I want to call the um
committee meeting for August 5th to
order.
Um, first on the list is the community
of whole and that would be Dom with July
Yard Beautifification Awards.
Okay,
so there's our awesome sign. You'll see
it at the following homes. Is this Am I
using this clicker?
You're doing it for me. Okay, thank you.
Next.
Okay, so first this is Liz and Kyle's
house, and they're actually here today.
um their neighbors who submitted them,
they said that they take pride in their
yard and in the garden. They're very
intentional to have native plants and
are also very intentional to remove
invasive species. Side note, Kyle is the
forestry teacher at Roosevelt, so he
kind of he this is natural for him.
>> Can I jump in? Aren't you forestry
teacher of the year? Is that correct?
>> Yeah. All right. [clears throat]
of the year like in Ohio.
>> Okay. Very humble brag over here. So
very proud of that. Um and then the next
one is Renee and Randy Rich. I don't
know how to say that.
>> Thank you. Um the folks who submitted
them, they had said that while there's
not a built garden, um they impressively
used their yards for their yard and
their sideyard for native plants and
flowers and vegetables as well. Um and
Renee was super generous um when I was
there giving her her sign. She's like,
"Do you want some of my plants?" And I'm
like, "I mean, yes, actually, I probably
will come back and get some." So, uh, if
you want to stop over at 237 Highland,
I'm sure she'll give you some as well.
So, that's who we have. If you see these
signs, um, make sure you or if you know
these people, say thank you for having
great yards. And I'm going to take a
picture if you guys don't mind. Come up
here with counsel.
Congratulations.
» And side note, this isn't on there, but
tomorrow is another movie night. So if
you have people who want to come to
Artemis Park at 7 o'clock.
» Thanks Tom.
Update Steve.
We don't have any
» just
updates.
>> Okay. Uh council pending list update.
Yes.
Um, we missed 1.3.
>> 1.3 is postponed.
>> Oh, it is. I apologize for
most
next month.
» Sorry. Thank you very much. This tends
to be I'm having a night. Um, [laughter]
this tends to be stuff that is more
longer serving, sometimes intentionally
waiting on things, sometimes just
keeping it on the list because it's a
topical area that you guys have said,
"Yeah, you've satisfied the original
motion, but we still care about this
topic enough that we can just keep it on
the list." We're fine with that. Um,
remember too that this is not the ten
commandments written in stone. You can
change this. You can add it. does it
gets added to um and I know at the
previous meeting Mr. Hook made a motion
to remove something. So, we've reflected
that in here. Anyway, so you can it's your to-do list. Our I should say
our to-do list because it's kind of a
joint effort, right? Um so, some of
these will look familiar to you. Uh this
first one here, explore senior center
advisory committee. That was the
original motion was just a uh Melissa
Long dated how dated that is. She wanted
a actual separate standalone just we
have sustainability commission. She
wanted a senior citizen commission.
Basically, um council said, "We really
like senior citizens, but we don't want
to get in the habit of having a bunch of
different commissions. We think we can
represent those interests in the council
chambers and um without a standalone
commission." But they said, "We care
enough about seniors and we want to we
had some speakers come in and talked
about what senior services were in other
cities and there's not a lot of senior
support uh senior activities here.
There's certainly support agencies, but
uh like a senior center. And if you
recall, part of our inspiration for
buying the church was Angela had some
interest in perhaps trying to convert
that to a senior activity center. It's
still a work in progress. She's not here
tonight, but um I I've been on part of
conversations with her getting a
contractor in there to really figure out
what it would take to turn that into a
usable senior. It doesn't. She hasn't
specifically said seniors yet, but an
activity center of some sort, which
seniors would be on that list. So, it's
still ongoing. We're happy to keep it on
there. I think that's what I
recommended. Yeah, keep it on there. So,
that' be that recommendation. Um,
we had a conversation about
Franklin Township sidewalk shoveling in
that section. It's kind of like a little
bit into the city, a little out of the
city, then back in the city. It's that
and and it's not all sidewalked. Um some
of parts of it has sidewalk. Now Jim is
got that project in that section. Once
East Maine wraps up hopefully carries
that all the way down to 261 and a big
part of the funding which he's got much
of the funding secured for that. So
we're we're excited about that. And
that'll have actual designated wide
sidewalks pulled back a little bit off
the roadway. Um I think that's when this
really matters. But in the meantime, uh
we did learn a couple things that we
actually do where there is sidewalk, we
parks and wreck will continue down the
hill for much of that section um where
there's sidewalk, not where there's not.
Uh and Bridget's folks um you know, they
do distribute the notices at the start
of the season and when there's man-made
piles or now this year natural
accumulations, she will notify those
businesses that they need to do it. Now,
um I guess we we can't cite the ones
that are technically not in the city,
but we can certainly ask them to be good
business neighbors. So, um we're happy
fine keeping it on the list if that's
what you want. You could also probably
remove it, but it's totally up to you.
Um, I would like to keep it on the list
because it is really about a partnership
and that hasn't really been
worked through and you know we are all
looking forward to the day when
sidewalks will be complete and it might
it it might you know for resources p
purposes we might want to keep that
partnership idea rather than taking it
all on ourselves. But it's I think it's
worth um I think I think when the public
and the township people in the township
see how wonderful it can be to have
walkability then there's going to be
more interest in resource sharing at
that point. So let's keep it on.
>> Um
the consent number three was the consent
agenda and that was removed. You've
already voted to remove that. So that
was what Mr. Hook made a motion to um
noise ordinance. I think I suspect
that'll always be an ongoing issue of
one version of another. You have had
conversations. We have made changes, but
I think there's still even more a couple
things that we're still looking at
trying to gather more information. Um
and there's a couple different
ironically a couple of the outstanding
requests were the opposite. It was to
lighten to loosen the the noise
ordinance. Um, and those were by people
that got cited. So, uh, anyways,
[laughter]
you can't please everybody all the time.
