City Council Regular Meeting

COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 1. Call to Order: President of Council Loughry called the Council meeting of Thursday, July 13, 2023, to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Opening Prayer & Pledge of Allegiance: Prayer: Elder Kurran Bishop, Shepherd’s Pasture for All Nations Church, Tallmadge. Pledge of Allegiance: Olivia Bollas, 2nd grade student at Tallmadge Elementary School. 3. Roll Call: Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, – present. 3.A. Pres. of Council: We are going to amend our agenda and move Community Issues up. So, I would entertain a motion to allow us to change our agenda. Mrs. Kilway: So moved. Seconded Mr. Bozic. Roll Call: Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman – unanimous. The agenda is amended by a vote of 7-0. Pres. of Council: So, we will start with Community Issues; Mrs. Gutman. Mrs. Gutman: I call Community Issues to order, and I am happy that tonight we have Res. 2023-7 congratulating the Tallmadge High School Softball Team and providing for immediate enactment. Mrs. Gutman read the beginning of the resolution. Thank you girls for that, but I also wanted to say before I ask for a motion, that I want to acknowledge that most of you this is a dedication of sacrifice that started when you were very young and I know that because I know several of you personally and it meant skipping events and other extra-curricular activities that you might have wanted to do. Or going from that one thing straight to practice when you were tired and then still having your homework and you have been doing that for years. That is what we don’t see in the stands as we are cheering you on. All those nights, all that effort and sometimes pain and so thank you for all of that hard work. That is going to stay with you your whole lives and you should be so proud. And even if you didn’t win that game, you should be just as proud of everything that you did leading up to that point. So, with that said, before I open up the discussion, if we could have a motion for the resolution. Mrs. Kilway: I move to adopt Res. 2023-7. Seconded Mr. Bozic. Mrs. Kilway: I was just going to say but Mary said it all in the introduction, that being a student athlete is such a great sacrifice and you guys have done it with grace and thank you for representing Tallmadge as wonderfully as you have. Thank you. Mayor: On behalf of the City of Tallmadge, we thank you for your dedication to your sport. That semi-final game was really exciting. It is amazing, I was just at Indian Hills Park and the 10- year-old girls just won their district to go to State. All of you girls started off with Little League and the leadership and your dedication to those little kids is fabulous that not only the girls are going to state, but the boy’s final; the 10-year old boys this Saturday at 11:00 a.m. down at the Hole. I encourage you to go and all of Council. That was part of my Mayor’s report. Congratulations girls. You really represented Tallmadge extremely well. Mrs. Gutman: Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, Madame Clerk please call the roll. Roll Call: Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas – unanimous. Res. 2023-7 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. Mrs. Gutman: We have Certificates of Congratulations to you and your coaches. I will read your names and if you could stay up here so we can get a picture. Lily Bond, Riley Jackson, Zoe Rensel, Leila Staszak, Jocelyn Caffelle, Brooke Moore, Emma Garbinsky, Alexa Gray, Larissa Taylor, Katie Huth, Marley Queen, Sydney Becks, Randall Voss, Ashlyn Severns, Mia Zappola, Kathryn Headrick, Danielle Charton, Marissa Charton, Gabby Harp, Payton Almond, Head Coach, Brittany Lightel, Assistant Coach Alyssa Finch, Assistant Coach Ed Seeker, JV Head Coach Shannon Adolph, and JV Assistant Coach Gia Marfly. Thank you all. Mrs. Gutman: I will close committee. 1  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 4. Correcting and Adopting the Previous Meeting Minutes: 6-22-23 Council Meeting Minutes. Mrs. Kilway: I would like to make a motion to approve the 6-22-23 minutes. Seconded Mr. Bozic. Roll Call: Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic – unanimous. The 6-22-23 minutes are approved by a vote of 7-0. 5. Financial Reports: • Fire & EMS Fund Transfer in the amount of $170,000, Street Maintenance & Repair Fund Transfer in the amount of $200,000, Bond Retirement in the amount of $70,000 and Police Pension Fund in the amount of $75,000 to Council on 6-28-23. • Appropriation Report, Fund Report and Revenue Report for the period ending 6-30-23 to Council on 7-5-23. • June Financial Reports to Council on 7-5-23. • Tallmadge Recreation Center Profit and Loss Report for the period ending 6-30-23 to Council on 7-5-23. • Income Tax Comparisons for the period ending 6-30-23 to Council on 7-5-23. • Consolidated Investment Portfolio for the period ending 6-30-23 to Council on 7-5-23. • Income Tax by Source Report for the month of June to Council on 7-5-23. • Revenue Comparisons for Major Funds for the period ending 6-30-23 to Council on 7-5- 23. Mr. Sisak: I move to accept the Financial Reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Gilbride. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman – unanimous. The Financial Reports are accepted by a vote of 7-0. 6. Public Hearings: None. 7. Community Input: Pres. of Council: This is the point in the meeting that if anyone would like to address Council for up to 2 minutes, they can come to the podium and do so. Would anyone like to do that this evening? No one responded. 8. Agenda Additions: None. 9. Reports of Administrative Officers: a. Mayor/Director of Economic Development: Mayor: Thank you Mr. Chairman. • Again, we talked about the Girls Softball Team; their destination is Rockhill and that should be sometime next week. Rockhill is in southern Ohio down by the river. • The Boys will play either Cuyahoga Falls or Jefferson this coming Saturday down at Mack Burleson field at 11:00 a.m. • The 2024 Budget timeline was e-mailed out to all Department Heads, the Council members, and the Finance Chair. I’m not sure if you all got that or not. This year’s budget what we are asking for is this Administration is to come in with our budget for our normal operating stuff that you have to have, any capital items that are debt payments that have to be paid, any new capital; we are asking them to put that together but that will not probably be presented in this budget. We will wait for the next Administration to figure it out plus also new personnel. They can request it, but we probably won’t add it in until the very end of the budget time or the next Administration can work on that in fairness to the next Administration and to the next Council. So that is being worked out. • The Joint Dispatch Center if you recall last time, I asked anybody that would like to go through it. We did take Carol and Mary and I think Becky went through it. Anyone else who wants to go through. It is going to get harder and harder to go through it once a lot of the equipment is coming in. The goal is to have that up and operating in October now. Things are really moving along, and it is looking pretty good inside there. 