Written by the reviewer from the ASR + docket; [verbatim-ASR] = quoted machine transcript; [paraphrase] = reviewer's wording, not a quote.
0:00 Why don't we go ahead and get started on the finance committee meeting for Monday, December
0:07 Thank you, everybody, for being here.
0:08 We have the full committee here as well as Council President Keppel and Mr. Evans from
0:12 Ward 2 and the administration.
0:14 We've got a lot of ground to cover tonight.
0:16 We've even got a break with food coming for everybody to enjoy at the Midway Point.
0:26 We're going to have a couple of motions to make, but while I get my machine booted up
0:30 in the proper screens here, what I'd like to suggest is that we go right into the Human
0:35 Services Department and keep on schedule the presentation.
0:40 Any – actually, I should gesture over where, Chad or Director Berry.
0:46 But first, Council members on the committee or otherwise any opening remarks?
0:51 Let's jump right in.
0:54 And then we'll circle back to procedural motion.
0:56 So without further ado, Human Services Department, welcome.
1:06 I'm happy to be here again to present our 2026 proposed budget for human services
1:11 in all of our divisions.
1:13 This is our typical slide you've all seen.
1:16 I can, I think, go ahead and skip this.
1:18 This is – I've tried to make this a nice and illustrative presentation.
1:23 Obviously, we have a lot of substance in here, but, you know, this is the work that
1:29 This is one of our events this summer, and this is what we're bringing to the
1:39 This is our overall Department of Human Services accomplishments and kind of strategic
1:47 2025 was a really good year for human services.
1:50 We got a lot of outside funding, and we created a lot of new programming, which
1:57 is what one of our goals has been for many years now, is to kind of really increase
2:01 our programming and our opportunities.
2:03 Now that we're in our new space, we're really coming to our own.
2:07 We actually obtained a $17,000 national parks grant that allowed us to really update
2:17 If you've been over there recently, it's really, really nice.
2:21 It's really attractive.
2:22 Obviously, we can't use it right now because we live in Ohio, and why we chose
2:26 to live here, I don't know, but when the weather is nice, it really attracts
2:31 a lot of folks, and we had a common ground event where over 450 people came and
2:37 There's a whole new space that attracts younger folks.
2:42 There's age-appropriate play apparatuses and all sorts of great new things.
2:48 Another big thing that we have accomplished this year is the generator has
2:52 been installed, and it is up and running.
2:54 So we are ready and willing and able to address any kind of crisis
2:58 situations that come up, which, as you all know, this has happened
3:03 So COVID is ready to be open when there's a crisis that takes the power
3:11 out, which is a frequent event.
3:13 We've also spent a lot of time training on emergency management and kind of
3:19 understanding how human services as a whole can approach those
3:24 You can see our strategic goals there for 2026.
3:29 We're just, again, continuing to expand our community outreach.
3:33 We're really also looking at our staffing structure and how we have,
3:37 you know, historically done things.
3:39 We're trying to determine how we can serve the community better and how we
3:44 can move staff around or create positions or modify positions that
3:48 currently exist, really satisfy community needs, and, you know, really
3:54 develop a position and develop a response to adult crises 18 to 59,
4:00 because that's always been an area that we haven't really had the
4:03 opportunity or haven't had the, you know, we have the Division of
4:07 Aging and Youth and they cover those age ranges, but we've never
4:10 really had someone or an area that's dedicated to that middle age
4:16 So we're really kind of pushing that this year.
4:20 And a lot of collaboration between us and the safety forces in the
4:23 city and our community partners.
4:30 Trellis actually was built by one of our public works folks on his
4:34 free time and donated to Cove.
4:36 It's very, very nice.
4:38 But just bringing in a lot of beautiful beautification to the
4:46 Our first budgetary area is our Division of Aging.
4:50 You all know the core services that we provide.
4:53 I think this year we've expanded our early evening programming.
4:58 We've really promoted the intergenerational program again through
5:01 like the common ground.
5:02 And we've collaborated a lot with fire and police again on those
5:09 Next year we continue to hope to outreach and connect the
5:13 unconnected residents, develop a greater variety of programs and
5:17 really broaden outreach to the underserved groups that exist in our
5:24 I think we've done a much better job of that as of the last year or
5:29 And I think a lot of the communications that have been coming
5:32 out of the city through Kevin Wainer.
5:35 And we've also kind of pumped up that area as well, has kind of
5:39 really helped draw folks in.
5:42 One of the major budgetary highlights of the Division of Aging is a
5:45 pretty sizable increase in our contractual services line item for
5:49 our senior transportation connection contract.
5:52 They are currently going through what everyone is going through when
5:56 it comes to transportation or provision of any kind of service in
6:01 And they have kind of increased their fees.
6:08 So we've had to commensurately raise that contractual services line
6:13 in by about $126,000.
6:17 That's just an estimate based on previous years.
6:20 I think we'll probably come in under that.
6:22 I don't think we're going to use that whole contractual services line to
6:26 fulfill that contract.
6:28 But from my perspective, senior transportation connection offers a
6:33 unique service that is, you know, one of a kind here in Cuyahoga
6:38 They do an incredible job.
6:40 And our seniors really benefit from it.
6:43 And if we weren't to have done this, we would be reducing the
6:49 number of trips potentially and reducing services to our seniors that
6:55 really rely on this.
6:56 So it was one of the major things that unfortunately happened, but
7:01 they are very committed to addressing the cost and hopefully bringing it
7:08 back down to a reasonable rate as they figure out outside funding and
7:15 Our Division of Youth has really been cooking with gas.
7:19 They had a lot of great accomplishments this year.
7:22 Our Back to School Resource Fair, we gave out 125 backpacks to families.
7:29 62 of them were from Lakewood.
7:32 And, you know, it really helped out a lot of families that struggle
7:37 at that time of the year.
7:39 We're starting to kind of realign the staffing structure of that
7:43 Summer Camp for H2O has been at the highest capacity.
7:48 It's been in years since COVID.
7:51 And they're doing a lot of really interesting and innovative
7:55 leadership training amongst youth through the Spirit of Leadership
8:00 In 2012, we had a lot of leadership training.
8:05 And then we had the Spirit of Leadership course.
8:10 In 2026, we've already kind of established some opportunities to
8:14 partner with John Family Services for Benefits Clinics at Cove.
8:18 So folks on this side of town, because there aren't any clinics of
8:21 this type really on this side of town, can come to Cove and get
8:24 their benefits squared away.
8:26 And if they're having any issues, they can talk to someone
8:29 immediately instead of going through the rig and roll that a lot of
8:32 them don't identify any benefits issues that they might be having.
8:35 We're expanding our family programming.
8:38 We're increasing educational offerings.
8:40 And we're really kind of aligning H2O with its servant
8:46 And we're going to be doing some strategic planning on that.
8:50 One of the budget highlights, we've added a visitation coach,
8:54 or we've modified a position into a visitation coach.
8:57 Visitations have been really up over the last number of years.
9:02 The county is really struggling with finding places to host visitations.
9:06 So we've modified a position that's existed, a full-time resource
9:11 specialist position into a visitation coach.
9:14 It's aligning the needs of what we're seeing with what we're doing.
9:19 So it's been an incredible benefit to do that.
9:31 Division of Early Childhood is really creating a lot of interesting
9:36 and innovative programming.
9:38 They're as busy as always.
9:40 We've created a grandparent caregiver program because we noticed
9:43 that a lot of the folks who were bringing in kiddos,
9:47 they weren't your parents.
9:49 They were actually the grandparents that are taking care of the kids
9:53 So we really wanted to create a program for them specifically
9:56 and for kinship caregivers.
9:58 We've expanded the expectant mother programming quite substantially.
10:02 And we actually just received some funding from the Healthy
10:05 Liquid Foundation to continue that work.
10:07 So it's going to be even better next year.
10:11 We've really created a lot of new community partnerships.
10:15 And, you know, like I mentioned earlier,
10:17 created that outdoor nature play space.
10:20 So we're creating new and nice opportunities for kiddos
10:25 and folks to come to Cove.
10:29 Next year, we're planning to launch the parent advocacy group.
10:33 We really are thinking about gathering insights on family needs
10:38 and understanding what folks and what the child care scholarship,
10:45 what the needs are, what the community is actually looking for.
10:48 We're looking at different opportunities to maybe engage
10:51 some outside assistance with that and really kind of tailor
10:58 And that's really the message about what Human Services
11:00 is doing right now.
11:01 We've finally come into this space,
11:03 and now we're really trying to understand what does
11:06 Obviously, we've always saw that,
11:08 but now we're really trying to tailor what we're doing
11:11 to the community's need, adjust staffing appropriately,
11:16 you know, identify opportunities for outside funding
11:19 to support the community.
11:21 But it's really at this point now we're trying to figure out,
11:25 you know, what we can do to improve our programming
11:29 and everything to support the community better.
11:33 These are the new outdoor play spaces.
11:42 Thank you, Director Berry.
11:43 I've got some questions, but let's open it up
11:45 to other council members, members of the committee.
11:48 Mr. Baker and then...
11:51 Thank you, Director Berry.
11:53 And I always ask, and I'm just curious,
11:55 on the child care scholarship, you know,
11:58 I know some of it was funded with some ARPA funds
12:01 and some was funded, I think, through federal
12:03 pass-through money.
12:05 How has that been going?
12:07 Are we seeing the spend from it that we expect,
12:10 or is it underspent and kind of,
12:12 what's the trend lines?
12:14 We have been seeing a consistent spend on that.
12:19 You know, the money comes from
12:21 the Community Development Block Grant dollars,
12:23 and we also did request some additional funding
12:26 from the Healthy Lakewood Foundation,
12:28 which we've utilized.
