and good and they are kind and I know
that we all stand with them we support
them but most of all we truly appreciate
each and every neighbor resident family
member um so with Thanksgiving coming up
I just wanted to make sure that I
extended my sincere thanks to all of
you um that is my president report uh Mr
Marcelino I like Council know that you'd
be just a few minutes late so welcome um
Mr fishal to you for the City attorney
report yeah actually I wasn't going to
say anything about this but in in in
terms of the um in terms of the idea of
thankfulness again I am so thankful not
just for all you folks but the community
we live in you know just today um as you
guys may know Sarah McBride um is a
congresswoman elect from I think
Delaware she is the first openly
transperson to be elected to congress
and just to today as a Democrat and just
today several people from the other
party have decided to uh introduce a
bill prohibiting her from using
bathrooms that are um that she would
prefer to use so we are very for I mean
she is so brave to even do that it's
amazing we are very fortunate that we
live in in such an open and uh accepting
Community um and you know but we also
have to continue to be very diligent
realizing that we are in a little bit of
a good bubble here in Bexley but I am
very thankful for being able to have
found my way to Bexley many many years
ago and still hanging out here so end of
report thank you Mr official we are
especially appreciative of you and your
advice that you give us on an ongoing
basis well that just shows poor judgment
on your part that's right um Mr mCP over
to you for the auditor report no auditor
report all right Mr Mayor over to you
for administrative updates please thank
you madam president I'm going to pull up
our updates on the system
here
um first off I'm very excited to have
Mike Price and Andy Bayshore here with
us tonight to talk budget we've got
their presentations coming up I want to
again as always thank our budget team
the dynamic duo of Megan Meyer and Terry
Martin uh for uh continue to work really
hard to get through this process um only
a week between Council meetings it's
been especially exciting so it's been
good um I do want to say something real
quickly uh you know it made national
news uh when a group of Nazi protesters
or I'm not sure what they were if
they're protesters na Nazi Nazis na
Nazis individuals of Nazi persuasion uh
walk the streets of Columbus with really
vile flags and symbology and and chance
um you know it wasn't in Bexley but we
can't watch that happen in our region
without commenting that we are a uh a
region I think that believes in or that
rejects hate but we're definitely a city
that rejects hate and it has no place in
Bexley and we have a um thriving Jewish
community and so I think it important
that anytime we see anything like that
we stand up and say it's wrong it's not
just wrong it's abhorent it's vile it's
evil
um it's sickening and I think we need to
call it out every time we see it so I
wanted to reiterate that I know that
we've we put some stuff out on social
media um we have some upcoming one
Bexley events we're going to
specifically maybe tailor some things in
the wake of that uh we have a meeting
tomorrow about that but I just wanted to
say
that on a lighter note we had third
graders from cassingham elementary here
this morning tomorrow we have CSG third
formers form three form three thank you
uh so this will have had Marilyn and
mant so we're getting through our final
uh Council uh mock Council meetings
which has been great I did want to share
with you guys what was voted on at
Chambers here uh the first group voted
uh
70 in favor of uh crossing guards on
Cassidy so as you can see on Cassidy for
cassingham students as you can see
student safety continues to be top of
mind and not unrelated the second group
voted
43 in favor of but it was a close vote
and the mayor chose not to veto it it
was a close vote 43 in favor of more
signage oh in
general wayf finding signs regulatory
signs literally they any type of sign
you can imagine they wanted more of them
so that that's what happened here
today so more signs and more crossing
guards um but it did give us an
opportunity again to reiterate all the
safety rules and it's man's do a great
job we're not feeding these topics
they're coming up and so uh students are
clearly hearing a lot about safety from
parents and while uh it is adorable to
have third graders here one of the
things we shared today is like it's not
getting safer to be a pedestrian in
America it's not getting safer like the
The Pedestrian and the cyclist hit
statistics are up nationally um and it's
very concerning as a leader to know that
and to just think about no matter how
many signs we put up no matter how many
medians we put out and bump outs we
still have to be really focused on that
so it was a good reminder um I W to
spend some time as you can see I have a
fairly sparse update that's really
focused mostly on upcoming events um and
you heard enough from me last week with
a longer written update but I do want to
I want to ask us to go into sort of
brainstorming mode for a second not
introducing Limitless dialogue president
ly but I do want to talk about a couple
things that are top of Mind as we try to
administer our code effectively um one
of them is um You're gonna laugh at me
but I overheard some conversation about
this before the meeting I already
intended to bring it up to you guys is
the um
preponderance of lawn ornaments that are
becoming
more full-time all year round right so
we jokingly have received some
complaints about the north stwood Santas
but those are seasonal and they come and
go we have a really adorable uh very
large skeleton I mean how tall is it
think 15 feet
tall and one of the houses um that has
been for the past year decorated with a
variety of you know I feel like a gr
uation cab might have been on there at
some point in time I don't think they're
IU fans
unfortunately um but like a you know but
that's been year round and now we have
at least one more of those that now is
decorated with Christmas lights and
technically we have code against it and
so I don't
know I don't want to be the Grinch that
stole 365 days of skeleton but at what
point in time do we want to start
enforcing against that is it something
where we just kind of let it ride we're
getting complaints in City Hall so we're
trying to figure out like is it worth uh
worth the time and the effort um I
wanted to open that up to the Brain
Trust because I didn't want to uh you
know act while it's consistent with our
code I don't want to kind
of I don't want to be out in the limb
that sense can I chck oh I'm sorry oh I
was just curious as it relates to the
skeleton have you had or has anyone from
the city had a direct just one-on-one
conversation with the homeowner just to
reiterate to them this is what our code
says and would you consider this I mean
no and I I we haven't done that
partially because okay I haven't really
felt it necessary the fact that we now
have more of them popping up
and we have more yeah more of the
tall I think that's what's engendering
the
complaints is the there's the more like
of the really tall ones that are getting
ostensibly going on Beyond Halloween
skeleton gate is what we call it here at
City Hall what what just what is our do
we have a restriction on height is that
a potential it could be viewed either as
a work of art that requires ARB approval
which is probably the route we would
take uh it could be viewed as a
accessory structure though I think
that's a bit of a stretch I think it's a
work of art that requires airb approval
yeah oh in defense of the skeletons they
are making them themed for the most part
towards the holiday which I find you
know kind of cool because different
right we are a unique community in a lot
of things I mean my my wife hates them I
don't care I I don't she can run for
Council that's right that's right next
year she can replace me but you know but
but seriously I mean I look I don't know
I don't know if we want to waste our
time with this right now there might be
bigger fish to fry until uh other
residents that really hate them come
forward so the other issue though is
that our regulations need to be content
neutral and if we say we're not going to
mess with the skeleton but assum
somebody puts uh from The River To The
Sea big old sign in their front yard you
know we're going to take that down and
we are going to be open to a potential
not likely but a potential First
Amendment lawsuit um because of not
being content neutral and allowing these
things until we get to be a sculpture of
some sort to be analogous but yeah the
signage has a separate okay it could be
a a ribbon then like we discussed with
yeah which we've had come up with I want
to keep my ribbon up because everybody
to support Israel because everybody all
these people of skeletons on attached to
their tree so again I you know I don't
want to be the Scrooge lawyer here but
it is not something that just say what I
don't think from a legal standpoint
there there is a slight
risk would a possible
[Music]
solution again keeping with the idea of
content
neutrality just beat us say you
know you you cannot leave any seasonal
decoration up for more than like two
just basically give them like if you put
this in your yard you start a two-month
clock when that clock expires take it
down and it's just whatever you're
putting in your yard if it's meets this
definition we can establish of a you
know festive
decoration you know I guess that's maybe
an indirect way to go at it I don't know
because then if you're if it's the same
thing you're changing the costume on
then in seasonal right yeah yeah I I I
yeah time limited time limited would be
maybe the only way I think we could go
with this is to say you know because I I
mean I have neighbors they put
Inflatables up and they have you know an
army of Inflatables but they change them
out for every you know holiday and but I
guess if somebody left an ornament up
for you know four months I'd kind of be
like all right let's take that down I
don't know that's probably the only way
I think we could go at it that I would
be open to supporting is a time a time
limit you know that sort of recognizes
that these Seasons rotate but that would
still be
tricky um all I can think is the phone
foone booth how is that different than
the than the skeleton I I mean I just
I'm not sure it's worth it Booth had to
go to ARB did it yes it got a letter
similar to what I talking about um what
would happen if we
simply uh sent people you know
the law you know just do you know do you
happen to know that this is the rules
look something like this oh we got them
they did come out and I just this one is
for unacceptable displays of Collegiate
fandm but unacceptable spelled
incorrectly so I don't really know that
this is a valid code that's what I
knew just
I just think that I don't know I have
the distinct feeling that the skeleton
at some point will come down
and cool I just wanted to raise it and
Mr
Markham I guess uh my input is if the
question is when is the time to enforce
the code on this then my input into that
is not
yet that's helpful I appreciate it
seriously because we do get we get the
calls oh sorry Miss s sorry it was yeah
um well I think it's important to
remember like when all of these things
did take off right and it was during the
pandemic when we needed some uplifting
and you know um to you know better
everyone's spirits and feel a sense of
unity when we weren't meeting on the
sidewalks as much and so that's really
when it took off and we we went big with
it you know this the uh Santas on um
Stanwood and and all of the things and
so I will say although we may be hearing
some things I I agree with Mr Marcelino
would be more like I would like to see
that in City Hall I do hear from the
kids they love it all they love it all
and a lot of them just gotten used to
like seeing these in certain areas so um
again I would probably say not yet but I
think it's good also to remember the
history of when this really took off in
our neighborhood and how it made people
feel yeah it's helpful I think um I I
sort of see a difference between
seasonal and permanent and I think we're
GNA have a hard time in the future
enforcing any sort of our our other the
phone booth type law you know so I think
there's going to come a time where we're
gonna have to reckon with this a little
bit but I'm comfortable with what you
guys were saying uh the other brainstorm
real quickly and this is a bigger
picture question for a future
uh a future conversation but we have
also gotten some complaints and I'm P
end up a street view here this is
ashorne uh place and I've had a couple
calls this week on our tree planting
program so ashborne is this is a really
unique Street this is the kind of curved
portion of ashborne and
the you can see there's a area where a
tree used to be kind of right there
these this front yard is actually city
rway um and we're going to have a
similar conversation coming up on dawon
and Plymouth but not a similar different
but uh property rights question I guess
so city right away and we've been
planting City trees in this area and you
can kind of see their Cadence so that's
a city tree that's uh an oak in the
Forefront right there that Oak has died
and been taken down um so it's a little
bit older and then there's another Oak
in the distance we planted an oak right
here uh and the resident um felt like
that was an encroachment in their front
yard and did not want that uh placed
there and we can't just put an oak back
where the other one was because of the
root ball and that root Zone it won't it
will not Thrive um also put another Oak
here where this where this tree was dead
and then further down the street sorry
there's a little lag between my screen
and what's coming up here further down
the street we do have slated for the
first time to have a tree
planted right in the middle of that yard
not in the middle but in the middle
there on the Where the Sidewalk is um
and that Resident strenuously does not
want to tree right there um what's a
little different here is we have shallow
Lots uh so like you know that does feel
a lot like it's all front yard um a
similar situation we have in the city is
cassingham south of main or of Broad
Street
where what's that no well maybe both
cassingham also North apparently but
South I I've heard it more south of
Broad Street where like between Powell
and Broad we have placed City trees and
front yards and people have felt like
hey this is my front yard I should be
able to do what I want with it it's a
little sticky because as we delved into
the code the code suggests that the city
has the ability to plant this and decide
the tree mission is really supposed to
be between the sidewalk and the curb
although they disagree with that we've
had some conversations about it so what
I think is more important is
philosophically we're going to be
talking about like when when do we have
the right to like no matter what put a
tree in and we feel that that's at least
the tree lawn you know between the curb
and the sidewalk we always have the
ability to plant a tree there but do we
always have the ability to plant a tree
here even if a resident doesn't want it
um it's City ride of way we it but it's
also feels a lot more like front yard
