City Council Regular Meeting

COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 Pres. of Council: Before we start our meeting this evening, I would like to turn the meeting over to Mayor Kilway and Chief Underwood for a swearing-in of a new firefighter. Mayor Kilway: I really appreciate your flexibility to put this in before your meeting tonight. I really want to thank everybody that has come today to help celebrate adding another fireman. As you guys all know, the Fire Department is something very near and dear to my heart. I love how Police and Fire came out to support this. Chief, is there anything you would like to say? Chief Underwood: Yes, I would like to thank friends, family and those from the P.D. and as safety services, we work well together, and it will be great to have Austin with us. He comes from the Painesville area. We appreciate the long drive for you to be here with us. So, thank you Mayor. Mayor Kilway swore in the new firefighter, Austin Hejduk-McFarland. Austin Hejduk-McFarland: Thank you so much. 1. Call to Order: Pres. of Council: Today is April 11, 2024, and this is our regularly scheduled 7:00 p.m. Council meeting. 2. Opening Prayer: Pastor James Case, Tallmadge Lutheran Church. Pledge of Allegiance: Mayor Kilway lead the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. Roll Call: Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Epstein, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino – present. Mrs. Gutman was excused. 4. Correcting and Adopting the 3-14-24 Council Meeting Minutes Mr. Pavlik moved to approve the 3-14-24 Council meeting minutes. Seconded Mr. Rubino. Roll Call: Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Epstein, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas – unanimous. The minutes from the 3-14-24 Council meeting were approved by a vote of 6-0. 5. Financial Reports: • Fire & EMS Fund Transfer in the amount of $255,000 and Street Maintenance & Repair Fund Transfer in the amount of $255,000 to Council on 04-03-24. • Appropriation Report, Fund Report and Revenue Report for the period ending 03-31-24 to Council on 4-5-24. • March Financial Reports to Council on 4-5-24. • Tallmadge Recreation Center Profit and Loss Report for the period ending 03-31-24 to Council on 4-5-24. • Income Tax Comparisons for the period ending 03-31-24 to Council on 4-5-24. • Consolidated Investment Portfolio for the period ending 03-31-24 to Council on 4-5-24. • Income Tax by Source Report for the month of March to Council on 4-5-24. • Revenue Comparisons for Major Funds for the period ending 03-31-24 to Council on 4-5-24. Mr. Pavlik: I move for the acceptance of the financial reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Gilbride. Seconded Mr. Bollas. Roll Call: Mrs. Epstein, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic – unanimous. The financial reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Gilbride were accepted by vote of 6-0. 6. Public Hearings: None. 7. Community Input: Pres. of Council: This is the point in the meeting where anyone can address Council on any item that is not on the agenda. Is there anyone who would like to address Council? Hearing none, we will move onto Item 8. 8. Agenda Additions: • Approval of appointment of Jordan E. Knabb as the new Assistant Law Director. Dir. of Law: Thank you. I am pleased this evening to introduce Jordan Knabb to you. He is going to be the part-time Assistant Law Director. As you may recall in the budget Council authorized a new part-time position which we are very thankful to have. I very definitely know we have more than enough work to handle. We are happy to be able to onboard somebody 1  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 Law Director (Cont’d.) in a part-time capacity. Jordan is currently an Assistant Prosecutor for the City of Twinsburg, so he is very familiar with the Stow Municipal Court. He has had other experience in other capacities as an Assistant Prosecutor over the years. He is currently also a partner in a private firm, and I believe that that will be winding up here soon so he can focus his attention on both Twinsburg and us. I believe he just received a promotion in Twinsburg because they are very pleased with the work he is doing for them. So, I do have him in the audience today and if he just wants to come up and say a quick hello to everyone. I already gave a quick overview of him, but Jordan, is there anything else you want to add? Mr. Knabb: First of all, I want to thank you for having me out tonight. As Law Director Raber indicated, I am currently serving as an Assistant Law Director for the City of Twinsburg and I also handle the criminal traffic matters prosecuting for the City of Twinsburg and assisting with public records requests and handling contracts and any issues involving Police Officers and witnesses that we need to come in and testify. I am very excited about this opportunity if you will have me here. I have explored some other avenues in the profession of private law as a magistrate, but I always seem to find my way back to municipal work and prosecuting more specifically. It is a passion of mine. It has always been something that I have been involved in even as an intern in law school and even before I made the choice to go into law school. So, I have had occasions to sit with numerous prosecutors and judges from as early on as Middle School and I knew it was something that I wanted to do. So again, thank you for having me here tonight and I would be happy to answer any questions that Council might have. Mr. Pavlik: You will still be employed by the City of Twinsburg? Mr. Knabb: Yes sir. Mr. Pavlik: And in your law practice, you will be leaving that law practice? Mr. Knabb: No, that is not correct. I will be terminating all criminal cases. As Law Director Raber and I have discussed, and we do agree on the position, and I believe the Attorney General has put