Um, I we think we try to strike a a fair
balance and um, yeah, so I think we keep
that one on the list as far as we're
concerned unless you're inspired to
remove it. um
the downtown historic district that it's
probably best if just read that
paragraph but um there has been a lot of
discussion activity on at the end of the
day a lot of the uh historic design
elements were incorporated into the
zoning code. you um ceased the ARB
functionality
um and council
had previously
um and I think it's still the same
sentiment that hey any property owner
that wants to voluntarily you know make
their property designation uh for
historic we welcome that and we've got
the ability to do it quickly we have the
expedited CLG certification so and we've
done that you this council's probably I
one earlier this year. Um but the the
idea of us imposing drawing lines and
imposing this on people uh property
owners
council's been and staff has not
recommended that either. I think you
could remove that from the list what
that would be. Um I'll finish and then
you can decide which ones you want to
keep. Um the architectural review board
that one also you pretty much have by
default
removed its existence and the
functionality. So I think that goes away
but keep in mind that doesn't mean this
next month or this month you could reput
it. You could have a new version of
that. So, I know sometimes because there
are folks that this does matter to this
concept, even though the original motion
to put it on the pending list has sort
of been resolved. Um, it doesn't mean it
goes away forever. So, if you don't want
it to go away forever. So, I would just
share that with you. I think for this at
this point, that one probably I would
lean more towards. It's probably worth
removing that from your list. Um,
yeah, this next one, the requirement for
in-person board interviews and
commission interviews, staff doesn't
really have a strong opinion on that
one. That's kind of, I guess, up to you
guys to talk about. Um, and we haven't
scheduled time for that in committee,
but I guess that's what would need to
happen. I don't I don't get the sense
that it's a stressful, urgent item or or
somebody would have brought it up. I
actually think some of this came from
your predecessors. So, I don't know how
much you guys even carry uh carried
interest in this. Um I believe it was
Jeff that made a referral for the
arborist. It was tree issues on during
inspections. Can we flag some tree
issues, tree safety issues on private
property, particularly rentals? And so
Bridget worked on that. I think she's
talked to Jeff on that. We've
incorporated some new forms, referral
forms that her inspectors can use to in
advise central maintenance when they see
a tree that we ought to have our arbors
take a look at. Um, we don't have the
staffing to do every tree and every
rental inspection. So, we don't want to
make it part of the specific rental
process, but if it uh if we're there,
we're happy to flag it and and start,
you know, kind of its own process at
that point. Um, so far so good. I mean,
it's it's just been this year that
bridges started that, but I hadn't seen
any um push back on that. And then
lastly, the um the warming centers
concept, you know, you guys added
$10,000. Is that right? And and we uh
That's right. And then we um we did that
two seasons now, I think. So, you had
continued the pilot. You authorized its
continuation. So, I don't think we need
to keep it on the list anymore, but
again, we're fine to go whatever
direction you want. So, those are the
items before you. Hey guys, what what
are your wishes here?
» I go down the line.
>> Okay. Start down there, Ben. Kind of go
down the line.
>> That will be retain or remove. Yeah. or
should we just pick one and then we'll
just kind of get a problem here.
>> So start with the uh senior center
advisory committee.
» Yes.
Okay,
>> I agree with Sarah. Let's remove it.
>> I
can because we can put this back as a in
a different form perhaps. Um I agree
that the senior center advisory
committee has been on here long enough.
I think we're moving forward and maybe
we'll come up with something else and
put it on later. So, I'm I'm fine with
removing
>> Eric. Remove.
>> Remove.
>> Okay.
>> So, it's gone.
>> Should I Should I do all in favor of
removing?
Yeah. All those people in favor of
removing it raise their hand. I
>> I
>> opposed. Okay. So, it's removed.
discussion of the Franklin Township or
on sidewalk shoveling.
We just do all those who want it
removed.
It probably easier, right?
>> All those in favor of removing that from
the pending list.
>> All those who want it it remained on the
pending list. I
>> Okay, remains.
>> Exploring the use of the consent agenda
was already been removed.
Uh, council committee noise ordinance
review
in favor of removing
one. All those in favor of keeping
four or five. So yeah. So it remains
downtown historic district. All those in
favor of removing pending list.
>> One, two, three, four, five. All remd.
Role of the architectural review board.
All those in favor of removing I.
>> I.
>> Okay. Passes.
Um.
Okay. Requirement of for in-person board
interviews.
All those in favor of removing.
All those in favor of keeping it on the
pending list. Okay. So that keeps on.
Number five. Arborous and Health
Department included in rental
inspections. All those in favor of
removing I.
>> Okay, it's removed. And warming centers
for the unhoused.
All those in favor of removing
three four. So those who want to keep it
on
one. So it's removed.
Okay,
>> that's it. Thank you, mayor.
>> Thank you.
All right.
So, next is
community development.
>> All right.
Um and Bridget's coming up. We're going
to talk about the economic development
strategy update.
>> Yes. Um, we have a consultant here today
that I'm going to actually turn the mic
over to let him introduce himself and uh
talk about his process for the economic
development strategy. But I did want to
give everybody a little background on
how we identify consultants. For those
of you that may not be familiar, uh, the
community development department issues
requests for qualifications and we
identify consultants that have done the
work that we are seeking in other Ohio
cities. The consultant doesn't
necessarily need to be based in Ohio,
but we find that it really makes a
difference if they have familiarity with
the state of Ohio and its laws and have
done work specifically in Northeast
Ohio. Um, the assistant uh community
development director worked with me on
identifying five consultants that had
done work in Ohio and uh we received
just one proposal but ironically it came
from the one that we were hoping for. uh
he has an extensive CV as which I
included in my packet. He has done um
basically economic development strategic
work worldwide but more importantly also
in Northeast Ohio in um many different
details and formats. Uh so far it has
been um a wonderful experience with him
and I would like to have Randol Gross
come up and he can talk to you about his
experience and what he's going to be
doing with Kent.
Thank you, Bridget.
Hello everyone.
I'm Randy Gross. I'm an economic and
strategic planning consultant based in
Nashville. Uh Randle Gross Development
Economics is the full name of my firm,
which is a mouthful. Sorry about that.