and so you don't even have to answer the
question now we can think about it you
can like happy to hear from you because
they are coming to tree commission
tomorrow I
think I've thought about it uh and and
and I would say no absolutely not it's
their front yard we're limited here I
think that if we wanted to encourage
them to State we're not going to plant
one here so we would encourage you to
plant one in your backyard or something
for the environment I'm okay with that
but in regards to somebody's front yard
the damage it can do in terms of the
grass and people trying to have a nice
manicured front lawn I think it can
upset it and this has comeing from
somebody who's ripped a tree out with
the roots and the impact that it has
later on down the road so I don't think
we should be forcing trees into people's
front yards just to have uh I I guess an
additional tree line or line um when we
seem to have plenty in that area it's
not like there aren't trees in there
already so I'd say
no he just
um yeah I mean that's the first thing
that came up in my mind is if you're
putting a tree out in their front lawn
and having the discussion with them and
then there may be some some residents
that are okay with it and they are in
agreement so I would not not have the
discussion but then I think it's the
everything that um Mr Marcelino said
there's the M then the residents
required for the maintenance right so
you've got the Le foliage you've got the
roots going through the yard we are we
are requiring we we have to do the
pruning but right any any of the off
other effects of the tree would be the
arborist keep if there'ss with the
arborist creeping into your pipes yeah
well lawn lawn's gonna look different
you know it's uh and this is an instance
where this stuck out of me a little bit
because as I drove it today they like
like Sam said they clearly have trees
but they've chosen that their trees are
going to be here and this is where the
lawn is and it's like their only lawn so
I would say City discussion between the
resident and and the city and it would
have to be an agreed upon in order for
it to happen
yeah Mr MC um how would you budget for
these treat well I'm just curious kid
why did why did the city choose to pick
that lawn to put a tree there I what is
the process is there a reason why it's
why it was selected that I without that
I think it's hard to speculate and it
yeah it's a tree commission driven
because you can see there's no ability
PL in the tree line there um the tree
commission has directed the urban Forest
Plant City trees in that section of rway
we do have
some upon closer investigation or code
have some questions as to whether they
can do that but they have in the past so
now we're kind of
questioning it's Aesthetics their goal
for greater canopy coverage yeah yeah
it's not it's it's not like anything
other than a desire to could continue
increase Tree
on I would just Echo what my colleagues
have already said that I I think between
the sidewalk and the street sure plant
trees but I think once you get into
someone's front yard even if it's City
ride of way I just I would I mean I
would personally be upset if you know it
were my yard yeah um and so if I'm
hearing you though the process I mean
the tree commission potentially has its
Authority now
that to basically say put a tree in that
person's room well the challenge is we
Define treeon two different ways in our
code and the section in question doesn't
have a definition for Treon I so we
worked with Mark and I think um my
preference but my preference and I'm not
trying to start a war with the tree
committee is that you know this is a
open question and to put a pause we
don't it's not going to kill anything to
not plant the tree right now yeah and
allow the you know for the moment while
we have our clarifying and Mark knows
that we're I think we're due to meet
here coming up with membership to start
to work on um tweaking that code yeah
we've talked about this too I would be
very in favor of council clarifying that
expeditiously and I think what council
member sad mapped out of you know if
tree commission believes hey you know
this area would be you know as
consistent with where we want to put a
tree for canopy and reasons you know a
some homeowners may say yeah sure um and
I think that's a great service to offer
them if it's in city rideway but I yeah
I have a really hard time with that one
so I would like to address that soon if
you know assuming you all can work
something out with tree commission makes
sense okay thank you um now it is time
for me to be done with my open
brainstorm session with Ben and uh this
moved us on
to the rest of our administrative
updates uh moving on to Mike
pry thank you mayor um nothing to add to
my well I'll add one thing Halloween
bash huge success our skeleton was only
up for six days other than that uh happy
to oh we um and you still got a letter
we did not get a
letter um again thank you uh to city
council for those that were able to
volunteer and and staff was a volunteer
for the pancake breakfast on uh December
7th I will be sending out an email in
the coming weeks about kind of what time
and where to be and all that good stuff
but uh happy to answer any
questions thank you mayor um I do not
have anything to add to my written
report tonight but more than happy to
answer any questions
Andy I had a quick question you
referenced um the street name signs were
replaced on Cassidy um just from my own
education I not noticed that some
streets signs in Bexley are white some
are
green what's the Rhyme or Reason or is
there Rhyme or Reason when a street sign
is green versus white I don't think
there's a Rhyme or Reason I think it's
just happened over various Street
projects we try to replace them with
green with white lettering
but Maine and Broad or white yeah oh
yeah I'm sorry at the intersections of
Maine and Broad they have it they have
their own the the main street signs and
Broad Street signs have then everything
else is
I thought you were going to go somewhere
else with that which was that some of
our Stein said Cassidy Avenue and some
said Cassidy Road it didn't even and
there's actually historic precedent for
both and Cassidy
Boulevard
please I reports okay Mr official over
to you for consent agenda
all righty on the consent agenda we have
the me I just want people to know I feel
fine I sound terrible meeting minutes
from November 12 2024 and 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 Council there there any questions
or comments on the consent
agenda all right seeing none um any
comments from the
public I move to adopt the consent
agenda could I please have a second
second second by Mr Hurley um Mr mCP
would you please call the role Miss
fible yes Mr Markham yes Mr Hurley yes
Mr Marcelino yes Miss Miss lankey yes
consent agenda
passes right Mr official over to you for
third
readings third reading ordinance 35-2 4
authorizing Appropriations for the
calendar year beginning January 1st 2025
to reappropriate all unexpended
unexpended opwc project Appropriations
for 2025 to authorize general fund
transfers in 2024 and to confirm the
appointment of Mark fishell as City
attorney introduced by Miss sad thank
you Mr official um we are excited
tonight to have our third reading of the
budget and we are going to hear this
evening from Mike Price
and Andy
bore thanks for being here tonight
guys all right
um we have circulated via the online um
portal our revision three budget dated
November 19th although you received it
last Friday um Carrie or Megan do you
guys want to talk about what changes
were we in
here you should have a CH this is from
our change sheet that you all have
passed around right
here okay um we added after last week's
budget presentation we did um add
$24,000 to the police department for the
um potential increase in the housing
stien um we also removed $88,500 from
the police budget operating budget for
software and we removed 10,000 from
their capital budget for software W um
building and Council there were just
like a couple little minor tweaks from
the 2014 budget that I needed to
correct excuse me um reom Parks we moved
the um $1,600 to the IT department for
their software I don't know if you guys
recall we um discussed having all of
software with an IT
department I'm gonna jump in for Carri
here wow I really feel like I should get
my mask back
out um moving to the streetcape ti fund
which is at the end of your document um
we did go ahead and add a line item for
unspent Appropriations that is for
current year encumbrance that we know
will not actually be spent in 2024 and
so we just wanted the fund balance to
reflect that unspent appropriation so
that's more of just an accounting
cleanup there um Street lighting um and
you'll hear this from director Basher
later today we've been doing a deep dive
into utility expenses across all
facilities um and we're still working
through some reorganization of that and
so you'll see an increase to the overall
utility electric um in various accounts
of $60,000 we also added a new line item
that was not in your previous version of
the budget um to account for the fees
that we intend to eventually collect
from public public um EV charging
stations obviously that's still
contingent on your parking meter
ordinance um but it should be reflected
in the budget should it passed um
Mayor's Court we did see um and and
thank you Mr I'm sorry council member
Marcelino for some recommendations there
I did go back through and revisit all of
those with Marquan um and and doing our
and I guess we could have mentioned this
too you'll notice you'll find your 2024
projections um replacing the year to
date um through the end of September
that's the last column before the
recommended proposed budget that's a big
one and so in doing all of that with the
Department some departments did Shore up
and tighten up things this is one of
those rather small but it's still there
police pension fund um we did notice
that uh the police pension fund this
year would do fine without a transfer
and so we reduce the transfer to the
police pension fund from the general
fund to zero and then overall for
Revenue um to kind of counterbalance
what we're anticipating in costs for the
EV Chargers that is the revenue line
item has has been
added and to real quickly clarify
because you might notice if you look
between the two EV Chargers we are
already in um receiving revenue on EV
Chargers so little over thousand bucks a
month I think right now um right now we
get anywhere it varies like six to maybe
$900 a month okay so that that is not
currently captured when we adding 25 and
the public EV charges would include the
pre-existing ones in the pre existing
revenue on that so but nonetheless we
still have to do some more deep Dives on
electrical we know that there will be
some changes to Electric in the in the
final budget revision so let's not I
mean we can talk about it all day but
there's some tweaking happening there I
I'm so glad you touched upon that
because I had a note here it says if our
cost is 33,000 we're only making 25,000
leaving a deficit of 8,000 but I thought
we weren't charging already for the EV
Chargers aren't they free right now no
the the fast Chargers being charged for
the one you're talking uh so there that
is part of that 33,000 and it then there
is already Revenue off off of that so
the projections that we have is that
we'll actually we will have a surplus
from the charges on the electric but
obviously we need
to we're have the program happening to
confirm that but as our rating is
currently projected we would have about
a $10,000
Surplus next year in uh from Electric
Revenue we just have
to again I think
we I I know for a fact that that's how
we have have have put it out we have to
double check the
33,000 compared to the revenue that's
here so okay then we'll have a deeper
dive also next meeting because that's I
think Alex will be back and so we'll be
removing that from the table the two
will go hand in hand then I had a quick
followup question um the cleanup to add
24,000 to the housing stien for the
police um I think we currently have five
officers ERS living in Bexley are we
assuming that for 2025 we may still get
a few additional ones and would we need
to is this is this allotment
anticipating that there might still be
an additional officer or two who wants
to take advantage of that stien in 2025
so this this leaves room for a sixth
officer okay uh which we currently do
not have with in Bexley so it gives us
the capacity for
it great thank you Mr MC has hand um we
removed U monies for operating software
and capital software what what what
changes what what did we decide not to
do um first off those were duplicates so
those were both uh record management
software and we are going to try to
manage to do records Management on an
Excel spreadsheet essentially or Google
Google form SL sheeet as opposed to a
proprietary software
solution um a proprietary solution would
give us some additional tools but we
think with the volume that we have that
we're going to start start there and
then expand out if we need to okay so
it's just we we're not engaging with the
third party to provide that tool we're
going to do it inhouse it was initially
in the budget and we've just cut it okay
okay other
questions okay so today uh we are
delighted to hear from the
two funnest departments in the
city second only to finance
development
Administration
uh starting with uh Mr Michael
price re and Parks thank you mayor a
reminder if you just let us know what
page you're on of the budget I
will um before I get started a big thank
you to Carrie and Megan who have done an
amazing job with this and I appreciate
all the help as we work through the the
process so thank you both very much um
obviously Recreation and Parks we have a
just quick little background we have the
general fund um which is the general
fund items we have Jeffrey Mansion uh
Jeffrey park or I should say parks and
Senior programs our Enterprise funds we
have the rec uh Recreation admin Rec
programs Jeffrey preschool before and
after care uh Jeffrey Camp pool
operations pool concession all come out
of Enterprise funds and then we'll get
into a little bit of some of the capital
requests
um on the next slide
mayor um in terms of Staffing there's no
there's no change uh no requested
additional positions uh obviously we
deal with a lot of seasonal positions
summer camp before and after care so
there are tweaks to salary wages within
the context of that but there's no uh
changes to our numbers from a full-time
the other thing you'll see in there and
I'll highlight this a little bit later
but we have reallocated some of our
full-time staff based on their job
responsibilities to different accounts
so there's some moving of where their
expenses come out of in some cases uh
Katie service is now overseeing for
example our preschool and so we move
some of our salary and wages against our
preschool expenses um but otherwise
there's no changes um continue you know
we've continued funding uh for salary
and wages the same rate uh again like I
said there's changes for uh seasonal um
rates uh based on Market factors in
terms of pay rates um 2025 again we
restructured some of our staff uh but
there's no changes to the overall number
of Staff uh we are preparing for uh next
bullet we're preparing you'll see in the
budget in terms of highlights we're
