foreign
[Music]
look at that little bar creep yo what's
up with that
all right Natalie are you giving me the
secret sign
all right
what's the secret word
record okay I'm getting the feeling that
we're recording now all right
hey I'm gonna call this meeting to order
welcome everybody to the Tuesday
September 12th meeting of uh Bexley city
council Mr mcpick how you doing
just fabulous thank you what'd you think
of that uh what'd you think of that rain
you know it's just fall is upon us I
mean one minute torrential downpour next
minute some gray skies and then then
stun so who knows what's coming next
it's like a random potpourri it really
is all right exciting tell you what why
don't you call the roll let's see who's
here okay great uh Mr Marcelino I am
here miss lamke here Massad here Mr
Markham here miss Bible
okay sorry no she was just here so uh Mr
Klingler here and Miss Robinson also
here yeah and I think we can
um
motion for uh Miss feibel's absence to
be
um excused all in favor aye
aye opposed same sign
all right how about the Pledge of
Allegiance please rise
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
Republic for which it stands
I do that for you hey uh it's it's uh
super fun for me uh tonight because I
get to continue uh our local author
celebration of local authors and uh we
have
Linda cast with us tonight if you would
come on up to the to the the podium here
and I know you gave me this really great
biography and everything like that but I
think people around here uh would rather
hear you talk than me so why don't you
just tell us a little bit about how you
got here and what you've done because
you're not just a local author you uh
maintain one of our community Treasures
here with the uh The Gramercy uh
independent bookstore as well
you wonder if you could push the button
real quickly here you go anyway thank
you well welcome thank you for having me
um yes I am uh kind of where multiple
hats so I am an author I have my um
actually my third historical novel is um
released today so you got me on a yeah
so if anyone wants to go to my launch
event tomorrow night we can tell I can
tell you about that but um I'm also the
owner
um and uh I curate all the author
programming for Gramercy books which is
uh almost seven years old now
um here in Bexley
um I'm originally you know from the east
side of Columbus I uh grew up
um you know early on very early on in
Bexley and South Bexley and then uh uh
lived just moved family moved uh east of
there and uh grew up in Columbus I was
gone uh from uh the city for about uh 15
years between college and work and in
Detroit New York and then came back some
36 years ago to marry my husband Frank
uh who's here and uh um so you know just
very honored to
um have a bookstore here in town and
have it uh as embraced as it has been in
the community
um Gathering Place for people to
um just uh you know become readers if
they're not
um and uh to have events and uh just to
be a Gathering Place so I'm really uh my
book is out it's a historical novel
called Bessie
um and it is for those who are too young
to know it's um
basically a portrait of the early life
of uh Bess Myerson she was
um named Miss America in 1945 but never
really brought up in to be in a beauty
pageant she was uh someone who became
quite
um consequential particularly in New
York City where she was part of
um both the mayor Lindsay and mayor Koch
administrations as commissioner of
cultural Affairs and consumer affairs
and actually even unsuccessfully ran for
Senate at one point but I deal with her
early life she has a very interesting
background grew up in the Bronx and and
so I uh uh feature her and and take a
lens into mid 20th century America
um in this book which unfortunately some
of the things going on at that time are
very parallel to today
um in terms of the bigotry going on
there so had the opportunity to sort of
highlight her can highlight that era so
thank you so I have a great love of
bookstores and especially the
independent bookstores uh and could you
tell us a little bit about your vision
for bringing Gramercy here and and
making it a reality as part of our city
well
um
retail space became uh we knew that the
development up on Cassidy and Main
Street would be a reality somewhere
around I'd say 2014
um and uh it took really me about a
nanosecond to realize what a wonderful
spot it would be for a bookstore
um Bexley had its Last Bookstore the
last time it had a bookstore I should
put it that way it was 1978 and so a
community like ours people are always
reading and um the spot was right across
from our wonderful
um iconic Bexley Library where we can
celebrate all about reading right in
that corner there with us Gramercy books
um did a lot of research of other
bookstores obviously wanted to know that
people were still reading books and
buying books and I really discovered
that they were and visited a lot of
different bookstores the country to kind
of get my own vision of what I wanted it
to look like and feel like and the fact
that I wanted it to be a Gathering Place
for author events for programming to
bring people together around books I
always knew that from the beginning
and so when it finally opened I also
knew that I wanted to have another
retail space with it because I found
that a lot of bookstores across the
country you know whether it was a wine
bar or a cafe coffee shop or uh you know
any any other kind of retail operation
it really uh made made a lot sense so um
so we started with kitties and kitties
is now on its third owner wonderful
couple Steve and Diane Herman and and
they're doing great things with uh with
kitties and we have a real flow because
we built built the Space we sublet it to
them and built the Space so it's kind of
flowing really from one spot to the to
the other so we have a lot of coffee
drinkers coming into the bookstore it's
a very welcoming space and uh fantastic
egg sandwiches right for sure cinnamon
rolls yeah yeah
they do have quite a few good things
questions comments from Council
if not I think uh the mayor will uh has
a some prize for you a prize and then I
will actually then shamelessly ask to
take a photo with you
oh so Troy and our our joint literary
Buffs
um and uh Geeks Geeks and when uh Troy
brought up this idea of having authors
in I like a huge goofy smile came across
my face
um and so it's a pleasure to have you
here Linda in that capacity but as has
already been said I will hammer on a
little further Gramercy is a treasure
for our community it's an amazing asset
and
um I remember when you first talked to
me about it
and you referenced a bookstore and I
think it was Seaside that was sort of
had caught your eyes as one of your
samples and I happen to be in the
Panhandle that summer and I went and I
visited it because I was so excited to
see what this Gramercy books might look
like and I want to say that it's not
exactly the same bookstore but it has
it's it's even more in so many different
ways and what has been especially
delightful is all the programming that
you built and brought to the community
and the Partnerships you've created with
the library
and other like the schools and other
entities and and that's just been
amazing to see that Thrive and flourish
and grow and become a regional treasure
not just one here in Bexley so thank you
for that gift to the community
um and I want to congratulate you on the
launch of your third novel today tell us
about the event is that you said
tomorrow yeah how do we crash that
by coming to it's going to be at the
Jewish Community Center okay um on
College Avenue be at seven o'clock
um I'll be in conversation with
um my first teacher because I began as a
journalist I have to say I have my
masters from Ohio State and journalism
started as a magazine writer and sort of
at some point somewhere around I want to
say 2008 I started transitioning from
journalists to novelist and so there was
a transition there
um and I took a number of workshops at
Ohio State with Lee Martin Lee is a
novelist a memoirist and an uh amazing
faculty member in the creative writing
program in the English Department at
Ohio State so he is going to be my
conversant tomorrow night and we're
going to have a really good time talking
about
um Bessie I do have a copy of the book I
can give you mayor or Troy everyone else
fight over it yeah for our photo but
um uh yeah and there'll be a short short
little video that we're going to show at
the very beginning that'll be kind of
fun for people to get a little sense of
who Bess Myerson was so awesome that is
great well we do have a gift uh
because we think that our authors are
very sweet
I'm just thinking how many authors we
have invested it's amazing yeah isn't it
oh yeah oh yeah it's we have some very
big New York Times authors here yeah
um so
we brought you a bottle of I don't think
I got it
bexley's very own
maple syrup I love Maplewood yeah
coming the maple syrup seasons in March
okay and if you needed like a a couple
more bottles for a display
maybe some maple syrup themed gloves
okay
thank you yeah
interested
thanks by the way Linda that's
acceptance for you
that's number one
oh okay gotcha
is
oh yeah I gotcha I gotcha all right uh
next we have a special guest
um and we have uh celebrating Childhood
Cancer Awareness Month
who we have here with us
family of railing lessons who do we got
uh oh do we have them
okay maybe not but Mr President if it
pleases you I would like to read this
Proclamation
um so there
we do have a family active in our
community who's uh had lost a lost a
child to cancer
and as I'm I apologize for that
inaccuracy as has been struggling
through Childhood Cancer and brought up
brought this proclamation to us last
year I believe for the first time and so
we started to recognize September 20
2022 at the time as uh Childhood Cancer
Awareness Month and so I just want to
read some of these statistics which are
incredibly sobering and difficult to
even get out of my mouth as I read these
but I want to make sure that we're all
aware of this and I want to also
recognize the efforts of so many in our
community and combating
um cancer especially through the raising
funds through cancer research through
pelotonia
so whereas Childhood Cancer is is the
leading cause of death of by disease in
children and one in 285 children in the
U.S will be diagnosed by their 20th
birthday
there are approximately 40 000 children
on active treatment at any given time
and 80 percent of those cancer patients
are diagnosed late with metastatic
disease
obviously
dealing with cancer struggling through
cancer leads to tremendous mental and
emotional distress and two-thirds of
Childhood cancer patients will also have
chronic health conditions as a result of
their treatment toxicity
and whereas countless dedicated research
and Health Care Professionals work
diligently dedicating their expertise to
treat and cure children with cancer
too many children families are still
affected by the steadily disease and
more must be done to raise awareness and
therefore we are declaring the month of
September 2023 as Childhood Cancer
Awareness Month in Bexley the hope that
this small action will you know raise
awareness and vigilance
and lead to increasing access to
treatment and cures so thank you Mr
President thank you
all right I think uh can we have you
