[1:22] He's a lawyer. >> Good evening and welcome to the Defiant

[1:26] City Council meeting for tonight, [clears throat] September 8th, 2026. As

[1:30] we get underway, we have Pastor Sam Andrews from King's Cross Church here on

[1:35] Second Street to open us up in prayer. Thanks for being our guest this evening.

[1:40] Thank you for this on Thank you for uh allowing me to pray and invite the

[1:45] Lord's uh wisdom and presence into our city. So, Father in heaven, um you are a

[1:52] God of wisdom. You're a God of justice. You're a God of truth. You're God of um

[1:58] all these strong powerful attributes and yet you're also a God of mercy, God of

[2:04] kindness, God of love. And you are these things to a degree that we cannot

[2:09] comprehend with our small minds. And so we we thank you for your character. And

[2:14] we God, we pray that your character would influence our city and its

[2:18] leaders. Uh you care about the justice of peoples of of families, of

[2:23] individuals, of families, of churches, and of cities and nations. And we pray

[2:28] God that our our our city defiance Ohio would be marked by biblical justice, by

[2:35] truth, by doing what is right. And I pray God for these uh uh city leaders

[2:42] and city servants that they would um be able to harmonize and wise wisely pursue

[2:50] these things together. Um, give them wisdom, give them unity, uh, give them

[2:56] uh a sense of neighbor love and care, help them to listen well and speak well.

[3:02] Um, and Lord, we just pray for this meeting. We pray that the the message of

[3:05] the gospel will go forth in our in our in our city uh through your people and

[3:10] there continue to be freedom for that. And we thank you, Lord, for all the good

[3:15] things that are happening in the situations where it's difficult and

[3:18] tense. I got your your word says be kind to one another uh tenderhearted

[3:22] forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you and I if there's a need for

[3:27] forgiveness and kindness we just pray God that you would uh work in your Holy

[3:31] Spirit in that way as well. So we commit this meeting to you and we thank you

[3:35] that I'm thankful to live in a city that commits it uh its meanings to

[3:39] [clears throat] prayer and we pray it's in the name of Jesus and for his glory

[3:42] and his kingdom. Amen. [clears throat] >> Amen.

[3:44] » Amen. Thank you for being our guest and thank

[3:47] you for your service to defiance. >> Thank you for yours.

[3:50] » Uh this meeting is now called to order. Let the record show that all the members

[3:54] of council are present. Would you stand with me for the pledge of allegiance?

[4:00] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to

[4:05] [clears throat] the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,

[4:09] indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[4:17] as we get underway this evening. We have a special guest, Cara Potter, who is our

[4:21] special guest this evening here to discuss the library annex.

[4:26] » Yeah. So, I have some logistical questions first. So, when I created

[4:30] this, I was I'm going to need to zoom in on parts of this images that are on

[4:34] there. Am I going to be able to do that, Lisa, from here?

[4:37] » No. >> Um, yeah, I'll I can try it.

[4:41] » Okay. >> Probably I'll try it. I tried it

[4:43] yesterday when I was making this and I could do it when I had it in slide mode.

[4:48] » Um I just [clears throat] just in case though I'm gonna hand out

[4:52] » one of the images there's if I can't do that there's no way anybody's gonna be

[4:56] able to read it. Thanks. Yeah.

[5:12] » So, thank you everybody for making time for me tonight. So, my name is Cara

[5:17] Potter. I am the director of the Defiance Public Library System. So, our

[5:20] main library is the historic Carnegie building. That's oops on the on the

[5:26] front page. Thank you. And then we have branches in Sherwood and in Hicksville.

[5:31] So we are a city library and we provide countywide services. Our funding comes

[5:36] from the state of Ohio in a countywide levy. We don't get any funding from the

[5:40] city of Defiance, though we cooperate with the city often and I'm very

[5:44] grateful for all the lawn work and mowing that the city does. Um and um so

[5:50] anyhow, I'm going to go over um tell you a little bit about why we need this

[5:55] project and and then show you some images about the the site plan, the

[6:00] floor plan, and um and then interior. [clears throat]

[6:04] They're called renderings, which are computerenerated images of what the the

[6:08] inside might look like when it's built. So go to the next one. Thanks. So this

[6:13] is one of the ones I wanted to zoom in on. Can I walk over there, Lisa, or is

[6:17] that gonna mess this up? >> Walk to this one because that's what's

[6:20] going to be on the television at home. >> Okay.

[6:22] » So, wherever you're pointing the people will be able to see.

