[0:48] I want to call the um
[0:51] committee meeting for August 5th to
[0:53] order.
[0:54] Um, first on the list is the community
[0:58] of whole and that would be Dom with July
[1:02] Yard Beautifification Awards.
[1:12] Okay,
[1:20] so there's our awesome sign. You'll see
[1:23] it at the following homes. Is this Am I
[1:27] using this clicker?
[1:34] You're doing it for me. Okay, thank you.
[1:36] Next.
[1:40] Okay, so first this is Liz and Kyle's
[1:42] house, and they're actually here today.
[1:46] um their neighbors who submitted them,
[1:49] they said that they take pride in their
[1:52] yard and in the garden. They're very
[1:54] intentional to have native plants and
[1:56] are also very intentional to remove
[1:58] invasive species. Side note, Kyle is the
[2:01] forestry teacher at Roosevelt, so he
[2:04] kind of he this is natural for him.
[2:07] >> Can I jump in? Aren't you forestry
[2:08] teacher of the year? Is that correct?
[2:11] >> Yeah. All right. [clears throat]
[2:13] of the year like in Ohio.
[2:16] >> Okay. Very humble brag over here. So
[2:19] very proud of that. Um and then the next
[2:23] one is Renee and Randy Rich. I don't
[2:27] know how to say that.
[2:28] >> Thank you. Um the folks who submitted
[2:32] them, they had said that while there's
[2:35] not a built garden, um they impressively
[2:38] used their yards for their yard and
[2:40] their sideyard for native plants and
[2:44] flowers and vegetables as well. Um and
[2:47] Renee was super generous um when I was
[2:49] there giving her her sign. She's like,
[2:51] "Do you want some of my plants?" And I'm
[2:52] like, "I mean, yes, actually, I probably
[2:54] will come back and get some." So, uh, if
[2:57] you want to stop over at 237 Highland,
[2:59] I'm sure she'll give you some as well.
[3:01] So, that's who we have. If you see these
[3:03] signs, um, make sure you or if you know
[3:06] these people, say thank you for having
[3:09] great yards. And I'm going to take a
[3:11] picture if you guys don't mind. Come up
[3:12] here with counsel.
[3:22] Congratulations.
[3:46] » And side note, this isn't on there, but
[3:48] tomorrow is another movie night. So if
[3:50] you have people who want to come to
[3:51] Artemis Park at 7 o'clock.
[3:56] » Thanks Tom.
[3:58] Update Steve.
[4:10] We don't have any
[4:15] » just
[4:29] updates.
[4:30] >> Okay. Uh council pending list update.
[4:36] Yes.
[4:42] Um, we missed 1.3.
[4:44] >> 1.3 is postponed.
[4:46] >> Oh, it is. I apologize for
[5:33] most
[5:39] next month.
[5:47] » Sorry. Thank you very much. This tends
[5:49] to be I'm having a night. Um, [laughter]
[5:54] this tends to be stuff that is more
[5:57] longer serving, sometimes intentionally
[6:00] waiting on things, sometimes just
[6:02] keeping it on the list because it's a
[6:04] topical area that you guys have said,
[6:06] "Yeah, you've satisfied the original
[6:08] motion, but we still care about this
[6:09] topic enough that we can just keep it on
[6:12] the list." We're fine with that. Um,
[6:15] remember too that this is not the ten
[6:17] commandments written in stone. You can
[6:19] change this. You can add it. does it
[6:21] gets added to um and I know at the
[6:23] previous meeting Mr. Hook made a motion
[6:26] to remove something. So, we've reflected
[6:29] that in here. Anyway, so you can it's your to-do list. Our I should say
[6:34] our to-do list because it's kind of a
[6:36] joint effort, right? Um so, some of
[6:38] these will look familiar to you. Uh this
[6:41] first one here, explore senior center
[6:43] advisory committee. That was the
[6:45] original motion was just a uh Melissa
[6:47] Long dated how dated that is. She wanted
[6:51] a actual separate standalone just we
[6:53] have sustainability commission. She
[6:55] wanted a senior citizen commission.
[6:57] Basically, um council said, "We really
[7:00] like senior citizens, but we don't want
[7:01] to get in the habit of having a bunch of
[7:03] different commissions. We think we can
[7:06] represent those interests in the council
[7:08] chambers and um without a standalone
[7:11] commission." But they said, "We care
[7:12] enough about seniors and we want to we
[7:15] had some speakers come in and talked
[7:17] about what senior services were in other
[7:18] cities and there's not a lot of senior
[7:21] support uh senior activities here.
[7:23] There's certainly support agencies, but
[7:26] uh like a senior center. And if you
[7:28] recall, part of our inspiration for
[7:30] buying the church was Angela had some
[7:33] interest in perhaps trying to convert
[7:35] that to a senior activity center. It's
[7:38] still a work in progress. She's not here
[7:39] tonight, but um I I've been on part of
[7:42] conversations with her getting a
[7:44] contractor in there to really figure out
[7:47] what it would take to turn that into a
[7:49] usable senior. It doesn't. She hasn't
[7:52] specifically said seniors yet, but an
[7:54] activity center of some sort, which
[7:56] seniors would be on that list. So, it's
[7:58] still ongoing. We're happy to keep it on
[8:00] there. I think that's what I
[8:02] recommended. Yeah, keep it on there. So,
[8:04] that' be that recommendation. Um,
[8:08] we had a conversation about
[8:11] Franklin Township sidewalk shoveling in
[8:13] that section. It's kind of like a little
[8:16] bit into the city, a little out of the
[8:18] city, then back in the city. It's that
[8:20] and and it's not all sidewalked. Um some
[8:24] of parts of it has sidewalk. Now Jim is
[8:26] got that project in that section. Once
[8:28] East Maine wraps up hopefully carries
[8:30] that all the way down to 261 and a big
[8:33] part of the funding which he's got much
[8:35] of the funding secured for that. So
[8:38] we're we're excited about that. And
[8:40] that'll have actual designated wide
[8:43] sidewalks pulled back a little bit off
[8:45] the roadway. Um I think that's when this
[8:48] really matters. But in the meantime, uh
[8:51] we did learn a couple things that we
[8:53] actually do where there is sidewalk, we
[8:56] parks and wreck will continue down the
[8:58] hill for much of that section um where
[9:01] there's sidewalk, not where there's not.
[9:03] Uh and Bridget's folks um you know, they
[9:06] do distribute the notices at the start
[9:09] of the season and when there's man-made
[9:11] piles or now this year natural
[9:13] accumulations, she will notify those
[9:16] businesses that they need to do it. Now,
[9:18] um I guess we we can't cite the ones
[9:21] that are technically not in the city,
[9:23] but we can certainly ask them to be good
[9:25] business neighbors. So, um we're happy
[9:28] fine keeping it on the list if that's
[9:30] what you want. You could also probably
[9:32] remove it, but it's totally up to you.
[9:36] Um, I would like to keep it on the list
[9:38] because it is really about a partnership
[9:41] and that hasn't really been
[9:45] worked through and you know we are all
[9:49] looking forward to the day when
[9:50] sidewalks will be complete and it might
[9:53] it it might you know for resources p
[9:56] purposes we might want to keep that
[9:58] partnership idea rather than taking it
[10:01] all on ourselves. But it's I think it's
[10:04] worth um I think I think when the public
[10:09] and the township people in the township
[10:11] see how wonderful it can be to have
[10:14] walkability then there's going to be
[10:17] more interest in resource sharing at
[10:18] that point. So let's keep it on.
[10:23] >> Um
[10:25] the consent number three was the consent
[10:27] agenda and that was removed. You've
[10:29] already voted to remove that. So that
[10:31] was what Mr. Hook made a motion to um
[10:34] noise ordinance. I think I suspect
[10:36] that'll always be an ongoing issue of
[10:38] one version of another. You have had
[10:40] conversations. We have made changes, but
[10:42] I think there's still even more a couple
[10:44] things that we're still looking at
[10:45] trying to gather more information. Um
[10:48] and there's a couple different
[10:50] ironically a couple of the outstanding
[10:52] requests were the opposite. It was to
[10:56] lighten to loosen the the noise
[10:59] ordinance. Um, and those were by people
[11:01] that got cited. So, uh, anyways,
[11:04] [laughter]
[11:05] you can't please everybody all the time.
