[0:01] called order the city of columbana city council meeting on this September 1st

[0:06] 2026. Uh we will have invocation by Deianne

[0:12] and then we'll all rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag.

[0:17] » Lord bless those officers and government of our city that they may do their work

[0:22] in a spirit of wisdom, kindness, and justice and help them to use their

[0:26] authority to serve our citizens faithfully. In your name we pray. Amen.

[0:33] [clears throat]

[0:35] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[0:41] republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:48] justice for all.

[0:57] Yeah. Call the role. [clears throat] here.

[1:02] here. >> Here. [laughter]

[1:06] » Listen >> here.

[1:11] » Here. >> Noel

[1:14] » here. >> Willer

[1:16] » here. >> Hudson

[1:18] » here.

[1:22] » You've all received copies of the minutes of our meeting on August 18th,

[1:28] 2026. Are there any questions, comments regarding those minutes?

[1:35] Hearing none, they'll be accepted as submitted.

[1:39] We have no communications to read and there are no reports of commissions and

[1:44] boards. [snorts] So, we'll move the agenda to the recognition of persons

[1:49] desiring to appear. And we have representatives from the Historical

[1:53] Society of Paliana and Fairfield Township to present a gift to the city.

[2:04] [clears throat]

[2:07] » As you know, you have Harvey, you have the memorial

[2:12] zoning district, and all these beautiful pictures, but you don't have a picture

[2:16] of your new chap. And this was done by local watercolist Sherry Fry. It's a

[2:22] reprint. The originals are historical, but we wanted it to make sure you had a

[2:28] picture for the sacred walls. [laughter] >> And and the big reason is I'm afraid

[2:35] Jay's really going to run over so I didn't want to present it. Sad.

[2:39] [laughter] >> Well, thank you very much. Thank you. We

[2:43] want to invite all of you to come if you can on September the 5th, Saturday at 11

[2:48] o'clock for the dedication. And uh we're so proud of the project being at this

[2:53] stage and done and cement went in and concrete's going to be dry and we can go

[2:58] in do some ribbon cutting together. So >> 11:00 Saturday

[3:03] » and also do not forget everyone's welcome that we are [clears throat] part

[3:07] of the Ohio History Connections open doors.

[3:12] [clears throat] America 250 events in the state of Ohio where the week of um

[3:18] that we were [clears throat] September 20th set the Sunday September 20th from

[3:24] 2 to 4 there are 259 events going on throughout the 88

[3:30] counties and only three of them in Columbia County us two in East

[3:34] Liverpool. will come. We're bringing in displays. I'm really hoping General

[3:40] Hallway is making an appearance. I haven't [laughter]

[3:45] » 2 to 4 p.m. And um [clears throat] it was open free to the public and there'll

[3:51] be a few other things. [laughter]

[3:55] [clears throat] >> So, thank you.

[3:57] » Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you so much.

[4:00] » Thank you very much. I'm giving it to him and I can put that. Do you mind if

[4:05] we [cough and clears throat]

[4:09] » It's Christmas in September. Of course. [laughter]

[4:11] » How do you want to do this? >> How do you want to do this?

[4:14] » You don't want me behind there. [laughter]

[4:19] » That's very true. Do you want me to stand here? Very

[4:36] good. >> Thank you very much.

[4:37] » Thank you. >> You're welcome. and prints are for sale,

[4:40] but $25 goes towards the city fund for

[4:48] » and to resurrect this building that was built in 1890.

[4:53] It's very very impressive and the work that you folks have done is tremendous

[4:58] and we really appreciate it and it's um adds to the beauty of the cemetery that

[5:04] [clears throat] we have. Thank you very much.

[5:08] » One quick comment if you don't mind me adding from the chair here. It's it

[5:12] really got started with a response from Lance when I texted him. He said, "Sure,

[5:17] I'll meet you and talk about it." [laughter] So, so that started out the

[5:21] park building and it went from there, didn't it, Lance?

[5:25] » Yeah, absolutely. >> Very good.

[5:27] » So, thanks a lot. >> Thank you all.

[5:30] » Without you folks, these things don't get done. [snorts] They just don't. they

[5:34] don't get done. So, we really appreciate >> y very

[5:40] throw Mrs. Tingle into that. Very generous.

[5:44] » Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you. [snorts] We appreciate it.

[5:50] Okay. Um, next on the agenda, we have Crystal Sid Bogs to discuss was the

[5:57] night before 5K updated race route. >> All right. So, um,

[6:04] » [snorts] >> Do you guys have the map in front of

[6:06] you? Did it get to you? Okay. So, traditionally speaking, we always have

[6:10] come outside of um Herbster and made that right onto Park View and then go

[6:15] down and do that Terra Verde loop. But when we come back onto the Park View, it

[6:19] is very tight. Um then we get all this congestion. Um last year as the lead

[6:24] vehicle, I got stuck behind the ambulance. Couldn't take the lead

[6:28] runners out because I was behind the slowest runners. Then we made our way

[6:32] through all the congestion and then I come back into the park and then I come

[6:36] back into all the last of the runners that are still making their way out of

[6:40] the park for the very first time. So to relieve that congestion, uh we want to

[6:47] extend the course up into um North Elm Street just a little tiny bit. And that

[6:54] will take care of the whole problem because our fastest runners should be

[6:58] able to, you know, when you look at the timeline, our fastest runners will not

[7:02] be hitting the slowest runners in theory. So, [clears throat] I mean, if

[7:08] somebody decides to run a 15minute 5K or world record paces, that changes

[7:14] everything, but we're not looking for that at our Christmas race. So, um,

[7:18] everybody else is on board. I've presented it to, uh, park board. I

[7:22] talked to the police department beforehand and, um, Joy of Christmas is

[7:27] aware. I think that this change is necessary for the safety of all the

[7:31] runners and even just people that are trying to get to their homes that night.

