all right good evening everyone Welcome
to our January 9 2024 city council
meeting I don't know if I'm supposed to
bang this but there you go um I'm
Monique lampy I'm the newly elected
president of city council uh welcome to
everyone we've got a fairly light agenda
tonight but um I'm G to ask our auditor
to please call the
role thank you uh Mr Marcelino present
Mr early pres Miss fible Miss sad here
miss lampy here Mr Markham here and Mr
Sil Berman here thank you uh please join
me for the Pledge of
Allegiance okay folks we are going to
just um hold off for moment on um the
new oath of office for uh Jessica sad
we're awaiting one or two more guests
who are going to help with that o but we
do have a present
oh we're still waiting for for one more
guest um we do have a presentation and
special guests I'm going to turn it over
to our mayor and to also miss
sad Madam President we are honored and
excited to have Representatives from St
Albin here in the mid Ohio food bank um
to talk about the 2023 Turkey Trot and I
believe there's a check being presented
to the food bank so you guys want to
come up to the dis
and do me a favor and just hit the
button on that microphone right there
you got it thanks evening I'm Scott
McKinley this is Marshall Long bring a
check with you uh last year we raised
$10,000 this year we raised $22,000 so
we had a great race we had 525 Racers
thank you for all your support I see
many people here that did support us
real quickly I'd like to read who our
sponsors and stuff were Bexley
Automotive also all the sponsors were
local this year we concentrated on
trying to make this a local event Bexley
Automotive Carol Family Den Dentistry uh
Fox Bagel and Deli Johnson's ice cream
Edward Jones David Baker David Baker
office First Financial Bank Kitty's cake
Beckley Giant Eagle State Farm Teresa
Bush office bew Studio want to thank
Bexley Police Department Lieutenant
overly and Sergeant Fleming uh The Mid
Ohio food Collective volunteer Corps the
Bexley High School Key Club uh beex Leo
photography Bexley magazine the mayor's
office and Natalie with the Bexley black
and of course the generosity of the
Bexley Community thank you very
much wow thank you so much did you want
to say something yeah absolutely so uh
yeah I just want to uh thank everyone
who was involved in uh the Bexley Turkey
Trot um it's been a multi year
partnership that we've had with st
albin's Church uh and it's just
something that at the the food
Collective we can kind of set our watch
to and know that uh there'll be a Turkey
Trot taking place on Thanksgiving
morning and it will be embraced by the
community uh and the money that uh is
raised from that event goes to help feed
hungry neighbors so it's just an amazing
partnership and could not be more
pleased to um have this massive check
with us with me today um so yeah it's
just a a great event and we're very very
gracious for um the amazing partnership
with have with st Alin and we want to
thank this the the uh Collective for we
matched match day December 13th they
have e year so the total check is for
44,000 thank you so
much well you know that we really love
the Turkey Trot it's quickly become a
new Bexley tradition and uh so excited
to help you um help support it Al help
you know get the word out and we are
also sitting our clock to the turkey Tru
in fact I know that you you guys have
participated for many many years yeah we
love our family out the door while the
turkeyy is being cooked and everybody's
out getting some exercise so thank you
well thank you so much um we want to get
a photo y Jess do you want to get up
there
sure
yeah thank
you
[Music]
we have over 600 uh partner agencies in
20 counties in Central and Eastern Ohio
that are getting food from us that could
be um food pantries it could be um
child feeding sites senior feeding sites
all sorts of things so have a lot of
work and have a lot of a lot of ground
that that we cover in the
area thank thank you both so much
$22,000 is amazing would it be okay if I
volunteer our newest council members to
sign up next year uh council member
Hurley council member
Silverman I think there should be a
council race that's right
[Laughter]
Council the auditor challenge accepted
thank you both thank you all so much
much
appreciated all right um with that I do
see that our very special guests have
arrived for the swearing in um the
re-wearing in of council member
sad um I think mayor you have the the
oath and I think we have
um yep
sounds good what's
that I don't I don't think so if you
want to come on up uh we'd love to swear
in Jessica
side you don't have to read off your
phone Sis I got it right here no it's
okay
okay see if I can
follow
I Jessica s i Jessica s do solemnly
swear do solemnly swear that I will
support the Constitution that I will
support the Constitution of the United
States of the United States the
Constitution and laws the Constitution
and laws of the state of Ohio of the
state of Ohio and the charter and
ordinances and the charter and
ordinances of the city of Beck of the
city of Bexley and that I will
faithfully and that I will Faithfully
honestly honestly and impartially
discharge my duties and that I will
Faithfully honestly and
impartially discharge discharge my
duties as a member of as a member of the
city council of Bexley the city of
Bexley City Council of
Bexley according to the best of my
ability according to the best best of my
ability and understanding and
understanding effective January 1st 2024
effective January 1st
2024 hey Natalie would you take
a probably like
that well done
Leila
[Laughter]
Y no problem
well done Leela sad you got a future at
this
H congratulations council member sad on
your
reelection all right moving on to our
next agenda item ordinances with the
public
hearing um does that need to be removed
before you read it or well yes really
doesn't know there's no reason to read
it somebody needs to make a motion to
take ordinance 4023 off the table okay
uh Mr Marcelina would you like to do
that one yes I uh move to take ordinance
4023 off of the table okay motion to
remove by Mr Marcelino is there a second
second second by Mr Hurley um Can this
be a voice word all in favor say I I I
anyone
opposed
okay you read it
now I don't need to read it because it's
been read three times so this is just
the public hearing portion of it so
right Mr Marcelino the floor is yours
yes thank you very much at this point
we'll open it up for a public hearing on
ordinance
40-23 uh to amend chapter 1254
commercial and institutional District
regulations in order to further affirm
the prohibition of uses involving any
adult use cannabis operator adult use
cultivator and adult use dispensary
introduced by uh former councilman Matt
Kingler on November 14
2023 is there anyone in the p in the
public that wishes to offer comment on
this
ordinance okay seeing none yeah seeing
none I think we will close the uh public
hearing portion of uh of this ordinance
itself uh but I would uh open it up to
council for further discussion or a
decision to retable the uh ordinance or
any action that somebody wishes to take
Troy I just uh since it's been a little
while could you remind us the legal
requirements that we have here in terms
of how long do we wait what's the we
required at this point to have another
period of time is that correct no you
you can vote on it as soon tonight right
we've already waited We There was so so
again just to to your question um and as
a reminder because we have another
ordinance for a first reading tonight
that'll go through a similar process
this is an ordinance that's changing our
zoning code so whenever an ordinance
changes the zoning code it has to go
before Bap for their input which has
been happened which has been done um Bap
has to S sit for seven days after bap
bap has reviewed it and given an input
and then a 30-day advance notice is
required which happened before the here
in tonight and the public hearing being
required because it's a change in our
zoning ordinance um the um so at this
point city council has the option of
voting to approve it voting
to reject it to amend it to put it back
on the table um totally up to you it's
already had three readings thank you
good question um any other questions or
comments from
Council Mr Hurley um thank you uh I
guess a question for for Sam Marcelino
or the mayor um what are other
communities doing I'm just curious you
know obviously city of Columbus allows
dispensaries but I'm curious if any
other communities in Franklin County
have passed similar prohibitions or are
considering passing similar prohibitions
since I wasn't involved with the
Inception of this I'll pass it to the
mayor on there um I just had a meeting
last week with our Central H Mayors and
Managers Association and other
communities are currently studying it
and there are some that had prohibitions
on the books related to medical
marijuana that didn't specify medical so
they don't they're not doing anything um
and then there are others that are like
for example Westerville and Dublin asked
me for a copy of this so there are
others that are looking at it right now
but no one else I think has passed
anything all right thank you any other
questions or comments from
Council okay I just Chim me I want so
from a from a legal standpoint I'm not
suggesting that action must be taken
