City Council Regular Meeting

COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 14, 2023 1. Call to Order: President of Council Loughry called the Council meeting of Thursday, Decembe14, 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: Mariah Dent, 5th grader at Tallmadge Elementary 3. Roll Call: Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Sisak, Mr. Loughry – present. 4. Correcting and Adopting the Previous Meeting Minutes: 11-9-23 Minutes. Mr. Sisak moved for the adoption of the 11-9-23 Council Meeting minutes. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman – unanimous. . The 11-9-23 Council Meeting Minutes were adopted by a vote of 7-0. 5. Financial Reports: • Fire & EMS Fund Transfer in the amount of $137,500, and Street Maintenance & Repair Fund Transfer in the amount of $161,500 from the General Fund to Council on 11-28-23. • Appropriation Report, Fund Report and Revenue Report for the period ending 11-30-23 to Council on 12-5-23. • November Financial Reports to Council on 12-5-23. • Tallmadge Recreation Center Profit and Loss Report for the period ending 11-30-23 to Council on 12-5-23. • Income Tax Comparisons for the period ending 11-30-23 to Council on 12-5-23. • Consolidated Investment Portfolio for the period ending 11-30-23 to Council on 12-5-23. • Income Tax by Source Report for the month of November to Council on 12-5-23. • Revenue Comparisons for Major Funds for the period ending 11-30-23 to Council on 12-5- 23. Mr. Sisak moved for the acceptance of the Financial Reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Gilbride. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas – unanimous. The Financial Reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Gilbride were approved by a vote of 7-0. 6. Public Hearings: PLANNING & ZONING 3rd Reading. P.H. ON 12-14-23 @ 7:01 P.M. Ord. 2023-86~Exhibit A – Tracked Exhibit A P&Z Rec. Amending and supplementing Section 1110.02 “Minor Subdivision” and Appendix A of the Tallmadge Codified Ordinances. Mrs. Kilway: It is now 7:06 p.m. and I am going to open the public hearing for Ord. 2023-86~Exhibit A – Tracked Exhibit A. The ordinance was read into the record. We do have exhibits as well. We have had a lot of discussion on this. It is basically a rewrite in order for clarification. So, at this time, I will open it up for anyone in the audience that would like to have any discussion on this in favor of Ord. 2023-86? No one responded. Is there anyone who has any discussion against Ord. 2023-86? No one responded. Second time, is there anyone who would like to speak in favor of Ord. 2923-86? No one responded. Is there anyone who would like to speak against Ord. 2023- 86? No one responded. Third and final time, is there anyone who would like to speak in favor of or against Ord. 2023-86? No one responded. It is now 7:07 p.m. and I will close the public hearing and open up the Planning & Zoning Committee. This is a clarification of the wording in the Minor Subdivision Section. I will entertain a motion. Mr. Loughry: So moved. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Roll Call: Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic – unanimous. Ord. 2023-86 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. 1  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 14, 2023 6. Public Hearings (Cont’d.) FINANCE At 3rd Reading. P.H. ON 12-14-23 @ 7:03 P.M. Ord. 2023-87 – Exhibit A – Amended Exhibit A 12-14 – Amended Exhibit A Adopting a budget for various funds of the City of Tallmadge, Ohio, for current expenses and other expenditures during fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, appropriating the necessary funds for the administration thereof, authorizing transfers between funds, and providing for immediate enactment. Mr. Sisak: I spoke with the Law Director and procedurally we will ask for a motion to amend the budget and that way we can have a public hearing on the amended version. Then we will go back and vote on it and have discussion. Mr. Loughry: I would make a motion to amend this on the information Mrs. Stritch provided us. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Mr. Bozic: A clarification on this. If we have questions on this as amended, if we have other things that we have should we do that now or should we wait and have it go through the whole process? Dir. of Law: Well, it is up to you. You can discuss other things now or there has been a motion and a second on this particular version and so you may want to handle that first because the motion and second have already been made. Dir. of Administration: Yes, the amended version that you have this evening dated 12-14-23 there is one amendment. That amendment is the increase in cost of the dispatching services for the City of Tallmadge. We received the contract after our 11-9-23 meeting so the Finance Director was able to get the up-to-date exact number for the dispatching services. So, it takes the appropriation from $575,000 to $651,330 and that is on the very first page of the