City Council

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING MASSILLON CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2026 COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Good evening. Welcome to the Massillon City Council meeting for Tuesday, February 2, 2026. We have in attendance the following City officials: Mayor Jamie Slutz, Safety Service Director, Renee Baker, Asst. Law Director, Edmond Mack, Director of Development, Ted Herncane, Matt Heck, Street Superintendent, Josh McClay and Civil Service Commissioner, Tom Burgasser. Under #5 on the agenda is where the public can speak on any topic that appears on tonight’s agenda and under #17 is where the public can speak on any topic that does NOT appear on tonight’s agenda. I’d like to remind you that if you have a cell phone, please set it to mute, vibrate or turn it off. Thank you. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Roll call, please. 1. ROLL CALL Roll call for the evening found the following Council Members present: Holly Bryan-Huth, Sarita Cunningham, Mike Gregg, Julie Harwig Smith, Seth Marcum, John Paquelet, Mandwel Patterson, Eric Ray and Tony Townsend. Roll call of 9 present COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you, Madam Clerk. COUNCIL CLERK ROLLAND – You are welcome. 2. INVOCATION COUNCILMAN MANDWEL PATTERSON 3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE LED BY COUNCILMAN PATTERSON COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you, Councilman Patterson. 4. READING OF THE JOURNAL COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Madam Clerk, are the minutes of the previous meeting transcribed and open for public viewing? COUNCIL CLERK ROLLAND – Yes, they are. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Are there any additions or corrections to be made? COUNCIL CLERK ROLLAND – No, there are not. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – If not, then the minutes stand approved as written. Thank you, Madam Clerk. 1 5. REMARKS OF DELEGATIONS AND CITIZENS TO MATTERS ON THE AGENDA 6. NEW AND MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilman Marcum. COUNCILMAN MARCUM – Thank you. At this time, I’d make a motion to enter into Executive Session under Revised Code, Section 121.22(g)(1) to consider the appointment or employment of a public employee or official and invite all Members of Council, the Mayor, Director Herncane, Director Baker and Mr. Mack. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Seconded by Councilman Gregg. Roll call. 9 yes to enter into Executive Session – 6:35 p.m. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilman Marcum. COUNCILMAN MARCUM – I make a motion to exit Executive Session. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Seconded by Councilman Gregg. Roll call. 9 yes to exit Executive Session – 7:05 p.m. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you, Madam Clerk. 7. INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Ord. No. 6 – 2026. ORDINANCE NO. 6 – 2026 BY: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE AN ORDINANCE amending the Zoning Map of the City of Massillon, Ohio, by rezoning a certain property from R-1 Single Family Residential District to B-1 Local Business District. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilwoman Harwig Smith. COUNCILWOMAN HARWIG SMITH – Thank you, President Slater. This property rezoned is Lot #6149, Parcel #6000689. The property is owned by Michael Fisher. The business is Ferrall Pools which has been in our community and a very well respected business for many years. They purchased the property and they want it rezoned to B-1 so that they can build onto their existing business, the adjacent building. This will be first reading, thank you. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Ord. No. 6 – 2026 has received first reading. Ord. No. 7 - -2026. ORDINANCE NO. 7 – 2026 BY: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE AN ORDINANCE approving the enterprise zone tax abatement application for Nova Storage, LLC. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilman Patterson. 2 COUNCILMAN PATTERSON – Yes, thank you, President Slater. This is an ordinance providing a 75% enterprise zone tax abatement for Nova Storage, LLC. They’re proposing to construct a warehouse facility on 3.23 acres of vacant land at 1250 Nova Dr. S.E., Massillon, Ohio. The proposed facility will create four (4) warehouse buildings with a total size of about 58,000 square feet and total cost of the project is between $2.0 and $2.6 million dollars and result in the creation of three (3) new jobs, and again, Nova is requesting a ten (10) year 75% enterprise zone tax abatement on the new construction. We talked about this last week and I believe they came up and spoke. So, any questions on that? Councilwoman Harwig Smith, go ahead. COUNCILWOMAN HARWIG SMITH – I just have one for Diane, I think it just needs corrected. Last week in the Work Session we have this Ord. No. 7 under Economic Development and in our packet today, it said by Community Development Committee. So, we need to correct that to Economic Development. Thank you. COUNCILMAN PATTERSON – Sorry, I didn’t even notice that. Thank you. Any other questions? With that, I’d like to make a motion to waive the rules requiring three readings and bring Ord. No. 7 – 2026 forward for a vote. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Seconded by Councilman Marcum. Roll call for suspension. 9 yes for suspension COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – And for passage. 9 yes for passage COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you, Madam Clerk. Ord. No. 7 – 2026 has passed. Ord. No. 8 – 2026. ORDINANCE NO. 8– 2026 BY: POLICE AND FIRE COMMITTEE AN ORDINANCE authorizing the Mayor and the Director of Public Service and Safety of the City of Massillon, Ohio, to enter into a 3-year billing agreement with the Board of Trustees of Jackson Township, Stark County, Ohio, for the processing and collection of EMS charges for the Massillon Fire Department, and declaring an emergency. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilman Ray. COUNCILMAN RAY – Thank you, President Slater. As we discussed in last Work Session, this is just renewal of a current agreement with a slight bill change which is an increase of one dollar ($1.00) this year. After speaking with Chief Heck, he explained that this would be something that they can manage. We also said somewhere down the line we would be thinking of maybe redirecting it due to the increases and by the time that it gets to the end of the process, it would be a little bit higher. So, after all that discussion, is there any other questions or concerns? Seeing none, I would like to make a motion to waive the rules requiring three readings and bring Ord. No. 8 – 2026 forward for a vote. 3 COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Seconded by Councilman Marcum. Roll call for suspension. 9 yes for suspension COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – And for passage. 9 yes for passage COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you, Madam Clerk. Ord. No. 8 – 2026 has passed. Ord. No. 9 – 2026. ORDINANCE NO. 9 – 2026 BY: HEALTH, WELFARE & BLDG. REGS. COMMITTEE AN ORDINANCE authorizing the Clerk of Council of the City of Massillon, Ohio, to certify the list of unpaid and delinquent nuisance abatement services to the Stark County Auditor to be entered upon the tax duplicate to be a lien upon such land from the date of entry to be collected as other taxes and assessments and to delete any property owner’s names or adjust the dollar amounts owed, if applicable, prior to certification to the Stark County Auditor provided that the Director of Development provides documentation to do so, and declaring an emergency. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilwoman Cunningham. COUNCILWOMAN CUNNINGHAM – Thank you, President Slater. As we discussed last week during the Work Session, questions were asked and this is done every year about the unpaid delinquent nuisance abatement services that then goes on the property owner’s taxes that are not paid. Are there any questions or concerns on this issue? Seeing none, I’d like to make a motion to waive the rules requiring three readings and bring Ord. No. 9 – 2026 forward for a vote. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Seconded by Councilwoman Harwig Smith. Roll call for suspension. 9 yes for suspension COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – And for passage. 9 yes for passage COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you, Madam Clerk. Ord. No. 9 – 2026 has passed. Ord. No. 10 – 2026. ORDINANCE NO. 10 – 2026 BY: RULES, COURTS & CIVIL SERVICE COMMITTEE AN ORDINANCE repealing Ordinance No. 127 – 1997 “OCCUPATION LIST OF CLASS TITLES” and enacting a new “OCCUPATION LIST OF CLASS TITLES” for the City of Massillon, Ohio, and declaring an emergency. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilman Marcum. 4 COUNCILMAN MARCUM – We’re going to give this one first reading. It’s my understanding that the Civil Service Commission is going to meet next week and clarify one or two items in their changes here and hopefully we’ll be able to pass this at the next regular session. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Ord. No. 10 – 2026 has received first reading. Ord. No. 11 – 2026. ORDINANCE NO. 11 – 2026 BY: RULES, COURTS & CIVIL SERVICE COMMITTEE AN ORDINANCE amending Chapter 121 “COUNCIL”, Section 121.02, Rule 11, “Order of Business”, No. 7, of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Massillon, Ohio, by enacting a new Section 121.02, Rule 11, “Order of Business”, No. 7, adding “Consent Agenda”, of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Massillon, Ohio, and declaring an emergency. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilman Marcum. COUNCILMAN MARCUM – So, this is the “Consent Agenda” topic we spent a lot of time on last week. Does anybody have any questions? Seeing none, I make a motion to waive the three readings rule and bring Ord. No. 11 – 2026 forward for a vote. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Seconded by Councilwoman Bryan-Huth. Roll call for suspension. 9 yes for suspension COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – And for passage. 9 yes for passage COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you, Madam Clerk. Ord. No. 11 – 2026 has passed. Ord. No. 12 – 2026. ORDINANCE NO. 12 – 2026 BY: FINANCE COMMITTEE AN ORDINANCE making certain appropriations from the unappropriated balance of the 1433 Parks and Recreation Capital Improvement Fund, for the year ending December 31, 2026, and declaring an emergency. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilman Gregg. COUNCILMAN GREGG – Thank you, President Slater. As we discussed in Committee, this is an appropriation of $200,000.00 for the Reservoir Park, Phase II Pond Project. Mr. Pedro was here last week to explain. Any questions or discussion? Seeing none, I make a motion that we waive the rules requiring three readings and bring Ord. No. 12 – 2026 forward for a vote. COUNCILMAN SLATER – Seconded by Councilman Paquelet. Roll call for suspension. 9 yes for suspension COUNCILMAN SLATER – And for passage. 5 9 yes for passage COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you, Madam Clerk. Ord. No. 12 – 2026 has passed. Ord. No. 13 – 2026. ORDINANCE NO. 13 – 2026 BY: FINANCE COMMITTEE AN ORDINANCE making certain appropriations from the unappropriated balance of the 1203 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Fund, for the year ending December 31, 2026. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilman Gregg. COUNCLMAN GREGG – Thank you, President Slater. As we discussed in Committee, this is an appropriation of $124,500.00 to our demolitions account coming from the CDBG Funds. This is to get the ball rolling on some demolitions that have been sorely been needed in the community. Any questions or discussion? Seeing none, I make a motion that we waive the rules requiring three readings and bring Ord. No. 13 – 2026 forward for a vote. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Seconded by Councilman Paquelet. Roll call for suspension. 9 yes for suspension COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – And for passage. 9 yes for passage COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you, Madam Clerk. Ord. No. 13 – 2026 has passed. Ord. No. 14 – 2026. ORDINANCE NO. 14 – 2026 BY: FINANCE COMMITTEE AN ORDINANCE authorizing and approving the conveyances requested by Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) reflected in the Easement, Temporary Easement and Bill of Sale for the construction project STA-172-0.88, PID 120082. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilman Gregg. COUNCILMAN GREGG – Thank you, President Slater. As we discussed, this is an ordinance authorizing us to transfer or create an easement for ODOT to work on a project at Lincoln Way and Alabama Ave. Director Pitts did contact me today and wanted to emphasize that we are not selling any property for this. This is a temporary easement so that ODOT can do the necessary work on that location. Given that, are there any questions or discussion? Seeing none, I make a motion that we waive the rules requiring three readings and bring Ord. No. 14 – 2026 forward for a vote. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Seconded by Councilman Paquelet. Roll call for suspension. 9 yes for suspension 6  COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – And for passage. 9 yes for passage COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you, Madam Clerk. Ord. No. 14 – 2026 has passed. Res. No. 17 – 2026. RESOLUTION NO. 17 – 2026 BY: COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE A RESOLUTION appointing SARITA CUNNINGHAM to the Historic Preservation Commission of the City of Massillon, Ohio, as the Massillon City Council representative, for the term expiring December 31, 2027. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilman Gregg. COUNCILMAN GREGG – Thank you, President Slater. We discussed this also in Committee. It’s a position that our Council needs to have on Historic Preservation Commission and Councilwoman Cunningham has graciously agreed to take it. I want to thank her for that for being willing to take on that responsibility. Any questions or discussion? Seeing none, I make a motion that we waive the rules requiring three readings and bring Res. No. 17– 2026 forward for a vote. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Seconded by Councilman Marcum. Roll call for suspension. 8 yes; 1 abstention for suspension COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – And for passage. 8 yes; 1 abstention for passage COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you, Madam Clerk. Res. No. 17 – 2026 has passed. 8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 9. PETITIONS AND GENERAL COMMINCATIONS 10. BILLS, ACCOUNTS AND CLAIMS 11. REPORTS FROM CITY OFFICIALS Mayor’s Report - December 2025 12. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Our next Work Session will be Monday, February 9, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. 7 13. RESOLUTIONS AND REQUESTS OF COUNCIL MEMBERS COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilman Gregg. COUNCILMAN GREGG – I just wanted to report that I will not be at the meeting on Monday for the Committee meeting on Monday. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you. Councilwoman Bryan-Huth. COUNCILWOMAN BRYAN-HUTH – Thank you, Mr. President for this opportunity to speak. Mr. Slater reached out and asked if I would talk about the homeless shelter that was established in Massillon two weeks ago. So, I’m happy to just take a couple of minutes to let you know how things started and where it is now. When the cold was approaching us, we were all getting ready to hunker down, right? Bread and milk and finding your favorite Netflix and what can we do? There were people in our community who were very concerned about what this impending cold was going to do for our unhoused population. Sometimes, clambering is clambering and sometimes, clambering is an incentive to meet a need. And so, I wanted to ask some more questions and do some more thinking on it. In that, the first question is “Do we have a legitimate need for a community unhoused shelter in our community?”