e e
welcome everyone to our city council
meeting of January 28th
2025 it is my honor to welcome all of
you to our city council meeting if
there's anyone in an attendance tonight
that would like to hand in a speaker
slip if you have not already I ask that
you please hand it in to auditor MC peek
at this
time thank you so much and with that
being said Mr MC PE would you please
call the
role Mr Marcelino present mrle
present miss here miss Lamy here Mr Mark
here and Mr Silver
thank you please rise and join me for
the Pledge of
Allegiance
stands
indivisible
andice as everyone can see we've got
quite a full house at least behind the
podium tonight um we are going to have
to share microphones I just ask that if
you are speaking make sure that your
microphone is showing green um and we
will move along as quickly as we can we
are now to agenda item number four
special guests I'm going to turn this
over to the mayor if he would like to
introduce our first special
guest I believe our first special guest
is in the foyer the lobby right now so
if Sergeant Johnson and chief Lewis
could join
us we go I think right here all right
this is technically it's always the
chief's show so let's see what he wants
our cor or sir sir sir how are you I'm
I'm just here to help I'm with the
government Council you know you know
Chief
Le the chief and I are very excited to
reintroduce you to uh formerly officer
Johnson who was sworn in earlier this
month as our latest and newest Sergeant
Johnson
the name plate a name plate it slid out
I gota grab imagine the best name plate
you've ever
seen G to be the official
announcement they're real I yes so um
eight
years n almost nine just coming up on
nine years service here of the citizens
of Bexley we're so excited excited and
proud of Sergeant Johnson and he
continues to just already make a
significant impact so we wanted this to
be an opportunity for uh the weather was
so severe on the day that family was
unable to be with us so we really wanted
to give him his moment and his dues and
he's had family travel in from Northwest
Ohio and so we wanted to make sure that
they got to meet Council and we honor
you for such a job well done so
congratulations absolutely
teach your family to counsel yeah so
this is my dad Rodney Johnson same
name
Sierra mom
Stacey Willow my
daughter ler
Blen and I also would be remiss um very
sleep deprived officer Haggard has also
come in to make sure he sh and so I
think this is just a testament to the
camaraderie the fellowship and the
support for sergeant Johnson for him to
come in uh and and uh break up his
sleep if possible Mr i' love to get a
photo of you and Johnson and his family
be
great would you like that Chief Sir
would you like that um if you guys are
just standing here
and here give you this name tag
like paparazzi
was the favorite
yeah today
one
more we're gonna do a couple with this
one
too okay
Sergeant Johnson on behalf of uh
everyone in this room I wanted to tell
you what an honor it is to have you on
our in our police department and we've
seen you grow and Thrive and serve our
community Through The Years we are
Beyond proud of you I love that your
family is here to see this tonight
congratulations than you thank you
you are certainly welcome to stay for
the rest of the meeting if you would
[Laughter]
like all right Council we are moving on
to a very um Special Second guest of
presenters uh from the citizen review
board mayor do you want to announce our
guests
uh you have here our chair Tiffany hunt
and Lee Nathans who is
also on the citizen review board um we
had submitted and I believe that you
have on your agenda the recap from last
year I think they just wanted to come
say hello and absolutely and provid sure
so first it's great to be here um I'm
Tiffany hunt uh the chair of the
citizens review board we've got Lee
Nathan here our vice chair um the
committee is also includes Becky Guzman
Lizzie uh Lisa Kelly and Glen sodden um
and so when to give you a little bit of
background in the history uh as well as
I guess some of the foundation for the
establishment of the citizen review
board um so this was established uh as
an Advisory Board to the mayor on June
9th 2020 and expanded through the
Council on October 13 2020 and really
what it's about is providing citizens
opportunity to have other citizens
review unresolved or unsatisfied comp
complaints right and providing uh
necessary transparency and so that's the
goal um in establishing the council as
we said it started in 2020 really the
the the 2021 was really about the
meeting Cadence what's our kind of
vision mission purpose our foundational
principles around it we did a lot of
research uh of other citizen review
boards in terms of making sure that um
we included all the necessary components
and so we spent a lot of time around
just the establishment of the council
making sure all those pieces were place
um since then we've had opportunity to
have some debriefs with Chief Lewis on
complaints not necessarily things that
came to the citizen review board because
they were resolved before that uh but
just giving us an update on any kind of
resolved complaints and you'll see that
at the top of the
chart um so we've got four resolved uh
complaint briefings today zero complaint
appeals did you have a question oh sorry
um and then we've got we've just met
twice in 24 in September and December
just because we did not have any um
complaints in terms of the mission and
purpose as I explained it's around
providing citizens an opportunity to
have this structure input from other
citizens and transparency the scope in
charge as you can see at the bottom is
around assisting the review of appeals
for unsatisfied complaints pertaining to
the conduct of city employees um all
records pertaining to a case under
appeal to be made in full to the
citizens review board for their review
um you will see at the top under 2023 it
says we had a confirmation of a 90-day
time limit to compal uh appeal a
complaint response um also we're charged
with non-disclosure of confidential
information so anything that's uh
conveyed to the council as part of the
review um is confidential and we have a
non uh disclosure of that um we also May
interview in subpoena individuals
concerning the matter under review as
well as uh access any records uh that
would be pertinent to that um we
obviously must work cooperatively uh
across the council and we have to date
uh done that um and that things really
receive um that they're unanimous right
in their decision and so that that is um
again one of the things that we
establish in the establishment of the
council um if we do have any obstacles
that we're facing coron we would reach
the mayor uh and then on an annual basis
the citizens review board will provide
the mayor and councel with a summary uh
thus that I'm here to today that's
it I would just say that through our
participation um this demonstrates to um
the community in Bexley the commitment
of the political leadership to
responsiveness and of the appropriate
conduct and um uh service ethic of our
city employees and um we're grateful
that you've uh uh allowed us to serve in
this capacitor well thank you thank you
Tiffany and Lee for your service on this
review board are there any comments or
questions from Council
missad can we quickly just put up their
um citizen review board 2024 city
council report just so it can be shown
and then for the community to know that
this is um in tonight's city council
meeting as an attachment if anyone
wanted to go and view it absolutely um
it's available thank you so much for
coming and fulfilling what you said you
would do we appreciate it right
great and that's up on the up on the
screen for us Mr Hurley did you have a
comment or question yeah uh well first
just thank you for your service um I I
just I wasn't around when this was
created so just can you very very
quickly walk me through so I'm a citizen
I have a complaint I'm unsatisfied with
the complaint I get from a specific
agency what happens next how do I get
from that
to the interview board so the we have
process and the application for appeal
on the website uh for the city of Bexley
and so they would basically just go
through those steps that have lined out
for them right and then it would
obviously look to be resolved as we said
um through the normal channels but if
it's unsatisfied then it would be raised
to the citizens reward it okay we we
also as I understand it have sort of a
complaint coner someone that uh with the
establishment of the civilian review
board is able to assist any citizen
who's complaining and the citizen
doesn't have to be a resident of Bexley
it can be anyone who's had an encounter
with um axle employee and um the conier
will
help Define what the process is and walk
the um the citizen through the the
process yeah um so if you scroll uh down
I guess okay yeah or up I'm sorry up
yeah there you go you see the quick
links on the website there I've never
visited this page I've had no complaints
um I so so just so I'm as a citizen or
not as a I guess if I'm hearing you're
anyone who yeah anyone who has to
complain if if you're unhappy you can
keep sort of escalating that until you
do arrive at the citizen review board
but what I'm hearing is we've done a
good such a good job of responding to
concerns complaints that we haven't
actually had an issue get to that level
in your years of existence they've been
handled at the departmental level yeah
okay thank you Mr Hurley Mr Marcelino
just a brief question is there anything
that we can do as a council to assist
you all better or any you know any
access
or I guess anything I don't think so I
think the opportunity to come here right
and discuss the work of the council like
you know kind of like we said we've not
really faced any obstacles to date but
you know it's good that we have this
forum that we can you know collaborate
with to that happens so I think so far
so good I mean we'll see what
happens but again it demonstrates the
city's commitment to hiring the best uh
individuals and um having them in the
right positions and understand that a
part of working in Vex is being
responsive to the citizen that's right
any other questions Mr Mark
I just want to say thanks also to you
and uh know that we recognize that you
are the highest level of uh public
service to us in our city uh we really
uh value your experience your skill and
your dedication to the process that we
have here I think it speaks to to not
only to to you and the type of citizens
that we have but of course it also
speaks to our police department and our
other departments that they are uh the
best really that that you you'll find
anywhere and that we have this process
uh and not only do we have the process
but because these departments are so so
great it is not utilized well not
utilized often sorry yeah yeah no I
would Echo those sentiments you know
obviously through this journey we've had
an opportunity to work with and get to
know Chief Lewis obviously the mayor the
me members of the council members of
city council and it's been a great
experience and so I for me personally
I've really enjoyed getting to know and
appreciate your support in crafting the
legislation yeah thank you anyone else
have any questions or comments before we
move on thank you both again so much for
your service appreciate
it right moving on to agenda item number
five um I believe this is currently
tabled um Mark do we need to First
remove it from the table Mr Marceline do
you have a motion for ordinance
42-24 yes I move to take ordinance
42-24 regarding the 700 Grand and Avenue
Lot split request off the table all
right motion by Mr Marcelino is there a
second second second by Mr Hurley Mr mCP
would you please call the RO on the
motion to remove from the
table Miss
FAL yes Mr Silverman Mr Markham yes Mr
Hurley yes Mr Marcelino yes Miss s Miss
lampy yes motion
passes turning it over to you Mr
Marcelino yes thank you very much uh as
you've seen uh the past few times we've
read this this is an ordinance to split
up a lot on 700 grandon Avenue um it's
uh it's currently one lot that uh the uh
property owner I believe and I'll allow
you to speak a little more here in a
minute but just just looking to
basically divide it into two and build
another home um I know we've had time to
ask questions uh throughout time but I
guess at this point what I would do is I
would invite the property owner or their
representative uh to step up and tell us
a little bit about the project I would
open it up for questions and then Matt
and I can kind of go through some of the
expectations here in regards to what we
should be looking for we make our final
decision so for whoever the
representative for this project would be
you want to step up and introduce
yourself to
council certainly I'm Connie kma I
represent the owners of the lot great
um I wasn't really prepared to speak
much but um I'd be happy to and I know
that there were uh this is considered to
be a variance uh that council's
overseeing and if you want me to go
through the Practical difficulties or
would you just like me to tell a little
bit about just in general if you just
want to give a Bic description of the
project this particular lot was platted
years and years ago and uh because it
was not developed and is adjacent to a
property that's also owned by the same
owner uh your code says that those lots
are cons considered to be one because
it's no longer in accordance with your
current code while it was in accordance
with your code when it was platted so um
my client owns both the Lots 131 and 32
has a 131 has a house that was built on
it years ago and he would like to build
a house on lot
132 and uh because it is not uh under
your R6 zoning in accordance with it uh
we are trying to get a variance to I
guess uh finalize uh a platted
subdivision that has single family homes
and uh fill in the tooth that's been
missing for years with a house perfect
for not being prepared you did an
excellent job there sorry to throw you
on the spot I I wanted to open it up to
the rest of council here to see if there
are any questions for the representative
um property
on okay that means that we have all done
a great job and done our uh research
here and answer it thank you very much
um at this time you know when we are
looking at application for an area
variance there are several uh conditions
which we have to look for uh whether the
property in question will yield a
reasonable return or whether there can
be any beneficial uh use of the property
without the variance whether the
variance is substantial whether the
essential character of the neighborhood
would be substantially altered or
whether adjoining properties would
suffer substantial detriment as a result
the Varan whether the variance would
adversely affect the delivery of
governmental Services uh for example
water sewer garbage whether the property
owner a property owner purchased the
property with knowledge of the zoning
restriction whether the property owner's
predicament feasibly can be obviated
through some method other than a
variance and whether the spirit and the
intent behind the zoning requirement
would be observed and uh substantial
Justice Done by granting the variance
and the applicant must establish these
by preponderance of the evidence uh that
the uh area variance is warranted
I leave it at that and then also open it
up by chance Mr Kingler if there's
anything you'd like to add at this point
for our guidance and making it a
termination um just maybe a couple
things great job Connie thanks for I was
gonna say all that um that the original
platted subdivision is all 40 plat 40
foot wide lots and so when the zoning
code was changed um you know R six makes
up probably 2/3 to 3/4 of our city that
zoning District the conforming lot width
is 50t so essentially all of those old
40 foot lot widths are non-conforming so
um as Miss CA said um this lot is in
conformance um and I will remind you we
did write a couple variances in with the
ordinance for the existing uh home I
believe when they get a site survey the
uh condensing unit um has to be moved
and maybe the fence depending on where
you know Franklin County auditor the red
lines aren't always exact
um um and then that house that is on
that is at 700 now um needs a sidey
guard setback uh with the new property
line so those are some of the variances
we wrote Into the original ordinance um
so if if this passes the applicant does
not have to go to Bap U because you all
would Grant the variances but they would
still need to go to ARB for the new um
house in question as well as the tree
and public garden commission um and of
course our office will help them um get
through that process
thank you Matt any further questions
from Mr Kingler about yes uh president
lampy uh Mr Kingler do you have any
concerns at all as to whether or not the
application meets the seven criteria for
us to issue a variance no staff supports
granting the
par yes and so and when the applicant so
a as as Mr Marcelino went through those
the criteria again keeping in mind know
one criteria is more important than the
other and they don't have to meet all
seven criteria for Council to approve uh
the Vari area variance request also to
be clear and so it's on the record the
when the applicant when the applicant
submitted the application um all of
these questions were asked and answered
um again whether or not to your
satisfaction is your call but that is
should be considered part of the record
and that was forwarded to All City
council members by Mr Kingler sometime
