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Emma Nelson
  • 2 days ago
Transcript
00:00call to order the 16th regular session of Kenton City Council Emma roll call
00:07please
00:10here here Steve Walter there there at large vacancy Robin Jones your John
00:24Schwimmer present Lynn Webb present Cindy Murray here all right if you would
00:31all who rave it please stand for the prayer followed by our Pledge of
00:34Allegiance well we just asked you continue to guide us as we do the best
00:42that we can for the citizens of this community as this city moves forwards as
00:47as it continues to grow Lord in your name we pray amen
01:09you have received minutes of our previous session in your packet are there any
01:14additions or corrections to those that have been printed hearing none they
01:19will stand to prove this printed wonderful job again Emma we have no
01:24citizens that requested time to speak ahead of time however we have a
01:29distinguished guest in our midst tonight Sydney Winkler from Enbridge gas is here
01:35to introduce herself Sydney if you would come to the podium and share a few
01:39remarks with us we'd be delighted
01:44hello my name is Sydney Winkler I am the Enbridge external affairs
01:48representative I just kind of wanted to come and introduce myself to council and
01:52to mayor and community my predecessor was here for 35 years so I just started in
01:57October so I'm taking on this new role and really getting the fire hose to me
02:02but I'm just kind of doing my making my rounds of meeting the different
02:06communities I'm out of Lima that's where my office is but if anybody needs
02:11anything feel free to call I kind of explained my job as the middleman
02:15between community and Enbridge so if there's any issues with a project that's
02:19happening or if there's a customer outage and you don't know who to talk to you I
02:24tell people just to call me and I'll do my best to get you connected to the right
02:27person so Sydney Winkler I do have business cards if anybody would if anybody wants them but I just
02:34wanted to we'd like a couple so we have here at the office please questions for
02:40Sydney thank you for being here you do not have to stay for the rest of the
02:45meeting if you don't want you're welcome to stay until 1030 if you want all right
02:54we did receive at your station tonight communication and invitation from the
02:59Kenton City Schools advertising their grand opening on November the 16th that's
03:05Sunday afternoon it also requests that you RSVP and gives you an email option to
03:11do so I would encourage as many of you as possible to attend that event are there
03:16any other communications we need to be aware of hearing none we will move on to
03:21petitions and at this point we have received a petition from circle our
03:28corp pertaining to the establishment of the Kenton downtown revitalization
03:35district and John do you want to take the lead on this at this point sure yeah so
03:46this has been discussed you know and some prior committee meetings Holly has
03:53brought this before the city is as far as something that this may be of interest
04:00to the city and we've kind of received the formal application by circle ours one of
04:06the property owners in the district okay so you'll see in the letter there is a
04:12kind of a legal description and boundary line which encompasses most of the
04:19downtown historic district but there's all some some other areas outside it's
04:24really forty seven point five six seven acres okay and the way this works is we are
04:36basically creating a district if we move forward with this and moving forward be
04:42legislation before council resolution where we're approving this district that
04:46then gets submitted to the state ultimately Department of Commerce division of
04:50liquor so in making this decision in this geographical boundary area it would
05:00basically say we're trying to promote this area it would allow up to one d5 l liquor permit which is just kind of like a regular d5 but it's in a designated area
05:17per five acres so when you take the forty seven point five six seven acres that would allow up to nine additional liquor permits to be issued within that geographical area
05:30area the problem that we run into here in town is we don't have d5 permits so if you
05:38have a restaurant that wants to locate in the area they're going to have to try to
05:44trex the permit in you know or bring it outside of the jurisdiction which is not
05:49always easy it's a more cumbersome process it's fairly expensive because you're
05:55dealing with specialized firms that that deal with the trexing of permits in and
05:59there's never any guarantee that you will get those in so this would allow a
06:05business and keep in mind this has to be mostly restaurant type of business there's
06:12a certain percentage listed in there right percentage that has to be listed and then
06:17they also have to pay the permit every year okay there is no guarantee that we're
06:22going to get any restaurants out of this but it just opens up the opportunity so
06:26those liquor permits are available and we would still have individual approval
06:33individual approval and their renewals as they're just as always we can always
06:39object if we feel there's violations or you know liquor violations with the
06:45permit itself we can always request a hearing as need be and keep in mind most
