[0:00] All right, we'll go ahead and call the roll of the council to meet for the

[0:02] first but I'll lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

[0:05] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States [clears throat] of

[0:10] America, [groaning] and to the republic for which it stands,

[0:14] one [clears throat] nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice

[0:20] for all. >> [clears throat]

[0:24] [laughter]

[0:33] » Did anybody in the audience have any questions pertaining to tonight's

[0:36] agenda? All right, moving on to minutes from the

[0:40] previous meeting. >> I'll make a motion to adopt the minutes

[0:43] from May 18th as presented. >> [clears throat]

[0:46] » Second. >> Motion and second to adopt the minutes

[0:49] from May 18th. All in favor? >> I.

[0:52] » All opposed? Hearing none, that motion is passed.

[0:57] Looking at proposed ordinances and resolutions. This one is the

[1:02] proposed ordinance 18-19, Shop with a First Responder fund,

[1:07] first reading. >> Yeah, so this is an explanation. I did

[1:11] not know I needed to do this until Thursday.

[1:14] » Sorry. >> brought me money.

[1:17] And he says that the police and the fire departments are now joining together to

[1:21] do Shop with the Cops. So, I changed the name. If you don't like the name, just

[1:27] let me know. >> you know, what maybe there is a name

[1:30] » I'm not sure if you guys know. >> Yeah.

[1:31] » Badges and Boots or something like that. Something like that.

[1:34] » Yes. >> Um

[1:35] » Is it Badges and Boots? >> I think so, but I think that came up

[1:39] with a couple of them, but that was the one he came to me.

[1:42] » [laughter] >> I actually don't remember seeing

[1:45] anything. >> I'm going to leave it the way it is for

[1:47] me, and then you can advertise however >> Yeah.

[1:52] » Because the title here is very plain to understand.

[1:57] » I think it's Rachel made one, so >> Okay.

[2:00] » We got to amend it at the next meeting, too.

[2:03] » Yeah. >> I'm going to bring that in until they

[2:04] get an answer on that matter this afternoon.

[2:07] » Yeah, so I'm requesting that you approve it all three readings tonight if

[2:12] possible because I have money I need to deposit for this.

[2:19] » I make a motion I accept. Propose ordinance 18-19 shuttle the

[2:24] first responder fund on the first reading.

[2:26] » Second. >> Motion and a second to adopt

[2:29] proposed ordinance 18-19 as presented. All in favor?

[2:34] » Aye. >> All opposed?

[2:36] Hearing none, that motion will pass. >> I'll make a motion we adopt ordinance

[2:40] 18-19 establishing [clears throat] a

[2:43] shuttle with a first responder fund as presented.

[2:48] » Second. >> Motion and a second to adopt proposed

[2:51] ordinance 18-19 on the second reading. All in favor?

[2:55] » Aye. >> All opposed?

[2:57] Hearing none, that motion will pass. >> This is done.

[3:02] » Suspend the >> [clears throat]

[3:02] » I make a motion we suspend the rules. >> Second.

[3:06] » Motion to suspend the rules. All in favor?

[3:09] » Aye. >> All opposed?

[3:11] Hearing none, that motion will pass.

[3:15] » I'll make a motion we adopt ordinance 18-19 on third and final reading as

[3:18] presented. >> Second.

[3:22] » Motion and a second to adopt proposed ordinance 18-19 on third and final

[3:26] reading. All in favor? >> Aye.

[3:27] » All opposed? Hearing none, that motion will pass.

[3:30] » Thank you.

[3:34] » All right, getting into the department reports, we will start off with Ron.

[3:38] » [clears throat] >> I have nothing for the city council.

[3:40] » All right.

[3:43] Corey. >> I have nothing for the city council.

[3:48] » Stewart. >> I have nothing for the city council.

[3:54] » Bradford. for council.

[3:58] Andy? Uh I have nothing for

[4:01] council.

[4:04] Yeah. >> Nothing for council.

[4:06] » Go ahead, Cindy.

[4:09] Yeah. >> Yeah.

[4:11] » Uh hey, [clears throat] I'm just catching up with everything.

[4:16] » Don, you have anything for the council?

