$200,000 contract with JAVS.

Javs is our audio visual vendor for the equipment inside the courtrooms that that uh create a permanent record of the proceedings.

Uh if you might remember last year, Jeff and I were here.

Uh I are uh to do the first three courtrooms.

These are the next set of three courtrooms we're gonna do.

The equipment is quite antiquated and old and breaks down with some consistency.

Uh so we just come to uh seek an authorization to do the next set of three courtrooms, and we're requesting SAP.

I would like to acknowledge Councilman Sarantu.

There's Councilman Hobbes.

All right.

Councilman Hobbes, your recommendation.

Thank you for your presentation.

I read it.

Thank you, NS SCP.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Item one is from the Department of Public Utilities.

Uh good afternoon, Andy McClure, uh Commissioner Plan Operations from Department of Public Utilities.

Uh item one is authorized or uh legislation uh looking for authorization to contract with a fire alarm uh company that specializes in the fire alarm repair at the water reclamation facility.

Uh it's very complicated system and we do need uh to have them it be inspected from time to time and some seasonal and work done on it annually to make keep it in good functional order for the uh safety, health, and welfare of the employees and the equipment at the water reclamation facility.

Um take any questions you have, and we would request SCP, please.

President Williams, can you push the slide, please?

Oh it's very helpful because we get to see the point.

So I like that, and it that's not even it.

Yeah, yes, it is.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gaddis.

Thank you.

Um is this for repair or maintenance or both?

Like is there a part that's broken that we don't know about?

There uh yeah, right now there is part that is broken, and they aren't doing a fire watch at the moment, so they need to get someone in to make that repair, but then it'll be further inspection.

Okay, and then what's the timeline?

Um this is going to be um it'll be an annual contract up to I believe it's three years.

Okay, and the expenditures per year.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh Council Member Martinez, your recommendation?

SCP.

Thank you.

Item two will be from the Department of Human Resources.

Uh good afternoon, Mike Najelski, the director of the Department of Human Resources with me is uh Vicky Coleman, the uh deputy director, and also uh Jeff Riley from our health care consultant.

Um item two is uh requesting authorization to enter an agreement with um Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield for the provision of stop loss insurance for our health care uh plan and also asking to waive competitive bidding under the total municipal code chapter 187.

So our current contract with um stop loss or with Anthem, which is our current provider of this service, expires on June 4th.

And um as is typical in the industry, the uh we can only typically these these contracts only last a year.

So we're coming back to council this year for another uh another contract.

What uh what Jeff and his team did over at Highland was we did an informal bid process um just to see what the market uh showed, and um as you'll see from the slide, only two companies uh besides Anthem responded, Berkshire Hathaway and Pan American.

Uh both of them are frankly aren't um viable alternatives, just uh based upon the huge increase in cost as well as potentially additional liability.

Um and so based upon that um we're asking for um for an approval to uh have a new one-year contract with um Anthem for um for the year for uh 26 into next uh 27.

The cost is about it costs about 100,000 a month for this service.

Um that it and it it does vary somewhat just because the rate is based upon a per employee or an employee roster per employee per month um uh charge.

So that's that's but it's about a hundred thousand dollars a month or a little over, and so we're the cost is indicated is about one point three million uh for the year.

Requesting SCP and we'll take any questions.

I would like to acknowledge council member Meldon.

Uh Councilman Sarantu.

Thank you, madam chair.

Um, how how often do we exceed the stop loss?

Um varies year to year, but there's um I don't know.

We it I'll say between zero and five times a year.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, madam chair.

Uh Vice Chair Gaddis, your recommendation?

SCP, please.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next item, item three and four will be from the Department of Development.

Good afternoon, members of council, Brandon Sellhorst, Chief Growth Officer.

Um item number three on your agenda is to um to stand up on a new program under the Vibrancy Initiative.

So this is a program that we talked about during our budget hearing.

Um it's called the property readiness evaluation program.

Thank you for changing the slide.

Um of the um challenges that we continuously encounter when we're looking at redeveloping sites in our community is that there's chronic vacancy and underutilization of sites and buildings.

And when we are trying to attract investment, there's either perceived or real risk associated with redeveloping these sites.

A common risk that we might encounter is Brownfield contamination.

Um the city has been an award recipient previously of a USCPA assessment grant, which we were able to use to do proactive environmental assessments on properties to help identify the contamination, the cost for remediation, and then we were able to identify the resources at the state level through the Brownfield Remediation Program to help us remediate those challenges and make those sites and buildings ready for development.

Over the past two years, we've been able to secure over 25 million dollars through the city, leveraging our ARPA and our private uh developers and companies that are looking to invest in the city out of that brownfield remediation program.

So it's incredibly important that we provide this proactive funding from an environmental standpoint to be able to identify risk, expedite shovel ready sites within the city, and uh prepare a pipeline of sites for new investment.

Unfortunately, um there's not pre-development resources throughout the community.

There's a lot of um there's a lot of assistance to help you once you have a project through loans and various things, um, but there's not this pre-development sort of money that we have.

We unfortunately were notified that we weren't awarded the USCP assessment grant for this upcoming round, so we no longer have any brownfield dollars assessment dollars to be able to assist um developers and ourselves proactively assessing properties.

And so what we are looking at standing up, Carmen, if you don't mind uh switching to the slide, just press the next button.

Um, is what we're calling a property readiness evaluation program.

And this is a program under the Vibrancy Initiative where we would provide funding to companies and developers to proactively um assess properties and identify the challenges that they may have from an environmental standpoint, from a geotechnical standpoint.

Um we have issues with wetlands on some of the sites that we're trying to develop, identifying those is an important.

Um we also see a need for feasibility studies.

We have a lot of vacant buildings in the city, a lot of buildings that have previous uses, like office or retail, where there's no longer a market for that, but we want to save these buildings because maybe they're historic or they're located in an area where we're trying to encourage investment.

Um looking at feasibility studies, helping helping us as a community understand how to redevelop those spaces is really important to attracting investment.

A prime example of that is when we stepped up as a community and invested $50,000 with the land bank to do a feasibility study on the Spitzer and Nicholas buildings in downtown Toledo.

That $50,000 was probably the best money we ever spent as a community because it gave us a roadmap for how to convert these two vacant office buildings in downtown Toledo into new residential.

And we're playing that roadbook that roadmap out today.

So this is a list of just some of the eligible expenses that we would be looking to do.

This would be a reimbursement-based grant program, like all of our grant programs are through the vibrancy.

So the developer or the property owner performs the assessment, we reimburse them, and we also get a copy of that report.

So this is key for our strategy because if for some reason that property owner or developer is not able to move that project forward, because maybe they don't have the financial wherewithal or the interest in doing it, but no someone can step in their place and do it.

Maybe they put that property on the market.

These reports are timeless.

We can we can use this information to help inform that next project, that next strategy.

So today the ordinance before you is to officially stand up this program that we've been talking about for some time.

We had budgeted $80,000 for this initiative in this year's budget.

Um so this ordinance also authorizes the expenditure of $80,000 for this purpose.

We expect um to be able to do around four projects this year for environmental or other type of assessments uh that we're looking to do and report back out to you on just kind of the impact of what those assessments were and hopefully how they were able to encourage the developer or investor to move forward on their particular project.

Um we're requesting SCP, happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you very much.

Um we will go to Councilman Driscoll first.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Sellhorst, for your presentation.

$80,000 out of the $500,000 total budgeted for the vibrancy, is that right?

It's in addition to so this was a separate expense.

Okay.

Um we didn't list it under the vibrancy initiative because we weren't sure if it was going to be officially approved by council.

So it's in addition to what you all allocated for the traditional vibrancy programs.

That's that's good to know.

Um I'm not uh not not concerned about this program.

I think it's necessary, but um you know, I think the vibrancy programs gives opportunity to put like shovels in the ground, and we might through this program just end up with a lot of papers on a desk somewhere.

And and so I wouldn't want to take from vibrancy if we're gonna do this.

I also is so what do you suggest?

What what will the match expectation be, if any from a potential applicant?

Um ideally, we're a 50-50 partner in this.

Yeah, okay.

Our idea is to, I mean, this is not a lot of money, you know.

We're talking about these studies, especially if we're talking about brownfield sites.

I mean, these these studies can be very expensive.

Um our goal is to leverage these dollars as much as possible, like we do with all of our grant programs and to leverage the private investment.

You think 20,000 is the maximum goal, or you just you just foresee for potential $20,000 awards.

Yes, we've maxed it out at 40,000 per per project per um per project for this year just to kind of test it out.

But we we kind of anticipate based on the projects and the environmental studies, typical cost for these things 20,000 might be an average reimbursement-based project.

I would not necessarily challenge you, but but all of us to think about this if as we go through one year of this program and see how effective it is.

Um finding more money for this in the future and maybe a different place to house this than the then thinking about it as a vibrancy program.

Because I think when we think about vibrancy, we're thinking about um you know like actual physical assets, and I mean we do the we do the grant, the the some pre-development work, or you know, we've done a little bit of that.

Yeah, the plan and grants, but um, but typically I think when we think about vibrancy, we think about the white box programs that we've done, or you know, the the actual physical investment that's being made, and that's obviously not what this is.