last week so you all have a chance to
look at that um but obviously if you
have any questions about it now while
we're in hearing session you should ask
counc Sil
yeah because Bexley was um developed in
almost 12 or 13 different areas th this
particular development um all of all of
the Lots or mostly all of them are 40
but yes it's mainly in um South Bexley
but as you go farther to the West there
there are less 40 WID Lots it just
depends on how it was all laid out and
all of those plats for anyone who wants
some light reading can be found on the
Recorder's website
um
2 no I I think it predates the 2017 I
think it's goes way back okay yeah okay
but I don't I don't know the exact
answer to that
I'm I hesitate to cite specific examples
if there are like some differences in
fact patterns but um you know there's a
new build on Francis Avenue several
years ago I don't know if it exactly
matches the exact same fact pattern
um several examples in um if you're
looking for more dense Lots in the same
zoning District I believe is either
Columbus alagan or Bellwood where there
were some couple new builds in the past
five or 10 years um so absolutely there
are examples of that throughout the city
yep beex doesn't have a ton of open Lots
so we don't have any examples right I
think that I can think of like you know
several in South Bexley and I think we
would all try to uh would love to have
that opportunity um any further
questions comments concerns before we
open it up to the public for any
c okay well this being a third reading
uh we like to open it up to the public
if anybody here tonight wishes to
comment on this um or ask any questions
or make any statements we would open it
at this
time seeing is how nobody is charging
the podium at this point um I think that
we would close that but speak now or
forever hold your peace um at this point
I don't have too much further to discuss
in regards to this ordinance itself um I
can tell you that personally I am in
support of it I think that the applicant
is done an excellent job um and giving
us all the information that we need but
uh you all should make up your own minds
as as we decide to vote on this I
believe were we going to discuss this in
executive session by
chance well we can yeah I mean
technically it's not executive session
because you're in a hearing mode but yes
we can city council certainly can
deliberate privately um the there's
there's two considerations here one is
the approval of the ordance but you also
will need some at least basic findings
of facts and conclusions of law um I
have taken the liberty of putting
something together for you guys to
review at some point you can make a
decision tonight you can you can table
it again and make you know and make a
decision the first meeting in February
that's your
call what I would ask is that if Council
decides to table this just to make sure
will that hold up anything on your end
just if we waited until the first
meeting in February will that hold up
anything on your end or cause any issues
for uh the development
itself
okay sorry sorry about that not a
problem there is a house being designed
and we weren't going to be ready for
that architectural application this next
meeting anyway so we we have some time
and because I'm up here I'll say I'll
we'll say one more thing an interesting
fact is that this particular lot even
though it is not permitted to be
developed is still and has been always
um taxed uh by the Franklin County
auditor as a single family lot and the
same valuation put on it as all the
other Lots around it that do have houses
uh the same land values so I think
that's an important fact okay thank you
very much um at this time just given uh
you know the the everything before you I
know we've had some emails from our City
attorney um I think what I would uh do
is move to table ordinance
4224 this time since it doesn't seem as
though it'll get in the way of the
project um and then we will hear uh and
make final decision at our next uh first
meeting in February so I move to table
ordinance
42-24 second
motion motion to table by Mr Marcelino
seconded by Mr Hurley uh Mr mCP would
you please call the RO on motion to
table ordinance
42-24 Miss slam key yes Mr Hurley yes Mr
Markham yes Mr Marcelino yes Mr
Silverman Miss fible yes and Miss sad
yes motion to table ordinance 4224
passes
thank you my microphone was not on I'm
not sure if anyone heard me but we are
on to agenda item number six public
comments regarding items not on the
agenda and we have two speaker slips
okay who is our first Speaker Mr B um
Carl Hoffman
gender I meant to say Virginia torns
thank
you Mr Tor uh Miss Tor if you could
please come on up to the
podium
um um and before I asked you to share
your legal name and your address I
wanted to share with you and with all of
council uh a simple reminder that public
comments are the Public's chance to
share their thoughts as to matters
involving City business or resolution or
ordinance this is not not a time for
back and forth nor is it a debate but
rather council is going to respectfully
listen to your comments comments that
violate our written policy may result in
termination of the comments and our
written policy is also available online
and it's printed on the speaker slips
just outside council chambers each
speaker can speak up to five minutes and
I will keep time for you if there are
any questions asked during public
comment I'm going to do my very best to
write those questions down as they are
said and once the public comment is
concluded I will refer matter to the
appropriate person for response as soon
as possible if there are no questions
being asked during public comments
please know that we appreciate and thank
you very much for your comments and as
always any speaker can also reach out to
any council member or to the mayor using
the email addresses that are available
on the city website for further
discussion s that being said would you
please share your full legal name and
address with us well my name
is see if I can get
this my name is Virginia toris I prefer
to go by Ginger my legal address is 99
Preston Road Columbus Ohio
43209 and I appreciate this opportunity
to speak to all of you
dear mayor Kesler and distinguished
council
members we are contacting you to ask you
that you Ser seriously
consider working with the city of
Columbus to abandon the planned widening
of the Cassidy and Fifth Avenue
intersection north of
Beckley and now on route to Bexley City
Schools new property at Cassidy and 6th
Avenue
this area is on the city of Columbus
High injury crash
Network and is the site of frequent
severe traffic crashes including the
death of an elderly estrian who was
killed while crossing Fifth Avenue
December
2023 the proposed widening of C in fifth
Avenues includes the addition and
extension of turn Lanes on the north and
south of cassid
Cassidy easterly bound turn lane on F
Avenue at Cassidy and dramatically
increasing Corner radii in phase one of
the
project phase two includes a through
turn lane on Cassidy Avenue from
delmare to bexley's northern
border on bexley's Northern border to
deonier
Road Cassidy Avenue one block South in
Bexley where remain two lanes
widening Cassidy and fifth Avenues and
increasing curb radi will dramatically
increase Crossing
distances jeopardizing the safety of
those on foot wheelchair or bicycle as
they will be forced to spend more time
in
intersection traffic and trashes traffic
crashes will increase as well as traffic
and truck turning speeds as explained
below I won't go on to tell you about
this
well I've put some citations in the in
the email that I sent you guys that you
can read but some I anyway I've included
citations relating to this type of
development from National associ
Association of city transportation
officials which is the leading
Transportation um Urban Transportation
design organization in the United States
and is adopted by the city of Columbus
and and is used by ODOT and quite a few
and anyway they go on to site
how adding turn lanes and traffic Lanes
increase
conflicts and re reducing safety P
pedestrians for safety or pedestrian
safety as well as citations from The
Institute of Traffic Engineers and
John's Hopkins
research um referencing the
same and then I go in I go on to include
the um proposed increases the existing
um dimensions of the intersection as
well as the proposed Dimensions after
construction and for example just the
crosswalk um on Cassidy Avenue North of
Fifth Avenue it would almost double the
length of the intersection um requiring
The Pedestrian to spend that much more
time in the
intersection so so it's definitely an
unsafe situation the curb radi
increase the National Association of
city transportation officials recommends
the maximum curb radi be kept at 22 feet
or 22 degrees sorry um the city of
Columbus proposes to raise it to 68.5
fet that is a tur curb um turning radi
that you use utilize for freeway
entrances right you don't use use it for
urban places where where there's people
and all kinds of different uses
mixing so anyway I go on to quote the
different the different sources
supporting
argument and then I'll continue with my
letter um emergency vehicle pedestrians
wheelchair cyclist cars and trucks have
been using both Cassidy and Fifth Avenue
for over a hundred years large trucks
and emergency vehicles skilly navigate
the intersection in its current
configuration and are able to uze i67
located just a few blocks west of
Cassidy Avenue off of
fifth also the proposed widening ignore
the recommendations of War engineering
who the city of Columbus commissioned to
create the feasibility study of the
proposed project in
2020 I will read their
excerpt Interstate size do that ma'am
I'm so sorry five minutes are are up
really I I appreciate your comments um
and I wanted to let you know that I did
read and shared that with Council thank
you so much for your comments great if
you have any questions i' I'd be open to
questions if you can do that or you can
email me well thank you we have your
email address much appreciated thank you
thanks for listening thank you so much
for your comments uh Mr Mayor did you
want to um given that this seems to be
um more of a city of Columbus sort of
issue do you want to um I'm happy to I
believe the next speaker might be on the
same topic is that correct okay
wait Mr PE who is our second speaker
Carl Hoffman okay Mr Hoffman I know you
were listening when I uh spoke to um
miss tornis about our public speaking
policy um I will gladly keep time for
you as well but if you wouldn't mind
sharing your full legal name and your
address with this and then you have up
to five minutes to address Council
please uh it's Carl Holman and I'm 2729
Columbus have so so up there in North
Beckley so gives me standing because a
lot of this affects me so I mean
realizing that I think city of Columbus
is already pretty much going going ahead
with what they're doing my main concern
is now that the school district has made
that purchase up up there off Cassidy
and
six is that there will be increased foot
traffic in particular as well as vehicle
traffic going through there so my main
concern is you know just cooperating
with the city of Columbus as as you
develop at least pedestrian safety on
that Corridor and If Ever I think there
were a place in this city or in Columbus
for pedestrian overpass it's at that
intersection because I can imagine in
the fall kids going to a football game
if you're gonna if you're gonna move the
athletic facilities up there the foot
traffic that's going to be you want you
want to keep that going I don't want a
hundred kids sitting there on the corner
waiting for the light to change and
create something so for me it's really
realizing that I think city of Columbus
is already going to go ahead with what
they're doing but now that we have skin
in the game with property the school
district has purchased up there I think
you know maybe we have a a little bit of
say at least in a pedestrian overpass
you know over Fifth Avenue I think is is
the bare minimum that I would kind of
like to push for you know knowing that
it's probably not going to stop because
I mean for me it's just the concern of
you know the the safety because there's
going to be a lot more foot traffic
going up there
you know maybe it's a few years from now
when the when the school district you
know has has the new facility there but
there will be more foot traffic and
probably more vehicle traffic as well
but I'm more concerned with The
Pedestrian safety just as we develop
that
Corridor so that's I I don't need to
take all my five minutes that's just
what I wanted to say so as a concerned
citizen thank you very much Mr Holman we
really do appreciate you coming to
council um Mr Mayor I'm going to um ask
you to
um to either respond or you could follow
up with our residents um once you've had
a time to digest that their comments I I
appreciate that Madame President and um
M toris has emailed me and and uh us
with some more information by the way
you site nacct which is like one of my
favorite uh sources for Traffic Safety
um we use it a lot here with with the
Bexley um I the The Pedestrian Riv pass
is the first time I've heard of that
concept and as you all know know that is
outside of our jurisdiction we don't
have control over what's happening at Cy
fifth I also think that um I did check
with Columbus after um after your email
just to see where they were in the
process and they just I think they're
awarding the bid for this project this a
federal fund project um which my
understanding is once it goes through
that engineering design phase and it's
going to bid and it gets awarded it is
it is fairly set stone I'm not sure that
Columbus has any ability to change
anything but
um just real quickly the to the point of
this of of uh the testimony regarding
pedestrian safety we have been in
contact with the schools U about what
their plans are and and are continuing
to talk about how can we enhance um any
sort of safety there's a current bike
path connection to the site that they
have but are are there some additional
you know routes that we can help
facilitate again we have limited
availability of resources to do so and
absolutely no control over that but we
will continue to be engaged and and
cognizant and and helpful we can be
thank you Mr Mayor U Mr mCP did we have
any other speaker slips or was that uh
was that all at this time no more
speaker slips okay thank you so much uh
moving on to the president's report and
you are certainly welcome to stay for
the rest of our meeting if if you would
like um I did just have a few quick
announcements um Council May 15th is the
ethics uh disclosure date by when you
have to uh do your annual filing um I
will keep reminding you as that date
gets a little closer um on January 31st
the beex Community Foundation is holding
their annual Texas fom tournament online
registration ends tomorrow evening but
uh should you not be able to make it on
time online you can always pay at the
door as well um so please consider
joining that as well um a few days ago
the mayor and I had a chance to uh meet
with the bmpa and to uh meet some of our
honores for Black History Month banners
I will share with you that um we have
some amazing folks who have either lived
in Bexley worked in Bexley been part of
our Bexley community and I believe uh
shortly some of their Banners are going
to be going up so if anyone here served
on that subcommittee um I really do
appreciate all of the work that went
into to it um it was a great um great
meeting um and as and finally uh at our
next meeting uh council member Silverman
and fibble and I will uh present to you
our uh written recommendation regarding
Council
Communications um we are just about
there we've got a few more tweaks um to
be reviewed uh but you can look for that
next
time Mr City over to you
just a couple things um last meeting um
I mentioned that AT&T was pursuing some
changes to require the city to pay for
some stuff that we currently don't have
to pay for and at& withdrew that request
I'm imagining it will come back in some
form at some point but the O opportunity
to kind of slide it under the table uh
sort of failed um at least for now the
second thing is um that and I I can get
every anybody who wants the exact date I
believe it's February 18th and I think
you can see it online the court 10th
District Court of Appeals the Franklin
County Court of Appeals will be hearing
the appeal that the state of Ohio has
taken from the case that we tagged a lot
with Columbus on regarding regulation of
um flavored tobacco and um the as you
may recall the Court of Common Pleas
ruled in this our favor and um the court
of appeals now is taking that up and
we'll see what happens that is all thank
you Mr official um Mr mCP over to you
for auditor report please um just a
couple quick updates um one as uh likely
everybody on Council recalls um couple
years ago we had an employee steal money
from the city um and that has been going
through what I would say the ordinary
course process of Engagement from the
Ohio attorney general office Etc and
just wanted to make sure that the
council was aware that the high attor
General now is pursuing um those funds
from that um from that theft so as we
collect those monies certainly keep you
informed but wanted to make certain that
um Council and the community understood
that that is still being
pursued um and then the second thing is
that um we are in the process of um
taking our banking services for the city
