e
e e
our council president could not be with
us this evening so that means city
council needs to elect a president proem
for the meeting this evening so if
someone wants to make a motion to do so
I guess Miss B has her hand up I would
like to nominate Miss sad M sad second
all in favor say I I you opposed all
right it's all yours I'm done I'm out
all right the g a little bit just get
this meeting we have a full house
tonight thanks to all of you for coming
there you go right um I'm gonna call our
city council meeting to order for
Tuesday November 12th 2024
Mr mCP will be joining us shortly so Mr
official will be uh taking our roll call
all right Mr Hurley here Mr H Marcelino
present uh M sad here Mr Silverman here
m l m
Lamy m f I'm here Mr maram pres anybody
want to make a motion about Miss Lamy I
will make a motion um to Excuse miss Lam
as she is under the weather second all
in
favor all right uh join us in our Pledge
of
Allegiance I pledge of allegiance to the
flag of the United States of America and
to the Republic for which it stands one
nation under God indivisible with libery
and justice for
all all right at this time um public
comments regarding items that are not on
the agenda are welcome but there uh is a
speaker slip that is required so I'm
going to ask Mr official do we have any
speaker slips that have been turned in
sorry yeah we have a speaker slip from
Sean Turner all right Mr Turner could
you please come up to the podium and
state your name and
address
e
e e
then Mr Turner we've got a minute left
um thank you for understanding
that okay
well so basically what I my suggestion
is I know the me are there but move the
bik off put the 35 mph sign back make it
the road supposed to
be traffic Drex or
abroad I one point totally off the
subject I don't know if you guys see
howat up capitals are seem to
be suggestion let's approach Capital
about
I to
it just a
suggestion we appreciate your time being
here tonight and your service on Bap as
well thank you and your service on yeah
yeah thank you yes is that um all of our
speaker slips that is the only speaker
slip that we that is the only speaker
slip all right moving right along here
would like to welcome tonight some very
special guests um which may be the
majority of our audience this evening
which is great to see from Beckley
citizens Police Academy um the graduates
I believe Clayton Adams is here to help
out with the process um if you want to
come on up and um I will let you take it
from
here so most people in this room are
graduates of our citiz Poli
over
up
C
and
e e
than
okay
lasted this journey last
year's so this
year I'm happy to take
when I was sign
[Music]
spe
e
e e
if you guys if the graduates could come
back in we're not quite done officer
Adams has something else to share with
you all well we'll do our best for
real thank you guys for rejoining
us um you all in the academy class uh
met our intern Ryan
ban for city council that doesn't know
him um Ryan was an intern with us he
started in
may may he started in May and his
internship ended but Ryan uh he
displayed an incredible amount of
dedication by decided to come back and
help with the Citizen Police Academy as
well he's very instrumental in a lot of
things that we were able to accomplish
this year like National Night Out he
helped out tremendously and I could not
have done it without him so Ryan I want
to say thank you so much for that uh
he's a
senior is a senior at lanester high
school and he hopes to pursue a career
in law enforcement so I hope that You'
learned a lot from us Ryan and I cannot
thank you enough please step up here
present you with this
certificate and there's a nice little
letter in
here right
this just all right thanks you
guys while we still have all the grads
here or some of the grads here I just
want to thank you for the time that you
put into this um it means a lot that you
took the time to to learn more about the
city's operation police department and I
know that officer Adams is going to keep
you engaged with lots of opportunities
to come out of it but thank you from the
bottom of our hearts for getting to know
us a little bit better and spending the
time with our Police
Department congratulations to everyone
tonight um I think Chief mentioned that
that was you you are our biggest class
that has gone through the citizens U
police academy and I wanted to also
recognize some alumni that sit here with
us tonight uh councilwoman uh fibel and
council member Markham and Mr man and um
Monique president Monique lampy as well
so um it's a great program and we are
very thankful that you all have taken
that
time you are welcome to stay for the
rest of the meeting we are in budget
season and uh so it'll be a long night
tonight but you also welcome to to head
out um I think there was a mention of
cookies we do have some Girl Scout
cookies um in the lunchroom if you would
like to indulge in some of those sure um
not sure
but again
congratulations moving right along um
president's report thank you so much
have a great evening president's report
is uh just a simple PSA go get that Co
and flu shot because the gunk is out and
about and we're hopeful that um
president lampy has a quick recovery
here and return to us all soon end of
report uh City attorney official do you
have a report this evening yeah just a
couple quick things um I just want to
let Council know that we are in the
process of negotiating a successor
collective bargaining agreement with
asme for the non-safety employees of the
city and so we will uh have hopefully
towards December have some more to
report to you on the progress of that
and I believe this Friday we are
starting negotiations with the fop for
the dispatchers and Animal control
officer so just
FYI great um and our administrative
updates I'm starting with mayor
Kessler
yes uh let me get
my update here one second guys sorry for
the delay I'm doing
some research okay so want to highlight
a couple things coming up we do have uh
there's a beex Community Foundation bus
tour this week
uh we have the turkey track coming up on
Thanksgiving Day although that's not on
the calendar just want to remind you
guys of that Pancake Breakfast early
December I know Mike Price sent out some
um some time slots for anyone who wants
to volunteer at that and of course the
mayor's solic party uh December 12th
that actually was on there uh believe it
or not I know there were some questions
about that as I was walking in uh and
then a slew of um some written updates
it's been a couple weeks since we last
met um one thing I want to draw your
attention to is that the service
department um in compliance with uh
Federal EPA regulations has sent out
letters to every household in Bexley um
with a variety of U there're three
different letters depending on what we
know about your water lines so they
letters going to to Residents who we
know to have copper lines that are not
connected to any lead service lines and
there are letters going out to Residents
that we know to have
um connection to a lead service line
Andor a galvanized pipe which uh within
our system counts as a lead service line
for the EPA and there are letters going
out to Residents who have who don't know
what the status of the allines is which
is a good chunk of our residents um we
have spun up information on be.org
waterer uh to answer people's questions
but I want to highlight a couple things
um our drinking water safe we last our
last report we tested 33 different
households we had no lead at all and and
those households had every variety of
type of line that you could imagine we
do have Legacy Le service lines which
are the lines between the water main and
the curb box um and as we do our water
line projects we replace those and in
many areas we do have some of those
service lines as does every water system
in central Ohio that's throughout
Central Ohio so we're not unique in that
Columbus treats our water system with an
anti-corrosive additive that basically
in layman's terms sort of binds the lead
to the wall so it doesn't leech into the
water uh system that's why we don't have
any detectable lead in our in our water
uh when we do that testing we are
required to test every three years for
lead we have voluntarily been testing
every year for several years now um in
preparation for future regulations that
will require more regular testing all
that to say um the EPA letters aren't
designed to give anyone warm and fuzzy
feelings right they're they uh the the
language is quite alarmist in them we've
tried to temper that with uh FAQ on our
website that kind of gives more
information and insight and one of the
things we'll be talking about in our
budget or you talked about last meeting
was um coming up with some funding
sources for to help residents replace
water lines who wish to do that and the
reality is Galvanized lines which are
the major lines of concern um those are
all going to be older water lines that
at this point in time in their life are
going to have already started failing in
many of our households when you hear
about people's water lines kind of
imploding on them those are often
galvanized lines because they corrode
over time and um eventually fail and so
uh those will be phased out with uh the
current best practice which is copper or
um a I don't even know the name of the
material I just know what it looks like
a type of plastic line essentially um so
you'll be hearing about that I guarantee
it it's already I think hit social media
because we put it we put a heads up in
our blast on Friday um there is a lot of
information on our website so please
Point people to that um and we'll be
adding more as we hear new new and
different
questions um in the coming years and
you'll hear more about this in our
service department report the EPA is
going to start tracking how many of
these lines get replaced in the city and
holding us to a certain percentage of
line Replacements even if it's private
lines that we're talking about so
that'll be some interesting policy as we
continue to develop that um I want to
make sure you're all aware the Lucky
Lotto building in Livingston was
purchased by the cic for um to help spur
something fresh and new there that's not
a vacant boarded up convenience store as
it has been for the past six or seven
years um so uh we'll continue working on
that um link us did pass as you all know
last week uh that means that we have
over 3.6 million in dedicated funding
for some upcoming projects including our
com corridors project
um enhanced bike and pedestrian
Crossings on Main Street and um in a
brilliant Master stroke I got a handed
to Megan Meyer for putting in our our
requisition requests that the link stsi
funding would be bexley's share of the
LM na project which is like $1.6 million
so good work
Megan that
was um they're they're still trying to
figure out how the funding is going to
be distributed and when but but um that
is that is our chunk for the first five
years of plan projects so it's really
good news for us um Megan and I visited
Indigo last was it last week the week
before two weeks ago um right before
Taylor Swift came there AKA right before
Jess sad was in Indie um and uh we had a
chance to see brt in action in a similar
city um it was interesting um I've been
on brt in larger cities so it's just
interesting to see kind of how it it uh
morphed through the different contexts
it was really reassuring for me that
like as we talk about what does it look
like in Bexley is it okay that it's
going to be a little different than
other areas and and and and quite
similar to other areas uh the way we're
doing it and it it really does change a
lot based upon the neighborhood that
it's going through so that was uh that
was reassuring um if you didn't catch
the video that Elizabeth Elman of
Elizabeth elman's talk at morsy's summon
on sustainability we linked to it in
last week's blast and I can send to you
guys she gave an excellent talk that
literally I was crying while watch while
listening to her she was talking about
her grandmother her late grandmother and
the influence that she had in her
sustainability Journey so and she was
hilarious somehow while talking about
that hilarious so she's really good so
highly recommend to watch on that um you
should have received one Beckley
postcard in the mail um we have one
Bexley yard signs if you want them we're
going to start handing those out we
didn't want to get those out at the same
time as the election we didn't want to
sort of cross contaminate that in
people's minds so we'll be getting those
yard signs out in coming weeks um kudos
to the capital
Roc uh the Bexley Area Chamber of
Commerce uh the financial sponsorship
of am I allow to say it the people of
all the people that financially
sponsored and um also I want to
especially thank based upon the sheer
volume of logistical texts I received
from Alex Silverman Alex you did Yan's
work and making sure all those dots were
connected um and they look great so the
Banners are awesome marching down Main
Street um we hosted comma at the
governor's residence uh in the past
couple weeks which was uh really great
to kind of show off bexi from that angle
and gave us a chance to advocate for
some local issues with the governor over
lunch which was awesome um Kiana white
has joined us in the finance department
and is doing great and Catalina's is
open which you probably know all this uh
might seem like old news there's
Elizabeth and we've got lots of photos
from the cat past couple of weeks uh
right there so um I do want to address
uh real quickly just the the in a timely
way uh some questions that we just heard
or some comments we just heard about
Drexel um so just to clarify there is a
kind of going out of order here but
there are sherro markings on Drexel um
those markings are per the bike friendly
Bexley plan those that's not a bike lane
it's just showing suggesting to cars
that bikes could be on that
road they are also on Broad Street
although I think they've faded and we
have to repaint them but those sherro
have been on Broad Street and our plan
also calls to add them to Maine so it's
appropriate that we have those on some
of our more major roads those are not
suggestive of a bike lane um the speed
limit signs are currently down as
we complete our studies we have not sent
any studies back to ODOT we were waiting
until the project was totally completed
in order to do the uh the traffic the
speed studies early results show um a
reduction in speed on drael of several
miles per hour on average um
and also uh a and I I didn't have a
chance to to pull these numbers quickly
enough but we did study Cassidy uh the
impacts on Cassidy because we'd heard
from um some neighbors on Cassidy that
there was concerns with additional
volume additional speed our studies now
first off when we study something it's a
snapshot in time it's like a 48 to 72
hour study so I wouldn't say it's
absolutely conclusive they showed a very
similar volume a very similar speed from
the pre drexal conditions on Cassidy um
they show they do show a little bit less
volume on Drexel pretty similar but a
little bit less volume on one date that
we surveyed but we have some more survey
data coming out so we'll see that some
more so I think um it's it's kind of
inconclusive as to whether or not drexal
is percolating into other streets
certainly the Cassidy studies alone
don't suggest that they're moving to
Cassidy specifically um while there's a
