what I recording in progress good evening we have the caucus of Council of March 12th call the rooll day here D gono here Nardi here pagati here trus pres verka here blck here vice mayor yes oh yeah like to start with a prayer oh yeah if uh oh yeah sure let's just start with a prayer that's a great idea that you don't have to sit here for an hour and a half perfect microphone I will try to use my soft voice a little oh where's our microphone thank you all for inviting me here on this beautiful day and this Sunday at Independence Presbyterian we will celebrate and remember a famous Presbyterian pastors who Inspire generations with his kindness and Words of Love neighbors will you please join me now as we pray a prer written by the Reverend R Ro dear God please Inspire our hearts to come ever closer to we pray for those those people who know us and accept us as we are those people who encourage us to see what's really find we pray for all the people of Your World our sisters and brothers whose names we may not know whose lives are ultimately precious in your s with all our hearts we pray for all your children heav yes every and finally we offer our strength and our weaknesses our Joys and our sorrows to your never ending help us to remember all through our lives that we never need to do difficult things alone that your presence is simply for the asking and our ultimate future is assured by your unselfish and our deepest gratitude we offer this amen thank you re thank you very much appreciate it okay and first reading number 2024-25 which is an ordinance authorizes payment to the Southwest Council of governments for annual membership dues in uh amounts of $227,500 Chief you like to comment on this yeah so these are annual dues that we pay every year uh partion of it goes is for the Sur or Southwest emergeny response team and the other other half is the Southwest enforcement Bureau uh in the case of C the the amount is 12,500 it had gone up $2,500 this year it's been about six years since they've increased it um the reason for the increase is basically because of sustainment uh grants are not as planful as they used to be as far as getting items and sustaining the team it just requires a little bit more funding um pretty much the same thing for the police department they they increase dues as well um this year last year they had an assessment uh for a building they constructed and uh they also need some funds to sustain that as well so and these are things that we cannot do individually at municip no the amount of resources I mean as an example I think C's got like $2 million in assets that you bring to bear for the different technical rescues that they do and the police I'm sure have a hey set of res resources there as well that we just would not be able to afford on our own we got a ladder truck worth $2 million just by ourselves we're very lucky to be a part of the regional team it allows us to access uh uh SWAT team members from multiple different jurisdictions our department simply just even wouldn't be big enough to sustain our own SWAT team like this um but also just want to give a shout out that our Lieutenant Martin is in control of all the regional SWAT team um he was appointed the head of that and they been doing just great work for us they're very valuable we also house the uh the brand new C Hazmat vehicle that arrived in the fall so that that runs out of our station now we have two members that are assigned to that no Nots have any questions we'll clarify that please absolutely we have the representative powered Community Services here yes I invited actually it's uh from First Energy taking over the place of Kevin Smalling he was our and uh Ryan's here to introduce himself and just assure you that he's on a PO every time I've called him so far he's answer the call no matter what time at night early in the morning he he's verys that's all and I'm going to tell you what I call these guys quite often yeah but does he respond does he get things handled I've just put him on notice that when Dave calls you gota you know I was I didn't mind get Burns because that's the guy that always complains about the bills don't answer nice to meet you Ryan welcome aboard seconds but go ahead as quick as I can so I just to over with Kevin SMY like uh Dr mentioned um I've been with the uh first enry 18 sen years uh the bul of bit in engineering um uh Regulatory Affairs type work and um The Last Five Years up until May of 2023 uh over at a Brooklyn line shop over at R and Clinton on the west side this nor the Bridge Park Square uh the scheduling work designing work dealing with customers getting things done that's the the background I bring uh to to this uh position I've been doing this work since May 23 but just now have been assigned Independence and I've gotten a chance to to meet Chief R and uh through the Sider burn and and starting to work on a few issues and get involved I really enjoyed that uh my wife Kelly and I have been married 13 years 14 uh this September we have a 12 and an 8-year-old Micah and Jude and we live in Old Brooklyn just at 4 in States I'm only 10 15 minutes away from here uh not far whatever needs are and like repres said I'm here to serve I pick up my phone not Ken was the man to the H I don't know if you are familiar with that name but his first rule to me was answer phone answer the phone so I've been trying to that uh last but not least believe out some cards uh to Administration uh councel feel free resident raises a complaint to an issue reach out to me and I'll get that word back to the proper councilman director that's whoes it that way and then they can give it back consti so that everybody gets the same answers and you're hearing the same you're in the no I want you all to be in the no as well as so great I think I went longer than 30 seconds but I'm here to Ser I'm looking forward to a long gr for yeah but you're not answering your phone oh my goodness turn it off okay good you did a good job you did good you got it thank you look forward to working with you uh and now we will jump to the uh number 20 24-30 an ordinance granting special conditional use permit to empower Community Services LLC and this was a recommendation that came out of the Planning Commission and mayor if you want to comment on the Planning Commission decision all um actually John do you want to talk about that do they hear the representative the attorney I'd be happy to talk about it thank you I'm G take a lesson from the last speaker not give the mayor my cell phone number so I don't get fo I'm 1995 actually I'm here on behalf of Great Lakes development company which is the development for the empowered community service center this is a proposal for you approve development plan been agreement we've worked that out I've had great conversation with Mr O'Brian the engineering department Planning Commission last week had a special meeting to accommodate us so we could be here uh today uh as far as I'm concerned I think we wied out all of the issues that we've been discussing uh we're in we're in the agement on how to proceed to move forward Empower Community Services is an interesting business and they provide G services for people with developmental disabilities and so you know Caregivers for like adults that need res care that need a place to go during the day they bring the they bring the the patients to their site and their proposal is to build a site here on aorn Drive Independence and they work with these people to develop the skills of daily life whether that be communicating or negotiating the difference between art services and carpent services they also participate in activities in the community to give people day trips and and and things like that help enrich their lives this would be like the third Center that we're working on here in the greater Clevon area there's currently one in rain we've got we've got an approval to build one in havon and then we've selected your Independence for for our next big project and this is a very under serviced group of our community uh it's uh it's a tool that is funded in part through the metal retardation Board of city of uh it's it's not MediCal it's not it's not Adult Day Care it's sort of it's day services and that's the business that we're proposing to move forward and I think you've got uh submitted the development plan and uh if you have any questions for me about ow Community Service Great development I'd be happy to address it only at the appropriate time if uh when they're organized and they're functioning if if we could communicate directly with the city if we have uh some of our customers some of our repres our our res that residents that have need some support you know we could uh it would be easy to have a right in our backyard sort of speak yeah it's a it's a great service and you know one of the things that's really important when we select sites is the community that we put in this business is a wor hand so we look forward to too thank you thanks for all your cooperation and thanks for being Independence for long to appreciate it thank you thank you and this is a conditional use permit that just rides with the length of this business being in business at that location should cease operations than the conditional use spes yes and then there was a variance granted because the size is a little small what is required at that site yes great and that and uh any other questions any objection to putting this on the consent and that'll take us back to ordinance number 2024 d24 which is an ordinance accepting the proposal of GPD group for the professional engineering service in connection with the Pleasant Valley Road and I77 interchange modification and Signal upgrade and amount receive $50,000 and capital plan Don if You' like thank you vice mayor yeah you know our recent uh last number of years our Focus has always been heavily on Rockside and I77 interchange and we've been steadily making improvements first doing the studies and then ultimately culminating in construction ramp widenings things that will improve the operational efficiency of The Interchange so now that that work is getting to be behind us but for some Gateway Landscaping uh projects and improvements there at Rockside we want to turn our Focus to the Pleasant Valley Interchange and really Embark upon the same detailed thorough regimented study process that is required of ODOT and Federal Highway Administration anytime we intend to make changes to the interchange it's a we need to meet all the guidelines and requirements of the uh Federal Highway Administration so this study really is getting us out of the gate to study locally the area around The Interchange on Pleasant Valley and uhen study safety look at traffic not only for current