City Council Regular Meeting

COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. September 22, 2022 1. CALL TO ORDER. President of Council Loughry called the Council meeting of Thursday, September 22, 2022, to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Opening Prayer & Pledge of Allegiance: Prayer: Pastor Andy Alberts, Tallmadge Lutheran Church Pledge of Allegiance: Layla and Milana Crock, Students at Tallmadge Elementary School 3. Roll Call: Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak – all present. Mrs. Allman was excused. 4. Correcting and Adopting the Previous Meeting Minutes: 9-8-22 Council Meeting Minutes Mr. Sisak moved to adopt the minutes as presented. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak – unanimous. The 9-8-22 Council Meeting Minutes were adopted by a vote of 6-0. 5. Financial Reports: None. 6. Public Hearings: None. 7. Community Input: Pres. of Council: This is the part of the meeting that if there is anybody in the audience that would like to speak to Council on anything that is not on our agenda this evening, now is the time that you can do that. Is there anybody that would like to speak this evening? Seeing none, let’s move on to Item 8. 8. Agenda Additions: • City Department Presentation: o Swearing-in of Ralph Stover as Police Sergeant • Certificate of Appreciation – Peggy Manson Presented by Clerk of Council Burton and Deputy Clerk of Council Conti 9. Reports of Administrative Officers: a. Mayor/Director of Economic Development: • Thank you Council. First of all, I will start off with the electronic recycling which will be on October 1st between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. at the Tallmadge Rec Center. • October 9th from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. is the Pet Parade and picnic. That will start at Lions Park, and it will travel down the Freedom Trail to the Community Center, and this is put on by the Tallmadge Fire Department. Chief Passarelli will be there to cook hot dogs with myself on that day. • Trick or Treat is on October 27th from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. • The Drug Take Back Day is on Saturday, October 29th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Police Department. • A little update on the fire station. You can see it is moving along. The glass is still not in the windows. The glass is sitting in the parking lot waiting to be installed. On the lower level there some of the concrete was poured today, the walkways and the approach. We are looking at a move-in date still from the middle to the end of October. Mollie and I had a meeting with their finance person, and we are on track coming in on budget. • The Summit DD site. We will be the proud owners of this building on October 3rd is when we getting the keys for that building. Service Director Rorar has been doing an excellent job in working with the people for some of the equipment that is inside and moving it to different departments. We were pretty much able to provide the Police Department with all new furniture that came out of this facility, and it really looks good, and it saved us quite a bit of money. A lot of the equipment will move into the new fire station. I know that the Rec Center has received some of that equipment. • We were getting a grant for the demolition of that building (old fire station). We applied for it to see if we could get it. They did ask us for a little bit more information which was 1  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. September 22, 2022 • Mayor (Cont’d.) very encouraging. So, we provided that information to them not only for this building, but the fire station No. 2 so we should hear hopefully in the next couple of weeks what that is going to look like. • Serpentini down on West Avenue and Command Plastics in the back; Serpentini closed on the purchase of that building. That is going to be their new paint booth area, body shop and so the building that they were going to build on behind the Mexican restaurant on West Avenue and the one on the side will not be built for the paint booth side of it. They made the deal with Command Plastics, and they hope to be moving into that and start painting by November with 20 additional jobs going there. • Also working with Nate at Serpentini this is an E charging station that Chevy is coming up with a program that will provide someone in their dealership of choosing 10 charging locations which is really 5 poles because there are 2 on each pole and provide them to us free of charge if we can find strategic locations around the City to put these in with the help of Serpentini to pay for the cost. We are looking for an electrical contractor to be able to come up with the cost to install these to see if it is worth it, but free charging . . . they are really trying to give a big push on E charging stations. Fire Station 2 already has one. It is being installed as we speak. So, we are working on some different locations like the Rec Center, the Community Center, City Hall parking lot, Fire Station 1 on the side and so we are working on that. Last but not least