City Council

T H E C I T Y O F Zanesville 401 Market Street • Zanesville, Ohio 43701 Phone (740) 617-4875 Council – Mayor E-mail: council@coz.org Government Zanesville City Council Public Service Committee Agenda Council Chambers, 401 Market Street, Zanesville, Ohio Monday, November 10, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. This meeting is open to the public to attend in person or remotely by using the information below. This meeting is for discussion pertaining to the upcoming Ordinances and discussion items of the Public Service Committee for review as follows: 1. Roll Call 2. Approval of Minutes – October 14, 2025 Ordinances 3. Ordinance No. 2025-123 – Introduced by Council – An Ordinance authorizing the City Engineer, the City of Zanesville being hereinafter referred to as the Local Public Agency (LPA), to prepare and submit an application to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) for the Transportation Alternatives Program funding for the Third Street Improvements Project, and declaring an emergency. Discussion Items 4. None Next scheduled meetings of Public Service Committee 2025: Monday, December 8, 2025 This meeting is open to the public who may attend in person or attend by phone or Internet using the information below. Phone 1-844-621-3956 US Toll Free or 1-415-655-0001 US Toll Use Access Code: 1267508098 # Online with WebEx – Enter zanesvillecity.webex.com in web browser. Enter Meeting Information 1267508098 Public Service Committee Mark Ballmer, Chair ORDINANCE NO. 2025 - 123 INTRODUCED BY COUNCIL AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY ENGINEER, THE CITY OF ZANESVILLE BEING HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS THE LOCAL PUBLIC AGENCY (LPA), TO PREPARE AND SUBMIT AN APPLICATION TO THE OHIO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (ODOT) FOR THE TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES PROGRAM FUNDING FOR THE THIRD STREET IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. WHEREAS, the United States Congress has set aside monies for Transportation Alternatives Program Projects through the State of Ohio, Department of Transportation (ODOT); and WHEREAS, LPAs can apply for these monies and be selected for funding by ODOT; and WHEREAS, the Third Street Improvements Project is a transportation activity eligible to receive federal funding; and WHEREAS, if requested funds are granted, the City of Zanesville shall be responsible for up to twenty percent (20%) of the construction costs, and for one hundred percent (100%) of all other costs associated with the architecture/engineering plans, environmental studies and documentation, right-of-way plans, and right-of-way acquisition, if necessary; and WHEREAS, the evaluation and maintenance of City thoroughfares are crucial to the safety of our residents, businesses, and guests, and failing to receive this funding could jeopardize the health, safety, and welfare of the same. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED, by the Council of the City of Zanesville, State of Ohio, that: SECTION ONE: The City Engineer is hereby authorized to prepare and execute an application for the Transportation Alternatives Program funds for the stated described project and to submit same to the State of Ohio, Department of Transportation. SECTION TWO: The LPA, if awarded the funds, commits to pay up to twenty percent (20%) of the actual construction cost. The local portion shall be funded by the LPA using revenues from the General Fund. The LPA further agrees to pay one hundred percent (100%) of the construction cost over and above the maximum amount provided by the State of Ohio, Department of Transportation and for all costs associated with design, environmental, and right-of-way activities.  ORDINANCE NO. 2025 - 123 SECTION THREE: Upon completion of the described project, and unless otherwise agreed, the LPA shall: 1) provide adequate maintenance for the described project in accordance with all applicable state and federal laws, including, but not limited to, Title 23 United States Code, Section 116; 2) provide ample financial provisions, as necessary, for the maintenance of the described project; 3) if necessary, maintain the right-of-way, keeping it free of obstructions; and 4) if necessary, hold said right-of-way inviolate for public highway purposes. SECTION FOUR: For the reasons stated herein, this Ordinance is declared to be an emergency measure. Provided it receives the affirmative vote of six or more members of City Council, this Ordinance shall take effect and be in force immediately upon its passage and approval of the Mayor. PASSED: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ,2025 ATTEST: BILLIE CORNS DANIEL M. VINCENT Clerk of Council President of Council