[4:20] Andy's going to break the streak. >> I am and I'm sorry, but they're short.

[4:24] Okay, I have received our first arbitrage report back on the 2021 sewage

[4:30] bonds. We do owe money to the IRS. I have

[4:35] already paid it. Um [clears throat] so, we actually

[4:39] earned $61,000 in the revenue we received on these

[4:45] bonds because it took us a while to spend the money as the project

[4:51] So, the arbitrage report shows that we do need to pay some of that money to the

[4:56] IRS to the tune of $1,739.

[5:01] So, I just wanted everybody to know this is the first one. I should be getting a

[5:06] couple more. Hopefully, we don't owe on any of the

[5:09] others. And we did receive a supplemental local

[5:14] income tax distribution. It was deposited into our account today.

[5:20] And it was just a little short of 33,000 for the year. Now, just as a reminder,

[5:29] this revenue stream will be going away once the legislature decides

[5:36] what they're going to do. I think the last

[5:40] year for it is 28 now. So, this is going to go away and be replaced by something

[5:47] else, that I have no way of knowing if we would receive supplemental income

[5:52] from it. So, any questions?

[6:00] Okay, and did anybody notice that the print's larger?

[6:06] » There was something different about it. I didn't know.

[6:09] » I noticed it right away.

[6:12] » I did some training a couple of weeks ago and they recommend that any

[6:17] documents you're going to share should be at the size 14 font. So, I am

[6:24] starting to do that. It just shows that our eyes are getting

[6:29] older. >> You can say that to us old people.

[6:31] » All right, yes. So, if you have any questions, let me

[6:34] know. >> Thank you.

[6:37] » [clears throat]

[6:41] » Tracy, you have anything for the council?

[6:43] » I am Oh, I already told Angela and Christie. I may or may not be here on

[6:48] July 6th. >> July 6th?

[6:49] » Yeah, we're going to Washington D.C. for that weekend.

[6:59] » Okay. Jerry?

[7:01] » I was just going to ask a question on any updates with regarding

[7:05] that grocery store, hospitals, and also as the 5th of July comes up,

[7:10] » [clears throat] >> you know,

[7:12] I know we've talked about it, but I didn't think it would be this close.

[7:17] Just asking a question. >> Okay. For for the grocery store,

[7:21] » [clears throat] >> I think the last 4th I meet with a

[7:25] company or a group that's very interested

[7:28] and they're still going through the process. It's It's a very difficult

[7:32] process when you deal with um foreclosure and and

[7:38] you can either wait for the foreclosure to happen

[7:42] 6 to 9 months down the road. Or they have an option of

[7:48] buying the note as is and assuming and assuming all that.

[7:52] But right now they don't know what all that is. They don't know what vendors

[7:55] they owe for food, uh sacks, pop, all that. All they know

[7:59] right now is they owe the bank this amount of money,

[8:03] they're back on their monthly payments. They tried to dissect where each

[8:09] vendor how much they owe through the process.

[8:12] Um but they don't know their individual reach out.

[8:16] Thursday last week, they're interested as well, but with what we have going

[8:20] with this existing group, they said they're going to take a

[8:24] backstage to it, let this process through.

[8:27] Um if it doesn't develop, they're still

[8:30] interested in it. So, that's where we're at in regards to your

[8:33] other [clears throat] question. >> Um regarding the park design event, I

[8:37] thought we had something as as >> Do you Do you plan on doing it on the

[8:40] 27th? >> Yeah, I couldn't remember the I couldn't

[8:41] remember the date. >> Um

[8:44] Did you have I'll talk to you a little bit after afterwards on that. I got some

[8:47] information to add to that press release, but still doing June 27th at

[8:51] the Marshall building. It's going to be a fundraiser for the

[8:54] Historical Society. Um we have a band coming in from Detroit,

[8:59] Kate Hinote Kate Hinote Trio.

[9:02] Uh we're going to have a silent auction. We're going to do like a um

[9:06] like a Taste of Auburn. You go around different stations. We've got

[9:09] restaurants and they're going to have like one dish that they're going to

[9:12] have for everybody. So, it'll be like seven or eight different stations like

[9:16] that. Uh we'll have a cash bar from Door 13

[9:20] over in Auburn.

