[0:00] started okay we got the sign all right we're going on air here I'd like to uh

[0:06] welcome everyone to the February 15th senior city council meeting um at this

[0:12] time we will have an invocation tonight it's going to be led by uh councilman

[0:17] James Crawford in of our pastor so if you could all please

[0:22] rise just love this honor just to represent the city and and for all that

[0:26] all of us that are here that that are believers and that we walk by faith and

[0:31] not by sight I just thank you Lord for this for this for this um for this

[0:35] council meeting tonight I thank you Lord for what you're doing in the city and

[0:39] how you're working through great initiatives you're working through great

[0:43] a you brought us to a great season and what you're doing for this city and what

[0:47] you're doing for the people is a blessing I ask you Lord that the um that

[0:52] the understanding for all the service providers for the for the management

[0:56] here um that they would be not under not only only understanding but God that

[1:01] they would be highlighted in such a way that they would be peacemakers to their

[1:06] to their respective fields of expertise that they be peacemakers in that that

[1:11] they have knowledge over and that they have responsibilities for I pray for the

[1:15] counil that we' be unified that we would be understanding and passionate for the

[1:20] agendas that are yet to come and we are here for such a time as this I pray

[1:25] these things in Jesus name amen amen all right if you could all turn the face of

[1:29] flag I'll lead us in the pledge I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of

[1:35] America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible

[1:42] with liy and justice for all all right thank you very much thank you councilman

[1:49] Crawford at this time we make not we will call the meeting to order and I'll

[1:54] ask our city clerk for a roll call please mayor counc Reynolds here counc

[2:00] Crawford here Council C here Council Walker here Council here president Smith

[2:07] here do I have a motion to excuse the mayor Mr President I move to excuse uh

[2:12] mayor will urel second all right thank you we have a motion on the floor in a

[2:16] second to excuse May Ur from tonight's meeting due to some family business uh

[2:21] any comments or concerns and we'll get a roll call to put that in the record

[2:25] please councilman Reynolds hi councilman Crawford hi councilman Pro hi Council

[2:30] Walker hi counc I president smth I Mo Carri in our agenda our next item is

[2:36] approval of minutes that's from our January 23rd 2025 regular meeting um

[2:42] I'll take a motion to accept the minutes as written so move thank you move by

[2:46] councilman Reynolds do we have a second I will second seconded by councilwoman s

[2:51] just beat you by second there do we have any comments concerns or

[2:56] uh transitional changes to the minutes if we're not seeing any we'll get a roll

[3:01] call to accept those Council Rey hi Council propers hi Council Pro hi counc

[3:08] Walker hi counc hi president SM obstain car thank you next in our agenda

[3:15] is special presentations we have none scheduled for tonight so we will move

[3:20] right into audience comments this is the portion of our meeting that anyone in

[3:24] the audience can address city council keep it in mind it may not be a question

[3:29] an answer session but an opportunity for a citizen to come forward Express their

[3:35] concerns so if anyone at this time would like to come forward we do ask that you

[3:39] give us your name and address for the record and limit your comments to 3

[3:50] minutes okay all right we're going to move on to Old business our first items

[3:54] ordinance 20251 tonight this is a public hearing

[3:59] this is a ending the official zoning map of the city of Zena to Res reone the

[4:04] property at 234 Dayton Avenue from an R2 family residential district in a B3

[4:11] General business district to B3 General bu business district um and at this time

[4:17] we will open the public hearing and I will ask um City staff would you like to

[4:22] give us a report on that yeah just as a reminder uh this uh property at 234

[4:27] Dayton Avenue uh was acquired and and the uh owner is looking to consolidate

[4:32] these parcels and uh in doing so would need to rezone it uh the intention is to

[4:37] uh locate a construction contracting business into the site uh use it as an

[4:42] office and headquarters for that business and of course in order to

[4:44] accommodate that uh it would all need to be zoned under that B3 designation thank

[4:49] you very much all right at this time does anyone have a question for Mr

[4:54] marman all right this time we'll open the public hearing ask anyone that they

[4:58] would care to come in speak either in favor or against this amending uh zoning

[5:05] to uh please come forward state your name address for the record limit your

[5:09] comments to 3

[5:16] minutes all right this time I will close the public hearing this was introduced

[5:21] by councilman proes at the January 23rd 25 meeting would you like to move that

[5:27] for passage uh so MO thank you move for passage by councilman propes do we have