APPROVED: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , 2025 This legislation approved as to form: DONALD L. MASON LAW DIRECTOR'S OFFICE MAYOR PUBLIC SERVICE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - OCTOBER 14, 2025 The Public Service Committee met on October 14, 2025 at 5 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall, 401 Market Street, Zanesville, OH 43701. Mr. Ballmer: Good evening, everyone. We are glad that you're here. We'd like to welcome you this afternoon to the Zanesville City Council Public Service Committee. It's Tuesday, October 14, 2025 at S p.m. Could we have roll call, please? COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Mr. Ballmer (Chairman), Council-at-Large Mrs. Osborn, Council-at-Large Mr. Taylor-Lehman, Council 4th Ward Mr. King, Council 6th Ward COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: None OTHERS PRESENT IN PERSON: Scott Brown, Public Service Director Lisa Hittle, IT Administrator Billie Corns, Clerk of Council Donald Mason, Mayor Shawn Digity, TR Reporter Norma Mock, Citizen Karla Frye, Council-at -Large Chip Saunders, City Engineer WilmaJean Hayes, Citizen Dan Vincent, President of Council APPROVAL OF MINUTES - SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 Mr. Ballmer: Hearing we have a quorum, the first item on the agenda tonight is the approval of the minutes for September 8, 2025. I'll entertain a motion for the approval of those minutes. Mr. King moved to approve the minutes as written. It was seconded by Mr. John Taylor-Lehman. Mr. Ballmer: Is there any discussion or corrections? Very good then. All in favor of approval of those minutes, aye. All opposed, nay. A voice vote was taken with all being in favor. None were opposed. Mr. Ballmer: That motion carries. Thank you. The minutes are approved. Public Service Committee Meeting Minutes - October 14, 202S Page 1 of 12 ORDINANCES Ordinance No. 2025-108- Introduced by Council -An Ordinance authorizing the City of Zanesville to make an application to the Ohio Department of Transportation, Office of Aviation, for an Ohio Airport Improvement Program Grant for FY 2025. Scott Brown: If I may, -109 kind of plays into -108. It just happened to be on the agenda, which is probably my fault. I should have been more specific on when I submitted them. So, -109 is an application to do a design at the airport for a rehabilitation at the runway and then to also redo the lights. We did preliminary engineering last year. Engineering with design, it would be essentially in this program year, which always carries over into '26. If the city so chose, based off of funding, we could look at doing a rehabilitation of the runway and lights in the next program year. But we' re not there yet because I don't know what the price is because we don't have it finally designed yet. So, -109 is legislation to execute the design of that project. The reason it says an emergency is as soon as we pass it, I can enter a purchase order, and they can get reimbursed from the FAA for this cost of $309,000. How does that relate to -108? In February of this past year, 9 months ago, we passed a legislation to do some pavement work out at the airport. We completed that project. What you'll see in -108 is the project that we did in February, plus this design for -109, what you'll see is it says local is 5 percent. The Department of Transportation, I don't know if it was Federal DOT that gave the money to ODOT or whether it' s genuinely ODOT funds, but it doesn't matter; they're coming from ODOT to us. It's going to pick up or has committed to paying our 5 percent share. So, what it means is that project and this project will have zero out-of-pocket dollars to the city. Mr. Ballmer: Are there any questions? Mr. Taylor-Lehman: No, I like the sound of that! Mr. King: Yes! Mr. Ballmer: Are there any questions? Mr. Taylor-Lehman: I do have one question. Mr. Ballmer: Mr. Taylor-Lehman. Mr. Taylor-Lehman: There was an abbreviation that I didn' t understand: RFQ. Scott Brown: _Bequest for Qualifications. Mr. Taylor-Lehman: Okay, and that was for the Crawford ... Scott Brown: And that' s the engineering firm. Yes, whenever you spend more than, actually it' s a pretty low threshold now. If you spend more than $50,000 in the State of Ohio, what we have to do Public Service Committee M eet ing Mi nutes - October 14, 2025 Page 2 of 12 is a project-specific Request for Qualifications, and then we set criteria for scoring. And then whichever firm scores the highest is the one then that we go with. Mr. Taylor-Lehman: Thank you. Mr. Ballmer: Is there a need for -108, to waive the readings? Scott Brown: If you could do that as well, that would be great. That way, I can get both of these applications sent off. Mr. Ballmer: Are there any other questions? Let's