2  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 • Mayor (Cont’d.) The Comp Study. We continue to schedule with the Department heads to get their input on that compensation study. We will be meeting with them in the next week or two weeks and so that is forthcoming. • Fire Station No. 2: The outside landscaping has been completed and I meet with the engineers next Wednesday to do the punch list on the exterior, the detention ponds have to be straightened up a little bit from the construction side to the permanent detention pond so that is still yet to go. • Economic Development: Testa Builders did receive their funding for their new building over there plus the first floor of the existing building so they will be back at Planning & Zoning probably next month and also the Architectural Review Board for the new building. • There is a new restaurant coming in at Scratch Kitchen and it is called Breakfast at Tiffany’s and their grand opening is earmarked or are scheduled tentatively for August 25th through the 27th and they are having a tent outside and they are going to have a weekend of open house. • Congratulations to Finance Director, Mollie Gilbride, for the audit. Council probably received that today or yesterday. It was a fine audit from the financial leadership from Mollie, so congratulations to you and your whole team. • I request ordinances to be adopted tonight; 64, 65, and 66. We do have members from the safety forces to talk about it. End of report. Mr. Bollas: What is the process to get the street signs updated with the dates like every time we win the State Championship for men’s or women? Do we have a process for that or is that ad hoc. Obviously with the wins, but what is involved with that? Dir. of Pub. Service: Glad you reminded me. I will get on that right away. Mr. Bollas: Well, that was easy. Thank you. Mr. Bozic: Well, done on the Farmer’s Market. I get to go by there every Thursday before the meeting and it was by far the most vendors that I have seen and so kudos to Andrea. Mayor: I will give you a little insight into what happened at the Farmer’s Market. So, Springfield just opened a Farmer’s Market. They had some of their people last week poaching Andrea’s people and so 6 of the remaining produce people went to Springfield tonight. There were 37 vendors there tonight. She was not a happy camper tonight. Thank you for the comment. b. Director of Administration/Director of Safety: Good evening, everyone. There is really just one thing I want to report on and that was that on Monday, our new Police Chief started, Doug Bohon, and technically he started Sunday, but Monday morning he was in bright and early. He has not been overwhelmed but certainly busy so far this week with meetings and catching up and just learning where various things are stored. But he is doing an excellent job. He is an excellent choice and I think you would all be very proud of what he has done so far, and I am sure he will continue to be that way. That’s it. c. Director of Public Service: • I would like to request Ordinances 2023-63 and 2023-67. • Moving on, the Zoning Department had 85 total permits issued; 44 which were zoning certificates including 5 for street openings, Code Violations were 36; 13 of which were property disrepair and I have to be honest with you, we live in a pretty good City and to only have 13 I would say that is outstanding. • Cemetery there were 6 total burials; 3 were full and 3 cremains. • Rec Center: You can see the membership there at 7,254 and that is a 9% increase from last year. Visits at the Rec were 13,839 which was a 20% increase. • Pickle ball and tennis courts are open. We do have to put in a set of steps to one gate but that has nothing to do with that not being used. That was one of the ARPA projects. The Memorial Park playground is closed until further notice and that is to put 3  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 • Dir. of Pub. Service (Cont’d.) in the rubber surface for that. The cement work should start on Monday and then the following Monday the rubber surface should be installed. So, we are probably 2 weeks out yet. • Annual storm drain cleaning this summer was done at the Summer Camp; you can see the design. It is part of the camp activity but it is also an EPA mandate that we have to educate and so it is an easy one and it is fun for the kids. • New outdoor shelter at Lions Park. Cavanaugh got the bid. The only downside is that we are 21 weeks out from getting the shelter delivered. We are probably looking at Christmas. • Maca Pool: You can see the memberships sold there. The visits were 10,111 and that is a decrease from last year about 30% actually and it is probably due to the poor weather. • We had our first drumming class there and that was pretty successful even though the weather was bad. • A really cool shout out there is due to Officer Quillen for the photo. Those are all 6 pickle ball courts, and you can see how the layout is. • I sent out an e-mail and I don’t know if everybody remembers this shot back on April 13, 2023, of the Howe Road Park updates and I sent out that we have budgeted $757,000 and that was allocated for improvements. Actually, we need another $298,00 to actually do the improvements and I have actually cut $600,000 of the improvements to get down to that price. We will probably be 20 weeks out for this shelter, and I would like to go out for bid, and I am probably coming back at the next Council meeting for the request of the $298,000. Any questions? Pres. of Council: What would you attribute the increased cost to what factors? Dir. of Pub. Service: Well, the main thing is I think that just the cost overall. The costs of the shelter, the restroom unit; we have to run a new 2” waterline in there which we weren’t anticipating; we thought we could use the existing. The pop and running the electric to it we were not anticipating. Mr. Bozic: I have a question. When we did the Parks Master Plan for Howe Road, I thought there was an estimated amount for Howe Road. Do you recall what that amount is? Dir. of Pub. Service: Not off the top of my head. Mr. Bozic: I was just curious if that amount was significantly lower or higher than what we are looking at at the moment. Dir. of Pub. Service: We are less than that right now. Street Department: 32 