12:30 We noticed that we're kind of...
12:35 We need to do this assessment of the community
12:38 and see, you know, is this the actual need?
12:42 I think it's certainly a need,
12:43 but is this the right program?
12:45 Are we doing justice to the program?
12:48 Can we expand the program?
12:51 Are there other opportunities to partner
12:53 with the child care centers that are in Lakewood?
12:57 We need to really do a strategic assessment
12:59 of how we're operating the program.
13:01 We have recently seen an increase
13:03 in folks that are applying for the program
13:08 In the last couple months,
13:10 it's gone up a number that has not been typical,
13:15 but it has been pretty stable.
13:18 But the costs of child care are up so much
13:20 that our dollars do not go as far as they used to,
13:23 and that's really the issue,
13:25 that the cost is just so high
13:27 that we're not always able to help more people
13:31 because of that fact, or we'd like to.
13:39 So I guess within that,
13:40 I assume that assessment is going to take into account
13:42 the fact that the schools are intending to transition
13:45 Lincoln into a early childhood education center.
13:48 And then secondly, are we...
13:52 Is there enough money in it,
13:53 or are we turning people away
13:54 at the end of the year because there's not enough money?
13:56 I guess it's just bluntly.
13:58 We've been able to obtain outside funding,
13:59 so we've never had to turn anyone away because of this.
14:02 We have also engaged the schools
14:04 and had conversations with the superintendent
14:07 and the early childhood leaders
14:09 that are in the school district
14:11 just to understand how they are thinking about
14:13 this whole plan and this whole transition
14:16 and making sure that Jessica has created
14:19 an early childhood committee
14:22 where every leader of every child could...
14:25 Early childhood provider in Lakewood comes together
14:29 and they all share very openly
14:31 about the challenges that they're facing.
14:33 And I think that's one of the key things
14:35 in bringing in the schools.
14:37 We've had a couple of meetings that have done that.
14:40 So I think we're preparing and understanding,
14:43 and I think we have a good idea
14:44 of how all of this is going to come together
14:47 and how it's going to impact the community.
14:50 I think we really need to have this larger outreach
14:54 that we'll be kind of running
14:56 to understand what the community need is currently
15:00 and what the demand might be
15:02 if we were to increase our marketing.
15:06 But I think we're in a good place,
15:08 and I think we're doing really well with what we have,
15:14 and I think we're in a good place right now.
15:19 Councilman Striebeck?
15:22 I have a couple questions and a couple comments as well.
15:25 First of all, your organizational chart is fantastic.
15:30 Thank you for putting the names of the employees on here,
15:33 and Mayor George and Director Mahoney next year
15:37 maybe perhaps encourage every department to add the names.
15:40 I think that this is outstanding and very helpful to me
15:46 as I'm trying to navigate through the phone lines
15:50 and find the people that I need to specifically talk to.
15:56 I did have a question about the budget number
16:00 under the Division of Human Services Administration for Other.
16:05 I'm always interested to find out what other is
16:08 because I see an increase of 39 percent on that one,
16:12 and I understand that the contractual services,
16:14 that's up 205 percent, and that's the transportation there,
16:18 I'm thinking, for the seniors.
16:21 So the one you're seeing under the Department of Human Services
16:24 specifically, the contractual services line
16:27 up from 14,000 to 43,000 there,
16:30 that is actually, I'm sorry I didn't include that
16:33 in the presentation, but that is actually,
16:36 you know, as with everything else,
16:38 we've now been in co for quite a while at this point.
16:41 We have identified a lot of different needs
16:45 We've created systems to kind of understand the demand
16:48 on our staff members, especially our janitorial staff
16:52 and our maintenance staff, and we've noticed
16:55 that our one full-time maintenance person is,
16:58 you know, struggling obviously to do all of the work
17:01 that needs to be done and make sure
17:03 that it's a very clean and presentable
17:05 and a high quality facility.
17:07 We do have a part-time custodian as well,
17:10 and she does an incredible job,
17:12 but we have kind of identified the need,
17:15 and this contractual services line is that identification
17:18 of that need that we might need to look
17:20 at outside cleaning assistance,
17:22 which we have done elsewhere in the city,
17:25 and identify a contractor to come in maybe later
17:28 at night or off hours, because that's also a challenge
17:31 when you have folks that are working,
17:34 you know, city hours for the most part,
17:37 or part-time custodian does come in later in the afternoon
17:41 and does that kind of off shift,
17:43 but, you know, there's events happening all day.
17:45 There's events happening right now as I left the building,
17:49 and it's very hard to clean the building
17:52 and maintain it to the level it needs to be maintained
17:54 when there is a chair yoga event happening right there
17:58 in the space that I need to clean up
18:00 for an event that's happening right after or the next day,
18:04 and then we have the rentals on top of that.
18:06 So this is an identification of a need,
18:10 and I work with the mayor and the administration
18:14 to kind of find the funds to go out
18:16 and identify a contractor to do that.
18:21 And then the other, the 39% increase.
18:25 Do we have any ideas what that might be?
18:34 Just the printing of our calendars and other materials.
18:38 It's a huge, huge part of what we do,
18:42 especially for the Division of Aging.
18:44 A lot of printing goes on, a lot of printing in general.
18:46 We're very paper heavy,
18:48 because we have a lot of different folks
18:50 that that's the only way that they access their information.
18:54 They're not all connected to the Internet or social media.
18:59 And lastly, just a comment.
19:01 I wanted to make sure that everyone was aware
19:03 that because of the programming that is done
19:06 in the Human Services Department,
19:08 we have for the second year in a row
19:12 had a perfect score on our HRC MEI,
19:15 and now because our sister city to the east
19:18 is no longer at 100,
19:20 we are one of three cities in the state of Ohio
19:23 with a perfect score,
19:25 and I would like to thank you again for all your work
19:28 to make sure that we continue to maintain that score,
19:31 because it is important to the LGBTQIA plus community.
19:35 I know when Kate and I travel,
19:38 we definitely look at where are we going, right?
19:42 So that becomes an important thing
19:45 if we have out of towners coming into our city.
19:48 And along that same line of welcoming the queer community,
19:55 as you all probably have heard,
19:57 Studio West 117th is closing,
19:59 and we're losing space there.
20:01 So to reach out possibly to some of the groups
20:05 that we're meeting there,
20:07 and I know space is limited and times are limited,
20:09 but that would be very much appreciated for our community.
20:14 I'd appreciate that connection if you can help me facilitate it.
20:19 Other council members?
20:21 Councilman Steiner, anything?
20:23 Okay, so Councilwoman Keppel?
20:26 Okay, I've got some follow-on, essentially,
20:28 in the spirit of what Councilwoman Striebig was asking,
20:32 and that is just to make sure I have clarification
20:35 and understanding of the proposed budget amounts.
20:37 So first of all, Chad and your team,
20:39 thank you for your good efforts
20:41 and for investing in the Cove Intergenerational Community Center
20:44 to make it flower in space,
20:46 and that I know is a team effort.
20:48 And I agree that's a nice organizational chart so we can track.
20:53 I mean, council members know staff,
20:56 but it's even stronger if we know,
20:58 oh, right, this person has this role, et cetera.
21:02 So that's a nice way for us to firm up our understanding.
21:09 So rapid fire here so we keep on schedule.
21:11 So for administration, there's 11% jump in proposed expenditures.
21:16 I think, is that the proposed contractual increase
21:21 for part-time custodial services?
21:23 Is that what you just covered with the Councilwoman?
21:28 I'm looking on page, the summary charts in the budget book.
21:35 I believe it's that and also salaries and fringe benefits.
21:38 Okay, and I do notice salaries are going up quite a bit,
21:41 and I'm trying to find if that's headcount.
21:43 I think, how are you proposing?
21:46 There are now a number of people that are directly under
21:49 the Department of Human Services that weren't there before
21:51 and might have existed in the Division of Aging's budget.
21:55 Youth is plus one, but minus one, so flat.
21:58 But that's not true.
22:01 One additional part-time, one fewer, excuse me,
22:04 one additional full-time, one fewer part-time,
22:07 according to the budget book.
22:09 And then let me just try to find.
22:11 So it's largely flat, but I mean,
22:15 sometimes it's the way we account for benefits,
22:18 or can you address that, Director Mooney?
22:20 It's also the 27th pay.
22:21 So it's a 6% increase from 25,
22:24 but you have to include the 27th pay in there.
22:27 So 3% salary increase.
22:30 So in other words, the finance department's view is
22:33 this is largely flat.
22:36 There's an increase of a half-time FTE,
22:38 and then there's a proposal for contractual services
22:42 expansion for custodial services and for aging
22:48 transportation, it sounds like, Director Berry?
22:52 Anything else, or is that a fair summary?
22:56 Yeah, two separate departments.
23:01 You're mixing them, yes.
23:02 But generally, in general, that's their increases.
23:05 All right, just wanted to get a clarification on that.
23:08 And the 27th pay point is a good one.
23:11 So Director Berry, you said for the aging plus 126,000
23:20 in proposed contractual services increase,
23:24 that's not to exceed.
23:26 You think that we'll hit that or come in under it,
23:30 I believe we'll come in under it.
23:32 And they are addressing the costs.
23:35 Senior Transportation Connection themselves are
23:37 addressing the costs.
23:38 They're lobbying Columbus and all of our local partners
23:42 to get additional funding to reduce it.
23:44 This is just, obviously, a personal opinion
23:47 in how I've noticed how they work.
23:50 They've never said something like that to me
23:53 and not come back, and they've always been truthful.
23:57 So they're working to...
23:58 I have really high hopes that they will actually
24:01 address the costs and not just leave them at that
24:03 once they are able to make themselves whole or sufficient.