ofle to an RFP
um it is something that communities do
just to ensure that we are not um well
I'll just say that we're getting a fair
price on our banking services so that is
something that we are kicking off and uh
there's a lot going on right now within
the finance department but uh we intend
to take that to RFP some point in time
in February um to evaluate services and
ensure that we are getting uh the best
uh Services um and the best pricing for
for for the
community okay
great that's it thank you Mr mCP any
questions for our
auditor all right moving on to
administrative updates mayor I'm going
to turn it over to you to walk us
through uh administrative updates thank
you madam president um first off I do
want to welcome Natalie Mullen here as
the assistant Rec director filling in
for Moneyball Mike Price who's uh
coaching yeah coaching uh Beckley school
girls basketball tonight I believe
so oh that's a big one beat them beat
Academy um so a couple things to
highlight in my written uh update to
council you can obviously read this for
yourself I put a lot of a lot of stuff
in here so I'm not going to read it to
you verbatim and although I know you
want me to um first off I do want to uh
recognize Andy's good work and the
Drexel Avenue speed process along with
Dave Koker the engineer uh and our
Carpenter Mar our Traffic Engineers we
are moving forward with that petition we
met with ODOT in the past couple weeks
and we'll be submitting that um soon if
anyone wants to write a letter of
recommendation those are welcome uh sort
of adjacent to the topic of Cassidy
Avenue we also met with the city
engineer about options for tapping into
that multi-use path that Columbus is
adding there just north of delmare um
for bikes bikes and pedestrian so um
we've looked at a lot of different
concepts over the past couple years and
are uh currently studying uh a multi-use
path on the west side of CID essentially
termina in Maryland because south of
Maryland on Cassidy um our ride of way
changes quite a bit we don't have the
same access to space there so we're
studying that um one Bexley story slam
was last week it was a great success uh
I want to give kudos to uh City employee
Elizabeth Alman who is one of our
speakers
um and the team that helped plan it
Megan was a huge piece of that thank you
Megan for all your hard work on that um
but law Steve Kaia and others helped
pull that off was a great event um you
will see an ordinance tonight we'll talk
through the first region about our
galvanized service line Loan program um
the Sam Marcelino water bill assistance
program is also been worked on at the
same time so you'll probably see some
legislation I think we'll need it coming
forward on that but we're still
finalizing some uh draft details on that
uh joint Livingston Avenue project has
been uh coming along well we had
actually a couple meetings this week
about that uh Matt Clinger has been
doing a great job of being our Point uh
with the city we're getting into right
of way planning um and a lot of very
wonkish details about how to handle the
administration of the project as it
moves forward um this week later this
week uh the chief and myself and Megan
are traveling to Dublin uh where we are
all the way to Dublin
Ohio where we will be uh just learning
more from them about their slowdown
Dublin program which we are totally
stealing from them uh with permission um
um so you'll be hearing more about that
but we're hoping to launch this public
information awareness and data campaign
uh in the ne next uh I'd say in the next
quarter does that sound fair yeah we're
just making it up as we go um cic met
this morning we discussed progress on
the between the C cic and Community
Builders regarding the 420 North Cassidy
space um as it stands right now there's
been a lot of great engagement with our
seniors um we're looking at maybe about
doubling of the space that is in the
senior center currently uh in that new
first floor footprint so that's a real
positive and um if that as that
progresses the mou would also come to
council uh because of the senior center
component of that uh but those details
are still being hammered out out I just
wanted to give you a heads up also at
the cic this morning Heidi mccab our
former Treasurer was awarded uh the
auditor of State came and and gave us a
what was the award called the Excellence
and amazingness for
accounting Finance anyway we did quite
well in our audits the cic was
given commendations for commendations
for that would do you remember the exact
name of the certificate I think it
was cognition wa course for excellence
um but it it does highlight just auditor
of the state award there we go yeah
that's it so that
happened it's a big deal um only the top
10% of all audits that they audit are
recognized with this so we should be
proud of the work that that Heidi and
team um are doing carrye is now the new
treasur so hopefully we'll see the same
award uh in the future no pressure um
also had the privilege of attending
capitals uh Martin Luther King Jor day
of learning uh their 34th consecutive
year our State Rep davius Geralds was
their speaker did a great job they
always do a great job Capital does with
that event so encourage you guys to
check it out has some photos of story
slam which was
awesome and I'm happy to answer your
questions okay I want to also make sure
our February 23rd new Resident welcome
event make sure to to mark that
Alex
dets is
our
bology yes um so it's a little bit about
it's actually it's a continuation of
what we have been doing for years but
more clearly communicated and with some
more clear benchmarks in terms of what
interventions would come into play if
speed gets to a certain you know part
portion over the P 85th percentile
whatever The Benchmark is we end up
selling on we've been doing that for
many years but it's been a little bit
more
U sort of comparing different streets in
beex and it's been a little less
strictly scientific it's been a little
bit more just experientially based so
this is going to make it more strictly
focused on the actual data that's coming
out clear Community residents so they
know what sort of interventions would be
put in place the but there's also an
enforcement side of that so which is
there is today but um we think that this
added kind of awareness campaign over
what is slowdown Beckley how you know
branding basically what we've been doing
and honing it is going to bring some
added value yeah I know a lot of times
talking mention speed signs ham
techology all that compon
explor that along yeah so when you see
those speed signs rotating out through
neighborhoods and some of them are
permanent those are examples of
interventions that have been triggered
by speed studies so this is taking that
it's actually going to share all the
data we've gathered to date we have a
lot of speed studies and so those will
be on GIS on our website um and also
saying what happens if you know you you
have a concern about speed we come out
if it hits a certain threshold here's
what we would do next so it's just a way
to communicate it much more clearly to
Residents yeah and of course it's spe so
there will be yard signs yeah
maybe some magnets oh yeah
there's any other questions for the
mayor
okay thank you um next up we have Megan
Meyer thank you mayor um just want to
point out the winter issue of Bexley
times should uh it's at the post office
so should be heading your mailboxes soon
um while not a Bexley resident I do
think the cutest Bexley Community member
is on the cover that is my son Theo um
parental permission was really easy on
that one um Community Builders and I'm
sure that um director Clinger will also
keep you informed of this but if you're
not already aware they um did go to both
ARB and Bap this month a conditional use
permit um for both sites um were issued
as well as um variances for various um
components of both sites both were
remanded back to Architectural Review
Board um I know this can be an area of
Interest and engagement for residents
and so we have made a web page if you're
interested in following the project that
information and new applications will be
posted to be.org
TCB um a correction to what I have
listed here for cohatch we were planning
a grand opening in ribbon cutting with
cohatch the first week of May they have
since decided to go ahead and give
themselves some breathing room and
they're now looking at an April time
frame um of course we'll keep that
communication and Echo it back out to
you and the community as soon as we
receive it um other things um I'll leave
for questions except I do want to point
out the 2025 state of the community
address um is scheduled so please save
the date for Tuesday March 4th at 6:30
p.m. and will be at the Tor M synagogue
um you can register in advance you're
not required to do so but it helps me
with my planning at becky.
orgs so with that I'll take any
questions Mr mercel yeah just uh in
regards to the coordination with
dispatch magazines on a Columbus CEO
suburn special section could you just
tell us what's going on there sounds
absolutely um so that is a sister
company that is also um that we worked
with previously that has done a Columbus
monthly special section that was focused
more on lifestyle with the um
development of the land use strategy all
the Redevelopment action that we're
having specifically with 2200 and some
other potential redevelopments we're
hoping to see come soon we thought it
was a good idea to kind of put Bexley in
the spotlight to developments and uh
developers and businesses in the area um
and so this is kind of a cost sharing
agreement with that magazine it would
help us get in front of like I said
those developers honestly at a pretty
reasonable cost um and we'll have
overruns for the community as well to
highlight the good work that's going on
we're looking at a July time frame for
that great stuff thank
you Mr Silverman
yeah so this is one more step in you
know 15 years long process um but it is
a big one um for the first time I
believe in the history of our engagement
with those Property Owners um all but
two have signed on um to enter into a
joint agreement with us and so that's
actually a big deal they all have single
representation um and that allowed us
for joint for us to jointly apply for
the odod grant um it is truly um
a next step in the environmental
assessment so there have been limited
phase one environmental um testings done
throughout the site in different phases
not ever as comprehensively as this um
so this proposal with an environmental
consultant that we've used previously
would complete that phase one where
there are holes in the study um and then
move forward with the phase two
environmental assessment it's being held
to a different standard than previously
as well it's something called the
voluntary action program VAP um and that
would allow us to definitively work with
the property owners on the next step and
everybody have one same Playbook to move
forward with um the project does not
presume any specific outcome um but it
it spands from um structures in place
and reming on site um with or without
the relocation of um residents that are
there currently um all the way to
demolition but nothing is presumed um
but that was recognized in that
agreement
Mr Hurley question for other uh director
Meer the mayor so the two sort of
nonparticipating landlords I mean what
what I guess is the move
there yeah and we are very hopeful that
they will sign with the city independent
of the legal representation sought by
the other property owners and we will
allow them to do
so um and so they would in all fairness
we really hope will be part of this
application when it actually is opened
by odf and if not we do have that
initiated nuisance action so we would
continue along that path Mr mercel that
was actually my exact question but now
I'm curious as well so it more so that
they just elected not to have legal
representation hence to why they haven't
signed so it's not necessarily that they
don't want to be a part of the agreement
they just didn't get obervation so they
aren't if we your take we can talk
maybe two granular because we're we're
down to two properties and there are
some unique characteristics between the
two of them so if we could discuss it
offline okay y thanks and I I do want to
I mean I'm trying to remember the
meeting that led to the resident who
said it wasn't even anything about this
but said something like you've never
reached out to me we're like hey let's
do this so that was the you know sort of
the impetus to getting together with all
the residents and it's been um it's been
uh in have Megan sheering that through
and moving that down the down the path
along with Joe Durham so good
work
um next up in the fund Carrie
Martin I do not have a report today but
I'm hopeful that I will next
month happy to answer any questions yes
happy to answer any questions Harry
congratulations I think that you have
just had your one-year anniversary with
am I right on that yes just get better
every day doesn't it every day yeah well
I knew it was coming up so
congratulations we're so happy you're
with
us yeah Finance question just this I'm
sure probably doesn't have a really
clean answer but about 4:30 or so today
my phone started blowing up from clients
because there's an executive order
issued um that effectively Froze all
federal spending grants things like that
it's with very quickly with stayed by
I'm just curious what is our exposure to
that as a city I'm so glad you brought
that up because actually it was I forgot
to talk about it it's one of my items my
bad so yes um and kudos to uh auditor MC
peek for being the first person to blow
up my phone with this um which led me
down a rabbit trail of very unfortunate
articles that I was reading thank you Mr
mCP welcome um we're looking really Clos
to what's happening currently we don't
think we have exposure on anything
that's actively happening I will say
that if you were to read the executive
order and it's a it's a temporary hold
while the different departments um
evaluate funding that has been provided
and of course there's
some um there are some potential legal
issues with that based upon the
Appropriations Clauses and I'm not going
to pretend to understand federal law but
I understand that there's some potential
coners regardless the only project that
was at the Forefront of my mind where we
are going to be using federal funds is a
Livingston Avenue project obviously L
now the federal fund piece of that
doesn't start to kick in until 2026 time
frame so we will know well in advance
how that resolves and we'll be watching
it very closely we think we hope and
think and if it ever gets to the point
where it seems like there's you know
serious risk um we're gonna have to
discuss obviously with Columbus as our
partner how we would work on that I
would say I would not expect that you
know core infrastructure projects like
that would be the more vulnerable ones
but who knows so we are believe me we
are watching it closely and we're
probably one of the least exposed local
governments of any of the of our peers
in the in the region and so you can rest
assured that we're going to be briefed
ad nauseum um over the coming days weeks
months and hopefully not years for what
it's worth the court has stayed that
order to see what happens thank you guys
for being very on top of it so
appreciate
it would that affect the Kota project
com through you know we were talking
about that today uh a portion of cod is
funding is federal so I mean it's not
the lines share but undoubtedly I mean
it will affect a lot of things that we
hear and read about and know about so
and I probably you know we're going to
be continuing to scour all of our
different sources of funding the chief
and I spoke about this today you know
just thinking through what what's at
risk and specifically what do we need to
do if we need to put a hold on anything
so that we're not in any way being
unwise with our you know fiduciary
responsibility
great yep and car you know how we Mark
the first year anniversary don't you D
to I need my I need my floaty
[Laughter]
again all right uh Natalie Mullen thank
you for joining us again this evening uh
with the wreck update happy to be here
um jump into theek that's actually alen
Creek Megan Megan did front cover for
our brochure oh there you go perfect
team workk effort here um no thanks for
having me I'm happy to be here from Mike
um I don't have many things to add to
his report but just a couple things I'll
touch on um we had our open registration
for uh winter spring uh on January 7th
and uh we had 52% increase in
registrations and roughly the same in
Revenue as well big thing with that is
we opened our adventure days anyone here
that has a middle schooler or age 11 to
14 um we open that up in this uh
brochure versus when we did Summer last
year so that's probably one of the
bigger increases um and we've also added
in upwards of 20 new programs uh for
this current brochure which is great so
kudos to our uh programming teams Kevin
Smith and Andrew Roode and Daniel Heiser
and then CHR schwier with the uh Senior
Center she's been adding lots of new
activities and and such for uh for the
senior population so so kudos to them
um the uh the wre fund uh you know one
of the biggest things is since covid
we've been trying to get ourselves back
to uh in in the in the black which the
last time we were was in 2018 or 19 um
and then Co happened ran into obviously
as you know many issues with that uh