hours were spent street sweeping and 8 tons of debris was removed, and 96 hours were spent on berm roll, 550 lineal feet of ditching was done, 3 culverts were replaced, 4 streets were crack sealed. It is actually preventative maintenance. It doesn’t mean the road needs to be paved, it is just keeping the water from getting in there and making the road worse. • The City-wide Sidewalk Program: This is ongoing. • The City-wide Paving Program is ongoing. They should be wrapping up here next week. • The training for the Street Department: We had a Work Zone and Fire Safety. • Water Department: We had 2 water main breaks last month. Atwood and Southeast. That is a total of 5 for the year. Sewer backups were none and 3 backflows were installed. The water tower inspection was done. That is annual but that was also part of the EPA Audit that we had back in April. • At the last meeting we showed the EPA Audit on a sanitary survey which was for drinking water, and we got notice of violations in 6 areas. As of today, one through five • have been corrected and we are getting a letter on that and so the only one we have left is number 6 and that is the backflow prevention program, and we are probably . . . it is going to take us 3 years to conclude that program, so we have to start this year. 4  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 • The North Munroe Sidewalk Project: The ARPA funding; that project started on Tuesday, and they will have the sidewalk poured all the way up to Barnes tomorrow. • I brough this up at the May 11th meeting that there is a grade issue there and we have to get that figured out. The dash line is the existing grade. We are going to take it down to a 3% slope and that will be an easier slope to mow. With that being said, an additional $48,000 and we knew this was going to cost because we budgeted $288,000 for the sidewalk program and the bid came in at $206,000. At the next meeting we will be asking for a change order because we are going over the 10%. It is a 200’ run for the curb and grade in that area. That’s it for my report unless there are any questions. Mr. Bollas: Does the change order go against the ARPA funding or is that . . . Dir. of Finance: Yes, we actually have funding left from what we budgeted so it won’t be a re-appropriation. It is just a change order. Mr. Bozic: I have one question regarding that you had talked about the backflow prevention and I have talked to a few people who have either current pools or they have just put in a pool and had to go through the process. I was wondering, and I have asked this question before with like storm water; you had mentioned before that you are required to do educational type things. Would it be beneficial if we had some sort of . . . even just a video of you talking and just explaining something about either the storm water and/or the backflow prevention. I think it would be a good piece to have on our website; on social media to just kind of explain what it is and why it is being required. It will help clean up some of that confusion that is out there. Dir. of Pub. Service: Councilman, that is actually part of the 3-year plan. We have to . . . you will see inserts going out in the water bills and we are asking to do a bulk survey on our website and there will be that information on backflows. Mayor: Mr. Chairman, since we are talking about backflows; there are two different devices that are going to be required; a backflow preventer RP device on a permanent pole but then above ground pool, a pressure reducing device; anti-siphon device. There are two different ones. It is confusing out there to some of the people. If you hook my garden hose up and just put it into your pool, that still requires a device but not the expensive one, it is the other device that has to be installed. That is not a City mandate; that is an EPA mandate and that is what we are trying to educate everybody on that. I wanted to bring that up in case anybody is watching this. d. Director of Finance: Good evening. Thank you. Everybody should have received the June Financial Reports. Everything is still going well as expected financially for us. As the Mayor stated, the Annual Financial Report has been released by the State Auditor’s office and that has been posted on the website and is available to the public. I have also posted the Annual Community Report or our popular Annual Financial Report on the website. There have been some social media posts about that. Mr. Loughry asked me to consider doing a presentation at an upcoming Council meeting so I will do that either at the end of July or the beginning of August so that we can kind of go through it and inform the public and Council as to what is included and how to direct people if they have questions about it. I will gladly answer any questions. Mr. Sisak: How much money is left in the ARPA Fund? Dir. of Finance: When we did the latest appropriation we had about $400,000 left. I need to go do a re-reconciliation based on what we have encumbered now for all the other projects. But, we had about $400,000 left when we did the 2023 budget: Mr. Bollas: On the topic of ARPA, are we planning on doing the Round 2 proposals; will we accept the Round 2 proposals in 2023 or can you just refresh my memory of what the deadline was? Dir. of Finance: Our projects have to be committed by the end of 2024 and then the money has to be spent or liquidated by the end of 2026. So, we would have to be under contract to spend everything by 2024. 5  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 e. Director of Law: I have no report this evening. 10. Reports of Standing Committees of Council of the Whole: b. 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. 2023-65~Exhibit A – Granting an easement for fiber optics and electric services from the City of Tallmadge to Summit County, as a part of 89 East Howe Road, PPN 6010569 and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Mayor Kline Mrs. Kilway: I call the Planning & Zoning Committee to order. Tonight, we have at 1st Reading Ord. 2023-65 with Exhibit A. The ordinance was read into the record. We have some great information that was given to us on this, but would you like to elaborate. Mayor: Yes. So, in front of the old Summit DD building, which is now owned by the City of Tallmadge, the fiber optic that is coming from downtown Akron and is going up Osceola, West Avenue, Nottingham, Overdale, Kent Drive, Alandale, Howe Road over to the Joint Dispatch Center, there is not enough room on our property because of the Ohio Edison easement along there so to get that fiber underground, which we want it underground, we said just request a 10’ easement to the City of Tallmadge for that fiber optic and that is what is being requested. So, it is really an unbuildable area