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Record of Proceedings

Gahanna City Council Committee of the Whole Meeting Summary - September 24, 2025

City Council & Commissions — Wednesday, September 24, 2025
BodyGahanna, Ohio
SessionCity Council & Commissions
DateWednesday, September 24, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:51:36

Transcript — Verbatim
0:01

Good evening, everyone.

0:03

Today is Monday, September 22nd, 2025.

0:06

I've got 705 p.m.

0:07

So we will go ahead and call this meeting of the committee of the whole to order.

0:10

We will get started with items from the Department of Finance.

0:15

Good evening, Director.

0:19

Good evening.

0:21

Requesting a resolution accepting authorizing and certifying the property tax rates and amounts.

0:28

This is a product of the tax budget that was filed in July.

0:32

Distributes are 2.4 mills across the general fund, bond retirement, and police pension.

0:40

All right.

0:40

Any discussion from my colleagues?

0:43

All right, seeing none, uh resolution on for consent on the sixth.

0:47

Yep.

0:48

Regular routine.

0:49

All right.

0:49

Thank you, Director.

0:51

Moving right along.

0:52

Items from the Department of Administrative Services.

0:56

Good evening, Director.

0:57

Hello.

1:18

Okay.

1:19

Good evening, everyone.

1:20

I'm here this evening.

1:21

Um, if you uh last year during the budget season, we talked a lot about staffing with a staffing study and then staffing for this year.

1:29

Um, and we were still evaluating staffing related to 825 Tech Center as far as custodials and maintenance staff.

1:36

Um so today I'm here to talk about the facilities division um and then the uh staffing uh request for the maintenance uh division.

1:48

So this is the facilities division is in the Department of Public Service, so in the gold bracketed, you can see there in this year's budget.

1:57

We budgeted for facilities superintendent, the facility superintendent Adam Grove is sitting behind me.

2:02

He was promoted from the foreman position to the superintendent, so that left his foreman position vacant.

2:09

And this year's budget also was a service maintenance worker too that was budgeted for quarter three of this year.

2:15

So we are in the process of filling that new position as well as Mr.

2:20

Grove's backfill.

2:21

Um we will be filling two service maintenance worker twos at this time and not backfilling the foreman.

2:27

So today I'm here to discuss the custodial and general maintenance request.

2:31

Um so we did evaluate um Jen Hamilton, the project manager and public service, and Corey Wyensinger, and Kevin and I, and Sean and Adam looked at and the mayor looked at um different staffing models uh versus contract versus employees.

2:48

So our recommendation is to hire five service maintenance worker ones to perform custodial and general maintenance work.

2:55

So the current contract for just this these facilities, City Hall, Senior Center, and the PD, you can see is they're about $68,000 a year and about 48,000 square feet.

3:06

The estimated contract at 825 is estimated to be somewhere in the 400,000 range for a 130,000 square foot facility.

3:17

So and then the estimated staffing costs are around $500,000.

3:23

That does include salary and benefits, and as a reminder, when we do cost projections, we do uh cost out for family insurance.

3:30

So if someone elects not to take our insurance or single or different coverage, that cost would be lower.

3:37

In addition, uh for the five maintenance workers, we uh projected that three of them will come in at start step, and we're hoping to hire at least two with some kind of uh experience, so that would mean that they would come in at a higher step than start step.

3:53

So this $500,000 estimate includes three being hired at start step and two being hired at the end point.

4:01

Uh these would be steel worker employees, so we use the projections based on their contract.

4:06

Uh as a reminder, their contract is up this year.

4:09

We'll be negotiating it uh starting next month.

4:13

Um, so the reasons uh why we're recommending a city employees instead of a vendor.

4:21

Um I put a few up on the slide here.

4:23

Uh we believe city employees will have a higher ownership of their work, uh, higher dedication to maintaining our new facility out there.

4:30

In addition, they would be available for emergency response based on the way we model the staffing would be and the shifts that they would work and per their union contract, they are required to come in on emergencies.

4:41

Um, in addition, they would be able to assist with facility rentals.

4:45

There's many different spaces that can be rented to the public and other jurisdictions.

4:50

So we would need facility staff to assist with room setups, teardowns, those kind of things, as well as access to police areas.

5:00

Individuals that have access to police areas have to meet leads certification requirements.

5:03

Chief Spence is here if we need more information on that, but that does require that you uh pass a little quiz, go through a leads audit, and you have to have um you can't have a felony to qualify for leads access because when you're in the police area, uh you could come across leads, information and leads uh things on computers, papers, things like that.

5:23

In addition, we'll have direct oversight and management employees over a vendor.