with expenses going up dramatically as
it relates to Staffing trying to get
staff having to pay more um and supplies
and equipment and and things of that
nature going up as well uh we met with
uh and and got support from W board to
have a four-year plan to work our way
back into uh the black and and how we uh
wanted to do that was spread some cost
increases over over over four years and
and some of the things that got hit
hardest were probably our large daycare
programs right that's where our largest
Staffing comes into play Jeffree summer
camp before and after care Jeffrey
Manion preschool um so we we said I
believe it was uh 7% for for four years
of an increase in those rates um and and
to be quite honest we're actually still
very competitive if not lower than some
of the surrounding areas and in their
daycare uh settings so so we haven't out
priced that we've also been able to you
know accommodate our staff and pay them
for all the hard work that they've been
doing um while also trying to keep
expenses down where we can so um you
know our staff has done a wonderful job
of making those those hard decisions on
what kind of expenses and and items we
need and and making sure that we're
making you know wise choices as it
relates to that um you know
accommodating our staff and um and and
adding new programs where we can to make
sure that we can continue to offer some
of the best programs that we can for the
community with with new opportunities uh
making accessible for everybody um and
keeping expenses in mind so uh this year
was our highest all-time revenue of 2.4
million and our our expenses were also
up as well as the highest at 2.3 so um
so we were about 58,000 in the black
this year which was great uh so you know
that's one thing that Mike really wanted
to to make sure that we pointed out uh
versus coming off I believe we had
147,000 increase from 23 to 24 in uh
Revenue so we were very excited uh to to
hear that but we're you know one of the
biggest things is our our staff
everybody from our part-time staff um
instructors that are out there on a
day-to-day basis uh our programmers or
supervisors our admin staff all of our
maintenance staff that had to go through
a lot as it relates to all the
programming that we've increased in the
building um and then you know the
positive leadership of our director Mike
who would not want me to be talking
about him right now um let talk about a
lot since he's not here I know right um
but no he's he's such a great leader he
he he points us all in the right
direction he gives us support when we
need it um and we're able to uh you know
run with that and and and provide you
know a great service back to the
community with all the recreational
opportunities that we have so um so
thank you to all of our staff for that
and then thanks to the rec board for
sharing sharing our vision on that and
support mayor Kessler thanks for your
support with all our plan and getting
ourselves back into the BL and your
support uh with the finances uh as well
from city council um and your support
you know of all of financial efforts
along the way so we really appreciate
that any questions about budget stuff
uh yes uh one one second I've see lots
of hands raised I I first off thank you
for that synopsis and I I want to
highlight what a big deal this is when
12 years ago Mike and I kind of set this
goal to go to take the rec fund to make
it uh feasible every year and in the
black and it was kind of a joke for the
first couple years like as if that could
ever happen um but right leading up to
co it started to happen and of course it
got upset except for some federal funds
that came through it got upset by that
and um the fact that you guys have so
quickly restabilized and brought this
back to the situation that we're in here
and continue to provide the value to the
community which is the key right and is
just such a testament to the hard work
of of your team and to you so thank you
Natalie yeah and with that uh I don't
know whose hand was up first so
laian the mayor said because um I know
this is
my 12 year counc and since the beginning
of my my
ter just keep doing more and more and
more the yes we want to cut costs yes we
want to cut cost it's not by Hing people
or being R people not it's always you
always are doing and you are always
sharing your gratitude and I sent Mike
and Natalie anema
you always thank everybody and never
take any of the Applause and you deserve
it you and mik are such an amazing team
you you are an amazing team and you
create this culture that everybody like
through the papers everybody wants to
follow you and it's that energy and that
culture that you've built has made
everybody want to do more and so you're
positive you're productive you're
financially you know very
I just want to make sure that you all
know that we appreciate you um I think
some of the other
department get a lot of attention
because
guys yeah keep going just keep
swimming thank you
yep he would be he would be very very
thank you we appreciate it thank
you oh you know um I I love the winter
so it doesn't quite bother me as much
and it's it's it's actually kind of fun
as as long as it's not like freezing
weather like you know uh I think last
week on on Friday it was you know if if
it's too cold and you're holding it and
it starts to leak and the whole front of
you is just ice right away I so you know
some people like it more than others but
um but it that's that's been great we've
actually had 12 days of skating so far
yeah which is really great uh Sam and
Alex yeah just again to miror but uh
congrats that's people in Pro
programming that get that success so
congratulations and thank you for all
you do um question just because we
talked about the strength of the people
and and the program that you have
there's an announcement recently that
coach Chris is retiring um so in in that
world do we have a replacement are we
looking I mean just because that's a
person obviously means so much to so uh
to so many people any or how do you go
about replacing those types of uh
employees yeah so um yeah for those of
you that don't know coach Chris uh he
does all our uh three four and
five-year-old programming all very
instructional instructionally based we
he's grown his programs um from soccer
to basketball to sporties for shorties
um he's run t-ball for us um so yeah
when he when he uh told that we were you
know super heartbroken but we obviously
wish him the best and he's uh he does
hom school gym is actually what his his
full time job is and he he creates
videos for for people to poll so they
can know what to do with their kids at
home for for PE um he he's just an
amazing person um and so when he did
tell us that you know we knew it was
coming at some point you know that he
was probably going to which Barb
actually said you know when she left
that he was GNA leave because she found
him and she brought him to the brought
him to the wreck um but uh but he stayed
for a little bit which we were super you
know super happy about um so to answer
your question uh We've certainly looked
into that we've had um
Bali Sports Group has done some small
you know younger age camps for us uh so
we're g to kind of experiment with that
and see they they' run a pretty good
pretty good program Kevin Smith actually
worked with their uh wear and Bali uh
before and he he trusts him and he he
enjoys the programs that he that he
offers um so that's where we're going to
start uh and then if you haven't seen uh
as it relates to the t-ball program with
Coach Chris running that uh we actually
are going to run that in house just like
rookies for second grade so that'll be
like our kindergarten league and we'll
get volunteer coaches so we're going to
kind of run that you know as similar to
our other baseball softball programs so
yeah Mr Silverman yeah pick back on the
S you know extend my thanks to the
record department I know today was
another exciting day with summer camp
registration you know January is
typically the time you start planning
for the summer with young kids um and I
just wanted to personally a knowledge uh
Mindy Walsh and the communication that
she's brought to that sector with the
amount of inquiries and schedule
planning and figuring out camps and
calendars and aligning all that that
it's been really helpful to have
somebody running point for that and I
think it's a the benefit to all of us
that experience camp and sign up for the
rec department activities uh with her
organization please extend that thanks
AB absolutely yes Mindy if if you aren't
aware Mindy's worked for us for really
long time uh more so as a kind of a
part-time uh person as it relates to all
the administrative stuff for our daycare
programming and she just recently this
year we added on as an actual full-time
employee so she's in the office a little
more she was doing some work from home
uh because all of her she does
everything you know via the computer um
and uh we had had that worked out with
her but she she does a little bit more
in the office now and she's very
accessible she's so quick to respond to
everybody about their you know daycare
needs and um and any issues that come up
so yeah we've we've been happy to uh to
have her you know back to full-time
status because she actually used to work
for us in full-time um probably about 20
years ago 15 years ago 15 20 years ago
so um so it's nice to have her back and
and Katie and her entire staff um they
they do a fabulous job with all of our
daycare stuff but I will be absolutely
pass that along to her all right and I
think
Miss I'll be quick but you know I have
to mention the ice ring yes so what I um
I it's been amazing to see like our
staff out and you know saying Jess we're
you know we're not there yet and it's
like you know 8:30 n o'clock at night
I'm coming back into Beckley from kids
sporting things and they were at the ice
rink trying to get it you know to where
they they their perfection their ideal
was and then I get out to the rink and
I'm like oh my gosh this is insanely
Perfection for an outdoor rink yeah um
it's one of the largest you know in
central Ohio we do not most outdoor
actually no outdoor Central Ohio real
ice rinks provide skates we do that um
so it gives like such an neat experience
for people for the first time to try
skating and with the park and wreck
department this year picking up an extra
which we've been talking about doing a
stick and Pock yeah um and that was so
great for kids that actually are you
know out there and they're skating
because unlike a basketball court or
unlike a soccer field or a lacrosse
field don't have access to ice unless
it's scheduled and so it's hard to get
so for these kids to go out and these
stick and pucks and practice their
skating something that we're able to do
for them was awesome to see on all
levels and to see Park and wreck staff
hire um some of our summer camp
counselors to get some Staffing in if
you're a capital student Bexley high
school student they're pouring the hot
chocolate they're fitting the kids in
skates it's Community um I people that
were over 60 you know using using um
supplies that we give of them to help
them you know on their seates but they
had that opportunity because we do the
skate rentals they're on a date and then
you see you know two and three yearolds
trying out skates for the first time um
it was just full circle uh I would
encourage anyone even if you don't get
on the ice to get down there and see it
and 12 days in 12 Days 12 days in and U
lauan you spoke to the leadership of
Mike and Natalie and I've seen that
through just the ice I've always seen it
but I've really seen it through the ice
rink alone and I feel like right now we
have such a great team at Bexley Park
and wreck how you all lean in on each
other and I saw that with the stick and
pucks because I don't think that those
were something that we had staffed out
because we added on and so it was truly
our staff taking their extra time and
hours to go down there and stand in the
cold um to do that for our community and
so thank you thank you thank you it's
more than just an ice rink that ice rink
is community so and you you all are that
so thank you thank you thank you yeah
it's um I I we appreciate the um the
comment about the smooth ice we do take
very big pride in how it looks um and
and I mean we're out there monitoring
Michael asked somebody hey have you did
you check the ice rink you know when you
left or what does it look like this
morning I mean so he's uh he and all of
us are very um uh committed to the ice
rink and you know we don't know how long
we're going to be able to use it right
so when we have it we want to make sure
that it's that that it's great yeah and
you know that that heavy snow we had did
not really help uh we probably could had
a few more days out of it if uh we
didn't get the snow so um and we had
some you know we actually had some um a
couple residents that uh came over and
they were helping uh they were skating a
little bit and then they were like well
do you guys need help you got to and
then one guy came the next morning after
the snow we had planed on coming out and
we were there and he was already there
he's like I didn't know if anyone was
going to come push this snow off it has
to get off of here we're like well we
had we had under control we were coming
but thank you so much for coming out and
this is great and he stayed and skated
and had his I maybe had his son with him
and uh it was great but no it is very
much community and um it's a it's a
really nice opportunity for people to
you know come out it's a beautiful
setting when the lights are on and um
it's uh you know with the mansion in the
background so it's uh it's a lot of fun
we do enjoy it unlimited hot chocolate
and usually it's pretty chocolatey
so now is the revenue increase due to
the sod family ice skating yes yeah
there sponsorship dollars at work yes
you did charge one guy double for being
able to shovel the snow right dou
charged him double yeah um Miss sorry
president lamby Natalie I just wanted to
say I know we're we're laying on the
praise but it is so welld deserved and
we also want you to feel comfortable
coming back to any council member
because this is how much we talk about
our parks and wck Department uh I think
the creativity of your department is
really extraordinary when I first uh
moved to Bexley I was a working parent
and I needed you know summer camp stuff
for my kids you guys were amazing I
really think that the way that your
department treats the working
relationships with families is really
extraordinary um I love that I'm seeing
such an increase in the numbers I do
worry a little bit about how much work
and effort and possible burnout it's
going to be for your department so I ask
that you know as the numbers keep going
up that you let us know if we need to um
add some additional resources to your
department because we want to keep
morale strong we want to keep the
numbers strong but there is you know a
downside to whenever you have these
numbers go up and finally I wanted to
share with Council long before I was on
Council uh my daughter was at um the
swimming pool for something and there
was a slight disconnect on how she was
going to get from the pool back to
summer camp Natalie called me to ask me
what was to be of my daughter and I
explained and I said I'm so sorry I
think you know maybe I missed something
and Natalie personally walked my
youngest from the pool back to summer
camp got her where she needed to be and
I think that extra Touch of reaching out
and hearing from a parent on where their
kid needs to go really was a testament
to you back then I know that you still
do that now but you guys really go above
and beyond so we just wanted to share
how much we love you keep being creative
and and keep impressing us because we
definitely notice thank you appreciate
you're here all right I inadvertently
skipped
Andy uh for his H dat you which you
probably happy about but he's gonna give
you his update and you have to be as
effusive with him as you just were with
now actually yeah I wish I would feel
really bad I wish I would have been
before I know right that's kind of Andy
um I do not have anything to add to the
report tonight but more than happy to
answer any
questions any Mr Markham Andy I I I
don't think you were here in person the
first uh rotation of the year were
you last meeting no a couple weeks
ago do you remember the last time you
were here in
person is this a trick question I'm just
curious I don't know I haven't seen you
for a while I think maybe maybe December
the budget it would yeah that would have
been the last one because I missed yeah
that's what I thought I was uh you you
pretty busy around the budget I know
yeah I mean you completed though a major
project just before we started doing the
budget we didn't get a chance to talk
about it I don't
oh right maybe a little one yeah yeah so
for about seven or eight years I mean
I've just been on Andy all the time
right on this
on what this completion right of the
sidewalk on Charles in South back slate
and uh completed the last segment um
just maybe in October before trick-or
Treat night I think just before trick-or
Treat night and uh I don't know if you
did it on purpose or not but the very
last segment that was completed on my
street right uh right at the house uh I
do want to just say for the last time
how uh how what an important uh
Improvement this is to the community to
have the sidewalks running along Charles
and to also adding in uh the sewer
system the water uh removal system there
