City Council Regular Meeting

COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 p.m. May 22, 2025 1. Call to Order: Pres. of Council: It is Thursday, May 22, 2025, and this is our regularly scheduled 7:00 p.m. Council meeting. We will start things off with our opening prayer led by Pastor Jim Case with the Tallmadge Lutheran Church followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. Opening Prayer: Pastor Jim Case, Tallmadge Lutheran Church. Pledge of Allegiance: 3. Roll Call: Mr. Bollas, Mrs. Cipa, Mr. Pavlik, Mrs. Pletcher, Mr. Rubino – present. Mrs. Epstein and Mr. Roy were excused. 4. Correcting and Adopting Previous Meeting Minutes: 5-8-25 Council Meeting Minutes Mr. Pavlik: I will make a motion to approve the minutes. Seconded Mrs. Cipa. Roll Call: Mrs. Cipa, Mr. Pavlik, Mrs. Pletcher, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas – unanimous. The 5-8-25 Council meeting minutes were adopted by a vote of 5-0. 5. Financial Reports: None. 6. Public Hearings: None. 7. Community Input: Pres. of Council: This is the part of the meeting where anyone wishing to address Council on something that is not on the agenda can come to the podium and state your name and address and you will have 2 minutes to speak. If you wish to speak on an item on the agenda, if you could wait for the committee to be opened on that specific ordinance and then you could come to the microphone and speak to that. With that said, is there anyone that would like to come to the microphone and speak this evening? Thank you. 8. Agenda Additions: None. 9. Reports of Administrative Officers: a. Mayor/Dir. of Pub. Safety: • Thank you very much. First off, I am very pleased to welcome our newly appointed Council member, Councilwoman Tracy Pletcher. We look forward to your leadership and your service to our community. On behalf of the Administration thank you for joining City Council. • On behalf of the City of Tallmadge, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the Tallmadge High School Class of 2025. I wish you continued success as you embark on the next chapter of your journey and as I did tell many of the seniors on their Senior Give Back Day, enjoy this time and have fun but just remember Tallmadge is always your home. • Also on Tuesday, Andrea Kidder had the opportunity to visit AHEPA to celebrate Rose Massoli’s 100th birthday and on behalf of the City of Tallmadge we wish Rose a very happy birthday and many more. The reason why Andrea did that was because on Tuesday I was down in Columbus meeting with a bi-partisan group of lawmakers who are actively working through the State Budget process. It was a very insightful conversation that touched on several issues that will be impacting communities like ours. As the budget process continues to unfold, we will be keeping a close eye on the developments and what they may mean for Tallmadge and so I will keep you updated as we hear things. The budget should be passed by the end of June. • An update from the Tallmadge Police Department, I am pleased to share that earlier this week Chief Bohon notified me that Officer Mike Dornak has attained the Professional 2025 School Resource Officer Level. It is a distinguished accreditation awarded by the Ohio School Resource Officer’s Association Board of Directors and in order to receive this designation, Officer Dornak met the following criteria; a minimum of 5 years of service as a school resource officer, a successful completion of advanced school law enforcement training and consistent participation in the OSROA Annual Conference. Officer Dornak will be formally recognized with a certificate and a lapel pin at the 2025 Ohio School Resource Officer’s Association conference. So please join me in congratulating Officer Dornak for 1  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 p.m. May 22, 2025 Mayor (Cont’d.) obtaining this accreditation as a Professional SRO. When you see him, I encourage you to personally thank him for his continued dedication to our schools and our community. • Tallmadge Fire Department update. I would like to take a moment a job exceptionally well done by our Tallmadge EMS Team. On April 22nd the Tallmadge EMS responded to a call for a potential stroke in progress. Upon arrival, the crew quickly assessed the patient and confirmed signs of a suspected stroke and initiated emergency transport to Summa Akron City Hospital. The stroke team was activated in route and thanks to the crew’s swift response and efficient transport, the hospital was able to identify blockage during the CAT scan and treat the patient with a positive outcome. For their outstanding performance Tallmadge EMS was recognized by Summa as the EMS Stroke Team of the Month for April 2025. They have received this several times and it is just a testament to their processes and their training and their exceptional ability that they have and so I am very, very proud of them continuing to get this award. So, please join me in congratulating the crew members which were