[6:24] » Okay. So, um the attics that we're proposing is going to be built on two

[6:29] lots that were donated by a very gener generous um donor and then the library

[6:35] trustees bought [clears throat] a third lot that runs along the back of

[6:39] this building. So, it's directly across the street from the Defiance Public

[6:44] Library. And um some of the things that we were thinking about when we started

[6:49] working on the design of the building was um the fact that it needed to fit

[6:54] into the neighborhood um sizewise, um stylewise, and it also needed to

[7:00] [clears throat] um needed to um reflect some of the um architectural features of

[7:07] the Carnegie building. And uh we needed this this building for a number of

[7:13] reasons. But so this site plan will show you that sorry Lisa can go over this way

[7:18] a little bit. Yeah. So there's lots of greenery around here and um what we're

[7:24] proposing um is that there be I can't remember what this is called. If you

[7:28] shrink down you can see what it's called, but there's a raised walkway

[7:32] across. It's like a giant wide speed bump. Thank you. Right there. Um, and

[7:37] then we have a stop sign that's been here for years here. So, um, we're the

[7:43] [clears throat] the point of having this raised walkway is to slow people down.

[7:46] Um, I noticed especially this past year we were having some issues with people

[7:50] running the stop sign or driving on Fork Street very fast and running the stop

[7:54] sign. So, the police have been wonderful and they've come by. they'll sit there

[7:58] and you know that solves the problem temporarily. But we're uh we're

[8:01] proposing that this raised walkway be there to slow down traffic so it's safe

[8:06] for people to cross [clears throat] and then we'll also be able to paint this

[8:09] appropriately to you know to make it very visible to everybody. So there

[8:14] would be the ways to get to the banics would from the main library would be

[8:18] across the street here or across up at this at the stop sign up here.

[8:24] Can you shrink it down again a little bit?

[8:28] » I think I don't know. >> Looks like they call that a speed table.

[8:32] Car. >> Speed table. Thank you. So, um

[8:37] there you That's fine. Right there. So, um because of this the size of the lot,

[8:43] what we're proposing is some some um handicap parking parking for delivery

[8:48] services in the back here and a few um parking spots here. will the majority of

[8:53] the parking and we're going to be applying for a variance for this would

[8:57] be in the municipal lot across the street. So currently if you go to the

[9:01] library um on any day that it's open usually the lot there's two sections to

[9:06] the lot there and the section closest to the library is usually pretty open and

[9:10] then there's a lot of cars in the lower lot. That's because during co I started

[9:14] letting the staff park in that parking lot. Previous to that, they had parked

[9:18] behind the McDonald building and um during CO it didn't make sense to make

[9:23] people park over there and walk to the building. So, they started parking in

[9:26] the lower lot and we've just never changed that. So, once um the annex is

[9:31] constructed, staff will again be parking over by the McDonald building and to

[9:35] free up space in the municipal lock that's by the building.

[9:41] So, you can go to the next one.

[9:46] Oh, there should be another one.

[9:51] Maybe we skipped over something. Okay, that's okay. Um,

[9:56] so these are the floor plans. So, I'm starting in the basement. So, one thing

[10:00] that we are really um short on are um I think I'm missing a whole bunch of

[10:07] slides. Actually, there should have been three written slides before these.

[10:11] » I got there's slide one. >> Okay. One out of 13.

[10:17] There's >> Okay. Can you slide? Go ahead. Maybe

[10:19] they got out of order somehow.

[10:25] » No, they just disappeared. That's okay. That's okay. I'll I can I can

[10:31] That's okay. >> Okay.

[10:32] » That's okay. Um, so we can go to the basement again.

[10:39] So, um, this is our basement floor plan. So, um,

[10:46] [snorts] this is going to be [clears throat]

[10:47] largely closed to the public. You'll come down into a corridor here, and

[10:52] these will be locked doors here. There's going to be storage area. Currently, the

[10:55] library is paying for three sto off-site storage units because we don't have

[10:59] enough storage in the Carnegie building to keep keep things and we um just very

[11:05] crowded there right now. So, we're going to have storage here. Um, text, this is

[11:09] for all the computer systems for this building will be in there. So like our

[11:12] servers and things like that [cough] and making a large space for the friends

[11:16] of the library. They currently have no space in the library system. And so this

[11:21] would be for storing these books and sorting them. And then um if they want

[11:25] to have book sales and they want to do it in the library, they can open this up

[11:28] to the public and they can come down here and stage the book sale right in

[11:31] the basement. So they don't have to carry books to the mall or to other

[11:35] locations. So that's for the friends of the library. Storage space here.

[11:41] This is a staff break room. This is storage space here. There's a custodial

[11:46] closet, a staff restroom, and then there's a very large mechanical room.