the design year or for the current day but also the 20 30-year design traffic analysis will all get taken into account crash history and Analysis so this is It's requirement to to start off with this scope of work and it really just helps us move the project get it onto the radar screen of ODOT and puts us in a probably in a good position to start lining ourselves up for some Federal grant funding similar to what we received 2.1 million for the Rockside Road improvements through the uh highway safety program so we hope that this process culminates in the identify improvements that are needed and Justified and warranted and then also helps put us on the right track with ODOT Don will there be multiple days that they'll be doing the survey most likely yeah it's probably going to be over a period of time but typically the the in terms of the traffic councilman is that what you yes yes yeah oh yeah they do it over a period of time looking at the the peak hours morning and AM and PM and typically through Tuesday through Thursday so yes and how close is that big uh the hillside there that's to the West is that going to be an issue you mean going up in the pleasant uh in the Seven Hills up on Pleasant Valley where they already have the retaining wall on Pleasant Valley is that likely to impact that well it you know we won't know that until the improvements get identified and we already know just people who are familiar with that interchange that the southbound exit ramp to uh Pleasant Valley is in need of uh some improvement both to widen the ramp to allow for the slip right moving to to continue eastbound but also dual lefts we all think is necessary significant cues occur there in the in the PM rush hour and end up backing up traffic out onto the highway and that's where the safety issues arise but until these improvements are identified we won't really know the impacts of retain things that are out there physically and it states that movement track accounts will be collected for this project following intersections along Pleasant Valleywood Lane what we drive those are the first streets in Seven Hill Top of the Hill there I believe signalize intersection yes immediately West up the hill that one and they go to the east one intersection at Midland and then of course the ramp the the signals right there at the ramps does we traffic Council be performed for 12 hours 6: a.m. to 6: pm. on a typical weekday when school is in session correct question right that's why I asked there multiple days single yeah I'll have to check with them I would assume a couple days to verify or confirm and I'm sure we could have them look at it a little bit longer but we're in the right time school is in in session and as opposed to being in the Deb of Summer where you might not have that condition thank you we have any other questions Anya thank you Don and D we have ordinance number 2024-25 which is an ordinance authorized in detention of dlz for Professional Services for the preliminary engineering designs of the East Pleasant Valley Road intersection new dedicated westbound right turn lane at rexville Road in an Mountain exceed $50,000 yeah vice mayor thank you the last year we had asked and engaged dlz to to look at what it would take look at the feasibility of Performing this widening we had the issue was raised concerns were raised from the business business community on Fant Valley relative to traffic backups primarily in the PM Peak rush hour period and and because Redwood is so close to the intersection their apron is is negatively impacted in that PM R their their employees have a difficult time exiting that apron because of the congestion and the traffic cues that are backing up at the from the traffic signal and based on our experience with the Northbound and southbound Brookville Road dedicated right turn lane move uh lanes that we added there a number of years ago how they we know that they have performed to improve levels of service minimize congestion we uh determined that we would pursue or invest tigate the feasibility of adding a lane there and it was not a traffic study per se it was more geometrics C triggers you had asked about what the the study involved it was really feasibility the impact to the the home and the property that sits on the corner whether or not RightWay would be needed utility impacts geometrics of large tractor trailers making that rightand turn whether or not we would need to significantly widen that corner or if we could you know impact just minimally for for the accommodate the widening traffic signalization will be need to be modified so that the study that dlz performed and and completed it was getting on near the holiday season last year they completed the study that identified a couple Alternatives they said it was feasible and identified a couple different options really and all it really pertained to was whether or not we would desire to have a two or three foot tree lawn similar to the other Corners um before the sidewalk so that's really all the two different Alternatives were Tre laon to provide a buffer for pedestrians whether or not we included that which all that would mean is the impact to the property there that sits on the north east corner of that intersection so they concluded the study and this scope of work in particular is now to just take it to the next level of an actual design contract to design plans and specs to ultimately to bid out a physical construction project that's what the scope of work entails we thought uh because of the Bridge Project the traffic the minimal traffic now because that that westbound traffic has been severely reduced in in our favor that we could thought it would be a good opportunity to take advantage of uh the design and construction of this plane widening while the traffic is still not coming at us for another year I think July of 25 is when the traffic is intended to open back up for westbound so we thought it would be a good opportunity to try to get this done before that project before the traffic started coming Don wasn't that intersection just dealt with in 2015 including some federal money didn't they engineer it at that particular time as they also widen Pleasant Valley down to the former TRW yeaha I I believe it was yeah in 200 that sounds about right 13 14 15 right we had re received some um Ohio Public Works commission grant funding and some County funding to uh upgrade East pant Valley and what what has changed with the conditions there been a dramatic change with the number of uh workers I would think that when kitler left that whoever took their place we wouldn't have more workers and more traffic amount was there a traffic survey done not since the you know I think the investment we made out there and it was significant in terms of the millions of dollars that were spent we definitely saw some revitalization of the of some of the abandoned businesses down there in the buildings were um upgraded and it did tend to it added employees and traffic came with it and um I think that's when we started receiving the complaints from from the community that there was some need for some improvement what what's the what's the Thought related to enlarging that already a large intersection it's already a five Lane intersection for someone on a bicycle or someone walking to try to get across there plus the attitude of some of the drivers westbound on Pleasant Valley making that turn frequently without stopping um won't this exacerbate the situation you think yeah I I guess I'm not aware of any safety issues there um but for sure people who disobey you know red lights don't don't stop and they make you know movements slow down and don't stop that for sure would be a safety issue pedestrian movements will be studied and adequate timing would be provided to allow pedestrians that safe uh Crossing time would be part of this Don when we uh if I may councilman uh when we widened and added those turn Lanes on Route 21 uh I'm not aware chief that we've had additional safety concerns uh by adding those two turn Lanes uh sou North and South uh on on rexville road no we've no had no additional safety issues that I'm aware of since my time here okay I mean excess I mean we could any Street we could talk about speed or we could talk about people running red lights we do everything we can to make sure we curb bad behavior I mean covid clearly created a monster with uh many of the motorist community I don't feel that unique to anyone intersection so I I have nothing that would substantiate that thank you C tras thank you Mr vice mayor Don a couple questions for you um the uh uh first one is is could we if it seems that one company's having this problem uh can we talk to them about maybe having them have different work hours that might alleviate some of that situation I release people 15 minutes later or something like that have we thought to do that yeah I believe for a time there when they were working a lot remotely because of the pandemic it was not an issue as they've had people come back they they're seeing more of the issue um we've looked at it's a fair question we what we also asked them to do or they've asked if they could the geometry of their apron you know they have significant topography on that site there Redwood and the easy solution would be to push their apron their exit their one point of Ingress and egress push it further to get away from the intersection fortunately the the Topography is not conducive it's significantly challenged in that regard so we're limited to uh change that apron location in any meaningful way so I I guess my feeling is on this legislation that I would like to see it go through uh a review through the finance committee and maybe through streets and sidewalks to take a look at that um that initial uh you know schematic that was put together last year but you know on our Five-Year Plan we we don't have this in there we've already talked about having to defer a number of our projects that we have uh put in um this is a fairly new project I do understand the uh urgency with respect to the the lanes being shut down and and that's a fair uh request but uh it would be my brothers that we have more of a review on this through the committee process and and get it back in some shape or form here after that is is over with because I think we do have other projects that that may or may not be more important and perhaps this will prevail but I think we should at least have that conversation I do agree with you Council M trus and I question the prioritization of these projects and how this has somehow jumped to the front of the line even though it has never been on our five-year Capital plan and if we go back to the previous ordinance um and some of the the notes I