working budget. Dir. of Law: Inaudible - microphone not on. Mr. Sisak: Madame Clerk, please call the roll. Roll Call: Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman – unanimous. Ord. 2023-87 is amended by a vote of 7-0. Mr. Sisak: At this time, I will open the public hearing for Ord. 2023-87. It is 7:13 p.m. and is there anybody who would like to speak in favor of amended Ord. 2023-87, please come forward. No one responded. If anyone would like to speak against Ord. 2023-87, please come forward. No one responded. Second time, if anyone would like to speak in favor of this ordinance please come forward. No one responded. Is there anyone who would like to speak against Ord. 2023-87. No one responded. Third and final time is there anyone who would like to speak for or against Ord. 2023-87. No one responded. Seeing none, it is 7:14 p.m. and I will close the public hearing. I will take a motion to adopt amended Ord. 2023-87. Mr. Bozic: I guess I have a point of order. Just so we don’t have to rehash this again later, because the ordinance is in the personnel grid and the budget are close together, I would like to . . . Mr. Sisak: As soon as we have a motion and a second. Mr. Loughry: So moved. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Mr. Sisak: We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Mr. Bozic: I reached out to Jill regarding some information regarding personnel that the Rec Center is trying to put together and I guess I just wanted to ask for some more information on it. I know we have discussed going from two part-time employes to one full-time employee and I guess I am confused as to how this position is more beneficial in being a full-time position of one employee as to having two part-time positions of the two people who are currently doing those roles. 2  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 14, 2023 Mayor: Sure, I will start and then we have Jessica here and we have the Service Director here also. When it was presented to the Administration to put into the budget and also put in the personnel grid, there was a lot of thought and discussion on the continuity of operations and that this would be more consistent. I will let Jessica talk in a minute and that is why I proceeded with the budget and to put the person in the personnel grid. I think it is a good thing for the Rec Center. Dir. of Public Service: Councilman, as you know in 2019 we passed a Master Plan for the parks and the plan called for 7 full-time folks to work in the parks and at the time we only had 3 and so we are looking at creating full-time positions after that was approved and we are chipping away with that. This will bring us to 5. I will let Jessica go into more detail on the rest of it. Dir. of Recreation: As the Mayor and Service Director have said they were really the driving forces behind this. Since we had some staff leave earlier in 2023 it really became apparent as some of these people who have been here for a very long time are reaching retirement and going on to other things and they can’t sustain with a part-time job being their main income anymore. It really does lend itself to our continuity of business to have a full-time person in this position. The other benefit is that if we have a full-time person over two part-time people is that we are not limited to the number of hours of time that they are permitted to work whereas with part-time people we have to limit them to 28 hours to avoid them going over the threshold to be considered to have to have benefits. (There was additional discussion). Mr. Bozic: So, I keep hearing the word, continuity, and as I am sitting here thinking about it because I know who these individuals are, one part-time person that just left as you mentioned in early 2023 was there for over 10 years. The other individual has been there since the building opened I think and so I think there is a lot of continuity there that existed. I believe that the one person as we speak has been there probably close to 10 years at this point and so I am concerned that we might be, and you sort of alluded to that we are creating a position to eliminate somebody who is basically retiring and that to me does not seem legal for one, and just morally right to begin with. So, I question whether or not if that is being done because we are doing this as a whole to push for more full-time employees or we are doing this to eliminate a retiree. Dir. of Public Service: I’m not sure what you are talking about. No one is talking about eliminating anybody. We are making a full-time position and the part-time positions are going to disappear for that position and people can apply for that. Mr. Bozic: A full-time person you are paying 52 weeks out of the year and a part-time person you can change and limit the hours on the workload that that individual has throughout the year so essentially you are saving more money by being able to do that rather than a full-time employee with benefits and everything else that is involved in that. I