I call to order the agenda review of March twenty-fourth, twenty twenty six.

Clerk, please call the role.

Hobbs here.

Jones.

Martinez.

Present.

McPherson.

Meldon.

Here.

Morris.

Here.

Soranto?

Here.

Williams.

Driscoll?

Here.

Gaddis.

Quorum presence.

Good afternoon, members of council.

I'm Rosalind Clemens, the Chief of Housing and Neighborhood Sustainability.

I'm joined this afternoon by Jerry Kolkowski, our led grant program manager.

The ordinance before you is to accept uh authorizing acceptance deposit appropriation and expenditure of seven million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the lead hazard reduction grant program from the U.S.

Department of Housing and the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes.

The lead grant is the department's uh only tool that we have for uh uh remediating and abating lead in our housing here in the city.

The department applied for and competitively competed and was successful in obtaining this award.

The grant is for a four-year period beginning uh March 2nd of this year.

The grant provides opportunities for properties that were built prior to 1978.

Residential properties that are one to four units are eligible for the program.

Units must be occupied by households with incomes at or below eighty percent of the area median.

Priority for the work is given to health department units where orders have been issued by the health departments where a child has tested positive for elit elevated lead levels.

The prioritization of children under six is because uh a child under six is most susceptible to lead poisoning.

Properties can receive uh $30,000 for lead hazard reduction and $15,000 for healthy homes or energy efficient repairs.

The remaining funds will support education outreach and staffing for the program.

Uh the ordinance has a Schedule A, which is the budget that we have negotiated with HUD for this grant, showing the breakdown of how we intend to use the funds.

Um point seven million or twenty-two percent of the grant is used for personnel and fringe, 119,000, 494 or 1.5 percent for uh staff travel training and licensing, equipment, supplies, and other materials account for .8 percent or 59,162.

Uh and uh for property owner grants, 3,07,273 and 65 cents, or approximately 38 percent of the grant.

Direct contractors to let trained contractors will be 2,04,849, or 25.9 percent of the grant, and the rest of the breakdown is on your is on your schedule there.

I will stop now and take questions at this time.

And we are requesting SCP.

Um before I take questions, I I I've asked staff to put together for the second slide.

It shows you um for the previous grant that we got, how many units we did, uh how those units were dispersed throughout the city.

Um what the slides show is that uh for our highest risk census tracts, uh council districts three and four, we did the most units, uh most of the units being in in Council District 3, where there were 79 um units, council council district four, 39 units.

The breakdown over the city for owner-occupied units were 40 units or approximately 25 percent of the units we did for rental units, 120 percent or 75 percent of the units we did, and those units that we did as a direct result of uh health department orders accounted to uh about 28 percent of the units.

The um application process would be done uh digitally through our neighbors software portal.

Applic we will uh once we get approval, we will market the grant.

People can apply through the neighborly, the applications are assessed by staff, the properties are then inspected by our staff, the specs are written, all work has to be completed by a licensed led contractor, and of course the completed work must pass our risk assessment for approval.

So this is how the the grant is is uh supposed to flow.

And we are requesting SCP on this.

Councilwoman got us.

Thank you.

Thank you for this.

This is really exciting.

I my only question is, and I know that we're gonna hear about this on Thursday, but um, when will the um the owners of the houses be able to utilize the funding?

Is this starting on in March?

Yes.

Well, once the once the grant is approved, we will set it up in in SAP and we'll we will open up the application portal and people will be able to apply at that time.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Martinez.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um quick question.

Can you go back to the previous slide?

So really two things.

Number one, if by can we get a copy of the year budget, it wasn't in our packet.

So I wasn't sure what you were referring to.

Okay.

Um that's one.

Number two, um, so if I understand this correctly, a property can get up to 30,000?

Up to uh 45,000.

Up to 45.

There are two parts, the the Healthy Homes supplemental award we also successfully secured, and the lead hazard reduction.

So you could get up to 30,000 for the lead hazard piece and up to 15,000 for the healthy homes.

Gotcha.

And then the AMI restriction.

Who set that?

Who sets that?

Yeah.

Is that internal?

This is set by HUD.

HUD Federal, HUD State or HUD local.

The United States Federal Housing and Urban Development.

So the Federal sets the standards.

Okay.

For that was the grant restriction on this set by the Federal Government.

That's correct.

Got it.

Okay.

And then I guess my other question was, well, it's really more about the budget and overhead, but I guess maybe the concern I have with the 80 percent AMI, not necessarily that is needed, but given the current circumstances, I would think that would be increased to 100 percent AMI because the demand is the need is so great.

Um understand the priority for children under six, I get that.

Um then I I just I don't know if I'm but if it's a Federal requirement, the three-year restrictive covenant, that raises some concerns.

And I only say that because in the event that there is a turn or um if it's a rental unit and it gets churned, you know, six months, eight months every year, um, I just have a concern about overall stability of that particular property in the long run.

I I get why they're doing it, and I understand.

I just the restricted governments always kind of give me pause sometimes.

So I just want to think about this a little bit more.

Well, the the restricted covenant again is is is a HUD requirement.

And um we do understand the turning of units and the uh I I think I think basically the requirement is that once as a landlord, if you benefit from this program, we want you to give priority to 80 percent AMI people and to give priority to families.

And and uh Manager Kolkowski, can you just explain in our in our education with the landlords what does that mean in terms of what in terms of the expectations?

Sure.

So um uh again the 80 percent AMI, nothing we can do about that.

That's uh it's a federal regulation.