jotted down that engineer Ram stated as uh it's a that ordinance it's a very detailed thorough regimented study it's a safety analysis a traffic analysis a crash history a traffic study to determine the necessity of the the widening of those onramps and I feel that for a project like this which is similar smaller in scope but those studies should be completed to necessitate this additional cost this additional turn lane this additional Road widening we're making a huge intersection bigger um we're significantly impacting a residential home which I mean based on the schematic I'm looking at in front of me we may have to purchase that house and tear it down based on how close everything is to this roadway um and uh I think we need to examine this more closely before we we jump into it I I spoke with streets committee Kevin and Chris I mean kind of seriously similar sentiments let I feel like we're jumping the gun here so we're covertable I mean if it's it's referred to a committee or stays in the first reading that's fine answer some of these question full on traffic St but I don't you know even some pictures would would help you know display some of the issues that uh absolutely we let's put it on first reading and uh refer it to streets committee that's fine okay next we have ordinance number 20 24-26 which is an ordinance off ising change order number one to theing of the Town s corporations for the providing of general city Tre triming and removal services for city property in the amount not to exceed 66350 bringing the total contract announc to $6,350 and Don yeah b m i speak to this um I believe this initial contract was just awarded last month and it was really for the Citywide contract that's administered through the service department for annual Services throughout the city because of the timing of our rexville road project and the necessity to get trees removed before the end of the month of March we desired to uh engage this contractor for lack of having any other contractor on board for that project yet because we're out in front of it a little bit to get these trees down we engaged them we secured some quotes from uh Townsen they were willing and were uh very helpful to give us quotes for the work and they were would be happy to accommodate it they've got it into their schedule they can go to work uh on these trees and the trimming and the stump removals uh starting as early as the even yet this week if we give them the authorization but for sure by next week they need at least a couple weeks and they'd like to get an early start to try to meet the deadline of March 31st so the question I have is Don used the term security quotes um when we bid this for Citywide tree trimming we bid it at a crew time and hourly rate and it's a $22 for fourman crew per hour and this is based on the number of trees and a specific area stump removal root grinding it's very specific and it's a $63,000 contract Mr law director should this be publicly bid yeah it should be uh should be publicly bid unless Council wants to make an exception a majority of council wants bation that's what I thought so that is uh one issue I have with it the other question I have is it's it seems to be broken down into three separate projects and three separate bids um which I don't understand why one fit specifically for the Cornerstone of Hope others for other trees and if you reach a Cornerstone of Hope bid that talks about $6,500 to remove all 10 trees and then $1,000 to stump removable all 10 stumps and there's another $1600 for CR all 10 trees so are they pruning the trees they removing the trees yeah at the time the quotes we weren't it's undetermined it still is the reason for the tree trimming we thought that elel Robinson has told us that the utility relocation at that along that Frontage is less severe and in terms of its impact to the trees they feel like it's possible that they may be able to just trim the trees and so we thought well let's get a quote for the trimming and and also we needed time to engage Cornerstone and talk through the specific trees in question we just hadn't had the time to do that yet so I felt to for the flexibility it would be prudent to have quotes for cover the different options that ultimately we'll pull the trigger on one of them but I haven't I haven't been able to pin that that work down with some of the other stuff going on but that's that's the intent that was Why th those quotes were broken up that way at least for Cornerstone and it may it may be that if the trees get trimmed and they look so bad and they don't survive then we fall back behind it and have to remove them as a secondary measure um that would also give us the latitude and flexibility to do that you have any other questions or comments from Council I could put one more thing out there we initially had talked about because we knew at the time that towns and's initial contract was up for a ward last month we did know about this were coming and we thought that we should increase the amount of the base bid last month to just to know that to try to attempt to accommodate this up front at the time of the award versus trying to deal with it secondarily in a in a change order so to question about bidding I feel it was you know it would have been prudent to have done that at that time it was suggested to do it this way to keep these costs very specific to that project because of budgetary reasons or um Financial or just to keep it separate so I feel like we still we did bid the project out Citywide and now we're using that a vendor that it was awarded the contract to to ask them to do a specific work we have occasion to do this throughout the term of the contract when we feel that it's it's Rises to a level that would benefit the city to and it be significant in terms of the work this is a heavily focused work it's on State Route traffic maintenance issues come into play that that you wouldn't ordinarily have going throughout the neighborhood in residential areas that are very quiet and where those pricing that the contractor gave us hourly would be appropriate here we wanted to be fair with him and have him give us a price that was very specific to this project and to these trees she makes a speech D I guess to the the vice May's point we could hire them just on their hourly rate to do this I would feel like if I was a customer you'd probably get a better price getting a fixed price on something specific versus just hiring them out at an hourly basis I don't know if there's any way to you think we should have a good price here because this was the low bidder on the on the Citywide program but is there any way to to correlate the two to feel comfortable that we're still getting a good value here yeah it's it's very difficult the way the contract is Bid being hourly because it's really specific to the scenario where they're not out on state routes performing work I just think it's apples and oranges so I think that's what you're seeing here this these prices accommodate the work where it's at and to try to get him to do it hourly I think you I don't know that he could based on because he's only got pricing in there for the men with the chainsaws and the equipment to grind them to actually do the work all the supplemental work that's needed out here for the ancillary work items to keep it safe and also it's the reason we're moving and taking these trees down is to make room there's aerial utility lines and working around these lines is not it's a much different environment than cutting a tree in the backyard somewhere so it's it's I think it's be difficult any other questions comments from Council we uh leaving this off the consent agenda uh next we have ordinance number 202 24-27 which is an ordinance amending ordinance number 2023-24 regarding the compensation thank you good evening Council um the request we have here is to amend the hourly uh salary structure chart to add the position of emergency vehicle PRN which is a highly specialized role um and whose compensation would best align with P range have level six um we also need to add part-time police officer to that structor chart um we do have one part police officer currently um and his wages would bu the line as would any part officer W bu line the level six pay range and in doing so we felt it was appropriate to go ahead and move the part-time fire param up to level then what category was the emergency vehicle technician being paid out of or is being paid out of currently so that would be the part-time uh which is under the temporary seasonal um so the chief could speak to this a little bit more but it being such a specialized area um we do need be able to pay that individual beyond what we currently have um set for the the temporary I think it was was it the Craftsman something like that was the range of these being paid out or Specialist or something like that um yeah so our um EVT technician is u a highly trained uh mechanic that is certified to work on fire trucks ambulances and all the different components associated with um the National Fire Protection Association requirements for mechanic working on those devices so um they're hard to come by a lot of evts work for large firms you know like American National Fleet or how cat or Atlantic emergency Solutions um and they're charging you know those guys are getting $180 an hour and we send Vehicles there to get worked on so our mechanic here is getting paid a lot less than that obviously but what he's doing is he's saving us from having to take it to the dealership to get things worked on so he's able to handle vast majority of the stuff that we need done and we were only sending it out for uh you know the stuff that we just can't handle the dealers got to do that so the in-house savings are tremendous but you know trying to get somebody to come in and do that work part-time basis you got to pay him pretty good you know uh salary range just because you know he could go elsewhere so and there's a lot of that out there right now where the company could be doing work for uh emergency services but then all of a sudden they they lose their mechanics and they can't offer that service anymore so um it's one of those things that uh is definitely specialized in it's not something you can just easily get somebody to come in and do this questions comments Council any objection to putting this on the consent agenda thank you thank you now we have ordinance number 20242 which is an ordinance authorizing unusable property held by the city's Police Department chief Butler yes um thank you so much uh vice mayor um we are doing an inventory at the police department we found gear that has been unused for over a decade um this gear um cannot be resold as we've done with other um items but we