City Council Regular Meeting

COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 24, 2023 1. Call to Order: President of Council Loughry called the Council meeting of Thursday, August 24, 2023, to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Opening Prayer & Pledge of Allegiance: Prayer: Pastor Andy Alberts, Tallmadge Lutheran Church, Tallmadge. Pledge of Allegiance: 3. Roll Call: Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak – present. 4. Correcting and Adopting the Previous Meeting Minutes: 8-10-23 Minutes Mrs. Kilway: I move to adopt the minutes from the 8-10-23 Council meeting. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Roll Call: Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman – unanimous. The 8-10-23 Council meeting minutes are adopted by a vote of 7-0. 5. Financial Reports: None. 6. Public Hearings: None. 7. Community Input: Pres. of Council: This is the time in the meeting where anyone in the audience can speak on an item that is not on the agenda for up to 2 minutes. Is there anyone wishing to speak? Dolly Edwards, 909 Sunset View Blvd., Tallmadge. My concern right now is about our road, Sunset View. We had an incident this week where it involved a young 20ish something young man from . . . I’m not even sure what country he is from. He was found hiding in my neighbor’s bushes and that was a little alarming. We didn’t realize it at the time, but he was across the street under another bush and my husband went down to get the mail and asked him if he could help him and he doesn’t speak a lick of English, no English whatsoever. He is taking pictures, I am finding out now that it was selfies, but we don’t know that. He is aiming them towards our house and towards the neighbor’s house and towards another neighbor’s house that has young children out. I have my 11-year-old granddaughter with me, and she is a little scared at this point. Growing up in Tallmadge it is not; that was a very uncomfortable feeling and my comment to you today is I am just suggesting . . . do we have anything in place because there is an influx for a lot of people from other countries and I think you are all aware of that coming into our community and is there anyone that is bi-lingual that can speak to them. The Police did approach him, and they were pulled over; there were 2 of them and they let them go. It is my understanding that he has a warrant for his arrest in a different county in southern Ohio and I know it wasn’t a violent crime; it was an under the influence type of crime, but still, it is a little concerning. I don’t know . . . to me he was taking pictures of our house and the garage was open and he was up towards the neighbor’s house in her bushes and scared her. So, I am just concerned that we do have any type of plans set in Tallmadge because nothing negative came of it now, but something very serious could come of it. I don’t know. I am just concerned. Pres. of Council: Thank you. Kathy Malicoat, 910 Sunset View Blvd., Tallmadge. I share the same concerns that Dolly does. This house has been occupied by different groups for the last few years. They were peaceful, and we haven’t had any issues. They do strange things with their side yards for gardening, and it is unsightly, but it is not terrible, but this young man hiding and running down the road, hiding in the bushes; we thought that the way he was running up to the garages that it looked like he was taking pictures of something else. Then my husband said that we needed him to leave, and he wouldn’t leave; he couldn’t understand English, and my husband said if you don’t leave he was going to call the Police. He knows that word. He just turned around and said, “No Police.” So my husband said that we were going to call them and my neighbors had already called them and he was sitting in my other neighbor’s tree and then he got up and he was pacing and he crossed the street and my husband and Dolly’s husband were standing out there and the guy, he just stood up and turned and took the stance and he held his hands and it looked like he had a gun. It was his phone, but we didn’t know that at the time. He just 1  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 24, 2023 Mrs. Malicoat (Cont’d.) turned and stood up and went like that. It is things like that are going to have a bad outcome at some point. Somebody is going to get hurt; somebody is going to feel like they need to defend themselves because this guy just pops out of nowhere. We have concerns about who owns this house. We have seen like International Transport come and drop a couple of people off with suitcases and bags and then maybe several months, we see those people get back on the bus and until now they have been peaceful and have kept to themselves, but this is a game changer, and we are all quite nervous about it. So, thank you very much. Pres. of Council: Thank you. Mrs. Kilway: It sounds like there is probably some mental illness issues going on as well as the language barrier going on with this and I have been in contact with somebody who lives in Tallmadge that does translating and he does it for the court system for the County. He had told me that he is willing to help the City out if they ever need it so I can make sure that Mrs. Raber has that number, and the Police have that number in case they need to call someone for translations. Dir. of Law: Thank you and we do have a service that we can utilize throughout all of our departments for translation as well. Mrs. Gutman: I would just like to thank you both for coming and also to just speak on behalf of Chief Bohon because I did speak with him last night about this and wanted to let you know that as far as not being able to take in the person with the outstanding warrants is that they did try but they needed them to have him housed in the Summit County Jail overnight due to legal requirements and the jail was full so they couldn’t. It is just not that they let him go because they wanted to; they just couldn’t take him in. So, I appreciate your concern and we will continue to try to address it. He was strongly warned not to do that again and if he does it again, please call because they are aware that it is ongoing, and they will address it. Pres. of Council: Let’s move to Item 8. 