Written by the reviewer from the ASR + docket; [verbatim-ASR] = quoted machine transcript; [paraphrase] = reviewer's wording, not a quote.
0:00 Good evening, everybody.
0:04 Let's convene the meeting of the Finance Committee for Monday, October 27, 2025.
0:13 In advance, please excuse my voice, but know that this is about 300 percent better than
0:18 it was Friday, so can you imagine?
0:23 It pays to have a fourth grader who brings home bugs from school.
0:29 So let's start by considering the minutes, the meeting minutes, from the Finance Committee's
0:37 July 21, 2025 Finance Committee hearing.
0:40 Is there a motion to approve?
0:44 The motion has been made.
0:47 The motion has been made and seconded.
0:50 Hearing none, all in favor say aye.
0:56 The items tonight, the one that I think we should focus on is our council budget priorities,
1:05 But before doing that, I'd like to briefly turn to item number, well, items number
1:15 three and four, my communication regarding property tax matters.
1:21 And Director Mahoney shared some materials that I'd like to give her the opportunity
1:27 to at least address and perhaps the committee might make a motion to accept into the record
1:35 of our meeting so that they can appear in the meeting minutes, Director Mahoney's
1:39 explanation of property taxes.
1:41 I sent around the copies of this to all council members before the earlier today.
1:50 So I hope council members have received that and can take a look.
1:53 But Director Mahoney, would you like to briefly outline what you shared and your purpose
2:00 in sharing that explainer?
2:03 Can we display anything on this committee screen?
2:07 If we can, I'll share or we'll get this document shared.
2:12 But go ahead, Director Mahoney.
2:14 I understand property taxes are confusing.
2:17 They're confusing to myself as well as everybody else.
2:21 And so I had put this together years ago and I just updated it for the city of
2:27 Lakewood information.
2:30 It's just good to know where your property tax is, how it breaks out, what the allocation
2:35 is and a little bit about how it's calculated.
2:39 So the front part of it talks about the allocation where you can see the schools
2:44 receive 52.55% of your property tax payments and the city 24.35.
2:52 The rest, county, metroparks, Tricy and the Port Authority.
2:58 And then I have an explanation about Homestead Exemption and that's who is eligible to
3:05 apply for that and the stipulations on that.
3:10 One thing I would like to say about Homestead Exemption on the second page.
3:14 So there are three different discounts, if you want to say that, to a person's
3:23 One is the Homestead Exemption that you have to apply for.
3:26 The other is the 10% rollback and the 2.5% rollback.
3:31 All three of those reductions are repaid to the city by the state.
3:36 So the city isn't out that money per se, the state reimburses us.
3:43 And if you see the Homestead Exemption reimbursement in 2025 from the state was just over $276,000.
3:53 I did a rough calculation and I believe it's about 440 households in the city of
3:59 Lakewood have the Homestead Exemption.
4:03 I wonder if there aren't many more eligible for it that do not have not applied and have
4:12 The main thing is for that Homestead Exemption is you have to be the owner of the owner
4:18 occupied of the property.
4:20 So just I would ask counsel in your travels if you know someone, especially if they're
4:27 over 65 and they are a lower income household to go ahead, I would encourage them to apply
4:35 for that Homestead Exemption.
4:37 I'm not sure if many more are eligible that haven't applied or if 440 is a good number
4:49 So then on the second page it goes through all the millage that the city assesses
4:55 which is 17.4 mills.
4:58 And then you can see in 2025 we received just over $27 million in property tax.
5:06 The important thing to point out on that is how important property tax is to the
5:13 You can imagine especially current conversations about inside millage that's that almost
5:21 just over $5 million goes towards our bond retirement.
5:25 If we did not receive that, it would be detrimental to the city.
5:31 Daniel, are you able to scroll down?
5:34 If and when you can that would be great but if not we'll refer to it.
5:39 Go ahead Director Mahoney.
5:42 And then just below that it talks about the inside millage and again that's been
5:45 the conversation down in Columbus whether they're going to mess with our inside
5:55 And you can see where it goes, some to the county, the metroparks, the schools in
6:01 And then the other millage is charter millage and those in that middle of the
6:07 second page, those have all been voted on from the residents of Lakewood.
6:14 I was back and I didn't put this on here but it was back in the 50s most of
6:19 those charter millages were approved.
6:25 And then the last page just goes through a calculation of how you calculate your
6:31 I used $100,000 market value home and this is the very complicated math that
6:38 goes into figuring out what the actual property tax assessment is.
6:44 So and you see you take 35% of the market value, multiply it by the
6:50 millage and then there's those reductions for House Bill 920 which was
6:56 put in place in 1976 to, it goes towards the school levies only and it
7:06 was a way to stem the very large increase at that time in property
7:13 values and that's been used ever since the 1976 bill passed.
7:20 And then if there's reduction, if it's owner occupied and nonbusiness.
7:25 So an easier way if you are a homeowner that lives in your own home,
7:32 you can take the market value, multiply it by, for the city of Lakewood
7:36 is 2.25% and that gives you a rough idea of, pretty close idea of what your
7:44 property taxes would be for that home.
7:50 I've got a couple follow-up questions but members of the committee and
7:53 members of council, do you have any questions you'd like to ask?
8:00 Thank you Director Mahoney.
8:01 This was very helpful and I did have a chance to look at that
8:03 information that Mr. Bullock sent over today.
8:06 With the homestead exemption, you have to play for that one specifically.
8:09 The other two, the 10% and the 2.5 I think were the other exemptions.
8:15 Do you have to apply for those as well?
8:17 Those are automatic.
8:19 They are, I believe they are automatic.
8:24 I would like to understand that a little bit more.
8:27 And then it seems to me when we're talking about, you know,
8:30 the eligible folks for this, that maybe the Lakewood Community Service Center
8:35 might be an avenue to get out the word.
8:38 I'm trying to think exactly what you're saying is who are we missing here?
8:43 You know, probably not people that I'm running in circles but maybe some
8:48 other folks that are looking for assistance some other way that maybe
8:52 that there's a bridge that we can build between those.
9:01 Any responses, Director Mahoney?
9:05 Other councilmembers?
9:08 I would just add that if we're looking for folks to advocate for trying to
9:12 get people to apply for and be eligible for programs that are available,
9:15 Lakewood Alive would be another good avenue for that.
9:23 This chart is really helpful.
9:26 And as I, you know, property taxes even with this helpful guide are still
9:31 challenging to fully understand.
9:34 I did, so the 920 reduction, for those of you that are uninitiated,
9:39 House Bill 920 was passed sometime in the 80s or 90s, I believe,
9:44 and it basically like kept levy amounts at the original,
9:50 so you froze the value in time when you passed the levy.
9:54 And that mostly affects like schools and Metro parks, for example.
9:58 How does 920 affect us?
10:00 Because this is charter millage.
10:02 920 does not affect the city.
10:05 So all of our 17.4 mills fluctuate with valuation citywide.
10:12 Yes, it goes directly.
10:14 If your value of your home increases, the city will receive more money.
10:20 So like, and so for folks, and this is what's so complicated about it,
10:24 and I think Director Mone did a good job of explaining it,
10:27 but it's that, so if you look back up at the property tax allocation,
10:31 that changes every year, really, right, somewhat.
10:36 Really every three years, but yes.
10:39 Slightly every three years and then potentially drastically every six years
10:43 when they do their reappraisal, because our percentage is, you know,
10:49 our mills are, that's 17.4.
10:51 So we get, would that be 1.74% of?
10:58 Of the property valuation.