Um I've been consulting almost 40 years,
so a lot of gray hair up here. And maybe
about 700 or so projects worldwide. I
had an office in Washington DC, London
and Johannesburg, South Africa for many
years. Have worked all over Southern
Africa, West Africa, Europe and the
North America primarily but have done
training actually worldwide. So um lot
of experience in different aspects of
economic development which is maybe
about 40 or 50% of my work. I also do a
lot of real estate market analysis and
financial feasibility assessment which
is also an important part of my work and
of course they're
interface between the two of those and
then I do a lot of economic and fiscal
analysis economic fiscal impact analysis
and other types of fiscal studies and a variety of other things. For
example, in Africa I did a lot of
agricultural economics um and
conservation economics. So, my
experience comes from a broad array of
different areas. Um, in addition to work
internationally, as Bridget mentioned,
I've worked in in Northeast Ohio quite a
bit, in your neighboring community of
Hudson, in um well, Hudson as well as in
Stowe, in Cleveland, in Independence,
some other communities in Northeast
Ohio. So in addition to that, other
parts of Ohio and a lot of college towns
all over the place, including Granville,
Ohio, which you're probably familiar
with, and Oxford, Ohio, some others. So
I know a little bit about where you're
coming from here, but the purpose of
this trip that I'm on now is to really
learn and listen from you about what
your priorities are, what your interests
are, what direction uh you'd like to see
yourselves going in.
So, I've been holding some interviews
this trip uh with different folks uh
that were recommended to me uh including
uh and I cannot pronounce his last name,
but Don Sheldall
>> um as well as some folks from Davy Tree
um some folks from the Portage
Development uh uh agency
um as well as a small business person
I'll be meeting with in downtown and
some representatives of Penn State
University, but I welcome any
suggestions you have on others uh to
meet with while I'm here. I'll also be
inventorying everything and doing site
analysis and looking at everything
that's here now so that I have a feel
for the context of of what we're working
with. And I'll be when I'm in downtown,
for example, we'll be stopping at a lot
of the businesses and conducting some ad
hoc interviews with with the folks that
are working here as well. So, um, that's
kind of what I'm doing on this trip.
I'll be also conducting two more trips.
So, I want to have an interface with you
on those as well to give you feedback on
what I'm doing and where I am with
things as well as to present some uh
preliminary findings or strategies when
I get to the end. There'll be in
addition to the site assessment,
there'll be socioeconomic baseline
analysis. So, looking at all of your
trends. I've already been reviewing a
lot of the documentation that that
Bridget and her team have provided. Um,
and there's a lot of it. So, there was
the strategic plan you did last year,
2025, which I have reviewed. Um, and a
lot of other things. So, I've been going
through all of that documentation.
Um, I'll be doing a benchmarking
assessment. So, one of the questions I
have for you tonight is what communities
you'd like me to look at in addition to
the ones that I select on my own in
terms of benchmarking the city for
economic development um against others,
for example, in Northeast Ohio or
elsewhere. So, I'm interested in your
opinion on that.
I'll be sort of conducting a target
market analysis.
And you know, right now when I looked at
the strategic plan, I noticed that
you're really looking at Northeast Ohio
information about what the target
industries are, what types of businesses
um you're looking at as a region. But
the purpose of this or one of the
purposes of this is really to focus on
what is specifically your targets and your needs for for your comm your
community u for Kent. So that'll be a
big part of what I'm doing as well. And
then there'll be economic development
strategies and an implementation action
plan that will be developed out of this
that'll address things like business
retention and growth, marketing and
recruitment, entrepreneurship,
uh keeping downtown vibrant, uh, real
estate and development, relationships
with your various partners,
infrastructure, leveraging, all of those
types of things. But I'll be hearing
from you as well iteratively. So, I want
to know what other things you'll be
wanting me to look at. And there'll also
be metrics as part of this to sort of
measure your progress going forward. And
of course, all of this will be contained
in a written report. So, for tonight, as
I mentioned before, I'd like to hear
from you a little bit about what you
feel the priorities are for economic
development, if I have enough time to do
that.
>> Okay. and also sort of what benchmarking
you'd like me to see uh you'd like me to
do in terms of Northeast Ohio or
elsewhere, communities that you feel
have been successful or that have
achieved the kinds of things you'd like
to achieve here um in the ways that
you'd like to see economic development
achieved. So, I'm opening up the floor
to you for also for any questions you
have about me or my background as we
move forward, but
>> it's up to you now.
>> So, uh, who would like to start?
>> I've got a few.
>> Um, hi.
>> Hi.
>> Welcome.
>> Thank you.
>> Welcome, Ken. Um, so a couple maybe some
suggestions on additional persons to
meet with. maybe a copen machine because
they're medium-sized and because we just
invested in their future and it's
directly adjacent to our downtown and
employment growth is the projection.
>> Okay, perfect.
>> Right.
>> Um so like medium-sized businesses like
what is what is the environment for
that? Of course small businesses but I
just want to catch the spectrum. you're
already meeting with Davey, which is
great that you know, as long as we get
the spectrum so that we're
>> as knowledgeable as possible about all
the different potential entities that
might be interested in being in a place
like Kent.
>> Um, when it comes to benchmarking, I
don't think there's another Kent in
northeastern Ohio. And so, it's just
really hard to think about what that
benchmark is. And so, gosh, I'd look to
your expertise and thinking more broadly
around benchmarking. Surely there's some
economic indicators that you can look to
for benchmarking, but our vibe is very
different than the Hudson and Stow that
you've already done some work with. Um,
and because of our very real and large
college,
>> right?
>> Uh, and our boundaries, our sizing for
sure as well. Um, that's where I'll
start and I'll just pass it to some
other
>> Can I ask Benjamin?
>> Yeah.
>> Benjamin works at the university.
>> Okay. Do you have college towns that you
would say, "Man, these are some of my
favorite and they are similar to Kent
maybe." Do you have anything like that you could think of given your
>> I I I believe I know who you're meeting
with at the university and they will
have a good answer to that. [laughter]
>> Okay.
>> Yeah, I think you're meeting with Dana.
>> Yes, meeting with Dana on Friday.
>> Nick, perfect. They will have a a better
answer than I have because they have it
on the ready.
