Mr. Henry to discuss this item before I open the public hearing.

Yes. So, city council levied a $5 motor vehicle license tax under ORC4504.172 in 1987 by the adoption of ordinance 87 through59, but has not levy the license tax available under this OC. So, leving this additional $5 fee would raise a total license tax for senior residents from 20 to $25, matching the rate that Beaver Creek and Fairborn residents pay. This would raise roughly $120,000 a year which we could levy for um street improvements and other infrastructure. All right. Thank you very much. So, and just to clarify that of the $25, two of those would be two $5 taxes from Zen 10. The other 15 are county taxes.

Correct. The city doesn't get any of them which already exist. County taxes are there already. All right. Thank you very much. So, at this time, I'm going to open the public hearing for ordinance 2025-35. Ask if anyone would care to speak either in favor or against this ordinance. All right, I'm going to close the public hearing. And um this item was introduced by Councilman Crawford at our last meeting. Um he is not here. Would anyone care to introduce that? I move to passage of ordinance 202535. Thank you. Moved by Councilman Reynolds. Do we have a second? A second. Seconded by Councilman Walker. [clears throat]

Roll call, please. Mayor Ursel. I. Councilman Reynolds. Hi. Councilman Propes. Hi. Councilman Walker. Hi. Councilwoman Sice. Hi. President Smith. Hi. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Our next item is also a public hearing. This is for ordinance 2025-36. This is amending 8.81.0. 06 of the city's municipal income tax code which is titled non-refundable credit for taxes paid to another municipality. Pardon?

Okay. Do I have a motion to introduce? This was actually introduced by Mayor Ursel at our last meeting. So based upon other discussions with uh our city manager and law director, uh I'm I will not move for approval of this tonight in [snorts] deference to the um uh items that we have later on in the agenda that are going to be pursuing a uh uh bringing the income tax back uh levy back to the public in May

um uh I will say that uh not doing this will defer uh for another year, [snorts] probably a year and a half of getting to the point where we've actually restored the streets in town. So, uh if the if the if the income tax levy passed in November, our target was 2040 before we'd actually have the streets rebuilt. Mhm. And um without these funds for 2026, we're looking at 2041 or 2042.

And so folks need to realize we've dug ourselves a really deep hole with our streets and it's going to take us a long time to dig it out. But uh better to uh the reality is that this would not have uh funded 100% of that. Part of what we were going to be funding this next year was uh by deferring uh items out of uh park maintenance, those types of things. Those are one one-year funds. Those aren't multiple year funds. So, those wouldn't have even been available in the following year, even though that might might have given us sufficient funds uh this year to pursue the uh road restoration plan. So, uh the the better hope is that we actually uh achieve all the funds we need for the road restoration. And and the reality is the only way to do that in a long term over over a sustained period of time 10 to [clears throat] 15 years

would be uh through the income tax. At least that's the only that's the only proposal we've had that would give us that viable sum of money. So uh I'm not going to move that we uh uh approve this this evening. All right. Thank you very much. So this item is now removed from our agenda permanently. Well, we have to see if someone else wants to move. [snorts] Yes. Yes. Do you need to see if anyone else wishes to introduce it? If no [clears throat] one introduces it, then it does. Okay. Would anyone else care to introduce at this time?

All right. This item is removed. All right. Our next item is new business. Um, and due to the fact that that item is gone, there will be no need for a public hearing on that. So, thank you. if you wanted to speak on that. Um, sorry, we're I just said audience understands with um with no motion and second the item is dead. It will not be it would have to be completely reintroduced um revertised for public hearing before you could take any action.

All right. All right. Thank you very much. Next is new business. Our first item is an emergency for ordinance 2025-37. This is amending ordinance 2025-34 to provide appropriations for current expenses and other expenditures for the city of Zenaia for fiscal year ending in December 31st of 2025. This is declaring an emergency. Um and this will be explained by our sitting finance director tonight. U Mr. Lake, would you care to explain this, please?

Yes. Um so every year as we get close to the end of the year uh we we'll have to bring back an item for council to make some minor appropriations for last minute expenditures. Um most of these are primarily to um for payroll lines where um we haven't had the final payroll done yet for the end of the year um given the timing of the meetings. Um so there are some payroll lines that are might be slightly short. Um so we're asking for an appropriation for some additional funds to ensure um enough is appropriated to cover that. A couple other items are some interfund loans that we need that we're going to pay back this year as well that we need to appropriate funds for.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Lake. All right. I'll open the floor for any questions for Mr. Lake at this time. All right. We have no questions. I'll seek a motion to um amend ordinance 2025-34. So moved. Moved by Councilwoman Sice. Do we have a second? I'll second. Second to clarify that is as an emergency. Correct. That will require how many votes tonight, Miss Fischer? We have six. As an emergency, we need how many votes? You need four. We just need four. Okay. Thank you. All right. This is seconded by Councilman Propes. Did you get that, Amy? Yes. Thank you. All right. If there's no other questions, we'll get a roll call on this item, please. Mayor Ursel, I. Councilman Reynolds, hi.