deal with -108 first. I'll entertain a motion to recommend to Council waiving of the readings so we can get this passed and taken care of. Mrs. Osborn: So moved. Mr. King: I'll second. Mr. Ballmer: Is there any other discussion? All in favor, aye. Any opposed, nay. A voice vote was taken with all being in favor. None were opposed. Mr. Ballmer: All right. That will pass then, and we'll recommend that for Council. Ordinance No. 2025-109 - Introduced by Council - An Ordinance authorizing the Public Service Director to apply for a $309,000 AIP Grant, enter into contracts with Crawford, Murphy, and Tilly {CMT) for the Airport Runway and Lighting Rehabilitation Design Projects paid for by AIP and execute all contracts and declaring an emergency. Mr. Ballmer: We already have them under contract at this point? Scott Brown: Yes. Mr. Ballmer: So, they're ready to go and ready to move forward? Scott Brown: Yes. Mr. Ballmer: Is there any other discussion on this? Then I would entertain a motion to recommend to waive the readings for this so this could be passed as an emergency and get it going as well. Mrs. Osborn: So moved. Mr. Taylor-Lehman: Second. Mr. Ballmer: Are there any other comments, questions, or discussion? All in favor, aye. Any opposed, nay. Public Service Committee Meeting Minutes - October 14, 202S Page 3 of 12 A voice vote was taken with all being in favor. None were opposed. Mr. Ballmer: Thank you. That ordinance passes as well. We'll recommend that tonight. Ordinance No. 2025-110 - Introduced by Council - An Ordinance authorizing the Public Service Director to advertise for bids and execute contracts for the City of Zanesville's solid waste disposal needs. Scott Brown: So, we go out to bid every three years for our refuse to see which landfill is going to give us the best price. We have two landfills, one that's in and around Brownsville and then one that's down around New Lex. This legislation is a little unique. The Law Director and I had some friendly banter back and forth. I can't put a price in here; otherwise, it gives away our hand. But yet the Law Director didn't want to pass legislation accepting a contract without a price. So this one here is basically you allowing us to go out to bid and then once I have the bid, then I have to come back, and then accept the bid through legislation. Mr. Ballmer: You say there are two particular... Scott Brown: Two landfills, yes. Suburban is the one that's in and around the Brownsville exit. It just changed hands. It's called Tunnel Hill, but it's owned by a bigger company now that's down around New Lex. Mr. Ballmer: The current contract ends May 1, 2026. So this gives us plenty of time. Scott Brown: It does. If you're willing, I would appreciate if you would waive the readings so that I have plenty of time to put together the bid, get it out, get it advertised, get the bids, and then have time to come back and then get the legislation executed before the old contract expires. Mr. Ballmer: Okay. Are there any questions from the committee? Mr. Taylor-Lehman: Mr. Chairman, I have a question. As far as the recyclables, does that come up periodically? Is Rumpke the only game in town? Scott Brown: So, actually there's a Solid Waste District. If you need a better explanation, the Mayor may be able to explain it better than I. But there's a Solid Waste District. It's made up of, I think, ten counties. We are one of those ten counties. We don't get to seat on the board. One of the county commissioners does. They handle recycling. So, what the city is treated just like a for profit company, according to the Solid Waste District. Again, we don't get a seat on the council. So we have to pay to dispose of our recyclables. We pay whatever the market rate is. One month it might be $65, and the next month it might be $75 a ton. So, what has happened then is with Rumpke having their facility there, it's in and around basically, we're really paying Rumpke. But it's all through the Solid Waste District. Mr. Taylor-Lehman: Okay, thank you. Public Service Committee Meeting Minutes - October 14, 2025 Page 4 of 12 Mr. Ballmer: Are there any other questions or discussion? All right then, I will entertain a motion to waive the readings for this and recommend this to Council to waive the readings so that we can get this taken care of as well. Mr. Taylor-Lehman: So moved. Mrs. Osborn: Second. Mr. Ballmer: I have a motion and a second. Is there any other discussion? All in favor then, aye. Any opposed, nay. A voice vote was taken with all being in favor. None were opposed. Mr. Ballmer: Hearing none, motion carries. Ordinance No. 2025-111- Introduced by Council -An Ordinance allowing a moral claim. Mr. Ballmer: We have Jeannie Hayes with us tonight, and she's going to share some information. And