have a person that's willing to break down these items and the pieces are worth uh giving the city $6,450 um I'm using I is my role as a police chief I'm trying to find every which way from Grants to trade-ins to um this where we're recycling items to bring you know money back to the department so we can use it to push our department for the future to purchase new um Cutting Edge technology so our officers have the best gear so this is just another Avenue um and none of this none of the items he's breaking down is he reselling he's just using the pieces and this gentleman with it is yeah he's a federally licensed um tactical assault specialist it's a federally licensed Firearms resaler um and again he's not reselling the guns per the ATF he cannot resell the guns um some of this is also the guns that are seized by the courts that um we do trade in some of the uh guns that we are that we have seized um but we do not always receive money for all the guns so we are left to pay companies to melt those guns down he is willing to do that for free um if there are some pieces he can utilize we still receive funds for that in the past we would have to spend money to break down those firearms and do we have any guarantee that these weapons like the list that say weapons for Destruction that they'll actually be melted down and destroy it um we I mean he puts his license on the line the ATF would know if he's reselling any of these guns he's a ferally licensed Firearms dealer um he is connected to other police departments in the area um he is a former officer from I believe Brooklyn Heights or one of the areas uh one of the Cities not too far from here we have nothing else further after this that he puts his federal license on there but he has granted a license from the federal government so if he's willing to put that on the line uh the serial numbers would track if he is reselling that we keep a record of everything that we turn over questions comments from Council any objection to putting this on the I would just say uh when you got people with grenade launchers running around out there thank God for the police uh keeping us safe from these people jesz is that what that is the uh the 38 37 mmm launchers what is that um I believe the launchers were for uh some of the chemical weapons such as like uh better what I'm saying is like uh pepper spray type of uh things or tear gas those type of launchers so when I say chemicals I'm talking about those sort of things they could launch a tear gas canister items like that but you'll see on there there's like an AK 47 there's items that um a police department would not be utilizing and this was somehow gotten 20 30 years ago and we're trying to clear it out it has no tactical purpose for our Police Department we shouldn't have it and we are getting rid of it in the uh safest way possible and next we have ordinance number 20 24-29 which is an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a purchase and sale agreement with Robert FL Jr trustee the Robert Jr Family Trust for the purchase of real property located within the City at an amount now to exceed $255,000 we talk about there's one and the other one together yeah sure go ahead and the other one is ordinance number 2024 enter purchase and sale agreement with ch purchase of real property located at an amount not to exceed $240,000 so obviously pie of property acquisition no microphone today the best you can so there's two pieces that we're trying the city like to acquire um these pieces of property are reason why the city is acquiring them two f one for the to accommodate the road the second piece would be we sign this purchase of these properties onto a developer who is planning to develop um the most southern piece uh actually the form of to H which would allow us then to capitalize and donate either to ourselves and take it right away through the planning process from that property uh to allow for the road Bing forward so let's take a step back here uh the Planning Commission has been reviewing the project with Dr pja for the building of about a 56,000 foot medical office building she's an oral surgeon who is located here in Independence and wishes to expand she's looking to acquire the former property of sric family as part of that obviously we know the peral road wiing project is moving forward so the city has interest in purchasing or at least requiring right away from these two other properties uh so we felt that this way was the best way to help bu the doctor uh and our residents out by assembling this property uh and acquiring this property 5600 S Building yeah she said 56,000 oh sorry sorry extra zero pretty small just a quick question for you um I understand what we're trying to accomplish here um what type of timeline do you think that we can get a deal done with this potential developer so the developer is under contract right now with the SJC property they're still doing their due diligence um they are probably going to come before the Planning Commission for Cy plan approval at the April meeting we had a very good fruitful meeting with them um a couple of last week believe we met with them last week uh so we believe they're moving forward they're definitely motivated again they're under contract they've asked for extensions uh the complicated factor of this is they're trying to do a simultaneous close on all three properties so we're trying to line things up so that the cloes can happen at the same time from a from a lending standpoint okay follow that so they do intend it is your belief to acquire all three properties okay so we're essentially facilitating from a Time perspective so that they're ble to have these properties and not have to worry about the residents and anything that so we're we're basically being that and and you think the city will be reimbursed sometime clearly in this calendar year is that well we would assign the agreements and therefore we would not it once we have signed the agreements we would step out of the transaction only be liable should that agreement fall correct you repeat that I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that so we would to sign the agreement so we would take the agreement and instead of us being in that in that title we would assign it then to the developer and so they' be responsible for the purchase the actual cash would come from them and we're just facilitating from a timing perspective is that what you're saying thank you and as part of that uh councilman we would also secure the necessary runaway it's part of the understanding with the developer that that's going to be donated to the city do we have any contraction ual agreements anything written from the doctor stating that they are going to purchase these properties we we are working on it we again the purchase agreements have been coming in U we working on getting it uh there was a little bit of a s last week that we've corrected so we are we working on securing the assignments so if we vote on this tonight and the city agrees to purchase it and we don't get those contractual agreements and they don't follow through with actually building this and buying this properties and the city's on the hook for $495,000 two houses well the city's going to get the right away necessary to upgrade rexville Road and yes we'll own two pieces of real estate as a as a default position uh it was going to cost us 90,000 just to uh at a minimum just to secure the easements or the RightWay I'm sorry so yeah we're investing in the future uh as part of a part and parcel of of a a major Capital Improvement but we're also putting our position ourselves in a position to uh uh assist and facilitate uh this particular project uh assuming it moves forward but also we're investing in the future because something will be developed on that property something will de be developed on the property north of these properties and so we're tying a bow on a lot of opportunity and hopefully we can just remove ourselves from the situation and still secure the right away worst case scenario we buy the properties and we've you read the paper every day communities are buying properties and uh it's an investment in the future one way or the other we know this doctor is motivated she she's been in practice here in the city of V for a long time she's been looking for several years release uh comes up here at the end of the year so she's very motivated to move forward and get this project under way Jessica so what was the snafu that you took come to us with it tied in a nice package so the developer was trying to work directly with the property owner and it was too complicated it's just easier for property owner felt more comfortable working with the city and we didn't get that until uh the agreement until late on Friday and we had established pricing already we had established pricing through our appraisal process so there take all the guesswork out of what the value is going to be placed on those properties so ver if we run into a an issue with this we have a half a million dollars set aside for this affirmative it just seems to me that we're really jumping the gun and hoping that this doctor will purchase these properties from us we have nothing she's on a tight timeline she's motivated this is we're we're really trying to help facilitate her moving this project forward this when you're dealing with complicated real estate especially commercial side real estate deals you know our timing sometimes slows things down and she knows that we need to get Council approval this the past 24 hours I spoke with the land owners and they concur with your assessment on the I think her lawyers or whoever were making things complex that scared them and uh they were feel they felt a little more comfortable working with the city and that this would actually go forward with the development so purchase of these two properties and if you know just say we do not purchase them is there going to be any hold up on the original purchase agreement she has with the Todd firm if if we don't move forward yes it would would delay that further she would have to ask for delay it or still L that she's she would pull out of it still listed it wouldn't necessarily be her it pulls out of it maybe the current land owner just gets fed up because he doesn't understand well I think he's already fed up just because it's he had a deal with her months ago and Commercial deals are different you may have an option to purchase property especially commercial property but you don't have a deal until until first of all there's you're not going to buy a piece of property like this unless the city's already approved it through the planning commissioner or in city council uh it's a lot of money to invest in a in a in a potential