e
e e
welcome everyone to our March 25th 2025
Beckley city council meeting uh I'd
encourage everyone to come on in and
find a see they can if anyone in
attendance tonight has a speaker slip
that they need to hand in I ask that you
please hand it in at this
time Mr mCP would you please call the
role Mr Marcelino present Mr Hurley
present Miss fible Miss sad here miss
lamkey here Mr Markham president and Mr
Silverman here thank you please join me
for the Pledge of Allegiance
hang please thank
you I can't get it scooched in either
Council you may have noticed that we
have a fairly packed council chambers
tonight we have some very special guests
joining us uh for our first guest I
would love to invite council member sad
to do an introduction and then I know
the mayor has something he'd like to
share well it is my honor tonight to
bring jackon monus back to City Hall he
is a two-time state champion Bexley
diver and he continues to make the city
of Bexley so proud I've had the honor
and privilege of knowing this young man
who turns 16 tomorrow by the way I told
him we weren't able to get him a car but
today we're giving him a proclamation
which is close um but I have had
right I have had the privilege of
watching Jackson grow up um and he has
always been a kid that he he runs fast
and hard and has natural athleticism but
he has always loved to dive and any way
shape and form and it is fun to watch
and I've had the opportunity to sit on
the sideline and uh watch that turn into
something that is pretty spectacular
he's uh spending a lot of time down in
the Fort Lauderdale area now and I think
that keep watching this kid story
because uh we're going to see a lot more
come out of him and more than just a
state champ he's on his way to do a lot
of other things so it's our privilege to
have you here tonight Jackson with your
grandparents and your parents um in
order to be and do what you do you have
to have that support behind you and you
have that and your mom and dad and your
grandparents and your sister and um so I
thank them tonight for all that they've
done to support your journey and your
goals and um with that being said mayor
Kesler
all right so Jackson has had a
proclamation here which he's joining a a
vaunted club of a double Proclaim it's
pretty it's pretty impressive so here ye
whereas beckley's two-time state
champion Jackson monus has continued to
exemplify the hard work and focus of an
exceptional athlete throughout a
sophomore season on the Bexley High
School swim and dive team and whereas
Jack topped off an impressive season
with a remarkable performance at the
championship meet where he led the field
by more than 12 points after six rounds
and whereas Jackson saved the best for
last with his final div of the Season
where he cinched the state CH state
champ title for the second year with a
decisive 41o lead
overachieving and whereas Jackson's
impressive talent and wor work ethic
continued to impress and Inspire his
team in our community therefore I Ben
Kessler mayor of the city Bexley declar
today March 25th 2025 as Jackson monus
day congratulations you a speech
prepared S
no I just have one question for you do
you think we should bring the high dive
back to the Bley pool for sure definely
all right I'll make sure that Mike uh
Mike gets that that word from us all
right congratulations Jackson awesome
and do you want a
photo and family you guys want to join
while they're coming up Jackson happy
early birthday from all of us to you
do they want to
come three generations are really good
looking people look at this
I can't see this
[Music]
Grand well
done wow that was pretty amazing thank
you so so much to all of your family for
joining us uh we also have a second set
of very special guests uh we are joined
tonight by most of the St Charles swim
team who were just re who were just the
recent state champions in swimming they
are accompanied by parents their coach
uh and I know the mayor has something
for them if all of you would like to
come on up
now the St Charles swim team had a
Special Assembly yesterday recognizing
uh their accomplishments it was pretty
cool it was in the new the new space
over there at St Charles so they have
received their Proclamation so I
apologize that you're going to hear it
again but that's all right because it's
almost like you get to relive the glory
that was a really energetic crowd
yesterday and they have a really cool
slideshow that shows them and their
phenomenal finish in the state
championships it was it was like it was
like a Rudy Rudy Rudy moment I mean you
guys got to watch it so we can we get
the slideshow to pass along to
council that'll be awesome so for the
benefit of all of you whereas the
hardworking and talented athletes and
coaches of the St Charles Prep School
swim team recently concluded an
outstanding season in the midst of
several swimmers being challenged with
sickness and other adversity the team
faced a difficult Championship meet with
two-time state champ team Cincinnati St
Xavier and whereas the matchup will
certainly go down in Ohio High School
swimming history with the championship
coming down to the final event which St
Charles won I might add in rather
spectacular fashion securing a onepoint
lead in cinching the state championship
title and whereas this is the first
swimming state champion title for St
Charles since 2008 and only the second
in the school's history these young men
are to be admired and celebrated for
their impressive work ethic and
perseverance and not to be outdone
yesterday March 24th 2025 was St Charles
swim team day
congratulations let's get a quick photo
of you guys
conratulations
thank you so much I had a chance to meet
all of you in the parking lot council do
we have any additional comments for the
St Charles swim Champs Mr Mark I got one
and I just want to say congratulations
but Jess and I are just saying like
those jackets are so
badass we are ordering those for city
council I think now I think their coach
may also want another
one yeah
[Laughter]
that's thank you so much
everybody and you are certainly welcome
to stay for the rest of your city
council meeting if you'd like um you can
also slip out
whenever you would like we'll give you a
moment thank you so
much e
all right uh we are now to agenda item
number six public comments regarding
items that are not on the agenda uh Mr
mCP do we have any speaker slips no
speaker slips all right um moving on to
the president's report
um Council I just wanted to share two
quick updates um as you know March is
international women's month um our very
own Jessica sad has been working really
hard for an upcoming Women's Wellness
event on Saturday May 10th more to come
on that in conjunction with the library
and several other organizations or just
do you want to give a shout out for that
now sure thank you for recognizing that
I appreciate it um there's lots
happening we're going to have the Ohio
State mobile mammogram um will be at uh
the library as well um we're still
trying to uh get some screening for
blood pressure and um sugar tests we
have a handful of amazing uh women who
are going to be participating in booths
and um speaking engagements it's going
to be a great event um you can currently
register online at the Bexley public
library and and we uh were capped at 50
so get online and register and tell your
wives your sisters your friends um it's
going to be a great event to empower and
equip uh women to put their health first
wonderful we have just keep us in mind
maybe closer to that date as well uh
given given the celebration of that
month I'm so honored to serve with all
of you but especially council member
fibal council member sad we have many of
our directors here tonight Carrie Martin
Megan Meyer um so happy International
women's month to all of you um and my
second reminder council is a few weeks
ago we uh unanimously adopted um a
council communication policy so I'm
pleased to share that at the end of this
month uh in the Bexley blast uh council
member Fel will be submitting an article
um uh in her capacity as chair of parks
and rec so we look forward to reading
that and that is the end of my report um
Mark fishell our normal City attorney is
not here tonight but he has sent um
someone amazing you may remember um I
forgot what your last name was humphy
Humphrey Ben Humphrey was here a couple
weeks ago um do you have a City attorney
report tonight Ben good evening everyone
nice to see you uh no City update um
tonight but thank you for having me we
are so excited that you are back uh Mr
auditor over to you for your report
nothing tonight all right moving on to
administrative updates mayor over to you
please uh you all have my report in
writing I'm happy to answer your
questions thank you for the print out
mayor you're welcome missad I'm happy to
sacrifice a couple trees for you any
time uh yes
Lauren when is the day when we um do
drop offs for where they collect all of
our stuff you Knowle you know like
batteries I have a thing of batteries so
big yeah I believe that's April 20 I'm
gonna make something up but I want to
say the wrong thing anybody 25th
20 something one okay well I'll stay in
touch with you yeah I'll have and find
out and is it at is it at the 26th yeah
the 26th
and are we doing that on delmare or are
we do doing that at the that is in
delmare it be very similar to years's
past there also be da drug takeback day
shredding Goodwill uh E-Waste um
batteries all that good stuff perfect
thank you so much
yeah no questions yes sir I will just
say thank you for getting Park Mobile
set up for the Chargers I know that took
a good bit of work but um love seeing
people use it and paying Megan put a ton
of work behind that Andy Cruz got all
the signage out and I saw a ticket on a
car yesterday so parking control is also
working at so know that your city is is
fully at
work uh all right um moving on to the
illustrious finance department I do want
to say Carrie uh and Kiana have been
doing a fantastic job um thank you
carrying payroll over the past few
payrolls
hopefully you all got paid um and and
you guys are doing a great job catching
up with some some work that has fallen
behind as uh we've had some shifting in
Personnel so I just want to brag on you
and say you also have some good news I
think in your I appreciate that um we
still are catching up um but we are
getting there we're currently working um
with our software company to um help
just get everything balanced and
together but moving forward as soon as
we get everything caught up um I feel
like we've had some excellent training
and um we'll be good to go but so my
excellent news is that income tax is
coming in um above expected so through
March in in the month of March we were
71,000 above projection so year to dat
we are um
354,000 above what um we had forecasted
so
um but that that is all I have we are um
um finishing up final interviews for the
payroll coordinator so hopefully you
don't have paychecks coming for me too
much longer but um with that if anybody
has any
questions for
car
okay um Megan
Meyer uh is up next with development
Administration update uh Megan
[Music]
underway in the last few weeks um you'll
see a special tree issue believe this is
the first time we've done this of the
Bexley times and I just wanted to give a
shout out to the members of the tree and
public gardens commission who wrote
multiple articles for this issue to cele
uh celebrate the bexy arbor ROM in honor
of Earth and Arbor month um and so that
should be hitting your mailbox here soon
but you can go ahead and check it out it
does detail all those level events
including the DEA take back day um
council member fible if you're looking
for information on
that y with that I'll take any questions
questions for
Megan I do want to say I think Megan has
not been at Council since the state of
the community I believe Megan and
Natalie did a great job two
claps good job guys yeah mat and I will
just say too the uh the anual reports
that are coming out I mean they are
really nice I mean like my kids pick
those up the minute they come in and
they start looking through and and it's
just a really good layout for pretty
much everybody so really nice job with
those very user
friendly the the jeans are strong I
guess huh on towards the uh um animal
control updates um I think those are
what gets them so but they're
great Megan I just want want to say then
I've said this to you previously but I
very much appreciate all of the extra
ongoing work that I see you doing please
know how much it's appreciated it's
noticed and it's really helpful to me so
thank you very much for putting in all
that extra work that uh that you've been
doing over the past several
months this morning with the joint
leavue project and then I believe the
colia project launched today we did have
a pre-construction meeting today for
