Written by the reviewer from the ASR + docket; [verbatim-ASR] = quoted machine transcript; [paraphrase] = reviewer's wording, not a quote.
0:00 Thank you everyone for coming.
0:05 I will go ahead and call the June 22nd, second longest day
0:12 of the year finance committee meeting to order.
0:21 Dissension early, jeez.
0:27 First order of business is the review and approval
0:31 of the April 20th, 2026 finance committee meeting minutes.
0:37 Without objection, they are approved.
0:40 The second order of business, which is the only one which,
0:44 since this is the first time we've kind of done it this way,
0:49 we'll see what we can get through in an hour.
0:52 I know housing planning development is next
0:54 for zoning refresh update.
0:57 So, we'll see where we get within an hour of kind
1:01 of what some of our priorities are.
1:02 Now, some of these, as we discussed
1:03 on the floor on Monday night, these are encapsulated
1:07 in the letter from President Keppel to the June 15th docket
1:10 about council budget priorities.
1:12 Some of these, as we go through them,
1:13 I kind of envision this meeting us just literally going
1:18 one by one, not trying to go super into the weeds
1:23 with each one, but kind of explaining them
1:25 to our colleagues and to the administration
1:27 and to the public should they be listening
1:28 to understand what the intention is behind kind of the idea.
1:33 And this is where it's, you know, it's kind of a kickoff
1:36 to the 2027 budget process, but some of these,
1:39 reading through them, I think would be very difficult
1:44 to implement in 2027,
1:46 but I think they start a larger conversation
1:48 about what council prioritizes, what we'd like to work
1:51 with the administration on,
1:53 where we have shared priorities and responsibilities.
1:57 And then also, as we've talked about often, you know,
2:01 council members can't get in groups of plus three
2:05 and talk about these things.
2:06 So I kind of envision this as a little bit more
2:09 of an informal discussion about these things,
2:11 who might be willing to take the lead,
2:13 what departments might be the ones that would be the ones
2:18 that kind of we need to follow up with,
2:21 who would do that following up,
2:22 who would be the people that would lead the charge,
2:25 kind of what the high-level policy goals
2:27 or budget goals are associated with it.
2:30 Does that high-level make sense to everyone?
2:36 So in no, no, I didn't do this, but the ones
2:42 that I authored seem to be first,
2:44 so I will go through them quickly.
2:46 And also, you know, should the administration have any
2:48 input, I kind of view this as more of an open house.
2:53 And, you know, I don't want to spend a tremendous amount
2:56 of time, you know, more than five minutes
2:58 on any one of these.
3:00 I do think that each one of these deserve more
3:03 than five minutes, so we will have more follow-up,
3:06 whether that be in a meeting with the mayor
3:07 and some department heads, or that be
3:10 at another council meeting
3:12 and another committee or something like that.
3:15 So the first one I'll just, I'll go through as quickly
3:23 So thank you for this, first of all.
3:25 Second of all, in addition to your comments about the list,
3:29 some of them are non-budgetary,
3:31 and so presumably we'll touch on those and talk
3:34 about them in whatever committee they might belong to.
3:37 Thirdly, I guess my invitation to my colleagues here is
3:40 that we're in the ideation stage,
3:43 we're in the creative initiative stage,
3:45 and the point here is not to nitpick the stage
3:49 and to poke holes and shred, you know, a proposal.
3:52 That'll come later, presuming that we have more deliberation
3:56 by council later, so I guess that should be a question
3:59 Is this the one and only meeting
4:00 or will we be working further in the future on this?
4:04 Yeah, yeah, perhaps let me step back a little bit.
4:06 I maybe jump from step one to step six.
4:11 So the way I envision this, and we've talked
4:15 about with the administration that, you know,
4:18 before August recess, if we can have some coalescing
4:21 around the things that we'd like in this budget,
4:25 this 2027 budget, so I'm willing to,
4:32 as chair of this committee, schedule as many meetings
4:33 between now and August recess to go through these things,
4:36 I guess, if that's your first question.
4:39 And then the way I view that is we kind of can coalesce
4:41 as a council, have some input from the administration
4:45 through July and June and July, and then if we need to,
4:48 we won't have council meetings in August,
4:50 but it's a perfect opportunity for us to meet
4:52 with department heads or different departments to kind
4:55 of more fully flesh these things out with some,
4:59 you know, legislation and full budget going into September.
5:03 That is not kind of like the only pathway,
5:08 but I think that's a helpful framing to look at it.
5:12 Director Mahoney has indicated that up and through September,
5:17 you know, we can have kind of a review
5:18 of the revenue expenses of this year so we can kind
5:21 of understand where we're landing in budget year 2026,
5:24 going into budget year 2027 with some of our projections,
5:28 understanding what some of the directors, you know,
5:30 their priorities are, what the mayor's priorities are,
5:33 because as the council president said, and I agree,
5:37 there's no like administration budget and council budget,
5:39 it's just the city's budget.
5:41 And so we're going to work as closely as we can
5:44 to make sure we can get it done, and obviously by the end
5:47 of the year, we need to pass the budget.
5:51 We're six months from the end of the year,
5:53 so I think we have some time.
5:55 So does that answer your question?
5:56 Yeah, and if I could just resume the short thought,
6:00 Mr. Chair, so there's kind of two passes for me.
6:05 One is the first pass, which I envisioned for tonight,
6:08 which is let me do some appreciative inquiry,
6:11 hear from my colleagues, what is the point
6:14 you're driving at with your proposal?
6:16 What do you have in mind?
6:19 Could we do it sometime
6:20 in the reasonably near future or not?
6:22 A second pass would be to ask the tough questions.
6:28 Is the operation ready to go?
6:30 I see those in two stages.
6:32 The reason for that is what the chair just said,
6:36 council members aren't allowed to work as a body
6:39 outside of a public meeting,
6:41 so we don't have everything from the jump
6:44 completely fully developed and vetted.
6:47 We're gonna have to do that kind of in stages,
6:52 And so I guess I would request from everybody here,
6:56 the idea is we're trying to lift new initiatives
6:58 off the ground or maybe in some cases,
7:03 take an existing program that the C's already doing
7:04 and enhance it with an additional step
7:07 or a little bit more budget capacity.
7:09 There is gonna be a time for us to ask
7:10 or look at our own proposal with some skepticism
7:14 and it sounds like that would come
7:15 for June, July 30th, right?
7:21 And that's just my opinion.
7:22 People are free to do anything, but you're not here.
7:24 We're gonna spend a quarter of this meeting
7:25 on process, so I kinda wanna get into these things.
7:27 And so what I, and this is,
7:29 the process is whatever we wanna do, right?