[5:32] a second second seconded by councilman Ethan Reynolds do we have any questions

[5:37] comments or concerns regarding the resoning all right this time we'll ask

[5:44] for a roll call please Council Reynold hi counc Crawford hi counc hi counc

[5:50] Walker hi councilwoman I president smth I car thank you next on the agenda is

[5:56] new business our first item under new business business is ordinance

[6:02] 20252 titled an emergency which will provide Appropriations for current

[6:07] expenses and other expenditures for the city of Zena for fiscal year ending

[6:11] December 35 of 2025 we will declare this as an

[6:17] emergency and we will turn this right over to our city manager for a quick

[6:21] report thank you sir uh the Ohio uniform tax levy law as articulated in orc

[6:28] 57538 requires Council to adopt an annual appropriation uh appropriation

[6:32] ordinance honor before April 1st of of the year if not otherwise uh uh

[6:36] previously approved uh this is also required by City Charter section 9.05 A

[6:42] the purpose of the annual appropriation ordinance is to establish the funding

[6:45] sources and the appropriation necessary to provide all core service to the city

[6:49] for our fiscal year adopting this ordinance is the final step in what has

[6:52] been a long series of financial planning activities dating back to February of

[6:56] 2024 when conversations begin with council's finance and budget committee

[7:00] concerning 2025 projects initiatives and programs the proposed 2025 operating

[7:05] budget uh and capital plan were presented to Council in October of last

[7:09] year and the required opportunity for public comment on the budget was held on

[7:12] November 14th of 2024 the finance and budget committee met on January 15th of

[7:17] this year to discuss the final version of the budget as some amendments had

[7:21] been made from its uh initial Inception the summary of the budget as a whole the

[7:25] major projects being requested for 2025 were discussed uh with our whole Council

[7:29] and award work session again on January 23rd at this time staff recommends

[7:33] Council act to adopt ordinance 20252 as an emergency uh which will uh

[7:38] appropriate funds totaling 88,2 57,200 for 2025 operations as always we

[7:46] note that this appropriation includes uh as a necessity uh uh transfer and

[7:51] interfund Loan totals that essentially double count some of the uh monies uh

[7:56] this is a necessary accounting function that we have to do uh as a governmental

[8:00] entity in in terms of meeting accounting principles and requirements uh this

[8:05] particular case is part of this budget um $18.5 million in transfers is counted

[8:10] as well as $2.6 million in interfund loans uh so again uh when folks see this

[8:15] we don't want them to think we're spending $88 million it's obviously uh

[8:20] substantially less than that so again we're recommending approval of this

[8:23] after a long process and pretty thorough vetting with Council and our budget

[8:26] committee um this would set our expenditures for the

[8:31] all right thank you Mr marman any questions for city manager Mr just one

[8:36] question couple comments here uh just to highlight some of the budget I want to

[8:41] thank the city staff for all the work they did obviously you W uh sorry Mr

[8:45] President and the mayor for being a part of the budget committee as we develop

[8:48] the budget uh a lot of Investments are happening uh en Zenia whether it is you

[8:53] know the 50,000 for recreational programming in the budget uh the 300,000

[8:58] for uh the new uh swap vehicle 10,000 for the zena food pantry 413,000 for

[9:04] upgrades in our Parks uh a lot of new investment and then uh I would like to

[9:09] ask Mr Duke if you don't mind what is the total investment in the budget for

[9:13] roads yeah so uh there are primarily uh three projects Country Club East church

[9:19] and and sheilon uh in t Road uh the total for those projects is somewhere in

[9:24] the neighborhood of 1.8 million that's just the paving portion so there are

[9:28] other pieces for and gutter and U storm water replacement all those utilities uh

[9:34] as well on portions of those projects but the paving portion uh on those three

[9:39] projects is about $1.8 million uh and then i' I'd also add that there are uh

[9:44] close to 1.7 million dollar in the budget related to the Market District um

[9:49] for for Paving of Galloway Market King uh the roads on the inner portions of

[9:54] that uh development those are of course paid for through um C NCA a tiff revenu

[10:00] so not your standard dollars that we would allocate toward roads uh but those

[10:04] are additional Road improvements that are slated to occur this year so uh in

[10:09] total there's about $3.5 million uh in surface improvements in in the budget

[10:13] for 2025 uh about $1.8 million of of those

[10:19] uh are related to those three um roads uh Country Club E Church and and Sheil

