the password is no single use
Amen brother
okay we are and Heritage tree
we are live
right
guys we're back
[Music]
um
so so nice to be with all of you uh
Booker T Washington says you measured
the size of accomplishment by the
obstacles you have to overcome to reach
your goals
um we did not let covid
um interrupt the work we needed to get
done together
um your agility flexibility and
willingness to learn different ways of
communicating and working together has
made
you all
yeah
I want to um welcome
um our individuals who are here and uh
joining us tonight we have three
gentlemen out there and I'm thrilled
that you're here
um and all of those people who are
joining us on YouTube we are thrilled
you are here as
who we are so we do not have with us
although he is just not able to attend
he's healthy and happy and fine is the
Harvey our auditor and um Mr Fishel is
going to fill in for us this evening as
um
all right Mr Sharp
here Ms Robinson here
here Mr Klingler here
this Bible yeah Mr Marco in person Mr
Fishel right guess what let's see if we
can do the play
music
foreign
no sound okay
um
that was it was coming through on
YouTube Catherine are you able to hear
us
this is Alicia Gaston I can hear you now
too I can hear you now too I opened it
on YouTube as well so I've got you
streaming both ways is your microphone
turned on lorian
let's swap it okay everyone do a little
quick mic check
hello
[Music]
I can hear you
of course
okay now you can hear me
Mr can you hear me now
I can
you can
start this whole thing over again I
suggest you start it over so that
there's no misunderstanding
okay Zoom is so much more convenient I'm
going to
all right I heard you till you turned
around for the Pledge of Allegiance and
then the audio went away
oh okay
good then you didn't miss any of the
good stuff
I move the council recuse itself from
hearing the appeal of the decision of
the board of zoning and planning in case
number bzap 2048 upon appeal to council
and in a PL case number 21 2 due to
actual or perceive conflicts of interest
of a majority of the members of council
and the appearance of impropriety and
equality judicial proceeding make the
following determinations one
the bezap decision is the final decision
of the city in the case and is subject
to appeal as provided in the specsley
city code and the Ohio Revised Code two
Bexley city code section
1226.19 provides for the appeal of
Divisions app to city council and
appellants appealed the decision of bzap
in case number dzap 2048 to this Council
three this decision of counsel is the
final determination made by the city in
case number bzap 2048 and city council
appeal case number 21-2
or the clerk of counsel shall promptly
serve written notice of this
determination of counsel upon the
appellants applicants
their legal counsel and Visa
the five the city shall refund the
filing fee of the appeal to legal
counsel for the appellants
so that there's a motion on the table I
will entertain a second and then we will
have discussion is there a second
second
um Ms Robinson seconded the motion
um is there anyone who would like to um
uh share
um
their thoughts about about recusing
themselves
as
um
we have um we have discussed
Mr Sharp
can you hear me
I can hear you I'm hoping that yes and
Catherine can hear you if she's not here
other three council members
um
so some people may Wonder
person comes from like
um I have some strong feelings on the
issue that I do not believe that I can
make a commercial decision and so I
feeling that I would not be able to
commercials
thank you thank you Mr Sharp I
appreciate that is there anybody else
that would like to just to share their
thoughts
I'm choosing to not perceive based on
my understanding that I may have a
perceived conflict
so if we proceeded on merits I would
have refused myself I understand this is
a procedural motion that I will support
yes our city ordinances do allow us to
make procedural determinations on
appeals so
we are well within our means to do this
as anybody else want to add anything
before I ask for roll call
beside please um yes I also in
discussion
um at last week's meeting
um even though there was an opportunity
to move forward I also decided to recuse
myself as zoning chair and a member of
the cic it did not feel right with
discussions I've had in the city and
with a number of different people along
with Richard to give an impartial
opportunity to this appeal so I recuse
myself as well thank you masad
um
anyone else Phil they need to add
anything or to
the conversation prior to making a
motion
absolutely
absolutely thank you
all right well if there is nothing else
to add from Council I'm going to go
ahead and ask um Mr Fishel to once he
gets himself situated with the
microphones I'm going to ask him to go
ahead and do roll call if he would
please
yes Mr Marcus yes
yes Mr Sharp
yes yes
[Music]
Ms Lackey
all right so past this
um
uh seven to zero
um uh Ms Cunningham I'm going to sign
this right away
um thank you so much for being here with
us and thank you for directing us
through this
um
and I believe
uh that is that and we can't move on to
um
uh presentation
um special guests and we do have Alicia
Gaston here from rapid5 project
um
and we're we're thrilled for you to be
here and for you to to share this
exciting this exciting project
well great thank you thank you all for
inviting me to come speak uh rapid5 is
is a partnership between
Uli Columbus which is the Columbus
District Council of a global nonprofit
called the Urban Land Institute and the
middle Ohio Regional Planning Commission
I'm going to attempt to share screen and
hopefully um maybe somebody in the room
can wave at me and and make sure it's
working it looks like it's on your your
screen in the background
um but I'm really excited to be speaking
with you all today
and and share more information about the
rapid project so as some of you know and
I know mayor Kessler has been engaged
with a few of our conversations
um around the rapid project and we have
been engaging him on a number of
different levels
um as we've been working
um to get started so the rapid project
is or the rapid five excuse me uh is a
regional Vision to create one Park
Network along our Region's major
waterways it's much more than a park
system and an open space plan it is
intended
um to to cross jurisdictions and and
really think about how we redefine and
reframe connectivity
um of the region along our waterways by
extending Beyond these individual
jurisdictions and it came to the
leadership of both Uli and warp C that
we have some really amazing things
happening along these waterways from the
Columbus downtown Riverfront
um to great new metro parks that are in
the works right now and about to come
online that how do we connect all of
these great efforts and let's see if I
can get my slide to advance here
um and so really an opportunity that
doesn't exist anywhere in the country
um this is an amazing opportunity one
for the opportunity the amount of
mileage along these waterways but 87 of
the land in these corridors of at least
one side is publicly owned and that is a
pretty outstanding statistic
um that we don't have it's it's an
unparalleled system and so we have the
opportunity to create one of the largest
Integrated Systems in the country
um so today we have about 146 miles of
blueways and riparian corridors
waterways in central Ohio we have a
great great Baseline and a lot of great
trails and different systems in in the
region but again we have the opportunity
to make a much larger impact
um so Uli and morpse have been at the
Forefront of a lot of regional growth
conversations
um talking about how and where we grow
especially with our Region's population
project projections these are all
pre-covered numbers
um so we know there's there's been some
changes but we're still we're still on
track for three million people by the
year 2050.
um and so thinking about how you know we
we've been talking about how and where
we grow uh Insight 2050 our initiative
has led to efforts um like Insight 2050
Corridor Concepts and and now the
efforts of city of Columbus in Coda with
link us and so this is another layer to
those growth conversations and making
sure we have enough access to parks
along these waterways
so we're in the process so we've been um
I'll go over the timeline shortly but
we've been in community engagement uh
we're starting the visioning process
with with five local design firms
they've all been assigned
um each firm has a corridor and so these
are the major considerations of each
design firm health and wellness Mobility
environmental stewardship economic
vitality and social Equity what's really
important about these this is Uli we're
advocates for the integration of all
these systems the interconnection and
and really these are the ties That Bind
great communities resilient communities
and and so these These are the main
priorities for the design firms is
they're beginning their work in creating
the vision
um for each Corridor and and the reason
that those considerations are so
important is because of the impact they
have on our people and our places and so
during covid you know our social
infrastructure our access to our social
infrastructure was quite limited we're
starting to see
um different institutions and libraries
open up but our parks and access to
Nature was was really the only piece of
social infrastructure that we had access
to in in the thick of covid and and so
these are you know part of our systems
and actually will help expand the reach
of of this trail system that would
earned this park system that we're
discussing and and I think that you know
where Parks were really a bright spot
for so many in in kind of the covet era
but not everybody had access and had
equal access to our Park systems not
everybody can get in a car and drive up
to highbanks Metro Park
um so we're going to be able to address
some of the social Equity issues
um in the in this Vision as well foreign
so here's our system today again a great
Baseline
um the orange lines are our existing
Trails the green
um is is the existing Park systems the
darker green are the Metro Parks it
hopefully you guys can can see this on
on your screen I'll try to zoom in here
quickly
um but this is a great great Baseline
but there's a lot of holes you can kind
of see where there's holes in in our
system today
so tomorrow
um this is this is what rapid5 is
proposing the vision around these these
waterways um we have so the five
corridors are the the big Derby
Toyota
Olentangy Alum Creek and the Big Walnut
um and the Big Walnut is going to
Encompass a couple other
um creeks and and tributaries as well
um but these are what's so unique about
this is how evenly distributed they are
throughout the region and we can thank
the glaciers for that but that really
allows us to fill in some holes where we
don't have equal access today
so one of the most
um important statistics and metrics
impact metrics of part of this effort is
that if this happens every resident
would be within a mile and a half of a
Park Franklin County resident because
that's our study area that's a pretty
outstanding metric and it's a very
conservative metric at the same time
um so there's you know there's a Pockets
that have we'll have a quarter mile
access
um so it it's it's quite a range but
this is a conservative estimate of what
we hope to accomplish and making sure
that everybody has access to a park
system
so I have at Uli we've been a part of a
lot of initiatives Insight 2050 a lot of
regional conversations and I have never
seen an initiative take fire like this
one has today the excitement from our
both our public and private sector is
pretty amazing
um we have every municipality in support
and in some way that they can along
along these corridors and the excitement
and the enthusiasm is just really
humbling and we're really really
appreciative of everybody's support so
far
so we have a number of teams that are
helping us through this effort the
neighborhood Design Center is helping us
with all the community outreach and
they've helped us create our site um the
social pinpoint site which is our
community engagement site that is live
we want
um all of our our friends at Bexley to
participate in this um it is an
opportunity to draw on our interactive
map share ideas
um join the ideas wall take surveys so a
lot of Engagement from folks to date and
so we want to keep that that happening
but that
um the the social engagement tool social
pinpoint that is helping inform the
design teams and it's helping create the
vision for these these corridors and so
we have the design firms listed here we
are working with Eric and Todd for our
branding website and Hinson limited for
public relations
and so our timeline this might be a
little bit hard for you guys to read on
screen
um so we we stood up the community
engagement platform in March um that's
been out and in the community and and
we're really trying to encourage folks
to continue to participate that in that
the design firm started May 1st um with
the visioning piece we've been meeting
each Corridor has had meetings with
stakeholders um I know mayor Kessler has
participated in in the meeting with the
Alum Creek team with AECOM and then
they'll be done on June 1st and so this
is just the first step of of kind of
many steps to come the vision piece and
so we hope to roll the vision out this
summer and um we'll keep you guys all
updated as as we kind of figure out what
that event looks like
um and when we can actually be in person
to host that event
so this is just a quick um view of the
social pinpoint site the ideas and
discussions that are happening to date
anybody can go to rapid5.org and click
share your vision
um to go to the site but a lot of a lot
of great ideas and it's pretty amazing
and I think a lot of folks are having
fun on this interactive map adding
comments and and drawing
um lines and potential connections and
opportunities as well so we're really
excited to share this with the city of
Bexley and and appreciate your support
as we are launching this this visioning
effort that concludes my presentation
and I'm happy to answer any questions
you all may have
thanks so much Alicia we're so glad that
you were with us tonight bexleya the
huge fan of our trees a huge fan of our
nature and and a huge fan of our Parks
so and and we are so excited that um
we're going to be able to and enjoy even
the Greater Columbus in a in a special
way council members anybody have
anything to
to add other other than our gratitude
for um Alicia being with us tonight just
uh Alicia thanks so much for coming
sorry this is Ben Kessler um nice to see
you it's been it's been a fun process so
far I want to recognize Mike Price our
rec director who's on this call as well
who's who's our uh primary delegate to
the uh to this plan and as you know we
we have a uh we still have our kayak
Fleet our Municipal kayak Fleet here in
Beckham we're really excited
participants uh in in this uh Endeavor
so thank you thank you for coming and
we're excited welcome to this thank you
mayor Kessler
have a good night thanks so much
thank you
foreign
ladies and gentlemen
um we are going to move on to
um item number six on our agenda which
is public comment
um we have asked those who can be with
us
um present to um speak I believe that uh
mayor Kessler probably has
um some individuals who do
um want to speak and
um
I don't know if there's anyone who
registered online because they could not
um make it there are a few okay well I'm
going to go ahead if you don't mind
ladies and gentlemen to
um welcome Mark Abramson
um to the podium um he is actually with
us this evening
um and he
um
is welcome to speak
I want to remind everybody who does
speak to share with us there for the
record their name again their address
and try very hard to keep your comments
limited to five minutes we have a very
full agenda tonight
good evening and thank you
my name is instead was Mark Abramson I
live at 243 South Stanwood Road
last week several residents began
posting comments online regarding the
Bexley police department and suggested
that others consider sending an email or
letter to the police department to show
their support
last Friday five of us decided to
generate a document that residents and
visitors to our community could sign if
they wanted to express their support for
the police department
the document we generated stated and I
quote
we the underside would like to thank
police chief Reinhardt and the entire
Bexley Police Department for the support
they provide to our community
we recognize that the safety of all
Bexley residents visitors and those
passing through our community helped
make it a special place to live and
visit
we genuinely appreciate the ongoing
training and the efforts of the police
department that assist them maintain the
peaceful environment we have come to
expect
their visibility and efforts to maintain
open Communications with the community
are also greatly appreciated end of
quote
while we initially did not have a
timeline to obtain signatures we later
learned that this was National Police
Week
so we decided to present to the mayor
and the police chief this evening who's
not here
um the signature the signatures we
obtained in three hours over a period of
four days so it's five people a total of
three hours is all we spent
most of the 115 signatures we obtained
are from residents while a number are
also from people visiting residents
people who work in the city or who we
met at Jeffrey Mansion as well as
Starbucks
two residents also asked where they
could get a blue light for their homes
and coincidentally two of us had blue
lights and we provided those to the
residents
we also already received a thank you I
won't use names but it says thank you so
much God bless America and God bless law
enforcement
one local establishment also gave us 30
vouchers of nominal value to give to the
police to use at their discretion not
knowing the specifics of the city's code
of conduct or internal policies maybe
the officers could distribute these to
kids who are wearing a bike helmet using
the crosswalk or doing something that
they might want to recognize maybe
Council would consider funding a similar
program
in closing I personally hope each of you
stay well and that all the Bexley police
officers continue to say stay safe in
their daily activities thank you and
have a nice evening and mayor if I could
give you
one for you and one for the G
thank you I will ask
um that the mayor scan that and put that
on our Council
um correspondence
um thank you for being so passionate
about the work of our
women and men who protect our city and
and keep being passionate we appreciate
that very much thank you thank you
mayor I believe that there are some
individuals who are not able to be with
us this evening but would like to share
via Zoom because they have registered
so we have on the registration form
which is essentially our Zoom speaker
slip
um Lori scoblianco who has registered uh
to speak about Section 8 housing
correction which I assume would fall
under public comment do you guys agree
Okay so
is that the only one week that is the
only uh public comment okay registered
I'm sorry my uh Larry Larry cats may
want to speak we're on the same um zoom
and I'll be real brief uh thank you for
your time I just wanted to make a well
the good news is that people listen to
these meetings on Zoom even after you
post it and the way I know that is
someone had contacted me after uh my
husband spoke last week and said that
there was uh some explanation about what
section 8 was and and
um we use that term uh but I understand
now that the city chose not to but I
think there's still some confusion
because Section 8 is a specific
government HUD term and Section 8
housing vouchers have a very specific
meaning and
um I a couple people last week said that
but it has a very negative connotation
and that may be true but then our job is
to educate and in my experience in the
last 10 years Section 8 residents have
been extremely difficult at best and so
since we're taking such a big step in
Bexley I think it is important to at
least have a Common Language and moving
forward if we can develop a common
language that's the same language that
the government uses there are 25 percent
of the units that are set aside
for Section 8 eligible renters and there
is no ceiling excuse me there's no floor
ceiling anyway the the builders are as
their funding stands now they can change
they can raise
that percentage
um and the reason why I think it's
important to know moving forward as city
council looks at policies is there's an
assumption that I've been hearing that
the people who get housing vouchers
really want to come in and be a part of
the Bexley community and they're
choosing Bexley for the Great Schools or
the walkability or our lifelong learning
or all these other values that we've
worked so hard on
and that's not been my experience my
experience in Columbus is that there are
too many eligible people and there are
not enough how there are not enough
places that offer Section 8 housing
because of the price and because of the
difficulty with the residents and so
what happens is someone gets a voucher
that essentially says the government
will pay their rent for a year or pay
ninety percent or a very large
percentage and they have two months to
find any place that will take them and
since there is such a shortage they will
go wherever they can find a place
because sadly many many people have been
given vouchers but they can't find a
landlord who will rent to them
and or maybe through no fault of their
own there just aren't a lot of
low-income housing so so Bexley will not
be getting the people who want to be in
Bexley for Bexley culture that's gonna
you know that's gonna be a tough one to
deal with the builders or the developers
are not allowed to screen their
um clients to see who wants to be part
of the Bexley schools that would be
