e
good evening everyone uh welcome to the
March 26
20124 Beckley city council meeting uh I
now call this meeting to
order is
everyone looks like everyone is here Mr
mCP would you please call the rooll sure
uh Mr Marcelino present Mr Hurley
present Miss F I'm here miss s here miss
lamkey here Mr Markham I feel like Moone
kind of gave away the ending when she
said everybody's here and then
take this is the Highlight so I
appreciate you know you know I'm here
I'm here okay okay and then Mr Silverman
presid great everyone please rise and
join me for the Pledge of
Allegiance the United
States
stands andice
all so good little lemonade and it's
Ginger all right starting our meeting
off uh we are at public comments
regarding items not on the
agenda I don't see anyone um moving on
to ordinances with visiting guests Mr
official oh I guess do we need to take
that off first uh M Mr Marcelino do we
have action on ordinance 4-2 we just
skipped right to it we do but my I
apologize my computer is still pulling
up here but yes we will I would move to
uh take ordinance
0424 off of the table for discussion
mooved by Mr Marcelino is there a second
second second by Mr Silverman Mr mCP
would you please do uh the roll
call Miss FAL yes Mr Silverman yes Mr
Markham yes Mr Hurley yes Mr Marcelino
yes Miss sad and Miss lampy
yes right ordinance 4- 24 is off the
table for discussion Mr Marcel we'll
turn it back over to you yes thank you
very much um obviously this ordinance
has been before us for some time now and
I appreciate everybody uh taking their
time with it thinking about it uh
considering all the public comment that
we've heard both in favor and against it
um and coming to uh whatever decision
they ultimately come to tonight I am uh
formally going to ask for a vote on it
as I do believe that it's been in front
of us for long enough um to make a
determination as to whether you are in
favor of it or against it
um it looks as though at this point uh
we lack anybody that wishes to make a
comment um but I I guess I will uh
direct the public comment section of
this ordinance tonight um Mr MC Peak did
you
receive no speaker slips okay uh with
well again for the record we don't need
speaker slips because it's a third
reading or similar to a third reading I
just want make that clear for thank you
I appreciate that just making sure you
didn't miss anything outside of that
what I would like to do now um before we
before I call for a vote or ask for a
vote I would ask for Council to weigh in
with any thoughts and
considerations uh that they've
considered um before coming to their
ultimate decision tonight if you wish to
share them and if not then so be it um
we will Alex point to you so we will
defer uh hang on I just want to give a
little context so you so you remember we
haven't actually formally amended yet so
that will be a part sure just so you
guys understand the proposed amend not a
problem but thank you very much I would
like for some some testimony from
Council woman F thank you um Mr
Marcelino you've done an amazing job um
walking us through this and and I am I
am grateful for that um I have been
really passionate about this area of our
community for over 10 years now before I
even started on Council it was something
that was on my radar and I couldn't
believe as a council member that that
was indeed an area of our
community period I didn't even know
prayor to council that it belonged to us
and I would venture to Guess that there
are a lot of people still in Bexley that
do not know that Tim Hortons is ours me
ours it's in Bexley that whole area
um I have been passionate about it long
long long before I had ever heard of a
company named the Community
Builders my dream uh for that area of
Bexley is that it looks like the rest of
our community well take a care of safe
and
walkable and
productive I have fought tirelessly for
a service department tree storage area
to be turned into athletic fields a
playground and Community
Gardens a former council member fighting
against these developments argued that
it isn't safe for our kids to play down
there and I argued our kids are down
there they live
there not every parent can choose good
schools and a Str slow Street to live on
I chair an organization that began under
the wings of Ohio State called families
flourish we provide assistance to
parents to allow them to move their
family families to areas of Greater
opportunity areas like Bexley our data
would suggest that the families we serve
would think it a huge Improvement to
their children's lives to move anywhere
in exle including Livingston
Avenue but let's not throw the baby out
with the bath
water this ordinance is not about
turning a funeral home into a home for
the Youth who might come to our
community to live work play and care
it's about giving entire area of our
community from the Highway East the hope
it deserves it's about promoting the
free market to come into our community
from the Highway East and invest and
develop it and it's about encouraging
new businesses and new residents to
believe in our community by proving that
we
do this is the time for us to make the
changes needed to our zoning code
Columbus is ready to help us improve
their side of Livingston and we must
capitalize on their willingness to
improve the landscape but that only we
can improve the areaa and this zoning
will give hope not only for more
beautiful Community but for a more
inclusive one a place where not only
families flourish but a whole community
flourishes and I urge you all to join me
in voting for these
changes thank you very much uh Mr
Silverman I know you had your hand
raised I just wanted to say that I
appreciate that from Lori F councilwoman
fible um she she hit a lot of the points
that I was going to bring up I I make
mention that I grew up
um south of Bexley and Berwick and my
first house was six houses from
Livingston when I moved to Bexley we we
crossed Livingston as many would say so
seeing Improvement in the infrastructure
and the changes of zoning to help expand
Livingston into new Heights is something
that's really close and dear to me um
I've talked to business owners down
there I've talked to Residents I've held
events at the newly formed Schneider
Park to
really talk and experience what it's
like to be down there and I believe that
investment on our end to improve it
whether it's infrastructure whether it's
new Commercial Business new housing is
an investment that's worthwhile and so I
just want to say I appreciate this
opportunity to vote on this today thank
you thank thank you very much uh Mr
Hurley uh thank you um so I have a few
questions but I mean generally I intend
on voting yes as well I you know I have
a saying I use a lot in my professional
life of you know don't let the perfect
be the enemy of the good and I know
we've received some criticism of this
but um you know progress is progress and
I think um both my colleagues have uh
made good points about why this is this
is necessary um I guess just curious you
know to get this on the record do we
have and this maybe a question for more
for the mayor for director Meyer do we
have any insight into what TCB is
planning as it relates to 2300 living
ston at this point and is this
resolution something that you know
they're waiting on action on before they
might revisit their plans for that
site I have not and correct if you have
more recent information let me know I I
haven't spoken with the developer for
several months um when I last spoke with
them they were uh still in contract on
the property and hoping I think to
extend that contract but I'm not aware
of whether or not they are still in
contract on the property okay um and I
as I answer that question for you I want
to emphasize that as we've spoken about
before this ordinance isn't in any way
shape or form approving that development
the the new zoning language for
Livingston
maintains first floor residential as a
conditional use so that doesn't change
from the current zoning um it does um
you know modify the conditional use
language to address the defects that
were uh reported by the court but those
also apply equally across all of our
districts so um I editorialize as I
answer there you go no that that's
helpful um and then I just again um this
was brought up in a communication to all
of us today I keep hearing this number
thrown around of 58 bedrooms and 40 to
45 kids do we have any I guess do you
have any insight into where that number
comes from because I've heard it a lot
including from people who are frankly
supportive of development they're just
worried about the safety and I just I've
not seen this in any kind of City
Communication or anything from TCB so do
we know the source of that mayor if if I
may jump in um I believe that was from a
previous project that was proposed for
the area itself um there is currently
nothing pending at this time and any
project that would be proposed in that
area would still have to go through uh
Bap and ARB and fit the needs within the
code itself so my assumption is that it
comes from a previous project but again
that previous project itself is not
what's before us today it's just the
zoning aspect of it and uh president
lamp key sorry I didn't want to cut
please do thank council member Hurley
just when you're done I was gonna offer
to oh of course I um I guess not so much
a question just you know I I'll just
want to be candidate with you all um the
zoning piece of this I'm I'm fine with I
do have have a little bit of maybe
lingering concerns about some of the
conditional use changes I I see the need
and I know um our our council's here and
you know she mentioned at one of our
previous readings uh that our our
conditional use standards are actually
pretty high am I independent research I
would agree with that so I I do see you
know the need I don't think there's a I
don't think if we were to pull that out
or to hold off another week or two and
do more diligence that it's going to
Merit any changes I think we just we
have to be competitive with our zoning
um but I just it you know gives me a
little bit of lingering heartburn but
nothing that's gonna dissuade me on this
um and when we get to talking about
amendments I may have a small suggestion
but I'll defer back so thank you for the
information thank you president lampy um
I was just going to say if we have
proposed amendments um I think I'd
probably prefer to offer my comments
once I've seen the proposed amendments
just so that uh I'm seeing kind of what
we're we're considering voting on maybe
tonight if council's in agreement to
kind of go through this of course we're
in no rush I think that's fair I would
say perhaps let's pull them up and and
make sure that we're all talking about
the same
amendments and if there's additional
comments from those have already spoken
after reviewing the Amendments please
feel free we we're here till they throw
us out so the the proposed amendment is
the version we've always been talking
about um it was proposed soon after I
think it was the second meeting for for
the second reading and so I we've
already presented on it it's not changed
this is the same thing that's been in
the packet all along um as showing up as
amended ordinance 424
so uh Katherine can probably clarify
this more because it's been a bit since
the amendments were made but I think
they um added in some parking and I
think there were some areas of the code
where uh the districts were referenced
so anyway you've been discussing the
amended version all along there's not
there's no new information it's for my
own education I wanted to make sure I
hadn't forgotten about thank you I
apologize there uh council member Earley
has just indicated there are two
documents that he believes are identical
can we just verify which document is the
one that contains the Amendments upon
which will be voted there are two uh
proposed amendment one's a word version
and one's a PDF is that you're referring
to so that's okay no just name I didn't
y I appreciate that thank you you could
the PD is the one that I've pulled up
um but
they
yeah this cunning since you since you
are here we just like to walk us through
amended or or proposed amended ordinance
4-24 so we can consider that yes and I
can also kind of explain why the
Amendments came really that was part of
code cleanup because what you find when
you change one thing and it cross
references a different section or uses
some words that it
inadvertently touches several other
ordinances and then there were a couple
of changes not related to this that were
sort of just clean up of code issues
that we had but primarily um in this
ordinance um when we the the the items
that were coming in for review um are
primarily geared toward the
um renaming um the Livingston Avenue
area and reimaging it to be as you've
all described more competitive more
flexible still with the same conditional
uses but promoting the area and removing
it when it was um a commercial Service
District the intention of that District
had not changed even though some of the
uses had changed and that's what kind of
caused some problems along with some
other things uh when the case went um
before the courts but that was really
designed as an automo
drivein type uses uh from the 50s and
60s it was an old section that really
wasn't didn't change um but the world
has changed since then and at that time
you know drive-ins were were sort of the
new Edge and Leading Edge of of
development and so this really kind of
makes the code really more contemporary
in terms of what's been happening in
Beckley on Main Street you know and the
commercial Service District really um
Livingston was the only place where that
was and the idea was with along with the
Livingston Avenue overlay to make it
more similar to what's happening on Main
Street and less similar to just
drive-throughs and so that's why those
code changes um in 1220 there was some
minor changes um to Bap in the the Main
Street district there were some minor
changes to talk about the Livingston
overlay District to add it in as an
overlay district with the Main Street
District um so that they had similar
procedures similar way to go um and that
then created a trickle down where we had
to change the powers of the ARB to add
in now the the new District names
because their powers are based on the
districts that properties are in so we
had to change the ARB um Provisions
really relating to so that they could
Embrace this ordinance and make
architectural decision-making and
recommendations in this District um like
they do in some others uh in that we did