[11:07] Um, I we think we try to strike a a fair
[11:10] balance and um, yeah, so I think we keep
[11:15] that one on the list as far as we're
[11:17] concerned unless you're inspired to
[11:18] remove it. um
[11:21] the downtown historic district that it's
[11:24] probably best if just read that
[11:26] paragraph but um there has been a lot of
[11:29] discussion activity on at the end of the
[11:31] day a lot of the uh historic design
[11:34] elements were incorporated into the
[11:36] zoning code. you um ceased the ARB
[11:40] functionality
[11:42] um and council
[11:45] had previously
[11:47] um and I think it's still the same
[11:49] sentiment that hey any property owner
[11:51] that wants to voluntarily you know make
[11:54] their property designation uh for
[11:57] historic we welcome that and we've got
[11:59] the ability to do it quickly we have the
[12:01] expedited CLG certification so and we've
[12:04] done that you this council's probably I
[12:07] one earlier this year. Um but the the
[12:10] idea of us imposing drawing lines and
[12:13] imposing this on people uh property
[12:15] owners
[12:17] council's been and staff has not
[12:19] recommended that either. I think you
[12:21] could remove that from the list what
[12:24] that would be. Um I'll finish and then
[12:27] you can decide which ones you want to
[12:28] keep. Um the architectural review board
[12:34] that one also you pretty much have by
[12:37] default
[12:38] removed its existence and the
[12:41] functionality. So I think that goes away
[12:43] but keep in mind that doesn't mean this
[12:45] next month or this month you could reput
[12:47] it. You could have a new version of
[12:49] that. So, I know sometimes because there
[12:52] are folks that this does matter to this
[12:54] concept, even though the original motion
[12:57] to put it on the pending list has sort
[13:00] of been resolved. Um, it doesn't mean it
[13:03] goes away forever. So, if you don't want
[13:05] it to go away forever. So, I would just
[13:07] share that with you. I think for this at
[13:09] this point, that one probably I would
[13:11] lean more towards. It's probably worth
[13:13] removing that from your list. Um,
[13:17] yeah, this next one, the requirement for
[13:19] in-person board interviews and
[13:21] commission interviews, staff doesn't
[13:23] really have a strong opinion on that
[13:24] one. That's kind of, I guess, up to you
[13:26] guys to talk about. Um, and we haven't
[13:29] scheduled time for that in committee,
[13:31] but I guess that's what would need to
[13:33] happen. I don't I don't get the sense
[13:34] that it's a stressful, urgent item or or
[13:37] somebody would have brought it up. I
[13:39] actually think some of this came from
[13:40] your predecessors. So, I don't know how
[13:43] much you guys even carry uh carried
[13:46] interest in this. Um I believe it was
[13:49] Jeff that made a referral for the
[13:51] arborist. It was tree issues on during
[13:55] inspections. Can we flag some tree
[13:57] issues, tree safety issues on private
[14:00] property, particularly rentals? And so
[14:02] Bridget worked on that. I think she's
[14:04] talked to Jeff on that. We've
[14:06] incorporated some new forms, referral
[14:09] forms that her inspectors can use to in
[14:12] advise central maintenance when they see
[14:14] a tree that we ought to have our arbors
[14:17] take a look at. Um, we don't have the
[14:19] staffing to do every tree and every
[14:22] rental inspection. So, we don't want to
[14:24] make it part of the specific rental
[14:26] process, but if it uh if we're there,
[14:29] we're happy to flag it and and start,
[14:31] you know, kind of its own process at
[14:33] that point. Um, so far so good. I mean,
[14:36] it's it's just been this year that
[14:37] bridges started that, but I hadn't seen
[14:39] any um push back on that. And then
[14:42] lastly, the um the warming centers
[14:46] concept, you know, you guys added
[14:49] $10,000. Is that right? And and we uh
[14:52] That's right. And then we um we did that
[14:56] two seasons now, I think. So, you had
[14:59] continued the pilot. You authorized its
[15:01] continuation. So, I don't think we need
[15:04] to keep it on the list anymore, but
[15:06] again, we're fine to go whatever
[15:08] direction you want. So, those are the
[15:10] items before you. Hey guys, what what
[15:13] are your wishes here?
[15:22] » I go down the line.
[15:24] >> Okay. Start down there, Ben. Kind of go
[15:27] down the line.
[15:30] >> That will be retain or remove. Yeah. or
[15:32] should we just pick one and then we'll
[15:33] just kind of get a problem here.
[15:36] >> So start with the uh senior center
[15:38] advisory committee.
[15:42] » Yes.
[16:07] Okay,
[16:08] >> I agree with Sarah. Let's remove it.
[16:11] >> I
[16:14] can because we can put this back as a in
[16:18] a different form perhaps. Um I agree
[16:22] that the senior center advisory
[16:24] committee has been on here long enough.
[16:26] I think we're moving forward and maybe
[16:28] we'll come up with something else and
[16:30] put it on later. So, I'm I'm fine with
[16:33] removing
[16:34] >> Eric. Remove.
[16:37] >> Remove.
[16:39] >> Okay.
[16:40] >> So, it's gone.
[16:41] >> Should I Should I do all in favor of
[16:43] removing?
[16:45] Yeah. All those people in favor of
[16:47] removing it raise their hand. I
[16:48] >> I
[16:49] >> opposed. Okay. So, it's removed.
[16:53] discussion of the Franklin Township or
[16:55] on sidewalk shoveling.
[16:59] We just do all those who want it
[17:01] removed.
[17:02] It probably easier, right?
[17:04] >> All those in favor of removing that from
[17:06] the pending list.
[17:09] >> All those who want it it remained on the
[17:11] pending list. I
[17:13] >> Okay, remains.
[17:16] >> Exploring the use of the consent agenda
[17:19] was already been removed.
[17:21] Uh, council committee noise ordinance
[17:24] review
[17:26] in favor of removing
[17:29] one. All those in favor of keeping
[17:34] four or five. So yeah. So it remains
[17:37] downtown historic district. All those in
[17:40] favor of removing pending list.
[17:43] >> One, two, three, four, five. All remd.
[17:47] Role of the architectural review board.
[17:50] All those in favor of removing I.
[17:53] >> I.
[17:54] >> Okay. Passes.
[17:57] Um.
[18:02] Okay. Requirement of for in-person board
[18:05] interviews.
[18:07] All those in favor of removing.
[18:11] All those in favor of keeping it on the
[18:13] pending list. Okay. So that keeps on.
[18:16] Number five. Arborous and Health
[18:18] Department included in rental
[18:20] inspections. All those in favor of
[18:21] removing I.
[18:23] >> Okay, it's removed. And warming centers
[18:27] for the unhoused.
[18:30] All those in favor of removing
[18:35] three four. So those who want to keep it
[18:40] on
[18:41] one. So it's removed.
[18:46] Okay,
[18:47] >> that's it. Thank you, mayor.
[18:48] >> Thank you.
[18:50] All right.
[18:53] So, next is
[18:55] community development.
[18:59] >> All right.
[19:00] Um and Bridget's coming up. We're going
[19:04] to talk about the economic development
[19:07] strategy update.
[19:09] >> Yes. Um, we have a consultant here today
[19:12] that I'm going to actually turn the mic
[19:14] over to let him introduce himself and uh
[19:17] talk about his process for the economic
[19:20] development strategy. But I did want to
[19:21] give everybody a little background on
[19:23] how we identify consultants. For those
[19:25] of you that may not be familiar, uh, the
[19:28] community development department issues
[19:29] requests for qualifications and we
[19:32] identify consultants that have done the
[19:34] work that we are seeking in other Ohio
[19:37] cities. The consultant doesn't
[19:38] necessarily need to be based in Ohio,
[19:41] but we find that it really makes a
[19:43] difference if they have familiarity with
[19:45] the state of Ohio and its laws and have
[19:48] done work specifically in Northeast
[19:50] Ohio. Um, the assistant uh community
[19:53] development director worked with me on
[19:55] identifying five consultants that had
[19:56] done work in Ohio and uh we received
[20:00] just one proposal but ironically it came
[20:02] from the one that we were hoping for. uh
[20:04] he has an extensive CV as which I
[20:06] included in my packet. He has done um
[20:10] basically economic development strategic
[20:12] work worldwide but more importantly also
[20:14] in Northeast Ohio in um many different
[20:18] details and formats. Uh so far it has
[20:20] been um a wonderful experience with him
[20:22] and I would like to have Randol Gross
[20:24] come up and he can talk to you about his
[20:26] experience and what he's going to be
[20:27] doing with Kent.
[20:32] Thank you, Bridget.
[20:34] Hello everyone.
[20:36] I'm Randy Gross. I'm an economic and
[20:38] strategic planning consultant based in
[20:40] Nashville. Uh Randle Gross Development
[20:43] Economics is the full name of my firm,
[20:45] which is a mouthful. Sorry about that.
