The Toledo City Council meeting of May 12, 2026, was called to order at 9:00 AM with all nine members present (Comives, Kramer, Martinez, McPherson, Morris, Seranto, Williams, Driscoll, Gaddis, Hobbs, Jones). The meeting opened with a poetry reading by Dr. Dustin Pearson, assistant professor at the University of Toledo, and a performance by the Juice House choir. Council then conducted a special recognition, adopted numerous ordinances, and referred several items to committees.
Most ordinances were passed with suspension of rules and emergency clauses by unanimous votes (9-0) unless noted. Key items include:
The meeting adjourned after councilmember remarks.
I call to order the city council meeting of May twelfth, twenty twenty six. Clerk, please call the roll. Come. Kramer. Here. Martinez. Present. McPherson. Meldon. Morris here. Some round two. Williams. Here. Driscoll? Here. Gaddis. Here. Hobbs. Here. Jones. Here. Nine present. Please welcome Dr. Dustin Pearson, assistant professor. Department of English, language and literature at the University of Toledo for a poetry eating. And there you go. Well, thank you for the invitation to read a poem. I was asked to read a poem about community, and I figured since it was just Mother's Day, this poem would be a nice way to bridge those two. It's called Exchange Rate. What comes over me that day on the phone? Now, more than ever, my mother and I talk to each other as people in an unspoken agreement to shut the groomed airs of parents and children. You didn't get the life you deserved, I say. But in our thirties and sixties, neither life is over. She'd made a joke, thinking about prospects and regrets. When I stand in front of mirrors, noting sooner than I imagined the uneven exchange rate of decay between a body and a mind, and the doubt it brings to me and spectators alike. Councilmember Colme. Thank you so much. I just want to take a moment to thank Dr. Dustin Pearson for gracing us with poetry today. I think it's always important to bring in folks with uh different perspectives than just having a religious uh body for us. So I'm really grateful that he was able to make it. Dustin Pearson is the author of A Season in Hell with Rimbaud, winner of the 2024 Nancy Dasher Book Award, Millennial Roost, and A Family is a House in 2019. The route named Justin Dustin, one of nine black poets working in academic, cultural, and government institutions committed to elevating and preserving the poetry art form. He's an assistant professor in the Department of English language and literature at UT, where he teaches creative writing and literature. So we're super grateful to Dustin for joining us. And then also to our Jews House choir. Thank you so much for taking time. Founded in 2014, Juice House started with a group of UT students, faculty and alumni who came together with a desire to give back to their campus and their city. What began as an idea to give free, healthy juice to overwork to med students on the health science campus? Has be since become a student organization and community endeavor to cultivate a positive healthy social ecology for all students and members on UT's campus.