[0:07] will call the meeting to order. Please rise if you're able and join me in the

[0:10] pledge.

[0:14] To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it

[0:19] stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice

[0:24] for all.

[0:28] Okay, this is a regular meeting for September 9th. Uh we have a few things

[0:34] on the agenda tonight. I do want to take an opportunity if you haven't already,

[0:37] please sign in to the log in the back of the room. And during public comments or

[0:42] any other time when you wish to speak, please do come up to the podium, state

[0:46] your name and address just so we can take more accurate minutes. We're really

[0:49] working hard on getting the transcripts of these meetings down pat. So please

[0:53] don't comment from the gallery. please come up to the podium. Um, all right.

[0:58] So, we'll jump into a couple of our public comments sections. Doug, I saw

[1:02] you come in. I figured it'd be pretty quick, but um, we're going to start with

[1:06] Dan. Dan Tsley and our revolutionary war medic.

[1:10] Come on up, Dan. >> No pair with the fake.

[1:15] » I know. Well, I just we gotten so used to starting with this presentation, I

[1:18] don't want to stop now. >> There. We got four more to go. Can you

[1:22] imagine? We've done that. We've done that many. So, four more. warmer to go.

[1:25] That means we're getting toward the end of the year and and into uh into uh fall

[1:29] and winter. So So I'm uh I'm just pleased to present to you Harlem

[1:36] Townships uh where we on September. September uh Revolutionary War Soldier

[1:42] of the Month, Abraham Adams, 1755 through 1822. Sergeant, Sussex County

[1:48] Militia, New Jersey. wife Susanna Forum Adams 1755 through 1832. Abraham Adams

[1:56] served as a sergeant in the Sussex County Militia during the Revolutionary

[2:00] War, a rank he held in Captain Benj Benjamin Cochenall

[2:07] Cochen Cochenall Company. Enlisting in 1775 at the age of 20, Adams was part of

[2:13] a critical local defense force in New Jersey, a colony that saw extensive

[2:18] military maneuvering and conflict throughout the war. As a

[2:22] non-commissioned officer, he would have been responsible for the drill and

[2:25] discipline of his unit, which was tasked with frontier defense and maintaining

[2:29] order in a region often beset by loyalist activity and raids. Following

[2:34] the war and a period of residence in Wyom in the Wyoming Valley of

[2:38] Pennsylvania, the Adams family undertook a significant migration to the Ohio

[2:43] frontier. In 1808, Adams, his wife Susanna, an extended family group,

[2:48] including his brother David Adams and son-in-law Daniel Bennett, arrived in

[2:53] what is now Harlem Township, Delaware County. They were among the very first

[2:56] settlers to break ground in this wilderness, arriving shortly after the

[3:00] first land purchaser, Banija Cook. Upon arrival, the family cleared the dense

[3:05] forest and constructed log cabins to establish their homestead on the virgin

[3:09] land. Abraham Adams became a prominent and early farmer and founding patriarch

[3:14] of the community, cementing a family legacy that included the establishment

[3:18] of Harlem Buzztown Cemetery, where he and Susanna are now buried. Thank you.

[3:23] » Great, Dan. Thanks.

[3:27] All right, Doug, since you've had time to prepare, um I know that you've you've

[3:31] got some OPWC information for us on a grant for Green Cook, correct?

[3:35] » Yes.

[3:43] » Yeah. Uh thank you, trustees. Doug RLE, uh township leaison from Delaware County

[3:48] Engineers Office. Uh we're in the process now of of beginning to put

[3:53] together our grant applications for this this uh coming OPWC

[3:58] uh round of funding. And what is in front of the board is um number one a um

[4:05] authorizing legislation having having John uh be the signatory on all the the

[4:11] grant uh applications on behalf of the township. So we would need uh a

[4:17] resolution from the board stating that John can do that. Uh the second thing is

[4:24] a cooperative agreement um between Parliament Township and the uh county

[4:31] commissioners for our our grant assistance program. I mean, we've had

[4:35] this for years now where uh for every dollar the township contributes to a

[4:40] project, the county will match with $3 up to uh a maximum of 150,000. So, in

[4:46] other words, the township puts in 30,000. The uh towards the grant, the uh

[4:53] county comes in with 90,000 and that leverages quite a bit of local money uh

[4:58] towards the grant and we've been very successful in Harlem Township these

[5:03] types of grants. So, um, those two things can be signed tonight so that we

[5:10] can get things in front of the county commissioners before the, uh, grant

[5:15] deadline at, uh, beginning of November. I do have, uh, one copy. Unfortunately,

[5:21] I didn't make any more of of the, uh, estimate for the section of Green Crook

[5:27] Road. It's between Center Village and Woodtown. It's going to be very similar

[5:31] to uh what we've done or what's being planned for the uh section of Green Cook

[5:39] that was awarded a grant uh this past winter. Um there's no update on when

[5:46] construction is going to start in that section yet, but as soon as I hear

[5:51] something, I will let you know. So, I'm going to hand this estimate and you can

[5:55] review it. It's Do we have a resolution? We we didn't in the original agenda.

[5:59] That's why um I wanted to get it a recap from Doug

[6:05] just to understand. So Doug, is it two things we're we're discussing tonight?

[6:10] » Um two separate items. >> It's really

[6:15] it's really Adam just one item. It would be the uh one item with two parts. So,

[6:21] in other words, it's applying for the grant and

[6:25] » and allowing Pritchard to sign for >> and allowing

[6:28] John to sign all the documents and then obviously participating in the uh road

[6:35] assistance grant program with the county.

[6:44] And Lisa, you you said you have all that paperwork, correct?

[6:48] » Yeah.

[6:53] Bob, John, anything? >> No.

[6:57] Been the best thing for the township long as I can remember. Yes.

[7:02] » It is the absolute best grant opportunity to improve our roads that uh

[7:08] that we've had now for 40 years. So, it's it's been a great program. Um,

[7:16] we take advantage of as much as we can for all of our townships and encourage

[7:20] them to apply every year for, you know, their ongoing road maintenance needs.

[7:28] » All right. Um, yeah, Doug, I don't I don't know if I

[7:32] have any questions or I know Pritchard's in the loop and Lisa has all the

[7:35] information. Actually, I think we'll add that as resolution 11. Um, and then

[7:40] we'll just we'll vote on it in sequence, Doug, but I don't I don't know that.

[7:43] Okay, >> another question is going to come up.

[7:45] » I appreciate the the opportunity just to come in at last minute and get this

[7:49] taken care of because your meeting in October is a little bit later in the

[7:53] month and I'm still trying to get all of our township stuff signed in in time to

[7:58] get the commissioners by the end of October. So,

[8:01] » all right. >> Great.

[8:03] » Thanks very much. >> And I'm happy to any other questions

[8:06] from the board regarding anything going on?

[8:13] I it it it's probably not even in your wheelhouse, but I will express to you a

[8:18] little bit of traffic circle envy because the traffic circle on Walnut

[8:23] Road over in Genanoa Township just completed.

[8:26] » Yes. >> It's very nice. And then on my way home

[8:30] from looking at that new traffic circle, I saw the ones that we got installed and

[8:34] it gave me a little bit of traffic circle envy. We don't have trees. We

[8:36] don't have nice landscaping. We're missing some things, you know. You know,

[8:39] I saw the one on 605 just inside New Albany and then also traffic circle

[8:43] envy. So, I don't know. I don't know how to make myself feel better about that

[8:47] and we've talked about it here a couple of times. Yeah. I'm just going to have

[8:50] to find different ways in and out of the Harlem Township.

[8:53] » So, I just I don't know if if you can advise who we should talk to about some

[8:58] traffic circle beautifification programs.

[9:01] I will check on that Adam and and get back to the trustees and with John and

[9:07] see, you know, what kind of discussions we have because, you know, predominantly

[9:13] the uh maintenance of those roundabouts are either the counties or the states.

[9:17] There's very rarely is a township substantially 100% responsible for uh

[9:24] roundabouts. So, um I will check into that and we'll we'll get back to you

[9:30] all. appreciate that. That was my assumption as well. I just don't

[9:32] remember anybody asking us what we wanted it to look like. So, yeah, if you

[9:36] get back to us, that'd be great just to know.

[9:38] » Certainly. >> Thanks very much, Doug. You're always

[9:40] great. >> Thanks.

[9:42] » Um, okay. Before we get into resolutions tonight, is there any other further

[9:46] public comment this evening? >> Going twice.

[9:52] Okay, we are in um the board is in receipt of a couple of different zoning

[9:55] applications this evening. Um, the first thing I want to address with the board

[9:59] is we will need to schedule a special hearing for these. The 30-day window

[10:03] will end before our next regular meeting in October. So, we'll have to um

[10:08] schedule one ahead of that um for these zoning hearings. Does is there a

[10:12] preference um or obligation either way? >> I think Ashley and Pritchard, we had

[10:20] originally talked about the 7th, October 7th, just in keeping with the Wednesday

[10:25] evening routine. I don't know if anyone has objection to that.

[10:29] » Is that That's

[10:34] » No, it isn't. It's just under >> just under. Yeah. About 28 days.

[10:37] » 6:30. >> And we can do it earlier. There were at

[10:43] last night's zoning commission meeting, there was one individual, I think that

[10:49] one woman that had some questions, but there were no comments negative.

[10:56] » No. >> Or, you know, we do have to wait for

[10:59] planning. They have not submitted their report.

[11:03] » So, we would evaluate that >> with it. But, you know,

[11:10] John, if he's going to be attending Richard, I mean, I would say do it at

[11:14] like 5:00 if if I don't know if you can make it, but

[11:18] » um I would say 5:30 is probably a safe bet for me as long as there's no issues.

[11:22] » I'm good with that. >> Moving it up in the day,

[11:24] » making a whole evening. >> So, I think what I would propose is um

[11:32] uh 2605 we'd set for 5:30. Um 266

[11:40] set for 540.

[11:43] » I'll moved. >> Second.

[11:46] » Uh so we'll we'll split them up into um motion

[11:51] or resolution 001 and 002. So 001 has been moved and seconded. That is um

[11:56] receive zoning application HDZC2605 RIA and family LC LLC. Commission

[12:02] recommendation to the trustees on September 8th, 2026. Hearing set on 106

[12:06] at 5:30 p.m. Um, all those in favor I >> I

[12:10] » I opposed. Motion carries. And I would ask for a motion for

[12:16] resolution 02 receiving of HTZC 2606. We would set that for 106 540.

[12:25] » Second. >> Moved and seconded. Those in favor I. I.

[12:27] » I. Opposed. Motion carries. >> You're correct. Forgive me. 107

[12:36] on for both.

[12:41] Okay, we'll move on to the consent agenda. Um, resolution 003 this evening.

[12:48] Uh consent agenda was submitted to the board prior to the meeting this evening

[12:52] consisting of September 2026 financials um approval of communications report and

[13:01] regular meeting minutes from July 15th and August 19th or their uh end zoning

[13:07] report. Is there anything in the consent agenda that anyone would like to pull

[13:10] out for discussion? >> No.