[11:51] So, one of the things that was important to me that was that we didn't that the h

[11:54] the iron had slipped on the outside as much as it did like much as it could

[11:59] like the other buildings in the neighborhood. [clears throat] So, we

[12:01] didn't want to have a lot of mechanical units outside sitting outside the

[12:05] building or on the roof. So, everything's going to be in the

[12:08] basement. This will also um just make these systems last longer, too. So,

[12:13] there's a large mechanical room in the basement, and then there's emergency

[12:17] stairs that go up here. Go to the next one.

[12:23] So, this is the entrance, the uh first floor. So, you walk in to a vestibule.

[12:30] There's a lobby here, uh circulation desk where you can check out books.

[12:34] There's a circulation work room here. Um, we get book deliveries um from the

[12:39] state of Ohio's uh delivery system. So, the books would get delivered here.

[12:44] There's an elevator here and there's a large community meeting room. So, when I

[12:49] started working in Defiance, it was I started three weeks before COVID hit and

[12:54] so um I didn't have a lot of chance to meet people or visit other

[13:00] organizations. And so what I did is I spent a lot of time going online and

[13:03] reading everybody's strategic plan and annual reports and things like that. So

[13:07] I I looked at the nonprofits, the city, the college, you know, anything I could

[13:12] find. And the one theme that was recurring was that there was

[13:15] [clears throat] no uh community meeting room space available. So that's one of

[13:19] the reasons we wanted to build this annex is to provide fill that niche in

[13:23] the community. So there's a large community meeting room planned. It will

[13:27] have all the technology you would need to run a modern meeting. Um, according

[13:32] to the architects, it would accommodate 130 people standing. I'm not sure how

[13:37] many people sitting. It probably just depends on how close the chairs are and

[13:40] if you have tables, those sorts of things, but it's 130 people. So, there

[13:44] would be community reading room and then there's two, they call them huddle

[13:49] rooms, but um small meeting rooms. These would be accessible for the public.

[13:54] an adult literacy office. Um, again, one of the services we get a we get asked

[13:59] about a lot is if we provide literacy tutoring for adults and we don't

[14:04] currently do that. We don't have the staff to do it. We don't have space to

[14:07] do it. So, um, I have done that. I've been involved in a literacy tutoring

[14:12] program um, when I worked at Boston Public Library and also when I was the

[14:16] director at the library right before I worked here. So we had a coordinator who

[14:20] um purchased the literacy materials and trained volunteers. And then when people

[14:26] wanted to have a tutor, they would approach the coordinator. She would

[14:30] match the um person, the student, the adult student with one of the

[14:34] volunteers. [clears throat] And those two individuals then would meet either

[14:38] in the library or someplace else public in um the community and and tutor. And

[14:43] they would set their own schedule, how many times they're going to meet a week,

[14:46] those sorts of things. So there's an space for an adult literacy coordinator

[14:51] office space and enough space in the um office to store the m the literacy

[14:56] materials. So um my previous job we had a part-time

[15:02] person doing this that was funded but through a grant um through the

[15:05] department of education. I don't know if I don't believe there's such a grant

[15:08] available in Ohio but um we'll be looking at other ways to to fund some

[15:13] you know that position. And um when I was working at Boston

[15:17] Public Library, when I participated in this program, I was one of the tutors.

[15:20] And the woman that I tutored, I used to meet at a diner that's very similar to

[15:24] Buds. [clears throat] We would just meet there for breakfast and I would tutor

[15:26] her. So there's um restrooms. This large box

[15:33] here is an adult changing table. We have a lot of [snorts] developmentally um

[15:38] disabled adults that use the library. And one of the things that the

[15:42] architects suggested to us that we all thought was a good idea was to have a

[15:45] changing t adultsiz changing table in in the building. So that's there. Um and

[15:50] then the maker space will be over here. So if you've been in the defiance

[15:55] library on one of the mezzanines, we have a department called the maker space

[15:59] and um it's run by Cara Boli. Uh she's our maker space librarian and she does a

[16:05] lot of craft programs and technology programs. um primaril the technology is

[16:10] primar primarily 3D printing so um it's very heav a very heavily used service so

[16:17] we want to give her some more space over here and also the idea was that um

[16:26] if you are need tutoring if you have adult if you need adult literacy

[16:30] services um one of the last places you want to be is in a classroom or a

[16:35] library because it's very intimidating if you're in a classroom, the library,

[16:38] and you're an adult, and you have those kinds of issues. So, we wanted to put it

[16:42] in the ant that office in the end [clears throat] because there's a lot of

[16:45] other things going on here. Um the community room and the maker space. So,

[16:51] it's not quite as libraryike on this floor, at least [snorts] as the main

[16:56] library would be if we were having if we were housing those services there.