Councilman Propes, hi. Councilman Walker, hi. Councilwoman Sice, hi. President Smith, I motion carries. Thanks. Next in the agenda is ordinance 202538, also titled an emergency. This is providing temporary appropriations for current expenses and other expenditures for the city of Zenaia through March 31st of next year. This time, we'll turn the floor over to Mr. Lake again.

Yes. Uh this is again another annual item that we bring to uh to council at the end of the year. Um we're asking for uh temporary appropriations. So we have uh funds appropriated for beginning of 2026 uh so we can operate until we've had a chance to finalize the uh year-end balances and encumbrances to bring forth the final appropriations uh which we'll have to bring back to council um before April 1st of 2026.

All right. Thank you very much. Any questions for Mr. Lake? All right. And I I do want to let people know that are watching or or sit in the audience, when an item is tabled as an emergency, it's really a housekeeping uh for staff, uh it basically eliminates the need for a second reading and allows that to go uh into effect for uh our staff. We always we are not in a financial emergency situation. So a lot of times that gets misconstrued. So all right. So, at this time, if uh I'll seek a motion to approve as an emergency ordinance 202538. So, moved. Moved by Councilman Reynolds, seconded by Councilwoman Sice.

If there's no other discussion, we'll get a roll call, please. Mayor Ursel, I. Councilman Reynolds, hi. Councilman Propes, I. Councilman Walker, hi. Councilwoman Sice, hi. President Smith, I motion carries.

Thanks. Our next item is an introduction. This is for ordinance 202539 amending sections 88101, 88103, 88104, 88106, items A and 3, 881.26, items B and two of the city's income tax code to provide for the increase of the city's municipal income tax rate by 24 hundreds of 1% for a period of 10 years commencing January 1st of 2027. This is for the purpose of providing funds for street repairs and maintenance. Mr. Henry, would you care to explain?

Yeah. So, uh, city council has determined a to propose a.24% income tax increase on the May 2026 primary ballot to support and fund a comprehensive 10-year street rehabilitation program. If approved by the voters, this tax would generate approximately $1.9 million annually with a potential growth as the tax base increases and wages rise. These funds would be earmarked for straight street improvements only. At the end of this 10-year period, the income tax rate will automatically revert to its current 2.25%. Or if needed, the council could seek a renewal rate. All right. Thanks, Mr. Henry.

All right. And just a reminder, uh, an introduction of this tonight and that's all you're doing is introducing it. Um, this isn't an increase in tax. You're just introducing it so that it can be presented to the voters in May. Right. Yeah. In summary, we introduce it and then it's there so we can put the levy on the ballot and then I would need you to table it. Please introduce and then table. Yes. Mhm. Table it today. Today. Yes. Introduce and table. All right. All right. Would anyone care to introduce this tonight? I'll introduce. Thanks. Introduced by Councilwoman Sice. Do we have a second? Seconded by Councilman Walker. I'm sorry. This is an introduction to table.

All right. Thank you very much. All right. So, we have an introduction and now I'll seek a motion to table. Move the table. Thank you by Councilman Reynolds. Seconded by Councilwoman Sice. And we'll get a roll call to table that. Please. Mayor Ursel. Hi. Councilman Reynolds. Hi. Councilman Propes. Hi. Councilman Walker. Hi. Councilwoman Sice. Hi. President Smith. Hi. Motion carries. Thank you very much. We [clears throat] use Robert's rule, but sometimes we mess up.

All right. So, our next item is resolution 202566. This is requesting and authorizing Green County Board of Elections to place upon the city of Zenius's ballot at the primary election on May 5th of 2026. the question of whether ordinance 202539 uh shall be approved. Do I need to read all that for the record? Okay. The question whether ordinance 2025-39 which would amend 88101 88103 part A 88104 part A and 1 881.06 part A and three and 881.26 26 parts B and two of the city's income tax code to provide for the increase of the city's municipal income tax rate by 24 hundreds of 1% for a period of 10 years which would commence in January of 2027 and this would be for the purpose of providing funds for street repairs maintenance and at this time we'll turn the floor over to Mr. Henry. So, uh, for the sake of not sounding like a rerun here, um, this basically is just putting this, uh, issue on, uh, before the board of elections to put on the the ballot. It's just a procedural thing. Um, again, we've kind of already iterated why, uh, how this will be funded and what these funds will be used for. So,

all right. Thank you. Questions for either Mr. Henry or Miss Fischer? Not a question, just to clarify. This is a levy to go on the ballot or sorry, an income tax to go on the ballot so the citizens will have their vote on it. This isn't taking away reciprocity or anything like that. This is allowing folks to vote yes or no on the increase. Yes. Correct. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Just a repeat. Great.