tonight however the soon the better if
city council is in favor of this
prohibition and it could always be
changed later on but if city council is
in favor of this prohibition the sooner
it's on the books the better it's going
to be for any
potential um cannabis operator or
dispensary wanting to come into Beckley
the bottom line is if you we have zoning
restrictions that are on the books
before somebody comes and says I want to
use my property for this purpose whether
it's this issue or anything else it's
much the city's in a much stronger
position than reacting to somebody who
wants to do something and then saying
okay now we're going to change the
law uh Miss
fible I guess I have I have two comments
about this
um one is I feel as
though some of our past
legislation um really
supports this piece I mean I think they
dovetail well with each other um our our
thoughts about um selling cigarettes our
thoughts about selling um Vapes um I
think Dove tells well with that I think
it it speaks to the spirit of what we as
a community or we as a legisl
legislative body have have really
um laid our thoughts down on um
in the past my second thought is
that we pride ourselves in tiptoeing
into things taking things
slowly and wouldn't it be nice to see
what other
communities do with dispensaries in
theirs communities so that we
can have some kind of warning as to how
if we were to allow it how we could make
it that much more safe that's just those
are just my my thoughts and I would I
would ask all of you to to think about
this thank you Mr
Silverman yeah when I was reviewing this
I went back and checked the results from
the November 7th election uh issue two
at the time P 75% in favor of allowing
issue two uh 25% against
um but I do recognize that marijuana
federally is still controlled substance
there's a lot of gray areas legally um
so I would ask that if the time came
that it was federally regulated we would
revisit and look at the zoning to mirror
more of the liquor control substances
that we have um but I support in the
time being for it to be
placed just a comment on that and I
believe and Mark interrupt me if not I
don't think we could um over any type of
federal law that certainly went to
effect at this point by via our own
ordinance um I I don't also know that a
vote for the approval of marijuana in
the state for recreation necessarily
reflects uh our community and the way
that it's set up a lot of communities
around Ohio have a lot more space to
work with which I think was part of the
intent of this ordinance I tend to agree
as well just because I didn't get to
comment in between I appreciate that
approach uh councilwoman FAL in regards
to tiptoeing in or taking a slower
approach and I would caution Council and
and maybe recommend tonight that even
after this discussion we consider
tabling it for one more meeting because
as we've all kind of heard nothing needs
to be done today we can absolutely take
some time with this um we have a bit
before the state necessarily even
completely decides upon it so I don't
think they're bursting at the doors
right now to get into Bexley so if we do
choose I would certainly welcome uh the
the opportunity to tiptoe into it see
what develops over the next couple of uh
months and what not if need be but I
appreciate both of the comments and I
saw Troy handing Troy I was gonna say um
you know I don't have any strong
feelings either way I think on this but
uh I definitely don't have any personal
opposition to uh issue two passage
marijuana use any of that um I have not
been contacted by anybody in the
community about this issue uh and the up
until this point the only uh feedback
information I have had is I did speak
with several of uh Chief Lewis's
officers just casually uh those officers
uh each one of them uh urged me to uh to
keep this Prohibition in place they
would prefer not to to have this uh
sprung upon the city um just based on
that I'd be in support of passing the
prohibition at this time with the option
to revisit it at some point if we feel
like there's a Financial incentive if we
feel like that we feel more comfortable
or we have some uh defined direction
that we would want to
Chase and I will H chime in here as well
um I am prepared to support this
ordinance but I would also um be
respectful of my peers up here
especially our two newest council
members to give them time to maybe
further delve into that so if there was
a uh a sense that maybe we want to table
it I could certainly support that as
well any other comments or questions
from Council
missad um I just wanted to speak to what
Troy said as well I as far as residents
and um having communication I've had a
lot of verbal communication on um with
residents on support and non-support but
I've had no formal um emails you know I
don't believe we've heard from anyone
here other than um maybe Mr Silverman
before he was um inducted as a council
member uh as far as public records so I
think that tabling it tonight would be I
would encourage that as we're just back
in school in session in Beckley schools
today uh January 9th I think a lot of
people are just returning and they may
not be aware that uh we have a council
meeting tonight or that this is even um
being discussed so I think uh table
would give our fellow council members a
little more time with it that are new
and it would also give the community a
little more time to know that this is uh
being discussed
so I'd be in favor of tbling tonight
with that Mr Marcelino do you have a
quick question again procedurally from
Mr fishal give the fact that um this was
treated um as an open meeting do we need
to provide notice for if it's going to
come off the table the next time for
comment okay this meant the legal
obligation otherwise it's just a regular
same as any other piece of legislation I
just want to make sure we follow
procedural there procedure there okay
with that being said I think at this
time um I would move to table ordinance
40-23 for a future discussion motion to
table my Mr Marcelino is there a second
second second by
missad this a voice for this vote yep
that's sufficient okay all in favor say
I I anyone opposed all right thank you
very much back on the table um moving on
to public comments Mr mCP are there any
speaker slips no speaker slips
great that being said uh moving on to my
president's report I had just a couple
of brief comments um I'm honored and
grateful that um um that you elected me
as your president um I extend a hearty
Welcome to our newest council members uh
Mr Hurley and Mr Silverman and I
congratulate council members sod and
Markham and mayor Kesler on their
re-elections um a special thank you to
Troy Markham for being the past
president and for leading us for the
past two years with such Grace a plum
determination and um in a witty sense of
humor I'm not as funny as you are but
I'm going to
try um I respect each of you uh
profusely for your cander and your love
of this community and I'm confident that
we together will be able to see past all
of our differences in search of Common
Ground as we all value this
extraordinary community that is Beckley
in the next two years I know that we are
going to disagree at times and we're
going to agree at other times and both
are okay with me I invite Hardy but
civil discourse as I believe all of that
will benefit
Bexley um a few days ago I had a chance
to uh send all of you your committee
chair assignments uh I'm pleased to
announce the following committee chairs
um finance will be Jessica sad safety
will be Troy Markham zoning and
development will be Sam Marcelino
service and environment will be Alex
Silverman strategic and health will be
Danny Hurley and Recreation and Parks
will be lorrianne fibel yay uh I have
also sent each council member their uh
respective leason assignments we all got
four um when you get a chance please
reach out to your uh leason folks just
so that you can be an extra point of
contact in case they have any questions
or
concerns um that concludes my
president's report um turning it over to
our City attorney so before I update you
on a couple legal issues I too want
since I wasn't able to be here last
Tuesday want to
just express my appreciation to Troy and
just the manner in which you uh served
as president is very admirable and
honorable and certainly very much
appreciated by me and I think more
importantly the community at large so
thank thank
you uh couple things update wise um
legally just to be aware of the excuse
me the state of Ohio the Ohio General
Assembly um has before them a um an
opportunity which I put in quotes to
overturn the governor's veto of the uh
legislation or Banning um
regarding regarding local authority to
ban certain VAP in material
specifically for example the city of
beex if if the legislature over returns
The veto then it's likely that the city
of Bexley ordinance that you passed last
year or two years ago I'm not even sure
now um would be subject to challenge
based on home rule Authority vers as
opposed to well we would argue it's we
have the home Ru authority to do so but
as Oppo more likely the outcome given
the the disposition of the Ohio Supreme
Court these days is that it would be
considered a law of General application
and therefore override any home rule
Authority that Bexley or other cities
have to get rid of that type of vaping
stuff so that's on the horizon don't