7:32 And so you have four votes, you have process, I guess,
7:35 but that's just what the charter says.
7:38 But from the standpoint of this, for example,
7:42 the first item, large tree preservation,
7:43 this is probably not gonna be in the 2020 budget.
7:46 It's gonna be more of a regulatory thing
7:48 that I'd like to work with.
7:50 Building housing, public works on,
7:52 see what best practices are.
7:54 So I could say right now, yeah, if you pull up the,
7:58 I think the communication is probably best
8:01 because it gives a high level of each one
8:04 that was on the docket.
8:08 And I've been trying, my whole time on council,
8:12 and even the mayor indicated when she was on council,
8:14 she thought about a way to do this.
8:16 And I think that there's probably
8:18 not a perfect way to do it,
8:19 but it's one in which, you know,
8:23 anyone that hears me talk up there here,
8:25 so I'll give my spiel for it,
8:26 is that I like private property rights.
8:29 You know, you should largely be able to do
8:30 what you wanna do on your property
8:31 as long as it fits with zoning.
8:34 I do think that when a tree hits a certain size,
8:36 there may be some community benefit
8:38 that goes beyond your parcel
8:40 that we may wanna think about the impact of that tree
8:42 and what it would do if it came down,
8:45 And so I'm trying, this is more of a policy thing
8:49 that will have a budgetary impact,
8:50 but probably more largely policy.
8:52 South Euclid has sent us their draft legislation.
8:55 We've already started some research on it.
8:58 But the idea being that if you have a danger tree
9:02 and you take it down for health and human safety
9:05 and public safety, then you take it down.
9:08 And so there needs to be some process for that.
9:10 But if it's an otherwise healthy tree,
9:13 then there needs to be an impact fee,
9:15 is the way I look at it,
9:17 where I don't know what that fee is.
9:19 I'm open to other ideas,
9:21 but it seems to be that that is the process
9:23 that seems to work the best as an impact fee.
9:25 And then essentially that impact fee
9:26 would then go into a fund that would be dedicated
9:29 to private tree plantings in the city.
9:33 That's kind of the idea of what I'm trying to formulate.
9:37 Welcome any input from my colleagues.
9:42 Correct me if I'm wrong, administration.
9:43 I think that that would be more of a,
9:45 well, Parmley's not here,
9:46 but I think that would be more
9:47 of a building department thing.
9:49 I don't think Gordon wants to touch it
9:51 on foot, Paul, if it's on private property.
9:54 Would that be accurate?
9:58 Yeah, that would be probably building law,
10:01 probably multi-departments.
10:03 So I would suggest reaching out to Alex
10:05 and she can kind of get the department heads
10:08 to kind of discussing, putting some framework together,
10:12 or we can have law perhaps research
10:14 what other cities do and go from there.
10:19 Yeah, and we have some of that research
10:21 so I can coordinate with the law department
10:23 on what at least South Euclid and some of our,
10:26 the coasts are the cities that are really doing this.
10:28 I was just in Portland and their tree canopy
10:31 in an urban setting is tremendous.
10:33 And I think we could learn a lot from them.
10:36 So I will take the labor and ore on that.
10:41 Yeah, thank you, Chair.
10:43 I'm very happy to support this and work with you on it.
10:47 I think this is extraordinarily timely
10:50 given the age of the trees in our city.
10:53 I mean, I've seen block by block
10:55 us losing huge large trees and they're not being replaced.
10:59 People don't want to or don't want to outlay the funds.
11:02 So I think this is a really common sense way
11:05 to build that fund where we can start to,
11:08 I think we do a great job
11:09 of foresting on public property,
11:11 but that's not gonna get us to our goals.
11:13 So I hardly agree with your stance here
11:16 and I'm happy to work with you on this.
11:20 And yeah, I think there's another way
11:21 in which maybe it's not an impact fee,
11:22 but you have to plant two trees in your property
11:24 if you take one down or something.
11:25 So Councilman Bixby.
11:28 Thank you, Vice President Baker.
11:29 I too commend you on this initiative.
11:32 And I just wanted to add that as part of this,
11:35 from an education standpoint of residents,
11:38 I think just helping people understand the difference
11:39 between a certified arborist making a call
11:43 on a mature tree in itself
11:45 versus a tree trimming company
11:47 that has self-interested in the tree coming down
11:51 So I think just that basic education
11:53 as part of this could be really valuable.
11:56 Councilperson Shubick.
11:59 Thinking about two rental properties that I have
12:01 where weed trees have grown on the property line
12:05 and I think location of the tree also needs
12:08 to be considered in this as well as health of the tree
12:12 for property damages to other people's garages,
12:17 not just a tree in the middle of nowhere
12:20 that's beautiful and healthy
12:21 and somebody wants to cut it down.
12:23 I think that's your intention here,
12:24 but I think that there's a lot of other variables
12:27 that we also have to consider.
12:29 Yeah, it's a sticky issue.
12:30 I mean, technically if a tree is on the property line,
12:32 both people have to,
12:33 both property owners have to agree to take it down
12:35 and then, and the intention here would be,
12:38 So that's literally DBH's diameter at breast height
12:42 and that's what commonly used to classify tree sizes
12:45 and like I would envision starting big
12:49 and seeing where that is.
12:50 So you have less trees under that regulatory burden
12:54 or that regulatory system and then see where that goes
12:57 and then we can think about adjusting the size
13:00 That's the thought.
13:04 So I, Mayor, thank you.
13:05 I will work on that
13:07 and I'll probably peel it off the budget discussion
13:10 for the rest of the time
13:11 because I don't think it has budget priority
13:15 If it makes sense for,
13:17 I'm going through the editable spreadsheet version of this
13:22 and noting which ones would have a 2027 impact,
13:27 budget impact versus which ones don't
13:29 so we can kind of trim that down
13:32 and keep a list of policy things we're working on
13:35 and those that would specifically
13:38 have a 2027 budget impact.
13:43 The next two and I, like I said,
13:44 I didn't put this list together.
13:47 Speed enforcement and school zones.
13:48 I've been talking up here and in groups of people
13:53 and with the law department a little bit
13:55 about speed enforcement and school zones.
14:00 We do have some research
14:01 and the administration put together,
14:03 the law department did,
14:05 about kind of what you can do,
14:06 what state law allows.
14:08 There is some more birth that a municipality has
14:15 to do this type of enforcement in school zones
14:19 to allow for cameras to enforce that.
14:23 There are some restrictions
14:24 and things you have to set up.
14:27 Less of a budget impact,
14:29 so this probably falls into the same categories,
14:32 large tree preservation,
14:33 although it does have some budget impact
14:35 that we would have to go through
14:37 and furthermore, you know,
14:39 all we can do on council is authorize a regime.