out that anyone engaged in any type of prosecution should not be involved in criminal defense matters as well and I intend to honor that Attorney General’s opinion. So, I will be only handling civil litigation matters and domestic relation matters. Just for the record, 80 to 90% of my private practice in the world of domestic relations as far as divorce, child custody matters, but usually the likelihood of there being any conflict at all in my private practice and my work here for the City of Tallmadge or the City of Twinsburg is extremely unlikely. Mr. Pavlik: Law Director Raber, is there a certain amount of time that he had to wind down? Dir. of Law: So, it would be what would be reasonable so that would not be a specific thing so he does take felony cases and they may take a little bit longer to get off of. There is a process to get off of a case and some of them may be close enough to be determined to being done. A judge is not going to look kindly on him getting off a case. If there are any conflicts with any of those existing cases, we will certainly isolate him off of those but otherwise for a reasonable amount of time, I guess. Mr. Pavlik: Last question, his firm will not be engaged in any work that the City of Tallmadge has? Dir. of Law: Correct. They don’t really, just for the record, they don’t do the type of work that we would. Mr. Pavlik: Noted, but that could change in the future. Dir. of Law: Yes. Mr. Knabb: Kind of like what Dir. of Law Raber was saying, I have already removed myself from that list, even prior to coming on board here. I was already starting to get off that list and now that this is sort of in the works, I have formally removed myself from that list. I have filed 2  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 Mr. Knabb (Cont’d.) several motions to withdraw from my criminal cases, and again as the Law Director indicated it is not as simple as just shutting things down on that day or that afternoon, so I mean if we would have given the client and you get the bailiffs in court and the prosecutor and making sure everybody knows who is going to be representing this individual. It is a little bit of a process but I have been taking those steps and the cases that are set out for trial or you know a month or two down the road, I am getting off of those but I am trying to resolve some of the cases that are close to resolution if you will. Mr. Pavlik: Thank you. That is all I have. Dir. of Law: A note for the record that I have contacted his current employer in Twinsburg, and I have also talked to the judges in court and other prosecutors and Jordan has earned himself a very good reputation amongst all of them and was highly recommended. I would appreciate your approval here this evening. The approval stems from a codified ordinance that we have on the books that requires . . . it says Council approval but I think it could technically be referring back to what is in the Charter, which the Charter refers to Council approval of the positions being created, but I am being differential to all and erring on the side of caution and coming back and asking for approval here this evening. Pres. of Council: Any further questions? I am glad that you mentioned that Ms. Raber because I was sitting here thinking about do we need to make any future modifications within the Charter that would specifically call out any newly created positions that we have made in the last 3 or 4 years. Do those need to be made within the Charter? Dir. of Law: So, not all positions need to be put into the Charter. Pres. of Council: Sure. Dir. of Law: If there are changes to those Charter positions, that again, in the Charter, permits me to hire Assistant Law Directors and at some point, we might want to contemplate whether we bifurcate. Some municipalities have a Deputy Assistant Law Director or a Deputy Law Director and then an Assistant Law Director so there are different levels. But because our Charter doesn’t say that we are sticking to the title of Assistant Law Director but those are things to contemplate in the future. Pres. of Council: And just to clarify and make I guess known, but this is part-time position and the salary and wages are set by the Council grid for personnel and that is approved by Council so this has already been kind of assigned and predetermined just as an update for those viewers at home and for any members on Council that are new. So, it is not like he came in the lowest bidder or anything like that or the highest bidder, and so it is not specifically like that. Any further questions for Mrs. Raber or Mr. Knabb? Hearing none, we should make it formal then by placing a roll call vote. Dir. of Law: That would be great. If someone could make a motion. Mr. Pavlik: I will make a motion to accept the nomination of Jordan Knabb. Seconded Mrs. Epstein. Roll Call: Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Epstein – unanimous. Mr. Knabb is appointed as the new part-time Assistant Law Director by a vote of 6-0. Dir. of Law: Thank you very much. I appreciate it and welcome Jordan. 