know what's going to happen um second
thing is a um representatives of the
city of Athens reached out to the mayor
and Elizabeth Elman and me because they
in 2023 passed a single use um plastic
ban uh similar to what we've done um
might I don't know that it even goes as
far as what we've done but be that as it
may they have been sued by the state of
Ohio um and uh again challenging under
home Ral Authority or lack thereof
whether or not that single-use plastic
prohibition can be enacted and enforced
on the local level um I've actually been
asked by the city of Athens to assist
them in that process so I will
definitely be getting bexley's point of
view which I think is very similar to
Athens I I think the reason they are
being sued and we're not is purely
political from what I can tell even
though it'll affect us and anybody else
has passed it in the last uh the last uh
go round apparently Athens which is
traditionally a very Democratic area got
divided in half the city itself and
there's a State Rep down there who is a
republican who feels like this is
something the state needs to take on and
they have decided to do so so we'll see
what happens it's pending it did the
complaint just got filed a couple weeks
ago it's in the Athens County Court of
Common Pleas I expect it'll go all the
way to the Ohio Supreme Court and we'll
find something out two and a half years
from now that is my report great thank
you so much uh autor M Peak uh just a
brief report um the mayor and I are
working with beeer hail and Carrie
Martin on a uh 3060 90day transition so
um working to help ensure that when she
starts early next week that there a
clear path to train her up and um
support the city of Exley and and
employees here um for many years to come
so if council members or uh any members
of the community have any items of
interest um that that want to make sure
we include into that that training plan
um just reach out to us thank you great
thank you um at this time we're going to
turn it over to administrative updates
um the mayor and I have decided um that
uh maybe at least for a couple meetings
we're going to try something new with
some of our administrative updates mayor
do you want to yeah explain that so um
in in the interest of having quality
undivided time with the directors of the
city for you council members uh we're
going to try staggering directors
between the first and second meetings of
each month so that the first meeting
will be welcoming the chief Mike Price
and Kathy Rose who um was was just
informed of this so was not yet on our
calendar so she will be joining us in
February um and then the second uh
meeting will be
um Finance so beer then Carrie um
development Megan Meyer and gosh I spoke
to soon Andy Bay Shore service um so
that's because I can remember these
things um to try that Cadence so you
have a little bit more of a it's a more
of a monthly update from the director's
opportunity to to to talk to them of
course but also um you know uh respects
our director's time not that it doesn't
respect them to have them twice twice
each month but I feel like it it would
be probably workable and we' get the
same value um if not more out of them um
if we have an instance like let's say
there's a safety emergency uh in the
next council meeting we W to have the
chief here uh all of the directors are
on call to come to Council meetings as
needed but this would just be a a
different Cadence than we've done in the
past sounds good and to to clarify when
we do have um our directors here that's
when they're going to be presenting on
their written report so uh when they're
not here there won't be a written report
so I'm willing to try it for a little
bit um I see we've got our chief and
Mike here yeah we so I asked that we try
for the like through March and see
reassess and if you guys feel like
there's you know a void um then we can
certainly Shuffle back so uh with that
Mike Price you are up thank you mayor uh
before I get into my report I want to
thank Jess for all of her time with the
rec board and the rec department and
it's been a pleasure to work with you
and I appreciate all the support that
you've given to our service and so so
thank you and good luck with the finance
chair and I look forward to getting to
meet lauan FAL and see what she's all
about
um um yeah with that I obviously happy
to answer any questions about uh the
report uh good news it looks like we're
going to have the ice rink up uh and
hopefully be frozen uh next uh next
Tuesday we hope we are hoping to be
skating next Tuesday um fingers crossed
we are going to move the location of the
back Meadow so we'll have a really
really picturesque view of the Mansion
while you're skating it also gives us a
little more flat we think a little more
flat ground um so we might have ice
that's more uniform as opposed to on one
end being about a foot and a half deep
and the other end being about 3 inches
deep we'll have hopefully six to seven
inches which will hopefully allow it to
freeze a little quicker and be a little
more consistent we'll give it a shot um
other than that happy to answer any
questions about the
report so excited about the grant yes so
exciting congratulations and mayor kler
did all the work on that so but yes the
bridge Grant
yeah we got a grant for the bridge did
you say that it's it it's in the report
it's got a $500,000 Grant from odr for
our bridge on top of our 350 350 from
the state capital fun so the bridge to
somewhere is also going somewhere which
is good um we were very hopeful for that
it was sort of in our best case scenario
budget which has been realized so it's
really good that's awesome I think Jess
had a question so Mike kids are back in
school it it was the uh opening of
registration yes today so I just wanted
to check in and um see how we are
looking on weight list as of today with
programming um I don't have the detail
on the wait list as of yet I I do know
from a registration year-over-year
comparison we were very similar in terms
of number of registrations and dollars
at least uh through the end of the day
last year on this day versus at at about
two o'clock this afternoon um so we
we'll keep an eye on that we are
actively keeping a close eye on on our
wait list we have put some things in
place uh internally to try to help uh
address
uh try to limit some of the load on some
of those classes that get into a weight
list a little bit quicker um but uh it
is it's a it's a fine line that we
continue to try to walk to try to
maximize the programs but also get as
many people in um uh and we will
continue to assess weight lists and find
Opportunities to provide more
programming Andor ask our instructors to
take on another class we have a handful
of different approaches in place and we
will work through that in the coming
days that's awesome that's great news um
also just wanted to highlight in your
report the public meetings that are
coming up um if you have anything to add
on that Mike but Common Wealth I know is
is one that is important probably that
we all get there on the 24th of January
at 5:30 and um the public meeting coming
up on the awesome skate park that's
coming our way yeah yeah very excited
about the the uh skat Park public
Workshop we've been working with the
committee uh and we've got an amazing
committee um that knows skating a lot
better than I do frankly and have been
really integral uh in in back and forth
with the hunger skate parks as we've
gone through the design process so we're
we're excited uh we haven't quite gotten
the final uh draft versions that will be
presented to the public on the 18th but
we're excited about what we've we've
seen so far um so the 18th encourage
anyone that you know that's interested
in skating it's a great opportunity to
give feedback on on what our future
skate park might have uh in terms of uh
uh apparatus and and jumps and there's a
whole bunch of terms I'm learning I'll
I'll hips I think hips was a term I
heard and uh ramps and all those sort of
things so encourage people to come to
that because uh frankly the initial
design is is really been heavily weighed
based on the um uh the uh survey that
went out which we got a great number of
responses on survey and they utilized
that information to see what our
community wanted out of the skate park
so that feedback is really really been
important in the process so they come to
that be great um and then on the 24th
the Commonwealth Park discussion I don't
know if mayor if you have that on your
report maybe you want to dive into that
a little bit more um and then we
continue to have our preservation
enhancement committee meetings with a
public workshop on February 8th so we
got a lot of sort of public uh
opportunity or input on what's going on
with parks and uh we look forward to it
awesome Mike I want to thank you and the
mayor I think you spent some time today
with our uh Bexley seniors um I I did
see um that the monthly luncheon with
the Bexley seniors has been moved to
Jeffrey Mansion um thank you for making
that possible and obviously makes them
have to travel a little bit less but I
appreciate you doing that yeah no I
appreciate you bringing that up and
thank you mayor I I also want to thank
the mayor so thank you for bringing that
up for stepping in and playing some
music and giving an update to our our