Not that this isn't an important part of this, but um and then uh we got to get that grant back from the US CPA.

That's the goal.

We're we are reapplying for that uh grant.

Uh so we have that application in, but um, you know, there's no federal grants right now are um in an interesting place.

Yeah, and uh and and and I think from a lobbying perspective, working with our lobbyists about trying to uh replicate something like that at the state level too.

The pre-development work is important, but um, I don't think about this when I think about the vibrancy program, if that makes sense.

And if and if this is useful, which I assume it will be to think long and hard about how we can continue to invest in this.

But it's it's you know, this is good.

This is a step in the right direction.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Martinez.

Uh thank you, Madam Chair.

Um director, this is or chief, I guess.

Uh this is great because pre-development money is the toughest money to get.

Uh banks won't lend on it.

Right.

Um, it developers, if they have a larger scale project, it's sufficient uh capital out of their pockets.

Um I guess so.

I'm very supportive of this program.

I I think what can you remind me how much was the EPA loan or grant last time?

The grant we received was for 500,000, it was to be dispersed over four years.

Gotcha.

So roughly about a hundred thousand a year.

Yep.

And we maximize that, I'm sure we leveraged it to the hilt.

I'm I'm sure you guys do a great job of that.

So I would expect nothing different uh on this.

Um so one, I guess if we had to prioritize uh which one we're gonna pay for.

Um if you could just you don't have to do it now, just list priority in terms of focus.

And the reason I'm asking that is because, for example, like a market study, uh, as you really where it is kind of in the eye of the beholder, and it's only good for so long, right?

So if the project doesn't move forward, that we can't necessarily translate that market study because it's very project specific, right?

But they are also important to get lending.

Um and so if we know it's the projects, you know, 80% there, they just need to help cover some of the cost of the market study.

I I would certainly support it, but if versus a phase one, phase two, you know, that's critical also.

So if we could prioritize how we use these, uh, is one, and number two, if we could get some sort of work, and then we may not be able to, but work in agreement that if the city pays for this, that the banks will honor these, so they're not um there's no like sunset, and they want it, oh, we want the the latest phase one, even though it's two years old, we want it updated.

So if we could get some sort of, I guess, for lack of a better phrase, gentlemen's agreement with our banks or lenders that they will honor uh city these types of uh studies.

I don't want to say in perpetuity, but for you know the normal longer than traditionally accepted.

So um other than that, I'm very supportive of this.

I think this is a great step, and definitely as we're thinking about redevelopment, um, we should probably start looking at let's see how this goes, but maybe making this a little bit more robust because I think this program is definitely needed and definitely will be used, especially if we want to redevelop um harder to develop land.

Yeah, so these are gonna be essential.

Thank you.

Great, thank you.

Councilwoman Morris.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for the briefing.

Um I too have some questions more in um brownfield in nature.

So did the program did it, did it is it still going on, and we do on our application didn't merit uh an award or was it discontinued at all?

Uh the program's still available.

We were just not awarded in the most recent round.

Okay.

And um so how are you gonna prioritize this these funds?

Is it gonna be in relation to like the size of the project?

So um I I mean I'm I would guess that there's a lot of brown fields in Toledo still.

Um and so how are you going to uh prioritize?

I mean, I'm assuming you probably have a list of um applications that might be coming in, or you know, probably like the vibrancy, there's probably more applications than we have money for.

And so I'm just curious, is there is there going to be like we're gonna prioritize something that could have more jobs coming into the city of Toledo as opposed to uh a smaller location.

I'm just trying to see what you're what you're thinking about.

Yeah, obviously a huge focus of ours is jobs.

That's what we do as the Department of Economic Development, so that's the lens of which we look um through most things.

So the ability to unlock a five to 20 acre site by providing brownfield, you know, assessment dollars is that's an easy way for us as a community to identify risk and help overcome it.

And that's we've done it time and time again.

That's why we've been so successful with our ARPA dollars.

So jobs are important, but but there's and this is I think why it's been framed under the vibrancy, or at least initially kind of thought of, is there's a lot of vacant buildings throughout a lot of our commercial corridors that um could be proactively studied to be reused, right?

I mean, we kind of do that from a um ground floor commercial space with our white box program, um, but we don't in terms of my this department look at maybe the larger building, um, how it could be repurposed.

And so I think there's an opportunity here to do both, because we do brown fields are important, we need jobs, but also looking at how can we leverage these dollars to look at key commercial properties in our neighborhoods to help identify a reuse strategy, like we did for the four corners, understand the gap of what that cost is, and then attract a developer to be able to do that.

Uh, another key example is a project that I worked on with council member Gaddis.

There's um the River East Custom Hotels Building, 514 Main Street in East Toledo.

It's a building we owned, we acquired through tax foreclosure, and we've owned it for maybe 10 plus years, and it's just been sitting there.

We haven't had a for sale sign on it, it's in not the best of condition.

We got a structural assessment on it.

It said it's in it's in okay condition, needs a new roof, but it's in okay condition.

We um proactively did a feasibility study on it to say how can we convert this old hotel into new residential units, and we paid to have that done through the department.

Um we have renderings, we have floor plans to show what that could be repurposed at.

They've partnered with um, I believe Latherup to get a construction estimate, say how much would it cost to redevelop that?

So now we know we can show a potential investor when we start to market this property.

Here's what the potential is of this property.

Here's what we think the cost is gonna be.

We know that there's a gap, and we as the city or our partners have identified these funding sources to help overcome that gap because we want to save this building and we want it to be used for housing.

That's an example, I think, of why we've kind of looked at this through the vibrancy lens of who's doing that work now in our community.

I I don't I don't know that there's many partners that are going and proactively doing that.

We did that because it was our building, and it's our responsibility to do that.

I think that there are property owners in these corridors through conversations through our vibrancy program that want to do that.

But to councilman Martinez's point, this can be a lot of money just to get like an idea or a vision of what it would be and not necessarily have the rest of the pieces in place to make it happen.

And so there's there is no fund, there's no funding out there to do this proactive work.

There's no funding out there to do the vibrancy program, which is why we do it.

There's no facade grants, there's no white box grants, that's why they come to us because we recognize this need.

So I think that this is such a critical program to our economic development strategy, and it can be used in so many different ways.

To your point, we're gonna look at jobs.

You know, we need more income tax in the city, we know that, but we also know we have chronic vacancy issues in in our neighborhoods and throughout our city, and we want to help be a part of solving that.

And the only way that I know how to do that is creating a plan, figuring out how much that plan costs, and then backing into what resources are at all different levels of government that can help us accomplish that.

And we've been successful as a community doing that time and time again.

Yeah, I'm just you know, as you're saying that I'm I'm thinking about the Royal Hotel and how they just demolish that and then put up a brand new building, and it and it occurs to me that there maybe it was cheaper to do that to knock it down than it was to be able to find these dollars to be able to rehab these buildings, and so you know that does make sense.

And then, you know, as you're speaking, I I'm also thinking of um the the former um orehouse that's right at the corner of Souter and uh Shoreland, and that used to be an old gas station.

My guess is it probably still has tanks underneath it, maybe, maybe not.

I don't know if I don't know where we would find out if the city has an inventory of some of these places.

Is it environmental services?

Um so um, and then trying to figure out if is that space even buildable?

Is it in a floodplain?

I mean, there's just a lot to kind of and and that and that space would be perfect for visibility.

Um you would reach almost everybody in the point.

So, you know, I am trying as you're talking, I'm thinking, you know, as uh, you know, as a district council person would trying to figure out okay, what would this mean for my district?

I mean, it's not a lot of money.

And so if you're talking four projects, if you're talking two projects, you know, up to 40,000, I I don't know.

Um, but you know, it's it's it become it behooves us to work with our uh with our um lobbyists, both at the state and at the federal level, because this is development, and that's sometimes can be pushed into a different category as opposed to the brown fields.

Maybe you know, sometimes it can be lumped together, but you know, as funds become um more scarce, we're definitely have to think out of the box, and I appreciate you um doing that for us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Remember the vibrancy program started as a hundred thousand dollar allocation, and not saying that you know we've got budget realities and that's head to back into it, but look at the need for that program.

We got 80 applications last year.

Um you guys have heard me say this over and over again.

We have to be intentional about what we want.

So if we want to save buildings, then we need to show people how to save buildings and what the cost is and be prepared as a community to understand what it's gonna cost to save it, and then make an informed decision.

Should we should we do new construction or should we try to sell salvage this?

And I think that's what this program's trying to trying to do.

Just get more information so we can make better decisions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um Councilmember Gaddis.

Thank you.

That blue light is bugging me too.

Um I love the idea uh of this.

I could see it growing much like the vibrancy.

Um I think one of the things I'm I'm a little concerned on is uh the scope.

So the eligible expenses, there's nine things listed.

And when we look at the whole city, that there's a lot of need.

So how are we going to strategically use this startup program to to be catalysts in areas, right?

So is there um is there a rubric?

Is there targeted areas?

Are we looking at NERSA neighborhoods?

Like, how are we gonna strategize to use this to push that along?

We we I'd love to send your program guidelines so you can see how we're thinking about it.