Columbia um looking like it's probably
going to start um the second week of
April um and then next will be the
sidewalk project and the street project
um have not had those precons yet but
soon as I get some dates I will share
them um really don't have anything else
to add but happy to take any
questions questions Brandy
I'm asking for a friend okay lots of
trees have been coming down on perk
viiew and they've done a great job
getting them round too and I'm assuming
there's other places throughout Bexley
that that's happening are we going to
get new trees this year do you know I
think this fall fall okay I know they
plant in the spring the fall but in the
fall okay I can check I'll check with
Grant and let you know but I I think
that's scheduled for this fall I I just
I know that our neighborhood will be out
walking in asking and I know yeah thank
you well those are going to be kind of
those are some big trees I think that
are coming down and so replacement can
be a little difficult because of the
root ball just
to yeah exactly yes Mr um my fellow
North Bexley member reminded me um so
this is again asking on behalf of some
neighbors but along North Remington and
I'm sure other streets there are several
of the sweet gum trees that are now
dropping those little balls
everywhere um somebody one of my
neighbors remarked they thought that the
city was removing those systematically
but I just wanted I guess get clarity on
that there is a program actually so
there's a program where up to four
service there maybe yeah up to four can
be removed per year okay um there are
four on North Remington if you're
looking
for if you're looking for four there's a
form online and I'll I'll send you the
link the tree Commission
created um and I I think there's a
couple piece it's very minimal criteria
just to request removal I'll I'll take a
look at that and refer my neighbors to
it yeah I think they didn't want a whole
onslaught of removals so I'll get you
that
in any other questions for
Andy Madame President that concludes our
report thank you all right thank you Mr
Mayor all right Mr Humphrey over to you
for consent agenda
uh meeting minutes from March 11
2025 council is there uh any discussion
on the meeting on the consent
agenda all right seeing none I move to
adopt the consent agenda could I please
have a second second second by Mr
Marcelino um there any comments from the
public Mr mCP would you please call the
role
Miss
fibble yes Mr
Silverman yes Mr Markham yes Mr Hurley
yes Mr Marcelino yes Miss sad Miss Lamy
yes conscent agenda passes thank you and
for third readings ordinance 0725 to
create chapter 1473 maintenance of
elevators requiring landlords who rent
residential units with access to an
operational passenger elevator to keep
the elevator maintained and operational
for the duration of the rental term
introduced by Mr Sam Marcelino on
February 25th
2025 yes thank you very much again I
don't have anything to add from the last
time we had questions in regards to the
enforcement P penalties um questions
about the reasonableness uh standard uh
again some of this is is a little bit
subjective to some degree um but it at
least gives us some extra tools to try
to move these projects along where the
uh owner of the property has not shown
any interest in fixing their uh
elevators but I'll leave it at that for
any further questions or concerns at
this time Mr Hurley just and apologize
for not being here two weeks ago um this
is I mean I'm I'm supportive of this
this isn't going to affect my my vote
but I'm just curious some on the
enforcement
piece what if anything and we could talk
offline more about this but what if
anything would these landlords face
under say the Ohio Department of
Commerce Division of industrial
compliance or you know potential civil
suit under the Americans with
Disabilities Act there well I think kind
of trying to think through how we're
going to layer this in well I think as
any uh any attorney would tell you it
depends um and it depends on the conduct
of the individual and the people making
the claims Etc I mean the long and the
short is that we don't have a lot of
these elevators in Bexley at this point
but I think that we will get uh more uh
as you can see next door and potential
other development sites that we've uh we
see in the future but um at this point I
I honestly think it depends and part of
this is uh to give us a tool to enforce
uh an expedited response in my opinion
from landlords that maybe aren't good
actors we all understand that uh that
elevators uh and elevator technicians
are pretty desirable right now and I
should say elevator technicians are and
that's because there's not enough of
them but at least to see them ordering
the parts getting the work scheduled Etc
but if they can't show that then we can
move into the uh prosecution of it I
guess thanks and I just would add you
know more localized enforcement I think
also makes a difference I mean you know
these are big state and federal
bureaucracies and so having someone you
know boots on the ground here in Beckley
and our to provide that carrot or that
stick if needed I think is great so yeah
absolutely and I know that um director
klingler's department will be all over
it he's taking the calls daily is there
are complaints or issues around here so
I have a complete trust in his ability
to enforce uh where necessary and and to
add to that um at our last meeting
director Kingler did say that this is
yet an additional tool in the toolbox
that the city could use to um to P
possibly pursue some folks um any other
questions or comments from
Council Mr Marcelino do you have a
motion on this one tonight yes I do
sorry I'm pulling that back up I move to
uh approve ordinance
0725
second motion to approve by Mr Marcelino
second by by Mr Markham is there any
further discussion from
Council um we do accept public comments
on this no speaker slip is
needed um Miss V is gonna uh give our
speaker a microphone um sir if you
wouldn't mind sharing your your name and
address with us and please keep your
comments to five minutes certainly will
my name is Arthur
ruberg uh we live at
505 uh South Park view in a four-story
apartment building and I appreciate
obviously there have been three readings
and this has been well discussed prior
to this and I appreciate this ordinance
when I saw this as an agenda item I said
how do they know how do they know how
important this is to some of us
basically we moved to Beckley about
three years ago because my uh son-in-law
Ben who was here today my daughter and
our grandchildren are here and uh one
thing we have and we have enjoyed so
much of the life in Bexley I'm often
seen as the guy who Motors around on a
motorized wheel chair on Main Street and
I uh frequent many of the establishments
there uh the only issues we have had
have been in the apartment elevator
issues we live on the fourth floor I
have been wheelchair bound since a
stroke in
2009 and I can I'm basically in a
wheelchair all the time and when the
elevator does not work obviously it
means I'm stuck either out or in the
apartment there was a uh six week period
or twoth period of two years ago where
we literally had to move out and go
somewhere while they were getting the
elevator fixed and yet it still has not
worked 100% I appreciate the landlords
have been trying to deal with them but
just know that when we are not when I'm
not able to get up and down on the
elevator really our life has very little
qu quality if at all and I'll give you
an example uh around right before
Thanksgiving and we were getting ready
to uh I don't remember to host or to go
but so one day I took the elevator down
went around bought some things on Main
Street I came back and lo and behold the
elevator stopped working and I was out
of you know I was downstairs and I
couldn't get up to the apartment and we
couldn't get in there also was nobody to
call that was on duty it was right
before Thanksgiving so it wasn't really
possible to get emergency service to fix
it so what do we do literally I had a
walk Force flight light of steps uh with
my daughter-in-law my daughter being
there to carry the wheelchair up four
flights which literally is eight flights
of steps I used every ounce of uh
ability I had to get up there we finally
did it but I literally couldn't walk for
another uh week or so as I was so worn
out so I probably used my time period
again thank you for all you have done
for us we love our new residents here in
Bexley we had a choice of moving with
one with one set of grandchildren to
Northern New Jersey or to move to here
and uh this was a great decision and if
somehow the elevator issues were dealt
with a little better than they have been
it would be 100% thank you for
everything thank you for allowing me to
talk and you know the older we get the
longer we talk I hope I kept it to five
minutes thank
you thank you sir for your comments much
appreciated uh are there any other
public comments all right Mr mCP would
you please call the rule on the motion
to
adopt uh Mr
Marcelino
yes oh sorry here uh Mr Silverman yes Mr
Markham
yes I should just stop using this at
this point but um Miss vial yes Mr
Hurley yes Miss lampy yes and Miss sod
yes ordinance 725 passes wonderful thank
you so
much Mr Humphrey back to you third
reading for resolution 0-25 to support
the ongoing investment in the repair and
replacement of sewer infrastructure and
to support the planned refresh of the
city's sewers study and Sewer Plan
introduced by Miss Jess sad on February
25th
2025 thank you um there has been great
discussion on this resolution um amongst
Council and we um also have done a nice
job as a city of putting on um a handful
of attachments to this resolution so at
this point Council I believe we've all
done our due diligence and time put
forth into this resolution to make sure
we're doing the best job um for our city
in continuing to uh invest and repair
our sewer infrastructure which we know
is needed here in our community so um by
passing this resolution tonight we are
simply doing that and um I obviously
look forward to to making this happen
and um continuing that investment are
there any questions from Council at this
point um I wanted to thank Andy and
Megan for their um months long if not
years long work especially you Andy um
since you've been here since the
beginning um and I know that we've we've
asked a lot of both of you for the past
couple months on this so thank you so
much for your expertise uh Council any
comments questions before we uh before I
ask if there's a motion on this Mr
Markham I I just wanted to clarify and I
I don't want to be speaking out of turn
here I know that we were sent an email
we were War not to speak of the board of
control but I my understanding was this
was centered on the board of control
decision am I an
error I believe this is a resolution in
support of the board of control um
possibly um adopting the recommendation
that's been made right so we we sat
through a you know we had a presentation
and everything with that board of
control with that information are we I
mean that's what we're here to talk
about though right I'm just curious
because I that I got that email like 45
minutes ago Sor not you're correct I
think restricted from the reason that
the board of control wanted to bring
this forward to council and uh by way of
a resolution and to have three readings
and to have the administration do kind
of a a deeper dive on the history and uh
why we need this study uh we wanted all
of council to be not only informed
because the last time a SE study was
done I believe only council member FAL
was on Council but also because of the
financial impact it's going to imp
impact not only
2025 but also a part of 2026 and
honestly it's going to impact further
because we don't know what the results
of that super study may be so that's why
we brought it to yeah no I I I I
understand that I want I want to commend
you guys for doing that too I think you
know the work that you guys put into
that and giving us that information and
you know I I continue to really uh
appreciate our auditor Mr MC PE for like
bringing this stuff and and you know
explaining a lot of this to us and
everything and I know that would have
been a decision that maybe would have
been made you know without our input and
now it's getting our input so I I'm
going to go ahead and then say that you
know I mean based on that information um
I mean I'm going to be a no for this
tonight um and the reason is because I
think the what you spoke about the
burden that it puts on the budget for
next year I think is pretty excessive I
think we have to be pretty sure that we
that that's going to be worth that extra
money I mean that's a half a million
dollars I believe that's going to be
added to a our our budget for next year