seniors about the going on of the city
we also did make the announcement about
uh the support from Council for
subsidizing senior programming at the
man at the senior center and so that
that was a really um a fun thing to be
able to announce so thank you to council
for all the support on that as well and
I am I just want to report the seniors
uh connect a little more with the
Beatles than with Coldplay or Adele so
that's what I found through my time at
the piano today yeah
bigpress uh Mr
Silverman do we have tentative locations
for the pedestrian bridge and skate park
along Schneider Park Trail yep and the
pedestrian bridge because it's a walking
trail on one side is it going to support
bicycles or is it going to not allow
bicycles past the walking bridge it will
support bicycles it's going to be a 10
foot wide Bridge so it's gonna be
multi-use path Bridge um it'll be
located essentially like you know the
sled and Hill Schneider just to the
north of that so between kind of like
the furthest North you can sled and
right before the boardwalk starts is
going to be the entrance to the to the
bridge and then it'll tie back over to
the Alm Creek multiuse path on the other
side
kind of in the vicinity of the new
crosswalk on Alum Creek Drive where um
Hanford Village Park is the skate spot
or Park um is slated to be on the path
just north of the curve from the
athletic fields so as you head north
there's um so pretend you're walking
North on the on the park and off to the
side is a small really small older
playground that area almost to the
apartment building is city-owned
property so there's quite a bit of depth
to work with and with um so it's going
to be in that area there's been a lot of
attention making sure that it's not
getting too close to the apartments but
it'll be kind of an a longer elongated
design y any other
questions all right thank you Mike
Chief good evening thank you sir I would
be remissed if I don't first just
acknowledge councilman
marcelino's the the time since uh I've
been here been under his leadership I
think it's um one just me being here and
representing the search um how intrical
he was in that process working with us
um challenging us supporting us so thank
you for the partnership thank you for
bringing issues that oftentimes are
tough to discuss but being able to have
open dialogue and then coming to to
terms with that so I truly appreciate
appreciate it I'm excited to work with
councilman Markham moving forward and
continuing the great work that Simon and
I started and moving moving ahead um
happy to answer any questions comments
on our report one of the Dynamics that
um you know over the past probably six
months we had a lot of feedback from the
community specific to our animal control
space so one of the things that we've
added is getting a report from Amy I
think it's important to highlight a lot
of the great work um and just really the
Dynamics Associated so that's something
that you'll notice we'll be doing for
our monthly reports moving
forward Miss
B inclus of
inform
sta
Statics love the community
that not so
long
officers yes ma'am always thank
you yes ma'am Mr
Silverman I just wanted to highlight one
specific thing with the Animal Control
Officers report I noticed that there was
a story about a senior dog was found
microchipped belonging to a resident of
Columbus the officers
collected additional items to help with
the securing of the collar when they
returned the dog I think it just
highlights the program that we're
running the department and the City of
Bexley for doing that so thank you yes
sir any other questions for the chief or
for lieutenant
kenific no okay put him on the spot guys
come
[Laughter]
on all
right thank you Chief
um couple things to highlight in my
update uh Megan Meyer did start with the
city this week um and or wait last
week I gon say wait a second it's been
uh been this how helpful she's been it
just feels like a breeze um so it's been
great having her on board and she's been
um already digging in on a lot of uh
various development and Communications
and other roles which has been excellent
as Matt mentioned we welcome Carrie
Martin next week uh we'll start cross
training we have done some shuffling if
you walk back to our back offices you'll
see we've done some space shuffling to
accommodate uh the cross trainining time
period and um get us through uh F you
know some more permanent uh changes to
our space here which is great um I
wanted to update you guys this isn't in
my written report but I've had a couple
questions recently about the gas station
at Chelsea and Maine um we had applied
for a cleanup Grant through the state
abandoned gas station cleanup fund we
were notified last month that those
funds have dried up which is quite
unfortunate and so we've reached out to
Central Ohio community Improvement
Corporation it oversees the Ohio
Brownfield revitalization funds to see
if there might be some Brownfield
revitalization funds that we could apply
for so we're continuing to work with the
property owner to try to get that
cleaned up um
I'm also going to be reaching out to the
development State development director
just to see if there's
maybe as maybe things might fall through
with the cleanup funds for the petroleum
stations that there might be something
that we could be on the wait list for or
something like that um so I don't have a
clear timeline on that but I'll know
some more information I would say in the
next month probably about the at least
the Brownfield funds um I have
highlighted in my report the
Commonwealth Park uh workshop and the
skate spot Workshop coming up but we are
going to be um at 5:30 pm. on January
24th welcoming anyone who has an opinion
about the connection of both sides of
Commonwealth Park permanently and the
closure of that block of Columbia um at
the time we will have before and after
traffic studies of how that's impacted
because we've had that block closed now
for about a month or two as we've worked
on the work uh the road works for it and
um have the ability to hear from people
I would really love it if if you uh know
of people who are passionate about our
Parks having a full spectrum of voices
will be important um and just how
important it could be to our community
to have that safer unified connection
between East and West um at Commonwealth
so that is happening our land use
strategy kicked off our 2024 meetings
last night our land strategy commission
has now um subdivided into working
groups to with different study areas
they include Main Street East Main
Street West the North Cassidy Corridor
the Livingston
Corridor um residential districts is
that's new to land use to study that and
then Partnerships so the concept of
Partnerships think you know Capital The
JCC the schools what sort of
Partnerships can we identify and
encourage uh as it pertains to land use
um our next poll commission meeting is
next is in February but there will be
working group meetings kind of
splintered off uh peppered throughout
the spring I would imagine um I think I
can't remember if I announced this at
the last council meeting but we did get
a grant from the Community Foundation
for the mural Festival that I was
speaking about um I did announce that
okay I re announced it just then there
we go um and I think you knew that we
received Soul smart gold designation but
morsy just recently recognized us for
that I also wanted you to know that
Carol Kaufman who is the executive
director of the Ohio environmental
Council some of you may know her from
her work with the esac uh with was
appointed to morsy's board and is there
as a Bexley representative so I have an
article there about that and um to
encourage you for next year uh this is a
photo you'll only see this once these
aren't readily available Mike price is
there in the distance of the
inaugural Polar Plunge at uh at uh the
Commonwealth Pond it was very cold it
was warm that day actually but the
water believe me the water was like in
the 40s laurian is off the frame because
she's swam so
fast um but I can I can vouch she made
it to the island back and now she was
out there quickly warm up so uh I
encourage participation next year it's
really good for your system happy to
answer your
questions any questions from Council for
the mayor
missad just a quick question regarding
the Commonwealth Park meeting do we did
we have letters go out to the residents
that are surrounding the park okay yes
so we mailed uh everyone who lives North
of Broad Street on Parkview Columbia and
Drex will receive the letter great all
the way to DARE right yeah awesome thank
you thanks to Mike for making sure that
happen Mr Hurley uh you mentioned on the
L use strategy update mayor um that
there are going to be various work group
meetings throughout the spring will
those uh meetings be the schedule of
that be made
public
um so the the some of these working
groups are like two people and so I you
know it's like getting coffee and kind
of talking through it and then coming
back and regrouping and and bringing the
whole commission up to date so I think
the working group meetings are um are
probably not going to be like on the
calendar just because of the nature of
the informal nature of them thanks for
that Clarity yep mayor I had a quick
question uh regarding one Bexley and the
uh coordinator we ready to announce who