11:05 Whereas the schools, it could, when they hit their levy,
11:07 it could have been 4% of the valuation,
11:09 but valuations could have gone up.
11:11 So technically the school's levy is now 3.7% of the valuation or whatever,
11:16 because the schools will only get that set amount of money.
11:19 But that's complicated by the fact that some levies have inside and outside millage.
11:25 And a bond levy for the school might not be affected.
11:31 I don't believe they are.
11:32 If it's a debt-valued levy, it's not affected by 920.
11:36 I believe that's true.
11:38 And then further complicating that, you know,
11:42 this effort to abolish property taxes could potentially expose every government entity
11:50 that has debt to bondholder claims, including the state,
11:56 which ultimately the city of Lakewood, and this is perhaps for Director Vargo,
12:01 the city of Lakewood were to fall down its debt,
12:03 I believe the state would then be obligated to figure out that debt.
12:08 So it's interesting to me that the state could authorize something
12:13 that could then create a giant liability for the state if all these bondholders,
12:19 you know, people that lend money for, we sold bonds for our sewers,
12:22 we sold bonds for our water, we sold bonds for public improvements,
12:27 school sells bonds for construction of facilities,
12:33 and then those banks that hold those bonds,
12:37 there's no longer a revenue source to supply those bonds with bond payments.
12:43 And so what happens, which further illustrates how absurd it is
12:48 because it would create just cascading liabilities for the state.
12:53 But I am interested in, and this is very helpful to kind of help us
12:57 as we go into our budget season, understand that source of revenue,
13:01 because I would, do we have any indication,
13:03 so it looks like we collected $27 million this year,
13:05 obviously within that, you know, general fund is,
13:09 so $13.5 million is going just towards our operations.
13:14 Do we have any indication of the trend over 10 years of property tax collections, roughly?
13:21 Do you mean the percentage of how much we collect or?
13:24 No, like we collected $27 million this year, how much we collected?
13:29 About $6 million more after the latest reappraisal.
13:34 So the six-year appraisal gave us about $6 million more in that valuation?
13:39 And then six years before that, I'm assuming that 2013 was worse than 2019.
13:44 Yeah, we do have, I could share that trend of the property tax.
13:50 That'd be really helpful, just because I think we get questions about it,
13:53 you know, as council people.
13:57 Yeah, this is very interesting.
13:59 And, you know, I think it's a hot topic that all of us need to be informed on
14:03 because of the issues associated with them.
14:06 Plain Dealers running a lot of really good stories about it.
14:10 Their reporting is actually pretty good.
14:13 But it would be catastrophic if this revenue source went away for the city.
14:19 Not only would we likely default on some of our pension obligations,
14:23 we'd probably default on our bond obligations, our bank obligations,
14:28 and then have way less money to just pay staff.
14:34 Like I think we were nibbling around that point,
14:36 but I wanted to make it abundantly clear as we went over these documents.
14:42 Yeah, and from what I understand, I've attended a Zoom, was it last Friday?
14:49 So far it seems that they are focusing on the schools more than city property tax cuts.
14:58 So, so far we're okay, but to be determined.
15:02 Every day I think I see another bill come out trying to do something.
15:08 Any other discussion?
15:10 Councilperson, I'm going to ask a question or two.
15:12 So, Director Mahoney, on the point you made,
15:16 it's a good one that you, it seems that you're wondering
15:20 or anticipating that there could be Lakewood residents who are eligible
15:24 but have not yet applied to the homestead exemption.
15:28 Can we, in the tax department, do an evaluation?
15:33 We have some private tax information that no other department I think can share,
15:39 but could we initiate a mailing to certain segments saying,
15:43 hey, you may be eligible, you may want to apply,
15:46 and then refer those residents to either our city or to Lakewood Alive or LCSE,
15:55 and then at least avail ourselves of resources that are already available on the books
16:02 and may be underutilized.
16:04 And to your point, the state reimburses the city for those dollars.
16:10 On the chart you provided, I was surprised at how small that amount was.
16:16 $276,000 this year is the value of all homestead exemptions in the city.
16:22 Now, that might be, there might be some arithmetic around that
16:27 because those homes are valued at certain rates,
16:30 or we're only talking about a portion.
16:33 And it does seem to me as if the state defined criteria for eligibility
16:37 and the amount are both pretty small.
16:39 You have to make $40,000 or less.
16:41 That's pretty small or low.
16:43 And then it gives you, I'm looking for the amount,
16:49 it says a percentage you get, you get $28,000 off of your home.
16:55 So God only knows how that calculates in the algorithm.
16:58 Yeah, I think I calculate about $870 a year savings.
17:04 That's where I took that $276,000 divided by $870.
17:10 So maybe $75 a month, but we'll take it, right?
17:14 I mean, if you can help a Lakewood resident, great, we should.
17:17 So that might be a way to do something.
17:19 And the city gets made whole by the state, which is an important thing.
17:23 I don't think I knew before this, sorry to interrupt you.
17:25 Yeah, that's right.
17:26 So, and that's part of the tone and tenor of the conversation
17:29 that we had at the World Council meeting.
17:31 Let's, we'll bring this to a wrap shortly because we got to get to other stuff.
17:35 And I think we want to be thoughtful,
17:37 but I appreciate the beginning of this discussion
17:39 and the points that are being made by the finance department
17:42 and Mr. Baker and others.
17:44 The state is mostly in the driver's seat,
17:47 but I guess it's my thesis that we should be an active participant
17:52 in those conversations.
17:54 Evans only knows if it'll do any good, right,
17:57 because the state doesn't always listen to local government partners.
18:01 But I don't think we should be passive in this,
18:04 and there could be tools and options to facilitate the city
18:09 in making targeted relief.
18:11 I think what the neighbors who are saying
18:13 that they want to abolish all property taxes are saying is,
18:16 listen to us, record scratch.
18:19 Everybody's ignoring us, and it's becoming unaffordable.
18:22 We're not willing to blow everything up.
18:24 And I think Councilman Baker's point is that
18:27 it's right on the keystone of financial stability for all kinds of stuff,
18:30 so it would really blow things up, which is not what anybody wants.
18:34 Because I don't even think the tax advocates want their schools to close,
18:38 their fire and police to be laid off.
18:41 That erodes your property value and your quality of life too.
18:45 But I think that's, it's a basically desperate cry for help.
18:49 And I will say, I've been door knocking, and people are telling me,
18:53 and they're not all just conservative, ideological activists.
19:00 They're artists and local business owners
19:03 who are doing very creative businesses,
19:06 and they bought a home 10 years ago at a certain price,
19:09 and now they're getting squeezed,
19:11 and they wonder if they can afford to pay for their business
19:14 and pay for their personal home.
19:16 So this is not Alec or Heritage Foundation.
19:21 I think this is people who are of modest income feeling the squeeze.
19:28 So I would invite us to respect what we're hearing
19:32 and not just pigeonhole it into,
19:35 hey, this is an ideological attack, and our job is to defend at all costs.
19:40 I do appreciate that, Director Mahoney,
19:43 that our job is to make sure we have the resources and that we're functional
19:47 and we can meet our needs and our financial obligations.
19:52 That's vitally important, so I appreciate all of that as well.
19:57 So there's some balance here, I think,
20:01 and it is insightful to me that all of the city's millage
20:06 does float with inflation.
20:09 That is not the case for the schools, as Mr. Baker was trying to say.
20:12 Most of their receipts are capped, not all, but most.
20:18 So there's a couple things to be thoughtful here,
20:22 and I also note that the county is half of the city's property tax receipt.