Um, of course, we're always trying to leverage investment in disinvested areas.

So our nurses, our LMI census tracks, that those are things that we naturally already focus our vibrancy programs on.

So that's a given that we're looking at it for this purpose.

Um, to kind of some of the comments made earlier.

This isn't necessarily a menu where you get to pick, I want a vibrant or I want to phase one and I want to like the property owner, the developer has to make the case to us, the department, um, that this study is going to give them the information to get to that next stage, and that there's a bigger kind of vision and plan for what they want to do.

Um, and there's going to be decisions or that we are gonna make in the department and recommend to the incentive advisory committee who ultimately you know makes the recommendation on these, um, whether or not we think that that information is going to be catalytic in getting them to that next step, whether or not they have the financial wherewithal to even do the project that they envision.

Um so there's gonna be a lot of underwriting, I would say, up front to make sure that we're making good decisions on on doing the studies that we're doing, and that the project actually needs whatever they're asking for.

So um again, the goal is it's not a lot of money, so to make these dollars go as far as possible and to show wins from this program so I can come back to you all and say, look how look how impactful this program was.

There's a lot of need for it.

Look at this project in this district and what it was able to do for the community.

But I at a base level, I'd love to just share the guidelines with you and with you all, and if you have feedback, you know, we'd love to take that into account.

This program obviously is not live yet, it will only be live if you vote on this program.

So we have we have a window of opportunity, hopefully, to continue to work together to um improve the guidelines.

I like that.

Um before when we also looked at the vibrancy, and I would appreciate a copy of that.

Um we talked about how we were gonna measure success and show.

Um, are there any have you thought put in thoughts on how we would measure the success and how we would be able to show the citizens how this is changing the lives?

And that is uh big part of the program guidelines that I'll send you that where we're looking, uh it's a lot of the metrics that we're evaluating these things from.

Um so I hopefully that will provide the information and clarity that you're looking for.

Okay.

And then will there be any communication with uh the district council people on when things are picked and uh is there any okay sure yeah, we'd love to have open communication with you all about these.

Um they this will be a rolling program, so you all know vibrancy.

We have a date certain for deadlines, and then we announce with all of you at a press conference.

This is gonna be, you know, we we can't necessarily control when people are coming to look to invest in our city, so it's important to have this kind of be rolling uh program throughout this year.

Um but yeah, would be happy to connect with the district council members if you have ideas of people that would be interested in this program, and if we're going to be investing in a project, obviously making you aware that that is the case.

Okay, thank you.

And then I do have a question on the brown fields.

When we apply for the brown fields and you pick them, what kind of follow-up is there after the program's completed?

In terms of follow-up to whom.

So brown fields done, you've done your job.

There's a person that takes it over, buys it, goes through plan commission.

Is there any any follow-up afterwards to check in?

Follow up from the city with the person that we're selling it to.

I mean, naturally, with any of these projects, you know, the brown field is remediation is one element of it, right?

I mean, our value as an economic development team is we like to provide like a white glove service that gets you, you know, if we're selling you the site that we're gonna take you through planning commission, we're gonna take you through building inspection and hopefully be there to cut the ribbon with you.

I mean, that there's no in our department, it's not a one-off opportunity.

We look at these brown field sites as lead sources for us because we're actively out there trying to create more jobs and investment in the city.

So I would say we're involved all throughout the process, and they are naturally, um, if they are the ones that receive the brown field grant, we help them, they have to annually report on that to the state, I think for a three-year window.

So there's annual reporting that has to be done on those as well.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilman Serranto.

Thank you.

Um director, in terms of I know you mentioned the four corners downtown.

Could you just cite a few other examples of where Brownfield legislation like this has made a difference?

Yeah.

In other words, proactive environmental assessments, Overland Industrial Park, Southwick Mall site, Northtown Mall site, Cleveland Cliffs, the Marina District, a lot of the Riverwalk Project, um, in the neighborhoods, Dollar Jarvis, uh, the Cook's House, Kraft House, um, there's there's countless examples where we've partnered with developers to to assess buildings before they're redeveloped.

A lot of our vibrancy programs are beneficiaries of that.

Um the brown field, the the issue of environmental contamination is throughout the city.

And so we are that there are dozens and dozens of examples where we've assisted with those funds.

Great.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, uh, madam chair.

Thank you very much.

I had a couple questions.

Yeah.

Um, the first is um when you say underutilized buildings, what is that entail?

Like for example, of the vibrancy program where we might put a white box space on the ground floor commercial space, but the upper stories are vacant.

That's an underutilized building, right?

How can we partner with them to explore upstairs residential or maybe um other aspects of the building that aren't being utilized currently?

Okay.

And when you had said that basically the developer or property owner, you know, they come to you in order to basically say what they want.

But let's say that they may not be aware of something that would be useful to them.

Do you also offer that that technical advice, technical assistance?

Like I think that you that this you know expense or this survey would be very beneficial to you instead of them having to because some people don't know certain things as well.

Absolutely.

Okay, absolutely.

Yeah, we we help, you know, we try to walk a fine line where we're not advisors on like site development, but we like to let them know the things that you know are available to them.

We partner a lot with the small business development center and you know, places like Connect Toledo or Regional Growth Partnership that do kind of advise companies and developers that are looking to do investment on what sort of due diligence items that they have.

But but yes, we do let them know that this will be a tool in the toolbox that could help them.

Okay, okay.

I'm just thinking of really the mom and pop shops, especially like underutilized properties, they may not know that this survey would be helpful to them for future development.

So I just wanted to see if they're getting you know that sort of surviving that's part of the work that we're doing now with um the vibrancy initiative on the planning grant side.

You know, a lot of people are interested in actually doing the improvement, um, but a lot of people don't know that there's other possibilities to re envision their facade.

Like, for example, when we worked with Mr.

Daly in the Inglewood neighborhood, we we were able to partner with him.

He had ideas of improvements that he knew that he needed to do to a space, but we were able to bring the planning grant to him that kind of completely re envisioned the the facade of his building to help you know attract more business and things like that.

So that's a part of like the ground level work that we're doing is is identifying needs in the community like that, and then helping to either stand up our own resources to be able to assist with that or bring resources home from the state and federal.

Okay.

And is this program if approved, will this be used for like the Owens Corning project as well?

Or no ma'am.

Is there so okay?

No, completely separate.

Completely separate.

Okay, perfect.

All right.

Um, did you want to present item four and then we just ask for recommendation?

Yep.

Um, would you want to do that, Chair?

Sure.

Can I ask questions about this?

Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

I thought you would kick it over to me, which is okay.

Um, real quickly, how will you know this is a success?

Well, how will you know it's worth it?

You know, I let's be honest, a year is not a lot of time when we're talking about studies and getting the information.

I think it's gonna take a few years to kind of get the information, put the projects together, which is gonna be a little hard for me to come back here and and ask for this again next year.

But I think success is is showing interest in the program.

I think the number of people and the types of projects that are applying to us, being able to report that information out to you, demonstrating that there is a need, because I'm telling you that there's a need based on my experience, but being able to actually show you and quantify that for you, I think is important.

Um but in the end, council member, I think the the ultimate measure of success for this is did that project happen?

Did that site get redeveloped?

Was that report something that that investor developer cited as critical to getting them interested in this in this study?

If you talk with uh RKP group and Kevin Prater, he will tell you the feasibility study was critically important to getting him interested and seeing a viable path forward for the Spitzer and Nicholas buildings.

That to me is a measure that this is needed, and it was helpful and effective in helping them reach their project.

That makes sense to me.

I mean it did strike me that like you know, you think about a budget year and budget cycles.

We we're not gonna be reviewing right uh, you know, whatever amount comes in next year's budget and looking back on okay.

So that's interesting.

So $80,000, 50-50 split, how'd you land on the 50-50 split?

How do you know that's the right split?

Um, you know, it's this is a kind of a pilot.

Yeah, sure.

And we're trying to understand it.

That that was sort of a model that we use with the USC EPA assessment grant.

Um, and we saw that work.

Um, it might not work as well when we're talking about bus bigger numbers, you know, like feasibility studies, but we're gonna test it out, we're gonna see.

And if not, then we'll recommend a change to the program.

And I think I think if it's oversubscribed, it could be interesting to actually tweak that split a little bit.

Um, you know, is it a 6040, you know, 7525?

Right.

Uh where people want we need to make that small amount of dollars go farther.

So we're actually gonna, yeah, that's interesting.

And the last one, real quickly, if and if you don't know the answer to this, I I would encourage you to ask the president of council.

Have you can ever consider the orthography of the word asbestos?

President of council that question later get that back to her.

Thank you, Chair.

Well, uh, Chair Meldon, your recommendation for item three, then.

Did I hear SCP?

SCP, please.

Yes, SCP.

Let's go to item four.

All right, item four on the agenda will be presented by our real estate specialist, Carmen Watkins.

Good afternoon, council.

Uh Carmen Watkins, division of real estate.

I'm here to present legislation authorizing a 12-year CRA real property tax exemption for uh renovation project for Zelmay Sadiq.

He's the owner of property located at 5744 Southwick Boulevard in South Toledo.