take over here Mr Fishel
all right
so we have a third reading of resolution
5-23 confirming the mayor's appointments
to the Architectural Review Board the
board of zoning appeals and planning the
recreation and park support and the
environmental sustainability advisory
committee introduced by Ms Robinson
hello Courtney it is time for you to
come down to the microphone it looks
like the button might have already been
pushed so you've been saved um Courtney
Jones is a candidate for the
Architectural Review Board and is here
today uh mayor I believe that this
um it will have some emergency language
um added to the the resolution
um it's a third reading so once passed
um it would just take place immediately
if you choose to amend it so uh yeah
um but and we'll get to that in a second
I wanted to welcome Courtney and her
willingness to serve Courtney's lived in
Bexley for five or six years four years
now but grew up here as a child yep so
and um thank you a couple years ago
reached out about the potential for
architecture review board and it's one
of those boards that gets a plethora of
people interested and so as availability
comes up
um we try to our best to get people in
who are able to serve so thank you
Courtney for continuing to be willing to
serve and if you want to maybe give
Council just a little bit of a brief
professional background sure any
questions you might have
um I have my uh Masters in interior
architecture from Savannah College of
Art and Design uh started my career in
Chicago and was there for a few years
prior to moving back to Columbus
um for about 10 years I've been working
with the Jones studio
um we've done obviously a lot of I think
most people know us for our high-end
residential but we have also done you
know some master planning work for
Commonwealth Park in Bexley
um and then you know numerous other kind
of development projects throughout the
city so
that's kind of our anybody have any
questions
okay thank you so much I really
appreciate it
and the proposed amended is two things
it's a re it's repairs the title which
was
referencing boards that didn't exist in
the body of the resolution
um and then it does add emergency
language in section five and the reason
for that is
um some of these boards you know have
are struggling not having members and so
I was requested of Me by the actually by
the chair of ARB that we get this in
effect immediately if that's possible
absolutely then I make a motion that we
amend resolution 523
motion to have been by Ms Robinson
seconded by Mr Klingler since this is a
third reading it will offer uh comment
from city council and or the Outlook
if not then we'll take a vote on the
amendment Mr McPeak uh Mr Markham yes Mr
Klingler yes Mossad Mr Marcelino yes
Miss feibel Miss lamkey yes and Miss
Robinson yes amended
resolution passes
as amended
sorry Amendment passes resolution is
amended and then now maybe we're going
to do something
hold that thought
um I now make a motion that we pass a
proposed amended resolution 523. motion
to adopt by Ms Robinson
seconded by Mr Klingler once again I'll
extend the opportunity for uh comments
so Council or our audience here
if there are none uh put on the uh
the adoption Mr mcpick uh Miss lampke
Assad Miss viable Mr Markham yes Miss
Robinson yes Mr Marcelino yes Mr
Klingler yes amended resolution passes
thank you
Mr Fishel
statistic gratification you are now a
member of the interview
upon signature of the res he has to sign
the resolution first and then it's
efficient
that's what I said all right so we now
have a third reading of resolution 4-23
to authorize the mayor to seek financial
assistance from the public Ohio Public
Works commission for funding of various
Capital infrastructure Improvement
products projects introduced by Ms lamke
thank you Mr official as noted in the
sexual section one this resolution is
for the capital Improvement project at
South cassingham Montrose South
Remington and I believe that our city
engineer is with us today to further
speak to this mayor do you want to give
any additional background before our
engineer without further Ado I'd like to
ask Mr Koch to join us at the lectern
and talk about this exciting project
thank you thank you Mr Mayor and Council
I appreciate the opportunity to come and
always consider it an honor
yeah
this is a this year's round of of
funding for the Ohio Public Works
Commission
we tried to put in a project every year
we did not last year uh been wanted some
more time to consider this and
essentially this is the project that we
proposed last year it took a little
while to build a consensus but we
finally finally got that and it's a it's
a needed project and it also achieves a
continuation of our
long-term plans to replace water mains
primarily water mains in the city of
Bexley but it does more than that it
also includes roadway improvements that
are combined with the water Improvement
and in particular not just pavement
replacement but also other things such
as sidewalks and Street lighting and
things that all users need and use and
this the one section the top section of
roadway Remington Road doesn't look like
a very long road but it's a very
expensive project for the city to take
on by itself without additional funding
support and the reason why it's a
challenge is because it's a very narrow
road and it has very narrow right-of-way
for us to add sidewalks to it currently
the sidewalks are there however they're
not Ada accessible and they're not wide
enough and they're too steep on the side
slopes at every garage every every
driveway that crosses the uh
the sidewalk there's a steep side slope
that prevents uh 88 uh wheelchair
accessibility across that
so if you can if you can look at that
over time you'll see in pictures I don't
have but uh we can certainly uh bring
that up
on a future time if you need it but it's
almost impossible for anyone in a
wheelchair with a disability to go to
school and it is a primary route to
school
and so it's been it's been on our minds
for a long time
and we've kind of waited until to
propose it until the pavement
that we last installed in 2011 was
getting close to its longevity a useful
life so back in 2011 we decided to put
on a thin coat of asphalt and extended
10 years which you've done and now it's
going to be probably 13 14 15 years
before we get the funding in place and
the work done
so there's also a lead time involved so
when we propose these projects it
doesn't mean they're going to be next
year they'll be funded in the next year
but the design work and then the bidding
work and the construction work takes on
an additional two two to three years
typically
uh one of the things that I that I like
to bring up that isn't talked about a
lot is because these projects are a
combination of Grants and loans
and when we uh embarked on our our
long-term plans for utilities with uh
Council uh agreement back in around 2010
we uh agreed that the the way to make
the most and best use of the city's
funds
for water main replacement was to make
sure that we did combined water main
replacement
with Street projects and and and look
for this kind of funding in particular
opwc because we can pay
for the street improvement with the
grant funding while we get a zero
percent loan for the water work and one
of the reasons why that's such a
fantastic deal
for the city of Bexley and other
communities and why it's so
uh coveted and competed for these are
there's many communities that that are
looking for these clones and the reason
is because that zero percent alone over
a course of 30 years gets paid back with
much lower cost dollars
than the actual cost of the construction
so with the time value of money and the
effect of inflation not only is the the
payback
cost less than the construction
but the cost of inflation and the cost
of not doing anything
also has a has a a bad cost where the
cost keeps going up every year and if we
don't do so much work every year then
then we end up paying for a double over
time
so we have opportunities now and we
don't know how long these programs are
going to last every uh four to five
years this program for the Ohio Public
Works commission comes up for
reauthorization at the state legislature
and this current round is going to
expire in another couple years and when
it is renewed if there may not be a zero
percent loan available anymore and which
probably wouldn't make sense given what
the current uh inflation and loan rates
are so this is a good opportunity
to take and I would be glad to answer
any questions you might have or or talk
about uh other other things that might
be on your mind
hamster questions yes
a note on the map it does
it does over Main Street yes
um would traffic be closed for part of
that time or what's the general work
around when you have a main artery like
like Main Street that's part of this
Improvement project we've uh I don't
know if you recall but we've worked on
Main Street successfully in the past
without closing down traffic and uh we
two projects that were notable was the
improvements that we did in 2012 we did
a lot of water line work and we chose to
do that work at night time to prevent uh
most of the impact of traffic doesn't
prevent all of it but most of it so
there's less traffic obviously at night
and if you're in a area that isn't
residential that's more business you can
create some noise and not
not make too many people unhappy the the
noise is the is the key thing and uh
it's difficult to do you're right
there's no question about it
McPeak
um yeah the whole like the
infrastructure continues to be something
that's on my mind and ultimately
long-term planning so
um
could you just give us an update
ultimately on
kind of the efforts in place to assess
um our current infrastructure and
anticipated needs over the coming years
sure uh that's kind of a bigger picture
and what maybe a maybe a different
presentation
let me just focus elevator speech right
now just on one just on one part of it
and give you just a couple of uh quick
numbers and in particular on the water
line replacement uh infrastructure we
have about two hundred forty thousand
feet of water I mean in the city
that water main was originally built in
the 1920s and 30s when some of a little
bit of it in the 40s
so as you can imagine as things get to
be 90 to 100 years old when they were
projected to last 50 to 70. things start
causing issues I mean we monitor those
and we've been fortunate not to have
more problems than we do so but we have
a certain number of streets that have
higher incidence of water main breaks
and by taking on those worst ones we
extend the longevity of in the in the
decreasing amount of maintenance on the
system overall
and so for the 240 000 feet we're
roughly at about 75 000 feet that have
been replaced with newer uh water main
materials and that's uh that's been
going on starting since uh the 90s but
has picked up speed since our uh efforts
are starting around 2009 is when we
really started making a conscious
decision as a as an Administration
and a different a few administrations
ago to go after this and make sure that
when we looked at Street resurfacing and
reconstruction projects we also included
water
and so that's paid off so we've we've
gone uh in particular in the last of
those last uh 15 14 15 years
we've done the majority of that 70.