20:30 The library is very modest.
20:32 In fact, Lakewood Public Library is the least expensive library system
20:35 in the whole county.
20:37 That's a credit to the library and the library foundation.
20:41 The Metro Parks is very modest and delivers a very, very high level of service.
20:47 Cuyahoga Community College is an important institution.
20:50 The Port Authority is almost not there.
20:52 So the other entities that receive property taxes are quite a modest amount.
20:58 So I am not making the argument that property taxes aren't legitimate at all.
21:03 I'm just trying to understand what the trends are,
21:06 because I think a one-time six-year nearly, in some cases,
21:12 doubling of the home valuation has made it difficult for people's family incomes
21:18 to absorb and amortize that spike in their property tax costs.
21:24 And we're also seeing that when a new landlord purchases a very expensive property
21:30 compared to what it was six years ago,
21:32 they're then passing those costs along in rent increases,
21:36 because they have to amortize the new, used to cost 220,000,
21:40 now they've bought it for 425,000.
21:43 And that's being passed on in rents.
21:45 So this peculiarity of property values and the property tax associated with
21:50 is having a real effect on the people all over Cuyahoga County
21:55 and including Lakewood.
21:57 And I don't know what we do about that,
21:59 but I wanted to begin understanding it, yes.
22:03 Yeah, I mean, I think there's, candidly,
22:06 and I think you've described it well,
22:08 and I have heard the same things you've heard.
22:10 So my point was more about the abolishment,
22:12 not that it's not an issue,
22:14 but just to the abolishment, it's not a solution, I guess.
22:17 Agreed, and you make a great point,
22:19 because if you detonate a bomb at the right point in the dam,
22:23 the whole thing collapses, and this would do exactly that,
22:26 because we couldn't pay our road obligation debt
22:30 and our sewer debt and our police and fire pension.
22:33 We need to maintain those things.
22:36 Yeah, so I think as a body and as a city,
22:39 there are two things we can do.
22:40 One is advocate to the state.
22:43 A lot of these things, as Representative Glassburn
22:46 and Rod Roswini let us know,
22:49 or these, you know, this homestead exemption
22:53 and the credit for living in your home,
22:55 the state makes those local governments full
22:59 for those payments, and there used to be more.
23:02 And so the state has slowly capped those shared local burdens
23:08 with local communities.
23:10 And so advocate, that's what we can do,
23:12 or there are targeted subsidies
23:14 that we could consider in our budget, right?
23:16 And what I mean by that is that, you know,
23:19 $40,000 is a low amount of money for the homestead exemption.
23:22 We could supercharge the homestead exemption.
23:25 Now, I think administratively that does create issues
23:28 because technically it doesn't get paid to us.
23:31 It gets paid to the county.
23:33 So I think that I'd have to understand,
23:36 like the property tax kind of relief that I've seen
23:40 has been countywide.
23:41 Summit County did some interesting things.
23:44 County may consider some interesting things.
23:46 It's harder for municipalities to do that
23:48 because we're not the fiscal agent that collects the money.
23:50 But all ears if there are municipalities
23:52 that are doing that.
23:53 That's all very thoughtful, thank you.
23:54 Just so council members know,
23:56 the state budget that passed for the two-year biennium
24:00 this past June 30 included a flat tax,
24:03 which means that the waitress who earns tips
24:07 and might be able to afford a new affordable rental unit
24:14 in the Lakewood Hospital redevelopment
24:16 pays the same income tax rate as a billionaire.
24:19 So that's the priority of the state,
24:21 and that's part of why more and more pressure
24:24 has been on the shoulders of property taxes.
24:27 So you've got a working class senior citizen
24:29 who has owned her home for 10 years
24:34 and paid the mortgage for 30 years,
24:36 and now is feeling the financial squeeze,
24:38 and that's not right.
24:42 So, okay, thank you for the discussion there.
24:46 That was longer than I anticipated.
24:48 Could we make a motion to include Director Mahoney's memo
24:53 explaining the calculation of property taxes
24:55 into the committee's record?
25:00 Okay, motion has been made and seconded.
25:02 Hearing none, all in favor say aye.
25:07 Let's go to the communication from President Caput
25:11 regarding council budget priorities
25:13 and also an accompanying spreadsheet
25:17 that I shared from Director Mahoney,
25:19 which is an administration's initial response
25:22 or baseline for explaining or addressing
25:29 what to date is included
25:31 in the informal pending draft budget
25:34 by the administration for 2026.
25:37 The administration hasn't yet formally introduced that
25:39 as preparing that, but that's coming soon.
25:42 We think, Director Mahoney, not November 3,
25:44 but November 17 probably.
25:46 Okay, so that's coming,
25:48 but the administration's been working since.
25:50 Director Mahoney, do you start in August,
25:53 July 4, Memorial Day?
25:58 So the budget process on the administration side
26:01 is pretty extensive,
26:04 and you go department by department,
26:05 office by office, correct?
26:07 And so you go in a lot more detail
26:09 than even what we see in the comprehensive budget document,
26:15 the budget binder, which is not itself a law.
26:17 It's an explanatory report.
26:19 We'll review that when we have it soon.
26:22 Along with the formal 12 or 13,
26:26 how many appropriations ordinances do we have
26:28 to our budget ordinances?
26:31 Somewhere in that ballpark.
26:32 But what we traditionally are,
26:34 now we could do this differently,
26:35 but the tradition in Lakewood has been
26:37 to have these different appropriation pieces of legislation,
26:42 and it includes a macro number
26:44 for various different categories.
26:46 Back in the before times, probably after the 50s
26:50 when the charter votes were taken on the tax levies,
26:54 but before 1981, which was our last income tax increase,
26:59 which is a long time,
27:01 the city broke out different categories
27:05 of what the appropriation ordinances have to say,
27:09 and so we've been doing that ever since I've been around.
27:13 But that doesn't provide a lot of detail, all right?
27:15 So we want to get into some of the details,
27:17 because what City Council would like to do,
27:19 as we've been doing for some time,
27:21 is develop some consensus around some budget priorities
27:26 and then see that they are expressed in the budget,
27:29 funded in the budget in various ways.
27:31 We know what those budget priorities are
27:33 because we've been working on them for about 12 months
27:37 in our various council budget retreats,
27:39 and that is what's in front of us
27:41 in Council President Keppel's letter in front of us,
27:47 which is on the docket tonight,
27:49 and I'm calling it up, and maybe Danielle or whomever
27:54 can display it on the screen as well.
28:00 So we see on page 2 of the communication,
28:07 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,
28:13 16 different items mentioned
28:18 with differing tiers of support from councilmembers.
28:21 So my hope tonight is to convene a discussion
28:24 where we councilmembers talk internally to ourselves
28:27 to set some expectations for our own process,
28:30 our own selves, but also to do the same thing
28:33 in dialogue with the administration,
28:35 and then third, to identify where, if anywhere,
28:39 city council has more work we would like to do
28:42 to propose something in specific
28:46 if we want to enhance what's in the administration's budget
28:51 or gap fill where it's not in the administration's budget.
28:59 Any questions so far?
29:04 Councilmembers, can you have on your own screens,
29:06 you've got a copy of our list.
29:08 So briefly, it's affordable housing strategy,
29:10 block-slash-community clubs,
29:13 Madison Park master plan, such as farmers market,
29:15 connectivity, meaning Wi-Fi and things like fiber,
29:18 racial equity plan, public education,
29:20 communication and connection,
29:22 the wastewater treatment plan,
29:26 short-term interventions for complete streets
29:28 and the case board, general operations.