um it is a a stretch of of street that
runs East and West almost through the
entire it goes almost all the way over
uh it's heavily heavily utilized I mean
for years and years and years anytime
you drove around there you would see
people scooting out of the way they
would be walking their dogs in the
street or near the edge or or whatever
um and so the the completion of this I
think really I I I can't stress what a
significant Improvement it is to that
neighborhood and the community and now
uh you see people that you using the
sidewalks and you know it's it's much
safer safer for kids it's safer for
older people it's accessible for uh
Wheelchairs and for people who have
maybe a harder time getting around and
so um so I I want to Express gratitude
for that and I do wanna I do want to W
up uh what we just did for the recck
department so you stay right there
so on behalf of the citizens of South
Bexley I want to present you with this
and thank you so much for your hard
work it's chilled I chilled it for you
and feel free to uh to drink that on the
corner of
Charles thank you
[Laughter]
else Jess well I can't top
that but I did want to thank you and
your department and staff um I've
noticed recently at Catalina's that the
bike racks are out they're ready for
spring um you know there are some
outside of H Anthony Thomas as well and
it's just it's awesome because it's
going to allow um more of people to get
on those bikes and R over to Catalina
get their nails done go to cohatch um
shop at Anthony Thom
so thank you um to you and your staff
for getting that done and it'll be
exciting spring to see those bike rocks
schol
problem Jess Jess do you have something
for I mean I'm
unprepared follow no gifts you know but
I know we've had you know two winter
storms back to back EV warri been out
and we had we had a resident during one
of those STS that had a uh bunch of snow
put onto a sidewalk and they utilize the
B app they contact the department and
you guys came out help reallocate that
snow away from sidewalk and I wanted to
not only highlight the V Bas the best
way to communicate your department um
but also the team that's out there
addressing the the snow that we're sure
to experience a few more storms uh this
year and just
continue and if you had anything to add
fora
I mean the app or uh email or just call
in the service
dep or just text Ben in the middle of
the night and then let him deal with it
that's or H Tim pit no I believe it was
I believe it was a text to me that then
got to Andy that put that sidewalk so
too so thank you to all council members
who monitor social media so I don't have
to I appreciate it
anything else for Andy all right thank
you thank you Madame President for that
update time that you gave us sounds good
what happened to the good old days when
people didn't get along with each other
up
here hey we're weren't the good old days
we are yeah it was it was not quicker it
was not
quicker well I just want to make it
clear I love everybody just in case I
didn't in case I didn't in case it
wasn't already covered by someone else
anyway how about a consent
agenda are we ready y all right meeting
minutes from January 14
2025 all right uh I move to adopt the
consent agenda could I please have a
second second um any comments or
questions Mr mCP would you please call
the rule on the motion to adopt consent
agenda Mr Silverman
Miss sad yes Miss viall yes Miss Lamy
yes Mr Hurley yes Mr Marcelino
yes and Mr Markham thanks yes consent
agenda
passes all right on the second reading
of ordinance 0125 to approve the
collective bargaining agreement between
asme Ohio Council 8 local 3838 in the
city of Bexley introduced by Ms sad
thank you Mr official this is the
American Federation of state county and
Municipal Employees agreement agreement
um this agreement is from 2025 to 2027
that agreement is attached and I'm going
to ask Mr official tonight to elaborate
on anything um they'd like to regarding
that agreement pretty straightforward
um Mr official yeah I mean so as we
discussed in the executive session last
time there aren't too many changes we
talked about the weight the wage
increase is set forth that's set forth
in the agreement um and uh the agreement
that's attached is and bold and strike
out so you should easily be able to pick
out the changes and if you have any
questions please feel free to contact me
before the next meeting or we can talk
about it at the next meeting when
hopefully this gets passed or if you
have any tonight as
well any comments or questions from
Council on this
one great seeing that Mr mCP do we have
any speaker slips no speaker slips all
right thank you all right moving on to
the second reading of ordinance 02-2 to
certify special
assessments for the various sites where
the work was not done pro by property
owner by the property owner after being
ordered by the city in accordance with
Bexley code section 149.5
b4a or bexy code section
14924 B1 and it was necessary to do the
work and assess the owner Ms sad thank
you Mr official so um this ordinance
allows the city to do the work on these
properties and a as assess the owner um
at our last city council meeting there
was discussion over one of the
properties that was significantly higher
than the rest and it was discussed that
um that owner just had more um things on
the property that needed to be done so
that was the correct amount in the
amount of
$486 so
um this is also pretty
straightforward and but open to any
questions from Council if there are any
um if you look under Section section two
you'll see the addresses that um the
city will be doing the work on and all
of these residents have been notified by
the city all right any questions
comments from Council uh we'll have this
one for third reading in case we need
any amendments between now and third
reading as well right moving on okay
second reading ordinance
0425 to appropriate 1,100 ,000 from the
general fund to effectuate the previous
authorized transfer to the capital fund
of $500,000 and water fund
$600,000 to appropriate $8,500 from the
general fund to the police department
account within the general fund for
public records training and management
and to appropriate and authorize the
transfer of $37,500 from the general
fund to the water fund for the Ohio EPA
lead service line mapping Grant
introduced by Ms
[Music]
side there it is yeah we have a proposed
amended so the proposed amendment
amended is um basically the dollar
amount as you can see has changed to
1.38 1, 384,000
and um from that what are the changes
from our last meeting our
um basically water there were changes in
the water
fund and we also had um 5,000 that was
appropriated from the police officer
optional equipment funded we you and I
have a chance to follow that is we need
to have that here I believe so but I
haven't had a chance to further dig the
one thing I was gonna check on
y that that section four allows our
police officers to buy that back their
um firearms and we believe that that
needs to be in here um in the future
will be a line item in our budget yeah
but um we're still gonna check on that
certainly doesn't hurt to have it in
here's nothing wrong about
it make sure the coordinance when it
came
about not required here right
and so going back you'll look at um
section one our our dollar amount of
500,000 with the 884
4,000 is how we get to that
1 1, 384,000
um and the other section two and section
three Remains the Same so the 884 th000
in the water fund is what has changed
and may yeah just to clarify the so it's
both this is still consistent with the
budget that was passed what was
discovered is uh as Carrie looked at
this further was that the 500,000 was
our
2024 water fund transfer and there was
an additional
384,000 as part of our 2025
transfer did I say something wrong or
was it
6284 sorry sorry 6284 and so that
additional 284 um had the same issue uh
where it was uh shown in the budget book
but it the
actual uh appropriation to allow the
transfer was not part of the budget
ordinance so this corrects that error um
the interestingly what's interesting
about the $5,000 police officer optional
equipment fund this is a long-standing
fund um it's been used for many years uh
it does not appear to have been in our
budget ordinance in the past and so we
are it was the hawkey of Carrie Martin
that found that so Kudos um and car's
continuing to just really do fantastic
work and
identifying bringing to light and
solving issues um and so that's that's
you know one such issue it was being
administered as if it had been in in the
budget we are double-checking that the
authorized ordinance from back in the
day didn't somehow provide for some
perpetuity but even if it had I'm not
sure that's legit so there's nothing
wrong about out of a preponderance of
caution having it in this ordinance and
we'll continue to go back to that
authorizing ordinance from back in the
day any comments or questions from
Council missad given that the proposed
changes are shown up on the screen are
we looking to amend this tonight or at
the third at the next one let's look to
do it at the third just in case we need
to change something with the firearm
yeah sounds good or who knows what all
right and we don't have any speaker
slips on this one either so we will go
ahead and move on all right we are on to
First readings ordinance
05-22 approve the supplier for the city
of Bexley electric aggregation program
introduced by who else but miss side
thank you Mr official um so this this is
something that we had before us in
Council in the past and now it's being
um um before us again the mayor has
asked that tonight we uh have our first
reading and that we will be introducing
um a presentation at the next meeting
with more depth on yeah who we're going
to be looking at for this program but I
will let the mayor expand on that yeah
we'll expand it with some real a deeper
uh presentation of the next meeting but
just preview of coming to tractions at a
high level we had an incredibly
successful aggregation over the past it
will be 16 is it 16 months whatever it
is it ends at the end of April I believe
um going into this next potential
continuation of a new aggregation
program the market is Shifting again
it's going up um one of the challenges
is that the AP price to compare the rate
that we look at when we're telling
residents what to
expect we know it's going up because
they've AP has gone to auction and is
paying more for future electricity but
it isn't yet reflected in the published
price to compare rate and so we're in an
unusual position where if we were to
pull the trigger on a may start to the
next
aggregation from all the data we have we
would most likely be entering into a
contract for a rate that's not only
higher than what we have today it's
higher than the AP a price to compare to
lished but lower than what we expect
will be in place by the summer quite a
bit so bad news is that electric rates
are going up quite a bit over the next
four or five months for everybody um we
as a council and government are gonna
have to determine what role if any we
play in the intervening months in terms
of reauthorizing an aggregation program
we have really three options one is to
let it lapse and do nothing the other is
to uh go ahead and get back in in May
with these s
of difficult to communicate market
conditions and uh the third is
to take a beat of a month or two and
then let the let the a rate become
public and so that we are actually
comparing just something that the public
is aware of and and is is a sure thing
and then and then go back into
aggregation so we'll be exploring those
options and you guys will be experts
again uh not just in aggregation but on
the new these new market conditions that
we're dealing with um and we'll be going
deeper into that at the next meeting
who's who's presenting at the next
reading um Aspen energy ideally uh Megan
really helpful in in this latest
iteration um so be tag teaming as we
talk through the different options I
recall that when we adopted this years
ago there was um there were some
documents via email with acronyms kind
of a a precursor to the presentation I
don't know if we could maybe send that
because we do have some new council
members maybe we just refresh that a
little bit I think yeah I remember you
made one of
the I'm just saying it might be it might
be helpful for uh some of the
understanding for the second reading if
if you have it we yeah very helpful it
will not be as complicated as it happen
in the past because in the past we were
getting into like we were going deep
because remember we were going to be
buying potentially into programs and
some of this other stuff so it will be
more streamlined but yeah we will work
on re-education and sounds good any
comments questions from Council yeah Mr
Silverman uh yeah renewable rexs
energy
separate so we are contining to shop for
the
the renewable energy as the basis of the
plan but there would be a brown option
as well um
again I think I'd prefer for us to go
deep into that at the next meeting but
we will be talking about
that very we're we're talking at a at a
philosophical level very same same
similar plan just different
rates anyone else have comments or
questions okay we don't have any speaker
on this one so we're going to move on to
our next ordinance all right ordinance 0
6-25 to create the Bexley galvanized
water service line replacement Loan
program introduced by
mad thank you Mr official so um the EPA
has
um basically they have redefined their
galvanized service lines in our tasking
communities with making sure that we are
changing these out to become they're
going to be replaced with copper or PBC
so Beckley this is introducing a water
service line replacement Loan program
um this uh will allow us the city uh
will be bidding out for a contractor and
um allowing the opportunity to help our
residents with um if they have the
galvanized lines to allow um an
opportunity to help them with the
replacement um Mr mCP what's the
potential Financial impact of this
ordinance on the city yeah so there a
couple things just to call out tie to
this so um you know and I'm going to use
round numbers here the mayor would have
probably more specific numbers but you
know if we have
4400
residents um some of those do have um
lead pipes coming into them so I think
we're still awaiting to see the final
numbers but I think directionally it
might be as high as a
quarter if I'm not mistaken I might be
Miss
okay so yeah so if you I mean so just
directionally if a thousand people take
this up that's a $4 million in total
loans so um what this could do is
ultimately make um the city of actually
a bank uh to finance these improvements
for its citizens and you know I think
Council just needs to ultimately decide
is that how we want to use Capital um
and um do we want to be a bank to
support those efforts um you know we've
done I've done you know some research
and certainly other communities are
doing things like this so it's not out
of the
ordinary um you know and if if it is
something that starts consuming um you
know our reserves uh you know we can
certainly look for funding to back it so
that we're not digging into a piggy bank
but that that's more longterm planning
around liquidity and um just cash
management but you know again
directionally the point of this is
ultimately that you know if we have a
significant number of folks that take
advantage of this it could be a fairly
significant Loan program that we would
be administering here at the city so
while um again I think it is important
that um the city help facilitate this um
it's at what level that ultimately city
council will to
decide so I think pointing out the
maximum loan so under section one number
two it says the maximum loan amount for
any individual property shall be the
4,000 and no more than 80% of the total
cost of the service line replacement
supposed to
say yeah and I read it as that yes um so
I think that's something Council needs
to uh be thinking about um Mr mCP and I
were speaking my research has indicated
that these um could cost a homeowner
anywhere from, 1500 on average to
15,000 um then my question is if any of
you have done work on your old homes in
Bexley usually you take a number that's
like an average and you put it to Bexley
pricing um so I'll leave that up to Andy
and crew to get us really good
contractors to help us out with great
pricing um because I worry about what
that is going to cost our our homeowners
if that's what our national average is
looking at
um and yeah so I just ask everybody to
really kind of dive into this and come
up with good questions on how um we
should best handle it thanks Jess Mr
Marcelino oh I'm
sorry whoever had their hand up on this
one just out of curios I'm just making
sure I understand the repayment terms so
this would be over 10 years that they
would have to essentially or how how it
okay so that's that's how long
essentially our the money that we would
theoretically loan would be tied up
would be for that period I believe the
EPA wants this done in 10 years correct
well yeah but I think that's independent
of the question of the payback period so
it's a it is as proposed a 10-year
assessment okay um which would be and
there's to be really clear this is based
upon appropriation currently we've
appropriated $200,000 in the
infrastructure fund for this program
based upon an estimate of the number of
galvanized lines we have in our 2025
water main replacement projects so um
we're going to have to continue to