thousand feet maybe about five thousand
feet a year
over that time frame
and if we continue on that course
over the period of the next take take
the hundred and seventy thousand
remaining feet to do divide it by five
and you can tell it's going to take
about 30 30 some more years till we get
to the point where we have
replaced all of the water mains which
will then be up to
130 some 140 years old
and I I think that's that's a reasonable
uh way to do it I what I'm afraid of is
if we don't do it the cost of not doing
it would be that the frequency and the
and the and the number of water breaks
with it and the outages and the other
costs would be extreme if we don't if we
don't do it and we can't afford to do it
all at once at the very end of the long
of the of the lifespan of the utilities
because
it would just be too too much work to do
feasibly do in the Too Short a time and
too much disruption as everyone's aware
that when we do a street reconstruction
or a water main project it's very
disruptive to the to the to the area we
do that and not just the street we work
on but the surrounding streets as well
so we try not to do too much in one area
at one time and that's another
consideration
so we're we're on track but it's a long
track
as Matt and I have been in conversation
as you and I have about our assessment
of our sewer system and updating that
you know assessment that's now about 10
years old we've done a lot of work uh
we're ready to kind of look back at what
we've done so far and also just make
sure that the data we are working off of
is still accurate and can you just give
a quick
two sentence uh update to council about
where we are with that in the uh in the
in the uh
in the study that was done 2000 uh 12 13
14 time frame
there were a number of uh high priority
locations identified for both sanitary
sewer and storm sewer to be
rehabilitated or aligned and one of the
key benefits of doing that lining uh was
not just because it needed it because
the pipes are falling apart but actually
it was trying to prevent water flow
intrusion from one pipe to the other
pipe and in particular on a lot of these
streets that were originally constructed
in this time period you have two lines
in close proximity a storm and a
sanitary the reason they did that is
because it was very difficult to dig in
those days so there was no separation
but what happened is a consequence of
that is the storms who were leaked was
right immediately next to the sanitary
sewer and one leak to the other and
during a storm event the leaking leakage
from the storm would fill up the
sanitary
and what we've been doing is separating
that and keeping uh our efforts focused
on those sewers that are in close
proximity that tested basically tested
positive for that for that condition
in that last report now we're not there
we haven't completed all those yet and
about three four five more years I think
we're going to be there
and then we can reevaluate what the next
round should be and also what the effect
and what the what the benefit was if we
can if we can say that we've cured those
areas where that problem had made a
difference we're also doing flow
monitoring
that you're probably not aware of but
we're putting we put recording equipment
that measures flow and measures uh
depths of water and pipe and also
measures uh rain gauge electronic rain
gauge that are connected via cell phone
towers
to a to a computer and continuously
record flow in certain areas that we
have problems with and we can correlate
the increase of flow with the increase
from brain and and we can do it in real
short time frame increments so we can
see that there's a a very quick or quick
response a quick buildup of flow
whenever there's a rain so we haven't
separated
the system from the effects of rain and
one of the things we can't work on that
we can't solve by working on the sewers
is we cannot fix the connections at the
homes between each home and this and the
sanitary sewer we have many homes that
were built and uh the time frame when it
wasn't a concern
to make sure that the roof drains or the
perimeter drains or
or things that were open to the weather
and adjacent to the house could not get
into the sanitary sewer and actually
they they did pipe those in and what
we're finding is that there's only so
far we can go to separate the two we're
never going to get there all the way
into unless everything's rebuilt which
will never happen so there's a
practicality of what can we do and
that's what we're working on what we can
do
and I think we're going to see a benefit
I don't know what two sentences mean
when you have a run-on sentences you
never stopped though it's continuous
just just curious of this project
um and I greatly appreciate us going
after projects that are opwc funded and
that funding what portion of it is will
be with the water line cost if we didn't
good question I forgot to bring this up
excellent 60 40. this is a 60 40 Grant
the rules change this year which were
beneficial in this regard if we're
funded if we're funded that 40 would be
Grant in the past it was a 75 25 to
achieve the most points on your
application which we always strive for
and it typically worked out really well
for us because water the water main was
more much more expensive portion of it
but with the increased work that we're
planning for Remington being sidewalk
and Street and non-water line type work
this particular project fit really well
into that into that 60 40 split so as
far as the cost per
foot of water line replacement I'm just
I'm just thinking if we go um it's a
moving Target go to another street right
and we don't have the zero interest Loan
in three years
it's what's what would that can you put
it a reasonable number it's probably in
the neighborhood of currently of over
400 dollars a foot okay
and where where and if we're if we're
working on the street at the same time
and budgeting that and getting Grant
assistance for replacing the street
pavement at the same time that decreases
the water main cost and it saves money
from that from that utility uh
replacement account I think you call it
a capital Improvement account
so
there's a benefit to doing both at the
same time oh there's a huge disadvantage
of not doing it at the same time because
then you pay for the pavement
replacement as part of a water cost
right
other comments or questions
all right if not
thank you thanks Dave yes sir thank you
very much thank you all
Monique
I moved to adopt resolution 4-23
no Amendment needed has everything good
it's good to go all right motion to
adopt by Ms lamkey
second second by Miss Robinson and again
this is the third reading so I'll invite
any comment questions from the audience
as well at this point
hearing none Mr McPeak
Miss lamke yes Massad Miss Bible Mr
Markham yes Miss Robinson yes Mr
Marcelino yes and Mr Klingler yes and
ordinance passes thank you
uh item six public comments do we have
any speakers no speaker slips all right
in that case we'll move on to the
president's report from my president's
report tonight uh I want to oops I just
had it here here we go
encourage City Council Members to uh to
clear their calendar for Wednesday
September 27th at 6 30 PM for a program
at the library uh Brian Drury came up to
me a few months ago and he said I just
saw the most amazing presentation he
said I want the chamber uh to uh be
instrumental in bringing uh Betsy
Goldstein here to uh Bexley to talk
about uh her work it's called the intel
on Intel and uh the uh I will send you
guys the uh the brochure from the
library is the impact of Intel and
silicon Heartland will forever transform
Central Ohio join the Bexley Area
Chamber of Commerce and the City of
Bexley to learn more from Betsy
Goldstein founder and CEO of Bexley
Goldstein Consulting about this once in
a lifetime project that will touch our
communities families and future
Generations how we use Transportation
new educational opportunities the impact
on housing and growth will all be
touched by this Mega project and uh it's
her presentation is really not only
informational in general but especially
for communities like ours the impact
that it will have on all those different
things so I would encourage all of you
to uh to attend that and again that's
Wednesday September 27th 6 30 pm at the
library
City attorney report
just one item I wanted to make everyone
aware of is uh pending House Bill 257
which appears to be headed I don't know
if it's going to pass or not but headed
towards actually allowing uh members of
a legislative body to participate in the
meeting remotely under certain
circumstances as you'll recall that was
allowed briefly during covid
um and then it went away and it may be
coming back there's a bunch of Hoops
you'd have to jump through and and you'd
have to like for example appear on the
screen from your wherever you're doing
it there has to be 40 hours 48 hours
advanced notice unless it's an emergency
two members of this body could object
and then you couldn't participate and
we'd have to have a policy and all sorts
of stuff so it's good news I mean it
makes a lot of sense
um and uh just keep you apprised
does it prohibit using the restroom
while you're um on that call I hope I
think that depends on the policy ah
sorry sorry Mr President I'm glad we got
that one out there Auditor's report
um yep I've got a few things
um the first thing I'll do is just I
always keep this group apprised of um
our investments so
um as we all know interest rates are
incredibly high if you're paying on a
mortgage or a home equity line that
becomes painful but if you're sitting on
21 million dollars of Investments like
the city of Bexley that's good news for
us so right now we've got about 21
million dollars of Investments
um we're seeing about 50k of Interest a
month right now on those Investments
um and then last month alone we
um we had about 1.6 million dollars
worth of those Investments to mature
um we were earning point three percent
on those Investments we've reinvested
those at neighborhood of five percent
um so you know as those Investments are
maturing we're reinvesting them in much
higher returns which is good for the
city and good for a 2024 budget
um so want to make sure you're rise to
that
um the second thing I wanted to to share
um well and actually talk through is
that you all have received a copy of our
2022 audit
um what I plan to do over the next
couple sessions is just to give you
updates on that I'm sure Sam you've read
through the 160 pages of it and have it
all committed to memory
um but I certainly don't expect the rest
of you to do that so what I'll do is
just highlight certain areas of that
audit that I think are particularly
important for this group to understand
um today I'm just simply going to talk
about the management report that our
Auditors provide and
um it identifies
we'll say findings in that audit so
before I get into that I want to just
kind of talk a little bit about how the
financial reporting in audit process
works so we come to these meetings and
featured does a fabulous job sharing our
financials
on an annual basis we take those
financials and we give them to an audit
firm and they compile those and that
converts our financial statements into
gaap accrual based financial statements
and then someone else audits those to
make sure that they're accurate so what
occurs is with that final audit they
tell us the quality of our financial
statements so I think what you need to
know is the financials that we're
looking at on a monthly basis are good
you're seeing actually how we're
performing there's no concerns around
um the accuracy of those financials what
the audit did identify would be some
quote-unquote weaknesses within the
compilation that was provided
um I put most of those into two
different buckets which is auditor
subjectivity and then uh frankly just