9. Reports of Administrative Officer: a. Mayor/Director of Economic Development: o Thank you very much. I will be very brief right now. I just want to remind everybody on Council and at home that I will have my “After Hours with the Mayor” on the fourth Thursday of every month and so it will be April 25 th as the next one from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Please remember also that my door is always open, and I would encourage very many Council members to come in and talk to me. If you have a question, let’s start the discussion early instead of here on Council floor. My door is always open to you; just reach out. o I gave my State of the City address on March 19th and 20th to Prime Timers and the 3  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 Mayor (Cont’d.) Chamber, and I want to thank those that came. We are working on a video of the State of the City and it will be uploaded onto the City’s website. It does take several hours to edit and put this together so it is in the draft phase right now and it should be ready to be put on shortly. o We are working very hard on economic development. We had some business retention meetings with Trident Restoration and S.D. Meyers. Our in-SITE Advisors Consulting company are working very hard with us and working on a strategic plan going forward. They will be at the CIC meeting which is going to be on April 30th and will maybe be expanding their role with that. They are also bringing on another new staff member to help us continue to grow. o The solar eclipse was a very smoothly run event. In my opinion it was a non-event because there was nothing that happened wrong in the City so it was fantastic, but it was very beautiful. o I think you should have all received the Tallmadge circular by now. Did anyone not receive the newsletter on Council? We are having a mailing issue, so we are working on that. We are working on trying to do that a little bit better, but we will make sure we get some put into your mailboxes. As you know, that is a newsletter that is a joint collaboration between the City and the schools just to push out information and dates and events and stuff like that. o We are working on the Memorial Day Parade. Just a reminder to Council that it is customary for you guys to be in attendance and walk in the parade with the Administration. o We are working on the Circle Fest and the Light Parade. o Monday is the big Tax Day so let’s get our taxes done if they are not already done. o We did roll out an employee wellness program with Motion Connected and the first challenge started April 1st. We have had a wellness program in the past and the program that we were using just kind of stopped last year and so it took a while to find another one that worked well for everybody and so that targeted on April 1 st and I want to thank Allie Schwartz, our H.R. Administrator for putting that together for us. o Our departmental meetings are going well. We are working on strategies to complete budget items. Strategic planning is going to be starting fairly soon. We will put together focus groups from the community and the different organizations within Tallmadge. I am going to have Council very much involved and will probably ask you guys to have another meeting specific to strategic planning. That will be coming up here in the next several weeks so that we can put together a five-year plan, so we have a vision for the City. So, I would really encourage your input on all of that. o There was a Civil Service test that was given for Garage Mechanic. I think we had 3 applicants that we are going to be looking at. o Then I would ask for the ordinance for the flock cameras. I think there were some questions about the flock cameras, and I think they advised the Police Department if like a license plate goes through an area where it is of interest to the Police Department. So that means that there might be a warrant out for them or there is a reason why the police have that license plate in their target. They are very beneficial. They are being placed throughout the City. The school already has 5 of them that they put up and this is something that was in the budget and then last year on Council we added 5 more flock cameras to the 10 that they already had so that did increase the amount of the contract so that is why we had to come to Council in order to get Council approval on these. So, you basically approved it last year when you approved the budget and now it is just making it official because the contract did hit that $50,000 threshold. If you have any questions about the cameras just let me know. I know they have been used just since I came into office and have been very beneficial to 4  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 o our Police Department. Mayor: Any questions? Mr. Pavlik: Is it like a notice gets sent to the Police Department like an alert if a license plate is tagged? Mayor: It works through dispatch so like if they are looking for . . . if an event happens and they know that there is a blue Honda that should be going in the direction of Cuyahoga Falls, and so it will first of all identify blue Hondas and then it will read the license plates and especially if they have an idea of who the person is, it will notify the Police that person of interest and they went through this intersection at this time. They can track it all the way through. Mr. Pavlik: So, it goes to dispatch and then out? Mayor: It goes through dispatch; yes. Mr. Bozic: I do have a couple of follow-up questions. I know in the past we were given a Fire Department monthly report. I know that is something you and I have talked about as well. If we could continue getting those. I think it might have been a little bit of time since our last report. Mayor: I will make sure I get that for you. Chief Underwood has been extremely busy with a lot of different things, so I will make sure that I follow up with him. Mr. Bozic: And I am sure as we are such a growing, busy City I just want to recognize Pat Fairhurst for the great article that I read about him this morning. I should have caught him before he left today, but such a great article and if the viewers want to read that article and just take it to heart because there are just so many on-line scams and things of that nature that are going on every day. Mayor: That was not forgotten. It was actually part of my State of the City address was giving an award for his dedication to that case. Pres. of Council: Thank you. The other question that I have here is that I know we have a few members of Council who have yet to go through the new Dispatch Center and so if we could consider maybe setting up a time to get another tour of that facility. I know they are going to have to approve