The owner is proposing to invest approximately 1.5 million dollars to renovate 50 uh 15,000 square foot um existing commercial office building into a 14-unit housing complex located in our um Hawthorne Hills CRA area.

In exchange for the tax exem incentive, the owner is required to enter into a pilot agreement with the Toledo Public School District for a duration of the 12-year term, making annual tax payments equal to 67.5 of the property tax rate each year.

This project is consistent with the goals of the city's uh comprehensive housing strategy, which helps support the need for uh the development of affordable housing.

The CRA incentive is a major factor in the owner's decision to move forward with this project upon council's approval of this ordinance.

Uh the owner uh plans to start construction immediately with plans to complete uh this year in 2026.

We ask we ask for your support of this development, and we are with for this project and we uh requesting SCP.

Councilman Martinez.

Uh thank you, uh Madam Chair.

Uh thank you for your presentation.

Um so I used to live back in this neighborhood, I'm very familiar with this building, and I'm very supportive uh of this project.

Uh I think it'll be a good boost to the neighborhood, um, although it is starting to get a little inundated with apartments uh on the periphery uh of that area, but I think this is a good use of the CRA, and I do support this.

So thank you.

Councilman Driscoll.

Thank you, Chair.

Are these market rate apartments?

You may have said, I'm just curious.

Are they market rate apartments?

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

Um we'll see eventually this results of the study, but council Councilman Martinez put together study for the Reynolds corner area.

I think this is a would be covered by that.

You don't think so?

Okay.

All right.

There's there are tons of buildings that are just like languishing around that corner.

So this is really uh thoughtful.

And I also want to give a uh shout out to TPS.

Not every school district is as compliant with tax abatement as TPS.

We're very lucky to have the foresight of the the five-body uh school board and ROM and and Dr.

Duran as well.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Councilman Meldon, what's your recommendation?

Thank you.

Before I go, SCP, just super exciting.

I mean, I feel like we ought to get this done and then take billboards out all over the city and say own a building, want to do something fun.

Like work with us.

Because it's just such a cool project, and I want to echo the point about TPS.

Um, you know, just and I think Washington Local falls into that category too, but it's it's we should not take that partnership for granted.

So SCP, thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Items five through seven will be from the Director Sohorce.

Could you hold on just a second?

You've got the three second read items.

I'm just curious if there's anything you wanted to add for those.

The TIF at Owens Corning, the middle grounds, and then the development of the Glass City Riverwalk.

Okay.

No questions on my end.

Thank you.

Great.

Items five through seven are from the office of the mayor.

Good afternoon, members of council.

I'm Rachel Hart, Chief of Communications here today requesting authorization of $50,000 to support the 2026 free party in the park concert series.

I'm joined today by Cheryl Hardy, CEO of Hardy Communications, and Lance Woodworth, CEO of Destination Toledo.

Since last year, the City of Toledo has worked in coordination with these two organizations, along with several other downtown stakeholders, including Lucas County, the Metro Parks, the Mudhens, and Walleye, Connect Toledo, and the Downtown Toledo Improvement District to support plans to increase activation in downtown Toledo, supporting local economic growth.

While this year's plan includes some larger collaborative events to really build up our shared impact, consistent activation downtown really depends on there being something to do every Friday night, no matter what.

And that's exactly what party in the park provides.

This $50,000 contribution will ensure that all Toledoans have access to free entertainment on Friday nights every week between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

And I'd now like to turn it over to Cheryl Hardy, um, who will talk a little bit more about the work that she's leading.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Well, thank you for having us today, Council.

Thank you for your support of 2025, and thank you for considering support for 2026.

We appreciate it.

Um I think I have the most fun job in the entire city, and I'm really happy to be here saying that last year was a success.

So thank you for your support there.

And I think we'll start by talking a little bit about that.

Last year we saw over 50,000 attendees to party in the park.

That was probably double what we had hoped for.

But honestly, I mean, I always want more.

So I I would have hoped for more even from our standard.

We also had more than 1.15 million dollars in direct economic impact.

Destination Toledo was kind enough to do a study for us, and that was for the 11 concerts in Promenade Park.

That does not include the two on the road uh concerts that we tested to see if we could move party in the park around on our fringe uh fringe time to see if that would if that would benefit the city.

80% of the attendees reported having uh having stopped at a bar or restaurant before or after coming down to party in the park.

That's important because as we stated last year, um this is an economic development impact program.

So the activation has to create some kind of impact.

So we want them stopping at the bars and restaurants before and after.

So we were pleased to see that.

And we got a lot of media, and we grew our social media page from zero to six million views in about three or four months of downtown.

So we expect nothing except exceptional growth this year.

In 2026, we are moving from 11 or 13 party in the parks to 19, plus two new events and seven coordinated activation events.

So very, very proud of what we've been able to put together for the 2026 season and what that means for the economic impact for downtown.

Uh big picture goals really have not changed.

We are trying to drive traffic downtown.

Driving traffic downtown does nothing but benefit everyone.

It benefits our businesses, our organizations.

We want people to move downtown, live downtown, work downtown, move their businesses downtown, and and as you can see, that's exactly what we're trying to do again this year.

So this particular goal is the exact same as last year, only bigger and better.

So local programming equals local impact.

I think you all saw last year.

It was a test to do local.

And betting on ourselves, betting on Toledo worked for us.

We were able to reduce costs with bands, but we were able to provide more, and we were still able to get the attendance that we were looking for to actually provide the impact.

I think we'll do the same again this year.

When we did our surveys and asked what people wanted to see, we heard a lot of they want the sing along songs and they want the tribute bands.

So we are bringing in some more regional bands, but still focusing very local and not not yet to that national level of expense.

Cross promotion is something that we're focused on a little bit, and uh Chief Hart uh mentioned that in uh in the entry.

We're doing some activation cross promotion, and our our goals simply stated are if you take opening day as the the cornerstone, the benchmark.

How do we create more opening days?

How do we create more days that feel like that downtown?

So we did is we put together an activation committee and we started layering some of the activations on top of each other.

This weekend is a great example.

We have our first Pickle Mania, in which we now have I have some outdated information in here.

We have 18,000 people interested in coming to Pickle Mania this weekend.

And with the weather the way it is, I see nothing but success for that.

We also have a Mud Hens home game.

We also have a walleye playoff game.

That means a lot of things happening downtown.

And that's really exciting because people come, they park, and they go multiple places downtown.

They do multiple things, they spend more money because they spend more time, and then they go home.

And that's exactly what we're trying to do with these layered activations and the cross promotions.

The weekends that we have that are specific for that are very intentional, and we hope to see more weekends.

Maybe we're not gonna get to opening day, but maybe we're gonna get close.

And if we can get you know eight or ten of those this year, what a win for us by simply adding events on top of each other that already exist.

Picklemania's news.

That's a little that's that's a little bit, but we only have two new ones.

All the rest of them are layered, our existing events.

And finally, I have the concert schedule for this year.

I know it's small, I apologize, but I think you all received an email with the with the bigger flyer and with the memorandum from last year.

We curated this list from hundreds of visits uh to see these local bands, and um it it is quite quite a feat to put together a list of 45 bands plus and still growing, and uh and make that something that the the city's excited about.

We did have almost 400 shares on social media when this concert schedule dropped and over a hundred thousand views, so I think it was pretty popular.

I haven't gone back and checked since then, but that day we had a hundred hundred thousand views and four hundred shares.

So I believe that we are set for a really exciting concert series again this this summer, and I thank you for your consideration of support.

We're happy to answer any questions, and we are requesting SEP, please.

Thank you very much.

Oh, everybody's lighting up.

Okay.

Um let's start with Councilman Martinez.

Uh thank you, Madam Chair.

Can you go back to the second slide?

That one.

So I I think a lot of times, so first of all, I'm very supportive of this, so just let me be up front about that.

Um, but I think a lot of times when we do uh these types of sponsorships, people our community tend to think, oh, government's wasting dollars, you know.

We shouldn't be getting involved in the entertainment business.

Well, this is actually very impactful.

Um this is awesome because you can see for every dollar that a taxpayer dollar that we get, we have a great rate of return.

Uh, and that's important.

Um I can tell you is owning a bar and restaurant in downtown.

This was huge last year.

I was very impressed with um the community turnout.

Um, a lot of our dead days were much busier, they weren't where we like them to be, but they're getting there.

Um, not pre-COVID yet, but um I I think this is great.

And if you um Mr.

Woodward, if you could do this for the Jazz Fest, because that's another um great event that we have downtown, but we really haven't put pen to paper to figure out what the ROI on that is.

Um and I know every year resources get scarcer and scarcer, and if we can at least show that this is a good thing for our city, it helps better sell sponsorships in general.

Uh so I have no problem uh supporting this, and I think your um I guess strategy moving forward, you know, local has definitely made an impact, at least year one.

So I'm excited to see what this summer will do.

Um and the other bar owners that I've spoken to have seen an uptick in um revenues.

So it's not just me saying this is having other conversations with other owners in the downtown area.

Um now, if we could just get the Huntington Center to do more.

That drives me crazy because we see a beautiful building that sits vacant, and I have no problem having multiple concerts in the same area.