I see Chief Passarelli is still here. Next Friday is Chief Passarelli’s last day for the City at the office working here and I just want to publicly thank him again; I think I have been doing this at a lot of public meetings, but thank you for all your dedicated service to the City of Tallmadge and I appreciate all of your hard work and we know where you live. Any questions: I will gladly answer. Thank you. Mr. Bozic: I have a quick question for you. You said a lot of equipment at the Summit DD site that was inside has been kind of maybe hashed out to different departments, but have we done any kind of like a . . . even just a polling of some of the department heads within the City as to could they find any of that site to be useful for their department. Mayor: We have talked about that. We wondered if we could tear off half of the gymnasium and keep that gymnasium with that green space . . . all the roofs on Summit DD are in dire need of replacement. It is about a $3.5 million upgrade for the HVAC equipment, the electrical transformer and the roof to bring it up to snuff. We have had multiple vendors through there. I’m sure department would say yes. So, we are just looking at all options at this point. Mr. Bozic: I am just thinking of what other City assets do we have that maybe are not up to snuff now that we could easily move into that building and it would be an upgrade. Like I am thinking of GTF. We all know that the GTF has some roofing issues, the exterior needs painted, and the list goes on. We have talked about potential demo of that maybe in the future. Is that something that could help them or help the City out by having a larger GTF or something like that. I know from my experience from the Rec that I would love to have the facility or a portion of the facility to do programming out of. It would be a huge addition to the programs that are already offered. You would probably triple the amount of programming that you would be able to offer with a space like that. I don’t know if it has ever been talked about moving the Police Department there. Seeing that the dispatch is nearby not that it really needs to be next door, but could you potentially move City Hall there. Mrs. Gutman: Do you have any updates on the timeline for the cell tower? Mayor: Steve Wood last night announced at the Larry Bagnoli naming . . . he was hoping to have that pole up and in operation by the end of this year. Mrs. Gutman: Oh, that’s fantastic. Then the charging stations; you mentioned that those would be free charging? 2  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. September 22, 2022 Mayor: No, I didn’t say free charging. The equipment would be free to Serpentini, and he has the right to put them out, but they have to know the locations. Mrs. Gutman: So, they would be on City property? Mayor: The way they work is on a credit card. They have air cards inside the device that you swipe your card, and it is a fast charge; 30 minutes and it will charge from a dead battery to a fully charged battery. Mrs. Gutman: So, there is actually going to be one at Station 2. Mayor: That is part of our Code and so we complied with our Code. b. Director of Administration/Director of Safety: Excused. c. Director of Public Service: Good evening. I just wanted to mention the Fall Festival which is October 8th from 1:00 – 6:00 p.m. at the Rec Center in the parking lot. The pie eating contest is at 2:30 p.m. • The Howe Road Park entry construction started, and it is coming along pretty well. • This is the view that you see from the existing entrance as you are pulling out. You can see it is not the best view. The sight distance isn’t good. This is the new one and so now you can see this is what you view as you pull out of the new entrance area. You can see that arrow is Atwood and so you can see how much safer that is now. That is the end of my report unless there are any questions. Mr. Bozic: I am always the first one. I guess it is really not a question; it is more of an observation. You guys have a lot on your plate and don’t take this in the wrong way; can we do a better job of promoting like the changes that we are doing within the parks system because it seems like we are reactive maybe to some of the comments that happen on- line or what not where it is like oh there is a dog park. Where is this going to be? How do we get out in front of this and kind of put more publicity behind it to just let our public know. Dir. of Pub. Service: That is a great question. I am all about communication. I try to get the word out to everybody as best I can, and I am not sure . . . I mean I know Andrea does a great job posting. I’m just not sure what is the next step. What would be ideal is a quarterly magazine. I like that idea, but there again who is going to read it. You have to get it out there. I agree with you. I am open to suggestions. d. Director of Finance: Thank you. I have nothing additional to report this evening. I would ask Council’s consideration of adopting Ord. 2022-73 and 2022-74 this evening at 1st Reading and we can discuss those in committee. If anybody has any questions finance related, I would be glad to answer them. e. Director of Law: Thank you. I just want to . . . I know Mayor Kline already mentioned the Drug Take Back Day that is coming up. We are also doing another push for Red Ribbon Week communitywide and so we will be sending out information as that date approaches which is the same week that we will be asking people and their businesses to recognize that by wearing red on that Monday. End of report. 