[10:24] and towerer that'll be repaid this year I would just add Mr Reynolds that uh

[10:28] staff did open several bids related to the several of these roadway projects

[10:32] this week I'm very happy to report that the low bids on those primary uh roadway

[10:38] projects all three of them came in under budget uh so I've asked our public

[10:42] service director to evaluate um options uh for additional roadway that we might

[10:48] look at Paving this year um I think we'll be in the ballpark of probably

[10:52] $300,000 of savings based on those bids so I think we can get another roadway in

[10:57] yet this year so we'll be coming back council at Future meeting to talk about

[11:01] that a little bit more fantastic good all right awesome and again thank you

[11:04] guys for all the work you guys did and working with us as we was thorough

[11:09] review this year so I appreciate you guys and all you guys do for us so thank

[11:13] you all right thank you other questions for uh Mr

[11:17] merman no all right this time I'll seek a motion to approve the

[11:22] Appropriations uh for expenditures for this year I move to adap ordinance 20252

[11:28] as an emergency thank you removed by councilman rolds do we have a second I

[11:31] would like to Second That seconded by Council woman s any

[11:36] questions this time we'll seek a roll call for approval Council Reynolds I

[11:41] Council Crawford I counc Pro I Council Walker I councilwoman I president Smith

[11:47] I motion carries thank you next under new business is resolution

[11:53] 20259 this is authorizing the purchase of 28 portable radios and 12 remote

[11:59] speaker microphones for fire and EMS division and also 29 link layer

[12:06] encryption upgrades for the police division under the current contract with

[12:10] PNR Communications so at this time we'll let Mr marman explain this thank you

[12:16] thank you Mr President uh for our Public Safety department we're requesting

[12:19] council's approval to continue replacement of our portable radios uh

[12:22] these are carried by firefighters and police officers uh for the execution of

[12:25] their services in the field uh in order to reduce the financial impact of the

[12:29] purchase of this essential equipment we are spreading this replacement process

[12:33] um over a 5-year period uh these radios are quite costly as individual units and

[12:38] then obviously collectively it's a it's a good chunk uh the first replacement

[12:41] purchase was approved by Council in February of

[12:45] 23 uh a little over 36 $136,000 the second phase uh in February

[12:51] of 24 that was close to $150,000 uh the purchase proposed under

[12:55] this resolution would be uh the third uh of five total purchases uh to bring our

[13:00] equipment up to date the remaining radios utilized by the divisions were

[13:04] purchased in 2007 or earlier the new radios being requested have uh both

[13:09] increased capabilities as well as uh enhanced security measures uh the radios

[13:14] being replaced will also be ruggedized this will help to ensure their longevity

[13:17] with the sometimes uh rigorous physical activity uh that our our employees have

[13:21] to use the radios in um the request also includes upgrading encryption for

[13:26] existing radios to meet the Ohio multi- agency radio Communication System

[13:30] deadline for encryption implementation uh council's reminded that all agencies

[13:34] in Green County including Zena Police and Fire EMS divisions are obligated

[13:38] under prior agreements to use that marks platform and thereby the proprietary

[13:43] radio equipment that comes with that uh Mark system which is Motorola uh for

[13:48] Motorola radios provided by by Motorola Solutions LLC uh the local retailer uh

[13:54] for Motorola licensed retailer is P&R Communications that is through the

[13:58] purchase with essentially be through uh so we're recommending approval of

[14:01] resolution to authorize uh this as a sole source vendor purchase uh this

[14:05] would be for the uh uh purchase of 28 apx 6000 XE ruggedized portable radios

[14:11] 12 xe500 remote speaker microphones and 29 link layer encryption upgrades

[14:16] totaling $169536 eight for Motorola Solutions

[14:21] Incorporated again through P our Communications all right thank you

[14:26] questions for Mr marman regard purchase of these

[14:31] [Applause] items comments

[14:36] concerns um just a quick question I I know it's in here I know you said it

[14:41] these are being purchased over a period of time what was 5year period 5e period

[14:47] yeah so did this take in account for the improvements the updates for the for the

[14:52] lad for the later units that are coming on because yeah there there may be

[14:56] subsequent models and upgrades um you know and as we get to the years four and

[15:01] five um you know again we want to purchase something that's contemporary

[15:04] at that time but all of these are interoperable together they'll operate

[15:07] on the same platform uh but as we suggested um these models will be a

[15:11] little little more ruggedized and the encryption from a security standpoint