[7:36] So, >> questions anyone has for Crystal? She's

[7:41] right here now. >> Okay.

[7:43] » So, if you [laughter] want to ask her a question, this is your chance.

[7:46] » Do you have a date for this? >> Do you have a date for this?

[7:49] » It's the date of the snowstorm. >> Okay.

[7:52] » It's the date of our first snowstorm. Yes.

[7:54] » Yeah. So, I mean, we've already had the race approved and stuff. This is just an

[7:57] update to the course, but it's December 2nd, if I remember correctly.

[8:03] I would just ask if Chief has any concerns with traffic.

[8:08] » No. >> So it's is it starting off at A and then

[8:11] going just the one loop outside the park.

[8:14] » Is that what I'm seeing? >> So you're going to see it goes down a it

[8:18] goes through the park, exits out of the park, goes down to the through Terra

[8:22] Verde, comes back in, then they when they come in, they go through the park

[8:26] the whole way again and end at B. >> Okay.

[8:29] » Yeah. >> Okay, that makes sense.

[8:32] So, do we need to approve the change?

[8:39] » I'm going to move to approve the changes submitted.

[8:41] » Second. >> Okay, we have a motion. Second.

[8:47] Any further questions on the motion? Do you have me call the roll?

[8:54] » Yes. >> Yes.

[8:58] » Yes. >> Listen. Yes,

[9:06] [clears throat] >> thank you guys.

[9:08] » Okay, thank you very much, Crystal. Appreciate it.

[9:13] » Uh, next we're moving to the manager's report. Lance, thank you.

[9:33] So, uh, [snorts]

[9:36] » oh, okay.

[9:44] » So, the last couple weeks we um

[9:49] we were hacked uh with a fishing email. So, if you received a email from um Rick

[9:56] Whitfield or Tom Farley, don't open it. So, we spent a lot of our last week uh

[10:01] working through that. Um our IT people worked on it and uh we're now I think

[10:07] we've got it all buttoned up, but um our team is uh going to report as needed

[10:15] and notify people as necessary. And um Mark and I have been um working on on

[10:22] that. So, uh that was that was fun. Um, make sure you change your passwords

[10:29] often. That's that's what I recommend doing. Um,

[10:34] it was um, you know, it was it was a learning

[10:40] process. I mean, I sat in a meeting for an hour and a half and didn't understand

[10:43] a word they were saying and, you know, like, oh, just tell me what I need to

[10:47] do. So, but, um, I think I think everything's good. you

[10:53] may you may end up getting a follow-up email if you did receive that. Uh we're

[10:57] going to be sending that out to uh let people know that you know what had

[11:01] happened. So uh looking at the projects, uh North

[11:06] Drive project will start on September 8th.

[11:10] Uh project meeting uh is being scheduled on the uh State Route 14 road widening

[11:16] project. The Culvert project is being held up a

[11:20] few weeks. We've got um an AT&T line that uh needs uh moved and we're working

[11:27] through that. Uh we did extend or I did extend the

[11:32] court herbster uh project to September 30th. I know that we had um said it was

[11:38] going to be done uh August 22nd. Um I know Ted reached out to me. I I've since

[11:46] uh talked to our engineer and just to give you a little bit more explanation

[11:51] of why we extended it. Um, after we awarded the project, we've made

[11:57] several several changes and one of them was the reroute of a a storm water line

[12:03] and we also added some um,

[12:09] let's see, it would be curbon gutters. And we also had to since

[12:16] we went up Court Street and we weren't planning on doing that, we had to make

[12:21] some changes to the sewer line. And we also had to add six um replacement of,

[12:29] you know, we've been doing those lead line replacements. Uh looking looking at

[12:33] those, we found six of them and we did do that. So, um I did make that um I

[12:40] took that request and extended that to September 30th and they should be doing

[12:47] the paving September 14th. They will be back um to do that paving. I think it's

[12:54] uh Shelly and Shel's doing the um the paving. I think everything else is

[13:00] pretty much uh wrapped up until then. got a couple um sidewalk things that

[13:05] we've got to address and maybe some approaches, but most of that job is

[13:09] done. Uh Beverly Ray project um you know, it's moving along. I appreciate

[13:16] everybody's patience out there. It's uh these projects are um

[13:21] you know, they definitely test everybody and um we appreciate um everybody's

[13:28] patient patience. Um, we can see, you know, some of them if if they come

[13:34] through your neighborhood, you know, you still might have water pulling up and

[13:38] and such, but we're we're hoping that once it's, you know, all put in. It'll

[13:44] all all kind of, you know, flow together and and work. It's not going to work

[13:48] until we're completely done with it, especially curbon gutter areas. So, um,

[13:54] we're going to, again, this is a huge, huge year for projects. I mean, we are

[14:00] we are deep into it and we're starting a couple more in a couple weeks. So,

[14:06] that'll be fun. Um, with all those ongoing projects, we

[14:11] are doing our best to provide the updates. And go to columbianoh.gov. We

[14:16] have a new new um area for you to look at the updates on the projects.

