City Council Regular Meeting

COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 8, 2024 1. Call to Order: Pres. of Council: It is Thursday, August 8, 2024, and this is our regularly scheduled 7:00 p.m. Council meeting. 2. Opening Prayer: Rev. Zach Reeves, Tallmadge Alliance Church. 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 Previous Meeting Minutes: 7-25-24 Council Meeting Minutes Mr. Pavlik moved to adopt the 7-25-24 Council meeting minutes. Seconded Mr. Bollas. Roll Call: Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Epstein, Mrs. Gutman, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas – unanimous. The 7-25-24 Council meeting minutes 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 and Police Pension in the amount of $87,500 to Council on 7-30-24. • Appropriation Report, Fund Report and Revenue Report for the period ending 7-31-24 to Council on 8-5-24. • July Financial Reports to Council on 8-5-24. • Tallmadge Recreation Center Profit and Loss Report for the period ending 7-31-24 to Council on 8-5-24. • Income Tax Comparisons for the period ending 7-31-24 to Council on 8-5-24. • Consolidated Investment Portfolio for the period ending 7-31-24 to Council on 8-5-24. • Income Tax by Source Report for the month of July to Council on 8-5-24. • Revenue Comparisons for Major Funds for the period ending 7-31-24 to Council on 8-5- 24. Mr. Pavlik made a motion to accept the Financial Reports. Seconded Mrs. Gutman. Roll Call: Mrs. Epstein, Mrs. Gutman, Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic – unanimous. The Financial Reports submitted by Dir. of Finance Gilbride were accepted by a vote of 7-0. 6. Public Hearings: None. 7. Community Input: Pres. of Council: This is the point in our meeting where anyone from the audience can address Council on any item that is not on the agenda. We have no one in the audience this evening. 8. Agenda Additions: None. 9. Reports of Administrative Officers: a. Mayor/Dir. of Pub. Safety: Mayor: Thank you very much. • Just a couple of things real fast. You should all be in receipt of the Tallmadge Police and Tallmadge Fire Department monthly run reports. If you have any questions on those, please reach out and let me know. • An update from Chief Bohon. Flock in the City continues to move forward with the permitting phase which includes site visits. The next phase is installation followed by activation. We currently have one Flock camera active at this time. A little success story that we have had. We have several successes with these Flock cameras and one of them that was local. Last week a local business reported a theft and the business had cameras but they were of very limited quality and they were able to ascertain the vehicle was a white Ford Ranger with a few specific characteristics but no license plate. Our Flock captured the vehicle’s suspect allowing detectives to identify an owner of the vehicle at an Akron address. Working with the Akron PD, a search warrant was sought, obtained and executed. The stolen packages were recovered, and the search led to the discovery of 1  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 8, 2024 Mayor (Cont’d.) various narcotics and evidence of drug trafficking. The Flock camera had been active for less than one hour before the theft occurred and the suspect was charged with various misdemeanor and felony charges. So, these things work well. I can hardly wait until we get the rest of them up and running. So, that is a great addition to our City. • Representative Sykes recently released an update on the Summit and Stark County Local Law Enforcement Assistance Program. Some of Stark County’s local agencies will receive a combined grant award of $963,000. Sheriff Fatheree is the administrator of these funds in Summit County and these funds are for the purchase of a marked police car used for patrol. Chief Bohon is happy to report that Tallmadge has been selected to receive funding for one cruiser from this program. The cost of one police cruiser is roughly $47,000 and through the funding, though the funding does not include the equipment, it is still great that Tallmadge has been selected to receive this funding. We are going to wait for some additional information including the actual amount but as soon as we learn what it is we will pass that on to you as well. • An update from the JEDD. I have a very good relationship with Mike Ladd over in Brimfield and I try to get a week by week phone call from him. The VA Cancer Infusion Center is moving along rapidly. That is right next to Kohl’s as we have discussed in the past. Also, right next to that, in between where the VA Center is going to be and the apartments is McGuire Park and so they are going to put a new parking lot and a new entrance in and that backs up off of Robey Road. There is also going to be a Dunkin Donuts in the JEDD area by Panera and Wohlwend Engineering Group is putting a new headquarters in on Mogadore Road along with some contractor sites. Kenda Tire is moving along. St. Ed’s is still moving ahead, and they are probably going to break ground next spring and J.R. Fleet Systems is expanding and so the JEDD is very, very busy. • Circle Fest is 2 days away. It starts at 5:30 p.m. and the Circle closes down at 5:00 p.m. and the parade kicks off at 9:00 p.m. so everyone be ready and have your float down there . . . it is probably best if you are going to have your float vehicles, which I think are golf carts, if you could have them down at the Hole early in the day that would probably be