compilation errors so what ultimately
the auditor identified were some issues
that were occurring within the way the
compilation was compiled
all of that is transparent to you to us
to our reporting folks to look at it
it's just internal work
um the one issue that they did identify
which is a process within our own inner
organization has to do with essentially
sending monies out before POS are
created so there was an instance last
year where a rather large payment to the
city of Columbus for our fire
um Services uh went out prior to a PO
being created so that is a internal
process that did not execute as we would
have expected uh so right now I'm
spending time working with the team to
understand that process certainly
communicated that that's something that
we can't do going forward and then also
working on looking at internal policies
and procedures just to make sure I
understand exactly how these processes
work so
um a lot of details there if you've got
questions reached out to me but
ultimately what's important for you guys
to understand and and the community to
understand is that the finance officials
that we're looking at are of high
quality they accurately represent you
know how the city's performing and then
you know it's why we pay Auditors is to
help us understand where we have
opportunities to improve and there are a
few areas that we'll be focusing on
so
um if you do have specific questions
certainly reach out to me
um if
um in your reading of the audit Sam you
have specific questions you would like
me to highlight for the rest of the
group just let me know and I can
certainly focus on those but I certainly
have some ideas
um uh in the upcoming month so be
prepared to get excited about that okay
um the next thing I want to
um disclose is that
um during an internal audit that was
conducted in 2021 the city became aware
of a financial misconduct on part of a
former employee of ours within the
finance department
immediately on learning of that
misconduct the city contacted the state
of Ohio law enforcement and contracted
with a third party auditor to help
investigate this occurrence
the overall scope of this ultimately was
calculated under twenty thousand dollars
so there was
um again inappropriate behavior that was
occurring within within our our finance
department uh the scope of it is again
under twenty thousand dollars but um you
know know that we've implemented some
additional controls within our processes
to help minimize the risk of these types
of activities from occurring and then
the city is also continuing to work with
prosecution in this case and from what I
understand there's some activity that's
going to occur in this upcoming month
um so after quite a bit of time there is
some action that's being taken so wanted
to make sure that Council understood
where this this sat as well as the
community
thank you do we have any questions for
Mr McPeak
okay
all right we'll move on to the
administrative update
thank you Mr President
um first up we have
our very own Michael price with uh
Recreation Department update
uh nothing to add my written report but
happy to answer any questions
any questions for Mike
if Jess were here I think Jess would
have questions would somebody please ask
questions on behalf of Jess
um I would I like to say uh Mike that
um
I feel like we've we say this time and
again because it is so true the uh the
staff of the rec department
um and our police department and our
service department
um go above and beyond in our community
events the Labor Day block party was
just the most recent unbelievable
example of that where so much
preparation went into that
um in the weeks leading up to it and
then the day of was a Sunday where
uh cheerfully
uh our staff from all those departments
came and supported our community in
really meaningful and amazing ways so
thank you for that it was an amazing
event
um and I appreciate all the I know it's
a lot of hard work that you guys put
into it and the work afterwards as well
um same with the community camp out
while it's not as much of the logistical
hurdle I know I got a couple texts from
residents who were there and
and just kind of marveling at uh how
cool it is that we have a community
event like that so kudos to your team
thank you I feel like Jess would comment
on the community camp out which would
lead me to ask the question I think we
all want to know did Jess sod camp out
overnight with the community camp out
you know what I'm gonna play I'm gonna
play the fifth I'll let Jess respond to
that all right
please make sure that question is noted
Natalie
any other questions uh for Mike uh all
right thank you Mike thank you uh
Beecher uh is with us feature I don't
have a written report here anything that
you want to share with Council I have no
report should have the financials for
August ready to go next meeting and if
anybody has any questions I can take
them now
any questions for Beecher
page it's pleasure to see you I think
we're good all right have a good evening
mayor
thank you sir
um Chief Lewis is not has been a little
bit under the weather so he's not here
with us this evening but we do have uh
his report here in hand
um
I want to note that we swore officer
Haggard in
um this week he has interestingly he's
with dla law enforcement or federal
police
um so it's just a slightly different
experience but
um you know in interviewing him prior to
extending an offer one of his uh one of
the reasons he really was enthusiastic
about joining the agency is he was
hungry for the community policing aspect
really wanted to
it was very clearly sincerely on his
part so that was really exciting we're
also going to be swearing in a Reserve
officer next week Bexley resident Bill
Early lives on Dawson and recently
retired from Reynoldsburg Police
Department and would like to be a
Reserve officer so Bill actually was
quite helpful to me early on in the
police chief search I reached out to him
for some advice so it's kind of neat to
see him join as a reserve here in the
future any questions on the chief's
written report
just a quick one that I don't know that
she can answer exactly but I know
there's been a huge effort towards
hiring new officers and filling some
vacancies uh just curious to see where
we're at in terms of that and if you
can't answer us if we could get that
perhaps next time in his uh report
because I think everybody's done an
excellent job in finding quality
candidates we have two new just now you
know two Bexley residents that are
joining the force including the one
that's already there and now the reserve
yeah but just how much more we're doing
and uh what vacancies there are just
mainly out of curiosity yeah I um it's
interesting I would normally know the
exact answer for that but because
there's been so much uh change I I
believe that we're really close but I'll
get you the exact number great thank you
any other questions
all right
um Mr Bayshore joins us from the World
Wide Web Andy hi America how are you
good
um I do not have anything to add to my
report tonight but happy to answer any
questions
Andy looks like one of those Anonymous
sources they show on TV right now that's
right
nice computer in the background Andy and
thanks I'm back it's pretty cool
um
so uh yeah any questions for Andy
Matt
what Klingler
what percentage do you think we're done
with the Drexel project
as far as percentage I'm gonna say 75
we're still shooting for the end of
September
um being done with all the concrete work
yeah
and once we're done with all the
concrete work
um there'll probably still be some back
filling to be done on maybe some of the
um bump outs maybe some touch-up work in
the medians
um we're not going to plant the meeting
until probably late fall with the trees
but as far as having it open to through
traffic
um
pretty confident uh into September
um one other thing to augment that with
Matt and everyone just so you know the
the peep the final Paving is through
ODOT because it's a state route
they have told us that we're not going
to be on their schedule until the spring
um so the final Paving will wait till
the spring unfortunately so you're not
going to get the full 100 Drexel effect
until then
um
but I don't know if we have to wait for
that Paving to do the new analysis on
the speed limit maybe we do that before
there's fresh Paving on there
um either way I think uh we'll we'll
have the good solid feel by the end of
September of what that um final project
looks was going to feel like I think
another project for any other questions
for Andy I'm sorry
uh I do want to
note I'm not sure if it's on your
written report here Andy I just want
counselor to be aware that
um
we are we have a series of meetings
coming up I talked to council about the
bike lane meetings that we have coming
up with their sort of like smaller
resident focused meetings we also have
one coming up for um
for Pleasant Ridge Pleasant Ridge is due
to be paved uh following Columbia Gas
completing their project and we are
examining some potential traffic common
options for Pleasant Ridge
um based upon requests from residents on
the street and also indicated by the
speed stats
um so we're looking at
a couple different options with Dave
Coker city engineer we're going to be
talking to the residents about that in
probably the next three or four weeks
and you all are welcome to any of those
uh we can just shoot you those dates
anytime you want to come along to a
micro infrastructure meeting
anything else Andy yes sir
all right thanks for joining us have a
great evening all right you too man
uh
on my update
um
first off I want to say I was
unfortunately not well fortunately I was
not at the community campout last
weekend because I was uh with a friend
at uh celebrating a wedding in DC but as
part of that I had the opportunity to
visit the Holocaust Museum which I'm
sure many of you have visited before it
was my first experience there and while
I'm an avid fan of World War II fiction
and non-fiction fans not the right word
reader fan I guess
um and so it wasn't necessarily new
information Aficionado it was so
powerful and so overwhelming and and put
just such a fresh
um
uh fresh take on what we have been
dealing with as Municipal leaders as we
talk about the security of our
synagogues and our residents
um you know seeing the uptick of
symbology uh that represents uh the Nazi
regime and just what that means it just
kind of really packed a
just made it so much more relevant I
think and fresh and uh so I I recommend
I recommend with trepidation that
anybody who hasn't visited there visited
if they get the chance
um
and I just found it to be so valuable as
a as a leader of Bexley I know it's
really glad I got the chance to do that
um
on my coming up in Bexley calendar here
I am remiss to be missing a couple
things one of them was the Intel and
Intel event that Troy mentioned the
other one is that on the 30th of
September there's a capital versus
Otterbein Grudge Match cook-off
competition happening uh pre-game at
capitals parking lot
um there's gonna be a Bexley team and an
otter and a Westerville team so anyone
who wants to help out with the Bexley
team
we are making gourmet hot dogs
uh the menu of which for for which for
which includes so far uh
future hits
can I interrupt for a sec yes sir
September I think the 30th is the wrong
date
isn't it Friday that which is it's a
Saturday oh I apologize they're usually
Fred is like they are but we had so many
all right Bexley football conflicts that
we had to move it to the 30th um affects
the Academy I think
uh so a capgrad goes to Cincinnati is a
flipped and charred Hebrew national hot
dog with House made comets chili and
heaping piles of grated cheddar and my
Lutheran Heritage is a grilled Windy
City hot dog with Bexley community
garden sauerkraut caramelized onions
German beer hall whole grain mustard and