[17:01] So again, there's some mechanical room here and then um stairs up at the

[17:06] emergency staircase there. So if you went up these wider staircases here, you

[17:11] can go to the next slide, Lisa. Thanks. Um the whole second floor is children's

[17:18] services. So we're moving the book collection that's in the basement and

[17:21] children's services over here and we're expanding their space for them. So these

[17:26] are book stacks here. Um, we're going to have a much larger craft room. We have a

[17:32] small, very tiny craft room in our children's room right now. Again, it's

[17:34] heavily used, so we're making more space for that. There's the elevator. Uh,

[17:40] children's offices. The staff work room um is where they would put together the

[17:45] um [clears throat] the supplies for the programs that

[17:49] they're doing. And also, they do a lot of decorating

[17:51] » [clears throat] >> um and very creative things in the

[17:53] children's room. So, that would be happening in this craft this staff work

[17:57] room. They are having storage have some storage space here, public restrooms.

[18:03] And then over here is the baby preschool and toddler room. So the idea, and

[18:08] you'll understand this more when you see some of the renderings, is if you go up,

[18:12] you're going to be looking out the windows at the Carnegie building and at

[18:14] the fort grounds. And it's almost going to feel like a treehouse on the second

[18:18] floor because it's going to have a ceiling. So we can go to the next.

[18:26] Okay. You have to go back to the You've got to shrink it down because

[18:30] this is this one. >> Yeah. Go back to the regular size. Thank

[18:35] you. So, if you were standing on the front steps of the Defiance building,

[18:39] this is what you would see across the street. So, the preschool toddler room

[18:44] that I was talking about, it's right up here. This is the maker space. There's

[18:48] outdoor seating. These posts will be for um people to plug in and charge their

[18:54] phones and they get electrical outlets. Um I did have some concerns about people

[18:58] hanging out here at night doing this um because we have a a a homeless

[19:03] population that spends time around the library. So we'll be able to turn those

[19:06] off and on when the buildings open and closed. And then the main entrance is

[19:10] right here. So that um the raised walkway [clears throat]

[19:14] would be right across here like that.

[19:22] So, this would be a view from um probably the corner of the Defiance

[19:28] building looking over this way. So, you can see we're going to have some bare

[19:32] trees and a fence to um protect the neighbors and that will be over go all

[19:37] the way around and also on this side between the library [clears throat] and

[19:41] Mr. Stansel's house.

[19:48] This is what the lobby would look like when you walk in. So, they can't

[19:52] replicate the colors exactly with a computer program, but we're going to be

[19:56] matching the the red color that's in the Carnegie building when you walk into the

[20:00] main entrance with this this here. And the desk is going to um mimic the color

[20:06] of the wood and the shape of of our horseshoe desk, original horseshoe desk

[20:11] that's over in another building. So, this would be an entrance to the

[20:14] community room, and these are the two huddle rooms that we were looking down

[20:18] at. So, we're going to be able to um close off the hallway a little bit

[20:25] further down so they can be um after hours access for the meeting room. So,

[20:30] say if city [clears throat] council wanted to use this meeting room after

[20:34] hours, you would be able to have access to it through it to it um because we

[20:38] would be able to close off parts of the hallway and so you would still have

[20:42] access to the restrooms and the community room, but the rest of the

[20:45] building would be shut off.

[20:49] Uh this is what the inside of the community room would look like.

[20:54] And again, we're mimicking um what's over at the Carnegie building. Um, these

[20:59] doors and the shape, these are all um were inspired by the Nelly Gary room

[21:06] over in the in the Defiance building.

[21:12] So, this is the maker space. Um, again, we're kind of in the corner, so you can

[21:16] see the the library across the street here. So, um, this image shows adults

[21:21] and kids using it, and that's actually very true. We have all ages using this,

[21:25] um, service. So, um she works with Cara Bola works with um elementary school age

[21:32] kids through adults. Um and these are if you've never seen a 3D printer, that's

[21:38] kind of what they look like now.

[21:44] So, this is upstairs in the children's room. So, the theme that they picked

[21:48] we've chosen for the children's room is the river and the confluence and the

[21:51] nature that's around the confluence. So, you'll see a lot of nature themed motifs

[21:56] in here. Um, this is inspired by the rivers.

[22:01] Um, if this would be the stairway coming up is right here. That's the craft room.

[22:07] That's the elevator. [clears throat] The children's offices are back there. And

[22:11] we positioned the main desk. So, it's right in the middle of the room. And

[22:15] they have I sight lines for the whole space. So, um, one thing that we, you

[22:21] know, I've had, I started off as a children's librarian, and one of the

[22:24] things they drill into you when you're go through that training is that, um,

[22:28] public libraries are public spaces. You can't control who's in a public library.