10. Reports of Standing Committees of Council of the Whole: a. Planning and Zoning Carol Kilway, Chair Rebecca Allman, Vice Chair The Planning & Zoning Committee deals with land use, zoning, conditional uses, planning, economic and community development, and public property. i. First Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions A. Ord. 2022-72 – Accepting the dedication of streets within the Tallmadge Reserve Phase V Subdivision for public purposes; setting performance and maintenance guarantees therefore and providing for immediate enactment. 3  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. September 22, 2022 Mrs. Kilway: I call the Planning & Zoning Committee to order. We have Ord. 2022-72 at 1st Reading this evening. The ordinance was read into the record. This is at 1st Reading and it is basically naming these streets and making sure we have all of the bonds and letters of credit associated with this project. Are there any questions or anything? Mayor: This is at 1st Reading but Planning & Zoning did approve it and it is not a requirement to go 3 readings for this accepting the roads. Mrs. Kilway: OK, so it is not a requirement to do 3 readings. I know there was a lot of discussion about it at the Planning & Zoning meeting and I think is pretty much just to facilitate getting this project promoted further. Does the applicant have anything? Not at this time. Pres. of Council: Mrs. Gilbride, you don’t have any reservations about this at 1st Reading? Mr. Bollas: We weren’t asked to adopt at 1st Reading this week. Is there a reason we would be asked to do that this evening? Pres. of Council: Not unless you just want to keep it on the docket. Planning & Zoning has already made the recommendation. Mr. Bollas: Is there anything that you would like to call out from the meeting? Mrs. Kilway: No, everything . . . Mr. Bollas: Because you mentioned discussion? Mrs. Kilway: Right, no, Pulte has dotted their I’s and crossed their t’s, and I don’t believe there are any issues with the plat, and everything is ready to go. This is the Phase 5, and it is just dedicating the streets and letting them get started. They are not going to start the streets unless they have people that are going to buy the lots. Mr. Bollas: Right and Mr. Rorar, you are noted as the sponsor on this one; is there anything else that you would call out on this? Dir. of Pub. Service: No, it is just to accept the bond for the streets and the waterline and the sidewalks. Mr. Bollas: So, no concerns? Dir. of Pub. Service: No. Dir. of Law: Mr. Bollas, if I may, so you are not changing any zoning or anything like that. This is just at the point where now they have their final plat, and you are accepting the public streets which is what was platted and then we are getting bonds set so as they do their construction then we have those bonds in place and the maintenance bonds as well. Mr. Bollas: OK, thank you. Mr. Bozic: I think I would probably agree with Jonathon at this point like maybe we could give it one more reading. Mrs. Kilway: Does anyone else have any discussion on this? Mayor: I have no problem with that. Mrs. Kilway: OK, so we will just go ahead and give it another reading. I’m fine with that as well. Anything else to come before Planning & Zoning at this time? Hearing nothing, I will close committee. ii. Additional Items: None. b. Finance Craig Sisak, Chair Jonathon Bollas, Vice Chair The Finance Committee deals with budget, appropriations, and reappropriations, bonds, franchises, investments, and expenditures. 4  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. September 22, 2022 i. First Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions A. Ordinance 2022-73 – Appropriating additional amounts due to increased investment returns and providing for immediate enactment. Mr. Sisak: I would like to call the Finance Committee to order. We have Ord. 2022-73 at 1st Reading. The ordinance was read into the record. Can I get a motion on this please? Mrs. Kilway: I move for the adoption of Ord. 2022-73 at 1st Reading. Seconded Mr. Loughry. Dir. of Finance: Just wanting to let Council know that this is just because we have seen a great pickup in the interest rates. I actually received more interest in the third quarter than I did in the first and second quarters added together. So, we have, because of how the interest rates have been, we have some money in liquid money market accounts that are seeing the immediate impacts in the Federal Reserve increase and so that is the reason for this and I need this ordinance so that I can distribute the interest into the various funds that receive those monies at the end of the