Um and that's part of our um uh when we do our enrollment review, we have to excuse me, collect the information to um uh uh confirm and verify the um 80 percent AMI for the occupant for a rental pro um uh for a rental property um the um uh the income on the for the tenant is what we look at um and the three-year restrictive covenant is essentially so that once we go in and we do the work um uh HUD wants us to make sure that um uh that the work continues to benefit uh low to moderate income households.

So that's what the restrictive covenant um addresses.

It's a three-year covenant and uh as far as targeting or giving priority to families with children under six, um essentially if their turn in tenants do turn over um and they market that unit, uh they can market it as a lead safe unit.

Families with children are welcome to apply.

Um the income restriction is an income restriction, and uh they have to uh landlords do have to follow that.

Um and then again we encourage the um uh uh giving priority to families with children under six.

Um however, if they do have a tenant or a potential tenant that does not have children, they still have to rent to them or they'll get in trouble with fair housing under discrimination for familial status.

So uh the income uh the income limit applies, um, and then it's encouraged that they um uh again uh give priority to um families with children under six.

So I I get that part like thank thank you for that.

No, no, I understand that part.

I guess I actually a couple of things you had mentioned.

So who is actually testing and so I'm the landlord, I took your grant, I have a family, they stayed for eight months, they left for whatever reason, I turned the unit, I actively marketed it.

I had two applicants, obviously preference 80 percent AMI with children, no problem there.

Who checks and verifies that?

And do I have to contact you as the landlord?

Whose obligation is that and who is going to police that?

So we do um uh we do request from landlords that if their tenants do change uh within three-year period, um it's helpful if they provide that information before we have to contact them.

Um but we have a um uh uh we're developing a monitoring schedule where we will um we will actually send out notifications uh to the landlords on an annual basis through that three-year period to provide us information on their tenant if the tenant is changed, as well as um uh how they marketed the vacant unit when they were trying to get a new tenant.

Gotcha.

So do we have staff to actually do this?

It is part of our so that is part of our staff that works on the program.

Okay.

All right, that's it for now.

Thank you.

I wanted to just address uh the concern about overhead.

I I think it was uh councilmember um uh Martinez that mentioned this.

This program is is uh the staffing is one million seven hundred and sixteen thousand dollars.

Uh about twenty-two percent of the grant.

There are uh the entire most of the staff is funded by this grant and not from the general fund.

Jerry Kokolski, who is the program manager, and 90 percent of his staffing and benefits come from this program.

The other 10 percent comes from an Ohio Department of Development grant.

The uh John O'Donnell, who is our rehab projects manager, who is the person uh senior person writing specs on this grant, 75 percent of his project comes from this grant, the rest comes from CDBG.

James Stinager, who is a rehab specialist, 50 percent of his uh um uh salary comes from this grant.

The other 50 percent comes from CDBG.

John Metzger, who is the rehab tech, a hundred percent of his salary comes from uh this grant, nothing from CDBG or the general fund.

Monica Smith, who is our lead coordinator, 10 percent comes from this uh uh salary is funded by this grant.

And then Andrew Sager, the historical environmental review officers who has to review all of these uh do H and E's on all of these grants, 15 percent.

So uh none of these, none of the staffing comes from the general fund.

It comes from it's it's supported by the grant and by CDBG, and all of these positions are necessary to carry out the work.

And in our negotiations with HUD, we had to present a staffing plan for this.

And I would like to add this is very probably our fifth year receiving this lead grant.

I know under my tenure it's the second time we have received it.

Well, since I've been here, um we've been working under this grant for since 2012, um, but uh the city in itself has had some type of lead grant since uh I believe 1996.

Fantastic.

So I'll look for that by referral so I can review the budget.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much.

Councilwoman Kramer.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you and congratulations on um this grant.

Um I have a question about getting the word out about this program, um, because obviously we want to make sure we're spending these funds.

Um, how are you going to get the word out to the landlords as well as the property owners about this program?

Well, we plan on issuing a press release once the grant is approved.

It will be marketed on our website and also uh through social media in partnership with Markcoms.

Um I know that it's the landlords are waiting for this because you know that we are we have started now aggressively promoting the compliance with the lead ordinance.

So the landlords are aware that this grant is coming, and uh we will be you know working with them to facilitate usage of the monies.

Okay.

And in the past, has there been any concerns about spending the money, or that has not been a concern in the past?

No, there hasn't been any concern.

We've always had a pipeline of folks.

What has happened over the last couple of years is the increasing in increase in cost uh that we've experienced.

But um we we tend to um get high usage and high demand for the program.

Okay.

Awesome.

Thank you.

I'll just add a couple um additional things as far as um I guess we'll call it marketing.

We do a lot of uh uh direct meeting with uh landlords, landlord agencies.

Um we do uh in the past and we'll excuse me, um we'll institute this again once we roll the program out, is um we'll set up uh we'll coordinate meetings with um housing choice voucher landlords so that they have that information.

Um we regularly re um attend um the RIA and PIN meetings, uh do presentations to them to get the word out as well.

Um this time around in the past we have done paper applications, which are somewhat cumbersome.

Um this time around, we are doing everything electronically, so it will be a lot easier to provide the information, give them the website to apply to, um, and then everything will be right there.

Thank you for that information.

Consulman Sarantsu.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

So um I want to go back to that first slide with the uh costs.

So my question is uh if I take the $7 million uh for lead hazard reduction, uh that comes out to about 234 homes.

My question is, do we expect every home to use the entire amount of 30,000 or will we have some homes where it won't cost as much?

Some homes?

Sorry.

Some homes will not cost as much, but the if you divide 7,750 by 141 homes, it it c it ends up being I I did the math, Jerry, it was about $54,000.

I don't have my calculator.

And uh the rest of the funding is for staffing and and overhead.