06:52people aren't just going to openly grab these and hold them because the annual
06:56fees fairly expensive if you're not generating revenue it makes no financial
07:05sense to get these permits okay so this is in just hopes of making it easier for
07:13a restaurant to locate in this geographic area we can always expand this area down the
07:18road if we see fit but a lot of times you're new you're concentrating on the
07:23kind of the historical district to kind of market that area so are there
07:32questions on the process really if councils request is moved forward we'd just be
07:39telling me to draw a resolution which we could have at the following council
07:43meeting that just approves this again we're not approving any individual permits
07:47we're not a perving circle are they're just an applicant they have to be like
07:52everyone else they have to apply once the permits once the liquor permits are
07:57available they have to apply through the state to get those permits what an
08:02establishment that already has a license but it's a different number d4 would
08:09they be eligible to get one of those d5s I believe they would mm-hmm so yeah
08:19yeah because the d4s membership versus the d5 which is non membership yeah your local
08:27clubs are d4s mostly although you know club can get the d5 available for anyone so
08:33that would be available yeah it's it just seems surprising because you know even
08:40before I was a kid there was how many bars around you know we had so many liquor
08:45permits and now it but there's no permits available even though we don't have a lot
08:51of bars but again the goal is this food food sales as well as alcohol okay and the
08:58number is like 75% food sales so it's it's obviously restaurant driven right it
09:04is yeah it establishes kind of an entertainment district mm-hmm right yep
09:12and this is not up to be very clear this is not a Dora okay designate that out or
09:17or that like they have in Bell Fountain okay it would be nice for us to consider a
09:24door but right now we don't have the establishments I mean we just don't have
09:27them we need a couple more places for people to actually go to you know I'm
09:32not selling beer at my office you know and and there's very few other places so
09:38we you know that's really what we need and we could always consider that in the
09:44future but we need players to work together and to have those venues for a
09:52Dora to make sense but this is not a Dora that's a whole separate other
09:57process and I just don't know that we are there yet with or this allows for
10:03that it may become an eventuality right so more businesses may have that and then
10:08you have the ability for people they could go across you know the way to one
10:14establishment to another we will then come back to that under new business to
10:20determine whether or not we're going to direct our law director to put together
10:25that resolution for our consideration all right we will move in to administrative
10:30reports and it's my pleasure to call upon the chief of police for anything he has
10:35to say
10:38darn it well thanks chief captain anything from part part
10:45just want me to let you know we got fifty nine dollars from the moose they always invite us out to judge the part
10:51show we're always grateful that we have a good time and we really donate some money to us and BKP
10:58I don't know what they do I don't know if they do the share talks or not but yeah so we're grateful for that
11:05the other thing is our parking lot is going to get sealed and painted this Thursday and Friday I believe
11:15thank you guys we're going to take care of it
11:20all right thank you captain all right economic development we have the pleasure of having miss holly here is there anything you would add to our proceedings tonight
11:30I don't have anything prepared except since we're talking quite a bit about the downtown historic district I want to make sure you're all aware that we have a new person being the coordinator and that's Jennifer Ramsey
11:42thank you income tax Lynn is gone but we do have a written report any questions about that report
11:50hearing none we will move on anything from the auditor's office
11:57no we're about 90% done with the state audit
12:01I'm sure you are relieved of that information
12:04no report from the treasurer law director do you have anything to add to what we have already discussed
12:11no not right additional topics more to come
12:14okay Cindy we have your reports here from wastewater
12:21anything you would add to those reports or any other comments you have for me
12:25no mayor I'll wait
12:29you are in the assumption I'll come back to you
12:33huh all right reports of standing committees finance met tonight you will see legislation coming out of that meeting
12:41okay Peg anything from mom public utilities anyone
12:56if nothing is ready to move on to be streets alleys and sidewalks what do we got
13:03anything that you would highlight for us who would not normally attend
13:10you're going to do that out of here is that what you wanted to say
13:16there are under streets alleys and sidewalks a communication from the administration office of the mayor to residents on South Wayne Street
13:31and on South market streets
13:36North Detroit
13:37pardon
13:38and North Detroit
13:40as it deals with parking with the additional are there any questions based on the office of the mayor's