All right. Thank you very much. So that the addition of these funds plus the roughly million dollar that we have $900,000 in the existing budget would allow us to do roughly 8 miles of residential streets a year which is roughly about 600 residential homes [snorts] which over 10 years would be 6,000 homes out of our um roughly 10,500 residences would now have a refurbished streets. Right. Mhm. Do you want to mention you talked to our county engineer about a plan that would actually specify Yeah.

where we uh Wes and I had an opportunity to meet with our county engineer this last week too. And uh one of the things that she brought up when she was the engineer over at Fairborn before she became the county engineer was that they were facing a similar situation. And one of the things that they made a commitment to their population there was to identify the specific residential streets that would be done over the 10-year period. Now, they didn't specify a specific year that those would be done, but they did say if we obtained these funds here, here is our plan and objective. Now, she said that they were able to uh actually achieve 90% of that plan. There were some modifications that had to happen uh over that time, but they were able to achieve 90% of that. So, my proposal would be too as we go forward in the spring that we go ahead and and make a specific identification of those streets and a commitment as much as a plan can do. Obviously, things may be out of out of control, but but uh uh to help folks understand the scope of what would be accomplished over the 10-year period.

We don't have an engineer, right? Very good. I would add Uh what I am to this that the if this is approved by the voters it would be for residents that live in in Zenaia would be paying equally. Workers from that live in other cities that are working in Zenaia would pay on these as well as businesses on their net profit returns. So it spreads it across everybody that's involved in Z. And it would start until January 1 of 2027. So withholdings would occur during 27 and then when you file your returns as well subsequently in 28. And then Jason your estimate of those that pay income tax that are non-resident income taxpayers

as far as the the number the percentage of overall folks are filing personal income taxes. Oh jeez. Um I don't have that off the top of my head. uh percentage of those um 30%. Ryan, I'll just say that the number that Ryan had given us before uh was roughly 30%. It sounds [clears throat] [snorts] close. Yeah. All right. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. All right. So, we have resolution 202566. Is there any other questions for either Mr. Henry or Mr. Lake? All right. At this time, I'll seek a uh motion to um put this on the ballot. Thank you. Moved by Councilman Propes. Have a second. I'll second. Seconded by Councilman Walker. [snorts] Any other discussion? All right, we'll get a roll call. Mayor Ursel. I. Councilman Reynolds. Hi. Councilman Propes. Hi. Councilman Walker. Hi. Councilwoman Sice. Hi. President Smith. Hi. Motion carries.

Thank you very much. All right, our next item is resolution 20256-9. This is awarding the contract for the 20 lane electronic target system for Zena Police Division's firing range project to action target. So, we're going to go ahead and turn the floor over to Mr. Henry. Yes, sir. So in July of this year, council authorized anou with the FBI to move forward with a project that involves two main aspects, upgrades and enhancements to the firing range and an onsite storage facility. Specifically, this first phase includes a turning target system with two different elements. The first consists of 20 individual electronically controlled 360 turning targets and two running man targets. In layman's terms, this means that the targets move around a lot. So, you know, I think if you're chasing a bad guy, they're probably not going to stand um for a picture for you. So, um these separate features again enhance officer uh training, promoting accuracy and rapid decision-m. Also included a remote control pads for the target system, a rubber coated steel wall to protect uh the turning target and running man bases and the option for the purchase of additional spare hardware and preventative maintenance visits uh by the contractor's technicians. So, the police division issued a request for proposals on the 20 lane uh target system on October 10th. On October 31st, only one proposal was received from a qualified contractor. Action target is a company specializing in firing range target systems and grain supplies. Based on the evaluation of the vendor, staff believes that they can perform as requested. So, the projected date for completion for this target system will be summer of 2026. In addition to RPD and the FBI, beneficiaries of this would also be the Green County's Sheriff's Office and the Green County's Career Center uh for criminal justice uh the their academy program. The base price for this range system is 145295 with two optional spare

parts packages and the preventative maintenance visits. The total cost would be 1554.95. We request approval and move forward. All right. Thank you very much. Questions for Mr. Henry? You want to mention that or you want me to? Yeah, go ahead and ask that. All right. So, um, [snorts] this is being fully funded by the FBI. Is that correct? I believe it's 100% aggre. Yes, that's right. Thank you. All right. Very good. Congratulations on that. Yeah. Nice. All right. Any other questions? All right. We'll seek a motion to award the contract. So moved. Moved by Councilman Reynolds, seconded.

Second by Councilwoman Sice. All right, there's no other discussion. We'll get a roll call, please. Mayor Ursel, hi. Councilman Reynolds, hi. Councilman Propes, hi. Councilman Walker, hi. Councilwoman Sice, hi. President Smith, hi. Motion carries. Thank you. Our next item on the agenda is resolution 2025-070. This is authorizing the establishment of a community parame medicine pilot program within the Zenia Fire and EMS division. So awesome. We'll go ahead and go to Mr. Henry.

Yes, sir. So staff request the council's approval to create a one-year paramed pilot program which [snorts] will operate up to 3 days per week with current staffing equipment and vehicles. The goal of this program is to proactively address non-emergent EMS use. So this is cutting down on repeated transports uh things like um fall issues and um just high-risk residents. Um so this is seen as a costfriendly alternative to hiring new full-time personnel during this pilot period of the program. This uh again this program will feature uh uh cover frequent EMS users. So the people that are are currently dropping up our call uh volume and uh the program will also partner with the newly created community service coordinator position which uh council is poised to authorize in 2026 as organizational plan in January. All right. Thank you, Mr. Henry. All right. Any questions for Mr. Henry? Just

a comment. Yes, sir. Yeah, we we discussed this back in July at the public safety uh committee, and I'm really happy to see that uh that we're moving forward on this. It's uh I think it will it will provide dividends and uh you know, help with a lot of areas of of uh public safety and fire [cough] and cutting down on some of the uh bus runs. So, uh, we're really happy to see it's moving forward. Very good. Dennis, is this a my understanding of this is this is this we got a lot of folks that that even though they're going through emergencies, they're not connecting with the available services either that they don't know about it or they're they're not following through. And this would allow somebody to help them.

