The Hudson City Council held a workshop on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, at 7:30 PM in Town Hall. Council discussed several major topics including expanding Velocity Broadband fiber to all residents, pedestrian safety improvements (HAWK signals and SR 303 safety upgrades), modifications to the Memorial Tree Program, and a proposed ordinance to commit General Fund budget overage to infrastructure. The meeting also reviewed a large consent agenda for the December 3 Council meeting, including appointment of an Assistant City Manager and various routine resolutions.
Staff and the Fiber to the Residents Ad Hoc Committee presented a plan to expand Velocity Broadband fiber service to all Hudson residents who currently lack fiber. The four-year phased rollout would balance geographic coverage and revenue, using a financial model that aims to be self-sustaining (small loss in year one, profitable thereafter). Approximately 2,000 homes currently lack fiber. The plan targets a 62% adoption rate based on a community survey. Council members expressed strong support for the plan, noting it does not rely on taxpayer funds. Staff will bring legislation to proceed, including an RFP for consultants and construction.
City Engineer Brad Kosco presented a study recommending against installing a HAWK signal at Aurora/E. Main or the N. Main mid-block crossing, citing sufficient gaps in traffic, no pedestrian accidents in three years, and potential traffic congestion. Councilmember Banweg argued the HAWK signal is needed for a visually impaired resident to safely cross downtown. After discussion, there was consensus to:
Mr. Kosco presented the final design for safety improvements funded 80% by ODOT. The original plan included curb-and-grass bump-outs, but after resident feedback, some bump-outs will be painted white stripes instead of curbed to allow emergency vehicle access. Council discussed:
Councilmember Sutton explained the downtown greens are saturated with memorial trees. Options discussed: placing trees in parks, public properties, and rights-of-way; heavier promotion of bench donations; and creating an endowment for general beautification (e.g., annual flowers) rather than specific plantings. Council expressed support for benches and asked the Tree Commission to return with recommendations.
Councilmember Banweg presented an ordinance that would require an annual discussion on using any General Fund budget overage for unfunded infrastructure projects. Council debate centered on whether it would bind future councils. Supporters (Banweg, Sutton, Heater, Bird, Mayor Anzevino) argued it mandates a transparent annual discussion, not a forced spending. Councilmember Kowalski opposed, fearing it could limit flexibility in emergencies. The consensus was to move the ordinance to the December 3 agenda for first reading.
All items below were forwarded to the December 3 Council meeting as part of the consent agenda, except where noted.
We are 7 30. We're going to go ahead and get started. I'd like to call this meeting to order. This is a duly noticed workshop meeting of Hudson City Council held in accordance with the Sunshine Laws of the State of Ohio, Section 121.22 and the City of Hudson Charter, Article 3, Section 3.02 for Tuesday, November 26, 2024. Per ordinance 220.031 titled Workshop Meetings and Item C. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Council President Foster so as to continue through the remaining workshop agenda items. Council President Foster, the floor and workshop meeting is yours. Thank you, Mayor. We'll move on to Section 2, which is correspondence and council comments. If any council member has something they would like to say, please get my attention and I will give you the floor. Mr. Vanrig. Yeah, thank you, Council President Foster. Just two quick updates for me today. One, we had the Hudson Business Breakfast for our local businesses. It was very well attended, great event. So just wanted to say a round of thanks to the Hudson Chamber of Commerce for putting that on with the Economic Growth Board. Really appreciate all the businesses as well who attended and participated to kind of crosstalk and get into collaborative opportunities with each other here in Hudson. The other update I wanted to provide was just some commentary around the fire and EMS subcommittee. To date, I know there's a lot of interest in the community about the results. We were able to review the data, and I'll allow the other council members to add as well, but uh reviewed the data very order magnitude so far in that we got prices, numbers on current building, future building, but what we still lack is an analysis or understanding of the staffing model. So it's like trying to buy a car without knowing how big your family is so far. Um so right now, just midway in that process, but we do expect by the beginning of the year to have some solid data. Uh once we've got that, that'll shape discussion around things like location, facility type, direction, you know, just so that the public who is interested in this understands where we are in that layer of discussion. But good meetings, very informative. I've been very impressed with the data coming back from the consultants that we've engaged, uh leveraging national best practices as well as looking at our own data very thoroughly. So it's a thorough process, and I know a lot of people want things faster, and I know we're looking at any interim opportunities, but this thorough process is also time bound. So we are staying on top of it to deliver a solution as quickly as is practicable to get a good one. That's all I've got. Thank you. Yes. Um I have two items. Um the first is that on Saturday was the Hudson Fire Department Banquet, which was really quite nice. Um also want to say that um, you know, recently at the open house they gave away 160 fire extinguishers. Um the idea from that actually came from Councilwoman Kowalski. She had talked to print to uh Chief Varns about it, and he ran with it and uh got a lot of donations, some from ACE Hardware. Um so anyway, I think that that was uh sure sign of Councilwoman Kowalski's creativity. And the second one is a letter from a um some residents. Um it has to do with uh the 302 changes that we're gonna talk about, and I thought I'd read their letter now. And this is from Michael and Patricia Whitaker at 331 Hudson Common. We've been residents since 1977 and certainly have seen changes in traffic patterns throughout the city. We have some comments about the current proposed changes to West Streetsville Street. We can see that the committee has already made some adjustments, such as eliminating bump outs on the westbound lane. We agree with all the changes recommended for pedestrian traffic, both across Atterbury and West Streetsboro Street. The only part of these renovations that we still believe should be adjusted is to leave the two westbound lanes active. We have been told the major goal in eliminating one lane of the westbound traffic was to reduce automobile accidents. The research showed that majority of the accidents reviewed were rear-end crashes near the railroad bridge. Reducing the westbound traffic to one lane will not eliminate this problem. Our most pressing concern is the ambulance police fire department traffic that goes westbound multiple times each day. Currently, traffic moves to the right-bound lane to allow emergency vehicles to pass quickly.