and that will be conduit, not only their conduit, but our own. Mrs. Kilway: Now, is that 10’ from the curb into it, or in the middle of the street into . . . Mayor: It is from the back of the current right-of-way which is 5’ off of the back of the curb, so 15’ . . . Mrs. Kilway: Will that give us enough room in case like . . . I don’t think we are going to widen Howe Road, I thought we were talking about possibly a road diet on that. If something happened and we needed to make Howe Road wider, would we still have enough room for that? Mayor: Yes. Howe Road is an 80’ right-of-way. Mrs. Kilway: Are there any other questions on this? Mayor: I am asking for 1st Reading adoption because the companies are right there, and they are ready to run the fiber. They want to get that fiber energized by the end of next month. Mr. Bozic: This is on which road; Howe Road? Mayor: Howe. Mr. Bozic: So, it is on our property currently? Mayor: Correct. Pres. of Council: The question would be why do we need to issue an easement on a property that we already own? Mayor: Because it is going to the Summit DD and not the City of Tallmadge. Mrs. Kilway: I would entertain a motion to adopt at 1st Reading. Pres. of Council: So moved. Seconded Mr. Bozic. Roll Call: Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway – unanimous. Ord. 2023-65 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. Mrs. Kilway: Anything else to come before Planning & Zoning? Hearing none, I will close committee. i. Additional Items: c. Finance Craig Sisak, Chair Jonathon Bollas, Vice Chair The Finance Committee deals with budget, appropriations, reappropriations, bonds, franchises, investments, and expenditures. 6  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 i. First Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions A. Ord. 2023-61 – Authorizing the appropriation of truck sale proceeds for the purchase of three Lifepak 1000 AEDS; appropriating the necessary funds and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Mayor Kline Mr. Sisak: I call Finance to order. We have Ord. 2023-61 at 1st Reading. The ordinance was read into the record. Mayor: So, the Chief asked me . . . we sold a vehicle in the Fire Department and those proceeds do not go back into . . . it goes back into the fund, but it has to be reappropriated if we choose to use those funds. Council has to choose to do that. He wanted to ask if we could put AED’s on the fire trucks with that money from the sale of a fire vehicle. I said I would sponsor the legislation and ask Council for that consideration. We are not asking for 1st Reading adoption tonight. It is close to $8,000 on the sale of the vehicle. The LIFEPAKS would be the same price. Mr. Sisak: So, these would be used on the fire engines. What is the lead time for AED’s; I am hearing 6 months. Ben Stasik: So, they are a little bit different. The LIFEPAKS you are referring to are the actual heart monitors that we utilize that we ordered off of the 2023 budget to be provided for us. Those are those 6-month lead times and with the AED’s we anticipate and obviously we are still dealing with the back and forth, but we anticipate slightly less than 3 to the 4 month range, but that could change, but we expect it to be a little bit quicker and certainly as soon as this goes through it will immediately be put into service on there. It is the same model that we already have so the training wouldn’t be any additional. They would be going into service. Mr. Sisak: I would entertain a motion. Pres. of Council: I would move to adopt Ord. 2023-61. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Mr. Bozic: When you said that it is the same model that you guys have currently from the AED’s to the other LIFEPAKS; can you just explain what that means exactly when you show up on scene and they are utilizing an AED of yours let’s say; somebody shows up in the truck first, that can then be switched over to . . . Deputy Fire Chief: Yes, absolutely. It’s a great question. So, this is . . . we utilize two different . . . we use what is called a LIFEPAK 15 which is the actual heart monitor that we utilize to analyze your heart rhythm manually that the paramedics are trained to do. That is on the ambulances. These AED’s are your automatic external defibrillators and are much smaller for everyone to use. Those goes on the chase vehicles, the fire trucks that wouldn’t necessarily get that $26,000 or $36,000 depending on which piece of equipment you are buying much less, but yes, so one of the things is that we do utilize the same vendor in LIFEPAK which would allow for that fire engine or emergency vehicle, myself and the Chief who have an AED in that vehicle, those patched that go on the patient actually provide the shock on the chest. Those are the same brand and so it is the same connections so they just come off and then we can plug that more sophisticated device in when the ambulance itself gets there. Mr. Sisak: Any more questions or discussion. Hearing none. Please call the roll. Roll Call: Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry – unanimous. Ord. 2023-61 is approved by a vote of 7-0. B. Ord. 2023-63 – Appropriating additional amounts for repairs to street lights and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar Mr. Sisak: Next, we have Ord. 2023-63. The ordinance was read into the record. I believe Mr. Rorar asked for 1st Reading adoption. Dir. of Pub. Service: The City has 70 street lights throughout and typically on average we have 2 damaged each year and this year we are going past that for some reason. We are up to 5 and so we didn’t budget for that and that is why I am asking for this. 7  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 Mrs. Kilway: I would move to adopt Ord. 2023-63 at 1st Reading. Seconded Mrs. Allman. Mr. Sisak: My question is what kind of damage? Dir. of Pub. Service: Completely totaled. We have to replace them, and they are months out. Mayor: So, if we know who the person was who hit the light; their insurance typically pays for it. A lot of times these street lights, like down on Community Drive out on North Avenue; they drop them, and they break. Tallmadge Highlands has one that has been out, and it has been almost 4 months. We don’t know who hit them, so we end up paying; we have to pay for it. Mr. Bozic: So, when you say these street lights; can you explain where these are located. You said there were what 70? Dir. of Pub. Service: We own 70. Mr. Bozic: Are these mostly the lights that are on the poles hanging over the road or are they just light poles. Mayor: Decorative. Dir. of Pub. Service: Those on Community Drive and Erie; those are the 70 that we have. Mr. Bozic: Did we or have we looked into, I know this will be more of an expense, but poles that have more capabilities than just providing a light. I know there are light poles out there that provide things like Wi Fi. Is there anything that we have looked into? Dir. of Pub. Service: Not at this time, but we can though. Mayor: We can put street signs on them, but people yell at us for that. But I like the idea of a Wi Fi connection. Roll Call: Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak – unanimous. Ord. 2023-63 is approved by a vote of 7-0. C. Ord. 2023-64 – Appropriating additional amounts for repairs to the ladder section of Tower 1 and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Finance Gilbride Mr. Sisak: Next, we have Ord. 2023-64 at 1st Reading. The ordinance was read into the record. From my understanding this is for $67,000 and some change and hopefully we will get some insurance money or get it repaired under warranty. Can I have a motion for adoption. Mr. Loughry: So moved. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman – unanimous. Ord. 2023-64 has been adopted by a vote of 7-0. Mayor: And just for the record, we are trying to get that vehicle back in service by the end of this month, so that is a couple weeks away and this will help speed that along. D. Ord. 2023-66 – Authorizing the Mayor to enter into a contract for the lease/ purchase of a medic unit through Sourcewell Cooperative Purchasing Program; appropriating necessary funds and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Mayor Kline Mr. Sisak: Next, we have Ord. 2023-66. The ordinance was read into the record. There was an opportunity on a next to new med unit at a relatively low price. I would move it up to this budget cycle. It won’t be in next year’s budget cycle. We will trade in the old one. Mayor: We may not trade it in and that is why you see a higher amount on this ordinance. We could lower the price of this ordinance by $28,000 but in dealing with the Fire Department they think they could get a much higher amount than that if we sell it to the open market because there is such a need for squads. To order a squad it is up to 2 to 3 years. This one is available off the assembly line. It is a brand-new squad. So, ours may be more valuable by not trading it and so that is why we added the higher dollar amount to this ordinance. This price does not include the training. 8  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 Mr. Loughry: I would move to adopt. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Mr. Loughry: So, basically, we are saving money because we are taking advantage of an opportunity. Mayor: Saving money and time. We could have this delivered by the first quarter of next year. Mr. Bozic: This is being purchased through our cooperative agreement? Mayor: Correct. Sourcewell. Mr. Bozic: This company; we have bought from before? Dir. of Finance: Sourcewell is the cooperative purchasing program. They are not the manufacturer of the vehicle. Deputy Fire Chief: This will be the third one that we have purchased and so we are familiar with the salespeople and such. Dir. of Finance: Also, just for clarification, I will be doing a 5-year bank finance lease on this so we will pay it off over the five-year period. Roll Call: Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mrs. Bollas – unanimous. Ord. 2023-66 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. C. Ord. 2023-67 – Appropriating additional funds for Maca Pool operations and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Mayor Kline Mr. Sisak: Next, we have Ord. 2023-67. The ordinance was read into the record. Dir. of Pub. Service: Over at the pool, we got hit by a couple things and the big one was $11,000 pump replacement. I’m sure you guys remember the slide pump was out at the start of the season right off the bat and so that was a number we didn’t anticipate. Utilities are up about $3,000 and then everything else is just nickel and diming us as well. We didn’t anticipate that the prices were going to go up that much. Like chlorine used to be $17 and now it is $21. That is why we are asking for this appropriation. Mr. Bollas: Just a question, so I can understand; is it more about, in this case, old age or was there a root cause for these specific incidents. Was it like winterization or seasonal impacts; I guess what caused it? Dir. of Pub. Service: The only thing would be the pump and that could have went for any reason. It was working one day and then just stopped. Mr. Bozic: With that pump; do we, at the end of the season, do we pull all of the pumps? Dir. of Pub. Service: We winterize them. Mr. Bozic: So, we winterize them in place. Is there any consideration of pulling those completely? Dir. of Pub. Service: That becomes problematic at times. Winterizing them has been great for the last 15 years so we haven’t had any problems. Mr. Bozic: With those particular pumps; are we capable in-house of rebuilding those pumps? Mayor: No. Mr. Bozic: Do we know the cost of rebuilding a pump. It would be the $11,000. Mayor: That was the motor; that was the bearings on the motor for both slides. When we say we winterize it we take the pump portion and fully drain those and put antifreeze in the inlets, but the bearings are sealed bearings, and they just went bad. Mr. Bozic: Do you know what the cost of a brand-new pump would be? Dir. of Pub. Service: I can get that for you. Mr. Bozic: I am trying to prevent future issues if we can by 1) I believe we have a main pump as a backup. Is that correct, or a motor I should say. Mayor: There are 4 pumps out there. 2 for the slides and that is outside in the pit and then 2 in the main pool; one for the toys and then one for the main pump for the main pool. We had to repair that main pool one where we had that down for like 4 days. That’s what is so nice about the new pump station on Northeast Avenue is that we can let this station go down, but we have extra motors on standby and we can pull one out and put one in. 9  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 Mr. Bozic: The amount that you are asking for is the sum of $20,000. When I look at the appropriation it looks like we are about $137,000 unencumbered; is that correct and $130,000 is salaries and fringe benefits. I am just wondering if that roughly $7,000 is left; how far would that actually get us over this next month? Dir. of Finance: I had to close P.O.’s at the end of the month so I could encumber the utilities so we would need, if you don’t want to pass it at 1 st Reading tonight, we will need the appropriation passed by the end of next month in order to make sure we can close the pool down. Mr. Bozic: That’s not my worry. I am just curious because it looks to me that we have roughly $7,000 that is not related to salaries and fringe benefits that is unencumbered. So, of that $6,667 is that truly enough to really run the pool . . . Dir. of Finance: With the additional $20,000? Yes. I had Jessica go through a couple of iterations of what she needed, and I wanted it to be as accurate as possible so we did not run into another situation where we would be having to come back in again. She analyzed it once and I asked her to revisit it because what she was giving me didn’t make sense to me in terms of making up some of the overages we were having and so based on her second review, that is how we came to needing the additional $20,000 to cover the costs of the pump, chlorine and the increase cost of any of the remaining utilities. Mr. Bollas: I move to adopt. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic – unanimous. Ord. 2023-67 is approved by a vote of 7-0. Mr. Sisak: That is all we have for Finance. Does anyone else have anything for Finance this evening. Pres. of Council: I would just like to thank the Administration, Finance and all of the Department Heads, our Council and our Clerks for getting us information that was thorough and early so that we were able to study this and make knowledgeable 1st Reading adoptions tonight. So, this is the way it is supposed to work. It was very good. Thanks. Mr. Sisak: I agree. With that, I will go ahead and close committee. ii. Additional Items: d. 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 this evening and we have no legislation this evening. Is there any discussion regarding the Personnel Committee from the Council or the Administration? I just have one question. For the Police eligibility list that was distributed in May; have we made hiring decisions at this point for new officers? I think the target was 2 new hires. Dir. of Pub. Safety: Yes, the target was 2 and no I don’t believe the decision has been made. I do want to take this moment . . . I forgot to tell you something in my report, but yesterday we did have a Sergeant promotional exam; a written exam and there will be an assessment center done in another week to 2 weeks. Just wanted to let you know that we had 4 candidates that took it and there will be a promotion hopefully later this summer. Mr. Bollas: Within the process for selecting those officers I guess where are we at at this point. I know we did the physical fitness and they had done the examination as well so I guess at this point what is the target that we are looking at for hire dates? Dir. of Pub. Safety: I don’t have that information right now, but there is an extensive kind of vetting process and so I can get that for you though. 10  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 Mr. Bollas: Thanks a lot. Mr. Bozic: You had mentioned 4 Sergeants; are those internal or are they all external? Dir. of Pub. Safety: All internal. Mr. Bollas: Is there anything else before Personnel this evening. Hearing none, I close committee. Thank you. i. Additional Items: None. e. Safety Adam Bozic, Chair Craig Sisak, Vice Chair The Safety Committee deals with disaster services, communications, fire, and paramedics, police, and health. Mr. Bozic: I call the Safety Committee to order. We currently have no legislation in front of us this evening. I will open it up to Council. Administration? Mayor: We did have a meeting today for Circle Fest. Circle Fest is right around the corner. It was about an hour and a half meeting with all of the safety forces giving input and trying to make the Circle Fest as safe as possible. Mr. Bozic: I just had one question and it is related to the security cameras that we were talking about doing at the Ritchie Shelter. I know we mentioned it possibly being done this year; I think we pushed it into next year. Didn’t know if we had any kind of updates or progress with that. Do we have a camera picked out; do we know where we are putting them. Mayor: I will get you an update on that from Justin. Mr. Bozic: Alright, thank you. With that, anything else for the committee? Mr. Sisak: I do have a question. I couldn’t help but notice the two police cruisers sitting up here. They have been up here for about 9 months. We have been making lease payments on them and it just doesn’t seem like a good turn on investment at this point. Do we have an update on when those are going to hit the road? Mayor: The company called Hall; they put the things together; there is a backlog on some of the computer components that go inside that vehicle. I was told by Chief Bohon just yesterday because I have been after Chief Williams about why those things are sitting there. Put them inside. Hall is scheduled to come in on August 1st to put them together. I agree. Mr. Bozic: Alright. Thank you. Anything else for the Safety Committee. 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. i. First Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions A. Ord. 2023-62~Exhibit A – Amending Part Fifteen – Fire Prevention Code by adding Chapter 1524 Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Pub. Safety Cooper Mrs. Allman: I call the Public Service Committee to order. We have at 1st Reading Ord. 2023- 62. The ordinance was read into the record. Dir. of Pub. Safety: What this is about is that there are no current regulations applicable to charging electrical charging stations. Considering adding these to the State Fire Code if that occurs it probably won’t occur until 2024 maybe at the earliest maybe later. Maybe 2025 and 11  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 Dir. of Pub. Safety (Cont’d.) what we are finding around the country is that many are kind of . . . the technology and the need for the charging stations is moving faster than us to be able to protect citizens from the technology and also firefighters that might have to deal with emergencies related to them. So, what we have done is some research to find out what are the practices that are in place now in this part of the country and that is exactly what this particular document is based on. We expect this to be kind of a short-term temporary fix until the State Fire Code is updated or other regulations, whether they are national or state-wide, get put in place. So, what we try to do is balance . . . this is all about the safety of the users of these devices and our firefighters and police officers who might have to deal with emergencies, and we hope that this would be a temporary fix and would eventually be replaced with something a little broader. We brought Marshal Quick with us to answer any technical questions you might have about it. We were rather hoping that . . . we don’t need this passed at 1 st Reading. We will be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Mr. Bozic: With this information that we have in front of us here; would this be pertaining to charging stations that we have on City property or is this charging stations that are anywhere within the City limits. Dir. of