. And the answer is we do and from our conversations last winter when we were discussing legislation, we were told that five hundred individuals were housed from Massillon in the Canton shelters. So the community does have a need. I also know, first hand, well, second hand; from family members who are very active in our food pantries, but the need is increasing every month. They’re seeing more and more volumes of people who need not only food, but other basic necessities. So the need is there. So how do we meet this need? What happens? Where does it go? I’m one who always thinks, but then what, but then what, but then what? So, I made some phone calls and asked some questions and our community is so strong and so giving and so connected that we were able to answer those questions very quickly. Everyone I called answered the phone, everyone I called gave a real tangible answer and led us to this path. We needed space and I reached out to Councilman Ray and said if I could speak with Pastor Tyiesha? Would she be ameanable to this question and he said he would call her, no problem. Pastor Tyiesha Askew and her husband Donnell run Redeemed Acts Ministries. It’s 1323 Lincoln Way W. It’s a small church; it used to be Church of the Masserien and in the back they have a lovely fellowship hall. I called her, she said “yes”. Well, I said “hold on”. Here’s some things I would like to do. I would like to make sure that you and your space are safe. That the volunteers are safe and that the guests that are coming to use this space are safe. So let’s do that. Made some more phone calls, found the best practices, looked up the policies and procedures for cleaning, for safety; for all of these things because we know that this is a hard need to meet. Within hours, we were able to come together with help from the Administration, Safety Service Director Baker came forward and said “What do you need from us? How can we help?” Chief Saintenoy said “How can we help?”. It’s just been a real storm of purpose and I’m very, very pleased with it. We opened one night and that was the goal. One night, let’s see what we can do. It was successful. We had enough volunteers to cover an overnight shift and we had one guest the first night. We’re up to five or six on any given night. Depending on the need of the community and when they’re going. I had to write some notes down because I wanted to get it straight. We had in thirteen days, there’s been more than fifty-one stays, twenty-five volunteers have given over four hundred and eighteen hours of their time to make this happen. We’ve had an outpouring of donations, of meals and food and clothes and all kinds of things to the center. So it’s a real testament to we could say, but we can’t because, because, because of all these logistical and liability and all of these complicated world that we live in items or we could stop and say “Well, 8  what if we could? What if we could make this happen?”; and make the call, ask the questions, look for the information. Redeemed Acts Ministries is a lovely, lovely church of ten. They’re a congregate of ten people and they are so powerful. Many of them come and stay overnight. Some of them cook a meal. Some of them come and help clean in the morning. They do various things and then we’ve had volunteers all the way from Summit County who just said that the Haven of Rest is full of volunteers, “I want to come down and help you”. Okay…welcome to Massillon. It’s been really interesting. It has its challenges. It hasn’t always been golden, but they’re going to continue to learn and they’re going to continue to grow. The pastor and her husband would like for this to continue. They have big dreams and big goals. They need some help and support to make that happen. I’m confident that they’ll find it. But it’s been a real testament to our Massillon community and what we can do. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – That’s what we like to hear. Appreciate that. (Applause). Thanks to everybody for helping out. COUNCIL CLERK ROLLAND – And Holly, you might want to mention about the e-mail about the webinar on the homeless on a statewide level. COUNCILWOMAN BRYAN-HUTH – Diane sent it out today from the Ohio Municipal League, I believe it was, that’s having a webinar that you can join in, because it is a big issue for many municipalities to learn more and what we can do to help. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Thank you. 14. CALL OF THE CALENDAR 15. THIRD READING ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS 16. SECOND READING ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS 17. REMARKS OF DELEGATIONS AND CITIZENS TO MATTERS NOT ON THE AGENDA 18. ADJOURNMENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Councilman Patterson. COUNCILMAN PATTERSON – I make a motion to adjourn. COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Seconded by Councilman Ray. Roll call. 9 yes to adjourn COUNCIL PRESIDENT SLATER – Meeting adjourned. ______________________________ ______________________________ DIANE ROLLAND, COUNCIL CLERK MIKE SLATER, PRESIDENT 9