What what we find is that uh Jerry, the average cost for a lead job is uh is probably around 25,000.

It's actually it's actually a little bit more.

Average cost is uh close to about 32,000, or I'm sorry, yeah, 32,000.

That's what we put in our budget for this.

Okay.

Um the thing to remember is that when we're looking at the 7.7 million, we're not taking that and dividing it out by units, obviously.

Right.

Um we're really, you know, when you look at um I'm sorry, uh when you look at the Schedule A, um, we're really looking at uh a little over five million dollars.

It's actually going into the the construction of it.

Um we're targeting to do about 141 units.

Um hopefully we will exceed that benchmark.

Um and as far as costs, not all of them are gonna use that 30,000 um or 15 for the healthy homes.

Um and then um so there might be some less expensive jobs.

But on the other side of that, we're gonna have units that are probably gonna come in at like 50, uh 40 or 50,000.

Okay.

And what we do with those is we do actually uh we're required to provide match to this grant.

Um and we have uh roughly um right now 100 uh a hundred a little over a hundred thousand dollars in CDBG to address over cost units for this as well.

Okay.

Could you give us an idea of using 30, 32,000?

What exactly is done?

You you discover there's lead there, we've got a child there.

What what is the how does the money divide it up?

Well, okay, so um I'll give you a per house.

Very quick uh uh rundown of it.

So once the unit is determined to be eligible for the program, um we go out and we do a full uh lead risk assessment of it.

So we'll do dust wipes, we have special instruments that can actually test the paint levels in the walls.

Um we do a visual assessment on that, and that um turns into what's referred to as a Lira or a lead inspection risk assessment.

Based on that assessment, um we it's determined where the lead hazards are and we write up the work specifications to address those hazards.

Um we do a combination of interim controls and abatement.

Um abatement is your you know you're removing the um uh uh the affected piece.

So and when you replace a window, that's abatement.

If you um uh paint stabilize a porch post as an example, that would be considered uh interim control.

We do a combination of both so that when we uh when the unit is done and we do a follow-up clearance on it, um that unit is determined to be lead safe.

It's not lead-free, but it is lead safe.

Um after we write the specs, um then um we work with the contractors.

So this program um for uh we were fortunate enough uh several years ago to get approval to uh work on a fixed cost basis.

So the contractors that work with us um have agreed to um uh uh well they've worked with us to set pricing for this program.

So once we write the the work specifications, we have an idea of of how much that uh job is gonna cost.

We award it to a contractor, um the contractor does the work you know uh from you know uh orders materials does the work.

Um again, they've got to be licensed lead contractors with licensed lead workers on site until we can get a clearance of it.

We'll go out, we do the clearance, we'll write up the report, we pay the contractor, and um and it's done.

Okay.

So all right.

Thank you very much.

Sure.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Councilman Driscoll.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh correct and assume we're going to be talking about this at the housing committee on Thursday, is that correct?

Yeah, we're going to offer some additional time on Thursday.

Do we have a time by which we need to tell HUD whether or not we are accepting this ordinance?

And are we allowed to what you have negotiated with HUD, is there any are we allowed to change that at all before we pass this ordinance?

I don't believe so.

What are your thoughts in terms of what you would like to change?

Well, I mean, we I suppose we can get into this on Thursday when we talk about this, but it does I understand the philosophy, and I think you and I have talked about this before around not relying on the general fund for your staff, but if we do that and we do that with C D BG, we we do the maximum amount that we're allowed to with C D B G grant and and we're gonna do I assume that's the maximum amount that we can take.

Uh when we do that, though, that means less work is getting done.

And that's not, I mean, I I get it, it puts less strain on our general fund, so in some ways it's appreciated, but then we know that less work is going to be carried out in the neighborhoods if we're taking all this money on the staff side or what's maybe being perceived as overhead, but I suppose that's why I think we'll get into it a little bit more uh Thursday.

But um, in inside uh the marketing budget that you have that you have laid out here is uh is a is a maximum award.

So if we could find a cheaper way to do marketing, we could give the maximum award to another unit.

I mean that's you know, we we're getting two uh not quite 200 units done with this.

And uh like I said, I appreciate it because I suppose it puts less strain on the general fund, but then less is getting done in our community and less is being done that maybe could be done to remediate this issue that I think we all take very seriously.

And so I, you know, we'll I think we can discuss that a little bit further on Thursday, but that's just my concern.

Well, we would welcome uh your thoughts on the budget with respect to marketing and some other things.

If we reduce the staffing on this budget, the issue is is how do we deliver the program?

If we if we reduce staffing and put more to construction, where would the staffing that we delete from this program be funded from?

We can't go to the general fund because we know our budget constraints.

Uh remember now, I always I always talk about this.

Uh if you look at the Department's FTEs, only 5 percent of my FTEs are supported by the General Fund.

The rest of my staff is funded by competitive grants that we seek and by Federal entitlement grants.

So we are lean when you talk about our our staffing and the burden that we place on the general fund.

And and uh we staff our programs uh to deliver these programs because the the bottom line is if we apply and compete for this money and we don't spend it on time.

We we don't we we have a poor chance of getting it next year.

So the the staffing at 22 percent I would say is is is lean and it certainly supports it supported by HUD in terms of best practices.

I have no wiggle room to go.

I have nowhere to go.

I can't pivot Jerry's salaries to the general fund and give you three more units.

I can't pivot my spec office, my spec riders to the general fund and give you more units.

I can't pivot them to the C D BG because I am already funding my my fiscal staff and my monitoring staff with the C D B G.

Keep this in mind.

Five percent of my budget is funded by the general fund.