And I should say also that as Bridget
mentioned, I will be having focus groups
next time I I'm here that will have
representatives of a broad array of
different sectors of your local economy,
including small businesses, womanowned
businesses, for example, different types
of groups and um so I'll hear from a
diverse array of different types of
businesses and sizes. I will add a
number of constituents have approached
me and said, "Gosh, it'd be nice if we
had more businesses like Sugaren Falls
so that you can walk around and peruse."
That has been mentioned to me a number
of times.
I don't know if that's possible because
I know that retail business is very very hard and we do have so much
storefront that is and we and we do have
vacancies and so you know those are very
real things to our downtown and then we
have you know draw some concentric
circles outside of the downtown and we
need to think about all areas as well.
>> Okay. Yeah.
>> I'll pass the mic.
Are you ready, Melissa?
I'm not going to take up too much
because I we already spoke for well over
an hour, but the one thing that we
didn't talk about that ties into what
Benjamin's talking about is that we
really have an issue with parking
>> and that impacts our retail
establishments and it's it definitely
impacts uh the churn that we talked
about and even though we don't
necessarily think of that in economic
development terms, it's a really big
issue um for the downtown businesses. So
that that idea of walkability is really
true. I mean, Ben and I both walk all
over the town, so do other people here,
but from a stores perspective,
>> it's retail is hard. We don't want to
make it harder,
>> right?
>> So,
>> okay.
>> And and I think in every downtown I work
in, parking is one of the top three
issues.
>> Yes, [laughter] of course.
>> Yeah. We're glad you're here. Thank you.
>> What are the other two?
>> [laughter]
>> Um,
well, it's different in every community,
but parking is a consistent one because
everyone, you know, in America, we're
used to parking in right next to where
we want to go with convenience. So,
that's a big deal
>> a lot of places.
>> Yeah.
>> Yep.
>> And then if if you do look at Sugarin
Falls, they have a walkable little town
with some parking. Um, but it does not
impact their retail like it does here
because they do have some really
successful retail and I only know this
because I run a farmers market in their
downtown.
>> Okay.
» Thank you.
>> Who else would like to speak?
» No.
Nobody else. I would like to talk.
>> Good. But I'm running this meeting,
>> so I can't.
>> Oh,
>> can we meet?
>> I'm the downtown council representative
and I have a lot of very strong opinions
and
>> interests in economic development.
>> Okay.
>> Is there anything else anyone wants to
say about prior their priorities for
economic what you feel are the your
priorities or has it all been captured
in the strategic plan that I've read?
>> Priorities. I can I just add that
council has been I don't know kneede hip
deep in what we sort of anecdotally
called downtown part two which was along
the river railroad corridor. It's start
it's a they're doing like a strategic
planning exercise in conjunction with
community members too and we I don't
know if we've shared that information
with you Randy but um
there's been a lot of conversation about
that we've we've built this great sort
of physical infrastructure downtown and now we just need to continue to
activate and animate it and a lot of
that seems to resonate really well with
sort of experiential
retail experiential dining
>> and and I think Shagrin Falls has some
of that feel to it, too. I haven't spent
much time there, but um I think we're
leaning more and more towards what can
we do add into the downtown
amenity wise sort of quality of life
things. There's been a um there was a
master plan done for parks and
recreation and one of their top
priorities was more small recreational
activity things for families and others
downtown sort of worked into the the
general topography down there. And uh
Sarah's probably going to raise her hand
and say she wants the the London Eye. Uh
[laughter]
>> okay. But those but the it's been a fun
process because we're spitballing ideas
and and we've got a fair number of those
and we're happy at some point. I don't
know if we've sh we've given you an elf.
I know he's like no more. So
>> no I did say no more. Bring it on. I
mean but but there the experiential
component and that word actually was
used multiple times in the strategic
plan. So I was familiar with that but
the specific ideas that you have I
welcome whatever
>> concepts that's what I was going to say.
So when you're looking at this plan,
you're also going to look at what's the
community's already contributed to our
downtown part two. Okay. So all the way
at the tippy tippy top
uh splash pad. [laughter]
>> Yeah. And that was on the list.
>> Any amphitheater. So those kind of
things if you're looking
in like those those habitually come back
from community members that they want to
see more family oriented things and
actually things that are geared toward
un university students as well. So will
you be here for flashes first Friday
because maybe you should come.
>> What time of day is that?
Oh, he won't be here. You should come
back. It'll be a good opportunity to
meet with people.
>> Video. That's right.
>> That would be good. See,
>> I I think it's important there's maybe
it may not be self-evident, but in the
spirit of putting our money where our
mouth is. Council is investing, we're
anticipating quarter of a million
dollars specifically into parks and
recreation for the first time ever
because they're they're kind of
self-funded. And the reason I point that
out is because we're categorizing a lot
whether it's splash pad a downtown
ferris wheel or I mean we jokingly but
we think it's important to
>> throw everything out that those are
supportable as economic development
investments. So it's kind of we've
broadened the we've gone from the bricks
and mortar of the downtown redo that we
spent 10 years doing to now we're sort
of I call it the soft tissue. We built
the hard tish, the bones, and and now to
optimize the hard stuff, we want to
really build the soft stuff, the people
stuff. And that's where we're hearing it
resonate really well that that splash
pad, you name any kind of those
amenities, access to the river,
Whitewater Park downtown, you know, all
these kind of amenities, trail access,
we think those are fair game as part of
an economic development strategy. I
don't know if we've explicitly said that
to you, but I would tell you that it
it's meaningful here because they're
even putting a quarter of a million
dollars towards it.
>> And I think what what I usually start
with are your existing strengths or
assets and and anything related to
economic development or downtown
revitalization, whatever. And I think,
you know, you have a river, it's
connected to a national park, correct?
And so,
you know, looking at that as an asset
and how you can build on that downtown
to me rings a bell. Like an idea that I
think is very well placed. Things like
splash pads and all of that can actually
fit in nicely with trails with river
kaying activity with river access. And
so there ways to tie those things
together,
>> make it work.
>> And that's what I was going to say too
when we're talking about downtown. We as
a council have talked a lot about
um getting access to the river before
other towns around us do it. So that's
super important I think as well and it
will bring families of all ages
together. So I think that that's really
important that you can spend some time
looking at that for us.