[20:48] Um I've been consulting almost 40 years,
[20:51] so a lot of gray hair up here. And maybe
[20:54] about 700 or so projects worldwide. I
[20:57] had an office in Washington DC, London
[20:59] and Johannesburg, South Africa for many
[21:01] years. Have worked all over Southern
[21:04] Africa, West Africa, Europe and the
[21:07] North America primarily but have done
[21:09] training actually worldwide. So um lot
[21:14] of experience in different aspects of
[21:16] economic development which is maybe
[21:18] about 40 or 50% of my work. I also do a
[21:21] lot of real estate market analysis and
[21:23] financial feasibility assessment which
[21:26] is also an important part of my work and
[21:28] of course they're
[21:30] interface between the two of those and
[21:32] then I do a lot of economic and fiscal
[21:35] analysis economic fiscal impact analysis
[21:38] and other types of fiscal studies and a variety of other things. For
[21:43] example, in Africa I did a lot of
[21:44] agricultural economics um and
[21:46] conservation economics. So, my
[21:49] experience comes from a broad array of
[21:51] different areas. Um, in addition to work
[21:55] internationally, as Bridget mentioned,
[21:56] I've worked in in Northeast Ohio quite a
[21:59] bit, in your neighboring community of
[22:01] Hudson, in um well, Hudson as well as in
[22:04] Stowe, in Cleveland, in Independence,
[22:08] some other communities in Northeast
[22:09] Ohio. So in addition to that, other
[22:11] parts of Ohio and a lot of college towns
[22:14] all over the place, including Granville,
[22:16] Ohio, which you're probably familiar
[22:18] with, and Oxford, Ohio, some others. So
[22:21] I know a little bit about where you're
[22:23] coming from here, but the purpose of
[22:25] this trip that I'm on now is to really
[22:26] learn and listen from you about what
[22:29] your priorities are, what your interests
[22:32] are, what direction uh you'd like to see
[22:35] yourselves going in.
[22:37] So, I've been holding some interviews
[22:39] this trip uh with different folks uh
[22:41] that were recommended to me uh including
[22:45] uh and I cannot pronounce his last name,
[22:47] but Don Sheldall
[22:51] >> um as well as some folks from Davy Tree
[22:54] um some folks from the Portage
[22:55] Development uh uh agency
[23:00] um as well as a small business person
[23:03] I'll be meeting with in downtown and
[23:05] some representatives of Penn State
[23:07] University, but I welcome any
[23:09] suggestions you have on others uh to
[23:11] meet with while I'm here. I'll also be
[23:13] inventorying everything and doing site
[23:16] analysis and looking at everything
[23:17] that's here now so that I have a feel
[23:20] for the context of of what we're working
[23:22] with. And I'll be when I'm in downtown,
[23:25] for example, we'll be stopping at a lot
[23:26] of the businesses and conducting some ad
[23:29] hoc interviews with with the folks that
[23:31] are working here as well. So, um, that's
[23:35] kind of what I'm doing on this trip.
[23:38] I'll be also conducting two more trips.
[23:40] So, I want to have an interface with you
[23:42] on those as well to give you feedback on
[23:44] what I'm doing and where I am with
[23:46] things as well as to present some uh
[23:49] preliminary findings or strategies when
[23:51] I get to the end. There'll be in
[23:54] addition to the site assessment,
[23:55] there'll be socioeconomic baseline
[23:57] analysis. So, looking at all of your
[23:59] trends. I've already been reviewing a
[24:01] lot of the documentation that that
[24:03] Bridget and her team have provided. Um,
[24:06] and there's a lot of it. So, there was
[24:09] the strategic plan you did last year,
[24:12] 2025, which I have reviewed. Um, and a
[24:16] lot of other things. So, I've been going
[24:17] through all of that documentation.
[24:19] Um, I'll be doing a benchmarking
[24:22] assessment. So, one of the questions I
[24:23] have for you tonight is what communities
[24:26] you'd like me to look at in addition to
[24:28] the ones that I select on my own in
[24:30] terms of benchmarking the city for
[24:32] economic development um against others,
[24:35] for example, in Northeast Ohio or
[24:37] elsewhere. So, I'm interested in your
[24:39] opinion on that.
[24:42] I'll be sort of conducting a target
[24:44] market analysis.
[24:46] And you know, right now when I looked at
[24:47] the strategic plan, I noticed that
[24:49] you're really looking at Northeast Ohio
[24:51] information about what the target
[24:52] industries are, what types of businesses
[24:56] um you're looking at as a region. But
[24:58] the purpose of this or one of the
[24:59] purposes of this is really to focus on
[25:01] what is specifically your targets and your needs for for your comm your
[25:08] community u for Kent. So that'll be a
[25:11] big part of what I'm doing as well. And
[25:13] then there'll be economic development
[25:16] strategies and an implementation action
[25:18] plan that will be developed out of this
[25:21] that'll address things like business
[25:23] retention and growth, marketing and
[25:25] recruitment, entrepreneurship,
[25:28] uh keeping downtown vibrant, uh, real
[25:31] estate and development, relationships
[25:33] with your various partners,
[25:35] infrastructure, leveraging, all of those
[25:37] types of things. But I'll be hearing
[25:39] from you as well iteratively. So, I want
[25:41] to know what other things you'll be
[25:42] wanting me to look at. And there'll also
[25:43] be metrics as part of this to sort of
[25:45] measure your progress going forward. And
[25:49] of course, all of this will be contained
[25:50] in a written report. So, for tonight, as
[25:54] I mentioned before, I'd like to hear
[25:55] from you a little bit about what you
[25:57] feel the priorities are for economic
[25:59] development, if I have enough time to do
[26:01] that.
[26:01] >> Okay. and also sort of what benchmarking
[26:06] you'd like me to see uh you'd like me to
[26:08] do in terms of Northeast Ohio or
[26:10] elsewhere, communities that you feel
[26:13] have been successful or that have
[26:15] achieved the kinds of things you'd like
[26:17] to achieve here um in the ways that
[26:20] you'd like to see economic development
[26:21] achieved. So, I'm opening up the floor
[26:25] to you for also for any questions you
[26:26] have about me or my background as we
[26:29] move forward, but
[26:31] >> it's up to you now.
[26:32] >> So, uh, who would like to start?
[26:35] >> I've got a few.
[26:37] >> Um, hi.
[26:38] >> Hi.
[26:39] >> Welcome.
[26:39] >> Thank you.
[26:40] >> Welcome, Ken. Um, so a couple maybe some
[26:44] suggestions on additional persons to
[26:46] meet with. maybe a copen machine because
[26:48] they're medium-sized and because we just
[26:51] invested in their future and it's
[26:53] directly adjacent to our downtown and
[26:56] employment growth is the projection.
[27:00] >> Okay, perfect.
[27:02] >> Right.
[27:03] >> Um so like medium-sized businesses like
[27:05] what is what is the environment for
[27:07] that? Of course small businesses but I
[27:10] just want to catch the spectrum. you're
[27:12] already meeting with Davey, which is
[27:13] great that you know, as long as we get
[27:15] the spectrum so that we're
[27:18] >> as knowledgeable as possible about all
[27:20] the different potential entities that
[27:22] might be interested in being in a place
[27:23] like Kent.
[27:24] >> Um, when it comes to benchmarking, I
[27:28] don't think there's another Kent in
[27:30] northeastern Ohio. And so, it's just
[27:32] really hard to think about what that
[27:33] benchmark is. And so, gosh, I'd look to
[27:36] your expertise and thinking more broadly
[27:38] around benchmarking. Surely there's some
[27:40] economic indicators that you can look to
[27:43] for benchmarking, but our vibe is very
[27:46] different than the Hudson and Stow that
[27:49] you've already done some work with. Um,
[27:52] and because of our very real and large
[27:55] college,
[27:56] >> right?
[27:56] >> Uh, and our boundaries, our sizing for
[27:59] sure as well. Um, that's where I'll
[28:03] start and I'll just pass it to some
[28:04] other
[28:05] >> Can I ask Benjamin?
[28:06] >> Yeah.
[28:07] >> Benjamin works at the university.
[28:08] >> Okay. Do you have college towns that you
[28:11] would say, "Man, these are some of my
[28:13] favorite and they are similar to Kent
[28:15] maybe." Do you have anything like that you could think of given your
[28:18] >> I I I believe I know who you're meeting
[28:20] with at the university and they will
[28:22] have a good answer to that. [laughter]
[28:24] >> Okay.
[28:25] >> Yeah, I think you're meeting with Dana.
[28:27] >> Yes, meeting with Dana on Friday.
[28:29] >> Nick, perfect. They will have a a better
[28:32] answer than I have because they have it
[28:33] on the ready.
[28:36] And I should say also that as Bridget
[28:39] mentioned, I will be having focus groups
[28:41] next time I I'm here that will have
[28:43] representatives of a broad array of
[28:45] different sectors of your local economy,
[28:47] including small businesses, womanowned
[28:49] businesses, for example, different types
[28:51] of groups and um so I'll hear from a
[28:54] diverse array of different types of
[28:55] businesses and sizes. I will add a
[29:00] number of constituents have approached
[29:02] me and said, "Gosh, it'd be nice if we
[29:04] had more businesses like Sugaren Falls
[29:08] so that you can walk around and peruse."
[29:10] That has been mentioned to me a number
[29:11] of times.
[29:14] I don't know if that's possible because
[29:18] I know that retail business is very very hard and we do have so much
[29:25] storefront that is and we and we do have
[29:28] vacancies and so you know those are very
[29:30] real things to our downtown and then we
[29:33] have you know draw some concentric
[29:35] circles outside of the downtown and we
[29:37] need to think about all areas as well.
[29:40] >> Okay. Yeah.
[29:41] >> I'll pass the mic.