that is and what maybe the next step
might be yes so um law who helped us uh
last year through um a workshop that we
held um it's been selected as a one vac
coordinator um Steve Shapiro is
partnering with her as sort of a
additional support for some some of the
community leis on work and some of the
workshopping but she's the primary um
LeAndre Baker is the primary on the
contract um she had a kickoff meeting
with the one Bexley group
uh a few week couple weeks ago and um
you'll be hearing more from her and
others the coming weeks great thank you
thank you good call out so much I
appreciate
that moving on to our consent agenda um
attached to our agenda are the meeting
minutes from December 12th
2023 was that was that supposed to be
you I think that's supposed to be you
sorry okay you're good because it's not
an ordinance on the consent agenda I
think there's the meeting minutes from
December 12 2023 I've heard that
someplace uh can I have a motion to
approve the consent agenda
please so moved moved by Miss fible um I
will go ahead and second to that motion
all in favor say I I I anyone
opposed okay um and just FYI we are
still working on our meeting minutes
from our special city council meeting on
December 20th um so we will uh have
those in the future turning it back over
to you Mr City attorney all right well
no third readings we got a second have a
second reading ordinance
46-22 to approve an intergovernmental
agreement between the city of Bexley and
the Bexley public library and to declare
an emergency introduced originally by
Miss
Lamy is that still me I guess kind of
okay um as Council will recall um at our
last meeting meeting we had uh Ben
Hekman from the library explained this
uh ordinance in detail with the mayor's
help um any questions from Council
regarding this proposed
ordinance okay seeing none how would
folks be okay with this going on the
consent agenda at the next
meeting okay all right we'll do
that all right well we are moving right
along to first readings we have a first
reading of ordinance 0 1-24 to amend
chapter 22.01 rule 8 of the codified
ordinances of the city of Bexley
introduced by Miss
lankey um thank you consistent with some
of the uh Council committee um tweaks
that I made um we are uh making a few
adjustments to some of the assigned
responsibilities of uh which committee
handles what mayor if you could please
pull that
up um the changes are not significant
but uh are necessary for the new
adjustments um you'll see the
strikethroughs of um of a few changes uh
there was one change that I think we had
tree commission twice I don't know if we
tweaked that um I think that
was yeah under uh yeah it's under
service and environment and then it's
also under zoning and development um
should probably stay with Serv or does
it matter I mean the tree commission
always loves more attendees
[Laughter]
so yeah that would be typically a
service environment but okay so let's
strike that from zoning and development
if you can just put that on there that
that was I think my only change um we
did tweak it further um we took Health
away from safety and added it to
strategic as reflected
there um any questions from Council on
this one it's just a first
reading no
okay all right we have a first reading
of ordinance
02-2 authorizing the contract between
the city of Bexley and the City of
Columbus Ohio for the provision by the
city of Columbus of fire protection and
Emergency Medical Service for the 5-year
period beginning January 1st 2024 and
ending December 31st 2028 and to declare
an emergency introd by Mr Markham hey my
first safety ordinance and it's a super
expensive one
right this is our five-year agreement uh
what do you want to tell us about this
Mr Mayor so um the the contract with
Columbus fire is a formulated contract
that covers um essentially the the
Staffing of a fire station um plus 12th
of the cost of an engine um so like a
big la truck essentially um that formula
has been in place for many decades um it
means that we are a little bit at well
not a we're totally at the whim of
columbus' bargaining prowess as it
pertains to their unions um but I will
say we've been served very well by the
contract while we pay for that one um
station personnel-wise uh we are covered
by four different um fire battalions I
think is the correct word uh uh on our
borders which is fantastic coverage um
it's why we have such excellent response
rates um so I heavily support uh
continuing further with this contract I
will tell you 12 years ago I did the due
diligence of examining all of the
different models we could alternatively
pursue and I am confident that it would
be much more expensive for us uh to try
to do any alternate situation and that
also we would have a a lower level of
service and so I think we benefit
greatly from this Arrangement I've had
other cities contact us about it um
Columbus essentially has agreements like
this um but another analog is
Worthington has is is service by
Columbus Public Health uh we can't get
in on that because they don't do that
anymore they're like okay we did that
once this is another example of a
pre-existing agreement they continue to
honor but they would probably not expand
to other municipalities so we are in a
good position
right any again just so and I think
actually Mr mCP had asked the question
at pre-council but so everyone knows
what we're talking about is we pay for
15 firefighters I just looked at the
contract two lieutenants and one Captain
so um that that's the number that's what
they've decided again it doesn't mean
they all have come from the same
specific fire house they you know
service us from different places that is
what it takes to staff a fire right and
we will uh reexamine those costs again
when they come out with the new solar
powered electric fire trucks I
know sounds good we haven't asked them
for that a base of that yet Mr Marcelino
has just a quick question about the 20th
of truck just more so because I'm
interested here so are we paying for
20th of a new truck every year we paying
for 20th of the service how frequent
does that overturn if you if you know
every year we pay for 12 12th of the
current cost for them to purchase a fire
trk okay cool yeah
and as as they report to us and they do
give us a breakdown in their invoice
that shows that and there's no timetable
on this Beyond regular three ratings or
I think yes um we have it as an
emergency just because it is you know we
received an email this week or last I
think about the need to reup the
agreement effective January 1 there's no
suggestion that they're going to stop
serving us but I think we would like to
get it passed okay um I don't think
there's a need to suspend and adopt but
if I find differently I'll let you know
and and I just so I don't forget I just
sent you an email which I assume Natalie
will address that the agreement's fine
we just need to put into the agreement
there's a space forward ordinance 0224
they want the number of ordinance and
then it could be signed as soon as
Council passes it sounds good I I did
have a question for the chief or the
mayor since since the chief is here have
we generally been satisfied with the
level of service from fire protection
and
EMS absolutely they do a fantastic job
with the response um you know they
support a lot of our community events as
well and so we interact with them very
heavily make sure and get out and visit
the four adjacent firehouses just to
keep that line of communication and
partnership going and we have a number
of Columbus firefighters who live in our
community as well so there is another
vested interest and I totally agree I
think we've I've been always very
impressed by the
professionalism um the expertise the
competency of the the of all of the
employees I dealt with at cfd I think I
think very highly of of what they do
they are a leading organization in the
country and I think it shows and the
service they provide sounds good
anything else Mr Markham
nope okay then may I moving on to First
reading of ordinance 03- 24 to
appropriate
$227 38 from the law enforcement trust
fund fund 18 introduced by Miss sad yes
um so this ordinance
3-24 as uh Mr official had said it's our
law enforcement trust fund it allows for
special Revenue um that is re that uh
comes from cash or proceeds from sale of
vehicles and other property seized and
disposed of in certain criminal matters
um is where that cash comes from so the
$227
38 is um is what we're talking about
today and obviously there's been some
things that have happened to allow for
us to have that and um the chief will
recommend where we spend that money so
I'm gonna send this over to the Chief
and let you speak to this further yes
ma'am thank you so the in addition to
that background ultimately what's
happened is a lot of the the best
practices that we've introduced with
evidence auditing um we had found a
number of traffic stops over the years
cases that had been adjudicated and we
were still holding on to the currency we
then petition the court when those cases
have been closed and the court has
released 75% to the agency and 25%
that's kept by the court this um process
is defined under the high revised code
that you establish a law enforcement
trust fund that proceed of the um this
particular case of that traffic stop was
then deposited into that fund we then