[9:24] Right now we're seeking small sponsorship. We did get a $5,000 grant

[9:28] from the Elk County Visitors Bureau. So, that's going to help go a long way

[9:33] as far as doing marketing. Tickets are printed right now. You can

[9:38] buy them in person. I'll have some of those tickets tomorrow night.

[9:43] The Olive Twist and all of them are selling them right now.

[9:48] » [cough and clears throat] >> You can go on to eventbrite.com

[9:51] and buy the tickets directly from there.

[9:58] I thought I had a couple of that kind of questions.

[10:00] » I just wanted to say that yesterday the city of Augusta had coupons.

[10:05] » [clears throat] >> They were out of coupons [cough]

[10:07] because we don't have a grocery store. >> Yep.

[10:14] Put some air in there.

[10:18] Christian. >> [clears throat]

[10:20] » The only thing I have is I wanted to read something that I saw online

[10:25] um about a couple that was here over the Memorial Parade.

[10:30] I have to take my glasses off. It says, "My husband and I arrived in

[10:34] town for some RV repair and we will be leaving when it is complete the first.

[10:39] Thank you to the new friends we met while we had some free time to walk in

[10:43] your fantastic quaint town. People are all so friendly treating us

[10:47] like we all knew each other. Hospitality when we're twisted about on the wrong

[10:52] roads and the genius of your town is awesome.

[10:56] We are still adjusting to the trains but enjoying the rumble. Near Herman, we

[11:01] can't tell you enough how we enjoyed our layover in town and send best wishes to

[11:05] all who are so fortunate to live [clears throat] there. Hopefully we will

[11:08] be able to stop back for a next year's Memorial Day Parade. It [clears throat]

[11:12] was perfect. Thanks again, Barb and Joe."

[11:16] I don't know who Barb and Joe were, >> [clears throat]

[11:18] » but they enjoyed themselves while they were here in town. So, I'll be back. Did

[11:22] you want me to say that? >> What's that?

[11:24] » Did you meet Barb and Joe? >> I did. Um

[11:28] They're from Michigan. It's a husband and wife probably in their

[11:31] 60s or early 60s. They um

[11:36] drag racers. All seven races of the year, they said.

[11:40] Said, "We don't do good. We don't win, but we have fun." And they they had a

[11:44] problem with their RV on their slide out. It malfunctioned when they were

[11:47] going to Ohio race track, so they stopped down here to Jason Deaton's

[11:51] place to get it fixed. And this is on a

[11:56] I think it was on a Friday night. They actually poured in town. We went

[12:00] around town. And

[12:02] » [clears throat] >> um

[12:03] No, it was Sunday. Cuz I was hanging one of the banners

[12:06] fell down. I was hanging the banner up and I noticed them

[12:09] kind of looking around, kind of out of place. And I drove around the block and

[12:12] said, "Can I help you?" He said, "Well, we're looking for Jason's place." I

[12:15] said, "Well, it's just right down the street." And they told me the whole

[12:17] story. Um so, they were going to camp out here

[12:20] until 2:00 in the morning when they opened up the

[12:24] the garage. And so, met them there, went back,

[12:27] checked on them a little bit later that night to see if they were awake, and

[12:29] they didn't And they hadn't been able to drive it anywhere cuz

[12:32] they towed it home on a trailer. Go park it in the parking lot in the front of

[12:36] it. And then

[12:38] Monday at the parade up here lining up, they showed up there for the parade.

[12:42] And um I didn't think I would probably should

[12:45] have asked them to ride out with somebody at the memorial service, but

[12:49] they It was up town. They wanted to show cars, see what was in the parade,

[12:53] and chit-chat. I think Jim, did you get a chance to talk to them?

[12:57] And they're very friendly. Just

[13:00] really enjoyed the town, other than the trains.

[13:04] And she's a crafter. She said, "I'll be back for you guys' craft show." She

[13:07] looked everything up on what the main street see what we did. So, she said she

[13:11] just really enjoyed it. >> Where are they from?