discrimination and we have laws against
that so I just hope that Council will
really educate themselves about this and
move forward and correct
acknowledge that there are potential
problems those problems may not happen
but we need to build in money
and
um strategies so that should those
problems start coming up we're not
caught
um shocked and scrambling to figure out
what to do because they're tough
problems I thank you all for your work
for this city bye-bye
mayor Kessler is that all
um for the public comments
yes those are registered yep okay thank
you all right
um then if we may
um I'm going to move on to the
president's report I'm just going to
um
remind all of you that we have to get
our financial statements in May 17th
that date is coming coming
um so make sure that you get it done I
still have money to do can you call me
the morning of the 17th I will call you
I will call you I will call you for sure
we'll have coffee and do it that's right
over the phone
um I want to
um I also want to um let you know that
um a meeting of the minds of the leaders
of Bexley is going to happen either next
week or the next so our Round Table uh
we get so much out of that and and I
really
um I I will hope
um next year's president continues to do
that it is fun you know ideas juice and
it's a really wonderful way to
communicate
um
some of you may not know but I am also
co-president with janz up Nick of the
White Hope Bexley Rotary Club and
um we were spoiled by the Bexley
Recreation Department as a club last
Friday last Monday I could not join Miss
sod for a tour of the Mansion but on
Friday Mike and Natalie spoiled us and
took us for a
um for a trip and around around the new
their new dig so Mike I know you're on
thank you thank you thank you it was a
little last minute and it was but it was
really special and the information that
the rec department knows about the
history of that Mansion I certainly hope
that we are writing that down somehow
because it's really it's really
phenomenal so
um a big big thank you
um for that so and in doing so I was
doing a little marketing guys because
all these people might have
grandchildren or children that want to
have fabulous occasions at our newly
renovated Mansion so
um I don't think I have anything else to
add as uh for the president's report and
so I am going to go ahead and ask our
City attorney if he has anything to say
Mr official yeah just one reminder
but now
formally here the appeal in a
quasi-judicial hearing setting I still
want to I guess I'll use the admonish
how about remind you
that this is still subject to pending
litigation so the Southern substance of
what happens tonight we'll just say you
folks now
um and some people are listening though
is that you have now issued a final
appeal award
that order can that it can now be
appealed to the Franklin County Common
Pleas Court and of course the same issue
will be before the Common Pleas Court as
could have been before you and this
could this appeal to the happen whether
or not you heard the appeal
um
the court appeal could have happened
whether or not you guys were the appeal
field so the bottom line is you guys
should be careful about what you're
saying in public because we are still in
this Essence being sued with regard to
what the visap decision was for the
living staff
please be careful and delaying the
lawyer if you need to it's just not a
topic we're talking we're allowed to
talk about here at the end
okay yeah it works
Mark said
thank you Mark so much
um we appreciate you and and your
counsel thank you so much
um administrative updates
um financial department
um I know that our auditor is not here
but is Beecher Hale with us on he is I
am here I am here but we have no report
we will have um we will have the uh
April numbers for you at the next
meeting
so no report and thank you for all you
do we appreciate you thank you
Chief Reinhardt and the police
department sir
yes ma'am I have nothing beyond my
written report
right Officer picked up those signatures
for you so you can fumble through those
anybody have any I I I'm sorry I didn't
ask if anyone had any questions for uh
feature
you know how about for the chief
anybody have any questions for the chief
um Chief could you please obviously that
uh Mr Abramson was here with uh his talk
alluding a little bit to some of the
Facebook chatter we've had a lot of
requests for information about
uh our response to an incident that
happened last Saturday or I guess the
Saturday before last Saturday would you
just uh please provide counsel in the
public with an update in terms of an
internal review process of that event
yes sir we're certainly aware of the
comments from uh some parts of our
community and we take those seriously we
are working diligently along with the
city attorney to do a complete internal
review and once that is done completely
done we'll issue a report to council
into the community it'll be posted on
the website uh actually just uh
redacting all of the body Cam and the
car cam footage has been a massive task
and uh Sergeant overly has just been a
phenomenal help with that but we're
working through it sir and and the
minute it is complete it will be made
public to everybody
thank you
thanks so much Chief and please uh give
Donna a big thank you for all the extra
hours she's putting in she did share
that with the um the um Citizen Police
Academy when we had a meeting last for
the Monday night a week ago Monday a
week ago Thursday it seems like much
longer than that ago anyway she she
mentioned that it really is very time
consuming so
um thank you for all you do
um we can move on to the service
department I think that I saw
Andy Bayshore hi sir how are you good
how are you madam president
I'm well thank you
um
yep the only thing I just want to add a
couple things to my report
um under my service department
highlights I just wanted to make
something clear I have the I mentioned
the backflow preventer program
and um I had a late call
um this afternoon this evening we
actually have 65 inspections spread out
over three different contractors that
will begin next week
um
once we start getting the results back
um you know we'll I'll be able to share
those but no inspections have started
yet but they will start next week
um the only other thing I wanted to add
is I'm working with Sam and the mayor
and
um finalizing the Dora Sign Pro
plan and I should have those signs
ordered by the end of the week
get those ordered we are ready to be
exploring the Dora so I'll make that
happen for us thank you and the flood
ugh it just is a gift that just keeps on
giving to the service department and and
your workload thank you so much for all
you all you do to make that happen I'm
looking at him I should be looking at
the camera right I don't know anyway I'm
looking at you
but on camera clearly does anybody have
any questions for Mr beef or Mr Sharp
does one item why and he's on here um I
think the mayor told me that also the
letters went out to all the
um
homeowners that filled out of the survey
to make sure that they scheduled an
inspection or registered for the program
to make sure they um got signed up for
an inspection is that correct
emails so they signed up via email and
we that's how that's how we have these
60 some odd uh inspections because they
were that's how they got the information
about the inspectors okay and then um
second thing I don't know whether it
affects Sandy or whether it affects the
building department but while we're
talking about
semi-related issues
um last year we passed the right-of-way
planning ordinance and I didn't know
what I've been asked if a notice has
gone out to Residents if there's a time
frame for enforcement or
um for the plantings and the sidewalk
street right away
that might not
comply with the current ordinance
so I don't I know that the only one I
can think of that's super permanent I
know that you would talk to the resident
about that or said you were going to
maybe did not but I can think of I
talked I talked to one that Ambassador I
talked to one that I thought might be
affected we don't have it so we don't
have a database you probably actually
have a better database as the vexity uh
beat than we have in terms of who's in
that right-of-way so as a drive around
person as a drive around as a driver
Observer so um no we have not done
proactive notification but if Dave comes
across those
um and has not already just given them
that notice it's not going to be like a
citation he never starts with a citation
it's going to be a he's going to be a
very friendly us on either conversation
or slip that just lets them know about
it so
that's the process that we would use
okay thank you thanks
anybody else have any questions for Mr
Bayshore
thanks Andy
please
thank you okay and when James's wife has
her baby will you let me know
actually if you my my screen just went
white lorian but if you can hear me she
actually had it Sunday morning oh yay
that's wonderful a little girl
uh I knew she was expecting a girl
please if you talk to him please share
our congratulations will do
James does the lights for all of us he
does all the big lights the Buddies
thanks Andy so much take care all right
you too
all right Michael price
from the rec department you're on sir
thank you madam president uh nothing to
add to my written report although uh I
do think mayor and I would like to have
some discussion with the city council
about
um the cool concept for 21 that the
Americans earlier in the day
wonderful mayor Kessler do you want to
do that now or do you want to dig into
your report and then
um and then uh no let's let's cover that
while uh while we're in the midst of uh
my of the rec update
um sounds great
so as you guys know we've as we've uh as
we've sort of navigated through the
covid-19 pandemic last summer we did not
open up the pool it was determined
because of Franklin County Public Health
orders at the time or get their strong
suggestions that we shouldn't do so but
we knew even as we modeled it out even
if we could open it would be hold on I'm
trying to figure out how we can make it
so you guys can see Mike
sorry there he is hey Mike uh it would
be he's kind of small sorry Mike you're
uh it would be um difficult to make the
pool feasible with a limited amount of
occupancy
um we're looking at different types of
registration models different types of
time bookings
um the same is true this summer we're
going to have a reduced occupancy at the
pool occupancy of about 130 individuals
uh the technical legal occupancy is
north of the Thousand sort of those when
you come into those kind of peak crazy
hot Saturday afternoons that's you're
seeing about six or seven hundred
individuals at those times so that's um
obviously a large reduction over what we
could normally command the way that we
plan on
managing that occupancy is providing
registration slots hour and a half
registration slots no breaks then you
would move on out of your registration
slot as a family or individual pool
staff would clean take a little bit of a
break themselves or whatever they do
sorry Mike you can say what they do and
then we would turn over to the next uh
registration group
um that is not going to be the pool
experience that people are used to
people will not have the same sort of
easy access all the time that they
usually have and as we've thought
through how is the best way to do that
um
and many of our rec efforts over the
past 12 plus months our goal has just
been to provide relief and joy to the
community of places where uh in a time
when it's it's difficult to find joy you
know so we've talked about how do we how
do we make
um this work for our community Mike
brought an idea uh to me
um this week
why don't we just have a reduced price
membership nominal membership for
families
our proposal is 25 membership
and provide free registration then to
any of the slots based upon availability
and they would be kind of rotating
through our registration so maybe twice
a week there'll be a window to to
register
um if someone registers and doesn't show
we would have a fee associated with that
just so that we really encourage people
to use times at the register but other
than that
um you know very nominal very nominal
season pass and then free use of the
pool there and out as a way to basically
kind of provide Joy to the community I
think we think it'll provide
um more people the opportunity to access
the pool than could even do it before
not as much access in terms of time but
it would broaden the footprint of people
who are using the pool and families that
are using the pool which puts us I think
in a good position as we look towards
more normal seasons and years to come
now there are a couple ways for us to
fund that
we have about a 300 and
44
000 balance in our swimming pool fund
give or take uh that balance covers more
than a Year's worth of operating
expenses but we like to keep that
balance because we want to be able to
use it for Capital expenses that occur
down the road whether it's you know
replacement of expensive equipment or
even ideally down the road whenever the
pool is at the end of its life that we
would have a little bit of a nest egg to
build off of for the new pool
um there are two other sources of
funding that we can look to that are uh
Beyond sort of conventional City general
fund type funding or Capital fund
the two other sources would be uh
residual money from the cares act which
we have some of we have a couple hundred
thousand dollars that we have not yet
spent although we've we've potentially
targeted that for some some projects and
then we have about 2.7 million dollars
of American Rescue plan funding coming
our way and reimbursing ourselves for
lost income is a use of American Rescue
plan dollars that was allowed now
whether or not that's a use that we want
to use it for is a big question and you
know that would be about 10 of our total
receipts from the ARP and that's a
bigger picture question that I think
we've talked about we need to sit down
or really dig through how do we use
those ARP funds the problem is that
decision point is is really coming up I
mean the models that we have developed
are based upon the most recent guidance
everything's been even now been
developing pretty quickly as to what we
can and can't do at the pool
so we are getting to the point where we
need to start letting people know what's
going on we have an opening date set for
Memorial Day weekend end of this month
and uh which is great but uh we need to
know what to tell our community so not
to put everybody in the spot
um the alternative would be Mike do you
want to talk through what it would look
like if we had a more conventional
pricing team and and I guess the
disclosure that we still would lose
money uh even then
yeah
um and thank you mayor that was a really
good explanation
um you know the conventional
approach that we've been operating under
is basically a five dollar per person
fee per attendance
um which would uh I think the last
projection was still would end up in
about a 50 to an estimated 50 to 75 000
loss in operation of the pool
um but it would obviously recoup some of
the recruit some of the costs for for
pool operations you know as we've
thought through this process you know
there's a lot of obviously moving Parts
there's a lot of things to think about
but one of the things that continue as
we as we thought about this one of the
things that continued to come up is uh
the stress and The Angst of the process
for our residents and when you're
thinking about you know getting on and
hoping a you get a spot so there's The
Angst of just getting access
um and then you think about it in terms
of well I have to I have to book it a
couple days in advance because it's the
logistics things for us
um but I don't really know what the
weather's going to be like and I don't
know what three days from now is going
to look like and I've just put down 25
let's say if I'm a family of five and
you know three days comes around and the
temperatures drop so it's a little bit
rainy
um you know our concern one of our
concerns was that ultimately the the
point of the pool is to bring an outlet
and joy and bring opportunity for our
residents uh but that in this sort of
structure and unfortunately it's the
structure we sort of have to do uh
because of limitations on access but
that we would we'd be setting ourselves
up for having a negative experience for
our community within the pool facility
and I think that that's something that
um we've talked about is how do we do
this either way there's going to be some
some angst with capacity limitations but
how do we do this in a way that uh
hopefully allows for our residents to
more often than not have a positive
experience uh have a positive outlet uh
with the pool facility so that's
um you know again just to reiterate what
the mayor said that was some of the
context of why we're we're entertaining
this concept and some of the concerns
we're thinking about
I'm I'm guessing that
um the mayor and Mike and Mike would
like to have some sort of a gauge as to
how we feel about that and I do see
Monique has her hand
um race um please
you know your mic isn't working
can you hear me
has the rec board weighed in on this and
what's been the discussion there
no so the rec board
we had a meeting this past Wednesday and
honestly this conversation happened
within the last uh couple days uh with
the mayor and I and uh we had some
tentative conversations the morning of
the record meeting
did not feel comfortable uh without
having really worked through it with the
mayor to have a discussion in public
meeting with the record because we
didn't want to set
um
confusion with the residents a but B uh
put something out there as a concept
that they may really enjoy but doesn't
necessarily even have the administration
support so I I did talk with the record
to say hey there's something that we're
working on and I'll bring it back to the
record as soon as I get a feel as to
whether it's you know there's a
potential there I have since forwarded
the mayor's email along that she's he
sent out this this morning earlier today
to uh city council I have since sent
that to the rec board and we will have
some discussion about setting up a
special meeting if if needed to get
their perspective on it
okay and it sounds like you need a
decision or you're just trying to take
the temperature tonight
it's I think what we're looking for is
um if if Council hears this and says
if any one of you say hey hold on this
is really troubling to me
um then I think we should try to set a
schedule a meeting
soon in the next you know a few days or
week to really Hammer through a little
bit more in depth
um there is because of the way our
budgeting works we have the ability to
move forward with the plan technically
because we have the right to spend the
money to operate the pool
and not bring in the revenue but that's
not the that wasn't really the
necessarily the intent obviously going
into the season so I think
um
if we want to take a deeper dive then I
think we need to do it kind of quickly
and uh and I you know I want to honor
Mike and and it's this is last minute I
don't like to dump anything last minute
on anybody's lap but everything even
even 12 or 13 months into this
everything's a little bit last minute as
we sort of get through well what is it
we can and can't do you know and when we
finally reach the conclusion trying to
come up with a good solution Ms Robinson
oops thank you um I just want to make
sure that I'm clear on what's being
proposed so this is either to the mayor
or to you Mike so in essence we're still
sticking with that hour and a half time
slot but these would be open to people
who have memberships only as opposed to
just opening it up to the community in
general and having them sign up for for
slots as they become available am I
understanding that correctly
yeah and mayor I'll take this the
expectation under this structure would
be you know obviously a hopefully a
fairly nominal 25 membership for the
season would then allow you to have uh
pre-registration options so you'd be
able to register say on Sunday for
Monday through Thursday and on Thursday
for Friday through Saturday we have had
some discussion about if you don't have
the membership that maybe you could show
up day of if there's still space
available
um
which I think we would be open to you
know that you know for the end users
that's that's tough to get in the car
and drive over and then find out you
know have your kids all ready and then
find out that there's no space uh so I'm
not sure we'd see a lot of that but I
think we would be open to that as well
great thank you I saw it
hey Mike thanks for bringing something
ingenuitive to the table to try and
figure this out with the pool
um I had a question on that one and a
half hour slot as well does it have to
be an hour and a half I was wondering I
can't remember because this was just
brought in front of us today but the
communities that opened the pool last
year was at UA and Pickerington
and I can't remember what their time
slots were so I guess that's a question
that I have as we're going into this
since they already did it last summer
when it was we were in the height of the
pandemic what was their success you know
what were their challenges
I do remember I believe that they were
doing the five dollars per session
um I don't know that that was an issue
um you know weather is always something
the sods I know my family in the past we
would see the Robinsons sometimes at the
pool after the the rain and the Thunder
and then it was nice because we had to
pull to ourselves
um but I will say like my experience
last summer in a private setting in my
experience as I head into the summer in
a private pool setting is I I will be in
a situation again where I'm registering
the night before
for the next day for a three hour
um time slot so just having had the
experience of a public pool setting