some very minor changes to the um
conditional use permits really not in
the standards in any way um but to um to
just clarify some of the procedural
stuff um
we uh they had an conditional use
permits have an expiration like um
variances do so if you get a conditional
use permit you have to act on it within
a certain certain time we clarified that
language which was more of a procedural
thing um and then the Livingston Avenue
District um uh pretty much that was
Jason sui was really involved in that uh
in terms of writing the standards of
that they were they were again I think
in collaboration with the mayor and the
development staff and they were kind of
mirroring what again what the Main
Street district is to give more
flexibility and um allow for more
appropriate uses in that area um as the
mayor mentioned most of the the changes
like in terms of the uses the
conditional uses a lot of them really
didn't change that much in this District
but they became more flexible to be able
to use you know um mixed uses or single
uses or um you know other other
limitations that again gives uh Bap more
flexibility if something comes in for a
conditional use and there's a a business
that comes in that can fit inside of the
code so really that was the most of it
there was a there was
um a clarification of parking too
because of course when you put a new
District we um we the parking mirrors
some of the districts so every time you
put a district in it's why I said we had
a lot of extra sections going there it
feels like these major amendments but if
the parking code referred to the
commercial Service District we had to
amend the parking code to now refer to
the Livingston Avenue overlay District
so that's really why you see so many
provisions of the code and that's why
you saw a an amended ordinance because
we were you know um trying to get it
through before Bap so that they could
have as much time as they needed and
also talk to them about changes so they
considered actually the amended
ordinance when they went when it went to
be up so what you're getting is what
they had and saw and it's what you've
seen you know when you've been debating
and considering has been this
ordinance and I'm happy to answer any
questions as we go along too but that's
really the sort of gist of it is you
change one thing and there's a whole
bunch more thank you very much I know
there was a question I believe from
council member so thank you Mr Marcelino
um my question pertains to the design
guidelines specific to the overlay so
you have you have a functioning business
that exists let's say that they changed
ownership would that new ownership
required to change the design guidelines
or it's only if they're requesting to
remodel or restruct
right they would be that's what we call
non-conformities so if you have a
property that is in compliance you have
I mean the key is you have to be in
compliance at the time the Law changes
but assuming that you've got a property
that's in compliance at the time the Law
changes and the standards change while
you own the property and the use doesn't
change it's not based on ownership it's
based on location and use so if the use
doesn't change or the use continues to
be a permitted use in the zoning
classification then they the new
standards they'll be grandfathered
people call that grandfathering they'll
they'll be grandfathered under the old
standards so and I guess I I use like
scenarios so if there's a business that
has a door that's not facing Livingston
would they be required to change that if
the new thing passed no would and then
if they sold the next business wouldn't
be required so those those would be
grandfathered in it only be if they
wanted to remodel or reappropriate the
space normally it's if they um need to
come in to get a depends on what they're
doing if they have to come in to get a
permit to do something they can they can
maintain their property they can do a
lot of things that it doesn't mean you
can't do anything you can do some things
as long as you don't are you're not
significantly changing something that
affects the development standards or the
use of the property so if you're
expanding your building you're going to
come under the new code for those those
issues it doesn't mean your whole site
is going to necessarily have to come
into compliance but some things are
going to have to come into compliance
when you do that thank you the other ask
just I would add to that real quickly is
that if if a business has ceased
operations for six months or more it is
no longer a exempt non-conforming use so
that would have to be
updated yeah president Lamy Miss
Cunningham is there anything in amended
ordinance
4-24 that would prevent a city council
from reversing or
modifying a decision from a border
commission that we feel did not meet the
appropriate standard of review if
something were appealed to council no
it's it it would be the same as anything
else whatever the ordinance says you
would apply the standards as you see fit
and based on typically in a conditional
use uh which is usually what comes up
although it could be a variance but
there are code standards for anything
that's appealable to council there are
code standards either as a conditional
use permit or as variance that is
appealable to council Council does and
thoroughly does in my experience review
all of the record that was be below you
do look at all of the evidence and none
of this would change any of that and
your ability and authority to review and
amend
remand affirm whatever you do Remains
the
Same uh council member Hurley um thank
you I want to follow up to a question or
I guess maybe Reas a question that
council member fibel asked at our very
first reading and I'm not trying to harp
on one project because we're talking
about a whole District yeah but but
obviously some of what's in this uh this
ordinance is the result of adverse
litigation yes so and and the decision
of the Court directing us that we should
amend our
ordinance specifically directing us we
should amend our ordinance are we under
a court are you saying we're under a
court order to do this or is it just no
it's not a court order the the
suggestion of the Court was you should
amend your ordinance and I've seen that
before in decision that is it was a
suggestion not an order um I just want
to be make sure um so we have two pieces
of this we have the conditional use
changes we have the zoning
changes without making both of those
changes if we were to have a company
come forward and want to basically
propose roughly the same thing at 2300
Livingston we would probably face a
similar outcome in
court without both of the both the
zoning change and the conditional use
change am my is that a fair
statement
um it's a possibility okay I mean I it's
hard for me to say that would happen but
it could happen for sure that could
happen thank you I just want to be very
crystal clear on that so thank you
yeah okay any other questions for yes of
course president lamp not a question
while we have Miss Cunningham here if if
other folks have questions of her um
before if not I was gonna offer my
comments on the amended ordinance
anybody have questions from Miss
kenningham are we good Katherine thank
you so much you for being here tonight
um and Council I'm so sorry I misspoke I
I wasn't recalling that we had already
amended this so thank you for indulging
me and I'll am I am I right
I don't think it's been formally amended
we double checked the record ahead of
time it's been presented as the proposed
amended okay the title of the document
is proposed amended normally we have
proposed so sorry so I'm so I'm right
you were correct that thought I was
wrong okay well no we have all along
been referring to this amended version
but the I think in part just to let you
guys get more feedback the formal
Amendment hadn't occurred yet okay so we
are looking to amend
um this evening uh based on the proposed
amendments as shown um online and uh in
person uh I did want to share with
Council
that I think it makes practical sense to
change the zoning classification and the
map on
Livingston um but we all know that
Livingston is it can be unique it's a
unique part of our city where bexley's
only one one part of the street um it's
it's not the same as main Cassidy but it
sure makes a lot of sense to have um the
classification as our other arteries
currently have but my question to Miss
Cunningham tonight was really meant to
demonstrate what I feel is an important
piece of our job as legislators and that
is that we have a very
significant uh checks and balance system
in our city on how our code is
interpreted um I and I know several
other council members up here have had
some appeals where we have reversed a
decision by BAP sometimes we've affirmed
we also have the ability to modify or
remand or send it back and there's
nothing in this ordinance that takes
away our ability to still continue to
enact those checks and balances we have
so many talented educated and eager
volunteers who serve on our boards and
commissions and they are the folks that
are most tasked with making these
decisions and then and only if then if
it gets appealed to us do we step in and
we carefully consider what's in the
record before us and we apply our review
to the appropri
legal standard that is before us um so I
say that just to reassure everybody that
this does not to take away our ability
to sit as an appell body as we have done
in the past and I know that going
forward we're going to continue to
exercise our own due diligence when we
are sitting as that appell body so I
just wanted to offer that thank you very
much anyway Troy thank you so uh
this is something that I have been super
interested super excited about for a
long long long long long time um of
course I live on Remington one block
from Livingston I've been there for
eight years and before that I lived on
Montrose one block from Livingston I
lived there for eight years and my wife
and I we walk those blocks regularly
with our dogs it is an area that sees a
lot of pedestrian traffic Berwick is a
walking Community as well the uh the
Jewish Center the temple there that
there is a lot of there's a lot of use
in that area it's berwick's a great
community that area is is something that
I think um we all know should be a lot
better than it is um we use the Jewish
center and to be able to to to walk to
and from there to make that area safer
uh more comfortable um to to make it
more of a destination I think is
something that is really of interest you
know to everybody um in between those
two houses I ran for city council and I
remember uh I I had a meeting with the
mayor and the uh the mayor at that time
it was a was a younger guy but he asked
me like uh super young guy super young
guy asked me you know what I was
interested in I didn't really have any
huge issues like a lot of people have
when they run for city council except
for I felt like I really want to see us
direct some attention into South Beckley
and especially that Livingston Avenue
area um to make it safer and more of an
inclusive part of the city and you know
I'm really really happy and proud to say
that since that time when I was elected
we we have done that regularly we've
made Livingston Avenue safer step by
step we've invested in that uh the the
uh fale Mayfield area there putting
soccer fields in there making that area
safer and better and when I look at
these uh these drawings and I see the
vision for what I really really do
believe is achievable there I I'm I'm
excited and I know that
um when we talk to people in the
community that there is some uh skeptic
M and sometimes it is very difficult to
believe that you can make a change like
that happen but that's what we're here
for you know we're here to try and make
those things happen and so I'm excited
about that um I have spent the last and
I I wanted to say what a great job Sam's
as well and especially uh with that that
public meeting that we had uh getting
all those people up here to speak uh to
listen to I have spent the time that we
have had this on the table uh
proactively talking to people and
especially the people in the area
because I do walk around there and I I
attend some functions and everything get
a lot of questions people have a lot of
questions about it there are some there
is some skepticism you know people it's
very difficult I think sometimes like I
said for people to believe that you can
make a change that you can you know you
can change things like that but I what I
also hear is I hear people have hope and
they are excited that we are spending
this time and using this opportunity and
folks that's an awful lot of money like
that's a huge opportunity right now to
go in there and do something like this
and improve that that part of the city
when you improve that part of the city
that I think that has traditionally been
somewhat neglected at times I think the
magnitude with which we improve the
entire city is pretty significant so I
am I am super excited about it I'm super
happy about it I think all the city
council members who are here and I think
all the city council members who have
been here during the first uh previous
two uh runs I've had for the work that
we've continued to do and the continued
Focus that we've had in this area I
think it's I think it's the right thing
I think I think a legacy will show that
there's time and money and effort that's
been well spent so I will be voting for
it thank you very much uh anybody yes
Jess please
um I wanted to start off by just
commending um council member Marcelino I
think that he's done a a great job of
making sure that the community has been
heard and giving us all a lot of
patience um and time to make sure that
we feel like we're in a good place with
um getting that opportunity to have the
feedback from our residents whether
we're here in council chambers or it's
come to email or maybe we're just simply
leaving The JCC and uh people would
would like to come up and comment as we
all know as um our roles as council
members is to hear from the community
and then with that uh make the best
decisions for our community as a whole
and I think council member uh Markham
said it best that that there there is
enthusiastic uh response for this
there's also some people who are
skeptical but at the end of the day
um this is an improvement and will be
and it it will take time but um that
area that Corridor Livingston um is is
highly used and um you know many
bicyclist many um people on foot and um
I'm enthusiastic about what we have done