come to council and petition how we can
then have those monies transferred to
our line and then use for onetime use in
this particular case um some may or may
not know um although it's not a
conversation piece you hear as much but
active shooter is still something that
needs to be at the Forefront of how we
plan how we um really provide a level
support um our department currently does
not have have AR weapons and that is
really a critical component in helping
us in being able to provide a level
support and having that so what we are
looking to do is use these Monies to
purchase AR weapons for our officers and
then begin the training process so that
it would be a one-time use and spin and
that would go to provide that for each
officer Mr Silverman is this uh law
enforcement trust fund a yearly
allotment that you would collect it is
not so this is um and that's why it's a
one-time occurrence um it really is
contingent on you know this case was
five or six years ago so there's never
any true number that um some years you
may have 5,000 um you may have none
others it really is contingent upon um
what's happening day-to-day so you can
you can access it more than once in a
year if you have enough cases to
supplement only um a lot of it is based
upon the court and what they're
releasing so for example just this week
we had a situation where we worked with
beer we had an individual who's
incarcerated it's doing seven years and
the court said we had to release some
monies back to the individual at court
um in the the prison so we are having to
release those monies back there's never
a guarantee that when we seize monies
from um raids from traffic stops drug
seizures Etc that that currency
necessarily will come back to us um in
this particular case in looking at that
particular Stop Those monies are there
so it's a great way for us to use that
and not tap into our operating number to
be able to make this purchase for
equipment thank
you anything further Miss
sad moving on all right we have a first
reading of ordinance
0424 to amend sections 1226 12
12361 12 54.0 3
12409 12541 and
12543 of the cified ordinances of the
city of Bexley Planning and Zoning code
to repeal sections 12 54.0 5
125412 of the city's codified ordinances
and enact new sections 124.0 5 and
125412 and to amend the zoning
classification and official zoning map
for all property located in the
commercial Service District district and
certain property in the low density
multifam residential district to mixed
use commercial and Livingston Avenue
District overlay introduced by Mr
Marcelino and I'm going to pass it right
on over to Mayor castler to discuss and
give us the bird's eye view on say the
title again please can you read that
again Mark yes I will read it I will I
will only read the vows this time
um okay so as as as as is uh in ated by
the title it's a this is a fairly
lengthy ordinance and it achieves
several different objectives but I'll
start at the beginning um this ordinance
first began being drafted after the
passage of the joint Livingston Avenue
plan um The Joint Livingston Avenue plan
has some specific streetscape elements
and calls for more of a um form-based
code that's akin to what we have on Main
Street they mixed use commercial and a
North Cassidy Avenue and so that that
process um led to recommendations that
we um upgrade or reform or modernize our
zoning which was was begun um and then
as you know there was a legal challenge
to a zoning decision on Livingston
Avenue um which led to a multitude of
appeals and I think that during that
time we put we put the Livingston Avenue
overlay on hold just to determine what
was happening with that case and
anything we would learn from that and
interestingly the case itself in the
latest decision the judge alluded to a
recommendation um when it came to
conditional uses that the city
legislatively make some changes uh to
achieve what um was um from our
perspective clearly laid out in our code
uh to begin with so um this ordinance is
not really about the case but it it is
responsive to the case in terms of what
did the case have in it um that needs to
be incorporated into a zoning code and
I'll give you a really clear example of
that um the Alexander is a condominium
complex in the mixed use commercial
District in Bexley um that was developed
in the early 2000s and it's an it's an
example of what would need to be a
conditional use uh if it were to be
proposed today um under the decision of
the Court the Alexander would not have
been able to lawfully been constructed
um and so we need to make sure that we
are continuing to provide for um the
ability to have resident development
inex Ley um and so this ordinance both
codifies joint living Avenue plan
standards and um expounds upon them and
also uh attempts to um take what was
recommended by the court in that case um
and incorporate into our zoning code
um that is the
Layman's explanation of what's going on
here and I want to say there are also a
couple other some small sort of changes
like you might noce that
um it was there's Granite curbing
referred to in the Main Street overlay
it's it's an as each Limestone that we
uh specify and so we've had a couple
Sona decisions recently where we've had
to go against our code um it was you
know unclear why we put granite in the
code before probably it was a copy paste
uh from another code um so there's some
some smaller things like that um the map
is also attached to your
uh to your agenda and it and it shows
where that mixed use commercial District
would reside on
Livingston and what this is doing is
changing commercial service to mixed use
commercial and it's also
rezoning um the Ferndale Mayfield area
into mixed use commercial um so today
the Ferndale Mayfield area is zoned in a
residential district uh this would bring
it into that into that District which
would allow more of a coherent and
cohesive approach um to Redevelopment at
fero Mayfield as that goes forward with
uh what's occurring on the Livingston
Avenue um from a from a practical
perspective what does mixed use
commercial do um it essentially
encourages properties that are built
closer to the Frontage that are more
pedestrian friendly that um interact
more with the street it encourages as
you would as the name suggests a mixture
of uses um it doesn't dis allow solo
uses but it encourages mixed uses um and
it encourages parking in the rear it
encourages different types of site
circulation so those are all things that
are incorporated into the code that you
see there um as you know with any zoning
code change uh our our ordinances
require at least 30 days out that a
public hearing be scheduled similar to
what we just had for the marijuana
ordinance um and so we would ask that
February 13th council meeting be also
set as a public hearing date um we will
have zoning Council there for that at
least and we could also have zoning
council at a at an upcoming meeting if
you'd like to to do a deeper dive of the
ordinance answer questions as you have a
chance to digest it and and have them at
hand and I'm happy to answer any
questions Mr Markham yeah just to
clarify just want make sure I I am
looking at what I think I'm looking at
that is um The Border there is Francis
right is that Francis correct okay okay
so beyond Francis to the east does not
affected by it today the commercial
service starts at Francis and goes west
okay to the creek but it terminates on
the Northern boundary of the parcels
that front onto Livingston Avenue and
then since your cursor is there like
what is that area that we're looking at
on that border as well can you yeah so
that's that's the that is Ferndale and
Mayfield those are the I've just
highlighted the doubles on Ferndale
Mayfield and and then the two
three-story buildings would be
incorporated into mixed use
commercial currently they're are low
density residential zoning District okay
interestingly for example that apartment
complex is not it is a um it would no
longer be a lawful use within the
district that it's
in I think it's
R12 any other questions from
Council missad I think it would be great
to have zoning come in and talk through
this ordinance I know some of us have
had maybe more experience with zoning
and and an ordinance like this and then
uh but I think it would definitely be
valuable to all council members to
receive that council member Marcelina if
you agree to that thank you very much
and so I I'll ask you afterward but is
Cathy scheduled the next speak M please
I think I think he is will do you got it
thank you yeah uh will will Kathy Rose
be here at the next meeting or is that
going to jump on forward because I Kathy
will be here on the 13th okay Katherine
Cunningham is who I would have have
questions yeah okay can she do you think
we can get her then at the next meeting
so okay yeah just so we have one in
between in a little bit of time to think
y thank you and I'll also see if Jason
syi can come because he co-authored it
with her so it would be helpful to have
him as
well Mr Markham and then uh you probably
already said this I I just want to kind
of again go back and cement this in my
brain what what is the what is the order
that this would go in we would have that
public hearing before Council would vote
on it Council would vote on it does this
then go to Bap so before the public
hearing Bap will have uh heard the or