your best option. • Another update on 1128-1/2 Woods Drive, we are moving forward with demolition and should have it done within the next few weeks. • Just another reminder we are going to have a ribbon cutting at Tallmadge Family Eye Care on Friday at 2:00 and all of Council is invited. • Safety School graduation is tomorrow and that is all I have for right now so end of report. Any questions? Mr. Bollas: Thank you for the update. I did receive a couple of inquiries from Woods Drive residents as late as last night and I think I was asking Mr. Rorar for an update too so they appreciate knowing that that is going to happen in August. Mayor: It should happen soon. I don’t have the exact date, but as soon as I find out we will let you guys know. OK? Mr. Bollas: Awesome. Thank you. Mr. Bozic: I do have one comment and maybe suggestion, but in light of the recent storms that we have been experiencing in Northeast Ohio and basically this evening we are having some thunderstorms, it might be a good time to remind people or citizens about the alert system that we have and I know that I spoke to a couple of parents yesterday and they were making comments about getting the notifications and how do I turn them off because I’ve gotten them at like everywhere I turn I get a notification and so maybe just a quick little educational reminder out there about how the system works and things like that. It is a great system because even today I got the notification about the Circle Fest. 2  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 8, 2024 Mayor: Right and we are doing a push to remind our residents in our community about Civic Ready and we do have some cards that we are going to have at the Circle Fest and at all of our upcoming functions. There is a QR code that you can scan and sign yourself up and it should step you through how to sign up and how not to sign up and so forth. When you want to get your alerts, how you want to get your alerts and if you have any questions, Andrea Kidder is great with it. Dir. of Administration: Just one follow-up to that. We have pushed out a . . . I think it went out last night and then earlier in the week a reminder about Civic Ready and we are really pushing . . . a lot of people did not sign up for the events and so we are reminding people about that because we will use that as one of our notification systems during Circle Fest and in the future for other events that the City has. So, we just got those cards as the Mayor said and we are ready to get those distributed and working with the Fire Department and Firefighter Sandy will have them at her table as well as a couple other locations too. b. Director of Administration/Economic Development: • Good evening, everyone. Just a couple of items this evening. We conducted a business retention and expansion visit to Ohio Gasket and Shim. They are located on Brittain Road, and we met with the Vice President, Thomas Bader and one of their Directors, Laurie Norval. The third generation has just started to come into the business. Two of their buildings are in Tallmadge and one of their buildings is partially in Tallmadge and partly in Akron. So, they make parts from everything for Black Hawk helicopters and other things to high-end luxury automobile braking systems. So, it is really fascinating. They are a conglomeration of about 4 different companies over the years and maybe even 5 and just a very successful business. They are expanding. They have a new customer getting new equipment in and so good news for the City and good news for them and we will continue to do these engagements with the businesses. • Also under economic development, I believe everybody knows that the West Avenue Community Engagement meeting happened last week and that went very well. Overall the response was very positive for what we are trying to do on West Avenue and the West Avenue Overlay as it was presented. One of the things that we did get was we got some questions, a lot of questions on traffic on Nottingham and so we worked with Chief Bohon in the Police Department and they have what they call radar recorders. You authorized the purchase of 2 of them last year and they were received in early spring, and they have been using those. What these instruments do is they set them out there for 5-7 days on the street where they receive a complaint and it measures, in a passive way, it measures radar and measures traffic and basic traffic density per the hour and what the report came back with was . . . 10 miles an hour is considered the enforcement threshold when they are doing their statistics. During the 6-day evaluation period the radar recorder collected 3,979 cars and the average speed of all the cars was 26 mph. The percentage of violators who drove over 35 mph was less than 4%. There was one car that was checked by this radar unit at about 55 mph. So, there is a considerable amount of traffic, and the report also gives us a report on traffic densities; exactly what you would expect that traffic density is really high at rush hour in the mornings and in the afternoon compared to the rest of the day. So, it is one of the tools that the Police Department uses. They were able to use that for us and we virtually just got this earlier this evening and so we will be reaching back out to the one resident who has reached out to us and Council members so good news that we have that tool and the Police Department has been actively using it. If you have any questions about the tool or where it is being used, Captain Eichler or Chief Bohon said they would be more than happy to talk to you about it and how that is used. So, pending your questions that completes my report for tonight. 