5:27

Um at times the vendor can send employees in that don't show up, don't do the level of service that we maintain.

5:34

So there's a lot of back and forth with the vendor of who's in the facility, who's not in the facility, who's coming, who's not coming.

5:41

Uh that leads to issues with badge access, access to the different building, is as well as ensuring that they can access the police facility.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Planning And Development██████████████████████22%
Capital Improvement█████████████████17%
Economic Development████████████12%
Public Engagement█████████9%
Procedural█████████9%
Budget Equity Analysis█████5%
Personnel Matters███3%
Engineering And Infrastructure███3%
Community Engagement███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Gahanna City Council Committee of the Whole Meeting Summary - September 24, 2025

The Gahanna City Council Committee of the Whole met on September 24, 2025, at 7:05 PM in City Hall Council Chambers. The meeting covered multiple items including a tax levy resolution, facilities staffing, engineering projects, a major development agreement for the Creekside District, the 2026-2030 Capital Improvement Plan, and proclamations.

Consent Calendar

  • RES-0041-2025: A resolution accepting the tax rates and levies for tax year 2025 (collection year 2026) as determined by the Budget Commission, authorizing necessary tax levies, and certifying them to the county auditor. Recommended for introduction/adoption on the consent agenda on October 6, 2025.
  • MT-0011-2025: A motion authorizing the city to bid for the Hamilton Road and Granville Street and East Johnstown Road sanitary sewer improvement projects. Recommended for adoption on the consent agenda on October 6, 2025.
  • MT-0012-2025: A motion authorizing the city to bid for the annual sanitary and storm sewer cleaning and CCTV program. Recommended for adoption on the consent agenda on October 6, 2025.
  • ORD-0041-2025: An ordinance accepting Crescent Circle public roadway, storm water, and domestic water public infrastructure improvements. Recommended for introduction/first reading on October 6, 2025, and second reading/adoption on the consent agenda on October 20, 2025.
  • RES-0042-2025: A joint resolution and proclamation honoring the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall in Gahanna. Recommended for introduction/adoption on the consent agenda on October 6, 2025.
  • RES-0043-2025: A joint resolution and proclamation to honor and recognize Killian Sullivan, 2025 Young Birder of the Year, in celebration of World Animal Day and World Habitat Month. Recommended for introduction/adoption on the consent agenda on October 6, 2025.
  • Liquor Permit Transfer: A transfer permit from Local Cantina Gahanna LLC to Ohio United Group LLC at 101 Mill Street. No objections were raised by the Division of Police, and Council did not request a hearing.

Discussion Items

  • Facilities Maintenance Worker Staffing: Senior Director of Administrative Services Miranda Vollmer presented a proposal to hire five Service Maintenance Worker I positions for the new 825 Tech Center Drive facility. The estimated cost for city employees is approximately $500,000 (including salary and benefits, with a worst-case scenario assuming family insurance), compared to an estimated contract cost of $400,000. Vollmer emphasized that city employees would provide higher ownership, emergency response coverage, and ability to assist with facility rentals. Council discussed hybrid models, security, and the civil service process. Vice President Weaver expressed support for in-house staffing, noting the net benefit. The city will begin the civil service process in October to stagger hiring by December 2025 or January 2026.
  • Engineering Projects: Director of Engineering Tom Komlanc requested permission to bid on two capital projects: a combined sanitary sewer repair/replacement and new mainline extension along Hamilton Road/Granville Street and East Johnstown Road, and the annual sewer cleaning and CCTV program for College Park and Heritage subdivisions. He also requested acceptance of Crescent Circle improvements. Council approved the items with no further discussion.
  • Creekside Development Agreement: A major presentation was given by Director of Economic Development Jeff Gottke, Mayor Jadwin, and development partners Frank Benson (Benson Capital) and Bob Lamb (Connect Real Estate). The proposed public-private partnership involves a $105 million mixed-use development on city-owned and CIC-owned properties in the Creekside District. Phase I includes 263 apartments, a 55-70 room hotel, two restaurants, a co-working space, and a parking garage. Phase II includes 24 townhomes. The city would contribute land valued at $100 and provide incentives including a 15-year 100% Community Reinvestment Area tax abatement, a non-school Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district, a New Community Authority (NCA), and pursuit of a Transformational Mixed-Use Development (TMUD) tax credit. The developer agreed to reserve 10% of residential units for affordable housing at 80% area median income, extend the multi-use path, install public art, and support local organizations. Council members raised concerns about parking loss, project timeline, missing exhibits, affordability, and demolition of the historic Bauer House. The item will have first reading on October 6, 2025, return to committee on October 13, 2025, and anticipated adoption on October 20, 2025.
  • Capital Improvement Plan 2026-2030: Senior Director of Operations Kevin Schultz presented the updated five-year Capital Improvement Plan, projecting $113 million in capital expenditures across six categories. Key updates include revised project phasing, completed projects (e.g., Hamilton Road Bridge, water tower rehabilitation), and canceled projects (parks and recreation core systems). The plan includes a $24 million Creekside Flood Mitigation and Plaza Redevelopment project, but funding will not be part of the 2026 capital budget request and will be addressed later. Council discussed the Academy Park project cost increase, aquatics master plan visibility, and discrepancies in financial projections. The CIP will go to first reading on October 6, 2025, return to committee on October 13, 2025, and second reading/adoption on October 20, 2025. The budget workshop begins October 23, 2025, with the capital budget presentation on October 27, 2025.

