The Columbus City Council met on February 17, 2026, to address a wide range of items including the certification of the Community Crisis Response Amendment petition for the May 2026 ballot, the adoption of a comprehensive immigration enforcement legislative package, recognition of the Merrymakers Club centennial, and approval of numerous infrastructure and budget ordinances. Public comments featured strong support for the immigration measures and advocacy for limiting institutional investor home purchases.
Councilman Rose de Padilla, would you please lead us in the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flight of the United States of America through the Republic for which it stands one nation under our individual liberty and justice proud. Thank you. Council is grateful to have Imam Al Haji Bari from Masjid Baini Bainai here to pray with us this evening. Thank you so much for being with us during this holy time of Ramadan. Thank you. Asalaamu Aleykum WhatsApp Matullah Ta'ala Barakatu. I say peace be all to you all. So I would start by um saying Al Fatia, which is what we consider to be the mother of all prayers in Islam. And all you need to do is just say Amin. Oh Jibilah Him in a Shaitan Irojin. Bishman Law Hirahma Nirohim, Alhamdulillah, Hira Bilalamid, Arahman Erahim. Hairi Mahadu. Alhamdulillah Bilalamin. Thank you all for having me. And a salamu alaikum to you all. Clerk, please call the role. Any person who takes any action to obstruct or interfere with the conduct of tonight's meeting may be charged with disturbing a lawful meeting pursuant to Columbus City Code 2317.12. Any person who enters those areas of City Council Chambers reserved for city officials or invited guests may be charged with criminal trespass pursuant to Columbus City Code 2311. Are there any additions or corrections to be read into the journal? Hearing none, the journal is approved. This week's communications received by the city clerk's office are listed on the agenda and will be published in the city bulletin. Are there any other communications to be read into the record? Yes, but they will be read shortly. That doesn't just enhance the response of our community members get when they're in crisis, but it also frees up our police officers, our firefighters, and our EMS to respond to commute emergency, acute emergencies, so they are not just first responders to all of our social problems. I want to be clear that City Council shares these this vision as well. In fact, when we commissioned the independent consultant, Mission Critical Partners to complete a review of our programs three months ago, their recommendations largely aligned with what the safety collective have been fighting for for years. And even as council takes this step tonight, I know conversations are ongoing with the safety collective and with our partners about how we might be able to update their proposed language to add more flexibility and implementation or incorporate new research findings and to add city council to their growing list of diverse and diverse coalition. Those conversations are ongoing, but I want you to know that one way or another, voters are going to have their say. Are there any comments from my colleagues on this collective? Councilmember. Thank you. Uh Council President. I certainly would like to concur with your comments and congratulate the Safety Collective on what I know has been very hard work in organizing and getting to this point. I recall in April of 2018 when I started at the City Attorney's Office, there was a safety, community safety advisory commission that was seated by the mayor, and that commission issued some 80 recommendations, of which, if I recall, one of them was to ensure that we had an alternative crisis response that was fully integrated with our public safety department. And it is February the 23rd of 2026. And I cannot say that we have a fully integrated alternative crisis response that is fully integrated with our public safety department. And so it is because of your work that I know that we will take this next very significant step toward ensuring that there is a specialized unit that has specialized competency to deal with the issues that our community is dealing with in a way that does not perpetuate harm in our community, but in a way that promotes real public safety. So again, congratulations to all of you. I look forward to supporting you in this effort and certainly uh have an open door policy if you have questions, want to talk, want to further this conversation. Thank you, Chair. There are a lot of folks who work really hard to get us to today. One of those folks that I saw just about every place I went to was uh my friend Chan O'Ley who was out getting signatures. Uh, I think Chana is here, and you're welcome to come and say a few words if you'd like to welcome to council. Welcome back to council. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Good evening, council members. My name is Chana Wiley. I am the co-chair of the executive committee for Columbus Safety Collective campaign.