preparing for a redevelop a potential
Redevelopment of the senior center on
Cassidy um again that's that's a process
that's that's moving along um from the
developers there's conversations that
may be few 4 of
2025 that uh you know if everything goes
to their plan then you know we might
have a Redevelopment starting in the
fourth quarter so we have put in uh and
this is frankly a shot in the dark
because we don't have a space that we
know we're going to lease and what it's
going to cost but we're just trying to
prepare a budget that recognizes that
that we may need to spend money on
renting leasing space uh for the seniors
to move into temporarily as we move
through that Redevelopment uh again
that's to get us through the the fourth
quarter presum going into 2026 it may be
a thing that continues all of the year
you know all year in 2026 but obviously
we're look at a 2025 budget um increase
you'll see an increase in Parks overtime
to support Staffing cost for expanding
community events uh you'll also see 2025
Recreation fund budget um projections uh
we have Revenue under expenditures of
285,000 is what our projection is for
2025 in our rec fund uh this is a
reduction uh to 2024 estimated losses
376 so we are moving in the right
direction in terms of our um our
expenditure our expenses uh relative to
our Revenue um we are still operating in
you know a deficit which is made up uh
which is made up for with the general
fund transfer as well as existing Rec
fund
balances um next page mayor
please um again Revenue projections
continue to Trend in the right direction
in 2025 our Revenue projections are uh
for 2025 are $2.4 million compared to
about 2.1 and a half in
2024 uh so uh that has again we continue
to move in the right direction there
which has been nice to see uh starting
in 2025 another highlight is that
Columbus recreation parks will now
charge us a fee for the use of Wolf Park
we're estimating that fee to be around
$3,000 in total for the year and that
will include potential tennis court
rental at Wolf Park while our Tennis
Courts at Jeffrey go through a
resurfacing process so we've allocated
some money to to uh take care of that in
2025 in an effort to increase Jeffree
mansion rentals uh you will also see an
item uh for uh what what used to say
brochure we've changed it to more
generic term of marketing uh we are
going to um look to increase marketing
for the Jeffrey Mansion rental space
including membership uh within wedding
venue websites um
we talk a little bit about that the the
board uh approved last uh meeting
approved increase to Mansion rental
rates so ran rates will be going up for
the first time since we built the new
space back in 2020 um uh we also are
looking at capacity and feel like
there's some opportunity for additional
uh rental um but you know at this point
we seem to have plateaued which is
understandable uh the you know about 60
I think 60 65% of our rentals are
residents
uh so trying to fill some of the Open
dates and promoting more to the Greater
Columbus areas is is the goal there uh
within the pool fund uh you know this is
going to continue to be a conversation
topic of conversation I think that
Council needs to be aware of is you know
we obviously continue to um our Revenue
underperforms expenses on the pool um we
anticipate roughly $125,000 reduction to
the pool fund uhing bringing the
anticipated end of year 2025 down to
324,000 so you know we're you know we're
going to have to have a discussion about
whether we want to make any strategic
changes to pricing expense side Andor
you know general fund transfers to uh
keep that fund balance solvent so that's
again it's it's manageable this year but
if we continue in that same direction
which there's no indication that that
would change barring any sort of
intervention then that's going to be a
topic that we need to keep an eye on um
reflection uh uh reflected in the
technology budget uh as as Megan just
indicated we we moved out um
reflec in the technology budget is
$1,600 for our volunteer local software
again we've talked a little bit about
this I think it's running through our
senior uh uh senior coordinator Kristen
schwitzer uh we are we have taken on
just recently this software to help us
manage volunteer opportunities within
our community whether it's for existing
events that we need volunteers for and
uh we are continuing to work towards a
program in which we are encouraging
volunteers to help assist uh individual
families uh that might be in need of uh
assistance whether it's raking leaves or
uh snow removal or other sort of
projects so uh that is off and running
and that software has been a really nice
uh we we were able to do it sort of part
year within our existing budget but we
need to account for it going into
2025 any um questions about the
highlights Mr Markham you had your hand
out
first in terms of uh man rentals like
how much uh could that increase like
what what percentage are we at right
about now do you think of
realistic are you talking about the
potential increase to the revenue or how
much more we're asking for for the
expense
side I was speaking in terms of adding
funds to begin
marketing
uh in terms of increasing the number of
rentals I think is what you're saying
yeah um so it's going to be roughly $400
and the from investment standpoint it's
going to be roughly $400 more a month
for this membership into into the
not.com so roughly uh roughly $5,000 for
the year um so from a average rental
average rental revenue on the Friday and
Saturdays is about $22,000 so if it if
it brings in a third rental it will be
in the won't be net positive on that
investment um uh we think there's the
potential uh to see you know five to 10
more rentals as a result of this if not
higher the other issue we're we're
trying uh we're aware of is keenly aware
of is that you know we've increased the
rates so as we increase the rates you
might reduce the amount of people and
within your given your existing pool and
so we need to be a little more
aggressive to promote it uh to make sure
that we keep demand High while rates
have gone up so those are two issues
that we're trying to address with it I
know we we have a uh allocation for uh
residents versus non-residents how how
is that being filled are we utilizing
all our resident rentals and looking to
add on top of that or have we shifted
those any so we don't allocate
specifically like there's 70% of our
dates have to be for residents and 30%
of our dates have to be for
non-residents we have a rental we
there's two things that we do to make
sure we're protecting access for our
residents is there's a rental rate
that's lower for Resident for one and
our residents get to book uh further out
in advance all right so but just to give
some context to that last year
2024 our uh our rentals of uh 77 paid
rentals 54 of them were resident 23 were
non-resident did Miss s did you have
your hand
up Mr Markham and I are on the same page
so he asked um very similar questions to
I as asked so thank you but um following
up on on that how do we plan to Market
to outside
residents so the focus right now on on
number that we're also setting aside for
that
marketing like are we in the budget are
we saying $1,000 for marketing to
outside residence 500 yeah we okay so
what we've done from a line item
perspective if you go into uh Recreation
admin um and that would be mayor just if
you would um that's on page
57 yes thank you
um we so our focus our sole Focus from
an advertisement standpoint in terms of
a budgetary number is uh is to promote
the space on not.com website okay uh
there's a fee for that I think it's just
under
$400 um and so we've added $7,000 from
what was just from a marketing
perspective all we used basically all we
paid for out of that marketing used to
be referred to is brochure is our
quarterly brochure now that we're adding
a new marketing piece that has a defined
expense side um for the not.com it's
going to be about a $7,000 you know
it'll probably be closer to 6,000 um
dollar increase um to our marketing to
be a member of not.com which has uh you
know obviously a pretty good following
has you know uh good exposure for that
matter we we have started it we actually
started it this year uh this month we
already received a call today on it
actually so you know we are expecting
and the numbers they provide you as you
go through this whole thing is somewhere
in neighborhood of two to 300 additional
inquiries as a result of this software
for the year and you know obviously if
we can get 5% of that then we'll more
than make up which is a number they've
also used again we'll see how it goes we
think this is a good investment uh we
think there'll be return on this
investment and obviously if it's not
doing what we wanted to do we can we can
change course so Mike remind me for rent
for
nonresidents for Jeffrey
Mansion what are we're raising those
rates for the non-residents what are we
raising those rates
to uh and and just so you're all aware
pay as a resident and then a
non-resident just free Manion and I'm
thinking more like barot M fos and
weddings sure y uh and and so you're
aware you can also reference this on the
um on my report you'll also be able to
see a chart of this too so you have it
at your fingertips but um to give some
context so we sort of looked at right
we're looking at about four years now
since we've had any increases we' sort
of based we roughly based our you know
our there's a couple things we looked at
in terms of what we wanted to increase
by we looked at sort of a four a three
to 5% inflationary increase over those
four years and sort of Applied that to
it also obviously we're keeping an eye
on what the industry standard is what
you know where where it puts us in terms
of being competitive versus like
facilities so um what we landed on was
uh the Jeffrey house which is the first
floor is of the Carriage Court is the
lower level uh the Jeffrey house uh on
Friday and Saturday mornings Friday
evening Saturday mornings for a resident
was $1,000 it went to 12250 for
non-resident was $2,000 went to 2250 on
a Saturday evening we we increased them
both by $250 again there's about there's
A1 thousand difference almost you know
whatever 35 40% difference for a
resident vers a non-resident one of the
things we did not change at all was our
Sunday rates um just just a Refresh on
Sunday one of the goals with our Sunday
rates was to make sure we weren't only
catering to big events right and so it
was only if you're having a wedding or
if you're having barbar Mitzvah or a
huge anniversary date that you still
that our residents still if they wanted
to have a fifth birthday party for their
their their child there could be uh some
flexibility so our Sunday rates are an
hourly rate so you're having a smaller
event you only want two hours or you
only want three hours you can do it a
much more reasonable rate and and still
use the community facility as Jeffrey
Mansion on the Carriage Court side we
increased um by 500 for residents uh by
um by 750 for non-residents on Friday
and Saturday um and same for for
Saturday evening as well we also
increased our first floor space from 500
to 600 it's an addon so if you're
renting the lower space and you want the
first floor to go with it uh there's an
add-on of 500 it's gone from 5 to $600
my last question would just simply be I
think that that is a great marketing
Outlet to non-residents to go to the
not.com I'm wondering are you set on
those um proposed rates or would you be
willing to possibly look at raising
those since you're going
[Music]
after you know a target audience now um
with the not.com for non-residents to
really be able to
um I mean I I feel like that is just a
highly sought after once they know about
it place um I want to keep residents
where they're at but I would be
interested in possibly raising the rates
with that Target marketing you're
getting ready to do because I think
you're going to get a a good amount of
inquiries so capturing that opportunity
with those non-residents to cover the
marketing cost just some food for
thought so no I think that's a it's it's
a point I think and just to clar for
you're talking specifically on the
non-resident side or both rates
I say stay locked in where you're at
with the residents for our community
because just like we've always said we
want to make it affordable for our
residents but take advantage of
capturing additional dollars with your
non-residents yeah so yes I think we
would so to be clear the board has
approved this um I think what we'd like
to do is see right we have existing
capacity to bring more rentals in as we
sit now if we see that demand fill and
then we're now Turning Away people
completely from being able to now in our
in our you know our peak season we are
turning people away right um our
offseason we have more demand we have
more availability yeah I I fully expect
as we go through this process if we see
that demand jump as a result of this
promotion uh and all of a sudden we're
we're turning people away in January
February and March so I you know I think
we will reevaluate what the market is
telling us our rate should be and and do
that
accordingly Mr Hurley I had a different
line of question but I just following up
to council member sod's questions do we
have any sense of of just you know I
don't know uh what other venues are out
there but are we are these rates
reasonably competitive with say a
competing venue I mean okay yeah yeah
we're we're we are keeping an eye on
that it's you know you could probably
argue in some instances it's lower in
some instances You could argue it's
higher I don't think we ever want to be
on either end of that Spectrum
necessarily um but yes we are uh Lauren
Miller does a great job of keeping an
eye on on what's going on in the
industry what what's you know Franklin
Park doing what is you know XY or Z
location doing um and so it was time to
revisit it and as part of determining
these prices we looked at what those
rates are at other other like locations
yeah um thank you so what I originally
wanted to ask about well first off I I I
saw you allocated a budget increase for
um referees I think you're overpaying
but there you the adult soccer fair
enough um No I um so in terms of
programming you know I I I hear just
from you know friends and parents that
you know there there's just not enough
programming I know there's a lot of
demand we have a amazing you know course
catalog um I guess two- part question
first when you know when I go to sign up
my kids for Coach Chris soccer or
whatever the amount that we pay at
registration is that covering the full
cost I mean are these programs wholly
covered by what people pay when they
sign up or is there general fund dollars
kind of on the back end filling that in
so obviously from a direct cost
standpoint I apologize I've used the
wrong terms Matt please feel free to
jump in from a direct cost standpoint
yes so you know if if you're paying $100
for probably closer to $50 for Coach
Chris class uh our our direct expense
for that program is to coach Chris and
he's getting 75% of that the other 25%
is coming to the city now obviously we
have a Rec fund transfer so we're not
covering all of our costs um as a whole
right so you know we have administrative
staff that oversees that program we have
marketing that goes into that program
with the brochure um we have fees
associated with our registration