that or what not, so if you could set up a time? That would be very beneficial I think for a lot of us because it gives a quick behind the scenes tour of what it is they do and how they do such a great job. Mayor: It is an amazing facility. Mr. Bozic: Then lastly, you mentioned the 5-year strategic plan and again we have talked a lot about those sorts of things and how hugely beneficial they are to our City. I think if we do we need to keep it in the back of our mind or at least put it in the front of our mind, tying that together with a 5-year budget plan. This is going to be something that is a little new to us. I know some other cities throughout the County do this as well. They are on a 5-year budget plan. I think that would be beneficial for not only the Administration but Council and the City in general just to know that here is the direction we are going and here are the projects we have already set in motion. Mayor: I think that kind of goes without saying that we need to apply the plan and you have your budgetary items in mind. Mr. Bozic: In general, I don’t know if through our annual budget meetings and those sorts of things, I think if we could get a 5-year budget approval it will make everyone’s life a little easier when we go into that. I know that may not be the norm as how we have conducted business in the past, but I think that would be a potential and obviously make updates along the way. Any further questions for the Mayor? Hearing none, on to the Service Director, Mike Rorar. b. Director of Administration/Director of Safety: No report. 5  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 c. Director of Public Service Dir. of Pub. Service: Thank you. o For the month of March, the Zoning Department had 76 total permits that were issued. o Code Violations: There were 40 open violations and 11 which were for property disrepair. o Cemetery: There were 4 total burials. All 4 were full burials. Then you can see we have 365 grave spaces, and 146 columbarium niches are available. o Parks and Rec: Memberships at the Rec were 8,066. That was an 8% increase from last year. The visits were down. I believe the decrease is probably due to the nice weather in March. Pickle Ball Tournament is April 14th. Parent Date Night is April 27th. Youth golf workshop is April 27th. Summer Rec Center hours start May 1st. So right now, it is Monday through Thursday they will start closing at 9:00 p.m. instead of 10:00 p.m. On Friday it stays the same and closes at 8:00 p.m. Saturday it closes at 6:00 p.m. instead of 8:00 p.m. and then Sunday it closes at 4:00 p.m. instead of 8:00 p.m. That was kind of been the standard that we have had. o The new shelter at Lions Park is 90% complete. o Howe Road Park renovations are underway. They are on schedule to be completed by May 31st. The only piece of that is I am warning that the dog park section may not be open by that time because if you can’t get the grass to grow, you are not opening the dog park. o Maca Pool: All the pool staff have been hired and memberships to date are 2,050. There are a remaining 198 passes and 1,305 of those memberships are residents. o Street Department: Six hours, believe it or not were spent on snow and ice. I don’t remember. I don’t remember those days but obviously we must have spent some time doing it. o 5 tons of street debris was removed by sweeping. o 550 lineal of ditching was done. o City-wide pothole repair took place and that took about 5 days. o Stormwater crossover at Elton and N. Thomas is complete. It was a big project and I appreciate the cooperation of everybody to make that happen. o Something new is a work order program that the Street Department is using. It is Open Gov and it intertwines and integrates with the Zoning software and so we are moving in the right direction with that and why that has been beneficial is because Zoning is where the permitting and bonds occur at and so all of the contractor that are working in the City need to go through that. o Summer Paving Program: Pavement marking is scheduled to begin May 12th between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. and so that is after hours, and it seems to work out well for us. We don’t get as many complaints. The contractor is J.B. Striping. Keep in mind that it is against the law to drive through the new paint. There will be no flaggers. There will be nobody to channel the people around because it doesn’t benefit the contractor to direct you to drive through the paint. So, if you hear anybody complaining that they got paint on the car; that is on them, not on the contractor and not on the City. o Concrete Maintenance Repair: This is scheduled to start May 6th. We already started removing some of the trees throughout the neighborhoods. o Asphalt Paving Program: This is scheduled to start at the end of May and that contractor is Cardinal. The Concrete Maintenance contractor is Don Wartko. o I want to start with a picture. That is a real picture. That is a manhole and there is no such thing as disposable wipes. They do not break down and do not put disposable wipes in your toilet. Toilet paper is the only thing to go down there. That was probably the most 6  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 Dir. of Pub. Service (Cont’d.) disgusting thing I have seen in a while, but wipes do not break down in the system. They actually cause a major backup. Mr. Pavlik: Where was that at? Dir. of Pub. Service: That is actually on Eastwood and so the one sewer backup was on Stadium Drive and that was during March. That was actually on Eastwood on Monday. o Zero water main breaks. o One sewer backup. It was actually in our main and had a lot of roots growing through it. We did not know that. We cleaned it out and it is going good now and you can see the sanitary sewers were televised, 5,255 feet. 15 water valves were exercised. It is important. We have a machine that actually exercises