[13:13] » Um they are out of Michigan.

[13:17] Up by

[13:19] one of the lakes. There's three big lake chains that go to Hopewell Lake or

[13:23] something like that. >> Hopewell Lake?

[13:25] » Yeah. They're up there somewhere. There's a couple of weeks to feed into

[13:28] that. Yeah. So no, they they enjoyed it.

[13:31] Um I was talking to them back when I when I

[13:35] seen that as well and just say appreciate you guys giving that comment,

[13:38] you know, it's good to have outsiders come in here

[13:41] and put their different eyes on and sometimes see what what we don't see.

[13:45] You know, kind of that if you got any more I'm

[13:47] just going to kind of feed off that a little bit.

[13:49] » How was that? >> Good.

[13:52] Kind of going in and seeing if some outsiders can see what's going on. So

[13:56] I just want to give another update to

[14:00] all the housing that we got going in here. Right now there's five different

[14:05] um houses being built right now. You go

[14:08] down here on Peach Street and Green.

[14:12] Um you go down here on West Oak and Depot. Um

[14:16] there's five of them full fledged. They're they're going at it.

[14:19] Um And that is

[14:22] two different builders. And we got another builder that's

[14:25] looking at doing a bigger project later on. So I think things are looking to me

[14:30] and I hope everyone else will see that looking good for [clears throat] Butler.

[14:34] Um by the end of this month we should have a new business down by the

[14:38] laundromat. I won't say what it is. I'll let that be

[14:41] their surprise. Um but that's something that we're

[14:44] bringing downtown as well. So I think for the most part things are

[14:48] looking up. I think Butler's progressing. I think we're coming

[14:51] [clears throat] alive and moving forward. So

[14:56] That's all I have right now. Now we do have a

[14:59] planning commission meeting coming up. Two weeks, Jim?

[15:04] Yeah, [clears throat] which uh we've got a very very nice project that's going to

[15:09] be brought up to the planning commission that hopefully the following meeting I

[15:14] can report back and I think you guys got to be

[15:17] very happy with that one as well. That's all I have. Does anybody in the

[15:22] audience have anything for the common council?

[15:25] » I just had a question. On that business that's a surprise, is it family owned?

[15:31] Can you say that? >> [laughter]

[15:33] » Yeah, well, I don't think it's family owned. It's It's

[15:38] national chain. Let's just put it that way.

[15:40] » Got you.

[15:43] » That's all I can give you. >> Sure.

[15:46] » Want to come to the planning commission meeting here in 2 weeks?

[15:50] You can sit in on that. So.

[15:53] » Maybe.

[15:55] » Anything else? >> Please speak into here.

[15:57] » Mike. >> Please speak into here. Has there

[15:59] anything [clears throat] brought up to you about the situation with the train

[16:03] down here the other morning? >> Listen, I wrote train down there and

[16:06] went right over it. Um, I was in contact with that guy from uh

[16:10] I've got two of them. One from Indiana and one from Atlanta, Georgia. The guy

[16:13] from Atlanta, Georgia seems to be my probably my best go-to.

[16:18] Last week, uh what day was it? Rome? They had the

[16:22] 10:50. >> That Wednesday.

[16:24] » Thursday. >> Thursday.

[16:25] » Yeah. >> So

[16:26] » Back-to-back day. >> So, about 7:00 that morning

[16:30] track was closed. This would be the the uh Detroit line. You know, the farthest

[16:34] south tracks. Walked around 7:00.

[16:38] Um I finally got a hold of the guy at 9:00

[16:41] to see what was going on. He said he'd check into it and let you know.

[16:44] Um Looked back down there again. It's still

[16:47] blocked at 11:00. Still blocked at like 11:30. So, I called him and said, "Hey,

[16:51] what's going on? You've been here for hours now."

[16:54] And he goes, "I just got this from him." He goes, "There was actually an accident

[16:58] on kind of 34. Car versus train. Um

[17:02] Nobody was hurt. Crew wasn't hurt. We're just doing our

[17:06] investigation." And finally at 12:00 noon or so, they

[17:12] opened that up. So, after 5 hours. Um I did call central dispatch and say, "Hey,

[17:17] well, first of all, police and fire Ron and Corey or Matt, one of the two and

[17:22] say, "Hey, was there a wreck out there?" And

[17:26] I talked to Ron, "Was it you guys aware there was a 10-50 out there?" And he

[17:29] goes, "No." And then you said police called, EMS wasn't called.