14:42 We can't make the administration do anything,
14:44 so that's where this would entirely be something
14:49 in the code where we'd update
14:51 and give the administration the ability
14:54 to do these things.
14:55 Now, as I envision it, you know,
14:57 we've had a large community conversation
14:59 about we're a walking school district.
15:01 One elementary school is being repurposed,
15:04 so walk distances may increase for students.
15:08 Earlier in my time on council,
15:11 the planning department did some speed studies
15:15 of particularly Emerson and how fast people go
15:19 in those school zones during school hours.
15:22 It was quite alarming when you have
15:23 a five or six-year-old walking to school there
15:25 and how fast people go.
15:27 So the idea there would be to help supplement.
15:30 I know the police department does a tremendous job.
15:32 We have a young police force,
15:33 Chief Fisher's tremendous in focusing
15:36 on kind of bread and butter police issues
15:38 like traffic stops.
15:39 That's where you can kind of interact with people
15:42 and educate, not only just fine or give a ticket to them.
15:45 And you can also see what's going on in the community.
15:48 But I do think that that's also the time
15:50 when police are often pulled away switches
15:54 of different time shifts.
15:59 And so it's one of those things
16:01 where it's three hours a day,
16:02 but it's a tremendously important three hours.
16:05 And driver behavior has just continued
16:07 to go down the tube.
16:10 So this, like I said,
16:13 this will probably come off the budgetary issue,
16:16 but I wanted to make my colleagues aware
16:18 that I'm trying to work on it.
16:22 Have not set up meetings yet with the police department,
16:25 with Chief Fisher to talk about it,
16:27 to see their receptivity.
16:29 Have talked a little bit about it with law,
16:32 but just making my colleagues aware
16:34 of that's something I intend
16:35 to kind of continue to push forward.
16:41 And the idea being that this is about behavior
16:45 and not about money, because they're proven
16:49 to deter speeding, and then any funds
16:52 that were raised would go into traffic calming
16:55 around schools would be the idea.
16:57 Or enhancement of things later,
16:59 like more crossing guards or things like that.
17:01 The next thing, once again, I'm more policy
17:05 than budget-based, is traffic calming.
17:07 I've had some discussions
17:09 with Assistant Director Boss about the program
17:11 that this administration put forward.
17:13 I think it's a good one.
17:15 I do think that we're probably far enough into it
17:18 where it warrants a committee meeting and a review
17:21 of kind of where we're at, where we come,
17:24 some successes, some things we might be able to change.
17:27 Do we want to codify it?
17:28 Do we want to have it be an administrative policy?
17:32 So that's, there will be budget impacts
17:36 depending on the things that we normally do,
17:38 like speed humps, other interventions.
17:42 But I think it's just a ripe conversation
17:43 that loops into the first one,
17:45 which is kids are gonna be walking further.
17:48 What are we gonna do to make our neighborhoods safer?
17:51 Welcome, any comments from the administration
17:55 So I'm mostly gonna keep silent,
17:56 because just in the interest of time,
17:58 unless we're coming back, because we have 24 items.
18:00 Both of these are great.
18:02 I have a lot to say, but I'll hold it for now.
18:05 But you know, I'd like to cooperate
18:07 and work with you on both.
18:12 Sorry, President Campbell.
18:14 Just real quick, process-wise.
18:16 So as we're going through these, colleagues too,
18:19 I put down on this either people who were marked off
18:23 on the worksheet that said that they wanted to work on it
18:27 based on our retreat,
18:29 or have otherwise indicated
18:31 that they wanted to work on it.
18:34 And because of the sort of three-person limit,
18:36 so we can only have three people
18:39 working on any of this at a time.
18:40 So some of these, we are not at three people.
18:42 So as we're going through these,
18:44 like Council Member Evans,
18:45 I just added you to the tree preservation
18:47 because you indicated that.
18:49 So at the traffic calming review and enhancement,
18:53 we do have, I have Baker, Evans,
18:55 and Hamilton Steiner either on the form
18:59 or indicated previously.
19:02 So if anybody, as we're going through,
19:03 if you see things and say,
19:04 either actually take me off of that,
19:07 or can I add on to that,
19:08 that would be a good time too.
19:10 Yes, and I intend likely at a July meeting
19:13 to put a communication forward
19:14 to refer to committee on the traffic calming thing
19:16 to have that discussion
19:18 and coordinate the planning department on that.
19:21 I'm sorry, just a comment
19:23 on putting together groups to work on these.
19:25 Also be careful that you're in finance committee
19:27 so don't have a majority of a finance committee
19:34 Youth athletics, this is very early,
19:38 but it's something I wanted to get
19:39 in front of the administration
19:41 and my colleagues about ways in which the city
19:45 and the schools may be able to partner
19:47 both to retain families,
19:50 retain enrollment at the schools,
19:53 and bolster the offerings,
19:55 particularly athletic of the Lakewood City Schools.
19:58 And there are some discussions about some changes
20:02 that can happen with the Lakewood athletic boosters,
20:06 maybe some organizational reorganization,
20:07 some changes to their bylaws
20:09 that kind of opens them up a little bit,
20:11 maybe have some city council administration
20:13 representation ex officio on their board,
20:16 maybe have some school board
20:18 and school district representation on their board,
20:20 and then finding a way in which maybe they can,
20:25 you know, if you think about the Lakewood rec department,
20:27 they, if you're a gig-a-learn,
20:30 you go and present to them,
20:32 they put you in the booklet,
20:34 they do your registration,
20:36 but you handle everything, right?
20:37 The kids come, you teach them.
20:40 That would be the idea that some version
20:42 of the Lakewood athletic boosters
20:43 could take over that on the athletic side,
20:45 from all the way from the kids who play rec and tee ball
20:49 all the way through up the most competitive kids
20:54 And so the idea behind that is finding a way
20:59 for the city to partner potentially
21:01 as some sort of service agreement with the boosters
21:04 or some name change for the boosters
21:06 that would be able to support that.
21:09 This is early, this might have an impact
21:11 on this year's budget,
21:11 so it will probably stay in the budget
21:13 and I need to meet,
21:16 Vince has been doing a lot of work
21:19 with the school board.
21:21 More meetings to come,
21:22 I just didn't want to not get this in on the timeline.
21:24 So more to come on that,
21:28 but I think it's really exciting
21:29 and I think it can basically create really good outcomes
21:34 for our community and the schools,
21:36 which will be good for all of us.
21:41 I have more questions about this one,
21:42 but I just wanted to go back
21:43 to something Ms. Swallow just said,
21:46 because in the prior conversation,
21:49 speed enforcement in school zones,
21:52 is being sponsored by Mr. Baker.