29:32 I think we need more detail there.
29:35 City hall space slash police, women's locker room space,
29:39 active transportation, SS4A plan,
29:43 ADA transition plan, public art,
29:47 community health needs assessment action plan,
29:50 large tree preservation slash tree advisory
29:52 and education and climate action plan,
29:54 an initiative under that for composting.
29:57 We have members of the public here to speak on that.
30:00 I won't be sure to get you.
30:02 Not just yet, Mr. Lader, but soon.
30:04 So I said all that because we can't display it on screen,
30:08 but that's what we're talking about.
30:10 And then maybe Director Mahoney,
30:12 if everybody's got the spreadsheet the director shared,
30:15 please call that up now.
30:18 And maybe we could go through what you presented,
30:22 Director Mahoney, as in many places in the budget
30:28 or in the budget partly,
30:30 and in some places you're asking for additional information.
30:33 Would you like to proceed through the list?
30:37 So the affordable housing strategy,
30:41 there was a housing study completed.
30:43 And thanks to Director Buyington,
30:45 she showed me it's on the website under community development.
30:49 I'm not sure if council had something extra
30:52 that they were thinking about with that,
30:54 but there was a study completed.
30:57 The block slash community clubs,
31:01 we have budgeted an additional money
31:06 under council's budget for things,
31:09 I guess for things like that.
31:13 And also additional for postage,
31:17 if that was council's intent for more communication
31:20 through the block clubs.
31:22 The Madison Park Master Plan slash farmers market,
31:27 we do have the footsall improvements,
31:29 the Bexpool design are in the budget
31:33 that will be presented to council in a few weeks.
31:36 The farmers market we have been paying for,
31:40 and it is included again in the 26th budget.
31:44 The connectivity in the parks slash smart locks,
31:48 the major parks do have Wi-Fi.
31:51 I have from the IT department,
31:54 it's well over $250,000 to just run the fiber.
31:59 That doesn't even include any boxes they need
32:02 or anything like that in these smaller parks.
32:05 And I talked to Director Gordon,
32:09 they are still researching the best solution
32:12 for the smart locks in the restrooms.
32:14 But again, that was included in the budget.
32:19 For the racial equity plan,
32:21 we did pay $32,000 to the equius group back in 2024.
32:26 I'm not quite sure where that stood after that.
32:30 Personally, I haven't seen a report,
32:32 but there might be one somewhere.
32:35 Public education, communication connection,
32:38 again, that reflects up in the additional money
32:42 appropriated under the council's budget.
32:46 The IWIP, sewer projects 052, 59, Buntz Road,
32:51 2025 water main program,
32:54 continuing engineering on the IWIP
32:57 and overflow monitoring.
32:59 So quite a bit of the capital plan
33:02 includes things related to the IWIP.
33:07 In the complete streets and case,
33:10 included in the capital plan is striping,
33:13 speed traffic calming, pedestrian program,
33:15 and then out in the future,
33:17 there is shared use path on West Clifton in 2028
33:22 and then Clifton Boulevard in 2029.
33:26 I'm not quite sure where council was going
33:28 on the general operations line item.
33:32 The City Hall space slash policewoman space,
33:35 there's $18 million included in the capital budget
33:39 for City Hall renovations and modernization.
33:45 ADA transportation, there's PCR
33:48 and ADA curb ramp assessment,
33:50 which is that's done every four years.
33:52 That is included in the 2026 budget.
33:55 And there is also ADA improvements
33:58 included in the capital plan.
34:01 Public art, we have historically done 50,000
34:05 in the capital plan.
34:06 In the capital plan, there's an additional 42,500
34:10 allocated from CDBG funds for 2026.
34:14 And lastly, the items that,
34:18 the large tree preservation policy,
34:21 there's a reforestation program of 175,000.
34:24 We have increased the Arbor Day giveaway
34:28 in the last couple of years
34:29 and the hazardous tree and stump grinding,
34:31 there's 185,000 allocated for that.
34:43 So a lot of information.
34:50 So, okay, council members, what I guess,
34:55 I will volunteer to be the clerk,
34:58 even though we have a real clerk over at this desk,
35:01 of this process for council
35:03 and create a living spreadsheet document
35:07 and use it as a working tracker
35:11 that can be used officially
35:13 as a public document on the record.
35:15 And so what I've done on my version of this,
35:18 which I'll share, is add columns that say,
35:21 no, okay, so we've got the priority,
35:24 the administration's response,
35:26 a new column that says council initiative,
35:29 where we would define what it is that we mean
35:32 because the director has, in a couple of spaces,
35:35 on a couple of these list items,
35:38 correctly said, I need more information
35:42 Then we would have the funding difference,
35:44 such that it exists.
35:45 For example, if we think that the IWIP plan
35:48 is already fully funded,
35:49 that funding difference might be zero.
35:51 But if we're saying that we want to allocate more funds
35:56 we might say exactly how many more,
35:59 what is that difference
36:00 so that we would at least know what we're proposing.
36:03 And then we'll also have, at a future step,
36:06 what is the funding source?
36:08 Because, as Director Mahoney and I
36:10 have had a chance to talk by phone,
36:12 and the mayor alluded in our public meeting last time,
36:16 the administration is proposing expenditures
36:20 and balance with revenues,
36:23 and then is going to report a balanced budget
36:27 with certain reserve allocations.
36:29 And we have a number of them.
36:30 We have a rainy day fund.
36:31 We have a 27-day pay period.
36:33 We have an economic development reserve.
36:35 We have, I think, our cash reserve
36:39 for X number of days.
36:40 At some points, it's been 60.
36:42 At some points, it's been other numbers.
36:45 But those are defined financial policies,
36:48 if I recall correctly.
36:49 And so in the budget that you're going to propose,
36:52 you'll say, here's our proposed reserves.
36:55 So we do have some financial reserves
36:58 that are available to spend.
37:01 But as a matter of policy, the city has said,
37:04 for fiscal management and responsibility,
37:08 we don't go beyond certain thresholds.
37:11 Although I will say that that has fluctuated from year to year
37:15 by different mayors, different finance directors,
37:18 and responding to different circumstances over the years.
37:21 But I certainly welcome the point that is being made,
37:26 because we've got a fiscal discipline responsibility here
37:32 Now, I also did just hear that the income tax receipts
37:37 and the property tax receipts have been on the rise
37:41 in recent years, too.
37:43 So we may have more financial capacity.
37:45 Unfortunately, so are the expenditures.
37:47 So are the expenditures, but not 26%.
37:50 Our expenditures don't rise by 26%.
37:53 Our current budget, we're at about a $17,000 structural balance.
38:00 So it's a pretty tight budget still.
38:02 Revenues versus expenses.
38:03 I would like to know how, because I don't think inflation
38:06 in the general economy, or even in our wages or materials,
38:09 has gone up that drastically.
38:11 So that's for another conversation.
38:13 But also, are we anticipating bargaining unit presentation?
38:23 And I want to provide this feedback.
38:25 It is helpful to the City Council to know earlier than now
38:30 what our, and this is probably an executive session,
38:33 but what our financial goals for that,
38:35 what our personnel goals for that,
38:37 what our HR parameters for that.
38:39 And as the city negotiating team goes in and commits
38:44 to certain negotiating parameters,
38:47 that City Council has eyes on what those things are.
38:52 And I'm going to guess that it's already late in the hour
38:57 to have that conversation.