24:08 They communicated with you several months ago
24:10 at the beginning of the budget process
24:11 that here's our estimate for next year.
24:14 What was the driver again?
24:16 Costs overall, the funding from county and state
24:20 and federal government has gone down across the board.
24:22 We're seeing that in all of our divisions
24:24 and all of our contracts to some degree.
24:27 So they're just dealing with that.
24:28 Transportation is also a very expensive
24:30 and very difficult thing to run.
24:33 The actual physical vehicles now cost $1.2 million half the time
24:39 or they cost 120 grand when they used to cost 50.
24:43 So just the cost of everything is up such and such.
24:47 So inflation plus funding reduction
24:50 from our partner layers of government.
24:52 Does anybody have the White House's phone number?
24:59 And then DJFS partnership in Division of Youth,
25:04 you've got a proposed 2026 partnership
25:08 with the Department of Jobs and Family Services.
25:10 Could that be useful to all clients of all ages,
25:14 It just happens to fall under that
25:15 because that's where it originally germinated from,
25:17 but it will be available to every resident
25:19 and everyone in our surrounding communities as well.
25:23 Do we get funds from the county
25:24 for the use of our space?
25:26 And did I see on your slide, are you proposing plus one
25:31 I guess that's what is reflected in the binder.
25:35 We are kind of working right now to address the staffing
25:38 of that division, the Division of Youth,
25:40 and the community-based services contract.
25:43 What unfortunately has occurred is the county,
25:46 and I'm sure of all have seen this,
25:48 that the community-based services,
25:50 but county in general, health and human services,
25:52 has reduced the funding to that particular master contract
25:57 We don't know the current impact on us.
26:00 We're one of 10 providers.
26:03 So right now I'm kind of in a holding pattern.
26:05 I don't think we're,
26:06 we will definitely not be losing any staff,
26:08 but originally the intention was to increase some staffing
26:13 to help because we were seeing 60 referrals a month
26:17 where it used to be between 20 and 30,
26:20 and they are very high acuity.
26:23 There's a lot of need there,
26:24 and they really need some additional help in that area,
26:29 but that is all county dollars
26:31 that are funding that program.
26:33 This is for youth specifically?
26:35 For youth specifically.
26:36 So, and actually this is a good segue,
26:38 a final point for me.
26:39 So could, with the help of Director Mahoney,
26:42 we review the transfers and or advance numbers
26:47 It looks like they're higher this year, lower next year,
26:51 I think in the proposed, and also refresh our memory.
26:55 So I think the way that many of the positions
26:58 in the Division of Human Services,
27:00 the Department of Human Services works is we get the bulk,
27:03 like two-thirds or 75% of the cost of personnel covered
27:08 by the county who's really administering state
27:12 and federal dollars, correct?
27:14 But then the city has to match a portion of that,
27:18 and the way we do that is how space
27:21 and part of the personnel costs, right?
27:26 Everything basically for the Division of Youth
27:29 that was covered by the county,
27:31 and it's all on a reimbursement basis.
27:34 That one specifically.
27:35 And aging, there's a lot of federal, if I recall.
27:39 But the general fund is much more supportive
27:43 of Division of Aging than it is youth
27:45 as 100% contractual.
27:48 And for early childhood, we have one FTE.
27:51 That person is terrific.
27:53 We cover that, or is that?
27:54 That's all general fund.
27:57 All right, that's a good.
27:58 But we do offset it.
27:59 A huge portion of our salaries and other programming.
28:03 Okay, I don't know if that's helpful
28:04 to other councilmembers.
28:05 I can benefit from refreshing my memory there,
28:10 but the city, I think it's still true.
28:13 I mean, we used to be bigger years and years ago,
28:15 but we're still a large and significant
28:18 and meaningful human services department,
28:20 and not every community has that to the same degree.
28:23 So, but Director Mahoney, the transfers and advances.
28:30 Now I've lost the page.
28:31 I think it's the beginning of the whole department.
28:34 There's some overview numbers.
28:36 Yeah, there it is on page 142.
28:39 So this would be transfers, correct,
28:41 which means essentially general fund subsidy
28:45 or investment in these activities.
28:48 So it's $282,000 down from this year, $333,000.
28:57 Any reason for that?
29:04 Okay, well, we won't look a gift horse in the mouth,
29:07 but could that number change or?
29:13 And it sounds like the concern is adding another staff,
29:16 and that would only happen if we had the funding,
29:21 and so that doesn't affect the general fund at all.
29:23 Okay, so you're confident that looking
29:26 at a $282,000 general fund investment.
29:30 You know, the questions are just making sure we understand,
29:33 and have our hands around whatever the cost trends are,
29:37 you know, without making a value judgment,
29:39 just trying to understand, you know,
29:42 what the city is proposing to do,
29:44 what we've done historically,
29:46 and Director Berry's done a nice job of,
29:48 a fine job of presenting what the benefits and outputs are.
29:52 So thank you for those rapid-fire answers
29:55 to my rapid-fire questions.
29:56 Any other points to raise or ask
30:00 with the Division of Human Services?
30:01 Hearing none, then I guess, Mr. Berry,
30:04 you may feel free to go home
30:07 or do whatever you need to do or stay
30:10 and watch what comes next.
30:14 Why don't we proceed to Division of Information Technology,
30:18 Mr. Director or Mr. Manager?
30:27 I'm forgetting what title I should be naming you.
30:32 Chief Information Officer, wonderful, thank you.
30:36 So would you like to proceed?
30:41 Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair.
30:47 So 2025 accomplishments for IT.
30:52 The big one was the cybersecurity program.
30:57 Thank you to City Council for your assistance with this.
31:02 In particular, Councilmember Hamilton Steiner.
31:09 This was something that's been in the works for many years,
31:15 but this formalized it and put us into compliance
31:19 with the new state regulations.
31:24 As you may have seen, part of this
31:29 is an ongoing training program.
31:32 So we've done the usual phishing training,
31:37 but now there's going to be training
31:41 from the Ohio Cyber Reserve
31:45 that's going to be mandatory training
31:47 for the entire staff.
31:51 It's self-paced, but it's almost two hours worth of training,
31:54 which is a big step for Lakewood.
32:02 Another big accomplishment is e-citation implementation.
32:07 So Lakewood Municipal Court got new software last year,
32:13 and this finally has allowed the city
32:18 to interface with the court system
32:23 for seamless data transfer
32:26 from the police department to the court.
32:30 So the old ways of paper tickets going to the court
32:36 and all sorts of manual data entry and mistakes,
32:41 that's a thing of the past.
32:44 Each police cruiser is outfitted with a citation printer.
32:51 The violator gets one copy,
32:54 but everything else is in the electronic domain,
32:58 so that has really boosted efficiency.
33:05 We completed the last year of our PC replacement cycle,
33:10 so we do three years on, two years off,
33:14 so we get five-year warranties with the computers,
33:17 so this just marks the third year.
33:26 This is actually still in the works right now.
33:29 We just got fiber connected to Winterhurst
33:32 for new security cameras.
33:36 This was in collaboration with Assistant Director Boss,
33:41 so this is going to be a major improvement,
33:46 so this will be a live feed to the police department
33:50 with brand-new surveillance.
33:56 Here's a snapshot of a budget.
34:07 we added some cybersecurity-related services.
34:12 Really the largest increase you're going to see
34:15 is in professional services,
34:18 and that's largely due to two big software acquisitions
34:23 that I'll get to momentarily,
34:25 the first year of the software projects
34:30 are heavy implementation costs,
34:33 so it's kind of a one-time cost.
34:43 I feel inadequate now.
34:45 I did not put names.
34:46 I will mention the names for the records.
34:51 Obviously Mayor George is at the top.
34:54 Chief Information Officer, that's myself, Michael Coletta,
34:58 and the three project managers are Joseph Picar,
35:03 Edward Hassing, and Raymond First.
35:11 I kept this in just for completeness,
35:13 but this slide talks about a citywide phone system replacement.
35:19 We have now since pushed it back one year.
35:22 The current phone system that we have needs to be replaced by 2029,
35:30 We moved it back one year to 2027.
35:34 This is a very large project,
35:38 and what makes it very expensive is the actual phones themselves.
35:44 It's a very simple cost driver,
35:47 but this is a few hundred thousand dollars to replace the phone system.
35:55 Director Coletta, or CIO Coletta, thank you.
35:58 I'm curious, so I know switching, do we have voiceover IP or not?
36:05 How many people actually use their desk phone?
36:07 I know that there are, and I'm sure that's part of your analysis
36:10 and maybe part of why you're pushing it off, at least I hope,
36:12 because the common number or whatever,
36:16 but there's a lot of ways to have things directly transferred to cell phones,
36:19 and maybe you don't need that hardware,
36:21 whereas some staff might need something like a phone.
36:25 Are you doing that analysis?
36:27 Yeah, and on one end of the spectrum is going totally away from phones
36:36 and using something like Microsoft Teams and headsets.
36:45 I think there's the actual phones themselves,
36:56 so I think we're going to look for ways to whittle that down.
37:04 Some areas are common area where it's tough to get rid of phones
37:11 when it's shared space,
37:16 but for people that actually sit in an office and have a dedicated phone,
37:24 there's an opportunity to transition away from the actual hardware
37:29 to something like a soft phone.
37:34 You're talking about cell phones.
37:35 Obviously, there's cost to the cell phone,
37:38 so it's not, whereas an actual VoIP phone might be $400,
37:48 if it's a city cell phone, you have an ongoing expense,
37:51 which actually would be more expensive over time.
37:55 How many city staff have cell phones?
38:01 That's just interesting,
38:03 because at every workplace it's kind of dealing with this, right?
38:06 Government's a little different in the sense that people expect someone to answer a phone.