Lt. Joe Kline, Fireman Grant Holcomb, Fire EMT Diamond Carper. Their professional speed and expertise made a direct impact in saving a life and we are proud of their accomplishments. • I would also like to share an invitation with Council and the community to a Community Engagement Meeting introducing the Neighborhood Center Overlay District for the Northeast Avenue Corridor. The Planning & Zoning team will be hosting this community engagement on Tuesday, May 27th at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers to introduce the new neighborhood center overlay district along the Northeast Avenue Corridor. The zoning there is part of our updated Zoning Code and aligns with our Comprehensive Plan to address current conditions and future growth. This will be an informal meeting, and we encourage all residents, business owners and stakeholders to attend, learn more and share their feedback as part of the public review process. • I did have my After Hours with the Mayor today before Council and I did have a couple people come in and had some discussions on some things that they were concerned about. After they left, I gathered my thoughts and my team, and we are addressing those concerns at this time. • Just another reminder that the Memorial Day Parade and ceremony is this Monday. It is the 157th Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony. It starts at 10:00 a.m. As usual, Council is invited to walk with the Administration in the parade, and we will meet at the “Hole” down by the Ritchie Center at 9:30 a.m. and step-off is at 10:00 a.m. • On behalf of all the City employees, I would like to thank the members and pastors of the Tallmadge Lutheran Church for hosting their Annual City of Tallmadge Employee Appreciation Luncheon last Friday. We truly enjoyed the lunch on a beautiful sunny afternoon, and I want to thank you again for your kindness and hospitality. • A Park and Rec update. On Saturday, June 8th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. it is Touch a Truck so I will be with kids that like to see big trucks. We also have music on the Circle which will be starting on June 5th. That program is also sponsored by the Tallmadge Foundation, and we could not do it without their financial support, so we do have June 5th with the Originals and the Brass which is a Motown/Disco/Country and Contemporary band. June 26th is Revolution Pie which is a Beatles Tribute Band. July 17 th is the FM Project which is a Steely Dan Tribute and July 31st is Risk Factor which is a rock, pop and country music from the 60’s to today. These dates will all be listed in the Tallmadge Circular that was already mailed out earlier this year for all residents. Pretty much, that is about all I have right now. Are there any questions from Council? Hearing none, thank you very much. 2  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 p.m. May 22, 2025 b. Director of Administration: • Good evening. Just a brief update this evening. On May 13th we participated in fact finding with the International Association of Firefighters and the fact finder informed both the City and the IAFF team that we are likely to receive this fact-finding report around June 6th. Slightly earlier than we anticipated. So that means that during the Personnel Committee this evening, I will be requesting an Executive Session that we already have scheduled to add to that agenda the briefing and an update on the IAFF Fact Finding Report for the June 12th Council meeting. I will also then be requesting that Council recall Ord. 2024-75 on June 12th. We will be recommending that Council vote on it after the Executive Session. Things are happening faster than we anticipated, which is good. We will be able to have review during the Executive Session of both fact-finding reports based on what the fact finders have told us. • Just one other note on May 9th as I told you two weeks ago that we were going to close City Hall for a couple of hours and do training and a drill. We had that opportunity and I want to thank the Finance Director, the Law Director and Public Service Director and the Mayor for their support and Chief Bohon, Chief Underwood, Captain McGhee, Captain Eichler, and Deputy Chief Stasik for providing great training. It was classroom hands-on and then we had a great exercise. We will be repeating a shorter drill and a make-up class in late September. That concludes my report pending your questions. c. Director of Economic Development: Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to share this update. In my role as Economic Developer for the City of Tallmadge that has coincided with several state and regional economic development initiatives which are important for our involvement from the City perspective our awareness and our alignment with those. Just today we had a virtual update from Jobs Ohio which is Ohio’s economic development corporation. It provided quarterly Board of Director’s virtual meetings where we can learn what is going on and hear the