software um our structure from for that
type of class is a 7525 split um so in
terms of direct cost to to that yes
we're covering that um but obviously we
have you know to keep the doors open the
lights on running software having staff
having administrative staff it you know
it is to the tune uh roughly of uh two
you know if you look at a 2025 budget
we're we're in the we're we're receiving
a 284 well receiving a $270,000 transfer
our loss is going to be at 284,000 so
we're obviously not recouping dollar for
Dollar on a from a holistic perspective
okay um and you the reason I asked is I
know in the I've sent you some ideas for
additional programming but I wanted to
better understand it's not as simple as
add the program charge the parents or
whoever because there are kind of some
backend costs that you know you're not
really shifting on I mean so thanks for
yeah yeah I mean we can talk more about
that offline yeah so there's a budgetary
impact to that obviously but there's
also just a space do we have somewhere
to do it do we have a talented
individual to teach it do we have you
know the capacity to oversee it so
there's you know a lot of different
things that come into that yeah just
open end I'd love in the future to
explore ways to increase capacity on all
fronts I know your team does an
excellent job so that that'll be you
know an ongoing facilities conversation
is is a big part of that exactly thank
you Mr MC
peek I'm just kind of taking a step back
looking at the numbers and we've got
we'll call it a $300,000 increase in
revenue and a couple hundred, increase
in expenses so
when and and you're not adding head
count
so is this are the increases TI
to basically having positions
filled in term previously open or is it
hourly folks for example working within
the preschool I guess what at the end of
the day I guess what I'm trying to
understand is we've got a pretty big
increase in revenue and I'm just trying
to understand what increase cost are
kind of variable that would be coming
with that Revenue so if we get I'm
making this up more teams and then we
need more refs you like what what's
fixed versus variable does that make
sense it does let me and some of this
let me give you a little bit of updated
information on 2024 which is necessary
in here which might to some extent
answer some of your questions um the
2024 budget that you're seeing is what
we projected back in December November
of last year right um uh our newer
numbers are going to probably be
somewhere the neit of 2.3
for 2024 right so so we'll from a
revenue standpoint so I would start
there in terms of projections from a
revenue standpoint um our major you know
obviously are our major drivers uh our
our board as they do at the you know in
the fall and end of the year goes
through uh year and reports on our major
programs Camp before and after care
preschool um they approved a 7% increase
for each one of those camps or each one
of those programs so we try to we don't
just automatically add 7% if you
increase the price of a program there's
a potential for a reduction in
participation Char take those that's
from a process standpoint to try to
estimate as best we can what's going on
on that um the expense side some of it
is direct to hey we've added a program
or we're going to add a program and we
know we're going to generate 100,000
we're g to spend 70,000 that might be
direct costs but then a lot of things
like administrative costs uh those are
more fixed we know what we're paying our
administrator we haven't asked for more
staff so that cost doesn't change
because we added another program that
they oversee necessarily now we have to
keep an eye on what the wear and tear on
their on their time is um but that that
would be a fixed cost that doesn't
necessarily change by the result of
adding another
program right I think you you You'
answered that question so one it's not
as big of a step increase in Revenue in
25 because we already know in 24 we're
going to be closer to 23 yeah so that is
seems pretty reasonable and then the
cost again we're not adding W2
resources that are here indefinitely so
it sounds like the increased costs are
again variable to like ourly workers to
support
program yeah so or supplies I get I that
would that would be spent only if that
Revenue comes
correct yes yes but you know we have
seasonal employees that we're going to
be paying 5% more to or 4% more to than
we did last year for example and so you
have a salary and wages of camp that has
200 $300,000 you're adding 4% of that
you you're adding 122,000 whatever the
case is so um I mean there are some of
those things that are you know that are
going up as a result of inflationary
costs those sort of things um there are
areas that if you went through a line by
line item um you would see reductions
where we're like you know what we don't
really we didn't end up spending that we
didn't need that
um uh so you know it it's hard to say
because it it's sort of depended on the
exact program and we'd have to look at
the program level of what we were
thinking but like I see like the
expenditures in preschool and Jeffy
summer camp are what's causing most of
the increase those are that's double
digit growth so
that my assumption is and is that that
would just be
increased staff to support programs so
so the preschool one yeah the preschool
one as I mentioned we've reallocated
some full-time staff's um pay so the
reason the administrative for example
instance the reason administrative isn't
closer to 6% is because one of those
employees who's more of their time was
spent at in administrative level is now
overseeing preschool and so that that
switches sort of a cost that might have
you might have otherwise seen in
administrative so if if you you know if
you look at it from that perspective
there's some give and take as we move
resource sources from administrative
level over which program they they
manage um uh on the on the on the summer
camp one I I would point out on the
summer camp one uh you have ordinance
37 24 3724 in front of you which is not
reflected in our 2024 budget we've asked
for $30,000 more in summer camp because
we didn't have enough to cover our
salary wages so that is now included in
our 2025 projection is that we need that
plus you know four or five% on top of it
so that would be another one that is uh
if you're comparing that percentage
compared to 2024 budget that 2024
budget's at 52,000 in summer camp it's
really gonna become 532,000 so yeah
changes the percentages and that case
it's also because we had expanded
service we had more had more kids that's
why our revenue is higher and yeah y
sounds good other questions for Mr Price
um Mike I had a few comments and then a
couple questions for you um the first is
looking at your report it looks like you
and your department are doing an amazing
job of continually offering new
programming offering new services to our
residents looks like your revenue and
your attendance is higher and and you
know uh and being well received by our
community um I my two questions are
first and foremost you know you're
dealing with Jeffrey Mansion which I
have referred to as like bexley's Fab
egg there's only one Jeffrey Mansion it
is our Crown Jewel but with increased
people coming and increased programming
I'm just a little concerned about the
wear and tear on on Jeffrey Mansion um
so if you can maybe address that first
and then the second is uh with us having
more um programming more activities more
community events I want to be cognizant
of not burning out your department
employees and making sure that morale
stays high that they stay engaged and
that they are not overloaded especially
May through October when our community
programming is higher than normal first
of all thank you for the kind words and
thanks for for that concern I appreciate
that um uh I'll take the the the part
about Jeffrey Mansion obvious there's
some things that we've done over the
last couple budgets with in terms of
putting in some
contractual um support so that we have a
cleaning company come in that's doing
some additional cleaning or we have
carbon cleaners that are coming in twice
two or three times a year so there's
some things that we've sort of put in
place that we didn't have uh before the
renovation and the expansion to help
support uh maintaining the facility at a
high level uh as well as support the U
day-to-day maintenance staff
responsibilities um we also have in our
capital budget we have I think 63,000
some roof repair work as well with the
man so we're going to continue to keep
an eye on that facility um uh at some
level some things will be ongoing
maintenance carbon cleaning that sort of
thing there will be times where there
will be years I expect that we will come
back and say there's a specific project
we need to redo finishing all the
woodwor for example around uh the new
space um so those I think we'll take on
a you know a year-by-year basis as
opposed to an ongoing maintenance um but
uh from a staffing standpoint you know
we we have I appreciate the concerns
about uh
um uh pressure and time commitment and
wear and tear on staff I think Council
has done a has been very supportive of
our requests for additional staff
throughout the years that's led us to
this point and I think we're in a pretty
good position to be able to handle the
load that we have currently uh we are
going to need to keep an eye on our on
the maintenance side um um you know
we've we've added uh over the last
couple years we've added seasonal
support for our maintenance
unfortunately we could not get it hired
this year uh we had a tough time with
hiring frankly last couple years in that
uh I think there's probably the chance
that we'll go through some uh structur
changes over the coming years based on
you know retirements and some other
things that are going to be coming up um
but that would be an area in terms of uh
things that we need to be aware of uh
from a morale standpoint from a workload
standpoint the maintenance side is the
area that we'll continue to keep an eye
on and and come to council when we feel
like it's gotten to a point that we need
to to support them a little more than we
are currently but I think place right
now now great thank you um any other
questions for Mr Price before we move on
to our other presenter this
evening not yet okay
yet to your question about Jeffrey
Mansion and other things there is a
capital budget uh just to go
over Mike if you wantan to
yeah so um in terms of the capital we'
in terms of the Mansion we've added some
roof repairs uh Jeffrey Mansion one of
the floorings in the preschool uh we
need to look at redoing a couple of the
floor spaces there um some andt some
sort of support equipment we're looking
at a uh dishwasher for the servery uh
we've taken some programming inhouse
we've you know tried to take a more
green approach in terms of uh plates and
napkins well napkins is bad example
plates and Cutlery so we we'd like to
have stuff that we're cleaning on site
as opposed to disposable stuff um and as
we've done more things inhouse at the
Mansion we think that it warrants having
a a dishwasher there so we'd like to put
that in place um as Council may be aware
there's a lot of discussion about
pickleball lights um uh for the the
pickle ball courts um the board did
approve the addition of pickle ball
lights um there's a lot of discussion
about whether we wanted
uh to add uh the light pollution if you
will in in the space and you know the
impact of pickle ball happening at a
later time for the neighbors and so we
we went through an extensive process on
that and ultimately the board decided to
support the idea of pickleball lights uh
in this budget you will see $95,000 out
of the recre fund not out of the general
fund but out of the rec fund uh for what
we are anticipating to be roughly
$180,000 project uh we will be working
with the Community Foundation and any
other potential partners for Grants uh
to try to make up the difference uh as
well as potentially working with
Community Foundation to put together a
capital campaign as well so uh obviously
it's not funded in full uh I think
there's some logic to uh a the city um
you know coming up with some of the
dollars for that because part of that
will be replacing existing tennis court
lights which are from the 70s and have a
horrible light bleed from a pollution
standpoint for the neighbors for the
park for uh for all of it so uh that
makes some sense and and obviously the
the pickle ball lights has been a
initiative driven by uh the pickleball
community and you know I think it's
appropriate to have conversations with
them about how we can help get that
funding U the full funding done to get
that accomplished um we have a batting
cage uh there's been there's been
interest from the community the schools
used to have a batting cage on site at
cassingham theyve uh they no longer do
so we're having conversation about
whether a batting cage at a park or or
in conjunction with uh partnering with
say for example maybe capital or um
another entity uh to bring something
like that back as amenity for our
community to have access to uh is in the
budget I don't have as we sit here today
we don't have a a uh you know a
finalized plan of how that where that
will fit where that's going to be but um
if we can work something out then we
have the funds to move forward the other
the other thing that is partially funded
uh uh from a project standpoint is a
portable stage trailer stage um 175,000
172,000 in terms of project cost is
going to be on the probably on the high
end it'll probably be the the ma the
most it's going to cost it could
potentially come down from there we have
put uh $75,000 in the rec fund to
clarify a portable stage uh is is I
guess exactly what it sounds like it's a
trailer that gets pulled behind a truck
uh and can pop up much quicker right now
we have a 4x4 stage square piece that we
put up for events um and there's
whatever 16 or 20 of them um from a
process standpoint it takes a lot of
Manpower a lot of time a lot of energy
to put it up it doesn't come down very
easily either it doesn't provide for the
best aesthetic um and we have in terms
of events we have somewhere in the
neighborhood 15 plus events in which uh
we could use a stage to improve the
quality of the experience and also make
uh the on the maintenance side make it a
little bit easier so we've we're in
conversation with the B Community found
found about whether they want to support
that uh the difference on what it might
cost um it's something that we've talked
about from a the other the other
potential funding source is sponsorships
right we we the bexi celebrations and
events team um raises money for
community events uh part of what we do
is ask for sponsorships uh for Ev events
there could be sponsorships potentially
for the stage so there's other Revenue
sources that we might use to help offset
those costs as well um
uh pool Capital there's some uh items in
the pool we got to we got to paint the
the lanes we have some repairs uh to the
concrete and the the the bed of the
bottom of the pool um and we have uh
some more pool chairs that we want to
recycle out so that's a pretty standard
it's about what we're spending 30 to
$50,000 a year on Capital upkeep for the
pool um so any questions Mr Marcelina
I appreciate you uh
disguising uh specific Council requests
as Community