The rest is is is we're the rest is we are maneuvering from on competitive grants that we get to keep this on department going.

Yeah, I would just say two things.

I I understand that and I appreciate that because I think we're in most cases where we can choose to not rely on the general fund, it does help us from a dollars and cents point of view in terms of balancing our budget, but then the money the money comes from somewhere, and in this case it's money that's sometimes could be spent to remediate real issues in our community.

So that may not be a I'm it's not it's certainly not a critique of you or your department.

It's maybe it's a critique of what we're choosing to how we're choosing to invest the dollars we have as a city of Toledo.

Um the other thing I would say is we haven't passed the budget yet for 2026, and this has an impact on the 2026 budget.

Um I'm not saying we shouldn't pass this ordinance SEP.

I'm just saying we don't know what's gonna we don't know.

I mean, everything ought to be a big question mark right now going into the the upcoming budget because we haven't passed it yet.

But like I said, I uh I suppose we we'll we could talk a little bit more.

But this it's not the only uh the staffing isn't the only item that's not direct uh aid to the the landlords.

It's not that's not the only thing, correct?

You have marketing, you have money going to the lead resource center.

Is that right?

Yes, and and uh just to say something about the lead resource center, the model that we are trying to build here is to really pivot away from over reliance on Federal grants for lead.

And the if you look at Cleveland, their lead resource center is a nonprofit that they've stood up.

That that lead resource center raises over a hundred million dollars from the private sector to address lead.

So one of the models that we the model that we've tried to build here is not only aggressive applying for federal grants and state grants for lead, but also seeding a local nonprofit that would be the philanthropic pillar to this.

And um the the we've seeded that organization, we've got an executive director in place, her board is in place.

She started actually writing grants and proposals now, and we will use the lead resource center for marketing, education, training of our contractors, and and going out in the community and actually supplementing the health department with testing.

So it if you look at the line items here, we think we've got a alignment of the goals of our aid initiative to uh to support the lead work that we do, to support the staff that does this work and to support our long-term goals of diversifying the funding for uh lead remediation in this city.

So hence the breakdown of the budget that you see.

Okay.

Like I said, I think we talked about a little bit further on Thursday.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Council President Williams.

Thank you so much.

Um I want to thank uh council uh woman Dr.

Jones for allowing this to be on the agenda uh on Thursday.

So I hope that everyone here will attend the meeting on Thursday.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to be here, but I appreciate uh I appreciate Chief or Director Clemens, I'm sorry.

Chief Clemens.

Give me right.

I appreciate it, and I hope that you have a comprehensive discussion at the committee hearing.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chief Clemens.

Items two through four.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Dr.

Jones.

I apologize.

Lord, Jesus, we've been talking so long.

Everybody threw everybody off.

Councilwoman Dr.

Jones.

Like, man, okay.

Um yeah.

Thank you for explaining that.

I know that when we had our discussion, it was very uh pointed as far as explaining where the money would be going.

And for my colleagues, this was sent in an email.

I actually have it pulled up, so if you needed a printout, then we can do that as well.

I would um by referral just am interested in knowing, of course, like the marketing campaign.

And then also you have for the 600,000, the outreach education contractor training and resident testing through the lead resource center, like what does that entail?

Um but everything is going through the lead resource center.

That's the other reason for this grant is to really help out because they are a nonprofit of theirs themselves, and then also it has been a struggle to find um just support financial support for this.

So this will be helping the lead resource center in general with staffing and all of the programming.

So this will be run through that.

And then also a question regarding the um the contractors.

So you said the is contractor training, but then you also have the lead contractors.

What does the training have to do if the lead contractors are already certified?

What is the training come in?

So we are always looking for uh quality licensed, experienced lead contractors, licensed lead contractors.

Um it is historically, it has been a um historic challenge throughout the state to um uh have those trained contractors out there.

There's a there's a cost to the training for initial training, it's uh it's a week long cost, it's almost uh a thousand dollars uh for the training for a contractor.

Um I believe it's about $800 for a worker.

Um they have to go through that.

They have to be licensed in order to uh do any kind of lead remediation work through this program.

So one of the things is is certainly um uh training, uh training for new contractors.

Umce you have a license, there's retraining.

You have to um go through retraining every every two years as well.

Um so that's the training piece.

Um there is a line in our uh a line item for lead contractors in our uh in our budget, and that's for the actual work being done on the units.

Okay.

So uh when you look at um uh property owner grants and lead contractors, so that that amount that 2 million plus is we will work directly with the contractors and pay the contractors directly.

Um essentially we're running the program from soup soup to nuts.

The grants to the uh property owners, um property owners would have um uh an opportunity or the option to expedite the process if they had um uh if they do the work with a lead contractor of their choice.

So it could be a led uh uh they still have to be licensed, but it could be um somebody who is not part of our direct program that we're paying from the city.

So those essentially be two different ways to get units cleared to expedite that process and get as many units done as quickly as as we can as well.

So the you have a list of licensed contractors that the city usually worked with, but then it's the option of the property owner if they had their own contractor.

That is correct.

So when it comes to picking their own contractor, what would be stipulations for you to accept them to do this work?

Like does it have to be somebody who is looking to get their license, or should they already have their license for they have to be um uh they all they have to already be licensed.

So they have to carry a State of Ohio led license.

They also have to have lead licensed workers.

So the contractor that let's say um uh uh uh a property owner would use will have is going to be regulated just like the contractors in our um uh in our current pool as well.

Um we will still be writing the spec.

We will still be doing the assessment on the unit internally, we will still be writing the work specifications.

We will just be providing that to the owner so that they can um then work with their own own contractor and essentially expedite the process.