minor reduction in Drexel there's also
there was a reduction in several of the
streets that we looked at in the past
parent analysis we've done in the past
year um and it's yet an increase like on
College Avenue for example there's
certain areas that are showing increases
in reduction it's hard to know if those
are just snapshots and time and seasonal
variation or whatever um so that is
something we track uh and I'm happy to
answer any questions about Drexel or
anything else um we should know more
about the process for petitioning for a
reduction to speed to 25 miles per hour
um as we uh as we start to submit that
information to ODOT uh the last thing
I'd add going back to the share rows the
share row markings are a were
requirement of ODOT on Broad Street and
I think they might have been a
requirement on Drexel as well it's one
of their standards when you have an
urban street going through that they
they show those share
TS and I'm happy to answer questions on
anything else and we can't get ready get
we cannot even wait to get going on the
budget here today of course yes
laoren comment about the the banners um
those really do mean a lot to people I
um
every year I call my favorite veteran
and I didn't get to this year but I did
call his wife on the way to council and
I told her that I was wearing my silly
red white and blue for Bill Harvey and
um she's she's just tickled with that uh
Banner so everybody that have part in it
donating money funds and everything know
that it means a lot to
people thank
you else Alex
he few questions just you said there's
no speed limits currently speed limit
signs currently on Drexel is that going
to be for the course of the study that's
coming up and will sence go back up or
is the plan to keep sence down until a
decision's been made I think there are
some signs they're just there I don't
think we have a 35 up there right now we
have 25s and the the commercial and the
school zones are 25s by state law so the
areas on the north side of Drax and the
areas of far south side towards Maine
are 25 miles per hour but the current
legal limit is 35 on that street once
you get north of
Sherwood and south of I think roughly
Powell it it goes to 35 I guess just
from a u legal question how long are we
allowed not to have a 35 and up sign on
that street is it something we want to
explore of getting something that that
dictates the speed limit um just
something to look into if we need to get
it sign up uh bike Lanes you mentioned
those shared lanes are not established
bike Lanes do we have any established
bike Lanes painted on any of the streets
of bexy right now we don't currently
have any and then there was uh an
accident with The Pedestrian a ju a
youth pedestrian on Main Street crossing
um Remington and there was talk about
some engineering review of that um
exchange has there been any results from
some of the engineering review of
Remington no so the engineering review
is part of our part of our bike bu Ard
uh project which is not the same as a
bike lane it's bike boulevards um and
we're still waiting to get uh the
marking markings back I think from our
city engineer on that so um we also did
our Serv a service review of it and a
police review of the intersection um but
we're waiting to see the engineer report
to see if there's anything else that he
would recommend okay thank
you it's TR U I think on Cassidy I'm
hearing that there's there's some sort
of program going on with crosswalks and
flags and pedestrian Flags uh Roosevelt
Roosevelt there are we put up pedestrian
Flags the um the there's a group of
neighbors uh that live east and west of
Roosevelt um who have asked for
enhancements to those crosswalks I think
those were the signs that Mr Turner was
referencing um and so in response to the
residents we have made more prominent
markings on those crosswalks uh we added
the ability we added those flags we have
similar flags on cassingham and Maine
and we have flags on Cassidy and Elm as
well they don't get used very often but
I'm hearing that the Roosevelt ones are
getting used
more I mean it's it's just they're flag
they could walk away at any moment in
time so they're not they're not like a
permanent they're just for pedestrians
to hold while they
cross we're
you know we're we're we're trying
different things to see what the Comfort
level is of the pedestrians Crossing
what's getting used I wouldn't say it's
permanent I mean we just had a meeting
with those residents a week or two ago
we talked about additional changes and
and we're just trying to be responsive
within what we are legally able to do um
to try to make that Crossing safer those
Crossings safer it's all the midblocks
because there the initial petition was
for a stop sign to be added Atley Park
in Roosevelt
traffic study didn't warrant the
addition of a stop sign and so we're
trying you know other ways to make those
Crossings feel feel better um note uh
the one thing we are trying and it does
have have seem to have made a difference
in speed is the painted bump outs on
Roosevelt so those went in a couple
months ago um it it's about a three mile
per hour average reduction I think it's
speed after those went in
actually Mr Kingler I think was very
active as a council member with that
group of
residents if you'd like to add anything
to
that any other
questions all right thank
you who who do we have next the chief
all right
Chief good evening City Council here to
answer questions for this month's report
Mr Clinger yeah yes ma'am do you have a
written update or I do I I got it to
miss VOD late today okay so that was my
fault um I can email it to you
and we'll get it added up here in a
second if you
wanna any questions for Matt while we
get that added
oh
sweet how about that all right guys it's
coming
as we're taking a moment here I just
wanted to congratulate Indiana
University's football team for their 10
and0
record that they currently have there's
a uh pretty good Indiana um figurine
there is a game coming up Mr Silverman
inflatable on Fair Avenue I've noticed
let me know if anyone needs um some IU
apparel that they would like to wear in
two weeks I will take care of
that and looks like we're ready
ready Matt yeah um so just I can run
down a little bit of it uh 2200 East
Main they have received approval for the
Deep foundations and what we call the
concrete Podium which is all the
concrete underneath the parking garage
um last week they did submit their final
building plans for review and permit
approval those will probably take about
a month uh to five weeks um to review
and approve we'll have we've been having
coordination meetings with Continental
um and our CBO to make sure um we get
things done as quickly for them as as as
possible um when you're reviewing 500
pages uh it can it can take a long time
so those meetings have been crucial it's
been good uh they're on schedule cohatch
uh their target completion is the end of
the year uh they're waiting on an
elevator so their elevator was delayed a
month um hopefully it shifts no 15th
they'll have six weeks to install after
the elevator gets here so it could be
right up against January 1st um St
Charles is is going along very well
they're trying to get closed in before
the winter as we say um so they can
start start to work on the inside so
they're really close to getting buttoned
up and then catalinas uh went off
without a hitch um they had their grand
opening they got all their final
inspections everything went really
really well there uh the last thing we
have to do is um our final landscape
review
um everything's seems to be installed
but with the uh with the drought this
year um they had to water extra heavy
and and they may need to replace some
plants next year
but um that's about it for the
commercial projects uh what we've been
up to in the building department we've
been working really hard with open gov
to uh come up with better processes and
workflows to help you know our residents
understand from their side of things
when they when they file a permit what
to expect in the process and all that so
um that's a continuing uh process
that'll probably go through the first
quarter of next year honestly um we're
also mapping our code violations um to
to sort of see where our hotpots are and
then we're also getting a uh a vacant
house list as well as a frequent flyer
list put together and I found that it's
been very helpful to reach out directly
to the landlords themselves or the
owners or whoever I can find that's
taking care of the properties uh and
we've seen um on progress just from me
calling saying hey you've got a problem
property here you need to get over there
um it's been good so we're working hard
on Code Enforcement I know
that's one of your all one of your goals
is to to hit that hard in 2025 and and
we're getting geared up to do that
so any
questions questions from
thatt can I can I quickly recircle I'm
kind of curious if I can ask you like
the flag are you what are your thoughts
on the flags or anyone's thoughts on the
flags for the Roosevelt
Crossings car you take them to carry
them across I believe is the use of them
they stand out so they make you stop for
a second or slow down outside that if
people appreciate it great if they don't
then don't use them but I think that the
other uh painting uh bump outs there has
been helpful yeah twice Mr Silverman you
have a comment as
well
yeah infr better than
flag yeah we heard back from some of the
parents who were kids are regularly
using them others don't you know it's
just kind of uh we also heard I think
this week from somebody who wants them
to be reflective so I think um we're
good council member FIB I just was gonna
say
it's yes
yeah okay I would um defer to you know
urban planners and the police department
on that I think would be my comment um
and then I would just say continuity if
we're going to program something I would
want to see that continuity so the
community understands what it is when it
goes up yeah um in the in the time we've
had I think we did Cassy Alm five or six
years ago probably uh this is the third
time we've anytime we've had a request
from parents saying yeah I think that
would be helpful for my kids we've put
them out there essentially so that's I I
my current uh if there's a policy it
would be to say that if if there's a a
parent that feels like their kids would
use that at a midblock Crossing
condition um then we would would furnish
them and see if they're getting used and
if they're not getting used they can
always be removed in the future just
curious if there was any any opinions or
feedback on
that Chief do you have anything Mr
CL um the truth of the matter is this
was an opportunity for us to try to do
what needs wants request with increasing
visibility with having crossing guards
or lack thereof and so we've had to get
really creative and generate some
Ingenuity around not having volunteers
to go out and assist us so this really
was another opportunity to say we're
going to throw some programming at these
intersections to give more visibility
for our students as they're Crossing and
so it's been very beneficial but at the
end of the day I still think that a very
robust crossing guard Initiative Program
would assist us in this and just
continue to enhance
that Mr Clinger as a that lives two
blocks east or west of there I cross it
every day and I can say the striping
went a long way the the the traffic is
getting slower down that Corridor so
small incremental changes have made a
ton of progress in my opinion I cross it
every
day thank you all right moving along to
the con consent agenda um no speaker
slip is required for
this all right well we have the meeting
minutes for October from October 2 2nd
2024 on the consent agenda and if
somebody comes up to speak on this I
will be
surprised does not look like we have any
speakers so I'm going to move to adopt
the October 22nd 2024 consent agenda do
I have a second second seconded by um Mr
Marcelina all those in favor I I
I all right moving on to third readings
ordinance uh third reading of ordinance
3424 to establish a salary for the
office of beex the auditor for the years
2026 through 2029 introduced by m
sad yes so here we do have a proposed
amedin right with this as
well turn on my mic here the proposed
amended ordinance for
34-24 there's this new language put in
it that everybody recommended what we
put in it and the new language just
simply States um and that the 2029
salary of 34,000 shall continue every
year thereafter unless Modified by
Council so that's the new language so um
here we are on a third reading tonight
there is no speaker slip required to
speak on the proposed
amended um any questions from
Council yes just a clarifying question I
want to make sure I heard this right
from our previous meetings so this
basically if we do nothing this
continues the salary at 34,000 a year
for 2030 onward was that Our intention
or was Our intention to keep stepping up
1,000 a year in perpetu it I think the
intention the language is to yeah yep so
that yeah so it's 34,000 and then it
would come back to council then to Red
discuss I thought I'd heard that
differently but this makes frankly a
little more sense than just 1,000 you
know for the next 20 years all right
thanks you okay any other questions can
I add not that Mr mCP doesn't deserve
that it's not here yet right um any
other questions from
Council all right I would love to move
to adopt amend the amended move Tove to
amend 35 move to amend2 342
24 do I have a second yep Mr Silverman
all right uh Mr Hurley yes Mr Marco yes
Mr Marcelino yes Miss F yes M sad
yes so the amendment passes
wonderful and now with the new language
um I'm going to move to adopt Ordinance
34-24 do I have a second second second
and by Mr Silverman all those in
favor okay Miss yes Mr markam yes Mr
Hurley yes Mr Marcelino yes Mr Silverman
yes Miss viel
yes uh 3424 amended 3424 is is
passed all right on the second readings
second reading of ordinance
35-24 authorizing Appropriations for the
calendar year beginning January 1st 2025
to reappropriate all unexpended opwc
project Appropriations for 2025
to authorize general fund transfers in
2024 and to confirm the appointment of
Mark fishell City attorney introduced by
m sad it is budget season yay woohoo um
thank you to all the council members who
have done their due diligence to meet
with the directors and the department
heads um prior to our second reading
tonight of the budget tonight we will be
hearing from department heads the
mayor um Megan Meyer
Matt Kingler Carrie Martin Matt mCP and
chief Lewis we're GNA get started with
you may
Kesler thank you
sad um give me one
moment as I pull
up our materials for
this and the document that I'm pulling
up is also in your agenda packet and the
second readings folder
um uh called
2025 budget Department
overviews um so first I want to thank
you all for for all the meetings that
we've been having as we've been delving
deeper into the budget um I'm going to
present a couple of the accounts um
you'll hear from Megan as well and
Carrie and Matt and
uh the chief and then next uh next week
we'll have Andy bore and Mike Price
presenting their sections of the budget
and we'll be doing a revisit of the uh
Capital fund and we will have all of our
directors present so we be even tighter
than we are tonight at the Das uh to uh
to answer any questions that you have um
so we're gonna get started on a fairly
easy one which is the mayor's office