[29:44] Are you ready, Melissa?
[29:46] I'm not going to take up too much
[29:48] because I we already spoke for well over
[29:49] an hour, but the one thing that we
[29:51] didn't talk about that ties into what
[29:53] Benjamin's talking about is that we
[29:55] really have an issue with parking
[29:57] >> and that impacts our retail
[29:59] establishments and it's it definitely
[30:02] impacts uh the churn that we talked
[30:05] about and even though we don't
[30:08] necessarily think of that in economic
[30:10] development terms, it's a really big
[30:12] issue um for the downtown businesses. So
[30:15] that that idea of walkability is really
[30:18] true. I mean, Ben and I both walk all
[30:20] over the town, so do other people here,
[30:23] but from a stores perspective,
[30:27] >> it's retail is hard. We don't want to
[30:29] make it harder,
[30:30] >> right?
[30:31] >> So,
[30:31] >> okay.
[30:32] >> And and I think in every downtown I work
[30:34] in, parking is one of the top three
[30:37] issues.
[30:38] >> Yes, [laughter] of course.
[30:39] >> Yeah. We're glad you're here. Thank you.
[30:41] >> What are the other two?
[30:43] >> [laughter]
[30:45] >> Um,
[30:46] well, it's different in every community,
[30:48] but parking is a consistent one because
[30:50] everyone, you know, in America, we're
[30:52] used to parking in right next to where
[30:54] we want to go with convenience. So,
[30:56] that's a big deal
[30:57] >> a lot of places.
[30:59] >> Yeah.
[31:02] >> Yep.
[31:02] >> And then if if you do look at Sugarin
[31:04] Falls, they have a walkable little town
[31:07] with some parking. Um, but it does not
[31:11] impact their retail like it does here
[31:14] because they do have some really
[31:16] successful retail and I only know this
[31:18] because I run a farmers market in their
[31:20] downtown.
[31:21] >> Okay.
[31:24] » Thank you.
[31:26] >> Who else would like to speak?
[31:30] » No.
[31:32] Nobody else. I would like to talk.
[31:34] >> Good. But I'm running this meeting,
[31:36] >> so I can't.
[31:37] >> Oh,
[31:38] >> can we meet?
[31:39] >> I'm the downtown council representative
[31:42] and I have a lot of very strong opinions
[31:44] and
[31:45] >> interests in economic development.
[31:48] >> Okay.
[31:50] >> Is there anything else anyone wants to
[31:51] say about prior their priorities for
[31:54] economic what you feel are the your
[31:55] priorities or has it all been captured
[31:57] in the strategic plan that I've read?
[32:00] >> Priorities. I can I just add that
[32:04] council has been I don't know kneede hip
[32:07] deep in what we sort of anecdotally
[32:10] called downtown part two which was along
[32:14] the river railroad corridor. It's start
[32:17] it's a they're doing like a strategic
[32:18] planning exercise in conjunction with
[32:20] community members too and we I don't
[32:22] know if we've shared that information
[32:24] with you Randy but um
[32:27] there's been a lot of conversation about
[32:30] that we've we've built this great sort
[32:33] of physical infrastructure downtown and now we just need to continue to
[32:37] activate and animate it and a lot of
[32:39] that seems to resonate really well with
[32:41] sort of experiential
[32:43] retail experiential dining
[32:46] >> and and I think Shagrin Falls has some
[32:48] of that feel to it, too. I haven't spent
[32:50] much time there, but um I think we're
[32:54] leaning more and more towards what can
[32:57] we do add into the downtown
[33:01] amenity wise sort of quality of life
[33:04] things. There's been a um there was a
[33:06] master plan done for parks and
[33:08] recreation and one of their top
[33:09] priorities was more small recreational
[33:13] activity things for families and others
[33:16] downtown sort of worked into the the
[33:20] general topography down there. And uh
[33:22] Sarah's probably going to raise her hand
[33:24] and say she wants the the London Eye. Uh
[33:28] [laughter]
[33:29] >> okay. But those but the it's been a fun
[33:31] process because we're spitballing ideas
[33:36] and and we've got a fair number of those
[33:38] and we're happy at some point. I don't
[33:39] know if we've sh we've given you an elf.
[33:41] I know he's like no more. So
[33:43] >> no I did say no more. Bring it on. I
[33:45] mean but but there the experiential
[33:48] component and that word actually was
[33:49] used multiple times in the strategic
[33:51] plan. So I was familiar with that but
[33:53] the specific ideas that you have I
[33:55] welcome whatever
[33:57] >> concepts that's what I was going to say.
[33:59] So when you're looking at this plan,
[34:02] you're also going to look at what's the
[34:04] community's already contributed to our
[34:06] downtown part two. Okay. So all the way
[34:10] at the tippy tippy top
[34:13] uh splash pad. [laughter]
[34:16] >> Yeah. And that was on the list.
[34:17] >> Any amphitheater. So those kind of
[34:19] things if you're looking
[34:22] in like those those habitually come back
[34:26] from community members that they want to
[34:27] see more family oriented things and
[34:32] actually things that are geared toward
[34:35] un university students as well. So will
[34:39] you be here for flashes first Friday
[34:42] because maybe you should come.
[34:44] >> What time of day is that?
[34:48] Oh, he won't be here. You should come
[34:50] back. It'll be a good opportunity to
[34:52] meet with people.
[34:53] >> Video. That's right.
[34:54] >> That would be good. See,
[34:56] >> I I think it's important there's maybe
[34:59] it may not be self-evident, but in the
[35:02] spirit of putting our money where our
[35:04] mouth is. Council is investing, we're
[35:08] anticipating quarter of a million
[35:09] dollars specifically into parks and
[35:11] recreation for the first time ever
[35:12] because they're they're kind of
[35:14] self-funded. And the reason I point that
[35:16] out is because we're categorizing a lot
[35:19] whether it's splash pad a downtown
[35:21] ferris wheel or I mean we jokingly but
[35:24] we think it's important to
[35:26] >> throw everything out that those are
[35:29] supportable as economic development
[35:32] investments. So it's kind of we've
[35:35] broadened the we've gone from the bricks
[35:37] and mortar of the downtown redo that we
[35:40] spent 10 years doing to now we're sort
[35:42] of I call it the soft tissue. We built
[35:44] the hard tish, the bones, and and now to
[35:47] optimize the hard stuff, we want to
[35:49] really build the soft stuff, the people
[35:51] stuff. And that's where we're hearing it
[35:54] resonate really well that that splash
[35:56] pad, you name any kind of those
[35:58] amenities, access to the river,
[36:00] Whitewater Park downtown, you know, all
[36:03] these kind of amenities, trail access,
[36:06] we think those are fair game as part of
[36:09] an economic development strategy. I
[36:11] don't know if we've explicitly said that
[36:12] to you, but I would tell you that it
[36:14] it's meaningful here because they're
[36:15] even putting a quarter of a million
[36:17] dollars towards it.
[36:18] >> And I think what what I usually start
[36:20] with are your existing strengths or
[36:22] assets and and anything related to
[36:25] economic development or downtown
[36:27] revitalization, whatever. And I think,
[36:29] you know, you have a river, it's
[36:31] connected to a national park, correct?
[36:34] And so,
[36:37] you know, looking at that as an asset
[36:39] and how you can build on that downtown
[36:42] to me rings a bell. Like an idea that I
[36:45] think is very well placed. Things like
[36:48] splash pads and all of that can actually
[36:50] fit in nicely with trails with river
[36:53] kaying activity with river access. And
[36:56] so there ways to tie those things
[36:58] together,
[36:59] >> make it work.
[37:00] >> And that's what I was going to say too
[37:01] when we're talking about downtown. We as
[37:03] a council have talked a lot about
[37:07] um getting access to the river before
[37:10] other towns around us do it. So that's
[37:13] super important I think as well and it
[37:15] will bring families of all ages
[37:18] together. So I think that that's really
[37:20] important that you can spend some time
[37:23] looking at that for us.
[37:25] I was just going to go actually I was
[37:27] going to go more specifically into the
[37:29] river talk is that there there's a dam
[37:31] 10 miles downstream that's coming out
[37:33] that will open the river basically from
[37:34] just the north side of Kent to I don't
[37:37] know what the next dam I don't think
[37:38] exists anymore. I think it's the last
[37:39] dam on the river until you get to the
[37:40] national park. So
[37:42] >> two of the towns downstream of us are
[37:44] already planning to see what they can do
[37:45] to capitalize on it. But we're furthest
[37:47] upstream. So, I think we need to be
[37:49] first of the party and it's like a once
[37:51] in a generation or once in a lifetime.
[37:54] That dam's been there for 90 years. So,
[37:56] once in a lifetime opportunity to cash
[37:57] in on what's in our downtown. So, I
[38:00] think that needs to be a top priority
[38:01] because we don't get this chance again.
[38:04] >> And it also fits nicely with the
[38:06] university, you know, having here and
[38:09] everything else.