during the pandemic and then moving
forward just have some more questions on
this
um
and then the 340 000 balance something
to just I guess helping me understand
that balance that we have in the pool
fund
I've heard from residents and you have
to like the bottom of the pool and the
beautification of um the upkeep of the
pool so I just want to make sure that if
we're looking at that 340 000 just
speaking for residents I've heard from
multiple times that we aren't taking
away funds to preserve maintain and
beautify
um the pool so I guess my question is is
the five dollars per person
I guess I kind of see that the community
would be okay with that
um so that we're not having a big loss
um and then the other question is can we
have a longer
time slot I think an hour and a half if
I'm bringing three kids with me it would
be nice to have two hours or three and
maybe you've already gone through that
but um just some things to weigh in and
then what did other communities do last
summer that did open what our community
is doing this Summer that are opening
it's not that I'm not in favor of this I
just have more questions since this all
came out to us today
sure so a couple things I want to I
guess I want to be really clear about is
first of all
um
have a plan in place so
I don't want to give the notion that
this last minute concept is
in lieu of not having a plan in place we
have a plan in place that we can move
forward with that we're planning on
moving forward with depending on on the
feedback from from Council which is the
five dollars uh the hour and a half time
slots uh the hour and a half time slots
um uh came out of a lot of discussions
some of it is based on what other places
have done there are very few that opened
up and I can't remember I want to see
other interns one of them I think they
have multiple pools I think they open up
one of their pools
um but the time slot for us was about
evaluating what our capacity limitations
are and what our we expect our demand to
be uh I I do think we could make a you
could make the argument that two would
be better or three would be even better
the downside of that depending on
um demand is that we get less people
have access to the pool
um we have uh in a normal year we have
about 2 700 members and in based on an
hour and a half time slot we have uh 3
900 available time slots per week so if
you take an hour and a half and you make
it two hours or if you make it three
hours you cut that in half essentially
and therefore based on our experience of
2700 res you know members you might only
be able to come once every two weeks uh
the more time you give per time slot so
those are the sort of the factors we
think about or have thought about in
terms of determining whether an hour and
a half or two hours or three hours is
the right amount we also within that
context of that during the week we have
to include how does Camp get access or
do they have access within that what's
the entire when does swim lessons in
when is our open swim we're on what are
they uh you know if it's a if it's a
nine hour day it's divisible by three or
three or an hour and a half versus an
eight hour day so there's a lot of
different factors I I expect us we have
had conversations uh here uh to evaluate
very early on that hour and a half time
slot and whether or not that is the
right amount of time based on what we're
seeing with demand if we're seeing that
every one of these time slots fills up
then it probably is the right time slot
um because we're getting access to as
many people as possible if we find out
that you know some of the time slots are
only at 50 capacity well then losing a
time slot and adding more time might
make sense and so that that will that
will be a review process very early on
um hopefully that answers the question
I'm not you know again in terms of the
of the charge uh of five dollars
um I think it's reasonable to look at
this either way I mean I can understand
if council's decision is uh you know
that
um that we have other ways or other
reasons or other desires for those
monies and and we don't want to reduce
our pool fund that we can move forward
with a five dollar cost per per resident
and do the best that we can and I think
we can do a good job doing it
um I do think there are
um you know a lot of a lot of potential
drawbacks to you know investing 25 and
then have the weather be awful and you
know have have to deal with you know
either a loss of that because our
expectation is if the pool is open then
you know you're committed whether it's
raining or cold or whatever it is
um it's really a question of
um you know for me it's a question of
what uh what do we want to do from a
resource standpoint with the pool and do
we want to focus on recouping money or
focus on
um or focus on the service that is the
pool to our community and and or split
that it doesn't be one or all
it could even be subsidized that you
know maybe it becomes two bucks I mean
there's a lot of different ways to look
at this
um but that's you know kind of what the
thought process is
Matt has a question and then
um Richard and then I'll come back to
you Jess okay
um thank you can you guys can you remind
me what the loss would be but
potentially so um the 25 the expense the
expense to operate the pools in the 277
000 range each year 20 the 25
registration let's say we have a um
uh what do we save Mike a thousand
families or two thousand families
members that was members members a
thousand members we have excuses around
700 memberships
so we said maybe we have 25 000 in
membership fees so that reduces it to
like 252 000 plus some cancellation fees
we think that 240 000 is going to be our
net expense from that
um and then I think the thing to compare
that against is Mike's forecast for net
revenue
[Music]
um with the model where it's a five
dollar registration and Mike what is
that
yeah
you know it was about us
between a 50 and a 75 000 law so it
would have been in the neighborhood of
two hundred thousand dollars
okay thanks so I guess my question is
between the residual cares acts money
and the 2.7 million American Rescue plan
do you do you foresee
using all of those I mean can we
can use do you think we can spare 250
000 out of that or
so do you foresee us using that to
secure for lost funds elsewhere it's
really it's about 170 or 190 000 because
that's the difference in loss between
the current and whatever but um I think
so there's like a gazillion ways to
slice this right we could absorb the
loss a portion of it from carriers a
portion from ARP and a portion from our
actual fund if we wanted to we could
split it evenly I mean we could really
kind of squeeze that around a couple
different ways but the end of the day
it's a loss you know it's you know and
it's an opportunity cost because ARP
money can be used for water and sewer
and it can be used for lost Revenue so I
mean there's no way that we're not going
to be able to use the 2.7 million
dollars in the ARP the question is is
that
worthwhile is it is it a value to our
community
and so there are obviously there are two
factors I think to Mike has said this I
just want to highlight them one is
the user experience and and what's going
to happen when you've paid five bucks
and it rains and you know you're you
lost that chance and then you're you
know frustrated and you're going to find
another registration so five bucks is
nominal but if it's among five people in
a family that's not totally nominal and
that's a meaningful
Hassle and so there's going to be
frustration and there's going to be
angst about it
um versus the opportunity to provide
something you know Extra Value to the
community and so
is it responsible for us to use
um essentially
six percent of our total care slash air
ARP money for something that is a really
kind of special gift per se to the
community and we thought it was worth
talking about
Richard
um Mike couple issues um at the
beginning I think you were talking about
the the guidance at is your guidance
um regarding social distancing and
everything like that has that changed
since
are you anticipating there to be a
relaxation I know a number of states are
relaxing
um restrictions even some of the um more
restricted states are are relaxing
restrictions are we going to get to like
June 1st and there's going to be no
restrictions so to speak are you using
six foot distancing three foot
um and has there been research on the
effects of the chlorine and and sunlight
as far as
um
how many people you can actually have in
in the pool and especially with the
vaccination rates
um and the and the lowering of the
vaccination the age that's expected here
um this week
then the um other uh question I I'd be
are you anticipating a lot of
time and hassle collecting five dollars
per person uh per are you collecting in
advance How are
um people who may not have
um
uh parents that that may work during the
day that have child care providers you
know that they may not have instant
access to Internet
um
are are they going to be able to to
register
um easily
and I does your system allow people to
see how many spots have been taken like
the um Survey Monkey or one of the apps
indicates how many slots are available
um so that people can gauge well oh this
is uh there's a lot of space I can go
over this this morning and so um so I
can I can appreciate the the transaction
costs being high for five dollars per
per use
um I I would maybe suggest a compromise
solution of 25 per person in the family
I think that makes them more Equitable
for larger families and and
um single single people who just go over
and maybe
um if you could have like a a couple of
different time periods during the day
like there are probably um seniors that
just want to get out and swim in an hour
and a half is fine but maybe three hours
in the afternoon is is better for for
parents with kids that need arrest so
just
try to but like if you have something to
respond before Before Troy yeah if I
could I I try to answer I think the
questions you had there uh Richard
um you know the guidance you know it's
what we're operating office is the best
information we have at this point could
it change next week June 1st July 4th it
could uh it's tough it you know I'm not
in any position right now I don't have
any inside information anyone else uh
doesn't have and the guidance is
generally based on the capacity and it's
a you know it looks at deck space and
pool space it looks at a lot of
different uh components to calculate up
um what has turned out to be 130
um for us so I I it's tough for me to
say if that will change it's likely it
will uh hopefully it will but
um there's no way of knowing exactly
exactly when or what those changes might
look like in terms of collections I want
to be you know I want to be clear this
isn't this concept isn't a matter of us
not being able to operate uh or be able
to deal with the collection side that
our system will allow people to register
um in advance and automatically take the
the payment uh it's not a matter of us
having to deal with manually collecting
payments one by one so they can do it
online play with the credit card
um register in advance uh that that is
all uh that is all very doable we had we
did have discussions very early on about
you know whether we have a membership
module uh where you basically just buy a
membership and then you can register for
free and that and that membership is
maybe more in line with what it would
normally be say three or four hundred
bucks for a family of you know five or
six
um the problem we had with that was to
ask for a register a membership fee of
300 to 400
uh and then have a limited capacity and
then have people Go why'd I buy this
membership when I can never get in there
or I can only get in there once a week
and now this becomes a you know a thirty
dollar uh forty dollar per visit sort of
a situation we thought we were setting
ourselves up and setting our residents
up for a really bad experience to
purchase the membership and not get the
kind of access that they would want to
have with that membership purchase so
um but I'm not concerned whatever
direction we go in terms of being able
to deal with registration side I mean
there will be a learning curve for our
community for sure but I I do think we
have the capacity to be able to manage
that
Mr Markham
yeah thank you Mike and I think you're
probably have your head into those
models probably a lot better than we
would so uh I appreciate you thinking
about that especially given that the
experience that we're looking for
um and I'm your Finance chair so I enjoy
grilling you and making you a little bit
miserable about finances but I'm really
all about the joy too and I think that
uh the fact that you're focusing on that
I think is appropriate here because this
is a summer that I think most of us in
the community we want to enjoy our pool
and we want to get out and we want to to
do these things again and so whatever
model that you come up with I think it's
appropriate to try and bring people out
of their houses to the pool
understanding that the pool experience
is probably going to be uh it's going to
be kind of the private club experience a
little bit it'll be spaced out much
fewer people than than those that are
there before uh in terms of the finances
I do like the idea of some buy-in from
the public to kind of help dilute this
my own personal feeling is uh the
financial situation that we're in with
the pool is a product of covet 19. I
feel like it's probably appropriate to
utilize funds from the federal
government to help remediate covid-19 to
help with this I am a little bit
hesitant to go into the pool fund only
because the people who will be sitting
here in two years
Etc I don't want us to necessarily Rob
out right I don't want to use the term
Rob I don't want to take any money out
of their pockets at this point if we
have other options which we perhaps do
that's just my two cents thank you Troy
I I appreciate I appreciate what you um
what you said and and and loved hearing
it I was hoping though Mike can you walk
us backwards a little bit
um in that timing wise tell us when you
think you need to have this decision
um
so that we can we can walk it back and I
love that that you're willing to really
think about the rec department is a
service it's a service to our community
and there are a lot of individuals who
need
um who need to be able to play just like
Troy said I mean we they need it the
kids need to have a little bit of normal
in their life and and I applaud you for
trying to make it
um accessible to to more people but walk
us backwards if you would please
tell us when you think to be able to
really share this information with the
community it would have been nice had
you had this light bulb go off about two
months ago we understand that this was a
brainstorm in fact in fact Mike said to
me he said what do you think would Kelso
would think and then it started as a
little bit of a nugget and clearly he
had a conversation with Ben and it just
you know it blossomed into this and um
but when do you think you'd have to know
like
you know we're scheduled to open on
Saturday May 29th which is two weeks
from this Saturday
um because our current structure isn't
requiring any sort of membership it's
not like we're in a position where
people are investing now and we have to
do some sort of a refund or deal with
the change of that up until you know
you know up until the week of for
example uh the bigger issue is just
communication and getting that out and
having our residents fully understand
what the expectations are for the summer
you know the longer it goes the more
questions we're going to get the more
um you know Facebook posts we're going
to receive the more you know concerned
people are going to have with what that
plan is but uh I do think we you know
the sooner the better but if there's
nothing that is saying hey it has to
happen by you know two days from now or
four days from now it's just a matter of
how much advanced communication we can
give to our residents uh if we're going
to go a different route again we already
have a plan on paper that we're ready to
execute and we have communicated at some
uh at some level to our residence and
we'll continue to
um this is just you know an idea a
concept uh that we think
may be you know a good way to support
our community during these you know
during this tough time and getting
people back out it doesn't have to be
the direction we go but I think if we
you know if we had something by next
week
um we can make that work and if frankly
it had to be the following week at the
council meeting on the 25th
we can find a way to make that work as
well
yeah I I would just I would love
love to have some buy-in from the rec
board I I really you know that's what
they're they're there to make
recommendations to us then I think it I
think I feel like us making a decision
before they had an opportunity weigh in
would feel like we were stepping on
their toes a little bit so I think I'd
really I'd really like that no you don't
think so
but I do I want to be really clear it's
your money yes I understand this is
Council I I completely understand that
that being said these individuals help
make choices about
are are our parks and our Recreation and
I think I think it's very important for
them to I to weigh in I I hear you I
think if you said to the rec board where
we are satisfied with funding this
concept maybe all over it rally right
behind Mike and help me maybe tweak some
of the stuff you guys have been talking
about in terms of time so the
operational stuff they want to get into
I don't want to speak for the rec board
but Mike do you do we not agree that if
Council was comfortable funding it the
rec board you know is that's they'd be
all over that would be their first
question so it's kind of Catch 22 they
said well is how are you gonna fund it
and if you say well council is okay with
that then I think
that's one okay I think Jess had
something to say and then and Matt
Klingler as well
Mike the question I forgot to ask um you
know in the state of the pandemic as
we've gone through a lot of
um organizations pools have limited to
Members Only
so my question is in going into the
summer are we limiting this to just
residents of the 43209
uh our expectation at this point in time
is it's uh would be the same as it is
normally uh with the caveat that we
would not sell memberships to
non-resident sponsored members if you
will we we have a program now that
allows to sell up to 50 non-resident
memberships
um and they have to be sponsored by a
resident member we would eliminate the
non-resident membership but then it is
non-residents can come as guests of
residence so if we're using our current
model then if I signed up in my nephew
that doesn't live in Bexley I wanted to
come with us they would have to read we
would register them in our account and
they would come as a guest of us
so I think just something to consider I
I would like to get you an answer
um before the next council meeting
because I do think that coming up
against Memorial Day to our community
with everything we're trying to say that
pool getting open and giving everybody
that opportunity to go to the pool is
huge for our community but I think some
more discussion on how we're financing
it and what makes sense for Bexley
um and then who is included in that
because I
I guess my experience is so far up to
date with my family and things I've been
involved in it's just kind of been the
state of
where we're at that
everybody's kind of gotten used to
knowing in the pandemic whether it's
school or anything else
members only right now so maybe if we do
do some of this funding something to
consider
as far as how we look at that with
guests
just a thought
yeah and I hear that I I I I would say
um the guest of members is
yeah I hear your point in terms of
capacity the guests of members to from
my perspective is an amenity for our
residents for them to be able to have
the ability to have a family member from
out of town come and visit and go with
them to the pool but I understand what
you're saying
foreign
[Music]
exactly
you're welcome anyway I know this isn't
necessarily A City attorney thing to
chime in on but in listening to the
great conversation here I mean you know
first of all I want to Echo what Troy I
mean I would Echo what Troy said the
pool has to be opened I mean and it has
to be open in a manner that's as Fair as
possible and you know in my experience
as again City attorney not a city
council member the Mike Price does a
great job of figuring out those details
I really think that and again I can't
you know I'm not here to say you should
or shouldn't defer to the record or
whatever I think it's really important
the sooner you can in other words maybe
even tonight
send at least
indication that you're ready to absorb
the loss
and figure out how to pay for it with
the options later on so the planning can
go forward on the details some of which
you know as again the mayor said you
know some of the details would maybe be
tweaked you know based on what here you
guys have heard tonight again I I'm not
trying to make you know Rush people into
the decision and it's your call
completely but today it seems to me that
to the extent council's ready to say
yeah we're going to figure out a way to
pay for it that pool needs to be open
and people need to know as soon as
possible
um whether it's going to be open
especially two weeks from from Memorial
Day again I'm sorry I kind of feel like
I overstepped my bounds here but but I
think that's where I was getting at with
with with the with the uh Rec board I am
comfortable saying
Mike let's get as many people as many
residents as we possibly can into those
pools for some sanity
um let's remember that our rec
department is a service just because
Mike seems to be able to get such
exciting you know programming into our
community that we're used to we have
become super spoiled
that he he manages you know to to make