[14:24] We've been talking about Omni Fiber coming in for a long time. They are

[14:28] here. They they started the project. Um also we have a a small spectrum project.

[14:34] They're hagging fiber um for questions and concerns. You can

[14:41] go to columbianoh.gov and read about those um those two projects too, even

[14:47] though that they're not city projects. Uh Bryce met with representatives of

[14:52] Columbia Youth Baseball uh regarding the 2027 baseball season.

[14:58] Uh Mayor and Bryce attended the Ohio Heart of Opportunity Tour in Youngstown.

[15:04] And Ohio was named the number one state for business and the governor DeWine and

[15:08] Lieutenant Governor Trestle were in town to talk about how's recent successes.

[15:14] That was a nice uh project or um event. Uh Skip, Lance, and Bryce. We

[15:21] went to Millersburg, Holmes County. That's a long drive. [clears throat] Uh

[15:26] hour and 45 minutes, but um we met with Omega, and that was a it was a nice

[15:32] meeting. Bryce and Attorney Hudson met with

[15:36] Elevate and Stro architects to discuss uh this Colombiana schools athletic

[15:41] complex, and we're still working through that, I

[15:45] believe.

[15:49] Bryce Skip and I uh attended the Youngsttown Warren Regional Chambers

[15:52] Lattes with legislators. Speaker Huffman was there. Representative

[15:57] um John was there. Representative Sanuchi and Stewart.

[16:03] Efficiency Smart is offering an appliance recycling promotion through

[16:07] September 30th. pay $75 for refrigerators, freezers, window AC

[16:12] units, and dehumidifiers that are working condition but are old. Uh the

[16:18] promotion is limited to four working appliances per household, and they will

[16:23] come out and pick it up for you at your house. [clears throat] Uh the city

[16:28] overhaul committee uh received our current floor plans. Our next step is to

[16:33] work on the demolition package and we're working through that right now uh to get

[16:38] through that. Um the economic development dealer uh of of

[16:43] the property that we purchased down there uh that committee uh is going to

[16:48] meet again in October and they'll be engaging uh with the affected property

[16:52] owners uh and such um over the next couple months.

[16:58] We're hosting an official community ribbon cutting for the Garden of Eden on

[17:02] September 11th at uh 5:00 pm. And I believe the uh the school's going

[17:09] to be there, so that'll be nice. um for this year's uh street fair parade

[17:16] due to um ongoing construction in the Firestone Park. Uh and surrounding road

[17:23] projects. Uh we've um are going to say that no semi-truckss or

[17:29] trailers and trailers of equal length will be allowed if you drive through

[17:34] there. If you drive through the park today, you know why we're doing that.

[17:37] It's it's pretty tight in there. So, uh, we're trying to cut that down, try to

[17:42] get the word out there, uh, both through the, um, through Jake and, uh, through

[17:48] the park. Reminder, Colombiana was asked to be a

[17:53] part of a business view magazine, and that article hasn't been released yet,

[17:58] but should, and we'll send that out when it does. [clears throat]

[18:02] the mayor, Skip, uh, Chief Edwards, uh, Chief Farley, uh, Bryce and I attended

[18:08] the Columbiana Ministerial Association lunchon. Appreciate all the churches,

[18:13] uh, and what they do for our community and their continued prayers uh, for the

[18:19] city and staff. Kind of cool thing happened last week.

[18:23] Village of Barnesville came up. They brought five people, wanted to talk to

[18:28] us about our uh, progress committee. Omega that I just mentioned had uh

[18:34] introduced us and they wanted to come up and see what we're doing up here on on

[18:37] Main Street and uh what we're doing with our progress committee and and they're

[18:42] thinking of uh doing that and also maybe implementing the idea of the hub which

[18:48] is the monthly meeting with um with tourism um the chamber in the city

[18:56] um town center and uh Garwood Arena.

[19:03] So, they're talking about their events, you know, they were talking about our

[19:07] events in our downtown and they have one. It's a pumpkin fest. They get

[19:12] 150,000 people in 3 days. I mean, like, can you imagine us telling

[19:18] Chief Edwards that we're going to get 50,000 people on the first day of the

[19:23] It's like he's he'll announce his retirement shortly thereafter.

[19:30] So, we looked it up. I mean, it's that's >> fair.

[19:33] » That's the Canfield Fair. >> Fair on Friday.

[19:35] » Yep. Yeah. Because if you take Canfield Fair has 200,000 give or take, but it's

[19:41] over several days. And so, um, they're asking about our events and I'm

[19:49] like, if we get 150,000 uh at our next uh event, it is going to be locked down.