City Hall and as a reminder this is
essentially General City Hall
operations um some overarching uh
fundings for things like tuition
assistance and and some of our training
for staff um and within this uh within
this um within this fund and or account
sorry which is on page 13 of your budget
book uh we have
uh some reductions overall we have
actually had 11% reduction in other
operating expenditures um we do we are
investing additionally into training
this year so expanding staff training
through that account um and I have to
apologize
because wanted to make sure that you
guys all saw this handout that was at
year your your space that just shows um
the changes that occurred between the
two uh budget revisions and you'll see
another version of this for next week's
budget review um
and I'm happy to answer any questions
about uh the mayor's office City Hall
expenditures right and I can go as slow
or as fast as you
want well largest
decrease um honestly it's a it was the
biggest change was in special
accommodations compliance we had an
unusually high budget this past this
this current year this 24 year uh
because um we were expecting a camper
who had um some pretty rigorous uh
compliance needs for our special
accommodations compliance which is it's
a Citywide uh budget placeholder for if
we have um you know whether it's a extra
interpreting needs or special ed sort of
needs within um our different Rec Rec
programs it comes out of this this
account so we had bumped it up um for a
particular anticipation of a particular
need which actually did did not end up
occurring um and so if you look at the
actual year-to date at the end of
September you'll see that that wasn't
really used that much so we bumped it
back down so that's the biggest change
we also tightened our belts under under
office supplies and repairs and
maintenance supplies
all right um any other
questions Auditor Office uh Matt will be
here I think shortly but Carrie if you
want to talk about that so in this
year's the 2025 budget we actually
separated out um the auditor's office
from the finance department so you'll
notice that there a completely separate
budget for the city auditor um within
his budget it's strictly the um auditing
fees for our annual audit and then also
um continued um ongoing internal
audits um in this in 2025 it will not
just be within a finance department um
we have a proposal from the Auditors um
to look at various departments
throughout the
city so that is the auditor's office if
anybody has any
questions just out of curiosity since
it's all new this way what's the benefit
of separating it out is it just ease of
understanding or or it was actually a
recommendation from the mayor and Matt
so to separate it if somebody could just
so I just understand moving forward why
we're separating it out this year um
because we wanted to call attention to
the difference between like the fiscal
office or sort of the treasur function
and the auditor function and so the
auditor function is showing the
investment in thirdparty audits in the
function that Matt is primarily
performing in checks and balances if
that makes sense whereas the whereas the
uh finance department budget is the nuts
and bolts of Finance it's you know tax
collection um you can ahead my budget I
don't want to give your budget that's
the reason okay so when to separate out
those differ two different purposes
thank you and it also allow us to better
track as we move forward like what is
happening um with sorry I'm
having I
think kid calling me one
second hold on you
talk um sure I think I think that makes
sense for me okay so I don't have
anything further unless there's
something okay Carrie you want to move
along do you me to go ahead and do mine
yes okay go for it so within the finance
department
um as I said it's um there's a slight
decrease due to um changing the um
separating the auditor um this year we
um did hire a new assistance Finance
director so with that um you'll notice
in the con that we reduced the um
charges for the contract professional
fees um we no longer need that service
um my department also takes care of um
the investment management paying for
that the um Property and Casualty
Insurance um income income tax
collection fees that we pay to Rita for
um their part in collecting our um
Regional income the our local income
taxes um we pay for um property tax
collection fees to the Franklin County
auditor um and then also it is not my
budget we moved it to the IT department
but we have funding for technology
upgrades for a budgeting and um report
software that's um just another module
to the um finance software that we
currently have and with that there will
also be um an account number
restructure if anybody has any
questions yes Sam yeah thanks uh so just
so I understand here in 2024 for salary
wages we budgeted 278 we only used 198
and now we're asking for a slight
increase I assume to step up which is
fair and again I apologize if I blank
down as I was falling through but is
that because of which new position is
that one the assistant Finance shter
okay thank you I appreciate
that and sorry out of curiosity here I
believe in
HR there is some form of an increase as
well this year in terms of Sal did I
make that up when I was reviewing
um I'm just trying because I remember we
had that position that we thought would
be part-time under like HR part-time
underneath Finance more so for payroll
type of issues and I just want to make
sure that I understand where these roles
are falling me so we don't have a change
proposed in HR okay so I did I do see a
I think this might be an error in our
budget for the payroll line because of
just what I'm seeing here um showing a
pretty distinct
increase in HR payroll HR uh because
there's not I mean there might be a step
increase but it wouldn't be that in
percentage well there is an but just to
not to be too difficult there is an
increase in HR if we look on page 32
that's
why I see that but we don't we're not
adding anybody to HR okay so that
wouldn't that percentage increase
doesn't
track Mak sense okay okay seems to be an
error unless HR gave themselves a raise
without telling us which hey they're HR
I'm I'm hearing all kinds of great
things so we're paying for those audits
that that individual is doing
great yes Mr Silverman
I can get that for
you it would be approximately $20,000
increase Mr Markham so you okay yeah
where's the line item for the technology
upgrades and software um we move it to
the IT
department what's the increase you may
have said it if so I apologize the
increase in the training specifically
what's that
covering training went from 2700 to$
4,000 so
$1,300 yeah specifically like what kind
of training why is that such a large
increase so um we are both required IR
ired every year to have so many hours um
that we have to turn into the treasur of
the state for for um it's called cpim so
anyway so there's a g a conference a um
an annual conference that we will go to
and then also um this year I went to um
software conference and then I'm
assuming that next year the new
assistant Finance director would like to
attend that as
well okay and that's all new right
because up until now we've got like $100
correct okay I mean incidentally I think
you guys have been doing some software
training in the past couple month couple
weeks we yes and just from that we've
learned a ton about how to better use
our system correct not just not just
teaching you but just in general there
are things we haven't been doing with
our system so um that's a trend that
you'll see in many of our departments as
we are investing more in train and
professional development right um and uh
and we're tracking that so we want to
make sure that like you know we're
seeing this left and right Matt has
examples of this as well where you know
investing back into learning more about
the systems we're using and building
them out and developing them is really
paying dividends uh for the services
we're
providing Harry I would say great job on
identifying that and to all of our
directors to processes planning makes
for savings down the road so spend now
and we'll make up for it and better
results so thank
you that explains it yeah they like what
happened they just went ahead and let me
talk Matt you really fast yeah it's like
one minute phone call I apologize yep
can we also when we're um going back and
forth can we note the page so
yep yeah they should be trying to be in
order so we're page 17 through 19 right
now thanks so um you know salary and
wages goes down by about eight and a
half percent couple reasons for that
um one Kathy was at the top of I think
the wage bracket and I I came in not at
the top of the wage bracket as well um
and then Colleen who we hired uh was a
part-time position uh which which has
been perfect for our department honestly
um 9 to2 that's when most of the calls
come in she greets people at the front
desk she she's really been helping out
code enforcement so it's been everything
we want um and we had some savings by
not hiring a full-time employee so it's
been great so that's the eight and a
half% reduction on the salary and wages
um you'll see a 100% increase on the
abatement Services um I've heard from
most of you um whether it be I listen to
the meetings when I'm not here or um you
guys have told me code enforcement um we
want to step that up next year a lot of
what happens is we send letters we
follow up and we have these absentee
owners we have um landlords that don't
even you know we know landlords that
live in California you know and they're
it's it's hard to get a hold of them um
so many times Dave our code enforcement
officer will hire um you know a
landscaper to come in and clear out all
the weeds or you know we'll hire these
Services out uh well I noticed just when
I started we ran out of money in August
um so I don't want to do that next year
if if we have people that we've sent
things to and we're citing them into
court we would rather just clean up the
property and have some more more funding
to do that um and then that of course
gets assessed to their taxes so we make
sure we get reimbursed back to the
city uh contract professional and design
review and planning you'll see large
increases in there um as council members
you you probably remember over the last
three or four years uh we've come back
to you for for reappropriations to
increase
the the funding in those accounts um at
the end of the year um this increase um
should take care of any of that I I do
not want to come back to you next year
but I've I think I've tracked it
appropriately to this point and uh we
should be set for 2025 with the monies
that we have in there you'll notice um
the contract professional uh went up
from the original version of the budget
after some some talking with continental
and figuring out the way that we uh sort
of Bill out and and pay are inspectors
and have to collect that money from them
uh I added 15,000 in there because
they're going to have a lot of
inspections now I don't know if that
15,000 will be 2025 it it'll be sort of
end of 2025 going into 2026 because
their completion is Summer of 2026 so
the farther we go into that the more
they're going to want daily inspection
so they can start covering stuff up um
so I added 15,000 to the contract
professional to hopefully cover
ourselves if we have added inspection
fees
um design review and planning uh feel
really comfortable with where that is um
you know we've had more inspections this
year more people are doing home
renovations more buildings are being
built um so inspections have gone up um
under uh our chief building official as
far as just building inspector site
visits that has got that has increased
um but then we also uh increased the
hourly rate that we pay our staff
architect uh Karen Boker but at the same
time we have um taken um a lot of
administrative duties off of her plate
and covered so so the goal is she has
about a th hours a year and she stays
right where we've been paying her for
the last three to four years um and we
kind of offset the increase in hourly
rate by taking on more within our
department um and that's that's about
it any
questions Mr Marcelino I think I put my
hand up but I don't really um is there
uh but I will I'll I'll hop in here uh
contract professional uh verse design
review and planning I should have asked
you this today but as I look at these
some of the things that we're discussing
seem to be overlapping for example we
have design review and planning in which
we pay Miss bour for her expertise but
then also would she constitute any of
the budget underneath contract
professional is there any overlap there
who had are those separated just
so yeah so
th this this coming year I'm going to go
into um individual POS for my
Consultants versus we kind of charge to
a blanket and then it kind of gets
separated out on the back end depending
on if we have where we have funding this
year they will have individual POS so in
that design review and planning is Karen
Boker it is Jason sui who does our
planning he's our city planner with omm
and it is also our landscape um
consultant um to be determined we're in
the process of hiring that person so
those are the three and the reason it's
design review and planning because they
they actually do
the design review for us uh the contract
professional is our chief building
official Mike Berea it is also the
building inspectors that um are
underneath Mike Berea and then it is um
Dave KO our city engineer he could go
and design review and planning because
he does do design review but he also is
out on the street doing inspections for
us so it's kind of six one way half
dozen the other um and then we also
contract Franklin County Public Health
for our plumbing inspections so
they're they're more of a contract
professional they don't do any review
and planning for us thanks for breaking
those out
yep yes Mr Hurley just real quick is I
know we're about to approve the um 2025
Board of Health contract um is the
plumbing inspection service is that
outside of that Board of Health contract
so this shows up on Matt's budget not on
the board of health budget yeah it's a
it's a it is a service they provide but
that one is an OnDemand service so it's
built to the building through the
building department as opposed to their
blanket contract which is for the more
traditional Public Health Services okay
thank you and if I if I may add it is a
great service it is a sweet deal it's
much like our fire contract like they do
all the plumbing inspections for every
one ex sub city of Columbus all you know
New Albany Westville it would be a lot
to carry a plumbing department for City
so I I was more just curious if there
was any benefits trying to roll it into
that contract or if Franklin County
prefers it to be separated
silver where do fines go into when the
code enforcement
enforces um so fines would be through
our citation process there's kind of two
there's two answers to your question um
there's citation fines so those are
going through uh mayor's court and where
do we is that income under miscellaneous
Mayor's Court Revenue okay uh so that's
a pretty large lump sum that has a whole
lot of different types of incomes in it
in our in our income forecast um but
then the other type of fine I guess is
if an assessment occurs so if somebody's
not complying with code enforcement
orders um the code enforcement officer
can do one of two things or both they