then, Mr. Brown, you probably could share some with us too at least allow us to get an idea where we are so we can to present to Council what we need to do. So, Jeannie, if you're ready, please, if you'll come. If you could state your name for us, please. WilmaJean Hayes: WilmaJean Hayes, and my sister, Norma Mock. We are primary owners of the property at 380 White Oak and 1746 Kirk Drive, basically because it's in estate from our father. I'm not sure how much you know. But, in 2002, my father got lung cancer, and so, he said I'm done with the reconstruction of the house. We're just going to stop. So, we had the electric, the gas, and the water turned off. She had that done. A Mr. Neal Maxwell was the one that personally came in and went down and tore out the meter and said there would be no more bills. So, we have since, in 2023, decided to tear the house down because it was in ill repair, couldn't fix it. As we were trying to do that, we had to get a permit, and the permit was unavailable to us. So, we hired someone, Daryl Krouskoupf, and he was able to get the permit. And he's the one that transmitted to us that there was bills that were owed. I'll let you talk to her about that. But I did add some of those up. I don't know if you guys have any of those. Yes, a packet of those. And there's also pictures on there of the house and the fact that the electric and the gas meters were removed, okay? You want to tell them about what happened with the billing? (to Norma Mock). Norma Mock: I'm not sure exactly when it all started, but when it was turned off for me, I was told that the tap was removed, there was nothing there, no water, no nothing, and you would get no more bills. So, then somewhere around 2018, maybe, there was some bills sent. I disregarded them because I was told no more bills. So, when my brother had a stack of them and brought them to me, I called, I think it was Mr. Brown maybe, it was somewhere around the holidays. I'll get back with you at the first of the year, whatever, and try to work over this. But what I don't understand is, if it's shut off, how are we starting this back up in 2018 and now '23 through '25 there's never been any water since 2002? No tap. I don't feel we owe these bills. Mr. Ballmer: Okay. Public Service Committee Meeting Minutes - October 14, 2025 Page 5 of 12 Norma Mock: And now it's put on my taxes as an assessment. I've never missed any bills ever in my world, ever! Neither has my father. Never were we late on taxes or delinquent. So, now this is added to the taxes. So, I am requesting that it be removed for whatever reason why it was put on there, I don't know. I don't understand why you pay for something that you don't get, you know what I mean 7 Mr. Ballmer: So, if I might ask, there's actually three parts to this then. There's a water bill for the address at White Oak, there's a water bill for the address on Kirk Drive, and then there's an assessment on the taxes ... Norma Mock or WilmaJean Hayes: Now for those two ... Mr. Ballmer: because of the alleged delinquent bills? Norma Mock or WilmaJean Hayes: Yes. Mr. Ballmer: Are there any questions from Council or Mr. Brown, if you want to jump in and fill us in with your part or Mr. Mayor, you're welcome to jump in as well. Scott Brown: I'll be happy to talk when you're ready. Mr. Ballmer: Yes, please. Is there anything else, ladies, you would like to add? (to Norma and Jeannie) WilmaJean Hayes: If you want to ask us questions, we're fine with that. I think I gave you guys the pictures and all of that stuff and the billing. Because Ms. Billie was kind enough to tel l me that I needed to have that in itemized form. I did write a letter to the Law Director, and he did deny that. Thank you. Mr. Ballmer: Mr. Brown, thanks for your consideration. Go ahead, please. Scott Brown: So, what specifically the policies were in 2002, I don't know because I wasn't here. I also wasn't the Service Director in 2018, but I do know that in 2018, that the city's policy was if you have an active tap at your property, you have to pay a minimum bill. So I believe that these properties were flagged as saying, even though they don't have any water meters there, they have an active tap at the property. So, the system began generating a minimum bill. Obviously, over time the dollar amount got into the hundreds of dollars. I do believe one or more of these then were assessed to the taxes. I have had conversations with WilmaJean both on the phone and then I attempted to meet with her in person. I tried to explain the history here of what's going on and why there are minimum bills. I think there's just some confusion that if there's no meter that means that there's no bill. But the property has active utilities there. And so therefore, all property in the city since 2018 