Pub. Safety: It would be for any charging stations that were established within the City within the jurisdiction. Mr. Bozic: Would this have to be stations that are personally owned or privately owned or stations that are open to the public for use or pay to use? Dir. of Pub. Safety: This would be for any electric vehicle charging station that was built in the City whether it be for private use or exclusively for one commercial owner or for public use. Mr. Bozic: So, with those regulations that were looking to put in front of us do we anticipate having some sort of enforcement mechanism or inspection mechanism for these charging stations. For example, if somebody buys an electric vehicle and puts the charging station in their garage; what is the mechanism that is in place to ensure that if we enforce these; how are we going to actually go out and monitor this? Dir. of Pub. Safety: In terms of residential use, that is not the intent of this. Most people just plug it into their existing infrastructure on their residential property. This is mostly for those who want to charge for the service of charging their car. They are charging a fee for charging a vehicle. So, what was the rest of your question? Mr. Bozic: What is the mechanism that we are actually going to go out and look at these? Dir. of Pub. Safety: So, the same that we use for anything. So, this becomes part of the City’s Fire Code. The same mechanism that is used to inspect and ensure compliance with that will be used for this, which is mostly inspection through Marshal Quick and his staff to inspect to make sure they are compliant with our regulations. Mr. Bozic: So, my only takeaway from this though is if we can make sure we put in there or stated that it is not our intent to do residential, but to I guess make sure that we are not, not that we are overreaching, but that we are putting too much of a burden on the homeowners that are trying to purchase these vehicles and put in these charging stations though they may not be a monetary charge for the charging of the vehicle. Dir. of Law: So, for residential, typically people are just charging it into an outlet. They are installing an outlet in their garage. They are not putting a charging station . . . it is a stand-alone charging station is what is envisioned by that so that is typically going to be a business, a commercial entity that is doing it either for their own vehicle, but I don’t think we are going to find that at least right now. That is not the trend. The trend is for people that have electric vehicles in their garages without a charging station. Mr. Bozic: I would just make sure that our wording doesn’t encompass the residential type of use. Dir. of Pub. Safety: If a resident would want to install a charging station, say in their driveway or between houses, it would apply. 12  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 Dir. of Law: The descriptions as they are written now do not apply to that. It needs to be a charging station and so plugging it into the outlet doesn’t count. Mr. Sisak: When people install a personal charging station in their residence, do they have to pull a permit or anything of that nature? Typically these devices when they; they are typically installed by an electrician and so that is why I was wondering if that is a way to monitor if they have to pull a permit. Dir. of Law: Yes, for electrical they are pulled through the County building and then the County will typically work with the Fire Department if there needs to be a Fire Code inspection. Fire Marshal Quick: Unfortunately, like Mr. Cooper said, what the Ohio Fire Code is addressing is the charging station. It is the same thing with the Building Code. So, they are having the same issue as we are, they have to address it with residential and their concerns are that they are just coming in and people are just installing the charging stations in their garages and other areas, and they have no say either. So, the Building Code is going to go in before the Fire Code in the next couple of years, so they are hoping to address it. They are in the same position we are in that you can put it up and there is no safety or either one of us; building or fire code can do about it. Mrs. Gutman: In the definition sections where it says that EVCS means a public parking space that is served by battery charging station equipment; is that sufficient to cover that this is only going to be . . . only covers public parking spaces or do we need to be more specific that we are not inspecting private property right now. Dir. of Law: I suppose if somebody, like I don’t know, I mean there are a million things that could happen right? So like if somebody decides I am going to have this be like on some list and as you are driving around I am going to put it on an app and the app tells you that you can pull into somebody’s residential place, so I don’t know, I think it is not necessarily defined as residential or commercial and just more about like if it meets that definition then that is what we are talking about might be appropriate. So, this is new, and everyone is trying to figure it out. A few other jurisdictions have kind of set the model and we are kind of following that and I have no doubt that over time it will probably need to be adjusted and again when the State finally adjusts theirs, we may need to make changes in things. I know Fire Marshal Quick was concerned with the safety and you want to make sure as people . . . and people have been asking and I think there are entities that are looking to do this and so we just want to make sure that it is safe as possible for everybody involved. Fire Marshal Quick: So, this started with a white paper that Northeast Ohio Fire Prevention Association started. Willoughby Fire and Beechwood. They have both made pretty much the same ordinance and we are just following with theirs. So, besides Tallmadge, I know Aurora, Kent, Ravenna, City and Akron has it so most from this group sent out to everybody in Northeast Ohio and it is pretty much spread across the State and so what you see before you is what has already been proved by Willoughby and Beechwood and then the other cities are looking at it as well. Mrs. Kilway: I do think this is a great first step and some type of control and regulation on putting in these EVCS in public areas and I want to thank you for going through all of the detail in order to give us the general requirements and everything too. So, I really don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t go forward with something like this. I think it is a great first step and I thank you for doing that and we do know that we are going to have to add to this as regulations come down from the State. Dir. of Law: Those are all good questions though and we will certainly