with uh the Mayfield burndale area and I
think that that wasn't something that
people could Envision until we got where
we're at and I I I'm excited about where
this is going to go but more excited
than than all of those things is how
that we have uh taken our time on or
ordance
4-24 as a council under your leadership
so thank you for that I learned
everything from president lampy uh
there's two more voices that haven't
been heard yet I do want to give the
mayor an opportunity to speak in regards
to this ordinance and then I plan to
wrap up before we go to the mayor is
anybody else have anything else they'
like to add readdress ask a procedural
question so are we still then doing a
motion to amend and then there will be a
motion to amend um and we will vote upon
that and then there will be a motion to
approve I think we'll vote upon
that thank you um thank you councilman
Marcelino so uh you know I I really
appreciate the process that's that's
that this has gone through and um the
initial early draft of this was last
year with councilman Kingler and it was
an outcome of the joint living Avenue
plan um which recommended that these
standards be changed for Livingston
Avenue but really The Joint living plan
was fleshing out the underlying
recommendations of the 2017 Southwest
Beckley strategic framework which
specifically recommended that the city
created a commercial mixed use overlay
zoning stipulating that new buildings
front the ride of way to create better
walkability um that that little bit of
nugget then led to more detailed um
specifications in the 2022 joint Liv
timing plan but really before the 2017
Southwest bexi framework it was the 200
land use strategy that talked about
increasing development standards for
Livingston and elevating those standards
so while this ordinance has been under
development for several months has
received really robust public feedback
it is the natural Legacy of plans that
have been adopted and approved by
Council which explicitly called for
something like this um I think the time
is has come and it's probably overdue uh
to unify these standards with our
aspirations for Livingston Avenue and I
think it's already been said so many so
many good words up here tonight but the
investment and the and the the spirit of
cooperation that's going into Livingston
Avenue with the city of Columbus and
what that portends for the future of the
of the corridor with the safety
improvements that are coming this zoning
is a complement to that it creates the
standards for those commercial uses and
the setbacks and the public spaces that
will be part and parcel of the
infrastructure change that's coming to
Livingston Avenue so I think it's
essential um and I and I thank Council
for your patience and your hard work in
thinking through this thank you thank
you mayor um as the member uh
introducing this ordinance I just felt
it was important to say a couple words
uh and join my colleagues here and
voicing my thoughts on it
um I have waxed and waned on this
throughout its presentation and for
those that may not be here because you
can only pick two uh i' I've done it
very much so so I want to thank my wife
for hearing my thoughts about a lot of
things and and listening me go back and
forth I also want to thank each and
every one of you for taking your time
with it and having similar conversations
with your confidence and trying to come
to a conclusion uh judgment can be cast
upon whatever decision we end up uh
coming up with tonight but I know that
whatever that decision is was one that
was thoughtful uh and and diligent in
its uh in its conclusions so I just I
appreciate each and every one of you
taking that time with me uh as a two
plus uh two decade plus uh resident of
South Beckley uh Livingston has always
been a challenge from the time that I
got my license I was advised by my
family not to drive on Livingston not to
spent time on Livingston it was
dangerous etc for many valid valid
reasons and the steps that the city has
taken in the past uh couple of years
towards the Livingston Avenue project
have been significant in making
Livingston more safe and I am so excited
to see uh the plans that come along with
our future here in Bexley and what will
be developed on living sin in the future
and that's ultimately what helped me
come to a conclusion I'm not in support
of any development whatsoever any
specific development that is here in
Bexley I'm in support of changing
Livingston Avenue for the better into
the future and I think each and every
one of us up here are um and and I say
that because we are thinking uh for the
safety for what Livingston Avenue will
look like 15 years from now what
Livingston Avenue will look like five
years from now and that is what I'm
picturing with this ordinance I look
forward to challenging any project that
comes upon any uh area of Livingston
before this city and making sure that's
the best project for that space I hope
our community members continue to hold
developers to a high standard and
question uh projects that come before it
but I think that Livingston Avenue has
been Livingston Avenue
uh as in its we'll say a year and a half
ago form for long enough and it's time
to see a change to it and what are we
trying to do today we're trying to
change what Livingston Avenue looks like
in the future um from what it's been in
the past and so ultimately how I came to
my conclusion was deciding that I am not
supporting a project I'm not supporting
an initiative outside of the fact of
making Livingston Avenue better so uh I
today will ask for two votes the first
vote will be an amendment to ordinance
04 d24 and the second will ultimately be
a vote to approve the amended uh
ordinance of
0424 but because I am before uh you know
before we I asked for those votes and
because I'm theoretically running this
although it's president lamy's show I
know that we do have a new member to
council that just walked in I want to
make sure that there's no public comment
that would like to make make their voice
heard before I ask for that
vote seeing no one rushing to the front
and knocking each other over for a
comment at this time um I would ask uh
to approve the amended
04- 24 as proposed you're making a
motion make to amend sorry sorry I got
excited there to amend uh ordinance
0424 as proposed right there is a motion
to amend the ordinance is there a second
second second by Miss
fibble uh Mr mCP would you please call
the role as to the amendment Mr
Marcelino yes Mr Silverman yes Mr
Markham yes Miss F yes Mr Hurley yes
Miss glamy yes and Miss sod yes
Amendment
passes I then would move to approve the
now amended ordinance 04- 24 motion to
adopt by Mr Marcelino is there a
second second second by Mr
Markham Mr mCP would you please call the
role Mr
Silverman yes Miss
s yes Miss fible yes Miss lamkey yes Mr
Hurley yes Mr Marcelino yes and Mr
Markham yeah ordinance passes amended
ordinance passes thank you Mr Marcelino
thank you so much for your due Ence and
walking us through uh this ordinance
really appreciate it thank all of
you right moving on to president's
report Council I just had one uh
reminder May 15th our ethics disclosure
is due if you have not already done
yours you've got about six weeks left to
go so please get that in uh by that
deadline um Mr City Journey over to you
I have no report tonight other than to
point out that every time that door
opens I think there's geese flying by I
was wondering what that
sound the door is still being worked on
it's great to have door don't
get that's right all right moving on to
our auditor
report I have no formal report but just
wanted to remind everyone that this is
Beacher Hill's final week so um just if
you have an opportunity shoot a quick
email text him give him a call thank him
for his 20 plus years of
service thank
you Thursday Thursday am I right thday
of this week is effective last day is
Thursday thank
you two days from now yeah that's right
send him a note thank him for thank him
for his years of service all right we
are now to administrative updates mayor
I'm going to turn it over to you to walk
us through uh the administrative updates
thank you madam President we are blessed
with the presence of three of our
Sterling directors this evening and I'm
going to start it with our service
department uh with Mr
bashore Andy how you doing thanks mayor
I'm doing good how are you I'm I'm
hanging in there sir thank
you so there's my uh attached report I
do not have anything to add to it
tonight but more than happy to answer
any
questions any questions for
Andy Mr
Silverman hey Andy um I was walking the
other day and I noticed a new placard on
top of the
sewers I was wondering um first off if
you kind of can
explain what it is for I believe it's
just a warning for people not to dump
anything in the drains but secondly if
if it's coming off should we contact the
service department I found a few that
have been
kicked off um and laying on top of the
sewer so I just wanted to know I know
that they're stuck on there with an
adhesive sure it's the best way to just
report them if they're if they're come
loose yeah just let us know and um you
know we'll reattach them it's actually a
program we did um quite a few years ago
and um a high school uh group started
doing some of them for us last summer um
I don't know if they're going to do
anymore this summer but just let me know
shoot me an email and we'll get them
reattached and for anybody doesn't know
they're dealing with the uh no pouring
in the sewer that's not rainwater but a
couple of them came loose as I was
walking in South Backle so yeah it's
just on the Storm sewer catch Bas liist
Yeah ironic if the labels about not
putting things in the storm sewer end up
in the storm sewer so we don't want
that yes um and I just want to uh
Elevate and and highlight Isabelle
Isabelle Isabelle Carlton uh was this
high schooler behind that that um she
was a go-getter through that project um
and she really galvanized a lot of
support for it um and her her primary
sort of reason for that is is just to
encourage people not to especially
leaves so leaves going into the gutters
during the fall um change the oxygen
balance in the creek and are a negative
for the ecosystem so she's that was a
big passion of her and her project
great any other
questions Miss s Andy um I want to send
along a great message to one of our
residents um that happen the family
lives on brighten and during the spring
break when they have older children and
they're going from you know ones out um
getting ready to head out uh East for
lacrosse the other ones managing you
know her family in a different way
they've had a few things happen at their
house but because the city of Bexley
service department reacted so quickly
they did not have have flooding in their
home so they've asked what can they do
and I said the service department you
know let me walk you in they would love
to have treats this person is a great
hook and Baker um but I wanted to just
pass along that the response they got so
quickly from the service department
helped them out tremendously to not have
a bigger issue so thank you and um the
plumbing company that was there to help
service along with the city also um
reminded that Resident that if this had
happened in almost any other
municipality they would have had a
bigger Bill to deal with so that was a
great story and I had to share excited
to do that tonight so thank
you another question Mr mercelina yes
it's it's a joint question um for both
Mr bashore and uh the mayor here um and
it has to do with safety um we had just
a visitor uh come talk to us she uh
lives on Sherwood and Drexel and just as
noticed uh some increased traffic in
that area uh just coming off of the
street and specifically during an office
hour she did inquire as to uh getting
speed bumps and I know that speed bumps
are a nogo but perhaps speed humps but I
also think it might be educational for
counsil because I think that that is one
of my most popular questions is can I
get a speed bump in front of my house to
slow traffic down so I think it would be
educational to get an explanation as to
what can be done and what that procedure
is for
traffic amendments if you want if I may
or adjustments to try to slow traffic
down in certain areas traffic calming
adjustments thank you very much Mr mcbe
yes well Andy loves speed bumps am I
right um
noake things up
no I want to sort of start with the
process if a resident's concerned about
speeding or volume on their street the
first thing we do actually we work with
the police department and we do a a
traffic speed survey um those results
come back and we Benchmark that street
against other similar streets in Bexley
and if there is a speed concern that
sort of we're seeing some unusual
speeding and unusual you know it's not a
hard and fast metric but the kind of
normal secondary Street in Bexley has
two to 5% of the traffic is is is going
uh 30 miles per hour or
slower sorry I didn't say that
right um two to 5% of the traffic is
going above 30 miles per hour so if if
it's like a higher number than 5% it
starts to be really unusual for example
um so we take a look at what that what
that speed uh survey indicates and then
from that um we would look at different
solutions we've put bump outs in certain
areas medians in certain areas um that
was a direct result of residents wanting
to change on their Street um active
speed signs uh speed bumps and alleys
because alleys aren't plowed as much and
I think that's a major concern and and
maybe you can talk about that a little
bit more sure um just to back up I do
have signs on order that will we be put
out onel and I'm hoping that will help
um but as far as speed bumps um the plow
truck drivers it makes them really
unhappy and it's also hard on the plow
trucks and another big issue is drainage
um sometimes other plac are installed it
does affect the drainage and creates a
lot of problems on the equipment and
drainage and to piggyback a little bit
off of that there's a street that we
have speed bumps on right now I think we
only have one street with true speed
bumps on Aster and we are removing those
speed bumps right um residents are aware
of that on Aster we are going to try it
without them for a while see how they
feel um we are going to give them the
potential option because of the history
there of coming back with speed humps I
just wanted to explain to you why that
you might see something there a little
different to piggy back on what you're
saying with Aster I know that there was