quarter. Mr. Bozic: Do we have specifics on the amounts please? Dir. of Finance: Typically because it is a variable rate and what this fund basically does is the interest investment fund . . . all the interest that we receive every month gets posted into this fund and then we do a quarterly distribution so this appropriation is just allowing me to distribute the interest we have received into the funds that get interest so all the interest goes into the investment interest fund and then from there I distribute it into the General Fund, I put it in . . . so I am just moving money from one fund to another. I’m not really expending money to other people so typically and historically when we run into a situation where our interest is high, we word the ordinance so that Council just allows me to distribute whatever money I have received by the end of that period and that you are appropriating that money. Mr. Bozic: So basically, like you had mentioned in other ordinances we give you the latitude to do that . . . Dir. of Finance: This is the only situation. I would never ask Council to not have an exact number in anything, but what this fund is considered; it’s like called an internal service fund and so it is basically just servicing all the other funds of the City and it is just a way to put all that interest into one place and then give it to the funds that are supposed to receive it based on an allocation that is provided for by ordinance. Mr. Sisak: I’m sure this is kind of mandated by the Ohio . . . Dir. of Finance: Yes, I have to put interest . . . the Ohio Revised Code dictates how I have to distribute interest that we receive from our revenues and all of that stuff. So, it is all based on that. Mr. Bozic: You had said that you are going to distribute it to certain accounts. Do you have a certain account in mind or is it just evenly allocated? Dir. of Finance: No, it is a weighted allocation based on the amount of money in those funds. Roll Call: Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Bollas – unanimous. Ord. 2022-73 is adopted by a vote of 6-0. B. Ordinance 2022-74 – Appropriating additional amounts for income tax refunds and providing for immediate enactment. Mr. Sisak: Next we have Ord. 2022-74 at 1st Reading. The ordinance was read into the record. Can I get a motion please? 5  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. September 22, 2022 Mrs. Kilway: I move to adopt Ord. 2022-74 at 1st Reading. Seconded Mr. Loughry. Dir. of Finance: As I had put in my financial report earlier in the month, and as we had anticipated income tax refunds are up due to the State income tax changes and the allowances that were made for the work at home provision. We saw a huge bump this month; about $79,000 just this month in income tax refunds that were paid out by RITA and so we have approached a place where I need to put those funds back and so we can make sure that we are continuing to stay in compliance with our budgetary laws and also to make sure that we have enough funds available going forward to give you an example, last year for income tax refunds, we at this point . . . or actually year-to-date last year we paid out about $125,000 in tax refunds. At this point this year we are about at $300,000 of income tax refunds. So, I do anticipate that we will not be at that high level next year because most of the businesses have been required to shift where they are withholding those so hopefully we don’t see that trend continue, but this year’s estimate was really kind of a shot in the dark about where we are going to be with that. Mr. Sisak: Great. Any questions for the Finance Director? Hearing none, Madame Clerk . . . Mr. Bozic: So Other Operating Expenses in the sum of $125,000 and other operating expenses the sum of $30,000. So, the shifting of those funds . . . where were we at originally? You had said . . . Dir. of Finance: I originally had budgeted about $215,000 between those two funds in refunds. Like I said, it was a complete shot in the dark. I had no idea of what we were going to see with that. Mr. Sisak: These are primarily from 2021? Dir. of Finance: Yes, the majority of these are people who would have had . . . yes, all the refunds are from 2021 so these would have been mostly people that were being withheld from their employer as working in Tallmadge but were not working in Tallmadge. Mrs. Kilway: I know these were the taxes, the Tallmadge withholding taxes from the employers here within Tallmadge. What type of a feel do you have for going forward with people who live in Tallmadge that are working in Tallmadge now at home they now have to pay Tallmadge taxes because their employer is not taking it out. How is that balancing out? Dir. of Finance: Well, those employers actually should be taking it out. So, we are seeing a shift on our monthly returns of employers that typically we would not have seen. You know First Energy is now remitting withholdings and you know some of those bigger Akron companies are now remitting withholdings and I am hoping that most employers are being compliant in that, but we will be picking that up. We will see how that went when those returns are due. Fortunately we do have the . . . we are with RITA so because they collect for so many entities around us, it is nice because they are able to insure that compliance that somebody is not getting a refund from one location and then not actually paying it where they need to so they definitely make sure that they monitor those kinds of things so we are getting the money that we are supposed to get if somebody else is doing the same thing to us, but hopefully the employers are doing that so we don’t have a bunch of residents who all of a sudden have withholding stop coming out of their paycheck and then find out on a tax return that they owe a bunch of money at the end of the year. Mr. Sisak: Anymore questions? 