it you know more of a wash for our
community than than anything and and not
by uh reducing Services I'm comfortable
with that I don't want us sitting here
trying to create the details that I
think the rec board is much more capable
of doing than we are
so I don't know exactly what you want
us I guess I wanna I guess I want to
know what the bottom line is what you
need to know as a council member I am
comfortable with the initial deficit
that was
projected of 70 some thousand based on
the five dollar per uh per yeah 75 000
based on the five dollar per person
admission fee I think that's a
reasonable fee or a regular fee before
for an individual coming in was eight or
ten dollars I think so I think it's
reasonable
um if you want to Tinker around with the
times a little bit I'm in support of
that and if that
marginally increases the deficit I'm
fine with that
um but I and I think that
the five dollar will eliminate yes
someone may sign up for a time that
um it storms I think the rec department
is creative enough to give a coupon for
something or a credit on Direct program
or something like that that you could do
that but when you're registering a
couple days in advance most people can
kind of get get an idea what the weather
is going to be whether they want to risk
it or not if they put their money down
they may take the chance of coming
anyways and the weatherman being wrong
so anyway
anyways that's just my my my thought I'm
comfortable with the deficit that you
originally proposed I think it's
important to keep the pool fund balanced
for for the future
um maintenance and replacement that
eventually will have to come
so Richard you're suggesting that Mike's
stay with plan A
okay
anybody else have any
and I think if I may Madam president I I
think that's you know not to
oversimplify it but really the question
I think that I'm I'm proposing the
mayor's proposing our council is
essentially
what is the uh loss that Council was
comfortable with and
um you know and what that subsidy
process would look like I mean that's
that's essentially the question so when
you talk about like you know the rec
boards weighing in you know the record
has to think about the Rex finances and
if if the city council says yes we're
going to subsidize that loss to the tune
of 250 000 so you guys structured how
you want to structure they're going to
be all for it
um if that loss gets covered that way so
you know that that really is ultimately
the question is
um
is what is the financial loss that that
council is supportive of and whether
that gets offset by Carriage money
um or the wreck or the pool fund
um we can have those discussions I I
think we're coming forward to say here's
another way of looking at it instead of
thinking about it in terms of the
um how much money we can recoup let's
think about it solely in terms of it
being really a a amenity for our
community this year and think about it
as being an outlet for our community and
that be the focus that's that's really
what we're talking about on a more
simplistic level and whether or not
councils you know is supportive of that
idea from a financial standpoint
to supplement what Mike is saying to
build off of that
we keep talking about the pool fund I
don't think we're I'm saying we could
but we're not proposing that I mean
we've received
uh total through these two processes of
4.3 million dollars and what we're
saying is why don't we take 200 250 000
of that and reimburse ourselves for lost
Revenue in the rec fund and use that
reimbursement to provide an amenity to
the community
Mr Robinson
um first of all Troy thank you for
couching this in a way that where it
really is about service and it's about
providing something for our community
that we've all been lacking for the last
however many months
joy joy is what we've been lacking
um anyway my question to you and it to
the mayor is and I know that you know
there's no crystal ball so we don't know
specifically how that the cares act and
and um is it I always say it wrong ARP
not AARP that's another mailing that I
got in the mail the other day but
um so uh my question is is that are
those dollars going to take away from
something else that we we know is
looming out there
um that um you know where this money
could be not more appropriately spent
because Mike I don't want you to think
that I don't think reckon Parks is
appropriate but is there is there a a
more urgent need for those dollars I
think that would be the only thing that
would cause me any kind of hesitation
um and and I would certainly be willing
to move forward with at least support of
investigating this idea more as long as
I know
so I'm I I apologize Jen I cannot give
you that answer and here's why I mean
the the money that we the funding that
we're going to be receiving can be used
for water infrastructure pursuer
infrastructure for broadband
uh to pay off losses which this is an
example of that
um to help out with household and
business
um impact uh so a whole slew of things
so we have to have a much bigger
discussion where we need to parse
through that and really determine what
is the best way to spend those funds and
I imagine it's going to take us several
months to do that so we don't have the
time between now and a week or two from
now to really have that really that
conversation to the extent that it's
needed
um so the the question is you know are
you comfortable that a component of that
would be this sort of a program this
sort of a uh Revenue
um uh makeup if you will and and I
understand that's a that's a hard
question to answer because
we're not ready to prioritize all of
that entire pot
we will have the option at some point in
this next few months to determine that
some of that money could go back to
refund some of this expense however we
allocated this point though
yeah
so so we could go with plan A
and we could allocate some of those
funds to what we had lost
yes
plan a being the what Mike either one
either either one either one either one
we go with uh something in the middle uh
and you know then it's just the question
of to what extent do we end up
ultimately wanting to refund ourselves
for that lost Revenue yeah it isn't the
comparison of the last revenue between
2020 and 2019 not 21 and 20. right but
swimming pool lost Revenue in 2020 was
uh right so we can take that recovery
plus we can have funds other
I can put that in the in the the pool
fund and then there's probably some
other funds from some of those
three pots of federal money that can
support the current year loss
oh so okay so
that is a good question and I don't know
the answer to that I keep on hearing
about loss in 2020. I assume that
there's probably also 2020 I just that's
the number that's the year that keeps on
getting mentioned there's also the rec
fund there's been a loss in the refund
there's our general fund we we
underperformed projections I think a
little bit not much so
um there are
there are lots of ways that this this
funding could help to support the city
and at the end of the day we could kind
of go in circles around that I mean I
feel like that's what we would spend 40
million but I think I think Mike missed
Mike missed my answer I'm comfortable
with the negative 75 000. yes I'll make
that clear that's and I agree I heard
that and I think that's why I'm so sorry
I think Monique had her hand in there no
am I wrong no I was just gonna say Mike
I love the pool I'm one of those people
that I go to the pool without my kids
and that is how much I love our Bexley
pool
um I do feel like we uh seem a little
pressed for time but we're also becoming
a little circular I'm going to propose
what may be a very unpopular idea but I
would tell you that I could go for
option A or B and I see that there's
some flexibility in both it could be
that one option instead of the general
membership it's 25 maybe at the end of
the day when you look at finances on a
much deeper dive you determine that that
membership fee should be 35 or 40 but
you can adjust it under option A or
option b either way the pool is going to
open either way I'm committing to
keeping the pool open but if we need a
deeper dive as a council to figure out
where that money comes from and to also
know what other expenses potentially are
going to come in I would propose having
a special counsel meeting to figure out
the intricacies of that not necessarily
here tonight but that's that's my input
for you
Mr Markham just uh to address uh Ms
Robinson's Point again
um I'm comfortable uh finding that money
wherever we need to at this point
because then the your question about
what is that money appropriate for we
can't answer at that point and say what
else are we looking at versus refunding
some of that money back toward the you
know this this project as well
I'm not 100 sure I am I am clear what uh
how you are guiding this um I'm not I'm
not sure where we where we go with this
I mean is everyone in favor of having a
special meeting to decide this or is
this something that perhaps our finance
chair and the mayor and uh Mike could
um
bring a suggestion
um you know after you do more of a deep
dive into this and bring your
suggestion back to us
um at the next meeting I don't know I'm
not really sure how to guide us through
this guy that's fair can I can I make a
suggestion please is it I think what I'm
hearing from Council is
um not like resounding uh yeah we should
really do this for the community
necessarily and I'm not saying that
that's I'm not making a value statement
of that but I think that um
there's caution and I understand the
caution
um I think that the decision here that
we're making is do we uh provide a cool
experience this summer that's going to
be frustrating for many of our residents
at times but overall we'll have the pool
open and we'll lose some money but we
won't lose we will maximize we'll we'll
we will we will sorry lose as little as
possible given the financial reality or
do we lose more and have a better
experience for our residents and
um
that's a philosophical discussion that
we're not going to answer right now
tonight based on what I'm hearing so
what I'm going to ask Mike Mike and I if
it's okay we're going to circle back
we're gonna we're gonna probably ask you
guys for a couple dates where we can
talk about this it doesn't have to be in
the evening we'll try to find a time to
work for everybody
um and and get some sort of a consensus
because we do need to know what we're
doing in the next week or two or else
we'll just go with the default and
that's not threat you know that's okay
that's not a tragedy
we'll we'll all be okay
but but also Mike can ponder variations
of option b that will come up to maybe a
hundred thousand loss you know I said 75
but I was you know I heard rich people
150 did you say 150 150.
I'm comfortable with somewhat higher and
you can
um you know work I'm not I'm generous at
times so you might be good get me on a
good day with your proposal but I think
they're willing to pay to play they're
ready open that I I have a feeling that
I think you're
probably right and my other thought with
that is we also don't know
what July is going to bring to us what
August is going to bring for us so it's
kind of hard and this is a big part we
do know that for sure Pfizer is not
going to bring uh authorization for ages
211 until September so we're not going
to have right we are going to have space
and requirements in the summer
absolutely 100 from a public health
perspective so let's just in case
there's okay so you guys are going to
circle around to us you're going to give
us dates and we're going to
um
yes and I appreciate you guys I know
that this is a Meandering conversation
uh but guess what coven we're used to it
so and it's and it's the pool it's
important to us
oh sorry I have my microphone
I just want to make sure that as we're
having this conversation and we're going
forward and we're talking about you know
pay to play I get it I'm ready to and
I'm not even a pool girl but I'll be
there
um I want to make sure that we're
thinking about kind of access to the
pool for all of our residents too and
that we don't charge ourselves you know
charge a fee that's so high that we're
now shutting out people in our community
who would actually really want to
participate so I just want to put that
out there so that we make sure that
we're making access to the pool open for
everyone in the community
thank you very point and by the way you
probably will end up being a pool girl
when you realize what a 130 person
capacity pool feels like you'd be like
oh I know that's going to be Joy by the
way let's go Inspire Joy all right Mr
Mayor will you continue with your um
your report please yeah I'm gonna try to
get through this quickly first half
apologies you'll notice that the front
page of this is sparse it's not complete
literally that's me not getting to that
so neither is really the narrative here
I got some photos up and some bullet
points
attached to my report in addition to the
uh partial written update is uh a fact
sheet for
the ARP the American Rescue plan came
out yesterday from the treasury how
about have a gander it's pretty much
what we've been talking about so it's
not really it's nothing new but it gives
just some more detail
um
also attached to the
uh my mayor's update is the youth
interaction policy working group uh sort
of background purpose and process we've
been talking about this for a few months
um and I wanted to share with you uh who
is going to be involved in crafting a uh
or a recommendation for a youth
interaction policy to our Police
Department
um
Brooke Burns who's Chief counsel of the
office of the Ohio public defender in
the juvenile division is going to be
helping us with this Jason Cottle of
Bexley Middle School principal at the
recommendation of the students at Barb
is going to be an educational
representative Michelle hipsley is a
guidance counselor at Montrose
David Ingram who is our past was was our
prosecutor and has moved on to Franklin
County but is going to be actually the
facilitator of this
um and uh I'm really excited to see what
he what he brings to the table with that
Dr Chanel Jones who's the chair of the
public safety program at Franklin
University and assistant dean of
community engagement Laura LaRoche who's
the director of intake at Franklin
County Children Services
Jeff Stone
who is a licensed counselor social
worker
um but most importantly has kind of
circled around the world of juvenile
work foster care Juvenile Detention
Rebecca walahan who's Bexley resident
and um director of the general
Pediatrics Residency program at
Nationwide
Alicia Mitchell as a in the in the
theoretically as our resident
representative at large but obviously
um as a school board member I think she
brings a really valuable perspective to
the table as well
a representative from bexley's various
equity coalitions
and they have submitted uh quirkia Tony
as their representative and then from
the police department Sergeant Hannah
and officer Davis
um and the intent of all of this I kind
of skipped right to the membership we've
talked about it before but I guess it's
worth covering that we are looking to
create an exemplary youth interaction
policy one that goes above and beyond
um uh sort of the the bare minimum and
really
thinks 360 Degrees around the way that
we're Community communicating with
juveniles that we're being really
purposeful about communication with
parents
um communication when you know things
don't go right when things do go right
um positive Community engagement so I
think this is a group that obviously as
you can see represents a real broad
spectrum of backgrounds and professional
disciplines and has had really valid
professional experience in this Arena to
bring some bring some exciting ideas to
the table that is launching this week uh
Thursday morning's the first meeting
um super exciting we'll be a two or
three month process it is going to be
facilitated as I said by
uh David Ingram
who has had great experience in
facilitating
um you know difficult subjects to talk
to and
uh we don't know how frequently there'll
be medium but we're expecting that in
the next two or three months that we'll
have a model policy to look at
yes yes mayor Kessler do you mind
keeping us
um up to date on those meetings and
would it be okay if a council member
wanted to just sit in the room just to
listen
not even partake but just yeah you know
I'm so I actually I'm gonna I'm gonna
kick off that meeting on Thursday and
then I'm gonna let them decide how they
want to work
um so if it's okay with you if I hold
off on saying yes or no to that
um I think that uh it's
uh yeah I don't mean to be yeah I mean
long story short I'm going to keep you
guys up to date I need to be kept up to
date uh and we'll we'll just see how
that progresses and I think there will
be absolutely be input uh sessions and
opportunities to hear what's happening
and and to provide input and feedback
through it that'd be great it just looks
like a very great group of impressive
people that you put together I would
just love at some point to have that
interaction with some of those wonderful
people that you have compiled to bounce
things off of in questions as we learn
as we've had training on Dei and what
that means to us in the community that's
a great group to use as a resource so
however you can come up with you in
president Bible of how we could access
that I guess is basically what I'm
looking for not necessarily the meeting
right but as we have questions and we
need to go to the experts for sure and
the again the only reason I even like
was like I haven't thought about that is
because I wanna I want them to decide
for their core working process how
they're gonna work best and the context
obviously of any sort of sunshine
considerations that we might have I'm
not but I don't think they apply to
working group so
um yes absolutely
um
I have
a couple of things to tell you about the
bag band is is is uh does not apply to
our current ordinance but the state
house is in the process of considering a
bill that would make it permanent so if
remember it was a one-year process so
they're working on that we should decide
whether or not we want to have any sort
of
interface with that
so we'll talk about it I just wanted to
be aware uh there was a centralized
collection
um outcome where the state provided uh
refunds to the cities to where they had
collected
um fees for centralized collection so we
received a refund I don't think it was
gigantic but we should have gotten that
by now uh Livingston's Plan update
launched last week
um there are meetings and public
workshops coming up I'll keep you guys a
prize to that I don't think we have all
those dates set yet
the parade route
um
is somewhere online I have to pull it up
later I'll get it to you
think on your head we're trying to
expand around a little bit so imagine
instead of South Bexley stopping at
Mount Street as you go south on
Roosevelt you go down to Astor am I
getting my streets right yeah and then
hook on over to euclair and come north
there so that would be the change that
we're picking up an additional block on
the south side that uh it essentially
allows people to spread out more we kind
of thought where where is the biggest
kind of density of uh as you know
there's quite the crowd too 11 year olds
um so uh that is
out there as a proposal I don't know
that we've had feedback on that yet but
we did we did have an article in the
blast about that so just wanted to be
aware
um we had so much fantastic Community
participation in Earth Day Ann Arbor
month so I want to thank everybody if
special shout out goes to Celeste
Williams who created
uh a
um fairy garden do I get that uh at uh
at the South Community Gardens and also
helped in general just
facilitate a ton of you should check it
out there's more to it than just what
this photo shows uh facilitated a ton of
activities for Arbor Day
um love your alley is underway here's a
photo of a mural being painted in one of
our alleys there's a mural being painted
right now as we speak actually
um so that's exciting and wild uh I'm
sorry native Native flowers are being
planted in pollinator Gardens and common
spaces so
so is that your alley Troy
is it your alley that's not our alley
but we are working on our alley
you just gotta love it
um do you want some graffiti
my wife's been out there she's uh she's
been working hard on the island it would
be looking good good good this is uh one
of our newest sidewalks in Bexley this
is the sidewalk that is connecting
Sheridan to a long Aster to Schneider
Park
um there's also a sidewalk being
constructed on the other side there will
be a sidewalk constructed connecting
further south Charles from Sheridan to
Schneider Park so we're building up that
connectivity we're continuing to install
new routes for our pedestrians which is
exciting speaking of cyclists which I
didn't I said pedestrians uh that is the
collection of donated bikes that are
being worked on by volunteers over the
next months gosh as we prepare for a big
big darns big giveaway of donated bikes
so that plant that that we received a
grant from the Community Foundation and
it's helping to get supplies and and
helping to mobilize our volunteers to
help out uh we're meeting on Saturday
mornings right now and fixing up bikes
so if anybody wants to join Chambers
music studio opened that's the ribbon
cutting there that's their new space
next to Johnson's ice cream it's a
gorgeous space on the inside Julie
Chambers is the principal and it's a
it's as you would imagine it's it's not
a recording studio
but it is a lessons studio so it's a
great place to learn music which then
you can take into the recording studio
after you learn
um and that is my update so and again I
feel like I've taken way too much of
your time this evening so I appreciate
it and happy to answer your questions
anybody have any questions for the mayor
oh thank goodness it is
it's 10 to 8.