tofu caraway seeds so it's just a taste
of what we might be serving it's a hot
dog cooked off competition
so that's what yeah thanks run this by
the new HR person uh that's okay
um Jen I think you'll will you be
filming us on the one Bexley Gathering
okay so I will not cover that I will say
speaking of the new HR person Emily
Buckley started with us today
um settled in uh with a heaping pile of
HR resources to review and an expanding
list of things for her to focus on so I
think she seemed happy and not
overwhelmed so that's good
yeah we'll see uh you're the parks
um we are
um really excited we have a border
control meeting later tonight we have
three uh quotes on um the planting and
restoration of the steps going leading
down to the trail Birch Walk and some of
those other features
um Trinity I have outlined
upcoming hearings as part of the Trinity
Redevelopment
ARB and tree and public gardens is still
going to sort of be built as a
preliminary hearing where they're
reviewing the concepts
um prior to any like a final
presentation
um and then Visa app later in September
I don't expect any votes to be taken
this month um I can't promise that these
are independent boards it just doesn't
seem that that's the trajectory
I also want to update Council as you are
aware we found out today that the uh
um the court of appeals denied the
Community Builders in our the city's
appeal of the Court of Common pleased on
our decision on the 20 2300 Livingston
Avenue the Livingston and Francis
housing proposal
um
for those of us like you who rendered a
decision on this case
um I know this is difficult
um it's particularly frustrating for me
because
um it seems like uh I'm not an attorney
but the concept that a conditional use
needs to somehow be written out in the
name of a zoning text title seems really
anathema to Common zoning practice
um and so I was uh wrote down a couple
thoughts here in my report
um
maybe In the Heat of having just read
that decision but I wanted to say that
for example if we were to name our
district with all of the conditional
uses then the commercial service a
proposed title that I would posit to
council might be commercial service with
conditional Automotive Repair Car Wash
Tavern Johnny's the first inner second
floor Hotel public uses quads of public
uses or Funeral Home uses District
um and that is true the current use of a
funeral home is also a conditional use
um and so I know that there will be
discussion of that coming up but the the
judge in the case who wrote the decision
almost ended it with the verbiage that's
up on the screen there but essentially
said reminds the city of Bexley that we
do have the power to amend the zoning
code to accomplish any of those goals
and the best path forward maybe
legislative action
not commenting on the particular case I
know that you guys
are going to need to decide
how to handle that all maybe this is
coming to the case but I want to comment
just writ large
um that the decision that was rendered
would apply to every single zoning
District we have if we were related to a
to look at that and say well that means
we can't have housing on Main Street
that means we can't have housing on
Cassidy because we don't name it in our
district that way so we know that that's
not the way that we administer our code
or the way that was intended so I do
think even if it seems illogical even if
it seems
um to be totally flying in the face of
the way that every city in Ohio
administers their zoning code I do think
we should look at that and examine if
you know we can make that a little bit
more bulletproof and more what the code
was intended to accommodate which is
conditional uses within districts as
enumerated in our code so I know there
will be conversation about that but I
did want to a uh make sure that the the
you all in the community will wear and
be
allow you to humor me with a minor
amount of editorializing so I appreciate
that
um I have some photos of of
Kroger had a grand reopening
and uh some great photos from our Labor
Day block party
sorry these aren't all oriented
correctly but I want to thank the
volunteers especially our youngest
volunteers that if you turn your head
sideways you can see right here for
helping with that cookout and in general
we had a really successful cutout served
a lot of people Great Value high quality
food and a lot of you guys helped out
with that so thank you so much uh even
if you were helping out by proxy through
your children good work
and the overall event in general was
such a great success and thanks to Tim
Pitts and the Brewfest folks just real
quick I want to chime in I got some
comments about uh child labor in Bexley
and I want to reiterate those are our
Three Sons
uh that's a good point yes
you tilt your head there you will see
Brew Kessler Tanner McPeak and Cole
Klingler lined up uh I'll finish served
so these laws not apply to your children
then yeah right if it's not compensated
then
um Cole I mean credit to call Cole's
really pitched in last year like loved
it and his leadership like brought the
rest of the crew aboard
so a lot of excellent and I had nothing
to do with that particular game I didn't
even get to see it in action
uh and we had a great survey of the
creek from the creek uh for our Jeffrey
Park plan and again I'm such a shame
that these this whole thing I got to
come up with a better system here but
there's a heron kind of just taken off
there in that photo from the creek as we
were walking up
see that there you go all right that
concludes my report and I'm happy to
answer any questions who played um
piano for the band
which band was that Mr Murphy well you
just the the samples I just that was you
said you would answer any question okay
I wanted to get a straight answer around
who played on Friday night uh Tim Pitts
called me and the samples which was
headline in the The Brew Fest last slash
block party uh their keyboarders
couldn't make it and he was like we
tried to reach out to other keyboards
they can't make it would you be willing
to fill in and I very foolishly said yes
so
I filled in for the samples and it was a
hit thank you it was quite it was the
same quite a good show thank you sir I
appreciate it thank you and your
auditing capacity I know that you've
seen the samples several times and would
you place this performance somewhere
along the quality of the other
performances it was like a jazz improv
um yeah
the original script may not have been
yeah exactly what was done
yeah
all right it was exceptionally good I I
the show was great
well done
oh I would like to uh put a second year
in a row renew my request that the uh
place where Cole and all of your
children work be renamed Cole's kitchen
and allow coal to staff the location and
uh perhaps underneath adult supervision
uh manage it themselves next year won't
be an election year so I can't see
anybody having a big issue with that but
uh I think they're being nice homage to
a young man who has worked for that
tirelessly I believe for the past three
or four years even it's two I think he
was there when I was doing the first
time and it seems a while ago so either
way he's very passionate about it so I'd
like to renew that request for signage
and the the recognition of Cole's
kitchen put a calendar reminder on your
calendar for uh
and like a line item in the budget too
for this sign thank you
yes
and I wouldn't totally uh discount maybe
cold playing keyboards for the samples
next area
right yeah like
uh mayor in your report you have that
you attended the Livingston Avenue
evaluation committee can you expand on
that please yes thank you excellent call
out so we um Columbus and uh specially
adjudicated the engineering firm that
was to is to be selected for the
Livingston project Columbus
totally oversaw that process which I was
very thankful for
um so they they um published the bid uh
they then sent out you know some scoring
sheets for us it was a really as
especially as a border control member it
was an eye-opening process in multiple
ways
um but the firm that was selected was
ohm to oversee the engineering piece of
that which is there were excellent
engineering firms and other firms that
stepped forward Ohm's proposal
um had some really Innovative Concepts
in it and so I was really excited about
that and they scored highest among
um all of the you know the averages of
all of the different uh scores one of
the advantages as well of that which is
that not why they were selected but it
is true that Jason soudy is one of the
staff members that's helping out with
that on the public process side of it
but they also it's mostly an engineering
project and so what that looks like is
they're taking the Concept in that joint
limited plan they're doing the
engineering work for it so that then it
can go to bid for the construction as
part of that very long burning federal
funds project you know there's
right-of-way acquisition as part of this
it's it's a parallel project to what
we've seen happen up on North Cassidy so
these are the first steps that will then
lead us to the realization of some of
the more expansive pieces of the joint
Livingston Avenue plan but it was
exciting they're selected and they'll
get going and you'll start to you'll
start to hear more about like what the
progress of that looks like
Mr official
all right so I guess we are on to the
consent agenda which has the meeting
minutes from August 22nd 2023. thank you
comments questions on the consent agenda
none then I move that we adopt the
consent agenda can I get a second please
second second by Mr Klingler Mr McPeak
Mr Marcelino yes Miss Robinson yes
misfiable Miss odd Miss lamkey yes Mr
Markham yes Mr Klingler yes consent
agenda passes thank you all right on to
third reading of ordinance 23-23 to
appropriate ten thousand dollars from
the Waterfront and ten thousand dollars
from the sewer fund to pay overtime for
the remainder of 2023 MS lamke
thank you I think we have a proposed
amendment changing the amounts uh mayor
if you could put that up that would be
great
so this is the um
I think correcting the numbers
yep we're just changing them from 10 and
10 to 12 and 6 after 14 000. good job
otter we'll take it
um are there any questions about this
amendment before I motion to
Lament
I moved to amend ordinance 23-23
motion to amend by Ms lamke second by Mr
Klingler
or we had on this one this third reading
third reading common Circle questions
from Council
comments or questions from the audience
Mr mcpeek massage misfiable Miss
Robinson yes Mr Markham yes
Mr Marcelino yes Mr Klingler yes Miss
lamke yes
Amendment passes
wait was that right you got it you're
right sorry
you didn't give me confidence that's
reflexively tell you you're on I moved
to adopt amended ordinance
23-23 okay
second
uh motion to adopt by Miss lamkeley Miss
lanky
or so not by Miss Lane Pieces by Mr
Klingler comments or questions from
Council comments are questions from the
audience
uh Mr McPeak mystifiable Mr Klingler yes
Miss lamke yes Miss Robinson yes Mr
Markham yes Mr Marcelino
amended ordinance passes thank you okay
we are on to the third reading of
ordinance 27-23 to amend chapter 452.06
unattended vehicles duty to lock
ignition remove Keys said break Etc in
order to modernize provisions of this
section to expand restrictions on idling
for the protection of both the health of
citizens and the environment and to add
section
618.25 animals and unintended Motor
Vehicles in order to protect the Health
and Welfare of animals and non-attended
vehicles that was introduced by Ms
fiebel
thank you Miss feibel asked me to speak
about this I know that she sent some
background and research materials to all
of council so hopefully you will have
time to digest those I think it was her
hope that we would table this tonight
before amending does anyone have an
issue with that before I make a motion