adjust and pivot on this program because
the APA regulations have
been um announced that would require us
to shepher these Community Ser privately
owned service lines through to
replacement over at least a 10e period
or maybe at most currently and we're
going to we're going to get deep in that
also the next meeting and I hate to keep
on saying that the next meeting but
that's kind of normal for these who
would do a high Lev uh deeper drive in
this in the second meeting um another
thing that uh the auditor and I have
discussed is there you know there is um
money available for waterline work in
the community that we could kind of just
do an In-N-Out where we're sort of yeah
we're functioning as a bank the other Al
value ad that we have is that through
the bulk pricing of contractors we are
able to actually substantially reduce
the cost of replacement um and as as a
reminder um
you know an assessment is I guess
nothing in life is risk-free but it's a
fairly risk-free uh loan because of the
the lean nature of it is there a way for
us to shorten that period if we so
choose oh yeah years you can call it two
five seven 15 it's it's not the idea
assisting the the residents I'll just
say to the rest of council for now where
my head's going said it's not the idea
of assisting or or trying to do this
it's just the idea of holding up money
for 10 years and just making sure that
we're not tying because I don't know
where we're going to be in 10 years or
what we're going to need or what capital
uh projects we may have so I just it
concerns me to tie it up for 10 years so
I Look to maybe try to shorten that
period because even if you take that
expensive let's say the $4,000 and
spread that out over 24 months it's more
reasonable and still a service to the
residents as opposed to that $4,000 one
month hit or whatever it is when that
comes about so just an idea where my
head's going I'll I I'll listen from
there thanks yeah think think about any
other questions uh I know we'll get it
oh miss
fible guessing that this would be part
as well as service department how much
of a burden being a bank
on on City
employ
how I yeah I mean ultimately it's to be
determined I mean you know the reality
is we've got billing services for water
today that there are folks that
administer it so um it's not unlike some
of the things that we're already doing
and I don't want to speak on behalf of
Carrie but we haven't I mean I'm not
aware of any work done to operationalize
this yet but um I'm sure there's third
party tools that we could use to
administer it so um yeah we we have a
little bit of experience with the the
sewer Loan program but again it was you
know we did a lot of sewer assessments
we didn't do that many actual loans we
did I think two right a little more like
three applied for um so but having done
even those two and just administered it
we've learned from that this this
ordinance if you read through it has a
more streamlined process to it um that
allows a lot more predictability on our
part and therefore better communication
we also think we're gonna have a lot
more utilization of this program um and
we are I you know the difference between
this and the sewer remediation program
is the sewer remediation program was a
good faith gesture to the community as
is this this is a good face gesture to
the community that's also we are being
required to Benchmark that we're
facilitating this sort of work so it's a
I was just curious we you know the on
staff and would we need to hire more
would we what that would you know what
that would mean it does it does a little
bit remain to be
determined we're going to try to make it
as simple as possible to
Mr
Silverman none of that's been
operationalized yeah so I I
mean yes so sorry when we an annual
assessment would be broken and it's the
auditor looks at it as the whole year
Franklin County aitor would break it
into two
payments first half second half
yeah yes we have so that would be
through an assessment so it would get
similar to The Code Enforcement
assessment ordinance we have here
tonight we would have an assessment
ordinance for these water lines and as
soon as we take that ordinance pass it
it gets handed over to the Franklin
County auditor and the Franklin County
Treasurer and we are no longer
administering the program we are
receiving the funds we're making sure
that they
appropriately accounted for back to the
loan
yeah it depends on if you have a a
mortgage so most residents with a
mortgage would be paying you know how
you have that escrow you pay as part of
your mortgage that escrow amount would
be increased per month by that annual
assessment they just but your mortgage
servicer wouldn't even know that they'
just look at the tax bill they'd be like
oh it went up $1,000 a year and that's
they would just recalculate your
ESC yes typically and if you were not a
mortgage holder then you would either
pay your property taxes twice a year or
you'd pay it all at once just depending
on how you do it y great questions Alex
um any other comments questions from
Council it is just a first reading
okay we don't have any speaker slips on
this one so we are moving on uh we've
already talked
about ordinance tabled ordinance
42-24 uh we are now to public comments
is there anyone in attendance who would
like to hand in a speaker slip at this
time okay um moving on to committee
reports Mr Markham for safety thank you
just uh reporting uh Elanor Bryant as
the lady addition to the library board
the Brand family long contributing
members here in the city of Exley our
own uh Natalie V nominated for an Edgar
award yes it's
exciting that's it all right thank you
uh Mr Silverman for service and
environmental
involes studies related to
mosquitoes pesticide FL spraying
andal pollinators for their house and
interested in being part of the fer
programs please reach out to healthy
homeat
atgmailcom and you can also reach out to
thank you uh Miss sod for finance yes um
so we had a a robust cic meeting this
morning Danny's going to report on that
in a little bit um the Bexley Public
Library I wanted to kind of shout out to
them this is their third year for doing
an amazing program with the moose and
the Cubs and the mards they choose a
different night at the library to
welcome in the elementary students and
get them all in there and give them
pizza and sign them up for library cards
and the summer reading program and it's
their third year doing it and um I just
want to give a shout out to the rest of
council so you know about it and the
amazing things our library is doing but
it's very well attended um for the Cubs
it's tomorrow night at 5:00 pm and I
just wanted to give them Kudos major
kudos to making that happen for the
Moose Cubs and mards and remind Council
that April 5th around the corner is the
beex Education Foundation Bravo at St
Charles with a beer garden theme I hope
everybody can join that
night end of report nice Mr Hurley for
strategic and health you got to follow
the beer garden theme I I immediately
gonna fall short um Board of Health met
January 21st for our quarterly meeting
um you know was actually end up being a
very fascinating meeting now that they
all aren't fascinating but um there was
a a sort of impromptu whiteboard
conversation around how to make the
Board of Health more visible what kind
of projects can they tackle is there a
way the Board of Health can you know be
a feater for legislative ideas for
Council so we're gonna put some ideas
down talk to the mayor and uh and
revisit this the April Board of Health
meeting but um it's a really exciting
conversation so more to follow on that
as uh my colleague mentioned cic met
this morning we received some updates on
cic properties and revenue discuss the
TCB project uh with living sing Cassidy
accepted an award from our state otter
which is really exciting um and and you
know one of the things I that'll be more
prevalent for us in the future is we had
some conversations around the senior
center and what the temporary future
plans are for that how that ties into
that TCB project so much more to come on
that um I also attended Bap uh covering
for Council Marcelino last week uh we
had several applications approved as was
noted already the TCB projects at 23
Livingston 420 Cassidy receive condition
approval with some qualifications and a
requirement to go back to ARB um very
passionate hearing very very tense
hearing at times um but I do want to
commend both folks in the the audience
and the community that came from both
sides and also the Bap members staff you
know everyone who's been part of this
process um because it really is a very
robust very detailed process so with
that
um anything else no end report Mr Hurley
do you need our availability for for uh
Council Retreat stuff yes I need to get
that I will have a doodle poll sent out
uh later this week with to get dates for
a council Retreat yeah if you can get
your availability to Miss V uh Natalie
maybe you and Mr Hurley could connect
and then send out a dole poll to council
um my thoughts would be maybe like four
or five potential dates or times just
because I know everybody here is so busy
that'd be great February would be
awesome February would be awesome thank
you Mr Hurley Recreation and parts Miss
[Laughter]
vible I love it all right Mr Marcelino
for zoning and development yes nothing
really to add to uh Council Hurley's uh
uh update there and I really appreciate
you attending as I was out of state
there but I would encourage everybody to
listen to the meetings as they really
are passionate and I anticipate this is
going to be something that's going to be
before us or at least we'll need to
engage with the community on a
significant level uh whether it is here
in this formal setting or at a grocery
store when you get pulled to the side to
ask some questions so um please listen
and also again yes hats off to those
boards they did a wonderful job running
those meetings keeping everything moving
forward um they were here for a very
long time both of them and I know
there's a lot more work to be done so we
are very fortunate to have them and
thanks everybody but check out the
meetings they're great listening so yes
please mark you want to share with us
what we as Council I'm just as a
reminder just to so that we're smart
about this yeah I mean again if
something might come to you in a in Your
Capacity as a as a quad judicial body
like the hearing tonight although
probably more complicated um that you
can only make your decisions based
what's put in front of you at that
hearing um so you really need to be
careful about engaging in too much
detail about the conversations that
doesn't mean you can't listen it doesn't
mean you can't talk to your constituents
and your neighbors about it but keep it
at the highest level
possible thank you for that and blame me
that's fine and if you have any
questions always ask Mark fishell thank
you Mr
Marcelino all right we are to agenda
item 23
um I move to go into executive session
for the purpose to consider the
appointment employment dismissal
discipline promotion demotion or
compensation of a Public Employee or
official or the investigation of charges
or complaints against a Public Employee
official lensee or regulated individual
unless the employee official lensee or
regulated individual requests a public
hearing by division G1 of section 12122
two of the Ohio Revised Code could I
please have a second second second by Mr
Marcelino uh Mr M would you please call
the role Miss L yes missad yes Mr
Markham yes Mr Silverman Mr Marcelino
yes Mrs FIB yes and Mr yes all right um
to our attendees in the audience at this
time we're going to go into executive
session which means that uh we are going
to need to meet privately uh you're
certainly free to uh wait out out side
or I can guarantee you that all we're
going to do when we come out is to exit
executive session and then quickly
adjourn so we won't be discussing any
more um substantive
things um
yes yes we'd like to have Carrie Martin
join us in executive
session
e
e e
Council uh I move to exit from executive
session could I please have a second
second second by Mr Marcelino Mr mCP
would you please call the
RO Mr Marcelino Mr Hurley Miss viable
yes Miss s Miss L yes M and
Mr Council seeing nothing further I move
to adjourn can I please get a second
second second by Miss fible all in favor
say I I anyone oppos nope we are
adjourned thank you I would like to call
the
January like to call the January 28th
2025 Board Of Control meeting to order
order
please our board members are here I'm
going to the roll call
please Mr Silverman we're lovely it's
lovely having you with our Board Of
Control meeting we're now doing the roll
call auditor
mCP present president lamkey
here Ben castler chair present um review
of minutes where reviewing minutes from
December 20th
2024 uh at the at the December 20th
meeting we approved minutes from October
8th and we also reviewed the tendance
Court
bids uh presented by Rec director Mike
Price I note a very minor typographical
error at the bottom of page one if we
could correct that um any discuss
further discussion on the minutes nope I
saw the same type okay um no further
discussion motion to approve motion to
approve by
lampy seconded lampy approved mCP
seconded uh further discussion all in
favor say I I minutes are approved
uh we're moving on to Old business and
new business any old business or new
business here anybody no well then let's
go on to our other new business which is
the review of the sewer study engineer
bids and I want to thank
director uh Mayer and director bashore
for being in the room with us this
evening thank you for waiting around for
this fantastic and fascinating Board Of
Control meeting um this is an
unusual uh Ward process because of the
comple complexity I would say of this
bid process um which is a partnership
between Megan and Andy as they've worked
on this um and for Megan and Andy
present on it I just want to say that
what is a little different here is we
went to Market to engineering firms
knowing that different engineering firms
have different approaches to the
assessment of our sewer program and
coming up with Next Generation steps for
uh curing infiltration and inflow in the
system and so we received three very
different proposals and so the
complication here is they were
responsive and it was good but it we're
comparing apples oranges and limes uh
and so in doing so we spent a great deal
of time in due diligence we've been
working at this for going on a year now
um and going back to the different firms
and making sure that we
understood uh the the depth and scope of
their proposals and also interviewing
Market participants um other Engineers
other cities with their experience with
the different firms so with that um
Megan or Andy do you want to talk a
little bit
about what we
found we took them
all yeah sorry we oh sorry I'm like
sorry
I can see you're really studying the
material which is excellent um
so um I want to kind of go 50,000 foot
view back up a little bit to what's been
going on the last two decades with the
city sewer because I think it gives
really valuable context to why we're
proposing this large of a
outl ask ,000 this helped like remind me
where we sit in the budget process yes
because what is unclear to me
isclear to the clearly that's not enough
to cover what's being reced so yes so as
you're giving the help me understand
that perfect perfect and that'll get
more into the 10,000 foot View why we
selected a Burgess and nle and also how
we tried to bring the our desired scope
their proposal and our budget into
alignment right because their initial
initial proposal was closer to 1.4 which
we thought was Out Of Reach and
potentially too large of a scope for our
community needs so backing way back
up um for the last two decades the
city's conducted a number of various
studies with outside engineering firms
um ranging from everything to General
sewer evaluation flow monitoring
programs um and then in 2014 we produced
what was called an
SSN um
s an entire storm SE storm sewer
evaluation study that was prompted by a
direct order of the director of the Ohio
EPA for satellite communities of the
city of Columbus to provide a plan to
the iepa to stop inflow and infiltration
water and Bas and sanitary Ary sewer
overflows that prompted probably the
most comprehensive evaluation of our
storm sewers and sanitary sewers to date
um but that is also 10 years ago since
that time into the service department
and water department and Engineers
Credit there have been um some flow
monitoring conducted um there's been uh
surveying resident feedback obviously
with the floods that we had in 202 we
have quite a bit of water and basement
information from that but nothing is
comprehensive as what was done in 2014
at the same time if you're tracking um
our funds in the subar and water fund
currently they are coming to a steep
decline they're not going to zero out in
the next few years but it's certainly on
a 10-year Horizon that means we need to
likely consider a plan um a revenue
stream for that whether that be resident
rates or some other loan or program um
and we want the best possible data going
into that evaluation and we don't think
that based on on this prior most
comprehensive study being over 10 years
old and other studies in between being
fairly
sperse years old and incomplete and
incomplete 2014 is when it when we went
back with the solution but that study
was done um before I was mayor so it was
prior to 2012 really and apparently it
wasn't actually finished or something we