[13:16] » Me neither. I will move approval of the consent agenda.

[13:20] » Second. >> Moved and seconded. Those in favor? I.

[13:22] » I. >> I. Opposed.

[13:26] Motion carries. Okay. Lisa. >> Okay. Approval of warrants and vouchers

[13:31] in the payment listing reports starting with warrant number 14475

[13:38] through warrant number 14492. Voucher number 158-2026

[13:48] through voucher number 16-26.

[13:54] Total amount $89,19748.

[14:03] » So move >> second. Moved and seconded. Those in

[14:06] favor I >> I opposed carries.

[14:11] Thanks, Lisa. Chief

[14:18] got one on here.

[14:26] » Sure. Um, we uh have had a lot of people that have not come to work, um, not

[14:34] notified us they weren't going to come back to work. Some of them we know they

[14:38] left. And so, um, we need to clean up the payroll, um, so we don't have these

[14:43] people. We're not paying workers comp on them. We're not, we don't, these are all

[14:46] part-time people, but in order to do that correctly, we need to discharge

[14:51] them from the payroll. Um, these people have worked, um, have not worked in the

[14:55] last 6 months or longer. And so um for the resolution um to uh 26090905

[15:04] the discharge of firefighters from the active duty roster due to their

[15:08] inactivity. Um and it should say effective May 23rd and not inactive. So

[15:14] in it should be effective May 23rd of 2026.

[15:18] Jeff Bailey, Doug Stewart, Sam Edwards, Von Firmalon, Conrad Joseph, Craig

[15:23] Norman, Brandon Terry, and then effective since June 20th of 2026,

[15:28] Matthew Gray, Hayden Norman, Colin Wogan.

[15:31] » Chief, just for clarity, it's Doug Stewart or Doug Dart.

[15:36] » Dart

[15:42] questions from the board. So, so clearly you haven't been

[15:46] operating with these people for some time.

[15:49] » Correct. >> But this has not had an impact on

[15:52] operations. No. And and these gaps have been filled

[15:58] » Yes. Yes. Yes. Trusty. And we're actually um looking at giving a doing a

[16:02] little testing process in the fall for just to have a list available for to

[16:07] fill in and we're looking at some other things. Um this is basically this is a

[16:11] cleanup. >> Okay. Thank you. Yep.

[16:17] » So move uh resolution 005 approval of discharge of firefighters from the

[16:22] active duty roster as articulated by chief

[16:28] » train move singer seconded. Roll call please. Ashley

[16:32] » I >> motion carries.

[16:36] Hey chief I know you do a great job of data analytics and keeping record of

[16:40] runs and things like that. And are you feeling like there's been any uptick

[16:45] this year in barn specific fires? Is there any common thread to that or is

[16:52] there anything we should be conscientious of? No, but what what

[16:56] we're noticing and what maybe we should maybe in uh maybe in the next blast, our

[17:01] next email blast or our next note, what we're finding is and it's it's common

[17:06] here. It's common everywhere is we're having issues with um battery chargers

[17:12] and we're having a lot of issue with lithium batteries um are are failing or

[17:18] people are getting lithium batteries that may not necessarily be named brand

[17:22] and uh so uh we're fairly confident we've had about three or four fires of

[17:27] smaller or larger nature from um those those type of issu is issues. Um, when

[17:33] we were on the last fire, we were still we were still working on overhaul a

[17:37] little bit and you could hear the individual cells of those batteries

[17:41] popping off still as the even after the fire was out. So, um, yes, there is

[17:46] there is a commonality. It's not only in our township, it's in Delaware County,

[17:50] it's in it's in nationwide. >> Okay.

[17:54] um if the other board members don't have a concern if he could check with Lindsay

[17:59] whether there's enough room in the newsletter that that Yeah,

[18:04] » because that will go out to everyone in the town.

[18:07] » But I know Lindsay's out of town, but Steve is here. So,

[18:10] » no. Can you give us a just a brief FAQ on lithium batteries?

[18:17] » It would be it would it would be it would be very brief and it should cover

[18:22] everything. I know there's a lot in this newsletter, Steve. So,

[18:24] » yeah, but we have we have some room. We just met last night.

[18:27] » Yeah, I'll call. >> We can get that to her by Monday.

[18:30] Absolutely. >> Yes, sir. Absolutely.

[18:32] » Figure out how to get something in there. What would happen?

[18:34] » And I'll advise her. >> Absolutely.

[18:35] » I appreciate that, Chief. I kind of just noticed it on my own as I know you have

[18:39] worked a couple in the township at least in recent months. And then there was

[18:42] another one that BSTNG had reported up on 37.

[18:45] » Yeah. The last little garage up there. >> We got a lot of barns around here. So I

[18:49] just want to make sure that we're >> it's barns, garages, and houses.

[18:52] » Yeah. >> Y

[18:54] » starting with with sitting there the batteries by the people being a charger.

[18:58] » People will leave them in thinking it's okay. And eventually they can fault and

[19:03] they've got the a constant charge coming through. And what a lot of people don't

[19:07] realize is those are all little teeny A batteries in there. They're not just one

[19:11] big solid battery. And all it takes is one of those little batteries to fault.

[19:15] And um if anybody wants to if you're bored sometime go to YouTube and look at

[19:19] just look it up. Look up a lithium battery. It is amazing how quickly they

[19:25] give way and how quickly there's a fireball from them. So they're actually

[19:29] like New York City's had so many this year. They're banning scooters and

[19:33] things because people take them inside second aftermarket batteries and they're

[19:38] having three four-on fires from >> hover boards.

[19:41] » The hover boards. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Yep. Thanks.

[19:46] » Thank you, Chief. >> Okay. Mr. Richard,

[19:56] » I have a resolution uh for your consideration uh for the adoption of

[20:03] deferred compensation Roth 457b plan for eligible Harlem Township employees. The

[20:09] idea of this is we currently have a 457b Roth or sorry, we currently have a 457b

[20:15] traditional program, but we do not have the Roth option for our employees. This

[20:20] is uh an option that will allow our employees to uh defer the compensation.

[20:27] That's exactly what it does. And to save money, it's similar to a 401k, but we

[20:31] don't match funds. So if any any residents have a a 401k or any type of

[20:36] uh thrift savings plan with the federal government, it's very similar, but we

[20:39] don't provide any match to that. But the employees can put it in after taxes and

[20:45] then that money uh grows uh with uh you know the the investment and then when

[20:51] the employee retires they're able to move that money out and pull it out uh

[20:55] so that at that point it's pulled out tax-free just like any other Roth

[21:00] investment that uh that you're used to. But it's something that we didn't have

[21:03] prior um and uh I thought it would be a good thing for employees to have another

[21:08] benefit that that would help them out. You have any questions?

[21:12] any cost to the township on this, John? >> Zero. other than Lisa's time and my time

[21:16] and and uh we're going to get uh a um uh we're going to get some uh I actually uh

[21:23] uh called uh to try to get a hold of the uh regional rep for Ohio to bring

[21:27] someone in uh to get our uh township employees some training because the uh

[21:33] number of employees that uh are taking advantage of the whether it's the

[21:37] traditional plan or this one coming up the numbers are extremely low. um

[21:43] something that uh that I think we need to to at least um give our employees all

[21:47] the information they can possibly get to consider it because uh retirement uh is

[21:52] is super important as as anybody that's approaching that age or retired knows

[21:57] and uh we don't have uh the uh the participation that I would like and so I

[22:02] want to hopefully increase that. So we'll have maybe a day or two where we

[22:06] have uh somebody come in have a presentation here for employees to

[22:10] educate them on what that what it does and how much that they could retire at

[22:15] uh if they start early enough. So >> is this vehicle within opers as well?

[22:20] » Um it is separate from opers. It is separate. So you've got opers and then

[22:24] this is separate. And actually, I didn't realize until today when I when I tried

[22:28] to get a hold of our regional rep that it is uh that this program is

[22:33] administered by nationwide. So they they're the ones that uh do the

[22:38] investments and the folks that are I guess contracted by the state of Ohio to

[22:42] do this. But yeah, this is a separate program from Oper.

[22:44] » So in layman's terms, we're just opening up a potential Roth vehicle for our

[22:48] employees without them having to go to Schwab or their own bank or something

[22:50] like that. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Yep. And it uh

[22:53] it's they can I think the the maximum you can put in is around 32,000 a year

[22:58] now. So uh so yeah, that's that's if you're over 50 years old.

[23:04] » Any further questions from the board? >> So moved.

[23:09] » Second. >> Moved and seconded. Roll call, please.

[23:12] Ashley. >> I

[23:16] carries

[23:22] Um John, just to go ahead and do it, do you

[23:27] want to make the motion for the um OPWC contract?

[23:33] It has your name on it as um snee.

[23:37] » Well, as a sign, >> he can't.

[23:39] » Well, yeah, I can't move one. You have to move it.

[23:41] » I can move it. >> Yeah, you can move. Yeah,

[23:42] » let's do it. >> I shall move said motion.

[23:47] You know, it needs to be does the uh motion to have John sign does that need

[23:52] to be separate from this particular application because he's going to be

[23:56] signing into >> No, it could be to apply for the grant

[24:02] with John as signing >> this one in all future grants.

[24:08] » I think this would be an individual case, but Doug's applied resolution

[24:12] language. Okay. >> For here.

[24:15] Yeah. So this is a resolution authorizing John

[24:19] Pritchard, Harlem Township administrator, to prepare and submit an

[24:22] application to participate in the OPW Commission state capital improvement and

[24:27] or local transportation improvement programs and to execute contracts as

[24:32] required. So this is separate from the other one.

[24:36] » Mhm. >> Okay. Every year.

[24:38] » So I move that resolution. Second. >> Move to second. A roll call, please.

[24:43] Action. All I >> I

[24:46] » I >> motion carries and then Lisa, we'll get

[24:50] with you to sign that. >> Which one did you read?

[24:55] » Um let's say Yeah, Doug's gone. We can wait.

[25:01] » Read this one. >> No, that's that's separate. We'll cover

[25:04] that one. >> Okay. Um get into a little bit of trusty

[25:09] business this evening and I'll kick this off, guys, if that's okay with you. We

[25:13] have um a resolution this evening to approve the CEDA agreement um that we've

[25:20] been working on between Harlem Township and the village of Galina. Um I've I'm

[25:26] hardressed to think of anything to talk about on this that we haven't talked

[25:29] about in the months preceding tonight um the joint hearing or other meetings, but

[25:33] I do want to make sure that we give an opportunity to discuss it if there's any

[25:37] lingering questions that have come up. We have uh the honorable mayor, Mr.