uh somewh you're just exposed so as much as the land owner would like to think they had a deal they don't have a deal until I've learned over the years until the money's in your hand or in the bank sort to speak so we have done everything in our property in our in our power to facilitate this project to help the land owners the current land owners and help the city get the right away it it's looking for so um we we've just been trying to facilitate a complex situation and uh rumors and people misinformation uh we just got to plow through it because that's exactly what we have to deal with all the time I know she's been in front of the BC board already so and she's been to the Planning Commission and I think the In fairness to her she and her Representatives they know the city would like to have them but they're motivated to support this project and I think it's good for the city long term and it's good for some of our residents too that are uh faced with a situation that's uh complex so the city does support what the what the intent is here on this property to make a dental office is it I'm sorry the city does support this applicant's uh vision for these properties I would say the Planning Commission warmly received the applicants proposal obviously there's a number of different specifics that have to be uh hied together but I think conceptually John would you say that the Planning Commission well rece warmly received this uh potential opportunity it was and uh she actually presented two plans one with just the T it was a greater plan seemed to more sense better flow if she could have uh build on the other properties as well so it'd be to her benefit in our benefit if she could whether through us or on her own of doing it just because she's not as limited on the on the one property well you mentioned that John or grego or or Jess is that Planning Commission approval subject to her building on all three or or is the approval allow to build on just a Todd Farm area Z Camp office building which requires five acres of land that these three Parcels together don't equate that so we we're making some uh modifications to allow that variance to to move forward so that they could build this 5600 foot office building medical office building on that property just the variances that we approved in the BC meeting a month and a half ago is that would that change or no still not clear though can she build on just a Todd farm with the approval Planning Commission granted we didn't Grant an approval yet we could we just had a discussion a discussion where she outlined a proposal and we embraced the three parcel proposal but not voted on no oh okay and this month she did not come she was not ready will be ready for the April either way we still need to RightWay it's an investment in property uh so worst case scenario the city buys more property that it historically were able to sell at a greater price or use it as a uh investment tool to help further development in that area so uh and we help some residents in the process so worst case scenario what we do with these two knock them down they're not being used utilized that way anymore uh their current situation uh Flores Robert lives in Texas and he's the executive the estate Mrs Flor passed away so that's just a temporary situ and sorted Raymond so and Eric you know I think he's he's in the process of moving across the street least the impression he gave me so uh they've they've uh put themselves in a position to to work through we're not displacing anybody looks like a half a million dollar gamble on a hope happen I would say the only difference word I would use it it's a half million dollar investment The Works the city does all the time no to actually accommodate a a v greater Vision than maybe others would anticipate and I will say the doctor made significant investment by bringing in the architecture or engineering forde due diligence she's committed to the site she's got x amount of dollars spent already just yes and she's up against the timeline where she has to be at space and you said lease is up at the end of this year yeah she'll probably have to go mon month no way I got to get a done this year so the 5500 square foot footprint was that just on the Todd property or is there a bigger building if they have the three so she has a proposal for 5600 square feet for both the Todd farm and the two ad joining partial with then additional space to grow that practice and it would grow on the Northern a little on other side of That So when you say grow the practice you mean enlarge the building correct but that would be in the future if needed correct so would she plan to raise the houses or would the houses remain well he would raise the houses as part of her due diligence and uh preliminary work on the site for Preparation I would just be a lot more comfortable if we had some sort of written agreement with this IND individual stating that they intended to purchase these properties uh it seems like we're really rushing into this I don't know if we're right we've been working on this for some time with the land owners and we're still buying the worst Cas is we own the property and we needed the right away anyway so I don't see any uh it's an investment in property but everyone's got a different perspective so yes yes we do so we'll put this on the consent agenda then no I figure that one out we had already discuss 202 24-30 20 24-31 is an ordinance establishing a temporary moratorium on the accepting and processing of applications for zoning occupancy conditional use and or building commit approvals for small box discount stor with all zoning districts in the city of Independence yeah I was asked to put this together uh speaking with the building department and members of council and administration we're just trying to make sure that we have an effective zoning plan in place so you don't have a high concentration of one particular type of use and similar use and uh I'm sure there's studies out there that would show that that that type of recipe could lead to more vacancies than uh a city would want so we're just asking for a brief period of time we put a time period in there and we hope the administration Mr Juro and our office and Jess um can put our heads together and present to you a revision to the uh zoning code which you have to go to a public hearing and then uh to approve and what is the time frame that has been put in place for this six months 12 six months yeah 12 months 12 wouldn't that effectively handicapped or hand handcuffed the owner of the building in the shopping center if CVS is moving uh not what for this particular use absolutely until we got our our new hope hopefully anticipatory uh zoning code in place but any other use no what uh what other potential you could you forese for that particular location if if I knew that I would be in commercial real estate and make a lot of money answer I know I I know I'm trying to be funny because a beautiful day but I don't know I really don't know well I'm just saying if if we're eliminating we're eliminating small small box stores so what particular options might the owner of that property have that that's my only concern I mean I I understand the concern about you don't want to inotes a junk store but how much do we have a right to tell a property owner and dramatically restrict their ability to make income from my from my building so I'm more worried about what this what the the future holds for the city than the the than the the owner the shopping center so I mean it's a 12mth periods not going to really hurt anybody long term but I think it could save the city long term and uh the wording in this it's uh it says most individual items being sold for $10 or less and having less than 15% of shelf space dedicated to fresh food and produce now with that prohibit we have Walgreens we have uh drug Mars Drug Mart as fresh food prod Walgreens does not we would assume most items Walgreens are around 10 bucks would that prohibit a national so I'd have to look at the particular uh anticipated with Mike I'd have to sit down and look at uh whatever metrics they provided as far as Goods to be sold and look and see if it it applied or not of course you know a use comes that right uh that is something that's uh amenable to the city there's no reason why that couldn't be come up somebody come in in a city council during a public meeting and say I'm interested in doing this and the majority of city council instruct the administration to investigate that use and we that's another possible too so we have a lot of flexibility is what you're saying if if in fact somebody comes in and wants to do something that the city would Embrace it'd be an easy procedure for Council to uh to uh and the building department to embrace yeah the the origional impetus of the ordinance and speaking with some of the council individuals and speaking with um uh the administration and um is is a high concentration of the same use which would I think not only change the character and nature of that particular Corridor wherever they're centrally located but could effectively run a risk of having a higher vacancy than I think city council or the residents would like so we're just asking for a brief period of time um it takes three months and we come back to council with a proposed zoning change that uh the administration is comfortable with then uh we certainly would be hopeful that city council would review that and either pass it or amend it to eventually pass it and then we can lift moratorium soon or rather than lat any comments questions from Council any the objection to putting them in consent okay and uh next we have ordinance under 2024 F32 I believe we received an email saying REM from the agenda we need a motion to remove this from the please so I so move second all in favor I iose and it is removed we have ordinance number 2024 33 which is an ordinance authorizing retention of quality control inspection Incorporated to provide General construction engineering and inspection services to the engineering department Andor in connection with the longano drive reconstruction improvements project in an amount that's to receive $50,000 engineer Ram thank you vice mayor as Council knows we awarded the Construction contract for longano uh last month and TR more is gearing up to get moving on that contract we have a resident meeting scheduled for a week from tonight to go over the specifics and work should be getting started very soon we do have uh a need for inspection services on the project qci does a great job for us they do have $7,000 remaining in an open po that we will uh would probably would utilize initially but we do feel we need this additional funding to help us get through a good