City Council Regular Meeting

COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 1. Call to Order: Pres. of Council: Today is May 9, 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, Mrs. Gutman, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino – present. 4. Correcting and Adopting the 4-25-24 Council Minutes. Mr. Pavlik moved to adopt the 4-25-24 Council meeting minutes. Seconded Mrs. Gutman. Roll Call: Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Epstein, Mrs. Gutman, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas – unanimous. The minutes from the 4-25-24 Council meeting were adopted by a vote of 7-0. 5. Financial Reports: • Fire & EMS Fund Transfer in the amount of $255,000, Street Maintenance & Repair Fund Transfer in the amount of $255,000, Bond Retirement Transfer in the amount of $125,000, and Police Pension Transfer in the amount of $87,500 from the General Fund; Bond Retirement Transfer in the amount of $101,300 from the Safety Services Income Tax Fund; Bond Retirement Transfer in the amount of $11,975 from the Tallmadge Reserve Incentive Dist; and Advance to Tallmadge Reserve Incentive Dist. TIF in the amount of $11,975 from the General Fund to Council on 5-6-24. • Appropriation Report, Fund Report and Revenue Report for the period ending 04-30-24 to Council on 5-6-24. • April Financial Reports to Council on 5-6-24. • Tallmadge Recreation Center Profit and Loss Report for the period ending 04-30-24 to Council on 5-6-24. • Income Tax Comparisons for the period ending 04-30-24 to Council on 5-6-24. • Consolidated Investment Portfolio for the period ending 04-30-24 to Council on 5-6-24. • Income Tax by Source Report for the month of April to Council on 5-6-24. • Revenue Comparisons for Major Funds for the period ending 04-30-24 to Council on 5-6-24. Mr. Pavlik moved to approve the Financial Reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Gilbride. Seconded Mr. Roy. Roll Call: Mrs. Epstein, Mrs. Gutman, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic – unanimous. The Financial Reports submitted were approved by a vote of 7-0. 6. Public Hearings: None. 7. Community Input: Pres. of Council: There is no one in the audience this evening. 8. Agenda Additions: Pres. of Council: I did have one question regarding our Executive Session and that we did not have one on our agenda for this evening. I didn’t know if we needed one to discuss any current issues? Dir. of Law: I sent an e-mail to Council earlier this week and that is all there is to report with regard to that. 9. Reports of Administrative Officers: a. Mayor/Director of Economic Development Mayor Kilway: Thank you. • I was going to introduce our Director of Administration, Joe Ignazzitto today. He was supposed to be here and he texted me late last night and was not able to make it from D.C. so here is just a brief, little bio of him. He was a former Tallmadge Police Sergeant and then a U.S. Army Veteran, he has worked at senior levels with the Army and the Dept. of Defense. He is a recognized expert as a policy advisor and serving as a liaison to other federal departments and agencies. He is going to be a great asset to the whole team here at Tallmadge. 1  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 • Mayor Kilway (Cont’d.) David Kline was recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives, specifically Congresswoman Emilia Sykes, for his years of service as Mayor of Tallmadge and she states, “Mr. Kline’s drive to lead is commendable and I have no doubt that he has bettered countless lives as a result of his steadfast service.” I just thought that was very appropriate for everything that he has done not only as Mayor but as Service Director and Firefighter. I thought that was very nice kudos that he received today from the U.S. House of Representatives. • Stealing a little bit of Megan’s thunder here, Tallmadge did have a Prescription Take- Back Day. There were 149.1 lbs. of prescription drugs that were collected. 65.9 lbs. of empty pill bottles, boxes and waste. As you guys all know, Tallmadge Police Department is a permanent drop-off location for Summit County’s disposal of unused medication properly program, so if anyone in the audience that is listening if they happen to have missed this and they want to get rid of some prescription medication, they could just go to the Tallmadge Police Department and drop it off in the box there. • Tallmadge Little League Parade was great. We had perfect weather. There were over 500 participants in the Little League Program as you guys all know because you have kids involved in it. I just was able to take a quick picture with the State Championship Softball players and so I thought I’d share that with everybody. • I am working with the Tallmadge Historical Society. They are working on plans for 2025. In 2025 it will be the 200th anniversary of the First Congregational Church, the actual building that is on the Circle and then also it is the 200th anniversary of the Tallmadge United Methodist Congregation. So, they are doing a nice celebration. It will be next year. I think they have a couple days in July picked out. We are at the beginning stages of doing some organizing on that. • The electronic recycling is this Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and it is at the Rec Center. • On Economic Development, we did have a couple business retention meetings with the Whole Shop and White Swant Cleaners. As you all know, the owners of White Swan Cleaners own those three plazas right there on West Avenue. They have done a phenomenal job keeping their façade up. They are a very nice asset to West Avenue. Just to try to make the rest of West Avenue look as nice as that we are working on the West Avenue Overlay with the Zoning Department and we have some meetings on that. • inSITE Advisors were at our CIC meeting which was Tuesday, April 30th and there has been a lot of discussion on the direction that the CIC wants to take and so we are going to work on a guideline as to what the actual role they are going to take and use it as a tool for economic development. inSITE is also developing a community and development profile for Tallmadge and they are going to pull together all of the information about our community, any relevant statistics and put it on a nice document with our branding on it so that we have it for potential businesses that want to come into the community or even residential developments or anything like that. • As you know, we have the tour of the Consolidated Dispatch Center, and a couple of you guys . . . Jessica was the one that went today. We do have a couple other dates available, tomorrow I have Don Pavlik, and Ted Roy touring the Consolidated Dispatch Center and then Tuesday it is Nick Rubino, Mary Gutman and Jonathon Bollas. • The Wheelchair Basketball State