still moved on the consent agenda we
have the minutes from the April 27 2021
meeting
are there any comments
um from the council
um about the consent agenda
yeah
okay we just can fix that
um if you would just go ahead and and
announce that um on right now and
sorry k-o-p-p-e-s okay we will correct
that thank you
um any discussion from anyone that's in
the
audience wait a minute how do we do this
do they have to have it's a third
reading so they are allowed to speak I
forgot
technically
anybody in public have any comments
sorry anybody that's registered to you
oh this is true yes so okay
all right not see any hands raised all
right all right is there a motion on the
consent agenda
thank you Sam is there a second I missed
two with second that was Monique lamke a
first was by Troy Troy Markham and the
second by was was by Monique lampke
um a roll call please uh
[Music]
all right thank you all right if we
could um at the bike plan
um was going to be uh we thought that it
was going to be um item number 11 but um
it's going to just be a first reading
tonight and we'll talk about that later
third readings all right so the third
reading of
resolution04-21 approving the 2021
Havenwood Park landscape Plan introduced
by Mr Klingler
[Music]
thank you uh mayor Kessler if you could
pull up the resolution please
do you want me to pull up the proposed
amended Mr Cleaner or oh I'm sorry yes I
thought that I realized it was not
attached okay
we haven't a proposed amended resolution
after hearing a lot of public feedback
um the mayor and I spoke and there's new
language
in the resolution
and my computer died so I need to read
it you need a do you need a charger now
if you just do you have a
how do you feel about that
[Music]
go ahead
oh um we we revised section one and send
bold right there uh amended as follows
that The Hardscape patio on the east
side of the park be placed at the grade
of the surrounding Park and that prior
to finalizing any construction plans the
designer study options to lessen the
overall patio space in a way that
continues to provide an accessible route
and perspective from which to enjoy the
park while honoring the Park's natural
and passive character
that is the proposed amendment Mr
cleanler thank you so much for um
working with uh the mayor
um indeed we have heard from
um
some individuals in our community that
they would much prefer that
um that space be kept completely green
rather than having
um pavers
um this will
this was an effort
uh to to compromise many of us have
spoke spoken to
um Amy weiner who has um kind of uh led
the charge in this desire to keep the
green space in fact she went um around
the neighborhood and she did and you are
in possession of and I will ask the
mayor to please scan this and please put
this on our correspondence and it does
say we the citizens of Bexley petition
the city to refrain from installing
pavement papers and stage at Havenwood
park at present the people around
Havenwood Park would rather have as much
green space for children to run and play
freely around the park also to keep the
beautiful beautification of our park we
consider this space as our front yards
and appreciate the flowers grass and
trees we see every day indeed we met
um I've met with with Miss weiner um
once and then I met with her again today
in the park and Elena Andrews
um was kind enough to actually paint
the lines
um and many of you you saw that I know
that Monique was there with with me to
see it and and Troy was walking his dog
um and he saw it and I'm I think that
Jen Robinson met with her today as well
last week okay so you were in the space
as as well so we have really we've
really tried to to come up with
um some kind of a
trying to meet halfway and um they still
really she really is very insistent but
it that it stay green but
um we had some some good conversations
um I wanted to make sure um they were
not comfortable coming to speak so I
wanted to make sure that the pros and
cons that that that
um were mentioned
are said out loud
um the they think that that I think
overall and I'm just gonna summarize
some of the pros and cons I think
they're very I think I think the
neighbors are incredibly excited about
the new face
of the
um
for the park I mean the new
um flowers and the shrubs and the
climbing rocks and the benches and and
um
but um they they aren't thrilled about
the pavers and they and and they're not
um thrilled about the six inch rise
um and so that will be eliminated in our
hope to meet
um somewhere in the middle they're
concerned about children getting hurt
um they're concerned about less Green
Space
um because there there isn't a lot of
green space in South Bexley
um
so
um the house is you know for example are
closer together it's a and and they
suggest please keep as much green space
as possible everything sounds awesome
except the permanent paver stage
um my neighbors and I want as much green
space as possible
um it would please many people if the
pavers and permanent stage were omitted
um from the final plans and
and I am hoping that the neighbors in
that area do understand that this is our
hope to compromise because I believe
that these the pavers were initiated not
necessarily as a stage but as a place
for individuals who cannot access the
parks the way
most of us are able to do easily just
walking through the park but would still
like to enjoy it it's an effort I think
to be more Equitable and and allow
um the Aged access as our population
ages and um
I don't know that all of you had had a
chance to read the email so I thought
that I would it might be appropriate
that I read this email as it pertains to
this as well and it was sent
um at 5 16. so maybe some of you didn't
didn't get it
says to whom it was it it may concern it
was brought to my attention that people
in our community are fighting against
accessibility for the renovation of
haverwood Park my family loves this park
including my six-year-old uh daughter
who is disabled it is very difficult for
her to gain access to this park and many
other Parks currently my husband or I
need to physically lift her wheelchair
for her to even enter the park most of
the parks perimeter is curved please do
the right thing for my daughter and for
all who are disabled so that they can
enjoy the beautiful Park in Bexley like
anyone else and allow the installation
favors
so it's our duty as council members to
really weigh you know the needs and and
and wants of our community and it's not
always easy we are we are blessed with a
very active citizenry and
oftentimes when things like this occur
and
for example and I know the mayor may not
like me to share this one but
the individuals who
who spoke up about the capital Lights
years ago before many of you were even
on Council they by giving voice to it
they made things they made things better
um so so we worked through things so so
I I know that this isn't exactly a win
for the Neighbors who wanted
um but I am I have every intention of
voting yes for the amendment
so
Mr Markham
[Music]
so uh yeah I this park is uh right in my
backyard I I walk as you noted by this
park several times a day usually usually
with a dog or two until uh my wife can
go out we'll go there we've uh We've
owned two houses you know around the
neighborhood there and so we know most
of the neighbors
um definitely uh took the time to to uh
hear the concerns of the neighbors here
um because it's it's just it's really uh
a treasure you know we have a few
Treasures here in Bexley that we're
lucky to have and uh you know just by
happenstance in history you know we've
been bequeathed these areas like this
and so we appreciate the uh perspectives
of the people who also really value you
know these parks and and use them
um one other treasure that we do have uh
is Ellen Andrews and I was really
impressed with Alida
um how she's really worked to listen and
incorporate these uh creative elements
into this park uh to to enrich and
beautify it uh I have heard from the
from these neighbors I've heard from
other neighbors and then the neighbor
that you uh mentioned as well the letter
uh many people also have a different
perspective on the park that they're
concerned with accessibility and and we
should be Frank if you haven't been to
this park it's not very accessible you
there's a curve all the way around it
and to get into the park you have to go
up a big kind of Hump of dirt and uh you
know it can get a little sloppy or
whatever
um so we do have some elderly and we do
have some some children even and
children with accessibility uh issues
getting in now these parks and it's very
admirable uh
that we can move on these issues now
right and be inclusive of people and
then we have people like Ellen Anders
say who can do it with such uh which
such beauty and design
um so out there today I was impressed to
hear because we do have you know maybe
some distance between some of these
troops and how they see the park uh
really heartened to hear and I feel
confident I really do I feel 100
confident that we can come up with
something that will ultimately make
everybody happy
um Alan it came on the fly with ideas of
like how about if we uh create spaces
within the pavers that has natural grass
so that we increase the the volume of
the grass that's incorporated into this
so it's not just pure pavers and she
really she really she knows what she's
doing and uh so I'll be happy to support
this as well especially with the amended
language in here that shows
um
uh that we do we do we do listen to all
these different sides and it's very
difficult to be in these positions right
it's very difficult to do this and when
people feel strongly uh strongly one way
or another
um and in kudos to to all of you uh who
spent time out there you know boots on
the ground you know looking at it and
now on if they're painting those lines
and and for uh for really digging in uh
digging in to uh to this design and I
look forward to see what comes of this
but I I do I do it is my hope
that will make everybody happy with us
and and I'm confident that we will
anybody else Mr Sharp please yes thank
you I had the opportunity of going to
the park yesterday as well and
um one thing that struck me was even
though it is a grassy area
there were because of the recent rain
there were a lot of Puddles still in the
middle and around the edges of the
parking the grass areas so
um I like the idea of having a paved
area that children can go to
um if still be outside
um if they do chop drawing or someplace
that's a little bit drier and that they
can
Hopscotch and do other things that you
know as kids we do grow did Growing Up
in the street and there there's a
courseware all sorts of things that can
be done outside
on the paved surface that would be good
I was totally opposed to the raised area
because I felt it was a safety hazard
for anyone who might be there or not
paying attention you know sometimes when
you're
even adults when you're looking around
and enjoying oh there's a bird I haven't
seen before and then you'd back up and
hit the edges of the raised area so I
wouldn't want that to happen
um
I
so I'm in summary fully in support of
this um amended plan
and I I hope those so that there's no
confusion later that there that page
that does show and reference the rate
the elevated that it that Pages changed
in a final document that's available
available on the website we will be
certain that that happens I will make a
note of it right now
um
anybody else want to share
massage do you want to share
um so I gotta be honest until I heard
lorianne speak tonight I probably came
into this tonight not in favor
um due to the fact that for me and my
run for city council had a lot to do
with green space and the residents I
heard from and I continue to hear from
and with in light of Coven in the
pandemic
um the green space and Bexley is so
important
um and as they say these 17 residents
who signed here more green space keep as
much as possible in their pros and cons
I stand with them on that
but when you spoke and you spoke to the
family that reached out to us at 5 15
that I had not had a chance to read from
and you spoke to you spoke about
accessibility and inclusivity
um I am in favor of this tonight with
the changes in the Amendments but I
would like to go on record just to say
um the more green space that we can keep
in our Parks I stand with the residents
who I hear from constantly in protecting
that space for our children are
all members of our community to be able
to walk in to be able to experience to
be able to play activities and sports we
just don't have a lot of it here in our
community and protecting it I believe is
important
thanks Jeff
Miss Robinson please and then Ms Lamkin
sure I'll be brief
um I I do want to take the time to thank
Amy for
um communicating her concerns with us
and for
um her groundwork her legwork on on
getting a petition and really giving
those residents in the community the
opportunity to share how they feel I
also want to thank Elena who was very
quick to provide me with some additional
information and
um while I do stand with Jess and the
the more green space the better
um I also
um
can see the real benefit of this
particular
um Hardscape in in Havenwood um and my
My Hope um I I will be supporting this
this ordinance but my hope going forward
is that that collaborative spirit will
continue and that voices will continue
to be listened to because I think it is
important people I know people move to
that area because of that Park and they
want that to be as green and Lush and
beautiful and as it has been
um and um so I I put out there in the
world that I I hope that this uh this
collaborative spirit continues and that
we end up with something that's really
wonderful for all of us to use
[Music]
so for those of you who may not know
Havenwood Park is actually the smallest
park of the four in in Bexley it's near
and dear to my heart my kids have had
Easter egg hunts and many a time playing
there in fact my sister lives just down
the street
um I've visited that Park three times
over the past week and actually two of
those three times tour Markham was there
one time just actually both times with
his dog just happened stands
but it really makes you realize how
intimate of a park this is for Neighbors
not only in the surrounding area but in
other parts of Bexley
um
when I was there earlier today for my
second visit there was a woman there
with three young children and I
immediately noticed that her stroller
was off to the curb and for those of you
who recently saw it like Richard
mentioned there was quite a bit of mud
still present in the park today from
from the heavy rains and I asked the
woman I said how often you come here and
how come your stroller's over there when
you're in fact sitting you know on this
bench and she said because we can't pull
it up it's too muddy the wheels will get
stuck and it really makes you think
about folks who are also in wheelchairs
and um and who want to enjoy the park
with their young kids who are not mobile
fortunately this lady had three young
kids with her who could leave the
stroller and then walk over to the bench
but if you have seniors or grandparents
who are wanting to enjoy a great
afternoon picnic with others without
these pavers and without some of the
proposed revisions to the park
it simply seems that they would not be
able to do it I would encourage the city
or Elena to maybe look at some
additional designs for the concerns that
Amy had today where if you do have
papers
um on
casting him you might have some children
who want to use their bikes and go as
fast as they can and then land on on
casting him if there's a way to put up
some sort of
adequate barrier such that you have to
go maybe slightly around I think the
mayor said a little more eloquently
earlier today but there's some design
ways that you can perhaps address that
safety concern from the pavers onto
casting him but I think that given that
we've eliminated with this proposed
amended language these six inch rise and
that we are trying to lessen the laying
out of the papers I am willing to
support it I do think right now more
than ever outdoor meeting space for all
and Bexley including those with
strollers including those with
wheelchairs would promote more
accessibility to this wonderful
wonderful Gem of a park so I'll support
the Amendments as well
all right is there um
anyone else who has anything more to add
um
Mr Klingler do you have a motion I
motion to amend the proposed resolution
second but Mr Sharon is there any
further conversation about the amendment
from Council
is there any any further conversation
from uh those who are joining us tonight
Ben do you see anybody
um raised
please
I need your name and your address please
hi I'm Amy Weiner and I live at 908
South cassingham and I just want to
thank everyone for coming by the park
emailing
um and talking with me about this that I
I totally understand and I know who this
other family is
and um I was talking with Miss Andrews
today and we actually came up with a
solution maybe if everybody agrees so
but I just want to thank everyone for
taking their time thank you I want to
thank you Amy because you were a
wonderful wonderful citizen to work with
and we are grateful and we are grateful
for you being so reasonable and being
willing to put yourself out there and um
I hope your daughter saw every minute of
this tonight
yeah she should be proud of you yeah so
thank you so so much please know that we
appreciate you and we appreciate your
words and your guidance with this so
thanks thank you take care
um
on the amendment roll call please
uh Ms Robinson
yes uh Mr Sharp yes Mr Klingler yes uh
Ms lamkey yes Mr Markham yes Ms Bible
yes Miss uh yes
can we use some of that ARP money and
getting Mr Mr Klingler do you have any
further action on this amended ordinance
a motion to pass amended
ordinance04-2-1 thank you Mr Klingler is
there a second second thank you Ms
Robinson any further conversation from
Council
any further conversation from those who
are joining us in person or zooming
I'm guessing no correct I don't see any
hands would I see Hands you would okay
good
if if I could see the hands I would see
the hands Please Mr Fishel uh Mr Sharp
yes Mr Klingler yes Miss sad yes Ms
Robinson yes this is Bible yes Mr
Markham yes MS lamke
all right
thank you we have yet another third
reading this evening
um Mr Fishel at least it wasn't the
water
um okay a third reading of ordinance
16-21 to amend the capital Stadium
lights planning approval conditions in
light of pandemic based changes to
Capital universities athletics schedule
in order to allow for two nighttime
licenses in 2021 to operate Stadium
Lighting in which the lights are on pass