[19:56] So, Uh, Columbia County Port Authority is

[20:00] offering downtown business renovation and sign grants and uh,

[20:07] Council President Lon went to all the storefront owners and passed out flyers

[20:13] for that. So, we appreciate that. they uh hopefully will get a few few new

[20:18] signs out of that and the grants up to $50,000 for vacant vacant or underused

[20:26] uh structures. Um I believe I'm not sure if that one's up or not, but um anyways,

[20:33] we got we we tried to get all the information out to um everybody in the

[20:39] downtown, including landlords. them. We've been contacted by several local

[20:44] business owners about expanding the DORA to suit their business needs. Uh we'll

[20:49] be making a proposal to expand that. Uh we've talked about a few of them. One of

[20:53] them was the tap the tap room. Uh Bryce talked to them and I think they're

[21:00] uh they're shooting for spring um of 27. So that it's it's nice to hear that

[21:06] they're still moving along with that project.

[21:10] electric department. Uh they completed uh three hookups um on Jenny Lane

[21:17] and uh completed three hookups at Arrowhead Park, prepared for street fair

[21:22] by changing out lids on Main Street, and I believe um I believe Ted helped out on

[21:29] that design if if I'm not mistaken. >> Yeah, kind of cool.

[21:34] uh park and cemetery making final preparations for the stick stick chapel

[21:38] dedication uh and uh just watching after the

[21:43] drainage and sidewalk project and um and it is making some progress. water

[21:49] department. Uh they did a couple exploratory digs on Orchard Court and

[21:53] Wind Jammer. Uh installed a couple ballards on Union and Cross uh to

[21:58] protect fire hydrants. Street department picked up brush from

[22:04] recent storm and patch potholes.

[22:10] Uh wastewater ordered and installed new grip motor. This motor had been in there

[22:14] since 1994. that this new one will probably last

[22:18] like two years. That's my guess. You know, it's just how it works, you know.

[22:24] Uh EMS, they transferred um medic Medicare to the new billing company

[22:31] um and sent out renew application for continued ads. Uh police department uh

[22:37] the officers completed

[22:42] CQC training, which I didn't know what that is. So, I hope it means close

[22:47] quarters combat. I had to look it up. There's always homework to do. And force

[22:51] on force training at the firearms range. So, um we appreciate you going after

[22:57] that training and providing that for our our people. Continued prep uh for uh

[23:03] street fair. All of our safety forces are involved in that.

[23:08] And then just mention EMS. Um, you know, we've been talking about

[23:15] evaluation of our EMS and fire for the last few years.

[23:20] Council created a a a um a committee uh to look at the department operations. As

[23:27] you recall, we uh hired a consultant to evaluate the uh EMS and fire

[23:33] departments. And we've done this in other departments. Uh we did it at the

[23:37] park. We've done it at the um wastewater water and the electric.

[23:44] And this one um just got the report on Friday, I think. Um

[23:51] it's recommending that we are going to consolidate our EMS and fire departments

[23:56] into one unified department. Um so we've met with uh some of our staff

[24:05] um from both the fire and the EMS. Uh the meetings went uh pretty well. Uh

[24:11] process is going to take time. We don't have all the answers. That is for sure.

[24:15] Um but we're looking forward to working with our current EMS and fire department

[24:20] teams to implement these recommendations uh for the good of Columbia. That's

[24:24] that's what we're trying to do. Um we're looking at it said it with all the other

[24:29] departments. We look at it like a prescriptive method. We just start at

[24:34] the top and you know go down. Um it kind of provides you a road map of what to

[24:40] do. Um and as this pro process progresses, we'll certainly continue to

[24:45] update everyone. We're going to have an official uh press release probably in

[24:49] the next couple days. We'll release that and then we'll be on on the news for the

[24:54] next several days probably. But anyways, um uh we just appreciate uh all the

[25:02] you know all the workers. They have so much passion and care for our uh

[25:07] residents and for their for their departments. And you know, we're I I

[25:16] guess the main thing is is you know, they're not losing their jobs. They're

[25:20] going to continue to be working with us and we're going to cross train. Um so

[25:25] they they seem to be uh on board and we're moving through that process. So

[25:32] that's it there. Thanks, Lance. Any questions for Lance?

[25:37] Comments? Very good. Thank you very much. Um,

[25:43] you all received a copy of the bill list of September 1st, 2026. There any

[25:48] questions on the bill list? If there isn't, I'm going to say

[25:53] something that I never said before. We have no old business or new business to

[26:00] uh act on tonight. So, I'm giving you all a break up here. And

[26:05] » [clears throat] >> uh so we do not have any items on our

[26:07] agenda. I guess it's has to do with summer a little bit maybe, but um that's

[26:13] our situation. Um as uh as we normally do when we have an

[26:20] executive session that does not require any vote taken after the executive

[26:25] session, we usually adjust our agenda and that's what I'm going to do tonight.