that takes up a huge chunk of that the
information that I saw again I believe
which is you know on public record up
there was that those bids looked very
very different from each other in terms
of what they contained and that
information that we looked at and
analyzed
typically when you see you know bids
going up you know you are looking to try
and uh you're trying to look for a lower
competitive bid in this case you know we
are taking the highest bid and I know
that that was explained that there's a
lot more information a lot more studies
that are going to come from that I guess
I still kind of remain unconvinced that
that's going to be worth that burden
that we're going to be placing on on the
budget what it would take for me to get
to a yes for this would be to go back
and amend those bids or allow those to
be bids so that they would be
more uh they would be more similar in
what they're proposing so if we want the
higher bid with the more studies I guess
I would like to see those other uh
competitive bids be able to maybe take
that into account it seems possible to
me that if that were specified that
that's what we want I mean we might get
compe bids that would save us maybe
100,000 or even $200,000 or it's
possible now they they might be higher
even too I you know whatever but since
we don't have that information we can't
really
say in this even though I know that I
want to be supportive of of what we're
doing here and I know we are ultimately
going to fix our sewers uh which is
which is super super important to us uh
as an elected representative of
uh Bexley uh I I can't I can't vote in
support of adding another half million
doll onto this without knowing kind of
like what that means in terms of what
could be offered by other uh by other
firms and and that sort thank you Troy
any other comments from Council uh Mr
Marcelino yeah and I guess it's a
general question I know it's tough but
we you know we're at the third reading
and I've kind of worked through this as
well well um and after hearing Mr
markham's questions and comments Etc I
guess what I would ask here is in
regards to these bids everybody is aware
of the same scope of the work correct
that's a fair statement I'm going to
actually ask Megan who was in the weeds
with the scoping so they were aware of
the scope of the project correct
everybody responded to the same RFP um
and then after the first round of
responses the city engineer um
contracted David kooch did follow up
with each individual and gave them an
opportunity to um recognize that we did
have some components that we wanted them
to respond on and so it was an iterative
process okay but yet two of them came
back and said we think we can do it and
give you the same type of information to
base your project off of for less and
one is just coming in and saying but
sure thing we're going to spend it's
going to cost more but we is there a
higher guarantee that we're comfortable
with for that amount of money or I mean
because the other two are theoretically
telling us you Ferris and arcades we can
do it and here's our price and it's
significantly lower as Troy is pointing
out so I know what they're giving us but
is it truly necessary and why do we
believe that sure okay um so 50,000 foot
view I think what ended up happening is
we asked multiple firms for how would
they approach this
and we got three very different
approaches to fixing the same problem
they may not be wrong but they will be
very different in the man-hours
committed in the final product that we
receive so it would be and I think we
made this analogy in Board of control
you have somebody come and waterproof
your basement and you're going to get
three different methods of doing that
and they're all from qualified firms
one's going to cost you a th000 one's
going to cost you 10,000 but one you're
going to have more of a guarantee than
the other I also think what happened in
this instance is that we got um three
different firms with three different
areas of expertise and that really
showed in the responses and so when we
as a committee um with you know includes
your water superintendent your service
director your engineer um and the mayor
and myself um really found that due to
the capacity that we have on staff the
fact that we have one contracted
engineer having a full service firm in
our pocket that is BNN is actually well
worth our while we do not have the
capacity on staff to oversee this
comprehensively and that is part of the
purchase we did not feel that um the
same quality of um project manager was
going to come from other firms so we are
paying for man hours we are paying for a
wraparound service with BNN um so 50,000
foot view that's what we're looking at
um scope the man hours is really much
more expanded and I think is a much
higher quality study um so we're not
recommending the cheapest because we
don't think that that's what we need uh
we really think that we are going to
likely come back to this council with
requests to do things like increase user
fees and I want to make sure that when
we come to you to do that we have the
best possible data fair I you know I'll
just I guess comments in regards to it I
get it so we were in a waste uh
Contracting the oversight of this
project by paying the extra amount of
money because service can't handle it
without bringing on more people one of
many reasons part of I mean I guess I
just look at it as I don't know and he
brought up the 1,000 10,000 and when I
went to go buy my wife's ring I remember
they sat me down he sat me with the
little magnifying glass or whatever you
call it and uh he says here's one and it
was you know there are tons of
imperfections and now it's the cheapest
one then there's the one in the middle
and then there's the best the finest cut
and don't tell my wife this but I went
with the one in the middle because
there's clearly obviously the bottom
product that doesn't get the job done
because it's slightly brown or whatever
it may be but when you start getting
above a certain uh figure here it tends
to be a little bit more reliable and I
guess after hearing the breakdown if
we're Contracting out the overview of
this or the you know oversight of it
then that makes a little bit more sense
because I also don't want to bring in
three more people to run a pro because
that's a higher expense but at the same
time I guess I'm having a tough time if
you have two companies telling us that
they can do it one three companies but
two of them are are the higher ones and
we're just going with the one that's
higher but it's it's significantly
higher than the than the second or third
options and that's just where I guess I
get stuck but um maybe I'm a fiscally
conservative sure um and to kind of add
to that to um do we have the fee
proposal um analysis in any of those
folders I want to pause for a second if
it's okay because the reason that Mark
sent that email is that the this is not
about awarding the contract the board of
control still needs to determine who the
contract would be awarded to and it's
not predetermined there's a
recommendation from the group internally
who analyzed the bids which is Andy bore
service director Megan and our city
engineer J Co they have ped over a year
of time into analyzing those and any
analogy we come up with is going to fall
short I guarantee it because it's like
it there's so much more of a depth of
work and an understanding of the
difference between a physical inspection
and a computer model and lots of other
things that go into it I think that
decision still has to be made it this is
not binding the contract to a vendor
it's not binding our budget for next
year any of the proposals we looked at
would not require us to exercise a
second phase next year so this is a
um shedding more light on what we talked
about during our budget process when we
allocated this piece of our budget for
the sewer project and explained you know
there's also going to be a piece of that
next year this provides much
more of a um of a proactive statement
from Council because it's just about
this issue not the whole budget issue
which is where it was wrapped up in last
time but it's not it's not determining
vendors that still has to happen through
the border of control
so okay so just to making sure I
understand procedurally then so we're
going to approve that you uh take the
action that you see fit and you're still
deciding between arcadis and Burgess and
Nel the three respondents for EP Ferris
arcadis and Burgess the recommendation
from our our team internally was Burgess
based upon the scope and the well lots
of things I'm not going to say was based
upon sure
uh okay um
that's I'll leave it to somebody else
questions uh Mr Silverman or Mr who had
Mr Silverman you had your hand up first
I'm so sorry um so to the point earlier
about the email that was sent out from
Mark there was questions and responses
and I'm still not clear on who initiated
the questions and who answered the
responses and I don't know if we can
speak towards that but but that had an
extra layer of confusion that was sent
out and I'm also trying to understand
based off of Mr Marcelino and Mr
markham's conversation this resolution
is requesting us
to support a decision that hasn't been
made but will be made in the future
unknowing of the choices that will be
made by the board of
control I mean it was that was what was
proposed to be brought forward to you
guys and and to to to be fair as as as
I'm one of the three members of board of
control um not only do I get to sit as
president of council but the whole
another idea of bringing it all back to
you was to kind of hear your thoughts
and your feedback so that when Board of
control does meet I have that
information with
me so the that okay hang on a second let
let him finish
his if if Ben could speak towards the
email that was sent out specifically to
the who asked the questions and who
responded the answers to it are you able
to elaborate the questions were asked
anonymously through the auditor um and
so I don't know but we Megan put
together the response and and the so
these are a variety of questions that
were that were received from City staff
and the auditor Department it was just
one one were compiled I think one
person I
think I'm not sure yeah I mean I think
the easiest thing to do is say I got
questions and I asked uh I was asked to
um circulate them to the administration
to get
responses thank you all right Miss s I'm
sorry to cut you off um just kind of
coming back to wrap um ourselves around
what I believe the intent of this
resolution is is two things
um that we are as a city we were able to
go back and again I we bring up the
materials just so we can revisit that
because there's a lot of them when we
talked about all that due diligence that
Andy and Megan has done um and I'm going
to tell you I'm I'm not a sewer expert
hands up in the air so I always rely on
those who are and then it's my job
to dive into all of this past history
that you put together for us which I've
done and I I'm sure my peers have done
as well to just kind of bring myself
back up to speed of the Investments what
we've made where we've been and where
we're going so the intent of this
resolution in my very strong opinion is
that we as a city have had the
opportunity As Leaders to relook at all
of this and then some of us like you
said um council member FAL was here in
the beginning of all this so we get that
institutional history and knowledge to
empower us and then we say okay we're
okay with letting the board of control
make that decision but we are not the
sewer experts or at least I can speak
for myself as one of seven to decide who
we should give that contract to but I do
believe in saying I'm supporting this
resolution that we've done our due
diligence as a city to revisit this and
let the experts that be put us in the
best hands and situations to then let
the board of control decide on who
Contracting with so that is simply I
think what the resolution that we I hope
we approve tonight takes us to that next
stage now if there's further dialect
after that I encourage everyone to go to
the board of control meeting and that's
when you would weigh in on that next
step but um I see them as completely
separate I I will also add um I think
there is some speculation as to whether
or not everybody has provided the same
scope I think that does occur when you
bid out a project that some firms will
not bid on the full scope because they
are not qualified to do so and I believe
that's what occurred in this case um in
two of the responses storm sewer was
completely disregarded and no work was
to be done um and I'm sorry in just one
response and two they did respond to
that and so that's indicative that they
do not feel that that is their expertise
um and so you're going to see variations
in work because the firms have different