can site the individual into court it's
a very slow process and often the result
takes months to achieve or they can have
the work performed and then assess that
as a fine against them so revenue from
that also would not that would show up
probably on the miscellaneous Revenue so
both of them sorry it goes into Miss
miscellaneous Revenue but they're two
different
tracks yeah so yeah this is an expense
account it's not going to show the
income that's coming in but if you go to
the front of the budget and you
see
um the general fund overview on P page
eight on page eight there's a building
permits line item so we're
projecting $500,000 in income to
building permits which is a obviously an
important concept to when you kind of
compare that to the expense and then
within all
other bundled into that would be any
sort of enforcement quote unquote
Revenue I don't think we get a whole lot
of revenue from citations for code
enforcement it's it's not really uh you
know we're not trying to generate
revenue from
enforcement trying
to get the properties cleaned
up yeah just to piggyback on that uh and
and not to hammer the code enforcement
thing but we do have quite a few um I
I'll call it property owners that they
just they're like yep come clean up my
property put it on my taxes like they're
just absentee um and it's it's very
difficult it makes life very difficult
so I guess that was the continuation of
that was just the thought you had
mentioned that you're increasing the
abatement so I was thinking is there an
expectation that we kind of see that
being reciprocated through F an increase
in fines and and receiving and to be
paid back for if we're planning to do a
batement work bats are really sure
source of income down the road they will
be one to one because if they aren't
paid as a fine they will be we will have
them on our assessment ordinance and
they'll be on the tax duplicate and
those those assessments take priority
over a mortgage so anytime a property
would transfer if someone hasn't paid it
it'll come back to us so that's really
secure funds those are secure funds of
anything that we spend money on we know
that we're going to get that back
eventually um I don't I I want to be
really clear our preference would be
that the property owner does the work
they need to do like that's not like we
don't want to be the handyman service
for Bexley um we're really expensive and
you know it's it's uh people don't love
it right so it's not it's not our
preference um I do think we need to to
be taken a look at we've talked about
this internally um some of those
frequent flyers like yes we're doing
abatements in order to get them to
comply they also need to be cited like
we we can't let them start to just rely
on us for their lawnmowing services
yeah
yeah oh all nothing else nothing further
I'm not like the chief he'll be here
aren't you getting
a I actually thought about that but
no any any other questions for Mr other
than the golf cart in his budget or
not they teas because they love Chief uh
City attorney uh the City attorney is a
City Attorney in law and legal in
general page
21
2021 um our City attorney has graciously
agreed not to increase his
retainer uh for 2025 which so this page
is brought to you by the law offices of
bishell and whoever else is on the
lettere of the
time still underpaying me compared to
other City attorneys had a conversation
with Ben last year about it and
said that as all things being equal I
would not increase it I increase it last
year I wouldn't increase it this
year thank you thank you for your
service um appeals hearings and
litigation special projects we have done
a pretty good job of managing legal fees
this year and keeping them as tight as
possible uh so if you look at the actual
or the year to date we are
projecting we we on the year higher than
what you're seeing year to date but um
asking for the same amount of budget
allotment just because legal legal costs
can vary so much and fluctuate based
upon whatever is happening for example
if there is an appeal uh if we get
embroiled in in certain types of
litigation it's a pretty straightforward
account happy to answer any questions
about legal not actually legal questions
but questions about the budget
and I do want to recognize our team in
general has been doing a great job of
not calling attorneys just because they
can uh so I think we've seen that I call
you all the
time uh but uh our outside our outside
Council has been U we've had much better
control of that this year which is
great Mr um you know working on
government budgets for many years I
think this is a good opportunity to
point out you see you know the actual
verse what is budgeted and obviously
with some of these line items there's a
lot of variance just so you know I guess
for sake of anyone listening when we say
you know our proposed budget is 25,000
that doesn't mean we're taking 25,000
and parking it somewhere it's an
appropriation it's an authority right
right so if you know if in 2025 yes
we're we're setting aside 25,000 for
appeals hearings 53,000 for litigations
special projects if we only spend a
third of that it's not like we have to
that the budget is just an aspirational
kind of Target I just think that's an
important clarification so Kudos you
know I look at these budget amounts and
I look at the actual spending or
spending to date and yeah there's a lot
of good control there that's great thank
you Martin for being so fair to
us we're gonna need to meet now we're
good thank you
n all right Megan Meyer thank you Mr
Mayor um so in your development budget
you should be looking at Pages let's see
22 23 and 24 um if you're kind of just
following the line of item detail there
are no proposed changes to staff funding
the increases you see there are step
increase um this says this fund pays for
half of the sustainability programs
coordinator position the other half of
that position is paid for out of the
refug fund so that's outside of the
general fund um and part of that
increase that you see there is also a
placeholder for a summer in should we uh
choose to have one this year um you'll
see moving down um to memberships and
increase um funding for regional
National Association memberships um if
possible I'll be attending icma that's
the international city manager
association um Conference next
year um in marketing you do see a
notable increase a couple initiatives
that we'd like to pursue next year um
one of them is a regional um Economic
Development publication by way of
Columbus CEO we'd like to get the word
out that certain areas of be are
redeveloping and hopefully um continue
to build our partnership there um some
funding for new camera equipment for our
office to do some more in-house video
recording um and marketing generally um
some funding to help with our state of
the city video creation um and things of
that nature so you do see a slight
increase there in marketing um moving
down it's all relatively similar until
you get to School reimbursement you'll
actually see a notable reduction that's
because the um School Revenue sharing
agreement for Beckle Gateway expired um
and so that is no longer an
obligation um continuing down to
sustainability programs you do see a
notable increase there um as explained
in the expenditure highlights we are
asking for
$25,000 for a new pilot program um which
would build upon the existing home
energy audit program that morsy
currently has in Franklin County for
anybody living in Franklin County except
for in the city of Columbus I know
that's a little bit confusing um and so
that would apply to the city of Bexley
um that program is currently capped at a
certain percentage of Ami and so next
year one of our goals would be to
increase overall usage of that program
and open it up to the homeowners and
Bexley who exceed that that Ami um so
that is what that funding is for um and
the other 15,000 I know was new in the
24 budget so I did just kind of want to
explain a couple things um that that
program as well as a sustainability
programs coordinator help um promote
notably electric aggregation which began
last year now has over 3,000
participants um so far each household
has saved an average of over
$325 that's in the first 10 months um we
do anticipate the price to compare to
kind of level up to the market a little
bit we'll have more information um for
you on that soon that program um helps
support the new EV Chargers that we see
around town through a program called
backs and so that position was integral
on securing it was about $46,000 through
that grant program which is obviously
put to good use in the community um
Universal recycling um is something that
that that position overseas last year we
rolled that out um over 65 new
businesses now have commercial Recycling
and I'm sorry new businesses and multif
family housing complexes now have um
recycling did not previously the
position also oversees our food waste
recycling program um just just in the
first six years I'm sorry six months of
this year over
250,000 pounds of material were
processed just from Bexley alone through
that program so just wanted to highlight
some of
those and with that I'll take any
questions yes thank you very much um I
appreciate you taking the time to meet
with me about this but obviously I had
some questions that popped in my mind
after we did in regards to this home
weatherization uh issue uh it seems as
though a lot a lot of our residents will
not qualify for the full benefit um
based upon their income their household
income uh so do we can we be more
targeted in our approach to marketing
this towards those that may fall within
or take a broader scope of marketing
this program before we invest heavily in
it because again an audit I mean I'm
sure there's more efficiencies my home I
don't need an audit to tell me that um
so I guess I I that I guess that
increase in itself to me I have a
question about everything else makes
sense here but in regards to that
program because I may not see the true
benefit of just having somebody tell me
you're home isn't efficient you should
do a lot more insulation better Windows
and and better appliances well yeah I
know that but I don't have $100,000 just
to drop into that so what benefit are we
getting by fronting that cost and would
it make more sense to have have that as
almost a marketing thing to draw
attention to it rather
than and maybe I don't understand the
program completely but if you could
explain or expand sure sure so what is
currently available to certain
households um in Franklin County um is
the home repair and home weatherization
program um it is capped at a certain
percentage of Franklin County Ami for
example a household with three residents
could not make more as a household than
$71,000 so certainly most homes in beex
Ley would far exceed that threshold um
so some things that that program does
they they all began with an audit um the
audit costs about $900 to complete it's
not an insignificant um amount of funds
in fact I would think that would
prohibit most people from even being
interested in doing such a thing um but
it really does do a deep dive into
things that people can't just see and
notice um looking at your house and so
these are experts completing that audit
um the full program um which that
demographic below the Ami has access to
does a number of things it will go as
far as replacing whole furnace and
heating systems roofs um faulty Plumbing
I know we talked today about the lead
service line um program it replaces
private sewer lines and water systems
and so a number of things our residents
um most of them would not get to benefit
from this program because of the income
requirements and so this is a step
toward as a pilot um gauging interest in
Bexley in that program should it be
opened up um to other income levels and
so it would pay first for that um audit
which is that first step in the program
um it wouldn't take it further beyond
that and this year certainly something
to consider in future years depending on
how it's received in the outcomes that
we see um so that is the
idea um
generally any other
questions Mr Markham I know we've done
this since the Inception but I I guess I
can't remember why do we spread
the sustainability programs coordinator
between this and the refu account is
there a stream of income that targets
that position or something uh yeah it's
just so a portion of Elizabeth's work is
in waste management and sustainability
around waste and so it's an eligible
expense of the of the refuse fund so
it's just we have lots of instances of
that employees are portioned based upon
um their function if an Enterprise fund
can assist with their salary and it
makes sense for us strategically to do
that we we would do that then if we flip
that around then why is 50% coming from
development then I guess it's I think
development and
sustainability we've changed the name of
this uh it's at times been called
development Communications and
sustainability I think was the latest so
it's a it is
it's okay gotcha doesn't fit as
elegantly I guess but yeah that's the uh
it is
catching um sort of outward facing
Community Building type uh purposes was
the was the logic but in all it's
morphed over the years I mean it started
off as just development it morphed over
to just
Communications it became development in
Communications and sustainability at
some point in time um Mr Markham I would
add to that too in addition to a portion
of that uh position SP coming out of the
ref Refuge fund there's an additional
line item to support um waste reduction
initiative specifically the most popular
which um in the community um in the drop
off day um is often coming out of that
account there are fees you know for
instance the number of TVs directly
correlates to our disposal costs things
of that nature but um a good effort to
keep things out of the
landfill Mr
Silverman thank you um could you clarify
the
program you were just talking about Audi
of households is that the sustainability
program or the development program um I
would I would put it more in the
sustainability category it's something
that we would anticipate the
sustainability programs coordinator
overseeing as part of our workload next
year um it is again an expansion of an
existing program with morsy and so in
fact um by way of the fees part of the
administrative costs are actually being
outsourced to Mory itself thank you so
is there any specific development
programs that would reference the
request for the $30,000 proposal that's
not changing but okay I understand oh
the development program so that's that's
a great question Mr Silverman that
$30,000 is um what we have pretty much
every year um for the facade Improvement
grant program um this past year we had
two takers prior year we had no takers
um so it could be up to $10,000 so that
could support a number of different
variations of Grants but um again up to
10 um
$10,000
purposes thank
you looks like no further
question
okay Finance uh you missed it we already
did
Finance skipped around a little bit
but we also we also covered the
auditor's budget but
welcome and if there's anything you want
to
supplement course I guess you don't know
what we said but
[Laughter]
listening Carrie Carrie presented the
auditor's office in the fin what she
said in double
it just dou just double the budget I'm
just teasing no tripled yeah no I'm sure
she did a fabulous
job pardon
oh yeah
congrats um moving on to the Grants