38:12 A little bit better customer service, right?
38:14 It's part of our culture.
38:15 We want to serve the public,
38:17 but I think there are ways to,
38:19 even if it's a common number,
38:24 it just changes two different persons' actual cell phone when they're on call or whatever, right?
38:28 I'm sure there's software that could do that.
38:30 You're saying they're personal cell phone?
38:32 No, like a city, it could be.
38:35 Say, for example, there's someone at the front desk of some department,
38:40 and they have a city-issued cell phone.
38:44 I'm sure there's some software you can buy where it's like from this hour to this hour,
38:48 you click a button, it goes to this person.
38:51 We have that right now.
38:53 That's why I'm just interested.
38:54 I know we have the option in my workplace to not have a desk phone,
38:58 because a lot of us have cell phones.
38:59 So it's like, why do we even have two numbers?
39:03 And then you can just route the office line number to the cell phone.
39:06 If these things cost $500 or $400,
39:09 all I'm saying is I'd really be interested in ways to bring that down and modernize.
39:17 Most of the cell phones in the city are for police officers that don't otherwise have an office.
39:27 Their office is the cruiser and Public Works.
39:33 So there are some employees that do have both an office phone and a cell phone.
39:39 So to your point, there would be some opportunities for efficiency gains there.
39:47 To a large extent, there's a lot of individuals that don't have an office phone that have a cell phone.
39:57 And the cell phones are an ongoing concern.
40:05 Just, Mr. Colletta, following up on that point, though, let's say you're not a mobile employee.
40:10 You work at a desk all day.
40:11 You have some phone conversations, but you're not a customer service fielding incoming calls.
40:17 You could probably just use your laptop.
40:21 So you know what I mean?
40:22 I do take the point that Mr. Baker's driving at.
40:26 And just as much as cost-saving efficiency is probably workflow efficiencies and all the rest, which you're all about those.
40:35 But anyway, thanks for the thoughtfulness.
40:37 Sure. No, those are some good ideas.
40:40 Want to keep rolling? Thank you.
40:45 Here's a very large project.
40:47 So this is a new fancy name is Enterprise Resource Planning.
40:53 So think like SAP in the private sector.
40:56 This is municipal ERP software primarily for the finance department.
41:04 So the GL payroll purchasing and then also for utility billing.
41:11 So in our case, water billing.
41:16 This is going from a system that has its roots in the mainframe.
41:21 So that's how old our current system is.
41:25 We actually purchased it prior to my arrival.
41:28 It was in 1999, pre-Y2K.
41:32 The city had a mainframe.
41:34 And this was the transition away from the mainframe to the mainframe's little brother, little sister called the mid-range computer.
41:48 It has long been outgrown.
41:52 Thanks to Director Mahoney's leadership.
41:57 She did a lot of hard work, put out an RFP.
42:02 And the replacement system is going to be fully cloud-based.
42:07 Much, much more user-friendly for the staff.
42:11 And much more available to interact with the public natively rather than add on modules.
42:20 And sort of bolted on from the original design of the system like what we have now.
42:30 And the good news is this software, while it is a bit more expensive year-to-year than what we have now,
42:40 there is no hardware and software that we're maintaining in-house.
42:47 Plus the electricity usage of the system.
42:51 So this will be a large effort to get the data out of the old system and import it into the new system.
43:01 But a very, very big and positive change for the city of Lakewood.
43:09 And along the same lines of new software,
43:16 so the police and fire department, while their software is newer, it was actually purchased in 2017.
43:28 About two or three weeks after we went live in 2017,
43:33 the software manufacturer that we had purchased the software from was bought out by another company.
43:42 And the new company decided to move to a couple of different product lines that they had purchased from another company.
43:55 And they were pretty much saying what we had purchased, they would continue to support.
44:02 But it wasn't the platform of the future.
44:06 So we have been using that software.
44:10 It's been fine, but it's hosted locally.
44:17 There's parts of it that are outdated.
44:22 So police and fire are getting a new computer-aided dispatch system.
44:28 This is also cloud-based, much more modern, much more accessible, much more user-friendly.
44:36 And there is a huge influx of new hires in both departments.
44:47 So the expectations of what technology can do have changed greatly.
44:55 So this is an evolution of basically our workforce and what is expected of technology.
45:13 I mentioned the cybersecurity and awareness training, so this is just a slide mentioning that.
45:24 I hope we've reached the end.
45:28 Okay, thank you, CIO.
45:32 Coletta, any questions from members of the committee?
45:36 Just a question to Councilwoman Striebeck.
45:40 I'm very excited about new utility software.
45:44 Director Mahoney and I had kind of scratched the surface of this at a recent meeting about the possibilities.
45:51 And maybe you can talk more about specifics.
45:54 I'm specifically looking to be informed when I have a drip at my rentals with my water bill that I know that there is some kind of technology there
46:04 because I have called in to talk to somebody in the utility department and they have looked at the data and said, oh, yes, we see that you have a drip.
46:13 And I thought, that's great.
46:15 Could somebody let me know a little bit more ahead of time?
46:17 And I'm wondering if this is something that the software potentially will do and if there's any other wonderful things that can help our residents understand more about their bills with this new software.
46:31 I'm going to have to defer to Director Mahoney.
46:33 I believe the drip or the water usage, I believe there is some capability for that.
46:42 We did look into it.
46:43 It's pretty expensive to have it available on a day-to-day basis.
46:48 But I'm going to work with the utility metering department to see if we can't have a little more extensive analysis daily by them to let the residents know.
47:02 But it will definitely show you your usage monthly unless we decide to invest a larger dollar sum to provide.
47:14 It can provide the daily.
47:16 We have to do a cost-benefit analysis on that.
47:20 I'm wondering, because it is a resource, a natural resource, if there would be possibly some grant funding somewhere to help save water.
47:34 It definitely will be a better user experience on the website.
47:38 In support of Councilman Striebeck's line of questioning, I recall maybe two years ago or 18 months ago a resident contacting me and probably some other colleagues about this very issue.
47:47 I know that Public Works has a practice now of rebating one over use if your toilet's running or your sink's dripping while you're on vacation or away from your home.
47:57 So that takes much of the financial sting out of it for that one use.
48:01 But that practice, I can't recall it perfectly.
48:04 I'd have to go dig in for the e-mail, Fred, but there's some glitches there even with our courtesy rebate that the Public Works has honored for quite some years.
48:14 We appreciate that.
48:16 And the thought also from the resident was, you know, I appreciate that.
48:22 And even if we fix the communication perfectly, we're still wasting a ton of water unnecessarily.
48:27 So I think to your point, Director Mahoney, there's a customer service expectation by the public that if we can improve through data and prevent problems or catch them earlier, we ought to be doing that.
48:42 Now, it sounds like the vendor is up marketing, you know, the cost of that module.
48:49 But, you know, could we make an argument that over time that that would...
48:54 Like I said, there has to be a study done on that.
48:57 You know, once we get more into it, we can make a decision on that.
49:04 It's actually the water department, the finances water department, they go back four months or so and look at the usage if there's a leak like that and bill based on the prior four months of usage.
49:19 So we're accrediting the finance department.
49:26 More of a statement.
49:29 I, employer, recently switched to Munis.
49:33 I guess it was like seven or eight years ago.
49:35 I think you guys are Tyler Technologies, Munis, similar?
49:42 Transition's hard for staff, so I'm sure you guys know that, and training them up and getting them used to it.
49:48 It's the new software that the city is going to use for finance that CIO Colletta was talking about.
49:56 But it is really user friendly.
49:59 To the extent a finance software can be used friendly.
50:02 So I'm looking forward to it.
50:05 Should be interesting.
50:09 I've got a couple more.
50:12 Again, rapid fire, so we stay on schedule.
50:14 So mostly software, but one hardware package or hardware question.
50:20 So I think I know the answer, but I just want to make sure I understand.
50:24 So this is kind of a beginner's mind question.
50:26 Why replace hardware so frequently?
50:28 I know you want to stay within the warranty.
50:30 Do we know for sure the cost benefit analysis pays off like we are saving on maintenance costs if we do it that way?
50:39 Breakdowns that harm productivity by the employees?
50:46 You're wondering why don't we hold on?
50:48 Aren't computers expensive?
50:50 So if we're constantly getting brand-new computers to stay under warranty, that does seem prudent.
50:55 But are we overpaying, or do you think your experience in analysis shows that that's where we should be?
51:04 I know that fleet management takes the same approach.
51:09 I think holding onto a personal computer for any more than five years is starting to reach the danger zone, especially in the business world.
51:27 As far as the warranty, there could be an argument for, okay, get the standard three-year warranty and then shop around for years four and five.
51:42 We actually used to do that.
51:45 There was a local company that would do out of manufacturer warranty support.
51:53 I didn't feel that the value was there.
51:58 Quite frankly, the same company happens to do support natively from the manufacturer.
52:09 So I thought the pricing was inconsistent from RFP to RFP.
52:16 It was easier to just stay with, capture the cost right up front with the purchase of the asset and deal with it.
52:43 We would have a mixture of assets covered by this third-party company, and everything was a la carte.
52:55 So monitors, ECs, I didn't really see any cost savings doing it that way.
53:09 So we're purchasing new with an extended warranty of two extra years?
53:14 What happens to the old equipment just recycled?
53:17 Do we get any cash out of it?
53:20 Well, some of them we hold on to just as emergency backups, and then others we put on gov deals.
53:27 Okay, so do we recover some cash value?
53:31 And how are we financing this, Director?
53:34 Is it cash or is it a lease?
53:36 The term lease means like a car loan, I think, in musical finance.
53:42 Yeah, it's all cash.
53:48 So where do we see that in the chart for the division?
53:52 Is that on page 75 in the budget book?