[38:12] >> Ben,
[38:13] >> yeah. Uh, couple more comments. Um the
[38:17] recreation I double down on that. So
[38:20] like we have the opportunity to invest
[38:22] in that but we cannot
[38:25] our hands are tied a lot in private
[38:27] investment and and economic development
[38:29] in some ways. We can just provide a good
[38:32] atmosphere for those investments. I was
[38:34] looking over your scope of work and it
[38:36] doesn't include housing and I know that
[38:38] we're doing a housing study,
[38:40] >> but if there was a way to consider the
[38:43] economics of of adjacency for housing.
[38:46] So I we know anecdotally or I I'll I'll
[38:50] speak in I terms. I know anecdotally
[38:53] that more young families want to live in
[38:55] Kent that are not able to.
[38:58] Um,
[39:00] and what does that mean for economic
[39:03] development? Like, uh, and I'm sure the
[39:07] housing study will illustrate housing
[39:10] stock. We're 60% rental as a town, but a
[39:14] lot of that rental is students that
[39:16] attend the university. And so, it's
[39:18] transient. It's shortterm. Literally,
[39:20] it's four years in and out, three years
[39:23] in and out, less than sometimes. Um,
[39:26] andor it's moving around. And so there's
[39:28] not as long of a an investment made by
[39:31] those uh individuals just because of
[39:33] time. Um
[39:37] had one more point and I lost it. It'll
[39:40] come to me.
[39:40] >> It'll come. It'll come.
[39:42] >> Anybody else?
[39:45] >> It came. Um [laughter] the the
[39:49] short-term rentals like the Airbnbs in
[39:51] the area
[39:53] are renting to those that are coming to
[39:55] the national park. So we are in the
[39:58] concentric circle of people coming for
[40:00] the national park in addition to other
[40:02] reasons. So we're already connected to
[40:06] the national park. people are staying
[40:08] this far away to visit that national
[40:10] park and we can benefit from that and we
[40:14] can probably say that better because
[40:16] it's already happening and we can
[40:18] probably say that louder and with river
[40:23] access and direct connection and all the
[40:26] other connective tissue that we could
[40:28] draw. Okay.
[40:30] >> Because the national park isn't going
[40:32] anywhere and um and it's really close at
[40:35] hand.
[40:36] >> Both.
[40:40] » So, so I would like to um make a few
[40:42] summary statements. That okay,
[40:45] everybody. Okay. First of all, we we
[40:48] pride ourselves on being unique. We
[40:50] pride ourselves on being at ahead of the
[40:51] curve. We developed Kent as a
[40:54] destination. Unfortunately, a lot of
[40:56] other communities kind of ripped off
[40:59] some of what we've done and they're
[41:00] trying to replicate it. So, we need to
[41:02] continue, which is what I heard Ben and
[41:04] several of you saying, to be that
[41:07] community that thinks ahead, thinks
[41:09] outside the box. We have a very
[41:11] committed population here. They love
[41:13] being here. This is a self-contained
[41:16] community. And we're we we like to see
[41:19] ourselves as unique. We value our
[41:21] diversity.
[41:23] We value our kind of weirdness
[41:27] and our vibrancy.
[41:29] I would when I was first elected to
[41:32] council many years ago, um I took a trip
[41:36] down to Asheville, North Carolina
[41:37] because I thought maybe that would be
[41:39] sort of a kind of a community that could
[41:41] inspire us. And you know, it's a music
[41:44] town and an art town and I think that
[41:48] was part of it. And it's a walkable city
[41:51] and you know it's not necessarily
[41:54] college town but it has a lot of nature.
[41:56] People are really into the environment
[41:58] around it, the trails and everything. Um
[42:01] I loved it there. I don't know what it's
[42:02] like now after the big floods and stuff,
[42:05] but that seemed to be kind of had our
[42:09] vibe. Boulder, Colorado was one of our
[42:11] sister the communities we looked at as
[42:14] being kind of Kentian or you know some
[42:17] something to something to take off
[42:19] after. I lived in Santa Cruz, California
[42:22] before moving here and I said what's the
[42:24] matter with this town? It could be
[42:26] another Santa Cruz. So
[42:29] um we do struggle with you know uh
[42:33] resources
[42:34] but we like to think uh creatively and
[42:39] you know really be that community that
[42:42] people want to come to and people want
[42:44] to live here and the housing issue is a
[42:47] big one for me because we do hear people
[42:50] want to live here once they're here they
[42:52] never want to go anywhere else. Um, so
[42:54] that's another thing is we need housing
[42:56] for people that want to trade different
[42:58] kinds of housing and go somewhere else.
[43:01] Um, and that's that's kind of what I
[43:03] just want to say as a summary because I
[43:05] think a lot of you hit on many of those
[43:08] points. Um, we want to continue to build
[43:11] the soft tissue, but we want to continue
[43:13] to do to become economically viable and
[43:16] get more jobs. That is that's important.
[43:19] Good good jobs. We even found minimum
[43:22] wage jobs are hey help pay
[43:25] >> you know so anything that can bring that
[43:27] kind of vibrancy you know we don't want
[43:30] a data center you know we want good jobs
[43:34] good quality jobs we want to attract
[43:36] young professionals and newly retireds
[43:40] and um
[43:42] families families has been a really big
[43:44] focus in in recently and we've
[43:47] discovered that maybe we can we a
[43:50] deficit at the family, you know,
[43:53] creating experiences for families.
[43:56] >> So, did I summarize?
[43:58] >> I think so. Did you work on the
[43:59] amphitheater um project for Stowe? I see
[44:03] Stow here for market potentials and
[44:05] fiscal impacts for their new
[44:06] >> No, it was part of I was part of their
[44:08] comprehensive plan
[44:10] >> and Stow um so I I didn't work on a
[44:13] specific it was more of a citywide
[44:16] >> question there.
[44:17] >> Creating a new because I know that they
[44:18] were looking at downtown as a walkable
[44:22] for there. So yes, you
[44:24] >> you were involved in that
[44:26] >> in the very early stages of that. Um
[44:29] again, it was part of their
[44:30] comprehensive plan probably 25
[44:34] years ago, maybe 20 years ago.
[44:37] >> Most recent work I've done around here
[44:39] was in Independence on their economic
[44:41] development.
[44:45] » Heidi, one last comment.
[44:46] >> Sure.
[44:47] >> Sorry. Um, in our packet today is the
[44:50] annual report from Main Street Kent. I'm
[44:52] sure you're going to meet with them, but
[44:53] it's an absolute driver for a lot of the
[44:57] activity and like such a great
[45:00] investment from the city and this
[45:02] >> uh twoerson
[45:04] strong and hundreds of volunteers
[45:07] >> at their backs helping to make amazing
[45:12] economic activity happening that comes
[45:15] to this place. And so like
[45:18] thinking about that and the impact that has had on our community and kind
[45:23] of like illustrate their report that I'm
[45:25] sure you'll get. So
[45:27] >> okay, thank you.
[45:32] » Are we invited to your focus groups?
[45:35] >> We report back after the
[45:37] >> We still have to talk about who's
[45:38] invited to those, but we'll discuss
[45:40] that. Usually the elected officials are
[45:42] not part of the focus groups unless
[45:44] you're
[45:46] business, pardon it.
[45:47] >> If you have a business, and you're part
[45:50] of that sector probably
[45:54] » so I want to thank you for for being
[45:56] willing to come and talk to us and keep
[45:59] bringing it back because it's really a
[46:01] vital topic to our community and uh you
[46:05] know it really links into everything.
[46:06] >> Yes. And um yeah um
[46:11] we one thing is we have realized that we
[46:14] are urbanizing. We are a small city
[46:16] that's landlocked but we're urbanizing
[46:18] and and density is becoming something
[46:21] that people are getting to be okay with.
[46:24] Um so we can think about that kind of
[46:27] model as well.
[46:29] know, um, we're we're we're weaning
[46:31] people off the parking [laughter]
[46:35] and, you know, helping people understand
[46:37] that if they park somewhere, they can
[46:39] walk a few blocks and enjoy the scenery
[46:41] along the way and maybe get caught up in
[46:43] something fun.
[46:44] >> Well, well, often college towns are the
[46:46] lead the lead communities for
[46:49] walkability around the country, as you
[46:51] know, having been to Boulder and places
[46:53] like that. So,
[46:54] >> that's a big part of it. Yeah.
[46:57] >> Yeah. Great. Thank you. Hope to meet
[46:59] with you.
[47:00] >> Thank you very much.
[47:02] >> Nice meeting all of you.