[26:30] So, we are going to move at this point. Uh, I'm going to ask if there are any,

[26:36] uh, public comments that anyone would like to make. And I know, uh, Pat Tangle

[26:43] want. That's okay. Well, [snorts] you guys go first. Pat,

[26:47] skip, you guys want to talk? Well,

[26:52] [clears throat] [snorts]

[26:55] » she doesn't stand very well. >> We We could probably bring the mic to

[26:59] her. [clears throat] Oh, okay.

[27:01] » Yeah, why don't you just take it over there?

[27:03] » Um, thank you. >> Didn't realize it was that poor.

[27:06] [laughter] >> Thank you. I wish

[27:09] » I wish the park board would use these because I can never hear a park board

[27:15] and they won't use the microphones. So, thank you for the microphone. Uh, first

[27:19] of all, I want to announce a positive thing. We have completed the senior

[27:24] courts. Okay? And it's been a two-year project. took longer than we thought. It

[27:30] was more complicated than we thought. But we now have three act uh activities.

[27:36] The shuffle board, Abachi Court, and cornhole

[27:41] courts all set up. And we have a small uh

[27:45] » sitting pavilion >> pavilion there for people to sit and we

[27:48] have benches and so forth. So, we're going to have a dedication on the 19th

[27:52] of September. uh a short ceremony and we have

[27:57] dedicated our project to the two longest serving members

[28:03] as superintendents of the park to Terry Schaefer and Perry Kaiser. Perry Kaiser

[28:09] being long gone, but much to my amazement, Terry Schaefer had 41 years

[28:17] as the park superintendent. Well, somebody needs to say yay to that, you

[28:22] know. So, so we've as we've asked him to give a little speech, which he's

[28:27] hesitant to do, but uh when we started doing the park restoration, which was

[28:32] more than 10 years ago, we had a meeting at the high school.

[28:37] And there weren't very many people there. But you know who came? The old

[28:43] people. The older people. The older people that had been around for a long

[28:48] time. And that what they wanted to say to us was be sure and put some stuff in

[28:52] there for us. Okay. And when I was a child and in Firestone Park, I

[28:58] remembered shuffle board. I remembered horseshoes. I don't remember cornhole

[29:04] cuz I don't think we had that back in those years. [clears throat] But one day

[29:07] I was over at uh Mirror Lake Pavilion and I noticed the shuffleboard court is

[29:13] in the porch and I hadn't realized it was there. Maybe it was someplace else,

[29:18] but I do remember a number of family reunions with where those activities

[29:22] were very important and I have a good memory of them. So, so anyhow, uh we we

[29:28] are going to as I said dedicate them on the 19th of September. Okay. Just a

[29:34] short ceremony and uh but we want to acknowledge the seniors have a role to

[29:40] play in the park and they asked a long time ago for recognition. and it's taken

[29:45] me 10 years. Okay. The second thing I came about tonight was um

[29:52] I'm concerned we have let make first of all give a

[29:56] brief explanation. We do five concerts a year at IDPAL's gathering place. We've

[30:02] done them for this is the fourth year. Okay. Uh they're basically music

[30:07] programs. We've had some pretty auspicious ones. We had the Texas Teners

[30:12] and so forth. And we have some good ones this year, too. But we've had and we

[30:16] also did an art show >> last year and this year.

[30:19] » Last year and this year. That's right. So, a problem we have is with the

[30:24] police. Okay. Um and I want to be fair about this and say that I spoke to Skip

[30:30] Listen to about this on the phone and I spoke to Terry um

[30:36] or Tim Ree the park manager about it. So, this is for emphasis. Okay.

[30:42] Um, we have been kind of accosted by them and said we can't drive up to

[30:48] Idabbels and park our cars up there. Well, there is no official parking up

[30:53] there. Okay. There are two or three parking places right on East Park

[30:58] Avenue, but that's not nearly adequate for the for the number of presenters we

[31:03] have that come. So there has been a pattern over the last four year three or

[31:07] four years of people driving their car up on the grass behind the pavilion and

[31:12] unloading their equipment. Uh we had the yard show and they had to do that and so

[31:17] forth. And so we have had a policeman come twice and tell us that we have to

[31:22] get off the grass. Okay, we understand we're not supposed to be It is not a

[31:26] parking lot, but it's once a year and a lot of the presenters are older people

[31:32] who have a hard time carrying their stuff up and setting up. So, we would

[31:37] like to make sure that the police department and as I said, I spoke to

[31:42] Skip about this. I spoke to Tim Roo about it. give us a little leeway there

[31:47] so that we can get things up and set up without uh and I did talk to the

[31:52] policeman that came the last time. Um I'm not sure he he totally got my

[31:59] message. I think he did. I hope so. But it it has been a problem for us and it's

[32:04] a long running activity and we hope to continue it. So I did want to mention

[32:09] that and that was why I'm here. One good thing and one complaint. Okay. you.

[32:18] » When we had the art show, like Pat said, there were a number of older folks

[32:22] bringing their paintings, their tables, and their

[32:26] display materials up there. When that site was designed, I don't

[32:30] think there was any anticipation about [clears throat]

[32:33] a necessity for any parking up there. And actually, it would very much

[32:40] not be a good idea to have a parking space up there. it would detract from

[32:44] the beauty of what has been termed the Taj Mahal Columbia.