that has active utilities participates with a minimum bill. So, I think there's a disagreement with this one as to whether they should have to pay a minimum bill at their property that has active utilities. But that's been in place now for seven years, and that's where these bills came from. Mr. Ballmer: Okay, thank you. Mr. Mayor? Public Service Committee Meeting Minutes - October 14, 2025 Page 6 of 12 Mayor Mason: The only point I have in addition, let's differentiate. There's pulling meters and then there's terminating service. Those are two different things. Because terminating service is when you give up the tap altogether. So that if a party did want to come in and develop the property, then they would have to pay a new tap fee. So, I think probably what was miscommunicated by Neal. I remember Neal from the 80s when he worked here. He was a staff maintenance man, staff technician. He probably should have told them they needed to terminate, disconnect, because pulling the meter, that just discontinues the measurement of service. You don't get service, but like indicated I don't think it was communicated well because that's why they started getting the bill because they did not terminate the tap. Mr. Ballmer: On the sheet, the information we were given, on the amount in the right hand column. I'm assuming that's just an ongoing monthly balance? Because when I first saw it, I thought, I'm looking at the White Oak property for 6/14/22, $496.28, and then 9/13 to three months, it was $581. I'm assuming that's just a balance and not necessarily a charge per month? Scott Brown: Correct. Yes, that's a running balance. Yes, you're not adding each one to itself, yes. Mr. Ballmer: Okay, so that's what the final bill balance at the bottom then? Scott Brown: Yes. Mr. Ballmer: Okay, thank you. Scott Brown: Yes, that's a cumulative total of all of the minimum bills. Mr. Ballmer: Are there any questions from the committee? Mr. Taylor-Lehman? Mr. Taylor-Lehman: I have a question. What physically happens to the tap? Does it get capped off or? Scott Brown: Yes, that's a good question. So, to terminate the service what we have to do is dig it up at the main. So if the main is in the road, then we dig up the road, and we physically cut it off and close it at that connection in the road. Mr. Taylor-Lehman : Okay. If that occurs, there's no fee to the property? Scott Brown: That's correct. What we do then is record it with the property, that it does not have utilities. So that if a future purchaser comes along, they would know that they're purchasing a property that doesn't have utilities and that they would have to then pay all new tap fees for the property. Mayor Mason: And we do run into a lot of circumstances where people buy property from either the land bank or through a sheriff's auction, where again, the tap, there's complete disconnection. There's no meter, and service has been terminated. What they don't understand then is they have to pay like around $5000 to reconnect. Public Service Committee Meeting Minutes- October 14, 2025 Page 7 of 12 Mr. Taylor-Lehman: That much? Okay. Mayor Mason: But water and sewer both. Scott, off the top of your head can you remember what a water and sewer tap would be? Scott Brown: It's about $1570 for sewer, and around $3300 for water. So, between $4500 and $5000. Mr. Ballmer: And for clarity's sake, did you when this started, back about 2018? This was a city situation, county, state? How did this ... Scott Brown: It would be just the city's utilities. Mr. Ballmer: Okay, very good. Mr. Vincent: Mr. Chairman? If I could add in here. It may help. I don't know the exact year, but I do recall, and we can look into it to find this out, but I do recall something came before Council and Council did pass charging that minimum fee. It must have been, I assume, 2018, which may be why that started then in 2018. But there's no charges previous to 2018, I believe? Scott Brown: That's correct. Mr. Vincent: And then also with that to keep in mind, and Scott started to talk about it, is in your legislation I think maintaining a tap there does add value to the property then as far as resale because the new person won't have to pay approximately $4800 to have a new tap installed to hook up their home or I guess in some cases, a business, to put in a new tap then. So that could add value to the property in resale. Mayor Mason: Let me ask. Scott, has this ever been now severed? Have we terminated complete service of the property? Scott Brown: I apologize. I can't answer that. Mayor Mason: I mean, I think that's why they're still getting a bill. They've never... Scott Brown: I apologize. Mayor Mason: Are you still getting bills? (to Norma and Wilmalean) At this time, Norma and Wilmalean were speaking at one time, making