[47:08] » All right, we have
[47:18] housing board was established uh a long
[47:21] time ago and when it was originally
[47:22] established it was actually a quai
[47:24] judicial board. Uh since there have been
[47:27] changes in fair housing law, virtually
[47:29] every community moved their fair housing
[47:32] uh regulatory compliance to actual fair
[47:35] housing agencies that have attorneys and
[47:37] specialize in that. But one of the items
[47:40] that uh we've we've done actually
[47:42] amendments to this adding as you know
[47:44] protected classes locally um and also
[47:48] other things that HUD has required us to
[47:49] do. But one thing that has remained in
[47:51] here is of the seven members, five is
[47:53] required for a forum and that has become
[47:55] a challenge for us. We've had to cancel
[47:58] meetings um because we were only could
[48:01] we basically uh could only get four and
[48:04] another the last meeting they wanted to
[48:06] vote on a um basically a a resolution or
[48:10] a letter that they wanted to send to the
[48:12] state but they only had four. So I am
[48:14] here to request that it be changed to
[48:17] match match Robert's rules basically a
[48:20] majority. So the quorum would be four
[48:22] versus five.
[48:23] >> Any questions? Ben?
[48:24] >> No question but comment. Having been on
[48:27] the board I support this.
[48:30] >> Anybody else?
[48:32] Any any comments from the audience? Don.
[48:38] » All right. Back to council. Any any uh
[48:41] any motion? I
[48:46] >> make a motion to approve uh this change
[48:49] to a majority uh with uh emergency.
[48:52] >> I'll second.
[48:55] >> Any comments from council? Great. All
[48:58] those in favor?
[49:00] >> All those against? Same sign.
[49:03] >> Thank you.
[49:03] >> All right. Passes.
[49:05] >> And uh the committee is now closed.
[49:10] >> Uh yes. So, uh, we have Rhonda coming up
[49:14] to, um, talk about those, uh, certifying
[49:17] and the movement of these unpaid bills
[49:20] owed to the city of Kent to the county
[49:23] for collection.
[49:24] >> Correct.
[49:24] >> And Rhonda, yes. Before you start,
[49:26] because I'm kind of confused, Melissa
[49:28] asked me a question before the meeting
[49:30] started. Will these be three different
[49:33] ordinances as opposed to just one with
[49:36] everything on it?
[49:37] >> I think in the past they have been three
[49:38] separate ordinances. Okay, that's what I
[49:40] thought, but I wanted to ask you if So,
[49:42] we'll do each one of these separately
[49:44] and then I will check.
[49:47] I think it was three.
[49:51] Okay. So, the first one you have um at
[49:54] least I don't know in your packet which
[49:56] one you have first, but I'm going to do
[49:58] the uh concrete sidewalk bills. So,
[50:01] according in accordance with our
[50:03] codified ordinances 521.06 06 section.
[50:06] It allows us to certify any unpaid
[50:10] sidewalk program um delinquencies. And
[50:14] so this is the first one of 33,000.
[50:17] >> Do you want to reference I know this is
[50:20] the end of the pipeline, but you've done
[50:22] a lot of notification to the people.
[50:24] You've tried to get them to pay. This is
[50:28] there. It's not like we're just throwing
[50:30] these names on a list. There's been a
[50:32] lot of pre-effort to get them to pay.
[50:34] Yes.
[50:35] >> So,
[50:37] each department takes care of their own
[50:39] delinquencies, but um we send second
[50:42] notices. We've even sent third notices,
[50:44] especially for I know utility billing.
[50:46] We send the notices with a letter saying
[50:49] if you don't pay by X date, your uh
[50:51] delinquence is going to be put on your
[50:53] property tax bill uh come September. And
[50:56] I think it's September 9th that we have
[50:58] to certify it to the county by. So yeah,
[51:02] we do a lot of due diligence and trying
[51:04] to get people to know that this is due
[51:06] to the city and try to get them to pay
[51:08] in advance of having to put it on the
[51:10] property taxes because the county then
[51:13] puts their fee on top of that. So,
[51:16] >> so, uh, questions from council and
[51:19] >> yeah, an actual question this time, not
[51:22] um, if a resident for the concrete
[51:27] program that hasn't paid, is there a
[51:31] financial hardship application process?
[51:33] >> They've already done that. And so, if a
[51:35] person is meet certain criteria, they
[51:37] either get it for half price or free.
[51:39] >> Okay.
[51:40] >> So, they've already done that before
[51:42] this whole
[51:43] >> Okay. Okay. When they actually apply for
[51:44] it, you know, when they're when they're
[51:46] going through and doing the sidewalk
[51:47] program, they already are talking with
[51:49] each resident about that.
[51:50] >> Yeah. Thank you.
[51:52] >> Any other questions from council?
[51:54] >> Sarah.
[51:54] >> Sorry, I'm new. So, I just need to ask
[51:57] this question. So mostly because I lost
[51:59] my paper, but I'm just going to
[52:01] >> So when someone needs this program and
[52:06] they do they pay anything
[52:09] upfront or it's only after the fact that
[52:11] >> we that's usually up to the engineering
[52:15] department, but we usually work with the
[52:17] individuals to say if you need a payment
[52:19] plan, we'll work with you that way. We
[52:21] don't just say this is what you owe and
[52:24] it's due upon receipt of the bill.
[52:29] >> Oh, hi. Uh
[52:30] >> oh.
[52:33] >> Sure. So, you were asking about the uh
[52:37] sidewalk program.
[52:38] >> Yeah.
[52:39] >> Okay. So,
[52:41] the short version is in the codified
[52:43] ordinances. It's the public the property
[52:46] owner's responsibility to maintain the
[52:47] sidewalk. 94 council uh approved a
[52:52] series of rebates uh discounts for
[52:56] hardships for things out of their
[52:58] control like tree related issues. And so
[53:01] when we go to a street as part of the
[53:03] street program, we walk, we assess the
[53:05] street, uh the sidewalks, we uh
[53:09] determine which ones need to be repaired
[53:11] for the safety of the public. Send a
[53:13] notice to the property owner saying,
[53:15] "Hey, in a year we're going to do the
[53:16] PL, this program, here's the things that
[53:20] you are responsible for, and you can
[53:22] either do it yourself or we'll do it for
[53:24] you, and here's an estimate of what it
[53:26] would cost you. And if you are available
[53:29] for these programs, please provide us
[53:31] the information. Uh in general, anything
[53:34] street tree related is free because it's
[53:37] not their cause. Uh if they are if it's
[53:40] owner occupied residential, they'll get
[53:43] 50% off anything. And if they're low
[53:46] income owner occupied residential, it's
[53:48] free.
[53:49] >> Oh, okay. So,
[53:51] >> did that help?
[53:53] >> Okay.
[53:53] >> Thank you.
[53:56] Any other questions from council?
[53:59] >> So, can we do a vote on this one? Sure.
[54:02] One at a time. So, uh, anybody have a
[54:05] motion for this?
[54:06] >> Yeah. Emergency.
[54:07] >> I'll move this section, the annual
[54:09] concrete repair to for approval.
[54:12] >> Any second?
[54:14] >> With e.
[54:14] >> All those in favor?
[54:16] >> Oh, I'm sorry. With emergency.
[54:17] >> With emergency.
[54:18] Then you second that.
[54:22] >> Any other comments or questions?
[54:25] All those in favor
[54:26] >> I
[54:27] >> oppose
[54:29] passes.
[54:30] >> Okay. Sorry, shouldn't have said that.
[54:32] Not my job to say pass.
[54:35] >> So the next section,
[54:36] >> the next one is the uh delinquent
[54:38] nonutility. So this includes um per the
[54:43] memo any violation that is uh
[54:47] created by the law code enforcers and
[54:50] also the health department. So you have
[54:52] a list for each of the community
[54:54] development and uh the health department
[54:57] for their citations slashviolations that
[55:01] are going to get sent to the county as
[55:04] well.
[55:10] » Any questions? No. Um back to council
[55:13] for a motion.
[55:15] >> I'll move to authorize with the
[55:17] emergency.
[55:18] >> Second.
[55:20] All those in favor.
[55:22] >> Anybody opposed?
[55:26] >> All right. And the last one is the
[55:27] utility billing um debtors. This is in
[55:31] accordance with uh an ordinance that was
[55:33] passed in 2012.
[55:37] Ordinance number 2012- 110. It is for
[55:41] section 9137,
[55:43] 915.72,
[55:45] 921.24, 24 and 935.14
[55:49] of the codified ordinances which gives
[55:51] us the authority to um send to the
[55:54] county any delinquents for water sewer,
[55:57] solid waste and storm water. And keep in
[56:01] mind for all three of these, if anybody
[56:04] pays between now and August 31st, they
[56:07] will come off the list. So you will get
[56:09] a list with the ordinance at the next
[56:11] council meeting that'll have the most
[56:12] recent updated list. But if anybody pays
[56:16] even after that date, the list is going
[56:18] to change. We will take their name off
[56:19] of that list before it gets certified.
[56:23] >> And
[56:26] will they be notified that it or have
[56:30] they already been notified that it may
[56:32] be referred for a lean
[56:34] >> in for what?
[56:35] >> For the county.
[56:37] >> Well, we have sent them a letter that
[56:40] states that if they don't pay by August
[56:41] 31st,
[56:42] >> Yeah. Any balance that's due will be
[56:44] sent to the county.
[56:46] >> Okay.
[56:48] >> Any other gloves, Jeff?