look at it some more and make sure we come back again. This is just the 1st Reading tonight and we are not asking for 1st Reading adoption. We want to receive public comment as well. Mr. Bozic: Do we know how many electric charging stations we currently have within the City that are open to the public? Fire Marshal Quick: Right now we have I believe 6 to 8 for sure and Serpentini Chevrolet has 8 of them ready for the City. What the issue is because I was driving down a street today and I 13  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 Fire Marshal Quick (Cont’d.) found another one that we did not know about behind a business. They are popping up and there is nothing for them to go through a Code or nothing to inform the Zoning Department or the Fire Department that these are going up and we have no way to stop them or at least look into making sure that they are safe. Right now there are just like 8 with 8 more. I know Dayton Freight is putting one in and as businesses go, we are getting more and more. Mr. Bozic: So, when . . . obviously you don’t have a large number currently but when looking at those locations that you have seen so far, how many would you say comply with what we have in front of us here? Fire Marshal Quick: Right now, Serpentini and Park Ford are the only two and they have their safety; their shutoff is actually on the machine which we would much rather have it away from the machine. Right now there are only two. Mr. Bozic: As far as training goes with your staff, the Fire Department and/or the Police Department, how much training have we gone through to educate our employees on obviously electrical, but perhaps some different procedures you guys may go through with the use of electric vehicles? Fire Marshal Quick: Personally, myself, I have watched a few symposiums that FDMY has put on in the amount of fire that they are having with these and unfortunately there is not a lot of fire training and we know just by talking to each other and watching the videos and if you hear the news that it takes like 10 to 30,000 gallons of water to put these out. Out in California they have a big thing about the water runoff and some towing companies are not willing to take the vehicles because there is also the possibility of them catching on fire up to 4 days later after the fire. So, right now unfortunately there is not a lot of training because a lot of this is new to all the fire departments across the country. Pres. of Council: I have a question Fire Marshal Quick. I want to make sure I heard you right. So, did you say that according to the specifications that we have in front of us that only two are installed correctly in the City. Fire Marshal Quick: Yes, and they did that on their own. Pres. of Council: So, the others that we have, if we move forward with this; will they be grandfathered? Dir. of Law: That is correct. We can make a public safety campaign and we can inform and advise. Fire Marshal Quick: The only thing that we can require is the bollards because that is actually in the Fire Code right now. Since they are putting them up and we don’t know about them, we can say, sorry but you have to have this, but as of right now that is the only thing that I am allowed to do. Mrs. Allman: Is there any other discussion? Ord. 2023-62 will remain at 1st Reading. B. Res. 2023-8 – A resolution declaring the month of September 2023 as National Preparedness Month in Tallmadge to raise awareness about the importance of Preparing for disasters and emergencies and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Council and Administration Mrs. Allman: Next, we have Res. 2023-8. The resolution was read into the record. Dir. of Pub. Safety: National Preparedness Month. We generally observe it every September to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that can happen anytime to any one of us. The City is embarking on a certification process with Summit County EMA called Summit Ready. Part of that certification process is adopting a resolution that recognizes and acknowledges September as Preparedness Month. The Summit Ready is a free voluntary emergency management certification program for the 31 communities and other organizations within Summit County. The City of Tallmadge almost completely already complies with all of the certification requirements, so we hope to be one of the early organizations that get certified in this way. One of the steps is to acknowledge this formally through the City 14  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. July 13, 2023 Dir. of Pub. Safety (Cont’d.) through this resolution. I would like to also take the opportunity to bring to everyone’s attention watching in the room that there is a lot of good information about how to be prepared for a disaster or emergency. One example is a document that FEMA puts out just called, “Are you Ready?” It is free and you can download it and you could write them or call and they will send you this document for free. It covers a number of things, but everything from what the risks are to specific types of hazards that can be addressed on how to make a plan and equipment that one could use. There is a great deal of excellent information that any citizen could use to help their family be prepared for a disaster. And I would very much appreciate passing this resolution. On the City’s website we already have some links to some great information like this. Most of it currently will link to Ready.gov which is the Federal website, but also some specifics about some more pertinent risks to us like winter storms and floods and lightning and thunderstorms and things like that, but that is currently on our website. Pres. of Council: I would move to adopt Res. 2023-8. Seconded Mr. Bozic. Roll Call: Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman – unanimous. Res. 2023-8 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. Mrs. Allman: Is there anything else for the Public Service Committee. Hearing none, I will close committee. ii. Additional Items: None. 11. Reports of Special Committees: Pres. of Council: I do not have anything. a. Council Operations Committee i. Additional Items: None. 12. Announcements: Pres. of Council: The Mayor made the announcement of the boys playing Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Are there any other announcements from anybody? I will entertain a motion to adjourn. 13. Adjournment: Mrs. Kilway moved to adjourn. Seconded Mr. Bollas. Roll Call: Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway – unanimous. The 7- 13-23 Council meeting adjourned at 8:22 p.m. sb Adopted: _______________ _______________________________ __________________________________ Susan E. Burton, Clerk of Council Dennis K. Loughry – President of Council Revised per Council meeting on 7-27-23. 15