looked at the ordinance and provided a
recommendation to they'll give a
recommendation that comes back before
for the public hearing yes so we're
going to be taking this to beap on the
25th I think is their meeting okay
um should be 25th okay what over that
Thursday so Bap recommendation public
hearing Council vote that's the order
that that goes in okay thank you kind of
procedurally same like you said as the
marijuana one that we yep where we got
Bap input correct yeah
be at around midnight one a meeting
discuss the marijuana ordinance good
this did you have your hand
up
of what we believed that
our H said when State said yeah we're
not
so am I correct that is that is correct
so yeah if you go to page six it's the I
mean there are several areas where this
is addressed
but I think it's fair to say that a lot
of the gut of this is within the the
uses table so page six um dwell dwelling
units on all or any P portion of the
first floor including multif family
dwellings um so it makes it clear that
that is still a conditional use so this
doesn't provide any broader rights than
we had before we previously had a
conditional use for this but the Court's
interpretation is that
because there again I'm I'm going to do
my best to represent what I believe that
to have said but the r six and R12
permitted uses above um there's some
language that said if something is not
specifically stated in the zoning then
it's prohibited and the fact that R six
and are long story is that they had kind
of in in my again my opinion it was sort
of a convoluted approach to say that
because it the district was called mixed
use
commercial and we didn't specifically
say that you could have a use that
didn't have some commercial therefore uh
this was not an allowed use and clearly
that was not our intent the Alexander is
another example of that I will point to
again where uh we have a lawful use that
was under the same permission as the
previous code so it has happened before
in Bexley and not been challenged and
not been an issue um never did we
anticipate that that
somehow that sort of logic would be
applied to our code so we tried to
really make it very clear again this is
our understanding of what our code meant
in the first place we are re we are
reaffirming that this is really in many
this section here is a reaffirmation
it's not a broadening or expanding of
Rights it doesn't provide New Uses in
fact it actually claws back some uses
because in in looking at it um you'll
see on the right hand
side that's open space District
previously open space District could
have as a conditional use some Dwelling
units and we looked through that open
space is our parks and and our schools
and there's not an example of where you
would want to have dwellings on on those
so it's actually a slightly more
restrictive code than it was before but
overall trying to restate what we
believed that code to be um and Council
reaffirmed it to be when um that appeal
came before Council I'm grateful for
that so thank you so much good question
can I just ch and again the mayor may
have mentioned some of this but let's
let's make something very
clear as the mayor indicated the the
court did say Hey you could fix this in
your own code not in so many words but
close to that but in addition to that
and again this is a little bit outside
my bailey Wick as the lawyer so chime in
if I'm misstating things the other part
of this is that given the Livingston
Avenue plan going forward that this
conditional ability to have this type of
conditional mixed use is consistent with
the overall Livingston Avenue plan and I
mean frankly you know I sit here
thinking about some of the pictures we
saw which I know are you know not
necessarily the way it's going to look
but how how how how much that would mesh
with it so again I want to I want to
make it clear that it's not just being
done because a court said we can do it
to fix this one issue it's a much bigger
issue than dealing with Livingston
Avenue development and if I'm wrong if
that's incorrect that's correct I think
I just want to make sure that that was
clear and stated that way the
initial impetus behind this ordinance
was codifying the Livingston Avenue
plan zoning code modernization I also
want to point out that if Council were
to approve this as written today it does
not approve the case that we were
referring to they would still have to
come back for zoning it's not like that
somehow clears the way for the project
without it needing to come back uh for
zoning or any project like it or any
other mixed use development that may be
proposed for Livingston Avenue it still
has the same zoning process
requirement Mr Hurley um thank you uh
mayor on the next page if someone wants
to scroll down to page seven there's a a
table of conditional uses um I'm
assuming that these are limited to the
living Livingston Avenue District or lay
correct so and they are all existing
businesses in that well they're these
are existing conditional uses within the
Livingston Avenue within the commercial
Service District okay and so the
Livingston overlay is providing for some
conditional uses that are different from
standard mixed use commercial so today
on Main Street Automotive Repair is not
an allowed use at all this would provide
conditional use approval for that and
the other uses that are deline ated here
in the chart um you know another obvious
example is driveth through Food Service
which is not permitted anywhere else in
beex except for Livingston by Charter um
and has its own sort of separate
standards um and we also anticipate that
we'll have some
similar further evolution of our mixed
use code when we've gone through our
design guidelines process which we've
talked about so Main Street design
guidelines is due for updating and we
hope to expand it Beyond just Main
Street and have specific design
guidelines for Cassidy Livingston so
what I'm talking about right now is not
in this ordinance but it's future in the
future um we anticipate that those
design guidelines will evolve to be to
be more nativist to the different
districts that they're uh overlaying
that makes sense um another question on
page 11 is the uh uh the breakdown for
um parking uh or the ratios for for how
many spots you have to have is that
pretty consistent with other mixed use
yes this um this is the same as is list
did for uh Main Street mixed
commercial and then last question if I
may um it just curious you know have you
had any conversations or or what does
the city of Columbus have planned for
their side of Livingston they recently
um they recently rezoned their side of
Livingston it was within the past five
or 10 years I don't know that they're
currently working on any further changes
it's a um I'm I believe it's
neighborhood commercial but please don't
quote me that I know that it's a sort of
a hybrid um between their old sort of
Highway oriented commercial and their
most Urban commercial um it does
emphasize rear parking it emphasizes um
buildings to the frontage it's not quite
as urbanist as our mixed use commercial
District um in part because it does
still have some heavy um accommodation
for drive through Food Service some of
those uses that are a little less
friendly to the urban
condition thank you
all right seeing no other questions uh
we're moving
on I think that's it isn't it is there
another yeah table ordinances I don't
know if there's any action but I've read
everything to be
read I don't think that there's any
action on table ordinances moving on
then to uh committee reports uh Mr
Markham for
safety president Lamy did not give me
any time to rest uh last night Monday
night the Historical Society met and I
was there and then I had to speed not
speed ZIP down
Drexel
drive carefully make my way down Drexel
to the land use
strategy uh just a half hour later but
the Historical Society I am pleased to
tell you you uh was praising city
council last night for the budget
allocation that we included for the
renovation of the cottage and so they
are speaking of of that and plans to get
that going um they will have it probably
close down for a little period of time
while they do that I think there's some
thought that they may do some sort of a
Refresh on it and I think that would be
sort of uh interesting as well but they
did ask me to convey their thanks to all
of you for that
and uh we can look forward to uh to that
asset being um made a little bit better
for the public and for all of us they
also uh talked about the 100-year signs
that the houses are in Bexley are now
getting when your house reaches 100
years uh you you can apply you can get a
sign to come out to commemorate that
it's very popular um they gave me
numbers and I wrote them down on my
notebook and I didn't bring my notebook
tonight but I believe uh somewhere
around 260 signs came in for maybe this
year last year what they're anticipating
in a year or two um um time span they're
also speaking about having some sort of
event for people who get the signs that
year to maybe come together and uh you
know share things about their house or
whatever they're also having their
strategic ret Retreat on January
27th that is a Saturday morning at 10:00
a.m. it is held in Sheila str's office
here in Bexley on Main Street and I
would assume it's catered by some prime
rib and shrimp cocktail or whatever