3  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 8, 2024 c. Director of Public Service: • For the Zoning Department there were 52 total permits issued for the month of July, most of which were Zoning Certificates which are fences and sheds and things in the back yard. • The Code Violations were 67 open violations. 21 of which were property disrepair and unsafe conditions. • In the cemetery we had 3 total burials, and they were all full. • Parks and Rec. The Rec Center had 6,155 visits and that is the highest visits since 2019 and so we are definitely in the right area there. Unique visits were 2,219. The Rec Center will be closing from 8-9 through 8-11. That is the annual cleaning that they do in the building. • A new co-ed softball league starts on August 19th. You need to register by August 10th. • Fall/Winter Program Guide will also be out on August 19th. • Summer Camp painted the storm drains at the Community Center. That is an EPA mandate we have to do education as well as public involvement and so that is a great one that kills two birds with one stone. It is a good project for the kids. They do a nice job with it. • Dog Park Grand Opening at Howe Road Park is Tuesday, September 3rd. So that is the Tuesday after Labor Day. You will get more information and more details on that. • Maca Pool visits were 12,964. The last day the pool is open is August 11th and the doggie dip is August 24th. • The Street Department has been prepping for Circle Fest. That takes a lot of time during the month of July to get ready. • Asphalt Paving Program is ongoing. A couple of things that everybody should realize is after they mill, they have 7 days to put asphalt down and they were able to meet that. Then the weather came in and you cannot apply asphalt or the tack coats down when the pavement is wet. Then what you also get into is once you get below 250º in temperature for the asphalt it is no good. So, it is a catch. The contractor is responsible for the asphalt. We won’t pay for the unused asphalt, so he is not going to buy it if it is threatening over 45% that day and so that is what the delay has been, and we have been getting the rain and we were supposed to get the rain today at 3:00 p.m. I mean it stinks but it is what it is and we want the best product out there and so anybody grumbling; we are just doing our jobs. • 4 tons of street debris was removed. 364 lineal feet of ditching was done. We are training online locations with our line locator. 2 catch basins were repaired, and 3 drive culverts were replaced and 1 cross-over culvert. • In the Utility Department, one water break that was on Southeast. That is that picture to the left there. That was last week, I think. The interesting thing about that and I don’t know if you can see it in the picture, that is a cracked line and so that is what made that very difficult to repair quickly. We had to cut out an almost 12’ section of that pipe. You have to find where the crack ends and unfortunately your hole starts at 5’ and that one ended up at 15’ by the time you got all of the pipe cut out. The guys did a nice job. I think we were done in less than 5-1/2 hours. Seven water breaks for the year. 2,282 lineal feet of sanitary sewer was televised and 2 fire hydrants were replaced. Both were from auto accidents. One was a hit-skip. 3 water valves were exercised and that is also an EPA mandate. We have to exercise all of our water valves once every 3 years and so you can imagine that is quite a bit . . . it takes quite a bit to turn those valves open and then shut them again. There is good reason. You want those valves to open when you need them, and you want them to close when you need them. 4  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 8, 2024 • Repaired multiple breaks in our fiber conduit along East Avenue. We actually are getting ready to run fiber to the water tower to make sure we are online there and one of the things that we realized is that we had several breaks in our conduit, and we were able to fix it. The Utility Department did that in-house. • Lead copper identification is still ongoing. That’s it for my report unless there are any questions. d. Director of Finance: Everybody received the July financial reports. Nothing big or outstanding to report. Everything is pretty much moving smoothly. I did include there some notification to Council regarding our Water Fund and the Akron water bills this year are higher than anticipated and so we may need to have a re-appropriation for that later in the year. I will be glad to answer any questions. e. Director of Law: I just want to report this evening that in addition to our normal activities as you all know my department has been working very hard on the recodification along with various other departments as we go through and review the suggested changes from the codifier. We have run into a little bit of a delay in that some of the things that we need to take a look at are going to take more time than we originally hoped. So, we are in the process of doing that. I think I had originally reported that I had hoped to get the changes to Council by fall but it is probably tracking more like winter. We are doing our best to do what we can but then once we get our changes finalized it goes back to the codifier and the codifier has to then incorporate it into the draft, etc. It is voluminous and when you see . . . it is our whole code and so it is not as if it is an easy project. It is a huge undertaking, and I appreciate your patience and when we get to it, we will certainly have a special meeting to go over the details, but we are working hard on it and we will get it to you just as quickly as we can. End of report. 