benches and different qualifications
um and so even if we rebid and reinforce
the scope you may not see one firm
respond to comprehensively to that um
and they may um to to completely if they
understood that you must hit all of
these notes to get this contract they
would have to subcontract out um and so
I think as limited of a situation as we
can do with that and have a firm that is
bringing us a deep bench that's
collaborative is to our benefit thank
you Megan um who had their hand up first
over here miss F let's let's go with
you I I
am
that at least at least three
times I have had over a foot of
water in three different basements in
three different areas of our
community and I know that our city is in
deep need of this major need of this and
I know that our city that we have hired
amazing
people and they sit in these seats and
know what they're capable of doing they
know their you know where they're
sitting on the bench and how much help
they need how much maybe they don't need
and we don't know that and so I I have
such great faith
in in the decision- making that they're
making and and and and I know that you
know it
might look
ums it might be it might the difference
in the
money may look scary to us um but I
think they know what they can and can't
do and and with one engineer we can only
do what can do
and and we as a council don't understand
all of that so I guess I'm going to be
absolutely supporting this because I
really do believe that this vote is a
vote in favor of um our staff knowing
what they're talking about so thank you
Miss fible U Mr Hurley you had your hand
up yeah just a few I guess clarifying
questions first um Mr mCP the questions
we're talking about these weren't asked
as part of the formal RFP process right
these were questions asked after the
fact or are these from current or
perspective biders in the RP process so
you're I think you're referring to the
questions that were last night um so
Reas your question again then so so in
any RFP process you have the opportunity
for perspective biders to ask questions
were these questions did they come to
you as part of that process or were they
asked sometime after that 2024 RFP
process um they were the questions were
provided to me about a week ago okay so
they're not they're not related to the
RP process these weren't okay um so just
so I'm understanding the numbers here uh
the second whereas clause on the second
page um we've allocated $500,000 in in
the budget the cost is estimated for
phase two at 6, $676 198 add those two
together and that is basically the
Burgess quote is that that's intentional
right those dollar amounts
I believe that's accurate Megan there's
that is correct correct and so I read
that to say we we are kind of I mean
we're casting this vote and I understand
the point of Mr official's
email we're casting this vote knowing
that staff has recommended Burgess and
the way this is written it seems to
imply that it is burges um you know the
standard and I do a lot of State
procurement work the standard is always
you know the the lowest most qualified
or lowest most responsive bidder you
know I think Miss F made an excellent
point in that you know we have experts
they're telling us this is the most
qualified bidder it isn't a case of we
have two highly qualified biders one's
higher than the other we're going to go
with the lowest it's we had three biders
unfortunately one of them is the most
responsive the most qualified that's the
recommendation um and and uh dror my I
think you made a good point you know if
we're going to go to the community in a
few years maybe asked for a service fee
increase I want the most comprehensive
you know I want to let them know we did
everything we could to understand the
problem before we ask our residents to
help with the bill for the solution so
you know I I'm supportive of this you
know but I just uh thanks for that
clarification and uh it's there's you
know these are tough conversations
infrastructure is is hard you know every
Community struggles with this and and um
I think having a having the best data
best information is helpful so thank you
Mr Mr Silverman did you already have
your hand up okay all right Mr Marcelina
go ahead please I want to clarify just
to be as clear as possible I have no
doubt that Megan and Andy Ben and
everybody on the board of control mie
are more educated when it comes to the
sewer system but I am objectively not
and the reason why I am asking about
this now is because when the public sees
this if they see it or they find it
Whatever It Is they're not necessarily
going to go to the board control they're
going to come to me and they're going to
say hey Sam there were three proposals
that came in and one of them was
significantly higher than the other two
and you know is that was that
necessary and I am just not
comfortable myself saying that it was
necessary now I can trust you and just
say yeah you know as Megan Andy and and
the mayor and everybody they interviewed
for a long time and they all know what
they're talking about and they said this
was it but I can't NE answer the details
as to why which is why I'm asking was
the scope the same was everything uh you
know Apples to Apples when presented
because when I look at this that's my
issue is that if they're saying I can do
it for Less I I I I have to trust you
and just say okay well they say we need
man hours and we need all this but do we
and this isn't fixing the sewers this is
giving us a better understanding of
essentially what we're doing with our
money uh to fix the sewers as I
understand it's just it's just a a
almost a redirection of our project to
make sure we're on track which is fine
but it's a lot of money to do just that
and so if the answer is uh Board of
control is just looking for your support
to choose the highest price if they so
choose that's where I have a tough time
if you're going to do it anyways and
just do it you don't need my support for
it but if you're looking for my guidance
on this I have real concerns about
jumping up that high and it has nothing
nothing to do with the question of the
people making this decision but more so
that you're asking me to make a decision
based upon what's been provided and I
don't see that concrete difference that
I can point to and say that's worth
nearly half a million dollars more and
go ahead then yes sir yeah
so a couple meetings ago Megan provided
a very robust overview of that and and
specifically showed where the
differences were and and what they were
I think since we're into analogies I've
got a good one bear with me for a second
um and I think it's really apt because I
have worked with Andy and the crew of
the service department for over a decade
looking at the issues we have with the
SE sewers firsthand in the middle of
storms realizing the true complexity of
the
situation it's almost like one of the
prices we got is for a full body
ultrasound the other ones for full body
X-ray and one is for an
MRI we've got internal bleeding and we
need to know where it's coming from from
you don't want an x-ray you want an MRI
you want to look at in in surgical
detail at how to fix the problem Bexley
has large scale systemic issues that are
many of them inherited from
Columbus we know we can model those
issues out and figure out how on
computer to make them better which is
what some of these proposals really
focuses on but more as importantly we
have major systemic issues in various
parts throughout the city a physical
inspection a true blueprint road map of
what to do next is necessary we can't
just go based upon quantities and
capacities we have to have a physical
survey and that's the major difference
so if we're if we're talking about like
Council needs to have more conversation
about the specific different bids to
understand and be comfortable with it I
fully respect that I mean if that needs
to happen more then let's table this
today and and and talk about it more but
my understanding of this ordinance with
or resolution was that and yeah it does
reference the highest possible price in
one of the recitals my understanding was
that it was making sure that Council was
aware that this was R front and center
because it was lost in the budget
Shuffle even though it was talked about
it was like one of so many things talked
about the council knows that there is a
ongoing project happening border control
still has to award it I have no idea how
the other members of the border control
feel and we can't predict it so it's
like we have a chicken and egg scenario
as well which is like what do you do
first you know so yeah I mean I guess
what I'm leaning towards as I sit here
right now is I'm leaning towards a no as
it currently stands and the reason why
I'm leaning towards the nose because
I've basically been asked to make a vote
on something that I kind of have no
control over and while I agree that
Megan's presentation was certainly
detailed and gave a ton of information
about this project and I really truly
appreciate it I'm still not sold that
you need people individuals going there
personally and I'm just saying I don't
and so the computer modeling it seems
like arcadis is saying they can do that
at a different rate or EP Faris is at a
different rate that would save our
community a lot of money and while I
will take the experts recommendation if
we're just going to go off the experts
recommendation why'd you ask me in the
first place just I don't need to know
just if that's what it's going to be
otherwise I say I still don't get it
necessarily I understand the analogy but
if if you can't afford the MRI then you
go with what you get I mean and I don't
know that we can necessarily continue to
afford uh large chunks like this in this
project um and who's to say we're not
going to need one in the near you know
in another 5 10 years or something so
I'm just trying to wrap my mind around
it so I'll tell you as I've said with
many things before this during my time
on Council I like time and I like to
make sure that I'm comfortable with it
because again I have to go answer to
like all of us do to everybody else
there in the community so if it's right
now it's a no because you're asking me
to vote on something and I don't
necessarily want to give just a blank
check to right for uh Burgess and nle at
this time because I don't know if that's
in I I don't know if it's necessary I
won't say if it's the best because it
sounds like it's the best but I don't
know if it's necessary so I don't want
to just support that um at this time if
we get more time more time with the
questions or additional perhaps I can
come back around but I'll just leave it
at that for now thank you thank you Sam
U Mr Silverman thank you um from what I
saw on the price breakdown Megan the
majority of the cost increas is due
to labor time ofy employees of the firm
going inside the sewers is that accurate
um that is one of the components that
doesn't Cree the cost yes we go back and
ask arcadis and the other firm to
mirror the
Manpower that we're requesting from
burges and nle to see if they would give
a price comparable to exactly what the
current top-of-the line bid is giving us
which seems to be something that the
experts Andy yourself and Coke are
recommending that we get to see if the
price mirrors or comes close to the
price that you're currently getting from
burgers and
N I'm not sure how they would respond is
it a thing that we could do sure yeah
absolutely we could do that is that a
traditional way to manage a bid no um
it's also at this point about 9 months
after the fact um they may withdraw
their bid at this point and you could
expect that prices would no longer be
locked so I think it's a probably more
likely to rebid the project than do like
a piece meal would you match somebody
else's bid with your own um I think that
that also kind of negates the idea of
competitive bidding because they know
what the other has bed on but Megan
there was some scope honing that
occurred there was scope honing and that
in in a previous question um I did
explain that uh David Coke did reiterate
to them that we were looking for
specific things and asked them to
provide method and cost and this is what
you're seeing the final product is after
that iteration I I will say based off
that that I I as well has some
reservations um I do know that when
you're scoping projects if you have one
company that's bidding for this type of
item and it's completely opposite of
this one you're not going to just say
well we gave you the outline and we're
just going to take that you would go
back and you would ask them to to scope
them to mirror each other as close as
possible so which which was done by
David Coke at the time of the bid I'm
saying if we do it now we would likely
rebid the project if we have an
opportunity to table this could we get