38:59 But if the administration is presuming that City Council's
39:03 going to agree to increases in the wages,
39:07 then the budget that you're presenting to us
39:10 is going to assume a bunch of things,
39:13 that we're agreeing to increase expenditures in wages
39:16 before we've even understood what the negotiations are,
39:21 what the goals of the negotiations are, you know,
39:25 and things like we're hearing from residents
39:27 that they're feeling the sting of property taxes.
39:29 So, like, I think that for us to budget effectively,
39:33 we've got to communicate about these core issues
39:35 a lot earlier in the process.
39:37 And so if we're looking for $25,000 or $100,000 more
39:42 to spend on some vitally important issues,
39:46 I'm not convinced that we don't have
39:48 more than $17,000 in our structural balance.
39:54 There's a lot of arithmetic that's gone into this statement.
39:56 That also includes capital expenditures and things like that.
40:00 Let me pivot to that before I turn it over to some colleagues
40:03 because I want to ask them for some feedback.
40:05 But in the City Hall space, police women space,
40:09 I don't think City Council's priority was to redo all of City Hall.
40:17 Now, admit it, we owe you some communication on this point,
40:21 but the administration's response is including the capital budget
40:24 is $18 million for City Hall modernization.
40:27 That's the price tag for redoing all of City Hall, if I recall.
40:30 Is that for budget year 2026
40:32 or is that for budget year five years in the future?
40:37 That is not the total cost for renovating the current space
40:45 So the administration intends to present us a budget
40:49 to redo the existing City Hall
40:53 and acquire a new City Hall all next year.
40:56 Partial of this City Hall and the new City Hall.
41:00 So that's a big statement and that's a big price also.
41:03 And I think that's a live conversation
41:06 that City Council has not established as an agreed upon method or strategy.
41:10 I know we have a working group that's doing some good work
41:12 to work through that and try to come to some mutual ground
41:16 with the administration.
41:18 And I think, I mean, I understand the administration's point of view
41:21 is we're going to propose our view of what the solution is,
41:26 and so that's probably what you're bringing to the table.
41:28 But if we're saying that we only have a $17,000 structural deficit,
41:33 even after we've received record income tax increases
41:38 and record property tax increases,
41:40 it might be because we've got an $18 million expense included
41:46 and we've got to talk about those things.
41:48 I also put on the table, you know,
41:50 last time we had some back and forth about a pier,
41:54 a fishing pier at Lakewood Park,
41:56 that there's some big ticket capital items
41:59 that I think we need to have a direct conversation about
42:02 before we assume that City Council understands
42:06 what the administration is prioritizing,
42:08 agrees that it's a priority,
42:11 and agrees that it's a priority for 2026
42:14 rather than a future year or maybe at all.
42:17 So I welcome your feedback on how we can have those conversations
42:22 in an effective manner.
42:24 I'm getting a little bit sidetracked,
42:26 but it's not actually sidetracked at all
42:28 because if we're trying to find a modest amount of additional money
42:31 for City Council priorities
42:34 and we're going to have to ask and answer
42:37 where are we going to fund these things,
42:39 it gets us into this territory of what are we prioritizing.
42:43 Let me hit pause and see if I can.
42:45 Other Council members,
42:46 I want to ask you some questions about your priorities,
42:49 but Mr. Baker and Mr. Evans.
42:52 Yeah, thank you, Chair,
42:54 and I will say, you know, appreciate this back and forth
42:57 and look forward to the budget process.
43:00 You know, I've always, as I've been on Council for,
43:03 I don't know, four years now,
43:05 like Council priorities versus,
43:07 like Council priorities is the budget we pass
43:10 because we are the appropriating entity for the City.
43:14 And so, you know, sometimes we've used that aggressively
43:20 and sometimes we haven't,
43:21 and I think that ultimately we want to see the City be successful.
43:27 The administration is the one who is in City Hall every day,
43:30 knows the streets, got to rely on the directors,
43:32 and so the process is really good,
43:34 but at the end of the day, we appropriate,
43:37 and that's our job,
43:38 that's what the charter tells us to do.
43:40 As we go through some of these things
43:43 in this budget priority,
43:44 and I appreciate the administration's response,
43:46 you know, some of it is, you know,
43:49 I think what we talked about,
43:50 perhaps this wasn't clear just from like a line item on a sheet,
43:53 but like, you know, for example, the block clubs,
43:55 you know, when you're a person
43:57 and you're trying to get your block club together,
44:00 a little bit hard, you know,
44:02 you do your best to coordinate with Public Works
44:05 and the street department,
44:06 but it's kind of like, here's your permit,
44:08 and then, and that's what Public Works does.
44:12 So the question was,
44:13 is there any way to like create additional staff capacity
44:16 or a toolkit for working with Lakewood Alive?
44:19 Lakewood Alive, I think,
44:20 is trying to enter the space as well,
44:22 and that's, and if you're saying
44:23 that we should hire city council staff to do it,
44:25 then maybe we should, right?
44:27 I think that's a really good suggestion,
44:29 and perhaps, you know,
44:31 the permit will come from Public Works,
44:32 but kind of the more facilitation, you know,
44:36 access to City Hall may come from council's office.
44:39 Something we need to talk about more generally
44:40 that's gonna take a lot of time.
44:46 our intention with short-term initiative,
44:48 complete streets and case,
44:49 wasn't the capital plan.
44:52 I think the capital plan is where, you know,
44:57 the new process will roll out.
44:59 We spent a lot of time on it.
45:00 I'm really excited to see how it works.
45:03 That's for the streets that need complete redo.
45:06 You know, we're kind of doing big capital work.
45:08 I think it'd be nice to have,
45:11 and this is where perhaps it's in the light on
45:13 for like traffic calming, speed humps.
45:17 There's some additional money we can put in there
45:19 for painting intersections, you know,
45:23 lane narrowing and certain intersections with paint.
45:26 I know that's the combination of public art
45:28 and traffic calming.
45:30 Kind of giving, perhaps giving case,
45:33 hey, what would you prioritize some high-level projects
45:36 of like carcinoid markers here,
45:38 carcinoid markers there,
45:40 planters here, planters there.
45:42 I think that that is more,
45:44 at least what I was thinking when I put
45:46 that council budget priority down
45:49 to give case and collaboration with Public Works
45:52 and the planning department some freedom
45:55 to have some funds to do things like that
45:57 that aren't, you know, hiring,
45:59 carvo paving and spending $3 million
46:01 on redoing the street.
46:03 So those are some of the things.
46:05 And then the large tree preservation policy.
46:08 I've been, this has been percolating in my mind
46:10 for so long that we're doing a great job
46:13 on the public side of tree preservation
46:17 but where we're losing our canopy year after year
46:19 is on the private side.
46:21 And what can we do to incentivize people
46:24 to not only plant on the private side
46:26 but also maintain their legacy trees
46:28 that are beautiful and not see them
46:30 as risks or insurance hazards
46:32 but as benefit they provide.
46:35 And where my mind was going
46:37 and was some sort of seed fund
46:39 that if you had some tree a certain size,
46:42 let's say it's three feet, you know, DBH,
46:46 which is diameter at breast height.
46:49 That's what they use in that world.
46:51 And there may not be that many trees out there.
46:54 You know, you can petition the city for funds
46:58 to do, to hire an arborist
47:00 to check the health of that tree.
47:02 And furthermore, if you want to take down
47:04 a tree that size, you actually,
47:06 unless there's risk to harm or immediate issues,
47:10 that you would have to pull a permit to do that.