latest. It is exciting because Ohio, our state goals are to become the top state for jobs, economic resilience and prosperity which I think we can all get behind. We were fortunate to participate in a Team NEO Annual Event which was held in Independence on May 7th. We got to hear from the new CEO, Matt Dolan. He shared some of the regional efforts and some of the common themes that we continue to hear is that the world is shrinking and that we need to use every tool imaginable to compete globally; we are competing not just with Indiana but India and that there is a huge mission to attract and retain talent in Northeast Ohio and that Ohio is one of the few states nationwide that is actually keeping talent. So that is an exciting time to be part of Ohio and then or course here in Tallmadge. Rolling up to that state and regional level of effort in trying to think about how we support that right here in Tallmadge. One of the biggest things that we can do is to go out on our business development and expansion visits to collaborate and support our businesses. Some of those visits that I was fortunate to participate in over the past month were Tallmadge Animal Hospital, East Avenue Gyros where we stopped on their first day open on May 13th. We have a ribbon cutting ceremony pending and then in collaboration with Portage County we visited Kent Displays on April 29th, Industrial Tube and Steel on April 30th, Glazing Systems on May 21st and I am going to call this one out especially how it ties back into what is going on from a state perspective. This is a really great example of how economic development efforts really pay off at the level right here in our own back yard. So, I was fortunate to be part of this visit where the visit happened to post them receiving a grant. This grant was a small business grant where Glazing Systems was fortunate to receive $50,000 grant money to invest in a $500,000 machine and we got to see this machine firsthand in production. This has increased the company’s productivity by 10%. As a result of that grant, the idea was to have them grow from 12 people to 15; that 3  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 p.m. May 22, 2025 Economic Developer (Cont’d.) would have been a good outcome, however, now they are at 25 people. So, certainly increasing that productivity has paid off for them and is coming to fruition right here. In Tallmadge their business has grown from $2 million to $6 million. Another great story to share with everyone is we were fortunate to attend with the Mayor, the County, Stakeholders, yesterday at Storetek at their new facility. Akron Beacon Journal was present. This is a perfect example of the success story of a global manufacturer that is in the global marketplace but is operating right here in Tallmadge. The President, Jim Crews, was sharing with us that they have dual facilities. One of them is right here in Tallmadge and one of them is in Detroit. The folks in Detroit are not so welcoming. They don’t know who the Mayor is, they don’t know who their Economic Developer is. They really don’t engage with them at all. So, they said it was an easy decision to want to expand their facilities right here in Tallmadge and in doing so they are able to generate much more credibility with their potential customers. They have a lot of large customers, for example, Honda. Their processes are in assembly lines with international competitors from Japan and others and their specialized process is the only American one that is in that particular assembly line. So, that is something that we can be very proud of. We are excited to see those good news stories and replicate those further with other businesses as we continue to get out there. A couple other businesses we also visited in collaboration with Summit County and ElevateGreaterAkron were Industrial Control Design-Maintenance on May 6th and Midwest Metal Fabrications on May 8th and that is another facet that is tying back into this state mindset which is to do everything that we can we have to collaborate regionally with our partners to make sure that people want to continue doing business and bring jobs to Tallmadge. Then engagement and supportive economic development collaborating with the Chamber, attending Chamber events including Chamber at the Table event on May 1 st which the subject was AI which was very interesting and if you think AI doesn’t apply to you, it was interesting to hear AI being explained as a tool and just as though you may put on glasses and be able to see better, so even though you are a really competent person, it is a tool that we can all use to become more efficient and effective and keep up with the speed of change which is something that we are all interested in doing. Then the Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) for short, I am happy to participate in anything where you can win and that was in support of the Carson Strong Foundation which was a wonderful foundation that is operating locally to help families who are touched by cancer and allow their families to spend more time together in their final days together. So, that was a great event to be involved in. Pending any questions, that concludes my update. Thank you. d. Director of Public Service: Mr. Rorar was absent. e. Director of Finance: No report. f. Director of Law: No report. 