53:55 I'm not sure I see capital for this year or next.
54:03 Those next year and the year after are the two off years.
54:08 We'll see it proposed for 27.
54:13 You're just giving us a look ahead.
54:15 So the 175 for 2023 and four were cash for hardware.
54:25 On the software side, is it accurate to say that after the first year install,
54:34 the ongoing email subscription is a lot lower or only a little?
54:40 I don't recall what Tyler's upfront was.
54:45 Because we've got 1.3, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, and now 2 million for professional services.
54:55 So for the public safety software, year one is $750,000.
55:02 Years two, three, four, and five are around 200,000.
55:09 And then are we trending towards, I remember years ago,
55:21 there's trends in IT just like anything, one master database for all purposes or custom
55:28 software for each department or function.
55:30 Which way are we trending these days?
55:39 It's kind of a complicated answer, but in some respects, so for the ERP,
55:51 Tyler, for example, makes software for public safety as well.
55:59 But I would say we're pretty much in what I would call best of breed,
56:10 so not the same system for every single department.
56:15 The departments are so different in needs that even the systems,
56:22 for example, Tyler, and I can't speak to Tyler specifically,
56:26 but a lot of these municipal software suites are cobbled together.
56:30 They're purchases of companies that we're separate to begin with.
56:34 And other than the name, the, you know,
56:39 does the city want to pay one vendor versus X vendors?
56:43 You know, the synergy is there in certain aspects of the software,
56:49 but largely to me it's overstated.
56:55 So we're proposing our current approach is best package that we can find.
57:01 It's cost, but it's an investment in productivity.
57:05 And we save on data management, reduce workload, error, things of that nature.
57:12 Are they giving us a discount for the CAD software package
57:16 since they did that early retirement that we paid for?
57:23 Well, we complained.
57:25 This is a totally different company,
57:27 so that company has now lost the city's business.
57:32 I didn't follow that.
57:34 How many different software packages do we have?
57:38 A dozen, half dozen?
57:49 So you keep either organized notes or a little sleep.
57:55 So, for example, animal control.
57:59 They were using a module of the current public safety package.
58:04 The new system does not have a module for animal control.
58:08 We've now added a small package that's dedicated,
58:12 so that added one vendor.
58:17 Our refuse department has not used commercial software,
58:23 and right now we're about to acquire some.
58:28 It's relatively modest, a few thousand dollars,
58:30 but it's a first for that department.
58:35 So it changes over time.
58:39 When I started with the city,
58:41 it was let's put everything in this ERP system,
58:45 and I heard nothing but complaints from certain departments.
58:49 Housing and building said, this is horrible.
58:52 It's hard to use, and who was I to disagree with them?
58:57 They're the experts in their line of work,
58:59 so we ended up changing,
59:01 and now I think we're three systems off from what that was,
59:06 but finance this whole time has been on the same system.
59:13 And to Councilmember Baker's point,
59:18 the change management is huge.
59:23 Depending on who sits in various seats
59:28 can dictate how easily or how difficult changing systems is.
59:33 So I think with Director Mahoney coming in,
59:36 having a fresh insight and appetite for taking on the change,
59:43 when you have leadership that is willing to take that on,
59:48 it makes it much easier,
59:50 because there will be some resistance from the staff.
59:53 No one likes the change,
59:55 particularly employees that have been in their positions longer.
59:59 Well, thank you, Director Mahoney.
1:00:00 You're talking about the finance department.
1:00:06 Otherwise, we'll keep pressing forward.
1:00:07 Appreciate the somewhat deep dive into this.
1:00:10 I think IT is not an accessory.
1:00:13 I mean, Councilmember Keppel,
1:00:15 you know something about technology,
1:00:16 probably because it's about to that, right?
1:00:18 Central to so much of what we do
1:00:22 for quality and efficiency and accuracy.
1:00:28 And I think that was a plant.
1:00:29 So that's a nice segue to the Division of Building and Housing,
1:00:32 Mr. Parmelee, Commissioner Parmelee.
1:00:37 You can tell us all of the allure and the shop talk about IT,
1:00:44 fan comments before the current software package or not.
1:00:51 Actually, you can focus on your presentation.
1:00:56 When you are ready, please take it away.
1:01:07 City of Lakewood Building Department,
1:01:08 Department of Housing and Building.
1:01:14 A little bit of description and function.
1:01:15 I'm pretty sure everybody knows what we do and who we are,
1:01:20 We manage the housing license process,
1:01:24 manage the contractor licensing and registration.
1:01:28 Food trucks isn't on here, but that's what we do as well.
1:01:31 That whole process, get it ready for fire.
1:01:34 We manage our tax abatement program for eligible projects
1:01:38 for one, two, three family, one and two family homes,
1:01:45 and then the CRAs for the way bigger projects.
1:01:49 My friends in planning spearhead that one because they're way smarter than I am.
1:01:54 We assist Board of Zoning Appeals and Architectural Board of Review
1:02:00 Construction plan review and approval.
1:02:03 So anybody that submits construction documents,
1:02:05 addition, new construction, renovation,
1:02:08 we're looking at those for compliance with state building codes.
1:02:12 Seguing to the next one, code enforcement, state building codes,
1:02:16 both commercial and residential,
1:02:18 and then our own codified ordinance, usually 1306.
1:02:23 That's our local safety and maintenance code.
1:02:26 Kind of specialize in housing safety preservation and improvement.
1:02:32 By the numbers, so certificate of code compliance inspections,
1:02:36 that's the point of sale that municipalities refer to
1:02:39 any time a rental property transfers,
1:02:44 And then that also includes new businesses moving into the city.
1:02:51 finish this report right around the 10th of November.
1:02:55 So there is a little bit of increase involved here, but not much.
1:03:02 Complaints were up this year.
1:03:08 A lot of high grass complaints this year.
1:03:13 that's when a property maintenance inspector is out and about
1:03:16 and they're looking at something
1:03:18 and just tapping to stumble across something else.
1:03:21 Property maintenance and safety inspections,
1:03:23 that number's a little skewed.
1:03:25 Those are what we call our rental inspections,
1:03:28 our annuals that are actually,
1:03:30 we try to do them every three years,
1:03:34 I have those, the property maintenance folks
1:03:37 focus on those inspections during our air quote off-season
1:03:41 when high grass isn't there,
1:03:43 properties aren't transferring as much.
1:03:46 So we like to ramp up those inspections
1:03:48 right around this time of month, early December,
1:03:51 and try to grind through into February and March
1:03:55 to try to hammer out a lot of those rental inspections.
1:04:00 But all in all, total volume of property maintenance cases
1:04:04 that were created, you know, 1600,
1:04:07 it was up 17% from last year.
1:04:09 And that's four full-time property maintenance staff
1:04:12 with one commercial property maintenance
1:04:14 that does the majority of the multifamily complaints.
1:04:20 Construction, commercial permits down 6% this year,
1:04:24 sure doesn't feel like it, I'll tell you that much.
1:04:28 residential permits, a little bit of an increase,
1:04:31 total volume permit-wise in and out of the shop,
1:04:35 just north of 2000 permits spread across
1:04:39 pretty much four and a half inspectors
1:04:41 that are boots on the ground all day long.
1:04:43 That construction valuation is bananas.
1:04:45 I haven't seen anything like that since 2017
1:04:48 when we did all the schools.
1:04:49 But, you know, we have a $98.5 million project downtown,
1:04:53 a couple apartment buildings down at the end of the block
1:04:57 from Austin Councilman Bullock
1:04:59 that are going pretty smooth.
1:05:01 Future town home development, groundbreaking,
1:05:05 should start this week over on that Thoreau project.
1:05:08 But a lot of stuff came through this year,
1:05:12 pretty exciting stuff, too.
1:05:14 A lot of large-scale construction projects
1:05:17 that we don't get to see a lot of.
1:05:23 So plan review, anytime construction documents
1:05:26 go to the city, we have to do a plan review on those,
1:05:30 be it residential or commercial.
1:05:32 State of Ohio gives all certified building departments
1:05:34 up to but not exceeding 30 days to get that review done.
1:05:38 We hover around 12 to 15 days,
1:05:43 so people can start turnkey in their projects.
1:05:47 So the commercial plan review,
1:05:48 I say about 80% of those we have to send outside
1:05:52 because we don't have a master plans examiner.
1:05:55 But the plans exam, so master plans examiner,
1:05:58 anything, you know, anytime construction documents
1:06:00 have electrical, plumbing, mechanical, all included,
1:06:07 where the building standard says an MPE,
1:06:09 master plans examiner, needs to review those plans.
1:06:12 We have two contracted plans examiners,
1:06:15 both with a, between the two of them,
1:06:18 it's right around 45, $47,000 a year under contract.
1:06:23 You're not touching a plans examiner,
1:06:27 it's gonna be a registered architect or design professional.
1:06:31 It's about 120, $130,000 a year salary.
1:06:34 So that 42, 45,000 we spend goes a long way.
1:06:42 Residential plan reviews, those are all done in-house.
1:06:46 100% of those are reviewed in-house
1:06:49 in the building department.
1:06:50 So, you know, 700 construction documents,
1:06:53 and a lot of those we review, you know,
1:06:56 not everything gets through on the first pass.
1:06:58 So, you know, you can probably take that 300,
1:07:01 add another 200 to that, just for re-review, revisions.
1:07:06 So in total, about 1,000 plan reviews
1:07:09 here in the city of Lakewood for construction projects,
1:07:14 renovations, new builds, additions, et cetera, et cetera.
1:07:17 Some accomplishments for 25.
1:07:20 I was really excited about the first one.
1:07:23 I've really been wanting to digitally archive
1:07:26 the large-scale plans that we've had up on the third floor
1:07:32 We've had estimates anywhere between 500,000,
1:07:35 700,000 to digitally archive this stuff.