[25:40] Kennel in the building tonight. Jeeoff, thanks for coming. Um, and so this is a

[25:46] first step. I'll I'll lay a little bit of what might come after this. I mean,

[25:50] we obviously are going to vote on it. Um, the village council still needs to

[25:54] have their third reading, correct, Jeeoff? And I think you guys are doing

[25:56] that later this month, right? Um, 21st of September. Um, and it's not an

[26:03] emergency. You're going through the third reading, so I believe it would be

[26:05] effective 30 days after that. Um, says, "I did pretty good with that

[26:10] legal ease, didn't I, Pete?" Thank you. I've been working on it. Um, but like I

[26:14] said, I do wanted to make sure that we had time to discuss or ask any questions

[26:17] and then open up for if there was any further public question on the CEDA

[26:21] before uh we bring up the resolution this evening. So, I'll open it up to the

[26:25] board first then public. >> I have no questions. I have no

[26:30] » any public question or comment on the CEDA.

[26:36] Well, I want to say that's because we did a good job. Um, so I'm going to take

[26:40] that, um, as far as the communication goes. So, um, I'll read the resolution,

[26:46] but then I'll ask for a motion if that's okay. Um, so this will be resolution

[26:50] 260909T-007, adopt and approve a cooperative economic

[26:54] development agreement uh, with the village of Galina and authorizing its

[26:58] execution. Um, and so we would adopt and approve a CEDA with the village of

[27:03] Galina and authorizing its ex execution on behalf of the township.

[27:09] I would ask for a motion. >> So move.

[27:11] » Second. >> Moved and seconded. Roll call, please.

[27:14] Ashley, >> I

[27:16] » I

[27:20] » The motion carries. >> I do. Um and Pete, the long format you

[27:26] gave me as a draft this evening. You're going to we're going to do a signing on

[27:30] it. >> There's a couple u

[27:34] fill in the blanks resolution number and obviously the village's number. So,

[27:40] we'll we'll circulate a mile copy with those blank children.

[27:46] » Um, Mayor Kell, I know not a lot of pomp and circumstance here in the township

[27:50] for it tonight, but I didn't know if you had any words for us or anything you

[27:54] wanted to say.

[28:03] » First of all, it's been an honor to be here with you tonight. Um, this has been

[28:07] a long process and I want to just thank uh Mr. Trustee Holiday for his

[28:12] leadership. Um, I think we first met in early 2024

[28:18] to talk about this. I took this mayor I'm retired. I took

[28:23] this mayor job hoping I can make a difference for my residents and our

[28:28] constituents. And uh, there's nothing more

[28:32] transformational than what we're doing here. So, I just think it's a

[28:36] generational decision. It accomplishes our goals and I'm sure it accomplishes

[28:41] yours since you just passed it. Um, but to maintain the integrity of Harlem's

[28:46] borders at the same time, our residents get to potentially share in some growth

[28:52] uh without annexation. So, it's kind of a a a new thing in the area, right? So,

[28:57] I hope that we're setting some some groundwork in place for how

[29:02] municipalities and our townships partner together. So, I just want to thank Adam

[29:08] again for his leadership and I'll be around for a few minutes if you have any

[29:11] questions, but thank you very much, guys.

[29:14] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> Yeah, I'll take that.

[29:21] » Good job, Ed. Appreciated that. Um, and I I also want to give credit

[29:26] » I want to give credit where credit is due as well. Mr. Singer made this first

[29:31] introduction uh for the mayor and I before Mr. Singer sat on this board. So

[29:36] Bob, thank you for kind of kicking this whole thing off and getting it going. So

[29:40] um great big step in the right direction. So um good things happening

[29:44] more to come. Um I have a couple of other things that I added to the agenda

[29:48] tonight. Um Lisa, I'm going to ask for your help on a little bit of it. I know

[29:51] some of it comes from um some previous Oh, forgive me. Pete, Holly, anything to

[29:58] add? I feel like it was pretty quick and easy.

[30:01] » Yeah, appreciate easy. Um you don't need me to stick around.

[30:06] » I don't. No. >> Um would you mind just for a few minutes

[30:12] as I march through a few bullet points and may want to lean on you?

[30:16] » Okay, good. >> Okay, thank you.

[30:18] » It'll be quick, Pete. Um Lisa discussion future approval of members that would

[30:23] like to be compensated for the meeting from the March 1st on the parks

[30:26] commission. Uh but I think for me it was the communications committee we were

[30:30] trying to identify. We're trying to iron that out because we had um honored a lot

[30:35] of the same bylaws in the charter of the committee and we had not identified the

[30:41] the compensation for meeting on that committee either. So I think that that

[30:45] was the spirit of the email that you had sent me. So I wanted to make sure that

[30:47] we got that discussed. No, we need to you guys when you create committees like

[30:53] this, you need to vote in the members and then when they resign, they're just

[30:58] like employees. When they resign, then they need it needs to go in a

[31:03] trustee meeting that they resign from the park committee or

[31:08] » and is that applicable even if it's a non-stutory committee?

[31:13] It should because they're they're you're they're under your you as the trustees

[31:19] for >> HAR.

[31:21] » So it should any committees needs the names need to come if they're being

[31:27] paid, not being paid, not compensated, whatever.

[31:30] » Okay, that makes sense. >> Yes. So essentially what we need to do

[31:34] is for both of those particular committees, we need to vote on all of

[31:40] the members and whether or not they will be compensated.

[31:43] » Yes. >> Okay.

[31:43] » And then they'll be treated just like an employee. They'll have to do all the

[31:49] paperwork and get on paylex and direct deposit

[31:54] » just like an employee. If you guys decide to pay parks, you already said

[31:58] yes to >> I think both indications also. Yes, both

[32:02] of those committees we want to try to maintain,

[32:05] » but there was never names brought, >> okay,

[32:08] » of who actually is on the committees and voted in to be on those committ.

[32:13] » Mr. Chairman, if I might make a suggestion, have Mr. Pritchard get a

[32:19] hold of the members, see which ones want to be compensated, which don't, and

[32:24] then, you know, we can vote even at the special meeting

[32:28] » because we're we're doing it retroactive anyway. So,

[32:31] » right, >> whether it's

[32:33] » three weeks, we need that. >> Mhm.

[32:36] » I see you, Steve. I'll come to you. >> And they'll be compensated the same way

[32:41] zoning is once a year. Um, from January to November. December, they'll be paid.

[32:49] If they have a meeting in December, then it goes on the following year.

[32:53] » And at any time, they can opt out. If they decide because of tax purposes,

[32:59] they decide they don't want to be compensated, it needs to be brought to a

[33:04] trustee meeting. >> Sure.

[33:06] » And have the effective date and voted on.

[33:11] » Steve. >> Yeah. Steve Eisen Brown. Uh I I would

[33:15] maybe the easy way for communications committee uh Ashley if you could send uh

[33:20] Lindsay a note requesting Lindsay to uh provide you all the names of the current

[33:28] uh communications committee including chair and vice chair. And then at our

[33:33] October meeting, which I think is October 6th, we will pull the members of

[33:38] that uh committee uh whether they want to be compensated or not. We did that

[33:45] informally once. I didn't hear anybody raising their hand, but we will do it

[33:50] again more formally. That'll give you an active list of membership as well as

[33:55] those who choose to be compensated. Okay? Does that work for you guys? And

[34:00] then October, you guys can vote with the information that you get from both

[34:05] committees. >> Yeah, I think so.

[34:08] » And then we'll be ready to pay or not pay in December. I can do the same

[34:12] thing. >> Is that all right with you, Ashley?

[34:16] » Okay. >> I I do have one and I don't have a

[34:18] microphone. >> Where'd your microphone go?

[34:21] » Somebody move my mic. >> Push the button on there. Richard,

[34:28] » button's got to be p John button up button up rather go

[34:33] through. All right. Yeah. Um, one question I do have, Lisa,

[34:39] and this is something that uh I'm I'm want to make sure I understand right

[34:42] that the members of the committees have to attend a certain number of meetings

[34:48] to get paid. I think that was what does that do for you? Because to me that may

[34:54] cause an issue if we say, well, you haven't attended these meetings and then

[34:57] we can't pay. I mean, do we take them off the committee prior to do we

[35:02] discharge them? What's the >> So, I don't

[35:06] » I I I believe that the there's going to be some nuance difference between the

[35:09] committees on that. For example, with the communications committee, that one

[35:12] is largely attended virtually and in the parks as I have witnessed like that one

[35:17] is much more consistently in person presented, right? So I do think that it,

[35:22] you know, it's going to be different per um but I think that maintaining the

[35:27] attendance and the roll call of each one of those bodies is going to be

[35:30] important. >> Okay. Okay.

[35:34] » This is what I want. >> The language in the charter, John, I

[35:37] think will help answer those question or both. All right. Got it. Okay. Just want

[35:41] to check because I didn't want to cause you problems at the end of the year. And

[35:44] » I appreciate that. >> And when do you need those names by?

[35:47] » Well, if we could do it in October. >> Okay. But they have to be pretty quick

[35:53] on, you know what I'm saying? >> On doing the employee paperwork, getting

[35:57] it back to me because at the end of year it's pretty

[36:03] busy time for >> Yeah. handle that. Do you have any

[36:07] further on that, John? >> I don't. John,

[36:10] » who do you want to >> um actually I think it's okay for you to

[36:14] maybe collect the information and funnel it up through Pritchard. And I think um

[36:18] it could be semantics, but for me, but I think it's more of an election to not

[36:23] receive compensation rather than to receive compensation. To receive

[36:27] compensation would be assumed based on being voted into the body. Um

[36:33] okay. Anything further on that? John Pritchard?

[36:36] » Nothing. Nothing. >> Whom shall henceforth be referred to as

[36:40] Pritchard. >> Exactly.

[36:44] Okay, that checks my boxes on those. Thank you, Lisa. Trusty trainer. Um,

[36:49] » some bullet points I want to walk through for information purposes.

[36:53] Uh, and then after these first three, Pete, I may just ask you to comment your

[36:58] observations. Okay. So, one update on Southeast Quadrant. Uh John and I have

[37:03] been uh very engaged with uh leadership at no with leadership in the city of New

[37:11] Albany and leadership in Delaware County concerning the southeast quadrant. We

[37:17] have received a map from Niko that details the 214 acres they are proposing

[37:24] to annex and we are in discussions um about the future of that annexation and

[37:31] the relationships of all of those entities.

[37:35] Secondly, uh we continue to uh work with the city of Columbus on a CEDA

[37:42] agreement. uh they have been uh very open and um engaged in this process.

[37:51] Uh we're at the point where the attorneys

[37:55] ours standing at the podium and theirs um are engaged in create crafting the

[38:02] language uh for that agreement. Um and so we we hope that uh this can proceed

[38:10] expeditiously. Uh and we don't see obstacles to this at

[38:15] all. It it seems that both sides are in agreement about the general lines of

[38:20] effort and now we just have to craft some language and then hammer it out.