6  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. September 22, 2022 Mr. Bozic: I have one follow-up with that because this kind of goes back to one of those other questions I had I think at a previous meeting. What are we doing to maybe get out in front of it to talk to businesses or something along those lines was my question before and so you mentioned tonight that RITA kind of follows that. Do we know if . . . is RITA proactively . . . Dir. of Finance: Yes. They talk to their businesses and . . . Mr. Bozic: Talk to the employers and say like this is what you need to be doing. Dir. of Finance: Yes, they watch their stuff. RITA actually watches even the ups and downs of employer remittances and contacts them if they see big jumps and swings to make sure . . . are you supposed to be sending this here or are you not and those kinds of things and so they do work with the employers to watch those items. Mr. Bozic: So, do they have a real time estimate then to be able to provide you even just like where we are at this year when it comes to withholdings. Dir. of Finance: Well, I mean we get . . . we get everything they’ve collected the month after they collect it. There is really no large lag and so what we received this month is all the money they collected in August, and I get every month the top 25 list and I go through that. Mr. Sisak: Does the City of Akron utilize RITA? Dir. of Finance: They do not utilize RITA. They are good at communicating and really Akron, it is to their incentive to work with this because at the end of the day they’re actually probably losing more than . . . they are going to lose more to us than we are going to lose to them. The law does allow for municipalities and collections to share with each other who they have given the refunds to and so I do anticipate that there is going to be some kind of cooperation between the entities that collect to kind of share their taxpayer information after this season goes through to make sure everybody is filing where they need to and paying where they need to. Mr. Sisak: I think that was kind of the intent of the Ohio Gateway, wasn’t it? Madame Clerk please call the roll. Roll Call: Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic – unanimous. Ord. 2022-74 is passed by a vote of 6-0. C. Res. 2022-4 – Exhibit A – Accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the Summit County Budget Commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies, certifying them to the County Fiscal Officer and providing for immediate enactment. Mr. Sisak: Next we have Res. 2022-4. The resolution was read into the record. Mrs. Gilbride, you said you did not need this at 1st Reading? Dir. of Finance: No, you can leave it. Pres. of Council: I would just maybe have Mrs. Raber comment since we are live streaming why this is a resolution and not an ordinance. Dir. of Law: History. Pres. of Council: Thank you. Mr. Sisak: You said it is a mystery? Dir. of Law: I said its history. Mr. Sisak: On that note, is there anything else to come before Finance? Hearing none, I close committee. ii. Additional Items: None. 7  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. September 22, 2022 c. Personnel Jonathon Bollas, Chair Adam Bozic, Vice Chair The Personnel Committee deals with personnel, labor relations, insurance claims, Rules of Council and State Statutes. Mr. Bollas: I call the Personnel Committee to order. We are all present. I have no legislation this evening for the Personnel Committee. Any reports or questions for the committee or administration? I have a few but I will wait. I had reached out to Dr. Cooper and just wanted to give a quick update on the Fire Chief’s candidates progress and testing. So, the background checks investigations are in progress. Shortly after that there will be a media announcement for the top 3 candidates and then they will meet with the technical panel and then the public panel and those dates are to be determined again based on the background checks. I have confirmed that the public panel is not to be live-streamed and I had asked for identification of the technical candidates and the public panel so that will be presented to us at a later date. Then that is when the appointing authority will meet with the panels to receive recommendations at that point. So right now, we are just waiting on background checks to