10. Reports of Standing Committees of Council of the Whole: a. PLANNING AND ZONING Tracy Pletcher, Chair Jessica Epstein, Vice Chair The Planning & Zoning Committee deals with land use, zoning, conditional uses, planning, economic and community development, and public property. i. First Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions. A. Ord. 2025-51 – P.H. on 6-12-25 – Amending Ord. 77-2009 creating the list of Recognized Heritage Structures (LRHS); to remove 12 Southwest Avenue. 4  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 p.m. May 22, 2025 Sponsor: Mayor Kilway Mrs. Pletcher: I call the Planning & Zoning Committee to order. We have Ord. 2025- 51 before us this evening at 2nd Reading. The ordinance was read into the record. Is there anything on this ordinance? Mayor: Again, this is just to remove 12 Southwest Avenue from the Recognized Heritage Structure list. We do have another companion piece that goes with this. It would be Ord. 2025-56, which is the demolition of that so we could just give it another reading at this point in time. Mrs. Pletcher: Anybody else? We will leave this at 2nd Reading and a public hearing is scheduled for June 12th at 7:01 p.m. Does anybody have anything else for Planning & Zoning? Hearing none, I will close committee. ii. Additional Items: b. FINANCE Donald Pavlik, Chair Christine Cipa, Vice Chair The Finance Committee deals with budget, appropriations, reappropriations, bonds, franchises, investments, and expenditures. i. Second Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions. A. Ord. 2025-53 – Authorizing and directing the Director of Public Service to uniformly increase water rates and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsors: Dir. of Pub. Service Rorar Dir. of Finance Gilbride Mr. Pavlik: I call the Finance Committee to order. We have Ord. 2025-53 before us. The ordinance was read into record. Ms. Gilbride, is there anything you would like to add to this ordinance? Dir. of Finance: No, I gave Council the presentation and everybody got it. Ms. Pletcher, I will forward that to you since you were not there. Mr. Bollas had asked, I think at the previous meeting, we had talked about 2012 as being the last year that we had increased water rates. He had asked us for any increases prior to that and so the Clerk of Council, Ms. Burton, helped me to search legislation and it appears that in . . legislatively all we could find was in 2006 there had been a 3% increase and then the rate increase that was instituted in 2012 was the third year of a three-year rate increase and so in 2010, they increased it 9-1/2% and in 2011 it was increased 8% and in 2012 it was 8%. So, those were the . . . for the last 20 years, those have been the rate increases that have been applied to our residential water rates. Mr. Bollas: I just want to say thank you for providing that additional information. I also did provide . . . I did forward your presentation to Councilwoman Pletcher. Dir. of Finance: Oh, OK, thank you for doing that. Mr. Bollas: No, just given the current absences and our new Councilperson, is it OK if I recommend a 3rd Reading? Dir. of Finance: Oh, absolutely. Mr. Pavlik: I want to let everyone know that Ms. Gilbride and I met this Monday for about an hour and we went over; we drilled down into what is causing this and obviously she had said previously one of the biggest reasons why you see the cash decline is the water tower. We entered into . . . we had debt falling off but then we entered into new debt for the repair of the water tower. Obviously with the significant capital improvements that we will need to make, that is causing the need to replenish the water bucket so there hence the rate increases. I should also point out that we did drill down because if you do remember the black line 5  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 p.m. May 22, 2025 Mr. Pavlik (Cont’d.) and the red line getting really close; we talked a little bit about that. I asked her you know, was this enough? Did we need additional . . . I think with some of the capital improvements that we make, you are going to have savings in some of the water which is going to make you know the disparity to be a little more of a delta than what is presented. So, thank you for the time to meet with me. Dir. of Finance: No problem. And if other Council people have any questions, please feel free to reach out and I will be glad to sit down with anyone. B. Ord. 2025-56 – Authorizing the Mayor to receive funding from the Summit County Land Reutilization Corporation Community Development Matching Grant Fund for the demolition of the structure deemed blighted at 12 