[38:26] Um and then the third bullet point I have is update on New Albony Columbus

[38:30] non-inexation agreement. So, separate from uh the CEDA agreement, there is a a

[38:36] non-annexation agreement with the city of Columbus that we think we can get

[38:42] done by the end of this calendar year. Um and they're very open to this. They

[38:47] have no desire to annex into the township. Uh, however, this caveat, they

[38:54] still would desire to have um a buffer zone or a set of properties that goes

[39:00] around whatever New Albany might ultimately have in our southeast corner

[39:05] that gives them uh a a corridor to Licking County. And so our hope would

[39:11] would be that we get this hammered out with New Albany, then they're able to

[39:16] define precisely those parcels that they're interested in and and we can

[39:20] proceed with non-anexation. Uh the hope is uh that as we work on uh

[39:27] these agreements that is uh nonation with New Albany and Columbus and CEDA

[39:33] with uh Columbus that we will have protected our southern border as well as

[39:39] entered into uh economic agreements that are beneficial to all parties involved.

[39:45] Um and so I I'll put it there uh for the moment and Pete I'll I'll let you

[39:51] comment on those processes. >> Yeah. So obviously a lot of moving parts

[39:55] um uh in terms of um timeline obviously the annexation

[40:03] agreement with the city of Columbus nonexation agreement with the city of

[40:06] Columbus that deliverable um is probably going to come first. Um, so, uh, the

[40:14] ball's in my court right now. Uh, so I should be able to provide a

[40:20] draft, um, to Pritchard, right, as we're referring to

[40:26] him, um, before review um, probably within the next week or two. Um so uh

[40:34] that deliverable um I certainly believe can be accomplished and checked off by

[40:42] the end of this year. um the the CEDA um you know once the annexation

[40:51] um not annexation with the city of Columbus

[40:54] uh is signed it'll it'll make the CEDA agreement I think a little bit easier

[40:59] than what I would say normal because that's typically one of the major

[41:03] sticking points. So um but once we check that box I I I don't think it's going to

[41:08] take much uh effort uh on the CEDA. Um and then with respect to New Albany and

[41:16] and uh Columbus and and that um u that agreement, you know, I think there's

[41:23] still a lot of moving parts um but we're hopeful to get information um that'll

[41:28] enable us to to kind of move forward on that. So, um, a lot of exciting, uh,

[41:34] work, um, hard work's going into all those, uh, efforts and and and those

[41:40] documents and, uh, you know, I think the township's moving in the right

[41:43] direction. We're having a lot of very good conversations and, um, you know,

[41:48] I'm I'm extremely hopeful. So, >> what what do you think of the timeline

[41:54] for Columbus Harlem CEDA? Um,

[42:01] I mean, we we we could get it. And the only reason I say on the the annexation

[42:07] with um the annexation agreement, not

[42:11] annexation agreement with Columbus um end of the year is,

[42:18] you know, it is Columbus City Council. And I don't mean that to sound in a

[42:22] negative way, but there's a lot of steps. Um, it's not like us here in the

[42:29] township where I get it to Mr. Pritchard and he gets to you and

[42:34] right there's there's a lot of layers to that. So, um I I think we could probably

[42:40] do the same with the CEDA u by the end of the year. Um

[42:46] um I'm not sure in terms of an adoption um like we've did tonight that

[42:53] logistically probably won't happen by the end of the year, but I think we can

[42:57] get it to a point where we're, you know, much like we did with Galina where we're

[43:03] actually looking at text and making little tweaks uh here and there. Um I

[43:08] think that can happen before the end of the year. Most definitely.

[43:19] When you're talking about the southeast quadrant, I mean, I think it's probably

[43:23] just important to clarify there's not no current petition for annexation.

[43:28] » That's correct. And and uh that's correct. And and there may not be one in

[43:36] the immediate future. There's a lot of unknowns there, but again, I don't think

[43:41] that we expect to see something in the near term.

[43:45] John, is that an accurate >> That that would be accurate. And the

[43:48] understanding I have is that there are no properties that are even on the

[43:53] Delaware Franklin County border that are being petitioned at this moment. So, you

[43:58] have to have properties that are that are adjacent to one another to petition

[44:03] for annexation. and and that's not even present at this point. So to get to that

[44:09] parcel that we or the couple parcels that we're talking about that make up

[44:12] that 214 acres. Correct. So So we've got time.

[44:17] » Yeah. And we have not given up by any means correct on the appeal for

[44:22] nonanexation. >> Correct. That's our

[44:24] » we're working that line of about hard >> as we've discussed at length. That's

[44:28] obviously our goal and that that's why that piece is like I said there's some

[44:34] still moving parts. Um and one of those parts is um

[44:40] no annexation at all. Right. And that's what we're trying to work through and

[44:44] figure out the best approach right now. >> Correct.

[44:55] » Thanks Pete. Dave

[45:00] speak >> Steve Eisen Brown Harlem Road. So at

[45:04] what point on any of these topic areas, you know, what will be the trigger for

[45:10] the public to see content of these proposals? When will we get a chance to

[45:16] see what's in, you know, I understand as you're going through the drafts and

[45:20] things, we don't need to see that. is probably not appropriate. But so is it

[45:25] the point in time where one of these comes to you guys at a trustees meeting

[45:30] for approval and then at that meeting that's a public document or will there

[45:35] be drafts just prior to that for people to see?

[45:44] I was just going to say it's probably gonna be similar to

[45:47] » sitting next to >> so um

[45:53] unlike the CEDA uh which provides us a statutory

[45:58] process that we have to follow uh with an annexation agreement technically it

[46:04] it it could just be brought up at a trustee meeting and a vote vote to

[46:10] approve right so if you want to implement from a policy perspective. Do

[46:16] something different where um you know you you hold kind of a an

[46:23] informal reading if you will um or informal or

[46:29] discussion prior to formal adoption. Um you can do that. Um, like I'm I'm not

[46:35] trying to and I'm never would encourage anybody to hide anything from anybody,

[46:39] but what I what I I'm reluctant to do is

[46:46] send uh or discuss versions in public that may not be agreeable

[46:52] » um to um the other party. Right. I I think once we get to the point where I

[47:00] think we're once again kind of tweaking a little bit language here and there, I

[47:05] think there probably can be a high level discussion

[47:10] um about the contents of an annexation agreement or a CEDA or non-anexation

[47:16] agreement. Um um but until we get to the point where we have those high level

[47:22] issues flushed out in terms of no annexation or only this specific area

[47:31] or you know what it's going to look like. Um

[47:36] um you know I'm just reluctant to to to to have drafts out there just

[47:42] because once again I don't I don't want to get people's hopes up. I don't want

[47:47] um I want to try to reach in some sort of uh hierarching

[47:54] uh agreement with our partner uh and then have the discussion and and and get

[47:59] public input as to whether or not that's a good idea and the board could

[48:03] Steve to your point like personally I would like any CEDA conversation non-

[48:08] annexation conversation any conversation that involves another municipality to

[48:12] follow essentially the same groundwork that we or pattern that we set with the

[48:17] Galina, >> right,

[48:18] » agreement, right? Like we I mean, we met for probably 18 months before we even

[48:22] had anything on paper. >> Well, and and credit to Galina because

[48:25] they had already done quite a bit of this, especially when it came to the FAQ

[48:28] and and and having that. But, you know, as soon as we got and Pete, I think as

[48:32] soon as we got to a point where there was a draft that both parties agreed to

[48:35] and there were no longer notes. >> Yeah.

[48:37] » You know, we we I mean, I think it was within a week both municipalities

[48:40] published it, right? >> Um and it was probably about a month

[48:43] before, you know, it came to any reading. So, you know, I and to you

[48:47] know, the rest of the board like I I I believe that that is probably the best

[48:51] practice in that wherever we can repeat it. You know, I think one thing that's

[48:56] interesting there though is our CEDA with Galina included the non-anexation

[49:00] agreement. Southside, these might be separate conversations.

[49:04] » Correct. And so we there might be some, you know, duplicative effort um you

[49:10] know, a little bit of redundancy there, but I'd rather overcommunicate something

[49:14] than undercommunicate it. So I would hope, you know, it's my hope that that

[49:18] we repeat that pattern as best as possible.

[49:20] » Well, you know, I and you gave me a good answer about three months ago. I asked

[49:23] this question and I I fully understand we we don't need to lay it all out on

[49:27] the table, but we don't really know where we're headed. So that's fine.

[49:30] » Yeah. I I if we you know can assume that either on a non-anexation or a CEDA that

[49:37] you'll follow uh a you know a practice like you did when it's ready when it's

[49:44] cooked ready for consideration of signing. So if that's a month ahead of

[49:48] the meeting where you would expect to sign something I think that's great. I

[49:52] mean that meets scratches my itch. I I wouldn't speak for the rest of the

[49:56] board, but I know that my personal feelings, as long as I sit here, is I

[50:00] want that stuff as transparent as possible, as fast as possible.

[50:02] » Fair enough. I'm >> And I think we've been more than Oh, I

[50:07] mean, in in terms of of what's happened, I mean, initially, New Albany said we we

[50:14] posed it. New Albany doesn't want anything. Then New Albany came back. We

[50:19] shared that. Now we're t I mean >> though

[50:23] » I don't think that's completely true personally.

[50:26] » Well, you could >> I think uh you know there have been no

[50:29] minutes of meetings ever shared of meeting with New Albany or meeting with

[50:34] Columbus still to date >> which is which is the standard norm.

[50:39] » No standard of a business meeting is to have an

[50:42] » talk business. You were in business. >> You're going to see Columbus to talk

[50:46] about AEDA. That's a business meeting. We've discussed this. I I don't know

[50:50] that I want to bring it up again in the city and think it's as transparent as

[50:55] you make it out to be. Bob you have >> I think I think the point is so I I I

[51:00] can if I may, Mr. Chair, >> I think Pete

[51:04] » because my experience is >> been in every meeting

[51:07] » that we've ever had with >> Well, not only that, but I've you know I

[51:10] get to do I have the pleasure of doing this around the state, right? So, uh, I

[51:15] can tell you that this board is on the higher end of of of of transparency.

[51:22] And, you know, I always kit around that some of my some of my worst trustees are

[51:28] ones that are, no offense, but private business owners, small business owners,

[51:32] because they think that government is going to operate the same

[51:37] way. And you you don't keep meeting minutes, you keep personal notes. uh

[51:42] when you're in these type of meetings which are are not public record. Um um

[51:49] so you know there needs to be at some level honest discussions in

[51:57] those meetings. They're not public meetings. Um

[52:01] um so you know there there aren't going to be meeting minutes and I think what

[52:06] you have to rely upon is the trustees who are coming back and telling you and

[52:11] providing you information in these meetings like Trusty Singer

[52:16] just said about hey there wasn't going to be any annexation

[52:22] and now they're coming back saying they want to annex and and and those are the

[52:25] those are the conversations that are being had. there there are no documents.