The worst thing we can do is just have one dead event space, and when we can have opportunity to attract more.

Um so thank you for doing this.

This was super helpful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have an idea you should bring um the toddler raves here in Huntington Center if you haven't seen those, those are so cute.

They're on TikTok and is wildly popular.

So that'll be a good idea, especially for young families.

Yeah, look it up.

It's nice.

You'll actually be dancing as well, as the parent.

All right, uh, councilman Meldon.

Thank you so much.

Um man, I've never been more thankful to not have toddlers.

Um so thank you for that.

That's very sweet.

Um I'm so zoom out on the money.

So 50,000 of what?

What's the total cost to pull this off?

I do not have it right in front of me, but I believe it's just under 700,000.

Okay, so 50 of 700.

Yes.

What was it last year?

What was the total number last year?

Uh completely different program last year, but 350.

I'm just talking about growth.

I'm just I'm just like kind of thinking about trends, right?

Yep, yep.

So what opportunities could there be?

And I know you said you're never satisfied with what you have, so this should be a total softball for you.

Um what are the opportunities to grow that 700 number?

Because that ideally means more activity and more attraction and more visits and more impact and all these things.

You're going to be surprised at my answer then.

Yeah, go ahead.

The idea is actually not to continue putting events on ourselves and funding those events, because that requires more money, more time.

The idea would be to become the friendliest third-party event uh city in the entire Midwest and attract more third-party events that are bringing their events here and paying for them.

So maybe the first year, like we did with Garmin, like we are with Pickle, we're bending over backwards and practically doing the work for them, introducing them to everybody that they need, getting all of the connections so that they have the best success that they can possibly have here, and then they come back the next year and they bring their money with them and they bring their talent and they bring their time.

And then we have this fantastic event downtown that we aren't funding.

So my idea is not to grow it.

We do have to grow it for the next three years or so because we have to build up if events create activity.

And if we're talking about activation, activation right now is created by events, but we don't want downtown to only be active when we're throwing events.

That's going to take us some time.

That's where party in the park comes in because people know something's happening every Friday and they start coming downtown.

Well, that's going to become a pattern.

It's going to become a pattern on Thursdays and Saturdays and Sundays and other days as well as we grow it.

But my goal would not be to continue building this budget for event purposes over the long term.

Over the short term, we we have some, we have a bridge, we have a gap we need to fill to get the activation going.

But my goal is not to continue uh creating and running more events.

My my concept would be to help other third parties run the best event they can and say, man, why would you consider going anywhere else other than Toledo in the Midwest?

Because they've got everything.

Yeah.

I think that's a great answer.

Um, I certainly think it that feels like a bit of a both and right.

I mean, I think for as long as it's sustainable anyway.

Yes, but no, it's a it's a really great point.

It just strikes me it's seven percent.

You're asking us for seven percent of the overall cost here.

I don't know that there's a single resident in this community that if they said, you know, why are you doing that?

My answer would be do you think the city of Toledo's party in the park doesn't deserve like seven percent of support from the city of Toledo?

So I think it's pretty reasonable.

What would help that is also understanding who else is in that 700 mix.

Like how do you what's the funding?

The city of the city of Toledo, and then of course the county is a hundred.

Um is it there?

There you go.

Connect Toledo's 100, uh DTIDs 150, destination Toledo is a hundred.

Okay.

So then I'm raising money.

So okay, yeah, so private.

Okay.

Yep, yeah.

I raised private money, and then I also raised money for the city and for the metro parks just because as you're raising money, sometimes it feels like it deserves a different home.

So yeah, this might be a question for um Chief Hart.

I've got that.

I'm so proud I didn't say Rachel.

Um talk to me about the communication challenges.

Yeah, I know I just said it.

Talking about the communication challenges and strategy of of communicators, especially you think about this stacking idea, right?

Like A, that's exciting, there's a lot of stuff going on, but B, there's like multiple channels of communication.

Like what are some of the challenges there, and how are we approaching that from a comm standpoint?

Thank you for the question.

Yeah, I think um certainly it is a challenge when you're dealing with many different types of events across many different organizations, all with sort of unique audiences.

So I think that is where this downtown activation committee really coming together in alignment on how do we want to talk about ourselves as a city.

How do we want to highlight activation?

What does activation look like to us?

Um, and what are what are sort of the foundational needs that we need to create in order for that activation to thrive?

So, you know, safety, people being visible, are there you know, connections between Promenade Park and the Mud Hens so people can feel comfortable and safe walking around.

Um so I think aligning first on what does what does this look like if we're doing this well, and then how can we start to talk about activation in a way that also feels aligned, um has really been a beneficial sort of platform for it.

Um and then I think you know, building on top of that, we are we are trying to not we're we're trying to get out of the feeling that promoting this event takes away from this event, right?

So it's not mud hens versus party in the park, it's it's both, right?

So I think that's the alignment of branding and um naming, honestly.

I think even just putting themes to these things so that it feels like it's part of one cohesive um weekend, and then that allows for that consistency regardless of which organization is talking about it.

It really just builds the size of our audience from there.

Yeah.

No, I appreciate that.

I mean, I feel like I could talk about that forever and I shouldn't.

So those are my questions.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thank you very much.

Uh Councilmember Gaddis.

Thank you.

Um I think what I appreciate most is the artists have come to me and they've talked about how wonderful they've been treated and how they really feel valued and part of something.

You know, there's there's always this line between artist and and economics.

And I feel like you've really bridged that, and I really appreciate that.

Um you talk about direct economic activity, what falls under that?

Like what are we measuring specifically?

Can I answer the first part of that first and then have Lance answer the second part since uh Destination Salito did the economic impact study?

Uh but I just want to say a couple of things about the artists.

Uh first of all, the artists have embraced this.

And one of my favorite parts of and something I didn't expect.

When those artists come off that stage at party in the park, sometimes they cry, sometimes they high-five each other, sometimes they're taking pictures.

And it is the it up to that point, it is the best day of their entertainment life of the year.

And I I didn't expect that from them for the bands, but it is it has been, it is such a joy.

I look forward to it every single year.

And it it I'm glad that you're hearing about it.

I'm glad we're bridging that gap.

They should be treated like they're the they are the entertainment because they are.

We wouldn't be there if it wasn't for them.

So maybe we come at it differently, and I'm glad to hear that fat feedback because people always say that to us, but it's nice what they say when they're not talking to us.

So thank you for sharing that.

Yes, absolutely.

Yeah, that's a great question on the direct spend and uh something to kind of point out for the purpose of this study.

We looked at um new dollars coming into downtown.

So we actually backed out anyone, any residents of downtown because the assumption was is that spending would be taking place anyway.

They're gonna go out to eat probably that night or get something to drink.

So we wanted to look at what party in the park was bringing downtown.

Uh the direct spend is that consumer to that business spend.

So if they walk into a restaurant, a bar, or they've got a hotel room, that's the direct money that they're spending.

Uh the report goes on, and I can break out indirect and induced business to business, business to business selling as well, job supported, um, all the way down to the local taxes that are collecting off that.

Uh but we wanted to really be conservative with these numbers and say this is the actual people walking into that business, taking money out of their pocket and supporting our local businesses, which was huge.

Um and big picture wise, if you get that downtown vitality and activation going, that is often the place that the visitor visits first.

So if we get that right, it's going to create confidence or curiosity in them to want to get out and explore the rest of our neighborhoods.

And then when we layer them on top, now it's like we don't just need to come in town and leave, we're gonna get a hotel room.

And if all the hotel rooms downtown are booked, which is happening quite a bit uh lately.

Now they're going out to Core or your dust, so they're getting around and they're spreading out.

So the idea is is uh really to change that perception that some people have, locals included, there's nothing to do, or folks from the outside, there's nothing to do.

We create that fear missing out, and we create that activation, that vibrancy that draws them in that I guarantee will grow that 1.5 or 1.15 million in direct spend even how that's how we get to it.

The direct is coming right out of the consumer into the business, and the others is just all the follow-through.

And then did you measure the area of impact?

Like, is there like if we were to put here's party in the park, here's how here's how it's the money infiltrated or the impact, like have have you mapped that out?

We talk about catalyst events with economic development and putting it into buildings and that economic growth.

Like, have we done that with this?

We can break down so we subscribe to a platform where you can actually track cell phones, you know, where the app asks, you want to be followed or allowed tracking or whatever.

So we can see people that initiate at one spot or one point of interest they call and then where they go from there.

Um what I've seen is that people like all humans, we'd love to eat, shop, and visit, and we will see people come downtown and uh I don't know if it's surprising or not, but a great number end up out at uh Franklin Park Mall, they end up in in other downtown neighborhoods where they can walk and shop and drink, and uh so really it is.

I mean, it's so important to have that downtown as that light, that beacon that draws them in, get that right and create that curiosity to get out and explore.

But we do track that, and we do have the visitor insights that show where they go from from here.

Okay, would we be able to get some of that information?

I would appreciate that.

And then are we activating both sides of the river again this year?

I would love to answer that question.

Uh with the river walk coming to a 50% completion.

We are we are working with the Metro Parks.

In fact, our activation committee in general is really looking at how do we activate both sides of the river more frequently.