Department which is kind of a funny
thing because it's not really Department
it's a sort of a pass through account
page 29 28 29 we're going in order we're
we're keeping on marching on down
perfect um the pretty notable thing here
and I I want to make sure that this like
really sinks in so we are capturing in
this account the million doll we have a
$500,000 state capital Grant a $500,000
ODNR grant for the bridge at Al Creek so
we're projecting that this is the year
that that those that those Grant monies
get spent that million dollars is like
uh it's it's this the rat that's going
through the python because if you look
at our general fund summary and you look
at the kick up and expenses you're like
well why is it so much higher this year
the million dollars is a big piece of
that um and so that there's a Cory
million dollars in new income that
offsets that million dollars in expenses
but it's shown up here in the grants
account we're also projecting uh similar
to what we exper have experienced this
year and what we brought to you guys in
a uh in a should it been like a deer
that's going through the
P the okay just the ham the rabbit
that's
[Laughter]
no okay so uh I just yeah come up with
better metaphors next time um or
analogies is that a metaphor analogy I'm
gonna stop talking
$200,000 in overall Grant just general
grants we're seeing in general more
activity in our grants accounts um and
uh a very slight increase in bexy
celebration events grants and you'll see
maybe curiously you'll see 100,000
$130,000 in a year the parks that's the
final piece of this community
foundation's $500,000 Grant um if you do
the math and you try to add up all the
different numbers here you'll you'll you
should look at the 23 actual the 24 year
to date and see how that plus the 25
proposed should add up to the $500,000
range sing do the math on the number of
years too I think
revision we would like revision plural
no no infinity times infinity okay has
the chief been whispering in your ear
about this I feel like
uh turns out it takes longer to engineer
a bridge than we thought you knew there
we
are all good news this is all these are
all dollar Ford dooll uh you know
outflows that are are exactly balanced
by incoming Revenue um with anything
that you're seeing here in the grants
account you'll notice there's no budget
for aggregation renewable grants that's
because uh our our current aggregation
program expires in May of next year so
we are actually going to be starting to
talk about what we do next with that but
those aggregation grants are potentially
unique to the program we had so we
were're not projecting anything for any
future
program any questions on
grants yep just one question ific so the
state capital Grant thank you sorry
state capital Grant expenditures um you
know you and I have talked a little bit
about this so we had a $500,000 capital
budget appropriation approved in the
previous cycle or two cycles ago um that
was reappropriated last year or sorry
earlier this year you mentioned another
500,000 from modr what what is that
Grant fund or that Source um I wasn't
where there's only 500,000 that's great
I just it is great man I should know
because it took me forever to apply for
that Grant but I guess it's OD andrs
Trail
Trails but it wasn't in legislatively
directed no it's part of the standard
program it's a yeah I'll misspeak if I
try to remember the name of the grant
program although I lost like a weekend
of my life that but okay I I that's
great okay
um Human
Resources it's going to walk us through
it
mayor um so you know uh Emily did pass
me a few notes hopefully I can help
answer all the questions but if not I'm
of course happy to take them back to her
and get them back to you um but
generally a real quick bit on that
salary increase that you're noticing um
Carrie and I were just uh emailing each
other um it is correct if not very close
to correct last year in the budget it um
her position was budgeted at 25 hours a
week she in fact Works um 30 hours a
week generally and so that increase is
reflective of that um so moving down um
generally you're not seeing too many
changes line item by line item um staff
development that is a new line item um
we have recently started a series of
lunch and learn spearheaded um by Emily
um they''re been going very very well um
we also have a part of the budget there
um to potentially bring in an outside
speaker for one of those um police
recruiting costs you also notice that
that is a new line item that is more or
less a placeholder in case there is
turnover in the police department it's
certainly not a guarantee um but hiring
for those positions specifically is
pretty cost intensive um and so that
would support the hiring and onboarding
of I believe two to three officers but
again not necessarily because we know of
anything coming but really just to make
sure that it's there if it's needed um
the most major change um you'll see in
the recruiting and onboarding that third
line item down um a decrease um to
$5,000 part of that is because outside
of the HR budget and and the IT budget
Emily is requesting new technology um
it's called neogov it's a $133,000
annual fee um to participate in that but
it is um it's kind of ubiquitous in the
government world now to use a platform
like that um currently we don't have any
Consolidated system for applications I
know it might seem like we're tighten a
team um which is true but we do have
over 900 jobobs applicants annually most
of that is attributable to Parks and
Recreation for all those seasonal
positions that they fill and so Emily
has been cobbling that together between
Google forms paper indeed and email um
so God lover um I think that this is a
um worthy investment um to help not only
streamline the processes but it helps
present a pretty um slick front to those
applying to work with the city which I
think you want to start off on the right
foot so that's the uh major change for
that
Department Mr Marcelino yes thank you
very much uh I know that we've made a uh
big emphasis on making sure that our
administrative leaders are getting
opportunities for professional
development um and I know I've
specifically spoken um to Emily and the
mayor and everybody about this position
having that night is there a a place
where that falls under and where would
you yes um absolutely so there are kind
of two buckets there and and this
probably just seems like General
training and not specific to Emily but
um there's training and stuff
development so that's staff development
one are the lunch and learns I mention
and potential speaker 2500 um training
is more specific to that position
training is for her okay all right just
making sure I understand the difference
thank you and I appreciate that is my
understanding I I just want to send her
to conferences and learn a lot that's
all I just want her to become the best
uh not that she's not already the best
uh who is our special
counsel that is a great question oh I
know the answer
that most handsome attorney in this room
okay just making sure I well it's a
separate line so I just oh that hurts s
he just he just dits you that's I'm okay
by that I'm actually didn't even mean to
came mouth like that was pretty I was I
was to so that that that's you know
before I became City attorney I did
labor and employment that is the so
that's outside the contract okay when I
do lab when usually collect bargain just
great thank you
can you run through again the I see the
updates with Shifting the police
recruiting line and how HR is impacted
by the police recruiting and then the
what the reason for the movement
was um yeah so it's it's a little bit of
Shifting which line item is
accommodating those cost centers so if
you look at the 2024 budget recruiting
and onboarding was
13,500 that was for both General and
police specific um but Emily thinks that
it would be better organizationally and
for tracking purposes to separate out
separate out ree recruiting partly
because it is so cost intensive so that
500 5,000 that is left there is for
everybody else um and then outside of
this budget and the IT budget
specifically there's a software
maintenance line item that has neoo her
software request in at so that's kind of
how it all shifted I see thank
you
please what are you looking what are we
looking
for no
um Bible uh page 32 would have those
line items I I justed to see there was
something different working from my from
last week
so yes the answer to that would be yes
um I have it up on the screen now we
made um you're fine we made the
executive decision because every
Department was doing it differently to
pull software cost and UNC consolidating
technology so you'll see that change
are we all good with
HR Move Along
okay second mayor Mayor's
Court okay me again um so no proposed
changes uh Mayor's Court is a department
of one Maran is our fearless leader on
that front um so no changes to the
Personnel section looking to operating
expenditures um really no no huge
updates any of that any of the slight
increases you're seeing um are things
that are kind of tied and directly
correlated to the number of cases been
tracking that and so it's tied to a
projection of the number of cases he's
anticipating coming in um you do see a
slight decrease um forth from the top
the mayor's court operating line item
that's because we shipped a cost to a
new line item for the court interpreter
so that we could better track use of
that service um and we do have a new
Port interpreter this year most notably
however outside of this budget and again
not here but in the it capital budget
because it is such a um significant um
request is an update to the Fort
specific software um that Marquan uses
it's called CMI um we are about 15 years
into a legacy software and um there is
uh more than a suggested update at this
point they're no longer going to support
the pr service and so that update needs
to happen um I will let you know we are
still still pursuing other options
because the request is $66,000 obviously
not insignificant um it is something
that we do need to have but we are um
pursuing all avenues to ensure that it's
truly the best and most cost effective
option so should anything change we'll
make note of
that Mr Markham can you give us an
update on that victim Advocate Program I
know 2023 was a big year for it looks
like 2024 was
not
um do you have do you know about the
billing Cadence for the victim Advocate
Megan by any chance I was just thinking
about that and I believe it's it's not
like monthly it's as as used um so that
would reflect usage of the program um I
can certainly go back to Mark and ask
what what has he seen about the types of
cases where utilization is dropped um
off the top of my head I'm not sure why
okay yeah I'm just interested
I have I have a little information on
that I believe Bexley may be built
quarterly so um the victim's Advocate is
um employed through the city of hilard
and then um it's based upon the um she
goes throughout different cities and
it's based upon their case load is how
the um amount is determined per City so
um some cities are buil monthly some are
buil quarterly is it possible that with
their assistant Finance instructor
change they're behind on billing it it
could potentially be because they do
they do build
that so but that I mean I could I could
look into that and get more information
from them to see how it's
exactly being done but um I do know
there's a portion divided between
different studies I can't tell you
there's been no change to the program so
it's it's an as needed basis she's there
she's we've heard really good feedback
about having that position
um both from users and also from our um
from our prosecutor just working with
her Mr Marcelino I know it's minor um
but a lot of small things can add up to
a big thing uh so in prisoner sustenance
I note that we've never really eclipsed
more than
$4,200 this year we're down to about
$3,000 but yet we're asking for an
increase to
$7,000 and I know that you're that was
noted that this is all based on
projected need and and usage are we
projecting increased crime that's going
to require prisoner sustenance um and
maybe that plays into your budget a bit
or and I know it's small but if we do
that a 100 times where we miss something
small it can be $100,000 so absolutely
absolutely um I can go back and find and
provide to you the um projections that
Mark completed for that um I can also
tell you for the next round of the
budget we'll have more up to-date
projections for the end of the year so
obviously what you're seeing there with
the you know um 2900 is at the end of
September um certainly I'm not entirely
sure again how that's spilled if we're
going to see more of that come in at the
end of the year it Trails okay curse
that count those Council people that
wanted this done a little bit earlier
this year I wonder elections are coming
next Mr
Hurley Mr Marceline actually stole my
question uh but I'm I'm makes me wonder
um in future budget hearing so this you
know third column in from the right here
as of September 3 are we going to get an
updated book that has
like perfect nailed it drop the mic
there it
is we just made that up because you were
asking so we just said it now like oh
crap no just kidding we are we've been
working on that we didn't want to rush
it to you today because we wanted it to
be really ready so so I just ran a
report we for 2024 um since this is
since this was initially completed this
budget book um we have paid
$3,500 for the victim
advocate so significantly differ yes yes
yeah all right
uh he
technology um I think that you all may
be aware of this but the chief um in his
ever this ever expanding quest to take
over more departments I just uh asked
the chief to start supervise our
technology function in part because
there's just the PD function is so
technology Rich um so you probably know
that our our Tech manager was working
between City Hall and the police
department and just felt really
appropriate for the chief to have more
of a hand on approach to technology um
so your latest and newest and freshest
it nerd in the room is Chief Gary Lewis
who will be presenting you the
technology
budget thank you
sir um you know one of the things with
technology Eric has been here in the
city for about 10 years and this really
is as you have heard up until this point
this is really the first time that we
are taking a lot of the pieces out of
the it and putting them specifically
under him giving him more ownership and
management over where and what and how
it's being um funded and so this really
is a a very comprehensive look and we're
doing much more in process with our
technology and not looking at it from a
police department but from a city
perspective um you'll see where just
continuing funding one of the things
that we continue to see especially with
cyber security and the um just the
number of things that we're doing as as
a city the costs continue to go up and
that's the cost of doing business as a
whole and we're seeing that software and
Licensing um where many of these
companies are are really um capitalizing
on seeing significant increases from
many of them are end of life and those
cost are are driving up um Hardware same
with the software and then obviously
just advancing um our current sustained
cyber security initiatives and just
continue to build on that um emphasized
with training and professional
development not just for Eric but we are