13:48and her decision
13:50thank you for being proactive in that
13:54all right reports from the individual committee's regional planning has not met since our last meeting
14:01Robin Parks and Rec
14:03yes Park and Rec did meet and
14:05Elizabeth Howe is here to go over some things
14:08concerns and some positive things that they had at the pool this year they had really good turnouts at their themed parties through the summer
14:17she announced that swim champs will be held at the Kenton pool next year and we have to think about maybe doing some upgrades to the bathrooms over the winter working on that and
14:31work part was want to start skimming grass down there for the new playground equipment that's coming as it should be next week
14:39should be next week
14:40should be next week
14:41the company has one more part that they're waiting for
14:44so it's all prepared so it's ready for instance
14:47and if you haven't been to the Murray Park slash Cherry Street Park there's a brand new basketball court there looks beautiful
14:54it's paved striped
14:56paved striped
14:57and everything and then we're working on somebody to paint the back boards and so that looks beautiful
15:03Pioneer Park well they're going to take down the merry-go-round and they're going to have that painted over the winter
15:09and as always thank you to the Lions Club that's taken that over and making that a fabulous park for everybody in that part of town
15:17thank you Robin
15:19Steve anything from cemetery yes we met Tuesday August 19th the summer help which is the youth help is back to school so they're not out there anymore
15:29they may have a couple come during the week of the fair to work we had to change the policy on the niche wall out there
15:36plus the chapel they the company would be coming in in October sometime in October and they'll be here for six weeks to work on the roof getting it fixed up
15:45we've been offered some pews for the chapel free of charge we haven't said yes or no in those yet
15:52it all depends on if they'll storm for us or not
15:55and that is basically it
15:58thank you Steve
15:59Tree Commission
16:01they're going to meet Wednesday at 530
16:04alright
16:05hey Dave I'm Tree Commission
16:07I appointed we had an opening on the commission and I offered it to Tara Meyer
16:14and she accepted it so she'll be working with Michelle and Sue and all those guys she's pretty eager to step in
16:23good
16:24thank you
16:25Joel's not here to report on BKP
16:28is there anything under old business that needs addressed
16:31yes
16:32so
16:33first I'd like to say thank you for the eleven people that turned in a petition to
16:39have their name on the ballot for the charter commission in November
16:44there was a twelfth person that had a petition out and she was not able to make it back to town
16:51to get it in submitted in time
16:54speaking with John and I'll kind of lean on him a little bit more for the legalities of it
17:00but we was looking at going ahead and appointing the four additional
17:06people tonight
17:08so that their names would appear on the ballot as well
17:10is that right John?
17:12if that's what council chooses
17:14that's kind of what was contemplated by the ordinance
17:17it's not mandatory
17:20but if you want to submit a full slate that goes on the ballot
17:25it would be up to council
17:27and there's a fifteen day window from last Thursday
17:31in which council needs to submit to the Board of Elections
17:35any remaining names
17:37and again we have you know eleven people
17:42and they're Emma Nelson
17:44Melissa Taylor Austin
17:45Hannah Flowers
17:46Tony Osmond
17:47Cindy Murray
17:49John Moore
17:50Dorothy Mullet
17:51Brad Bailey
17:52Siobhan Ward
17:53Brian Hattery
17:54Michelle Lavas
17:55and then Julie Freshcorn
17:58was the twelfth
17:59right
18:00but is not
18:01did not file the application
18:03so
18:04there are
18:05four seats available
18:07and that's the timeframe
18:09if city council wants to get names on the ballot
18:13they would either need to do it
18:15tonight or at a special meeting
18:17where it could be voted in
18:19but the names have to be submitted
18:21before we have another council meeting
18:23otherwise the ballot issue will be
18:26with eleven names on
18:28and then
18:30the council could appoint later
18:33later
18:34so
18:35there's nothing that mandates
18:37that the council appoint them now
18:39but
18:40if you want a whole slate
18:42to appear
18:43on the ballot
18:44to be voted on
18:45it would have to be
18:47tonight
18:48or at another meeting
18:49within the fifteen day period
18:51and we're already
18:52eleven days
18:53you know
18:54is what we would have left
18:56so I would ask council
18:57go ahead
18:58go ahead
18:59I have a question
19:00before we propose this
19:01first of all
19:02we haven't heard the names
19:03so we haven't had any opportunity
19:05to mull them over
19:06I understand
19:07what you're thinking is
19:08if
19:10there are eleven names on the ballot
19:12I'm going to pick on Emma
19:13because she's one of those eleven names
19:15let's say Emma gets zero votes
19:17theoretically
19:19then we would need to appoint another person
19:24if zero
19:26if one of the names receives zero votes
19:29zero votes
19:31in theory
19:32council would still then
19:33have to appoint
19:34post-election
19:36the additional name
19:38to fill the slate of fifteen
19:40is that correct?