June 12th is the is the river walk celebration date.

Um the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th is Ms.

Watershed Weekend for the Metro Parks, and both sides of the river will be activated.

But on the 12th, we will have party in the park that starts at Promenade Park, goes down the riverwalk to the bridge, across the bridge, and into the international cove area, and we will have actual uh musicians in each of those locations so people can walk all the way around.

We'll be doing the same thing for uh Latin Fest at the end of July.

And of course, we're talking about a few extras.

I know the the fire chief is here, and he was just down there helping us figure out how we might do pyrotechnics on both sides of the river for our finale, but don't tell anybody, it's a secret.

So we have some really fun activities set up.

The hot air balloons for the metro parks will be on both sides.

Like I said, the uh the pyrotechnics, the fireworks.

There are there are many things that are on both sides of the river, and as Rachel pointed out, we're also trying to figure out what routes people will take to go from one side of the river to the other, and how do we light those, make those safe, make those interesting, get people walking the routes we want them to, and and passing the uh shops, restaurants, stores that are open and ready for business.

So we're we're doing a lot of background work on how do we manage once we get people here, how do we manage them to get them in different places downtown?

And so there's a lot of that work happening.

It's not perfect, but it's moving forward.

And then I know that Adam had mentioned the jazz festival or councilman Martinez.

Have you thought about we are the recipient of the Levitt concert series and some uh one of the I mean we have Levis, we have um the um Glass City.

I know some of the other ones are a little further out, but have we thought about working that in or finding a way to add on that?

Yeah, absolutely.

Um I believe that the schedule is still being finalized.

Um, but we're targeting Thursday night, so I think that that's a great add-on to sort of the layered approach that we're already taking.

So yeah, absolutely.

Well, I appreciate all your thoughtfulness.

This is how this is how big cities do it right.

You you have all these things and you plan a whole day.

Um, so I'm really looking forward to um the summer.

Thank you for all your hard work.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Um Councilwoman Morris.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, and thank you for giving us all that information.

I think the whole summers kind of looks like it's planned already.

Um of the things that I think that what we could do is, and maybe you do this, I don't know, um, is combine that also with the conventions that come into town.

Um, and again, this you know your work.

I that I'm not giving you advice.

I I just know that when someone is I had a friend um from Cleveland that came here for a volleyball, something or other, or cheerleading something or other, and um, and then we had breakfast and we were hanging out, and you know, she's asking me, well, where should I stay?

And where um where can we go shopping?

And was asking all of these questions.

You know, if she didn't know me, I don't know who she would have talked to.

And so I'm sure you probably already do that, but with the organizations that come in, um, is there a way that maybe you do a um kind of like a passport, like an app or something to try and get people to go to Adams Bar that try to go to different places throughout downtown.

Um, you know, some of the um muse, not not just the main museum, but maybe some other places like the the Toledo History Museum, some other places that that um also need kind of a shout out as well.

So it's not just the big guys, it's it's some of the small girls too.

Um and uh and some of the and some of the small business owners um in our city.

So um if you want to answer that, and then I have um two more points.

Yes, let me grab that one because there's there's a lot to unpack.

There are two things.

One being a local ambassador is great.

Uh we've got data that shows that nearly 50% of visitors to Toledo come to visit friends and relatives.

So that's why you'll see us marketing to the locals as well to say, hey, there is something going on in your backyard, and invite your friends, invite your your relatives to town rather than going up to Detroit or Chicago or down to Columbus or what have you.

So we rely on the local ambassador, but with the conventions and conferences, sporting events that come into town.

We we we tackle that a couple different ways.

One, we do have a show your badge and save program, um, and they can digitally download that and they just they can go around and we've got you know, participants, especially in the downtown footprint where people can show their badge and get a certain percentage off.

Uh and then we will also pre-event send have uh the meeting planners get event sheets and we'll lay out everything that's going on and throw a QR code for more information.

But you know, quite honestly, it's never enough.

It's like you got to keep getting that message in front of them, and the local ambassadors is so important too.

But you know, it's something we continually strive to get better at, but it is out there.

Yeah, because the you know, those people may not have been coming to Toledo but for you know the sporting event or but for you know their convention, and then and then when they get here and there's party in the park, and there's a mudhens game, and there's a walleye, whatever, all the wonderful things that happen here, and then they say, Wow, you know, that's Toledo is the place.

That site visit, like that visit, I always say it starts with a visit.

If we can get them here, then show them what we have, their perception changes, the way people talk about Toledo changes, the way the media coverage covers us changes, and it just gets that ball moving.

Uh but yeah, it's as simple as a a volleyball tournament or dance competition.

We get them here, they see it, and then they're coming back for future trips.

Yeah, and councilwoman Morris, if I can add on that, uh, from the very beginning of Party in the Park, Destination Toledo has probably done the best job of any organization in Toledo in promoting party in the park and finding a way to get that information out to their um to their following.

So I think they've always done a great job, and I think we're all getting better at it.

The more we talk, um, the more cross-promotion we're doing, but they do an excellent job.

We can all do better, and we all are working to do better, but um you guys have always done an excellent job from the very beginning.

Yeah, and I always like like the um the uh friendly um family events that you know it's not just people going out and having a good time listening to a band, there's also events for the kids as well.

Um, and so I guess I know the question was asked, what is your current funding?

I guess maybe you can give us what is your future funding going to look like.

What what is the I know you had mentioned you know you want to step back, but for next year, um, because we're all thinking about the budget very intently, and so uh I'm sitting here thinking, how can we move past our 50 and and move that on to either a private or an organization or something that that values what you're doing as well.

Right.

Ideally, we for the next three years, we probably need to get somewhere close to a million for funding to get where we really want to be.

Um I uh you know, all of us are are doing three jobs, but running an activation creating and running an activation committee and running party in the park is is quite a bit, and I signed on for that.

I can't do it forever, um, not at that level, and and and get a good outcome.

So at some point we are going to have to add a little bit of extra work toward the activation committee and becoming that third party city that we talked about.

Uh and that that will require some people.

So we we need a little bit of extra help.

We need a little bit of extra admin help.

Um, and we'd like to continue to grow the party in the parks.

I'm not necessarily sure that our expenses grow from a from a band and stage.

Would love to have a little bigger stage, would love to have, but those are wants, they're not necessarily needs.

Um I think it depends on what the city wants.

Do we want to bring in a national act?

One a year, is that where we start?

Can we get a sponsor for that?

How do we engage the river?

We have to start talking about events that include water.

Uh so how do we do that?

We are actively having discussions about that right now.

Um, you know, I'm also working with other venues in other cities.

How do we how do we grab bands that are coming through if there are three or four of us?

So if somebody in Dayton, somebody in Akron, somebody in Grand Rapids and Toledo are all getting the same band, we can potentially get somebody better and bigger than we wanted before.

The problem is we need to look at 2028 for that right now.

So how do we how do we look forward for this three and five years as opposed to year to year?

Frankly, we're here asking for funding for 2026, and 2026 is already planned.

I'm already working on 2027, and I need I need access to 2028 to make these things really amazing.

And so I think that is the bridge I need to gap funding.

I think we can you know privately go out there if we get these big ideas and we have these great things that are going to come.

I I think we can find that.

We're not talking about millions of dollars, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And I think the return is showing that it's worth it.

I think the gap is the years.

How do we how do we how do we set this program for years to come?

Because if we're just tackling it four or five, six months ahead, we're never really going to get the results that we need if unless we are thinking about down the road.

So I'm just thankful that um that your plans and no one has mentioned the elephant that used to be in the room, Hunter Brooks.

I'm just glad he's no longer involved in this at all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

President Williams.

Thank you so much.

Um, just a couple questions.

Uh can we get a breakdown of the budget that you'll be going off of this year and last year?

Is that possible?

Yeah, I can follow up um by referral.

Okay.

I was in a reference.

I'll do a referral for that.

Okay.

Um just and what was the total cost last year?

We had a $350,000 budget last year.

We also brought in some sponsorships, so we probably ended up around $500 last year.

This year we started at $550, and we're going to be closer to 700 total.

Okay.

We also went from 13 events to 19 events.

Yeah, I see that.

Um that's not that wasn't my concern at all.

I just was trying to see um because um the biggest thing like uh council uh councilwoman more say we want to money.

Um we're looking at our budget um very tight, very tight, and we we definitely um see the ROI um and and love it, but well, we we have um our constituents, so we want to just talk about it more.

Um also too, um just talking with some colleagues um with some complaints that we're going on like are we gonna get more beer vendors because it was hard.

It was I know when I went, people were lined around the corner for the beer.

And I know Dora cups are being sold, right?

The door cups are being sold at the events, right?

Um are we getting the same amount of beer vendors or are we getting more?

So especially if we're trying to grow.

Yep.

So when you say beer vendors, do you mean the sales, the beer, the sales lines, or do you actually mean types of beer?

The beer, no, not top types of beer.

I don't even know what types of beer there are.

I don't drink beer.

Right, right, right.

Just vendors, beer vendors.

Are we gonna have beer people selling beer?

Um more people selling beer because I think it was like three trucks last year.

Right.