Southwest Avenue and authorizing the Mayor to enter into all necessary agreements pursuant to the Tallmadge Demolition Program appropriating funds and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsor: Mayor Kilway Mr. Pavlik: Next we have Ord. 2025-56. The ordinance was read into the record. Mayor, do you have anything? Mayor: It is approximately over $9,000 that we will receive to pay for 50% of the demolition of that building. Mr. Pavlik: Ms. Raber, is this something that we need to approve in conjunction with the other ordinance or before? Dir. of Law: I would recommend that they stay companion ordinances, and you can give it another reading. Mr. Pavlik: Got it. With that, we will leave that at 2nd Reading. Any other items that need to be brought before Finance? Hearing none, I will close committee. ii. Additional Items: c. PERSONNEL Christine Cipa, Chair Donald Pavlik, Vice Chair The Personnel Committee deals with personnel, labor relations, insurance claims, Rules of Council and State Statutes. Ord. 2024-75 – TABLED until 6-12-25. Ord. 2024-76 – TABLED until 6-12-25. Ord. 2024-77 – TABLED until 6-12-25. Mrs. Cipa: I call the Personnel Committee to order. Ord. 2024-75 was tabled until 6- 26-25 but it is my understanding that we want to now change that to June 12, 2025; correct? Dir. of Administration: Councilwoman Cipa, that is correct. Do we need to vote on this? Do you have any discussion? Mr. Pavlik: I will make a motion to change the date from 6-26-25 to 6-12-25. Seconded Mr. Rubino. Mr. Bollas: Just for clarification; the motion is to recall the ordinance? Roll Call: Mr. Pavlik, Mrs. Pletcher, Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Mrs. Cipa – unanimous. The date for Ord. 2024-75 has been changed from 6-26-25 to 6-12-25 by a vote of 5-0. i. Additional Items: None. Mrs. Cipa: Next we have Ord. 2024-76 which is tabled until 6-12-25 and Ord. 2024- 77 is tabled until 6-12-25. Any discussion on that? Dir. of Administration: Councilwoman Cipa, just to be clear then the Executive Session on that date for the agenda would be for discussion of the fact-finding reports for Ordinances 2024-75, 76, and 77. I just wasn’t sure. Thank you. Mrs. Cipa: Any further discussion? Hearing none, I will close committee. 6  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 p.m. May 22, 2025 d. SAFETY Nicholas Rubino, Chair Ted Roy, Vice Chair The Safety Committee deals with disaster services, communications, fire, and paramedics, police and health. i. Second Readings of Ordinances and Resolutions. A. Ord. 2025-57 - Appropriating OneOhio Opioid Settlement Funds for Naloxone to be available in City Parks and providing for immediate enactment. Sponsors: Dir. of Finance Mollie Gilbride Dir of Law Megan Raber Mr. Rubino: I call the Safety Committee to order. We have Ord. 2025-57 before us this evening at 2nd Reading. The ordinance was read into the record. This is sponsored by Dir. of Finance Gilbride and Dir. of Law Raber. Do you have anything to add? Dir. of Law: Yes, there were some questions that had arisen at the last Council meeting and I did attempt to have a conversation with the folks at Summit County Public Health and we went back and forth and unfortunately we have not been able to connect yet. So, I will be able to hopefully get those answers for you before the next meeting. You can just give it another reading tonight. Mr. Rubino: Alright. Sounds good. Are there any other questions from Council or anybody else? Hearing none, I will close committee. ii. Additional Items: None. e. COMMUNITY ISSUES Ted Roy, Chair Tracy Pletcher, Vice Chair The Community Issues Committee deals with Parks and Recreation, civic affairs, and liaison between Council and the Recreation Board and intergovernmental affairs. Mrs. Pletcher: I call the Community Issues Committee to order. We have no legislation this evening. Is there anything for Community Issues? 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. Mr. Rubino: I call the Public Service Committee to order. We have no legislation this evening. Does anybody have anything for Public Service? Hearing none, I will close committee. i. Additional Items: None. 11. Reports of Special Committees: a. Council Operations Committee Mr. Bollas: The only thing I want to note is that I sent Council the viewership report for the YouTube channel. We are averaging 195 viewers per meeting over the last 8 meetings, so viewership is doing well. Other than that, we have no other additional items. 7  COUNCIL MEETING Council Chambers 7:00 p.m. May 22, 2025 i. Additional Items: None. 12. Announcements: None. 13. Adjournment: Mr. Pavlik moved to adjourn. Seconded Mr. Rubino. Roll Call: Mr. Rubino, Mr. Bollas, Mrs. Cipa, Mr. Pavlik, Mrs. Pletcher – unanimous. The Council meeting of 5-22-25 adjourned at 7:33 p.m. by a vote of 5-0. sb Adopted: _______________________ _______________________________________ ______________________________________ Susan E. Burton, Clerk of Council Jonathon D. Bollas, President of Council 8