I was just going to go actually I was
going to go more specifically into the
river talk is that there there's a dam
10 miles downstream that's coming out
that will open the river basically from
just the north side of Kent to I don't
know what the next dam I don't think
exists anymore. I think it's the last
dam on the river until you get to the
national park. So
>> two of the towns downstream of us are
already planning to see what they can do
to capitalize on it. But we're furthest
upstream. So, I think we need to be
first of the party and it's like a once
in a generation or once in a lifetime.
That dam's been there for 90 years. So,
once in a lifetime opportunity to cash
in on what's in our downtown. So, I
think that needs to be a top priority
because we don't get this chance again.
>> And it also fits nicely with the
university, you know, having here and
everything else.
>> Ben,
>> yeah. Uh, couple more comments. Um the
recreation I double down on that. So
like we have the opportunity to invest
in that but we cannot
our hands are tied a lot in private
investment and and economic development
in some ways. We can just provide a good
atmosphere for those investments. I was
looking over your scope of work and it
doesn't include housing and I know that
we're doing a housing study,
>> but if there was a way to consider the
economics of of adjacency for housing.
So I we know anecdotally or I I'll I'll
speak in I terms. I know anecdotally
that more young families want to live in
Kent that are not able to.
Um,
and what does that mean for economic
development? Like, uh, and I'm sure the
housing study will illustrate housing
stock. We're 60% rental as a town, but a
lot of that rental is students that
attend the university. And so, it's
transient. It's shortterm. Literally,
it's four years in and out, three years
in and out, less than sometimes. Um,
andor it's moving around. And so there's
not as long of a an investment made by
those uh individuals just because of
time. Um
had one more point and I lost it. It'll
come to me.
>> It'll come. It'll come.
>> Anybody else?
>> It came. Um [laughter] the the
short-term rentals like the Airbnbs in
the area
are renting to those that are coming to
the national park. So we are in the
concentric circle of people coming for
the national park in addition to other
reasons. So we're already connected to
the national park. people are staying
this far away to visit that national
park and we can benefit from that and we
can probably say that better because
it's already happening and we can
probably say that louder and with river
access and direct connection and all the
other connective tissue that we could
draw. Okay.
>> Because the national park isn't going
anywhere and um and it's really close at
hand.
>> Both.
» So, so I would like to um make a few
summary statements. That okay,
everybody. Okay. First of all, we we
pride ourselves on being unique. We
pride ourselves on being at ahead of the
curve. We developed Kent as a
destination. Unfortunately, a lot of
other communities kind of ripped off
some of what we've done and they're
trying to replicate it. So, we need to
continue, which is what I heard Ben and
several of you saying, to be that
community that thinks ahead, thinks
outside the box. We have a very
committed population here. They love
being here. This is a self-contained
community. And we're we we like to see
ourselves as unique. We value our
diversity.
We value our kind of weirdness
and our vibrancy.
I would when I was first elected to
council many years ago, um I took a trip
down to Asheville, North Carolina
because I thought maybe that would be
sort of a kind of a community that could
inspire us. And you know, it's a music
town and an art town and I think that
was part of it. And it's a walkable city
and you know it's not necessarily
college town but it has a lot of nature.
People are really into the environment
around it, the trails and everything. Um
I loved it there. I don't know what it's
like now after the big floods and stuff,
but that seemed to be kind of had our
vibe. Boulder, Colorado was one of our
sister the communities we looked at as
being kind of Kentian or you know some
something to something to take off
after. I lived in Santa Cruz, California
before moving here and I said what's the
matter with this town? It could be
another Santa Cruz. So
um we do struggle with you know uh
resources
but we like to think uh creatively and
you know really be that community that
people want to come to and people want
to live here and the housing issue is a
big one for me because we do hear people
want to live here once they're here they
never want to go anywhere else. Um, so
that's another thing is we need housing
for people that want to trade different
kinds of housing and go somewhere else.
Um, and that's that's kind of what I
just want to say as a summary because I
think a lot of you hit on many of those
points. Um, we want to continue to build
the soft tissue, but we want to continue
to do to become economically viable and
get more jobs. That is that's important.
Good good jobs. We even found minimum
wage jobs are hey help pay
>> you know so anything that can bring that
kind of vibrancy you know we don't want
a data center you know we want good jobs
good quality jobs we want to attract
young professionals and newly retireds
and um
families families has been a really big
focus in in recently and we've
discovered that maybe we can we a
deficit at the family, you know,
creating experiences for families.
>> So, did I summarize?
>> I think so. Did you work on the
amphitheater um project for Stowe? I see
Stow here for market potentials and
fiscal impacts for their new
>> No, it was part of I was part of their
comprehensive plan
>> and Stow um so I I didn't work on a
specific it was more of a citywide
>> question there.
>> Creating a new because I know that they
were looking at downtown as a walkable
for there. So yes, you
>> you were involved in that
>> in the very early stages of that. Um
again, it was part of their
comprehensive plan probably 25
years ago, maybe 20 years ago.
>> Most recent work I've done around here
was in Independence on their economic
development.
» Heidi, one last comment.
>> Sure.
>> Sorry. Um, in our packet today is the
annual report from Main Street Kent. I'm
sure you're going to meet with them, but
it's an absolute driver for a lot of the
activity and like such a great
investment from the city and this
>> uh twoerson
strong and hundreds of volunteers
>> at their backs helping to make amazing
economic activity happening that comes
to this place. And so like
thinking about that and the impact that has had on our community and kind
of like illustrate their report that I'm
sure you'll get. So
>> okay, thank you.
» Are we invited to your focus groups?
>> We report back after the
>> We still have to talk about who's
invited to those, but we'll discuss
that. Usually the elected officials are
not part of the focus groups unless
you're
business, pardon it.
>> If you have a business, and you're part
of that sector probably
» so I want to thank you for for being
willing to come and talk to us and keep
bringing it back because it's really a
vital topic to our community and uh you
know it really links into everything.
>> Yes. And um yeah um
we one thing is we have realized that we
are urbanizing. We are a small city
that's landlocked but we're urbanizing
and and density is becoming something
that people are getting to be okay with.