Yeah. I I think more so the the the service coordinator u I'm sorry, what are you guys calling that one? The the community community [clears throat] service coordinator. I think that position will be the one that that to to do that. Yeah. This uh the parame medicine one is they're they're focusing more on on non-emergency calls uh that that require you know may require some type of medical assistance but does need a full full response. Right. Okay. Yeah. If it's okay. Am I getting that correct there? Chief Chief Boen you're in the audience. [laughter] Do do you want to come forward? Did I explain that properly chief? All right. Thank you sir.

Thank you. Uh so yeah with paramedic program uh the community parame medicine program is designed to follow up on some of our frequent patients. It's designed to um go out to their homes to do risk assessments um and then to connect them with other entities within the county and the city which may be able to give them aid. Um, one of the things we're excited about is partnering with the um, community [snorts] service community services. You guys got me question. [laughter]

So to kind of give it that overall holistic uh, approach to to helping a lot of these people out. We've been in contact already with Karing Health Network. We've been in contact with the health department. Um, so certainly following up on drug overdose calls and things of that nature to make sure that [clears throat] the families have the support they need. um will all be highlighted in this first year. And then it can I'll bring up uh firefighter Cameron Jackson. He's been our point person for the proposal and the development of this program. Um and he can kind of speak on where we hope this first year will take us, the metrics that we're going to utilize and where we go from there. Great. Welcome.

Perfect. Thank you. Uh so to add to what the chief said, so [clears throat] basically this is to take a proactive instead of reactive approach in our community. So there is going to be a lot of overlap in what this new uh position is going to do and I don't remember the title so I'm not even going to say it again [laughter] but uh so there will be some overlap uh in those type of uh population. So the at risk being uh you know the homeless, the drugs, mental health that we see in the community uh but also for uh aging population. So we go on a large number of uh falls uh non-injury falls. So, and the kind of the work that we do in a typical 911 response is, you know, we go, we evaluate the patient, we take them to the hospital, we don't get to spend time in the patient's home identifying, you know, what truly is the root cause of why they keep calling us over and over again. And so, that's what this position uh will do. Uh I spent some time and I shadowed with uh Dayton's uh community parame medicine program. And so we're modeling a large portion of that off of what they're doing uh because they've seen large success in that. So when I presented this uh to uh the city manager's office and to the fire chief uh basically in our first year as we pilot this to make sure it's successful is we're going to look at our high utilizers. So those that call uh more than one it's going to be more than twice in a month period. And there's a large I don't have the number off the top of my head but there's a large uh percentage that we see for that. Uh so basically our goal is to reduce the repeat calls by 10% in this first year and then as you know this is a pilot program so as we start to identify uh what we actually need to focus on we can expand uh the scope um so there's you know places up in the Columbus Ohio area uh that they are doing actually you know more medical care in the homes uh reducing repeat admissions into the ER. Uh but I think a

good starting point for us and what we see on our community is those repeat uh patients for the falls. Um and then just the high utilizers that don't have uh a true 911 complaint. Um so that's kind of our goal. And then again, as the chief uh mentioned is working in conjunction with a ton of the community partners that we uh you know, we know that they're here, we just don't work uh with them in tandem as much as we could with this program. Um so any questions?

I have two things to say. Uh, first I just want to point out this is the sign of a a healthy organization and a strong division led by Chief Boen. These ideas come from the ground up. [snorts] This is staff bringing uh leadership improvements to benefit all the residents here. So I just I want to applaud just the entire division uh of fire. And then also I had the the benefit of doing a ride along for the first time with fire the other day um cleaning with Cameron. I I can't do I'm a borderline hypochondric. cannot do what what these guys do every day and just the the grace and just customer service of dealing with people um they really don't get enough [clears throat] thanks and appreciation. So 18% Yes sir. Yes.

Yes ma'am.

I just wanted to make a comment. I was um working alongside Dennis on that committee too and you can just you can just see like you said there is just such a lag between like if if somebody has been in the hospital for a while maybe and they're followed by occupational therapy or physical therapy and they go home sometimes they can be there can be a a home assessment like for fall risk. So something as simple of somebody going into the home and looking and saying well do you have throw rugs? Is there uh not enough low-level lighting? Is there electrical cords? Is there things we can help we can help, you know, offset and mitigate those falls and things like that so that those folks will be safer in their homes, especially since we have this um aging population as well because sometimes folks don't know, there's nobody to come and check and do. And I think we have a lot of wraparound services in this community, but I think there being somebody to help like the social worker that will help bring those together, you know, hopefully that will decrease. Like you said, you're hopeful that a 10% call volume will decrease overall and and get you doing what you really need to do instead of running back and forth and being there also as um social hour too because we see a lot of that also cuz sometimes folks just are lonely and need someone to talk to and somebody to check in [clears throat] on them. So I think that'll really help.