[32:49] That building and its [clears throat] surroundings need to remain in the

[32:53] pristine state they are at this time. But when you have events that include

[32:58] sound equipment, catering,

[33:02] uh, and other paraphernalia, uh, Mark Frost was up there. He had to unload his

[33:09] great big base and all the equipment that he has for his group. And we have

[33:15] two in uh two more activities coming up. Actually, three three or four more

[33:19] coming up. We have a 16piece orchestra coming up there that's gone to unload

[33:24] their equipment. They're their uh music stands, their musical instruments, uh

[33:30] keyboard, uh electronic keyboard, and all those kinds of things.

[33:34] [clears throat] and to try to do it from these park

[33:36] those two little parking spots. That's a hell of a long hike all the way down the

[33:40] lilac stroll to that building to try to move stuff. Um I found this cop to be

[33:46] arrogant.

[33:49] He was [clears throat] not nice >> and I told him so.

[33:54] And Mark Frost, [clears throat] even before the cops showed up, I

[33:58] mentioned that we had had a problem with him at the art show. He said, "Skip,

[34:04] Colombian police are getting an unsavory reputation."

[34:09] Thank you.

[34:13] » I would I would add to that that he did talk to me. I did ask him to come and

[34:19] talk to me about it and uh he was rather dismissive. Okay. So, it's just a

[34:25] problem that needs negotiated a little bit. I don't think it's major, but we've

[34:30] been there for four or five years now. We need to continue and we need the

[34:35] cooperation of the police department. >> And remember, she paid a million dollars

[34:40] for that building. >> Oh, [clears throat]

[34:44] okay. Um, >> okay. That's what we came for.

[34:46] » Okay. Well, thank you both for speaking. Um,

[34:51] » any comments? >> Anybody have any comments, questions?

[34:59] I think you've um let us know your feelings and we

[35:03] appreciate that. Thank you very much. >> Okay.

[35:07] » Thank you. >> Okay. Um are there any other public

[35:13] comments? Anybody else want to come forward? Yes.

[35:17] So, please state your name and your address, of course. Thank you.

[35:23] » Yes. Mike Mutz, 690 Fairfield Avenue. >> Thank you. We have a serious problem

[35:29] with a dog issue at 7:32.

[35:35] 20ome dogs. This is ridiculous. And they're barking constantly. I was down

[35:40] there twice. Next time I'm not going to be nice about it. I am not going to be

[35:46] nice. We need to put a cap on how many dogs the residents are allowed to have.

[35:50] This is totally out of line. You know, the neighbor come home from the hospital

[35:54] and you can hear these dogs barking. We have it on on our phone that they

[35:58] were barking more than 15 minutes and the police department did do their job.

[36:02] Came down and went over there and everybody's doing their part. But we we

[36:06] got to have some sort of cap on this mess. You know, where I came from in

[36:11] Beaver County, two animal limit, either a cat, a dog,

[36:16] or two dogs or two cats. That is it. Not 20ome dogs. This is a burden on all the

[36:23] neighbors. And you can ask him, too. And the neighbor down the street just bought

[36:29] the house. They said, "This is ridiculous. They didn't want to come

[36:32] tonight. We'll handle it ourselves. If if the problem ain't resolved, then our

[36:36] we're going to handle it ourselves." And the media has been notified about the

[36:40] situation, too. So, I we need to bring up take a vote some some sometime in the

[36:48] future here on how many animals we're allowed to have, not 20. It is totally

[36:54] ridiculous and they can't take care of him either.

[36:57] » You know, I I I would appreciate, you know, you know.

[37:01] » Sure. >> Well, thank you for coming.

[37:04] » Hey, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

[37:07] » Mike,

[37:10] I forgot [clears throat] one thing. >> No, wait. Let's finish.

[37:16] » Let me make sure that Did you want to say something?

[37:19] » Yeah. Um, >> I think he wants to respond to

[37:22] » Mike, your request, your complaint is Julie noted and yes, we will look at it,

[37:29] » but I would say please don't take care of it yourself. That's not going to end

[37:34] up good. >> I I was I went over the other day and I

[37:36] asked >> and that's nice and that that's great.

[37:39] That's what you should do. >> Or get rid of

[37:44] » No, that's what you should do. >> Yeah. But uh yeah, it's Julie noted and

[37:48] we we'll we'll take care of it. >> Thank you.

[37:51] » Thank you. Thank you. Thank you both for coming.

[37:58] » Oh well, okay. Well, I got hope. Did you want to make one more comment?

[38:03] » One more comment. Um been working in the park three days a week since early

[38:09] April, especially during the summer. I mentioned to you once before about the

[38:13] ebikes. It's still a problem. Now, it's a lesson

[38:17] now that the kids are back in school. But on Sunday, we had two of them, young

[38:21] fellas whizzing around Idabbells with older people coming up trying to go to

[38:26] the concert. You need an ordinance restricting ebikes on the sidewalks in

[38:31] the park and a speed limit because they go they can go as fast as

[38:36] some cars. [clears throat]

[38:39] » Okay. Oh. Um, Chief, I know we have the police department put out a flyer about

[38:44] that earlier this year. I think [snorts] maybe republish that and get it on the

[38:48] website. I I know ebikes are definitely an ongoing concern everywhere. So, maybe

[38:55] there's some stuff we would need we need to look at at some point. Um,

[39:01] but yeah, for sure. uh you know, let's at least get the information back out,

[39:07] kind of remind people that, you know, these things are not, you know, they're

[39:12] not toys for sure. So, >> well, thank you for relaying that, Skip.