it hard to differentiate which was speaking. From the audience: I believe the bills have stopped. I believe they stopped now. There's no usage on either one of them, and I understand what you're saying about the tap being. But if Mr. Neal Maxwell worked there, surely he knew that that tap was not what's supposed to be pulled. There was never any water going through there. Yes, if we turn the utilities off for the gas and electric with no bills, why would we leave the billing for the water and leave that tap open? We called the water company Public Service Committee Meeting Minutes-October 14, 2025 Page 8 of 12 to get that closed, and he personally came up and said there would be no more bills, and everything was taken care of. And she followed him around the whole property, both of them. Mr. Ballmer: I do understand the piece with the active tap because I remember when we built our building years ago, the county came out, and when they put the waterline in, we were able to put our tap in for about $1000. It would have been about $12,000 had we waited when everything was done and then went back and did it. So, we went ahead and put the tap in and started paying a fee for the tap so when we built the building and we needed a better waterline, it was already ready to tap in. So I do understand that piece. Mr. Vincent: If I could just finish up? So with that, just to be clear, I will have the clerk check on this and get us the ordinance, but I do believe things changed for the city, that they did start charging a minimum fee even when water meters were disconnected, as long as there's still a tap remaining attached. And we'll look that up. We will have that information for Council. From the audience: Why are we charging a fee for that? Why are you charging a minimum? Mayor Mason: Same thing in the county. Look, it's the same thing in the county. I owned property at one time near Philo. The county ran a waterline. Basically I gave them $1000 because they wanted people to presubscribe. But then when I didn't get a meter set and water, they wanted to start charging me a minimum anyway. So, I sold the property. So, this is pretty standard operating procedure. You just go up and down the street whether the person takes the water or not. Mrs. Osborn: I remember when we passed that, and I want to say that you're correct without looking at it. Part of that was everyone enjoys fire protection. That was part of the reasoning behind ... Mr. Vincent: In part of maintaining the lines. From the audience: So, where is that water going if that tap is not removed? Where does that water go? There's no water that went to the property. So, if that tap is not removed, where is that water flowing from and to? The tap has to be removed. I seen him take something off of there. So, I need that question answered. Where does that water flow if that tap is not removed? Mr. Ballmer: The water just continues ... From the audience : To go down a pipe, but if the tap has been removed, it will flow down. If not, that water is going to go into a pipe to that residence. Mr. Ballmer: But basically I think what we're hearing is, correct me please if I'm wrong, there's a convenience to have the tap because of the need of maintenance should something go wrong, the tap is available for future, what is the word? Not renovation? From the audience: But we don't need to have the tap there . There's no one living there. The property, the house is torn down. There's no property. And we're not selling it. It is still ours. And unless we do, then we deal with getting that tap turned on or getting that water utility turned on. I live, I have property at 1521 Eastview as well, and I'm paying a minimum bill every month of $45 that Public Service Committee Meeting Minutes- October 14, 2025 Page 9 of 12 includes sewer and something else, storm drain, been paying on that since 1985. The water is turned off. Now, my brother has city water, and he pays $20 a month for city water. Now, he doesn't have sewer. But I'm paying $45 to have your tap, to have your availability. So, I understand what you're doing. But if this was already turned off, it's up to the people. Like if I, myself, take the property at 380 White Oak, it's up to me to deal with the water utilities, the gas, the electric. It's up to us. If we sell it to someone else, it's up to them to do it. So, it makes no sense to be paying, but that water will flow all the way down that pipe. It's not going to go. So, the tap had to be turned off. Okay, Mr. Vincent? Mr. Vincent: So if I could just finish up here then. So, with that, we will get minutes too to help Council understand better why that was put into place. But Mrs. Osborn relayed some very important things. The city has to maintain that infrastructure. It's all part of