8. Agenda Additions: None. 9. Reports of Administrative Officers: a. Mayor/Director of Economic Development: Pres. of Council: The Mayor is not here. b. Director of Administration: Mrs. Stritch is not here. c. Director of Public Service: Thank you. I do not have a report, but I do have 2 things to comment on. • The Circle Fest which was last Saturday went really well. I heard nothing but positive feedback and I thought all of the departments did a phenomenal job and we don’t have a head count yet, but I believe it over 10,000 is what the guestimate is right now. • September 11th is the start of the demolition of 89 East Howe Road which is the DD building. Just letting you guys know where that’s at. The construction fence should be going up that day. That’s all I have to report on. Mr. Sisak: Any flooding issues around town? Dir. of Pub. Service: Knock on wood; no. d. Director of Finance: Pres. of Council: Mrs. Gilbride couldn’t be here this evening. e. Dir. of Law: Thank you. I have no report. 10. Reports of Standing Committees of Council of the Whole: a. Planning and Zoning Carol Kilway, Chair Rebecca Allman, Vice Chair 2  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 24, 2023 The Planning & Zoning Committee deals with land use, zoning, conditional uses, planning, economic and community development, and public property. Mrs. Kilway: I call Planning & Zoning to order. We have no legislation at this time. Does Council have anything for Planning & Zoning? Does the Administration? Hearing none, I’ll close committee. i. Additional Items: None. b. Finance Craig Sisak, Chair Jonathon Bollas, Vice Chair The Finance Committee deals with budget, appropriations, reappropriations, bonds, franchises, investments, and expenditures. i. First Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions: A. Ord. 2023-76 – Accepting the ARPA First Responder Wellness, Recruit- ment, Retention and Resiliency Grant from the Ohio Emergency Manage- ment Agency; appropriating and transferring the necessary funds and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Mayor Kline Mr. Sisak: I call the Finance Committee to order. We are all present. We have Ord. 2023-76 at 1st Reading with the request for 1st Reading adoption by the Finance Director. The ordinance was read into the record. Mrs. Kilway: Mr. Sisak, I just have a point of clarification. It does not spell out anything within the ordinance, but Mrs. Gilbride’s e-mail to us it does state that this is to benefit both the full-time and part-time firefighters. Is that correct? Dir. of Law: I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that. I’m not familiar with this. We do have the Fire representatives here to be able to answer those questions. Deputy Fire Chief Stasik: I appreciate the question. So, this grant is split in two by the State. This is the retention portion of it and yes it does . . . it is different varying amounts based on hours worked, but it does benefit both full-time and part-time. Mrs. Kilway: OK. Thank you. Just as a clarification. I will now recuse myself from any further discussion. Thank you. Mr. Sisak: Any questions regarding this ordinance? Hearing none, I would ask for a motion. Mr. Bozic: I move to adopt. Seconded Mr. Bollas. Pres. of Council: Just because it is at 1st Reading, Mr. Sisak, and it is money coming in and for those that are watching, I guess, there is a timeline so that is why we need to do that this evening. Roll Call: Mr. Bozic – yes, Mrs. Gutman – yes, Mrs. Kilway – abstain, Mr. Loughry – yes, Mr. Sisak – yes, Mrs. Allman – yes, Mr. Bollas – yes. Ord. 2023-76 is adopted by a vote of 6-0-1. Mr. Sisak: Anything else to come before the Finance Committee? Hearing none, I will close committee. ii. Additional Items: None. 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. Is there 3  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 24, 2023 Mr. Bollas (Cont’d.) anything for the Personnel Committee? Hearing none, I will close committee. i. Additional Items: None. d. 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 will open the Safety Committee and we are all present. Much like the rest of the committees, there is nothing on the agenda for this evening. Any comments from Council? Hearing none, I will close committee. i. Additional Items: None. e. 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. Mrs. Gutman: I call the Community Issues Committee to order. Is there anything for Community Issues this evening? Pres. of Council: Mrs. Gutman, I would just like to again thank everyone on the City services side working on Saturday night; Police, Fire, other departments and everything that Mike and his guys did and Becky for her leadership at the Chamber. It was a great event. Mrs. Gutman: Yes, absolutely. It was such a well-oiled machine, and it went so smoothly, and everybody’s faces were so friendly too. I was very impressed with the City and proud of everybody. Mrs. Allman: I would also like to thank the Fire Department, the Police Department and Mike and his department. Everyone just worked so well, and they were all helpful and very polite and everything went so smooth, and they were easy to work with. Thank you. Mrs. Gutman: Anything further for Community Issues? 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. Allman: I call the Public Service Committee to order. We have no legislation before us. Does anybody have anything for Public Service? Seeing none, I close committee. i. Additional Items: None. 4  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 24, 2023 11. Reports of Special Committees: Pres. of Council: I want to thank Mr. Bollas specifically for working with vendors and Justin internally on the IT Budget. The Council budgets have been much larger the last couple of years because of technology purchases and so Mr. Bollas has worked very hard and then he is going to create an Ad Hoc committee internally with Council to go ahead and continue working on that to see what that committee thinks is really necessary for us to keep in that budget for next year. I wanted to also thank Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Conti for an increased workload. It was Council week, it was budget, it was doing some things regarding litigation, it was doing some things regarding Records Retention. Mr. Bollas: I just wanted to echo the thank you to the Clerk and Justin in IT and Chad with Dove Audio Video. Just collecting those estimates and looking at the itemized list of upgrades for Council Chambers and we will be forming that Ad Hoc committee to go through those items too. Overall, it is all good things. Just trying to make a decision on a few of the items and make some choices. a. Council Operations Committee i. Additional Items: None. 12. Announcements: None. 13. Adjournment: Mrs. Kilway moved to adjourn. Seconded Mrs. Allman. Roll Call: Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic – unanimous. The Council meeting of 8-24-23 adjourned at 7:18 p.m. sb Adopted: _______________ _______________________________ __________________________________ Susan E. Burton, Clerk of Council Dennis K. Loughry – President of Council 5