19:41I believe so
19:42I think you need at least one vote
19:43to be
19:44put on
19:45right
19:46so
19:47in theory
19:48if the electorate went down
19:49and we got
19:50through ten
19:51three names
19:52and I didn't vote
19:53for the eleventh person
19:54council would still
19:56then have to come back
19:57in November
19:58and appoint
19:59is there
20:01a
20:02a
20:03reason that we would rush
20:04to appoint
20:05these
20:06four
20:07additional names
20:08for the ballot
20:09so I would recommend
20:10we
20:11appoint these four additional names
20:14just so the electors have
20:17the knowledge of the fifteen people
20:19that would represent the charter
20:21as opposed to being surprised by
20:23who council would fill later
20:25after the vote
20:26they get to go into the ballot box
20:28and they get to see fifteen names
20:31that
20:32they can decide whether they want to support
20:34those fifteen people
20:36and
20:37know up front
20:38who the fifteen are
20:40as opposed to being surprised by
20:42four additions
20:43four additions
20:44we're appointing those names anyway
20:46because
20:47the four names that are
20:49not filled
20:50have not
20:52fulfilled
20:53the requirement
20:54with a petition
20:56to be placed on the ballot
20:58we would then
20:59as council be placing them
21:00arbitrarily anyway
21:02yes
21:04right
21:05so
21:06but like I said
21:07again
21:08like I said it gives the electorates
21:09the
21:10opportunity to see the fifteen
21:12even
21:13if
21:14I feel like we need to appoint them
21:15just so that the
21:16the community gets to see the fifteen people
21:18and there's not
21:19oh
21:20I didn't know they was going to do
21:22this person or that person
21:23after the fact
21:24it's
21:25I don't see where it's not beneficial
21:28for the community to know fifteen people
21:31and this is council to do
21:33you know
21:34to do that for our community
21:38for our community
21:39and give them the
21:40give them the
21:41the availability of the fifteen
21:43even if somebody quit afterwards
21:45we would have to appoint
21:46are these just your selections
21:48uh
21:49I had some help with
21:50uh
21:51I got one from Sue
21:52but I've had some help with
21:53different people to kind of check with
21:55um
21:56I was conscious
21:57I did consciously
21:59um
22:00out of the eleven
22:01there was nobody from the first ward
22:03so I consciously went to
22:07recruit
22:08two people from the first ward
22:10the fourth ward only had one person
22:12I consciously went
22:13and tried to get one from the fourth ward
22:16so that every ward would be represented by at least two people
22:19and everybody in the city would feel
22:21that they're being represented
22:23obviously with fifteen people
22:25there's going to be more representation so to speak
22:28from other wards
22:29but with
22:30the four names that I have
22:32it would satisfy at least two
22:35two persons from each ward to
22:38to fill them slots
22:39which I feel
22:40that's good information
22:41yeah
22:42I feel is fair
22:43and everybody feels inclusive
22:46each ward could do
22:47is the same as they do with their council
22:49they can go to their
22:50their commission personnel
22:52and say hey this is
22:54what I like
22:55obviously we would have fifteen surrogates
22:57I mean their their names are out there now
23:00so people are going to be asking them questions
23:02I've reached out to all fifteen
23:05I've had conversations with all fifteen myself
23:08so
23:10and that that's my point of asking council to approve the four additional tonight
23:14and so that the electors can see on the procedure here would be for Chad to read the names and then council
23:20and make somebody make a motion
23:23now this is an ordinance of resolutions
23:25there's no waiving of three read
23:27not necessary because it's just a recommendation and a majority vote
23:32you know
23:33so I feel we would need a motion with the four names
23:37and as long as we got a majority vote of the vote then that would
23:41constitute a recommendation
23:42so it is not a super majority for this
23:44no it is not
23:45because we're not doing a resolution or we're consent again
23:47thank you
23:48no need to read three times from legislation
23:51thank you for the clarification
23:52thank you
23:53all right
23:54does council have any objection to Chad
23:57putting the names out there
24:00Chad we would be interested in the four names
24:02all right
24:03so I have Mike Shope
24:05he is from the fourth ward
24:07I have Mike Boyle
24:08he is from the first ward
24:10Julie Freshcorn was the young lady that took out the 12th position
24:16our petition excuse me
24:18she is from the third ward
24:20and John Angel is also from the first ward
24:24so those are the four names I have
24:27and I would ask council like I said to
24:30I would make a motion to council
24:32read those four names into accepting them onto the ballot
24:38so that the electorates could see the 15 that they would have represented
24:42there was a motion from Chad
24:44with four names
24:45is there a second
24:46I'll second
24:47Sue
24:48second by Sue
24:49any discussion?