So it um it's going to help reduce the backlog of our contractors getting work done because owners will have the option of working with their own contractor as well.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm just trying to clarify what a contractor, I mean, if it's a beginning-led contractor, you may have to have a little bit more investment in them versus a veteran depending on just the type of work.

So that's kind of where I was getting at as far as how much money would go into each of these contractors and their work depending on their expertise and years of expertise.

Because that could make a difference too.

Yeah, but fundamentally, uh councilwoman though, uh, all work has to be done by a licensed contractor.

All workers on the job have to be licensed led workers.

So you got two tiers of sort of two tiers of licenses that have to be uh done on these jobs.

This is a this is a Ohio Department of Health requirement, and we are constantly struggling to get to have enough lead contractors and enough lead.

We've had for give you an example, we've had uh contractors that have finally completed their uh certification and become a lead contractor and are calling us.

Um do you have a roster of led certified lead workers?

So we have to the part of this initiative is how do we train at both at the lead contractor level and the lead workers level so that as the as the pipeline is is open up, we have enough people to do the jobs, and we have enough people that are that our landlords could could pick from that are because bottom line you can't just hire anybody to do your lead work if we write the specs.

The work has to be done by license uh folks and inspect it.

So that's that's the the sort of the the playing field that we're deal that we're dealing with and we're setting up the training for.

Okay.

Gotcha.

Um I will defer to Councilman Martinez before.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dr.

Jones.

Um I I I just actually had a bunch of more you just raised a bunch more questions that I had uh in terms of the contractor work that have to have lead certified workers.

So I'm assuming that narrows the pool substantially as you mentioned.

And then I guess uh the other question I had, how this is gonna be a quasi-pass through to the lead resource center.

I'm sorry.

So is part of this grant is going to be a pass-through to the Lead Resource Center.

So, like what percentage of this grant now of this $7.7 million is going to the LED resource.

So I apologize, I don't have my email attached to my 7.7%.

7.7 million.

And that covers what exactly?

What's their for education, contractor training, resident testing, which is which is orchestrating because we have what we're finding is that the families with children under six are not getting tested like we need them to.

So part of the part of the uh the challenge with with that we're having is uh penetrating the community, working with the doctors, working with the hospitals, working with our residents that have children under six to make sure that the children are tested.

And part of the charge of the lead resource center is is going to be working with our partners to orchestrate a comprehensive testing strategy, which will have metrics for uh for getting because we are in Lucas County, particularly in the city of Toledo, we're under tested.

So uh part of this, we can't go out and implement a testing strategy, so we're we're setting them up and we're partnering with them to help us to do this work.

And so they do have the capacity.

How many employees does the LRC have, the Lead Resource Center have?

Well, right now it's the executive director, and she will be hiring community health workers to help with this initiative.

We've we've got a staffing plan and we've got a strategic plan from them to do this work.

Okay.

Uh so I'll do this by referral just so I get a further clarity on how this will work and pass through and expectations.

Um I guess I would just kind of assume this is similar to community outreach subcontract, I would imagine of some sort.

Yeah, outreach, education, contract, or training.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

There will be a hearing this Thursday at 3 30 to cover any additional questions.

Um hopefully the documentation will be sent to the colleagues before all of that to get your answers questioned.

Oh Lord, get your questions answered.

Um but other than that, we can do SEP.

Thank you.

I just want to say this was a highly competitive grant, and um we're just delighted to get it and we'll be happy to start to start what start our work on this.

Thank you.

Items two through four from the Department of Public Service.

There will be a committee hearing for item two.

There's a committee hearing for item two.

I apologize, Councilman Colmees.

Councilman Colt Mars.

Thank you.

Just be I mean, in light of uh the last item, I do want to mention up front, I appreciate the slide that there's a hearing tomorrow at 4 p.m.

It's been made public for some time now.

Um but I would encourage all of the council members to come with your questions uh at that time.

Um this team will be here.

There will be representatives from priority.

Now I'm still in their thunder, by the way.

Um this team will be here, people from uh representative representatives from priority will also be here, and certainly members of the public will be here to speak as well.

So I hope that you can make it tomorrow.

Again, I apologize, Councilman Coleman.

Good afternoon.

Thank you.

Thank you for that, and thank you, um, Councilmember Comives for the reminder that we do have a committee hearing tomorrow to discuss this.

Um we would like to present the legislation um to council Megan Ropeson, Chief of Operations for the City.

I'm joined um with uh Joe Fosnaw, Director of Public Service, Ryan Murphy, Commissioner of Solid Waste, and Sarah Stacey, Commissioner of Urban Beautification.

Um as you know, the current contract between the City of Toledo, the Lucas County Solid Waste Management District, and Republic Services expires on August 31st, 2026.

About a year ago, uh the city team along with the Lucas County Solid Waste Management District team sought proposals for a new refuse and recycling contract.

We received proposals from Republic Services, Priority Waste, Rumpy Waste, and FCC environmental.

After formal presentations, interviews, and due diligence through site visits and reference follow-ups, the city is recommending we enter into contract with priority waste.

The proposed contract is estimated to be $13.56 million annually for a term of five years with the option for a five-year renewal.

Priority waste offers an enhanced customer service experience for our residents through the use of technology with real-time truck monitoring and video, route tracking, and dedicated Toledo customer service contact assistance and data sharing with engaged Toledo customer service representatives.

Our team appreciated their understanding of the city's needs and approach to deliver consistent, reliable, high quality service for our residents.

We have a committee hearing scheduled for tomorrow where we will provide a more formal presentation.

We will share our transition plan and allow you to meet the uh priority team.