[39:19] And now I'm keeping track of everybody here. Uh, it's my job.

[39:24] » You can come. [laughter]

[39:28] [snorts] [clears throat]

[39:30] » My name is David Clarkson. I live at 722 Fairfoot Avenue. Great.

[39:34] » Did you get that? >> David Carson

[39:36] » Clarkson RS.

[39:40] » Okay. And and I live at 722 Fairfoot Avenue right next to 732. I can

[39:46] personally attest to the dogs barking all times of the hour. Um I recently

[39:50] reached out to Bryce about um cockroaches that are making their way

[39:55] from their house to my garage and I find them in my house. Bryce suggested that I

[40:00] contact a extermination company and I'm like it's was why why do I need to

[40:05] particularly worry about it because it's not originating from my house. Um Bryce

[40:10] also [clears throat] said just as everybody else would here on the council

[40:14] that they cannot speculate whether or not somebody does or does not have

[40:17] power, but I live next to them and they have not had power in the house since

[40:20] June. Um simply because I can see flashlights going through the windows as

[40:25] they're moving around through the house. Dogs are constantly barking. I

[40:28] personally have made a request to the Humane Society that I never heard back

[40:33] about when it was really, really, really extremely hot outside. These dogs are in

[40:37] the house barking their heads off. There is dogs that are outside. Um, I do

[40:41] believe to the best of my knowledge that there is people that are living in an

[40:44] actual garage because I do sit out back at my house and of course, you know,

[40:49] listening to these dogs is just getting annoying. And I understand Mike is three

[40:53] houses down, but when it starts coming to the factor of cockroaches,

[40:58] no. No. Like I'm I'm asking the city to do something. I've already contacted the

[41:05] county. They have sent me the nuisance form because not only about the

[41:10] cockroaches being on the outside, but the god-awful smell that I can smell

[41:14] outside my house. It smells like something died. My neighbors across the

[41:18] street can smell it. When the city came in and cleaned up their backyard with

[41:23] the dump truck and the backhoe, my neighbor was sitting out across the

[41:27] street and he said he could smell all that, too. So, I'm asking the city

[41:31] council to please do something because it's not fair to me that these people

[41:35] are living a trash life that should be done outside of the city.

[41:41] I've lived in this house for 14 years and never had an issue.

[41:46] the one gentleman that lives in the yellow house adjacent.

[41:50] Don't know the exact house address of that, but they're combined on that same

[41:53] property. The other day I went outside because they like riding their

[41:57] four-wheelers and sideby sides, whatever. I'd never seen him out there

[42:01] before. I kindly asked him. I said, "Would you please stop riding in my

[42:04] yard?" He goes, "Well, they told me that, you know, that I could ride

[42:07] between here." I said, "That's fine. You can stay close enough to that house,

[42:11] that garage, but please stay off my property." I said, "I already have

[42:13] enough problems with these people here." I said, "I'm tired of the cockroaches."

[42:17] He goes, "Oh, I have cockroaches, too." And I'm like thinking to myself, "And

[42:21] you're staying there? You're living there. You're not even family. You're

[42:23] not nothing, and you're still staying there."

[42:26] » So, I know it's a matter of time until the new people that moved in um next

[42:32] door to the yellow house that they're probably going to get him as well. So,

[42:37] just please look into it. Do something. Dogs, stench, whatever. Bryce had said

[42:43] that he had to talk to the uh city uh city attorney. I don't know if he ever

[42:48] got a chance to talk to Mr. Hudson or not um about that matter. I mean, I

[42:53] never heard anything back from Bryce. That was probably like two and a half

[42:55] weeks ago because I know it was in between council meetings and things like

[42:59] that. So, thank you guys for listening. Oh,

[43:02] » thank you. >> Thank you for your uh respectful

[43:07] communication of your concerns. I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

[43:11] » Yep. Any other comments? >> Um, just that I know we can't comment on

[43:16] any kind of ongoing enforcement issues. I do know that I saw Lance and Bryce

[43:21] furiously taking notes. So, um, and I I've heard these complaints too on

[43:27] that house. So, I I know I think I've talked to Bryce and there there has been

[43:32] stuff done. Obviously, we you [clears throat] know, they did the

[43:34] cleanup in the yard and and that, but sounds like there might be more to do.

[43:39] And I mean technically as I know too like the gentleman that lives there uh

[43:44] Mr. McFarland he is currently incarcerated for 90 days. So he's not

[43:48] even there to take care of these animals. And I have yet to really see uh

[43:52] Susan um Sell the actual property owner there very much often either. Just

[43:57] people that are staying in the yellow house. So like I haven't seen her in

[44:02] particular and he's in county jail for 90 days.