47:12 And if it was otherwise healthy,
47:14 you'd have to pay an impact fee
47:16 to the city that would then seed that fund
47:18 that would then help provide arborists
47:21 and some assistance for folks with those big trees
47:23 because those big trees aren't just for that property,
47:25 they serve a larger area.
47:27 That's the general outline
47:29 of what I'm trying to think about
47:31 with that tree preservation policy,
47:33 but that is very difficult
47:34 because you're dealing with people's private property.
47:36 It requires some buy-in.
47:38 But we do have permitting on private property anyways
47:40 through the building department,
47:41 so there may be ways to work that out.
47:43 That's high level where I was going
47:44 when I kind of talked about that at the council retreat.
47:47 Thank you, Mr. Baker.
47:48 So before others go,
47:50 so as a process here,
47:53 so Kyle has, for I think two,
47:56 maybe the third ideas,
47:58 started to verbally detail
48:01 what it is more specifically
48:03 that council is proposing.
48:06 And just so the administration knows,
48:08 what we did in the retreats,
48:11 two or three retreats,
48:12 and they were public meetings,
48:13 and actually we did have
48:14 a couple members of the public join us.
48:16 Those are all public records.
48:18 We would workshop some ideas.
48:20 Not everything that got brainstormed
48:23 made it onto this list.
48:25 This is a subset of what was there.
48:28 And one or two council members
48:30 may have championed a given idea,
48:32 and then others said,
48:33 yeah, I'm also interested.
48:34 So you kind of see the bags as a referral
48:38 just to little votes that we had.
48:40 Anyway, money bags, yes.
48:44 So Councilman Baker is speaking
48:47 on a couple of points that he,
48:49 I think, championed or initiated.
48:53 And so what I'd like to do
48:55 for council members is ask you as homework.
48:58 We've got a little bit more time.
49:01 We've got like 20 minutes more,
49:02 but not a ton more time.
49:05 On the backside of this meeting
49:06 is evaluate what the administration
49:09 has already in the budget,
49:11 check your own notes on what you envision and propose,
49:15 and then if there's more work to be done
49:18 from the city council advocate perspective,
49:21 we need to take it on ourselves
49:23 to detail what we're talking about, okay?
49:27 And I've got some work to do
49:28 on my own things as well.
49:32 So that means a written description.
49:35 Here's the purpose.
49:38 Here's how it would work in plain English.
49:40 Here's a ballpark number.
49:43 And better than a ballpark number
49:45 would be a number supported with some cost evaluations.
49:49 And then let's bring that back to the committee,
49:52 make that part of the committee's record.
49:54 I'll summarize that in this spreadsheet.
49:57 I'll share that with the administration.
49:59 This is just informational so that we can then
50:02 respond to what the administration has provided
50:05 with a little bit more detail.
50:07 That then would, for some future council,
50:10 excuse me, finance committee hearing,
50:11 equip us to say, all right,
50:13 on these items, we're on the same page.
50:15 These other items, we might let it drop.
50:17 But this third category,
50:19 council would like to persist in our proposal,
50:22 and here's the concrete dollars
50:24 that we're talking about.
50:25 Also, here's how we would operationalize this.
50:27 It might be a grant.
50:28 It might be a new staff member
50:30 that works for the administration.
50:32 It might be something else.
50:33 All right, so we've got to do that work
50:36 if we're going to be able to be effective
50:39 in what we're proposing.
50:41 I wonder if the council staff,
50:44 Maureen, if you recall,
50:45 we used to have those forms
50:47 for the council budget priorities process.
50:49 Maybe we could dust those off.
50:51 If you send them to me, I can modify.
50:56 I hope they exist in Word document,
50:58 not just PDF document,
50:59 but we could use some version of that
51:02 to serve as a sort of a template
51:05 for the process I just described.
51:08 there's a two or three page
51:13 documentation for each concept.
51:15 And then it goes, you know,
51:17 we have that plus the summary spreadsheet.
51:19 Would that method work for council members?
51:25 Any feedback on that?
51:27 And it's not, you know,
51:29 busy work for busy work's sake,
51:31 but I do think if we're going to propose...
51:33 Does that do more than what your chart here will do?
51:38 The chart will summarize the detail
51:41 in a two or three page questionnaire essentially.
51:45 Councilwoman Steiner?
51:47 I personally think that is a great idea
51:50 and that's kind of how my mind works.
51:52 And when I was looking over this spreadsheet
51:56 from Director Mahoney,
51:58 initially I was thinking,
52:00 oh, there's a column missing.
52:02 So like, for example, the affordable housing strategy,
52:05 the administration's response,
52:07 housing study completed.
52:10 So was that the plan all along
52:13 to just develop an affordable housing strategy
52:16 and have it sit there?
52:18 So we invested money
52:20 in hiring paying consultants
52:23 that developed a strategy
52:27 So I can certainly take the lead
52:29 in flushing that out,
52:30 what that would look like.
52:33 I was already sort of breaking through that.
52:36 And I think there does need to be
52:38 some sort of justification
52:40 for each of these priorities
52:43 with those estimations.
52:47 it is almost like we're writing a grant to ourselves
52:49 and providing that budget justification,
52:52 and providing a budget justification.
52:55 Thank you, Councilman Steiner.
52:56 And to follow on that example,
52:59 so the administration is correct.
53:01 We have done some good work to analyze and plan.
53:04 And if what council is proposing
53:07 is that we're going to do some implementation
53:09 or some training or some assistance
53:12 or some grant, you know,
53:14 some direct assistance to residents,
53:17 it's on the balls in our court
53:19 to say exactly what we mean
53:21 and then detail the concept of how it might work.
53:26 And we'll get to that stage.
53:27 Councilwoman Striebig,
53:28 you're the lead on a couple of these,
53:30 like the block club or community clubs.
53:33 That's a huge concept.
53:35 I suspect in your mind,
53:37 you've got something more specific in mind.
53:40 And it's just we can work together
53:42 to detail that a little bit.
53:46 Thank you for bringing that up.
53:48 I'm not convinced that that is something
53:50 that the council should be doing.
53:53 Because of the communication piece with that
53:55 and because of the access to communication
53:57 that the mayor has,
53:59 I think that that may be more appropriately
54:02 coming out of the mayor's office.
54:04 When there's communication,
54:06 it has to go to a block club
54:08 about where you can go to cool
54:11 if we lose our electric
54:13 instead of coming to us
54:14 and going out from us.
54:16 It seems like that would be a quicker path
54:18 to get them that information faster.
54:22 Same thing with relief.
54:24 If you've lost all the food in your refrigerator and freezer,
54:27 how are you going to get some kind of
54:30 a reimbursement gift card
54:33 to be able to feed your family?
54:34 I think that those kind of things
54:36 coming directly from the mayor's office
54:38 may be better than trying to put block club communications
54:42 into the city council office.
54:44 Thanks, Councilwoman.
54:46 I think what Councilwoman Striebig is referring to
54:48 as part of the concept here is that
54:50 there could be an emergency response component
54:54 or function of the block clubs.
54:56 Block clubs to date have been mostly
55:00 social clubs getting to know your neighbor.
55:03 There's value to all of that.
55:05 In the old days, we had
55:06 now I'm going to blank on the name.
55:07 Does anybody remember?
55:09 Well, it wasn't that.
55:11 There was kind of a police or fire
55:16 citizen volunteer group
55:20 that did emergency response.
55:22 So if somebody was missing
55:24 or somebody there was a flood or something,
55:26 we had it for years and then it went away.
55:28 But there's a component there.
55:31 So if that is something we wanted to emphasize,
55:35 that in some ways is kind of a new thing.