[17:34] So, that's how you call central dispatch and say, "Hey, what's going on here?

[17:39] Um there's a 10-50, but you never told our police, fire, EMS." He goes, "Yeah,

[17:43] we were told by the railroad police on the scene,

[17:48] property damage, we don't need anybody out here."

[17:51] But he said, "We made the scene and we the county cleared the scene." I think

[17:54] you said it 9:18 a.m. So, I asked him, I said, "Do you think

[17:58] anywhere in that conversation that you probably should have called called

[18:01] Butler fire or police to let them know there was a

[18:05] 10-50, it's a county 10-34, the crossing's going to be blocked for a

[18:09] little bit?" >> [clears throat]

[18:12] » It really didn't go off. So, I asked him, "The next time that happens,

[18:16] you really need to communicate with us. We're communicating to you by calling

[18:20] you and letting you know what we hear. We expect the same in return. So,

[18:25] uh he said he would follow up on that, make sure he would do the information.

[18:29] And then next day, same time, it was blocked

[18:32] again. And it seemed to be about that 7:00 to 8:00

[18:36] time frame that crossing gets blocked because I get

[18:40] calls from third or um telemarketer people. They start texting, "Train's at

[18:44] crossing." So, I told him, "Every time you see it blocked here, please let me

[18:47] know because I'm going to let them know."

[18:50] So, it was blocked again. Um they never did getting back to me why it was

[18:54] blocked. Um but in the conversation with the guy from the railroad,

[19:00] he says, "Would the city of Butler be interested if we would put cameras at

[19:05] both of these intersections or railroad crossings?"

[19:08] He said it's $7,000 per year for the program.

[19:13] Um we'll pay for the program the first 2

[19:15] years, but it becomes responsibility of the city after that. That's why I don't

[19:19] like that part of it, but I do like the 2 years free.

[19:22] Um we all like free.

[19:26] So, that's something they did send me out some information on it.

[19:30] And we talked about it. I probably will sit down with police and fire and

[19:33] discuss that. He said we can put the camera right up

[19:37] here so you can see it. I said, "I don't need to see it."

[19:40] We need your fire department to see it. So, they they need to go to the police

[19:43] station or the fire station so they can track that. I mean, I can look right out

[19:48] my window and see it. I don't need a camera to tell me it's blocked.

[19:52] So. But he also said that they was going to

[19:55] increase the speed limit on this track and allow them to run 60 mph versus 50.

[20:01] And you feel that it will move clear the crossings a lot

[20:04] quicker. And it also get them past some of these

[20:07] junctions like the ones behind the bowling alley. He heard that as well.

[20:10] And I know Sunday when I was working on the

[20:13] building down there, there was probably four different sets of trains that come

[20:17] by that's both going east to west on both sets of tracks. And then out here

[20:22] on the south side of tracks um had a guy on his ORV he couldn't get

[20:27] out of the city because he couldn't get on the the roads.

[20:31] Um [clears throat] so, he was blocked. He couldn't get

[20:33] across Federal. He couldn't get across State Road 1. So, he was in town for

[20:37] close to an hour. Um but they was trying to change over to go

[20:41] some of these trains here on the Chicago line was wanting to change to go north

[20:45] on the Detroit line and it was just a mess. I mean, I I

[20:48] had not seen that much traffic on a Sunday.

[20:51] I bet for hour that I was up there I bet there

[20:54] was probably 30 trains that went by.

[20:58] Terrible. So, that's where we're at on the train

[21:01] side of it. Um They they know where the city of Butler

[21:04] is at. Those are the problem now. >> Fireman?

[21:07] » Yes. >> [laughter]

[21:08] » Um They tell to kill me one time it was

[21:11] impossible the train was sitting here on the Chicago line.