[56:50] >> So, I know that this one, the villages
[56:52] of Frank Crossing has been whatever it's
[56:54] been for a while, but it's an
[56:55] extraordinary amount of money. It's like
[56:57] it's $254,000.
[56:59] >> Um, and there's some 22,000, some
[57:02] 11,000. So, this is like an outrageous
[57:04] amount of money that could buy some nice
[57:06] things. There are ordinances we could
[57:08] pass that would be incredibly more harsh
[57:12] for rental properties that aren't
[57:14] keeping up. Like if you're 90 days
[57:16] behind, your water is shut off in your
[57:18] building. Now your building's condemned.
[57:19] So figure it out and pay us.
[57:20] >> If they're two months delinquent, we're already putting them on a shut off
[57:24] list.
[57:24] >> Right. But I know like when we talked
[57:25] about the Franklin Crossing, we didn't
[57:27] want to kick people out before the
[57:28] school year ended. And that guy, let's
[57:30] you know, for lack of a better term, is
[57:32] not a very nice guy.
[57:33] >> Well, I do have some good news. is we uh
[57:36] I checked before the meeting today
[57:37] because I knew she was going to ask.
[57:39] Sarah's going to ask. Um they have paid
[57:42] their bill on the 002 property uh parcel
[57:46] number. So they have paid the lion's
[57:49] share of last year's delinquencies that
[57:52] we submitted to the county. Okay. The
[57:54] 001 they still haven't made a payment
[57:57] since I it was either 2024
[58:01] of 48,000 or the beginning of 25 for
[58:03] 48,000. So, they still owe the county
[58:05] quite a bit of money,
[58:06] >> right?
[58:06] >> And the county is going to come before
[58:08] us.
[58:09] >> Could we, and I don't know this is
[58:12] Hope's job, but could we force if if
[58:15] somebody's in this situation or or has a
[58:17] rental like that, you're going to have
[58:18] to put up a deposit equivalent to 60
[58:21] days worth of average water use, you
[58:23] know, to the prior tenants. So, that at
[58:25] the very least when we shut your water
[58:26] up, we still get our money.
[58:29] >> I mean, are these just options to
[58:30] explore? Like, I don't know. I think
[58:31] that is I when I work at Hawk Falls uh
[58:35] something in my head is niggling me to
[58:38] say we did that to an extent. I can look
[58:40] at that.
[58:41] >> Yeah. I just we don't want to get in the
[58:42] situation again. So
[58:43] >> and I think Kent actually had that at
[58:46] one time where they were requiring
[58:48] deposits. I'm not sure what happened to
[58:50] the program.
[58:56] Heidi,
[58:58] >> correct me if I'm wrong, but number of
[59:01] years ago, we we changed who was liable
[59:06] for the bill to the property owner, the
[59:09] land landlord basically versus the
[59:12] tenant um for um those types of
[59:16] situations. So, um, the landlord could
[59:20] very easily put ask for a deposit from
[59:24] their tenants coming in. You know,
[59:27] [clears throat] it's it seems like maybe
[59:32] this just seems to be
[59:35] I don't know. So, it looks like a very
[59:36] high percentage of rental properties are
[59:39] here and they probably are feeling
[59:41] burned from their tenants and they need
[59:43] to figure out how to tighten that chip a
[59:46] little bit more.
[59:46] >> And I know that this the currently the
[59:49] state is allowing us to charge the
[59:52] property owner, but they're looking at
[59:54] changing that, not allowing us to charge
[59:56] the property owner and making us go
[59:58] after the tenant.
[59:59] >> Of course,
[1:00:00] >> that of course hasn't passed yet. And so
[1:00:02] we'll determine what we have to do if
[1:00:05] that ever happens. Hopefully it doesn't.
[1:00:08] >> Well, then we would have to definitely
[1:00:09] institute some kind of
[1:00:11] >> because once a tenant moves out,
[1:00:13] >> it's it's almost near impossible to find
[1:00:16] them
[1:00:17] >> unless of course attorney general's
[1:00:19] office is then going to help us with
[1:00:21] that.
[1:00:22] >> Yeah,
[1:00:23] >> they do with Medicare. I mean, we had
[1:00:25] that similar situation with income taxes
[1:00:27] and was one of the motivations for going
[1:00:29] with Rita because it gave us access to
[1:00:32] their resources,
[1:00:34] go after people through the federal tax.
[1:00:37] We as a city, we don't have access to
[1:00:39] the federal tax, if I have that correct,
[1:00:41] but Rita does. So, Rita could track
[1:00:43] those, I guess, social security numbers,
[1:00:45] whatever, for those people that leave
[1:00:47] here and and don't pay their tax. We
[1:00:49] were out of luck. Rita has helped us
[1:00:51] pretty significantly on that. I would
[1:00:52] guess we need a version of that for uh
[1:00:55] water and sewer. But
[1:00:57] >> so any other questions related to moving
[1:00:59] this to the county, this particular
[1:01:01] line? Anybody?
[1:01:03] >> Uh back to you for a motion.
[1:01:06] >> I'll move to approve it and report it to
[1:01:08] the county with emergency.
[1:01:09] >> With emergency second.
[1:01:12] >> There is a emergency.
[1:01:14] >> Okay. Yeah.
[1:01:15] >> Any other comments?
[1:01:16] >> Um I actually just have one more. So,
[1:01:18] anything that has 002, you're saying
[1:01:22] that they've paid
[1:01:24] or let's this is when we get this next
[1:01:27] list that's going to come off of this
[1:01:29] paper.
[1:01:30] >> Well, that's not even on this. So, and
[1:01:33] next year you're saying yes, if they
[1:01:35] continue paying the this will be paid
[1:01:37] next year by next year.
[1:01:39] >> Okay.
[1:01:41] >> Because what they paid through their
[1:01:42] property taxes now, they actually paid
[1:01:44] it in June. That's for last year's
[1:01:51] Any other comments?
[1:01:53] Uh, all those in favor?
[1:01:55] >> I Anyone opposed?
[1:01:59] >> Thank you.
[1:02:03] » All right. And no renew the school
[1:02:04] resource officer agreement. Uh, Chief
[1:02:06] Stone.
[1:02:09] » As Chief Stone makes his way forward, I
[1:02:11] think you'll recognize this is his first
[1:02:13] presentation, so a lot of pressure. Uh
[1:02:16] we we met all afternoon prepared. No, we
[1:02:19] did meet all afternoon. It wasn't on
[1:02:20] this topic. Um but uh I reassured him
[1:02:24] that, you know, I think this is a fairly
[1:02:27] popular program. So I don't think you
[1:02:30] can mess it up. I think you just go and
[1:02:32] you know, let him know you're going to
[1:02:33] continue it. You'll get a a mini
[1:02:35] applause and thank you very much. So
[1:02:37] Chief, anything you want to
[1:02:39] >> Thank you.
[1:02:41] this uh morning to city council. I ask
[1:02:44] that we continue our good relationship
[1:02:47] with the Kent city schools. I starting
[1:02:51] the academic year in the city schools
[1:02:53] with uh patrol officer Dominic Poe of
[1:02:57] the Kent Police Department serving as a
[1:02:59] school resource officer. Uh the Kent
[1:03:02] City School District reimbures the city
[1:03:05] for the costs of his salary benefits
[1:03:07] during the months that he's there. and I
[1:03:10] ask for your favorable approval of this,
[1:03:12] please.
[1:03:13] >> All right. Any questions from councel?
[1:03:16] >> There's nobody in the audience. Do we
[1:03:18] have a motion?
[1:03:19] >> I'll make the motion with with
[1:03:21] emergency.
[1:03:22] >> Yeah.
[1:03:24] >> All those in favor?
[1:03:26] >> I opposed.
[1:03:29] Easy peasy.
[1:03:30] >> Yeah.
[1:03:30] >> Thank you very much. Thank you.
[1:03:39] streets and sidewalks. Mr. Typton,
[1:03:50] » it's coming up. I can see North Manowway
[1:03:52] Street improvement project right of way
[1:03:54] donation.
[1:03:55] >> Thank you. Um, so we're here tonight
[1:03:57] requesting council's approval to accept
[1:04:00] the donation of seven easements from
[1:04:03] three parcels from the Davy Tree Expert
[1:04:05] Company in relation to the North Man
[1:04:07] Street project. Two of the easements are
[1:04:10] what we call permanent highway
[1:04:11] easements. So they can use that we can
[1:04:14] use that land for roads, utilities, or
[1:04:16] other things. two two other easements
[1:04:19] are permanent um shared use path
[1:04:21] easements where they're basically for
[1:04:22] walkways to get them move them away from
[1:04:25] the roadway and then three others are
[1:04:27] temporary easements for us to build the
[1:04:29] project uh as it was designed and put
[1:04:33] forth by the publics. So um in order to
[1:04:36] complete the project we're going to need
[1:04:38] right away from two owners. One's Davy
[1:04:40] Tree and the other is Kent City School
[1:04:41] District and happy to say both have at
[1:04:44] least verbally agreed to donate and of
[1:04:46] course Davy Tree is signed there. So
[1:04:48] we're here looking for your approval
[1:04:49] with the emergency
[1:04:54] question. Go ahead.