We doubled the amount of bartenders that we have this year.

We got new POS systems for this year, and we actually just engaged a gentleman who is is from Toledo and recently back to Toledo, who is a high volume uh resort um expert, and he is helping us reorganize our bar specifically for sales.

He believes we can get it down to 20 seconds per turn, and that results in 20 to 30,000 extra.

So we will be rolling some of that out at Picklefest, and then we'll be perfecting some of it in the park.

There's only so much we can do at a at a temporary site on the road, but um we've also engaged some new signage.

The signage was a little bit on the temporary side.

We we didn't start until April, so we were well behind last year.

Um we you should see a significant improvement this year.

There's always room for more improvement, so we'll always be able to do better.

But we certainly have put in place some some changes that should make the beer line roll quite fast.

People love their beer, they do.

They do.

Um also too, just want to know what's the uh what's the plan for um the advertisement.

Some of it got out a little bit later than we wanted it to.

How are we going to beef up the advertising because we haven't seen it yet?

Uh the advertising for Promenade Park won't start until May due to budgets.

Uh we you know, we're we are focused on the bands and on social media, but we do have iHeart starting in May, and we have the city paper, free press, and I feel like there's another one.

Sorry, I don't have it right in front of me.

But we have a we have a media plan that we have in cooperation with our activation committee, and so we are cross-promoting and promoting party in the park, but most of it is focused on the summer concert series.

Okay, all right.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Councilman Driscoll.

Thank you, Chair.

I'd like to know specifically what beers will be on tap.

No, uh, just a few points.

Obviously, very supportive of this.

Um, and you can respond to my points if you want, but you certainly don't have to.

Um, I was part of the study that we when we started looking into party of the park, bringing it back.

Um, we are like way behind the eight ball in terms of the number of like mid mid-size events like party in the park.

Uh we don't do nearly enough in downtown or throughout the city, and then even worse in terms of our like big events.

Like we have Jeep Fest, that's our really our only big event.

A community our size should probably have like three of those, uh, communities like Dayton do when you benchmark against like Fort Wayne and things like that.

So that like our tourism, well we could do a lot better job.

Uh the um and this is a step in the right direction, and it was great last year, and I'm really excited that we're bringing it back, and so kudos to you guys.

Um the other thing I would say is I appreciate your point um about uh trying to build the infrastructure to get this organization to where it needs to be so that it can kind of be self-sustaining.

Um I think if if I could pass the buck to somebody else here to bring up this idea, but make somebody else do the work on this.

Um we need to think long and hard about uh our permitting processes and whether or not this entity, the city of Toledo, should be the people in charge of permitting for large events and things like that.

Maybe just in downtown, I don't know, but um we we should and maybe destination Toledo could do it, or the activation committee could talk about it, or party of the park could be but uh we we're we we're just old and slow and not come like we we want people who want to get to a yes from a permitting and events standpoint.

Um and so you know I'm curious what your thoughts are on this, but um personally I think we should look at some at offloading uh from a permitting perspective for events.

It should not be the city of Toledo God love the people who work here, but we we we want to get people who want to get to a yes on events.

The city of Toledo is doing an excellent job and you have a lot to work on, but I will tell you we well, you are.

I mean, there's there's there's a lot, there's a lot to work on here.

But uh we are actively working on how that might be able to be changed in the future, and we're working with the Metro Park.

So combining the Metro Parks and the city for downtown permitting, and that would go in theory to a third party.

We do not in any way have all of it worked out yet, nor is it a done deal, but it is something that we are actively talking about and that we have lots of of great great ideas on.

There are other cities that have set precedents for this.

So it's um while it might be a transition that would be something that would might be a little little difficult to do.

It's certainly I I agree with you completely, it should be done somewhere else.

And I do think the activation in general would would be increased if we were able to change the permitting.

I think if this activation committee could kind of just put that on the agenda at some point to discuss because not we're already talking about it.

It is already I had a two-hour conversation about it last night.

Okay, great.

We are we are on it on it.

It's not uh not unheard of for a chamber of commerce to be the point of contact for a small business that they try to help them work their way through all the business permits, stuff like that.

Something like that ought to exist for our uh events uh for downtown as well.

And really citywide, but I think downtown is a great place to start that.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Councilman Hobbes.

I just want to say thank you for this.

You know, this is a great um in everything that you have laid out here, the diversity in acts in bands in activities.

Thank you for putting a lot of thought process into this, and I really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

That means a lot.

Okay.

Um President Williams, your recommendation.

SEP.

Okay.

Item number six.

Good afternoon, Council.

Austin Mack and the Mayor's Office here present item number six and seven together.

They're both our annual dues payments to the Ohio Mayors Alliance and the U.S.

Conference of Mayors.

And the Ohio Mayors Alliance and U.S.

Conference of Mayors are bipartisan coalitions of mayors that provide a unified voice for us in Columbus and DC to advocate for our cities.

And joining me is Carrie McCarthy, executive director of Ohio Mayors Alliance to kind of talk about some of the stuff they've been working on and are working on for us this year.

So take it away, Gary.

The floor is yours.

Uh turn to the Sonia.

Thanks, Austin, and thanks for the opportunity to present today.

Um, as Austin said, we're a bipartisan coalition uh representing the mayors in the 30 largest cities in Ohio.

Uh we do mostly state level advocacy on behalf of the cities, uh, but we also do a couple of other things.

Uh we help connect our cities with resources, uh, whether that's grant funding or programmatic support through the state agencies.

Um we also uh do a lot of local innovation sharing and best practice sharing amongst the mayors in the 30 largest cities.

And then the fourth thing that we do is really to promote the value and impact of our cities collectively on the statewide economy.

Um it's an important role that our cities play.

Ohio is unique and that has a lot of cities, and sometimes that isn't always appreciated in uh in uh amongst uh some policymakers, and we really try to tell the story of Ohio cities.

Uh we work on a lot of different issues at the State House, uh, as you might imagine.

But the two things that I'll talk about today that I think are are most consistent is protecting the fiscal health of our cities uh and preserving home rule and local control.

Those are probably the most common issues that we deal with on the fiscal health of our cities, advocating for additional funding uh or uh preventing unfunded mandates uh from the state legislature coming down to our cities, and then any other sort of policy change that's gonna have a fiscal impact on our cities is something we're gonna pay close attention to uh and weigh in on.

Uh and then as far as home rule is concerned, that's another uh consistent theme that we see and it covers a lot of ground.

Uh, but any bill that has an impact on uh or an erosion on our constitutional rights to home rule uh will be an important issue that we'll engage on on behalf of our cities.

Um the last thing I want to say uh is just it's our 10-year anniversary uh this year.

We we formed initially in 2016, uh, and I'm proud to say that Toledo has been a member of our uh organization since our founding in 2016, and we really value that partnership with the City of Toledo, excuse me.

Uh, and we look forward to continuing uh that that work uh in the years and the years ahead.

So um the la I guess I do want to mention one other quick thing.

Um as an example of some of the additional work that we do beyond just state level advocacy, uh we've been very involved in uh the formation of a coalition uh to help educate the public on the impacts of property tax uh and what the implications would be if property taxes were abolished in the state of Ohio.

Um that is a role that I think is really important for our cities.

Um and while property tax is a is a smaller portion of the overall revenue mix for cities across the state, um, it has a huge impact on many of our our partners and our schools and our libraries and our our counties.

Uh and so uh we've we've been a part of this broad coalition that was announced last week.

We have 65 different organizations that are a part of that coalition uh working to educate the public on the impacts of uh abolishing all property taxes in Ohio uh represents uh all local government associations, uh business, labor, Republicans, Democrats.

It's probably the most broad-based coalition I've been a part of uh since doing this work, and uh, we're gonna continue to talk about the potential impacts of that issue uh on our community.

So I'll stop there.

Happy to answer any questions if anyone has any councilmember Gaddis.

Thank you.

Um thank you for this.

You know, as as I'm out in in my district talking about how we're spending tax money, uh, how we're spending it's you know, everybody's feeling the strain, so they're becoming more scrupulous with our budget.

What are the big wins I can say when they say, hey, what is this?

What big wins can I say that this is doing to help the citizens in Toledo?

Thank you for the question.

Uh there's a couple things right out of the gate.

And the first thing that we did in 2019 was we really helped to increase the amount of revenue that our cities get back in transportation dollars for roads and bridges.

There was uh a big effort to increase the gas tax back in 2019.

We played a leading role in that.

That drove uh through a formula, uh, hundreds of millions of dollars back to our communities, including Toledo.

The second thing I would say uh that I think has been um uh I think we take a proud leadership role in was we also helped to make sure that um many of the federal dollars that were provided to the state were suballocated to our local governments through a grant program through the Department of Public Safety.

Uh we advocated for over 250 million dollars uh to be granted back out to local communities to help support uh issues that uh things like body cameras, uh community violence intervention programming, uh violence prevention work all came down through the Department of Public Safety.

And then lastly, you know, I think uh I think the thing that's it's harder to articulate, but but stopping the loss of revenue uh for our cities.

You know, one of the big things that we uh worked on really that we have been working on is the potential impact of increase in our city's pension obligations.