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 Planning & Zoning to order. We have nothing before us this evening. Does anyone have anything for Planning & Zoning? Seeing nothing, 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. Mr. Pavlik: I call the Finance Committee to order. We have no legislation before us this evening. Is there anything else that needs to be brought before Finance Committee? Hearing none, I will close committee. i. Additional Items: None. 5  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 8, 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 before us this evening. Is there anything to come before the Personnel Committee or the Administration? Hearing none, I will close Personnel Committee. Thank you. i. Additional Items: None. d. SAFETY Nicholas Rubino, Chair Ted Roy, Vice Chair The Safety Committee deals with disaster services, communications, fire, and para-medics, police and health. Mr. Rubino: Thank you. I call the Safety Committee to order. We have no legislation before us the evening. Is there anything for the Safety Committee? Hearing none, I will close committee. 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 the Community Issues Committee to order. We have no legislation before us this evening. Is there anything 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. i. Third Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions A. Res. 2024-3 – A resolution expressing support for the expansion of Amtrak service in the Akron-Canton region. Sponsor: Councilperson Jessica Epstein Mrs. Epstein: I call the Public Service Committee to order. We have one piece of legislation before us this evening and it is Res. 2024-3. The ordinance was read into the record. Are there any comments? Mayor: I just want to thank you very much Councilwoman Epstein for writing this resolution and for bringing this in front of all of us. I think this is just absolutely wonderful. What we have to realize is that this is actually more than just a plea with the ODOT and the Ohio Rail Development Commission and AMTRAK to include the Akron/Canton Region in the 6  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 8, 2024 Mayor (Cont’d.) expansion. It is more a plea to our State and Federal Governments to acknowledge the significance of the greater Akron/Canton area and what we bring to the economic well-being of this region in our state. So, it is much more than just bringing a passenger rail to the Akron/Canton area. It is making sure that they hear us that we are part of the state and that we deserve to be included in their statewide planning. So, thank you very much for bringing this to our attention. Thank you. Mrs. Epstein: Are there any other comments? Mr. Bollas: I also just wanted to take a moment and thank you for bringing this to our attention. I know we had a chance to discuss this as late as yesterday and I just had some thoughts that I wanted to express and in doing some research as well. So, my first reservation with this, as I explained, was around the taxpayers and the long-term operation and maintenance of the rail and how it would be subsidized long term. I know by the taxpayer versus by the private sector and so I started doing some options around what are some private sector options with high-speed rail and I came across this one called Briteline and it operates out of Florida. Just to give you some background, this is an opportunity that Brightline took advantage of, and they subsidized their rail line itself through their residential and commercial development. The company uses their profits to build and maintain the rail itself versus burdening the taxpayers. Secondly I had a chance to research the Rails to Trails Project and so this resulted in poor maintenance of the track and Akron Metro owns a rail line now operated by the Akron/Barberton Clustered Railway and I came across the Freedom Trail as an example that we are familiar with and so essentially turning improperly maintained railing into hiking and trails all because of under-maintenance. My last concern is around land acquisition and understanding how extremely expensive that could be as well as to the location of potential projects for rail. Just have some reservation there. In researching the project going on in California where it is right now over $5 million over budget for the installation of that rail. So, overall, I just had some reservations around the overall market at this time. We were facing the most trying challenges; people’s wages are down, inflation is up, jobs and the economy you know are being challenged and so my main concern was around the taxpayer and being a good steward of taxpayer dollars. Thank you. Mrs. Gutman: So, in addition to what I have said before about the additional transportation opportunities this opens up for our residents that don’t have reliable cars and such for long distance travel, I would just like to touch on the business development aspect. This resolution, as Mayor Kilway said, emphasizes the importance of our region to the state and on a federal level make sure that we are not left out as future development. I feel that the rest of the state is getting these lines. What happens down