um working on a three-year strategic
plan we've not done that with our it
department and we now have a um intern
who is interning with us from the Ohio
State University in that space and so
really just becoming very more robust in
in that um as well as expanding on from
tabletop um full School exercises he um
currently has a third-party
um uh consultant that he has been
working with and they too provide a lot
of insight and oversight for us as well
um happy to answer what questions I
can Mr Hurley um yeah that that increase
in excuse me that increase in software
license maintenance is tough but I you
know my other day job I I see that a lot
as well I just want to make sure I'm
understanding some numbers here so you
have the annual software licenses by
Department of function
that is 2025 proposed the chart under
your line item um and that's
28952 so then the figure um software
license maintenance proposed fy2 anous 2
161,000
689 and it appears that then the cyber
security piece of this
27836 that's a different I guess that's
not shown in that line item it's shown
under the cyber security line item which
is ear marked at 40,000 so guess what
I'm ask is between the 40,000 you're
opposing for FY 25 and the 27836 in
software cost what's the difference
about 12,000 and
something I don't know if the mayor
might have a little
more City
that $4,000 is a software cost the
additional
is okay yeah you're trying to really
highlight exactly what was software and
what yeah I appreciate
that St of curiosity who is our what's
the software and who's our third party
vendor you can follow me I just I'm
curious yeah and I um Eric and I can
Circle back with you on the name and and
they um they have really been assisting
in I was going to say it's probably in
um that executive summary but we can get
it to you more more just curious I mean
the you
know
yeah yes sir so just to clarify that 46%
increase then that's that's like an
increase in the cost of existing
software maintenance so we're not we
haven't added we're not adding
additional licenses for anything um it's
not so I can share a little bit just
putting my Police hat on so um I sit on
the lead steering committee it's a
Statewide function leads is law
enforcement out data services that is a
the conduit through ncic that the FBI
oversees they have increased cost to law
enforcement agencies across the country
all of us are experiencing significant
increases not just throughout the state
but the country and so you're seeing
that being passed down to the consumer
and um that continues to to happen on um
really that Federal side as well as the
software and Licensing side so that's
where that's coming from so we really
have no control over that um Mr Markham
if I could add to to that great
explanation from the chief you're also
seeing software costs being moved from
outside of other departments to this um
so that all of the software costs are
under technology so for instance the
neogov product I mentioned for HR the
budgeting software product that Carrie
mentioned those were previously and
their budgets and have been moved here
so it's not an overall net increase to
the general fund it's just moving where
the money is all right well that's reing
that it's probably both it's probably it
is moving money and there's a net
increase it's not anywhere near like
what it looks like here we we had in the
in the process of our early draft from
the budget I just felt like we had s
Ware really inconsistently applied it
was showing up in some budgets not in
others and I just said let's get all the
software into the technology budget and
then I wanted it and then we broke it
out as you can see in the latest draft
that's new to this draft where
we showed which I know some of you are
looking at this but we
showed right and that'll we'll true that
up so it makes more sense
um and we can also do an analysis that
shows you what the net effect is when we
moved it from other other uh other
budgets just to give some clarity the
theory here is that next year it'll be a
lot more obvious like what are we doing
and where what is driving the cost
increases we just I know that this cost
center has continued to increase because
of a variety of factors we are more
reliant on technology technology is
becoming more expensive um and so I
wanted to really show by function what
that was breaking out to Mr mCP um so
where would where does like Dropbox and
the Google Suite where did those
expenses flow within the it
budget the drop Google Suite is under
Citywide I
believe uh which Dropbox may be as well
I'm not sure it's relatively minimal
compared to anything else we had oh okay
so it's under the Citywide line item is
that like a third party vendor that that
bu bundles these solutions for us we uh
Google is through a third party vendor
it's it has to be uh because we have to
go through a government um certified
vendor is Citywide that vendor no no
Citywide just means a function is the
city it a Citywide expense center it's
not thank you it's not to a specific
cost center got it okay oh I see what
you're saying yeah okay we use Citywide
for that um like Nationwide okay it's on
your side yeah and then Mr Silverman and
then Mr I think mat I got a followup
question um when it comes to software
licenses I'm accustomed to like a base
fee and then seat licenses that come
with that um have can you maybe explain
to me like the rationalization that goes
through on seat licenses because I see a
lot of leakage in seat licenses where
we've overbought subscriptions for
licenses and they're not not being used
the way that the license itself will
justify it so to me it's just that on I
just want to understand that ongoing
process of just rationalizing seat
licenses to see if there aren't dollars
that yes so two things I want to answer
Mr Hurley's question um Affiliated
Resource Group as far as cyber security
that's who our third party is but back
to your question I think one of the
things in and you know obviously in in
this role of um having it report up
through us is learning even more so
that's something that I'll get with Eric
and and try to really pill back um I've
asked those types of questions as well
um and the other thing I've asked you
know I talk process over people to
understand our process what how do we if
Eric is out how do I know that this is
the seventh year of a seven-year license
agreement and we have planned in a
predictive model to be able to see and
project out what that looks like so
we'll continue to build a very robust
model that will have all of these the
licenses agreements the time frame to
know what and when they are expiring as
to also justifying um and just looking
at that so that's something that that
we're working on and I can I can
probably answer most of that question
which is we don't actually have that
many seat licensed cost centers Google
Apps is one of them where it is by user
and we routinely audit that and we check
because it shows us who's logged in
because we're always hungry for more
licenses and our first we're not going
out and buying more licenses before
confirming that we can clear them up the
vast majority of our software Suites are
priced based upon the function so
building Department how big is your
building how many permits that's priced
on the volume that we're doing Finance
is the same thing um I'm less familiar
with our future cat RMS in terms of how
that's priced but we just don't have
that many cost centers where it's seat
license based okay okay
thanks Mr Silverman yeah um I know with
with recent uh cyber attacks to
municipalities cities and and companies
is there any expense for training for
the staff to to be able to be aware of
you know fishing attempts and other ways
that they access monthly yeah it's the
it built it's a Meme here in the city
we've been doing we have it we have it
across the board I'm sure yeah we've
been doing the F the cyber security
training for several years in fact we've
sort of joked that if we could train as
well as we do with cyber security and
other areas we would have a much better
trained staff um it's it's borderline
harassment the amount of cyber security
training we do so
that is part of our our our current um
process one thing's changed a little bit
is Eric is now working with Emily to
sort of steer an overarching program of
training so it's part of as opposed to
just all these different stylos of
training is that just is that inside of
one of these software Suites yep uh it's
sorry Chief I'm answering to many
question go no you're fine I believe
it's within cyber security no before is
the vendor that we use for cyber
security training
yeah it's good stuff inside man I I
um
I um yes no yeah we we have
swag
don't and you know part of our um and I
guess to put some closure on this part
of that cyber security is the Dual
authentication and making sure that
we're completely compliant and meeting
insurance provider Etc so we are um you
know I have to say Eric does a lot but
as I've shared with him there's so much
behind the scenes we really haven't
taken a comprehensive look to show the
very robust product that he's producing
and tracking um we're putting together
some data collection and seeing the cost
for service types of cost so you'll see
a very different work product this time
next year with what we've already been
doing I will also uh give kudos to your
auditor Matthew mCP
who has been um very focused on this
issue as well making sure that you know
he understands what we're doing
reviewing the audits that we've had and
the future audits we have planned and
the and the compliance measures uh that
we're rolling out so that's an ongoing
conversation G tell him it's none of his
business but yeah please ask yeah no no
clapping
for that's
Mark uh yeah I lost my visual there back
oh yeah uh we enjoy do link so much in
Ohio State thanks for bringing it to my
city experience too so uh yeah so you
know this is such a large expense and
it's you know it's almost kind of
shapeless I'm I'm glad to see that we're
not seeing a
46% just total increase that would be
pretty alarming for the for the future
here I guess this box that we have at
the bottom here what maybe is going to
be helpful is if we can see this box
with these
numbers what's in this 155 versus what's
in the
261 am I interpreting that correctly
because some of these numbers are not
going to appear in the 155 right so when
we're seeing 46 we're accounting for an
increase in cost but we're also
accounting for things that have popped
up in this version of the budget and
it'll really be 179 that is a very
tightly managed line item it'll be the
full budget for the year spent by the
end of the year so that might be more
helpful yeah that makes sense we can
prepare that I also want to call one
thing out that we haven't mentioned
which is that the water line item
23,500 that's a philosophical change and
we're going to talk about that more when
we get to the water fund we have taken
some water fund expenses that are in the
Enterprise fund water fund and we've
moved them into the general fund that's
one of those so that's that's an example
of we'll talk about that more when we
get to water department there's a reason
we're doing that but that's another
that's another new cost center to this
budget so you're gonna we're GNA provide
for you a breakdown by function of what
is budgeted in this current 24 year bu
to 2024 budget for Tech so you can see
that and then and then maybe we'll show
what's budgeted in other accounts today
in 24 so that you can see the net change
and what's moving over yeah I think I I
need to take a look at that before I
know if I have a question okay thanks
yep
our next budget is the boards and
commissions just kidding our next
presentation is the capital fund of
technology so these are large oneoff
equipment
purchases uh that
is
in your
here's capital budget that's a
sheet so since we're talking
technology we're bringing
in we just while we're on the topic
we're trying to cover the capital fund
items that apply to those accounts this
year as opposed to throwing the whole
capital budget at you at
once so these are major uh oneoff like
software deployments we already
mentioned mayor's court softare and also
equipment uh Chief if you want to
present
that which portion
sir the capital budget in general for
technology really a lot of itself s
expor but I will do my best to answer
what I can with u the information that I
have on some of those and again I think
much of them is just upgrades that are
needed I don't know that there's any new
technologies I think many of these are
replacement yes is true
so similar to what we see in the police
department a end of life and just from a
preventative maintenance and then a lot
of that is just the the cost of doing
business at at this higher rate and what
we're seeing with um equipment needs as
well as the software and Hardware so
Cisco phone system is our VoIP uh phone
system it is uh it's been over 10 years
since the server has been replaced and
the system has been updated um Mayor's
Court software we mentioned
already um our PC and Hardware refresh
is just very old PCS that need replaced
um Wi-Fi I know you guys love our Wi-Fi
so hopefully this new generation of
equipment will be helpful um VIP is our
uh finance software and it does require
an non- premisis migration and then
there's a quality insurance software for
recording at the dispatch uh Center the
PD that's what that final Lem is Mr
Hurley uh just a two-part question kind
of bringing in our previous conversation
about software licensure maintenance is
there a software lure component for any
of these Capital upgrades and is that
reflected in fy2 or if not what is the
future cost just trying to see if this
because obviously capital is one time
what's sort of the operating piece to
this in the future if any the mayor's
court software will have a have an
ongoing we currently have ongoing with
it Megan is that increasing or similar
okay okay so negligible increase in
software license maintenance as a result
of these very important onetime Capital
Improvements that's correct good thank
you Mr mCP um like Cisco phone system um
I have not used the Cisco phone in five
years because everything's migrated to
the cloud or coming through teams or
some other application has that been
evaluated or do we need to keep a Cisco
system for
what we
do I know I can answer this sir yes sir
please
please I'm I'm with you I think um we've
we've looked at can we kind of take take
can we offline what we're doing right
now with our phone system um or look for
other options um the amount of switching
that we're doing and going between the
different functions it makes it very
difficult for us to get like super
creative with some of the less
conventional
Solutions yeah transfers um uh
the I'm not going to say it well I just
know that we've looked at different
solutions and found that less
conventional Solutions don't work as
well because we have such a volume of
phone call we have a lot of phone call
servicing and um we have invested in
making sure that those phones can to be
taken in a remote Office application and
that they
more creative sort of barebone solutions
haven't made sense for us as we've as
we've investigated them now I am that is
a few years old knowledge so I'm not
sure if there's been more research since
then that you know about I'd have to
check because I really don't know but I