I motioned to table ordinance 27-23
motion to table by Ms lamke
second second by Mr Klingler
um again I think we're at a third
reading so comments questions from
Council well it's a motion it's a motion
motion to table sorry yeah no comments
no questions nothing Mr McPeak a long
day
Miss Robinson yes Mr Markham yes and
motion to table the ordinance passes
thank you all right then we are on to a
third reading of ordinance 28-23 to
amend chapter 14
56.01 registration required and to
provide standards for care in the areas
surrounding trees in the tree lawn
introduced by Ms Bible but is that you
miss lamke that is I believe we also
have some proposed amendments on this
one as well mayor if you could pull that
up would you be willing to walk us
through the Amendments please yes so the
Amendments with this are fairly simple
they
eliminate the reference to Mosquito
contractors
and are focused then purely on the tree
line tree landscape professional
and then the language of the mulch
volcano which we don't use the word
volcano in the ordinance is has been
changed from what was originally read
um to uh
based upon some some crowdsourcing of
the tree Commission of how to exactly
word that so
can you scroll to the bottom
like there or yeah
okay I think the the version that I had
seen online was maybe we took it out but
I'm fine with these what did it have
um the version that I saw online has
that section four
which is creating the mosquito control
treatment and it's got some editorial
comments which wouldn't be right no so
this this amendment gets rid of any
mosquito references
there's a companion first reading that
is
Mr Marceline will be so happy is all
about the mosquitoes wonderful uh are
there any questions about the proposed
amendments
so we have uh that we had the removal of
the mosquito portion and we do have Jim
Wilson here uh I guess my question would
be either to him or to you then could
you explain to us that changes when you
said there was crowdsources
crowdsourcing with some of these numbers
like just in general what what was the
going on with that
also that sorry the penalty also is a
part of this amendment I know we
discussed it last week but um Jim if you
want to discuss this
either or
uh Jim Wilson 2404 Bexley Park Road uh
member of the tree commission
um I believe last time I was here there
was some discussion about the clarity of
the definition of what a mulch volcano
was and uh in consultation uh with the
mayor there's been some clarification so
residents and contractors know exactly
what they are to avoid
um the basic idea is to avoid piling
mulch directly around the trunk of a
tree and I think the tree commission
believes that this definition is clearer
than what was presented in the original
ordinance for which I take full
responsibility for the lack of clear
definition the original draft I don't
think you should because I think I
actually I took your original one and I
changed it myself and then the tree
commission changed both of ours well so
I'm willing to fall on the sword if it
stops mulch volcanoes do we do we have
diff do we have changes made in the
numbers I I just when you said that so
the original the ordinance is introduced
talked about just placing any mulch
above the ground level okay so we so
then within the drip Zone it references
which definitely was not Jim Wilson
language I think he scoffed at it when
he read it and then the proposed amended
really is just a different definition as
you can read it basically so that's just
what he said
while we're at it you should also not
weed whack against the trunk of a tree
oh I know that actually we talked today
about the opportunity to publicize this
and to tell our residents not only about
mulch volcanoes but about other things
they could do to protect our trees
neglect
yeah and but just to clarify that it's
not in authorities no yeah
comments or questions since we have Mr
Wilson here anybody else got any
I would like to add that the other
Amendment here that's substantive is
that Mr Wilson have pointed out the
penalty uh
section
was
you know referred to criminal
prosecution and that there might be some
other ways to handle that and so we
drafted this cooperatively
um I wanted to defer criminal
prosecution until I could enroll in the
Citizen Police Academy
until you learn to operate that firearm
too so what's different about this is
It's action that's occurring on us on
city property to a piece of city
property the tree is city property and
so it provides the city with recourse to
immediately cure and then fine
um finding the professionals because
they've already been registered and are
aware of the pro of the issue
immediately but if it's a homeowner the
fine is not immediate the fine would be
subsequent violations
spark what do you think about this yeah
I'm good the mayor and I talked about
that combination okay took a couple
iterations but I think we got there
excellent
more comments or questions
yes Mr Klingler our landscapers I know
they don't have to register are they
going to get some sort of literature
about this yeah okay
so that would
it's almost the reason for the
registration is to ensure that they get
that they receive the literature and
have that education yeah
um do we have action on this then I
moved to amend ordinance
27-20
28 23. motion to amend by Ms lamke
second second by Ms Robinson comments
for questions from Council comments or
questions on the Amendments from the
audience
Mr McPeak Mr Marcelino yes Miss lamke
yes masad Mr Markham yes Miss feibel Mr
Klingler yes Miss Robinson yes Amendment
passes
further action
I moved to adopt
amended ordinance
do I have the right did I cite the right
number there it's 28-20 28 23 motion to
adopt by Ms lamkey
second second by Mr Klingler comments or
questions from Council
comments or questions from the audience
Mr McPeak
Miss Liam key yes Mossad misfiable Mr
Markham yes Miss Robinson yes Mr
Marcelino yes Mr cleanler yes amended
ordinance passes boom there you go thank
you Mr Wilson
yes
who are you okay we are on to a second
reading now ordinance 31-23 to establish
the Bexley Senior Services fund to
receive donations to be used for senior
services for bexley's residents senior
citizens introduced by Ms lamke
great
um as we discussed at the first reading
uh occasionally if the city receives
donations to be used for our resident
senior citizens this ordinance provides
the mechanism for those funds to be used
for that purpose
any questions about this ordinance
would this be appropriate for consent
agenda at our next meeting
anybody have a
objection to that
all right consent agenda I don't have an
objection I just asked is there any
reason for lorianne or Jess since
they're not here for us to pause isn't
it is there that's urgency that's not a
bad consideration
um
you know what I I agree with that let's
keep it off the consent agenda just in
case that's a good point I think
thank you Sam
okay we are now on to First ordinances
the first reading of ordinance 30-23 to
amend section
618.16 of the Bexley codified ordinances
to authorize the Animal control officer
to designate an animal as dangerous or
vicious pending the review and
adjudication by the Bexley Mayor's Court
of any criminal charges filed pursuant
to the codified ordinances and to
declare an emergency Mr Marcelino yes
thank you very much uh this was brought
to the City by a vicious attack that
took place from one dog against another
um you know it's dogs are considered
property in the state of Ohio but yet
the owners still have rights in terms of
appealing decisions challenging
decisions uh to either keep their dog
here in the city or in some cases alive
and this ordinance itself would
essentially give the city a protection
while those uh judicial issues played
out and those decisions were made to
where the uh to where the city could and
the Animal control officer could
essentially designate this animal as
dangerous or vicious while the reviews
taking place with things such as a
muzzle or potentially making sure that
is always tied up when in a backyard
there's a couple different things I'm
sure the mayor will touch on here but
again just while those uh issues are
pending that way a vicious or dangerous
animal is not theoretically still
allowed to roam loose while we're
deciding whether frankly it should be in
this community or not given that
determination by again the Animal
control officer anything else I have
left out there mayor I don't no that's
great uh Mr Fishel I would
we did receive some correspondence from
our prosecutor that pointed out that we
had some rights that we aren't currently
exercising
um if we first impound the animal and
then release it which is a little bit
different I still think this is a good
idea because it gives us the ability to
do that without having to go through the
process of impounding and related
conditions I agree completely So
currently we have the city has the right
to impound the dog and pending this out
the outcome of the criminal matter but
this is a lesser a less severe response
if you will because this would allow us
to impose on the homo on the dog owner
the requirements in our ordinance
dealing with a vicious
a a a dog that's been declared a vicious
dog this is how dangerous vicious edible
yeah so it doesn't expand uh
any of those uh the things that we could
mandate it just gives the enforcement
ability to owner okay correct pending
that's exactly right comments questions
all right I think move on then
okay so now we are on to ordinance
2032-23 to add section 618.25 animals
and unattended Motor Vehicles in order
to protect the health and Wildflower of
animals and unattended vehicles that was
is introduced by Mr Marcelino
reintroduced by uh it was part of a
previous ordinance uh we felt it
important to separate the two uh given
the subject matter of the original
ordinance and the subject matter of this
portion of that ordinance I will leave
it to your review but I don't have much
additional to discuss from what's
already been discussed thank you
that's a quick question I I'm in support
of this ordinance but are there also any
current like animal cruelty laws in
place like right now police got a call
about a dog in a hot car what what would
they normally do or what could they cite
well I think we had this I think the
mayor looked something up at a previous
meeting while we were in the meeting
that there is no there basically is no
law that allows us to cite somebody like
this ordinance would allow but there is
an ability to literally break the glass
and take the dog out whether it's the
police or an individual although I would
recommend calling the police but I think
I saw that one it gives you immunity but
I don't know if there's like a general
animal cruelty something in the orc
that's already existing not this
specific is my is my recollection
other comments or questions
can I just explain one thing out that I
think is probably new because this was
part of the idling as the penalty
section pay attention to that
um that that's I think that's something
you probably haven't seen before this
version I believe the penalty section
yes
um right because there was a paragraph B
there because I think you would point it
out that there was no penalty section
applicable correct and so this tracks
doesn't this track though with other
animals you know other un other animal
cruelty laws I don't really I don't
recall that I just recall that we had
discussion thinking that a minor
misdemeanor and a first offense seemed
too lenient I think this is a cut and
paste from some other view it might be I
don't recall that though I'll check
just my point being it's not it was not
intended to be more or less severe than
other similar kind of offenses than I
could
foreign
I think you can move us on okay so now
we are on to a first reading of
ordinance 36 no 33 35 wait 133
.