[52:30] There's you know so my point is this this board has been more transparent

[52:39] than most of my clients are and I'm I'm not giving that lip service and I think

[52:44] Holly can probably attest to that. Um, so but at the same time we need to have

[52:52] very frank conversations with the other parties and if we're publishing meeting

[52:58] minutes and notes there those conversations aren't going to happen

[53:01] anymore quite frankly. So uh it's a delicate balance that we're doing and

[53:08] and you know not because you're my client but I think you're doing a an

[53:12] excellent job in communicating. I appreciate that, Pete. And I think the

[53:17] point that I want to make sure we drive home is there will always be a period of

[53:22] public review for any document that has a glimmer of hope of becoming statutory

[53:28] in this township to the best of our ability. If if we have a final draft of

[53:33] a CEDA, if we have a final draft of a non-annexation agreement, if we have a

[53:37] final draft of anything that impacts the public and it is within our purview to

[53:43] be able to display that information, right?

[53:45] » I want to make sure that we're doing that.

[53:46] » You I think you've haven't you already done that with the Hoover?

[53:49] » We have. >> Yeah. So it's very similar process but I

[53:52] you know I think providing an update as you know once we get

[53:57] » certainty in terms of how we're going to proceed th those those updates will

[54:02] still be provided. Um, I'm sure that hey, you know, um,

[54:10] you know, New New Albany does want to, you know, does want to annex, right? And

[54:15] so this is where we're headed. Or, hey, um, we were able to convince New Albany

[54:20] not to annex and so we're we're not doing the three party annexation

[54:25] agreement. We're going to move to back to AEDA. Once we come to conclusions,

[54:30] you know, and and as to the direction that we're proceeding, I'm I'm sure

[54:33] those that information is going to be provided by you guys to the uh to the

[54:38] residents. But um I think you guys have been doing the right thing and um uh

[54:45] there will be plenty of opportunity for people to look at the documents and uh

[54:48] once we get to that point, >> wouldn't it be fair to say, Pete, that

[54:52] that our ultimate goal is to not give an inch? I mean that that is ultimately our

[54:58] goal is that is what we are looking for and if if we have to give up property

[55:03] » 90 yeah no >> if we have to then it becomes

[55:07] » correct >> we are compensated for that

[55:09] » and 99.9% of my clients are townships and um that is

[55:14] every opportunity that I see that is my number one goal and

[55:21] that is my number one advice to um

[55:26] to my clients, once it's once it's gone, it's darn near impossible to to get it

[55:32] back. Um, and anytime we have the ability to have a conversation

[55:39] um with uh a regional partner that is enable to enabled us to preserve

[55:46] our borders without annexation, then then absolutely. And um you know from my

[55:53] perspective you know I I'm not taking

[55:59] New Alby's answer that they gave me

[56:04] yet. Right. So that's why we're going to continue to explore those opportunities

[56:11] to preserve the township and that's why that piece of the puzzle is still

[56:16] uh we're still working on. Uh some of the other stuff I think we've we've got

[56:20] a little bit more direction and I think that's why the deliberals are going to

[56:23] be um come much sooner. Um so it's too important to rush that piece. You need

[56:32] to make sure that you're doing your due diligence and um exploring all your

[56:36] avenues.

[56:41] » Anything further on that, trusty trainer?

[56:43] » No, I'll get off my soap box. >> Thanks, Pete.

[56:45] » Thank you, Pete. >> Glad you stayed.

[56:50] » Next. >> Go ahead.

[56:51] » Yeah. Next bullet point is the RFQ. This is a request for qualifications that the

[56:57] uh township would like to uh send out a draft of an RFQ uh from the board

[57:04] tonight to make public and I would um appreciate Holly if you could uh help.

[57:11] Crossroads has helped us to put this together and John has also been very

[57:16] instrumental in uh this process. So if you two could speak to this as

[57:21] appropriate. >> Yeah. stand up there.

[57:24] » Okay. Uh so yeah, so we had originally brought to you an RFP. We have uh re

[57:31] revised that to um be an RFQ um to be a little more flexible in um

[57:39] how we approach um the um process in this to give us the ability to give the

[57:46] township the ability to negotiate the contract and the terms um in a more

[57:52] flexible way. Uh so it's very similar to what you previously reviewed um but just

[57:59] opening up a little bit more um opportunity uh regarding um who can

[58:05] apply and how they apply and then the actual um what the contract will say in

[58:12] in the future. So that's my summary >> and then the idea of a draft I think we

[58:21] mentioned it last month is that it will go out to the world. Um we don't know

[58:26] who is going to provide comment to that draft and that we welcome comments from

[58:34] the residents uh business community uh you know anyone that has any interest

[58:41] in this property. um can provide us with comments and and the goal is to

[58:45] hopefully get it before October I think it's October 7th we put as the uh as the

[58:51] tenative date but if uh someone comes back and makes a good case to extend

[58:57] that then I think the board might want to entertain extending that out but uh

[59:01] this draft will allow us to get input from a wide variety of of uh uh

[59:08] individuals and institutions and uh businesses and hopefully come up with a

[59:14] stellar product at the end of the day. So,

[59:22] » questions, comments? >> Yeah, I got this at 3:57 yesterday.

[59:28] I was at 5:00 this morning reviewing it. Um,

[59:34] and now I guess I if this was something we were

[59:40] sending out to uh developers or or whomever,

[59:47] I wouldn't I wouldn't accept it tonight or I wouldn't approve tonight. There's

[59:52] some dates that are not necessarily totally correct. Um there's a couple

[1:00:00] questions I had on on the verbiage. Um the one thing that I, you know,

[1:00:08] probably would like to potentially see changed is it says following the ranking

[1:00:14] process, the township will enter negotiations with the most qualified

[1:00:20] firm. Um, that's our,

[1:00:24] you know, I would say that the that the township deems most

[1:00:30] qualified. I don't think I'm in a position to judge which is the most

[1:00:35] qualified firm. It may be the most qualified firm for us,

[1:00:41] but you know, uh, >> John, can you speak to how that process

[1:00:45] will unfold? >> Correct. Ultimately,

[1:00:48] I will be in charge of developing and putting together the team

[1:00:53] that does the evaluation and then ultimately the board is going to be the

[1:00:58] um approval authority on that. >> Yeah. So,

[1:01:01] » and I've read all of that and the qualifications, etc. Mhm.

[1:01:05] » The only point I'm making is uh if you've got a twoperson

[1:01:11] office or location and we say they're the most qualified versus a 20 person

[1:01:18] operation, I I think you might get a push back from

[1:01:22] somebody that says these people the credentials they have, etc. Um and and

[1:01:28] again, you know, I'm just saying that it we're making the decision who is most

[1:01:34] qualified and and the word is site somewhere in here. And I think vision

[1:01:40] for the site. I think you mean township for the site. I don't know for sure. It

[1:01:46] just says a cohesive sustainable vision for the site.

[1:01:50] » So that is um part of why it has more flexible. though the site is whatever is

[1:01:58] negotiated as part of the contract the the study boundaries will be negotiated

[1:02:03] as part of the contract. So therefore then that becomes the site.

[1:02:07] » Okay. >> And the ide the idea for this is

[1:02:10] » is it a a land plan or a land use plan? >> It is a master plan. So

[1:02:16] » well it says future land plans and I don't know whether that's I mean it may

[1:02:24] very well be land plan. I don't know whether it's should be land use land.

[1:02:28] » No the the land uses are proposed within the strategic plan. This is taking that

[1:02:33] strategic plan to the next step to put design services to it to create

[1:02:38] streetscape uh renderings, bird's eye views, roadway connections, etc.

[1:02:44] » Yeah. And can you tell us the dates that you found that were incorrect because we

[1:02:48] can adjust those and and the and then at that point the resolution can say that

[1:02:54] we've got the authority to correct those prior to going out. So if you've got

[1:02:57] those Bob we can we can do it right now. >> Again it's it's you know it's not a

[1:03:02] final version. So >> but it is going to be go it will go

[1:03:06] public even though it's a draft. >> Understood.

[1:03:09] » So that >> need to know.

[1:03:10] » I'm trying to get clarity on the resolution. So, the resolution is for

[1:03:13] approval of the draft request for qual RFQ, but then the cover of the RFQ says

[1:03:18] due date for comments on the draft RFQ are due before Wednesday, October 7th.

[1:03:23] » So, I'm just trying like are we approving the draft tonight?

[1:03:26] » We're saying this is an important distinction. This is a good question.

[1:03:30] This RFQ is a draft RFQ. So, we're we're sending out this version and we're

[1:03:35] saying to the public, hey, make this a better

[1:03:38] document. >> Okay? And then when we get those

[1:03:41] comments back, we'll make we'll revise it. Then we will do a final RFQ.

[1:03:47] » And that's why I'm >> okay. And then the final RFQ then will

[1:03:50] be the one that goes out and then we will do the evaluation after that and

[1:03:54] then enter into discussions and negotiations with

[1:03:57] » So we got time. >> Yep.

[1:03:59] » Everybody has time. But but if there is an incorrect date, let me know because

[1:04:04] we can correct that right now because I I don't want to go on out to the public

[1:04:07] if we've got something that you know >> because the two dates I see in here are

[1:04:10] questions by September 23rd, 2026 and then the due date is October 7th, 2026.

[1:04:16] when the Delaware regional planning started the process with the steering

[1:04:21] committee um was in 2019. Um

[1:04:27] uh 2020 20 it was uh submitted to the zoning commission September 2021

[1:04:35] was approved. I mean just again they're close enough that and and and it's

[1:04:42] inconsequential whether it was six months one way or and I'm okay.

[1:04:53] » So can I make a mo I make a motion then? Um, I'm going to move to approve the

[1:05:00] presented draft request for qualifications

[1:05:04] as presented by crossroads. >> And I'll second that.

[1:05:09] » Moved and seconded. Roll call, please. Ashley.

[1:05:12] » I >> I

[1:05:16] and John, you and Holly are going to execute that.