[22:32] So, you kind of have to treat it like a shopping mall. And, um, when you have

[22:36] kids in there, a lot of times parents feel very comfortable in libraries and

[22:40] think they can leave their kids in there or not really be paying attention. And

[22:45] um where our children's room is right now, there's a lot of little nooks that

[22:49] people can hide in because it's was not designed as a children's room. It was

[22:53] office space and I think a community room at one time. So, um there's just no

[22:59] good sight lines down here. So, we specifically designed this space so that

[23:02] there's sightelines and it's a very um easily supervised space.

[23:08] So this is the preschool toddler area and um again the colors were selected

[23:16] from um you know the colors of the trees and

[23:21] other nature natural items around the the confluence. And this would be more

[23:26] of a play area and it would have um picture books and um board books.

[23:34] Okay. Okay. And I've got one more slide, I think. So, this is the slide that I

[23:39] was going to go over. So, these are the facts about the levy. So, um I'm a

[23:43] public library employee, so I'm not allowed to ask people to vote one way or

[23:47] the other on the levy, but um I can provide you with facts about it. So, um

[23:53] this is the same sheet that I just handed out to you. Um, so there's going

[23:57] to be a levy on the ballot in November and um [clears throat]

[24:02] it's going to be um renewing our our 75 mil levy that we've had for I think

[24:09] it'll be 25 years uh next year. So that levy has gone to operating cost for

[24:15] library and it's been the number has been unchanged for 25 years. So this is

[24:19] the first time we've come back for a a change in a levy in 25 years. So what

[24:24] we're doing is we're going to be asking po for a 09 mil increase and that will

[24:29] be backfilling the library budget. Public libraries in Ohio um according to

[24:35] Ohio revised code can borrow against our state income to do construction

[24:40] projects. So that's what we're we're doing. We're borrowing against what's

[24:43] called the public library fund money that we receive each month. So um the

[24:48] debt payment will come right out of that um public library fund money that we

[24:52] get. So this le this levy increase is to back we typically use that for our

[24:58] operating costs. So this um 0.9 mil increase will be backfilling our

[25:04] operating budget so that we can pay we can pay the um the construction debt and

[25:11] it will also be covering the operating cost for the new building.

[25:16] So we're going to be fundraising also. Um, our fundraising goal is 30% of the

[25:21] total construction cost, which is 2.5 million. And the library had saved over

[25:26] the years, we had saved $1 million, which we've already partially used to do

[25:31] some of the property purchase and pay the architects and things like that.

[25:36] So, um, I think I'm at an end here. I'm happy to

[25:42] answer any questions. And all this information is also on the library

[25:46] website. And um

[25:50] I [clears throat] um as Cathy said, I'm happy to answer any [cough] questions um

[25:54] or entertain any comments. >> Mr. Hancock,

[25:57] » first question I Hi, Cara. First question I had was the currently I

[26:01] believe there's some parking >> on the street there. Um will that be

[26:06] will that be removed? >> Do you know?

[26:09] » Well, it will be where the uh table where the speed table is. There won't be

[26:14] parking there of course, but I I don't I mean really the parking is going to be

[26:18] determined by the city. That's a zoning issue. Um currently, like you said,

[26:22] there's on street parking. Um what'll happen is that um the library will have

[26:27] to go to the zoning and ask for a variance.

[26:30] » Okay. >> So [clears throat] we haven't we haven't

[26:32] done that yet. And the second question when um we speak of the levy um is it

[26:37] the.75

[26:40] and the 0.9 together as one levy? >> Yes.

[26:45] » 1.65. >> Yes correctly.

[26:48] » Yes. >> Um and there's a is there a term for

[26:52] that levy? Is there like let's say a 5year 10 year 15 year?

[26:57] » It's a 35 year levy. So the reason we did that is to spread the cost to the

[27:01] taxpayers out over as many years as we can. So it would have less impact. And

[27:06] we also have um we anticipate that levy amount diminishing as we get more paid

[27:11] off. We'll just be reducing reducing it each each year that we get more of the

[27:16] principal more of it paid off. [clears throat] And also if we're very

[27:20] successful in fundraising that could also reduce the le.

[27:23] » Okay. Thank you >> Mr. Mast. I had two questions. curious

[27:28] on sizewise compared to your your current building. What's the the new

[27:32] building square footage? >> It's about 14,000 square feet. So, it's

[27:36] about almost doubling our space. >> Doubling what you have now.

[27:40] » So, what we'll be doing with the space that's freed up in the main library is

[27:43] um again, if you've been here on a Tuesday or Thursday night, you'll see

[27:47] that we're overrun with teens. We have a very successful teen program and

[27:50] sometimes there's 50 kids and they're on one of the mezzanines, which is not

[27:55] good. So, it's very noisy. So, we're going to be moving them down probably

[27:59] into where the children's room is now. So, they'll have more space. Um, and

[28:04] they won't they're if they're loud, they won't impact as many people. And then

[28:09] some of the mezzanine space we're going to be turning into office space and

[28:12] possibly small meeting room space for the public. So, um, that still has is

[28:18] being figured out. And we and the the intent is also to expand our local

[28:22] history offerings, too. So, we'll be um expanding some of that into the Nelly

[28:27] Gary room probably. >> Will this will the annex require

[28:30] additional staffing or do you have staffing to cover?