a couple um conversations that you had
with Pleasant Ridge um what has come
from that from those um planning
sessions I know that there was a stop
sign added at Aster and then there was
future talks y um is that part of kind
of the speed bons removing from aser in
that area to reduce
speed both being they're both being
paved so in a sense it is did your
question get answered first before move
on to that so the I
guess yes in a sense but the answer is
that for the for the resident obviously
Drexel is a work in progress um we are
aware of that and I believe the resident
as well but in the future we're going to
see some warning signs uh to try to help
calm traffic a bit um and then should we
need to take additional steps it would
start out with a traffic evaluation I
just want to that would be actually any
any any Resident who calls and says hey
I have a concern on my block we will go
out and we'll we'll get the stats so
that's the first step okay um yeah and I
don't Andy wasn't to be clear committing
to speed signs on Sherwood cross
crosswalk on DX we we would if you want
to refer it over we will start with the
speed survey we'll get back to the
resident and then we'll start to talk
about like how it looks no I I appre I
just think it's something that I faced
more frequently than I proba anticipated
as a member on Council and so we can all
hear at once it might be beneficial to
save time in the future so thank you
both and if you ever want to troll
through spreadsheets and spreadsheets of
spe thank you pass along move on next
question thank you um Alex to answer
your question asra and Pleasant Ridge
are both um being paved by uh either us
or Columbia Gas some some we're kind of
splitting up the project um and Pleasant
Ridge Andy why don't you share where we
are on Pleasant Ridge and why sure um a
letter went out to to Pleasant Ridge uh
residen yesterday um as of right now
when construction season starts there'll
be three meetings installed there'll be
one um just south of Aster then one just
north of Aster and then one right at
Francis on the
curve Center Line
medians Center Line yeah yeah how wide
that streets less with is it going to be
smaller medians than what we would see
so we're talking about three medians
only and they're right at the stop signs
so they're not like ongoing to so
they're not long in that sense like
what's the length of the median we still
have to lay them out yeah that's when
you guys get some renderings and we yeah
visualize it yeah it's about a 40 or 50
L foot length about the about the width
of a property a property on Pleasant
Ridge okay but we'll we can show you
that thank you we'll probably be laying
that out and probably the next couple
weeks with some paint but yeah not width
length sorry it's remarkable Andy I know
nobody here gets preferential treatment
um I do want to congratulate you it
looks like you're finally finishing up
the street in front of Brian drury's
house and I know you've been working on
that for a long long time getting it
just right
[Laughter]
so did you get that
Andy we uh we authorized the contractors
to park in Brian's front
yard any other questions for Andy and
thank you very much Mr bore you're
popular
today um moving on we have a update from
our finance director Carrie Martin yes
car's key points yeah we may change that
we'll see I'll see if I can make it a
little fancier so through February um
finances looking healthy the um
expenditures are coming in below the
expected forecast with the um Revenue
coming in above the expended for
expected forecast um and the majority of
that is due to income tax revenue um we
are
$262,000 um I'm sorry
$336,000 above the projected forecast
through February but in saying that we
are
$262,000 below what we received at the
same time in February of
23 so hopefully that makes sense and if
you have any questions ask
Andy he was a
champ yeah those are welcome any
questions and I think what what I got
from that and and maybe you have more
insight into this is that we had uh we
had a big peak of income tax early last
year that leveled off more and eased so
it's hard to really know how to
interpret that in terms of how it
impacts us for the rest of the year yeah
I mean I think there have been very
complicated algorithms attempted to
anticipate the collection of these taxes
and it's uh it's difficult to predict so
we do the best we can and um time will
tell where we land by the end of the
year so expect these fluxes from month
to month
any question y yes um just a question on
expenditures so I'm looking at your um
audit here so year to date we are in the
general government uh 216,000 and some
change below budget which is great right
uh that seems largely driven by under
spending in the auditor's office
development office and a line item
called grants do you anticipate those
catching up by the end of the fiscal
year or is that a that um I guess VAR
variance likely
hold I yeah I can answer that question
um I believe you're asking specifically
about the grants line item well the
three yeah there's there's there's three
that seem to be driving most of the
underspend I'm just curious if we
anticipate that rebounding or is that a
a trend that you know it's great it's
great I mean anytime revenues are above
estimate and expenditures are below
that's great I'm just curious if those
are gonna maybe what I'll I'll kick it
off um so
I I'll you know talk about the way
finances Finance financials are
presented so we have cash basis
financials so even though we know that
we
have hundreds of thousands of dollars of
insurance that must be paid um at some
point in time throughout the year we
budgeted that to occur if I'm not
mistaken in February so there was a
anticipated payment of hundred and some
odd thousand dollars for insurance we
didn't make that payment in February so
it shows as a huge savings in February
but the money is going to go out in in a
latter month so I don't I mean there
likely will be some Savings in the
auditor piece but
um again this is something we we will
experience from time to time when there
are large lump sums anticipated go out
in a certain month but it gets deferred
because we don't have the invoice or
something so so yeah that that that's
the auditor side for certain and I don't
I don't need kind of a breakdown I just
was asking more the question of yes
we'll probably see those that variance
shrink a bit Yeah but maybe still finish
out the fiscal year in good shape which
is great yeah that that's that's all the
answer I need okay I can answer specific
to Grants which is just that it's a it's
a grant-based expenditure so if we have
a grant come in then we would
appropriate that and spend it um it's
it's directly offset from income in the
grants item although income lags the
expenditure so you're going to see
pretty Prett soon a big jump in income
and grants because last
year's uh Fourth of July and
celebrations haven't yet actually come
back in in the form of Grants so you'll
see a lot of wacky variability with
grants that's going to be a normal
condition and we'll talk about a little
bit tonight thank you finance chair good
point thank you yes Monique M president
to to car's Point even though um the
comment was made about income Revenue uh
it looks like overall Revenue at least
through end of February is still up
almost half a million dollars more than
we budgeted for so if we look at that
bottom line I mean we're up
$459,000 which I is pretty pretty good
but I just wanted to give the bigger
pictures to all revenue not just the the
income tax revenue um so there is that
turning it back to any other questions
for
Carrie all right
um development and administration Megan
Meyer thank you mayor um so my report is
filed but something that I would be
remiss not to mention especially with
our good friend Brian Drury present um
is an upcoming program we are launching
in collaboration with the chamber called
meet your street the idea is for each of
the three main business corridors to
have their own meeting where they can
meet their neighbors um we've both
gotten feedback that whether due to the
pandemic or other conditions um some of
our businesses don't know their
neighbors and aren't making those
organic connections and so the idea is
to help Foster those while also getting
kind of Insider tips into how the
chamber and the city can be better
Partners um and so those are launching
in April that QR code does work um that
link will take you to all of the dates
um this is something that we hope to do
quarterly of course um it's going to be
flexible we'll see how the businesses
respond as we get it started and with
that I am open to question questions
just one question are members of city
council allowed to come to the meet your
street events yes absolutely you more
than welcome um if you want to let me
know you're coming that's helpful there
is an option to
RSVP um let's say a date changes or
anything like that that RCB would help
me let you know about it um but
otherwise more than welcome to jump in
um something too we just took a stab at
dates and times we know businesses have
fluctuating business hours maybe you're
serving lunch until 300 p.m. and you
can't come um to the time that we've
scheduled you so feel free to jump into
another streets meeting it still be
great to meet with you um and to learn
about how we can help
you Jess yeah um Megan and Brian I love
the meet your street I saw it on some of
Brian's um communication and then I saw
it in the Bexley blast and I love the
collaboration I hope to see that
we continue to encourage and uh
collaborate and cross promotion
opportunities with these local
businesses at the Brew Fest that we stay
open that maybe we don't have food
trucks in front of our storefronts I
know a lot of the walking community that
gets over there are people who are
taking advantage of res uh non-residents
that are coming into our community to
have a nice time on Main Street that
they would love to stop in and I've
heard them say that especially last year
when I was helping the mayor with uh and
all a lot of us were they were saying it
would be great if the retail was open so
we could shop and boy don't we want that
right that spending happening so I would
love to see that we uh start working on
that cross promotion opportunities with
those local storefronts with bruus and
um what laurianne brought to our
community the main event so um even if
we have something on a Sunday I I would
hope that we just remind those local
businesses let's stay open let's not put
anything out in front of them and let's
let these residents and non-residents
come in and spend some money absolutely
that's great feedback and something that
we can absolutely incorporate into the
agenda just anecdotally um in a couple
of the meetings I've already had with um
some of the specific local you know
first floor retailers is that they often
don't feel like they're aware of those
types of things and sometimes they feel
like it's on us to help that but they
also want to play more active role in
helping to communicate that so Point
well
made Miss f i just um to piggy back I
want um Miss sad had to say I love all
the
different uh pies that you have your
finger in at at you're communicating
outside of with with others outside of
Exley with with Kota you're making sure
that everybody's communicating with each
other with this meet Street I I love I I
highlighted some things I just thought
were really exciting the Bexley
communicators making sure the compan the
the companies and the organizations and
everybody's communicating and then
you're communing communicating out what
we as a city are doing and some of the
organizations were doing like the begle
Bloomers so congratulations and thank
you thank you for making all those
connections it's really important for
this city to be you know what it is
which is a really a welcoming wonderful
place to be so thank you yeah thanks for
saying
that all right thank you Megan um want
to highlight a couple things in my
update uh we do have a skate park public
Workshop here tomorrow evening um I want
to give you guys a little bit of a heads
up the uh we had budgeted around
$500,000 for the skate park the
preliminary estimates are
700,000 and so what we're going to do is
we had build this as a uh final design
Workshop it's going to be a little bit
of a pivot it's going to be
a almost final design workshop and with
the disclosure that we are potentially
going to enter into some value
engineering around this or look for
additional fundraising so we're just
kind of sort of explore those options
and make sure that that's the public is
aware of that I wanted you guys to have
that context uh because you've been
hearing about it for a while um we do
have a border control meeting after this
council meeting so I want to make sure
you're aware of that that's for our
street contract um for this
summer um there's a trash talk
opportunity coming up on Thursday it's
uh it's at five o'clock we're going to
meet at the Woodard Funeral Home parking
lot and we're going to clean up litter
along Livingston Avenue going to go from
there down the street to the ramp and
back which is one of my favorite routes
um and then we have couple more trash
talks coming up as part of our Earth and
Arbor Day festivities if there's an area
of town that you have noticed a
preponderance of litter uh please let me
know um and I will add it to our
rotation and love to have you guys
um there's a lot of litter but I want to
Al I want to Rec commend ODOT I've
noticed them doing a lot more litter
pickup recently so thank you ODOT that
was much needed um we noted this on the
update as well City Hall is going to be
closed this Friday for our staff retreat
in the morning we're going to be off
site we're gonna be at the cohatch at
Easton kind of experiencing what cohatch
is all about as we talk
about just sort of our Collective vision
and Mission and uh we're going to do
some space planning as we've changed um
some office
setups and that sort of thing um and
then the in the afternoon staff is off
for uh pre for Good Friday for the
afternoon so fore
Easter I'm happy to answer your
questions Mr
Silman um first question I guess you
mentioned cohat and Easton just checking
on the cohatch and Bexley I saw that the
front construction is started um do they
have an anticipated opening date for
their business
I want to I don't want to say it I feel
like it's the fall but I'm not so the
timeline still a few months out it
seemed like it was opening sooner when
they were doing some social media roll