will tell you just again going back from
a police side that the you know if we go
down and the ability to transfer it in
all functions and how critical that is
is it's just a a real time example where
that is needed
and um you know we can definitely get
you some more information and be able to
to um figure out what is going to be
best practice moving forward but I do
know from that dispatch operation
specifically then obviously looking at
the city as a whole so we could could
definitely have a breakdown do have
pretty rigorous needs for dis yeah and
it's a big it's a big ticket um I see a
lot of this just ultimately going to the
cloud but like I said I I'm assuming
there are unique reasons why we need to
have this type of Technology but um it'd
be Cisco will sell you a cloud-based
solution yeah oh I bet they will yeah um
I believe that we're still I believe
we're still hosting locally as opposed
to their cloudbased solution because was
so financially just
disadvantageous um we do need to have
Rock Solid technology um with redundancy
because of our police function and it a
lot of that is falling within the 911
which is a separate system from this but
but Cisco also plays into the uh
standard day-to-day dispatching Mr
Marcelino yeah anecdotally I would
highly recommend again set for the
issues that you raised also the call
volume I'll just say from our business
we switch to one of these voiceover
internets uh away from the Cisco phone
system and it's been quite a night there
um for us with call Quality ability to
transfer effectively Etc so I think for
uh our position it makes more sense to
keep this going until they maybe Shore
up that technology personally
any other
questions the only thing I would if you
can go back to that I just I want to go
on the record and say I think looking at
technology Capital Fund in this way
gives Council a really comprehensive
look at how many different
functionalities within this city there
are you're calling out from VIP and
payroll to looking at software recording
the mayor's court um phones for the
entire City so this really is the the
point of breaking out the it is to give
you this very comprehensive Deep dive
from a line item per se and seeing how
robust it really is for our
city boards and
commissions uh very very little change
in that we did create a line item the
environmental sustainability advisory
committee had asked for some funds uh
for them to be able to
uh have communication campaigns and some
of their own um some of their own budget
so we've allotted 2500 uh for that
function um we've also slightly reduced
tree
commission
um Mr mercel yes uh so with these two
notes Here uh first for continued
funding for overtime for clerical
support of the various boards and
commissions um just looking at this does
any of that fall underneath
what was already presented by Mr Kingler
here in terms of the contract
professional because I know for example
Karen boor used to do some of this and I
thought that we were transferring that
to a new position for the assistant in
your department but so I'm just trying
to First understand
that currently most of our minutes are
coming um in this most of these are from
Elizabeth Elman okay who uh has does
hourly work doing uh board and
commission minutes you note that nothing
has been spent on this uh we we recently
found that we weren't pulling that from
the right cost center so that that will
get adjusted um and um Colleen I'm not
sure if if she's set to do more work
like that not not currently um I wasn't
gonna have her doing minutes but um the
the work that Colleen does is more the
group notices the building of the
agendas the organizing of documents UPF
front I think the I think the clerical
support you're talking about is just
simply taking meeting minutes right
typing up meeting minutes yeah I mean
that's something something we can look
into so and we have a variety of Staff
doing some different boards and
commissions there's not really a cost
differential between Coline or some of
the other staff members where we have
working on this okay and then just
secondary there I note that there's so
$2500 to EAC is there no overlap with
the uh development budget that includes
includ sustainability
programs do you have any insight into
that Meg if you can tell me next time if
you don't know I'm just gonna ask it
though no no no um so so there isn't
overlap they they're distinct goals um
of those um so that Elizabeth does serve
as the Le on to EAC um but they do have
kind of their own programs and
initiatives and and requested
funding year
yeah I see on page 40 you have the
community Improvement Corporation listed
as a board but I don't see any line item
for them on the
expenditures sure um so Mr Silberman um
last uh last time we discussed budget we
went over the general to help answer
that question i' recommend you go to
page eight um the cic as you may or may
not know does generate some of its own
Revenue um from the ownership of various
properties and the collection of grent
on those properties um so much so that
in the past the cic has been able to pay
back the city um anything from 220 to
$176,000 in recent years um and that
actually went to support um Debt Service
on the city hall little set up there
that that service is now complete um so
to help fund future cic initiatives
we're proposing that we stop the
repayment from the CIT cic to the city
so they can start building kind of their
poppers for future property acquisition
and to be clear there not really there
are no cic cost centers in this in this
board's and commission's budget so that
I listed it's listed on 40s but did not
reflected so it's still captured as a a
board in commission even though it
doesn't have any right it's just perhaps
that narrative doesn't exist or doesn't
uh long right
there city council the hardest
working board that we have
um no change to this budget
although you are welcome to make any
changes you wish I'm going to pull that
up just
to to remind you what's on here there's
some your iies is I think the largest
piece of it but then also um
codification runs through this
department and then some discretionary
uh spending um for whether it's for
Retreats or for special projects that
you all
want no questions
sorry now we are moving on to page
44 through
46 local celebrity Chief Gary D Lewis to
present the uh police department
budget hello
again um no Staffing changes proposed
you know we are in a very fortunate
place with the beex police department
being fully staffed as we know
throughout the city state and the
country many agencies are seeing
significant decreases and um you know we
are very proud to be at 100% um as far
as highlights um we are end of life on a
lot of our equipment so there are some
requests to get some uh updated
equipment uh some needs a lot of that
looking at just providing the level of
service for our residents from uh speed
and enforcement to radio
communications um the leads contract I
mentioned earlier and and just that
increased funding with that um that's
something that all agencies across the
state are having to to manage as you
know a few years ago we had created our
Emergency Management program we continue
to have a lot of success with that so
continue that funding there um as you
know we are in year two of our four-year
plan in seeking national accreditation
through uh Kalia and so we continue that
and and um uh as you know our community
relations and really being very
deliberate in the things that we've been
doing as a community and even tonight
with our citizens Police Academy
graduation being here tonight I think
continues to show and highlight um that
we take a lot of great pride and and um
devote a lot of resources to those
initiatives and
efforts um Miss
F me
over this and I missed it can you just
share with us what records management
what um yes ma'am so um you know we have
a public records manager who manages the
public records for the city and this
that U software would give us the
ability as calls um requests are coming
into the city to track um that
information and to triage it
significantly better right now we have a
multitude of ways but this would
centralize
that oh no ma'am you're
fine just on a lighter note I don't know
who picked the images in the 2025 budget
book but I greatly appreciate the police
department image I think I I recognize
that kid very yes very
adorable you're talking about officer
Sher yes
M well I my kids take after their mother
thankfully
so any other
questions Chief talk to me about
marketing
um what are some plans with the budget
with marketing you know I think we
continue and have just really build a
brand for our police department and um
continued marketing goes to not just the
um the deliverables you know I'll use
just our interaction this week and being
able to provide giveaways to our kids
and so that is that marketing material
to give back to um to our students to
our residents and continue to find ways
to do that and many of the giveaways
there but also opportunities such as we
did in safety patrol and others and I
think we're going to continue to build
relationships um in any way we can and
be able to provide that um we just um
this week just as an FY
Afrocentric is partnering with us we're
going to adopt 20 families from
Afrocentric and provide a partnership
and adopt families for turkeys and
giveaways and so that's a part of our
marketing as well as the deliverables
and we'll have officers there with these
families and students so I'm very proud
of the work that we've been doing in
marketing policing and community
relations great work um the community
housing styen how many uh do we have
participating in that now so we're um
we've got four who are um all actually
five in the city but four all in the
same area um but we have five in the
city right now so it's going it's really
going very great great work might need
to
that
okay
Silverman we projected increased with
parking control I know we have some
ordinances that are pending related to
the EV parking
we have 2500 dedicated to that no sir I
think we're good um uh our teams met
with the mayor today and I think that
we've found a resolution that would
enable us the ability to work together
um targeting having our current role
with our parking enforcement during the
day and then looking at our midnight
shift to really with the overnight
parking and that to be a part of routine
Patrol a lot of what we're doing in high
visibility and checking our parks
is to um do random checks and so that
would incorporate that so I think we'll
be able to do it without that extra
piece um and that's just as of um even
this morning and expenses for the
program will be netted out from the
revenue coming in in the meters so
that's not going to be a separate line
atem makes
sense there's no golf cart uh
no this again tracks to the uh the
capital budget which is in your agenda
so
that dollar figure in theory tracks over
but there was a change which is the
ladder and the software and software
okay
so this permanent ladder and this
software um it's not actually is is in
the next version of the budget next
version of the capital budget you see is
not those are not going to be in there
and the reason is that we had um found
some existing Monies to be able to do
with the repairs um on the roof and so
we were able to use existing monies and
that's why that came off for next year
um as far as capital for what we're
looking at one of the Dynamics you know
as we continue to look at how do we
police and engage with our community
differ and proactively the electric
bikes is one of the ways that we hope to
do that this really would be a pilot for
us looking at two electric bikes and
just again changing how we provide a
level of service and deliverables to our
citizens um the other items really
between the end of life and or just
adding some additional elements and and
just providing that high visibility um
so for example as many of you know we
get a lot of traffic complaints and so
um adding to additional lasers give
officers the tools needed to be able to
enforce speed the portable radios those
are end of life um they're about $7,500
each um and so um we just need five
Replacements and we're we're trying to
peac mail that but um in the past we've
had some grants um those some of those
monies are just not available with the
fleet replacement that's just really
just we're still playing catchup since
covid and just trying to uh upgrade our
Fleet and Transit iing some of the older
ones out um windows again that's that
preventative maintenance with our
facility looking at the age of of the
building itself and trying to to do
something with the the windows as the
building has shifted and um having some
significant um uh seals that have been
broken um same with the heat pump and
then uh just some standard range repair
stuff for for the facility itself
so really two questions one um you know
I had an opportunity early in my term to
you know spend a day at the police
department and shat out some of your
officers and I'm curious you have a
motorcycle um I know but I know we don't
have a lot of officers that actually
have the appropri license to drive it is
that any thoughts on on utilizing that
you know we do just not very often um I
think that um it's a great marketing
piece we do it a lot of our community
events and have it available but from an
enforcement perspective having worked
motor and the officer safety Dynamics
I'm just not a big fan typically you
want two officers there's just a lot
that goes with that but from a marketing
piece you know I think it's a great tool
but it's just not a true enforceable
vehicle um the the ebikes you know goes
back to what we're doing you know we're
actually going getting out uh vehicles
and doing foot patrols the electric bike
would give us just that much more
visibility and get officers comfortable
when not always going to that car and I
think you know although we've teased a
lot about the golf cart but there is a
lot of benefit in that City resource and
what that is doing and engaging and
getting officers a lot closer to our
citizens and second question is more of
a curiosity when you decommission a
vehicle does it is there like a market
for that do you sell it in we sell it um
and that money comes back into the
general awesome Yep so when you say you
fleet Fleet replacement three new
vehicles does that mean three vehicles
are being decommissioned or um some of
it is replacement um some might be an
addition it just depends and again we're
trying to play catchup and that's every
law enforcement agency um and the
country is faced with um with that and
that's because of the chips and just
trying to to catch up with that so um so
we're doing the best that we can and and
um doing it in a way that's efficient
and it just makes sense thank you Mr M
is that so the fleet replacement so
those are three new police cars correct
and they cost 45,000 each um so you got
to remember that the the amount of the
vehicle it differs so we've included um
light bars radios full it's less lower
amount than I would have thought per car
just knowing all that so that's I guess
I think I yeah so this particular so
this round what we're looking at um yeah
so what we've what we've not done in the
past is look at our detected Bureau
specifically and said you know typically
they've gotten that vehicle that's got
200,000 miles on it and so now we're
going to be intentional with our