Um so we can think about that kind of
model as well.
know, um, we're we're we're weaning
people off the parking [laughter]
and, you know, helping people understand
that if they park somewhere, they can
walk a few blocks and enjoy the scenery
along the way and maybe get caught up in
something fun.
>> Well, well, often college towns are the
lead the lead communities for
walkability around the country, as you
know, having been to Boulder and places
like that. So,
>> that's a big part of it. Yeah.
>> Yeah. Great. Thank you. Hope to meet
with you.
>> Thank you very much.
>> Nice meeting all of you.
» All right, we have
housing board was established uh a long
time ago and when it was originally
established it was actually a quai
judicial board. Uh since there have been
changes in fair housing law, virtually
every community moved their fair housing
uh regulatory compliance to actual fair
housing agencies that have attorneys and
specialize in that. But one of the items
that uh we've we've done actually
amendments to this adding as you know
protected classes locally um and also
other things that HUD has required us to
do. But one thing that has remained in
here is of the seven members, five is
required for a forum and that has become
a challenge for us. We've had to cancel
meetings um because we were only could
we basically uh could only get four and
another the last meeting they wanted to
vote on a um basically a a resolution or
a letter that they wanted to send to the
state but they only had four. So I am
here to request that it be changed to
match match Robert's rules basically a
majority. So the quorum would be four
versus five.
>> Any questions? Ben?
>> No question but comment. Having been on
the board I support this.
>> Anybody else?
Any any comments from the audience? Don.
» All right. Back to council. Any any uh
any motion? I
>> make a motion to approve uh this change
to a majority uh with uh emergency.
>> I'll second.
>> Any comments from council? Great. All
those in favor?
>> All those against? Same sign.
>> Thank you.
>> All right. Passes.
>> And uh the committee is now closed.
>> Uh yes. So, uh, we have Rhonda coming up
to, um, talk about those, uh, certifying
and the movement of these unpaid bills
owed to the city of Kent to the county
for collection.
>> Correct.
>> And Rhonda, yes. Before you start,
because I'm kind of confused, Melissa
asked me a question before the meeting
started. Will these be three different
ordinances as opposed to just one with
everything on it?
>> I think in the past they have been three
separate ordinances. Okay, that's what I
thought, but I wanted to ask you if So,
we'll do each one of these separately
and then I will check.
I think it was three.
Okay. So, the first one you have um at
least I don't know in your packet which
one you have first, but I'm going to do
the uh concrete sidewalk bills. So,
according in accordance with our
codified ordinances 521.06 06 section.
It allows us to certify any unpaid
sidewalk program um delinquencies. And
so this is the first one of 33,000.
>> Do you want to reference I know this is
the end of the pipeline, but you've done
a lot of notification to the people.
You've tried to get them to pay. This is
there. It's not like we're just throwing
these names on a list. There's been a
lot of pre-effort to get them to pay.
Yes.
>> So,
each department takes care of their own
delinquencies, but um we send second
notices. We've even sent third notices,
especially for I know utility billing.
We send the notices with a letter saying
if you don't pay by X date, your uh
delinquence is going to be put on your
property tax bill uh come September. And
I think it's September 9th that we have
to certify it to the county by. So yeah,
we do a lot of due diligence and trying
to get people to know that this is due
to the city and try to get them to pay
in advance of having to put it on the
property taxes because the county then
puts their fee on top of that. So,
>> so, uh, questions from council and
>> yeah, an actual question this time, not
um, if a resident for the concrete
program that hasn't paid, is there a
financial hardship application process?
>> They've already done that. And so, if a
person is meet certain criteria, they
either get it for half price or free.
>> Okay.
>> So, they've already done that before
this whole
>> Okay. Okay. When they actually apply for
it, you know, when they're when they're
going through and doing the sidewalk
program, they already are talking with
each resident about that.
>> Yeah. Thank you.
>> Any other questions from council?
>> Sarah.
>> Sorry, I'm new. So, I just need to ask
this question. So mostly because I lost
my paper, but I'm just going to
>> So when someone needs this program and
they do they pay anything
upfront or it's only after the fact that
>> we that's usually up to the engineering
department, but we usually work with the
individuals to say if you need a payment
plan, we'll work with you that way. We
don't just say this is what you owe and
it's due upon receipt of the bill.
>> Oh, hi. Uh
>> oh.
>> Sure. So, you were asking about the uh
sidewalk program.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. So,
the short version is in the codified
ordinances. It's the public the property
owner's responsibility to maintain the
sidewalk. 94 council uh approved a
series of rebates uh discounts for
hardships for things out of their
control like tree related issues. And so
when we go to a street as part of the
street program, we walk, we assess the
street, uh the sidewalks, we uh
determine which ones need to be repaired
for the safety of the public. Send a
notice to the property owner saying,
"Hey, in a year we're going to do the
PL, this program, here's the things that
you are responsible for, and you can
either do it yourself or we'll do it for
you, and here's an estimate of what it
would cost you. And if you are available
for these programs, please provide us
the information. Uh in general, anything
street tree related is free because it's
not their cause. Uh if they are if it's
owner occupied residential, they'll get
50% off anything. And if they're low
income owner occupied residential, it's
free.
>> Oh, okay. So,
>> did that help?
>> Okay.
>> Thank you.
Any other questions from council?
>> So, can we do a vote on this one? Sure.
One at a time. So, uh, anybody have a
motion for this?
>> Yeah. Emergency.
>> I'll move this section, the annual
concrete repair to for approval.
>> Any second?
>> With e.
>> All those in favor?
>> Oh, I'm sorry. With emergency.
>> With emergency.
Then you second that.
>> Any other comments or questions?
All those in favor
>> I
>> oppose
passes.
>> Okay. Sorry, shouldn't have said that.
Not my job to say pass.
>> So the next section,
>> the next one is the uh delinquent
nonutility. So this includes um per the
memo any violation that is uh
created by the law code enforcers and
also the health department. So you have
a list for each of the community
development and uh the health department
for their citations slashviolations that
are going to get sent to the county as
well.
» Any questions? No. Um back to council
for a motion.
>> I'll move to authorize with the
emergency.
>> Second.
All those in favor.
>> Anybody opposed?