outu in the next two years yeah right I
will say um council members Silverman
they do quite a bit of Outreach to try
to get members in the area long before
they do open they're guilty of that and
so I think that the mayor's wreck
sometime in the fall we can certainly
get you more definitively no I just I I
just I was caught by their uh social
media outreach saying that they were
like opening tomorrow and I liveed close
to it and I see why you're driving out
to Easton's cooh hatch for your retreat
um I guess my only question it was kind
of a two-parter I know I talked to Megan
a few weeks back and I know that we have
the big Kota um Franklin County tax on
the general election and there was
conversations about beckley's position
and kind of we're getting to the point
where there's some information Gap and I
was wondering if there was going to be a
Time coming up where we kind of can get
an update to council about the previous
agreements between the city and Kota
where we're at moving forward if we can
get something on the agenda in the next
few months I'd appreciate a kind of
robust uh update on that
area yeah we we can do that I mean for
sure I think also so you guys are aware
we do have a a
the third next chapter at the library
it's on on the future Transportation
Central
Ohio
and what's
that and it's on the second page
speaking of public transit That's
Thursday at 6 p.m 6:30
p.m yeah I am going straight to it from
trash talk that's true so if I smell bad
I apologize in advance but um the
and and and there was a some unfortunate
remarks were made at the Columbus
Metropolitan Club um which I was
scheduled to participate in but was not
able to because of being called out of
town but
um we have uh we are working on
Communications to kind of better explain
our position which last I spoke with
Council you guys are on board with but
I'm going to reiterate what it is right
now um and then we can go in Greater
depth but because we have this coming up
on Thursday I think it's good for us to
talk about it real quickly which is you
early on with link us we've been at the
table since the very
beginning um I was the Bexley rep
because we didn't have a Megan Meer
thanks Megan um and we had you know
Reynoldsburg and whiteall in Columbus at
the table as well and we raised the
concern that if we were to have a
dedicated bus lane um in Bexley we would
have to get rid of the parking on the
street for Main Street which has been a
pretty vital um piece of parking
infrastructure for many of our
businesses especially some of our
historic businesses the draxl theater
doesn't have a parking lot you know
there are there's plethora of businesses
that either have no parking or very
little parking as part of the historic
fabric of Main Street um and so our our
comment to to Koda early from the very
get-go was we would have to figure out
an alternate solution for parking if we
were going to give up a lane on Main
Street and um they understand that and
we're contining to talk to them about
are there some other
opportunities um we've offered a
dedicated peak time Lane so Peak Travel
is when we don't allow parking on Main
Street that we could have a dedicated
Lane during Peak which would help that
Rush Hour uh speed um and alleviate that
we've offered a lot of different
solutions in fact the whole system is
now predicated on this idea of a median
disembarkation embarcation which was a
Bexley idea that was brought to link us
so so we've been really active from the
very beginning um there are other
similar contexts where link us doesn't
have a dedicated Lane plan Reynolds
Oldtown Reynoldsburg is the same after a
certain point where they don't they have
a similar condition it wouldn't be
dedicated portions of the Columbus route
also would be not dedicated so what's
unfortunate is that we were early on
there was a vocal person in the room who
had you know some feedback that was
clear to link us so early on we were
identified as a non-dedicated lane um
and I think the people kind of glommed
onto this idea that it's this extension
of elitism in beex Le or or or what have
you and that's taken on a a tone which I
find really
unfortunate um and so we're going to
continue to express our strong support
for link us the desire to be problem
solvers and partners and um and also
that anywhere on the system where
there's a contextual change like Bexley
or old t rburg or portions of Columbus
there will be a slightly different treat
and that's okay and that's does that
kind of synopsize it I know Megan you've
been to some of these conversations as
well yeah absolutely and some of what
I'm getting into now um changing spaces
I was um heavily involved in this in
White Hall and so it is a very
interesting Jos because of how different
the infrastructure is here surrounding
our businesses versus in whiteall when
there is no on street parking it's just
a different Outlook I guess is the best
way I can put it um I will let you know
that the detailed design is actually
going to be underway this year um and so
something that was previously lacking
were detailed parking traffic and
environmental analysis which is what
they're going to be doing in the next
few months and they're going to be
getting more specific to Bexley with
that so they were printing with a
broader brush um at 30% design they're
moving to 60% design by the end of the
year and so I think that Council can
expect quite a bit more detail um to
come out of this year specifically and
the future will also hinge largely on
the success or on success of the of the
in the sales tax levy uh coming
up yes Mr marcley call me easily
offended but I don't really appreciate
the uh the the not so kind words from
this group uh to state that we are
elitists Etc just because we are
concerned about our own residents and
the traffic that flows in our community
I think we've all been a part of Main
Street uh on the way back into Bexley
where a car erently parks in front of
Capitol University and traffic is back
up all the way to uh Allen Creek uh and
so my question uh because it is really a
privilege for us to support this as
opposed to a right necessarily on their
part can we maybe get a new presentation
from them or or have somebody come talk
to us um to give us an update as to
where they are uh Solutions Etc because
right now I'll tell you and this might
be my own fault but I I feel a little
bit out of the loop here and I don't
like necessarily being attacked as an
elitist when nobody's frankly come to
talk to me about it or come before in
any recent history I would say yeah we
can absolutely do that I will tell you
that the last update it hasn't changed
since the last update to Megan's point
was we were kind of stuck at that 30%
design and it was stagnant for about a
year we're about to move forward it's a
great time to refresh the comments that
are being made are not being made by
Kota they're not being made by link us
they're being made by transit Advocates
that are third-
party Advocates and so and we're we're
working with them to make sure that they
understand that their statements are not
accurate to the record I would certainly
welcome them to come discuss their
position with us and I think that we
should strongly encourage them to if
they are passionate about that come
before us at any of our meetings over
the next six months uh but otherwise I
find it misplaced I don't
disagree actually Jess had her hand up
first one second I think it I was just
going to say I think it's important um
with that goal and I'm so glad that
Megan put those numbers um in her report
that that we're advancing from 30 to 60%
design um on East Main Street by the end
of 2024 I was surprised by that
advancement so quickly so um I'm glad
that it's in your report you guys are
sharing and I completely agree with
council member
Marcelino thank you just to to follow up
um do you know how much input or is
input being sought from Bexley
businesses you know including our our
chamber on how that would potentially
impact
them um I with the I mean we we before
when we were doing the planning process
with them yes again it's been kind of
quiet I'm not sure what this looks like
with on their side we do have an intern
joining us this summer part of that
internship will be helping with a
parking study and we are also separately
I've been working with Andy to look at a
traffic study for Main Street as well as
an independent check against what's to
come from the Linkus U project so I
think one of the reasons the businesses
have been less involves is because of
the messaging that we've had which is
our perspective about the importance of
parking and I I I want to
reiterate that maybe I didn't say it in
the first place it's very normal in bus
Rapid Transit environments throughout
the country that there are contextual
changes as you go from like area to area
so it's not it would not be strange for
Bexley to have or places like Bexley to
have a different condition and I want to
really emphasize it's not about us being
Bexley it's about us having a a
commercial concentration walkability and
parking in this one area where there are
other similar situations in in the
region and I can think of Old
Worthington or old Reynoldsburg or the
short North or all these different areas
that have similar conditions I believe
that there will be contextual changes
there as well right
did did I see your question kind of okay
uh any other
questions yeah it's non-transit I'm just
um you know there was an incident I
guess over the weekend regarding some
stickers being placed on um public
utility boxes I know we've had incidents
in the past of you know I would say
anti-semitic targets and Bexley and I
just I know we received communication
about it I just you know the city's been
very respons so I'd just be curious if
you had anything you wanted to share
with us at this time about what the
city's doing in light of that um we
would ask anyone to let us know by
calling city hall or emailing us if they
see stickers on placed on our public
infrastructure we
remove any type of sticker it's not you
know we don't take a stance um I do want
to alert Council that we have gotten
some complaints recently about ribbons
on public
trees um in the rideway and so uh it
is
uh it is true that that is technically
not in conformance with our
ordinance and some of the communications
we've gotten have kind of hinted that
maybe I should go put different colors
on the trees and so I think because of
that we're going to start to slowly and
respectfully remove some of those
ribbons deposit them at the residences
that are adjacent uh with a letter of
explanation um but I do want to alert
you of that yeah yep man I think when
the first time I noticed ribbon on trees
it was due to uh the passing of a child
and I believe that the colors were the
same um at the time were the ribbons
different just white just white okay I
just
wanted yeah understand I just that
always caught my attention whatever I
just okay yep all right I'll say that
well it's kind of you know yeah I will
leave it at what I said I think I I'm
not sure I should should add much more
to that but I think we need to be
whatever we do we need to do
evenly and with a mind to what would
occur if other statements were being
made using the same device and then you
would say email or call I would say
email or call yep thank you and not
everybody realizes they've been tagged
on the buzz until several days later so
or some people only realize they've been
tagged on the buzz until seven days
later how's that email or call email or
call exactly um one one more thing I'm
sorry this has been longer than I
thought um Megan and I have been working
with the property owner at the former
sonoko on Main Street at Chelsea in
Maine um we have been denied this is
actually before Megan's time so it's not
her fault it's my fault we were denied
for abandoned gas station Grant only
because the state has no longer has
funding in that program um we've we're
pivoting we're going after Brownfield
revitalization grants um the assessment
that that we have on that property the
county has actually started to close in
on the property we have asked them to
take to take a beat and hold on it um
but we're working with the property to
update theou accordingly property owner
we're hoping to have it cleaned we will
regardless of where it is with cleanup
we're going to cause the asphalt to be
removed and have the grass Seated on the
site prior to Catalina's opening um is
our plan and uh closing off those extra
curb cuts on Chelsea just so that it's
you know presentable uh for that as we
are continuing to wait for funding to
open up essentially um but kind of good
news is like so far it's been real slow
but the assessment that you all put in
place through changeing legislation many
years ago is having the intended effect
albeit there's a huge process behind it
but it's it's moving and I think that's
that's great news so if if we're
covering that up and we're going to make
it more presentable in that sense I
guess in general would there be any
benefit to leaving it open and calling
it public parking and painting it for
the summer until we get some more
direction as to where we can go
especially with the new business opening
and obviously some more attention
perhaps towards grain and grape around
that time and uh there's other
businesses around there just while we
figured out before you just grass it
over well we have this pesky zoning
ordinance that doesn't allow a property
to just be a parking lot without a
variance and I think if you look closely
at that asphalt it is in concrete it's
in really bad shape and so I I would I
would say that um it I've thought about
that some people brought that up I think
that the greater good is to get that
greened up and ready to go we have all
probably parked on wor Us's zoning Shir
i' love to discuss potentially a
modification uh at least temporary or
some type of something else that maybe
can do for a summer because I hope to
bring I hope there's a lot of attention
towards our new restaurant and our new
uh uh chamber member here 100% agree
don't forget there is an actual parking
lot just next to that that's always
vacant so that will help I think there's
a lot of parking in the area but I hear
your I hear you and we'll keep talking
about
it um lastly I just had to share this
because Troy was talking about Schneider
Park and this is going to be the next
Rec brochure cover and
uh or something like like it and I just
thought it's it was a hoot this is our
recipe for summer fun um featuring some