Uh we continue to uh be advocates for our cities on on on uh on that issue, and and we spent a lot of time working on that one.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

And that legislation would cost Toledo four and a half million dollars a year.

So that's been committee for two years, and when Kerry testifies for it and keeps it in committee, we send him our information, and he does that on our behalf, and I'm really appreciative of that.

So yeah, really appreciative of your work.

This is very helpful.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

President Williams, your recommendation for both uh six and seven, right?

Um SEP.

Thank you.

SEP for seven.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Item eight will be from the Department of Transportation.

Good afternoon, members of council.

Uh Jeremy Michael Isaac, Deputy Director of Department of Public Works.

I'm here to present item number eight, which is uh an ordinance that authorizes the mayor to enter into a contract utilizing cooperative purchasing agreements for the purchase of one tandem axle plow truck.

It authorizes the expenditure of an amount not to exceed 375,000 from the capital improvement fund.

Um we're requesting SEP, and I'll take any questions.

Your recommendation?

SEP.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, members of council.

My name is Mike Walton.

I'm an uh senior attorney with the Department of Law.

Uh joining me is Ann Bennett, the uh chief of uh IT for the city of Toledo.

Uh this ordinance um is being brought to council as part of our annual renewal of the city's cyber uh insurance policy.

Uh the city purchases cyber liability insurance each year.

We have an insurance broker, the Highland Group, who annually shops our insurance needs on the market and collects uh uh from insurance brokers uh proposals.

Uh Highland has done that again this year, and they have brought us uh proposal to renew um our insurance policy with uh coalition insurance.

Coalition has been the city's cyber insurance provider for several years.

We've been happy with them, and they've apparently been happy with uh the work we're doing to secure our cybersecurity infrastructure here too.

Uh the uh renewal rate this year is actually a lower rate than we were charged by coalition last year, and it includes additional insurance coverage.

Uh Highland told us that this was something offered to us by coalition as a sign of uh you know, coalition telling us that we're doing the right things.

Uh so the new amount to renew uh for this year would be for thanks, Ann, uh 109,813.

Uh we would request uh SEP on this ordinance, and happy to take any questions.

Councilman Martinez.

Uh thank you, Madam Chair.

It's just I I have no problem supporting this.

I just want to um given what's going on in the cyber world.

I think this is probably super important now more than ever.

But I guess my question is um have we ever had to draw on this and make a claim?

Okay, thank goodness.

I'm glad to hear that.

So some obviously we're doing something right.

And we're not being held hostage because you hear municipalities and being held hostage.

I just want to make sure that there's nothing else we could be doing that's proactive.

We have had um coalition help us with investigations, and it's an active um relationship in that we don't always only get involved if there is a claim or a suspected need for a claim.

It is an ongoing monitoring as well, so they do provide cybersecurity services in addition to the coverage.

Thank you.

Fantastic, thank you.

Chair Hobbes.

Yes, I'd just like to know the one year with the three additional, is it gonna stay at the same price?

The price will be uh updated every year when Highland takes it to market and shops it.

So the renewal would be subject to uh it's having the appropriations.

So we're not locked in at the 100%.

We're not no, we're not.

No, we we have the option each year to renew.

Okay.

SCP.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Items 10 and 11 are from the Department of Fire and Rescue Operations.

Good afternoon.

My name is Tammy Powell.

I'm the EFA of it Slato Fire, and with me is Deputy Chief for Dell Franklin and Lieutenant Kevin Kirk.

Um our first ordinance is a request for passage authorizing the mayor to accept an amount not to exceed 1.25 million from capital improvements for the purchase of fire vehicles and related equipment, and authorizing us to advertise accept bids in order to award contracts for such purchases.

Um the vehicle replacements are for current vehicles, either damage beyond repair or exceed the age and or the age pursuant to NFPA 1901.

And fire is requesting SCP and welcomes any questions.

Councilmember Gaddis.

Thank you.

About how many vehicles do you think we'll get with this?

So with the current 1.25, what we have is um uh 120 just over 125,000 of it would be needed for what we don't have of two remounts um for two ambulances, and then the purchase of five cuts and power loads for the two those two remounts, and then we have three more new ambulances coming at the end of the year, and that's about a half a million for that.

And then um the balance of those funds would either be for two additional remounts or for another engine, depending on what we could what the balance of that would be, and then future money available.

Okay, thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Councilwoman Morris.

Thank you.

I was gonna ask the same question.

So I would like to get that by way of referral if we can do that.

I'd like to get that in writing.

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

I'll put it in.

I did have a question.

Is this just to hold the money for um purchases that you're planning to make, or do you already have purchase orders and then you put in the you make the payment and then that's good.

That we're planning to get.

We have to have the ordinance in order to make the purchases for the contracts.

I didn't know if you had already specified what you wanted and and going to the code.

But it on our list that needs, I mean, we need to have a couple more ambulances based on what we have to have in, and then our schedule with the engines and where they all fall at with the mileage and on the needed basis.

Okay.

Chair Hobbes, your recommendation.

Thank you.

And uh Chief Armstrong, um, when she was here the other day for the quarterly report, she spoke of the remounts with the fire trucks and the ambulances as well.

And she explained all that other day at the public safety meeting.

So thank you again for your reinforcement of that and what's going to take place.

SCP, please.

Okay.

And our second request is for the passage and authorization for the mayor to accept bids in an amount not to exceed 250,000 from capital approvements for fire station improvements to advertise accept bids and award contracts uh funds for the various fire facility improvements.

Are those included, but not limited to uh new roof at MLA, which would be our fire shop, uh HVAC system at 21s, uh different vehicle exhaust systems, and then mold and mildew remediation at some of our stations.

Um fire is requesting SCP and welcomes any questions you may have Chair Hobbs, your recommendation?

Is there a particular station or place that you're looking for this to go to for and what for what particular upgrade?

Well, realistically, the roof at Emlay, which is the fire shop.

Uh roughly where Emlay 3917 Emily, which is our fire maintenance shop.

It also has the police vehicles that are also there.

That roof is going to be well over 250,000 that has been needing to be replaced since the rule report back in 22.

So that some of the current money what we have left, and then this 250.

And so uh for any access of 250, where are we looking then to finish paying for that or how?

Well, current money that we have in the CIP along with this, if that is enough to cover that.

That is what our hope is for before mid-year, and then based on the needs of the stations.

Thank you.

SEP, please.

Thank you very much.

Next, we have four items from zoning and planning committee.

Zone change at 2500 Collingwood Boulevard, zone change at 4019 Rowan Oak Road, zone change for 2855 through 2857 LeGrange Street, and a special use permit for a water tower at zero South Detroit Avenue.

We will have two resolutions in attendance.

Um Councilman Meldon recognizing Toledo Design Collective on their 25th anniversary, and the other resolution recognizing Ashley Westgate for her contributions as Toledo City Council legislative intern 2025 to 2026.

We do have an appointment to the electrical board of control.

That is John R.

Sally Jr.

replacing Rick Burson for the remainder of a three-year term.

It'll expire January 20th of 2029.

Amending Toledo Municipal Code by enacting a new section 557 titled Biometric Data Collection.

147-26, 148, and 149.

Uh the ordinances dealing with the TIFF at Owens Corning, the middle grounds, and the Glass City River Walk Project that was discussed earlier with Chief Selhorst.

New items from City Council.

We have reappointments to the Board of Honor.

Barbara Floyd and the Arts Commission representative Ramona Collins.

Those are presented by Council President Williams.

And then we authorize a grant agreement with the University of Toledo Jack Ford Urban Affairs Center for an intern, $15,000 from the general fund.

Also from Council President Williams.

Oh you just read, I guess I have a couple questions in general.

So when I have are we done?

I want to make sure we covered everything.

That completes the agenda.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

So two things.

Number one, by way of referral, it's getting to be grass season.

So I already put it in the referral, but I am going to be requesting a referral on uh mowing, the expectation for the boulevards, because I noticed you're starting to get high and we've had a lot of rain.

Um if we're gonna do no MOI, fine, but specifically for the trail, Anthony Wayne Trail, if we're gonna go back to saving the butterflies.

So if that's the case, I'm 100% for it.

I just want to know one way or the other.

Uh and then the other thing uh that I'm I will be walking on with permission of uh President Williams uh is and you'll get a uh formal uh email or letter that in this Friday's packet.

So as you may recall, the uh demolition, the historic demolition um legislation uh sunset on Monday.

So the uh moratorium on historic structures is no longer in effect.

Uh what I'm requesting is an eight-month redo of that given the fact that TPS announced their school closures and the impact uh that we have.

So I am asking for your support on this.

Um, this shouldn't be take eight months.

Hopefully, it'll take uh won't take as long.

Um, I understand the RFPs have gone out, so we should get a consultant to make sure that we can help preserve or at least get local designations on some of our structures.

And the one that I'm specifically interested in is Harvard uh Elementary School.

So that is an iconic in South Toledo, and I want to make sure that it's protected.

I don't expect TPS to move that quickly.

Uh, but I just want to make sure that there are other structures that could be in jeopardy, so that's why I'm asking uh to walk this on.

So that being said, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, seeing no further business, meeting adjourned.