[28:32] » It will require I mean some of the staffing will just move over there like

[28:35] the children's room staff will just go over there. We will have to hire um more

[28:40] circulation staff to work at the circulation desk. And um I anticipate

[28:44] having to hire probably the equivalent probably two part-time

[28:49] people, the equivalent of one full-time person to help staff the maker space. So

[28:53] that's those staffing costs have all been calculated into the levy amount um

[28:58] to cover the staffing. >> So that's part of the operational cost

[29:02] that's in building the ley. >> Yes. So the operation costs would are

[29:06] you know the the utilities um maintenance and staffing.

[29:11] » Thank you. Do we have any other questions or comments for Miss Pome?

[29:17] » Mr. Posey. >> Yes sir. I think we have a building

[29:21] already in place. that could accommodate whatever you

[29:26] junior high school. >> Yeah, we did we did actually look at the

[29:30] junior high school four or five years ago and it's much larger [cough] than

[29:34] what we [clears throat] need. We would need like one quarter of the first floor

[29:38] and the envelope of the building is um quite damaged. it would need a lot of

[29:43] work and it's also not handicapped accessible and because of the way it's

[29:47] constructed with the bricks and the mortar. It's um be very difficult to

[29:52] enlarge the bathrooms or the doorways to make them handicapped accessible and

[29:56] also the entrance. I don't know if you walk you probably have walked up the

[29:59] steps there. Um we would have to have quite an extensive exterior ramp to make

[30:04] it handicapped accessible too and we're required to be handicapped accessible

[30:08] because we're a public building. I can understand that, but I mean a school I

[30:14] had to handicap people. >> I I think one of the reasons they moved

[30:19] out of that building is because it was not meeting ADA requirements.

[30:23] » Nice question.

[30:27] » Um I would have to disagree. I'm sorry. [clears throat]

[30:30] » I'm going to disagree. >> I love Don't get me wrong. I love the

[30:33] building and I would love to see something happen to it. Um, but I don't

[30:38] think this we don't we just don't have the amount of money it would take to

[30:41] restore that building. It would be probably four to five times the cost of

[30:45] doing this building. >> It's historical one thing.

[30:49] » Oh, I know. And I would encourage anybody who's interested in historical

[30:53] buildings in town to do some fundraising maybe to help help bring that that

[30:57] building back. [clears throat and cough] >> And do we have any other questions for

[31:01] Miss Potter? >> All right.

[31:03] » Thank you. >> Well, thank you for being our guest this

[31:05] evening. Thank you. >> Thank you.

[31:08] » [clears throat] >> I've reviewed the index minutes for our

[31:11] city council meeting of August 25th. Do we have a motion to correct or amend

[31:15] these index minutes as they're presented?

[31:18] » Without such a motion, I'll endorse them. And do we have any liaison meeting

[31:24] uh reports or requests? Do we have any comments from council?

[31:30] » Mr. Mr. Wax, >> I was glad to see they got the house

[31:32] over on Harrison tore down and cleaned up. That looks good over there.

[31:38] » Thank you. I think we're not too far from a couple

[31:41] others. Correct. >> Correct.

[31:46] Any other comments? >> Okay, I'll move to the administration.

[31:53] Mayor McCann, >> just one item. I'll be very important.

[31:57] Mr. President, members of council, uh, this Friday is the 25th anniversary of

[32:03] the 911 attacks on our country and the fire department will be hosting a

[32:09] ceremony at Defiance High School at 9:00 in Fred J. Brown Stadium, 9:00 a.m.

[32:17] Okay. >> Thank you, M.

[32:20] And that's all you have? >> That is, sir,

[32:24] » Mr. Mack. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I

[32:27] actually, um, so Friday we had a great drone show and I will let our finance

[32:32] director probably get more into that. Um, but most people went home after that

[32:37] or after football game, went to bed, woke up the next morning realizing there

[32:41] had been a storm. And I just want to thank our city crews. uh between police,

[32:46] fire, water, sewer, parks, streets, even the engineering division, they were

[32:50] fielding phone calls by 1 and 2 am. We had a significant portion of the city

[32:55] workforce who came to work Saturday morning at 1 or 2 in the morning to try

[33:00] to make sure when everybody woke up the next day that toilets were flushing,

[33:04] water was running, and the streets didn't have trees in the middle of them.