55:37 So us detailing that would be helpful.
55:39 And then to your point,
55:41 there is an integration with public safety response
55:44 that probably is primarily under the public safety director
55:47 as opposed to council.
55:49 So we can workshop how this would work.
55:52 And maybe not all of this gets worked out by December 31,
55:56 but at least we could say here's the proposal.
56:00 And for these purposes,
56:03 which will be detailed by March 31,
56:06 we propose reserving up to X dollars.
56:10 And for Director Mahoney,
56:12 on the financial mechanics,
56:14 if council were to reserve up to X dollars,
56:18 that's different, isn't it,
56:20 than saying X dollars shall be spent, right?
56:23 So if we reserve an allocation for 2026,
56:27 that gives us some financial capacity,
56:30 but it also gives the city discretion
56:35 to not use all of those funds
56:37 if it turns out that we're not ready to use them,
56:41 or the need is smaller or something like that.
56:43 Isn't that correct?
56:44 Any appropriation ordinance,
56:46 I'm always happy when somebody doesn't spend the money.
56:49 So there's that too.
56:51 So city council can reserve up to certain funds.
56:54 So I think to the administration,
56:56 I think that's largely what we're trying to do,
56:59 is we're seeing good work done
57:01 in the city, in the community,
57:03 needs that are emerging or growing.
57:06 The private tree concept is a good one
57:10 that's been an orphan issue for quite some time.
57:12 I know Council Member Marks and I have been working on that,
57:15 but not actually pulling trigger and action on that.
57:19 So you could say we want to reserve some financial capacity
57:23 to begin working on that
57:25 and see how it goes in year one.
57:29 I'm going to stop talking.
57:31 Other council members,
57:32 do you want to address some of your priorities
57:34 before we run out of time, Mr. Evans?
57:36 Yes. Thanks, Chair.
57:38 I want to amplify a lot of the remarks just made
57:41 because I'm in very much in agreement with them,
57:45 I think there are just gigantic question marks
57:48 around the allocated money for the city hall space
57:51 and where we are with that plan
57:52 and what we are actually going to spend in 2026,
57:55 and also any monies appropriated towards studying
57:58 appear at Lakewood Park.
58:01 Those are really big numbers,
58:02 and a lot of dollars
58:03 and a lot of the things we're talking about
58:04 adding money to are not huge asks,
58:07 so I think we can be able to make some real impact
58:10 by reevaluating those huge numbers.
58:13 Just specifically on a few things,
58:15 one thing that didn't turn up here,
58:16 but keeps on coming up,
58:17 their name has come up several times,
58:19 I'm advocating for an increase in funding to Lakewood Alive.
58:23 We are getting way more than they are given from us
58:27 in terms of work for the budget right now,
58:30 and even a modest increase in funding from the city
58:33 can make a huge impact.
58:34 That organization who's helping,
58:36 literally keeping people in their homes
58:38 and dealing with things
58:39 we don't even want to think about every day,
58:42 so I think that's really important.
58:45 I appreciate the administration has set aside CDBG funds
58:50 I'd still like to increase that budget
58:52 and make that funding permanent,
58:55 and also to Councilman Baker's point
58:57 about complete streets and traffic calming,
59:00 I think we should be taking a proactive approach
59:04 in addition to welcoming our neighbors
59:07 to help get traffic calming on their streets
59:11 and finding those streets that are really problematic,
59:13 especially where there are schools,
59:14 and being proactive
59:15 and taking out a certain number of streets every year
59:17 and installing traffic calming on our own
59:19 instead of relying on citizens to do that.
59:22 So that's just a quick take on my three things.
59:25 I've already emailed Director Mahoney
59:28 and Councilman Bullock about two of those,
59:31 but again, I appreciate the conversation with everybody,
59:34 and thanks for working on this.
59:36 Thank you, Mr. Evans.
59:38 Can we, we have some,
59:40 Councilman Steiner would like to talk about
59:42 the final priority, which is the composting,
59:45 and we've had some members of the public.
59:47 can we all commit to using November 17
59:50 as a deadline for ourselves
59:53 to get in these worksheets
59:56 that will work with the Council staff
59:59 to circulate amongst yourselves
1:00:01 so we'll compile those things
1:00:07 to begin to give clarity to all of these matters?
1:00:12 Is that realistic for everybody?
1:00:16 And Director Mahoney will try to communicate
1:00:19 earlier, as early as possible,
1:00:22 just to share information about, you know, everything.
1:00:28 And there's going to be multiple steps.
1:00:30 So all I'm suggesting to my Council colleagues
1:00:33 is that we more strongly detail
1:00:39 what it is that we're proposing.
1:00:41 A proposal isn't the same thing
1:00:43 as agreeing to implement the priority,
1:00:47 and then if we were to try to do that,
1:00:50 we still have to, we're going to engage in good faith
1:00:52 dialogue with you and the administration,
1:00:54 and then we're going to have to also address
1:00:56 the point about how we fund, how we allocate.
1:01:00 So I'm not taking anything for granted at all.
1:01:03 I'm just trying to, you know,
1:01:05 be a traffic cop up here, if that's all right.
1:01:07 Yeah, and I think the point of my response to you
1:01:11 is that Council and the administration
1:01:14 are pretty much on the same page
1:01:16 with a lot of Council's priorities.
1:01:18 So that was the point of me putting this together.
1:01:20 Wonderful. Yeah, and I appreciate that.
1:01:22 And you are being very collegial.
1:01:24 We appreciate the administration's support
1:01:26 and respect for these different items.
1:01:30 And, you know, and they're not just ours,
1:01:32 they're yours, too, because I know the City
1:01:34 does a lot of good work every day
1:01:36 to identify and respond to the needs in the community.
1:01:39 Okay, Councilwoman Steiner, would you like to
1:01:43 Yeah, I'll tee up the composting.
1:01:45 So thank you very much, Chair Bullock.
1:01:47 So I've been working with some residents
1:01:50 in the community that are very passionate
1:01:52 about composting and trying to work through
1:01:55 with Director Buyington as well on this program,
1:02:00 essentially providing a city-wide composting service
1:02:04 to the residents of Lakewood.
1:02:06 I feel it's a low-hanging fruit that we can do.
1:02:08 We have the Climate Action Plan that was approved
1:02:11 in 2022, and again, an example of another plan
1:02:17 that was there and is there and is extensive and intensive,
1:02:23 and there are things that we can do that are lower-hanging
1:02:26 that we can start to really accomplish the goals of that.
1:02:29 There was a lot of time and effort put into that.
1:02:33 And I don't want to see another plan just
1:02:36 that they're not doing anything about it.
1:02:39 So I've had some conversations.
1:02:42 Currently we do have composting in the city
1:02:46 through Lakewood City Schools, and then there's also
1:02:49 the bins that are over there at Madison Park
1:02:52 that actually Madison Court Community Coalition
1:02:54 started composting last year, last summer,
1:02:58 as part of trying to decrease our own footprint
1:03:04 when we have trash footprint.
1:03:06 So I feel it is something that's low-hanging.
1:03:09 I've reached out to Rust Belt Writers
1:03:11 to try to get some quotes, get some information.
1:03:13 I've talked to Lakewood City Schools
1:03:15 to see how they did theirs,
1:03:16 how they were able to implement it,
1:03:18 and I think that we can certainly implement it here,
1:03:21 and it's something that the residents do want.
1:03:23 They're passionate about it, so I'm going to turn it over.