1:07:38 Stumbled across a company, Starpoint Global,
1:07:43 worked with Director Coletta.
1:07:47 You know, the mayor was 100% for this, too,
1:07:50 to kind of modernize a little bit.
1:07:53 We budgeted 120,000 for a year project.
1:07:57 That company knocked it out of the park.
1:08:01 It took them about six months.
1:08:03 So I have about 38,000 archive sheets
1:08:10 So it's made public records requests way easier
1:08:13 when, I mean, I found original plans.
1:08:18 St. Cyril, the building just west of that,
1:08:26 Somebody actually wanted to see if we had
1:08:28 the original plans, and we did.
1:08:30 I mean, just the stone detail was really awesome.
1:08:33 And they took the original blueprints
1:08:37 and they did reverse polarity.
1:08:39 So everything came, it's crystal clear.
1:08:43 I worked with Mike Reilly in my office.
1:08:46 It's a searchable PDF database,
1:08:49 but the way we had it laid out is impeccable,
1:08:52 and we could search by parcel number,
1:08:58 Again, managed a pretty busy construction year.
1:09:03 Everybody knows what's going on throughout the city.
1:09:08 Director Buyington over there.
1:09:10 We have a part-time zoning inspector
1:09:12 that we're pushing for full-time.
1:09:15 There's been a lot of complaints
1:09:17 at the building department.
1:09:18 You know, we're not enforcing the signage.
1:09:21 I mean, we wear a thousand different hats,
1:09:23 and it's hard to be everywhere at once.
1:09:26 So Leslie's primary goal is sign compliance
1:09:29 in the beginning with the city.
1:09:32 She's found numerous, numerous businesses
1:09:35 that never went through ABR,
1:09:36 so they're going through ABR now.
1:09:38 The window signage is getting cleaned up.
1:09:41 Councilman Bullock, a lot of those awnings
1:09:43 that the mold's being cleaned.
1:09:45 You know, we're getting some stuff cleaned up
1:09:48 down Madison and Detroit that, frankly,
1:09:51 we just didn't have time to get to.
1:09:53 I know it's a sorry excuse,
1:09:54 but it's the only one I have.
1:10:00 She's kind of a utility infielder
1:10:02 between planning and building.
1:10:05 That worked out really great.
1:10:07 And I spent a lot of time with HR this year.
1:10:10 State of Ohio took our licensing matrix
1:10:14 so any state certified inspector,
1:10:17 they kind of tore down some barriers.
1:10:22 Like, if you didn't have 30 years
1:10:24 on the tools as an electrician,
1:10:26 you're never going to be an ESI.
1:10:27 Well, they busted that out now.
1:10:30 So your time in a department,
1:10:37 So they kind of, instead of one ladder,
1:10:39 it's a couple different ladders.
1:10:44 that are getting their base certifications
1:10:47 if they put a couple years in,
1:10:49 they could start getting their foot through the door
1:10:51 as an entry level one position,
1:10:55 But it was a lot of workarounds.
1:10:58 We had to take all the licensing that we had
1:11:01 and kind of make it work with what we have now
1:11:04 because the building inspectors are all union employees.
1:11:10 So we have the roadmap, pitched it to the state.
1:11:18 and Claudia and everybody in HR,
1:11:21 we worked pretty good with each other
1:11:23 getting that direction on how that new state licensing looks.
1:11:33 Going to continue the digital scanning,
1:11:35 but it's in-house, so all the street files.
1:11:37 We have over 12,000 street files
1:11:39 for every property in the city.
1:11:43 Didn't make sense to outsource that.
1:11:51 got us a pretty sweet scanner
1:11:55 that does it rather quickly.
1:11:57 So we're building that street file database.
1:11:59 I think we're to the Hs now,
1:12:03 which is a lot when you're talking north of 12,000 files.
1:12:08 So we have the same kind of searchable database
1:12:11 built in with that as we did with all the large-scale stuff
1:12:16 Going to keep checking boxes,
1:12:19 looking at ordinances that have direct touches
1:12:22 with my department and other city departments
1:12:24 to try to help streamline some processes.
1:12:27 And I'm going to keep working with the trade schools.
1:12:29 I keep going to Polaris every six months
1:12:34 and sit on the advisory committee
1:12:36 for West Shore Trades Program,
1:12:40 Garfield reached out to me about a week ago.
1:12:43 They're doing an eighth-grade trades program,
1:12:46 which I thought was super cool,
1:12:48 so they asked if I'd come in
1:12:50 and talk about the industry,
1:12:52 electrical, plumbing, mechanical.
1:12:54 We're at 600,000 bodies short
1:12:56 in the skilled trades across the country,
1:12:59 so we need to start getting the youth interested in that
1:13:02 because that's one thing AI's not going to help with.
1:13:08 And you can even go on the building department's website
1:13:10 and see who's coming to your house
1:13:12 because all of our pictures and contact numbers
1:13:14 and emails are up on the website.
1:13:16 That's not... That's old hat.
1:13:18 I've been doing that for years.
1:13:20 So that's us, you know, property maintenance folks.
1:13:23 We have three property maintenance twos now,
1:13:27 So they took the International Code Council
1:13:29 property maintenance inspector's exam.
1:13:35 he's our... I still call him
1:13:37 our new property maintenance inspector.
1:13:39 We stole him from front office.
1:13:41 So he had that front office job for about seven years
1:13:43 and kind of brought all that
1:13:45 carnal knowledge with him to the field.
1:13:51 she's retiring on the 31st,
1:13:55 She's kind of the office mom.
1:13:57 Maintaining that full-time position
1:14:03 part-time. We'll see how that works.
1:14:09 you know, she's going to be
1:14:15 We haven't really changed much anything.
1:14:17 Justin's doing a really good job.
1:14:19 That commercial property maintenance inspector position,
1:14:21 I can't say enough about it.
1:14:23 It's really helping with the
1:14:25 apartment buildings and having...
1:14:27 Everybody knows they have that one go-to guy
1:14:31 it works out a lot. We have our frequent flyers,
1:14:33 but keeping our heads above water.
1:14:39 I leave it open for any questions
1:14:43 Thank you. Council members, questions, comments?
1:14:53 Because I see that that's a huge
1:14:55 increase. I don't know why it was so bad
1:14:57 this year. Now is this like actual
1:14:59 high grass or is this a perception of
1:15:01 high grass, right? No, it's ordinance.
1:15:03 It's in ordinance. So it's actually high grass.
1:15:05 And do you have any insight into
1:15:07 why folks aren't mowing their lawns?
1:15:11 Is it out-of-state landlords
1:15:15 maybe need some help? No. I mean, what we
1:15:17 run into a lot is, you know,
1:15:19 you rent a property, you have this
1:15:23 you're the tenant, you're going to cut the grass.
1:15:25 At the end of the day, it's the property
1:15:29 It's the building owner's responsibility.
1:15:35 We get out ahead of it. I mean, we do the
1:15:39 mayor's office and social media and
1:15:41 plaster stuff all over the website.
1:15:47 new rental property owners.
1:15:51 landlord training seminar, and that's
1:15:53 kind of something I beat to death
1:15:55 every time we do it, is shovel your sidewalks
1:15:57 and cut your grass. Do the easiest
1:16:05 maybe new ownership or, I mean,
1:16:09 I'm just wondering if it's because
1:16:13 not all of them, but a lot of them are
1:16:15 being purchased by out-of-state.
1:16:17 And you're right. And there is an
1:16:19 agreement, a handshake agreement, that
1:16:21 you will maintain the yard.
1:16:23 If you're an out-of-state owner, you need
1:16:27 company. I mean, that's what you're telling us
1:16:29 you have when you register your housing license.
1:16:31 You're providing us that local
1:16:37 to it. Like, when I rent it, I always got the grass.
1:16:49 We go out, I mean, we stop sending
1:16:51 notices because it's kind of dumb.
1:16:53 You know, hey, I'm going to mail you something that you're going to get in
1:16:55 seven days. So we came up with
1:16:57 this gaudy sticker now that
1:17:01 It's a clean peel, so you're not
1:17:03 raising your knife in the thing off your window.
1:17:05 But we take a picture of it, we create a
1:17:07 case. It gives you your deadline
1:17:09 right on the sticker on the front of the house.
1:17:11 If you don't cut it within that
1:17:13 between three and five day period.
1:17:15 And we have wet seasons. People go on vacation.
1:17:19 you up, and we've had CitizenServe
1:17:25 a repeat offender, we won't even entertain
1:17:31 you don't cut it, we send Public Works out
1:17:35 And we only, we post that notice
1:17:41 two months after we open that case
1:17:43 and you have high grass, we put it right on the cut
1:17:45 list. We just don't have time
1:17:47 to. And then are the fee, is that fee
1:17:49 being paid, do you think, by the out of state
1:17:51 landlord or is it being paid
1:17:53 by the tenant? If it's, no.
1:17:55 The tenant's not going to pay that. No, no.
1:17:57 Ownership's 100% responsible. So if they don't pay it,
1:17:59 it gets assessed on the back end of the property taxes.
1:18:01 So if you don't want to pay it,
1:18:03 great. When you go to sell the property,
1:18:05 you know, five years down the road, you're going to
1:18:11 Lakewood. But that's not an
1:18:15 fix for that, right? I mean, if you're
1:18:17 putting it on their tax bill, it's
1:18:19 not going to come until later.
1:18:21 It's still not the motivation to get out
1:18:25 I mean, 200 bucks a cut for a Lakewood yard,
1:18:27 that'd be motivating me. It's like five
1:18:29 swipes with my mower. Right, sure.