Champs, we do have a resolution waiting for them. We are just trying to work to secure a date. We were hopeful that we were going to be able to have them here today, but the date just did not work for them. So, we are trying to narrow down a date hopefully in June or July and I know there has been some discussion that there might be a Council meeting in June or July that might be cancelled and so we really need to get that nailed down not only for the Wheelchair Basketball resolution but 2  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 • Mayor Kilway (Cont’d.) also, we have things going through Planning & Zoning that could potentially come to Council and we need to let them know when you guys are going to have meetings. So, if we could get your summer schedule it would be great. • We have been working on the next issue of the Tallmadge Newsletter. The next issue will come out in July. • Again, a reminder about the Memorial Day Parade on May 27th at 10:00 a.m. is the step- off time. Council, a reminder it is customary to walk with the Administration. • Working again with the Circle Fest and Light Parade on August 10th. • National Police Week is next week, May 12th through the 18th. It pays special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty and for the safety and protection of others. May 15th which happens to be in the middle of National Police Week is the National Peace Officer’s Memorial Day and so the officers will wear their traditional mourning badges over their badges and this is a way that they honor the memory of men and women who sacrifice all that they had to serve others and next week we will also honor them with the thin blue line flags that will be on the poles on the Circle. That’s all that I have. Any questions? b. Director of Administration/Director of Safety c. Director of Public Service: Good evening. I would like to request that Ord. 2024-40 be passed at 1st Reading this evening and I would like to request consideration of Ord. 2024-41 be passed at 1st Reading. • Memorial Day, as the Mayor brought up, the parade and service is May 27th at 10:00 a.m. off the Circle. Don’t forget the pancake breakfast as well put on by the Chamber. • For the past month, the Zoning Department had 89 total permits and 47 were street openings and 32 were zoning certificates. Code violations were at 52. Open violations are 14 which are property disrepair and 12 were junk, trash and high grass. So, at the end of the day with the size of the City we are in, that is not too bad. • Cemetery: we had 4 full burials; 3 were full and one was cremains. You can see the grave spaces and columbarium niches that are still available. • Moving on to the parks. The membership there at the Rec Center was 8,012. That is a 10% increase from last year. The visits to the Rec were 20,235 and that is a 20% increase from last year. Unique visits were 2,654 and keep in mind that is actually members that use their memberships. That is what that number indicates. • Music on the Circle starts with the New Wave Nation on June 6th. That is an 80’s music classics band. • Touch a Truck, which is always fun for the kids, is Saturday, June 8th. • The shelter at Lions Park is complete except for the grass as well as the paved walkway, but it is turning out to be a great-looking shelter. • Howe Road Park renovations are still ongoing, and it is still on slate to be finished by May 31st however that doesn’t mean that we open up the total park because the dog park needs grass and if the grass isn’t growing, we are not going to open up the dog park. So, maybe 50% of it gets opened up. • Maca Pool memberships are sold out. We sold 2,257. The slides have been recoated and the pool is being repainted. Terrible weather to be doing two things; painting and mowing. They are not going all that great. We will see if we get 2 coats down on the pool. Right now, we have 1 coat down and we are looking for lifeguards. We have 30 hired. The ones that we are looking for now are extras just in case somebody calls off of if there are vacations or something like that. That way we can keep everything covered. • Summer Pavement Program – The concrete repair which is being done by Don Wartko started this week and everything is going pretty well. 3  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 • Pavement marking starts Sunday. This work starts at 7:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. It is weather dependent. It depends on the temperature, and it also depends on the dew as well as the rain. Keep in mind, do not drive through the paint. It is against the Ohio Revised Code to drive through the paint. There is nobody signaling that crew to drive through the paint because it is in their best interest not to do that because they have the Ohio Revised Code on their side. • Asphalt Paving Program – We finally have a date to get that started and that is July 8 th and that is being done by Cardinal Asphalt Company. • The hydrant flushing is still ongoing. We are about 80% complete. There are probably about 1,290 hydrants that are out there. So far, only 3 that we found that weren’t working. We got 2 of them back up and running. That is one of the reasons why we do the hydrant flushing to make sure the hydrants are operating. We would like to thank the Fire Department. They actually gave us an employee to go along with us and do the I-pad work while the utility department was doing the flushing. That helped us out because that is a GPS program and it updates all of the data and it was great having them help us out this year, so thanks to the Fire Department. • Something else we talked about is the lead and copper rule revision, it is being mandated by the EPA. We have to identify all of our lead lines in the City. The nice thing for this City, believe it or not, we don’t have a lead line that is a main. So, the City’s lines are not lead which is fantastic. Now we have to go around and check everybody’s service lines that go to their house. So, this is quite an undertaking. We have to have a report in by this October to the EPA and you can see the numbers there. So, the house lines; there are 6,409 and we can say for sure that there are 1,441 that are not lead and that is based on the fact that in 1988 they quit using lead lines period for water. So, we have a total of 4,968 that we don’t know about, so we have to check it and so that is the map we are working on. It is the I-pad thing. The green dots are the ones we have verified that are not lead going to the houses. We still have quite a few to go as you can see. The weird thing is that there is a formula that we only have to check 354. The EPA came up with this when you have a number you can come up and if you check 354 off of this formula, you don’t have to check any more. So, keep your fingers crossed that we don’t have any lead lines. What that is is so there is an illustration. To the left is our main like I said, we don’t have a lead line in the City that we own. The unknown service is coming off of that. We feel pretty confident since we didn’t put in any lead lines that were mains we probably didn’t put service lines going to the meter that would be lead, but you never know; right? The real unknown is what the homeowner hired a plumber to put in and that is what we are checking. There is a test you have to do to each line to figure this out. Mr. Pavlik: If we find that line, what do we do? Dir. of Pub. Service: Now we have to document it and I have to go check all 4,900. So, we are just checking 354 and one out of that 354 has it, then you have to go check the 4,000. Mr. Pavlik: Then they will be replaced at some point? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes, and that is the piece that we have to all come together and figure something out. We are not quite there yet. We don’t know what to do. Like I said, the blessing is the forefathers that put in the water service that they didn’t use any lead on our side. Mr. Pavlik: How far do we replace it; up to the house if we find the line? Dir. of Pub. Service: We don’t. That falls back on the property owner, but you can imagine that history that is going to arise. Just so everybody understands, this is something where; can we hire 2 more people? I’m joking, but I am being serious. That is really what I need. We looked at getting interns in here to help us but that was a little bit astronomical. They want a lot of money to check 4,000 lines as you can imagine and that is what they have to 4  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 Dir. of Pub. Service (Cont’d.) base it off of because they are anticipating that there has to be a lead line in the system. So, that is the end of my report unless there are any questions. Mrs. Gutman: So, I guess when you say, astronomical for interns to do it, how is it cheaper for our employees to do it though? Dir. of Pub. Service: Simply because they know what they are doing. They are the Water Department employees that do it and so they are faster at it. So, as we are opening up meter pits to do a meter read, we are also seeing if that house number falls in that 354 so they are checking it right there. A couple days a week we send them out just to do that. Mrs. Gutman: It is still the most cost-effective thing for our people to do it? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes. Mr. Pavlik: When you were saying interns; Akron, Kent, wherever? Dir. of Pub. Service: We went to the engineering firms and asked them to give us 3 quotes to send us. Mr. Pavlik: Got it. Pres. of Council: Mr. Rorar, I have a few questions for you. So, it sounds like it is a very technical thing that needs to be done and the homeowners are in no shape or form to actually assist us in providing a sample; correct? Dir. of Pub. Service: We have to send out notices in September or November. I can’t remember which month, to the 4,000 people that could have a lead line if we hit one out of those 354. At that point, they can assist us by checking what is coming into their house. But that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a pigtail done off of the meter and then . . . so there becomes the complication to it. So, off the meter, there could have been a pigtail lead and then off of that they ran copper the rest of the way. So, it becomes problematic because you have to check from that meter pit constantly. Pres. of Council: My other question is that as you were showing the map, it sparked my memory about last year when we were in discussion about software that the Street Department was going to be utilizing and updating it. Do you have any updates for us? Dir. of Pub. Service: You will love it. It is a very dangerous system. You will be shocked at what we are doing with it. We will give you an update. We just started using it about 45 days ago, but it is pretty direct. I mean if you want to know how many dead skunks we pick up; it tells you now. Do you want to know how many miles of ditching we do; it tells you now. Do you want to know how much money we spent on the Little League Parade; it tells you now. It is pretty impressive. I will give a presentation but let us get a couple more months in to make sure we get all of the kinks out of it. Pres. of Council: Great. And then my last question is that I know we finished the pavilion at Lions Park and is the one at Howe Road complete? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes Pres. of Council: Do we have any indication, or I guess the better question would be who decides if we want to put like a name on the pavilion? Dir. of Pub. Service: We thought about that. Right now, the ones that do have names on them are at Lions but we also thought it would probably be better to use more generic park- like names like Oak Tree Shelter, Pine Tree Shelter. That way it is not named after somebody. You know, why did that shelter get named after somebody? So, you could either use numbers 1, 2, 3 or you get clever and have Hemlock Shelter. You could use more nature-like, more park-like names to name the shelters. I think we are going to go that route then no one gets offended. Mrs. Epstein: I have a question about you had mentioned that there were a couple of tickets issued with grass being too long. I have a couple of constituents that are participating in No Mow May, so would they be at risk of getting ticketed if they are participating in No Mow May? 5  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes. Once that grass gets over 8” we have got to come out and mow it. We ask them to mow it and then they have 10 days to mow it and if it is not, we will mow it. Mrs. Epstein: What is the specific fine for that? Dir. of Pub. Service: They just get assessed the charge that we had to have our contractor mow it. Mrs. Epstein: Is that complaint driven? Dir. of Pub. Service: For the most part. Most of the stuff is complaint driven. Pres. of Council: Any further questions for the Service Director? d. Director of Finance: Good evening. We finished the month of April, and everybody should have received the reports. We had a really strong month income tax-wise we had some great rebound in our net profit returns and also our withholding is really strong right now. I do have a feeling seeing that our individual taxes are down right now it may be a little bit of the fact that maybe some employers are finally getting to the point where they are withholding for some of the work at home that may have been having to pay by themselves the last few years, but overall everything is running well financially within the budget and coming in as expected and I would be glad to answer any questions if anybody has anything specific on