We are asking for first read and are happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

I'm just curious about the um committee of the whole meeting.

Will we be able to see the proposed contract and the survey results uh from the trash talking tour?

We can have that data available, yes.

Okay.

We will share some of it and then any additional information that you need, we can provide it.

Okay.

And then um i it since I'm the biggest nerd on council, um, and I'd like to see the contract before um when there was a contract with our a previous with Oathworth Public, there was um the contract, and then there were any guidelines that the city had come to an agreement.

Will there be a portion similar to that in this proposed contract?

Sure.

So um currently we do we do not have a contract with priority waste.

Um this legislation is allowing us to do that.

Though we have discussed this and um would like to identify KPIs, key performance indicators that we would have within this contract, that there would be measurable um uh service delivery uh you know, executed uh requirements as far as percentage or service delivery to our residents.

And and we have discussed that with priority waste.

They they will expect that as a part of the contract, and we we plan to write those key performance indicators in that.

Okay, that's great.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilman Colmaj, your recommendation.

Thank you.

First read, hope to see you all tomorrow.

Item three.

Item number three, good afternoon, council.

Sarah Stacy, Commissioner of Urban Beautification.

This legislation request is to authorize an annual expenditure of an amount not to exceed 40,000 from the general fund for the rodent abatement and release for demolition at properties declared to be a public nuisance.

We currently have an existing MOU with the Toledo Lucas County Health Department.

They are sole provider of rodent abatement and demolition release services.

Uh the current cost for the service is $85 per property.

Uh we'd like to continue with our MOU with the Lucas County Health Department.

And this uh legislation um will give us um annual um expenditure um authorization uh so we not have to come back uh annually um for these costs, and it will facilitate future demolition work.

Uh pending any questions, uh we are asking for SAP.

Council President Williams.

Just a question where are they releasing these rodents too?

Seemed like they're releasing them to district four when they catch.

Just just asking.

I can't be the rat czar, but um uh you know the uh Lucas County Health Department, they have the licensed um pesticide applicators um in a process to make sure um they're doing that work diligently and to to the health code.

And there's a time window if if that is helpful to know.

There's a time time window um that their work is only good for.

So um for any reasons uh we have to circle back to a demolition property or if it gets put on hold or pending, we have to have that rodent abatement um and release kind of reset and rescheduled.

Okay, so they're not releasing them to district four then, right?

I see you, Joe.

As long as they're releasing them out of this I mean, I just don't I don't know.

I mean, I just don't I don't know.

I don't know.

I just I would like to see more.

So I'll do a uh uh referral and let the health department address my question.

Thank you.

Consulwam and Gaddis.

Just clarification on rodent.

That's only for our four-legged friends.

That's not bugs or specific to yes, those nasty rodents.

Okay.

What if we find a house that um the big problem in my district is bed bugs?

So what if we find a house that has that or uh cockroaches?

When we tear it down, I get reports of it running them running to the other cockroaches running to the other houses.

How do we um how do we treat that?

I'll have to take that question by referral and understand better what the um license applicators are spraying for.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Councilman Colmives, what is your recommendation?

Item number four.

Um item number four, this is legislation to authorize an expenditure of an amount not to exceed 65,000 from the general fund.

Um this is to support uh the creation of the clean Toledo Center, um, a recycling drop-off center for residents of Toledo only.

Um this money will help us provide the uh equipment and materials necessary for collection, hauling, and processing of recycling items.

And uh this legislation will authorize the mayor to accept and deposit revenue received from the exchange of recycling materials uh into the general fund.

Um we plan to open the Clean Toledo Center this spring.

Um again, this will be a year-round drop-off site where residents can responsibly recycle materials and donate items for reuse.

Um we will be able to accept some bulky items um that are currently not acceptable as part of the uh um five items um for uh the bulk policy and program.

Um some items that will be accepted at the center include scrap metal, yard waste, food waste, electronics recycling, and then again um items for donation.

Uh the money we collect at the clean to uh center um from the scrap metal.

Um again, that will be uh deposited into the general fund.

Um the center hours um are Tuesday through Saturday, 8 30 to 4 30.

Uh the location is 3900 Creekside Avenue.

Um pending any questions, uh asking for SAP um to facilitate the construction of the center opening this spring.

Councilman Colmaz, what is your recommendation?

SCP, really looking forward to opening the center.

Thank you so much.

Good job.

Items five and six are from the Department of Public Utilities.

All right.

Hello, Andy McClure, Commissioner of Plan Operations for the Department of Public Utilities.

Um item number five is requesting authorization to expend funds for repair of Heatherdowns pump station pump number three.

Uh there's uh request for 100,000.

This money will likely be split into three contracts, one to remove the pump and motor and reinstall the pump motor, another one for repair of the pump, and another one for repair of the motor.

Um this is um essentially like the check engine light is come on.

There are vibration monitors on the motor and pump that uh the vibration frequencies increased enough to indicate that it's time to send the um pump out for refurbishment.

Um take any questions, and we would ask SEP, please.

Consulman Martinez.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh just to make sure I understand there is a redundancy.

Yes, there is.

And we prefer to do and I want to do the work on a plan basis, it would take much longer if it was an emergency.

There'd be more parts to get.

It might be more difficult to get the pump out.

So yeah, plan maintenance is definitely preferred, and there is still redundancy.

Okay, great.

SEP.

Item number six.

Uh item number six is requesting permission to an alone agreement for uh the preliminary design portion of the secondary tunnel replacement project to the baby water reclamation facility.

Uh this is the first project really to get going as part of the plant-wide facility improvements.

This was an older project uh from about 10 years ago that there was no funds available for at the time.