the hour of 9 30 PM but off prior to the
hour of 11 pm introduced by Ms
yes so this is our third reading of this
ordinance and
um I think at the last meeting Council
we were ready to probably about just go
ahead and and move this to the consent
agenda but
um president fiebel gray gave a great
recommendation that we allow for the
public to have one more opportunity to
hear this
um I think it is important to note that
the South Bexley neighborhood
association did give their blessing on
this ordinance that they are in favor
um and I I think this is the right thing
to do
um from the pandemics standpoint that we
did not allow Capital to utilize this
um it wasn't allowed due to the pandemic
um in 2020 so giving them that
opportunity to do this twice this next
year in collaboration with those who are
surrounded by it in that area of Bexley
being in favor
um I think we're ready
now to see if anyone needs to you have a
moment but I'd like to make a motion to
go ahead and pass this ordinance 16-21
is there a second second is there any
conversation from Council on this
ordinance
any conversation from
um those in attendance or those joining
us
virtually
roll call please
Ms freibel yes Ms lamke yes Mr Markham
yes Ms Robinson yes Miss uh yes Mr
Klingler yes Mr Sharp yes all right
motion passes thank you oh I bet you get
to say that yeah emotion passes no you
can ordinance passes Bill does Bill does
that for me all right we are now on to
third reading of ordinance 17-21 to
amend chapter 1476 unsafe buildings to
include Provisions for unsafe sites that
was introduced by Ms sad
yeah so this is our third reading of
ordinance 17-21 this was a creative
ordinance really put together by mayor
Kessler in protecting
um some areas of Bexley from being
unsafe buildings this uh will serve us
well in the Ferndale properties and um
and throughout Bexley
so I would like to make a motion to
there was
there are some amendments sorry yeah and
I'm now aware of just realized they were
not on your agenda so I apologize let me
let me they are
they are I believe fairly minor but Mark
Mark and I worked through the ordinance
based upon some uh feedback we received
from environmental Council
we added the name investigation because
it's accurate and um
um already obliged it just it was not it
was part of the title up there
and we added this section
[Music]
uh to make it very clear that that
investigation right existed so that this
section said that that
um the superintendent of buildings has
the right to enter a structure of
premises or any parts thereof for the
purpose of conducting an inspection
pursuant to the regulations and the
requirements of this code that's
verbatim language that exists for other
housing code violations so it's exactly
what exists or like for example if
there's a
if there's a concern that um there's a
Code internal code enforcement violation
um if there's a you know
a roof that looks from the outside like
it might be falling in certain certain
types of exterior issues that might
pretend interior issues or things that
you see from the outside the building
inspector has the ability to go into a
property so
um
that was added to that
um and then Mark I think that was it
that was it yeah
all right
Mr Sharp question I have a question do
we actually have a person on staff that
has the title of superintendent of
buildings we do like many of us dual
title it is so the building director is
the superintendent of buildings
enforcement it's the building director
correct
and we could
um
yeah that would be someday a good
exercise and like looking through all
the different codes and making sure that
we have it I mean when some of us have
like lots of time on our hands like make
sure that all of our titles are totally
modern uh but we wanted to be consistent
with the rest of this chapter I think we
should put Jessica in charge of that
zoning I was just thinking
Richard
we could we could uh the other the other
thing to work on it
I asked for a quote to make our entire
code gender neutral and that was like
twenty thousand dollars from uh you know
American legal publishing so that's
another if a council member really wants
to leave their mark on our code all you
have to do is go through the whole code
and just make it all gender neutral
is there any further conversations about
the amendments to this um piece of
legislation
um
do you have like to make a motion to
approve the amendments to this ordinance
17-21 yes thank you is our second
second thank you Miss Robinson first by
massage second by Ms Robinson any
further conversations about the
Amendments from Council
Richard
one last question this is a mark
question
um
going back to that additional paragraph
about entering building is there need to
be like uh some sort of
legal document or is there a notice
ahead of time oh absolutely yeah and
there needs to be reasonable cause to do
it we can't just go in and say ah we're
inspecting houses on this street today
so yeah yeah absolutely there's Hoops
that have to be jumped through
and it's actually that that goes on to
provide notice so
um there is a reasonable cause to yeah
yeah so there's a section of there just
this this is really kind of just
fortifying that there's a right to do
that thank you
all right
um
there was an emotion I don't know
there's a motion is there anyone um and
yes there was the first and there was a
second is there anyone um in the public
who would like to speak anybody virtual
Mr Markham yes uh Mr Sharp yes Mr
Klingler yes Ms sod yes Ms Robinson yes
Ms lamkey Ms Bible yes please
all right
um do you have further action on this
piece of legislation please yes I do
president Bible I would like to adopt
ordinance 17-21 thank you is there a
section on adoption
second thank you Miss lamke uh any
further conversation about this peace
I I just had a grammatical thing that
came up for not for motion but can be um
correct adjusted back in that second
page
where it
um it says they they are not rather than
these
let's be attached if they they is is
also correct
all right thank you
um
a roll call please all right Ms sod yes
Mr Sharp yes Mr Klingler yes Ms lamke
yes his Bible yes Mr Marco yes Ms
Robinson yes I want to note it I'm not
even looking at name tags
well hooray
we're so glad that our our city
attorney's into details
aggressive all right I believe we have
Madam president of point of order
um
request a chair to be excused for a
minute absolutely or and um if anyone
else needs to do so um I'd suggest a
short recess
okay recess I mean really quick okay
guys
because it's 8 22. I'll see you back
foreign
all right I'll talk faster
okay we have a second reading our third
reading don't we
um
no we just passed our last third reading
the unsafe one oh yes you're right okay
oh look these are what are these look
really good but I did here's some carbs
no carb things okay second reading
please all right second reading of
ordinance 18-21 to appropriate fifty
thousand dollars from the general fund
for the purpose of paying legal fees in
2021 introduced by Mr Markham
yeah we've said most of what there is to
say about this are there any other
comments or questions
about this one
if not I'm going to do this trick or I
read lorianne's mind
and I'm thinking yes consent agenda yay
okay good and I get it you did that
would be wonderful is everyone all right
with that
I thought so
okay we are now on to a first reading of
ordinance 19-21 an ordinance to amend 20
262.02 C13 tuition reimbursement in
order to allow for tuition reimbursement
for employees hired after January 1st
2012 introduced by Mr Markham no this is
not tuition that is for me or paid to me
but uh we have an employee here mayor
Kessler who
but what's what's our situation here I
forget there's some sort of
right so um
we have uh we have a tuition
reimbursement program that's currently
uneven the uh fop contract allows for
tuition reimbursement I don't know if
afsme does I don't I I think it might
but I'm not sure but for our
non-unionized employees during the we
had our our financial crisis was 2011
when the state uh got rid of the estate
tax and reduced the local government
fund which you know provided about a
2 million to three million dollar double
whammy each year the city of Bexley
as we were going through the solution
for that we we made several cuts to
different benefits this is one of them
uh you know at the time I think we maybe
ever paid out three to six thousand
dollars a year in tuition reimbursements
so it wasn't
I would argue the most meaningful cut
that was made and then when an employee
came to to find out how to get
reimbursed
and it was looked up and this language
was found we hadn't had an employee ask
for reimbursement since 2012. I'm really
I really believe that this is a good
program
um and it's it's a cap and actually it's
capped at four thousand in the ordinance
but it's really really capped by the
appropriation I think we appropriated
three thousand dollars this year so we
can't pay out more than three
um I could be wrong about that that's
the top of my head which is not 100
reliable so I can go back and get that
number for you guys but
um long story short I would like to
provide this program evenly across the
board
um I support our employees in
professional development and in academic
advancement the it's not about any one
employee but the individual in question
is Seeking a master's in public
administration which is really obviously
very on point
um and would love to have that expertise
in our Administration so
um I this will not cost us anything
because the money is a pro oh I
shouldn't say that the money's
appropriated it is not I'm not asking
for additional appropriation this is
just allowing additional leash for the
uh the program
all right any questions about this
concerns discussion
no
great let's move on okay then we have a
first reading of ordinance 20-21 in
ordinance to appropriate 175 000 from
the general fund into the J into I
almost said Giants grants account for
the purpose of paying for reimbursable
costs associated with the Livingston
Avenue plan and Jeffrey Mansion HVAC
upgrades
Mr Markham all right so this one I know
we got a couple moving Parts on this one
too
you think
you guys are messing with me so the joy
Livingston Avenue plan this is us
fronting the money for Columbus's
portion that will then be reimbursed To
Us by Columbus right correct okay
um what else the yeah it says the Rand
do you want me to real quickly explain
the HVAC piece yeah let's do it yeah so
it's a this is a random this is seems
random because they are two different
things the point is we we appropriate
money for Grants we don't know what
we're gonna get in Grants so we
appropriate sort of enough to handle our
kind of normal sort of Grant stream
through the Community Foundation
these are both extraordinary examples
the 75 grand is
um it's kind of like a grant from
Columbus that we're gonna pay us back
we're using the grants account because
that is where we pay money that we're
going to get 100 paid back for that
payment the other one is it is a true
grant it's a hundred thousand dollars
um that we uh sorry is that
um we are potentially going to receive a
donation uh of a hundred thousand
dollars to relocate and upgrade some
HVAC equipment into Jeffrey Mansion
we've been planning on that
um it's about 160 to 180 000 total cost
we have that in our budget
assuming that we're gonna get the
hundred thousand dollars uh in the
donation if we do not get a hundred
thousand dollars as a donation we will
not do the relocation or upgrade of the
hvc equipment it's a uh it's a it's a
chiller that we have on the roof of
Jeffrey Mansion it's 10 to 15 years old
it's you know at some point gonna fail
this would provide a new Chiller in a
new location uh and it would pay for
more than half of that uh it would be
quieter it would be more peaceful for
the park so it's a good it's a upgrade
that we would appreciate but
um we think it's a it's it's a good use
of
uh funds because obviously we're not
paying for the whole cost of it and at
some point in time we would have to
replace that Chiller so
um
that would remain to be seen whether or
not that the donation actually comes
through but if it does we're gonna need
to act on it so I wanted to get it in
here if it doesn't we will not spend a
hundred thousand dollars for a
reimbursable expense
I think Mike might still be on Mike do
you have anything to add to that
so so does that have to be is that going
to be done before the Mansion project
the rest of it's done
if
were you looking to receive the grant
before
Mike I think our timing is a little
flexible is that true or do we want to
have it done it's not going to be done
in the next week or two
no our timing our timing is flexible on
when that work gets done the
anticipation is going to be done outside
the scope of this project would be
separately bid out but we've prepared
this potential site
as part of this project
cool thank you
any other questions on this piece
all right
is there any more information that
anybody needs on this in the future
anyone with an HVAC background that
needs more info on this
example anybody
oh we've got two more readings on this
it is by the way not unethical for a
council member to on their own time and
for free install HVAC equipment just
saying just putting that out there wait
can the law director do that I'll do it
yeah you can do that too I know does it
just plug in
it's so simple I think it's a battery I
think it's like a okay a double d
yeah the taco making up for it all right
we are now on to a first reading of
ordinance 21-21 an ordinance authorizing
participation in the ODOT road salt
contracts awarded in 2021 Mr Markham
that's the glamor of the finance chair
means I get to present to you the ODOT
road salt contract and here it is
all right this is our our perennial
favorite guys it's that ODOT road salt
contract in order for us to participate
in bulk purchasing through odot's
contract we need to pass an ordinance
that says that we are willing to
participate in their contract
[Laughter]
it's good
as opposed to the next ordinance which
is once every 10 years or so first
reading of ordinance 22-21 in ordinance
to place proposed amendments to the city
of Bexley Charter
that should be on the city of paxley
no I it's right the first time I'm sorry
I'm gonna start that over an ordinance
ordinance 22-21 an ordinance to place
proposed amendments to the city of
Bexley Charter for voter approval on the
November 2021 ballot introduced by Ms
lamkey
thank you Mr official as most of you
know with the last meeting I gave a very
quick uh overview and recap I did send
all of council a memo that the council
committee consisting of myself president
fibo and council member Klingler
together with the input of attorney
official and auditor Harvey
regarding the recommendations that our
committee has put together for inclusion
on this Fall's upcoming ballot I'm not
sure how much tonight folks want to get
into the leads given it's a first
reading but before you and attached to
the ordinance is the five bundles that I
touched upon at our last meeting all of
you have been given a notebook with the
proposed amendments as proposed by the
charter review commission as well as the
original charter so that you can compare
them and at the end of the day you will
see that our committee felt strongly
that there should be five bundles
included this ballot subject to
additional considerations by all of
council you are certainly free to make
new suggestions delete things tweak the
language
and there are also a list of categories
that we as a committee felt
should not be on the ballot but perhaps
for future consideration by ordinance or
for for future for a later date I'm not
sure how far folks want to delve into
this I'm happy to kind of refresh given
that it occurred at the end of our last
meeting Matt
I just had a quick procedural question
for Mark when this goes on the ballot
will the original
section be on there and then the change
highlighted or
should the voters know what
their original was versus what is being
changed to so the uh all all voters will
have to be sent a copy all electors and
Bexley will have to be sent a copy of
the proposed changes in total not the
summary language that will be on the
ballots that document will definitely
include the strikethrough in bold to
show where the new language is
frankly I don't know if the Le if the
language that so then and I've mentioned
this before but I'll do it again because
it's kind of screwy so under our Charter
we have to send the language to
um all electors and Bexley sometime in
advance of the election we also have to
put it in a newspaper in advance I think
I think published twice I can't recall
for sure under what it's what our
Charter says and all so all of that
language will show it in legislative
form of strikethroughs and bolds as the
proposed editions and deletions then on
the specifically on the um on the uh
ballot is a summary of the language that
would be prepared by me in conjunction
with well Board of Elections ultimately
has approval on that at each election
site in Bexley there has to be by law
and total complete
um
documentation of the all of the language
I don't know if that one would be in
legislative form or but the ones mailed
to the public the ones in the newspaper
and anything on the Bexley Buzz I'm
gonna start Bexley Buzz God forbid
anything on anything on the blast or the
um Bexley website we'll all have
legislative changes so people can see
the differences and again as you know a
lot of them are all brand new proposed
language so that's right
that was a way more long-winded answer
than needed to be sorry
Mr Markham
so and as is on this ordinance how many
separate things would voters be voting
on
we've got it broke up into five you mean
the five bundles five bundles so they
would be casting individual votes on
each of those bundles yes okay and
um two of the five bundles
I believe are collective Provisions
where they include more than one section
and then if I'm recalling correctly
three of the five are standalones I
think
um my remembering that right
well you know what yep first first
bundle has several Collective
um Provisions uh particularly related to
Dei the second bundle regarding citizens
review board as a standalone
um bundle three
does have the staggered terms the fourth
bundle's the Standalone on the removal
power of the mayor regarding the City
attorney and then the fifth bundle
um is so I misspoke it's three of the
five have more than one provision in the
two are standalones
and I will tell you that I think that
was purposeful and intended by our
committee there were some that we felt