just wanted to at least bring that up and mention that as a bit of an oversight for the programs that we currently have. We have eliminated some, well I shouldn’t say eliminated, we haven’t been able to run a particular program like Community All Stars this past year which obviously affects that person’s hours, but if we are saying that by providing a full-time person we are all of a sudden magically able to put this program back on. I don’t buy that so that is speaking my peace about that position, and I don’t know if anybody else has anything. Mr. Sisak: Does anybody else have anything else for discussion or commentary? Hearing none, Madame Clerk please call the roll. Roll Call: Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway – unanimous. Amended Ord. 2023-87 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. With that, I will close committee. Mr. Loughry: So, before we go to your committee, Mr. Bollas, we are having some technical issues with the livestream, so we are going to have a conversation with our AV people to see if we can get that rectified. All right, we are back, and we will continue with the public hearing in Personnel, Mr. Bollas. 3  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 14, 2023 PERSONNEL At 3rd Reading. P.H. ON 12-14-23 @ 7:06 P.M. Ord. 2023-94 – Tracked - Amended Establishing the number of non-collective bar- gaining employees by department and position pursuant to R.C. 731.08 and providing for imme- diate enactment. Mr. Bollas: I call the Personnel Committee to order. We have Ord. 2023-94 – Tracked – Amended. The ordinance was read into the record. It is 7:25 and I will open the public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to speak for Ord. 2023-94 or against Ord. 2023-94. No one responded. Is there anyone who would like to speak for or against Ord. 2023-94. No one responded. Third time, is there anyone who would like to speak for or against Ord. 2023-94. No one responded. I will open up the Personnel Committee. Dir. of Law: You need to close the public hearing. Mr. Bollas: I will close the public hearing at 7:26 p.m. Now I will open up the Personnel Committee. Mr. Loughry: I would move to adopt Ord. 2023-94. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Mr. Bozic: In light of the information we received from the Dir. of Parks and Rec, I would like to make a motion that we amend and eliminate the Sports Fitness Coordinator and put back in the Fitness Coordinator and the Sports Coordinator. So, I move to make an amendment of the ordinance. Mr. Bollas: Procedurally we have a motion and a second to adopt, but now we have a motion for an amendment to the ordinance and we need a second. Mr. Loughry: I would second that. Mr. Bollas: Alright, so we have a motion and a second to amend Ord. 2023-94. Is there any discussion? Mr. Bozic: I just feel like we need to do more homework in relation to that position. I do feel that yes, the Parks and Rec Department does need more full-time employees, but I do feel like there are some issues with creating or combining the positions that have been proposed. Mayor: As the Mayor for the City, I take a lot of pride in the department heads making requests and we do a lot of homework on it and I would not put it in the budget if I didn’t think it was for the betterment of the good for the Rec Center and the continuity of operations up there and I highly recommend Council not approve the amendment, but that is Council’s decision. It’s not like you sit back and not do the study on it. I think it is a good spot and we are not forcing anybody out. If anybody wants to apply for the job, it sounds like this is more of a personal thing where you are trying to take care of some of your personal friends there and that is what it seems like to me. With that, I request it stay as amended already. Mr. Bollas: We need to vote. Roll Call: Mr. Sisak – yes, Mrs. Allman – no, Mr. Bollas – no, Mr. Bozic – yes, Mrs. Gutman – no, Mrs. Kilway – no, Mr. Loughry – no. The amendment by Mr. Bozic was rejected by a vote of 5-2. Dir. of Law: You need to say that the motion failed by a vote of 2-5. Mr. Bollas: So, the motion failed by a vote of 2-5. Dir. of Law: Then you have a motion and a second for the adoption of Ord. 2023-94. Mr. Bollas: If there is no discussion, we will call the roll. Roll Call: Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak – unanimous. Ord. 2023-94 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. With that, I will close committee. 7. Community Input: This is the point in the meeting where the public can talk on anything that is not on Council’s agenda. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to address Council. No one responded. 