[33:07] So, just wanted to point that out and and thank them in front of all of you so

[33:11] you were aware of it. >> And that's all, Mr. President. Thank

[33:14] you, Mrs. Suran.

[33:17] » Thank you. Council did request planning commission to review our current zoning

[33:22] code to strengthen zoning amendments for data centers at the meeting on August

[33:27] 25th. I just wanted to provide an update about that.

[33:32] Procedurally, here's what to expect. The zoning commissioner and planning

[33:37] commission clerk Nikki Waricki is actively working on recommendations for

[33:42] zoning code amendments related to data centers based off the research that she

[33:46] started back in February. Those will be on the planning

[33:51] commission's next agenda, which their next meeting is September 21st, 2026.

[33:58] They meet every third Monday of the month here in council chambers at 4:30m.

[34:04] So those will be on that agenda. They can make recommendations

[34:10] back to council at that meeting or they can continue it to another meeting if

[34:15] there's still a lot of things that they need to review. Once they make

[34:19] recommendations back to council, it'll trigger kind of how we started with the

[34:25] first zoning amendments with the definition for data centers.

[34:29] [clears throat] So, she would submit a request for legislation to the law

[34:34] department. I would draft something and it then would be put on council's

[34:38] agenda. Would be needing a public hearing after that. So, just an update.

[34:45] » Nothing additional. Well, thank you very much. [clears throat]

[34:49] » And Miss Spray, >> um, as to what Ryan said, we did have

[34:52] the drone show Friday night, um, to celebrate America's 250th birthday. It

[34:58] went over really well. We didn't have any hiccups. The weather stayed away

[35:03] until 1 2:00 and then it came in and did did its thing. So, we were I was

[35:08] grateful. The guy that did the drone show was very happy. Um, but thanks to

[35:13] all our employees. there was somebody from every department that pitched in

[35:17] and helped out to make it a a success. Um, I heard a ton of positive u from the

[35:23] community and that pulled in people from all over. So, I think it went over

[35:27] really well. >> Excellent. Well, thank you.

[35:30] » Yep. >> Uh, we do have four items of legislation

[35:36] for this evening. Would you read the caption [clears throat] for the first

[35:38] » third reading by caption only vacating the rideways located directly north of

[35:43] 330 332 334 and 338 Dford Street in the fellow Adams edition city of Defiance

[35:50] Defiance Township Defiance County, Ohio. >> Mrs. Sigan,

[35:54] » thank you. There is an application requesting the vacation of an alley

[35:58] located directly north of 330, 332, 334, and 338 Danford Street. There's a

[36:06] description up on the screen. It's a paper alley. No utilities were located

[36:10] on site. Planning commission heard this request July 20th. Voted unanimously to

[36:16] recommend approval to grant that vacation request. This is the third

[36:20] reading. >> Mr. Waxler.

[36:22] » No further question. Motion spending call. Nope. Always can't do that. Adopt

[36:27] or adopt. I'm sorry. Yes. On the table. I'm sorry. I

[36:29] » motion to adopt. >> Motion to adopt. Mr. Waxler.

[36:33] » Second. >> Second. Mr. Engel. I forgot it was on

[36:36] the table. >> Mr. Engle.

[36:41] » Yes. >> Mr. Engle.

[36:42] » Yes. >> Okay. [clears throat] Mr. Wexler.

[36:44] » Yes. >> Mr. Mass.

[36:45] » Yes. >> Mrs. Crutch.

[36:46] » Yes. >> Mr. Hancock.

[36:48] » Yes. >> Miss Kaufman.

[36:49] » Yes. >> And Mr. Corbett. [clears throat]

[36:51] » Yes. >> All right.

[36:53] » With that, this ordinance is adopted. >> Second reading by caption only.

[36:59] [clears throat] in Orange Bay vacating the rightways located to the rear of the

[37:02] properties of 610, 616, 622 Nicholas Street, and 611, 613, and 623 Gibson

[37:10] Street in Ho Gates Edition, City Defiance, Defiance County, Ohio.

[37:15] » Mrs. Sigan, >> thank you. There is another application

[37:18] requesting vacation of an alley located to the rear of the properties at 610,

[37:24] 616, 622 Nicholas Street and the rear [clears throat] of 611, 613, and 623

[37:30] Gibson Street. The alley does have power lines, but there is an existing easement

[37:35] within the OC for public utilities. Planning Commission did hear this

[37:40] request at their August 17th meeting and they voted unanimously to recommend

[37:45] approval to council to grant this vacation request. This is the second

[37:50] reading. >> Do we have any questions or comments for

[37:54] Mrs. Surigan and Mr. Mass?