our water valves and that way they don’t get froze and they don’t break whenever we do need to use them. So, we try to exercise all the valves at least once every 2 years. o Annual Fire Hydrant flushing will be April 15th. Last year we did it in 2 weeks, but it could take up to a month depending on the weather. We are not going to go out on a day like today and open up a bunch of hydrants. Peoples’ yards are already flooding so they don’t need to have that added. Keep in mind there are really 3 big reasons, proper operation of the hydrants. You want to make sure those hydrants are working and that is why we do it. Number 2, it helps with our ISO scoring for our insurance. So, the fact that we do this annually actually gets us a better ISO score which helps all of our house insurances and then 3, it actually helps flush the lines. Even though you run your water every day, I want you to think about your spickets; you are not flushing the lines like this, so this actually gets that water moving through the system and gets rid of anything that is called stale water and keeps it going. o Lastly, starting next Wednesday and Thursday, we are going to do a sanitary line replacement through the north part of the Circle. This begins at 6:30 p.m. and goes to 6:30 a.m. and we are going to narrow the lane. We are not going to shut down the Circle; we are going to just narrow the lane and keep traffic moving. Mr. Bozic: I have two questions. Going back to the hydrant flushing, what percentage of fire hydrants do we discover that are either not working or require some form of maintenance as a result of that? Dir. of Pub. Service: A low number. I would probably say on average 3 or 4. I mean when you think of the number of hydrants that are throughout the City, which is not bad. Mr. Bozic: After they close up shop for the day on the hydrant flushing, are they painting those hydrants? Dir. of Pub. Service: No. Mr. Bozic: No, it is not part of that maintenance. OK. And then my other question is that you mentioned a new shelter. I know some of the shelters in the parks have names for them. I did not know if we had anyone in mind, an individual in mind for putting a name on those shelters? Dir. of Pub. Service: I think Ms. Simons is working on something like that to name those shelters. Mr. Bozic: OK. Dir. of Pub. Service: But I have not heard the names. Mr. Bozic: I have a couple of names in mind. Anything else for Mr. Rorar? Mr. Bollas: I just want to say thank you for several things where we had several inquiries about traffic lights and sidewalks. One inquiry that Mr. Rorar followed up for me was potential sidewalks on North Avenue between Howe and Orrlawn and then there was a traffic light study at Community Drive and East Avenue that I think is still in progress. Dir. of Pub. Service: Still in progress; yes. Mr. Bollas: So, thank you very much for all your follow-up on that. Mr. Bozic: I wanted to bring up that Councilwoman Gutman and myself, the Mayor, Mike Rorar, Law Department and Finance Department had a meeting probably a month and a half ago just to 7  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 Mr. Bozic (Cont’d.) talk about sidewalks and things of that nature and how we fund them and how we charge and when we don’t charge those sorts of things. So, Ms. Gilbride if you can just give a quick overview of what the changes were to that just so the public is aware of it for the future. Dir. of Finance: So, as a result of that meeting, typically anybody who would elect to have the assessment for their sidewalk in lieu of paying their 50% portion due to the fact that costs have risen over the course of time, we typically would assess that over one (1) year for the taxes and so the payment would basically split into 2 payments. One half on your first property tax bill and the other half on your second. So, due to those costs and those kinds of things, we decided that we are going to extend that assessment to a 2-year period so that the residents do not see as much of a large hit on the property tax and just give them some more time to get that 50% paid. Mr. Bozic: Thank you for the Administration working with us on that. Not the 100% that I wanted, but that’s . . . we are getting there and it is good to work with the Administration on issues like that to provide a better service to our citizens. So, thank you. Anything further Mr. Rorar? Dir. of Pub. Service: No. d. Director of Finance: Thank you. You have received your March financial reports. Some items of significance that you probably haven’t seen before we did post our quarterly interest from our investments in the bank, and we continue to do well. Interest rates are good right now and so we enjoy those now because when they are bad, they are bad, and when they are good, they are good. It has been an up and down rollercoaster over probably the last five to ten years with interest, so we are going to enjoy the return on investments that we are receiving right now. Additionally, we are still in the process . . . the auditors have been in most weeks over the last month or so. Just to remind Council that you all did receive correspondence from the Auditors requesting you return and so hopefully everyone has been able to do that. If you have not, please respond back to the auditor with the questionnaire. If you have any questions about it, you can talk to the auditor or talk to me, and I would be glad to give you some explanation about what they are looking for. I will be glad to answer any questions anybody has about the Financial Reports. e. Director of Law: Thank you very much. Thank you again Council for your confirmation of Jordan Knabb tonight. I also wanted to take this opportunity to make an announcement. It has been shared on the City’s Facebook page, but me along with County Councilwoman Christine Higham are co-hosting the Summit County Prosecutor’s Free Women’s Self Defense Class. It