[15:14] will be better very good thank you all right very good any other questions all

[15:20] right see none we'll go ahead and uh get a roll call to U I'm sorry we need a

[15:26] motion at this time for uh authorizing the purchase

[15:31] okay move by Council proes yes thank you have a second second second second by

[15:37] councilman Walker thank you there's no other discussion we'll go ahead and get

[15:42] a roll call please counc re I Council Crawford I

[15:47] Council Pro I counc Walker I counc ient I motion car great thank you very much

[15:55] all right this moves to the portion of our meeting for appointed

[15:59] reports we'll start with Mr Duke thank you Mr President uh Council will

[16:05] probably recall that uh a few months ago the auditor of State presented an award

[16:10] uh to the finance department for the uh or to the city for the

[16:15] 2023 uh financial report uh received notification earlier this week that we

[16:21] received um uh an award from the government Finance Officers Association

[16:26] for excellence and and financial reporting and that's an award that that

[16:29] we've received um several times over the last uh many years as well uh but it uh

[16:35] it's an award that looks at a little bit different set of criteria and standards

[16:39] it's more so focused on formatting and adherence to to gby standards that kind

[16:43] of thing uh but again it speaks to um the quality of of that report and so

[16:48] wanted to report back to council that we did receive um that award uh as well

[16:54] we're diving into our uh 2024 audit uh process and so uh you'll

[17:00] probably be receiving some communication from Auditors requesting uh different

[17:04] types of of information uh so keep a a lookout for for some of that as we get

[17:09] into that audit and hoping for uh a smooth process as as we had in the uh

[17:14] 2023 AIT so that's all I have to share this evening thank you questions

[17:20] concerns from Mr Duke we know you're ramping up with

[17:24] income tax season MH yes so uh Rita is ready to go I encourage people to to uh

[17:31] file early get that uh those city income taxes done as quickly as possible

[17:35] they're here to help uh in this building online uh you can give them a phone call

[17:40] and they'll help assist you and help you through the process all right thank you

[17:45] yeah thank you to them I went in this afternoon and just like hey W2 they're

[17:50] like all right we got this in two minutes it was done so they were great

[17:54] it's a great service to walk in just hand them the stuff and be like hey I

[17:56] not sure what I'm doing like we got you so great Hassel I love it good for you

[18:02] any other questions all right thank you for the job that you do thank you and

[18:06] your staff we'll move on to uh other appointed official reports we'll go to

[18:11] the law director I have nothing for you this evening okay great does anyone have

[18:15] a question for Miss fiser at this time all right that moves on to um city

[18:22] manager Mr Mayor what you have for us tonight thank you sir just a couple of

[18:25] items uh first want to remind our public that we uh in honor of president will be

[18:29] closed on Monday uh the 17th uh so if they have business with the city we'd

[18:33] ask them to plan accordingly um second I want to uh remind Council that as uh

[18:39] required by our city Charter um I need to do a state of the city address and my

[18:43] intent would be to uh incorporate that into your agenda under the city uh City

[18:47] bagers report at your meeting on the 27th um so again I'll coordinate with

[18:51] council president for that did want to give you a heads up on that uh third and

[18:54] very importantly um we are approaching on uh Saturday the 15th uh national

[19:00] school resource officer appreciation day and one of the things that my staff and

[19:04] I have dedicated ourselves to this year is taking more time to be intentional in

[19:08] thanking our different work units for the outstanding work that they do so we

[19:12] want to take an opportunity this evening to recognize and thank our dedicated

[19:15] school resource officers uh these officers do more than ensure uh safety

[19:19] in our schools they serve as mentors as Role Models as trusted members of our

[19:23] school communities um their commitment to protecting and guiding our students

[19:28] uh Fosters a secure and supportive learning environment uh in our local

[19:31] schools uh so on behalf of our staff on behalf of the council we just want to

[19:35] extend our deepest appreciation for the service they do uh the positive impact

[19:38] they make every day in the lives of of kids in our community uh just want to

[19:42] tell them uh we thank them and it's a job well

[19:44] done um finally I just wanted to uh request from Council that we exercise

[19:49] item 11 uh on your agenda this evening for an executive session um and uh we'll

[19:54] get to that later all right thank you thank you all right questions for

[20:01] Mar and uh again thank you uh for recognizing our resource officers that I

[20:07] see about the community how many do we have six yeah stop and think there