local celebrity children so there you go
who have consented by the way to this
miraculously I didn't think
that their legal Guardians need to sign
off on that uh both both have have
occurred that's great and that's all I
have thank you
Council thank you mayor um
Mr official all right consent agenda we
have the meeting minutes from March 12
2024 and ordinance
0724 to amend section
262.50 ordinances so now we need to have
it there so this is pretty
straightforward making sure that juneth
is um there for our employees to take
advantage of and
um that is as straightforward as I can
get on this ordinance sounds good I move
to adopt the consent agenda could I
please get a second second second by Mr
Marcelino are there any comments from
the
public Mr mCP would you please call
the
yes going to do that again miss lamp key
yes okay um Miss s yes Mr Markham yes Mr
Silverman yes Mr Marcelino yes Miss
vible yes and Mr yes consent agenda
passes all right on to third readings we
have a third reading of ordinance 0-
8-24 to amend 2024 pay rates for the
building department assistant to capture
and reflect the additional
responsibilities add to added to this
job description introduced by Miss sad
so again this third reading on ordinance
8-24 um when we were reviewing the
building department assistant we
realized that we needed to change some
things as far as the pay rates to make
that make sense across all of our
payroll scale that we have for the city
of Bexley so this ordinance allows us to
do
that thank you missad any questions from
Council
um this is the third reading any
comments from the
public Miss saw do we have action on
this ordinance yes I would like to make
a motion to approve um ordinance
8-24 motion to approve by Miss sad is
there a
second second by Mr Hurley Mr mCP would
you please call the role missad yes Mr
Hurley yes Mr Markham yes Mr Marcelino
yes Miss fible yes Mr Silverman yes and
Miss lamkey yes ordinance
passes okay now we have a third reading
of resolution 2-24 adopting the solid
waste management plan for the Solid
Waste Authority of Central Ohio
introduced by Mr
Silverman thank you um not sure if
anybody got a chance the loaded the the
plan on there the 350 Pages um skim
through some of it I know in section one
we make mention of strongly encouraging
the suo to prioritize the completion of
the Compost Facility project um Bexley
is leading the way on our curbside
recycling uh it shows in the data they
put throughout the plan that we're one
of the early adopters and we are Trend
setting for other communities um I don't
really have much context other than um
knowing the work that we do with suo and
the partnership is important to the city
I'll pass it off to Mayor Kesler if he
wants to add any additional comments
towards this
plan um no just what I've said before
which is that it reflects um our own
objectives for the region and I'm
grateful that that suo included those so
I find it to be a great
document any comments
um I just wanted to offer a comment that
um Miss V my request today she switched
out the attachment so it now reflects
the um the the plan that was adopted in
December of 23 as opposed to October 23
it didn't change the resolution just the
attachment has been switched out so it's
it's accurate um that was my only
comment thank you any questions from
Council it's a third reading any
comments from the
public Mr Silverman do we have action on
resolution
2-24 yes I'll make a motion to adopt res
resolution
20-24 motion to adopt by Mr Silverman
second by Miss sad Mr mCP would you
please call and he just he just misspoke
it's 2-24 not I make a motion to adopt
resolution
2-24 thank you Z
second I'll second uh the motion Mr mCP
would you please call the go Miss fible
yes Mr Markham yes Mr Silverman yes Miss
lamkey yes Mr Hurley yes Miss s yes and
Mr mercel yes resolution
passes all right no second readings so
we go to First readings ordinance 9-24
to appropriate
$17,988
from the unencumbered general fund to
pay for expenses related to the year of
the parks Grant awarded by the Bexley
Community Foundation in 2023 introduced
by Miz sad thank you so in 2023 500,000
was awarded to the year of the Parks
from the Bexley Community Foundation
$17,988
are is remaining and um it is not rolled
into our
2024 and needs appropriation um for this
ordinance
$329,950 of the
500,000 was spent in 2023 so this is a
good one just to kind of review as we we
said earlier how grants come through at
different times um through the fiscal
process and how we may see that um in
our reports and that fluctuation as far
as grants so this is a good ordinance to
use as an example tonight hopefully that
explains what's going on here if anyone
has any questions I'll probably have um
the mayor um take it from
there you handled it beautifully thank
you
is this is a first reading no okay and I
do not think we have any speaker slips
soing on or speakers for that matter
speakers um first reading of ordinance
10-24 to appropriate $45,500 from the
sewer fund fund 10 and to reduce the
appropriation by
$168,950 and the bond retirement fund
fund six again introduced by Miss
sad so $45,000 500 from the sewer fund
um I'm going to ask that if Carrie could
speak from our finance department who's
here with us tonight if you could speak
to that um if that's what that's
appropriate for the appropriation yes
correct that will cover um basically
there was just an error um with the
carryover from the 23 budget to the 24
budget so it's just making up that which
includes the um wages the salaries the
pension and Medicare
and and then to add we over appropriated
for Bond retirement so it's a net you
know it's actually a net Savings of 12
123,000 is if you want to look at it
that way um I believe that the overation
over appropriation of the bond
retirement was because we had a a a note
that uh matured and that we paid off
last year um actually associated with
the Redevelopment of this project I
think is the reason I'm not positive but
it seems to track
right any questions from
Council okay and since we don't have any
anyone in the audience there's no
speaker slips for public comment um
let's move on all right first reading of
ordinance 11-24 to certify special
assessments for the various sites where
the work was not done by the property
owner after being ordered by the city in
accordance with Bexley code section
14905 b4a or Bexley code section
14924 B1 and it was necessary to do the
work and assess the owner introduced by
Ms
sad so this speaks to uh Property Owners
not doing their due diligence on their
property and the city making sure that
um that is getting taken care of so in
order for us to um go ahead and and um
do the work and have done the work now
we need to assess the owner so part of
our protocol and if Andy has anything to
add Mr bore from the service department
on
that primarily code enforcement or code
enforcement have answer any questions I
had a quick question um do we generally
know like the range of dates of service
for for this it's not in the ordinance
we can get that information for you if
you I didn't know if it would be from
just assume like January 1 through it's
since the last assessment ordinance
which is often sort of around this time
of year um um yeah so it's it it ranges
quite a bit okay A lot of these are
grass some of them are litter some of
them like there was one uh super
dangerous tree that had to be removed
and the landlord was non-responsive
so
yeah a very large dead tree that was
starting starting to super dangerous
tree yes that was the technical term
from the arborist Alex is is there a
chart that defines the the amount of the
fine like how is that determined it's
based upon Cost Plus um our ordinance
lays it out I think we have a 30%
administrative tag on or something
there's some sort of a we can it's laid
out in the ordinance it's clear to the
to to come to that cost plus don't quote
me on the 30% I need to go back and look
at that it is designed to be slightly
punitive I mean it's like not you know
it's not this is after somebody been
warned has not responded and then has
has been basically ordered to do it a
second time so it's not it's not a first
oneandone sort of
instance they have the opportunity to
pay this too before we get to this point
I guess just just for my education
um without this ordinance would would we
not be able to send out the enforcement
of the violations so without this
ordinance and they're not actually
mutually exclusive we also would site
somebody into court um but when we site
someone into court uh that that is sort
of a we often view that as a more
serious instance like it's not a
situation where like your grass is over
eight inches tall you haven't mowed it
um because it's a criminal citation and
so we would do that as a little bit more
of a last resort it's also a very slow
and ineffective process you set you site
someone to court they say oh I can't
make this date it gets continued like
months and months and months go on and
so some of these you'll see have been
have been um cured by the code
enforcement officer but also been going
to court you know so it's but most of
them are not also going to court I don't
know if I answered that properly we have
a new tool you guys passed a couple
meetings ago where you created an
organizational penalty section as part
of the AED ordinance um which will give
give us um some interest in additional
tools for business
violations Mr Marcelina yeah I just want
to make sure the amounts are generally
correct so there's no future amendments
I just see a 9,000 that's the tree
that's the tree wow that was a huge tree
it required a crane to be brought in and
um it was a landlord who had ignored
orders to remove the tree for a long
time and it was it was starting to sh
had huge limbs on adjacent
properties now remember there's a that's
that's more than just dark that has the
has a penalty assigned to it as well and
I can get more information on no I
just was close my head I was thinking
back
like am in a shell
corporations
here there might have been more than
just that tree so I don't I do know that
that was mainly looking for amendments
okay thank
you I think the crane was not cheap too
any other questions from
Council at some point I was involved
yeah because I remember talking to Dave
herle about it and right yeah yeah
so not happen flippantly I mean that's
like by that point in time Mark's
getting called I'm getting called we're
all sort of working through it to figure
out the best approach all right
questions from Council anybody else um
and seeing no one uh in our audience so
no public comments at this time moving
on all right so we are on to a first
reading of resolution
3-24 uh authorizing and supporting the
city of bexley's participation in
litigation challenging the general
assembly's enactment of Revised Code
section 9.68 one regarding the
enforcement of local laws concerning
nicotine use and to declare an emergency
introduced by Mr
Hurley thank you um well this was
brought to me by m official so I want to
let him do most of the talking but I do
have um some comments because this is
actually an issue that's very and dear
to me um you know for most of my
professional career I've worked on
issues related to Tobacco cation on
behalf of the American Academy
Pediatrics and American Heart
Association this was actually uh the
first time I spoke before Bexley city
council was in support of this ordinance
when it was brought by our colleague Mrs
Robinson so I am uh you know I'm very
supportive of this I feel very strongly
about it you know the studies around uh
flavored tobacco and nicotine products
as a gateway to persistent um tobacco
use are very well
established um but uh you know as as as
we've had updates in the past there is a
lawsuit pending so the timeline on this
is the general assembly voted in January
to override Governor dwin veto the law
will take effect April 23rd um there is
I think an urgency to this so I will be
asking that we suspend the three reading
rule uh assuming we don't get too much
push back on that um a lawsuit could be
filed as early as next week Mr fishell
may have more details on that um I would
note that at the same time the general
assembly overrode this veto they
overrode a veto on House Bill 68 which
is the gender affirming care bill care
bill that uh lawsuit was filed today so
just from a timing standpoint there
there is a sense of urgency here um if
this is not you know an issue that um
folks feel strongly about I would say we
should still be involved in the lawsuit
from a home rule in really protecting
our autonomy as a city um we've already
seen the general assembly um come after
our ability to have traffic lights red
light cameras I'm not advocating for
those I'm just saying it's a decision
that we want to make we don't want the
decision to be made at the state house
um we've seen in Athens city of Athens
we have a whole issue with plastic bag
band and look in the future um we may
see and you know anything could come up
it could be um the general assembly
saying you can't regulate cars idling or
vicious dogs or requiring private
businesses to have aeds on site I mean
these preemption issues are are
continuing to come and and the ability
of uh municipalities to govern
themselves is eroding so I think
establishing precedent is important I
think us being involved in this and
showing sports city of Columbus is
important um and even if tobacco
Association is not a high priority for
you I think just establishing that
precedent and being consistent that we
want the ability to set standards for
our commun Community um so I don't know
with that I'll let Mr FAL aine a little
more yes so the reason that this
resolution is before you is just to um
as I've mentioned at previous meetings
uh this we are going to join with the
city of Columbus and I presume a couple
other of uh suburbs in Franklin County
to challenge 9.68 one which is basically
the law that was passed by the general
assembly that says local municipalities
cannot regulate nicotine use I'm
overstating it but not really because
there were a bunch of things in that
bill that the the the the general
assembly has now realized oh that means
that maybe a city can't enforce their
criminal laws against underage sales or
certain other things so it was really
put together very quickly with a bunch
of lobbyist a bunch of special interest
money behind it and then um it's amazing
only only um um they only had opposition
testimony in on the general assembly and
they still you know went H hug Over
overriding The veto so um but as as as