8. Agenda Additions: • Special Presentation to the Lyon’s family 4  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 14, 2023 Roger Lyons, his wife Sue, his daughter, Lisa Godar and their grandson, Grayson Godar. We are here tonight to thank the City of Tallmadge and for all of you present here this evening and especially Mayor Kline and Jessica Simons in helping with the donation of playground equipment in memory of our son, Matthew. Matthew passed away in April of 2022. He was a Tallmadge High School graduate. We would also like to thank the Tallmadge Foundation and Kim Ray for the collection of the donations from all our family and friends towards this project. We are glad to be a part of the larger plan for the playground equipment for Howe Road Park and we would like you to please accept our donation of $15,000 for the playground equipment at Howe Road Park in memory of our son, Matthew. Thank you. 9. Reports of Administrative Officers: a. Mayor/Director of Economic Development: Thank you. I will try to be brief tonight. • We do have the camera system up and operational down at Ritchie Center so hats off to the IT Department. It is not on fiber optics and so it is hard to capture a lot of the images but there is a machine down there that collects all of the information. • Today I am happy to announce that at the AMATS meeting that I attended, the City of Tallmadge was fortunate to win an award for $8,509,999 for the East Avenue Project. That was for Phase 1. Phase 1 is from Munroe Road to Brimfield, and we are one point away from Phase 2 and that would be from Munroe Road to Community Drive. This funding is for the fiscal year 2028 so the construction will be July of 2027. • We do have a lot of ordinances. I thank you for adopting the budget. • Thank you for adding the money for the Joint Dispatch Center. There are 125 employees in that building up there. • I am going to ask for 1st Reading adoption of Ord. 98, 99, 100, 102 and the Executive Session tonight for Personnel is relative to contract negotiations. Outside of that I will save the rest of my comments for after the meeting. b. Director of Administration: Well, the Mayor kind of stole some of my thunder but I would like to personally thank the department heads, the administrative officials and the members of Council who spent hours with me in preparing this budget. I would like to thank the Lyons too. We are just so fortunate to have some of the people that we have here in the City and they still want to do so much for us. c. Director of Public Service: Good evening. I have no report this evening. I would like to ask that Ordinances 2023- 99, 100, 101, 102 be passed this evening, which would be greatly appreciated. End of report. d. Director of Finance: Absent. e. Director of Law: I have no report this evening. I do want to thank Council for approving the additional part-time Assistant Law Director for my department. I want to thank everyone for the hard work this year and I appreciate everyone for all that you do. 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. 2023-101 – Accepting the dedication of streets within the Tallmadge Reserve Phase VI and Phase VII Subdivision for public purposes; setting performance and maintenance guarantees therefor and providing for immediate enactment. 5  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 14, 2023 Sponsor: Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar Mrs. Kilway: I will open the Planning & Zoning Committee. We do have Ord. 2023-101. The ordinance was read into the record. This was presented to the Planning & Zoning Commission last week. When we got this project they said that it was going to be about a 7-year build-out and we are at year 3 and this is the final phase and so they are extremely ahead of schedule and it has been a very successful project. Any discussion on this. Mayor: As you stated, Planning & Zoning did review this last week and did approve it and made the recommendation to Council for adoption. This is Phase 6 and 7. This is the last build-out of that Ripley Farm Development. Mrs. Kilway: Is there any more discussion or a motion? Mr. Sisak: I would move to adopt. Seconded Mrs. Allman. Roll Call: Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman – unanimous. Ord. 2023-101 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. Mrs. Kilway: Is there anything else to come before Planning & Zoning. Hearing none, I will close committee. ii. 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. Third Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions. A. Ord. 2023-85 – Exhibit A – Amending Section 182.03 “Imposition of Tax”, Section 182.05 “Annual Return; Filing”, and Section 182.18 “Interest and Penalties” of Chapter 182 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Tallmadge regarding municipal income tax and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Finance Gilbride Mr. Sisak: We have at 3rd Reading Ord. 2023-85 – Exhibit A. The ordinance was read into the record. Is there any discussion on this. Mrs. Gilbride said this was ready to go so can I have a motion on this? Mrs. Kilway: I move to adopt Ord. 2023-85. Seconded Mr. Bollas. Roll Call: Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas – unanimous. Ord. 2023-85 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. ii. First Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions. A. Ord. 