that. They have it as far as availability there. But also there's a big issue with people disconnecting their water rental properties, disconnecting for a month while it's vacant, and then reconnecting. And it's a whole lot of extra cost and expense to the city, and that was part of the motivator then too, to continue with a minimum fee, if you have a tap fee there to eliminate that problem. Thank you. I'll get Council more information. From the audience: I would like to have more information about how this started. That's w hat I spoke to Mr. Brown about, and he was unable to get anything at all because we spoke like three or four times. Mr. Ballmer: Thank you. Are there any questions from the committee? Mr. Taylor-Lehman. Mr. Taylor-Lehman: Did the format of the bill change in 2018? That there was a line item that said ... From the audience: No, these bills say your water will be turned off. There's never been any water. These bills are actually bogus to me. I mean, they say that they're going to turn your water off after this date. The water has already been turned off! At this time, Mr. Taylor-Lehman and the audience were trying to speak at same time. Mr. Taylor-Lehman: I just wondered if a bill was from 2010, was the format different? Did it change in 2018 with this legislation? From the audience: I do believe they were on little postcards, weren't they? Weren't they on little postcards like Muskingum County Water? A long time ago. A long time ago, they were on blue and red postcards? Blue and white? Yeah, they were white with blue and red lettering. We've gotten new meters too, like a meter you drive by, it's electronic. You drive by, and they can read the meter or whatever. That happened in probably 2018 or sooner. Mr. Ballmer: Mr. Brown, is there anything you'd like to add? Scott Brown shook his head indicating no. Mr. Ballmer: Probably at this time then the best thing to do, I'll entertain a motion that we move this to Council for first reading tonight. That way, all of Council can hear and all of us can be informed so Public Service Committee Meeting Minutes- October 14, 2025 Page 10 of 12 we can move forward trying to figure out what to do with this. I'll entertain a motion to just move this to Council first reading tonight. Mr. King: I'll make a motion. Mrs. Osborn: Second. Mr. Ballmer: Is there any other discussion? Mr. Taylor-Lehman. Mr. Taylor-Lehman: My question, are we going to find out an answer to what I was asking. Did the format of the bill change? Did that appear as a separate item? Scott Brown: I can tell you the iteration of what our water bills look like has changed many times in the past 2.5 decades. Is there what it shows up now? If you don't have usage, it's going to show the minimum bill. If you have additional usage, it's also going to show then how much usage you had and then the applicable rate for the per 100 cubic feet rate of the usage that you used. Mr. Taylor-Lehman: So it's just all one price, right? They are put together? Scott Brown: Well, no, it's itemized, and it will show what your water is, what your sewer is, what your storm water is. Multiple people talking at once made it hard to hear the conversation. Scott Brown: ... and then it's going to show whatever the minimum. I don't know that it's broken off to show a minimum bill and then usage. I think it just takes whatever the minimum is, adds it to the usage, and comes across to the final item and then says this is how much it is for water. It does the same thing for sewer. If there were no usage, then that far right column is going to be just the minimum bill. Mr. Ballmer: We have a motion and a second then. All in favor, aye. Any opposed, nay. A voice vote was taken with all being in favor. None were opposed. Mr. Ballmer: All right. Motion carries, and we'll present this to full Council tonight for first reading. Ladies, thank you for coming, appreciate your time. From the audience: Thank you for listening. Mr. Ballmer: Mr. Mayor, do you have anything you'd like to add for this? Mayor Mason: No sir, thank you very much. Mr. Ballmer: With that then, the next scheduled Public Service Committee meeting is Monday, November 10, 2025. If there's nothing else for the good of the order, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Public Service Committee Meeting Minutes - October 14, 2025 Page 11 of 12 Mrs. Osborn made a motion to adjourn. It was seconded by Mr. King. Mr. Ballmer: All in favor, aye. Any opposed, nay. A voice vote was taken wit h all being in favor. None were opposed. Mr. Ballmer: Motion carries. We stand adjourned. Thank you very much! The meeting ended about 5:31 p.m. Billie Corns Mark Ballmer Clerk of Council Public Service Committee Chairman Public Service Committee Meeting Minutes - October 14, 2025 Page 12 of 12