Mr Hurley indicated it's about the
tobacco issue for sure nicotine issue
but it's also a lot about home rule um
so again the mayor has the authority um
to say we're going to go ahead and file
this lawsuit um but city of Columbus
would appreciate a resolution from city
council and I think the idea is to get
this lawsuit filed in advance of the
effective date and not let it take
effect and ask for an injunction so
that's why we're ask asking for U
suspend an adoption and I see my
colleague G I want to make just one more
comment I know um at our Council Retreat
next month we will be
discussing resolutions in kind of a
broad sense and reviewing procedure and
kind of when we do those I would say
with this resolution it is a bit
different from resolutions in the past
it's similar to what we just approved
for suo plan where it's very targeted
specific and it's
it is just not a it's not a I don't want
to say a ceremonial resolution but this
is actually I think pretty important so
with that Mr Marcelino yes I I I agree
uh that this is actionable but my
question is is what are we doing and I
am the one that introduced the uh the
more recent uh flavor band on on Vapes
Etc my question kind of comes through as
to are we actually going to win so by
the time that we move this forward we
join in on this lawsuit I don't know to
what degree is a financially where are
we at with it do we have to 50 bucks $50
is it I pledge to cover onethird of the
filing fee and that is it we owe nothing
further right I mean I'm gonna help work
on it but that's part of my job Columbus
has said that they're going to take the
freight on it they're doing it
internally okay I guess that that's the
question because in reality if we file
the appeal then we have to move forward
with it all and even if it's your time
it's your time to an extent on the city
I know but it's still the city the
city's paying for it and I want to know
the likelihood of success it's similar
to when a client comes to me with a very
sad story and I feel terrible for them
but I can't actually get them a recovery
at that time so what's the purpose of it
other than saying you know hey we were
going to be here for you and
alternatively I'm looking down the pipes
by the time that this probably gets
before The Supreme Court we're at 4 or3
right now with the real threat of being
six to1 in terms of uh ideologies
political ideologies and so I'm just
concerned are we spinning our wheels or
does this actually mean something and if
it means something and it's at at little
to no cost sure but if
not just that's what my initial thoughts
are on any type it I'm sorry it is not
ceremonial by any stretch of the
imagination in my opinion there are some
extremely legitimate arguments to make I
mean frankly it's a sing there's a
single issue violation you know you
can't have a general assembly can't uh
pass a law that contains more than one
issue and this was part of the budget
bill so I think there's a really good
argument and more importantly the
Columbus folks think there's a really
good argument on the single issue and on
some of the home rulle stuff too so uh
and look if if and I think there's a
strong likelihood it will be granted
here in Franklin County but if a um if
if an injunction is granted while this
is pending that means we can continue to
enforce our laws and to that extent I
think that's important as well um you
know I think I do believe that there is
some measure
of although you're absolutely right Mr
Marcelino I mean you know it's nice to
say we're going to file things just to
file things but in this case I do think
this is an appropriate place and Mr
Hurley alluded to it to make a stand on
home rule I think this is there's a
decent shot
here and Mr Marcelino to your point too
um that was the exact question that I
asked earlier what's the financial
impact of the city when I saw this
resolution come forward and the the
response from the mayor was the same as
that it's you know a third a third of
the filing fee but the rest of it would
be already under an existing retainer
with Columbus taking the lead and I
apologize as a followup to that and I
appreciate because I know you're coming
from the same school of thought and
frankly probably a better school of
thought knowing your background
academically there but I I will note
that you know even if you are an
attorney it's coming out of a retainer
what what is that expense if you can
give us an estimate as to what you
anticipate drawing down on that just any
degree this the city compensates me the
same amount regardless of how many hours
I put in each month okay just to make
sure it's not going to be anything
additional if it continues to carry on
through to the Supreme Court Etc and
just so I'm clear again and I they're
not gonna let him litigate unfortunately
that's but might help as much or stay
out of their way as much as possible is
this every filing also I look that won't
be that much but yeah
so get to three this is a very
fortuitous I think partnership that
we're entering into we have this this
isn't the first time we've been involved
in legal challenges to uh local rule uh
encroachment um we successfully were
actually part of a multi-party suit with
the small cell tower initial
legislation um which was a little
bizarre because by alphabetical
coincidence it became Bexley at all and
so I was the spokesperson for this in
the state which was very weird um I'm
guessing Columbus will put their name
first yeah yeah which I I hope
that was weird um but we were successful
in that we were uh not successful with
the income tax small business income tax
collection issue the business income tax
collection issue right um so we have a
we have a mixed record and I think that
if Columbus weren't doing this we would
be part of a consortia and we would have
a piece of the fee and it would be sort
of a defined amount um so I think
they're good questions my perspective is
that it is worth us being a financial
party in supporting this but we're not
going to be it's not really it was
actually a joke when I I we were at a
comma meeting and Columbus said you know
somebody asked well what's the cost of
this going to be and Columbus is like
well our filing fee is 150 bucks we'll
pay that and I said we've got some skin
in the game we'll put $50 into that so
um I think Columbus intends to to carry
the freight and to have the um back in
Partnership of other
cities I would also just add I'll take
my city council out put a lobbying head
on for a sec there are conversations in
the general assembly Mr Fish alluded to
some of the unintended consequences of
this and I do think there are
conversations happening in the general
assembly around maybe giving this
language a bit of a haircut so getting
an injunction may help compel the
general assembly to say okay fine our
issue was Flavor tobacco products maybe
we can revise that I know I'm party to
some of those conversations which
interestingly enough is similar to what
happened with small cell is that the
challenge was going and while the
challenge was occurring and maybe even
before the final decision was issued or
as it was being issued the general
assembly redid some things with some
local input I mean it still wasn't great
but I don't think the haircut the
general assembly anticipates it's going
to be acceptable to us but I hear what
you're saying yeah Mr markam did you
have a question yeah I think I missed uh
maybe near the beginning who do we
anticipate also being on this I I don't
know for sure sure um other suburbs in
Franklin County though and what's the
deadline for people joining this like or
I'm sorry not people but other entities
joining like what's that Dynamic look
like um I think the dynamic is being led
by Columbus so I'm not exactly sure but
I do I do know that the the hope is to
file something before April 23rd and
columus is actively like recruiting as
many as they can well it's actually PR
it's kind of a partnership so we've been
keeping the dialogue going in the region
um comma took comma took an official
stance on at our last meeting where we
had a resolution of comma so our entire
membership is on board with this which
is every city in central Ohio um even
those that don't many of them don't have
the you know the applicable language uh
but they feel that of any of the issues
that's happened in the past three or
four years just wanted to Galvanize the
most broad-based of support from local
government is being a an issue to take a
stand on because um there's a strong
Heritage of local governments having
tobacco um having the ability to
regulate tobacco you know cities led the
way with the restaurant ban cities led
the way with the age changes um cities
led the way with this and I think um
it's inevitable and I think we are we
feel very strongly that we need to to
take a a strong stance on this yeah I
mean I feel that I General Assembly
seems to have a little bit of a bug in
its hat to try and uh come in and grab
these or whatever from the localities
and challenge home roll I don't I don't
anticipate having a problem supporting
this I would say for future
consideration if there's going to be a
suspend and adopt request I'd like to
hear about it maybe ahead of time so I
know that that's coming yeah that was
the last second thing because I just
talked to Columbus's attorney okay on
Thursday I think or wedes Thursday and
then put this together on Thursday all
right it just gives me an opportunity to
think about it and ask questions ahead
of time instead of on the spot right now
any other questions before I believe Mr
Hurley has uh two
motions well I guess uh first I would
move that we suspend the three- reading
rule for resolution
3-24 motion to suspend by Mr hle is
there a
second second second by Mr
s
um Mr mCP would you please call the rule
on the motion to
suspend you asked me to do that motion
to suspend okay motion to suspend um
doing call here I'm sorry Mr Marcelino
no Mr Hurley yes Miss V yes Miss sad I'm
going to say yes I had to time with us
but I I do respect what council um
member Markham had to say and um moving
forward I know we will support
that Miss lankey yes Mr Markham sure Mr
Silverman yes motion to suspend passes
Mr Hurley thank you I would move to
adopt resolution
3-24 motion to adopt by Mr Hurley is
there a
second I second Miss fible uh seconded
um there's no one in the audience so
public comments on the motion to adopt
Mr would you please call the rule Miss
fibal yes Mr Silverman yes Mr Markham
yes Mr Hurley yes Mr Marcelino yes Miss
sod yes Miss Lany
yes resolution passes I will um I've
seen a draft of the complaint I'm not
comfortable just sharing that but once
it's filed I will share it with you all
and it really will Enlighten some of the
points that were briefly just touched on
tonight about local um the local local
government taking the lead on a lot of
these things and the draft also quotes a
lot from the Ohio Department of Health's
website which of course talks about the
need to regulate these things guys make
one comment just um I think my
colleagues Council Markham and sad
raised a very fair point and I I'll just
apologize for you know I've had this for
36 hours and I'm not sharing it so I do
I do recognize that and I I you know I
feel the same way you know we want time
to think about things and especially
after the robust process we had on
ordinance 0424 so I do
apologize um Mr Marcelina do we have any
action on the remaining two tabled
ordinances I don't believe so I do know
thanks okay moving on to reports Miss
sod for
Finance well we are here April 6 right
around the corner Bravo who's
going 7 PM Jeffrey Mansion um something
that they're doing a little different
this year is they're doing a a wine you
know spend for your wine bottle so they
need some more wine donations if anyone
has wine at home that they would like to
donate um please drop off to me this
week and I can get it over to uh Wendy
at the Education Foundation um happy to
pick it up on your front porch as well
please be sure to have an extra for the
sod family if you will but um they are
in need of wine donations um so if
anyone would like to do that you know
how to reach
me take pacificus sure
sure um and uh cic our next meeting is
April 1st at 5:30 p.m. end of
report sounds good Miss f for Recreation
and
Parks my sister birthday on
April you imagine
being here egg Dash nobody mentioned it
Saturday at noon and I mean
at emphasis on the
dash the third we have a board meeting
on Direct department on April 3D we're
going to be talking going heing about
for flights that night
um I think we also
May that it's
not yet so we'll see about that after it
goes to direct Department it will come
to
us um Mike Mike said today sorry Mr said
to
that houses I know that really
you most schools the area are out um I
also wanted to thank
um
and for very last minute joining me as I
was asked by a honor
stent actually wasn't women in govern
but
it uh municipalities government and she
reached
and me
about government and she was very
excited about our sustainability project
soive
made we may have overwhelmed her very
much and know that people are watching
what we are doing and it's really
exciting that they are watching how we
are and it's great to have such great
ambassadors too watching it you folks
going out and talking about it it's a
big deal yes there was no shortage of
information there
we passed on I think we we may have
overwhelmed her a little bit but that's
okay feel like they have a vested
interest in helping other people's
college students and I love that thank
you for helping you are most welcome um
Mr Silverman for service and
environmental thank you president lamkey
um so I will start off by saying that I
participated in the second annual
Capital Roc 5K this past Saturday it was
a bris 32 degrees outside um I did talk
to the to the new um professor of
military science who's a resident in
South Beckley um there was some concerns
about the information coming out kind of
last minute towards the closure of the
street but they did a phenomenal job
they drove it they made they let traffic
get through uh it was it was well-run by
the RTC students they raised money
towards the Gary
Foundation um and I thought it was a
great turnout for that brisk cold
morning I look forward to seeing what
they do in the future um possibly
providing a little more leadway for
information to get out to the public um
following up on the egg Dash there's
also another one in South Bexley if you
want to do two at the same day the
Havenwood egg Dash will be at 10: a.m.