[21:15] And he said, "Why is your train in Lafayette going to Detroit?" I said,

[21:18] "Yeah, because the gate to Chicago train is making that loop behind the wall and

[21:21] I had to go north to Detroit." He goes, "Well, that's not possible. They can't

[21:25] switch over there." Sorry, it's been here for

[21:29] 70, 80 years. Um so

[21:33] he said right now with the price of fuel these trucking companies can't afford to

[21:37] ship to certain parts of the country. So, they're going to rail and he said,

[21:41] "We're backed up across the nation, Chattanooga, Chicago, New York." He

[21:46] said, "You name it, we're backed up and until

[21:49] price of diesel go down, we're probably going to have to

[21:53] » It's going to take an additional 3 weeks to

[21:57] » You what? [clears throat] >> It takes us an additional 3 weeks. Same.

[22:01] » Did you get it by truck? >> We've started doing rail as well at

[22:04] Purdue. It's been a nightmare.

[22:09] » They're all saying it's not getting any better unless the diesel price would get

[22:12] back down to where they were on the original.

[22:16] Now, if someone else might give you good now, you know, we've been kind of Corey

[22:20] and I have talked a little bit. I know Tracy and I have talked a little bit.

[22:23] If there's a way possible, talk with them and check the next time you do.

[22:28] One of the things that we noticed just this Saturday there on Friday was that

[22:31] the train was waiting for the old Conrail line to go through.

[22:36] They were only four cars in to the side of that that crossing.

[22:42] That's the third time that I've seen that and they were stopped 2 hours for

[22:45] that. And then while I called him because we

[22:49] were backed up semis up to get them so they can get turned around to go back to

[22:53] where they, you know, the thing. Because three of the semi two of the semis that

[22:57] were sitting there of the four were going to STI.

[23:02] Their GPS told them to go this route. So, I said, "Well, where are you going?"

[23:07] And well, one was going to Vermont Avenue, one was going to call it out.

[23:10] All right, I'm on the main.

[23:12] So, okay, you know, this is where you you know, have to go. So, they knew that

[23:17] they could go up and around the moment something happened to us the island.

[23:21] They would just stop going to the two hours waiting and they wouldn't have had

[23:25] that. So, we turned around. But, as we were doing that, he comes up and as he's

[23:30] pulling out, the train's backing up. And literally [clears throat] four cars

[23:34] that cleared, they backed all the way past the Federal Street Diner or um

[23:40] crossing. And it was between 34th and Federal Street is where that train

[23:44] parked and it's that short for that. So, I guess the big thing would be what

[23:48] I'm trying to get at is if you can talk to them about possibly backing their

[23:52] stopping point to just past Federal Street, they're

[23:56] still going to be within that distance other than the SDI.

[24:00] You know. >> We had that conversation and stopped at

[24:03] the Federal Street or when they change crews, they got to have the stopping up

[24:06] here and blocking it. Normally, we would stop at the

[24:09] wastewater treatment plant short of there and change crews. But, on that

[24:13] 1050 the other day, they was uh It's where the color master sent me a

[24:18] picture. There was nine cars short of clearing that tracks. And that morning I

[24:22] knew you're nine short of clearing it. On a 1050, I can see not moving the

[24:27] train until your investigation's done. But, other times they've been short less

[24:31] than six cars and they would just pull forward or backwards and clear it.

[24:34] And he said, "That is a trainability issue that they need to discuss with

[24:39] their people." >> Yeah, cuz I don't know how they do it

[24:42] when they're waiting for the train to cross for the condo that priority. So,

[24:47] when it's coming up, they're Why can't they back that stopping point

[24:50] up to to at least that point, you know? So, at

[24:53] least that would save us a lot of time with one track instead of two.

[24:58] So, now I said

[25:00] » only that. >> We'll we'll we'll we'll sit down and

[25:03] discuss that. >> Can we do that again?

[25:06] » You maybe jump on it two years unless there's an

[25:09] extension that we have to pick up. I'm not interested in picking that up

[25:13] for $7,000 a year. >> Right.

[25:16] » Okay. Anything else before we entertain a motion to adjourn?

[25:23] Any motions?

City of Butler | City Council - June 1st, 2026

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