Key Outcomes

  • All resolutions and motions were recommended for consent or scheduled for future readings as outlined above.
  • The Creekside development agreement will proceed to first reading on October 6, 2025, with further committee discussion on October 13, 2025, and anticipated adoption on October 20, 2025.
  • The 2026-2030 Capital Improvement Plan will be presented for adoption on October 20, 2025, with a budget workshop on October 23 and capital budget presentation on October 27, 2025.
  • Council directed the administration to begin the civil service process for hiring five Service Maintenance Worker I positions, with staggered hiring expected by December 2025 or January 2026.
  • Council requested that the administration provide a fiscal impact analysis including city service costs for the Creekside development and that the development team provide a schedule of key milestones and exhibits for the development agreement.

Meeting Transcript

Good evening, everyone. Today is Monday, September 22nd, 2025. I've got 705 p.m. So we will go ahead and call this meeting of the committee of the whole to order. We will get started with items from the Department of Finance. Good evening, Director. Good evening. Requesting a resolution accepting authorizing and certifying the property tax rates and amounts. This is a product of the tax budget that was filed in July. Distributes are 2.4 mills across the general fund, bond retirement, and police pension. All right. Any discussion from my colleagues? All right, seeing none, uh resolution on for consent on the sixth. Yep. Regular routine. All right. Thank you, Director. Moving right along. Items from the Department of Administrative Services. Good evening, Director. Hello. Okay. Good evening, everyone. I'm here this evening. Um, if you uh last year during the budget season, we talked a lot about staffing with a staffing study and then staffing for this year. Um, and we were still evaluating staffing related to 825 Tech Center as far as custodials and maintenance staff. Um so today I'm here to talk about the facilities division um and then the uh staffing uh request for the maintenance uh division. So this is the facilities division is in the Department of Public Service, so in the gold bracketed, you can see there in this year's budget. We budgeted for facilities superintendent, the facility superintendent Adam Grove is sitting behind me. He was promoted from the foreman position to the superintendent, so that left his foreman position vacant. And this year's budget also was a service maintenance worker too that was budgeted for quarter three of this year. So we are in the process of filling that new position as well as Mr. Grove's backfill. Um we will be filling two service maintenance worker twos at this time and not backfilling the foreman. So today I'm here to discuss the custodial and general maintenance request. Um so we did evaluate um Jen Hamilton, the project manager and public service, and Corey Wyensinger, and Kevin and I, and Sean and Adam looked at and the mayor looked at um different staffing models uh versus contract versus employees. So our recommendation is to hire five service maintenance worker ones to perform custodial and general maintenance work. So the current contract for just this these facilities, City Hall, Senior Center, and the PD, you can see is they're about $68,000 a year and about 48,000 square feet. The estimated contract at 825 is estimated to be somewhere in the 400,000 range for a 130,000 square foot facility. So and then the estimated staffing costs are around $500,000. That does include salary and benefits, and as a reminder, when we do cost projections, we do uh cost out for family insurance. So if someone elects not to take our insurance or single or different coverage, that cost would be lower. In addition, uh for the five maintenance workers, we uh projected that three of them will come in at start step, and we're hoping to hire at least two with some kind of uh experience, so that would mean that they would come in at a higher step than start step. So this $500,000 estimate includes three being hired at start step and two being hired at the end point. Uh these would be steel worker employees, so we use the projections based on their contract. Uh as a reminder, their contract is up this year. We'll be negotiating it uh starting next month. Um, so the reasons uh why we're recommending a city employees instead of a vendor. Um I put a few up on the slide here. Uh we believe city employees will have a higher ownership of their work, uh, higher dedication to maintaining our new facility out there.

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