portion of the uh upcoming project so this $57,000 won't take us through the completion of the run down project it's hard to say we are going to try we're going to manage this contract internally so the DAT day construction management of it will be performed in house by the engineers in my department so that tends to save and stretch the dollars because we're only utilizing qci for the inspector on the project which typically is at the lower rate than the project managers doing the management so um you know there's a burn rate that uh will will be realized and we'll know more as the job goes we do also know that ramping into a project and ramping out of a project are typically times where there's not a high amount of work so that um again it helps us stretch the Crux of the these contracts Into The Sweet Spot of construction and helps us be efficient Don in the past there's normally been a the inspections are related to a certain percentage of the of a program this being approximately a $2.5 million program we're going to divide it up between staff and another inspector so ultimately who Bears the responsibility if there's a problem well management is we try to manage most all of our contracts anymore with our with our guys the day-to-day management of all our maintenance contracts that's again we do that inhouse so you know when you say liability we managing a job means we're making decisions so ultimately the decisions are made you know by City you know Personnel so there's the liability there Falls Square on our shoulders in in that regard relative to workmanship and specifications the day-to-day work on site being inspected that that would be the responsibility and and insurance of the of qci in this instance so there's I think there's clear lines just would depend on whatever the issue would arise where there may be some overlap with risk or liability because I know in the past we the reason we went to three different inspection uh companies is so we could uh assign certain ones to certain projects so this is kind of departure from what we've done before no I don't believe so I think and that's why that we worded it the way we worded it that it's General services so there PCI is one of a handful of well-qualified consulting firms that we do attempt to do that line guys up with uh you know their strengths to specific projects and we did point out in the uh request for legislation that that qci is coming off of a job with trimore in Berea and so that kind of team has been in place now for a couple years on a project and we felt it was you know in the city's best interest to kind of maintain that that dynamic in our best interest so I think it's we're doing that very thing here in this regard and what inspection firm handled the CER cour project that was ACM and we still have are under contract with them the ACM is also handling the inspection at the parking lot on Rockside Woods Boulevard so they still are under contract any other questions from Council any objection to placing the okay and lastly we have an ordinance uh to appropriate a permanent fee for a public roadway for property located on rexville Road in indpendence Ohio for public Highway purposes in deing an emergency mayor the um this project has been talked about in numerous locations throughout the agenda tonight and uh tree trimming and these property PSAs and Dr kenua so this is the project that requires the RightWay it's the pretty much the pulling the those improvements streetscape improvements water main infrastructure upgrades up there by Triple A pulling it South down rexville Road and to do that we need to relocate utility poles and which is necessitating the need for the right of way acquisition so we have been trying through Greg director O'Brien's Department Taff law has been helping us uh try to secure these easements amicably through the fair market values that we've offered and out of the 23 par parcels and property owners that initially were involved and impacted by the project I think were probably down to five or six that need to then fall on this piece of legislation for the appropriation potential appropriation and even out of those five or six we are confident that we could pick off two or three of of those because they're contain with within the purchase these other property purchases so it is a it is a reduced L that would ultimately need to be the eminent domain action taken and we're so we're still hopeful though that we can pull some off even after tonight doesn't mean because six are on the on the list that ultimately they'll be filed through the court we still H have hopes but we're running out of time because of the tree trimming and we have to get moving now I'm looking at uh this page 101 of our packet which is page two of 309 and I'm counting one two three four five six seven eight nine 10 and properties uh I can I could add some color to it so when we got all the information um three weeks ago um we we moved uh quickly uh so the the purpose of this ordinance is so that we can get immediate access to property prior to April 1 uh and why that's important is because if there's trees to be removed there's a question whether or not they can be removed on or after April 1 because of the Indiana B so we we approached every property owner ask them if they wanted to agre agree to sell the city pursuant to the appraisal that was acquired through uh CT consultants and through Don's office but more importantly we wanted access to the property prior to uh April 1 so that can uh if there's trees affected we need to cut them down so you don't have to wait to start your project till next year um uh so so some uh property owners have agreed to the access but the city's still talking to them about the apprais value and I tell uh to be candidate I've told every property own that's called our office say you know this the law department is not in a position to negotiate the apprais value is the appraise value uh but some people want additional time I'm dealing with a lot a lot of uh uh grandfathers and grandmothers in that area and dealing with a lot of their their children uh but most have come forward and provide the access agreement on this list as of today because we needed to put it in front of you we received an access agreement from Rockside bers right down yes uh and we've received an access agreement for Ronald lar so we can remove those two properties out of the abundance of caution because I didn't know what council was going to do with macheski and Flor we put them on there uh we've heard from One commercial property owner pleer they have no intention to provide an access um I don't know why I didn't speak to their lawyer in great just did not have the time and um I'm hopeful as as the engineer said that a couple of these other property owners will come in at the very least with the access agreement we won't have to file petition for appropriation but we're under the we're under a timing issue and if we can't get access to a particular piece of property that's on this list um we'll have no other choice but to file a a petition for appropriation and deposit the necessary funds with the court and then that would give us an immediate right to the property so Brian Tom Kramer if he's on this list he did drop off his access agreement so if if he's on here he probably could be removed but I'm not sure we're editing the list that's in the on the agenda tonight it I don't see oh okay maybe it was already's he's on there I got an updated one Sor okay great you must have got that that's that's prudent thank you and uh what is the total Financial impact the purchase of all these e single property Al border yeah um I don't know but we're not asking for for that we so the the normal process would be for anybody who owns property along the corridor most people have signed uh the agreement they they've agreed to sell the city to property based upon the appraisal we will have to retain a title company I use we usually use a local one Regency I haven't reached out to them yet do the necessary title work enter into a very simple purchase agreement and then my goal would be to just have an Omnibus ordinance listing all the properties being sold and the purchase agreements and the amounts in the appraisal and do that at a subsequent time but this these are for um these these individuals what the amounts were was in the exhibits I'm sorry I didn't put that in there uh but I wouldn't I wouldn't say it's it's nominal allow but whatever what's ever in the appraisal would be required by the statute to put on deposit with B that's still hopeful that we're going to get the access agreement for everybody other than cber who's mentioned that they're not going to get it and now Cleber right they we did file in it's the same company at the end of cber court that we filed an appropriation with when we did that project have we settled that with them we got an access agreement from them um no we have not the simple answer is no um I have been not been I know I spoke with Joe bog who has some involvement still they wanted to do some horse trading with the city with some property that behind his daughter's house I'm going on memory here and candidly that was at a meeting he attended about four or five months ago and I encircled back with him on it I don't know if that is the Imp because it's not Joe Bao who's sending me uh the email it's it's their general counsel for whoever owns that part I think it's still the Vinnie family but it's in Jo I don't I didn't look at it please don't but I don't think Joe was copied on on that email so Council go ahead um I did total up the cost all of the rways along this Corridor and it's about $325,000 and then you add on top of that the cost of these two houses which is another what did we say 490,000 um so you're at over $800,000 in property acquisition to Wi this road by two feet and severely impact a lot of residents homes um we're going to start apparently cutting the trees down for this project based on this legislation that we have that we didn't publicly bid because it's an emergency even though we talk talked about this project for six years um but we have to act fast um we haven't really talked about the total Financial impact of the entire project even though we have to have the money by the end of this year in order to FID it and approve the contract to start the work next year and we're estimating it at 5 a half million does that include this 800,000 worth of property Acquisitions because based on the long G 2.6 million this project is much more involved and much greater in scope so I'm anticipating the cost to be much higher than 5.5 million um I think these are discussions the council needs to have before we make these decisions tonight but I'm just