[1:04:55] >> It's not a question. It's a comment. I
[1:04:57] just want to thank the both Davy Tree
[1:04:58] and the Kent City Schools for being such
[1:05:00] great partners and helping us move this
[1:05:02] project forward. It's in all of our
[1:05:04] interests, but I appreciate it. Thanks.
[1:05:08] >> Thanks. Any more questions
[1:05:11] from council?
[1:05:12] Questions? No one's in the audience. So,
[1:05:15] passing it back um for a motion.
[1:05:18] >> I'll move to approve with emergency.
[1:05:20] >> I'll second with emergency.
[1:05:22] >> Any further comment?
[1:05:25] All those in favor?
[1:05:27] >> I I
[1:05:28] >> I passes.
[1:05:30] Any opposed item here? I heard
[1:05:32] everybody.
[1:05:35] All right, Jim, thank you for being up
[1:05:36] there for the request for city water
[1:05:39] service at 58 5085 State Route 43.
[1:05:44] >> So, we received uh a request to provide
[1:05:47] water to a location that's outside the
[1:05:49] city. Since it's outside the city, it
[1:05:51] requires council's approval. So, we're
[1:05:53] here tonight requesting your approval to
[1:05:55] provide water uh to 5085 State Route 43.
[1:05:59] Uh we do not see any problem with
[1:06:01] providing them water in that location.
[1:06:06] Heidi,
[1:06:07] >> are they in our Jed?
[1:06:10] >> They're they're in a Jed. Yes. However,
[1:06:12] >> are they part of our Jed? Have they
[1:06:14] agreed to be part of the Jed?
[1:06:17] >> The Jed is only businesses commercial.
[1:06:20] Is this a commercial establishment?
[1:06:21] Okay. Then it have to commercial.
[1:06:27] » Perhaps
[1:06:29] >> they're not petitioned in, but they
[1:06:30] could choose to join it.
[1:06:31] >> They could. That would be something
[1:06:40] » because I thought the purpose of a jet
[1:06:42] was to be able to bring services to the
[1:06:44] business in exchange for their income
[1:06:47] tax to be divided and and I realize
[1:06:50] Eric's not here, but I I I I'm just it
[1:06:55] doesn't seem to be working. And if we
[1:06:57] just provide services without any other
[1:07:01] than they're going to pay us for the
[1:07:02] service,
[1:07:03] >> well, they'll be paying for the water,
[1:07:04] but the J purpose is actually to share
[1:07:07] income taxes with townships. Sure.
[1:07:09] >> Because they're unincorporated and they
[1:07:10] can't.
[1:07:11] >> So, it expands our footprint with
[1:07:13] regards to the collection of income tax.
[1:07:16] Um, but at the time that the petitions
[1:07:18] are signed and the agreements are
[1:07:20] established, those add to it. So adding
[1:07:24] it to parcels typically it's a question
[1:07:27] presented to them of you know are you
[1:07:29] willing and many don't because they're
[1:07:31] they have to be paying income tax and
[1:07:32] they're like what do we get out of it? I
[1:07:34] will tell you I've said this before the
[1:07:36] jets run here are different than the
[1:07:39] jets that I worked on in Summit County.
[1:07:41] The em the M&I monies went towards the
[1:07:45] expansion of infrastructure. These jet
[1:07:48] agreements in Franklin and Virtual
[1:07:50] Township were not set up that way. So
[1:07:52] incentivizing adding them after this
[1:07:54] agreement has occurred is a bit of a
[1:07:55] challenge.
[1:07:58] » I sort of I kind of sort of understand
[1:08:01] that. Um, but I just I've heard this so often that they don't want to join
[1:08:06] the Jed,
[1:08:08] but we see maybe this is something for
[1:08:12] the economic development plan um
[1:08:15] strategic plan to look at because I
[1:08:18] don't see that it's a that really a
[1:08:21] success.
[1:08:22] >> It is actually it generates Ron can
[1:08:24] speak to how much we get from income tax
[1:08:26] from the jet that contributes to our
[1:08:29] revenue. So that is a huge it is a
[1:08:32] factor. It's a few hundred,000 a year.
[1:08:35] So it is absolutely worth the time,
[1:08:37] >> but not every parcel in the jet boundary
[1:08:40] of the district has signed into be part
[1:08:43] of the jet. And that's the case
[1:08:44] everywhere. There the opportunity to add
[1:08:48] additional parcels typically comes if
[1:08:51] there is a permanent extension of main
[1:08:53] utility lines. And you know that is
[1:08:57] something that Brimfield is working on
[1:08:58] coming up this way, but it is years in
[1:09:00] the making. We actually just had a Jed
[1:09:02] meeting today with Brimfield and um
[1:09:04] they're going to be talking to the new
[1:09:05] sheets that went in to see if they'll
[1:09:07] sign into the Jed uh for because of the
[1:09:10] increase in fire services they need at
[1:09:12] the Jed. So it's convincing businesses
[1:09:15] that these additional services are
[1:09:17] needed
[1:09:18] >> where this small dentist office may not
[1:09:21] see the benefit of that. They're still
[1:09:23] going to be paying for the water, but
[1:09:25] there's really not much much else they
[1:09:27] need from the jet.
[1:09:29] >> All right. So, they already have this is
[1:09:31] an existing water mane that they can tap
[1:09:34] into. So, we'll get the tap in fees,
[1:09:36] >> correct?
[1:09:37] >> And then we'll also get the the service.
[1:09:40] I mean, I want to sell water.
[1:09:41] >> There is a search charge that they will
[1:09:43] pay as well.
[1:09:44] >> They have a search charge. Anyone
[1:09:47] outside the city that did not sign the
[1:09:49] original Jed pays a 50% search charge
[1:09:51] for their water
[1:09:52] >> for any water they use.
[1:09:56] >> Yeah.
[1:09:58] >> I mean I don't want to not not get a new
[1:10:00] customer. I just wonder if there was
[1:10:04] like some other incentives we can build
[1:10:07] into
[1:10:08] >> Yeah.
[1:10:09] >> Well, that's what I was going to ask. So
[1:10:11] again new sorry if so they have they pay
[1:10:15] 50% this business is going to pay a 50%
[1:10:19] sir charge on the water for forever
[1:10:22] >> forever.
[1:10:23] >> So
[1:10:24] >> we initially cover the $11,668
[1:10:28] or the paid that
[1:10:30] >> and they actually paid a search charge
[1:10:31] on that dollar amount as well. If they
[1:10:34] were in the city they would have been
[1:10:35] 15% of this.
[1:10:36] >> Okay.
[1:10:38] And and also I guess I would add we did
[1:10:40] not pay for the construction of the
[1:10:41] water line down there either.
[1:10:43] >> Yes.
[1:10:44] >> We're providing the water and we're
[1:10:45] going to maintain the line.
[1:10:47] >> So
[1:10:51] » is there potential for more customers in
[1:10:54] that same area that we could kind of tap
[1:10:58] into?
[1:10:59] >> Yes, there is.
[1:11:01] >> I know there's a housing development.
[1:11:04] >> The housing development. We provided
[1:11:06] water to them.
[1:11:08] >> That's that's that's actually the that's who built the line
[1:11:12] >> that now the dentist office can tell you
[1:11:13] to.
[1:11:16] » No, I know that. I know that. Now I'm
[1:11:18] thinking more customers. How can we
[1:11:20] expand customers? [laughter]
[1:11:23] » Anyone ask [snorts] so anyone can who
[1:11:27] wants to tie into our water can present
[1:11:30] it and ask for it. Anyone outside the
[1:11:33] city can request council's approval to
[1:11:36] tie into our wall.
[1:11:39] You do not have to say yes. [laughter]
[1:11:42] But if we have a water line there,
[1:11:44] >> you also have service area agreements
[1:11:47] with Portage Water. So it's not a
[1:11:50] freeforall, but there are opportunities
[1:11:53] where it makes more sense to have us
[1:11:55] service somebody than Portage. And you
[1:11:57] actually are studying that, are you not?
[1:11:59] Yes, we are studying that in this
[1:12:00] location in this general area so that we
[1:12:03] can basically effectively efficiently
[1:12:06] build out this area by either us
[1:12:09] providing water or Porsche County
[1:12:10] resources providing water.
[1:12:12] >> How long will this take for to to do
[1:12:16] >> for this for this particular? They'll
[1:12:18] probably have their tap done in the next
[1:12:20] month or so.
[1:12:21] >> Oh,
[1:12:24] interesting.
[1:12:24] >> Any further questions?
[1:12:28] Oh, no one in the audience. Um, back to
[1:12:32] council for comments.
[1:12:34] >> I'll move to approve with emergency.
[1:12:37] >> Second.
[1:12:39] >> All those in favor?
[1:12:41] >> I.
[1:12:41] >> Any opposed?
[1:12:44] >> Thank you. Thank you.