2023-98 – Appropriating additional amounts for various insurance claims for the Fire Department and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Finance Gilbride Mr. Sisak: Next we have Ord. 2023-98. The ordinance was read into the record. Mayor: I would ask for 1st Reading adoption of this. This is for a sewer backup that they had at Fire Station No. 1. They had to tear up the floor inside the station, and inside the shower rooms. In one of the offices there was a bad pipe in the ground, and they had to make that repair and then we had another incident with a fire truck that required an insurance claim and insurance will pay for it. Mrs. Kilway: I would make a motion to adopt Ord. 2023-98. Seconded Mr. Bozic. Roll Call: Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic – unanimous. Ord. 2023-98 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. B. Ord. 2023-99 – Authorizing the Mayor to apply for and accept, if awarded the Ohio EPA Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Grant Program (WWIG); and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Mayor Kline 6  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 14, 2023 Mr. Sisak: Next we have Ord. 2023-99. The ordinance was read into the record. Can I get a motion please? Mrs. Kilway: I move for the adoption of Ord. 2023-99. Seconded Mrs. Allman. Dir. of Pub. Service: So, this is from the Ohio EPA. This is the last of the ARPA funds for the Wastewater Infrastructure Grant. They advertised this about a month ago and that is why this is late coming to you. It is for waterline replacement, and we have several waterlines that we have engineered and everything has to be shovel ready to get this and we are actually applying for about 7 waterlines to get replaced on the small streets; East Overdale, West Overdale, Transit, Cambrian and Knollwood and Outlook so in that area. All those roads need paved, and we are not going to pave those until the waterlines get fixed because we know that those are bad waterlines to begin with. It is a great opportunity to score some money for repairing those waterlines. Mr. Sisak: So, again this is allowing the Mayor to apply for this. Dir. of Pub. Service: Correct. Roll Call: Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman – unanimous. Ord. 2023-99 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. C. Ord. 2023-100 – Authorizing the Mayor to exceed a contract with Proquality Demolition in excess of ten percent (10%) for the demolition of 89 E. Howe Road and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar Mr. Sisak: Next we have Ord. 2023-100. The ordinance was read into the record. Can I get a motion on this please? Mrs. Kilway: I move for the adoption of Ord. 2023-100. Seconded Mr. Bozic. Dir. of Pub. Service: So this is for during the demo of 89 East Howe Road, which was the old DD site, and unknown to us in the testing and everything that we did, we weren’t prepared for this and it turns out that underneath the concrete floor as well as the foundation wall there was an asbestos material and to haul that out it was actually 101 loads that had to be taken care of that was Category 1 and one load was the bad stuff. So that was good that it was only one load but there again that was not the idea. The contractor was going to recycle that concrete but he couldn’t even touch it at that point so it had to be hauled away and the total was unknown and there was really nothing you could do about it. Mr. Sisak: Do you have a price on that for us? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes, it was $190,600. Mr. Loughry: What was the amount of the grant we received? Dir. of Pub. Service: It was $1 million. Mr. Loughry: So even with this add we are still within the grant? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes. We are getting close. Roll Call: Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway – unanimous. Ord. 2023-100 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. D. Ord. 2023-102 – Reducing appropriations in the OWDA Loan Fund #580 and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Finance Gilbride Mr. Sisak: We also have Ord. 2023-102. The ordinance was read into the record. Can I get a motion on this please. Mrs. Kilway: I move for the adoption of Ord. 2023-102. Seconded Mr. Bozic. Dir. of Pub. Service: So, we were hoping to apply for the OWDA loans this year for East Avenue and Southwest Avenue but the engineering for those was not complete. They are almost done now so that is why we are withdrawing them. Mrs. Kilway: Are we going to reapply for them next year? Dirl. of Pub. Service: I don’t think that it is in the budget, but possibly in 2025. 7  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 14, 2023 Roll Call: Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry – unanimous. Ord. 2023-102 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. iii. 