1:03:25 It's okay. I'll turn it back to you,
1:03:27 and if you want to invite our residents to come up
1:03:30 and give some comment and feedback.
1:03:34 Yeah, and I support you in supporting that.
1:03:36 Councilman Marks, do you want to mention anything?
1:03:39 I think you've been working on this as well.
1:03:43 Yes, and I'll give my time to the residents
1:03:46 who are here to speak for it,
1:03:47 and I can deal with public art when I do my writing.
1:03:52 Wonderful. Thank you so much.
1:03:53 Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Lader, if I'm addressing you correctly.
1:04:02 Actually, Kathleen is another member
1:04:06 of our liquid composting team.
1:04:13 Good evening, Chair Bullock, Vice President Baker,
1:04:17 and Councilwoman Strabig, and other council members,
1:04:24 and the rest of the city government.
1:04:29 I live in Ward 2, and I'm here to speak in support
1:04:33 of including a citywide composting program
1:04:38 that would be free for all residents in the 2026 budget.
1:04:43 In 2023, council adopted the climate action plan
1:04:47 with the goal of 95% organic waste diversion by 2030.
1:04:52 Strategy number 37 specifically recommends
1:04:56 partnering with rest belt riders for municipal composting.
1:05:02 City Council President Keppel has already identified this
1:05:13 I believe that both Councilwoman Hamilton Steiner
1:05:17 and Councilman Tom Bullock have agreed
1:05:22 to co-sponsor this legislation.
1:05:25 Shaker Heights Beachwood already have free composting.
1:05:29 Cleveland Heights and University Heights
1:05:31 also have various versions of free composting
1:05:37 Lakewood is falling behind our neighbors
1:05:47 We're not starting from scratch here.
1:05:50 As Councilwoman Hamilton Steiner mentioned,
1:05:55 Cove Community Center, Lakewood High School,
1:05:59 and at least one elementary school
1:06:00 already successfully use rest belt riders.
1:06:06 the assistant superintendent of Lakewood Schools,
1:06:10 has expressed support for this initiative,
1:06:14 given the school's positive experience
1:06:19 Both Lakewood and Madison Parks
1:06:21 have existing drop-off locations.
1:06:24 We simply need to make this service free
1:06:26 and accessible to all residents,
1:06:29 and we also need to provide some more drop-off locations.
1:06:33 We have at least 56 Lakewood residents
1:06:37 who have already signed our petition
1:06:39 across all four wards in Lakewood who support this,
1:06:44 and we're hoping to get at least 75 by mid-November,
1:06:52 The infrastructure is in place.
1:06:55 We have resident and school support.
1:06:59 There's no need for a pilot program, I believe.
1:07:05 through Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District,
1:07:08 and there is the potential for reallocation
1:07:12 of sustainability budget resources.
1:07:17 This is good environmental policy,
1:07:19 good fiscal policy, and responsive governance.
1:07:24 I respectfully request that the Finance Committee
1:07:27 recommend including citywide composting
1:07:33 I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
1:07:37 Okay, thank you, Harry or Mr. Lader.
1:07:42 So having had a chance to dialogue a little bit
1:07:44 with Councilwoman Hamilton-Steiner,
1:07:46 I think the idea here would be to expand upon the program
1:07:49 that already exists at Madison Park and Lakewood Park.
1:07:52 I believe those are the two locations
1:07:54 where people who subscribe currently can drop off composting,
1:07:58 and it's higher quality than your backyard composting.
1:08:05 it doesn't include meat and eggs and poultry and cheese
1:08:08 and things like that, but Rust Belt Riders can.
1:08:11 So the idea would be that those who would find that useful
1:08:15 could then just go and do it, okay?
1:08:18 And I think with our budget form, proposal form,
1:08:24 we could detail a little bit more on what that means,
1:08:27 is that anybody, is it for one year,
1:08:32 is it for a longer time period?
1:08:34 Would the contract with the vendor
1:08:39 be based on number of people or tonnage or what,
1:08:42 and we can find out some more of that information.
1:08:46 But the advocates and the residents have made a good point
1:08:48 that we committed in our climate action plan
1:08:51 to doing a number of things.
1:08:54 This is one of them, and this is a turnkey way
1:08:58 that any resident could participate,
1:09:00 even if you live in an apartment
1:09:02 and you don't have a backyard or you're mobility challenged
1:09:06 and it's hard for you to go wrestle
1:09:08 your compost bin in the backyard.
1:09:11 There could be another option or a second option,
1:09:14 which is to support and expand the Cuyahoga,
1:09:19 what is it, Cuyahoga Water and Soil Conservation District,
1:09:23 Soil and Water Conservation District,
1:09:25 who've been doing a training program for years.
1:09:29 They're already funded to do that,
1:09:31 do so many programs in the city,
1:09:33 and then they'll sell you a $50 bid,
1:09:35 or it was 50 bucks way back when I got mine,
1:09:38 but potentially we could also support
1:09:41 or enhance that program if that was appealing.
1:09:45 So there's a number of concepts,
1:09:46 but I thank you for the proposal.
1:09:49 I think you've got some proposed resolution language
1:09:52 that Councilwoman Hamilton-Steiner may initiate.
1:09:56 I believe Councilwoman Marks
1:09:57 is also interested in co-signing.
1:10:00 So a number of us may join you in that.
1:10:04 Any other points you want to raise, Councilwoman?
1:10:08 No, I think Mr. Lader has raised other good points.
1:10:19 and just as we're thinking about the budget
1:10:22 and as we talked a little bit,
1:10:24 I think it's important that we are responsible
1:10:30 and I think we have to remember
1:10:34 that ultimately we serve them,
1:10:38 and we're included in that,
1:10:39 but I think we have to think of what making sure that,
1:10:47 especially in this climate,
1:10:48 making sure that our residents
1:10:50 are getting the benefit of their tax dollars,
1:10:54 and then it's the benefits that they want.
1:10:58 Well, not just the benefits that they need,
1:11:00 but also benefits that they want,
1:11:02 and if our tax receipts have increased,
1:11:07 they should see some of that increasing back,
1:11:10 and as Councilman Baker has said,
1:11:12 we don't necessarily have a lot of financial control
1:11:15 over the taxes and the tax rates and fiscal,
1:11:19 because we're not the fiscal,
1:11:20 ultimately the fiscal agent of property taxes.
1:11:23 I think it's important that if residents feel
1:11:26 that we're using money responsibly
1:11:28 and they're getting a benefit,
1:11:30 it's an added bonus to one, living in this community, right?
1:11:34 It's something that we can start to say,
1:11:38 this is a program that we have,
1:11:40 but two, it shows that we're also being responsive
1:11:42 to their needs and their wants as well.
1:11:52 Yeah, I'd be really interested,
1:11:54 whether it's from my colleagues or the public,
1:11:58 I'm familiar with Rust Belt Rider's fee service, right?
1:12:01 You pay them, put a bucket out, they pick it up.
1:12:04 But I'm just going to see what that looks like for Shaker Heights,
1:12:09 and I'm sure it takes solid waste out of the bins,
1:12:13 and that may have a benefit.
1:12:14 So I'm curious to see that kind of analysis, like scale.
1:12:17 What are we talking about budget-wise?
1:12:19 And I assume that's what's going to come next.
1:12:21 So, and be happy to support it, though,
1:12:23 because I think it's the right thing to do,
1:12:26 and it can help get waste streams out of our system.
1:12:34 and I should give it to the chairman next to me
1:12:42 Thanks to the administration,
1:12:44 the finance committee is adjourned.
1:12:45 I will take a four or five-minute break,