I'm sorry I moved farther ahead than I
should have a first reading of ordinance
33 23 to amends chapter 14 56.01
registration required and to add chapter
1494 mosquito control treatment
introduced by Ms feibel is this you also
Mr Liz lamke yesterday all right this
takes out uh the part on that other one
that we just looked at and adds in some
language regarding registration mayor do
you want to walk us through this
ordinance please yeah I believe we've
really have talked through it
um we have some more specific recitals
added here and a new innovation in our
drafting of
ordinances where there's blue and the
blue references another pending
ordinance may pass that has that
language so it's sort of alluding to
this may also be
a section so that when it passes we're
we're not that we're passing proper
language forward to our codifiers
um
uh correct so it can be no longer blue
this is good work guys
um
but it's a you know simple a simple
notification required
um when mosquito control treatment is
occurring
um this is written to be 24-hour
advanced notice I think in early draft
you guys saw was 48 hour advance notice
so after some there was some change to
this based upon a conversation that had
occurred at the last council meeting so
it's 24 hour advance notice and that
email is acceptable if there's been
consent for email notification
um
so I think it's pretty straightforward
but that's uh that's what we have
take a look and we'll we'll discuss it
at the next one
okay I'm sorry I'm sorry just apologize
yep if not go ahead
um all right so now we are on to
Ordnance first reading of ordinance
34-23 to establish the position of
administrative and public records
manager and to establish the pay range
at 27.26 per hour to 41.61 per hour and
to declare an emergency MS lamke
I'm killing it tonight
um mayor resists you to discuss the need
for this role yeah and I think we'll
have a little bit further discussion
about this in executive session but this
um it's not intended to be a new to do
this is intended to be net neutral in
terms of the number of employees which
it discusses in the recitals
um there will be a little bit of a
budget implication potentially but
that's uh you know something we can
further discuss I think the uh what I
want to also call attention to is this
concept of a public records manager we
do not have any one person in the city
that is in charge of overseeing our
public records management response uh to
requests for public records and training
so this would as you can see in the
exhibit that's attached to your agenda
oversee all those
um across the city which I think will
create a lot of will add a lot of value
um I think we we receive I know that we
receive public records requests
routinely
um I think our staff are fantastic at
fulfilling those requests but I also
think that having consistent
um
Consolidated response will be of great
value and that Focus so I'm excited
about the potential for this position
and look forward to talking about it
further all right move us on all right
first reading of ordinance 35-23 to
amend section
618.1685 of the Bexley codified
ordinances to amend the definition of
vicious animal and to reorder and amend
existing section 618.16 A8 Mr Marcelino
yes thank you very much this one
actually came about based upon the other
uh vicious animal uh ordinance that we
just discussed uh through the original
version of that it included language
that specified basically one specific
breed of dog that would be uh considered
automatically vicious and dangerous and
whatnot and so you know as a person that
owns a dog of that breed partially
um I didn't make much sense to me why my
dog alone would be separated from any
other dog attack that might take place
especially when there are other known
vicious dogs that require additional
training and certifications in order to
be considered safe for our community
some of those may be pit bulls German
Shepherds Rottweilers Dobermans boxers
Great Danes a lot of dogs that can cause
a lot of harm if not trained properly so
this was to expand that moreover I was
thinking upon bexley's decision years
ago to lift a pit bull ban within the
city because of the uh specifically
because of some of the uh the
discriminatory implications that it had
and or I should say effects that it had
upon owners of those types of dogs which
was again in part of it where there are
many owners that take significant steps
to keep these dogs safe and ready to be
great members of our community there's
also a fee within there for registration
that I uh inquired about with the mayor
to see how important it was and we
determined it really wasn't necessary
and added another burden towards owning
these what can be beautiful animals and
often are so this was more so to broaden
the scope and allow our uh City the
chief of police and public safety
director to determine uh what dogs
will qualify underneath this list it
would likely still include pit bulls but
it would also expand that scope to
include others just again to provide the
maximum amount of safety for her
community members so that's what that's
about for my position I'm happy to take
any questions or have them there add
additional comments if you'd like thank
you very much
same as this so does this require the
Animal control officer to create a
predetermined list then is that what
that is that's how I would see it uh
taking place based upon actual academic
and other studies uh from organizations
that look into these types of things
rather than just listing one specific
type Thomas I saw it is there has have
you gotten any feedback from the Animal
control
officer about that like
they have ideas about
that list what that list would be
I am not personally I think that I don't
know if the mayor has but I'm confident
in stating that I anticipate that list
will be based upon you know the American
Kennel uh Foundation what not that is a
understood academic organization that
looks into these things on a versus part
of their day-to-day business
it's on um
I was due to review that my weekly
meeting with the chief and the ACL
yesterday but she wasn't in yesterday so
we're going to be looking at it and
getting her beauty okay so we'll get
some feedback from her and the chief
maybe on on this as well
uh other comments or questions
thank you
all right we are on to ordinance 36-23
to authorize supplemental Appropriations
for calendar year 2023 MS lamke
thank you as noted in the whereas is
this ordinance was necessary to uh
increase the overtime budget due to uh
some special events that we had and to
also correct an error as a result of a
incorrect self formula
um it adds special events over time in
the amount of 3 000 and also
appropriates 12 000 from the sewer fund
um
you want anything to that Audible
no it's just to cover the opers funding
um but yeah that's nothing else to add
there
I do have a budget note for special
events overtime for next year because I
I uh clearly happened last year as well
so this isn't the first time this has
happened yeah I'm gonna stop having so
much fun
yeah I think it was the same last year
so we should that would have that's
that's on me that that didn't get added
in the last budget
and Cole
Cole as well is responsible yeah
this is overtime
payable to cash
all right all right now we are on to a
first reading of resolution 6-23
adopting the 2023 recommendations of the
Bexley tax and Center review Council
regarding tax-abated properties in the
city of Bexley MS lamke
thank you this is my final first reading
of the night this is regarding some
recommendations that have been made for
some properties here in Bexley mayor is
this you as well to walk us through it
now this is our annual ordinance that
approves the tax incentive review
committees
um recommendations that the abatements
in place be continued
and they also accepted the Tiff report
so the abatements that exist in the city
currently accrue to the Alexander
Condominiums
the Gateway commercial property
um two units at one Dawson and then the
residential units at The Gramercy
development I will note that 2023 tax
year is the final year for uh the
Gateway
um tax abatement which is particularly
good news for us because there's a
school district income sharing piece to
that that no longer has to be
administered much less shared so I'm
excited about both components of that
sorry School District but the
administration part of it really is
something else so
um excited to move on past that right
and I encourage everyone check out the
attachment and the exhibit a to this one
if you have any questions we'll discuss
at the next meeting
all right so uh where are we going here
we do we have our I think you scroll
down right
I don't think we have action on tabled
ordinances we should have an executive
session is it all the way at the end I
believe it's okay there we go all right
so we'll do chair uh committee reports
uh start with Mr Marcelino
oh I'll note is what was in the chief's
uh report itself with what Lee Nathans
and uh a couple of them have
accomplished with this heart-safe Bexley
uh thing that's taking place on on
October 1st it's City Hall at 3 P.M and
I don't know if he's asked anybody else
to speak but I just want to thank uh lee
Nathans for taking the massive lead on
this I remember when I was interested
and I met with Lee and I uh was talking
to him and he was already about eight
miles ahead of me and it was you know
sometimes you just gotta stand back and
let the master go to work so I just want
to thank Lee Nathans and all those uh
people that put in some work and and
organizing this and I think it's going
to be a really great thing for Bexley to
help us all stay safe and uh you know
deal with emergencies as they
unfortunately occur so thanks to him and
I hope to see you all there on October
1st here at City Hall 3 P.M thanks all
right I think we have some stuff in the
Strategic committee with Jen Robbins we
do
um first of all thanks again for
everybody for showing up prepared for
the Strategic meeting earlier today day
um I left my notebook at home and I had
of course written something very
eloquent about the next item that I'm
going to talk about and um so I'm just
going to try to remember what I said but
um on the mayor's report you I'm sure
you all saw that on um the October the
1st after the heart safe Bexley event
um at six o'clock
um on the street
um at the intersection of Drexel and
um uh Main Street will be having our
first ever one Bexley Gathering it is we
have spent a lot of time over
um the past few months creating programs
and opportunities for the community to
get together to talk about the things
that are happening
um here in Bexley and how we can
um really come together and
um and combat some of the the Prejudice
and the the racial issues that exist