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. Pres. of Council: At this time, we will need to adjourn into Executive Session first for the purpose of discussing contract negotiations with the Tallmadge Part-Time Firefighters so I would entertain a motion to adjourn into Executive Session. Mr. Bozic: So moved. Seconded Mr. Bollas. Pres. of Council: Any discussion on the motion? Mrs. Kilway: Yes, I will not be attending the Executive Session due to the fact that the collective bargaining discussion pertains to my family. Roll Call: Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak – unanimous. Pres. of Council: Council will go into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing contract negotiations with the Part-Time Firefighters. Mrs. Kilway will not be attending the Executive Session. It is now 7:56 p.m. and we will be going into Executive Session. For those of you in the audience, we will come back and resume the meeting and for those of you that are live streaming, I imagine you are going to be looking at a screen that says we are in Executive Session. Pres. of Council: It is now 8:08 p.m. and we are back on the floor. At this time, I will turn it over to the Personnel Committee. i. Third Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions. A. Ord. 2023-89 – Ord. 2023-89 – Exhibit A - Authorizing the Mayor to enter into an agreement with the Tallmadge Part-Time Firefighters Association consisting of Tallmadge Part-Time Firefighters and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Mayor Kline Mr. Bollas: I call the Personnel Committee to order. This evening we have at 3rd Reading of Ord. 2023-89 – Ord. 2023-89 – Exhibit A. The ordinance was read into the record. Mr. Sisak: I will move for the adoption of Ord. 2023-89. Seconded Mr. Loughry. Mr. Sisak: Is there any discussion? Mrs. Kilway: Once again, I am going to abstain from voting on this due to my familiar relationship. Roll Call: Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman – unanimous. Ord. 2023-89 is adopted by a vote of 6-0-1. Mrs. Kilway abstained. Mr. Bollas: Is there any further discussion for the Personnel Committee this evening. Hearing none, I will close committee. ii. 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. 8  Mr. Bozic: I call the Safety Committee to order. We have no legislation before us this evening. Is there anything for Safety from Council or the Administration? Hearing none, I COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 14, 2023 Mr. Bozic (Cont’d.) do want to commend the Administration for the installation of the cameras at the Ritchie Center. It is long overdue but is definitely a much-needed improvement for the safety of the community as a whole and just for our buildings as well so thank you for that. Then I just wanted to mention our Auxiliary PD. I see them out all over the place and I just want to thank them for the job that they do. It is easily overlooked just how dangerous it is to step out into the Circle to stop traffic. I was hesitant to follow even when they told me it was OK for me to walk out there, but I definitely want to thank them for the job that they do. Without any other input, 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. i. Third Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions. A. Ord. 2023-93 – Expressing intent to sell unneeded, obsolete, or unfit real property known as Parcel #60-02371, located on Shanafelt Avenue, not needed for Municipal purposes and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar Mrs. Gutman: I call the Community Issues Committee to order. We have Ord. 2023-93 at 3rd Reading. The ordinance was read into the record. Could I have a motion to adopt this tonight? Mrs. Kilway: I move for the adoption of Ord. 2023-93. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Mayor: This is a parcel that we acquired a long time ago. Mr. Loughry: So, because this would be different from the school district, so when the City owns something like this we don’t have to go to auction? Dir. of Pub. Service: We did. Dir. of Law: We went to auction and did not get any bids and we have tried to sell it. We exhausted all other possibilities, so this is the last resort. Mr. Loughry: OK, so again, I just want to understand. Did we have the latitude to put it into the CIC and then the CIC could just disperse it as they saw fit. Dir. of Law: Well, the CIC has a purpose which is economic development and so the economic development purposes for a residential property that is not buildable is questionable. So, I thought that the more appropriate . . . Mr. Loughry: Because I know other communities use the CIC and CRA for economic development and other communities use them for mostly on residential properties. Two different ways to get to the same place; right? Roll Call: Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas – unanimous. Ord. 2023-93 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. Mrs. Gutman: Is there any other discussion? Hearing none, I will close committee. ii. First Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions. A. Ord. 2023-97 – Authorizing certain City-owned personal property to be excess/obsolete and authorizing the donation of said equipment to the Deyarmin Foundation, with certain conditions and providing for immediate enactment. 