be completed. Is that accurate as of 5 days ago? Mayor: That is correct. Mr. Bozic: I have a quick question about that. So, the tech panel and the public panel as well, probably more the public panel than the tech panel, but is there a particular reason why we wouldn’t stream that? Dir. of Law: Those aren’t public meetings. Those are not a governmental sub-committee; they are just acting in an advisory capacity to the executive branch. Mr. Bollas: Is the . . . Mr. Bozic: I was just going to say is the public welcome to attend that meeting then? Dir. of Law: I don’t believe so. I believe those are just the participants. Like an interview. Mr. Bozic: OK, so I guess I ‘m trying to go back by memory here I think at some point we were talking about having like a meet and greet or something like that for the 3 candidates and is that to take place before the public panel? Dir. of Law: I’m not sure when that is happening. Mayor: That is part of the public panel. Mr. Bozic: That’s part of the public panel. Mayor: The meet and greet and for a little bit of time and then the public panel will have interviews for the 3 candidates. Mr. Bozic: So, I guess . . . Mayor: That is the process that the administration came up with. Mr. Bozic: Right. I’m just thinking if we are having a meet and greet with the public; do we want the public to be involved in the meet and greet . . . Mayor: It’s for the panel. Mr. Bozic: It’s for the panel. OK Mayor: So, when I say public, it is the stakeholders and that is what we are calling it. It is stakeholders with business leaders, church leaders, Council members . . . Mr. Bozic: And then at what point like I know Jonathon mentioned like we are going to get that information as far as who is on those committees or those panels . . . Mayor: Dr. Cooper will be back in town on Tuesday. Mr. Bozic: OK. Mayor: And then right after that we will see where the process is. We just didn’t want to go until we get the background checks to make sure the 3 that are in question right now, we don’t have to go to the 4th. 8  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. September 22, 2022 Dir. of Law: And also, I believe that because we don’t know those dates as a firm date, there may be scheduling conflicts and things and so we may have to invite different people depending on what availability is when we ultimately are able to schedule those. Mr. Bozic: OK. Mayor: I think it is moving along very well. Mr. Bollas: Then last question, there was a lot of discussion last meeting on the Police Department study. Are there any updates since the last meeting. We had mentioned like reaching out for timelines and all of that. Mayor: Dr. Cooper has been in contact with them and so I am sure when he gets back on Tuesday, he will have information that we will be able to push out to City Council. Mr. Bollas: OK, so Council would be able to see what was committed and contracted? Mayor: Absolutely. You will get the report when we get it. Mr. Bollas: Thank you. Mr. Loughry: I have a shout out actually to Chief Passarelli and that is it was decided and determined to go outside for this Fire Chief selection and all 3 finalists are internal employees and I think that is a real feather in your cap that you have trained our department that we can compete with anybody. So, thank you for that. Mr. Bozic: I did have one follow-up to that question, so I guess specifically can the members of Council receive the actual copy of the contract with that firm and any list of references that that particular vendor has actually performed these types of analysis or evaluations of other city departments? Mayor: Sure. Mr. Bozic: And perhaps copies of that proof of work just to get an example of what it is that they produce. Then if we could also receive . . . Mayor: Send a memo. Mr. Bozic: I’ll send a memo; yes. I think just for transparency’s sake, if we can get a copy of the work chart now and a copy of the proposed work chart that you are proposing before the evaluation process is finalized. Mayor: Do you want Police or Fire? Mr. Bozic: Police. I’m jumping back to the Fire. So, a work chart of the Police Department as it stands today and a work chart as it would stand at the proposal of what Dr. Cooper had spoke about at the last meeting and then if we do have any material that has been provided from that committee or that particular vendor; did they have a work chart that they have proposed as well. So, just for comparison’s sake just so we have full disclosure of what it is we are looking at in the future. Thank you and I will put that in a memo for you sir. Mayor: You keep going back and forth and I’m not sure . . . Mr. Bozic: I apologize. i. Additional Items Mr. Bollas: Is there anything else to come before the Personnel Committee? Hearing none, I close committee. d. Community Issues Mary Gutman, Chair Carol Kilway, Vice Chair The Community Issues Committee deals with Parks and Recreation, civic affairs, and liaison between Council and the Recreation Board and intergovernmental affairs. 