the reports that I provided. Pres. of Council: I have a question for you related to the collections that come from the JEDD. Is that seemingly increasing basically on a . . . do you see it on a month-to-month basis; do you see those numbers increase or is it like a quarterly . . . Dir. of Finance: So, we get distributions monthly so it just depends . . . the JEDD because it is mainly withholding you don’t get the ups and downs like you do with the individual taxes and sometimes . . . I mean they do have net profit out there but that is not as much as a driver as the withholding but because it is based on wages and withholding as their primary source of revenue, we don’t see as much fluctuation in that. We are seeing growth there obviously we have had Hamrick Truck in out there and so that has been a big push. In my report you will see we are . . . withholding does look down there, but we did have a large employer out there the last few years that gave some pretty hefty bonuses that were not given this year so you kind of see that backtrack but overall, the businesses and the normal withholding are staying strong. In 2025 we will have another rate increase so in 2025 the JEDD rate will go to 2% and so next year we will also see some increase from the JEDD in addition to job growth we will just see because of the rate increase and then in 2028 the JEDD will go to our current 2-¼%. Pres. of Council: As I am sitting here earlier before we started the meeting, I had had a question for you about the debt payment on the Rec Center. So, for the members of Council that didn’t overhear that question, one of those debt payments is up in 2030 and the other one in 2031. Dir. of Finance: Correct. Pres. of Council: So, then knowing that the JEDD will increase in 2028 and 2025 do we anticipate I guess . . . those are all increases and those are great for the City and great for our revenue sources, our streams, they are all going to increase. We won’t have the debt payment any longer, so I guess kind of thinking about that, and this is a bigger picture than probably in your category, but did we anticipate factoring that into kind of our long- term planning? Dir. of Finance: I think you definitely factor that in. I think we have to take a look at 5 years from now. I know Mayor Kilway has started the discussion about creating a 5 or 10- year plan and there are I believe knowing that the Rec Center debt payments are going off, if we do have a big capital project that needs to occur to start the planning now to know that we do have that revenue source that we may be able to lose the debt payment and we know we have that money to repurpose for a potential other capital issue. You know, we 6  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 Dir. of Finance (Cont’d.) have a Police Department; what is the Police Department building like? We still have issues with the aging Fire Station 1. So, having conversations about 5 years from now, what does that look like and that extra debt capacity and that payment what is that available to do 5 years from now. Absolutely that is going to be part of that conversation. Pres. of Council: That is great to hear. I know just in the back of our minds let’s just keep in mind our Parks Master Plan and obviously Howe Road it was great work on our first phase of I think 3 phases or maybe 4 phases out there so along with some of our other parks and it is always a good point to consider spending on this. Thank you. e. Director of Law: Mayor Kilway has already touched on the Drug Take Back that we had which was very successful and I wanted to just remind Council if they have not looked at their e-mails to do that. If you have any individual questions, feel free to ask, but to also look at that webinar and participating in that either on your own time or collectively as I have shared with you. Thank you. Pres. of Council: Will that webinar be available like after the event? Dir. of Law: I’m not sure what they plan to do. Oftentimes they are, but I don’t know. I would also echo Mayor Kilway’s request that if you are going to cancel any meetings this summer, if you could make that determination tonight that would be very helpful because we do have timing issues with things that need 3rd readings that I need to know so that I can plan accordingly for that. Pres. of Council: Understood. We will . . . I think there are a few of us that have some planned vacations and we just haven’t had time to really sit down and iron those out, so we will do that this evening before we leave. 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. Gutman: I call the Planning & Zoning Committee to order. We have no legislation before us this evening. I would like to thank Mrs. Hussing for the Staff Report for the project at Franklin Road. It is quite thorough and beyond that, does anyone have anything for 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. Second Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions. A. Ord. 2024-36 – Exhibit A – Exhibit A Tracked – Amending Ord. 109- 2021 rates, charges, and fees for the Zoning Department and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar. Mr. Pavlik: I call the Finance Committee to order. We have Ord. 2024-36. The ordinance was read into the record. Mr. Rorar, do you have anything on this? Dir. of Pub. Service: No, just like last time. We did away with the limit signs and the temporary signs; I think we did that a couple meetings back, maybe even last year. We 7  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 Dir. of Pub. Service (Cont’d.) just haven’t updated the cost sheet. Then a natural landscape permit, that is for those folks that wanted to do landscaping and we didn’t have a fee for that and so that is what that $30 is and that way we can take a look at the plans and then on the second page, that Certificate of Design Compliance; we don’t have that. It doesn’t exist. It was just something that got added in there and it is actually above the Certificate of Appropriateness. That is what we use. Mr. Pavlik: Council, are there any questions? Pres. of Council: What is the permit for the landscaping . . . so somebody justified I guess ... Dir. of Pub. Service: In the Code it tells you no native plants 3’ tall or any buffers around it. It is just not going to be unkept up to your neighbor’s. There has to be a 20’ buffer or 10’ . . . I can’t remember what the size is, but it is for us to review and then that is the permit that they have to get. Pres. of Council: How did the fees compare to other cities? Dir. of Pub. Service: Pretty much right in line. Mr. Pavlik: Any additional comments or questions? If not, Mr. Rorar, do you want this approved tonight or go to 3rd Reading? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yeah, it can go 3 readings. Mr. Pavlik: OK, we will save it. B. Ord. 2024-37 – Authorizing the Director of Public Service to advertise for bids and the Mayor to enter into contract for miscellaneous repairs and Remodeling of Fire Station 1 at 85 W. Overdale Drive and providing for Immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar Mr. Pavlik: Next is a 2nd Reading for Ord. 2024-37. The ordinance was read into the record. Do you have any additional comments that you want to add on this one? Dir. of Pub. Service: No, we are still working on the specs. Should have it done hopefully before the next meeting and if not, I will get a copy. I know you requested a copy of the specs before we go out to bid, I will definitely get them. It is repaint and replace. I mean there is nothing fancy going on in that one. Mr. Pavlik: Thank you. Any additional comments or questions? Hearing none, we will move that to 3rd Reading at the next meeting. ii. First Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions. A. Ord. 2024-38 – Authorizing the Director of Public Service to advertise for Bids and bids and the Mayor to enter into a contract for snow removal and salting services for certain City properties. Sponsor: Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar Mr. Pavlik: The first of the 1st Readings is Ord. 2024-38. The ordinance was read into the record. Mr. Rorar, do you have anything to add? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes, so this is pretty normal. We use that contractor to handle parking lots after hours so starting about midnight. We have a second shift during the winter months but if it is snowing, I don’t want to pull guys off to do parking lots. I would rather keep them on the roads. The roads are the priority, so the contractor helps us with the parking lots. So, we based it on 25 snow or ice events and last time it was $55,000 for the snow. Mr. Pavlik: So, we do the snow and salting now; correct? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes. Dir. of Law: If I could further clarify, they are kind of like housekeeping, but the contracts are 3-year contracts so they . . . they are usually a contract with renewal options, so you don’t have them every year in January. These are kind of as they hit. 8  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 Mr. Pavlik: Are there any comments from Council? With that, since this is kind of housekeeping is there a motion on the floor? Mr. Rubino: I will make a motion to adopt. Seconded Mr. Roy. Roll Call: Mrs. Gutman, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Pres. of Council, Mrs. Epstein – unanimous. Ord. 2024-38 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. B. Ord. 2024-39 – Authorizing the Director of Public Service to advertise for bids. and the Mayor to enter into a contract for the mowing and care of public land and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar Mr. Pavlik: Next we have Ord. 2024-39. The ordinance was read into the record. Mr. Rorar, do you have anything? Dir. of Pub. Service: So, this, as the Law Director pointed out, this is a 3-year contract with 2-year renewals on it, so it is a 5-year contract technically. Last time we went out to bid we based it on 30 weeks of mowing and so that was $135,000 for the year. There again it is well worth doing this. Mr. Bollas: In terms of the locations that are being serviced; does that fluctuate at all either throughout the year or year after year within the contract or is it all . . . Dir. of Pub. Service: Pretty steady. Mr. Bollas: OK. Lately, and this may go to our earlier question, I have been seeing a lot of activity along the roads as well that maybe I would consider private property but there is like a tractor going up and down on Northeast Avenue. Dir. of Pub. Service: That would be us mowing side berms. That is not this. That is in- house. We do roadside berming a couple times a season so that is our City tractor. Mr. Bollas: What else do we do in-house that would be excluded from this? Dir. of Pub. Service: That is about the extent of it. Mr. Bollas: OK, so it would be like Parks and Rec, Cemetery . . . Dir. of Pub. Service: The building here, the Police Department, Fire Departments and . . Mr. Bollas: And you estimate out the number of times or visits, obviously you don’t have a crystal ball for the weather and things like that so . . . Dir. of Pub. Service: We estimate once a week and then the ball fields get mowed twice a week for certain weeks in the spring and then certain weeks in the fall because that stuff is fertilized and if you are not mowing it twice a week, you will never stay on top of it. Mr. Bollas: What about the cemetery? Dir. of Pub. Service: It gets mowed once a week. They are out there this evening mowing in the rain. Mother’s Day is Sunday and I have no choice but to mow it. There again, I don’t want it high, I would rather have it clumpy and mowed for Mother’s Day than high. Mr. Bollas: When does in terms of the bid, what is the start of the season and end of the season? Dir. of Pub. Service: April through November. So, the 1st day of April and last day of November. Mr. Pavlik: Out of curiosity how many bids do you get when you advertise? Dir. of Pub. Service: If we have 3 it is impressive. Mr. Pavlik: Any other questions or comments? Mr. Bollas: Do you ever split up the bids like if you had a company that just bid the cemetery versus just bidding certain areas like would you ever have multiple suppliers or vendors, or would it all be exclusively on one? Dir. of Pub. Service: It is all exclusively on one. That cemetery: I don’t know if anybody would touch it with a ten-foot pole once they got the rest of the contract. Pres. of Council: I have one last question. Have we ever looked at doing our mowing services in-house and what that would end up costing us? 9  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 Dir. of Pub. Service: Not for $135,000. That is an employee and a half so that is not even the equipment. Mr. Pavlik: With that, is there a motion? Mr. Bollas: I would make a motion to adopt. Seconded Mrs. Epstein. Roll Call: Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Pres. of Council, Mrs. Epstein, Mrs. Gutman – unanimous. Ord. 2024-39 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. C. Ord. 2024-40 – Authorizing the Mayor to exceed a contract with TK Excavating & Grading in excess of ten percent (10%) for the Elton Drive Storm Sewer Replacement and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar Mr. Pavlik: Next we have Ord. 2024-40. The ordinance was read into the record. Mr. Rorar, do you have anything? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes, so we had two change orders as you know, I have to come back to Council and say that I surpassed the 10% and the total for the project was $47,277 and one change order was $4,298 and that was for changing the size of the opening on a catch basin. We needed a 60 instead of 44 and the contractor had to do that. The second change order was for additional work that the contractor had to do to the grade change in the gas line that was on Thomas Road. We knew the gas line was there, but it dove. It was running along perfectly and then it dove pretty quick down and that was not what was anticipated and wasn’t part of the plan. So, we had to get that gas line moved and then this additional work was based on the contractor. It was supposed to be a one-week job and it turned into a two-week job. That was a $13,122 change order. Of that $13,122, $2,500 was additional plates that had to stay out there an extra week and road signage that directed you around the detour which had to stay open an additional week. Mr. Pavlik: Are there any questions or comments from Council? Pres. of Council: I am looking at a map and it is going to be hard to explain this because I am looking at it and you can’t see it, but the location of where we were doing the work; was it located directly at Elton Avenue and Thomas? Dir. of Pub. Service: So, it crossed Thomas perpendicular, and it is just south of Elton Drive to the east. Pres. of Council: So, it is like that little gravel driveway that wraps around into the back of . . . Dir. of Pub. Service: Yup. Pres. of Council: I guess you can walk us back through the initial plan to do the work in that area. What brought that up? Dir. of Pub. Service: A failing pipe. It was collapsing. This is year 3 of that project. Pres. of Council: Is that pipe on private property or is it in the public right-of-way? Dir. of Pub. Service: It is in the right-of-way. Mr. Pavlik: Any other additional comments or questions? I know you had said during your comments that you would like to have this adopted at 1 st Reading and so is there a motion? Mr. Roy: I will make the motion to adopt. Seconded Mr. Rubino. Roll Call: Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Epstein, Mrs. Gutman, Mr. Pavlik – unanimous. Ord. 2024-40 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. D. Ord. 2024-41 – Authorizing the Mayor to contract with AECOM for engineering services for Northeast Avenue (SR 261) and Middlebury Road Roundabout and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar Mr. Pavlik: Next is Ord. 2024-41. The ordinance was read into the record. Mr. Rorar, do you have any comments? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes, so at the intersection of Middlebury and Northeast Avenue, the neighbors have been complaining about how dangerous that intersection is. We did a 10  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 Dir. of Pub. Service (Cont’d.) traffic study last year and was shocked to find out that over a 4-year span there were 26 accidents and thankfully none of them were fatal but there were still accidents there. So, that warranted either a traffic signal or a roundabout to go in there. Last year we approached about the traffic signal and the problem with the traffic signal was that you still get accidents with them and you actually get worse accidents than the stop sign there because people have a tendency to run the red light. So, the decision was made to engineer for a roundabout and we budgeted $200,000 last year for this. It will be a 3-phase engineering for the roundabout. We were hoping that once the engineering has done that, we score well to get ODOT funding and AMATS funding. So, to get that you have to follow ODOT’s guidelines for hiring an engineer. So, to do that we had to do a consultant selection committee and myself and Ms. Epstein and the Mayor were on that committee. It helped out having those two on the committee because they are not familiar with the engineers, and I am the only one that was familiar with the groups we were doing so we solicited RFQ’s, and they submitted their qualifications, and we went through them and we chose 2 to interview. One being GPD and the other one being AECOM and at the end of the day, the 3 of us were unanimous that AECOM was the better one and this is refreshing because at the end of the day, I think Councilman Bozic asked in the housekeeping in January; do we ever use outside firms other than these for housekeeping; GPD, etc., and the answer is yes, this is one of those occasions that we do do it. AECOM ironically is the same engineering firm who did the roundabout out on Munroe and Howe Road. They also did the expansion of North Avenue from the Circle north. So, we have used AECOM, but it has been seven years since we used them. What this engineering will do is it will be Phase 1 and you get existing records, research review, preliminary utility coordination, field survey and base mapping, traffic analysis, which is design traffic volumes, capacity analysis, preliminary design, which is highway clearance analysis, pavement design, drainage and BMP’s, design criteria, and the big one, preliminary geometrics. So that will tell you the size of that roundabout. That is the one that we really got to get to finish up to move on. That is a key piece. Also with this you get maintenance traffic design, traffic control design, lighting design, and you also get preliminary engineering miscellaneous, which is plans submitted to the City, ODOT utility stakeholders, cost estimates, checking quantities, progress meetings, coordination with ODOT which is key and then the big one here is coordination with AMATS and that is where the funding comes from. So, we budgeted $200,000 and they came in at $197,000. That is why I asked for consideration to be passed at 1st Reading. I would love to get this rolling so when we get it in the budget, we know what Phase 2 is going to cost us. Mr. Pavlik: All that stuff, like you said, is important to determine the actual price of it right; the size of the roundabout, etc. Are there any comments or questions from Council? Mr. Bollas: Does the City of Kent participate in any activities we have just discussed or in looking at the phases and the planning and engineering and the funding of this like does Kent have any participation in this process? Dir. of Pub. Service: They will as a stakeholder because they butt into it, but the roundabout will be exclusively in Tallmadge. It will not cross the border. It will not go into their territory at all. Mr. Pavlik: Question. When you are heading west on 261, the speed limit in Kent I believe is 55 and drops down to 35 so . . . Dir. of Pub. Service: That is part of the problem. Mr. Pavlik: Yeah, 100%. Cars just continue that speed down 261 and I have constituents that complain about the speed obviously on 261. 11  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 Dir. of Pub. Service: So, that being a state route, there is a real good chance that those speed limits coming out of Kent could change. Mr. Pavlik: I believe that is zoned Industrial right there; correct? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes, I believe you are right. Mr. Pavlik: Because it is zoned Industrial and it is a 2-lane, well it dips to 1 before you get to Tallmadge I believe, is there any effect on reducing that speed when they are coming to a roundabout? Dir. of Pub. Service: All of that would be taken into consideration for this engineering and we would have to get Kent involved but they have no skin in the game other than agreeing to it or disagreeing to it. Mr. Pavlik: I would believe the parks would have some sort of . . . the Metro Parks with that trail being right there. Dir. of Pub. Service: That would be a partnership too and at the end of the day we have to stay out of their parking lot. They built a new parking lot but the old parking lot is ADA accessible so they will not give that up. It would be ideal if they could give us that, but they are not going to. Mr. Bollas: In terms of the engineering services, like when you mentioned the phases and the ODOT guidelines; is there a restriction around like a timetable or a schedule that you have to abide by with the engineering services that once you begin versus . . . OK, so there is like no set target like it has to take you “x” amount of months? Dir. of Pub. Service: No, let’s use East Avenue for example. So, we started trying to get soliciting funds through ODOT in 2017 and we started engineering in 2018. The engineering is not even done yet. That project is going to start in 2027. So, that is the problem with some of these projects. I mean the engineering goes forever and for good reason. They are testing everything. They have to do historical; they have to do all sorts of stuff out there. Mr. Bollas: And then just for my re-education for Section 4 of the ordinance where it goes into an affirmative vote of ¾ of the members of Council for enacting immediately so if you didn’t receive 5 votes that would just mean that would go into effect in how many days? Dir. of Law: 30. Dir. of Pub. Service: It would be great if you guys passed this at 1st Reading and if not, I am good with it too. I mean, just knowing that we are being crunched into July, I would love to get some numbers going on this thing so I know what Phase 2 is going to run. Pres. of Council: What rights or jurisdictions does the City have to add a road, change its course or close a road, work on a road and those sorts of things, so I am not suggesting this but if Tallmadge didn’t have Middlebury Road off of 261 what would happen? If that road were to end in Kent and not cross into Tallmadge . . . Dir. of Pub. Service: We wouldn’t have this problem. Mayor: Pres. of Council, just to let you know also that this intersection has been like a problem for so long that when I was saying something to my father who was born and raised in Kent, about we were looking into putting a roundabout there, he is like well, that’s about good time. You know your grandfather got into an accident there way before you were even born, and it was a pretty bad one. Middlebury road is such a direct connector into the back parts of Kent that there would be no possibility of us ever closing that road off. Mr. Pavlik: It is a major cut-through to Stow. Dir. of Pub. Service: If it didn’t touch, we wouldn’t have this problem. Pres. of Council: So, I guess that is my point is to suggest that I think a partnership with Kent could be a little closer due to the fact of it being such a connector into our City and their City that there should be some cost-sharing involved with the project. Essentially what you just said was we could put up a Road Closed sign on our side of Middlebury. 12  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 Dir. of Pub. Service: No, what I said is that if it didn’t exist, it wouldn’t be a problem. So, if there was no Middlebury this wouldn’t be an issue. But there is Middlebury, and it is completely in Tallmadge. It’s close to Kent but it is not Kent’s problem. Mr. Pavlik: Are there any additions or comments? Mrs. Gutman: I have a point of clarification. This is budgeted money, and we are just authorizing a contract; right? We are not . . . Dir. of Pub. Service: Right. AECOM is our engineer that we typically go through and that is why I am here tonight asking that we . . . Mrs. Gutman: So, we have authorized this money in the budget, and we are just voting on the contract? Dir. of Pub. Service: To hire AECOM. Mr. Pavlik: Any additional questions or comments from Council? Mrs. Epstein: I am going to add a comment as I had probably the most background information and thank you for allowing me to participate on that committee. I learned a lot about roads and how this process works, and I also really appreciate your excitement about this very riveting topic of roads. One of the things that I liked about this particular contractor is their creativity during their presentation. It was extremely thorough, and they also had a strong willingness to coordinate with and solicit feedback and work directly with constituents so that was particularly appealing to me. Mr. Bollas: I would move to adopt. Seconded Mr. Rubino. Pres. of Council: I have one final question for Mr. Rorar. When they decided to open up the parking lot, the new parking lot for the park, did they undergo any kind of traffic study, or any kind of engineering related to that corner? Dir. of Pub. Service: I would have to go back and look. That I don’t know. That was 4 years ago, and I can’t recall. Pres. of Council: When they built that new section, which is on the Kent side; correct? Dir. of Pub. Service: That is on the Stow side, I think. Pres. of Council: I am just sitting here thinking if they have already conducted an engineering study for that or understood that it was going to be an issue, Tallmadge is left footing the bill for something for something that we had no say in whether or not they put in additional parking and increase the traffic and those sorts of things. Granted, it is not that we don’t want the trail. We love the trail there. I am just simply saying that the City of Tallmadge had no involvement in whether or not they had a parking lot added to increase traffic that was already clearly an issue for many, many years. If that is possible that that has already been handled, whether it is outdated or not, is that part of the contract with AECOM to analyze studies that have already been conducted? Dir. of Pub. Service: They probably would look at it but at the end of the day, which is a study for parking lot and not for a roundabout. So, what is the impact? Pres. of Council: I’m saying when they built that, they didn’t have to look at the traffic at all. Dir. of Pub. Service: For the parking lot or the roundabout? Pres. of Council: When they built the parking lot, were they required