interest there's a few things said I
think we're all passionate about so
thank you for that um not a question for
you actually a question for the mayor
here I know there's been a lot of talk
about the pickle ball lights Etc some in
favor some haven't I know it went to the
board and I know I don't want to
overstep our boundaries but are we ever
going to address that as a council or is
that just strictly a park and W for
decision that has been made it's
technically a parks and wck decision um
you could because they're vested with
that Authority by you um Mark can
correct me if I'm wrong about this you
could always you know pass an ordinance
to says yeah why you voted to allow the
lights we are voting to not allow the
lights and you would overrule them but
right now because they have the control
of Jeffrey Park and those decisions it's
a it's a Rec board decision as I age I
just want to make make sure that I
haven't had a b of Amnesia or anything
that made me forget our vote on that so
I appreciate it thank you both and that
same question is came up on the flip
side the rec board perspective and the
answer I give to the rec board is well
technically Council will decide whether
there's any funds to put it in so that's
that's the control system for
Council M Mr Hurley you have another
question for Mr Price also on the pickle
ball lights um what is your timeline I
get asked um by some family friends who
are very eager to play pickle ball at
night um when when should people expect
I understand you're trying to raise some
money and do this in a very fiscally
responsible way but do you have like a
timeline in mind of when we'd like these
lights to be
installed So based on the way we're our
funding approach is right now it's tough
to have a timeline till we have the
dollar dollars necessary to do it uh
right if if Council felt differently and
felt like it was a priority and wanted
to fund it in full we would probably
move to try to do it as part of the the
same time we're doing resurfacing uh
which is going to hopefully happen in
the spring um but otherwise it's going
to be a matter of when we have the
funding necessary to pull the trigger on
any sort of contract um we are actively
having conversations with the Community
Foundation they're going to be actively
having conversations with their board
about to what level they can fund it
we've got some ideas uh some different
approaches I don't want to speak to
those specifically because nothing is
set in stone on their end um but you
know as soon as the funding is in place
then we will we will work on the process
we have
that's that's a quote based that you
know 170 I'm sorry the 180 is a based on
uh mus musco lighting which I think is
you know uh in the industry is is one of
the top lighting companies I think they
did do capitals lights I believe I don't
know may if you know if that's right but
um so we're you know we're it's a pretty
straightforward project if and when we
have the funds to pull the trigger I
will say the design on this was in and
uh we were
inten about the design that the lights
would all be on the perimeter uh some
designs for lights would have some
lights in the middle uh there's drawback
and there's timing rate based on when
you're doing the resurfacing of the
tennis courts and if you have any issues
you can you can do damage to the surface
and trying to deal with a light on the
inside so from that perspective we can
do it whenever it doesn't have to be
contingent on the resurfacing and the
timing of that okay thank you Mr Mark
you have a question for Mr Price yeah
along the lines of what you were just
saying there and aging like Sam Mar
arela then I mean people still play
tennis right so I mean do these lights
serve those tennis courts as well and
that and what how many Courts are there
tennis versus pickle ball these days I
haven't been over there so two tennis
courts still exist four pickle ball
courts what we put in there will be
lines on the tennis courts for four
additional pickleball courts on the on
the tennis court surface so we can
create you know overflow courts if you
will of pickle ball it doesn't work the
same way because of the way the
pickleball courts are broken up and yes
this would replace existing tennis court
lights and make sure that the lighting
exists for tennis I will say while we do
have obviously tennis uh users of the
space and we do programming around
tennis uh you know there's no doubt that
the use for pickle ball is is uh much
higher than our use for tennis is
currently
frankly other questions for Mr
Price now we might be ready for Mr
bore is that Mr Price is that the end of
your presentation or is there other
items you needed to go that's end of my
presentation but happy to continue
answer any questions oh miss sad I guess
just lastly the Four Seasons uh shelter
house so what do we anticipate if if
we're not budgeting forth this year um
what are we looking for in
2026 are we looking at so and I mayor
feel free to jump in I mean I think the
the conversation that we've had is that
we you know we're going to continue to
look as the year goes on how the city
budget is doing as a whole and whether
there might be additional Appropriations
to Capital items partway through the
year will be I think a discussion at a
later time but I don't know if there's
anything you add to that mayor I agree
with that I also think I mean I think
we're in the realm of 1.2 to 1.4 million
on the rough estimate so that's not
something that I feel comfortable for us
to take on right now um we also you know
keeping a close eye on what the next
state capital budget looks like which is
not going to be next year I think that's
the year after that so I mean
is it a situation where we wait an
additional year in order to get a
sizable Grant to cover it I think my my
gut would be yes we wait because we we
think we have some decent funding
opportunity there but having said that
we have been talking to the Community
Foundation you know we'll keep an eye on
the overall uh budget and where where we
stand and it's a high priority but I
think it's also a high cost and we want
to be smart about the way we're moving
forward with it right
I would say let's continue to maybe look
at those uh
rentals uh Jeffrey Mansion for non-
[Music]
residents and I think way what we can
and maybe focus on that Four Season
shelter house and to that point I think
we will continue to keep an eye on our
rec fund balance as a potential Source
down the line if it stays healthy and we
can increase Revenue through other means
that that might be an
option to be clear Lauren Miller who
oversees rentals very savvy she is cing
this out all the time it's not you know
we're not just resting on what the
numbers have been in the past we are
basing them on the market and and she's
very aware of the ins and outs of the
market and how Jeffrey Stacks up or
doesn't against some of the competition
Mr M um on the capital items
there um which which
ones are um I I would say on hold until
future what I'm trying to understand is
just you know what is something that we
would immediately purchase on January 1
or what are things that would be
staggered um where if we have challenges
with with um revenue or something like
that through the year where where
decisions could be made real
time so obviously uh the pickleball
lights and the portable trailer are
contingent upon additional Revenue
sources to fund
yeah um and so those won't those won't
move forward until such time although
you you know in this budget we're
allocating 95,000 for pickle ball lights
we're allocating $75,000 for the
portable trailer out of the W fund not
out of the capital fund um the roof
project will be something that we'll try
to get to as quickly as we can yeah um
somewhat weather dependent as well um
the flooring uh you know because it's
happening in a space that we're using
five days a week will be sensitive to
the timing of when we do that floor
repairs uh uh replacement um in the
preschool uh the dishwasher and the
servery uh would be something that we
would try to move forward as quickly as
we possibly could the pool capital A lot
of that generally happens in the spring
um leading into the season uh so a lot
of that will happen on the front end so
that uh that those funds will be expend
will be spent mostly on the front half
of the year so
actually I'm tired but what what is the
total amount of project costs projected
costs so you could look at this I I
think that probably does that 328
probably doesn't originally the pickall
lights the projected cost was just the
funded amount of 95,000 the portable
trailer State the F amount of 75 I'm
guessing those weren't increased by that
uh again that's not the appropriation
that's just the projected project costs
that's not what you guys are
appropriating within the budget that
that number is not right okay it doesn't
it doesn't I can't do in my head still
it's correct to it's correct to
Appropriations Matt yes so it's
confusing because we're showing pickle
ball lights stage and and uh as as the
full full amount that's not the
appropriation amount because the grants
would take up the rest and I think to
answer your question the capital fund
column is the one that you could
reasonably say that's gonna potentially
move forward quickly got it okay the
pool fund also Rec the final wck fund
one is going to be a slow burn because
it's it's granted dependent okay all
right that and again I mean wouldn't say
that we have a tight budget but it's the
tightest budget we've had in years and
I'm just trying to be mindful of on some
of these I wouldn't say some of these
Capital purchases some are necessary
deferred maintenance like a roof and
then others are um uh you know important
but not deferred maintenance okay thank
you all right I don't see any more
questions for Mr Price all right the
moment we've all been waiting
for Andy
bore thanks mayor with a uh very fun
budget to go over first I just want to
say thank you again to Carrie and Megan
for all the work they've done on this
it's
been a task um would like to start with
my highlights um I do not have any
proposed changes on uh my Staffing right
now I'm at full staff and I think we're
in good
shape so with that moving on to page 64
some highlights on my service
Administration uh increased um a little
bit on the staff training I do have some
new staff and I do have some CDL
training and some safety training coming
up um that I want to get some of the new
uh staff involved in and get them
trained
up moving on to my next highlight would
be page
65 my vehicle and grounds maintenance
um we do have a line item in there we're
going to do some invas of species
removal around the Main Street bridge
and some of the bike path and also the
trail down there and we did increase our
tree planning program um just add some
more trees to our regular
project can I pause you for a second
Andy I want to yes sir highlight
something on page
64 we were focused on
the operating expenditures it's not it's
it's operating expenditure side the
salaries and wages you'll see there's a
pretty big budget variance in salaries
and wages where it looks like you know
maybe there's some new people in here
what this is is moving Andy and Jordan
salaries from multiple silos into the
one so they were paid out of crucially
water and the sewer funds um and we are
trying in general we'll get to this in a
in a second we're trying to reduce the
burden on the Water and Sewer fund
because it's trending in the wrong
direction and we have a choice right now
and this budget reflects a philosophy
which is instead of increasing rates
further beyond what they're already
increased because of columbus' rates
we're GNA try to try to soften some of
the expense burden on those funds um in
you know Essence bringing some what were
water sewer fund expenses into the
general fund so that's why that's going
up it's not anybody new and then we'll
see some of that recurring them going on
within water sewer fund
discussion thank you Andy for allowing
me to interrupt yes sir um moving on to
uh page
66 um our street lighting um this year
we're breaking out our rideway operating
um we've had that department for a
couple years and this will give us a
better way to track um track expenses
and also where we'd be taken out of the
appropriate account um also we're going
to upgrade um our J uh data um we found
something that's going to help the crews
out in the field and on the job site um
the crews are kind of excited about it
so that is one
change um moving on to page
69 uh water Administration and
distribution um
we kind of did something a little
different to help the water count out
um we moved um I think in the last two
budgets we've had the this is still our
meter replacement program we took it out
of three different accounts this year we
just put it in capital um if approved
this year this would give us three4 of
the meters needed for the project and if
approved again in 26 that would give us
all the meters we would need to do a
mass install
um moving on you'll see um this will be
a new program a water bill
relief uh program I know um as council
members you've all heard uh word stories
about high well water bills from running
toilets or water leaks that weren't
found right away uh this would probably
be a income based um program and also
maybe a cap limit we are still working
on that right now
um you want to talk a little bit about
this uh there's funding to support our
2025 EPA Leed service line in inventory
program this is a program that is
required by the EPA
um with this um program we're going to
inspect the city water lines residential
um we would do some home inspections
with City staff and pro I'd probably do
the hydro Excavating with a
contractor um once we get the material
we have it in a database and we are
required by the new EPA laws to have a
final inventory by
2027 with that being said the EPA is
proposing right now in 2027 any lead
line um city or resident would have 10
years to replace
that um this
is that for a little minute
um the next line down um you'll see
funding for a Le service line program to
be repaid this uh we're still kind of
working on it but it would be very
similar to probably like our um backflow
program we had we would probably model
it something like that we're still
working on
that U moving on to page 70 our sewer
Administration and distribution
um the first one is to launch a major
investigation um on our city sanitary uh
SE system we still have a lot of
problems with inii this would be like a
10-year program what we're proposing
this would be year one um of year two um
those some Council probably remembers
last time we had a study done was in
2014 uh we fixed some of those issues
and we actually investigated um some
others and to clarify real quickly Andy
that part is actually on the Sewer
Service budget that's the next one after
sewer
Administration line item there is uh
sewer studies and
inspections page 72 on the latest
version oh I'm sorry it's okay it's a
little bit that was from already through
he threw me off my groove there I know
you're doing great we reordered some
stuff on and sorry about
that um but on this program um last
study was done in
2014 and the city was divided into
subbasins um
we fixed some of those problems we also
investigated some others um but we did
find some of the results questionable um
just a quick example one of the