came to us about a year ago and it was very well attended, very successful. It is a 2-hour kind of quick overview of self-defense. We are holding it this time at the Tallmadge High School after we had had it the last time there was some discussion about trying to get more of our younger population, especially our younger female population, if possible, to get some of these skills and get some of this training. So, that is happening on Tuesday, April 16th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and it is at the Tallmadge High School this time in their gymnasium. It is free, you don’t have to pre-register. Just come out and take the class. For those people who are interested or want something more in-depth, I know that the Recreation Center, also kind of based on the success of that program last year, has added some self-defense classes to the Rec Center. They are a little bit more intensive and there will be smaller class sizes and you would have to pay for those classes, but you do get a more in-depth opportunity to learn some self-defense techniques. Thank you very much and I would be happy to answer any questions. Mrs. Epstein: Just a brief question. You said that you are hoping to get a younger audience. Is there a recommended age range? Dir. of Law: I mean they need to be able to sit through the 2 hours and there is some lecture time. I brought my daughter last time and she was 10 at the time and so I would 8  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 Dir. of Law (Cont’d.) say that they have to be old enough to have the attention span to sit through the 2 hours. Now they do get to get up and do some techniques and you get to practice doing some kicks and some moves and some hits and stuff, but they intermix that with discussion as well. So, as long as they are old enough to handle that there is no real age limit in either direction just as long as they can focus on what is being said. 10. Reports of Standing Committees of Council of the Whole: a. PLANNING AND ZONING Mary Gutman, Chair Jessica Epstein, Vice Chair The Planning & Zoning Committee deals with land use, zoning, conditional uses, planning, economic and community development, and public property. Mrs. Epstein: I call the Planning & Zoning Committee to order. We have no legislation before us this evening. Is there anything from the Council or Administration regarding Planning & Zoning? Hearing none, I will close committee. i. Additional Items: None. b. FINANCE Donald Pavlik, 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. 2024-34 – Authorizing the Mayor to enter into an agreement for the pur- chase of Flock Cameras and proprietary subscription, which is exempt from competitive bidding and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Mayor Kilway. Mr. Pavlik: I call the Finance Committee to order. We have Ord. 2024-34 at 1st Reading. The ordinance was read into the record. Mayor, would you have anything to add? Mayor: I had mentioned early on in the meeting these are the flock cameras that were already budgeted for last year by Council. They are very, very beneficial because we are committed to this program. Other communities have used the flock cameras, and it has already been beneficial to our City because of that as well. So, if we could get 1st Reading adoption then we can get the contract signed and we can get them put up as fast as possible. Mr. Pavlik: Are there any questions from Council floor. Mr. Bozic: Truly this question comes from my conversations with Councilman Rubino because he brought up some good questions about this and kind of got me thinking. So, thank you to him. But I know other cities have had some push-back on these cameras. I don’t see a major push-back for us because of the huge benefit that it brings. However, in my research there were some communities that put some stipulations within the agreement with flock cameras that talks about the length of time that we retain the images. So, I did not know if you knew off the top of your head what that length of time is? I think the standard is 30 days, but I think some other communities have narrowed it down to a much smaller window. I don’t know what our Police Department would prefer and what they would find to be most beneficial in their police work. Mayor: I did read the contract, but I don’t recall exactly what that was because when I read the contract I saw that this contract was for $50,000 and we need Council’s approval and so I did read it probably about a month ago because you were on recess last time. I do know that it is $30,000 for the first 10 cameras and then we added the 5 more and so that is $15,000 and then there are some extra set-up fees for mounting and so forth and 9  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 Mayor (Cont’d.) so that is why it brought that rate over the $50,000 threshold. In my conversation with Chief Bohon, there is tracking used and it is through the CADD system and so there will be data that will be used so they can analyze it to make sure that this is a cost-effective program for us and if we find down the road that this is not cost-effective, then it can be determined whether we continue at that point in time. But there is an availability to get a return on investment and determine the benefit of the cameras. So, I would recommend giving it a chance and seeing how beneficial it would be for our City. Mr. Bollas: I was just going to add, based on some information I received, the data is not stored beyond 30 days. It automatically deletes every 30 days, and it is also not facial recognition. I know that was a question. Mr. Bozic: Thank you and I just wanted to bring that to light because I know that some other communities have put that timeframe in this question as to how long we retain that. I definitely see the advantages of this and I think as we were doing the initial budgetary planning of this being that I was at