uh if folks felt strongly about
something it should be perhaps a
standalone if there was a chance that
some of it was too confusing or too much
maybe we section that out
so there was purpose and intent in how
they're bundled together
for example that I know I'm sorry
please no please um there was the the
the
one of the standalones is the language
that is being proposed for
um uh citizens review board and even
though there's an ordinance people felt
strongly it should be in the charter
there was discussion that that logically
could go with the first bundle but there
was discussion again if I you know I
don't want to speak for the committee
but there was discussion that that was
important enough that it should be a
separate Standalone issue and then the
other uh other combined Dei type
Provisions which all would be new
language as well was a separate bundle
correct
Ms Robinson
in terms of the process that we go
through as we're looking
um at these proposed changes can and
Mark you might be able you might be the
one to answer this can you remind me of
the timeline because this something that
we we hope to conquer in Council
meetings is this something that
um would potentially be a special
counsel meeting
um what's that timeline so that we know
do we need to start doing this deep dive
now in the interest of time or do we
have a little time to prepare and a
little leeway in terms of when we have
to have things decided yes so this needs
to be approved for the ballot uh by the
Board of Elections 60 days prior to the
election date which is November 2nd this
year so that means that with the July
recess this needs to be finalized by
Council
and and I think the intention is that
special meetings wouldn't be necessary
so there are three readings with one
meeting despair so it could be tabled
and then discussed at the last meeting
in July is the and that's the reason
you're getting it today as a first
reading last meeting June Julian thank
you thanks I appreciate that it it makes
me feel better about the amount of time
that we have to look at this so thanks
and I'm and I'm guessing with that
still being a question
that
um
perhaps the four who were not part of
that meeting would rather have an
opportunity to do your own personal Deep
dive before we as a group
do a deep dive
Mr Sharp
um can I do a little little dive
there will be no bombing into the water
but yes
I do cannonballs no cannonballs but you
can stick your toe in go ahead okay
um the the first little thing is is just
organizational and and and not so much
it's it's kind of symbolism but kind of
is
um the proposed amendment includes
article one uh relating to civil rights
and then it goes to existing Article 2
powers
of the city
um
to me it seemed more logical that the
Civil Rights section would be
immediately after the powers of the city
you know we the Preamble says what the
city is and then we have the right to
decide our territory and other things
and then following that explanation of
powers then
um the charter good would could go on
into civil rights and the executive and
and things like that to me just from a
logical reading standpoint it it makes
sense to to switch those two
um and then
um as far as the proposed section one
um
I I found it a little bit
kind of like when you have
a family that's had in our argument
and you're trying to get over the
argument
but the person who is wronged place is a
big fat sign on the on the refrigerator
glued
um
laminated and everything so it's like
permanently on to the the freezer and or
refrigerator and that's kind of what how
the I got the the feeling I got from
this first paragraph
it's you know
um
mistakes have been made
but we're just gonna like have a red
sign about up forever I mean this is in
the chart this is forever it's it's just
kind of like
it seems
it seems a little bit
um in your face not unifying as what at
it that it doesn't give me a unifying
feeling
um so I was
um considering
um and I'll I'll send this out to
everyone but basically eliminating the
first
um
sentence of the um
section and starting with the last
sentence
it's the intent of the city of Bexley
and then to add to value and serve all
its residents equally and as such seeks
to work together with Community groups
than the rest of that sentence then go
on to the second sentence that says the
city of Bexley Rejects
discourages and condemns all forms of
racism Anderson
Etc I'd remove the the word all before
hate because we preface that whole
section of items with the word all so
it's somewhat redundant
and and
just make the statement that you know we
value our residents that's the very
first thing that someone reads and that
we reject racism and
um I think the the fact that we're doing
this acknowledges the history you know
we don't have to have it in the first
you know sentence of
you know that there's been wrongs
committed you know to
um okay because our children are gonna
look at this and say what were you know
what were they like you know well how's
this affect me
um so I I just think it's a little more
positive having the the third sentence
and the second sentence and leaving it
at that so that's my own opinion
um so I thought I'd just break the ice
for our discussion and get this little
dive out there and um Richard can you
can you just to make it easy yeah I'll
email it to us all of you that would be
great thank you
and one other thing I want to say
Richard is Right obviously if if we
propose that this is on the ballot and
the voters prove it it will be on there
for at least 10 years possibly more so I
encourage all of you to
um you know to give a substantial input
and to give some time it's a lot to go
through our committee spent close to
eight hours over a collective four
meetings going through this so I know
that all of you will do the Deep dive
and
um and consider what the amendments are
consider the process but we are as a
council even though there was a
committee that put together these
recommendations all of us have been put
going forward we can change things we
can add things we can amend things so I
look forward to the second reading and
to the deeper dive we'll do at our next
meeting and I would like to say I do
appreciate the work that the uh Charter
Review Committee has done and that the
subcommittee did I listened in on the
first sub committee um meeting and just
kind of let you guys do your your magic
and um I think it's been a fairly good
good project and I I don't want
I'm not sure that we need to regurgitate
every everything that was discussed but
I do think in some areas that that
weren't addressed that I happen to
notice that I'll I'll bring those up
thanks Richard
um
are we doing something with the 20th Mr
Klingler and I have a side bet on
something completely unrelated to city
council stuff
that he has now informed me that I lost
what is the most productive legal way
for us to uh do some work on this do
would you prefer I mean in the interim
would you prefer
that we sort of compile our thoughts and
send them to the three of you as we do
that
um
is that the best way to do this I'll
defer to mark on that one is that
appropriately it's perfectly fine for
you to send your thoughts to them
obviously there can't be any back and
forth on that because there's already
been three people who have conferred you
know as the Committee Member but you can
send your thoughts and and if one of the
three people you send it to the
committee on the committee have a
clarifying question that's fine
otherwise if anything it needs to be
discussed it's more substantive I prefer
you contact me
son doing a deep dive via the sunshine
laws I still though could reach out to
Troy or Jen
or Richard correct one or two no because
that because we've already had three
council members assigned to this
committee and if there's any other
deliberations among more than one
council member besides the three of them
that would be involve a majority of the
console
so she
she cannot talk to anybody substantively
actually not no council members even the
committee can't because two of the three
of them can't confer so nobody can have
any substantive conversations or
deliberations offline on this again
sending the idea of Richard sending his
suggestions to everybody or just the
three members is perfectly fine or any
other one of you I would be a better
idea if he sent it to all of us yeah I
agree I mean that's yeah yeah I agree
that's not a problem at all they can't
even think of each other
right Bill's a good good one as well
Matt you added something Mr Klingler
just depending on how our next few
meetings go
um with other City business I'm just put
it up there I would be in favor of a
special meeting if needed to so we could
all discuss it in length because it's
gonna
it's gonna take some time
so I'm in support of a special meeting
if needed I hear your words I think
that's that I think we all this is
something that we do not want to rush
through that's why I don't want if we
are not prepared to take a deep dive
tonight I don't I want you all to have
your own thoughts collected prior to
really doing this
okay
I'm going to save my diving for when the
pool opens this summer but I will be
looking at the uh
I do think if I can just share one thing
and again the committee members can can
correct me if they think my my
interpretation or assessment is wrong I
can tell you that at one meeting the
committee had a very detailed discussion
about
what is proposed as the first bundle and
came to the conclusion that all of that
language was not necessary because well
whatever they came to the conclusion
that some of it covered everything and
there was a lot of public pushback on
that and again I don't want to speak for
the the committee but the committee
heard that push back and ended up with
almost exactly what the uh Charter
review proposed on that so again I share
that with you just as you look at those
sections that again you're you know we
want to hear from the public but that
was some public I think that we can make
those
accessible to you somehow because they
they really really pushed back hard on
that first
that first paragraph that research has
to mentioned that I mentioned they
pushed they pushed hard we got we heard
from a dozen plus maybe people on that
well there were a lot of emails too
that's what I mean yeah that's what I
meant and some people some people did
speak
um yeah but but there there are people
who weren't involved in that process
that may take a different Viewpoint
into it differently
um yep yeah I'm not I wasn't trying no I
just wanted you I'm looking at at ballot
um language type thought process of what
would be the best in order to be able to
have have the um
a section not
um voted against
so so legally so I understand then we
can maybe send an email out we could I
send an email to everybody and I could
say
here are some thoughts I have on this or
blah blah now nobody can respond we
can't have any back and forth there
can't be any feedback what's
uh and maybe this is for you
or maybe it's for Monique but what is
the most productive way for us to do
this
yeah
I'm comfortable if if members of council
say like Richard suggested he might have
some suggested language and send that
around I'm perfectly comfortable with
that I am not comfortable with somebody
saying you know and this may seem like
splitting hairs I'm not comfortable with
saying oh I can agree with sentences one
two and three but not four via email
that I believe would violate the
sunshine law but and I'm not comfortable
with somebody saying oh I just saw
Richard stuff and I agree or disagree
it's just if you have specific language
that you want to propose
um other than what you've seen here then
I that's that's what I'm comfortable you
guys in fact you should say to Richard
when he sends that got it thank you but
nothing more you know I I don't even
care to have the acknowledgment that you
received here
sorry I I just wanted the way you said
it made me a little nervous now let's
let's establish that Mark has
interrupted me as I was turning to
address oh
right in the middle of my my thing so
I'm just trying to see what's going to
help you and not be like real crazy so
if for instance I send you an email and
I say here are all my thoughts on blah
blah blah if you get that from a bunch
of different council members you can
organize that when we come back next
time is that a lot or what how would you
prefer to see some of this stuff you
could send me your proposed language I
think that would be most helpful like
actual language
um and then for our second reading if
there's a way that I can compile some of
the suggested language I will open that
up for discussion
um it would be great if at our next one
we have a working
dock where we can go ahead and consider
what other language looks like now
Monique if I send her that she can ask
me for clarification
in an email not just me like if I say
here are my thoughts Boba she can say I
uh
as you can ask a clarifying question of
what I send her is that true or not true
she can ask a question like did you mean
to say is versus R to use the chain you
know those small non-substantive stuff
okay I'll stop talking now I'm just yeah
and and I I understand and you guys are
really good about trying to comply with
such a lot and I appreciate it but it
does sound like there's a lot of hair
splitting here because there is yeah
um
could we dedicate a
it's an a period of time the next
meeting to maybe go over items relating
to the first bundle
or the and or the second however
um you think I think that sounds great
and and then do we need to have a
special meeting
um
to maybe get a third bundle in or you
know yeah we we certainly could um when
Mark was laying out the timeline or lay
out the timeline that that the bundles
are split over the next three meetings
and um The public's invited to
um comment about each of those bundles
as we're we're discussing yep we can
have an idea of yeah we did leave that
one last June meeting as an extra F we
needed that but if that's not enough I
think a special meeting would would be
fine
okay
that's how I think splitting it up like
that is a great idea because again this
is not something we want to rush and to
say that okay we're going to try to get
through all five bundles in one night is
a lot it's a lot
right so so maybe you will assess what
you think perhaps we could get through
for the next meeting and then email us
out what you and that way we can really
take a deep dive into whatever that
bundle whatever it is we anticipate
getting through then
because I think some of those are a
little less controversial and could you
know more of them some of them are a
little more procedural and I think we
could get through some of them they're
like no-brainers right I mean
so yeah my one through three are the
ones that are in my opinion you're gonna
take the most amount of time four and
five
much much less time to yeah right to
discuss yeah and the only other thing
I'll add too is
um I want y'all to think about how many
bundles you think would be appropriate
for us to consider putting on the ballot
we we struggled and I think our Council
committee went from you know sometimes
three is enough sometimes six to ten was
enough and ultimately we decided on uh
you know I think originally we had six
and then we cut that down to five so
just keep in mind on how that's going to
look if it does make it onto the ballot
so that we don't overwhelm our residents
um as well so
I'd also like to point out that the
Great Recession was caused by some sort
of bundling as well so just keep that in
mind
there goes the tuition reimbursement
because that was ah guys I think that
was such a great conversation here um
trying to minus
um the mayor's last comment it was a
great conversation to organizing us and
um
Sans that maybe
all right
um is it okay is everybody comfortable
moving on
conversation okay great conversation
thank you guys so we are on to the first
reading of ordinance
23-21 an ordinance accepting the
donation of an access easement
conservation easement and 1.175 Acres a
real property adjacent to and east of
Alum Creek to the city of Bexley
introduced by Mr Klingler
I'm gonna let the mayor speak about this
one if he would
yes so this is a similar ordinance in
character to the one that you as a
council reviewed I guess so maybe was
three years ago or so
um let me Orient you where we're talking
about this is the governor's mansion
right there
uh that's Miller's Hill right that's
where we sled okay the property in
question is this area right here and it
will I think it's going to line up kind
of
with the our existing conservation
easement so this is our existing
conservation easement
and then this would be a donation of
this area as a conservation easement
as a reminder a conservation easement
restricts the use of property to only
conservation-based use which is
essentially allowing it to be fallow
and undeveloped uh the donor of that
easement has a tax benefit from that
the recipient of the easement in this
case the city of Bexley needs to be a
non-profit we would
we would maintain the property and as
much as if there was any really
hazardous condition that was occurring
on the site we would come in and take
care of it there is a access easement
that if you look at it is probably one
of the weirdest looking uh surveys
you've ever seen because it sort of it
comes here and it's sort of like
meanders through what is essentially a
natural feature that would allow a truck
to come on site if necessary
um
and uh the attachments I guess are still
being worked on they're on your agenda
but they are in uh still in draft form
just so you're aware of that uh there's
not so far there has not been a cost to
us of managing and owning this easement
and in fact I don't know how I think
this is a slightly older aerial but uh
the adjacent property owners are keeping
it mode just because they want to have
it mowed it's very possible that a
future owner of this home here wants to
continue to mow this and we would not
restrict them from doing that because
long term it means that there aren't
trees growing on it that we have to end
up you know maintaining so
um
grass and then there are trees along the
creek this is Allen Creek so the trees
along the creek less so in this uh
conservation easement than in the one
that we uh were gifted before so
we'll have some like slightly more final
documents but the same principles apply
since they are Contin contiguous
properties we need a separate
yeah because the easement that we have
here
um it actually comes down here it runs
along this fence line and then it comes
through here it's uh it is only for the
purpose of accessing parcel 72.