Yeah. And I'll add uh to what council said. So every uh patient that we uh enter into this program. So they will get a home uh safety assessment that will be done on every single uh patient that we encounter.

Um and so we kind of will go through identify what you know are they falling because there's rugs? Are they falling in the bathroom because they don't have the they don't have the strength to stand up? And then so we'll say okay well let's get with council on aging and get some gra you know grab bars something like that installed. Uh you know we've identified a short list. so far of uh resources that we have in the community. We know that there's a lot more. Uh so that's part of the groundwork that we're going to be laying these first couple of months if this is approved uh to really build a robust list of resources that we have within the community that can help us with some of these items.

Um but yeah, so that will be included on everyone and then the new position when that comes that will really help us bridge the gap for uh those that don't have a home. So that we see with Bridges of Hope or something like that. Um, so that's we're really hopeful with that position and to help us, you know, bridge the gap uh that the hospital can't do and that we can't do uh even though we see them repeatedly. I am so excited. Thank you. Oh, that's great. Thank you so much. Fantastic. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Anything you can do to further support it? Do you can do to support it first is vote for it. So I need a motion. I'll make a motion. Yes.

Councilwoman Sice for approval of resolution 2025-70. Seconded by Councilman Pro. Y. All right. So glad you guys were here to join us tonight for All right. Is there any other discussion on this item? No, I just and just what we said, the council agent has an amazing amount of resources available. It's just a lot of folks don't know

don't even know that they're available to them. If you guys can come in and make that connection, it's not that we have to fund that. is that those things are already funded by the state. The grab bars coming in doing the occupational therapy to show folks how to use their their place, but helping those folks once again like you said, they're calling you 24 36 times a year, right? And the problem is never getting solved. It's just happening over and over and over again. So, that's great. Yeah. All right. Thank you very much, clerk. Did you get that motion and second? Okay. Just making sure. All right. Thank you. If there's no other discussion, we'll go ahead and get a roll call for approval. Mayor Ursel. Hi, Councilman Reynolds. Hi, Councilman Propes. Hi, Councilman Walker. Hi, Councilwoman Sice. Hi, President Smith. Hi. Motion carries.

Very good. Thank you. And again, congratulations. Our next item is resolution 2025-71. This is authorizing the continuation of the consolidated dispatch agreement and the execution a dead number one to the set agreement. So, we're going to turn the floor back over to Mr. Henry who's just going to explain some more good news for us.

Right. So, let's uh do the hat trick here. We've done two twothirds of the public safety divisions here. So, I think we should probably talk about dispatch right now. Um, so since 1989, the city has managed the Zenia Green Central Communications Center, a joint 911 dispatch center serving the city, Green County, and multiple public safety agencies with operating costs historically split 50/50 between the city and the county. Although a 2021 consolidated dispatch agreement reaffirmed the arrangement, growing part participation, evolving technology, and increasing regulatory, financial, and liability demands um combined with the city's declining proport uh proportional use prompted city council in spring of 2025 to question the equity of the cost sharing model as currently composed. Following extensive uh re-evaluation negotiations in late 2025, staff now recommends extending the existing agreement with an addendum that revises cost sharing by assigning the county responsibility for the first 44% of total operating expenses and allocating the remaining 56% among participating jurisdictions on a per capita basis with both parties intending to codify the revised model and Green County's 911 plan to ensure for uh statutory enforcability. And I do want to just go ahead and go on record and commend uh Green County Board of Commissioners, especially Brandon Hules,

right? He's been uh great to work with and just a real good partner through this and um yeah, we just we're just happy to hopefully get this across the finish line. This is a long this is a long-standing issue uh for the city. It's a big deal. Um, and if you reviewed the addendum, it will extend it for one year under its current conditions. And then we give you a draft of the addendum. Those changes would go into effect in January 1 of 2020. Correct. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Questions for Mr. Henry? I have one question. What percent of the remaining 56 is Zen? I should have known you were going to ask me that.

Yeah. Sorry. Um, I don't know. I'm not going to That's fine. Yep. Uh, Jason, I don't know. Not throwing you under the bus with me, but Okay, we can get you that answer. [laughter] Still a great deal regardless of what happened. That's less than the 50% for years. We're finally getting to a proportional population model which we've never had. Y in the past.