21:55 Can Mr. Bullock then also be on that committee
21:58 because they're both in finance?
22:00 When you say majority of the committee,
22:03 two of three is a majority, right?
22:07 Two is the majority
22:08 because it's a three member committee.
22:11 So it would have to be somebody
22:12 other than in the finance committee
22:14 because all of these items are currently pending
22:17 in the finance committee.
22:18 Okay, so any of the three of us, right?
22:23 The finance committee, the three of us right here,
22:25 there should not be any that both of us are on.
22:30 Okay, thank you very much.
22:31 Even the ones that aren't going to stay in finance
22:33 and are more policy-based?
22:35 I mean, if they're policy-based,
22:38 I would refer them out
22:40 so that they're no longer in finance committee.
22:43 Does that make sense?
22:45 Yeah, but I think the idea is
22:46 that there's not really a fully-fledged referral
22:50 at this point, at least on the three
22:51 that I just indicated on,
22:59 so I think let's go through our process
23:01 and then we can refine this a little bit more
23:03 and maybe have some offline discussions
23:05 on each one with a lot of department.
23:06 I don't want to take 30 minutes
23:08 of the meeting talking about process.
23:13 And we will be mindful of that
23:14 and we will connect with you
23:15 before we get the brass tacks on all these things.
23:20 Who drafted affordability and property tax relief?
23:22 I got through mine pretty quick.
23:24 Matt, you want to go ahead?
23:30 Thank you, Vice President Baker.
23:32 So property tax relief,
23:34 this initiative was born out of hearing from constituents
23:39 and hearing from constituents
23:42 speaking to the struggle with increased property taxes
23:49 and with, particularly from our most vulnerable residents,
23:52 meaning lower income residents and fixed income seniors.
23:58 And when I have that conversation with residents,
24:01 it's, first part, it's education.
24:03 It's explained to them that the vast majority
24:06 of property taxes do in fact not go to the city.
24:09 And that's usually eye-opening to them.
24:12 So part of it's education,
24:13 but I kind of see this as a two-prong approach.
24:16 The most basic level would be,
24:19 can we explore offering tax consulting services
24:25 For instance, I had a couple residents
24:27 reach out recently who said something along the lines
24:29 of my property tax, my home evaluation is,
24:36 appeal is tomorrow.
24:37 Can you advise me on this?
24:39 And I think having more of a process in place
24:42 to help residents in that circumstance
24:46 through some sort of consulting education offering
24:52 The second level, which I realize is more ambitious,
24:55 would be, is there a way to offer targeted relief
25:00 for some of our most vulnerable residents,
25:03 whether that comes from better promotion
25:06 or expansion of the homestead exemption
25:08 or seeking out other means.
25:10 But that's sort of the meat and potatoes
25:14 of this particular initiative.
25:21 And just wanna say this is kind of a crossover
25:24 I think property tax relief is on affordability
25:27 or go hand in hand with affordable housing overall.
25:30 So I'm actually already working with Councilman Vixenstein
25:34 and having the county do a workshop with residents
25:40 for, with having that, you know, tax issues
25:43 that can get you in a program to help, you know,
25:45 just trying to coach you through the different avenues
25:47 if you're struggling with your property taxes.
25:48 So hopefully that happens sometime this fall,
25:51 but very glad to be a partner with you on that.
25:55 Yeah, so this sounds a little blended
25:58 between policy and budget.
25:59 I do think that there are,
26:00 they're like volunteer tax associates or VTA is,
26:03 and I don't know if Dr. Ohne's ever heard of it,
26:05 but they like help low income people with income taxes.
26:08 I don't know if they also,
26:09 like preparing their tax returns for free.
26:11 People donate their time.
26:12 I don't know if there's something similar
26:14 for property taxes.
26:15 So I guess we could try to connect people
26:17 with resources as well.
26:19 Yeah, I'm unaware of private or volunteer groups,
26:25 but I think Councilman Evans has the right thing
26:29 going to Cuyahoga County directly.
26:31 They can provide the best help.
26:34 We cannot provide tax help as a,
26:38 like I cannot, you know, to a resident.
26:40 So I think that's the best method
26:43 is just to partner with the county.
26:45 I have to get legal seeking advice from residents
26:49 and I can't help them.
26:54 I just have a quick question.
26:56 If we're envisioning, obviously,
26:59 if we were to help targeted folks lower property taxes,
27:04 it does have a budgetary impact,
27:05 but it's not necessarily a line item
27:08 that we're looking to put in the 2027 budget.
27:11 So just in terms of timeline of working on this
27:15 and the scope, it's kind of broad, the proposals.
27:19 And I recognize that we were all rushing
27:22 to get these in so that we could,
27:23 we just finished last year's budget
27:25 and everything else we have to work on
27:27 and then trying to get these in.
27:28 So they're not, that's why they're drafts,
27:31 but I'm just wondering whether we want to,
27:34 if this is more something that we envision
27:37 having a 2027 budget impact
27:42 or more of looking at policy in 2027,
27:47 just in terms of how to categorize it.
27:52 I'm very much open to whatever we think
27:55 is the best approach.
27:56 Certainly that stands to reason that could make sense
27:57 for its policy in 2027 and then look at budget beyond that.
28:04 Councilman Bullock.
28:05 We don't have time to get heavily into this,
28:07 but there's a couple issues being conflated, I think.
28:09 So one would be tax advice.
28:11 I don't know if that's the proposal.
28:13 What I see here is tax relief,
28:14 which is a budgetary thing.
28:16 To Councilwoman Keppel's point through,
28:19 well, it might be through direct expenditure,
28:20 but it might also be through a tax rebate,
28:23 which is complex and we have fewer tools
28:27 than we might wish for if we did want to go that route.
28:30 It's also a pretty significant
28:33 and far-reaching budgetary implication,
28:35 so we'd have to think about that.
28:37 The tax budget we've already adopted a month and a half.
28:42 In the last six weeks or eight weeks,
28:44 we did that separately.
28:46 So the income side, it's all good discussion.
28:49 I'm just trying to add a little more context.
28:50 So we do the income side of our budget
28:54 early, late spring, early summer, traditionally,
28:58 and then we do the expenditure side
29:00 towards the end of the year.
29:04 Both of those are valid ways to get at this problem.
29:09 so probably we'll need to really be thoughtful here.
29:13 I certainly share the interest, thanks.
29:15 Next one is Safer Streets Together campaign.
29:18 Yes, this was born out of discussions with constituents
29:23 and recognizing that this is more of a policy one,
29:26 of course, but having a campaign that targets
29:30 all the different ways people get around our cities
29:33 and our shared responsibility
29:35 and promoting the benefits of our city.