9  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. September 22, 2022 Mrs. Gutman: I call the Community Issues Committee to order. We have nothing before us tonight. Does anybody have anything for Community Issues? Mayor: Just a lot of things on the schedule. Mrs. Gutman: Yes, and you mentioned most of them in your report. One thing that I did want to note is the Farmer’s Market. It is still going on until October 13th and it is so much fun if you go down there on Thursday afternoons. We have I think three more times that we get to go. So, check that out. Mr. Bollas: In light of last night’s events, I have been giving this a lot of thought and have been contacted by our citizens just for us to consider as a City to potentially stop renting out to non-Tallmadge residents for locations of the Ritchie Shelter, Lion Park and Maca pavilions just to consider that. I have been reflecting on all these calls that I have been receiving and feedback and you know public safety is number one and what I saw or read last night that is not Tallmadge and anything we can do to help get ahead of that and prevent that in the future is just something that we should consider going into next year. Even if it is a pilot for 2023 just to assess occurrences understanding that there will be some loss impact there but again, there is nothing more important than safety and I understand there are investigations in progress but just reflecting on that. Thank you. Mr. Bozic: Does the administration have a stance as it stands now? Mayor: All policies are being reviewed as we speak. Mr. Bozic: OK. Thank you. I would second the sentiment that Jonathon has as it comes from a lot of community members that had reached out in the last 12 hours about that situation and being a former parks guy, I know that there is a balance of providing facilities to the public at a cost savings not being the highest cost in town in making it affordable, I know there is a balance with that. But I think in the past our costs for that facility are just too low. I think that could certainly be addressed if we do continue to have that facility open to the public for rent. Thank you. Mrs. Gutman: I think I would say that there is certainly a lot of information that needs gathered before we could make statements about increasing the costs and reducing whatever issues might be happening there, but we have to be careful to assume that who reserves the facility might affect . . . I think it is something that we should definitely think about before we talk about it. Is there anything else to come before Community Issues? Mr. Bozic: Ms. Gutman, from experience, I think I am well qualified to speak as to what the cost is and what the cost should be in regard to that facility. Mrs. Gutman: It is definitely something that we should consider. Thank you. On that note, I will close Community Issues. i. Additional Items: None. e. Safety Adam Bozic, Chair Craig Sisak, Vice Chair The Safety Committee deals with disaster services, communications, fire, and para- medics, police, and health. Mr. Bozic: I call the Safety Committee to order. There is currently no legislation in front of us. I will open it up to Council for any input. Mr. Bollas: I just have one question. When there is an incident that is posted to social media and for example, I saw one the other day of a garage door that was left open and a gentleman walks in and the first thing this gentleman did was reach for the door knowing that there was a car in the garage. This person was home in the middle of the night and the first thing I saw this person do was reach for the door knob and then he goes and looks 10  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. September 22, 2022 Mr. Bollas (Cont’d.) around the garage, but when something like that is posted; do we have a mechanism, I don’t want to make an assumption that I am hoping the person calls the Police of course, but is there any mechanism of monitoring that or are we monitoring mediums of communication? Again, I understand we cannot monitor everything but . . . Mayor: We do monitor it. Andrea Kidder is on it.. We have the Police Department who looks at it, the Fire Department looks at it. I do not look at it. So, if you do something on Facebook to me, I may respond; I’m just not a . . . Dir. of Law: If I could just state that absolutely people need to remember that they need to call 911 and they need to call the Police. Posting it on social media is not reporting it and so while we do monitor, we cannot be responsible for that that is not the mechanism by which someone reports it to the Police. They need to contact the Police. They need to call 911 if there is something happening, and the Police are going to be able to investigate and do a better job the sooner someone reaches out and makes that call. So, they need to be calling 911 or if they feel it is not an emergency issue, they need to call 330-633-2181 which is the non-emergency number. It is really important that people remember that, and I know in this age of social media people like to post that stuff but that is really not the mechanism for that. We cannot be responsible as a municipality for people doing that or catching all