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Record of Proceedings

Committee of the Whole Meeting Summary - May 1, 2026

City Council & Commissions — Friday, May 1, 2026
BodyGahanna, Ohio
SessionCity Council & Commissions
DateFriday, May 1, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:26:33

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

All right.

0:01

So thank you for that.

0:04

We are going to get started.

0:06

We have a fairly short, but some good discussions today.

0:09

So first up is a new new community authority.

0:12

And I believe we have Mr.

0:14

Bell and Mr.

0:14

Ringel here from Bricker Grade and Wyatt to present.

0:37

There you are.

0:37

You can get comfortable.

0:39

We have name tags and everything.

0:42

Thank you.

0:48

Council.

0:50

Good evening.

0:51

We have two treats tonight.

0:54

One, we get to hear from the national, regional experts, at least on new community authorities.

1:02

And secondly, you don't get to hear it from me.

1:06

There's no ask tonight.

1:09

This is informational.

1:10

This is a presentation for you to learn more.

1:15

About about an economic development tool that we have utilized here in the city, but underutilized it.

1:35

Because you hear me talk a lot about tools in the toolbox, right?

1:40

Of economic development.

1:42

There are many.

2:10

And what the gentleman from Bricker can talk about is how to widen that out geographically and make it more fiscally versatile, both for the city as well as for the projects.

2:23

So I will introduce uh Caleb Bell and Michael Ringel from Bricker Graden Wyatt, like I mentioned, the statewide leader and NCA creation and administration.

2:34

So again, no ask, this is informational.

2:37

I told them uh about 20 minutes or so, and of course, feel free um to have your questions at the end.

2:43

Thank you.

2:44

Thank you, Jeff.

2:45

Uh I'm Caleb Bell.

2:47

I'm uh the chair of the public finance group at Bricker Graden and a partner in the firm.

2:52

And Michael's with me.

2:54

Yes, Michael Ringel, public finance attorney.

2:56

And uh we're gonna uh give a kind of a high-level overview about the community authority tool.

3:02

Um Mike, you want to start out on organizational uh dynamics and and and some of those notes, and then we'll get into charges and whatnot.

3:18

Uh so what is the new community authority as uh economic development director Gothe already mentioned?

3:23

The city has uh a new community authority in place, but it was really used as a single development finance tool.

3:31

Uh what we're going to be talking about beyond just providing some background about new community authorities is how the city could deploy a new community authority citywide and use it in different uh ways on an individual project basis to tailor it to each individual project, but to maintain uh control by the city.

3:51

Um little background about what a new community authority is.

3:54

That is a separate political subdivision.

3:56

It has a separately appointed board by city council or the statutory developer of the new community authority.

4:04

Uh when it is formed, the developer needs to have control of the land that's going to go into the new community authority.

4:11

And then it really has a lot of flexible powers uh under the revised code to help finance community facilities, and we'll get into greater detail on what constitutes a community facility.

4:22

Um it supplements the toolbox that the city has to uh attract the development that it would like.

4:37

So how to create uh an NCA, and we'll talk about how this can be more tailored to a an NCA that's created by municipality.

4:46

But uh according to the state statute, there's a developer, they file a petition with an organizational board.

4:53

Uh in this instance, it would be um the developer would be submitting a petition to city council for city council's review and a public hearing and then approval.

5:03

Um city council would need to determine that it's in the best uh interest of the public health safety and convenience of your constituents in order to have the entity be created.

5:14

And then the board is also a shared appointment between uh the developer and local government.

5:21

Uh but as we're talking about in the next slide, um, it's possible under the revised code for the developer to also be the city.

5:31

And so that's our that's our key concept uh that we want to really raise with you all today, and that is the municipality itself can serve as a developer of a community authority.

5:42

This is fundamentally the way a lot of your neighbors in central Ohio have been functioning.

5:48

Uh they uh other communities, communities such as Hilliard, Sunbury, um Galena, uh Mount Vernon, uh New Albany uh have utilized the community authority tool to uh manage new development activity that's available within the city's boundaries.

6:08

Sometimes it's annexation, but oftentimes it's just management of existing uh of existing development.

6:13

When the city serves as the developer, you all as council appoint a board, like Mike said, and that board then carries out the city's development plan.

6:26

So this is a way for you to do this where you're directing development instead of taking from develop the development community what they want and then trying to implement it over and over again in the ways that they want.

6:39

Um so just a simple example of this might be a little bit of our friends over in Hilliard.

6:44

They have a community authority policy where all new residential lots have a community authority charge put in place for those lots.

6:53

That's a five mil charge.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Economic Development█████████████████████████████████████████████52%
Energy Management█████████████15%
Arts And Culture██████████12%
Fiscal Sustainability████████9%
Procedural████5%
Board And Commission Operations███3%
Affordable Housing██2%
Public Engagement██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Committee of the Whole Meeting Summary - May 1, 2026

The Gahanna City Council Committee of the Whole met on May 1, 2026, at 7:26 PM in City Hall Council Chambers. The meeting included informational presentations on New Community Authorities (NCAs) and the Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC) rates, a supplemental appropriation request for arts programming, and a proclamation recognizing Herb'n Restaurant Week.

Discussion Items

New Community Authority (NCA) Presentation

  • Background: Jeff Gottke, Director of Economic Development, introduced the presentation by Caleb Bell and Michael Ringle of Bricker Graydon Wyatt. The presentation was informational and aimed to expand the city's use of NCAs as an economic development tool.
  • Key Points: The presenters explained that NCAs are separate political subdivisions that can be formed by a municipality acting as the developer. This allows the city to direct development rather than react to developer proposals. Community development charges (similar to millage) run with the land and can be used for community facilities such as parks, roads, and public safety infrastructure. The charges can be tailored per project, and the city retains control through board appointments and property admission.
  • Examples: Hilliard uses a five-mill charge on new residential lots. Bridge Park in Dublin layers real property charges, hotel bed taxes, and retail sales charges to finance parking garages.
  • Council Questions: Councilmembers asked about contiguity (no longer required), the relationship with TIFs (complementary), governance (council controls board appointments), applicability to built-out areas (redevelopment opportunities), and potential conflicts of interest. Director Gottke clarified that the tool is intended for new growth, not existing residents.

Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC) Rates Discussion

  • Presentation: Luke Sulfridge, SOPEC Executive Director, reported that the Gahanna Energy Plus aggregation program has saved nearly $1 million for participants compared to the standard service offer, part of $40 million in savings across SOPEC members over five years.
  • Rate Update: Current rates (Green: 6.800¢/kWh, Brown: 6.530¢/kWh) are below AEP Ohio's standard service offer and run through May 31, 2026. New rates will increase for the upcoming term due to rising capacity costs, weather, and global conflicts. SOPEC provides a fixed, flat rate with no penalty to opt out at any time.
  • Benefits: SOPEC assists with grants ($25+ million secured), advocacy, and administrative support. The program is opt-out; residents received a 21-day disclosure letter for a new three-year term (with annual price resets).
  • Council Questions: Councilmembers discussed the term structure (one-year fixed price within a three-year regulatory cycle), the likelihood of future rate increases (no near-term relief expected due to data center demand), and the importance of comparing total electricity costs.

Items from the Department of Administrative Services

ORD-0012-2026: Supplemental Appropriation for Cultural and Artistic Programming

  • Request: Miranda Vollmer, Senior Director, requested a $100,000 supplemental appropriation from the General Fund to support the Gahanna Area Arts Council. The funds would be used for continuing programs (Bright Blocks, LIVE at Headley Park), expanding into 2027-2028, and funding a master arts plan.
  • Rationale: The partnership leverages additional state and federal arts funding (e.g., Ohio Arts Council). The Arts Council would serve as the official arts agency for the city and provide administrative support to the Public Arts Advisory Committee.
  • Next Steps: The ordinance will receive a First Reading on May 4, 2026, return to Committee of the Whole for further discussion on May 11, and a vote on May 18.

Items from Councilmembers

RES-0013-2026: Herb'n Restaurant Week Proclamation

  • Proposal: Councilmember Padova announced a joint resolution and proclamation recognizing May 2-8, 2026, as "Herb'n Restaurant Week" in Gahanna, celebrating the city's designation as the Herb Capital of Ohio and coinciding with National Small Business Week.
  • Action: The resolution will be introduced and voted on the Consent Agenda on May 4, 2026.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal votes were taken during the Committee of the Whole meeting.
  • ORD-0012-2026: Scheduled for First Reading (May 4), Committee further discussion (May 11), and vote (May 18).
  • RES-0013-2026: Scheduled for Consent Agenda vote on May 4.
  • The NCA presentation was informational; no immediate action required. Staff will continue to develop a citywide policy framework.
  • Residents were encouraged to review the SOPEC rate disclosure letter and opt out if desired; SOPEC rates will increase in the new term.

Meeting Transcript

All right. So thank you for that. We are going to get started. We have a fairly short, but some good discussions today. So first up is a new new community authority. And I believe we have Mr. Bell and Mr. Ringel here from Bricker Grade and Wyatt to present. There you are. You can get comfortable. We have name tags and everything. Thank you. Council. Good evening. We have two treats tonight. One, we get to hear from the national, regional experts, at least on new community authorities. And secondly, you don't get to hear it from me. There's no ask tonight. This is informational. This is a presentation for you to learn more. About about an economic development tool that we have utilized here in the city, but underutilized it. Because you hear me talk a lot about tools in the toolbox, right? Of economic development. There are many. And what the gentleman from Bricker can talk about is how to widen that out geographically and make it more fiscally versatile, both for the city as well as for the projects. So I will introduce uh Caleb Bell and Michael Ringel from Bricker Graden Wyatt, like I mentioned, the statewide leader and NCA creation and administration. So again, no ask, this is informational. I told them uh about 20 minutes or so, and of course, feel free um to have your questions at the end. Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. Uh I'm Caleb Bell. I'm uh the chair of the public finance group at Bricker Graden and a partner in the firm. And Michael's with me. Yes, Michael Ringel, public finance attorney. And uh we're gonna uh give a kind of a high-level overview about the community authority tool. Um Mike, you want to start out on organizational uh dynamics and and and some of those notes, and then we'll get into charges and whatnot. Uh so what is the new community authority as uh economic development director Gothe already mentioned? The city has uh a new community authority in place, but it was really used as a single development finance tool. Uh what we're going to be talking about beyond just providing some background about new community authorities is how the city could deploy a new community authority citywide and use it in different uh ways on an individual project basis to tailor it to each individual project, but to maintain uh control by the city. Um little background about what a new community authority is. That is a separate political subdivision. It has a separately appointed board by city council or the statutory developer of the new community authority. Uh when it is formed, the developer needs to have control of the land that's going to go into the new community authority. And then it really has a lot of flexible powers uh under the revised code to help finance community facilities, and we'll get into greater detail on what constitutes a community facility. Um it supplements the toolbox that the city has to uh attract the development that it would like. So how to create uh an NCA, and we'll talk about how this can be more tailored to a an NCA that's created by municipality. But uh according to the state statute, there's a developer, they file a petition with an organizational board. Uh in this instance, it would be um the developer would be submitting a petition to city council for city council's review and a public hearing and then approval. Um city council would need to determine that it's in the best uh interest of the public health safety and convenience of your constituents in order to have the entity be created. And then the board is also a shared appointment between uh the developer and local government.

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