the road? We don’t have them. When business comes to Ohio where are they going to look to to develop and grow when these stations are in other places. They are not going to come here. I mean I feel like you have to look at the long term of where people put things, it’s where the access is. We are shutting ourselves out if we just look short term. I would also like to say that the tax money . . . we are paying our taxes, and this bill has passed so why wouldn’t we want to recapture our tax dollars? Why do we want it going to other places? I think that you can address inefficiencies, you can look at the project down the road. That is a future question, and I agree with Mr. Bollas that there are questions there but that is something that can be addressed. I would also like to say that for our residents that do have challenges with jobs, if we have this rail that gives them . . . opens those doors to pursue career opportunities that are further away. They can commute more easily to other locations to look for other jobs and come back home here and not move, or if they have a spouse that has a job in Cleveland, they can look in Youngstown and stay with us. So, I think those are all really important 7  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 8, 2024 Mrs. Gutman (Cont’d.) considerations of why we want to say don’t leave us out; look at us and consider us because we are important and so I think everyone should vote for this. Mr. Bollas: Within this bill that is being discussed with this funding; is it specific to AMTRAK or could it potentially open the door for any kind of private company, such as the example I gave with Brightline or is that very specific to we are going to potentially plea r significance as you said, and then just try to make this installation possible with AMTRAK operation only. Is it exclusive to AMTRAK? Mrs. Epstein: I mean I put AMTRAK in the title because obviously that is what is being looked at right now. They are looking at connecting Cleveland to Columbus and it is going right through us, but we can’t get on it. So, I think that yes, it does say that but if we pass it, I do . . . it’s not as if it was going to be privatized and that option was available. This resolution could still have relevance, I think. We are still supportive of expanding and want to be included. We did say AMTRAK in this resolution, but we are here on the floor saying we would support any kind of enhancement to infrastructure options, or transportation options. Mr. Pavlik: I was under the impression that the resolution was that we wanted to be one of the cities to get potential funding from the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) to do a study to determine where the rail would be set. So, it is a grab of the $2 million that the FRA awarded to four towns in Ohio at a ½ million dollars. So, the question is does the FRA award more money if we are picked or do we take money away from the pie? Mrs. Epstein: Those areas that have already been selected receive preferential treatment, I guess you would say for future funding, but we are not isolating this just to Tallmadge. It is the Akron/Canton area. We want this area, not just Tallmadge, but the area in Summit County, this whole area to be considered. Mr. Rubino: Have they specified where the track is, what neighborhoods, what communities are going to be impacted by the track and the routing of this track and if this track is going to be dual use for industrial and passenger or strictly just passenger? Mrs. Epstein: As of right now it would go from basically Cleveland, and this is all ifs, like there would be like basically nothing until Mansfield or something like that. There is nothing right now. I think one of the locations that was highlighted and would make sense was around the Akron/Canton Airport. Mrs. Gutman: But with some of those, a study would look at too. Mr. Pavlik: So, Tallmadge residents would have to drive to the Akron/Canton Airport to catch a train to go to Columbus or Cincinnati or Cleveland? Mrs. Gutman: Speculating on that is where they decided but that is what the study would be about. Mrs. Epstein: So, if that all came to fruition, yes. Right now, they don’t go anywhere. You can go to Cleveland, but I don’t like the one in Cleveland. Mrs. Gutman: I mean, there are people who commute to Columbus daily more than you think who would probably drive that 20 minutes to the Akron/Canton Airport and sit on that train and work or sleep. Mr. Pavlik: So, in theory you would take that train to Columbus and that train station might be near the Columbus Airport; how does one get from Columbus Airport to their job? I get that there is other transportation; taxi and all of that stuff, but that just adds to the cost. Mrs. Gutman: They are doing quite a bit with their transportation infrastructure as well. Mr. Rubino: Have they said whether this rail is going to be dedicated to just personal transportation or is it going to open up for industrial also? Mrs. Epstein: My understanding . . . there are actually a lot of free rails in Ohio. It’s the passenger rail that we don’t have a lot of now. So, I don’t think we would be . . . Mr. Rubino: But we don’t have a rail going in that direction right now which is why I’m guessing they are adding it. We have had incidents recently not too far away of major 8  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 8, 2024 Mr. Rubino (Cont’d.) chemical exposures to communities that the train rail was running through and I think that it would be a big