29:38 So I think that's a really important one.
29:42 So, and our shared responsibility
29:44 and promoting the ways that pedestrians,
29:47 what pedestrians could do as safety practices,
29:51 but also motorists, of course,
29:53 what motorists could do safety-wise.
29:56 And then, of course, cyclists and scooter riders.
29:58 And we can get into electric bikes as well.
30:01 But the idea is I think that people
30:04 of all different types of commuting
30:07 are not necessarily practicing safe behavior
30:12 as much as they could be.
30:14 And in some cases, it's not education,
30:16 but in some cases it is.
30:17 It's not being aware of proper protocol.
30:20 So the idea here is simply, you know,
30:24 if we're gonna be renowned for our active transportation,
30:27 let's embrace this shared responsibility
30:29 to try to make our streets safer for everyone.
30:33 So then I guess the question I have is,
30:35 do you envision this being something
30:39 that the city outlays resources for
30:41 or something more you work with the department
30:44 to work with CASE and figure out, I guess.
30:49 How do you envision, from a budgetary standpoint,
30:51 is this policy or budget?
30:53 I think primarily this is policy,
30:55 but I'm open to either of the routes
30:58 you outline, Vice President Baker.
31:05 Whichever one of you decided will go first.
31:09 Thank you, I'm happy to join you on this.
31:11 And I do believe that there are some budgeting issues
31:13 with this one or implications with this one too.
31:19 Because I think that when you're looking
31:21 at an education campaign,
31:24 it may include mailing directly to residents.
31:28 I think that that's probably gonna be a piece of this.
31:31 So I would like to see some kind of budgeting numbers here
31:39 So then I would suggest,
31:40 and I'll get the Council Person in the Center,
31:42 is that if you do wanna have a budget piece,
31:44 then I think we have about 30 or 45 days
31:47 or to meet with directors
31:49 and think about what that cost would be, right,
31:51 if you think there's a budgetary impact.
31:52 Council Person in the Center.
31:54 Thanks, Chair Baker.
31:55 I do agree that there is
31:58 and does need to be a designated budgeting
32:02 allocated to the specific, I guess, project.
32:06 And it's not gonna be a lot.
32:09 And it could also be in line with things
32:12 that perhaps we're already doing.
32:14 So it could already be in line with current marketing
32:18 or communications, tactics, and things like that.
32:21 So it could actually, we could get a jumpstart
32:23 if there's dollars that have not been used
32:26 in the 2026 budget, not to throw all that off.
32:29 But certainly looking at how we're budgeting
32:32 for marketing, advertising,
32:37 those types of metrics and including that in 27
32:41 and just being mindful of this priority in 27.
32:44 I don't imagine it being a lot.
32:46 So, I mean, a couple thousand perhaps at tops, perhaps.
32:52 Well, I'd encourage you guys to,
32:54 I think this would be planning and police, maybe,
32:57 and then the mayor's office for communications.
33:02 Sounds good, thank you.
33:04 I know we have certain, you know,
33:07 we've already done a decent job.
33:09 I see our social media pages.
33:11 So we've done some of it.
33:12 I think you're looking for an enhancement on that.
33:17 You don't wanna leave out Public Works
33:18 is they have a big part of street safety, truly.
33:23 And also Mr. Gordon's always game.
33:26 Well, I see the new billboard for recycling
33:29 and over by West Clifton.
33:32 It's pretty awesome.
33:33 We can get one of those for how to use an e-bike
33:35 or whatever, it'd be great.
33:39 Chris doesn't want us.
33:40 He's just trying to keep his head down.
33:43 Next one is styrofoam recycling.
33:46 So this one, Edgewater Surf is,
33:49 they used to have set up shop in Rocky River,
33:51 recently moved to West 17th Street in Ward 4
33:55 and Jeff McNaught, the owner,
33:58 he does a processing of styrofoam,
34:03 of foam, EPS foam in house.
34:06 And it's something that, you know,
34:09 he uses a small amount to actually make surfboards,
34:11 which I think is really, really cool.
34:13 But most of it gets sent off to a partner
34:19 or to be converted into new foam insulation.
34:22 And I know that Mr. McNaught recently went
34:27 through a partnership with another municipality,
34:30 Cleveland Heights, to take on recycling for them.
34:35 And I see real opportunity for us
34:36 and of course, much easier with the proximity
34:38 because the plan that you've discussed with Mr. McNaught
34:46 if residents could have recycling drop-off at the,
34:50 excuse me, styrofoam drop-off
34:51 at the Lakewood Recycling Center,
34:53 then Mr. McNaught and Edgewater Surf
34:57 would arrange for bi-weekly pickups.
35:00 You know, the fact that his place of business
35:03 is just on the street from the recycling center
35:07 And, you know, adjusting the frequency
35:08 of his pickups based on the resident demand.
35:12 And Mr., he's laid out a budget
35:15 where I believe the total ask was around $4,000.
35:19 I built in a little bit extra
35:21 just in case the needs change.
35:23 But it seems like a potential
35:27 for a partnership with a local business
35:31 to offer something beneficial
35:33 to our residents and the environment.
35:40 Thank you, Mr. Chair and Councilman Vixenstein.
35:43 That is correct that Cleveland Heights
35:46 did receive a grant from the Cuyahoga County
35:49 Solid Waste District to basically pirate,
35:52 or pirate, pilot, yeah, pirate.
35:56 Pilot a styrofoam recycling program.
36:01 I would advise to allow this program
36:03 to run its full course before we jump in
36:07 just to see how it's going
36:09 because we're not quite sure
36:10 if there's going to be additional transportation costs.
36:14 We're not sure of the volume that's going to be coming in.
36:17 I had a very good conversation
36:19 with the Solid Waste District
36:20 specifically about this program.
36:23 And I was pretty much told
36:25 that they're going to allow it to play out
36:27 and then see what happens from there
36:29 because they're not quite sure
36:30 how high the volume is going to be potentially
36:34 if there's going to be any additional costs
36:35 and things like that.
36:37 So understanding that Cleveland Heights is piloting this,
36:40 I feel that it would be best to wait,
36:44 see how this pilot program pans out,
36:46 see if there's any issues,
36:47 see if there's any positivity, negativity,
36:50 and then take it from there.
36:52 Yeah, I would advise you get together with him
36:55 and talk about that and figure it out.
36:58 Yeah, I'm happy to talk about that.
37:00 Sorry, Judge Schwalow?
37:02 I was just also going to say
37:03 I think the law department
37:04 will probably have to look at this as well.