[44:04] » Yeah. So, >> so Bryce is going to have to do his job,

[44:07] which unfortunately takes time, but um we'll it's it's not something that we're

[44:13] going to forget about. >> So,

[44:15] » okay. Thank you guys. >> Thank you.

[44:17] » Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[44:24] » Thank you. Uh okay. Any other public comments anyone would like to make?

[44:32] Okay. Uh hearing none, I would ask if there are any council comments at this

[44:38] time. >> I do [snorts]

[44:41] uh I put out uh for everybody uh another

[44:46] list of articles on uh data centers.

[44:52] [snorts] Uh we're not I don't think we're threatened

[44:57] by any big ones, but they do have uh micro and mini data centers. And I don't

[45:06] have a crystal ball, but I think we need to start having some discussions on this

[45:11] because I think it's going to come that we're going to be talking about it.

[45:14] Whether it be any action or not, I don't know. But uh please read these articles.

[45:21] uh see what you think. You're hearing a lot of negative articles on data centers

[45:25] from, you know, every time you look at the news or anything else. Um [snorts]

[45:31] but you're going to have to kind of weed through these things and figure out

[45:35] what's right and what's wrong. Uh it's become a political football now and

[45:41] what politicians are doing. pull their constituents, find out what

[45:46] uh what they're thinking about, and then they take that stand because they want

[45:50] votes. So, right, wrong, or indifferent, we

[45:55] need to try to figure it out for ourselves.

[45:58] And if the subject does come up, we need to make the right decisions.

[46:02] [snorts] >> Okay. Thank you. [clears throat] Thank

[46:04] you, Skip. Any other? >> Yeah, I have a comment. I have a comment

[46:08] on the Court Street project. uh as you know the neighbors approached

[46:14] me that I said well the drop dead dates August 23rd it's got to be done well

[46:20] obviously didn't happen but the contractor left for

[46:24] they bailed out and went and did a project in Salem I believe if they just

[46:29] stuck their nose [clears throat] to the grindstoneone they'd have been a lot

[46:32] further along and a lot closer to being done [snorts] and I won't look so bad to

[46:37] my neighbors >> [clears throat]

[46:40] » It's about it. Thank you. >> Thank you.

[46:47] » Any other comments? >> Um I'm just going to I you know the data

[46:54] center thing is definitely an ongoing concern. I know from an infrastructure

[46:59] standpoint, I think I've talked to Bry or Lance about this a few times and you

[47:05] know what our infrastructure could even support would be questionable. But I do

[47:10] think that we need to probably do a little bit deeper dive and understand if

[47:14] we need zoning just to kind of prevent it from being, you know, somebody shows

[47:19] up at Planning Commission and they want to build a data center in town. Um that

[47:24] we're having to react instead of be proactive.

[47:28] Um you know, mini and micro, we're going to get those micro for sure at some

[47:34] point. Somebody's going to need to put a a small data center in somewhere. But we

[47:39] definitely don't I don't think we could support the big warehouses that we all

[47:43] hear about. >> Yeah.

[47:44] » Um but we should be probably should be a little bit proactive on it and start

[47:49] looking at what do we need to do? What do we want

[47:53] to allow? What what kind of risk do we want to

[47:56] take? That sort of thing. because uh we know infrastructure in in town is an

[48:02] ongoing concern or not an ongoing concern but definitely something we're

[48:06] always looking at to make sure that we're not overt taxing or not preparing

[48:10] for the future. [clears throat]

[48:15] » Good comment. >> Very good. I guess we made up for no new

[48:20] and old business. [laughter]

[48:24] All worked out. So it's so that's good. Any other no more

[48:30] council comments? >> No one. Okay,

[48:34] » real quick. I really appreciate everyone coming and talking to us.

[48:37] » Yeah, >> that is uh it's not something we get a

[48:40] lot of. So, I I appreciate, you know, coming and talk to us. That helps us to

[48:45] understand what what your concerns are. >> I I totally agree. We have always

[48:49] believed in having public comment here and [snorts] uh always try to afford

[48:54] people the opportunity to speak. So, um, I think that was demonstrated tonight in

[49:00] many different ways. So, thank you very much.

[49:04] Okay. Hearing no other council comments, I would entertain a motion to go into

[49:08] executive session for the discussion of personnel section 121.22

[49:15] G1 to consider the employment and

[49:18] compensation of certain public employees.

[49:23] Second motion second.

[49:26] » Nobody will take that away from me. You have me call the role.

[49:33] » Yes. >> Yes.

[49:37] » Listen. [clears throat] >> Yes.

[49:39] » Graham. >> Yes.

[49:42] » Yes. >> Yes.

[49:46] Okay. Thank you.

[49:54] Uh, I would entertain a motion to come out of the executive session for the

[50:00] purpose of discussion of personnel section 121.22

[50:05] G1 to consider the employment and compensation of certain employees.

[50:11] » Second. >> Motion a second.

[50:15] Jamie, call the roll.

[50:20] » Yes. >> Yes.

[50:25] » Yes. >> Yes.

[50:30] » Yes. >> Yes.

[50:35] » I'm going to entertain a motion to adjurnn. So move it.

City Council Meeting | September 1, 2026

Transcript