difference to some people whether this was specifically a passenger rail or whether this was also going to be used as industrial because if I lived in Canton or one of those neighboring neighborhoods that this rail could be going through if there is currently no rail going through, I don’t know if I would want the chemicals going through my back yard. I might not mind the passenger cars. Mrs. Epstein: Yeah. That’s a great point. My focus in research has mostly been on passenger rail. Mr. Bozic: If I could make a comment. So, there has basically been about $13 billion that has been talked about to expand passenger rail systems and the particular proposal or the background that they are doing right now on it is basically expanding on what they call the 3 Cs plus D. It is Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Detroit. What I think Councilwoman Epstein is getting on board with is basically saying that as other agencies have as well that Akron/Canton area should be part of that discussion. It is more so a plea to AMTRAK in their vision for improving transportation across America to have a whole document related to that, but it is about basically notifying them and notifying the Ohio Director of Transportation to say that hey, Akron/Canton matters. We are here on the map. They should connect us to this system. So, I don’t know what that looks like; I don’t think anybody knows what that looks like, it is more or less just saying we are here in Ohio, and we matter. Again, knowing that from my personal standpoint, I do agree somewhat that yes, those could be good things, however, not knowing details and not knowing where they would lie and what points of interest they connect to, you know funding, for example, like Councilman Bollas had brought up. With those undetermined issues at hand, I find it difficult to step forward and say yeah, I really back the resolution because of those question marks. Although I do agree. I believe that that would overall be a great thing for the Akron/Canton Northeast Ohio area, but I think there are a lot of question marks. Until we get those questions kind of answered and have a more detailed vision whether it be from AMTRAK or the Ohio Department of Transportation, I cannot see myself voting in good conscience for this. Mr. Roy: My question is if we say no to this, can we get it back in later? I guess I am kind of the expert on travel a little bit. There is a reason why we have the Akron/Canton Airport and that is basically because most people do not want to drive to Cleveland. Obviously, I sell a lot of tickets, and I probably get 2 out of 3 people who say can I go out of Akron/Canton? I don’t want to go to Cleveland. I think just from my personal view of being in the industry of transportation I would hate to turn something down. Maybe they would run something from Akron and there would be a stop between Cleveland and Columbus or Cincinnati where they could connect through that way. Or even going east. Everybody is looking north and south because they actually have a pickup in Alliance. Most people don’t know that as well. There is a pickup in Alliance with AMTRAK. Like I said, there is a reason why we have the Akron/Canton Airport, and it is growing and that just tells you that people just want to stay local. So that is what I am looking at. Mr. Bollas: Along with that same train of thought, no pun intended, that is also why we have State Reps and we have Congress Reps and we have Senate Reps like regardless of the resolution or not and whether it is the administration making a phone call down to the State House so that it trickles upward that this plea whether it is a resolution or not I mean there are still other forms of communication where like this effort wouldn’t stop here and again just reiterating my concern with this reservation was around the Tallmadge tax payer and you know we are facing increases in water, sewer, electric, gas across the board in 2025 and beyond. You know, incremental increases like I was saying, wages are being challenged right now and I have reservations about subsidizing the long-term operation and maintenance of this system. 9  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 8, 2024 Mr. Rubino: Yeah, beyond the very good points that everybody has brought up, I think a train service like that could be extremely beneficial to the area and to the people in it. I would just be apprehensive about putting my support that I don’t have greater detail in as of what or who is this going to effect and what neighborhoods it is going to effect and how the line is going to be used. Who is going to be paying for the line and the maintenance of it? That is my only apprehension is getting some more specifics before I will be comfortable supporting something like that although I think it has great merit. I do. I think it is a positive thing. Mayor: I just wanted to comment on to kind of piggy back on what Mr. Bollas had said that we do have State Representatives and Congressional members of Congress that are supposed to be helping us with this and one of the reasons why we got overlooked is up until 2 years ago the Akron/Canton area was represented by 5 separate Congressional Members of Congress. We were divided up. Canton had one, Akron had one and it was a mess up until recently. This is the first time in recent history that we have one Congress person that has all of Akron, part of Canton, and Tallmadge and so that is why we are trying to get this recognition. We have been left out because we have been