37:06 I mean, without knowing more about this,
37:08 it almost sounds like the city collecting
37:09 and providing raw materials
37:11 to a private business on city property
37:13 and without going out to bid for that.
37:22 I'm sure though, Assistant Director Schwalow,
37:25 there's a way to make it work, right?
37:26 So we could structure it correctly
37:28 so that we don't run afoul of any.
37:31 I'm suggesting that we,
37:32 that Councilman Vick says that.
37:34 Yeah, I heard that.
37:35 Councilman Vick said I'll be happy to work with you too.
37:37 Like I think we should talk to the countywide districts
37:42 that are involved in these kind of things.
37:43 So it's a good discussion,
37:45 but I think, I guess that's what I was saying before,
37:48 is like, let's not poke holes in the concept
37:50 because the mechanics of something
37:52 may not be right in the initial draft proposal.
37:54 It's a valid point to learn from others.
38:00 On the other hand, if we have,
38:02 there's arguments I can think of
38:03 about moving it forward.
38:05 So I'll leave it with Councilman Vick's design.
38:07 I'll be happy to play back, you know,
38:10 a wingman role to help flush it out.
38:14 Thank you, and I'll be sure to follow up
38:17 with Director Gordon and Director Schwalow
38:19 to make sure we're doing this the right way
38:22 and both the timing and the legality.
38:28 Board for engagement.
38:32 All right, this is the last one for me.
38:35 Ward four has lagged behind historically
38:37 in voter turnout for decades at this point.
38:41 And the idea of this initiative is to formulate
38:44 a comprehensive nonpartisan plan
38:47 to reduce this gap and improve voter turnout in ward four,
38:51 both the amount of registered voters
38:54 and the amount of voters who actually go to the poll.
38:59 And so I did talk to the law department this past week
39:05 and we talked through how,
39:06 in order to do this the right way,
39:07 it would have to be nonpartisan, of course.
39:10 It would have to be non-campaigning, of course,
39:13 and it would have to be approached
39:14 without any sort of particular issue in mind.
39:18 So the idea would be to partner
39:21 with local nonpartisan organizations
39:24 like the League of Women Voters
39:26 and in hopes of first doing data collection
39:31 and eventually formulating a comprehensive plan
39:33 to how can we get ward four to not lag behind other wards
39:40 as far as voter turnout.
39:43 Do you envision this as a 2027 budget issue
39:46 or more 2027 as the plan year?
39:50 I can see it either way.
39:52 Well, I think we can just keep it as a question mark
39:54 and you can meet and we can,
39:56 you know, folks that wanna work with you,
39:59 like the Hamilton Center, figure out what it might be.
40:08 So thank you, Chair Baker,
40:10 and thank you Councilman Bixenstein
40:12 for bringing this forward.
40:16 I'm glad that you reached out to the law department
40:18 to clarify what we can do as far as involving
40:22 and getting voters engaged in the language
40:24 and making sure that we're nonpartisan,
40:27 but truly I also saw the opportunity
40:30 that this is to increase overall community engagement
40:34 for ward four and get them out,
40:36 getting them to come out to, you know,
40:39 council meetings, getting them to get involved,
40:41 to having more ward four residents represented
40:43 in our boards and commissions.
40:44 I think it's also bigger,
40:46 it's not just voter turnout,
40:48 but it's also voter turnout
40:50 and community engagement as well.
40:51 So we can sort of talk through some of that
40:54 and then just clarify,
40:55 because I believe Director Swallow,
40:58 we couldn't use public funds for this initiative?
41:03 Okay, so it would be really policy
41:06 and engagement types of activities
41:09 and it might be an opportunity to partner
41:12 with community relations, Melissa Garrett.
41:14 So perhaps we could reach out to Melissa Garrett
41:18 and see what opportunities that exist
41:21 and we could get some specific activities
41:24 and specific activities out there in ward four around this.
41:31 Sounds great, thank you.
41:36 Next one is capital budgeting reform.
41:38 I don't know if that's,
41:39 sounds more policy-based, but wanted to hear.
41:41 Yeah, thanks for sharing with us real fast.
41:43 I think it is policy-based.
41:44 The concept here just to share
41:45 with the administration would be right now,
41:48 my impression is that the vast majority
41:52 of capital budgeting is, as we currently practice it,
41:56 is driven by the administration
41:59 and that city council plays a minor role in that.
42:01 I think that needs to be more balanced.
42:04 That's my opinion as opposed to,
42:07 this is the beginning of a discussion.
42:08 So I don't have right this moment a concrete proposal,
42:13 but I wanna be thoughtful and work towards it.
42:16 Right now, as I understand it,
42:18 the administration draws up the appendix
42:20 to the budget binder.
42:22 That's a guidance policy as opposed to something in law.
42:27 Typically city council would not try to edit directly
42:31 the budget binder again, which is an advisory document
42:35 that or an administrative document.
42:39 So for city council to add or subtract or make changes,
42:44 we would have to do it through legislation.
42:47 We've only done that very, very rarely.
42:50 And so what we have is pretty healthy
42:53 and robust capital budgeting process,
42:56 but is really driven by the administration
42:59 and council is not involved to the degree
43:03 that in my opinion we should be.
43:05 That's the concept there.
43:06 More discussion to come.
43:08 Promise to engage the administration.
43:10 Yeah, and I would, Director Vargo and I
43:12 work really closely on kind of the board of control
43:15 level, that's why we get the reports now
43:18 for under 75 on the council docket.
43:21 So it's, you pulled a string
43:23 and a string over there comes out.
43:24 And so, I think I'm willing to work with you on it,
43:27 but I think it's a law department finance.
43:29 Would that be equal?
43:33 Yeah, and board of control is a oversight
43:36 of appropriate expenditure of dollars
43:40 once a budgeting decision.
43:41 Yeah, no, I was only using it as an example.
43:44 So that's a piece of a good process,
43:46 but I'm trying to extend the budgeting process
43:50 So what goes on the capital budget list
43:53 in the first place?
43:55 When something comes off, why does it come off?
43:57 When it gets pushed back?
43:59 Actually, kind of the shuffling around
44:02 between year one, two, three
44:04 is probably a good administrative function
44:06 because, you know, road project delays and so forth.
44:09 But there are examples that are on
44:12 were not on the capital budget right now
44:15 that typically city council has not been
44:18 very directly engaged with.
44:19 So anyway, enough said on that.
44:20 So this sounds policy-based for 27.
44:23 Yeah, so I don't envision this as something
44:25 that would affect the proposals for budget year 27.
44:30 Maybe it would be something we discuss.
44:33 And if there's consensus,
44:34 including working in good federal administration,
44:36 it would affect budget year 28.
44:41 Crossing guard is the next thing that's.
44:43 Can we scroll down on the?