subbasins that was um labeled a high
priority uh we seen zero problems in
20120 and 2022 with the floods so that's
kind of rais uh red flags for us so we
need to update the study to make sure
what we're doing is working but also we
need to figure out what else we need to
do to improve the city
system um the next one would be
reallocating our utility cost and that's
something we've been working on um we
kind of found by accident that uh the
accounts we've been paying our utilities
a and colum gas was probably not paid
out of that accurate accounts and uh
we're trying to get that narrowed down
to better accounting more or
less then last but not least I believe
page 73
refu um just reduction in our waste
verion program than just overall general
cost
reductions and those would be my
highlights but I'm happy to answer any
questions Mr mCP um on the sewer
Administration and distribution
resources to support launch of major
investigation into that are those those
are not city employees those are third-
party resources that were PID this this
would be a third party contract okay
that's what I thought I heard you say
and then when I see resources I think of
our own W2 employees what kind of drove
that was City staff finding come some of
these issues that led us to that but but
this would be done by a third party got
it okay yes
sir and then the other question I have
is like with this um like Park and racks
where we have revenue and then expenses
do we have that for these other funds
like the sewer
fund yes so the the you'll find those um
recck lent itself because of the sort of
more uniform cost and and revenue
structure to a one pager but you'll find
those if you go
into page um oh 74 and Beyond these fund
overviews so for
example if we were just talking about
sewer we have
receipts Capital fees um you know what
we're expecting in terms
of okay comes and expenses
so what I the one thing I just wanted to
kind of talk through philosophically was
there's been a change in how we're
allocating costs to these Enterprise
funds
and you know I will say fundamentally I
have a strong belief that we should
be if people are dedicating time to
sewer and the teams are providing
oversight that that those costs are
allocated there and then it makes it
cleaner for city council and others to
say Hey you know we're losing money
maybe we need to increase our rates but
when we pull out those allocations it
makes it harder to make a business
decision about rates so that that's
philosop like I haven't studied and
another way to accomplish so to your
point is we would do a a transfer so we
could do a general fund transfer we
could keep everything in those funds and
start to do a general fund transfer
Andor like some of this is capital fund
some of infrastructure fund we could do
transfers in from that fund over to
water sewer so that your cost center is
all unified is what you're saying yeah
so I guess fundamentally I just like to
match with like in these Enterprise
funds like we we would match the effort
of admin rative support that's provided
there so so that the city that city
council can
see truly what that profit and loss is
within that that function makes sense
okay we can do
that well we can
talk I mean I just it's a change from
the way we've done things in the past
it's actually what well yeah what we're
proposing here is a change yes and so I
think um
it's a good call out and it's something
we can we could just change that
emphasis and keep things in the fund and
then have transfers into the fund to
offset we we can talk more about it and
again I Council to but to me it's just I
want a match expenses where where they
make sense okay y missad you had your
hand up
next Andy looking at um page
65 and um Trees and
Landscaping so the in the budget um
variance between the 2024 and 2025 is
20,000 you know
25% but my question is in 20122 we were
at 25,000 now we're projecting for 2025
100,000 what what is what have we done
we've been in Arboretum yeah so what
with the $75,000 difference in the last
five years what is that what is that I
can I a second question to that yeah um
that that particular line item is a
little can be misleading
because Trees and Landscaping gets paid
both out of this and also out of Grant
income so if we have a really big year
of Grants from the beex of
beautification funds it won't show up
ENT Trees and Landscaping
while we probably in fact I'm pretty
sure we budgeted 80,000 back in 2022 we
had so much Grant Revenue come in that
we spent out of a separate cost center
than this um so it it's a little
misleading also we're not always
planting is many trees as we had hoped
to plant um the reason for the increase
in this year's budget as proposed is uh
We've started to categorically go
through what what's been happening to
date is if a tree gets removed
because it failed for whatever reason
that address gets put down on a list and
then the tree Crews look near that
address and they found out where can we
put a new one in but there hasn't really
been an audit of like okay 20 years have
passed are there gaps that we're not
aware of and so Grant and I did an
exercise this year where we we took the
section of South Beckley between um I
think we got as far as Roosevelt all the
way west back to Sheridan and found that
you know we could we we found 60 new
tree locations that had just fallen off
the radar and so this is designed to
increase that infill and uh get us back
to the canopy that we can
have for the record that has not
included the front yard um sections we
were talking about earlier that is true
treeon placement that we're referring to
then my second question to that is with
these increases where would we find
similar increase to the maintenance of
the trees we're planting and the
maintenance of the trees we have yeah um
you know I
think the Fantastic question first off
we have increased our arborist uh
payroll by a by a person in the past
year or two so we we have additional
capacity for tree uh maintenance um also
a lot of this is just maintaining what
we've had and not losing what we've had
so it's bringing back material that's
been lost over the years
the initial planting part and the first
year of maintenance is on the contract
not on us and then now later on down the
road we'll have to prune those trees and
all that but that's not it's not really
a noticeable change to what we've had
historically where would I where would I
see that and then I I'm just wanting to
make sure that we're covering our arum
that um you know when we have these
popup storms and we're doing extra work
in our department that you have the
capacity to cover that um as well as
currently when we're looking at a lot of
our trees across the community that are
you know hanging over our roadways that
we're able to get to those branches and
things before we have our residents with
you know cars that have been damaged
because the branches have fall on the
trees and I I know we've looked at that
so I want to make sure that we're
budgeting for that so we can hopefully
plan for the problems that we may have
from these beautiful trees
um so that the residents don't you
know um that they get to
enjoy
um the canopy and not have the
canopy unenjoyable yeah uh Andy we
recently made some changes to add
another crew can you explain kind of how
we did that sure um right now on
coverage I think we're okay um we made
one of the tree workers of Foreman so he
usually has um like a pruning crew one
of the other arborists would have a
removal crew um right now we have four
arborists um including Grant and we have
one in training um but like you
mentioned I know you mentioned the
storms um part of the training I
mentioned like when we have a big storm
so you know tree Cruise will be in here
but also we'd bring you know staff in
from the street department you know so
kind of all hands- on Deck to where some
of that training piece I was talking
about earlier make sure we have
everything covered but but I feel
comfortable with the staff we have right
now so we feel good about preventative
care I mean we were falling behind yeah
and so we added additional capacity
recently in the budget in order to do
that this in this this year um and we
are catching
up Mr Hurley you had your hand
up oh perfect um other questions Miss
felties sure
um before Carrie um I don't know
how the utility pills were paid a little
different so now we're trying to correct
everything um and we
have we have been um struggling to get
everything and all the accounts so we're
actually still working on that but that
is what we're figuring so like before
there's like one pot and we would pay
all the utilities out of that so now
we're breaking them out to like city
hall building Service
garage so you'll see movement but it
will be the net it'll it'll net be the
same we're not you know we're not paying
more for electricity for example yet
we're just getting it paid out of the
right
account good question um Andy I wanted
to call out um to thank you and the
mayor for putting in council member
marcelino's suggestion of uh water
relief assistance for our seniors I know
that that was important to him
to you Sam for highlighting that and
kudos to you mayor and Andy for
including that um where Sor we move on
from that I want you all to know we're
also deploying the software so that
people have access to their own usage
and alerts so we're gon well that was
actually going to be my second question
is when when the mayor and I talked to
discuss that new software sorry um where
where is that in the budget and how much
did that um come out to to be it got
moved to the it budget and I believe it
was right around 20,000 okay so it's not
in your service but we're hoping to have
that up in the next couple months um the
name of software is called aquahawk um
kind of excited about it each resident
could create the own their own account
and look at their usage it would also
help you know they see a spike you know
they can call janit or Taylor and be
like you know have somebody come out so
kind of be like a self- policing tool
that that would help the city staff out
also absolutely and and hopefully
they'll become more aware earlier if
there is an issue with yes ma'am
consumption president lampy if I could
just add um based on comments on the
technology um section of the budget in
the last meeting we did make um
significant changes to the way that's
broken down on page 39 that should look
pretty different um and it does break
down um those changes in the it budget
um including the $20,000 for this water
consumption portal um that is mentioned
so hopefully that helps break it down a
little bit further um and you guys can
see the year-over-year changes a little
bit easier great thank you so much
although that water line will probably
move over to the water fund as per the
auditor's Direction so we've got lots of
fun little little tweaks to make that's
right Council other questions for Mr bks
before um he moves on to capital budget
for
service all right I guess I guess Ronda
capital budget for for service unless
you had anything else
Andy on my capital budget this year U
the first item you'll see is irrigation
repairs um this will cover our
irrigation systems Citywide um we're
going to start on Maine Broad City Hall
Commonwealth um irrigation work is
expensive and we've kind of got behind
and we need to get our irrigation
systems back up and running
um the next item you'll see uh the
Stanberry pillar uh both those pillars
are leaning um and I do not feel
comfortable with doing that inhouse that
would actually be by a
contractor um
also moving right down to the Drex Soul
Circle the wing walls on the circle are
limestone and Mort mortared and they are
in need of
repair um and I would also use an
outside contractor on
that um the electronic signboard um this
would would be replacing a 2005 model
um the sign board being so old we've
I've had problems getting uh parts for
it getting it repaired uh some of the
parts have actually become obsolete so I
was wanting to get that um
replaced uh moving down would be a
pickup truck that would be replacing a
2004
truck and this would be following the
mayor's policy this would be an
EV and the next line you would see the
water meter replacement program that's
what I spoke about earlier where we
pulled it out of the different accounts
and put it right into the uh Capital
fund here and the very last would be um
small plow truck uh probably like a F350
this would not be an EV this would have
a plow and probably be Diesel and it
would would be replacing a
2005 pick up
check um Mr Price talked about maybe a
like a trailer something that was in
your capital budget if if we do opt to
get that how was that hauled or pulled
would that be with TR from service or
yeah right now um and Mike's Fleet he
has a couple trucks that would be able
to pull those stages um so that would be
an
issue and the code enforcement bolt
would also probably
a Mr Marcelino yeah thank you uh in
terms of uh Vehicles currently where are
we at in terms of age on these because I
remember you said we had a a couple that
were pretty bad pretty rough due to salt
and things how many more would you say
are going to be turning over in the
coming years um probably in the next
couple years I'll start working on the
dump trucks um those are rather large
ticket items and I didn't want to add
anything to this budget um I think after
this budget will be pretty good shape on
our pickup trucks but we'll need to
start working on our dump trucks some of
those are getting 10 plus years old and
that uh getting up there for ass salt
truck thank you yes
sir Council any other questions for Mr
bore on Capital Service budget
well Madame President that concludes
today's presentations on the budget we
will have
um some additional tweaks as we said
we're still working out electrical
balancing that will not really be a net
positive or negative we think um and we
will be restructuring at least the uh
water sewer cost centers to go back in
with some uh
proposed offsets from the various
appropriate funds um I think other than
that are there any other changes we know
about that that we've you know
since last week that we should just let
them
know no um yeah
our we're gonna get to an ordinance here
in a second um as you know I think I
sent you all an email we had a surge in
water usage through the uh through the
not not not very unpredictably through
the drought um and as a result of that
we have a lot higher of a water bill
from Columbus
and so we're going to change our budget
to reflect that that could happen again
next summer we just didn't have any
wiggle room for a variance from the
averages thank you for pointing that out
so so Council our next meeting is
December
3D um my anticipation is that we will uh
need to table this so that you can take
the next couple weeks to further think
through the budget and we'll see how
council is feeling at that December 3rd
meeting if we are um
comfortable with this do not have any uh
folks in attendance tonight I know that
there's no comments from the public on
this but before I ask Miss sod for
action on this are there any other
questions uh from
Council and we will have a revised
version to you November 29th perfect
thank you mayor and I know it's been a
lot of work to kind of move up the
timeline and to put in um the additional
work on the front end special thanks to
Carrie and to Megan and to your
