[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