and then you can go straight to the
Jeffrey one if you really want to get
the baskets full um so look forward to
those those events this coming weekend
with the Easter holiday uh lastly I'll
follow up with sustainability kind of
piggybacking on what Miss FIB was saying
um we have the Earth and Arbor Day
Celebrations coming up I would implore
everybody to go to becky. orgar and
Arbor um and check out the amazing
lineup that they have built for the
month of April um they have a big Earth
and Arbor Festival on the 20th at
Schneider there's opportunities to sign
up if you can join me I'll be working
the trash tent in the morning on that
Festival um and the other big exciting
news is dropping tomorrow will be the
first commercial for the repair Cafe so
please check out uh for the for the
links to that and check out the the
commercial um that's going to present
the repair Cafe coming up in April and
end the report fantastic thank you Mr
Marcelino zoning and development uh Bap
meets on March 28th
uh 2024 so keep an eye out for that it's
on the calendar uh secondarily as we
work our way through tabled ordinances I
will be taking on ordinance
35-23 the vicious animal ordinance next
now that we through
0424 uh we'll do
robust we'll have robust sessions with
community members and others that are
interested to make sure that we at least
present a strong ordinance uh to our
community for your consideration so
that's up next take a read through it if
you don't mind so you can familiarize
yourself with it's been some time thanks
thank you Mr Hurley strategic and health
thank you I am excited to announce that
our Council retreat has been
scheduled uh thank you all so much for
filling out multiple doodle polls and
responding to text messages whilst on
vacation I appreciate it um so Tuesday
April 16th 1 to 4 P pm at the bexi
public library um my goal is to have the
agenda sent out this Friday I'm going to
be sitting down with president lankey
and the mayor to just kind of walk
through everything and kind of organize
it into a an agenda that we can get
through in three hours and and have some
really qualitative conversations so if
you have not already done so and I think
everyone has done so but if you have any
other ideas for the council Retreat
please send them to me before 4M
tomorrow um and thank you all for the
feedback um a lot I will say as I look
at all the subjects that have been
offered up there's a lot of overlap
that's good I think we're all thinking a
lot of the same things and that's going
to make the session I think really
positive um the cic and also land use
commission both meet Monday April 1 um
so I'll be attending those Board of
Health meets next on April
16th um and then two just kind of things
I want to make you all aware first is um
I've been taking a look at our youth
bike helmet law so I may have some
changes I want to propose to that in the
not too distant future um and then then
secondly um while we're out this week
and I know we're all be with family and
friends um I was going to make you all
aware that March 31st is international
transgender day of visibility this is an
important day uh for the transgender
Community um you know those of you that
have you know followed some of the
issues with hous 68 I mean there's a lot
that's really putting strain on the on
these folks so just take a minute if you
know someone in the community or you
know you have a friend who's impacted
just uh show him a little love um but
yeah you know back is a safe place and I
I think um anything we can do to show
our support is important so thank you
thank you uh Mr Markham for safety uh we
had tree and garden commission met last
week uh I know everybody's excited about
Catalina's news so I did see the
Landscaping plan for
catalinas they were here they did not
bring any food which they would probably
have been a strong play on their part
but whatever yeah and I'll tell you what
I've I'm feeling all of a sudden A vibe
on uh office hours uh so I know people
have been doing office hours I've seen
the emergence of some office hours and
I'm you know I'm going to be signing up
for my office hours and uh so I will
encourage everybody to do that and I
would go even further than that if you
would like to join me and do a a dual
office hour i' be pleased to uh to team
up with any city council over that wants
to do that um so fun
gu of
course that's all I got great thank you
um since we don't have anyone in our
public tonight uh no speaker slips no
public comments our next council meeting
is Tuesday April
9th um anyone have anything else before
I move to
adjourn okay seeing none I move to can I
please have a second second second by Mr
Marcelino Sam I'm going to give it to
you all in favor say I I I anyone
opposed no all right Board of control
immediately following thank
you
we Board of control is happening now
we can just we can just piggy back off
of this stream
cool okay you don't need to
worry I'm the
chair see I get to do I get to do
something too every now and
then in fact I need your
please I never get to use this thing not
going to be my new tradition that I use
the G for Board of
control here you want to right we
actually need to do it right now we've
got a
daughter mayor we're about to start a
little meeting
here all right I'm calling the board of
control meeting to
order
uh first up on the agenda we have a roll
call of
members we have a roll call of members
of the board of control Mr mCP our
auditor is a member of the board I see
you there yep I'm over here thank you
Miss L our newest member to the border
control right present and Ben Kessler um
review of minutes we have we have some
minutes we have September 12th and
December 12th uh from
2023 um I like to because sometimes it's
been a little while since we've looked
at these I will
uh briefly go over them September 12th
we looked at bids for the Schneider Park
landscape
improvements um which by the way look
fantastic and are mostly complete at
this point uh those were approved and
then in December 12th we looked at the
food waste recycling program and awarded
that to um the Earth Peak
Organics um as the vendor and that was
pretty much what happened to that border
control so um with that I would
entertain a motion to approve the
minutes from September 12th starting
with September 12th so moved moved I
will second that Peak any discussion all
in favor say I I did it okay minutes
from December 12th moved motion to
approve second second by Mr Peak any
discussion hearing none all in favor say
I I I minutes pass review of proposals
for the 2024 Street contracts A and B
and I do want to welcome and acknowledge
our service director Mr bashore to this
meeting thank you for sticking around
for this Andy um we do have uh
[Music]
two two um different uh bids here
contract a and I'm
gonna sorry we have a tab there it is oh
that's easy to read holy moly one
second you guys all got that oh man uh
okay our this is this is for our Summer
Street project the engineers estimate
was
1.73 million um we had two biders on
this Decker and strazzer Decker was the
low bidder at
1.0625
okay you want to yeah want
me this this is just standard Street
refresh yeah this is our standard Mill
and overlay for the most part um this is
the police department alley uh North viw
and Rule intersection
sorry this area uh North Drexel Avenue
there's a section there Maryland Avenue
section here the pool parking lot is
getting repaved and actually reworked in
accordance with the Jeffrey Park master
plan uh there's a section of North
ardore Road um this is just standard
deterioration based upon pavement
condition ratings Denver Avenue uh
section right here is actually going to
receive sidewalks for the first time
doesn't currently have sidewalks as part
of ongoing program Columbia Place got
decimated from the project we just did
so that's on here
uh uair Avenue um is slated for Paving
I'm going to put an asterisk on that in
a second Charles Street and then these
other streets are being covered by opwc
projects right here so this is the bid
here for Charles that's opwc opwc
opwc um and then we have brick work
that's the b1234 so we're doing brick
work patch repair on brighten Beckley
Park uh North Roosevelt and Dawson which
is part of a we started doing that a few
years years ago we had kind of we
started making a part of our annual plan
every single year to do a little bit we
just have it in there every year now so
melon overlay based upon pavement
condition repair it's actually quite
likely that UK Clair we will not perform
on because Columbia gas is going to be
doing a project down there and over the
winter since we even did this pavement
condition
report and I don't know if you've looked
at it again Bexley Park seems to really
have deteriorated pretty rapidly in the
pavement portion and is is not it's
doing worse than nuclear so it's
probably going to instead get paved uh
this
summer so that's a
lot um and that's this project we also
have some remaining projects from last
year's contract and so you'll see we
just talked about Pleasant Ridge that's
from last year's contract that's a
carryover um Columbia Gas will be doing
College Avenue we'll be doing Aster uh
are there other streets from last year's
so quite a few other ones so there's
going to be a lot of Paving going on
this year
um contract
B is the brick pavement repair and we'll
get to that in a second let's just focus
on contract a but that is the final uh
piece of this um tab right here um for
Brick pavement repair so we we'll start
with contract a for contract a what are
the three alternate bids noted in the
engineers mhm let me get to that letter
so he yeah he probably actually says it
doesn't
he
um Andy do you have off the top of your
head what the alternates are oh what's
right here oh yeah Brandon Chelsea and
Charles so those are opwc
projects that's right the Grand and
Chelsea and Charles alternates which we
will most likely exercise
um but that's a different source of it
doesn't matter to the bid award but
that's a different source of funding
that's the opwc
funding thank
you any questions on
this nope what well so typically like to
see three bids we only got two back do
we understand why why why is that the
case a lot has to do
um a lot of the companies contractors
are
still they haven't performed their work
from last year which we experienced and
then the city of Columbus released um a
lot of work and they give them like two
years to complete it so we just aren't
we haven't really got the biders that we
usually do just because they're all
they're all
busy we typically get somewhere in the
range of two to four so um this to
distinguish it from our
non formal public bid process where we
require three bids or else we ask for a
vocal a waiver this was publicly
advertised it was in the newspaper it
was part of the whole process y so it's
it's different from this the situations
where we have sub $250,000 projects
where we talk about that a little bit
more okay and they're meeting the edge
requirement I kind of go through my
standard checklist of questions to ask
so
um which is great yeah yeah I
don't how I mean how are we paying for
it we have to pay for this what um the
street and Alley fund is Street the
primary fund that's all the red
Circ the blue circles are
opwc um we're going to get to the next
bid but that's brick and that's also
from the street and sidewalk fund we
have 1.25 million available to spend at
out of that uh Street fund so this will
be below our budget for uh the season
got but accomplishes you know we sort of
stop the list obviously if the street
isn't you know quite there yet and we do
let the streets get to a point where
it's noticeable but we stop you know
there's some we could do more streets
but I I prefer to wait until obviously
it's a true need okay and I do have one
more question but I'm not doing this
because I know you have guests here um
and I know you're ready to move on but
um how much more do you think we pay
we're paying for this now because of the
uh the market
conditions actually last year um we did
see an increase but we really didn't see
the increase that many engineer
expecting yeah
um they've the it's kind of leveled out
right now okay so even though we're not
even though there's everybody else is
slammed right there is capacity and
they're pricing it to win it not to take
advantage of um the market conditions
right I mean we were actually we were
both surprised you know we thought it
was going to go up from last year but
but it really didn't okay okay
thanks and these are yeah whatever we
keep talking about let's keep talking
about these are the sorts of
contractors play in this space color
trucks today yes right have we yeah okay
so any further discussion on contract
a uh the engineer's recommendation is to
accept the Decker construction as the
lowest and best bid we have had
satisfactory um experience with Decker
and they are 9% less than the engineer's
estimate um and as is noted by the
recommendation we have a whole string of
projects we've done with them um
therefore that is recommended that we
accept Decker Construction um and so I
would ask is there a motion to accept
the Decker construction bid so move
second motion made by mCP seconded by
lampy any further discussion all in
favor say I I both sign extensions
motion passes recommendation letter
contract B now this is not abnormal
before you ask Matt mCP uh we have had
one bidder on our brick work and that
has been if anyone wants to enter a new
business um that's been the case for as
long as I've been doing this is that
there's only one vendor working on
Municipal brick work in the Columbus
region um this vendor is uh Midwest
Landscaping yeah I said it without even
looking and there it is um 77,000
240 uh little bit lower than Engineers
estimate again we have a pretty good
feel for what quantity costs are for
this type of work what they do is they
go in they do a little bit of sub
surface repair frankly our streets have
a sort of like a sand subsurface uh and
then Place back the bricks we do
Warehouse historic bricks and um replace
them as we're able to this is just kind
of keeping the streets going it's
nothing more than just routine kind of
potful filling of of brick
areas any questions on that I see that
they want a waiver of the edge
requirement is that a that an issue
that's not abnormal when you have a
situation where you have a single
contractor and they're not using subs
and that is true of this instance and so
I don't there's really not an option to
for them to satisfy the edge
requirements um and so we would need to
make that as a part of our vote and I
believe that that's sort of inevitable
if we haven't had anybody bidding that
is Edge
eligible any other discussions
with that I would uh entertain a motion
to approve the awarding of the contract
to Midwest landscape and waving The Edge
requirements for the reasons stated so
move second motion made by MC peek
seconded by lampy any further discussion
all in favor say I I same sign
extensions motion passes um with that I
believe any old
business any new business motion has
been made to adjourn by lamp second by
MC peek all in favor say I