This is a fairly equitable to the city. Right. Right. So, and I remember back in 2023, we had one of our customers had refused to pay about $120,000 bill and we settled for 70,000 on that and we were told that's a that was a good deal to us and we ate about 50 grand on that just to get it settled. And um so I'm just saying as things have changed from 2023 and we as I was questioning it back then I was kind of told go sit down and color. We're never going to get a better deal. So why would you ask? The answer is going to be no. And uh it wasn't just in 2025. We've been working on this for multiple years. um with the the issue that the call center which was established a long time ago and and the point where the Zena was the um largest uh municipality in the county and we no longer are right and and the the reality is the townships and the villages have grown up around us and the calls uh from the sheriff and the state highway patrol have increased greatly as well too which which go through our call center. 100% of all the sheriff calls 100% of the state highway patrol calls go through us. So, um, yeah, I would also say it was critical for us to be able to get a good partnership going with the, uh, with the county and, uh, kudos to them and Brandon to step up because, uh, without that partnership, we couldn't get the arrangements with the other villages. Now, this is going to be a tough pill [snorts] to swallow for some of the villages and townships who have not been paying their share, and they're going to be facing that in 2027. We're going to have to uh address that when that comes up. I guess I would also say that that uh the percentage that's going to go to some of them is going to be enormous compared to their existing budgets. Uh but but Zenaia has been funding that and that's

part of the reason we haven't been able to take care of our infrastructure is we've been subsidizing the surrounding uh entities and so this is once again a a good step forward to correcting that subsidy we were doing over time. % uh 18%. What's that? Roughly 18%. 18. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Yeah. And if you look, I think it's page four on the back. It has that financial impact report and 2027. I'll say this about 600,000. Great. So that'll that'll help with

Say that again. a savings of $600,000 to the city of Zena. So, thank you very much for negotiating for us on that. All right. I need a motion for this resolution. So, moved. Thank you. Moved by Councilman Reynolds. Second. Seconded by Councilwoman Sice. Any other discussion? All right. We'll get a roll call on that item. Mayor Ursel. Hi. Councilman Reynolds. Hi. Councilman Propes. Hi. Councilman Walker. Hi. Councilwoman Sice. Hi. President Smith. Hi. Motion carries. Thank you. We're going to go into appointed officials reports and then we're going to save council comments and reports and going into executive. Is that correct? We do need an executive session

and then we are taking legislative action after maybe. Okay. All right. And then um so we'll go ahead. Let's do appointed officials reports at this time. Um we'll start with Mr. Lake. Um, just happy holidays since our next meeting won't be until after the new year. Same to you. Thank you. Anything for Mr. Lake and the staff. I know you're gearing up for tax season. Yep. The deadline for estimated payments is uh January 15th if you're still working as Thank you, Mr. Lake. All right, Madam Law Director, what do you have for us tonight?

Uh, happy holidays. I left you some goodies. We did marshmallows and muffins this year. um just tell you I appreciate you. Um I joke a lot I have seven bosses, but that is true. Um and it's been a pleasure to work with all of you, especially these two gentlemen here on the end. I want to say it's been an absolute pleasure over the last year um to work with you. Thank you for your service. You both stepped in um filled in and and it has been a real joy to work with you. So I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and we'll see you after the first of the year. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much.

You don't care about Mr. Ursel worked with us. You know, [laughter] you didn't even mention I guess you just didn't care working for Well, I did. Oh, okay. Oh, everybody. Okay. All right. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Henry. Uh yeah, on a serious somber note, I really do um want to echo your your earlier uh comments. I just want to lift up uh Brent, the city manager, and his family right now. They're going through a tough time. So, uh, prayers would be appreciated.

Uh, then with that, just want to remind everyone that city offices will be closed starting on noon on Christmas Eve through the end of the week. And then next week, they'll be closed starting at noon on Christmas or New Year's Eve uh, and the following day. So, that's all I have.

All right. Thank you. All right. I spoke out of turn. I think out of respect to Councilman Walker and Propes, we're going to go ahead and go with council comments while we have an audience tonight. Um, and and I'm going to actually start for the first time. I I just want to thank you too for uh the professionalism that you display uh as council members. And um I I just thank you for that year of service that you gave us. And um I know we'll we'll see you guys sometime out in the community and all you do for us. And I I just can't thank you enough for stepping up and um working with us for this past year. So, thank you so much for that. All right. Also like to wish everybody a merry Christmas, happy new year. Um, and just to thank our staff who spends endless hours um helping us run a very uh kind and hospitable community. Um, I don't think you can find a nicer community than Zena to live in. So, I want to thank you guys for that. All right, I'm going to go ahead and go with um Councilman R. [clears throat]

I have nothing to add uh for the committees, but I do want to say, you know, thank you to both of you guys for serving. Uh I didn't get to vote for either one of you to appoint you cuz I had to abstain from that decision. But I can honestly we started off and I became friends with both of you guys and I'm really going to miss you and you guys are just fun to work with and I appreciate your opinions and your thoughts on everything that we've done in this last year and hopefully we can see you guys some more and sure I'll talk to both of you guys in the future. So thank you both. All right, Councilman Sice.

Yeah, I just um wanted to say um again this always reinforces why I love living in Zenaia and the Sunday paper um Dayton Daily News. that has 2025 annual water cost and it has 70 water jurisdictions that are listed in here. And um all the way at the bottom of the list, we are number seven as one of the lowest overall cost for paying for water versus unfortunately Yellow Springs is all the way is the highest

out of the 70 listed. So it's Yeah. So there again, it's just really refreshing to find out where we're at and how it's still a very economically sound place to live and thrive. And then I did want to say I did take advantage of seeing Santa and Mrs. Clauss over across the way right

with my granddaughter. It was exceptional and I even recognized Mrs. Claus. Um so um that was done very very well. It was excellent and um was a good Santa. wasn't scary at all. So, yes. So, I enjoyed that. So, I appreciate it and just wanted to say to everybody, happy holidays irregardless of what you celebrate and do. And that's what's so fantastic about this country. But merry Christmas and a happy new year to everyone. So, thank you. Thank you. All right, Councilman Walker.