detective Bureau and look to to outfit
them in particular because we're in a
really good position in our Patrol side
to where we have not been this
intentional and said hey wait a minute
let's not give them the the old stuff
okay so these are not Patrol Vehicles
correct these would be for our uh Patrol
unit in in that uh detected have all the
lights I feel like they'll still have
them in material the only difference
they won't have the exterior markings
thank you yes sir absolutely yes sir
okay yeah yeah and we would stay
consistent with what the city policy is
with going um electric and there's also
some rebates there so we've done a lot
of research and and looking at that also
these would be electric vehicles yes sir
okay got
y fully
electric um any need for uh body cameras
are we all set on um yes ma'am so you
know I think that as um end of life
continues we will really comprehens ly
I'd love to be able to first um look at
some um Grant monies before we come to
council and exhaust that um prior to and
next year um you know part of you know
it's hard to believe that um I'm in
going into my third year and looking at
that three-year strategic plan but that
will be in the next plan for us as we're
coming to a close of of of um of that
strategic initiative and that is
definitely something we're looking at is
just continuing to have state-of-the-art
of equipment um provide that for our
officers and the software to to to
maintain and keep up with that great and
then flock cameras are we is That's So
So Close we are so close we are um about
nine of them are installed we ran into
some challenges with um power sources
and then having to contract out to Jess
Howard to actually do the work um we
thought it might be something we could
do internally but we've had to work with
Jess Howard on that got it I know how
that feels
guys one you've been waiting for It's
the final presentation for the budget
this evening I'm gonna go back to the
mayor's and City Hall Department flip
back to the front no page 47 other
health and safety um this is kind of a a
downer
few budgets here actually um the fire
contract that is contractual with the
city of Columbus the way our fire
contract works is we pay the cost of one
Fire battalion worth of personnel and we
pay for depreciation on a fire truck so
one 12th of the cost of a new
engine um so the the increase is 11 84%
on this and that's because Columbus fire
renegotiated uh their contract and had
haded a substantial increase in their
Pace that's what we're seeing with that
increase um I'm sure you know this but
it is much more cost effective to have a
contract with Columbus even with the
increase and I'm happy to share that
analysis with you although Troy Markham
I believe would probably volunteer to be
a volunteer fire department with me a
fire fire firefighter with me we oh
yeah um lad I went yeah our disaster
contract with Franklin County Emergency
Management has also gone up although
that's a fair it's like $222,000 line so
fairly minimal health department has
kept their increase quite low this year
but the mosquito contract has gone up so
that leads uh into a just under a 5%
increase uh between the mosquito
contract and fron County Public Health
again these are all cont contractual
obligations
um and there is good sense in not having
our own health department either from a
financial perspective so um as much as
Alex wants us to start taking on our own
food safety
inspections smok and
fire any
questions those are all page 4
all right I think
every else is just left over from before
um that that is an ominous slide right
there that's
uh um that concludes tonight's budget
presentation thanks for getting through
it uh next week we will be going through
service and
wreck and uh also revisit our capital
budget and we will have all directors
on hand to answer questions as we wrap
that presentation up right back here
same time same place backto back Council
meetings that's
right for the turkey
holiday we do honor the turkey here City
Hall all right we're back to it
everybody else forgets about the turkey
it doesn't get a day I know I think but
butter turkeys doesn't get a day I think
that's all right all right official
we're ready second reading ordinance
36-24 to authorize the mayor and auditor
to enter into a contract between the
city of Bexley and Franklin County
Public Health introduced by Mr
Hurley all right well uh this was a nice
segue from uh our previous budget slide
so this is the second reading on our
annual contract with Franklin County
Public Health I have nothing to add I
don't know mayor Kesler if there's
anything to add here I have nothing to
add no um I would just say again that
Franklin County Public Health remains a
great partner um I don't know how folks
feel about putting this on the consent
agenda with our usual president not here
but we discussed it at pre-council and
she was good with it okay in that case
yes i' say we put this on the consent
agenda all right moving on to a second
reading of ordinance 37-24 approving
supplemental Appropriations in the 2024
budget of $30,000 Jeffrey summer camp s
snw before and after care snw Recreation
professionals and $4,000 I'm sorry
$4,000 recreational professionals and
$4,000 recreational special activities
to pay the additional cost associated
with an increase in programming
introduced by m zad yes this ordinance
is to pay the additional Associated cost
um with the increase in programming at
Park and wreck they are looking um and
an estimated 177,000 overall and a net
positive projected to offset
this as laurianne our Lea is on to park
and wre says snap snap good job Park and
wreck um any questions on this
ordinance all right I actually have one
mrle uh is this meance appropriate for
the consent agenda the next meeting so
that was brought up by um president
lampy at our pre-council meeting and
just because of the high dollar amounts
that are associated it with it I wanted
it to go to three readings okay great
question all right ordinance 38-24 to
establish the water and sewer raids
charged by the city of Bexley introduced
by
mad yes so the city of Columbus is
responsible for our 7% increase in water
and our 6% increase in our sewer
rates so so that's what's
happening what can we do about it mayor
you can choose not to pass on the
increase but the water and sewer fund
will go bankrupt so there it
is any questions on this to simple of a
calculus but that's the that's the
math consent
agenda I don't
like yeah I think three makes sense so
nobody says it's slid through we'll also
have conversation at the next budget uh
meeting where we talk about what we are
doing to alleviate the pressure on
especially the water fund um that really
explain how the rating works and why
it's necessary and and what we're
getting out of it all right thank you
mayor moving right along all right
ordinance 39-24 to establish
compensation rates for non-bargaining in
employees of the city of Bexley effect
of January 1st 2025 introduced by Ms sad
if we could pull up the attachment on
this ordinance just to kind of review
um the nice explanation that we have
with a seven-step
process there does a nice job
of explaining this
one oh the
recital
yes the exhibit
any questions from Council on the second
reading of ordinance
39-24 would you like me to quickly just
for any new C or anyone who hasn't seen
this recently explain this process great
thanks mayor so um we do have a seven
step
process uh and uh it it's spread over
you know 18 years to reach maturity in
these paay scales um employees are hired
in if they were brand new to the
workplace they would theoretically be
hired in year One Step One um we do
often recruit employees who have past
experience so they might be brought in
at a higher step but that it makes sort
of a predictable increase um basically
sort of paying somebody into maturity
into these into these roles um and so
what you're seeing is the chart of
allowed pay many of our employees are
spread all throughout these different
steps based upon their you know their
years of service and their experience
with the
city thank you
yeah all right moving on to Second
reading of resolution 10-24 confirming
the mayor's appointments to members of
the community Improv Corporation board
Mr
Hurley um so second reading on said
resolution uh mayor we do not have a
fourth name at this time correct I have
a I think my final interview tomorrow
morning at Starbucks if you want to guys
want to crash it it'll be around 830 I
think uh so I I you know I'm I'm next
week I should have a name for you high
likelihood of an amendment and third
reading and vote next week excellent
thank
you okay moving on to first reading of
ordinance
40-24 amending section 266.00 of the
city of Beckley codified ordinances Mr
Hurley thank you um so with this
ordinance we are adopting
recommendations of our records
commission and I want to give um both
attorney official and mayor Kesler some
time to explain this in
depth I think it's a little it's pretty
straightforward but I'll let you guys
yeah in our last records commission
meeting we realized that city council by
order and sets the rates for what we can
charge for public records um as you
folks may know the city has done a Yan's
job in getting us up to speed on some
public record stuff and really ahead of
the curve um and you vet win from you
know PD has has taken the Sun and done a
great job and it just makes sense that
as technology changes as cost changes
it's very cumbersome to just come back
to city council and say can we charge 10
cents page so the recommendation is to
allow the city that's the records
commission to set the cost which can
only be actual cost of the medium um
that it's provided so if so um but to
allow them to set the cost yeah I I
appreciate that because there are sort
of within case law in Ohio there are
some guard rails on this that would
prevent us or prevent anyone from you
know charging an unreasonable or
excessive fee so it really is the cost
to produce and nothing more um I would
also just say anecdotally is somebody
that again in my day job I do a lot in
the news media public record space I
mean whether it's the responsiveness of
our city staff or information available
on our website we we are I think well
ahead of a lot of other communities in
terms of just access and transparency so
kudos to you I have I've had to do some
pretty extensive records request
research projects and I can say um not
everyone is running things the way we do
so yeah I think we're we're very
transparent as a city so a lot of places
created as it's my record but it's
really the public record so I don't even
know how I could create a compact disc
frankly I know with the name of our
computer so we have flash drive flash
drives and it costs us more than five
cents per page to make a copy
unfortunately yes any questions I
guess any questions all right okay
all right um tabled ordinances or is
there any action on any tabled
ordinances
tonight uh no we should be back maybe
next week with some action of the table
ordinance Mr Silverman we will uh
discuss that I think we have come up
with a good solution after uh police
department's had more chance to uh
research uh the different Tech solutions
to enforcement sounds great and then Mr
s lman I'll just ask that you follow up
with president lampy if that's the case
thank
you all right public comments um at this
time a speaker slip is required and um
we would we would need to hand in
speaker slips I told president lampia to
mention that tonight and then moving on
we've got finance committee chair Jess
sad what is my report
tonight uh my report is that on a April
7th
2025 is the um BR the the night that the
Education Foundation will host Bravo
back at St Charles High School they are
now accepting donations um looking for
experiences or stays if anyone here on
Council has any you know connections
which I know you all do and would like
to get something over to the Education
Foundation I can connect you um with the
chair that'll be collecting all that end
of report trip CIU and the college
football
fo and up next put my other hat on okay
up next Recreation and Parks committee
laui andne Bible yeah reck had their
board meeting last week it was a it was
a great meeting the highlight of it was
Lauren Miller's report about uh if you
recall she's the woman who takes care of
leases of um the mansion and the
Carriage Court um they have they had a
10% increase in the Carriage Court last
year um they are really interested in
upping increasing non-residential
rentals um they feel like they've maxed
out with the residential they feel like
people really know about you know this
as a venue um inside of Exley but they'd
like to venture forth so look for them
to be doing some more online and um up
the website and they're also going to be
streamlining uh the rental policiy so
look for that um so they they also
applauded some of the events that they
had of of late Harvest Festival was a
half an hour longer um we had
292 middle schoolers attend the
Halloween bash so do you recommend
future future programming for the middle
school hall 192 and that was up from 231
the year before um
131 was down from the 163 for the adults
so I expect to see all of you in costume
next year and to applaud them from
excuse me from all of
us I had my meeting with Mike price on
Monday to for get getting ready for the
budget and um as a yay you did such a
great job with the Halloween stuff um
the rec department had milkshake Monday
I took milkshakes for the entire Rec
staff as a thank you from all of us for
what great things that they do
so um one more thing St Charles lost in
the last seconds of the game for States
and it was questionable right because in
soccer it has to be in the goal not
coming off your foot but maybe we need
video recording in the future very sad
so end of
report used by the referees let me
finish my um thank you lauriana
milkshake Monday genius I'm gonna steal
that great idea for something love it
moving right along service and
environmental committee Mr
Silverman um just wanted to have a
belated uh appreciation for Veterans Day
this past Monday um as we alluded to
earlier Main Street banners for vets
went up this month and will stay up for
the remainder of November um I do plan
to recognize uh Cadet Fu uh we were
probably going to wait till after budget
but he was uh a main point of contact
and worked on every aspect of this
project he's a student at Capital in the
RTC program um and I want to make sure
that we bring him in and recognize him
for the work that he put in there was a
story we were did the ceremony and there
was a 102 year old vet that was in the
hospital and Cadet F drove to James
Hospital down at OSU and picked up a
hard copy photo so we can get the banner
Banner made and his dedication to the to
the whole uh idea and event was greatly
appreciated so I wanted to make sure
that we uh recognize capital rgc and all
the veterans in our city and and the
sacrifice they put in for the duty of
this country in the
report thank you Alex um zoning and
development committee Mr Marcelino
nothing thank
you strategic and health committee Mr
Hurley no report this week thank you
Safety Committee Mr Markham shout out to
the uh pole workers who put in 15h hour
days last week and for the community
yeah and for the community for coming
out to vote uh big big community event
here in Beckley nice day
too and with that we are adjourned
thanks to Patty