David to come speak towards some of
those finer points and talk about these
three bids because I I think that would
help me get more information on if we if
we're supporting and what it seems like
we're doing is we're supporting the
notion of one C bid that we think that
board of control is going to bid on I'd
like to have as much information as
possible for me to give my full support
to that um so I will I will make that
request Mr kooch if we do table this
mayor would he possibly be the best
person to come and answer questions if
you're well I mean I will encourage
Council to do what you guys feel you
need to do I think that
um what I do want to punctuate is that
Megan was Project lead on this and
worked very closely with Dave kooch and
so when she says that Dave went back to
the contractors and asked them Andy was
there as well they were more in the
details than I was but when when they
asked him to True up those bids to be as
equivalent as possible a lot of those
differences you're seeing is core
competencies of those firms are
different and it's so different than
saying like hey we want to buy a Honda
Civic from three different car
dealerships when we're when we're
bidding out service and looking at
service differentials there are
different approaches there's different
competencies you're analyzing the down
to the person on the staff that's doing
the work and the references that we've
received from other cities for those
work and it's actually one of the
reasons that orc doesn't actually
require cities to go to board of control
typically for this sort of a project we
did it because we have changed our
internal laws to require it uh for
greater transparency but it does result
in conversations like this where we have
experts in the room who have been in the
weeds for over a year and then we're
sort of like and it's important like
there's it's totally important to have
checks and balances but it's difficult
to have a conversation when not
everybody's up to speed with what's you
know with what's being uh talked
about Mr s do do you have any more
questions or move on give um I think Mr
Hurley had his hand up and then I'll
I'll call on just an observation um
you know and I don't know if this would
help maybe with some of the concerns
that are being raised but in the in the
resolution Clause you have section one
city council supports ongoing
investigation of an investment in the
city sanitarian storm sewer systems I
think we would all probably agree with
that statement um section two city
council supports the board of control
and awarding I think this section is
where me like I'm hearing some of the
push back because it does convey that we
are basically the city council is
endorsing a decision that has not been
made yet maybe there's a way to rework
some of the wording in that section so
you know the city council encourages the
board of control to take the following
you know maybe there's a way to
Wordsmith that that might make some
members I'm just throwing that out and
volunteering myself if that's if there's
a compromise there around the wording
maybe it's this this this resolution
does create the perception that we're
all in lock step with what the board of
control is going to do I see that that's
for some people a problem but that's
just throwing that out there as a
potential Pathway to compromise but um I
think there will be more question so
thank you Mr Hurley Mr Markham I and you
know I really love to kind of stay in
all the analogies here so I I I want to
reemphasize that all three of these
actors are the doctors here they are all
they all specialize in this and they are
all coming with plans saying that they
can solve the problem so you know when
we start to talk about all these
differences and everything like that
what what's being bid on here is
expertise by Engineers you know and this
fible said we trust in the engineers
well I mean that's what we're doing too
to some extent we are trusting in these
uh when they bid that they have
expertise that they are bringing I I do
want to reemphasize that again as as
being pointed out what we're voting on
here has these numbers in it so that's
that is that's where I'm coming from
when I'm saying I can't I'm a no on this
I can't support my name going on on this
resolution that saying that is going to
go on the budget that is going Something
That We're committing to I do also want
to say that
you know it's been thrown around I think
tonight maybe a little carelessly that
if we vote no on this we're not
supporting City staff and that's not the
case I mean when we are talking about
this issue it doesn't you know Sam Alex
and I are looking for the best value for
the for the people in Bexley when we are
looking at these things and we're
talking about this and debating this we
have full faith in the staff we love the
staff here we totally believe in them
just because we may disagree or question
or debate something of these things does
not show that we do not support the the
staff of the city thank you um all right
there's been a lot of discussion I I
will share a couple things um first as I
mentioned uh it is a resolution to
council to for for the board of control
members to hear the input to hear your
questions so that when the time comes
for us to make a decision that we have
heard you and that we've kept that in
mind I'm hearing from some folks that uh
they want to table this maybe get some
additional information I will say this
that if we do table this tonight um
every council member is free to uh maybe
reach out to the mayor and to have
discussion with Megan and Andy they have
gone above and beyond to make themselves
available so if there are additional
questions that any of us here have um
make sure you are doing your due
diligence and uh going to them rather
than possibly waiting for the next
council meeting for additional
information to be shared with you they
are so willing to provide you with that
expertise that information and I know
that they would do that again they've
certainly done it for me over and over
and over again um that being said if we
decide to not table this um I would join
council members fible and sad and I
believe Mr Hurley in voting yes the way
that I read this
resolution is um indicating that Council
appreciates the Deep way overdue need
for a comprehensive sewer study it does
not mean that I would have to vote for
Burgess and
nle just because the amounts are there
and they were the highest
bidder it does not mean that it would
bound this board of control to um to
give that to that vendor so that being
said those are my thoughts Miss sod do
you have any thoughts on where you'd
like to go with this oh Mr auditor go
ahead can we go to the section that
talks about the total
spend oh and the
recital recital I think yeah where at
whereas so the reasons why I was adamant
that this and nobody I that sounds like
people were opposed to this coming to to
city council was because what we are
doing is we are Crea creating an implied
Financial commitment over two budget
periods which we as as
um um Board of control do not have the
authority to do
that so when I when I read this that is
it's not committing to budget dollars
but what as your board as one of your
board of control
members what I do not want to do is is
commit the city to a half a million
dollars today for
2025 that is in our budget and then
commit the city again to phase two of
this project when that budget hasn't
been approved and you all approve that
budget okay so this is very much around
the process and you know how does did we
did we you know follow the the
appropriate process to get you know
Apples to Apples um um you know uh you
know RFP responses back but this is very
much around spend a half million dollars
today or cost of ownership next year in
the 2026 budget is $676,000 in addition
to Sam's Point it it it's the cost of
ownership that we as a council you as a
council have an ongoing commitment to
improve our
infrastructure um essentially at the
levels that this this study you know
leads to which you know if they come
back and they say it's a $20 million
commitment or an 8 million commitment
whatever it may be it is it is an
implied commitment to execute on the
outcomes of of that so what I just want
to make certain is that this is murky in
my three and a half years on board of
control I've never been presented a
service agreement like this where
expertise is um how those uh Solutions
come back to us and you know like you
know councilman Mark Markham
said it is so painfully difficult to
have these conversations because it
suggests we don't trust the
recommendations of the
administration that's not it at all it's
really just it's a significant
investment and it's an implied
commitment to Future years that um in my
opinion Falls outside of the scope of
board and control and that's why it's
here with you guys today um so however
you choose to proceed um we want to be
as Board of control essentially your
partner your agents and and again we
know our responsibility which is to
select um the the the bid but there are
um implied future commitments to who we
choose to partner
with I I need to if I may sorry clarify
um and I I think you said this I just
want to accentuate this which is that um
the way that this is structured uh with
any of our potential vendors over a
multi-year period is not committed to uh
two phases if we were so this does not
bind our budget for next year we don't
we don't go and appropriate the money
with this resolution next year we'll
have the same conversation going into
the budget period whoever the vendor is
whether it's any of the three or A fifth
or sixth vendor that same conversation
would need to be had next year as part
of our budget
process some of what underpins some of
the energy around this I think is that
we had um we have a study from 2012
through
2014 it is not served us well we learned
a lot from a very reputable engineering
firm about what we what we how we need
more than what we had we've had the
X-ray study we need the MRI right phase
one will give us an x-ray we'll get we
can go through the year and end up with
great information that will be partial
will give us partial
Solutions and Matt hits the nail on the
head which is that this is I don't want
to throw good money after bad I want to
come out with this of the study with a
precise actionable plan that we can
confidently budget around so yeah it
will suck if it comes back with this big
dollar figure but guess what that's the
dollar figure because that's our
infrastructure we are bound by a 40-year
consent decree with the
EPA uh which is essentially a suit we
are bound by the energy of residents
like laurianne who have had three houses
with three basements with water and
basements and our commitment to our
residents that we are going to take this
problem
seriously uh from my perspective having
been a part of both as a council member
and as administrator this this
conversation over the years I'm really
done with bad information frankly I'm I
we need to buckle up and be professional
about this and it's very clear to me the
differences in the Scopes that we're
talking about given our experience with
partial scope studies in the
past again we're not deciding if you
were to vote tonight and I don't believe
in pressuring votes and I don't think we
have to with this one um but if you were
to vote tonight you are not voting to to
do necessarily a second phase of a study
you're voting to support the overall
concept of studying and next year
Council still has discretion in the
budget process this does not take that
away just clarify
that um oh Mr h i just because um so
then is so if we approve this
controlling board will then convene in
the near
future or control sorry I'm King
confused with the the state the board of
control um are just approving phase one
with that decision and then there would
be another Board Of Control meeting in
2026 for phase two or are we approving
both because then what what would be our
contractual exposure then the board of
if I may the board of control approves a
bid yeah which can then be acted upon
subject to availabity
funds okay that so so that pH we don't
appropriate phase two in the budget
there isn't like a legal recourse
correct for the for the vendor okay
thank you that's all I
have again I I just sorry Mr Mr mCP but
what what is important is that we get a
comprehensive result back for whatever
we spend so um to the mayor's point this
is phases but what is important to me
that we do not find ourselves and that's
why we're here with a study that comes
back with half of the information that
we would have gotten from the other
other quotes and we're using lesser
information to develop our path forward
should Council not approve additional
dollars so again the these are and I