Uh, merry Christmas and happy new year. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve on the community. I've learned so much here and met some new friends, reconnect with some old friends. So, I'm just actually excited about the future of the city and u what we're doing here. So, I'm so thankful and grateful for the opportunity. All right. Thank you very much. All right, Councilman Propes. [clears throat] Well, I I I told my staff the other day that losing my voice was uh their gift

gift to the world [laughter] because I I can't talk as much as I I normally do at work. Um, but again, it's been an absolute honor to uh to serve uh the city again uh for this this year. Um, I know it's it's been uh ups and downs and I I I'd like to thank all of you for entrusting uh myself and Councilman Walker on in in uh filling filling these seats and wish the best of luck uh to Miss Huffman and Mr. Rubio and uh uh as they come on the council, it's it's uh it's different when you're sitting on this side, but I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job.

Um and merry Christmas and happy holidays to everybody out there. Let's picture together. Can we do that? All right. Thank you. We'll go to um Mayor Ursel. Sure.

Um had an opportunity uh Saturday night to go over to the Carnegie Library. Um we're doing the sweet critiques. uh had a community uh time to come see the in inside of the Carnegie there uh which is just gorgeous, just amazing. and uh her objective when she acquired that from the city was to get it to be a restaurant catering business and um uh co kind of stepped in on some of that but uh um she's done a tremendous job getting the the restoration going and it was just wonderful to see the inside of that building and and I don't know if you know those Carnegie libraries were built in the 1920s and 1930s across all the counties in the United states at least on the eastern side and majority of them have been destroyed at this time and so we're fortunate to actually have still have one of those original Carnegie libraries and see the care which she's doing with the restoration of that it's just going to be fabulous so anyways kudos to her and the folks are able to come out I know that she had the event scheduled the week before uh but due to the uh the freeze uh they had to delay that I know a lot of you miss going to that but but uh anyway great things coming in the future with that and I just also say back in in uh August August of 94, the city council uh approved some um objectives for 19 I mean of of 20 2024. The council approved some objectives for 2025 and had a chance to [clears throat] go back over and look at those and some of these were just dreams back in 24 and we put those out.

[snorts]

big challenges to the to the staff and a lot of other folks, but I just want to sometimes we we accomplish a lot of things and we we don't take any time to stop and reflect on as well. So, I just want to go over some of these things that that we put down that we've actually been able to accomplish over that time. We have quite a number of infrastructure things. Back back in 2014, we didn't have any full funding really for any of the long-term infrastructure of the city. And so, in that time, we now have the long-term street light funding. I don't know if you remember back in 24, uh, most of the street lights were dim on, uh, on Second Street and Third Street downtown. We couldn't even find the parts for those. If you drive down there now, they're they're fully lit with the with the new infrastructure there. We didn't have funding for curbs and gutters and aprons. We now have that. We did not have funding for storm water and realizing [clears throat] how old the storm water infrastructure is. And, uh, we now have the funding for that. and and uh the sheilan first step of doing that for a lot of the streets and we didn't have the funding for the roadways either. So we we made a good shot at that and we'll we'll take a look at that. But that's really the last piece if that can be accomplished in 2026 to give us the long-term funding for the infrastructure of the city. So so from going from a position where we had no long-term we were doing reactive uh work to the point where we have a good majority of the infrastructure fund is is an amazing thing. uh we didn't have all the market district uh financing in place back in 2024. So that was part of the objective was to get that lined up. Uh and it was a dream really at that point to actually start doing the uh the infrastructure work. And at this point uh that funding the the financing is is uh laid out and we have the majority of the infrastructure and what I mean by that is the streets, the curbs, gutters, all the infrastructure below ground which was a massive job. If you think about the last time that had been touched was during the tornado and and how the county uh was trying to redeem that area during the tornado and things that were underground. I think Brent's

mentioned a couple times we found a couple of live uh terminals from AES that they didn't even know existed and we were very fortunate not to have someone hurt during that time. But that's done and starting next spring is going to be the vertical work on the market district infrastructure. And that was really was a dream back at that point when we laid that uh out to be actually so to pulled off the financing and getting all the infrastructure work done so we can actually start the vertical work and that's going to be amazing next year. um had a lot of concerns about Central State University uh utilities and our relationship with them and uh so more to come on that but I think there's a lot more hope now uh than we had seen at any point in the future and I don't even think we could have dreamed about some of the things that we may be discussing at this point so a lot of progress there um we we had some initial discussions about doing we didn't we don't have a parks and recck department and we said let's let's look at getting together with a couple organizations to help [cough and clears throat] us uh actually fund some activities in our in our local parks and uh those were very successful this last summer. We're looking at continuing those. Uh we started down the path on the municipal court funding. We just saw that we we here here here now have a plan for about $600,000 a year of uh of not underwriting other um entities within the the the the county or the u dispatch. But we're also looking, we have a probably about a double the issue with the municipal courts. And once again, no disparagement to the judge or what he does. That's all uh basically controlled by state law, but we did take the initial look at trying to recover some of our our our local charges this year. And redid a good chunk of our of our code [clears throat] to accomplish that. And so that was our first step towards working down that path. And and more to come on that. We talked we just went over the dispatch funding. So that was an objective to see if we could write the ship on the dispatch funding.