24:53hearing none
24:54vote on me
24:55Sue Fox Broker
24:57yes
24:58David Beasley
24:59abstain
25:00Steve Walter
25:03yes
25:04Chad Miller
25:05yes
25:06Frank Wren
25:08yes
25:09LR vacancy
25:10yes
25:11if I vote of five to none
25:15that passes
25:16and those names
25:17John you'll take care of getting those
25:19to the process
25:20I will draft a letter
25:21that Emma as clerk will certify
25:24and then when she signs that certification
25:27so I'll prepare it for Emma
25:28we'll get her signature to certify
25:30similar to we
25:31when we submit anything to the board of elections
25:34she always certifies the decision
25:36and then I will take it
25:37that needs to get to them by Friday
25:39is that my understanding of the 15 days?
25:41yeah
25:42we have
25:43through next week too
25:44oh
25:45I
25:46we would not have another council
25:47I will have it right
25:48yes
25:49so that's why it was tonight
25:50we're at special meetings
25:51thank you
25:52all right
25:53anything else under old business
25:55all right
25:58we will move then to new business
26:00first item under new business
26:02would be to excuse Joel
26:04is there a motion?
26:05I said move
26:06motion from Robin
26:08I'll second
26:09second by Steve
26:10vote please
26:11Jake Beasley
26:13yes
26:14Steve Walter
26:15yes
26:16Chad Miller
26:17yes
26:18yes
26:19at large vacancy
26:20Robin Jones
26:21yes
26:22Sue Fox Broker
26:23yes
26:24all right
26:25and that passes by a vote of six to zero
26:28Joel you're officially excused
26:31read that in the minutes
26:34all right
26:35we will go back now and revisit what John brought up under petitions for the downtown revitalization
26:40is there a recommendation from council or a law director to draw up a resolution creating the downtown revitalization district
26:52so moved
26:53motion from Sue
26:54second that
26:55second by Robin
26:57any discussion
26:59hearing none
27:00we'll vote
27:01Steve Walter
27:02yes
27:03Chad Miller
27:04yes
27:05Kate Wren
27:06yes
27:07at large vacancy
27:08Robin Jones
27:09Sue Fox Broker
27:10yes
27:11David Peasley
27:12yes
27:13and that passes by a vote of six to zero
27:16finally under new business
27:19we have a need to go into a closed session for the purposes of discussing labor negotiations under section 121.22 paragraph G
27:30do I have such a motion
27:32I'll submit
27:33I'll submit
27:34motion from Rob a second from Peg
27:36any discussion
27:37hearing none
27:38vote please
27:39Chad Miller
27:40yes
27:41Peg Wren
27:42yes
27:43at large vacancy
27:44Robin Jones
27:45yes
27:46Sue Fox Broker
27:47yes
27:48David Beasley
27:49yes
27:50Steve Walter
27:51clear the room
27:52there will likely be business conducted following this so you're all welcome to wait outside but this is a private discussion
28:06thank you
28:07thank you
28:08thank you
28:09thank you