1:18:37 But if you're on vacation or something,
1:18:45 Thank you. Other councilmembers? Mr. Baker?
1:18:51 The one thing I'm always curious about is
1:18:57 facade structural analysis,
1:18:59 kind of, you know, how is that going?
1:19:07 since the original rollout.
1:19:09 It took a couple buildings a while
1:19:13 I think we actually just got four more
1:19:17 I haven't ran a report in about a month, but I'd say
1:19:23 And then we added a couple years onto
1:19:25 it, too. I mean, we were requesting
1:19:27 those every three, and that's
1:19:39 those reports are going to need
1:19:41 to be submitted again, and then we'll
1:19:43 review that. But yeah, I mean, they
1:19:47 and Associates, I feel kind of bad
1:19:49 for Isaac, he took the brunt of that.
1:19:51 Isaac probably made a lot of
1:19:53 money. Oh, I'm sure Isaac did well.
1:19:57 of those, so there was a lot of promissory
1:19:59 notes we got from his office, but they
1:20:05 frankly, which was pretty good.
1:20:07 Yeah, I mean, you'd think and
1:20:09 appreciate your team's effort
1:20:11 on that and the administration as well. I know it was
1:20:13 a big issue after the garage collapse.
1:20:19 a lot of these, at least if there's like any
1:20:23 insurance, you know, kind of coverage that
1:20:25 this is already required. And so
1:20:27 hopefully it's just getting the people
1:20:31 and don't have insurance, which we want to make sure
1:20:33 that they're... Yeah, make sure they're...
1:20:35 Which is funny you said that because
1:20:37 quite a few of those engineering reports that
1:20:41 were still valid, you know, in that
1:20:43 time frame. We're actually engineering
1:20:45 companies doing the insurance assessment
1:20:49 The majority of the work has all been
1:20:51 done in the underground parking garages.
1:20:55 maintenance needs it the most.
1:21:05 Kind of following up on the high grass thing.
1:21:11 big snow and we heard about a lot.
1:21:13 And it seems like this year's another
1:21:19 I'm from residence and I've called and you guys are
1:21:21 great about it, but what is the
1:21:25 particularly in commercial properties with snow
1:21:27 removal, is it similar to the high grass?
1:21:29 9 a.m. after that snowfall. So if we get
1:21:33 9 a.m. is when it's supposed to start
1:21:37 In the beginning of the season, the property
1:21:39 maintenance inspectors are boots on the ground.
1:21:43 Detroit, they march down Madison.
1:21:47 We do it in September, early October, just reminding
1:21:49 because it's always the shop owners
1:21:51 that are the ones that are going to get
1:21:53 stuck doing it, you know, unless you're a
1:21:55 drug mart or something like that.
1:21:59 businesses like Family Dollar right now,
1:22:01 you know, it's a nice skating rink.
1:22:03 They're horrible neighbors.
1:22:05 We do it the same thing every time.
1:22:07 They're on a clear list right now
1:22:13 and nobody wants a business
1:22:15 with this big gaudy sticker on the front of it.
1:22:17 Same process as high grass, too.
1:22:21 We slap a tag, take a picture, create a case,
1:22:23 move on, just so we can keep trucking.
1:22:29 the dollar store here on Detroit,
1:22:31 not last year because they were pretty good, but the year
1:22:35 the dump truck, the Bobcats,
1:22:37 I think there was like six Public Works
1:22:39 because it was all iced up.
1:22:41 I mean, I think they charged them something crazy.
1:22:45 between, you know, manpower,
1:22:53 we'll have Public Works do it for you.
1:23:03 neighborhoods surrounding schools,
1:23:11 You know, Marlowe Avenue, that kind of stuff.
1:23:17 those neighborhoods that surround the schools,
1:23:23 four, sometimes five property maintenance
1:23:25 inspectors out there covering 180 miles
1:23:29 So we make sure we hit where it's important, do we want to be everywhere?
1:23:35 Thank you. And thank you for, I know
1:23:37 you guys and Public Works are
1:23:39 a little busy to be doing that for
1:23:41 people who are supposed to be doing it themselves,
1:23:43 but particularly in the commercial properties.
1:23:47 when you're talking about commercial,
1:23:51 rental properties, like the multi-tenant
1:24:01 Okay, I've got some rapid fire questions.
1:24:09 I think you may have covered that,
1:24:11 Commissioner Parmelee, in the presentation.
1:24:23 Yes, we cover half, planning and development
1:24:25 covers half. Okay, and so in the
1:24:37 position is being accounted for
1:24:39 on the organizational chart
1:24:41 for division of building and housing, as opposed to
1:24:45 side of the operations. Is that
1:24:49 Jessica, are you saying yes?
1:24:57 division of building and housing.
1:25:05 the commercial retail and the commercial
1:25:07 office daily, well, not daily needs,
1:25:09 but ongoing needs. So when we
1:25:13 some other need, it might be
1:25:15 sidewalk, it might be some other storefront
1:25:25 or the common areas might need some work?
1:25:27 Right all over the place there.
1:25:29 So if it's signage and awnings,
1:25:35 Anything to do with building components
1:25:39 building department, and you said sidewalk,
1:25:41 are you talking in disarray
1:25:43 or needs clear to snow and ice?
1:25:45 You're right, I did mix a bunch of things.
1:25:47 No, I meant more maintenance, like it's cracked
1:25:49 and broken. We haven't cited sidewalks
1:25:51 in ten years, that's public works.
1:25:53 Thanks for refreshing my memory. So that would be
1:25:59 years ago, I got some feedback
1:26:01 and I'm sure other council members did
1:26:03 when, this is probably pre-COVID,
1:26:11 were passing on increased costs
1:26:15 they were maybe just saying, hey, the market will bear
1:26:17 a rental increase, so I'm going to pass
1:26:19 it along. The tenants, I'm talking
1:26:21 just commercial office, commercial retail,
1:26:29 at least this council person,
1:26:39 the quality of the space that they were occupying.
1:26:43 the request from the tenants
1:26:45 perspective and other business associations
1:26:47 was, hey, let's at least make sure that
1:26:49 the quality of the commercial retail and office
1:26:55 But a lot of times the tenants didn't feel
1:26:57 that they could call directly to
1:27:01 for fear of retaliation, whether that's
1:27:05 their part or not, I don't know. But
1:27:15 office and retail properties
1:27:25 I think that was the genesis years ago
1:27:27 or the partial genesis of this
1:27:35 doing that work. Thank you for the efforts on the
1:27:39 As for the inside though, that's why it's
1:27:41 imperative that when we have businesses move out,
1:27:45 doing their due diligence and saying,
1:27:47 okay, tenant, now you have to apply
1:27:51 That gets the building department in there
1:27:53 to make sure that building's on the
1:27:55 up and up before you get new tenancy.
1:27:57 That term applies not just to
1:27:59 residential rentals, but also to
1:28:01 what I'm talking about. Yeah,
1:28:03 because earlier in my presentation
1:28:05 I mentioned safety and maintenance
1:28:07 inspections, certificate of code compliance.
1:28:11 is sold in the city of Lakewood or we have a change
1:28:13 of tenancy in a commercial space.
1:28:15 We do those inspections. And
1:28:17 back to the point you were hinting at,
1:28:21 are we doing in terms of property
1:28:27 way to know? Certificate of code
1:28:29 compliance inspections? Yeah, like what's our rate of
1:28:31 how many property owners are actually
1:28:33 going through the processes they should
1:28:37 and how easy is it to track
1:28:39 that? I don't even know how
1:28:45 As a rule, are the property owners
1:28:47 doing what they're supposed to do
1:28:49 to your knowledge? Or do we often
1:28:51 find, hey, there's a new tenant
1:28:53 in and they never bothered to come? Oh, that happens
1:28:55 all the time, but that's when
1:28:59 you know, it's not like we don't have
1:29:01 new business packets online or available
1:29:03 in the building department or all over the
1:29:05 website or you know, anything like
1:29:07 that. So we stop by. So we'll do our best
1:29:09 if needed after the fact to respond.
1:29:11 If we see a new business in there, we
1:29:13 stop in with a new business package.
1:29:15 We hand it to the tenant because
1:29:17 it's tenant's responsibility to communicate
1:29:19 this with building ownership.
1:29:21 Just because you have a policy doesn't
1:29:23 mean, you know, not everybody
1:29:27 Okay, and that's nothing new that's
1:29:29 Yeah, yeah, but we, like I said,
1:29:31 we find those all the time.
1:29:33 Is it, oh, well I really didn't know
1:29:37 you know, big business owners
1:29:43 concern would be the city has capacity.
1:29:49 for sure the zoning inspector
1:29:55 inspectors who are certified to do
1:29:59 the ability to inspect those.
1:30:03 Last question is what does the zoning
1:30:05 inspector mean as opposed to property maintenance
1:30:07 inspector? That's the terminology.
1:30:09 What does it mean? We just try to
1:30:13 property maintenance is enforcing everything
1:30:15 in 1306, which I hate calling
1:30:17 it our building code, but that's what it is.
1:30:25 So that would be your signage.
1:30:31 you know, architectural border review compliance
1:30:35 BZA, Board of Zoning Appeals
1:30:39 signage goes through. Outdoor dining permits or no?
1:30:41 Say what? Outdoor dining permits would be
1:30:45 going to pretty much spearhead the
1:30:47 well it's going to be the sidewalk
1:30:49 dining is what we're calling it.
1:30:51 And ADA compliance at those crosswalks.
1:30:53 Why don't we just call them a 1306
1:30:55 inspector and everybody will understand.
1:30:59 helpful for me to understand.
1:31:03 Budget question. There's an
1:31:05 increase in professional services
1:31:13 I did your document scanning and
1:31:23 I'm looking, I have that in front of me.