>> All right. And the last one is the
utility billing um debtors. This is in
accordance with uh an ordinance that was
passed in 2012.
Ordinance number 2012- 110. It is for
section 9137,
915.72,
921.24, 24 and 935.14
of the codified ordinances which gives
us the authority to um send to the
county any delinquents for water sewer,
solid waste and storm water. And keep in
mind for all three of these, if anybody
pays between now and August 31st, they
will come off the list. So you will get
a list with the ordinance at the next
council meeting that'll have the most
recent updated list. But if anybody pays
even after that date, the list is going
to change. We will take their name off
of that list before it gets certified.
>> And
will they be notified that it or have
they already been notified that it may
be referred for a lean
>> in for what?
>> For the county.
>> Well, we have sent them a letter that
states that if they don't pay by August
31st,
>> Yeah. Any balance that's due will be
sent to the county.
>> Okay.
>> Any other gloves, Jeff?
>> So, I know that this one, the villages
of Frank Crossing has been whatever it's
been for a while, but it's an
extraordinary amount of money. It's like
it's $254,000.
>> Um, and there's some 22,000, some
11,000. So, this is like an outrageous
amount of money that could buy some nice
things. There are ordinances we could
pass that would be incredibly more harsh
for rental properties that aren't
keeping up. Like if you're 90 days
behind, your water is shut off in your
building. Now your building's condemned.
So figure it out and pay us.
>> If they're two months delinquent, we're already putting them on a shut off
list.
>> Right. But I know like when we talked
about the Franklin Crossing, we didn't
want to kick people out before the
school year ended. And that guy, let's
you know, for lack of a better term, is
not a very nice guy.
>> Well, I do have some good news. is we uh
I checked before the meeting today
because I knew she was going to ask.
Sarah's going to ask. Um they have paid
their bill on the 002 property uh parcel
number. So they have paid the lion's
share of last year's delinquencies that
we submitted to the county. Okay. The
001 they still haven't made a payment
since I it was either 2024
of 48,000 or the beginning of 25 for
48,000. So, they still owe the county
quite a bit of money,
>> right?
>> And the county is going to come before
us.
>> Could we, and I don't know this is
Hope's job, but could we force if if
somebody's in this situation or or has a
rental like that, you're going to have
to put up a deposit equivalent to 60
days worth of average water use, you
know, to the prior tenants. So, that at
the very least when we shut your water
up, we still get our money.
>> I mean, are these just options to
explore? Like, I don't know. I think
that is I when I work at Hawk Falls uh
something in my head is niggling me to
say we did that to an extent. I can look
at that.
>> Yeah. I just we don't want to get in the
situation again. So
>> and I think Kent actually had that at
one time where they were requiring
deposits. I'm not sure what happened to
the program.
Heidi,
>> correct me if I'm wrong, but number of
years ago, we we changed who was liable
for the bill to the property owner, the
land landlord basically versus the
tenant um for um those types of
situations. So, um, the landlord could
very easily put ask for a deposit from
their tenants coming in. You know,
[clears throat] it's it seems like maybe
this just seems to be
I don't know. So, it looks like a very
high percentage of rental properties are
here and they probably are feeling
burned from their tenants and they need
to figure out how to tighten that chip a
little bit more.
>> And I know that this the currently the
state is allowing us to charge the
property owner, but they're looking at
changing that, not allowing us to charge
the property owner and making us go
after the tenant.
>> Of course,
>> that of course hasn't passed yet. And so
we'll determine what we have to do if
that ever happens. Hopefully it doesn't.
>> Well, then we would have to definitely
institute some kind of
>> because once a tenant moves out,
>> it's it's almost near impossible to find
them
>> unless of course attorney general's
office is then going to help us with
that.
>> Yeah,
>> they do with Medicare. I mean, we had
that similar situation with income taxes
and was one of the motivations for going
with Rita because it gave us access to
their resources,
go after people through the federal tax.
We as a city, we don't have access to
the federal tax, if I have that correct,
but Rita does. So, Rita could track
those, I guess, social security numbers,
whatever, for those people that leave
here and and don't pay their tax. We
were out of luck. Rita has helped us
pretty significantly on that. I would
guess we need a version of that for uh
water and sewer. But
>> so any other questions related to moving
this to the county, this particular
line? Anybody?
>> Uh back to you for a motion.
>> I'll move to approve it and report it to
the county with emergency.
>> With emergency second.
>> There is a emergency.
>> Okay. Yeah.
>> Any other comments?
>> Um I actually just have one more. So,
anything that has 002, you're saying
that they've paid
or let's this is when we get this next
list that's going to come off of this
paper.
>> Well, that's not even on this. So, and
next year you're saying yes, if they
continue paying the this will be paid
next year by next year.
>> Okay.
>> Because what they paid through their
property taxes now, they actually paid
it in June. That's for last year's
Any other comments?
Uh, all those in favor?
>> I Anyone opposed?
>> Thank you.
» All right. And no renew the school
resource officer agreement. Uh, Chief
Stone.
» As Chief Stone makes his way forward, I
think you'll recognize this is his first
presentation, so a lot of pressure. Uh
we we met all afternoon prepared. No, we
did meet all afternoon. It wasn't on
this topic. Um but uh I reassured him
that, you know, I think this is a fairly
popular program. So I don't think you
can mess it up. I think you just go and
you know, let him know you're going to
continue it. You'll get a a mini
applause and thank you very much. So
Chief, anything you want to
>> Thank you.
this uh morning to city council. I ask
that we continue our good relationship
with the Kent city schools. I starting
the academic year in the city schools
with uh patrol officer Dominic Poe of
the Kent Police Department serving as a
school resource officer. Uh the Kent
City School District reimbures the city
for the costs of his salary benefits
during the months that he's there. and I
ask for your favorable approval of this,
please.
>> All right. Any questions from councel?
>> There's nobody in the audience. Do we
have a motion?
>> I'll make the motion with with
emergency.
>> Yeah.
>> All those in favor?
>> I opposed.
Easy peasy.
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you very much. Thank you.
streets and sidewalks. Mr. Typton,
» it's coming up. I can see North Manowway
Street improvement project right of way
donation.