unfortunately
um here
um as well as beyond beyond bexley's
borders but one of the things we haven't
had a chance to do yet is just come
together as a community and get to know
each other and this event will allow us
to do just that we will be inviting
people there was a save the date in the
blast last week there will be
registration information in the blast
this week we are looking for two things
one we are looking for people to come
and share a meal that's it tickets are
free you'll come you'll be assigned to a
table you may know the people at your
table you may not but by the end of the
evening the hope is that you do know
them a little bit better
we will also be looking for table hosts
that will require you to prepare a meal
for eight people and provide the
tableware for your table and be a host
at one of the many tables that will be
set out on the on the street
not a lot I mean if you like to cook and
that's no big deal for you we would love
for you to be a part of this event that
is really it's open to our community it
will be advertised to the communities
around us as well this really is an
opportunity to do the thing that we said
we are going to do at the beginning of
one Bexley and that is build a stronger
better more bonded community and we are
very very excited to have you all uh
participate in that and we're excited to
see how this goes this will be the first
of many annual Gatherings and we look
forward to hosting this first one and
then seeing how it grows so uh look for
the blast as well as I'm sure many other
ways in which we will be finding you to
not only come but potentially host a
table
um so one Bexley a gathering on October
the 1st at 6 pm
mark your calendars and I imagine you
could even co-host with somebody else if
you tag teamed absolutely right yeah
they're there are no restrictions to how
you may or may not want to host your
table
yes
all right thanks guys that's it um I'll
be Jess in just a moment and is it true
that elected officials cannot attend
that unless they've first completed
their heart training heart safe Bexley
training
um according to Lee Nathans yes
zoning and development Mr Klingler
uh lots to update as the mayor said
earlier we have an ARB meeting uh
September 14th we had a cic meeting
um
September 11th yes yesterday last night
I had some good guests in there
um land use strategy commission we have
met with capital we are meeting with uh
the schools on Thursday this Thursday uh
September 14th we're also meeting with
Coda and morpsey September 26th I had
the pleasure to attend the grand opening
of the Frankie Murphy Convocation Center
at St Charles last week
for those of you who who haven't seen
the pictures or been over there it's
beautiful they've done a really good job
and they should be wrapping up the site
work very soon
I had the pleasure of attending uh
Bexley Euchre day at the senior center
so that was a blast uh played some
euchre with some some ladies over there
uh front yard corner lot group we got
some really good feedback from those uh
Larry Hellman in particular but a few of
those folks who are in that group I
think we need to set up another meeting
date
sometime in September mayor for that
uh also attended the Roosevelt traffic
calming meeting with residents on or
near Roosevelt and for those of you who
haven't driven Roosevelt recently in
between fair and Maine there are some
some
traffic calming signs there and looking
to do more in that area
that is all
service and environmental this is fibo
she didn't give me a report but I do
know that
the idling ordinance has been in the
news lately if you have any questions
please reach out to lorianne
Recreation and Parks Miss sod
for allowing me to play the role of just
saw today she gave me several things
that she wanted me to report out the
first is for everybody to mark their
calendar the Bexley Education Foundation
and Bexley Community Foundation are
co-hosting a legacy planned giving
informational event on September the
28th which is I believe a Thursday from
four to six at Jeffrey Mansion so please
mark your calendars if you're interested
she also wanted me to make sure that you
were all aware I think everybody
received one of these if you didn't in
the audience you there are some up here
and you can grab them it is a blood
drive that will be held this Friday from
one to six at the Bexley Senior Center
this one is particularly near and dear
to Jess in my hearts because it is the
Reiner family who um former neighbors of
Jess's they live down the street from me
whose son is a cancer survivor and this
is a um a Leukemia and Lymphoma blood
drive and they've worked really hard to
put it together so this Friday before
you head off those of you who celebrate
before you head off to your Rosh
Hashanah dinner you can zip on over to
the dexley senior center and give some
blood and do your good deed and ensure
yourself in the Book of Life yes is it
the right holiday I've gotten it right
we're in there okay so uh that's it I
think she said three but she never sent
me the third thing so I'm gonna say
we're good all right finance committee
um just a couple quick reminders uh
September 19th there is a candidates
night at the Bexley public library in
the auditorium at 6 PM in case you know
of anybody running for office there is
no separate candidates Night by the
women League voters group so this is
your opportunity to either attend in
person or it will be live streamed and I
believe recorded also on September
22nd at 6 00 PM in the Bexley Public
Library parking lot the Bexley Latino
and Hispanic heritage festival yay join
me there and then finally an hour before
our next city council meeting which is
September 26th from 5 to 6 p.m we are
going to be gathering to brainstorm on
some of our financial needs and wants
and to give our short list of items that
we would like included in this this
year's budget to the mayor so come one
come all September 26 5 PM in this room
thanks thank you at this time we invite
the public to comment on anything that
they would like to
foreign
anything's fair game anything's fair
game all right if not I uh would move
that we move into executive session to
consider the appointment employment
dismissal discipline promotion demotion
or compensation of a public a you took
it away come on
here you go oh God
and I was doing so well a Public
Employee you're official I have a public
employer official or the investigation
of charges or complaints against a
Public Employee official licensee or
regulated individual unless the employee
official licensee or regulated
individual requests a public hearing by
division G1 of section
121.22 of the revised code and to
conference with the public bodies
attorney concerning pending or eminent
Court action by division G3 of section
121.22 of the revised code Court action
is pending pending if a suit has been
convinced Court action is imminent if it
is in the point of happening or
impending can I get a second please
second second by Miss lamkey and I need
a I need a roll call for this Mr McPeak
Miss Robinson yes Mr Marcelino Mr
Markham yes Miss lamke yes and Mr
Klingler yes all right I think at this
time I'm going to ask our audience if
you would excuse us or are we going to
move back you went Outdoors oh
yeah I guess we're leaving I guess we're
gonna leave you stay here
all right
all right going to the lunchroom people
okay at least yeah
[Music]
thank you
me and mcpeek are miked up still
all right are we good to come out of
executive session
yes uh moved to return from executive
session
second all in favor say aye aye all
opposed same sign
take a motion to adjourn
uh seconded by me all in favor say hi hi
good night everybody Board of control I
would like to call the Tuesday September
12th Board Of Control meeting to order
it is 8 26 p.m
um
let's start with our roll call
um
auditor McPeak present
president Markham yes I'm here and Ben
Kessler I'm also here
um tonight we are reviewing
um
and let me just double check our agenda
here to make sure there's not something
I'm forgetting roll call review of
minutes first we're reviewing minutes
from the August 18th 2023 meeting
at that meeting we reviewed
um
the
oh yeah look at that remember North
Columbia Place utility improvements I do
and
I just saw Edge and I got confused
because that's a landscape contractor
we're talking about Edge
uh Edge requirements Danbury was awarded
and that was the single purpose of the
meeting uh motion to prove the minutes
motion to approve the minutes motion
made by Miss president Markham seconded
by Audrey McPhee call in favor uh
conversation
none all in favor say aye aye
opposed same sign motion carries minutes
are approved
um next up we have a review of bids
technically quotes for the Schneider
Park landscape improvements
um
these improvements include uh the error
if you can picture the paved path at
Aster as it heads South
um we had
when we paved that a couple years ago we
removed a lot of landscaping there's
like a tree island that's Barren
um in lots of areas that aren't
landscape we also removed steps that
were
uh crumbling falling apart so this calls
for restoration of new steps new
Landscaping along the path
new landscape in the tree Circle and
then also the installation of the Birch
Walk
the lowest quote was from Ottawa
Landscapes 61 000 River Oak at 68 Peak
was at 72.
um
Ellen Andrews who helped us obtain these
quotes recommends uh
Ottawa Landscapes they have performed
other projects satisfactorily including
the trailhead
for Schneider Park and they're also
currently working in the Arboretum walk
at Commonwealth Park
competitive bid
yeah
um
so there you go any any questions or
discussion on this could you just show
us the what did you just show us sorry I
was scrolling through these um it looks
like the other one the Ottawa quote it's
61. River Oak which is a little bit more
less sorry less detailed in their
itemization
um and
it and then this one from Peak Season
Landscaping okay
do any of these I can't remember the
edge requirement
um is it hit the dollar threshold or it
doesn't okay okay we and our Edge
requirements have been focused on
um so far have been focused on
Street and Sewer okay water
infrastructure projects yeah it's just a
little bit more where you have
subcontractors some of that not
happening as much here
but can I make a motion to accept
the
Ottawa
proposal which I believe is the lowest
and best offer recommended by
Miss Andrews
motion's been made second which was made
a second by Mr Markham any further
discussion
all in favor of accepting Ottawa
Landscapes quote 616 1468 say I I post
same sign
uh motion carries and that bid or quote
is awarded
uh any old business
a new business any comments from
any other council members hanging around
okay Mr Cleaner uh motion New Journey