have had multiple Engineers suggest that
that what we had done and mind you the
engineering firm that did that study is
not list said on the three that were
responsive to the RFP um and and it it
you know not to the fault of anyone
necessarily but we do not believe that
that gives us a clear guidance for
CommunityWide maybe in certain subbasins
but certainly not all of Exley um so
with that we did produce the RFP um with
of course in consultation with our city
engineer um and that was in the maytime
frame um and we had quite a bit of due
diligence after that um it was a back
and forth process to try our best to
compare apples to apples when in fact as
the mayor said they were really broad
Scopes and each individual firm had a
very different um process they were
suggesting what we found um and and this
was kind of learned through having fill
out that bid tab that you see to try to
get them to give us kind of the same
information for each category from that
and from interviews with the city of
Columbus city of Upper Arlington and
others who have experienced with all
these firms um as well as our one-on-one
interviews with each of the firms um we
really tried to break down exactly what
they were getting at and how they would
go about the study which led us to it
kept leading us back to Burgess and nle
as being kind of the preferred candidate
um because their proposal wasn't just
basing modeling on Old information um
and we thought that EP Ferris and
arcadis were really taking some
information that they had from prior
study
perhaps some data that they've actually
collected from surrounding communities
which that is a benefit um but not doing
the extensive field work that we think
is necessary to truly understand the
system um so recognizing that burches
and nle was obviously the highest bid um
we asked them to reduce the scope
slightly um and so the field work has
been reduced slightly um and we asked
them to break the project into multiple
phases which auditor mCP comes to your
question of what is been budgeted you're
absolutely correct it is $500,000 it's
in the sewer fund um and that is for
2025 um for 2026 we anticipate up to
about 650,000 to finish off the rest of
the project if we wanted to split that
and into an additional third year that
is certainly on the table and some of
that really comes
um the full extent of that the need for
the second year and that funding will
not necessarily be known until
preliminary studies are done right so
it's not definitively
$650,000 it's based on data that they
collect this year um so it's a little
bit in flex and so that is the
proposal to add as part of The Proposal
um would they be maybe also looking at
Columbus or to the extent that we tie
into Columbus to give us Insight on what
that end looks like on how it's going to
improve whatever changes we make here
yes absolutely all three firms had um
familiarity if not were engaged by the
city of com Columbus previously in their
project blueprint which is kind of their
now actually outdated solution to what
we're trying to tackle um what we heard
from City of Columbus is that the I
don't know I'm getting too granular here
but yes they benefit from having that
existing relationship and that
information built into the modeling that
they will also do in addition to the
field work
yeah but it's a vital question so
they're modeling the you know the
outflow to Columbus and how much
capacity Columbus itself has to handle
what we have and I think the to take a
step back uh what really has been the
major impetus to this is we are due to
continue reporting to the eppr progress
on the consent decree that they put out
for all the whole region um and we're
spending substantial funds on SE
infrastructure and so as we're doing
that we've sort of done this combination
approach where we're going back to the
old study from more than actually really
more than 12 years ago um coupled with
more recent observations monitoring what
our ground crew sees what our city
engineer sees and it's it's been I think
we've tackled important projects but
what is a little harder to see through
all this is that we are going to obtain
ultimately what we really need to obtain
with our system which is to show a
marked improvement in the amount of
inflow and infiltration that we're
having in our system that which leads to
flooding and that we're also water
quality issues but the thing that
impacts us that from the resident
perspective is often flooding um so that
we're really spending the money in a
smart fashion it is painful to spend
this much money on Consulting but it's
necessary because without it we're not
positive that we're putting the money in
the in the strategically appropriate
place so the the
part that I'm just having a hard time
reconciling is one this is not well
first of all I have no experience in
this so I'm just flabbergasted by the
amount so okay so I'm in shock to some
extent so I'm just being transparent um
but
what what I am concerned about is the
this I believe what we're here to do is
to potentially accept or recommend
accept one of these
bids what we do not have the authority
to do is Grant budgetary dollars for
next year right so to
me like we're not we're not here
approving a project or a a vendor to
deliver a $500,000 project we're here to
to approve a 1.1 million or $1.4 million
project project okay so that that's so
help me understand
why I mean the way you're looking at me
I I think you've got something I need to
know but help help me understand that
and that is a great perspective and I
wish I would have brought or put into
the Dropbox folder um the agreement that
we have drafted it's certainly not ready
for approval yet um but it is truly for
just the 500,000 phase one it is
something um that we would then not re
we would do this all again next year um
we would um bring to city council a
proposal that would include what we know
at that time to be the phase two amount
um which again in the 6650 range um and
like and I don't mean to cat you like
having a hard time I feel like what what
we would be doing is approving to build
half a house and not finish it and again
it's because I don't understand I don't
know what we're doing it's
like um so the phasing I think can be
done separately and let's say that for
some reason phase one does fa I don't
mean to cut you off it's like I gotta at
least say what's on my mind so you're
but it's like I don't think phase one
gives us what we
need to get to the next level right or
does it because yeah better analogy
might be that um You're Building I'm
trying to think of about analogy but
you're building the U you know the front
office space and then you have to build
the warehouse afterwards not it's not
like the information you're not building
half a house you're creating the
foundation that then you can build off
of for the next step we can't even tell
you what phase two is going to be we
have a very rough estimate phase one's a
necessary
precursor um
the the uh the reality is we have sewer
improvements that have to be made but
we're not comfortable making them until
we have better information and you're
right it's not cheap
you know we're going through engineering
right now on Livingston and it's in the
you know the $2 million range like so
like this is it's not it's not a an
expensive
undertaking uh especially in this
instance I feel like we are you know
basically doing
a colonoscopy on our entire sewer system
you know so it's like a very detailed
dive into what are the issues modeling
and then and then how do we fix it but
but yeah all of that makes sense but but
I'm having a hard time
reconciling how we as the board of
control today can ultimately make a
decision
on basically moving forward with this
vendor for half of the project which
coincidentally is about the cost of the
other providers so it's like to me it's
I'm just like I said I'm well I'm really
down like I'm really having a hard time
reconciling how all of this plays
together together because it the the the
other quotes are basically twox or this
quote is was twox of what the
competitors were so it also concerns me
just from a bidding standpoint that we
don't have comparable
bids well we do because as we delve
deeper into this is almost like a
quantities bid bid and this correct me
if I'm wrong this vendor is doing a lot
more physical research than we felt was
necessary in order to obtain the good
information for what we need to do next
both of these other contractors were
able to do that and to tail their bids
to do that kicks up their cost it's it's
at the end of the day we're we don't
actually think we're that different in
what we're looking at different
contractors in terms of the pricing it's
just the scope as we as we honed in with
these different vendors I mean because I
remember we looked at the post as we
tweaked those estimates from the other
vendors and we compared what would
happen if we had an Apples to Apples
comparison right so if you would assume
you know one man an hour of smoke
testing is similar across all
engineering firms and you're looking at
the scope of what Burgess is night and
nle is suggesting and you add that to
what the other firms are suggesting they
do become more comparable so they they
were given leeway to suggest to us is he
also not individually experts in how the
best engineering ways to do this by were
hiring Consultants they had different
methods of doing it right and one was
more comprehensive than the other but we
do think it is the right fit um the
other thing about the phasing of the
project is after phase one there will be
definitive deliverables and we could end
our contract with burges and nple and
rebid the project and move forward with
a different firm at that time for
anything that we are leaving for phase
two and if we thought that that was
necessary to do so so if we for some
reason lost all income tax revenue at
the end of 2025 because the federal
government took it away we could not do
this project and we would not be left
with house half the house we would be
left with information about the
market what's the estimated completion
date for phase one is it in 2025 and we
think phase two would not start till
2026 that is the suggestion yes that's
the reason for the breakout yes the
amount and
there's so you know High Revised Code
service contracts like this actually
don't go to borders of control because
of the exact issue that with the
conversation have right now which is
that it's it's you're tailoring the
service contract to the work that's
being performed you're doing a request
for qualifications as opposed to fullon
bid award U which is how we tailor this
we tailor this the way other cities
would do it as well we have a slightly
different we changed because we changed
our ordinance we don't delineate between
service and non service providers so
everything goes to the border control
this is why other cities don't
adjudicate these sorts of contracts
through border control because they are
so flexible and Project Specific you
know you're looking at the
qualifications of the service provider
and their hourly rates which don't
really differ frankly that much between
firms if you go to the
it was a prior page
well that's another part of the equation
we did ask Dave to initially respond to
this himself and had concerns with the
ability of that engineering firm alone
conducting a comprehensive
analysis he
was and he did Pitch potentially subbing
with Arcus but again we just didn't
think it was a comprehensive enough of
an approach he also um were benefiting
from the experience of Burgess and nle
and other surrounding communities in
which case David does not have that
experience okay
he'll still be it'll still be obviously
leading from us and in tandem with
service director B sure and Taylor
Salmons I understand that like I just
want to offer this to you guys because I
know that there's been a lot of
information provided to you both
beforehand with this but just even
talking through this and um it's a big
contract to award I mean essentially
we're awarding we've already been
authorized $500,000 for this project
we're awarding up to that 500,000 in
this
um
but I mean I would say we've talked
extensively to council about the need
for this improve for this study to
happen and how it is going to be
expensive I think we've highlighted that
multiple times but having said all that
like if you need to take some time to
think about this more yeah I mean and I
I mean again I don't want to come across
nonsupportive because I think I've
talked about my concerns about
infrastructure spending and where this
is going to go but um I'm just having a
really hard time reconciling at all um
so you know I don't know the you know
the process but I would just say if in
the future we have three bids that are
and and we're recommending the high
you know
bid I would want to have more of a like
couple hour time to sit through it um
and talk through it it it to to to to do
that tonight is not the right
environment for it I think we need to
sit down with it
and I don't really understand the
um to me I'm struggling
with I hear what you're saying about we
can pull a plug on a project but what I
don't want the bo of control to do is to
throw $500,000 towards something and
then make a commitment that city council
has to deliver to to to deliver the full
requirements or the full deliverables of
the other lower cost options so it's
like so that's what I'm concerned about
is that I feel like today I'm not only
approving or being asked to approve a
half million dollar phase one but we're
giving an
imp I'm concerned that that it leads to
a slippery slope where we put
Council into a where we have to approve
would it be appropriate then in your
mind to take the full value of the
contract to council via ordinance just
like the Livingstone Avenue contribution
which is funded over multiple years
presumes FAL future M you know
multi-year contributions for instance
this year it's
$54,000 it's not no it's not we've we've
told Council but we didn't appropriate
it all in the first year no oh no no no
but wasn't there an order that agreed to
that full amount at some point and the
authorize the agreement that's that's
what I'm saying could there be an
ordinance to do that I mean the
difference is we could end our first
phase and we would have valuable
information that we will need in the
future but I guess we're not no we won't
be we our decision- making process will
not be as acute as it needs to be and
what's interesting
is not this is sorry it's not
interesting but like you and I have been
talking about the need to have really
good data that's underpinning our
assumptions that's what this is it's
like so I think what maybe we can't
replicate in this format right now is
the many many hours of pouring over
these so we could try to replicate that
to you in a multiple hour meeting but I
guess what what I don't understand this
is where I need help yeah that I would
think we would need help is
understanding the the responsibility
that we have on this Board of control to
um also make certain that city council
understands the implied commitment to
Future spend because that that that's
what that's what I'm also mindful of is
that we are not just approving what's in
our budget today but to get the full
scope of services and I'm assuming the
other lower cost
options um probably actually would have
given
us more of that output it may have with
lesser quality I I I don't yeah I really
don't think so the city engineer
contacted both the other uh two contract
vendors and that was the best they could
do that's why we waed with Burgess and
Nel I mean I understand what you're
saying but the information we'll get at
the end of the first year I mean that's
information we don't have right now and
that's what we need to one make sure
what we've been doing is working but
then to see what else we can do to make
it you know our system
better I'm yeah what I get and this and
I I what's in my mind is that what
what's unclear to me is if after year
one we have 75% of the information that
we would need to make a decision but
then would we have 75% of the like
information with the other two providers
based on that
spend that that's what's unclear to me
is like
what yeah what is the end deliverable
because if if they're both all three are
coming to say I'm going to give you the
out the output that you need to um build
a strategy around improving or replacing
your sewer
infrastructure having a hard time
understanding why we're gonna spend
$400,000 more um for for the same output
other than it's best
one would be better and I the the
Burgess and iple also was a lot more
boots on the ground the other two firms
were more modeling and using some of
Columbus's information which is good but
we need information on our system I mean
that's important it's not as important
as what's going on right now cross
connections are occurring we need to
know where there are you know fissures
throughout the lines we need we need a
physical survey and there was
at least Arcus was much more focused on
a spreadsheet right modeling based upon
capacities so we felt it was not
accommodating everything we needed to we
when we asked them to go back they could
do that I think through a sub right so
they're expanding scope to get to what
we need and part of that RFQ process is
like what would you guys do in this
instance and with the help of our city
engineer determining what is the best
approach for us as a city it's not
abnormal I mean like with we're doing