so that we have no legal right to use
this easement to access the adjacent
site is for the purpose of accessing
parcel 72 in the event that we have to
maintain parcel 72. that was that was
the hold up uh that's that's one of the
reasons this this it was would have come
to council a little sooner but we're
working through the details of that
separate easement wow
I know it sounds obnoxious but keeping
if you I think the reason for it is that
the property owner in both of these
instances is you know has an asset in
the home and when they're selling that
asset they want to say to the buyer like
very restricted use for the season it
can't just be used for anything it has
very specific
try
so this is a different property owner
than the one that donated the first one
that's correct right that's correct and
you say there's no cost to us to keep it
does that mean does that mean we haven't
paid any costs or we have not done any
upkeep to it I know you said they are
mowing the lawn do we do anything we've
done nothing I mean
we spent Grant and I have spent about an
hour or two in the past year talking to
a neighbor who thinks that we should
maintain a tree in the access easement
which is absolutely not true so I mean
I don't know if that's a cost I guess my
time's worth money but it's not you know
it's not like a it's not been a hard
cost I mean the only real cost I think
would be is if something significant
happened on that property that required
City Crews to go in and clean it up
a storm taking down a bunch of trees and
the trees were in a dangerous condition
which because there are no adjacent prop
improved properties nor will there ever
be it's really hard to see that but it's
potentially possible right right well
that's what we do at Jeffrey Park so I
mean it wouldn't be any different my
follow-up to that would be uh so they
are mowing it if they don't mow it would
we be mowing it or we don't care if it's
mowed we don't care if it's mud it would
eventually turn into Forest
leopards and then the risk would be that
a tree that's in that Forest would fall
on or somehow be harmful to property
adjacent which for sure it's down
because they can use that green space
yeah they're not yeah technically you
shouldn't but yeah there's no one there
to stop them from doing that
any further conversation about this
tonight uh Mr Sharp and the the other
additional
for cost is the loss of the real estate
tax revenue on that
right uh yes I mean it's not a lot but
it is it's a it's a kind of academic
because of most of the evaluated Cruise
the economic unit of the house but yeah
there's
the way that it's currently parceled I
think that it will be very minimal
um
for the on the agenda it lists a a
property owner name which I think's the
other property name rather on the link
so
um
I don't even know whether you want a
property owner's name on the link itself
on the link to get to this document on
the agenda
well it's he is the donor oh
so
and it's in the it's in the actual
ordinance
okay that is the correct sorry
I was thinking uh
who lives there so
all right anything further on this one
is it okay if we move on please okay we
have a first reading on resolution zero
six I'm sorry is it resolution zero
five-21 a resolution approving the 2021
bicycle friendly Bexley Plan introduced
by Mr Sharp
okay
um since we have a long impression since
we have a long meeting tonight
um we're not and we're actually having a
presentation at the next meeting I won't
um take your time in doing uh looking at
this but the the mayor can't bring up
the
um actual
ordinance that should have should be
linked
oh
hold on it it is I saw your note and I
fixed it
in theory our resolution excuse me and
then you can um at your convenience read
the um bike plan and be prepared for
questions if any um to Catherine next
week
uh super
thank you Richard
so this is the resolution and the pla
there might so this is a uh
a multi-page document there are maps
that go with this and some other
Graphics that we are going to integrate
that wasn't part of their scope their
scope was kind of narrative but there
might be some tweaks I'm waiting from
Catherine to see if anything from our
final public Workshop is getting put
into this document this was the document
from before the final public Workshop
we're not talking about Catherine
thank you
all right just just a quick question for
the mayor
um
I breezed through this but wasn't a part
of this supposed to be also and you can
bring me up to date on Drexel South
Drexel
becoming a 25 mile per hour no I don't
think she speaks to that I think there
was recommendations potential of like
looking into a dedicated bike lane there
and there was a lot of conversation
about it and that's actually I think if
there's any one thing we end up talking
a lot about
it might be that
um it's
it keeps on coming back as a
recommendation and and uh
we do have a Drexel public Workshop
coming up about the speed and general
mitigation I will tell you that the
speed mitigation concepts are not
compatible with the dedicated bike lane
because they they would be kind of a
narrowing of the road which would make
it harder to have a bike a bike lane
but I don't want to we can get into the
dirt into the details I'm sorry of that
dip our toe into the water of that
conversation dive in later Splash
Cannonball all right moving paddle if we
make all right first reading of
ordinance06-21 a resolution to adopt the
tax budget for calendar year 2021
attached as exhibit a Mr Markham yeah
the only thing less exciting than the
ODOT salt contract
it's the paperwork to adopt the tax
budget for calendar year 2022. it's just
a technical legal thing that the lawyers
make us do so they can must do yeah
any comments or questions on this
um Lori could you could you madam
president can you please remind me next
when we have our pre-counsel meeting
that we attach the actual tax budget
looks like it's missing and I'll try to
remember as well free Council right now
but I think uh for those who are not
aware of the tax budget who from our
large listing audience it's the uh it's
a statutory requirement that we provide
a rough estimate of what we might bring
in and might spend next year
for the auditor to have on file and it
doesn't know it is not in any way bind
us uh to our actual budget that we end
up passing
or canes it feels like yeah
has has Mayors excuse me Madam president
may I ask the mayor question as the um
mayor's Consortium ever asked considered
asking the state or
to do away with that requirement and if
it doesn't seem to be I've never I've
never heard that conversation if we have
a really slow week I'll uh I'll bring it
up
all right I believe that we have a table
dress is there anything further on the
tax budget
okay thank you I believe that we have
um a uh we've got several uh we've got
two sorry not several we have two um
table ordinances
um one I believe uh 1221 has no action
is that true Mr Sharp
that is true and
um do you want me to take it off the
table in order to given up any type of
update I think they're unrelated I mean
they're they're twin they're not twin
third cousins they're not related I mean
they're
they're second I don't know they're
they're related but it's not directly
it's not directly relating to this but
maybe under under your uh we'll talk
about it okay
that's great so we can so so no it was
no um action on that
and I will then
um go to
um Mr Markham
um for amended ordinance 1421 because I
do believe there's action on that one
this evening
this time I'd move that we remove
amended ordinance 14-21 from the table
second thank you Mr
uh
thank you
sorry
who are you
so there was a first by Mr Markham and a
second by Mr Klinger all those in favor
please signify by Sting aye aye those
opposed same sign all right thank you
it's been removed
Mr Markham sir we have a live feed of
Mike Price it looks like right here
now no no pressure but if you do not
approve this ordinance floor that Mike
is on right now he gets a shot laps
underneath him he gets a shock or
something yeah
does it go into a pool oh
um so last time we were on the third
reading of this uh Mike uh uh very
graciously gave us a pretty detailed
spreadsheet of the uh the Mansion
um project the funding which uh you know
it's it's been you know it's been a
little long and Winding Road through
this and I definitely had forgotten you
know some details and so it was great to
get refreshed on that
um and uh also a pretty good detailed uh
summary of the expenses so uh hopefully
you all had a chance to take a look at
that over the last couple weeks uh I I
did I I did actually sit down with a
couple other council members and we did
go over that
um into some detail and we we did talk
to Mike about some of that
um we'd be happy to share any of that
information or
um
entertain any other questions that you
might have over it and uh more
importantly Mike's there you can ask him
anybody have any questions about this
Richard
um I think it might be helpful just to
should we read for the record
um our questions and maybe his responses
or if there is a city council would uh
would want to hear that I I think that
would be fine
even if they wouldn't you could read it
I've got it up here it won't take too
long
um we had a question about errors and
Emissions that seemed like an excessive
amount 217
000 in errors
um should
um should that be used for a credit or
for some of the overages
um
from uh architect or engineering fee
credit and Mike respond this is
obviously a concern but not having a
project manager
um and um the issue was raised but he
wasn't sure the best remedy schooly
Caldwell is waiving fees for change
orders and they are also prepared to
waive design fees for potential
replacement of the cooling tower and we
talked about the cooling tower earlier
um uh there were under requested changes
for 38 000 regarding the pavers for the
parking lot and that was an alternative
that was um
listed initially for the north driveway
which was specked as asphalt um but they
decided early on that the alternate
alternate for brick pavers was the best
route and there are 41
000 and owner requested changes for the
I.T rack and that was made up of two
parts 35
000 was Audio Visual and it would be
better categorized as Furniture fixtures
and equipment expense rather than part
of the actual Mansion expansion and um
it was uh
it was the AV Work wasn't specked into
the project but it was just added as the
furniture and fixtures 5 000 was I.T
related involving a new rack
that they had a very old rack that
needed to be replaced and it was a good
time
and then there were some servery changes
and Mike reviews
um the issues with the team and
determine that this should not have been
categorized as a honor request and it
was a result of changes required by the
public health department upon their
review
and so um
and then there was uh 330
000 dollars that
[Music]
um was related to in the funding sources
to the water and sewer
um that it was appropriated out of the
water and sewer budget not as a specific
line item but part of the operating cost
of the
consistent with other costs when there's
construction within the city
and the 112 000 that was built into the
original appropriation for contingencies
was
um
used and so there's no other funds
relating in that particular account Mike
did I summarize your responses correctly
yes thank you
super thank you for for that
and I'm and you and you picked a good
person to take with you to talk to Mike
I just just to give credit where credit
is to and I I do like this term now uh
taking the Deep dive we did take a deep
dive and I took Richard and Matt with me
uh they did spend a lot of time with me
tearing down those those numbers and
tracking those those down and they both
did just an amazing job and it is uh I
am as always uh very grateful to serve
with uh people like all of you who are
able to really help me with tasks like
that and I learned a lot and I think I
think they did a really good job and a
good service to the City by taking the
time to do that so thanks to them and
that's a good a benefit of our Council
being a committee as a whole we can have
more than one person in an unofficial
capacity looking at things and And
discussing things so that's an excellent
point excellent point
thank you and for thank you for making
that point it makes me feel good about
doing that over and over and over again
so thank you
um so
do you have any kind of a action on this
piece of legislation this evening yeah
I'm trying to find out what the number
of it is because I don't
1421 at this time I know that we adopt
or amended ordinance 1421.
second there's a first by
um
my Markham and a second by what's that
guy's name Matt Klingler
yeah
sorry Mike my brain is just not
getting late guys it's 9 22. so put your
name thing over this okay Ms lamb cake
wait wait is there any conversation any
further conversation about this this
piece of legislation
is there any further conversation from
those in attendance about this piece of
legislation all right now Ms lamkey yes
Ms Robinson yes Mr Markham yes Miss sad
yes Ms fiebel yes Mr Sharp yes Mr
Klingler yes
thanks for hanging out
thank you Mike right I could stand for
the rest of this meeting please few more
hours
we're actually going into executive
session I think in a minute and so come
back okay
all right uh
we're gonna we're gonna move on to the
finance committee Troy Markham chair
Troy
how about it
I've got something on there darling
uh-huh yep
Mr Markham can I ask a question before
you make up motion please ask your
question Mr Mayor are we talking about
two different issues in executive
session
okay would you be allow me to read what
it should say and you say so move
because this is
that would be my okay numbers and words
all right so we need a promotion to go
into executive session pursuant to 220
through to
223.03 of the city ordinances to uh
discuss the compensation or other terms
of condition of condition terms and
conditions of their um
no I can't say it maybe I'll give this a
try Mark now I'm going to start that
over sorry we need a motion to go into
executive session pursuant to do 223.03
of the city ordinances to discuss the
compensation of public employees and to
discuss the potential discipline of
public employees so moved sorry
no executives session I think this
should not be uh it has to be roll-off
that's what I was going to say Mr Sharp
yes Mr Klingler yes Miss sad yes Ms
Robinson yes Ms fiebel yes Ms lamke yes
Mr Markham yes
now and icative session
okay
foreign
thank you Mr Sharp uh all those in favor
please signify by saying aye aye it was
opposed same sign
all right if we can please um Troy do
you have anything uh further in your
finance committee report
thank you safety and health committee
Jen Robinson and yes I have two quick
things
um one the second part of our June our
programming leading up to Juneteenth
will be next Wednesday uh May the 19th
and it is a presentation by our very own
Dr Scott King Owen who will be talking
about the Emancipation Proclamation as a
freedom document that event will be
virtual and moderated by Courtney Baker
and I just want to give a shout out to
Bexley City schools and for their
partnership and Mexican Community
Foundation for their support of the
event
um also uh the uh Bexley AAP I Heritage
event
um put on in part with the support of
the bexa minority minority parent
Alliance is next Friday the 21st from 6
to 8 30 in the Bexley parking lot so
come on out and celebrate Asian Heritage
with some good food and Japanese
drumming and trivia and more and that's
just a show up thing that is just to
show up to show up and smile yep right
thank you Jen Robinson Jessica side
zoning and development committee
I'm gonna stay with the theme two things
cic report we had a meeting yesterday
and the cic voted on and entered into a
new Property Management agreement for
Bexley square with the Gilbert group for
one year
um Bexley Square the mayor and the cic
is looking at a mural proposal on Bexley
Square stay tuned for more information
on that Troy and I are very excited
um we're more than excited we're more
than excited we're part of that
um
deal properties
have been demolished
dirt leveled seated and a fence should
be up soon
okay and the City closed on 420 North
Cassidy now we own it
the Bexley Education Foundation the cic
owns it the Bexley Education Foundation
Thursday May 20th at 7 pm and the high
school library will hold their first
in-person meeting mass and social
distanced that's all I got thank you
Miss sod
um Monique lampke Judiciary and oh I
skipped that Klingler big surprise
Recreation I'm in themed I love you Matt
I'm so sorry
NTR
nothing to report all right thank you
thank you Monique clamke Judiciary and
strategic committee
all right I
um two quick things is well
um the Bexley Community Foundation hats
off to them they just awarded for the
first half of 2021 78 000 in Grants to
our wonderful Community I encourage you
all to take a look at those and then
second uh the Bexley Area Chamber of
Commerce is having their food
truck festival at Havenwood Park on
Memorial Day May 31st 5 to 7 pm and
they've also had a great turnout for
some of their local leaders all invited
to that please come to Haywood West yes
what is also that day because you all
better start practicing happy birthday
and I expect you all to show up in my
favorite color which is blue
that's all I've got yep okay
and
we are to Richard sherp service and
environmental committee sir
okay the isak and the train public
garden committee they meet next week
um the Historical Society they're
working on some ideas
um Nancy Beck has done a reviser
brochure and they're excited about
participating in the um Fourth of July
um activity I was on Capital designs
serving their ice cream like they have
in the past they're really excited about
Nancy Beck is so amazing and then
um
and then I'm gonna be speaking to the
mayor about one of their issues that
they have and I'll probably bring it up
when we meet tomorrow but anyway
let's go
so the mayor the mayor was going to give
us an update about the uh cousin
situation to the aggregation plan of
operation that's the um the status of
the aggregation proposal
um with AEP second cousin twice removed
second cousin so uh yeah so real quick
border control has been meeting
diligently about the AEP aggregation we
uh voted border control voted to
recommend the aggregation with some
modifications to city council and then
we asked city council to ratify it which
is different from what city council had
said city council said border control go
forth or you can approve it and then
bring it back to us and tell us about it
um the reason we did that is we we're
already past the June 1st date to start
it's not going to happen on June 1st for
a good reason I think we really delved
into it yeah and took our time to make
sure we really understood it
um
so that's okay
um you know it's not when we were
presented to a by AEP Last Summer the
the idea we were presented with a really
low rate then it it was like
substantially lower than Market at the
time which was incredibly attractive
that rate and it is not uh
substantially lower in the market it's
it's just a knit it's like a titch above
Market
um right now
and the market could change so we want
Council to be Eyes Wide Open the good
news is we're tracking with Columbus in
terms of cost so we're not alone that's
always good
um and you know Columbus is there was an
article in dispatch a few days ago about
how Columbus's rates were going to be
higher than you know they were before
and that's okay for X Y and Z reasons
because the way the Market's moving but
we just wanted it to be like a
community-based decision a council based
decision that we're all in it together
we just felt like given where we were at
that made sense so I'm not going to give
you all the details right now that's all
you get we'll have an ordinance at the
next council meeting
uh which is a really basic ordinance but
it will give us a platform to talk about
it
great anything else Mr Sharp
I'm a sub topic I did receive a postcard
from an alternative Alternative Energy
supplier for my at my house for
electrical
um
similar from another provider so there's
people out there that are looking
to um have residents um
participate so it could be a good
competitive situation as we look at
their final proposal
good to know anything else Richard
no thank you thank you
all right then the last thing on our
agenda
um is
um
actually we already did the executive
session so 24 is is over
uh I think I'm gonna pass on that one um
but we will do public comment
um uh item number 22 is there's no one
in the room with us anybody in
attendance wish to speak this evening
is there a motion to adjourn
I'm motion reader thank you Mr Klingler
is there a second second thank you miss
lamke all those in favor please signify
by saying aye
aye opposed