however however there's always there's
always nuances and details but what I do
not want to do I again what what what
what is important and then this is
perhaps where we need to go back in in
um Board of control is
if if if we vote today and there's
hesitancy what is important to me
representing the the community in this
is that whatever we spend money on is a
comprehensive result that the end result
of that study gives us the Apples to
Apples comparison and not partial
results that don't give us the
information to act on because we because
of the budget the the phase two but and
Madam president what's really important
to understand about that and I agree
with you fully is that the you Define
comprehensive result a phase one
exercise of this contract is much more
analogous to the other two bids so we
could end up with just as good of a
product as it would with the other two
with a slightly modified phase one phase
two is more that physical work that goes
above and beyond so it's not like it
would be left we wouldn't be left with a
partial product we would be left with
the product that we feel will not fit
the bill in terms of what we need out of
this study but we'll be fairly analogous
to what those other two Scopes would
right miss you had your hand up um you
had asked me oh sorry that's okay where
we were going to go with this tonight um
I think I I want to just go back again
to say what the intent I believe
resolution 1-25 is it's to again um the
ongoing investment in repair and
replacement of the sewer infrastructure
and second part of this is to approve
that the board of control um will decide
upon who the vendor is again this intent
of resolution 1-25 is not tonight voting
yes to support
B so I just wanted to clarify that I
feel confident that we've had time in
our due diligence um to
speak through this or this resolution
and how the dialect I feel like provides
the board of control um more empowerment
to what council is thinking and how
we're viewing this resolution where
we're all coming from and um and it's
given us I think
also the intent that board of control
kind of can see where where we all sit
on this um the constit ones that I come
to face with in my six years of serving
in this role I would say I hear more
about our continued investments in our
sewer than anything else so I do feel
like the the due diligence to continue
and to make sure that we have the best
study possible for future Investments is
extremely important feel very
comfortable with this however I am going
to ask one question of council member
Marcelino before I make a decision on
where we're going to go with this what
um what would you what what would you
feel like you would get out of by um
having a little bit more time with this
because I always respect as you know I I
always appreciate more time as well but
the only question I have for you is what
would more time give you well and that's
fair and you know and I'll tell you it's
not about not doing your homework it was
a comprehensive uh presentation to begin
from the from the outset and it
sometimes things just take time to think
about if you ask me the first day I say
yeah I support the sewers give give it
this amount and then as things develop
and you think about things more it comes
to the vote you start to get a little
more critical and then you start to hear
the discussion around the third reading
which I consider part of the process so
as I look at this I mean what will I get
out of it additional time to consider
will I change my vote will I change my
decision I can't tell you that I
defitely will or definitely won't but it
will give me more time to process
everything as I want to rationalize it
as I have to step out into the community
and answer questions when people see
what we've approved and when these
things come up in the budget in the
future years um and so I guess that's
that's where I stand it's not do I
support uh the replacement of our sewers
and the fixing you know of our sewers of
course I do like everybody does but I
want to make sure we don't overspend by
$500,000 doing it and make sure that I'm
comfortable with that amount and with
that being the option that we go forward
with so I guess to answer your question
is I don't know I might get nothing over
the next two weeks but it will at least
give me more time if you want my vote to
be a yes candidly otherwise just going
to be a no but it sounds like it might
not matter and that's okay that's I
respect everything that's been said here
today and I really appreciate Andy and
Megan Ben and the board of control's
work on this it's just that that's where
I sit so it might just be time and I
don't know took my wife like seven years
to start dating me and then she did she
just needed time to get used to the
thought of it I guess and so sometimes
it takes time to fall in love and if I
want to fall in love with this I need
time if not I'll just say no and it's
okay we'll move on to the next
issue I had one quick question um mayor
or Megan if Council decides to table
this tonight and then vote at the next
meeting so that folks who have
additional questions or are seeking
additional information have time to
digest that um does does that put um any
of the bids in in danger are we up
against a timing constraint that we as a
council should know
about we are not against a timing
constraint um I would really strongly
encourage anybody with questions though
um to reach out directly I did find the
questions that came anonymously
difficult to respond to um and had a
feeling they may have come from a
competitor
um to burges andle and I think that's a
strong disadvantage to staff and a very
hard position to put us into um and I
would hope you would respect us enough
to ask those questions
directly thank you Miss Meyer we could
also set up a Madam president a uh a
time like next week or something that we
could have more of a workshop around
this for any council members that wanted
to attend okay sounds like maybe there's
some folks who might very much
appreciate that right um
missad
well so with a workshop you're proposing
a workshop okay
um I will be a part of that workshop and
I'm going to uh respectfully uh
understand that we have some members
that whether they're a yes or a no in a
few weeks need that time I'll just ask
that my Council you know members that we
we take that time and I know we're all
busy but um we've had some great
discussion on this tonight and I would
like uh in two weeks to take this to
vote so I'm going to ask that everybody
does their due diligence mayor thanks
for offering up the workshop um and I'm
gonna make a motion to table okay wait
hold on before you do that um don't make
your motion just yet um council is there
any further discussion before I ask if
there's any public comments because this
is a third reading Mr Silman I I want to
go back to Mr Hurley's Point uh I'm
struggling with hearing a couple
different accounts of what this
resolution is to accomplish so I'm
hearing the auditor said that there's
implications of a committed budget based
off the passage with certain financial
terms section one I completely agree
with and I think we've reiterated that
we we we fully trust the staff's time
and the experts time and want to address
the sewers and then section two is us
pretty much saying that we are
supporting a future decision made by a
different board that ultimately would
decide the
contract um and so I I guess as we
Workshop I just ask if there is
opportunities to possibly streamline
specifically what the the request from
Council to to make this vote um because
it's I'm hearing a couple different
opinions on what this resolution is
going to accomplish and I don't really
feel like currently in the current form
I could support this resolution so I I
would just request that we discuss that
if we do decide to move to a workshop
thank you Mr sovan any other discussion
from Council are there any comments from
the
public um Miss Lewis come on up Miss
Lewis I know you've heard my earlier uh
meetings regarding public comments you
do have up to five minutes thank you
Constance Lewis 663 you Clair um I
appreciate all the
discussion I do think that half a
million dollars for a study is extremely
expensive because it doesn't
really it doesn't really fix the problem
all it does is give give a a map as to
how the problems are seen and can
possibly be corrected which will cost
more
money so half a million dollars is a lot
of taxpayers money I know that that uh
due diligence has been done and I
respect the
um all of all of
the all of the study that's gone into
this
request um but I don't know what if what
if one of the other the Lesser expensive
companies could give you a map and we
that we could fix some of it maybe all
of it I don't know but maybe we could do
something to get some some results
something fixed in our
sewers rather than spending a half
million dollars for a study and not have
any money set aside for Corrections of
the issues that would be found so that's
my take on this and if you do have a
workshop I would
be interested in attending so I can have
more information thank you thank you for
your comments all right now miss sad
you're you were going to make a
motion right motion to table by missad
is there a second second second by Mr
Sil Mr mCP would you please call the
role Mr
Silverman yes Miss sad yes Miss fible
yes Miss lampy yes Mr Hurley yes Mr
Marcelino yes and Mr Markham yes
ordinance 125 is tabled great thank you
Council for a very thoughtful discussion
Mr Humphrey over to you on second
readings please thank you second reading
ordinance
08-25 to approve the reappropriation of
$10,000 for public AED units and to
appropriate $225,000 for the increased
premium upon renewal of the city's
liability insurance policy introduced by
Miss Jess saw on March 11th
2025 thank you so um I believe tonight
Council we are going to ask for a
suspension and
adoption that would be phenomenal Mr
Nathan would appreciate it yes of this
ordinance
8-25 um thank you for all of your work
Mr Nathan is in attendance tonight and
um again I wanted to say thank you to um
president lamkey who started uh getting
this on the docket for us with the
$10,000 into the um general fund for
installing these AED units
um this is what this all does and the
25,000 is for paying property insurance
and cyber insurance premiums so this
will just put it into motion I believe
uh auditor we've purchased some of this
already that's why we're asking for an
adoption to get this rolling and I think
Park and W is now working on installs so
all great things thank you to be clear
we haven't purchased the aeds from these
funds yet but the the insurance premium
was not a luxury we could not
pay that was
necessary council is there any
discussion um missad indicated that uh
we are leaning towards uh suspension and
adoption any comments
questions all right seeing none
um missad do you have a oh I'm sorry go
ahead yes so the two are not related the
city's cyber and liability insurance is
not being increased because of aeds
correct this is just like an
Appropriations unrelated okay just want
to make sure I was a little conf
confused there I was not here last last
he so yeah great let's do it right
seeing no comments from Council missad
do you have a motion to suspend the
three reading requirement for ordinance
8-25 motion to suspend the three reading
uh requirement for ordinance 8-25 all
right motion to suspend is there a
second second second by Mr Marcelino any
further discussion from Council all
right Mr mCP would you please call the
role on the motion to suspend Miss lampy
yes Miss sad yes Mr Markham Mr Silverman
yes Mr Marcelino yes Miss viable yes and
Mr Hurley yes motions to suspend the
three- reading rle
passes Miss sad do you have a motion to
adopt ordinance
8-25 motion to adopt ordinance
8-25 all right motion to adopt by Miss
sod is there a second second second by
Mr Marcelino any further discussion from
Council Madam president yes I would like
to say that Lee Nathans is an Officer
and a Gentleman a former mayor's
appreciation award recipient former
Bexley citizen of the year I
believe uh and his efforts around uh
public
aeds are legitimately unparalleled among
any other citizen that I've seen
advocate for anything in my time here so
here you are two claps releas that was
we're working on
and Sewer enthusiasts too apparently SE
because we do allow uh public comment
without speaker slip on a motion to
adopt so if there's any public comments
that you would like to offer we'd love
to hear them I just want to express my
appreciation for your continued support
for heartsave Bexley as we continue to
move forward getting Public Access aeds
we're going to relaunch our training
program uh we have the support Bo of
Chief Lewis and uh Mike Price uh for
locations and training um and we expect