so divided. We are trying to bring everything together. So, this should be a joint effort from all of us. There is no money being expended on this resolution. This is a resolution that basically says please don’t forget us. Please remember that we are here. Do not overlook us when you do your planning for transportation. We are a very significant portion of the country and the state that needs representation and that is what this whole resolution is about. Mr. Bollas: I totally respect that, and I understand that. I would just think that our Congressional Reps and State Reps, Congress, Senate and across the board wouldn’t forget us. So, I don’t know if I feel a resolution is necessary for them to ensure that we are not forgotten and that we are significant because we elected them to represent us. Mayor: That is exactly where this is coming from too. Mrs. Gutman: They clearly did because we weren’t included and that is exactly . . . I would just like to highlight that it says what we are requesting is that they prepare a proposal. It is a proposal and so I understand they don’t have details but I feel like rejecting this because we don’t have the proposal when it asked for a proposal, it is kind of like saying I don’t want grant money for a park because I don’t know where the park would go. You might put it next to the jail. Or you know a park might have dangerous playground equipment or it might cost us money to maintain it down the road. So, I don’t want a proposal for a park. We are not voting to fund it. We are not saying that if we don’t like the proposal, we are stuck with it. But if we aren’t even included in the idea, we can’t even tell our State Reps that we think this is a terrible idea later. It just passes us by. We don’t have anything to complain about . . . we can’t even say to them like look at how bad this is; you have to fix it before we accept it. There is nothing to work with because we are just excluded from it. If there is a proposal at least if we are included then you can say I don’t like X, Y, Z about this. Or it is not cost effective because you have something in front of you then. They have studied it and put it out there. But if we don’t get there because they leave us off the map; we are just stuck and right now they have just left us off the map. So, I don’t have any confidence that . . . I hate to say I don’t have any confidence with the people above us are going to include us if we don’t make some noise about it, but that is what happens, so I think we need to make a little bit of noise. Then if we don’t like it down the road, we deal with it at that point. This is like Mayor Kilway said that we are not spending money, we are not telling them we agree with them doing something, it is just to ask for a proposal. Mrs. Epstein: That was one of the things that had come up as far as the reason why this area wasn’t included before, and it is because nobody asked. At least that is what they 10  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers @ 7:00 p.m. August 8, 2024 Mrs. Epstein (Cont’d.) said, so I am asking. Alright, are there any other comments? This is at 3rd Reading so is there a motion? Mrs. Gutman: I would like to make a motion for approval of Res. 2024-3. Seconded Mr. Roy. Roll Call: Mrs. Gutman – yes, Mr. Pavlik – no, Mr. Roy – yes, Mr. Rubino – no, Mr. Bollas – no, Mr. Bozic – no, Jessica Epstein – yes. Res. 2024-3 is rejected by a vote of 3-4. Mrs. Epstein: That is the only thing in front of Public Service this evening and while that is not the outcome I was hoping for, I appreciate the discussion and feedback from everyone here and it is good to have healthy discussions like this on the floor so I appreciate that. Are there any other items before Public Service? Hearing none, I close committee. ii. Additional Items: None. 11. Reports of Special Committees: a. Council Operations Committee Mr. Bollas: Just that I will be scheduling a meeting this week with the Clerk’s office in regard to the 2025 budget and making sure that is submitted on time. If anyone has any specific requests to Council ops just let me know and I will take that into consideration for the meeting. i. Additional Items: None. 12. Announcements: Pres. of Council: Just a reminder that obviously this Saturday is Circle Fest and so those of us participating, which I confirmed with everyone, and all Council members will be attending, and we will meet down at the Hole normally at 8:30 or 8:45 p.m. Mayor: Kickoff is at 9:00 p.m. Pres. of Council: There you go, so be there before 9:00 p.m. Mr. Bollas: Just while we are all here, is anyone needed to help out with decorations or anything Saturday morning? Pres. of Council: So, I believe all the vehicles have lights and somebody this evening mentioned that there is a Council sign, and I believe we have that. We don’t have anything that has our individual names, but usually being that it is dark out, it is hard to see those names so I think we are going kind of light on the decorations unless anyone else wants to jump on board and decorate the carts, but I think that overall we are all set. 13. Adjournment: Mr. Pavlik moved to adjourn. Seconded Mr. Rubino. Roll Call: Mr. Pavlik, Mr. Roy, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Mr. Bozic, Mrs. Epstein, Mrs. Gutman – unanimous. The Council meeting of 8-8-24 adjourned at 7:53 p.m. sb Adopted: ___________________ ___________________________________ ______________________________________ Susan E. Burton, Clerk of Council Adam M. Bozic, President of Council 11