[37:57] » Motion to let this lie. >> Motion to second Mr. Corbett. All those

[38:03] in favor of letting this issue lie until next time say I. I. All those opposed.

[38:08] All right, we'll let this one lie. >> First reading by caption only a

[38:13] resolution accepting amounts of rates determined by the budget commission and

[38:16] at the authorizing necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county

[38:20] auditor. >> Mr. Brick,

[38:23] » thank you. Um, this is just a routine resolution. It's brought to you once a

[38:27] year um asking you to accept the rates and amounts determined by the budget

[38:31] commission. Um, this these amounts are down about $4,000 over 25, but still up

[38:39] roughly 150 over 24. You can see these get split between the general fund,

[38:44] police, and fire pensions. >> Do we have any questions for Miss Bragg?

[38:53] » Mr. Question call. >> Motion to suspend call.

[38:56] » Second. >> Second, Mr. Mast.

[38:58] » Miss Coffin. >> Yes.

[38:59] » Mr. Waxler. >> Yes.

[39:00] » Mrs. Crutch. >> Yes. [clears throat]

[39:02] » Mr. Corbett. >> Yes.

[39:03] » Mr. Mass. >> Yes.

[39:05] » Mr. Engel. >> Yes.

[39:06] » And Mr. Hancock. >> Yes.

[39:08] » Motion to adopt. >> Motion to adopt. Mr. Hancock.

[39:11] » Second. >> Second. [clears throat] Mr. Mast.

[39:13] » Mrs. Crutch. >> Yes.

[39:15] » Mr. Mass. >> Yes.

[39:16] » Mr. Engel. >> Yes.

[39:17] » Mr. Corbett. >> Yes.

[39:19] » Mr. Hancock. >> Yes.

[39:20] » Mr. Waxler. >> Yes.

[39:21] » And Miss Kaufman. >> Yes.

[39:25] » With that, this resolution is adopted. First reading may caption only a

[39:31] resolution accepting the defiance county budget commission's alder plan and

[39:35] approach approach improment [clears throat]

[39:39] of the undefied or local government funds. All

[39:42] » set. [laughter]

[39:45] » Thank you. Um same thing. This is a routine resolution brought to you every

[39:50] year um asking you to approve the local government funds. Um, these funds are up

[39:56] roughly $15,000 over last year and these these funds all go into the general

[40:02] fund. >> All right, Mr. Corbett.

[40:05] » Motion to suspend and call. >> Motion to suspend and call.

[40:08] » Second, Mrs. Crutch.

[40:14] » Mr. Corbett. >> Yes.

[40:15] » Mr. Hancock, >> yes.

[40:16] » Mr. Ingo, >> yes.

[40:18] » Miss Coughlin, >> yes.

[40:19] » Mr. Mass, >> yes. [clears throat]

[40:20] » Mr. Wexler, >> yes.

[40:22] » And Mr. Scratch, >> yes.

[40:24] Motion. >> Motion to adopt. Second.

[40:26] » Second. Mr. Mast. >> Mr. Hancock.

[40:32] » Yes. >> Mr. Engel.

[40:33] » Yes. >> Mr. Mass.

[40:34] » Yes. >> Mrs. Scratch.

[40:35] » Yes. >> Miss Kaufman.

[40:37] » Yes. >> Mr. Corbett?

[40:38] » Yes. >> And Mr. Waxley?

[40:40] » Yes. >> With that, this resolution is adopted.

[40:45] Do we with the items of legislation addressed? Did we have any citizens

[40:50] concerns before we adjourn for the evening? Mr. Posie.

[40:55] » Hey.

[41:12] » Good. 1917.

[41:18] And my question tonight is about veterans homes or place we can get like

[41:26] a veterans hospital here in the plan. We've got problems that you know

[41:31] veterans saying things need addressed. Sorry about this. I had two strokes.

[41:36] Okay. So I just wondered what how I have the issue for mayor. What's the

[41:46] what's the update going on? There is a gentleman that is working on

[41:50] a small number of veterans apartments or homes. Uh, Miss Posey, I don't know too

[41:56] many more details than that, but stay tuned because I believe something will

[42:00] be coming before planning commission very soon.

[42:03] » Thank you very much. >> You're welcome.

[42:05] » For the veterans and people of the United States,

[42:10] we thank you very much. >> Yep. Thank you, Mr. Posey.

[42:14] » Yeah. Do we have any other citizens concerns?

[42:18] No. All right. With the items of legislation addressed, do we have a

[42:23] motion to adjurnn for this? So move. >> So move, Mr. Corbeck.

[42:27] » Second, Mr. Mast. All those in favor of adjourning this evening say I. I.

[42:31] » All those opposed. We are ajourned.

Defiance City Council Meeting | September 8, 2026

Transcript