So it made sense to kind of reboot it and do it as a construction manager at risk project.

This is an alternative delivery method.

Uh we have about a 60 percent, 70 percent design complete.

We um have a con we have a recommendation reward for contract with Mosher and their engineering partner um to do the preliminary design phase.

So the preliminary design should end in a maximum price and agreed agreed maximum price not to exceed, and we would come back, and that would be then the construction phase of the project when we come back for this body for those loans.

Uh but this is this is for design of the um construction marriage risk project for uh it's uh 44 D water reclamation.

It's a secondary roof and miscellaneous piping valves and possibly some pumps as well.

Um and this is about a 300,000 almost 400,000 request for the preliminary phase.

Uh right now estimates are in the 12 to 14 million dollar range for construction when that comes around.

Uh Jenni would ask SEP and I'll take any questions.

Councilman Martinez.

SCP?

All right, thank you.

Item number seven comes from the Department of Information and Technology.

Good afternoon, members of council.

I'm Ann Bennett, Chief Information Officer, and I'm here with project manager Josh Rasso, who will introduce our cybersecurity legislation.

Good afternoon.

This legislation authorizes the spending of the 2025 capital allocation for cybersecurity enhancements in the amount of 154,900.

You'll remember from previous discussions that our cybersecurity program includes resilience and recovery components.

These funds will support a specific resilience and recovery project that has become increasingly important amid current threats to municipalities, the water sector, and the waste reclamation sector.

While the value of these investments isn't visible to our residents, they are a critical component of our cybersecurity program, protecting the information systems and assets that drive city services.

The legislation waives competitive bidding, allowing us to leverage existing network support vendors contracting through a previous bid process, and allows us to stay within our existing hardware solutions and standards.

We are respectfully requesting SCP.

Councilman Saratsu.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um Director uh and Commissioner, is this money left over from last year that we're utilizing?

So it's not anything new in for the 26th budget.

That is correct.

These are 2025 capital funds.

And why weren't they spent last year?

We were hoping not to have to spend that money.

Um and with our current environment, we feel it's necessary to do so.

Okay, great.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Council Woman Gatis.

Thank you.

I just want to thank you for taking the steps to use this.

Um giving our current federal, what's happening at a federal level and the threats that are very real to our water systems.

I I really appreciate you and the hard work of your department.

Thank you very much.

Thanks.

Thank you, Chair.

Councilman Meldon.

SCP.

Items eight and nine from the Department of Transportation.

Good afternoon, members of council.

Jeremy Michael Isaac, uh Deputy Director for the Department of Public Works.

Uh item number eight is an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a cooperative agreement with and accept a federal grant from the State of Ohio Department of Transportation for an amount not to exceed two million dollars for the bridge deck replacement and abutment modifications of Coleman Drive Bridge over Norfolk Southern Railway.

Um this grant dollars uh for the city is a five percent match.

Uh that match money will be coming out of our uh out of our matches and planning funds, and the construction for this project is scheduled for uh 20 the late 2026 season.

We're asking SEP and I'll take any questions.

Councilman Driscoll, what is your recommendation?

SEP.

I'm sorry.

Councilman Martinez.

No, that was fine.

I was I was late to the buzzer.

I just random question.

This is over on office South Street.

Where where's the geographic location?

This is yes, over by South Street, yes.

Okay, great, thank you.

Um councilwoman McPherson.

Uh just a question.

On the screen, you say that five percent on the screen is active above.

Yeah, that's an error.

Yeah.

So it's supposed to be five.

It's supposed to be five percent.

Okay, thank you.

Councilwoman got us.

Thank you.

Is there a timeline on this then?

Um ODOT is actually releasing the grant funds early for both this project and the next one.

So our project timeline for this will be uh probably late this year for this one to start.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Item number nine.

Item number nine is uh an ordinance that I am bringing to authorize the mayor to enter into a cooperative agreement with and accept a federal grant from the State of Ohio Department of Transportation for an amount not to exceed $1,735,661 dollars for the removal of the Central Avenue bridge over Buckeye Street.

Um this one is also a five percent match, and I believe it might say yeah, it also says two percent on there, but it this one is also a five percent match uh being paid out of the bridges matches and planning budget.

Uh we're asking for SCP and I'll take any questions.

President Williams.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh quick question.

Um they taken out the bridge on Central, right?

Yes.

Okay.

So have we talked to the prison?

Talk to who?

Prison.

Prison leadership.

Yes.

Okay.

Um the reason we went for uh removing this bridge instead of replacement is uh because obviously price was a big factor.

Uh another factor was there was a lot of illegal dumping and activity underneath the bridge, and then uh when Central Avenue was re rebuilt or repaved, we redid the uh two access ramps that come off of Buckeye up to Central Avenue.

So now that turns that into an intersection to keep safe travel back and forth.

Okay, it's just that the prison the prison folks never get to know these things.

That's why I want to make sure that they are aware and especially that neighborhood is gonna be cut off there.

So um I uh I believe that um is crucial to have that engagement to know that things that will be rerouted.

Um I know it needs to happen, so I just need to make sure that people are aware, so prison leadership uh because so many people work there and they transport there and they sometimes go on central.

So um I'll reach out to them and I'm okay with having a meeting with them soon because I just was there and they had no idea of anything that was going on.

So we also purchased a couple of message boards last year.

Uh-huh.

So we plan on putting those up ahead of the project happening.

Okay.

Well, I'll reach out to them too, and if uh we can have a meeting out there and I'll make sure the neighborhood knows I'm okay with it because it is a a concern under that bridge.

It's a lot that goes under the on under that bridge that is concerning.