to do any kind of a traffic study? Dir. of Pub. Service: There again, I don’t know. Pres. of Council: But if the work has already been done, we shouldn’t duplicate it. That’s all I am saying. Dir. of Pub. Service: They are two different studies so there again; I don’t know if the one was done. I will have to find out. The traffic study we will be doing now is for a roundabout. Roll Call: Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Epstein, Mrs. Gutman, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy – unanimous. Ord. 2024-41 is adopted by a vote of 7-0. iii. Additional Items: None. 13  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 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 this evening. Does anyone have anything for Personnel? Pres. of Council: Have we started our union contract negotiations? Mayor: Our Director of Administration starts on Monday and that is one of the first things that he will be digging into. Mr. Bollas: Any other questions or topics for Personnel? Hearing none, I will close committee. i. Additional Items: None. d. SAFETY Nicholas Rubino, Chair Ted Roy, Vice Chair 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 this evening. Is there anything for the Safety Committee? Mrs. Epstein: Yes, I just wanted to add one thing. There was an accusation at the last Council meeting that Firefighter Sandy wasn’t going into the schools. I did see on social media a nice post that she visited Tallmadge High School last week. So, I just wanted to ask if you could pass along a thank you for visiting the school. Mr. Rubino: Thank you. Are there any others? Hearing none, I will close committee. Pres. of Council: Moving on, for further comment, accusation and question are two totally separate things. So, thank you for not clarifying that correctly. i. Additional Items: None. 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 Community Issues to order. We have no legislation before us this evening. Are there any comments or questions for the Community Issues Committee? Hearing none, I will close committee. 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. Are there any additional comments? 14  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 Mrs. Gutman: Yes, I have a comment, and this is, and I apologize I didn’t mention this earlier when we were talking about the lead pipe testing. It took me a little bit to do some googling and I just wanted to mention the health effects of lead exposure as we were talking about the cost and the time that it takes to look for these pipes, I thought it was worthwhile just to bring up why we do it and I am sure that most of us probably know that there is no safe blood level of lead in children. Lead damages their brain and nervous system and it slows their growth and development, causes learning and behavior problems and hearing and speech problems, lower IQ’s, decreases their ability to pay attention in school and the damage can be permanent and so obviously that is quantifying that in any way with dollars seems kind of cold but the cost to our society is tremendous and so whatever expense we spend now to make our community safer for our babies and our kids in the long run is so valuable. So, if we take all the time in the world and the money to find these pipes and replace them, I think it is just a huge service to the community and so I am glad we are doing it. Thank you. Dir. of Pub. Service: If I could just say that this stems back to Flint, Michigan from like a decade ago when they failed to maintain their lead lines, and this is why the EPA is having us go through and do all of this. Mr. Bollas: I have one additional question. I believe in your presentation or maybe one of your comments you mentioned there was a year threshold like 1988 or 87 and so if a development went in just say in the mid 90’s or something like that and you find something like how is that on an individual property owner versus like if somebody went in and built 200 homes and didn’t follow the proper guidelines. Dir. of Pub. Service: By 1990 there would be no lead lines left to sell. They are gone. Mr. Bollas: Right, so in looking at the map like can you exclude certain areas just based on the time . . . Dir. of Pub. Service: Yup. Anything developed after 1989 . . . Mr. Bollas: So, everything that you showed there was within that range? Dir. of Pub. Service: Yes, so like Baker’s Acres; we know we don’t have to look at that. Mr. Rubino: Would it go by houses built after 1989 or would it have to be the full development? Dir. of Pub. Service: No, houses too, so by 1990 all the lead was . . . you couldn’t even buy it anywhere. So, if you built a house individually and it was built after 1990 it doesn’t have lead lines. Mrs. Epstein: Is there anything else? Hearing none, I close committee. i. Additional Items: None. 11. Reports of Special Committees: a. Council Operations Committee i. Additional Items: 12. Announcements: Dir. of Law: Are you going to discuss your calendar? Pres. of Council: Yes, we will. Moving to discussion about our calendar. Mr. Pavlik: So, the last time we talked about the calendar; I think it was the 27 th of June or something like that and I said that I was not going to be here. I will be here. So, I think that was the date and Ms. Epstein you had said that I think you might be out of town that day as well potentially or that week. Mrs. Epstein: In June I think I will be OK. I’m just confirming the date in July because I think there was one in July too. Mr. Bollas: I can confirm that I will be out of town the week of the 10th of June. 15  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. May 9, 2024 Pres. of Council: That week should be fine. I will be here for sure that week. I am out on June 27th, and I am also out on July 18th through the 25th. So, I believe, and I don’t have the dates right in front of me, but . . . Mr. Pavlik: July is the 11th and 25th. The 11th is suspect for me, but I can be here if need be. Mrs. Epstein: Actually, we will be back so I will be fine in July as well. Mr. Rubino: I don’t think I will have any conflicts. Pres. of Council: Alright, so I think with Don (Jonathon) as our Vice President of Council will be present when I’m not and . . . Mr. Bollas: July should be fine. Pres. of Council: Alright. No conflicts. Mr. Pavlik: I think that June 27th was the date that we were looking at. 13. Adjournment: Mr. Pavlik moved to adjourn. Seconded Mr. Bollas. Roll Call: Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Epstein, Mrs. Gutman, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino – unanimous. The Council meeting of 5-9-24 adjourned at 8:11 p.m. sb Adopted: ___________________ ___________________________________ ______________________________________ Susan E. Burton, Clerk of Council Jonathon Bollas, Vice President of Council 16