to roll this out beginning in May having
the public access aeds is going to be
wonderful but having people know how to
use them and be trained in CPR and know
how to jump into action when someone
experiences a sudden Cardiac Arrest is
going to be key and um I am grateful for
your each of your continued support
thank you for your comments Mr Nathans
are there any other public comments on
the motion to adopt all right seeing
none Mr mCP would you please call the
role Miss fible yes Mr Markham yes Mr
Silverman yes Miss Lamy yes Mr Hurley
yes Miss sad yes and Mr Marcelino yes
orance 825 passes two claps
okay for second readings for ordinance
09-25-2019 edits to our
dispatcher and um they are all in red
and the dispatcher agreement which we
have reviewed and I do not believe there
were any changes between now and our
last
meeting I I think you're correct um it
is also just a second reading so if
there are any changes or edits we could
certainly make them next time we might
have to add an S to agreement on section
one just because there's technically two
between animal control and dispatcher
but that would be the amendment I
believe okay um we wait for Mark y
although Ben we do appreciate you being
here always always council is there any
discussion on ordinance
9-25 at this
time all right seeing none Mr mCP do we
have any speaker slips on this one no
speaker slips all right moving on to
First readings please for first reading
we have ordinance 10 -25 to approve the
settlement with the city of Columbus
regarding payments for the fire contract
between the city of Bexley and the City
of Columbus introduced by Miss Jad on
March 25th
2025 well this is a a nice one to
discuss tonight because this is bringing
money back to the city which we always
like to see um the mayor has a little
slideshow that he's going to present to
us on this but um
basically we had an audit that revealed
that um we had some reimbursement that
we were going to need to look into to
receive from our fire contract from 2018
to
2024 and the City of Columbus approved
that today so now this ordinance comes
back to us to um basically approve to
ratify the addendum but I'll let the
mayor go into his nice little slideshow
as well but that's basically what this
is doing for us tonight and I'll let you
give the tally of the numbers and all
okay um and Mr mCP please pitch in at
any time but uh just a quick overview
our fire contract is formul Lake with
the city of Columbus it's based upon
salar infringe benefits for 15 fire
Personnel what was is defined as one
engine company in the contract and then
the depreciation on the fire engine
which is basically 12th of the cost of a
ladder truck um and that's a formula
that's been around I think I went back
way back to the 60s uh that it stayed
constant so this is a very old formula
that our fire contract is based off of
um and it's a fiveyear contract I
believe uh that from time to time
Council uh
reaffirms so during our 2025 budget
review you like this um I was
incredulous at the increase in the fire
contract so I pulled up the paperwork
and something popped out at me which
was this EMS differential and ride time
because I didn't remember that being in
the
contract and so I highlighted that and
ever the
politician I said to our auditor hey I
have to negotiate with these folks would
you be willing to do the hard research
and uh figure out is this in fact an
incorrect charge in our estimate and so
you did great work
Matt uh Matt I I made the call was the
heavy uh in Columbus um lo and behold we
found that Not only was it not a correct
estimate for our 2025 contract but it
had been improperly build and in the
past with Le lesser controls than we now
have with Matt's leadership um this was
a contract that
was uh just paid automatically through
the through the
uh finance department under prior
leadership so it wasn't going through
any scrutiny it was just getting paid
when the bill came in so uh what
Columbus found was that those two
additional firefighters uh were above
and beyond the 15 allowed for in the
contract so we were paying for 17
firefighters
essentially um Columbus investigated
they found that that occurred at least
through 2018 they didn't have records
past that point and then a little
sleuthing in my email inbox uh we were
able to confirm that 2017 and
2016 uh in the in the archives were
properly built so it seemed like 18 was
when that charge started
incorrectly uh city of
Columbus uh came up with that tally of
approximately just over $1.5 million
it's owed back to
us um Matt made them an offer they
couldn't refuse to pay interest on that
but they refused it so
we are uh we are at the face value of
those dollars um Columbus did pass
ordinance get this 566 2025 if you might
notice they have now passed 566
ordinances so far in 2025 um or at least
looked at them uh so we would need to
approve our ordinance 1025 uh and it
would be buil it would be credited to
our April Bill and our October bill so
essentially that refund would be um
through a A reduced bill um and I think
probably our 2025 bill is lesser than we
even budgeted for I think I I did I
didn't want to I want to claim that well
that for sure but I mean even at even at
the base rate I think I think we hadn't
confirmed that when we passed the budget
I'm not I'm not sure I can't remember so
um two claps for Matt is what I gotta
say that and I will two claps for Ben
the mayor and and the finance team
because um you know this
is like everybody's dream is when you
ultimately follow the processes that
should have been followed for years and
the cost center owner the person who
owns the contract actually reviews the
invo or the their the request for
payment in the invoice and that's what
Carrie did she took the invoice to the
mayor the mayor was and and they they
partnered together and the mayor
identified a gap and um you know
fortunately the city of Columbus was
willing to go back in time and
ultimately determined that their their
team um made an adjustment to our
invoice based upon a I believe a
collective bargaining or some some
agreement that they have within the the
fire department that ultimately restated
how a a a engine or a unit was defined
which which was totally independent of
our agreement so what ultimately
happened was it was that 2018 invoice
that was off and it continued in
perpetuity a billable clerk for the city
of Columbus just looked at the prior
year and kept on send them down and to
the mayor's Point um the invoices just
kept getting paid so um you know I know
that over the past uh probably 18 to 24
months um you know there's been a lot of
work being done within the AP processes
caused um some frustration and some pain
within the organization to follow these
processes but this is an example of what
what we can uncover when you follow
processes and you you have the the
invoice owner the contract owner review
the invoice to validate it so um again
great work by the mayor to actually well
it's teamwork but you know I I think it
is really important that um and I know
this is happening within all the
Departments now but it's that those same
processes that we followed here are
followed throughout the organization so
that we do not have leaky buckets
um and you know um again very grateful
for the work that that you and and
Carrie did to identify this and um uh
you know grateful for the the benefit
that we're going to see within our our
financials this
year um Mr Hurley you had your hand up
yeah uh just I know we approved a new
fire contract last year when does it
expire oh man you asked too soon I feel
like it's 2028 but I I don't I don't I
should never make numbers up so I'll let
you know and then just just some
understanding the math here so we will
basically recoup 1.5 million through
reduced bill in two months and then if I
understand we budgeted 2025 probably off
of some assumptions that because of this
discovery our 2025 spend will be lower
than budgeted as well very possible I
have to confirm so so that 1.5 will will
likely grow in terms of of a surplus or
an unexpended you know okay um do you
have any concern that when we have to
renegotiate with Columbus they are then
going to try to add this
in um of course I have concern about
that um but so far we've been able to
hold the line there have been other
proposals in our past renewals this is
this will be the third renewal um and it
is by the way end of
2028 um so yeah I I think we'll I think
that what we have stood on in the past
and we'll continue to hopefully be
successful at is that there is a very
very long tradition for this formula and
hopefully it can be honored going
forward and maybe they'll forget Mr
marcelin yeah Danny had one of my
questions uh with the uh renegotiation
but with the remaining two first just so
I'm clear uh this is obviously not going
to impact our services that are provided
correct that's correct okay and then
second uh just to uh for if I'm still on
council at that time whenever it's re
you know I guess whenever this uh
recruit falls off can we get a note
about that just coming up because I
think it's something that could easily
be forgotten by a lowly council member
like myself when the budget comes back
up and then we'll see an increase so if
we can just make note of when that's
coming back so we can plan for the
future that might help yeah the contract
would come back to Council in uh some
point probably middle to late 2028 okay
thank you Mr Marcelino um I will share
with Council that um when when this was
brought to my attention the questions
that I asked were um can we make sure
that we know how far back this goes how
many years and that's why that one of
those charts on the mayor's slideshow
kind of shows each year um and knowing
that it's been reviewed thoroughly and
we have found no evidence to suggest it
goes beyond 2018 answered my first
question second question to auditor was
what about interests how many years of
interest in this um and understand that
city of Columbus um said this is going
to be a settlement it's one that they
approved I believe last night um
sometimes with settlements you have to
give up things to get things and um
knowing that we will get
1.5 million this year is early is April
um that is a settlement that I certainly
can can live with um because this is
slated to give us our first credit in
April do we need to suspend and adopt
this to be able to accept that April
credit or
not I mean I I think it's entering into
the agreement so I I mean if if there's
I think that would that would be the
preference I mean I don't know that we
need to at this point in time I wish
Mark was here to confirm that but I
don't think that we need to I would
expect their invoice to show the credit
but I don't think that we should pay the
bill until nor would we sign but I I
think they will not issue the credit
until we sign the agreement that would
seem logical yeah so that's that's what
I so I I mean again I my preference
would be suspended and adopted just I
don't know that there's I mean if if
folks have concerns with it we can
certainly push it down to the next
meeting but um we know that I I they
will not issue us a credit until we sign
the agreement the reason I was asking is
I thought we had talked about suspending
and adopting this and for what it's
worth I don't have any problem doing
that because I want to be available to
readily accept that April
credit exactly if there's any questions
from Council let's let's see if we can
go through them tonight Mr Silverman we
gonna have to sign an updated amended
contract based off these findings the
one that runs current through 28 it's an
amendment and it's that is an exhibit to
your ordinance uh settlement agreement
and addendum essentially for the
intergovermental
agreement Council any other questions oh
Mr Marcelino can we earmark These funds
towards the
sewer I was trying so hard not to make
that joke
Sam knew that was coming how about all
right does anyone have opposition to
suspending uh the three reading
requirement and possibly voting tonight
so that we can be in a position to
accept that April
credit all right I'm not seeing any Miss
sad do you have a motion
to suspend ordinance
10-25 motion to suspend the three
reading requirement for ordinance
d25 motion by missad is there a second
second second by is that you Mr
Marcelina sure was of course it
was um any further discussion on the to
suspend seeing none Mr mCP would you
please do the roll call Mr Marcelino yes
Mr Hurley yes Miss F yes missad yes Miss
lampy yes Mr Markham yes Mr Silverman
yes motion to
suspend the three reading rule passes
great uh missad do you have a motion to
adopt ordinance
10-25 yes I move excitedly to adopt
ordinance
10-25 all right motion to adopt by Miss
s is there a second second second by Mr
Marcelino any comments from
Council any comments from the public