directors and to Matt MC PE um into your
office for helping do that it's much
appreciated most of the
glory belongs over with Carrie and Megan
but we've all been it's a pleasure to
work on this budget we've been enjoying
it fully right guys that's right yeah
all right that that being said mad what
else do you have on this one yes I um I
wanted to just mention quickly that that
would take us to the fourth reading of
the budget which would be a synopsis of
the budget process um capital budget
revisit and and and in attendance we
would have all directors to field our
Q&A so wonderful yeah we might have one
we will have one remote attendee Mr
bashore is getting some
U
maintenance sounds good all right Miss
do you have a motion to table ordinance
35-24 yes I would like to um make a
motion to table ordinance
35-24 our budget motion table by Miss
sod is there a second second second by
Mr Marcelino Mr mCP would you please
call the role Miss lampy yes Mr Earley
yes Mr Markham yes Mr Marcelino yes Miss
FAL yes Miss s yes ordinance 3524 is
tabled great budget discussion folks
thank you all right back to you Mr Fish
all right third reading of ordinance
37-24 approving supplemental appropri
ations in the 2024 budget of $30,000
Jeffrey Camp snw $10,000 before and
after care snw
$14,000 recreational professionals and
$4,000 Recreation special activities to
pay the additional costs associated with
an increase in program programming mside
thank you Mr official we have discussed
this in length with our past two um our
first and second reading just to remind
Council this is um enabling our our park
and wre Department to pay additional
costs but that we have estimated Park
and W has estimated
177,000 overall net positive projected
from this programming to offset this any
other questions from Council on
ordinance
37-24 Assad do you have action on
37-24 I move to um approve ordinance
37-24 motion to approve by Miss sad is
there a second second second by Mr
Marcelino um any additional questions
from Council uh we do not have anyone in
attendance tonight so there are no
comments from the public Mr mCP would
you please call the r uh Mr Marcelino
yes Mr Markham yes Miss fibble Mr Hurley
yes Miss L yes and Miss sad yes
ordinance 3724
passes all right moving on to a third
reading of ordinance 38-24 to establish
the water and sewer rates charged by the
city of buxley introduced by Ms sad
thank you Mr official um the our water
um and Sewer rates are affected by
Columbus so they pass on to us what we
need to pay and we are receiving a 7%
increase in water and a 6% increase in
our sewer rates um again this we are at
the mercy of the city of Columbus on
this so any questions from Council on
this ordinance
38-24 Mr I guess a clarification because
we're going to have in first
reading another ordinance dealing F
rates if we were to not increase the
rates we charge residents that would
effectively create a deficit that the
city would have to cover correct in
future budget okay it's already our
water fund is already uh operating a
little bit of a deficit
um much less so on the current proposal
that it has in the past but yeah it
would exacerbate that for sure okay
thank you for that
clarification missad do you have action
on ordinance
38-24 yes I move to approve ordinance
38-24 motion to by missad is there a
second second second by Mr Marcelino any
questions or further discussion from
Council uh we do not have anyone in
attendance tonight so there are comments
from the public Mr MC PE would you
please call the Miss
s yes uh Miss fible yes Miss lamkey yes
Mr Hurley yes Mr Marcelino yes and Mr
Markham yes ordinance 3824
passes all right moving on to a first re
I'm sorry third reading of ordinance
39-24 to establish compensation rates
for non-bargaining unit employees of the
city of Bexley effect of January 1st
2025 introduced by m zad thank you Mr
official
um we have had great discussion on this
ordinance as well bringing everybody up
to speed on Council new members and
those who have been serving us um for a
bit on our seven step
process um on how we how we set up for
our employees how they are paid out um
to the city of Bexley so I would ask if
anyone was listening tonight that you
would refer to that seven step process
it lays it out very nicely um with that
being said
this ordinance 39-24 lines up with our
budget process and approval so um if if
there are any questions from Council
let's um let's ask him right now I I had
two questions and I I regret I didn't
ask it when Mike was here but I can ask
it at a future meeting um on the exhibit
B the range for swim dive team coaches
is from1 to $4500 per season it seems
like a very wide range
and then um I have a similar question
for the hourly rate for umpire referees
it varies from $10 and7 cents to $75 per
hour or game um I don't see any other uh
position in there that has that range
but uh I'll ask try to ask him before
our next meeting just on those two great
I think
I I can guess but I don't like same I'd
rather have Mike answer it okay sounds
sounds fair all right has got me in
trouble before that's hey that's okay
that's okay um Council I think we're
anticipating probably tabling this one
as well um as we did with our budget but
any other questions or discussion before
I ask missad for action on
this mayor you have anything extra to
add on this one all right all right
missad do you have action on ordinance
39-24 yes I motion to table ordinance
39-2 four motion to table by Miss sad is
there a second second second by Mr
Marcelino Mr mCP would you please call
the
rooll Miss lampy yes Miss sad yes Mr
Markham yes Mr Marcelino yes Miss F yes
Mr huray yes ordinance is
tabled all right we now have a third
reading of resolution 10-2 24 confirming
the mayor's appointments of members to
the community Improvement Corporation
board introduced by Mr Hurley thank you
um I'll also be asking uh that this for
the resolution excuse me be tabled um as
we have not yet identified the final uh
individual we're going to appoint to cic
I know the mayor is actively
interviewing people and I I may have a
candidate to send your way as well so I
would anticipate we get this resolved
probably at our next meeting so I hope
so yes any do it by the end of the year
so yeah yeah I'm definitely by the end
of the year still have time getting lots
of coffees
in right Council any questions or
discussion uh before um there's action
taken on
this all right seeing none and we don't
have anyone in attendance tonight so
there are no public comments Mr Hurley
um do you have a motion to table
resolution 10-24 yes I move the table
resolution 10-24 going to table my Mr
Hurley is there a second second second
by Mr Marcelino Mr M would you please
call the role Miss s yes Mr Hurley yes
Mr Markham yes Mr Marcelino yes Miss
viable yes and Miss Lany yes ordinance
1024 is table thank you Natalie if you
can just note that we tabled um
ordinance 35-24 39-24 and resolution
10-24 to the next agenda that'd be great
thanks okay we are now under a second
reading of ordinance
40-24 amending section 266.00 4 of the
city be of codified ordinances
introduced by Mr Hurley thank you so uh
as we discussed at first reading this is
based upon recommendations from the bexi
records commission uh to change the way
in which we assess fees on records
requests um as attorney official noted
there's a lot of existing case law
around how these charges can be assessed
and what you can you know assess for I
think most of our requests are probably
fulfilled electronically at zero cost to
the requester so um you know I as
somebody who's done a lot of Records
requests I you know I think this is this
is good Common Sense policy but um with
that I'll let mayor Mr FAL if you have
anything you want to add on
this I'm hearing no no questions any
comments discussion from
Council seeing none um we don't have any
speaker slips this evening would Council
feel comfortable with this going on the
consent agenda for our December 3rd
meeting is there anyone
opposed I I don't I don't like that okay
right problem we will leave it on as a
third reading for our next meeting
okay all right onto first readings first
reading of resolution 11-24 to establish
the dollar threshold of blanket purchase
orders in the city of Bexley introduced
by Ms
sad all right 11 resolution
11-24 um
[Music]
this uh allows the finance director to
is authorized and directed to issue
blanket certificates and ordance with
Ohio Revise Code
575-4150 for the city of
Bexley
and I'm wondering Carrie since you're
still here with us tonight if there's
anything that you would like
to discuss further on this ordinance
I don't really have anything to discuss
it just um we have to just have a policy
for um the Ohio RIS code in order to set
up blanket purchase orders so that way
the purchase order cannot be above the
limit that you set for and and
previously RC specified that it no
longer does now requires us to set it um
to be honest we're not exactly sure when
that change happened but we're we're
getting in conformance and at the next
meeting we're going to have because we
have some of our own communication
pieces to shore up we're gonna walk you
through vendor specific blanket and
super blanket purchasers so that you can
understand the differences between them
and why we would have different
thresholds so that'll help us come up
with why we are at 100,000 on that
exactly all right well preview of coming
tractions we don't want to spoil it for
today so just to add this is also um you
know we're working with the internal
Auditors so this was also a
recommendation from them um to put this
particular amount in place but which is
how this came to be so great that gets
us started on our first reading we look
forward to the second reading that's
right Den education on purchase order
types yes any further questions
discussion from Council hope there's
animation anyone
looks all right first reading of
ordinance
41-24 authorizing the mayor and auditor
to sign a consent and hold harmless
agreement on behalf of the city of
Bexley with the property owner 249
Plymouth Avenue regarding move
improvements made upon and within the
city owned right of way between the
sidewalk and the property line
introduced by Mr Marcelino uh it seems
as though this is a unique property in
the way that it's situated on its plot
uh I believe they're looking to
essentially build a fence um in the
city's right away um and at this point
they have not done so so it's not as
though it's up or anything of that
nature which to me is important um I
would leave it at that and ask the mayor
to expand I know he's attached a couple
exhibits here of the property and how
it's all situated but mayor I would
leave it to you to expand if you wish to
do so yeah so it all ties together we
were just talking about City RightWay
and property rights and this is um every
Street's a little bit different but
Dawson
is very unique in the fact that the
rideway goes really far
into uh the front yard in many instances
in this instance it's a side yard
because Plymouth is a side street but
where the cursor kind of hanging over
here is the property line so technically
that slice of lawn that you you see to
the west of the property line towards
Dawson That's All City
RightWay um this property owner has a
hedge in this area which sort of
establishes what we would consider a
sidey guard in most instances but
because it's not their yard it's not
actually a sidey yard it's city right
away um they have for their own purposes
they have a desire to have a fence as
opposed to just a hedge a hedge works
great for some things not great for
others so they're looking to put a fence
in um
and they are asking for consent and hold
harmless that is a city tree right there
it's a mature City tree so we're asking
them to put that
fence behind or to the east of the city
tree
um we've heard a I've heard some
preliminary feedback from Council
Members what's it going to look like um
that is something that will be covered
by BAP no matter what but we have
already indicated to the property owner
you know we're looking
for the high
sort of uh the highest level finish you
would imagine not I imagine but the
higher level finish since it's in the
city rway um we were we are going to
have them come back to you guys with
some at least General details so that
you can have a level of comfort for what
it is that they're propos into Bap um
it's a little bit of a chicken and egg
scenario because they don't want to
spend all the money on the landscape
architect if they don't have the
property right to actually put the fence
in and so they're in a catch 22 but
we're going to work with them on getting
at least some INSP Iration imagery and
some ideas to you so you see what
they're proposing um before you have a
chance to finalize your
decision happy to answer any questions
about
it yeah I think um I always lean them on
our boards on things like this they
experts yeah I'm
not um so I think just going back to
wondering what
their takes are and approving this
unique property and giving us some
feedback yep we will get that what we
got initially was pretty rough so we're
going to work with them to have it be
something
that will give you a better it was
pretty rough pretty rough just was it
was handdrawn
and um you know didn't have like
specifics in terms of what the sort of
fencing Hardware they were talking about
so we can um which again I'm not that is
not set in a disparaging way I
understand they came they came forward
with an idea and if Council says no you
can't do that then they can't do it and
then they don't want to you know
obviously incur the
the you know pretty substantial cost in
having it all designed if it's not going
to be able to happen so but we will work
with them to get some at least
preliminary information to you so you
can have a comfort level with what's
being proposed Madam president are you
all right I am good thank you but again
what we're talking about here is that
correct me I'm wrong that this is a
prerequisite to them moving forward with
offence process which is again subject
to Art review by the appropriate board
so correct yeah you wouldn't I mean you
it's it's your right of way so you can
put whatever condition you want on it
but it will also still need to go
through Bap um unless you somehow
supersede that with your decision which
I guess you could Theory Mr MC do you
have your hand up oh
okay um Mr Mar Markham so I mean there's
no problem with all the other stuff
that's going on in the RightWay way
there like the edge and everything like
that that's
just right so um you raise a really
interesting question that dovetails
exactly into what we were talking about
before because we've taken an
inconsistent approach as to who has
jurisdiction over that space
um our position is that residents can
plant in that area as long as it's not
in conflict with the city
tree um but that's the point of our code
that needs a little clarification and
then just you I think you said this but
so the red line is the property line and
so they want the fence on the property
line they want it outside of their
property line because technically this
area of their yard is not their
yard oh okay I'm sorry maybe I
misunderstood then wait so they closer
to the street they're looking to build
outside the property line and they're
going to follow that that hedge line
then the Hedge Line's actually in front