that's just how I picture it maybe
not are you
cooking I try and give my input you know
now that I'm the is on uh and then also
the land Str you land use strategy um
always uh I think really a fantastic
group of people and the mayor I think
cover that pretty well thank you great
thank you uh strategic and Health Mr
Hurley I have nothing to update Council
on tonight okay uh one of the things
that Mr Hurley will be handling as
strategic and health committee will be
uh preparing council's Winter retreat um
start thinking now about potential
topics um that you're interested in
we've got some time to further think
about that but if you have some good
ideas feel free to send them Mr hurly's
way and prime rib shum
cocktail it works for a lot of
things uh zoning and development Mr
Marcelino yeah uh yesterday I attended
the cic meeting uh councilman Hurley was
there as well uh as was auditor mCP as
was the mayor just to make sure we're
taking an adequate roll call there um we
discussed 420 North Cassidy um
potentially paying some of that down a
bit um talked about how much money we
have and what we want want to locate
there so they're doing a great job n
green leads a great uh meeting there um
we also discussed uh some of the uh
Continental uh development next door
there and what that would look like
coming through our parking lot uh those
costs there will be future meetings to
discuss that specifically is there are
anticipated shared costs that uh we need
to really work through um that I don't
think are currently outlined uh in The
Proposal so uh that uh group has asked
for additional information additional
meetings and they are uh doing an
excellent job for our community so it
was very enlightening for me my first
one I look forward to many more outside
of that uh I did want to note that
everybody uh that has been on Council um
and it will soon be your uh favorite
thing too to Alex and Danny but office
hours making a comeback um I will be
sending out a spreadsheet if you so
choose H you are free to do office hours
if you do not wish to because you don't
care about the community and don't want
to meet with them that is your choice as
well but outside of that we're going to
reach start those here shortly uh and
the mayor will be putting those out uh
and and as will Natalie throughout the
blast each week thank you all and
welcome back all right uh service and
environment Mr
Silverman I just wanted to make note of
uh the queen of me queen of green I
almost messed it up the queen of green
um send out our condolences to Elizabeth
Elman uh she had a loss in the family
and uh I look forward to working with
her and others in service and
environment thank you right thank you uh
parks and wreck Miss f um I am so
excited to be part of parks and wreck
and we have our very first meeting
tomorrow night and um I will probably be
taking popsicles there because that
seems like a wreck thing to do not
shrimp but maybe maybe I don't know it's
the senior center so maybe um I'm also
am going to be in charge of uh be Bexley
Activities Committee and um St Charles
and and park planning groups so looking
forward to all of that so just as an
FYI wonderful thank you uh missad
Finance yes uh well it's that time of
year that we pull out our calendars and
we start calendaring for 2024 so I have
to remind everyone that April 6th is the
Bexley education foundation's biggest
fundraiser of the year it will be held
this year at our very own Jeffrey
Mansion so kudos to all of us for
getting um that extra space allocated
they've never been able to do it there
because we didn't have enough space so
um this year we will they're taking
advantage of that which might have been
recommended from some of us to use that
space and I'm so glad they are I think
it's going to be great to have more
community members young families that
get in that space and understand how
what we've done and how to better
utilize it for all of their family and
business events so I'm excited about
that so April 6th um Saturday April 6th
mark your calendars and I will be
sharing more about that event but we had
a great turnout last year we had so much
fun so it's so nice to have um those who
can um there to attend and represent for
um the community because it's a big
fundraiser for the Education Foundation
uh that is it for me end of report
sounds good
um all right we're to the point public
comments the public is welcome to make
comments come on
up
constant Lewis 663 you CLA welcome back
everyone happy New Year happy
2024
um I noticed on one of our walks that
Schnider park has a uh fire pit and I
just wanted to know is it okay for us to
take those logs that you like they're
wrapped in paper and light those up and
sit over there and enjoy the new fire
pit at Schneider Park
yeah I answer that question um almost
there so there's a liner for those old
barn stones that form that that pit
that's still to be installed that's GNA
protect them a little bit from the fire
so you are so close do you have a date
for
that I don't but I will soon because we
have a followup meeting next Tuesday so
so sometime after Tuesday of next week
we can go over there I will no no I I
will know I will have a date for it it's
I mean the contractor's been Johnny on
the spot so I would assume it's soon but
I don't have a date yet I don't know
when it's gonna be installed and for all
I know it actually has been I checked it
out last week and it hadn't been yet so
um when we were there there were there
were no chairs around right but as I
understand there are chairs there now
because we saw the chairs up at
Commonwealth around a fire pit which was
lovely and I just spoke to Mr Price this
evening is that still there can we go
and have a fire up at Commonwealth and
he tells me that no that was just for
you all jumping into the pool so yeah
and it was so lovely that actually I
think we are going to add like a little
seating Circle near there with a maybe a
big solo stove or something so we are
the Commonwealth at Commonwealth as well
with more chairs more chairs okay thank
you so those are our first batch of ader
onic chairs it's part of year the park
Furnishings budget and I encourage you
guys to check them out let me know what
you think they are bright orange on
purpose they all going to be orange they
um are not necessarily all going to be
orange um they are vibrant they stand
out if they get thrown in the creek
they're very easy to to recapture I can
tell you Mike Price and I have already
pulled one back out of the creek so it
can happen and uh they're heavy duty so
take a look at them and let me know what
you think was
that thank you right thank you Miss
Lewis uh mayor you had one quick item
before weour I did um I'm so sorry come
on up I'm so sorry I did not see that
secondhand Don Lewis 63 you Clair to
questions U Mr Mayor regarding the gas
station not having funding for it should
we not get any funding of any cost or
any help with the cost should I say uh
any idea what the cost of fiction would
be for the city to do
that um so for the city to do it we've
never en we have never ENC environmental
cleanup costs on property we don't own
so I don't think that we would have the
resources to do that um but the costs to
clean up generically speaking are
probably based upon similar projects
that we've helped um with grant funding
probably in the range of 300 to
$500,000 quite a bit um there is an
environmental impact fee currently
assessed against that property
so that would be a different discussion
if there's no funding available um I
don't think we're there yet though I
feel some optimism thank you second
question um we talked about U the Sho in
the park becoming on the way so to speak
and Ben Heckman was here as it was
mentioned has there ever been a
representative from the sh to come and
speak here or to come speak to council
or otherwise um I don't believe to
council we've been heavily involved in
trat and they're part of the agreement
um there's an easement that's part of it
with the library so I don't think they
have come to speak but their board voted
to approve it just general conversation
but thank you y thank you thank you um
very quickly um I wanted to just call
out that while Bravo is in April the
second coolest event is the state of the
community address of course which is
March 7th so mark your calendars if you
haven't already and I another thing that
we've done this year that's kind of fun
is we have
a what's that March 7th should be a
Thursday yeah around there yeah and St
Charles will be hosting and their new
Convocation Center so we're very excited
to be there Community um we have a new
innovation we have a gigantic dry erase
wall calendar for the year um that was
in the hallway here at City Hall now
it's in Megan Myers's office so if you
want to look at all the different public
workshops smoke and fire festivals
community events as they are currently
being planned and kind of look at what
it looks like it's a fun F visual so
take a look at take a look at that helps
kind of clarify where things stand
awesome thank you thank you madam
president um I do note that our next
city council meeting is January
23rd anything further for
Council okay otherwise I move to adjourn
can I get a second
please second by Mr Silverman all in
favor say I I anyone opposed right we
are adjourned yay a little
bit
is that
you uh you're