given it's a motion to adopt all right
seeing none Mr mCP would you please call
the role Miss Bible yes Mr Silverman yes
Mr Markham yes Mr Hurley yes Mr
Marcelino yes Miss s yes Miss Lam key
yes ordinance
passes all right
right moving on to tabled ordinances
Miss s do we have any um any action on
ordinance
6-25 yes I would like to remove um
ordinance 6-25 from the table right
motion to remove from the table by Miss
s is there a second second second by Mr
Marcelino Mr mCP would you please call
the
RO Miss lampy yes Mr Hurley yes Mr
Markham yes Mr Merc Leno yes Mr
Silverman yes Miss fible yes Miss sad
yes motion to remove ordinance 625 from
the table
passes yes so um this ordinance
basically is um replying to the epa's
regulation that municipalities identify
a galvanized water lines that may have
contact with um lead infrastructure for
replacement and this loan um replacement
program the city is putting together
basically helps our residents with that
process since it is up to the homeowner
to uh to pay for
this it looks like mad we have some
proposed amendments I don't think we
voted on those before it got tabled were
you going to try to amend this tonight I
am okay um let's maybe have you walk
through the proposed amends amendments
proposed amendments um when we get down
to loan
terms we
are
um removing each calendar year or we
have that up right now okay yep and um
the auditor shall establish an interest
rate for the program and any additional
loan terms or conditions and we've added
subject to the concurrence of the
mayor and that they deem necessarily and
not inconsistent with applicable law
we've also added that the loan rate will
be set based on the published rate at
the time the loan is
granted we have changed some uh verbage
to the auditor shall have the right to
adjust the rate at any point during the
year if they deem it to be appropriate
based upon changing market
conditions and and section
five under loan terms under additional
funding for loans
program we have added the auditor May if
they deem it necessary please
be so just the the terms that are in the
um the Bold yes the ter B are the
changes okay and the cross
out okay um council do you feel like
you'd be ready to vote if we have uh a
motion to amend obviously a motion to
adopt would be separate motion Madam
president and yes chair side um Mr
Marcelino had several times mentioned uh
a
change potentially I think changing a
10-year period to a five-year
period and that didn't show up in this
as an amendment just because the
amendment was being made based upon
those were comments from Matt mCP I
think that led to this amendment um but
I wanted to have that conversation I
want to make sure that conversation can
happen prior to a motion being made to
amend okay from our perspective it's
fine to make it a 5year period I think
it would be still a very useful tool and
we would have payback faster so I see I
see wisdom in that but
it's could we put um could we change
that to five under that way
y lost my place hold on there we are
okay so that would be one of the
proposed
amendments yep anything further from
Council that we should consider amending
Mr Hurley yeah two two questions one uh
section four appropriation as and I'd
like that even to a five-year uh payback
period because it does speed the
availability of funds will this be
treated as a revolving Loan
Fund meaning when as funds become
available we can loan more back out as
that so that is a to be determined I
mean the way that I would view this is
uh it's based upon appropriated funds as
of this year so we see it as a pilot
program okay that's F so I think Council
future Council needs to determine
whether to continue to fund the
program and that's that's I agree with
that and I I know whether it's Revol in
the past I had talked about maybe doing
like a means test or something like that
I think in keeping with that pilot
project mentality we can maybe take a
look after that tranch of loans and see
if that was even an issue or if you know
um the only other thing I have and this
is more of a a grammatical uh section
two maximum loan so scroll up the
maximum loan amount for any individual
property shall be the $4,000 and no more
than 80% of the total cost of the
service line replacement I think what
you're trying to say is it shall be the
lesser of the two
$44,000 or 80% of the total cost I just
feel like that's grammatically a little
bit that that that shall the that
probably does need to be the I just
think there's maybe a maybe a I see what
you're trying to say it makes enough
sense but maybe that could be just
cleaned up a little bit because I see
you're you're trying to say the lesser
of the two 80% or $4,000 whichever is
the lower amount so I'll leave it at
that that's a good call Out Mr Hurley
let's word Smith that uh up on the
screen
less is that good does that satisfy your
concern
there okay EXC all right Council any
other suggested amendments Ben humre are
you cool with
that okay okay um Miss sad do you have a
motion to amend ordinance 10-25 as shown
on the
screen motion to amend ordinance 6-25 oh
I'm sorry 6-25 you are totally right my
bad all motion to amend by missad is
there a second second second by Mr
Marcelino uh Mr mCP would you please
call the RO on the motion to amend Mr
Silverman yes Miss sad yes Miss
fible yes Miss ly yes Mr Hurley yes Mr
Marcelino yes and Mr Markham yes motion
to amend 625
passes motion to uh move to approve
ordinance 6-25 all right motion to
approve amended ordinance 6-25 by Miss
sad is there a second second second by
Mr Marcelino is there any further
discussion from
Council any comments from the public
right sing did you have something you
wanted to add I just wanted to thank Mr
bashore for sticking around for this one
is there anything that you wanted to add
Andy
thank you all right are you looking
forward to administering
[Laughter]
this and and with that yes Mr mCP would
you please call the role on the motion
to adopt missad yes Mr Hurley yes Mr
Markham yes Mr Marcelino yes Miss vible
yes Mr Silverman yes Miss lampy yes
ordinance 625 passes amended ordinance
625 passes great all right we are now to
public comments is there anyone in
attendance that would like to turn in a
speaker slip at this
time right seeing none uh we are on to
committee reports Mr Markham for safety
no report all right Mr Silverman for
service and environmental thank you
madam president I do have a few
announcements and I want to start off
with a email I received and IT addresses
all of us so I'm going to read it on
behalf of the resident dear councel I
hope this message finds you well I'm
writing to express my heartfelt
gratitude to you mayor Kessler and the
City of Bexley team the Bexley
recreation parks team for the continuous
Support over the years I would like to
extend a special thanks to Mike Bry for
his assistance with the celebration
hosted by state senators Reynolds and
Craig in February the event was a
remarkable success with participants
from across central Ohio including the
first female adjutant general of Ohio it
was an honor to screen the documentary
on the Forgotten story
of the 6 tri8 Army postal Battalion the
only all black all female Battalion to
serve in Europe during World War II as
you may know two surviving memb members
of the 6 tri8 Battalion will receive the
Congressional gold medal next month and
if you didn't get a chance to see the
documentary about the story it is
available online the event in Bexley was
a wonderful tribute to those national
heroes and I was proud that our city of
Bexley could participate in honoring
their legacy thank you once again for
your support and commitment to our
community sincerely Mona
Williams so she she she and I discussed
upcoming plans for the juneth
celebration and she wanted to make sure
that she extended another round of thank
yous for the wonderful event that was
hosted and I think she made sure to
mention that Ben gave an incredible
speech to rival the state senators that
we had there um additionally I just
wanted to Circle back to Earth and Arbor
month uh I know that esack and and the
environmental Council puts in a ton of
work in April there is an entire slate
of activities I implore everybody to go
to becky. orgar and Arbor check out all
the activities the repair Cafe green
Bexley cleanup day there's even one in
March I think it's coming up this
Thursday to kick it off a little earlier
schedule but the whole lineup could be
found at becky. and Arbor Day end of
report thank you uh Miss sad for
finance yes um April 5th not this
Saturday but the following is Bravo I'm
sure we're going to see all of you
wonderful leaders there it is a garden
Gala it is at St Charles in their common
uh Walters Commons from 7 to 11: so look
forward to seeing you all out there and
toasting some surve sa there will be
a that's right beerstein so let's go
support our biggest fundraiser for our
schools which um you know we always got
to do and a report can I wear my backley
Bloomer shirt do it
sweet Mr Hurley for strategic and health
um yeah a few announcements um land use
strategy commission meets tomorrow 5:30
um I think we're getting close to seeing
that document and I just have to say
after um our Council Retreat I am pumped
to see this document see the light of
day it's going to be awesome um I've
been sharing tidbits and I think it's
just people are going to be really
jazzed with where we're going in that
front uh beex cic meets April 1st 8: am
a lot of things to discuss there and
then Board of Health meets April 15th at
5:30 pm as I reported after our last
meeting the Board of Health is really
feeling energized about generating some
ideas and being more proactive I know
the mayor had a meeting recently with
some of the members as well so expect
after that meeting to hear some ideas
for me um on behalf of the Board of
Health and lastly I appreciate and I
don't know if this was around two weeks
ago but the State House tracker I think
is great obviously that's my that's my
realm that's my day job and I would just
say you know it's it's important to be
mindful of what is going on at the state
house um both the good and the bad you
know we have the short-term rental bill
there's actually a house companion to
that um I'm sort of plugged into a lot
of the broader conversations about
property taxes and despite what happens
at the federal level there is a lot
coming coming up at the state level I
mean we have a major candidate for
governor the one that doesn't live in
Bexley that um is interested in phasing
out the property tax entirely and what
that means for the future of local
governments it's really going to
challenge us and so I think you Mr mque
you're right having those controls and
being as fiscally responsible as we can
be because you know we may be in for a
wild ride these next few years um you
know we know in the past the state
government doesn't always appreciate the
challenges local governments face so and
of report thank you Mr Hurley Miss fible
for Recreation and Parks
really that's super exciting um I want
to give you
all that Community Builders are starting
to give
the
department of a timeline as to ouri May
or
not vate
their all remember that there was a
rough estimate of about,
we may we may not need more money they
are starting to look at some
they just want that to
beam speaking of programming um we
should be having a coming out
to waiting for my husband to get his
haircut Cs and was a
mom and her son sitting
us it was really adorable they were
starting to and how excited he was how
hopeful he was his friends be
if that Joy is all over city ases
arees
opion thank you very much Mr Marcelino
zoning and development we have a
somebody's yeah right in the middle
there I was going to say front and
center there
we
recogniz good for good for Le that's
right nice job
[Laughter]
leadis is that what France wants to take
back
um great photo all right Mr Mar land use
strategy March 26 5:30 p.m. uh who can
attend that one there thank you
appreciate that thank you all um
March March 27th uh at 6 PM we have Bap
can anybody attend that one I well that
thank you uh Connie Lewis will be there
thank
you okay if you can attend that for me
I'd appreciate thank you that's it th
those are all the uh meetings I need
somebody to step in for me thank you
other than that that is the end of
report but question Bravo so what is
that like leader hosen is that what I'm
supposed to wear to
this okay but if I don't do
that shouldn't there
be EXA exactly a a recommendation for a
lookbook the next time you do this all
right that's all thank you all right
thank you so much Mr Marcelino Mr
Humphrey thank you for being here this
evening Council our next meeting is
April 8th and with that I move to
adjourn can I please have a second
second second by Mr Hurley all in favor
say I I anyone opposed