of the city tree so they would have to
come behind the hedgeline yeah
um because our guidance is that it can't
conflict with the tree
okay all right oh uh not sure who had
their hand Mr
Hurley by means please missad first oh
okay missad you Mr
Hurley um so then like this gets me
thinking do we have
other lots that are similar to
this yeah and then how many of those
lots of them
[Laughter]
so um I mean this isn't like Council
recently did this at U Maryland and
Drexel a similar thing it was where the
fence came into the into the rideway it
happens from time to time Dawson are
just a little bit more of an extreme
example of it because I think when you
buy a house and you're walking in the
area that's on that side of the sidewalk
you're not thinking oh I don't have the
ability to do something here it just
doesn't you know compute so then I just
I think it's always important to think
of the whole and so we what we decide
here you know is the decision for all
similar lots that we have in our
community
so I would anticipate you make that we
make that decision and that comes back
to you know every other resident see
that's some similar to this um could ask
for the same thing so just not that I'm
I'm not saying I'm for or against it
right now I'm just trying to make sure
that we're
planning for beex we're thinking about
what precedent this could say right
understood Mr
Hurley council member braad asked pretty
much the same question I wanted to ask
is just you know are there other
examples but and and I can drive down
Dawson and look at this but specific to
Dawson specific to you know those side
streets Dale Plymouth what have you are
there any other houses that are situated
in a way where they basically build a
fence and what would be their side yard
but it's actually city right away I mean
is there another truly
comparable fence installation a la
Dawson that
um yeah I believe there is and I think
you can look no further than just at
Dawson and fair to see it but I I don't
have this is a static here this
is anywhere you have a rideway like this
you have consent and hold harmlessness
throughout the SE actually one thing
we've talked about is coming up with
standards so that you can you know we
could start to administer this I feel
like this is just Dawson's kind of an
extreme example I'm not sure that a
standard would necessarily apply to it
so Mr I was gonna say it is the first
reading so I think that maybe if we
could get a list of any other by the
next one that would be excellent and
just to note for you uh Mr Earley I
think there's a house literally across
the street from this that has a similar
situation uh but it doesn't have a fence
yet and we might have to consider how
that plays out just uh from that
standpoint but I believe there are homes
if you take a dve okay and and I mean
just my my ideological view is I'm fine
with this I mean bap's going to have
final say on on what the fence will be
yes it's City rideway but there's really
nothing else happening there I mean as
long as I think they respect the tree
and whatever design guidelines be that
puts on I have no problem with
greenlighting this for them to move
forward but that's just my personal
opinion sounds good any other discussion
from
Council uh we don't have any speaker
slips so we will um go ahead and move on
to ordinance
42-24 all right first reading of
ordinance 42-24 to Grant area variances
with conditions from the minimum lot
requirements to the property located at
700 grandon Avenue zoned R six
residential in order to allow that
single lot to be split and to be and to
form into two New Lots that would not
meet existing six minimum lot
requirements and to Grant additional
variances to the applicable R six
development standards for minimum yard
requirements introduced by Mr
Marcelino yes thank you very much uh if
you've been on the first block of
grandon Avenue there's a home situated
there with basically a dual lot uh the
lot uh currently is empty and somebody
has taken over the property in the past
I believe two years or so um and they're
looking to split those and build uh the
attached document which is looks like a
beautiful home uh there are certain
restrictions upon uh the front facing
portion of we'll say your property in
South Bexley in regards to how wide it
needs to be and frankly I think that we
are inconsistent with it after speaking
with the mayor throughout South Bexley
um that we may look to ultimately modify
at least in terms of R six and what's
required but for the time being um
within that this is a request to
essentially split those lots and build
another uh home and I had asked the
mayor to see if the owner would provide
an idea as to what they look to build
and they did um and it seems to fit
appropriately uh on that plot of land
for me just from the eye test but i'
leave it for everybody else to consider
over the next two
readings uh similarly it would it would
uh go before Council um sorry uh sorry
ARB um potentially Bap because of uh
although I think you guys would
affirmatively appr some variances so
might not be might just beb um this
illustrates really well in this exhibit
how these lots are platted and how the
proposed lot split is uh consistent with
the historic fabric of that
neighborhood questions comments from
Council on this one is also first
reading
don't all right first reading of
ordinance 43-24 authorizing the mayor
and auditor to sign a consent and hold
harmless agreement on behalf of the city
of Bexley with the property owner 44
South Park View regarding improvements
made upon and within the city owned
RightWay between the sidewalk and the
property line introduced by Mr Marcelino
I have a question why does the auditor
have to sign these
things contract
okay they only if money's being that's
fine it doesn't hurt I just realized
that he pouts if we don't give him the
option so that's
what um we have signed these before they
are uh they're those pillars uh that
some homes install I wanted to confirm I
haven't driven by this property to date
they have not been built correct I
believe that's correct that is important
to me than yeah
big Improvement what it used to no
that's all good that works I'm I'm fine
with it but they haven't been built yet
um yeah so this is one that like because
we've had so many of these recently and
as you drive down Park viiew and drexal
and Columbia you just see them over and
over and over again we do we would like
to come back to you guys with an
ordinance that has a design guideline
for stone colums and that if they meet
the design guideline criteria that we
can administratively provide consent
hold Harless we can currently do that
with like for example sprinkler systems
so it feels like this might be
appropriate so that we
can do that this is not what this
ordinance is this ordinance is specific
only to 44 South Park View food for that
um miss you have your hand up I like
that food for thought
um and I'm just thinking back to other
ordinances on what we were looking at
with
fencing and I I
would want to have something similar
like that with how we're doing side lots
and fencing so there's some continuity
just like you're kind of saying with the
columns yeah so more food for thought
yeah this one's dead simple and then
we've talked about does it go broader
than that and that's certainly probably
worse about Miss F you have your hand
for what it's worth with the fences and
The sidey Yards it's
it's a lot and we were in we've been in
committee meetings uh we May drew a
committee in I don't know if you know
that or not but to have conversations
about that and there is just no
consensus it's really hard it's a really
hard one everything's figurable aable as
Mark likes to
say I didn't know I said sure Council
any any comments or discussion on
ordinance
43-24 all right seeing none we don't
have any speaker slips on this one Mr
ficial back to you all right first
reading of ordinance 44-24 to
appropriate
$194,800 from the water fund into the
water Administration account to pay the
2024 third quarter water invoice from
the city of Columbus introduced by m sad
I am glad
yep yes so
um throw this overs the mayor but I
think it's pretty straightforward it's
straightforward uh the the important
thing to know which I think you guys
know is that um there is a commensurate
income line item to the water bills that
we received from Columbus so when they
when consumption goes up and we have to
pay them more money we're also receiving
more money in as income um when we get
build it unless there's been some
mechanical defect in the equipment which
we've tested it recently and we don't
think our Master meters have that issue
uh we do owe it to the city of Columbus
so we are due to uh pay this remit this
by the end of month
um this is directly attributable to two
things the vast
majority um is the drought conditions
and additional watering about 10% of
this believe it or not is water
consumption next door on this
construction project where they've been
using it for dust control over the
summer so I mean related to Drought but
it's a it's substantial piece of a
construction
project got it are we anticipating um
maybe another similar higher bill for Q4
still of
2024 um so that would go that Q4 Bill HS
next year goes into our next year's
Appropriations um so it won't require
any extra action immediately at least
um I don't I don't know how to answer
that question other than that most
people are done doing that major
watering at the end of
September um it's not a scientific
answer okay so I I have a question on my
own
ordinance
um with the dust with the um that's
Gerald project are they working with us
on that special meter so they're hooked
into think fire they're hooked into a
main and they have a meter on the
project Council any questions from this
one I think this was the one that we uh
indicated there uh needs to be a
suspension and an adoption this evening
does anyone have any concerns about
doing
that all right seeing none um missad do
you have a motion to suspend the three
reading requirement for ordinance
44-24 I would like to make a motion to
suspend the three reading requirement
for do you mind coming down a little bit
on that 44 24 3 on ordinance
44-24 right motion to suspend uh by Miss
is there a
second second second by Mr Marcelino any
discussion from
Council I'm seeing none um Mr MC would
you please call the role on the motion
to suspend Miss FAL Mr Markham yes Miss
Lamy yes Mr Hurley yes Miss s yes Mr
Marcelino yes motion to suspend the
three reading rule
passes missad do you have a motion to
adopt ordinance 44
24 yes I um would like to make a motion
to adopt ordinance
44-24 motion to adopt by Miss sad is
there a second second second by Mr
Marcelino any questions or discussion
from Council um we do not have anyone in
attendance this evening so there are no
public comments uh Mr mCP would you
please call a rooll Mr Marcelino yes Mr
Hurley yes Miss fible yes Miss sad yes
Miss Lamy yes and Mr Markham yes
ordinance 4424
passes thank you Council um we do not uh
I don't think we have any um action on
tabled ordinance
24-24 at this meeting it is possible at
the next meeting that we likely
will um since we don't have anyone
attendance so we're going to go going to
skip agenda item 14 and move on to to
committee reports missad for
finance well first off I would like to
let Council know that tomorrow night the
Education Foundation will be meeting um
for their board meeting at Maryland
Elementary in the library at
7M and then I would just like to share
the amazing news with my Council my
fellow Council and and everyone here
leaders here with us tonight the Indiana
univ University for the first time ever
is ten and0 um we will be playing here
Indiana University will be taking on the
um Buckeyes this Saturday at noon and we
all know where I sit uh where I will be
sitting on on uh on that game um go
hooers who ho ho hooers um we're looking
for a big win which would be classic and
amazing and again I I will stand by if
anyone needs any IU apparel before
Saturday you know who to call you know
who to call I I for one I'm G to steal a
lawn ornament from Fair Avenue after
that
um and uh and and lastly best of luck to
the you know the hoer football team and
and Coach Signet he um as he said it you
know I win games Google me end of
report all right Miss fibble try to top
that report for Rex and harp please I
don't think I can top that report and
tell you that my regular email is OSU
educated at AOL because it
is
um all I can say is O and uh and a
report all right um Mr Silverman wanted
me to share on behalf of his service and
environmental committee uh that there is
a repair Cafe I believe it's this Sunday
from 12: to 3 here at City Hall if you
have um an appliance or something that
just needs some patching or some working
on uh feel free to bring it um Mr
Marcelino zoning and development just
want to thank everybody uh for their
work on the budget this year the process
has been awesome uh it's been efficient
and uh my best budget experience so far
as a member of council and I know that
took a lot of work uh to kind of retool
some things and get everybody organized
at the time so I Look to You Ben as I
know it's you and the rest of your team
but also to Jess and Mo'Nique that
helped uh vocal vocalize our uh our
concerns or any of our suggestions it's
just been a great process so thank you
all uh I also would like to acknowledge
that the Cleveland Cavaliers are
undefeated for the time being but the
Celtics are currently up by 18 points so
go Celtics end of report thank you Mr
Hurley I'm seeing a theme here to you
for strategic and health oh gosh well
the crew got knocked out of the MLS
Playoffs so I don't know if I have much
yeah um actually yeah I went to that
home game I think my bad uh bad luck for
them uh Bexley land use commission has
what I believe is their final meeting of
the Year Monday December 2nd at 6:30 pm
cic is not meeting again until next year
um I would just note um you know we
talked earlier this year about awareness
and support for the trans gender
Community this is actually the final day
of transgender awareness week and uh
tomorrow is um very somber day it is
transgender day of remembrance it's held
every year on November 20th really to
honor the memory of those transgender
individuals who were who've been you
know killed or or or experienced
violence um against them because of the
fact they are transgender um as Mr
official noted um it's a uh it's a tough
time I think for people in that
Community um so I'm sorry to bring the
mood down but um yeah I just think
tomorrow if you know if you know anyone
in the community or no one who's know
anyone who's um you know tangental to it
uh you know take a minute send them some
love I think it would mean a lot so
thank you all end a report thank you Mr
Hurley Mr Markham over to you for safety
just to note that I'm uh lodging a
protest for this meeting I don't think
that the finance chair should be able to
have this subscene
display dur official city council
meeting uh that's why I put the m
I am I am kind of happy for you though
like I said they they have had a good
run and uh I'm sure they'll be excited
this weekend to play a top 25
team okay all right on that note Council
our next meeting is December 3 I wish
you a very happy and blessed
Thanksgiving I move to adjourn can I
please get a second second second by