[1:05:20] » Yes, we will execute something. >> Okay. Uh next topic of conversation is

[1:05:26] uh approving our strategic parks plan. This is a document that the parks

[1:05:32] commission has been working on for several months. Um recently

[1:05:38] we had public comment on that. Thank you Kelsey. public comment on that at our

[1:05:44] Harlem Township days and the parks commission voted on it in our last

[1:05:49] meeting on Tuesday of this week for presentation to the trustees and I'll

[1:05:56] I'll let you take it from there. Council,

[1:05:58] » I know you stole a little bit of my thunder there. I was going to give this

[1:06:00] really nice overview, but you covered a lot of it, but I'll uh I'll fill in some

[1:06:03] blanks. And I know that we have some uh parks commission members here as well,

[1:06:08] so I'd invite them to chime in where they see necessary. But yeah, we started

[1:06:13] this process at the beginning of this year um in the first quarter with a full

[1:06:19] survey which was very well participated in with nearly 350 survey results. And

[1:06:24] from that we form the park commission as well as my team, my former colleague

[1:06:31] Molly Ridge uh were able to come together and create uh three different

[1:06:37] major goals which were to be to have an

[1:06:41] interconnected park system. uh to create rec recreational experiences that care

[1:06:48] for the whole person, which uh in a nutshell is to really diversify those

[1:06:51] experiences through the different parts to make sure that they're

[1:06:54] multi-generational to make sure that they're feeding all aspects of the whole

[1:06:58] person, be it the physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual. So that's

[1:07:03] anywhere from your more nature walks that are much more passive um or your

[1:07:09] more recre or your more recreational such as your pickle ball courts which

[1:07:15] was brought up a few different times in the survey or tennis courts. Uh so with

[1:07:20] a major thing being walking paths. So that really gives a nod to that

[1:07:24] interconnected park system as well. And then the third one was for those

[1:07:29] collaborative partnerships and development. you know, we we are aware

[1:07:31] that the we want to make sure that our dollars are stretched as far as they

[1:07:35] can. So, leaning into different regional networks and surrounding communities to

[1:07:40] create a level of that interconnected parks, maybe shared service agreements

[1:07:45] or facility agreements um and so on and so forth. So of course this uh the big

[1:07:51] part the big reason for this plan was to be that blueprint and overall strategy

[1:07:55] as we know um the market is showing that there that that the market demand in

[1:08:01] this area is increasing for potential population. So how are we utilizing that

[1:08:06] potential in increased population to ensure that we have enough inter a park

[1:08:12] system that is township supported and how can we really make sure that that's

[1:08:16] implemented. So, this is really a guide for any opportunities with civic

[1:08:21] organizations or maybe potential developers to help bring this vision to

[1:08:26] life. So, with that, um, I'm happy to open it up to any parks park commission

[1:08:33] members that are here. But I think it's important to note that kind of that next

[1:08:37] step, this is again a blueprint, a strategy. But there is a bit of

[1:08:41] implementation that's still um that's going to be next and it's going to be

[1:08:45] back in the uh commission's hands to start with that implementation of

[1:08:50] working with that low that lowhanging fruit of what are the of evaluating

[1:08:54] surrounding area plans for connectivity with other communities or tapping in and

[1:09:00] building relationships with those civic organizations and opportunities that

[1:09:03] they have. So, uh, with the board support, Crossroads would love to be

[1:09:08] part of that implementation plan and helping with those and making sure that

[1:09:12] and giving more guidance to that parks commission for uh, potential planning

[1:09:17] and implementation of of this plan from here. So, with that, any questions from

[1:09:23] the board? >> You know what I think of this plan?

[1:09:26] » Yes, >> it's exceptional.

[1:09:28] » Thank you so much. I have to give credit where credit's due. Park Commission has

[1:09:32] worked tirelessly for many months and my colleague Molly Ridge did a phenomenal

[1:09:37] job on the on putting it all together as well and the design of the document is

[1:09:42] fabulous. So yeah, >> very well done.

[1:09:45] » Thank you very much. >> Any

[1:09:50] putting you on the spot, but Sure. >> Do you happen or does anybody happen to

[1:09:54] remember >> how many respondents we had to the

[1:09:58] survey? Yes, it was nearly 350. >> 347, I think.

[1:10:02] » Yeah. Yep. Nearly 350. I will for the Harlem Township day, we

[1:10:07] did have we had a bit of a rain a rain out in the beginning, but we did get

[1:10:12] several I'd say probably closer to 20 people to come through and we had really

[1:10:18] excellent feedback and Ed Ed was there for another a good chunk of it as well

[1:10:22] as Crossroads was there for a little more than half the time. But people were

[1:10:27] really excited about the interconnectedness of the of the parks

[1:10:30] especially to the main core of uh of the community park.

[1:10:36] » Is that 350 is that respondents to the survey that created a lot of this data?

[1:10:41] » Correct. That is so correct. >> Yes sir.

[1:10:45] » So I I I love I like most people I have this inside statistician that loves to

[1:10:53] say this. Um, and there's lots of interesting things in there.

[1:10:58] I'll I'll start with the the glass half empty that 7% of our population

[1:11:05] responded to the survey. Seven. Um, that I I don't think is a result of

[1:11:13] any lack of effort on the part of Crossroads or the Parks Commission or

[1:11:17] this board of talking about it. I I just um struggle with the the the dangers of

[1:11:25] apathy, you know what I mean? um and would love to see some kind of

[1:11:29] way of of figuring that out because this there's so much great data that we got

[1:11:35] from 7% of our population that we are going to put things in motion based on

[1:11:44] » um because our job is to represent the population on how we move things

[1:11:49] forward. So, if 93% of the population decide not to voice their opinion,

[1:11:58] what happens if they don't get what they want?

[1:12:01] » Mr. Chairman, may I just interject one thing,

[1:12:03] » please? >> Um, I would encourage you to go back to

[1:12:08] the strategic guide and the comprehensive plan, especially the

[1:12:13] comprehensive plan in terms of the survey, right,

[1:12:17] » which corroborates Exactly.

[1:12:21] » And so and and and that's a good point. You it's almost like we planned this

[1:12:25] ahead of time because while it's 7% of the population, I believe it is 7% of

[1:12:32] the population that we're growing towards. I think this is

[1:12:35] » a data set of how Harlem Township is evolving and where it's moving to. The

[1:12:40] thing that's additionally interesting is earlier in the document, you know,

[1:12:44] there's there's data from the National Recreation and Parks Association, right?

[1:12:48] like this isn't based on our surveys. This is based on you know their

[1:12:52] information. And while you know over the past 10 years our population has only

[1:12:56] increased by about 700 give or take the median income has doubled.

[1:13:01] » Um and so you know the township is changing. We need to just you know

[1:13:07] continue to focus on how can we best serve that because if we don't mold and

[1:13:12] guide how that evolution looks like the development's going to control it. We

[1:13:17] don't. We want to control the development.

[1:13:19] » Exactly. >> And so to me, like I I just have this

[1:13:22] fear in the back of my mind of like some folks are going to see this and they're

[1:13:24] going to be like, "Oh, it's great. It's a parks plan. You know, that's great.

[1:13:26] Awesome. Put some swing sets in pickle ball court out there." But this is a is

[1:13:30] a microcasm of just all of the stuff that we've been talking about to me.

[1:13:33] » Sure. >> It's it's such an important thing. The

[1:13:36] one thing I got a kick out of too is the NRPA says that you should have 10.9

[1:13:41] acres of parkland per thousand residents. Is that right?

[1:13:45] It must be feels low, >> right? And so for our our 26 square

[1:13:50] miles, we should have 50 acres of public park.

[1:13:54] » How many parks you should have? >> Well, we have seven currently,

[1:13:58] » but we just we just got uh Bell's Park, which is almost 100,

[1:14:02] » right? So, >> which I must say we're ahead of

[1:14:04] » bigger. Yeah, we love it. >> Bigger.

[1:14:06] » We can still we we need more parks though, you know. That's That was a good

[1:14:10] That was an amazing welltime win, wasn't it? I love that. Well, and I also really

[1:14:14] appreciate the the emphasis on the diversity of the types of parks and

[1:14:18] making sure that it's as walkable for everybody as possible. So, I completely

[1:14:21] hear you in in that. But even if maybe a small percentage of the population was

[1:14:27] represented, it seems as though it was very it was really capitalized on we

[1:14:33] want parks for people of all abilities and all ages that can interact with all

[1:14:38] of these different parks, which I think is really great. And I echo Bob's

[1:14:41] sentiment like your team and the parks commission did a great job on it. I love

[1:14:45] datadriven decisions and there's definitely plenty of that here. So,

[1:14:48] thank you for all the work that went into that.

[1:14:50] » Excellent. And thanks thanks to the community and again the parks commission

[1:14:53] did such fabulous work. So, see that. So, in in light of this fine work, uh I

[1:14:59] would like to move a resolution um 010 to approve the parks commission

[1:15:05] strategic plan uh as presented uh by the parks commission and crossroads. We'll

[1:15:12] second that. >> Moved and seconded. Roll call, please.

[1:15:14] Ashley. >> I

[1:15:18] thank you guys. >> Thanks, Kelsey. So, in light of this,

[1:15:22] uh, and she gave a great segue to Dan, uh, the parks commission is very focused

[1:15:29] on the strategic plan, not just being, uh, some altruistic ideal, but something

[1:15:36] that we are committed to as a body of putting feet to the fire. In other

[1:15:41] words, listening to what the township residents are saying and saying, "Hey,

[1:15:46] we want to implement. We want to execute this plan." And so in light of that, um,

[1:15:52] uh, Dan Tley is going to come up and talk about a grant application that the

[1:15:57] parks commission is asking the trustees to approve today.

[1:16:03] » Great. Good evening, Dan Tsley, member parks commission. Um, Adam, I'm I'm here

[1:16:08] to talk about the pickleball court. >> Talk to me, Dan.

[1:16:12] » It's a great setup. So, um, like Trustee Trainer had mentioned, you know, Kelsey

[1:16:18] talked about the parks plan. It was a lot of work. It was a lot of effort. Um,

[1:16:23] and it's a lot of conceptual work. And a lot of time residents don't necessarily

[1:16:27] see or appreciate all that concept. What they appreciate is what you're going to

[1:16:31] do, how you're going to execute, when are you going to do something. So, um,

[1:16:36] with that, after completing the parks plan, the parks commission quickly

[1:16:40] started looking for quick wins. um that aligned with the residents feedback, not

[1:16:46] just the the survey, but walked the parks, Harlem days, solicited friends.

[1:16:52] Sue actually she had to leave, you know, as a neighbor, right? So, she didn't get

[1:16:56] a chance to to stick stick around, but uh we solicited a lot of feedback about

[1:17:00] what additionally people would want to see. Um we solicited the parks plan and

[1:17:07] uh and we also took into consideration um to responsibly conserve public funds.

[1:17:12] Right? So we don't didn't want to come up with a grandiose idea that was going

[1:17:15] to cost so much that nothing was going to happen. Preservation parks community

[1:17:19] park and uh trail and grant program was identified as a funding source for

[1:17:23] $50,000 with grant applicants due on October 1st. So it lined up with this

[1:17:28] quick win concept. $50,000 available. We want to move uh with with with respect

[1:17:34] to the parks. The park commission debated several options that fell within

[1:17:38] the scope of the grant guidelines, including

[1:17:41] additional trails. It's number one, right? Um additional trail. I didn't

[1:17:46] know this. For $50,000, you can put in 100 yards of trail, right? That's not

[1:17:53] much of a trail system or much of an ads. I I didn't want to put, you know,

[1:17:56] my name on top of the hundred yards of of of trail. Um, we talked vigorously

[1:18:03] about a baseball field, our bathroom improvements, park drainage

[1:18:06] improvements, and a pickle ball court. The parks commission ultimately decided

[1:18:11] to pursue the pickle ball court as the best evaluated option with the highest

[1:18:15] overall community benefit. Um, not just benefit for the older residents, but

[1:18:20] benefit for the newer residents and an opportunity to bring the two together.

[1:18:23] If you don't look at our community, you look at uh places like Dw Albany, places

[1:18:28] like Westerville, what you will find around Pickable are grandparents playing

[1:18:32] with their grandchildren, fathers playing with their sons and daughters.

[1:18:35] So, you see, it's a multi-generational opportunity to get people into the park.