And uh and then also we had uh uh right on the on the verge of us was was a whole series of commercial residences to get zoned and approved. And uh to look at the numbers that have been approved over this last year was amazing. And then I would also put out that uh we had the tax delinquency uh of uh probably 200 parcels within Zingga that were underwater from a from a tax perspective. And we've been working for a number of years with uh you have to get five elected officials within the county to work together with us to be able to uh recover those properties and get them turned over to the hands of folks that are actually going to build private residences and that are not going to rent them but do that. and we've seen the first fruits of that occurring and then also uh the uh state uh properties actually being sold and put back into private investors hands.

All of those were just dreams back and think about all of those items, right?

Uh so uh that was about half the list what we challenged the staff on. Uh but I just want to bring out that that uh massive uh improvements in a number of areas that for a long time folks have said there's nothing we can do. you know, this is how it's always been. This is how it's always will be. You're you're doing the Don Kyote thing to, you know, get charge of the windmill. And uh uh a good chunk of these took multiple years of hard work on the staff's part, coordination with county officials, and we've actually accomplished them. And so, I just want to say kudos to our staff uh who stepped up and and was willing to uh joust at the windmills with us. and for the, you know, for the folks here on council as well, too, because previous councils had said, "Don't bother." And we said, "Okay, let's go take a look at it." And and we've done massively significant things here to put us on a good footing to uh be able to provide for the the safety and welfare of the community. So, yep, that's all I got.

All right. Thank you very much. Um, also want to mention you and I were able to attend the lunch in Virginia Township. That's correct. And um that that's good as we continue um city good relationship with our um neighboring town. The fact that the Zena Township is inviting us to their end of the year celebration lunchon is quite a accomplishment that would not have been occurring many years ago. But that's a that's that was a great opportunity for me.

Yeah. Also let people know we have a council opening uh due to the election of mayor elect uh Ethan Reynolds. His seat is available. Um we will be conducting interviews on Monday, January 5th. Uh we had 12 applicants at this time. We're uh going through those applicants and those those uh individuals be notified on Monday of next week for their uh appointment time and those will be um conducted here at council chambers. So some of you are in the audience tonight that may be applied for that. We can't thank you enough for being here tonight. So, we are going to

One last thing about the mayor is I just want to say thank you for allowing me to serve as the mayor this last year. Uh when Sarah got elected, uh we kind of looked around on the existing council and said, "Does anybody want to?" And everybody else stepped back. I didn't step back fast enough, but uh um so you know, I resigned my seat last year to take this on. I don't think any of us had any idea of the amount of time and love and effort that Sarah put into being our mayor.

Uh she uh tirelessly uh supported all of our uh organizations in the city, uh collaborated with the other mayors and uh county officials. And just let you know that's it's it's about 20 hours a week of additional commitment beyond the council. uh to go and and honor folks uh represent well and it comes with an additional $50 a month. So, as Ethan's stepping in that role, uh I just want to say kudos to Ethan being it's a daunting thing to step into. And uh so Ethan, thanks for being willing to dive into that. And the good thing is Ethan's got a lot of the connections already established, so you you're not having to to to step in and do those for the first time. But I just would encourage all of us to uh be considerate of Ethan as he's going into that. Uh because um I I fortunately was retired so I could do that. But Ethan's got a full-time job and uh he's going to need a lot of help from other folks on council for times he's not going to be able to go to things because of that. And Sarah relied on a number of us to step into those things. So we need to be ready to do that. But uh it's it's uh it's it's a great opportunity to do that. And Ethan, I think you're going to be do a great job stepping into that. So, thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate that so much.

And then Ethan, I have a list of about 20 events I need you to [laughter] January teasing, but uh no, I'd like to thank uh Mayor all the all the time and commitment that you put in this last year as our mayor and um the selfishness that you did for that. Um so, I'm going to make a motion. We are needing to take our existing council and um elect councilwoman elect Huffman. I don't see um Councilman Rubio. Is he not here tonight? Okay. Um into executive session. Um we will possibly be coming back um and u voting on um an item coming from that meeting. So with that being said, this will be um an executive session due to economic development OC121.22 and general legal advice by our law director um from charter 13.03. So I will make that motion and I'll entertain a second.

I'll second. Seconded by Councilwoman Sice. Can I get a roll call on that? Mayor Ursel. Hi. Councilman Reynolds. Hi. Councilman Props. Hi. Councilman Walker. Hi. Councilwoman Sice. Hi. President Smith. Hi. Motion carries. We're going to take um about a seven minute break and convene in here at 7:45. Um there has been a request. Can we take a quick picture of the current council of all everybody? Is that okay? Yeah. Before you guys take off.