[20:12] because we've added a couple more um again High School junior high uh we

[20:15] split a couple of the elementaries and then our paral schools as well all right

[20:18] thank you appreciate them for what they do all right if we have nothing else for

[20:23] Mr maramman uh we are going to go into Council comments and then we will uh

[20:29] need to adjourn into a brief executive session and um but before we do that

[20:36] is Mr law director can you tell me that will be under General legal advice from

[20:43] pretty near and dear uh topic for all of us in this room I believe and um that's

[20:48] going to be up for Council consideration um in in a near date your future date um

[20:54] looking at a lot that's for sale that's basically the the city is looking to um

[20:59] to purchase that will also come up to council consideration as well and we

[21:04] talk briefly about um some of the parks and their

[21:08] conditions and some of the needs that are there and some of the general

[21:11] funding from the city or from the public side um they're a little behind in their

[21:15] in their fun in their fundraising so with that um that's all I have all right

[21:20] thank you anything for Mr Crawford all right we'll move on to council rolds all

[21:25] right uh xra Matt um in Jan Ary uh we discussed kind of like the main topic

[21:32] was we're focusing on three really strong events for the city of Zena uh

[21:37] this year um and that was a big one discussion uh talking about Fourth of

[21:41] July obviously the big one that's coming up though is the Easter egg hunt uh if

[21:45] you would like to help out with that we're looking for volunteers uh it's

[21:48] always fun it's a good time a lot of lot a lot of people out there uh so we we're

[21:54] always in need of help uh I mean Wes you Mr President you got there and you help

[21:58] us out and you put out eggs and you know how much fun it is bringing a helicopter

[22:02] so we're looking to try to do that again this year so do a helicopter drop as

[22:05] well and that is all a lot of volunteers needed for that and and you guys have

[22:08] reached out to organizations y begun to do that process to get them involved and

[22:12] just making sure you ordered the eggs already they were ordered before I took

[22:16] the chairmanship so yes before the EG shortage so no probably it's a good

[22:21] thing it's a plastic eggs thank goodness if they were regular eggs it would

[22:26] bankrupt the city but uh no it's a it's a great time um a

[22:33] lot of fun um and and as we get closer to that you'll give us an update and

[22:38] you're soliciting baskets as well yeah we're going to solicit baskets as well

[22:42] um so I I talked to the former mayor about that so we can start making those

[22:46] connections because you know she's no longer here she had all those

[22:48] connections so kind of starting again it's good to be back on xrex CU I had

[22:52] served as a non council member as xrex so it's good to be uh back with those

[22:56] folks that I've got to work with before yeah and I I think that's one of our

[23:00] highlighted events of the year is just great time to see kids come out and uh

[23:07] actually get rewarded for fun it's a quick event though those eggs are

[23:11] gobbled up within seconds so yeah all right so we'll move on and to my right

[23:17] I'm going to go to council woman s what do you have for us tonight um I don't

[23:22] have anything really to add I just know that this coming week on Thursday we

[23:27] have um uh our Arts commission is meeting so that would be exciting yeah

[23:32] that's it all right thank you very much all right councilman Walker do you have

[23:37] any comments for us tonight I don't have anything to add today all right thank

[23:41] you very much councilman propes I have nothing pres great I'd like to thank

[23:47] City staff and Council we've been here since 5:00 tonight we did start at 5:

[23:51] with a special session on communication um it is a goal of the council this year

[23:57] to uh improve commun communication from City to our residents uh that's our

[24:02] number one priority and that be through uh just general information about what's

[24:06] happening in the city to education of how our government's funded on a local

[24:11] level so I expect to see some good changes happening with that and

[24:15] appreciate staff's time during that session so at this time I will take a

[24:19] motion uh Council will need to go into executive session uh I'm not sure how

[24:24] long that will be uh I do not expect this when we come out of executive

[24:29] session to legislate any action so uh we will not take a vote when we come back

[24:34] uh we will dismiss uh after executive session so I will ask for a motion

[24:40] regarding executive session to discuss General legal advice from our law

[24:45] director for City Charter 13-03 C do I have that motion sub by

[24:51] councilman Reynolds do we have a second second seconded by Council s roll call

[24:57] please counc Reynolds hi counc Crawford hi counc Poes hi Council Walker hi counc

[25:04] hi president Hi all right thank you very much

City Council Meeting 2/13/2025

Transcript