44:47 Who's got the big screen?
44:49 Okay, so crossing guard coverage expands.
44:51 And this is a possibility, a potential.
44:57 Very well aware of the staffing bottlenecks
45:00 and the whole intent here would be to
45:03 possibly find a way to be successful
45:05 without either unrealistically running up
45:10 against the staffing bottlenecks
45:11 or to increase the disruption when full-time
45:18 city personnel have to be substitutes
45:21 because that happens with parking enforcement,
45:24 patrol officers, and Mr. Gordon shared with me
45:27 often is not public works.
45:29 And let me because I think that
45:31 really shouldn't be how it plays out.
45:35 The reality is more challenging
45:37 because of the nature of this position.
45:39 So actually, Mr. Chair,
45:40 you had a concept that I picked up on here,
45:42 which would be potentially we could explore
45:46 a contract with this Lakewood City Schools
45:48 and their personnel may have temporary employees
45:53 in the form of substitute teachers
45:55 in similar positions.
45:57 Air professionals and others that
46:00 by the nature of those positions are on call.
46:04 And if possible and feasible and affordable and desirable,
46:09 we could potentially engage with them
46:12 and then find a new
46:17 source of crossing guards.
46:19 And then that would then allow us to get into
46:24 how many and where we might want to expand.
46:27 That is a whole separate thoughtful discussion.
46:30 We have a good working group
46:32 thanks to the planning department convening.
46:35 Police and police have been really engaged.
46:37 Public works has been engaged.
46:38 So we've got a good working group.
46:40 The schools are also engaged.
46:42 So there's a number of hoops to jump through here,
46:46 but this proposal is to begin a discussion
46:50 to see whether we might be able
46:52 to somehow expand personnel.
46:56 A budget number here is me estimating
46:59 the same cost of our current program,
47:04 expand just a simple arithmetic
47:06 multiplied by what's described here.
47:09 Was that, that wouldn't be additional budget
47:11 or it would be the entire budget
47:12 which we already appropriated.
47:15 So for example, if council thought,
47:17 or if after the discussion,
47:19 whomever thinks let's scale that back,
47:23 you'd scale it back proportionally.
47:25 So it's estimated 8,000 each.
47:27 So what I'm proposing here was plus one each
47:30 for the six elementary schools,
47:31 plus for each of the two middle schools,
47:33 plus four at the high school.
47:34 Currently our middle and high schools
47:35 are not covered by crossing guards.
47:38 So that's the simple arithmetic.
47:40 Those are starting numbers.
47:43 We could all discuss and adjust that.
47:50 And I think we have about 11 minutes left,
47:52 but we're almost through half.
47:56 Short term mental regulation
47:57 we don't need to talk about now.
47:58 Well, this bathroom is next.
47:59 Okay, bathrooms is what it says right there.
48:02 So thank you, Director Gordon,
48:04 communicated kind of our current practices
48:08 with where we have bathrooms,
48:09 the dates of their access and the times of their access.
48:13 And that's in an email that I shared
48:15 with council members.
48:17 What's proposed here would be to take that baseline
48:20 and expand it a little bit.
48:21 So to add Portageons for two new parks,
48:27 well, let me start at the beginning.
48:28 So add electronic locks.
48:29 We've talked about that for many years.
48:31 That was also discussed when the mayor
48:34 was a council member and even predates that.
48:39 I really hope that we can figure out a way
48:40 to make use of electronic locks
48:42 to ease access at Cove and Edwards at a minimum.
48:48 Install Portageons and those actually turn out
48:51 to be the most expensive part of this proposal
48:53 because you have to not only rent them
48:55 but service them on a weekly basis.
48:57 So that's not an expensive, but it's important.
49:01 And then I would like to put on the table
49:07 installing a new permanent bathroom for Wager Park.
49:09 I've also heard informally,
49:11 you could potentially propose that for Web Park.
49:13 That won't be construction for budget year 2027,
49:18 but if there was some consensus around,
49:21 hey, we should do that within the next five years,
49:25 we could potentially allocate design funds for 2027
49:30 to give the administration some wherewithal
49:34 to start working that out.
49:36 I fully understand that parks permanent bathrooms
49:40 are expensive, but I think that's kind of the value
49:43 of city council signaling it's a priority
49:46 if indeed council agrees it's a priority.
49:49 Whether it's right away or in three years or five years,
49:53 there's huge value to,
49:57 it really multiplies the sunk cost
49:59 we've already committed to our parks
50:01 in terms of equipment, trees, playgrounds,
50:06 ball fields, and all the maintenance and ambassadors.
50:09 All of that multiplies in value
50:13 if you have bathroom access.
50:14 And I also think it'd be wonderful
50:15 if we used Councilwoman Striebig's old standard
50:19 of gender neutral family bathrooms,
50:22 we could show our values right out of the gate
50:25 by adding that at one or more parks.
50:28 So that's longer than I expected to speak.
50:31 Yeah, I would encourage you to work with Public Works
50:33 and if you can't, it's not a 2027 budget item,
50:36 then, you know, but the other thing,
50:37 you might wanna pull this out too and get the locks.
50:40 There's some that is 27,
50:41 but some that would be longer.
50:43 Let's see, think about that in the next 30, 40 days.
50:45 Yeah, and I'll just volunteer too to,
50:48 so this is Councilman Bullock and I,
50:52 because we had had meetings before
50:54 about the electronic locks and things like that.
50:55 So there's multiple parts to this.
50:57 I also think, you know, we began the conversation,
51:00 the last council meeting,
51:01 about the master plans for the smaller parks.
51:08 So if we're contemplating a more permanent restroom
51:13 that would kind of be part of that conversation too.
51:15 So maybe Councilman, we can talk a little about
51:18 and pull this into a couple of different pieces
51:20 and then talk about those pieces
51:22 with the appropriate folks.
51:28 Thank you, Mr. Chair.
51:30 I just need one clarification.
51:31 Yeah, I think it would be best for us to meet,
51:34 I have a lot to talk about with this one particularly.
51:37 I just need to know,
51:39 is anything that you're proposing right now,
51:42 you're looking to get done in 2027?
51:47 Yes, the electronic locks and the Portageons.
51:52 Okay, then we need to meet about that sooner than later.
51:56 Thanks, that's not a done deal.
51:58 That's the proposal, right?
52:00 We have a goal of July 30 being a decision.
52:04 Yeah, you're, unfortunately,
52:05 you're not giving me much turnaround time here
52:07 on these types of things,
52:08 at least for this situation.
52:10 Not for 2026, 27, right?
52:12 Yeah, I understand,
52:14 but I have to have things ready coming up here in the fall.