[1:18:40] The other thing that the uh commission recognized was it was an opportunity to

[1:18:44] bring new people into the park. The walkers already walk the park. Maybe we

[1:18:48] can bring a few more. This is a whole segment that is leaving our community to

[1:18:52] play somewhere else and to socialize somewhere else. So, it's an opportunity

[1:18:56] to bring a new segment of people to our parks who who currently don't get there

[1:19:00] and get to exactly Adam what you were talking about, new people into the into

[1:19:04] the park. Um, the provided proposal represents our grant uh proposal which

[1:19:10] we seek approval for and to submit to preservation parks for their

[1:19:13] consideration. Your the required resolution is on page nine. We've had

[1:19:17] this for for a week provided it. so you could have some uh time to to read it

[1:19:21] and it represents kind of the work that we put in and we hope is appreciated by

[1:19:24] preservation parks. The cost outlined in the report uh that

[1:19:30] are aligned to the township include inkind goods and services. Our

[1:19:33] investment, our main investment is inind services. We're looking for our

[1:19:36] community members to provide, like they always have in the past, to provide

[1:19:40] landscaping, to provide help, to do some of the work. And that will show

[1:19:44] preservation parks that this isn't a one-sided $50,000 for us. This is a

[1:19:49] dual-sided. We're going to do some of the work, and this is going to be, you

[1:19:52] know, a cooperative effort. The outline vendor cost estimates at this point, um,

[1:19:59] our estimates at this point, and our objective will be to minimize any 2027

[1:20:03] financial impact to the township. So we solicited a full bid, but that bid is

[1:20:07] not negotiated and we'd expect that price to come down a little bit. The

[1:20:11] trustees can also consider expanding the project. So right now the project is set

[1:20:15] at one one court, but at the trustes discretion, we could expand to multiple

[1:20:19] courts at an approximate 20% reduction in cost per court over a single court or

[1:20:25] approximately $60,000 for one court. But if you move to two, three, or four, and

[1:20:30] it's a little bit skewed, but to give you an idea, you go to about $48,000 a

[1:20:34] court, right? So, you got to pick up about 20% as you if you go a little bit

[1:20:39] further. The grant is fixed at 50,000. So, the township would have to pick that

[1:20:43] portion up. Um, you have been provided previously a copy of the res uh copy of

[1:20:48] the resolution and the grant proposal. I'd be open to any questions you may

[1:20:51] have at this time or anyone. Yeah. Do you can put the picture 18

[1:20:58] Oh, just anytime. No, you're not jumping ahead. Um, for the the people, I don't

[1:21:04] know if you can zoom in, but you know where we're proposing putting this is on

[1:21:09] the back side of the front parking lot. So, basically, we're taking gravel and

[1:21:13] turning it into park space. So, there is a shed um and there is a gravel parking

[1:21:18] lot on the back. So, as you can see, what will what you against the

[1:21:22] basketball court, you'll have the pickle ball court. You'll have landscaping

[1:21:26] around. It'll serve as a sound barrier so that people will not be impacted by

[1:21:31] the sound. You'll have an ADA compliant walkway. So the park the parking lot

[1:21:36] which today you cannot access from an accessibility and disability

[1:21:39] perspective. You can will now be able to pull in people with disabilities can

[1:21:43] access the pickle ball court or they could access the trail system because

[1:21:46] we're we not putting in 100 yards. We can put in 50 feet of that trail system

[1:21:51] almost as a as an aside. So 50 feet of trail. um the uh trees and and uh and

[1:21:59] plantings and then the pickle ball court with some some benches is what we're

[1:22:02] what we're talking about. >> Can you help us understand a little bit

[1:22:06] about the timeline? >> Yeah. So, um we this grant is due at the

[1:22:11] end of this month. Um there's they have a one-mon review cycle. So, we would

[1:22:17] know in the Novemberish uh time frame as to whether we got it.

[1:22:22] Um uh if we if we were successful um depending upon how many and whether we

[1:22:29] want to take it to bid if we go with four that's a significant project that

[1:22:33] will go over your your bid limit and you'll have to do right if you do two

[1:22:37] it'll be two you'll be over one you'll be under so a little bit depends

[1:22:40] procedurally on what you decide um let's let's talk about one if it's one and we

[1:22:46] decide that the cost is reasonable there basically are only two firms in Columbus

[1:22:50] that do that put him in for New Albany,

[1:22:54] Westerville, you know, all of the clubs. And and Shybert, which is the one we we

[1:22:59] uh we picked, um is uh you know, is one of those two. Um but a bid process, if

[1:23:05] we did it, would have to happen in the December time frame. We'd award that

[1:23:08] business. Um we would look to have the um uh court completed by June or July of

[1:23:15] next year. Um and then have our funds reimbursed back to us. This is a

[1:23:18] reimbursement grant. So, we upfront the funds, then we submit for reimbursement

[1:23:23] back. Um, so we get that reimbursement roughly in September. But as far as a

[1:23:27] timeline, pickle ball, July 4th sounds great to me.

[1:23:32] » Chris and the pickle. >> Chris and the pickle ball. Pickle ball

[1:23:35] court. Um, and and the other point is this is just the beginning, right? This

[1:23:42] is just one grant. There are lots of grants like this. There are tons of

[1:23:46] opportunity and what it requires is somebody to actually put a proposal

[1:23:50] together and to deliver it and collect the money and then execute. So now as

[1:23:56] part of the parks plan, we have to execute, right? We've got to start to

[1:24:01] win these grants and we have to start to improve our parks.

[1:24:06] » And I' I'd like to point out that Dan is the one who executed this grant.

[1:24:12] We deeply appreciate the work that's involved.

[1:24:15] » For sure. >> Thank you, Dan, very much.

[1:24:19] » Great job. >> Other questions?

[1:24:21] » I mean, yeah, kudos, Dan. Another really great preparation of a proposal here and

[1:24:27] the grant that's being delivered. I mean, very impressive. I appreciate the

[1:24:30] hard work and time that you put into it. my I mean if we're going to to me one of

[1:24:38] you got fencing you've got the cost of bringing in the asphalt doing all the

[1:24:44] work around I would prefer the township invest more money

[1:24:50] and do two or three you would at at seven it's like $79,000

[1:24:57] you have to bid and and technically you're supposed to have three bids But

[1:25:03] uh and and you only you did show only one firm and and I didn't know whether

[1:25:09] that's because we wanted to do business

[1:25:12] particularly. >> No, love to address this. Um so um the

[1:25:17] fact is is this has all been turned around in two and a half weeks, right?

[1:25:22] All of it written from like we've got to get a grant to to this this meeting,

[1:25:27] right? And there was one, you know, I had to pull some personal strings to

[1:25:32] have the one firm come up here, do this, they came up, did a site survey,

[1:25:36] measured it out, um, and bid it. So, you know, it was just a matter of

[1:25:42] convenience and who could do the bid. A bid is required for the grant, right?

[1:25:47] It's not required that we do business with them. It's just to basically say

[1:25:50] that what, you know, we've done our due diligence with respect to what this is

[1:25:53] going to cost. Um, >> and and we're very fortunate in this

[1:25:57] township to have Dan because if you need to know a guy, this guy, he knows a guy.

[1:26:02] If you need anything, you just ask, "Yeah, I know a guy that can." And

[1:26:06] that's that's what happened here. So, it's it it is just a number to be able

[1:26:10] to give to the parks commission to say this is, you know, an example of what it

[1:26:14] would cost. But yeah, when if we go out for a larger thing, it's going to be

[1:26:18] budgeted. You know, with Lisa, we're going to talk and during our budgeting

[1:26:22] process and that'll give us some flexibility to decide whether we go if

[1:26:26] we do if we're successful. And even if we're not successful, there's still the

[1:26:30] possibility with you all support that we could potentially do one or two courts

[1:26:35] without it depending on what the funding is. So, we can always look at it that

[1:26:39] way. So, just because we don't get the grant doesn't mean this thing's over. I

[1:26:41] think the benefit of the position we're in at the moment is you don't have to

[1:26:45] make that decision today. >> Correct.

[1:26:47] » Right. All you have to do is make the decision that we have we authorize the

[1:26:50] submission of this grant. >> Right. Which says we're going to follow

[1:26:53] through on at least one. You have another meeting, maybe twoish,

[1:26:59] to flush out whether or not you want to upsize this. Um the sooner the better,

[1:27:05] but you've got time. If we do nothing, then um we don't we don't do this. And

[1:27:10] and let me let me also add a member of our commissions is of our of our parks

[1:27:16] commission is a preservation parks member.

[1:27:20] » Amen. >> Right. So um so you know we are

[1:27:25] fortunate to have these relationships that are built um that can help us and

[1:27:31] our case when these are all being considered.

[1:27:38] » Further question or comment? Ready for the motion?

[1:27:40] » Ready for a motion. >> Uh, so I would move to approve the

[1:27:43] submission of the parks commission grant application to Preservation Parks and to

[1:27:47] authorize Jason to execute and sign the related necessary documents on behalf of

[1:27:52] the Harlem Township trustees. >> Second move and second a roll call,

[1:27:57] please. Ashley. >> Hi.

[1:27:59] » I thank you very much. >> Thank you.

[1:28:02] » Great job, Dan. Thank you. Um, I have a couple more bullet points

[1:28:06] and I but I'm going to skip a couple things here. One, um, just to let you

[1:28:12] know, Lisa, that John H knows we have a budget process that's got to unfold in

[1:28:19] October. We've talked about this and we're going to work on that. Okay. And

[1:28:24] » it will be next year's budget, >> 2027 budget.

[1:28:27] » Yeah, it's we were talking Yeah, we've been talking about the the courts and

[1:28:30] that we were going to work it out. So yeah, it's not. Yeah, we have

[1:28:33] » I just want you >> Yes. I just want you to be aware that

[1:28:38] those gears are turning. Okay. >> Secondly, uh we have talked about

[1:28:43] restroom facilities in the past and I just want everyone to know that the

[1:28:48] maintenance department and John are working on some courses of action that

[1:28:54] they're going to propose so that we get a solution and we can move forward to

[1:29:00] meet this need. It's um it is a need that must be met. And then Jason, I

[1:29:05] wondered if you wanted to talk about cold water and H2O mitigation and the

[1:29:10] dish petition and all that good stuff and then I'm done.

[1:29:15] » Good evening. Um last response with cold water as you guys know here suggest is

[1:29:21] doing some internal investigations on the parking lot and some open drainage

[1:29:25] and things of that nature which I did get a chance to camera the drains of the

[1:29:29] parking lot. They are open. They all do come from this far north end across the

[1:29:34] way. In our investigation, we found a catch basin holding tank something over

[1:29:40] here outside of the firehouse parking lot that really doesn't make sense to

[1:29:43] us. Long story short, there's a 12-in pipe that comes in and there's a 10-in

[1:29:48] pipe that comes out 8 in above that pipe. So, that basically means that

[1:29:51] vault has to fill and then backflow into the parking lot to drain off.