one voice so leave it up to the rest of you to do what's best for the City of Independence well that's what I think everybody should do what's best for the City of Independence that number that you uh uh exposed did that reduce did you reduce that to the uh the amounts that were in that those two easements for those two purchases that is the total cost of all right of way because we don't have any contractual agreement the P persons at buying this thing so it's uncertain whether we're going to have to buy the property or buy the right away how it's all going to shake yeah but if you buy one you're not buying the other so there wouldd be a reduction of your numbers are a little skewed then correct they could be skewed based on how it plays out I just want make sure that you're when you State numbers you ought to state facts and and I believe that when you add those numbers up there's a there's a difference between what you stated and what actual would be so there may be a deviation 60 7 I know about $600,000 yeah so if you take the price of the homes out of there and you take the price of you add up to three frontages at$ 137,000 it's $600,000 so you take that off to $800 ,000 you came up with it's 200,000 but we don't know how it's going to shake out so I know we don't have we should be we should be realistic in terms of the range of discussion and not just loud a number I a number and then say well it could be up respectfully I don't know it's like you said' been working on six years is a you know to the council person T's point is the 5.5 million include the2 200 to $600,000 as part of that or is this on top of that I believe there was separate funding for the rightaway acquisition that was actually encumbered I thought in a PO from a year or so ago so it was separate that the 5 and a half million is for construction straight for construction and I believe our fiveyear Capital plan had upwards of 7 million uh in it to accommodate some utility relocation so that's my Rec recollection of the of the fiveyear plan thank you I was a little bit disappointed that in that the appraiser used non-independence properties for comparables to come up with the value of the nement that uh and excluded properties that had sold in Independence so we had properties from other communities and we always have a great deal of pride in the fact that Independence property has an intrinsic value that's more than surrounding community so I'm curious why the uh company that ended up with uh coming up with the values for these properties didn't use Independence properties yeah uh council person that did come up with a couple of residents and um I did speak with Bob in fact Don was on the phone too because that was something I'm like wow that's a good question it is a good question and um I could just tell you what the appraiser said and then we asked him to put in writing and I'll send it to you because I sent it to a couple of property owners and one property owner's lawyer I didn't hear back from and so again this is a week and a half ago 9,000 projects ago so bear with me but basically he said very little properties that transfer that are app app to Apples in Independence that he could use for an appraiser and the property that I remember distinctly was someone was trying to use it well you didn't use this property in in Independence and the property the appraiser said oh I know about that property but it's not along Brecksville Road it's along a side street much pristine and you're not comparing apples and a apples and you're comparing apples and oranges and it's unfair to use a higher value brex a higher value property that's on a side street at a cesac versus a main thoroughfare of rexville and it made sense to me as not a appraiser and so I said well this Bob guy who I don't know I just said Bob can you put that in writing so we can send that out instead of have an individual conversation and so Andrew Martin who's giv me a hand as lawyer in our office he sent it out and I haven't seen any email traffic saying okay but I thought it was a good question the uh appraiser handled it in my opinion with a reasonable approach now having been a around of appraisers I'm sure someone could come up with some property somewhere say you should have used this one versus this one but um because it's not an exact size but did they did they utilize the city's purchase of the cemetery property as one of the comparable well I don't onville Road I I understand but you can't the highest and best use for a semetery that the city wants to expand right versus a RightWay um for along a major for a residential property versus Cemetery I don't think again not I'm not an appraiser but to me that doesn't strike like a apple house okay then I'm I'm gonna get back to the one ordinance that I referenced earlier the engineering ordinance for the I77 interchange project and this is a major road reconstruction project you know Road widening and uh we have not done a detailed thorough regimented study to necessitate need of this we hav not done a safety analysis we have not done a traffic analysis we have not done a crash history we have not done a traffic study all of which are standard when you do projects of this scope to necessitate the modification to a state route and we are rushing into this under emergency Bas even though we've talked about it for six years on this white do it for the other pH the additional so first phase did we do all that did we I guess the question is six years ago or when we started the first phase Top Golf phase from i48 did we follow all those protocols and get all those studies and spend all that time I don't think so so we're following the same protocol we followed when I wasn't in office so we're just following the same lead that we we did for the first phase so that was an intersection I don't know what you more than an intersection more than intersection than an intersection funny how happen notal properties eement across to put in that that other intersection and the top segments well you took easements you took right away for sure un residential proper absolutely yeah because because the lightening went for good way south of the intersection so that we could accommodate the left turn lane there was a good handful of properties right on that first project that we went through the same exact process we were we did not have to appropriate because most everybody uh agreed to sign off but we did impact properties and had to acquire right of we because then if you see the pole line it had been moved back in that on the that very property that we acquired so those were mainly the backyards of the bre Road ones that referring to no these were all on the frontages you know if in the spirit of cooperation if everybody would just donate to the city it would be you our it would be great for the city and and and the people can feel help responsible for the betterment of their Community by their donations so we'll ask everybody if they'll donate thank you okay is there anything else I think we did 3025 correct we did that is good perfect I presume that last one is not on the uh I can't believe okay good evening we have the regular meeting of Council of March 12 2024 Kirk Kirk of Colo wait your turn yeso here Nardi here here trus lka here wanck here please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance pled allegiance to of the United States of America to republ for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Reverend Winger already is here uh audience participation [Music] Dan I got say general just listen to you guys you sound like you sound like the city is some kind of a development company instead of a city supposed to be serving residents you're you're getting R resid you're Ving their to say you can develop what's going on with that you're not supposed to be developers you're supposed to be in between us and the developers and protecting us from the developers instead of facilitating the developers but uh I want to make that comment before I started my speech hurry up you got three minutes you're down to two and a half you've heard about the city's rexville Road Improvement project the Improvement part of the table they're transforming it totally they're telling homeowners that have to move if they won't they're using entain fors them out then bullding their homes then they can reone the land by a simple V in Cil so the developer friends can commercially develop it this what happens when you give developers a key to the city by electing their representatives in the city office you know who you are the mayor with four votes from Council can do pretty much anything he wants and the mayor now has for councilman who will regularly go along with him if the aler complains about a city regulation guess what the mayor will change it for and they've already done that the mayor and for votes and it's done the city using public funds to buy some property just to transfer it to some outside interest I've never heard of doing that before but they're doing that too the developers seem to be setting the agenda in Independence right now and reminded of July 28th 2008 it was a big day in Cleveland more than 100 federal agents raid government offices businesses and homes all over the country Jimmy Deora who lived in Independence here was one of the big fish right Russo was another if there were 70 other smaller fish also arrested and convicted of felonies little fish they always sing like birds when they're caught to list in their jail plan so deorro and Russo both got 28-year prison terms for corruption in office involving what was called play a to play culture the charges included conspiracy bribery returing and tax driving Frank Russo was released two years ago but died last year he was 72 Jimmy deor got released last year after 12 years of prison came to 67 this is a cautionary tale so the mayor has a new master plan for the city militia a millionaire and one of independence's million dooll mansion subdivisions you're on his radar all of our older homes are at risk they don't care about your home they want your real estate your Big Lot land for development Independence is becoming more and more rare and valuable hey taken away from you is an improvement in their view for them it's just business so what if it's not the business that they were elected to do if they haven't got got to your part of town yet trust me they will they are Relentless it's obvious they don't care what we think the public meeting last year out inia was a sham the mayor hijacked the proceedings so he could do all the Talking just ask me questions right I want a real public meeting where the residents can express their views not just submit questions put a public meeting on the agenda we want to