52:16 So yeah, we need to,
52:19 if we can meet sooner than later,
52:20 that'd be greatly appreciated.
52:23 Thank you, STRs, I think you wanted to talk about that.
52:26 Yeah, I've got a draft grant proposal
52:28 to share with colleagues.
52:30 It's, the proposal here is
52:35 that the Safe Routes to Schools function,
52:40 which is a three-legged stool between parents,
52:43 the schools and the city is tricky
52:47 because we have to coordinate between all of those
52:50 and then we have to do a lot of public education,
52:51 which actually I think Councilman Vixenstein
52:54 alluded to earlier and Councilwoman Striebig
52:57 and Hamilton Siner talked about.
53:00 So getting all of that done
53:02 is right now done in a volunteer basis
53:05 and that only works so well so long.
53:08 And so the proposal here is to provide financial capacity
53:13 for a portion of a six to nine to 12-month FTE
53:19 that if Council were to support this,
53:24 I would volunteer or join with others
53:27 on Council to volunteer to go propose a match
53:31 from other funders such as Community Foundations
53:33 and also the schools.
53:34 So you'd have $25,000 matched twice
53:39 to fund a new position, probably not to be with the city,
53:43 maybe a 1099 contractor in the first year,
53:46 maybe somewhere else.
53:49 This is to be explored, but then what you would do
53:52 is you'd build on the significant progress
53:54 we've been making over the last,
53:57 call it two academic school years.
53:59 Thank you truly to the planning department,
54:02 the police and the public works on this,
54:05 but there's just so much more to do.
54:09 And this would provide some full-time
54:14 or part-time capacity to actually do all of that work.
54:25 And then you're gonna work
54:26 on the short-term rental regulations, okay.
54:31 Oh, you're gonna have something in July, you think?
54:34 Yeah, my hope is July 1 to submit something
54:36 for the July 6 docket
54:38 and thanking the mayor is also communicating with me.
54:40 So I'll have my decks cleared later this week
54:43 and top of next week to draft something,
54:45 which would be a starting point
54:46 for all of us to consider, not a done deal at all.
54:52 Just because I wanna finish the second page
54:53 before we adjourn this meeting
54:55 and you're chairing the next one.
54:58 Do you wanna go into your affordable housing idea
55:00 and kind of where it's at?
55:02 Yes, thank you, Chair.
55:03 So I think we're off to actually a good start
55:05 on this one, thanks to the planning department
55:07 for a good meeting a few weeks ago.
55:11 Bringing this to the top of everybody's mind once again,
55:15 I do have a line by budget item in here
55:21 for potentially a strategic housing plan for 2027
55:24 that would help us better realize
55:26 our affordable housing goals.
55:27 I know we do have some information
55:28 in the planning department.
55:29 I'm not convinced it's 100% relevant to Lakewood.
55:33 So I think we do need to have
55:35 some purpose-driven research done here.
55:38 So I think that's the goal,
55:38 but we'll be working throughout the summer.
55:42 Ian Anders has been great setting us up
55:44 with folks from other communities
55:46 to talk about the efforts they're doing
55:48 and that'll craft our vision moving forward.
55:51 But I do think this is a realistic budget item
55:54 for next year that will guide investment
55:57 in affordable housing over the next five to 10 years.
56:00 I guess let's dig into block clubs too
56:03 since we got two or three minutes left.
56:04 And I think that we can carry over in the next meeting
56:10 Yeah, so block clubs.
56:11 So we budgeted $100,000 for this year,
56:14 which I think we can allocate.
56:16 And I'm hoping to sustain that amount
56:18 for at least a couple of years
56:20 so we can get this program up
56:21 and running the way we want to.
56:23 There's a lot of great things
56:24 my colleagues and I have been talking about.
56:27 And this, I think the really amazing thing about this
56:31 is it speaks to so many of these other issues
56:33 that we're talking about
56:33 because this becomes an absolute
56:36 critical communication tool between ourselves,
56:39 council and our constituents.
56:42 A better way to communicate with them
56:43 and give them the support they need
56:45 for all the different types of things
56:47 they're doing in their micro communities.
56:50 So I am really excited about this one.
56:52 The $100,000 again for this year
56:54 is a reasonable budget
56:55 and I think we can keep that moving forward.
56:58 And I just wanna say I'm thankful to the administration.
57:02 We're actually meeting on Wednesday
57:05 to talk about transitioning this program
57:07 from living with the administration
57:09 to living with council,
57:10 which I think is a big step.
57:12 I think this is where it belongs
57:14 because there's the folks
57:15 that we're talking to most often.
57:16 So I'm really happy
57:18 that we're gonna make this transition.
57:20 This is gonna be great.
57:22 I'm excited about it.
57:22 I know my colleagues are as well.
57:25 Clerk's office as well.
57:27 So really good collaborative effort
57:30 and looking forward to working
57:32 with all of you on this moving forward
57:33 because again, I think this has tentacles
57:35 into every last thing we do.
57:37 So I love strengthening block clubs.
57:40 I would be interested as we move forward
57:42 like what the $100,000 does.
57:45 And I expect, you know.
57:47 I mean, when we're ready to pull this one back into,
57:50 we can absolutely talk about it.
57:56 are you the 100,000,
57:58 are you referring to the 2026 budget?
58:03 I think we're going to use the allocation
58:06 that we talked about,
58:08 but I want to keep that moving forward
58:10 for at least two to three years, that investment.
58:14 Okay, so you were saying you want for 2026.
58:22 so I don't wanna go over time,
58:24 but I wanna thank the administration for showing up.
58:27 And I do think I'll work with the clerk.
58:29 We had a meeting off earlier in June
58:31 and I know we probably don't want to meet on the 29th,
58:32 but I think we should.
58:34 So I'd like to schedule some time,
58:36 hour, hour and a half,
58:37 where we can get through this list
58:39 and then kind of block and tackle from there.
58:42 Because the earlier, the better.
58:43 And as Director Gordon says, he's right.
58:45 You know, some of these capital things,
58:47 you know, we're already too late.
58:49 So we're gonna work on it
58:50 and see if we can't get into the next year,
58:52 at least get into their mind,
58:53 get into their plans.
58:55 Because like I said, it's not council's budget,
58:57 it's not the administration's budget.
58:58 It's not a department's budget.
58:59 It's the city's budget.
59:01 So we wanna make sure we do it well.
59:02 So thank you to everyone from the administration
59:05 for listening to us make sausage up here.
59:09 Probably wasn't always the most organized thing,
59:12 but I think we're funneling now
59:13 down into some more concrete things.
59:15 So appreciate everyone's time.
59:17 Without objection, we are adjourned
59:20 and the next committee can start.