the Rec Center for so many years I saw the benefit of it at that point just because of a missing child or missing elderly citizens and those sort of things and those would be extremely beneficial to the Police Department in their work. So, I don’t have any qualms about approving this so I will kick it back to Mr. Pavlik. Mr. Pavlik: Are there any other questions from any other Council members? Mrs. Epstein: Could you just, maybe for the viewers at home, maybe talk about why this is exempt from competitive bidding? Dir. of Law: So, there are certain criteria that have to be met in order to be exempt from competitive bidding and one of them is when it is proprietary software and so this is also for the subscription that goes along with it so the data information and conveying the information back not just the camera itself, and obviously you have to have their camera with their system in order to get that so there is not a competitor. It is the only one that does that so that is why it meets that definition. Mrs. Epstein: Thank you. Mr. Rubino: Are these cameras leased or do we own them? Dir. of Law: I believe they are owned. But then they won’t be worth anything if we don’t have the subscription. Mr. Rubino: Right, in answer to my question, if there is a failure of a camera, who is responsible for replacing the camera and maybe like the shelf life of these cameras. Dir. of Law: So, that is all outlined in the agreement which is again it is like a very long agreement like 30 pages or something. But there information there as to who would cover the cost depending on what type of damage it was and if it is their failure they cover and if it is some kind of other failure like if somebody strikes like in an accident or something then they are not going to necessarily cover it. That may be something that ideally the person who hit it would cover, but it could be the City if you can’t collect from that person. So, anyway, that is all outlined in that contract. Mr. Rubino: When you guys were looking up this service did you seek any public input. Has there been any feedback from the public on opinion at all? Dir. of Law: I don’t think so. I know cameras, police setting up cameras being used for the purposes of like speed enforcement and things like that have drawn a lot of public comment, but this is not what the purpose of this is. People are not going to start getting tickets in the mail or anything like that. This is for tracking persons of interest based on certain events that they have to meet certain requirements under the law to enter them in and it has to be a legitimate law enforcement purpose. Mr. Rubino: After speaking to Chief Bohon, we have had access to the system now for a little while and it has already reaped benefits. I had a nice talk with him this morning regarding his opinion on the system and after reading stuff on the internet and researching it it was very mixed, but you know after talking to him I agree that it is a great system. 10  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 Mr. Pavlik: In the future, can we get copies of those contracts when we have something like this? Dir. of Law: Yeah, if you ask for a specific contract that you are interested in, I can certainly provide that to you. I don’t know if you want to have all of the contracts. Mr. Bozic: I was actually going to say the same thing. I know that in the past there have been quite a few questions that have come to the floor and I think they would probably be answered within the contract so I don’t know if we need it for every single thing, but maybe the ones that could spark some interest or discussion. Dir. of Law: Sure, and if you know that you are interested in that you can always just reach out ahead of time and I can give you a copy. Mr. Pavlik: Thank you. Any further questions? With that since the Mayor would like to do this at 1st Reading; is there a motion? Mr. Rubino: So moved. Seconded Mr. Roy. Roll Call: Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Epstein, Mr. Pavlik – unanimous. Ord. 2024-34 is adopted by a vote of 6-0. B. Ord. 2024-35 – Exhibit A – Expressing intent to sell unneeded, obsolete, or unfit vehicles and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar Mr. Pavlik: The next item up is Ord. 2024-35. The ordinance was read into the record. Mr. Rorar, do you have anything? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes, we are just cleaning up some vehicles. I believe two of them are Police cruisers and I can’t remember what the third was . . . Dir. of Finance: We just received our new ambulance so this will be getting rid of the current one that we have. We decided last year that it would be better for us to sell via auction than trade it into the dealer. We felt we would get better value. Mr. Pavlik: This goes on Govdeals.com? Dir. of Finance: Yes. Mr. Pavlik: Are there any questions for Mr. Rorar? With that I will entertain a motion for this ordinance. Mr. Bozic: So moved. Seconded Mrs. Epstein. Roll Call: Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Epstein, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy – unanimous. Ord. 2024-35 is adopted by a vote of 6-0. Mr. Pavlik: Are there any additional items for Finance? Hearing none, I will close committee. ii. Additional Items: None. c. PERSONNEL Jonathon Bollas, Chair Donald Pavlik, 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 have no legislation before us this evening. Does anyone on Council or the Administration or the public have anything before the Personnel Committee this evening. I just wanted to add congratulations to our new Assistant Law Director as well as our new firefighter. i. Additional Items: None. d. SAFETY Nicholas Rubino, Chair Ted Roy, Vice Chair 11  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 The Safety Committee deals with disaster services, communications, fire, and paramedics, police and health. Mr. Rubino: I call the Safety Committee to order. We have no legislation before us this evening. Is there anything for the Safety Committee? Hearing none, I close the Safety Committee. i. Additional Items: e. COMMUNITY ISSUES Ted Roy, Chair Mary Gutman, Vice Chair The Community Issues Committee deals with Parks and Recreation, civic affairs, and liaison between Council and the Recreation Board and intergovernmental affairs. Mr. Roy: I call the Community Issues Committee to order. We have no legislation before us this evening. Does anybody have anything for the Community Issues Committee? Hearing none, I will close Community Issues. Mr. Bozic: I have one question. It falls under Parks and Recreation. We obviously have a very popular summer camp program and I know that from personal experience but also just by viewing anything on-line on our Facebook page or on social media. It fills very, very quickly. I guess, at this point in time, we know the program is popular and any business would typically play to their strengths so if something is a good seller they are going to continue to marker that to sell that product. So, I challenge the Administration to find a way to make a change to the program that would allow more people to experience the program. I know there has always been some discussion about restrictions on the number based on the number of kids we can get onto a bus and those sorts of things. I challenge you to think outside the box to come up with a way that we can create a program that perhaps doesn’t require that transportation or that would allow us to use a different form of transportation so just thinking because I know the program is a good program and there are many more people out there that want to experience this program. If it is working, clearly it is working and it is popular, and we should find a way to continue to help grow that. Mr. Rubino: Yes, so we will look at that for 2025. Mr. Rorar, I have also received feedback from a couple of people and possibly a suggestion. It was brought up by one of them and it was to reward and incentivize Rec membership by giving members of the Rec Center first dibs on some of those spots. It’s just a suggestion. Dir. of Pub. Service: It is a good suggestion. I will pass that along. Mr. Roy: OK, do we have anything else? Hearing none, I will close Community Issues. i. Additional Items: None. f. PUBLIC SERVICE Jessica Epstein, Chair Nicholas Rubino, Vice Chair The Public Service Committee deals with streets, highways, sidewalks, buildings, and improvements: water, sewer, electricity, gas, energy resources, recycling, waste, and trash. Mrs. Epstein: I call the Public Service Committee to order. We have no legislation before us this evening. I want to thank you Mr. Rorar for working with me on some questions I had about some sidewalks and adding the need for tree designation on the website, so I appreciate you working on that with me. Is there anything for Public Service this evening? Hearing none, I will close committee. 12  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. April 11, 2024 Mr. Bozic: Just a question for the Administration. When is our next recycling waste and trash contract renewal? Dir. of Pub. Service: I believe it is June or July of 2025. Mr. Bozic: How often do we do that? Is it like a 2-year or 3-year? Dir. of Pub. Service: It is a 5-year. Mr. Bozic: It is a 5-year program. And then with our . . . obviously water and sewer is kind of a popular topic and always being discussed, but have we heard anything else in relation to the EPA that was going to require the City of Akron to expand the storage? Dir. of Pub. Service: The storage. They are still pushing that and I believe there is . . . the City of Akron has not gotten any favor. So, they still are being asked to move forward with that project. Mr. Bozic: Then when do we negotiate our rates again? Is that coming up? Dir. of Pub. Service: The water rates would be in 2025. Mr. Bozic: Now that is already our pre-negotiated ones and that is when the new rates come out or this would be the next turn-a-round of . . . Dir. of Pub. Service: The next negotiations. Mr. Bozic: So, has there been a consumer price index increase going into 2025 that we are made aware of yet? Dir. of Pub. Service: Not that we are made aware of but there is. Mr. Bozic: OK. Thank you. Mrs. Epstein: Is there anything further? Hearing none, I close committee. i. Additional Items: None. 11. Reports of Special Committees: a. Council Operations Committee Mr. Bollas: Thank you. Just a quick update that the microphones that are being upgraded are on backorder and those should be here in June and everything else looks really amazing. I am really happy with the new equipment. Thank you. i. Additional Items: Mr. Bozic: I know a month or two ago we got some viewership numbers for our YouTube channel, and I know it’s getting good numbers. I know earlier because I had it pulled up here on my screen and we were up to 15 or 16 people viewing live and so I know that that is a very . . . it sounds like a small number, but I think they have almost turned it into viewing parties now. I know that we are experiencing growth in that area so continue to promote it if you have your social media page. I think it is a great extension and outreach to our community members to be as open and transparent with them as possible. Mr. Bollas: I agree. I was just going to add that I will have viewership numbers for you by tomorrow. i. Announcements: None. 13. Adjournment: Mr. Pavlik moved to adjourn. Seconded Mr. Bollas. Roll Call: Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Epstein, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino – unanimous. The Council meeting of 4-11-24 adjourned at 8:03 p.m. sb Adopted: ___________________ ___________________________________ ______________________________________ Susan E. Burton, Clerk of Council Adam M. Bozic – President of Council 13