[1:29:56] We have not got any resolve on why that was put in that way yet, but I've been

[1:30:00] in talks with John here about what we can possibly do to look forward and move

[1:30:04] forward on that route. And we've also talked about the ditch petition process,

[1:30:08] which he listed that we are going to move forward with and get that process

[1:30:12] started. That being that if if we can come up with mitigation

[1:30:17] just west here of the park, then we might take Realm on that one. But I know

[1:30:21] he's been working on that stamp, so I don't want to speak in his place. and

[1:30:26] just trying to go through the processes of what Cold Water had recommended that

[1:30:30] we kind of do ahead of time before we make a real large commitment. But I will

[1:30:35] also comment that Bill and I did some other investigations here at the parking

[1:30:40] lot and this parking lot fills with water.

[1:30:43] 80% of that water is coming off the surface of this field and it comes right

[1:30:47] over the edge into the catch basin that feeds the parking lot drainage.

[1:30:52] So, we are going to plan on separating that off-site catch basin from the

[1:30:58] parking lot itself to see if it will slow water from getting to the parking

[1:31:02] lot and then put up some kind of physical barrier around that catch base

[1:31:07] up on this north end to try to not overfill the drainage of the parking

[1:31:13] lot. >> Have you consulted with Cold Water on

[1:31:15] any of that? >> We've we have spoke briefly and they

[1:31:18] they agree that that's that's kind of a first step. Now, it won't be a whole

[1:31:21] large earth dam, which I think is the ultimate goal, but if we can just

[1:31:27] alleviate some of the water coming into the lot drainage system, then kind of

[1:31:32] see what happens. But ultimately, ultimately the system of the parking

[1:31:36] lot's just being overrun by all the surface water surface water off of all

[1:31:40] this field to the north. And then what we discovered down here next to the

[1:31:44] road, which you know, we'll have to have conversation with ODOT and and try to

[1:31:48] alleviate some of why why and how that was put in because there's nothing

[1:31:52] really on plan other than vault was installed, but I don't know who

[1:31:57] installed it, but it's still still in the process. And then as I mentioned,

[1:32:02] John and I have been in discussion about mitigation downstream of the the

[1:32:07] driveways and and looking to do some resolve there.

[1:32:12] if you have anything else to offer. >> Yeah, I can or follow up on that means.

[1:32:17] » Yeah, one one thing that uh and I think Adam and I we had Trusty Holiday and I

[1:32:22] talked about was that we were kind of on the same wavelength uh and we we

[1:32:26] contacted uh legal counsel because some of the water that's occurring here. the

[1:32:31] the the position I have is that if we do potential um work on private property,

[1:32:39] if we get the permission of private property owners to do some of this work

[1:32:43] based on what our engineers have said that it's not a drainage issue, it's a

[1:32:48] protection of public property and if based on what Cold Water said with a

[1:32:53] what a 10 or 25 year rain that this building itself could be inundated

[1:32:59] inundated by water which means at that point Chief O'Brien and his folks can't

[1:33:05] do their job. Um, you know, let alone us and and I don't know what the um what

[1:33:11] what that would cause in terms of uh uh run and response time where they would

[1:33:16] have to go, the damage that it would cause to this building. And so, if

[1:33:20] there's a possibility to mitigate some of this by working with some of the

[1:33:25] private property owners, um that is that is one of the the steps that we're

[1:33:29] tracking. So, we're dual tracking this with the ditch petition and the private

[1:33:33] property owners. And if we get uh thumbs up from legal counsel that says that

[1:33:38] that we can do it because we are doing it to protect and preserve public

[1:33:43] property, then then we will. So, with your with your consent. So,

[1:33:47] » um can I ask so I I see two lines of effort. Yes. The ditch petition and

[1:33:53] » immediate mitigation. >> Yes.

[1:33:56] uh Cold Water presented a more strategic plan and uh that was more area

[1:34:02] mitigation over the long haul that required a study.

[1:34:05] » Yes. >> And they asked for an investment on that

[1:34:08] study up front. Is it your intention to work into the 27 budget the cost of that

[1:34:15] and get us going on that study or No, >> that's that is your your call as a

[1:34:19] board. If if you want to work towards that, then I I would agree. I obviously

[1:34:25] I would execute. So >> well um so I'm interested in your uh are

[1:34:31] are you taking ownership of that conceptually or is that as as a team do

[1:34:37] you think that's a good line of effort? >> I I personally think as a team we're

[1:34:42] looking for the quickest resolve >> to create results and if some of those

[1:34:47] results directly change what has happened in the past,

[1:34:51] » right? Then then we we we kind of change.

[1:34:54] » I don't think that you can I don't think you can not not I don't think you cannot

[1:34:58] do your two two initial lines of effort. Correct. You have to do the petition.

[1:35:03] You have to do the immediation. >> Correct.

[1:35:05] » How committed are you to the third one? The broader strategic plan.

[1:35:09] » I say we're committed on for future developing this whole area.

[1:35:13] » Yeah. We we have to be because this building at some point we've we have to

[1:35:18] look at that from a I think from my perspective as a total facilities

[1:35:22] perspective. >> Yes,

[1:35:24] » that's at some point. Yes, that >> I would love to see this board make uh

[1:35:29] good long-term decisions even if they're hard ones for this for this area. Y

[1:35:34] » and so if you John could think about that budget-wise for 27

[1:35:39] » Y >> because I think they wanted what $25,000

[1:35:42] » but then the beauty of that is they're willing to help us write grants.

[1:35:46] » Yes. >> Which I just I would hate to see us pass

[1:35:49] up that opportunity. >> And I believe that number was before we

[1:35:53] had offered to do any of our exploration in house was hammering the looking the

[1:35:58] maybe helping them do so samples stuff like that. So I believe that number will

[1:36:01] come down. >> Yeah. And I think the grants were over

[1:36:04] 300 grand. They were significant grants. >> Sorry.

[1:36:08] » Now the whole the whole

[1:36:13] remediation was 350,000 and they were looking at potentially

[1:36:18] 300,000 potentially >> and that was the largest possible

[1:36:22] project that could be added >> and they share

[1:36:26] full >> full everything. I would just want us to

[1:36:30] really keep our focus on that while we're doing the other two. That's

[1:36:34] » agreed. Okay. For sure.

[1:36:40] » Anything further, John Trainer? >> All right, Bob. No, again as long I mean

[1:36:46] along the same lines, uh Brett was at the uh commissioner's meeting last week

[1:36:53] and he thinks that there's a good possibility some of

[1:36:58] this will be relieved through the you know ditch petition.

[1:37:03] » Um but until some >> until that happens Yeah.

[1:37:06] » initial, you know, assessments done, they won't. And Jeff, Jeff, you know

[1:37:12] that Cold Waters in in Galina, so we're we're we're keeping your residents

[1:37:17] employed.

[1:37:20] » They they've been great to work with, by the way. Great people.

[1:37:24] » Yeah. >> Bobby, you had one agenda item.

[1:37:27] » The only agenda item I had um the sheriff's department has gotten

[1:37:35] permission and contacted. They had to get approval

[1:37:39] from the county commissioners uh to to spend money for an outside law

[1:37:45] firm and they have contacted that law firm and are in discussion. John

[1:37:51] Scoutton who is the chief of staff will be contacting if he hasn't already you

[1:37:58] to discuss that as far as

[1:38:06] » Okay. Um, any other regular agenda items for

[1:38:11] the board about township staff? Any anything else?

[1:38:18] » Ashley. >> No, what I'm thinking is I did reach out

[1:38:23] to Delaware Foundation and I'm and I'm waiting for a response, which is not

[1:38:28] atypical to get that thing closed. Okay. >> Yeah. I'll let you know when I

[1:38:38] » just don't pay their next bill. >> Well, they automatically do.

[1:38:44] » I'm only kidding. Only kidding. >> What you got?

[1:38:48] » Yep. Uh we don't have anything else other than uh there is uh the resolution

[1:38:52] for executive session. So, I'm requesting that we have an executive

[1:38:56] session. Yes. >> And very short. Very short.

[1:38:59] » I have that. And did you wanted Lisa to attend that one as well?

[1:39:01] » Yes. Yes, sir. >> So, before we motion that, I'll open the

[1:39:04] public comment floor one more time. Yes, ma'am. Will you please come up to the

[1:39:08] mic, state your name and address?

[1:39:14] » Good evening. My name is Emma Marilles Jones. My address is 175 South Sanduski

[1:39:21] Street, uh number 375 in Delaware. And I am here today to uh someone mentioned

[1:39:28] the apathy of the community. I am here to share with you that I am running for

[1:39:34] the Delaware Common Please Court judge position that recently came up. It is a

[1:39:41] special election that very few people know about. So, I am here to share that

[1:39:47] information with all of you. Um, my background is uh this will be on the

[1:39:52] November ballot. My background is in um I'm a public defender right now. So I've

[1:39:59] actually practiced in front of the judge who was asked to resign and uh which

[1:40:04] created this opening. So um my you know I've been practicing for 16 years. I

[1:40:11] worked in um as a guardian at lightam representing abused neglected children.

[1:40:16] I represent the parents in those cases. I also represent um criminal defendants

[1:40:22] and juvenile delinquents. So, I have that background for the criminal law

[1:40:27] side, but I'm also um prior to going to law school, I worked in human resources,

[1:40:32] banking, and uh worked for several um real estate developers. And what I would

[1:40:38] assume it's of a particular interest to this board is that I have worked I have

[1:40:43] done a little zoning. I have um done a little farm law and I have also done a

[1:40:49] little oil and gas. So I believe that a growing township like as I know Harlem

[1:40:55] to be dealing with all these different um issues between the real estate and

[1:41:00] the population growth um those things may be of interest that I have that

[1:41:04] background. So I just um again I went to law school at Case Western Reserve

[1:41:10] School of Law but I also have an MBA in finance and uh which also helps for the

[1:41:16] civil side and uh I went to Brown University for my undergrad. So I just

[1:41:21] wanted to introduce myself again. My name is Emma Mirrorless Jones and I will

[1:41:25] be on the ballot in November. Thank you. >> Thank you Emma.

[1:41:29] » Thank you. >> Any further public comment?

[1:41:34] All right. With that, I'll accept a motion for executive session for whoever

[1:41:38] wants to make it. >> I don't make

[1:41:43] » go for it. I move to go into executive session at 8:12 p.m. to consider the

[1:41:50] appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or

[1:41:53] compensation of a public employee or official or the investigation of charges

[1:41:58] or complaints against the public employee, official, lency, or regulated

[1:42:02] individual unless the employee official, lency, or regulated individual requests

[1:42:07] a public hearing by division G1 of section 121.22 22 of the OC

[1:42:14] second. >> Adding invitees Lisa Hersy and John

[1:42:18] Pritchard into the meeting. >> Indeed.

[1:42:21] » Motion and second. Roll call, please. Ashley. I I

[1:42:26] carries. We're in executive s.

9-9-2026 Trustee Regular Meeting

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