that right now with water with our water
lines we're
studying for years the lead impact it's
an ongoing ongoing process we're not
going like at the front end and saying
hey we know exactly what this is going
to cost and when the start and stop is
this is very really analogous to that
it's just
unfortunately it is a bigger project
because we're trying
to we're trying to we're we don't want
to further commit sewer infrastructure
fund until we know we're doing it
intelligently yeah and I it's fine I
mean yes let's go back to you know
explaining this to council it's fine I
feel like we I mean and I I'm I'm just
wondering from like a timing perspective
if we don't vote on this tonight we've
got a council
meeting 11 the 11th um that's in two
weeks between now and then you could
have more time to digest this we could
maybe in your mayor report or you know
somewhere we talk about the fact that
for phase one it's 500,000 you explain
the process by which you tried to get
bids and maybe you get
some input from Council on whether or
not you're comfortable going forward I
get the sense mat that if it were a
significantly lower bid um and it could
be done maybe
within decent amount of time that you
wouldn't have the same types of concern
yeah and again and again and and think
again I based on what you've said you
guys have done a ton so my questions
have nothing to do with the fact that
this is what you believe in okay it
nothing to do that because you guys are
the pros and I trust that my sole
concern is that
um I I don't
want I have never been in a board of
control meeting where we've elected to
go with the highest bid and that highest
bid is
$600,000 higher than the lowest bid so
that like that I hope that gives you
context to sort of blowing your mind
what's blowing my mind I've never been
and maybe I we probably have picked a
higher bid but it's by dozens of dollars
but this is 2x of the lowest bid I don't
understand this stuff and I I'm
concerned about the pull through
commitment that it makes I I hear what
you're saying which is if this was a we
just had A2 200,000 or $100,000
commitment over 10 years we it would be
the budget and it would be G just two
two years of half a million dollar
project
yeah having said that we also have a
urgent need to replace infrastructure
that
we we really can't replace intelligently
without the data well and the
appropriation for This truly is
replacing the Improvement program for
the Year and that is the general funding
sour this is an ongoing cost center
we're just using it towards studying as
opposed to infrastructure yeah I mean
it's it's not insignificant would never
say it's
insignificant the last study in 200
whatever the year was right wanted us to
install a gigantic holding tank
underneath fale Mayfield not
understanding that there was the plan fi
there and what else would I mean because
they were like this is what you need to
do and it was like to the tune of tens
of millions of dollars so we're not we
need to know Eyes Wide Open we need to
trust the studies that we're relying on
and that we're going to meet the EPA
thresholds importantly and I would say
even more importantly provide the
infrastructure that our community needs
we're not going to get there without
better data we just don't have the data
right now so we could stop at the end of
this year and be like well we've got a
lot better data than we had we'll be
able to continue to piggy back off of
other professional contracts to build
this model if for some reason Finance is
not available to do what we think is to
do it right uh so I don't I want to make
it really clear we're not committing to
the two-year program but yeah it's not
it's not inexpensive and it's not like a
big secret I think we've been talking to
council many times about the fact that
it's a substantial investment and we can
make that even more clear the challenge
you have is as a board of control member
do you feel that you have enough
information to make that decision and I
understand the hall we talked about that
leading up to this me like we really got
to explain this and I feel
like to get it to explain it thoroughly
require a longer meeting than we have
prepped for tonight yeah I could meet
between now and our next council meeting
oh yeah wanted to do a little more
deeper dive this where I do feel like
and again I we'll have to talk about the
process but
it I I mean again it's such a
significant implied commitment to next
year I do not know how we bring in city
council to also educ them that that's
that is my that's where my heads space
is is
that we you know Board of control should
not be asked to create a commitment to
next year we're not asking you that I
want to emphasize if you said we're not
gonna authorize you guys aren't G to
have money for phase two next year we'
still have to do phase one we got to do
it like so we would do phase one and
then we would keep scratching around for
money until we got through the the
information that we need in order to
make good decisions we own our sewer
infrastructure we're not going to not
own it we have to fix it we're not gonna
have to not fix it so like I I I don't
see this as committing us to to year two
I see this as committing us to moving
forward what we budgeted for this to
push the ball down the field and keep
pushing the ball down the field not
build half the house but get 50 yards
instead of 100 we're still closer to the
field goal though
oh is that a good
analogy thanks guys why don't why don't
we see if we can get together now and
February 11th you can do your deeper
dive is there maybe a possibility to
break it up
into a different contract term so that
one contract is
500,000 if if it's accepted and then you
could wait to see what happens at the
end of where that's what we're proposing
we're proposing it's really not an Ask
of
1.17 it's really just an Ask of 500,000
which has already been that is the in
the budget yes right Matt I think you're
concerned that we
won't we'll have wasted the 500 if we
don't finish and I think that's
something we need to do a better job of
explaining to you why that's not the
case because it's precursor data that's
necessary for us to make decisions again
I
by now we probably could have actually
answered all these questions if we just
sat down and talked through it so I'm
sort of being playful but it's like what
I don't understand is yeah like it's
spending half a million dollars today on
this agreement and another $600,000 last
year I don't
understand like my fici year
responsibility is to um make certain
that the outputs for half a million or
$700,000 me our needs and that's where
I'm just I'm struggling with with that
can we model phase one's comparison I
was gonna suggest that so this is really
what I would hope you would pay the most
attention to and I know it's probably
gross to look at I get that this is the
best way to price compare for be because
of the varied Scopes we needed them to
come back and tell us exactly Apples to
Apples what you're suggesting the cost
would be for these various components
right and so I think without this it
would be impossible um auditor M Peak to
your point to tell what you're getting
out of phase one and phase two so I can
rearrange those into phase one and phase
two um and based on Burgess and Nel's
proposal I can't go back to the other
firms and be like how would you organize
this and stack it I will just do it
based on brch ena's proposals so you can
see them side by side um and I think
that's truly the difference we're not
seeing necessarily a proposal that in
cost for output is three times the
others it's bigger in scope it is just
more work it is not the same house for
three times the price it is the mansion
versus the and this is what on the other
project the skateboard park what pushed
us back to going back to getting more
bids is that we don't have an apples
apples comparison and I that's the other
part that kind of concerns me is that I
don't know you know so I again I got
lots of
things that are that is the best to an
Apple apples we can get except it by
phase one and phase two but I
guess yeah with what I'm hearing is it's
different I'm hearing one of being
Apples to
Apples it's but I don't I just don't
understand
it okay I mean I I don't know what else
to say there's and it's just a
significant
app yeah
I'm trying to think of a good analogy to
explain this but it's like it's very
different from building a street you
know because we're asking for
professional service we're asking for
intelligence and for your firm that this
firm a is like we are really good at
videoing everything organizing all this
information telling you you know what's
physically wrong with your
system vendor B is like weird so good at
a AI model that's like looks at all the
numbers and crunches it and tells you
what you need and vendor 3 has maybe
some drone based topography work that
they really support so they all have
three different approaches so we've had
to rely a lot on in-person interviews
with other cities that have used these
vendors and said where have you had the
most success where's the money best
spent and why would that that then
inform moving forward for example the
vendor about $200,000 of that contract
it's smoke
testing it's smoke testing
properties that's really important
because we need to know how our
Residential Properties are improperly
feeding into the system and which ones
need to be targeted without that data we
can't go after residential infl and
infiltration which is our largest source
of inii it's D it's like it it would be
idiotic of us not to study that but the
other two weren't going to do that
because they were like ah we think
there's probably I and I you'll just
have to assume that but for us we're
gonna have to go knock on doors and say
hey
Monique your guers are going right into
our sanitary system you got to fix it so
we need that information to get to the
next I'm not in doubt that we need the
data just trying to explain some of
these the data is like when I it's it's
not even just P to it's like
significantly P to yeah yeah
but Megan did you say that if we go
ahead and say yes to the 500 and then we
see what the data shows could we rebid
or change the scope of that phase two
dep in fact I would suspect that that
would happen well maybe not three
bidding but I think the scope of phase
two is likely to change Bas on the input
a reason not to get too hung up on phase
two it could go up not you're
looking I could get those and &t gave
us two earlier on right but didn't
formally they decided to not formally
bid but but that is the other major firm
next to burges and nle that's kind of
considered the
go-to as did ever Arling Ted as at
Columbus anybody who we talked to
suggested them they also suggested that
the other two firms haven't typically
been a primary or the Prime in
engineering language on any of their
projects and I think that's telling um
it's not like every firm is an expert at
this other firms can sub certain
components and that's what we found to
be the problem with their proposals they
were component parts and pieces and
mostly
modeling right because they were like
subcontractors on modeling that was
their
expertise Matt would your mind change if
we thought about whether or not we have
the
funds this year to cover the 1.1 should
our projections go way down in year 2026
would that change anything no I mean as
much as I hate saying it like to me when
I'm looking at comparing
renders I have you know and I always use
I ask my team to come to me with that
classic checkbox when you're looking at
cell phone plans or phone coverage where
it says I get this I get this I get this
but I don't right there come on PL this
day I read back to it three times
including glass it does not and that
because it so to me I don't know what
we're getting and not getting and it's
it's 2x lowest C I mean there's nothing
that you're gonna say right now that's
gonna say let's move forward we've got
to spend more time with it I want to
understand no responsibility as Board of
control I think we break I think we hear
what you're saying and I think we
turn this from a whatever type of table
it is to different type of table with
more explanation yeah and again I think
what you know the I'd want to I mean I
think we should be going back to city
council and say did did city council
think that we get a full review of the
SE work plan for
$500,000 because if if city council
thought that the money spent today was
going to provide that
all-inclusive audit then
we I think we said over and over again
yeah one it was we were pretty clear in
the Nar in
presentation make sure I think we have
we could show you documentation that I'm
happy to reiterate at city council I'm
nervous about turning into situation we
like I'm not nervous about anything but
I think like if we say ask Council to
try to weigh in on this with any sort of
like informed perspective we're gonna
have to go back to the drawing board
with them as well and it you know we've
been doing all this due diligence to get
to the point where we are today just it
it feels like it
will perhaps make it more conversome but
I'm open to more conversome if that's
needed okay so what information
specifically can we help prepare for
this conversation that we're GNA so I
mean at a minimum it's got to be
that like so I I
mean it's got to be that easy ability to
see what we get for each one okay okay
so the plan comparison just the plan
comparison that makes sense I want to
understand
um
the again
like Phase One versus phase two pres I
don't understand what how does phase one
deliverable compared to the others at
the same at we'll say a comparable cost
um and what we what is so materially
better in
in because I I can't I can't articulate
I don't understand why we think we need
to spend
twox so I think we've got to answer that
I want to understand too like this like
just from a bidding standpoint like yeah
where because I I'm accustomed to having
like bids and what you've said is this
is a a professional service so
how do you get like bids on Professional
Services where some companies might have
a secret C that's different than another
but I don't understand that and I feel
like that's my fici responsibility for
the city to
understand that that secret sauce and
why this is the right investment for the
city so I think those are the key things
that I just need to I think need to
understand per sense and then I I think
we need to I feel like
in my opinion city council we need to go
back and make sure that there is an
understanding that we're we're doing
phase one and there's a phase two that's
probably going to be more expensive and
we need to be prepared for it Meg how
how long of time would you need to maybe
get some additional information and put
it in the format that he was talking
about trying to make sure we can talk
about it again in two weeks probably
need until the end of the week to put
them together and early next week well
shoot that's that's yeah oh no that
would work yeah maybe if we got together
looked at it and then if you had
additional information that you thought
needed to go in there yeah if it was not
clear enough or wanted to be clear then
we could bring it to Council on the
11th and to counciling a report not some
ordinance or anything actionable or
probably start with just a yeah there's
not an ordinance wouldn't be me we can't
do an ordinance we don't don't we don't
know what phase two looks like so I
think we would re I would like to
resupply the materials that we already
showed showing it was multi-year Project
talk about the board of control
discussion that we're continuing it
because of the you know complexity of
the RFQ whatever and then uh take it
from there I mean would kind of a
situation I would prefer to do a
situation like we've done in the past
where it's like hey here's what's going
on if anybody has strenuous objection
you know you could introduce like speak
now like say tell us we shouldn't be
working on this um kind of see where
that where that goes Andy are you is he
supposed to be at the February 11th
council meeting I know I Me Andy loves
coming to coun both of them were here
this meeting we don't have to have board
control at
counsil think in a case Council does
have specific questions and response to
whatever it is that you present my
daughter alone I didn't realiz it so
okay I'm in uh okay so I don't mean to
be standing at this point time it's been
a long another quick analogy I know you
don't have time for I've got one more
for you I don't need one you call three
companies and you say I need to
waterproof my basement one of them's
like well we're just going to paint the
inside and that'll fix it another one's
like we're GNA dig the trench and fix it
that way another one's going to pull
away the dirt from the outside put
rubber on it whatever you're gonna get
three super different results so I think
that is a challenge here is we've asked
for the same analysis yeah and we have
three different approaches and that's
we've spent a lot of time trying to be
comfortable so we're again
I apologize when this happens but I it's
just such a such a difference and
disparity between it and um it's your
job it's all of our job it's our job to
do that so you guys have done easy work
on it because it looks it's much needed
and it's there but it's it's just such a
funny as look well it us to like rethink
how we present information to council
and to you guys so that's good good
feedback yeah
all right oh with that sorry we're
adjourned i i i adjourned