9  Sponsor: Mayor Kline COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 14, 2023 Mrs. Gutman: Next we have Ord. 2023-97 at 1st Reading. The ordinance was read into the record. I understand this the fire trailer that we have Mr. Mayor? Mayor: Yes, it is the fire trailer that we no longer need for the Fire Department. What a great foundation to donate this to so they can put it to good use. Mrs. Gutman: Do we need to keep this at 1st Reading. Mayor: No, you can adopt. Mr. Bozic: I move to adopt. Seconded Mr. Sisak. Mr. Loughry: I do believe that the Deyarmin Foundation is a 501c3. Roll Call: Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic – unanimous. Ord. 2023-97 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. B. Ord. 2023-103 – Imposing a six-month moratorium on acceptance of any Zoning application for an adult use cannabis operator and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Mayor Kline Mrs. Gutman: Next we have Ord. 2023-103. The ordinance was read into the record. Mayor: This can only have a 1st Reading, but I thought my parting gift to this Council was for you guys to pick it up and you guys can discuss it, but there are a lot of changes and there is a lot of uncertainty, so I think in our fairness to our City Administration, City Council and the citizens of Tallmadge; let’s put a moratorium on it and let all of that stuff all work out and then bring it back within 6 months. Dir. of Law: And if I could just add to that so the moratorium, to be very clear to everyone, only as it pertains to Zoning so it is only the zoning for a cannabis use operator. It doesn’t have anything to do with personal possession or use as is regulated by the new law. What this is is for us to be able to explore as a community want to do throughout the State and there as some communities that have already started to prohibit cannabis operators and there are others that are permitting them. We do have regulations in place right now for medical marijuana dispensaries and operators that prohibits that and so I think whatever we do we need to look at whether we end up doing something consistent with that, etc., so doing the moratorium on that just allows us a time to explore that before we would receive any kind of application. With that said, I don’t think it is up and running yet where there are going to be operators although the latest version of the bill that was passed by the Senate that is still being considered by the House does have a provision to allow current medical dispensaries to immediately begin dispensing for recreational use. We do not have them in our City because we do have the prohibition right now. So, again I just think it is a wise move. This will have three readings and a public hearing at the end of January so we can sort it all out and decide which direction our community wants to go. Mrs. Gutman: Do I need to set the public hearing? Dir. of Law: Yes.] Mrs. Gutman: I will set the public hearing for Ord 2023-103 for January 25th at 7:05 p.m. Are there any further comments on this? Mr. Bozic: So, Law Director Raber had mentioned that there are currently no operators. Is there any way that there could be the sale within a business that is currently operating in Tallmadge or does it have to be specifically coined as a medical operator or can it be ... Dir. of Law: My understanding is that according to the current legislation they have to go through the regulations that will be promulgated by the governing body for this and those have not even been formulated yet and they haven’t been created. That is another reason to kind of wait and see what happens with that but as of right now, again the legislation . . 10  so on the originally adopted version I think there was kind of like a 6-month timeframe for those to become operational and this pending legislation that is in front of the State COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 14, 2023 Dir. of Law (Cont’d.) Legislature would potentially change it to immediately allow the medical to start dispensing recreational but not other operators at least as of yet, but again this is something that is changing and unknown. Mr. Bozic: As it stands now, we don’t have to be concerned about that, but should that change, it would be allowed to be sold at an Acme Grocery Store. That has nothing to do with the moratorium whatsoever; correct? Dir. of Law: Right. I mean there may be things that we just might not be able to regulate. Mrs. Gutman: We will keep Ord. 2023-103 at 1st Reading. C. Ord. 2023-104 – Accepting the donation of 48 Northeast Avenue (Parcel No. 60-04114 and Parcel No. 60-01283) and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Mayor Kline Mrs. Gutman: We then have Ord. 2023-104. The ordinance was read into the record. Dir. of Law: So just for on this particular ordinance we are going to request to withdraw this this evening. We did have a resident approach us late last week indicating that they may want to donate this parcel and with some back and forth they have decided they are going to hold off on that decision and may come back to us at a later date, but at this time they do not wish to proceed with that and so it is on your agenda but we are not asking you to proceed; we are asking you to actually vote to Withdraw this ordinance. Mr. Loughry: So, you need a motion to Withdraw? Dir. of Law: Yes. Mr. Loughry: So, Mrs. Gutman, I would move to Withdraw Ord. 2023-104. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mrs. Kilway, Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman – unanimous. Ord. 2023-104 is withdrawn by a vote of 7-0. Mrs. Gutman: Is there any further discussion. Hearing none, I will close committee. iii. 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. Is there anything from Council or the Administration regarding Public Service. Mr. Bozic: I just want to again commend the Service Department for all of the watermain breaks that we have had recently and to the Water Department obviously for the extra hours and we recently had one that I think they turned around in a very short period of time. Congratulations on a job well done. Mrs. Allman: I second all of that. Anything else for Public Service. Mr. Bollas: I have been seeing work done on I-76 on both sides with some grass clearing or vegetation clearing, forest clearing. Would that qualify as a project for sound barriers? Dir. of Pub. Service: No. That is just maintenance. They are trying to take any trees down that could fall into the lanes. They are putting all that back into grass. Mrs. Allman: Is there anything else? No one responded. Seeing none, I will close committee. i. Additional Items: None. 11. Reports of Special Committees: None 11  Pres. of Council: I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Conti for all they do for us. They do a tremendous amount of work for me as Mrs. Kilway can attest. You COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. December 14, 2023 Pres. of Council (Cont’d.) cannot be Council President without having a good back office and they do extremely well. Thank you. a. Council Operations Committee i. Additional Items: 12. Announcements: Pres. of Council: You can see that the Richardson Trust Fund dispersed over $3,800 after probably not getting up and running until later, much later this past year. So, I think that the $5,000 threshold has been good for us and good for the community. • The Richardson Trust Fund dispersed $3,825 to needy Tallmadge residents. • A reminder to those of you who requested a new Council photo, the gentleman will be here on Monday, December 18 @ 11:00 a.m. in Council Chambers to take those pictures. Pres. of Council: The Organizational Meeting normally does not take an hour but we should probably allow a half hour just to be safe but we can start at 6:30 p.m. with the Organizational Meeting and then keep our Regular Meeting at 7:00 p.m. or we can keep the Organizational Meeting at 6:00 p.m. and announce that we are going to have that Council Meeting at 6:30 p.m. So, I am available for either so whatever Council would like to do. Is that correct Mrs. Raber? Dir. of Law: As long as you vote on it and set it tonight and then it can be published. Mr. Bozic: I would move to move the Organizational Meeting back to 6:30 p.m. Mrs. Kilway: Just a clarification that is on Wednesday, January 10th and not on Thursday. Mr. Loughry: We already changed the date. The reason for the change was so we could do both meetings on one day instead of having to come back on Thursday. Dir. of Law: Because the Charter provides that we have to have the Organizational meeting within 10 days. Mr. Loughry: So, we have a recommendation to move our Organizational Meeting to 6:30 p.m. and then keep the Regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. Mr. Bozic: I move to move the Organizational meeting to 6:30 p.m. followed by the Regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. Seconded Mr. Bollas. Roll Call: Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway – unanimous. The Organizational meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. followed by the Regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 10 th by a vote of 7-0. There were speeches from individuals on Council as well as the Administration regarding 2023 and also the changes for the upcoming year and saying good-bye to those retiring. 13. Adjournment: Mr. Bozic moved to adjourn. Seconded Mrs. Kilway. Roll Call: Mr. Loughry, Mr. Sisak, Mrs. Allman, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Gutman, Mrs. Kilway – unanimous. The Regular Council meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. sb Adopted: _______________ _______________________________ __________________________________ Susan E. Burton, Clerk of Council Adam M. Bozic – President of Council 12