So I just still want to make sure that we're being um cognizant of the neighborhood and of the actual large business that's right there.

So thank you.

Glad that we found some money for that.

That's all.

Councilwoman McPherson.

Thank you.

I was just asking the question was if this is going to be torn down, what how do we connect what's gonna be there?

So the bridge will be removed and then filled back in.

That that area will be filled in.

So Buckeye underneath will also be removed.

There are two access ramps, one on each side of Central Avenue that go from Buckeye up to Central.

Those access ramps were rebuilt when we redid uh Central Avenue up to the bridge.

So that is all brand new uh I believe it's still concrete and then Central Avenue is brand new asphalt right there at that intersection.

Okay thank you.

Councilman Sarantsu thank you I just want to follow up on that when was the last time this bridge was utilized by traffic it is utilized daily but it is very very low traffic.

Okay.

All right okay thank you very much Councilman Driscoll what is your recommendation?

SEP thanks thank you.

Next we have four items from zoning and planning we have a zone change at 3360 and 3356 Monroe Street.

We have a special use permit for used auto sales at 631 South Reynolds Road special use permit request for community recreation active at 2858 and 2860 Le Green Street and an amendment to a special use permit for a school at 6,04 Hill Avenue.

We have one appointment from the Office of the Mayor Troy Township JEDD board for Cody Brown.

We have four second read items ordinance 60-26 appropriation from various funds for customer assistance grant program for utilities customers for 100,000 dollars 71-26 appropriation for the 2026 sidewalk program 5000 from CIP 1,750 from special assessment fund and 1,250 from the tree assessment fund.

Ordinance 72-26 appropriation and grant agreement with ODOT for Path Project on Parkside Boulevard $1,016495 from the CIP and 107-26 appropriation for the crosstown water main route study regarding the line replacement $1 million from the water replacement fund we have three new items from council amending Toledo municipal code by enacting a new section 557 titled biometric data collection we have an ordinance I don't have it in front of me.

Oh here it is urging the mayor's office in conjunction with city council reduce the 2728 budget by 10 million dollars I have Council President Williams.

I've given everyone that uh resolution please get back to me if you uh have any questions uh but we all know what it is thank you third item is the expenditure for the National League of Cities annual membership dues 17,366 from the general fund and that completes the agenda Councilman Saratsu.

Thank you Mr.

Chair I just want to remind everybody at four o'clock today we have a a finance committee uh hearing uh we'll be hearing first uh on the uh efforts to collect delinquent uh ratepayers uh on their water and sewer bills the second item will be our uh February financials and the third item uh will be a report from the auditor John Ravalski I also want to emphasize that certainly at the finance committee uh we will entertain any questions or comments on the proposed 2026 budget if you have any uh issues that you want to bring up we can do that I know that we'll have a uh full council meeting uh next Tuesday at a special council meeting at two o'clock but I did want to uh make sure that everyone is aware that certainly at the finance committee level we're able to discuss the uh 2026 budget okay and then I I do have a I had a question on the uh biometric data collection I don't know if anybody is here from the law department or if uh councilwoman gaddis wants to uh answer but uh it occurred to me that um there are recording cameras uh as a result good afternoon there are recording cameras uh in every bank that I know of in the city of Toledo as well as in most of the credit union uh facilities if not all so uh are will they have to post a sign uh if this ordinance is adopted is it just a video camera an internal video camera security and okay so what do we read the part three of the ordinance it specifically list exceptions and security and video camera that is internal only and that is not processed through any other software to um analyze that data or picture um then they're do not have to post that okay and then obviously we have a lot of uh convenience stores gas stations uh large department

And no.

Okay.

So what do you read the part three of the ordinance?

It specifically lists exceptions and security and video camera that is internal only.

And that is not processed through any other software to um analyze that data or picture, um, then they're do not have to post that.

Okay.

And then obviously we have a lot of uh convenience stores, gas stations, uh large department stores, Walmarts, uh for example, that have this equipment that do recording.

So as long as there is it my understanding that as long as they do not sell it or uh authorize it for other purposes, uh that they would not have to post a sign.

Uh correct.

Um they could if they internally apply a software to um their security video or uh photographs that they take of individuals that they um if they individually or internally as a company policy apply those types of softwares to identify um it I believe that they're used sometimes to pre-identify shoplifters who have previously been in the store.

Um but that's not that's not the same as just looking at a picture of you know uh you or me.

This would be uh software that analyzes the measurements of the face, the measurements between the top of your forehead and the distance between your eyebrows and the shapes of your ears.

So they are being used um to collect biometric data so that you can you can determine uh somebody's facial recognition, not just looking at two pictures of two people.

That's different.

So in essence, who has to post signs at the door?

So what type of situations?

If you collect biometric data, which I believe is defined as retina or iris scanning, fingerprints, or um physic physiognomical, physiognomical um uh uh measurements, and then you process it through a software that is used to gain or to collect this biometric data on citizens or anybody that enters the store, you would have to post a sign that says you that you that you do collect this information for uh from your customers.

Okay.

Thank you for clarifying that.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um that was an excellent um explanation.

But I uh wanted to um I guess uh those are very similar questions I had when I talked to the Chamber of Commerce this week.

Um we talked about the carry-outs and their licensing and the cameras are very different from these cameras.

These cameras do a 3D image that then puts you in a bank and connects your name and all of your uh data together.

Like it's it's a web that's built.

Um those are very different things.

Um great questions.

Um I believe that this will impact bigger businesses and not so much our medium, small and mom and pop um businesses.

But the chamber is um uh going to kind of ask around and see if anyone outside of the larger stores use this.

So thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

This meeting is adjourned.