have a say that is if we are still a democracy we are on that land now that Concordia land the resident not the mayor and we should have a voice in what's done with it in my view that land would be a perfect addition to the emlock road Trail to connect that up with the center of the city it's a perfect mix why should we turn that picnic Orchard into a development it doesn't make any sense I support the city buying the land but uh let's let the residents decide what we do with it it makes more sense to preserve it than just give it way to the developers to do $500,000 a house not come on that's two of us are gonna go go for that thank you Dan thank you very much you're you're very welcome glad to see you staying involved in government and uh we're blessed to have a great Community like we have so we have a motion do I have motion receive excuse me where the Safety Committee minut minutes of February 6 2024 the regular council meeting minutes of February 13 2024 that's it have a motion move second all in favor I opposed and they are adopted the rest of them will be adopted uh once Council has a chance to review them the reports are being submitted okay we have um let's see consent agenda approval of consent agenda items will be read individually into the record and the consent agenda will then be voted on as a whole by one motion and roll call there will be no separate discussion on these items can I have a motion to read the consent agenda items by title only second all in favor I I opposed motion to suspend the rules for the consent agenda or we have to wait till then what do we do to read it first anyway we have uh ordinance go ahead 2020 go ahead ordinance number 2024-25 an ordinance authorizing payment to the Southwest Council of governments for annual membership dues ordinance 202 24-24 an ordinance accepting the proposal of GPD group for professional engineering ing services in connection with the Pleasant Valley Road and I77 interchange modification and Signal upgrade ordinance 202 24-27 and ordinance amending ordinance number 20231 142 regarding the compensation of non-exempt personnel ordinance 202 24-28 an ordinance authorizing the disposal of unusable property held by the city's Police Department ordinance 20243 an ordinance granting a special conditional use permit to empowered Community Services LLC 2024-the building permit approvals for small boox discount stores and all zoning districts in the city of Independence the issuance of such approvals and declaring an emergency ordinance 20243 an ordinance authorizing the attention of quality control inspection Inc to provide General construction engineering and inspection services to the engineering department 2024 and or in connection with the longano drive reconstruction improvements project the water mayor I I believe 202 2432 had been taken from the agenda is that correct yes that was removed from the agenda I thought we read it just a second ago that's no that 31 was not the uh 31 was1 was on the cons 32 is remove been removed okay thank you my 33 I think 33 is on the consent okay do I have a motion to suspend the rules move to Second all in favor opposed do I have a motion to adopt the consent agenda I shall move second any questions on the consent agend agenda follow djano yes Nardi yes pagati yes trus lka yes wal chrix yes day yes and the consent agenda is adopted we have ordinance 2024-25 second all in favor opposed ordinance 2024-25 an ordinance authorizing the retention of dlz for Professional Services for the pre preliminary engineering design of the East Pleasant Valley Road intersection new dedicated westbound right turn lane at rexville Road and that would be referred to the streets and sidewalks committee okay we have uh ordinance 2024 d26 second all in favor I I opposed ordinance 202 24-26 an ordinance authorizing change order number one to the agreement with the town S corporation for the providing of general city tree trimming and removal services for the city property motion to suspend second all in favor opposed no motion to adopt do I have a second second any questions on the adoption color roll Nardi yes tagliati no trus bka no W Chan yes day no djano yes and it's uh it fails for the project for the brex for project is that fair because we don't have time to bid because the by the by the end of March we have to have trees down or we lose that window and I'm not sure when we're going to have it again special I'm confused can we continue with the agenda no there's I'm controlling the agenda and I'm asking a there's a question on the floor and I want to answer the question so the question and I asked the L direct should go out but there's accepts did you say Council has the author go out to a bid unless Council provides an exception and passes my what's that there is an exception it can be made absolutely appr the majority Council can can 's go back I have a motion to reconsider yes I a motion to reconsider only someone voting in the negative can make a motion to reconsider he did all in favor I opposed okay so we have a motion and a second on the adoption of 2024 no that was a motion that was yes but they just voted to reconsider right so now you have to start all over again or you just adop motion to adopt motion to adopt do I have a motion to adopt so any questions on the adoption question mayor would it be possible to go back to all the biders who we just heard from and we approved back in what February and asked them to make an informal bid to see given these new trees and see what their bids may be and accept the best bid on that one that I don't know how how practical is that it's just not enough time not enough time I think you can ask them but contract with the tree it wouldn't cover taking those trees down not part of that project this city work didn't put the money in it yeah I think the problem was it because of it with the the amount of money the I think the last month the contract award for Townson was 60 60,000 now we didn't have these this price yet but we knew it was sizable all of it and maybe even more so we thought maybe we might want to make that award for 100 to accommodate and not suck the whole contract out in one job for a Citywide contract so this is how we chose so you could technically just do it with what was approved and then we just have to come back and do something later but that's what I'm saying but but I'm not sure that that if we have a situation between now and then we won't be able to do anything the city won't be able to do any work I do believe town has been in town already service department already had some work already that was maybe time sensitive some safety issues so they've been in town already working under that initial 60,000 award if I'm not mistaken so to my question though Don I mean you know it it I think just a phone call email and say by the end of the week can you get back with us I mean would that be appropriate I mean that's that's easy to sayal could be possible to facilitate but then the next question is do you have it in your schedule to be able to accommodate the work and do it in and this time of year keep in mind all these tree companies are very busy because of this bat tree deadline so the likelihood that somebody could come in and has a gap in their schedule of waiting for the red phone ring it's uh I don't think that's too probable and they're big enough to be able to do this oh yes they can handle this yes sir yes yep they're ready to go they we want to get going here later this week even on the properties that we have secured property agreements with there's no need to wait arbitrarily because only the ones that were filing need to to wait till it goes through so we would even like to get out early some of the properties already starting later this week okay so any other questions I the adoption call a roll Nardi yes tagliati no trusy verka no W Chan yeah day yes djano yes it's adopted we have ordinance 20 24-29 second all in favor I opposed ordinance 20242 an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a purchase and sale agreement with Robert FL Jr Trustee of the Robert FL Jr Family Trust for the purchase of real property located within the city motion to suspend second all in favor I opposed we need a second mayor second second okay seconded by day sorry hugot no trus this is on the suspension no this is on oh I'm sorry uh yay and the suspension all in favor I I opposed no okay now on the adoption do I have a motion to adopt second do I have a motion so move second any questions on the adoption caller roll trus I Vera no W chanx yes djon yes day yes Nardi yes hotti no and it's adopted we have ordinance 24 is removed 202 24-34 I move the reread by title only so all in favor I opposed ordinance 2024 34 an ordinance to appropriate a permanent fee for a public roadway for property located on brexil Road in Independence Ohio for public Highway purposes and declaring an emergency motion to suspend second all in favor opposed Nate motion to adopt second any questions on the adoption caller roll RKA no W chanx yes day yes djano yes Nardi yes tagliati no trus hey it's adopted we have ordinance 202 24-35 I move that be read by title only all in favor I opposed ordinance 2024 d35 an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a purchase and sale agreement with Eric machowski for the purchase of real property located within the city motion to suspend second all in favor I I opposed no motion to adopt second any questions on the adoption callar roll W chanwick yes day yes djano yes Nardi yes hotti no trus I RKA and it's adopted uh do I have a motion to assign the clerk of council to the as a designated take the Ohio Sunshine laws training on April 3D 2024 on council's behalf yes all in favor iOS anybody else want to do the the uh training retention sunshine sunshine La sounds sunsh yeah we could tell that being Le see so okay so we're I think that's all for the agenda this evening uh which one no just removed it um if that with that I'll entertain a motion to adjourn and I want to thank everyone for being there this evening motion to all in favor I why why uh Jess will you go to Executive session about you know what before we adjourn reconsider the motion to adjourn cour executive session I withdraw my motion mayor okay all in favor okay i' got a motion to go to Executive session to talk about real estate matters why you have to be specific purchase real no just property well it's GNA be the sale of real estate yes we motion to go to Executive session for the sale of estate potential City owned property yes move all in favor all in favor opposed okay we will not be taking any action after the meeting this meeting after the executive session there'll be no action taking so again thank you for being