those. That is just absolutely not something that we would not be able to live up to or take responsibility for. Mr. Bollas: Yeah, thank you. In reflecting on my question, it was really about how we are reacting to that, but of course I am making an assumption when I see something like that that they did call, and this was more of an awareness post just to be on the lookout. Obviously check your doors and locks and all of that. Is there anything else? Mr. Sisak: I do have something. I know a lot of the guys that work the night shift they say that they will drive around and they do see doors up; lots of doors up and open and you know a lot of this stuff; cars are unlocked and it is an opportunity to say hey I am just going to check this car door; oh, it is unlocked. Well now everything in it is mine. I know they used to post like stickers or post cards, and it would say, hey I found your garage door open last night. Don’t forget to close it. I know they did it in the past. I don’t know if they are still doing it. It may be something towards community policing to maybe reinstitute. Mayor: What is also good is you do what we do in my neighborhood; we talk to each other. We have a pact that if you see my door up, call me and if I see yours up . . . and we always look out for each other in my neighborhood. Not everybody has a neighbor next door, but yes, I think if the cops see a door open what would it hurt to . . . Mr. Sisak: Yeah, but I think they used to just stick a card of note. Mayor: Thanks. A good thought. I will ask the Chief about that. Mr. Bozic: Any other discussion for Council or the Administration? Hearing none, I will close committee. i. Additional Items: None. f. Public Service Rebecca Allman, Chair Mary Gutman, Vice Chair The Public Service Committee deals with streets, highways, sidewalks, buildings, and improvements: water, sewer, electricity, gas, energy resources, recycle, waste, and trash. Mrs. Gutman: I call the Public Service Committee to order. We have nothing before us tonight. Is there anything for Public Service? 11  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. September 22, 2022 Pres. of Council: I just wanted to thank Mr. Rorar. We had a gentleman in the family that had a longtime water issue on Atwood and so Mr. Rorar got right on it, and we met with the resident, and we will be helping to rectify the problem so that was excellent. Then also Mrs. Hussing has been working closely with me on the mobile home park. I appreciate both of those. Mrs. Gutman: If there is nothing else then, I will close committee. Thank you. i. Additional Items: None. 11. Reports of Special Committees: a. Council Operations Committee: Pres. of Council: The only thing to report to Council is that the cross-training is almost complete. Basically, they just have to do Records Retention so anyway we will have that completed well before the end of the year and then we will proceed on putting the procedure manuals together probably starting early next year. Mr. Bollas: Can we just reconfirm the Budget Workshop date and time. Has that been confirmed yet? Pres. of Council: The time has not been confirmed but I believe it is October 18th. Mayor: The final draft is supposed to be on my desk by October 14 th. There is a special work session of Council on October 18th and another date of October 20th if needed. The 1st Reading of the ordinance will be on October 27th, the 2nd Reading will be on November 10th and then the public hearing will be on December 8th. This schedule was e-mailed to you, and I can send it out or have Jill send it back out to you, but if you can look at that e- mail from Jill. Mr. Bollas: So, as it stands, October 18th for the workshop. Time to be determined. Pres. of Council: What time works best for everybody. The earlier the better for me but it will be live streamed, but we could start at 4:00 p.m. Mayor: Wasn’t that on Council’s schedule already? Pres. of Council: We did not. The only thing we received Mayor was . . . Mayor: No, I mean when Council did the schedule at the beginning of the year. Pres. of Council: We did not add that. We moved the Halloween meeting to Wednesday and that was the only thing we did. So, we just need to do our notices right; Mrs. Raber? So, what time works well for everybody? Mrs. Kilway: 5:00 p.m. works fine for me. Mr. Bollas: I would say after 5:30 p.m. to be safe just because you get out of work, and you have to get in your car and drive here. Pres. of Council: Is 5:30 p.m. OK? Is 5:30 p.m. good Mrs. Kilway. Mrs. Kilway: Yes, that’s fine. Mrs. Gutman: Yes. Pres. of Council: I feel kind of guilty here of scheduling a meeting that I am going to miss. So 5:30 p.m. So, Mrs. Burton; you can do that. Clerk of Council: Yes. i. Additional Items: None. 12. Announcements: None. 13. Adjournment: Mr. Sisak: I move to adjourn. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman – unanimous. The Council meeting of 9-22-22 adjourned at 8:12 p.m. sb Adopted: ___________________________________ ______________________________________ Susan E. Burton, Clerk of Council Dennis K. Loughry, President of Council 12