>> Thank you. Um, so we're here tonight
requesting council's approval to accept
the donation of seven easements from
three parcels from the Davy Tree Expert
Company in relation to the North Man
Street project. Two of the easements are
what we call permanent highway
easements. So they can use that we can
use that land for roads, utilities, or
other things. two two other easements
are permanent um shared use path
easements where they're basically for
walkways to get them move them away from
the roadway and then three others are
temporary easements for us to build the
project uh as it was designed and put
forth by the publics. So um in order to
complete the project we're going to need
right away from two owners. One's Davy
Tree and the other is Kent City School
District and happy to say both have at
least verbally agreed to donate and of
course Davy Tree is signed there. So
we're here looking for your approval
with the emergency
question. Go ahead.
>> It's not a question. It's a comment. I
just want to thank the both Davy Tree
and the Kent City Schools for being such
great partners and helping us move this
project forward. It's in all of our
interests, but I appreciate it. Thanks.
>> Thanks. Any more questions
from council?
Questions? No one's in the audience. So,
passing it back um for a motion.
>> I'll move to approve with emergency.
>> I'll second with emergency.
>> Any further comment?
All those in favor?
>> I I
>> I passes.
Any opposed item here? I heard
everybody.
All right, Jim, thank you for being up
there for the request for city water
service at 58 5085 State Route 43.
>> So, we received uh a request to provide
water to a location that's outside the
city. Since it's outside the city, it
requires council's approval. So, we're
here tonight requesting your approval to
provide water uh to 5085 State Route 43.
Uh we do not see any problem with
providing them water in that location.
Heidi,
>> are they in our Jed?
>> They're they're in a Jed. Yes. However,
>> are they part of our Jed? Have they
agreed to be part of the Jed?
>> The Jed is only businesses commercial.
Is this a commercial establishment?
Okay. Then it have to commercial.
» Perhaps
>> they're not petitioned in, but they
could choose to join it.
>> They could. That would be something
» because I thought the purpose of a jet
was to be able to bring services to the
business in exchange for their income
tax to be divided and and I realize
Eric's not here, but I I I I'm just it
doesn't seem to be working. And if we
just provide services without any other
than they're going to pay us for the
service,
>> well, they'll be paying for the water,
but the J purpose is actually to share
income taxes with townships. Sure.
>> Because they're unincorporated and they
can't.
>> So, it expands our footprint with
regards to the collection of income tax.
Um, but at the time that the petitions
are signed and the agreements are
established, those add to it. So adding
it to parcels typically it's a question
presented to them of you know are you
willing and many don't because they're
they have to be paying income tax and
they're like what do we get out of it? I
will tell you I've said this before the
jets run here are different than the
jets that I worked on in Summit County.
The em the M&I monies went towards the
expansion of infrastructure. These jet
agreements in Franklin and Virtual
Township were not set up that way. So
incentivizing adding them after this
agreement has occurred is a bit of a
challenge.
» I sort of I kind of sort of understand
that. Um, but I just I've heard this so often that they don't want to join
the Jed,
but we see maybe this is something for
the economic development plan um
strategic plan to look at because I
don't see that it's a that really a
success.
>> It is actually it generates Ron can
speak to how much we get from income tax
from the jet that contributes to our
revenue. So that is a huge it is a
factor. It's a few hundred,000 a year.
So it is absolutely worth the time,
>> but not every parcel in the jet boundary
of the district has signed into be part
of the jet. And that's the case
everywhere. There the opportunity to add
additional parcels typically comes if
there is a permanent extension of main
utility lines. And you know that is
something that Brimfield is working on
coming up this way, but it is years in
the making. We actually just had a Jed
meeting today with Brimfield and um
they're going to be talking to the new
sheets that went in to see if they'll
sign into the Jed uh for because of the
increase in fire services they need at
the Jed. So it's convincing businesses
that these additional services are
needed
>> where this small dentist office may not
see the benefit of that. They're still
going to be paying for the water, but
there's really not much much else they
need from the jet.
>> All right. So, they already have this is
an existing water mane that they can tap
into. So, we'll get the tap in fees,
>> correct?
>> And then we'll also get the the service.
I mean, I want to sell water.
>> There is a search charge that they will
pay as well.
>> They have a search charge. Anyone
outside the city that did not sign the
original Jed pays a 50% search charge
for their water
>> for any water they use.
>> Yeah.
>> I mean I don't want to not not get a new
customer. I just wonder if there was
like some other incentives we can build
into
>> Yeah.
>> Well, that's what I was going to ask. So
again new sorry if so they have they pay
50% this business is going to pay a 50%
sir charge on the water for forever
>> forever.
>> So
>> we initially cover the $11,668
or the paid that
>> and they actually paid a search charge
on that dollar amount as well. If they
were in the city they would have been
15% of this.
>> Okay.
And and also I guess I would add we did
not pay for the construction of the
water line down there either.
>> Yes.
>> We're providing the water and we're
going to maintain the line.
>> So
» is there potential for more customers in
that same area that we could kind of tap
into?
>> Yes, there is.
>> I know there's a housing development.
>> The housing development. We provided
water to them.
>> That's that's that's actually the that's who built the line
>> that now the dentist office can tell you
to.
» No, I know that. I know that. Now I'm
thinking more customers. How can we
expand customers? [laughter]
» Anyone ask [snorts] so anyone can who
wants to tie into our water can present
it and ask for it. Anyone outside the
city can request council's approval to
tie into our wall.
You do not have to say yes. [laughter]
But if we have a water line there,
>> you also have service area agreements
with Portage Water. So it's not a
freeforall, but there are opportunities
where it makes more sense to have us
service somebody than Portage. And you
actually are studying that, are you not?
Yes, we are studying that in this
location in this general area so that we
can basically effectively efficiently
build out this area by either us
providing water or Porsche County
resources providing water.
>> How long will this take for to to do
>> for this for this particular? They'll
probably have their tap done in the next
month or so.
>> Oh,
interesting.
>> Any further questions?
Oh, no one in the audience. Um, back to
council for comments.
>> I'll move to approve with emergency.
>> Second.
>> All those in favor?
>> I.
>> Any opposed?
>> Thank you. Thank you.