1:31:25 It's the stormwater engineering.
1:31:27 Oh, God. Yeah, it's the stormwater stuff that's
1:31:29 always in building departments budget. So we
1:31:33 fees for the engineering department.
1:31:37 So because everything I've been told
1:31:39 over the years, because we've talked about this
1:31:45 we collect the fees for engineering.
1:31:47 So when we do large scale plan
1:31:49 approval, anything over 8,000
1:31:51 square foot requires engineering
1:31:59 Because we collect the fees.
1:32:01 That's why that money, that professional
1:32:05 lives inside the building department.
1:32:07 Okay, but the majority of our
1:32:09 professional services fees.
1:32:11 Maybe I'm confused a little bit. So just quickly
1:32:13 to read into the record. So a couple
1:32:21 Next year it's proposed to be
1:32:25 Again, it lives inside the building department
1:32:27 because we collect the fees. But
1:32:31 outsource our plan review, so does
1:32:33 the engineering department.
1:32:35 Okay, so this is a reflection
1:32:41 the scale of the development that
1:32:45 So when we get the plans on
1:32:49 civil plans and we'll send them to
1:32:51 engineer Papke. And then his staff
1:32:55 they have to send it or do whatever review in
1:32:57 house. They calculate their
1:32:59 stormwater fees. We build those
1:33:03 And those plan review fees,
1:33:05 you know, that's why we charge for plan
1:33:07 review. Do we cover all of our costs
1:33:11 We do as the building department
1:33:15 engineering costs, it's one for
1:33:19 Okay, understood. That's helpful.
1:33:25 can you refresh my memory at least?
1:33:27 The community development block grant fund is listed
1:33:31 we're going to say that that covers
1:33:35 inspector. Okay. Which is dedicated
1:33:41 So that person, or is that covered
1:33:43 across many personnel or you dedicate
1:33:51 She is the property maintenance inspector
1:33:59 inspector gets covered by that too,
1:34:01 which is usually Ron Schwaben, but
1:34:03 with the building inspectors, they don't have targeted
1:34:05 areas. Everybody's all over
1:34:07 the entire city. Do you have a system
1:34:15 Because I need to prove that every year when we do
1:34:21 Thanks. That answers my questions.
1:34:23 Looking like we don't have any
1:34:25 others. So thank you, Mr. Parmley, for the work.
1:34:27 And it was great. I agree with Councilwoman
1:34:31 some correspondence with you. I can't remember
1:34:33 council college if I shared that with you.
1:34:35 Mr. Parmley requested that we share
1:34:41 obligations. We will take any bit of help
1:34:43 we can. Yeah, I know that the mayor's
1:34:45 newsletter covers that too, but
1:34:47 anything we can do to keep reminding, reminding,
1:34:49 reminding. Hands down. I appreciate it.
1:34:53 Before our break, which is now,
1:34:55 could we entertain a motion
1:35:11 There's a second. Second. Motion
1:35:13 made and seconded. Any discussion?
1:35:15 None. All in favor say aye. Aye.
1:35:17 Opposed? The ayes have it. So that
1:35:19 motion's been approved to approve the minutes
1:35:21 from last meeting. And then let's just
1:35:23 without objection recess for a break,
1:35:25 a 15 minute break. I think there's
1:35:27 food. Is that true in that room?
1:35:33 is free to help themselves. Thank you. We're on
1:57:17 We're going to get underway again in one minute.
1:59:11 We're a little off schedule, but I think the break was welcome.
1:59:14 Before getting into the next presentation,
1:59:16 I'd like to do some housekeeping motions before the committee.
1:59:21 Council members, I just emailed you a link, a fast link to tonight,
1:59:25 publicly posted agenda, publicly noticed agenda,
1:59:29 with reference to all the pieces of legislation that are on our docket.
1:59:33 Some of those are in Granicus, but Granicus focuses on other things.
1:59:38 So first, I'd like to move to receive and file some of the communications.
1:59:50 Communication of human resources,
1:59:52 Director Dillinger regarding salary ordinance could be moved to receive
1:59:55 and file so it falls off our agenda.
1:59:58 Same for Director Dillinger's communication regarding update to
2:00:03 various employment benefits of non-union employees.
2:00:06 And then finally, communication from council members Hamilton,
2:00:11 Steiner, Bullock, and Marx regarding the resolution in support of the
2:00:15 citywide conferencing program.
2:00:18 Yeah, I'll make a motion to receive and file docket items 10, 11, and 12.
2:00:22 Okay, a motion has been made and seconded. Is there a second?
2:00:25 Okay, motion has been made and seconded now.
2:00:30 Hearing none, all in favor say aye.
2:00:33 Opposed? And the ayes have it.
2:00:35 Next, there's some proposed amendments or proposed substitute amendments by the
2:00:43 administration of various items.
2:00:45 I have that for ordinance 33-2025 and before moving,
2:00:54 I want to make sure I've seen the others.
2:00:58 Director Mahoney emailed to both the finance committee and all of council
2:01:04 members earlier today at almost 2.30 p.m.
2:01:09 a proposed revision to exhibits A and B that accompany ordinance 33-2025,
2:01:20 which is the permanent appropriations ordinance.
2:01:23 It will be in the second motion to substitute potentially.
2:01:27 But the reading from Director Mahoney's email,
2:01:30 the only change is to include 1.5 million appropriate from fund 404 of the land
2:01:35 acquisition, reduce fund 401 capital improvement.
2:01:38 That's a correction responsibility to Council President Keppel's Q&A from last
2:01:43 time, and that change would be zero prior to submitted ordinance.
2:01:47 This is the administration's proposal.
2:01:50 So the request is to reset the draft before us so that we can consider what
2:01:56 the administration intended to propose.
2:02:00 And it's correctly reflected in the budget document.
2:02:03 It was just added, summed up in fund 401 by accident.
2:02:09 So a technical correction proposed by the administration.
2:02:12 I think we have some substantive deliberation to do soon or very,
2:02:18 you know, before the conclusion by council to make sure we agree with
2:02:24 But as far as the request to just get straight and clear what the
2:02:29 administration is proposing, I'm happy to make that motion.
2:02:33 So I'll go ahead and move to amend by substituting as proposed by
2:02:38 Director Mahoney that motion for that substitute.
2:02:52 Hearing none, all in favor say aye.
2:02:56 The council clerk has also suggested to me substitute amendments for 34-2025,
2:03:06 I'm not sure I have Maureen's there or Danielle.
2:03:10 I'm not sure I have those substitutes.
2:03:13 But perhaps before, maybe you could just bump that to the top of my
2:03:17 inbox so I make sure that before the end of tonight's meeting,
2:03:23 They are in Granicus, in the Granicus agenda.
2:03:27 To the Chair, I believe they just update the names of the officials in
2:03:32 the kind of like recitals of the ordinance by who has contracting
2:03:37 authority to reflect the code.
2:03:40 So once you've had the chance to look at them, I'd be comfortable
2:03:48 Director Mahoney, you agree with that?
2:03:53 Why don't we just do that now?
2:03:57 So I'll move that we amend, I'll do one at a time.
2:04:02 So I'll move that we amend 34-2025 by substituting the alternative.
2:04:12 Hearing none, all in favor say aye.
2:04:16 Finally, I'll move to amend by substituting ordinance 36-2025 with
2:04:23 a version listed in our Granicus agenda.
2:04:35 By substituting ordinance 36-2025 with the version listed in our grant agenda.
2:04:49 Our housekeeping has been accomplished for this evening.
2:04:53 Thank you to committee members and the administration.
2:04:57 Now we're back to planning the development department, which is budgeted for as long
2:05:05 I guess we could catch up on some time, council members, if we can be a little bit rapid fire
2:05:13 But Director Buyington, thanks for being here, for waiting until the later parts of
2:05:22 Thank you, members of council.
2:05:29 We have some new employees in our department this year.
2:05:33 So Johanna Schwartz was a long-term administrative assistant for the department.
2:05:37 We recently hired Carrie Coice.
2:05:40 She just started and she's doing great, so I'm sure you'll see a lot of communications
2:05:46 And as Commissioner Pirmilley also addressed, we do have a new zoning inspector.
2:05:55 I'll go into a little more detail in what she's done since she's been hired.
2:05:59 We're very impressed with her.
2:06:02 Otherwise, we remain staffed with planners, a development officer managing our federal
2:06:05 funds, and a programs manager implementing the housing grants and loans.
2:06:11 We continue to staff and or support and show representation on many boards, most
2:06:18 notable being the Planning Commission, Architectural Board of Review, the Board of
2:06:22 Zoning Appeals, and then starting in 2026, the Complete and Active Streets Education
2:06:31 Major projects and initiatives undertaken this year in coordination with Public Works
2:06:37 include various park improvements and ADA improvements, CDBG street resurfacing,
2:06:43 Bunce Road Rehabilitation and Streetscape, design the electric vehicle
2:06:50 charging stations, parking meter upgrades, traffic calming implementation,
2:06:54 Winterhurst Arena upgrades, tree giveaway program, and skate park improvements.
2:07:08 We have continued our core services, which among other things include
2:07:11 assisting developments through various boards and as part of their entitlement
2:07:16 process, providing loans and grants to homeowners and small businesses and
2:07:20 providing public art throughout the city.
2:07:25 Major non-capital programs undertaken include the active transportations and
2:07:32 safe street implementation, public art implementation, the zoning code refresh,
2:07:37 climate action and sustainability implementation, sale of land and
2:07:42 properties, emergency residential rent assistance, small business assistance,
2:07:47 and residential renovation.
2:07:51 Moving further into planning and economic development.
2:07:55 This is a line chart that you see every year that represents the
2:07:59 applications taken annually over the last 10 years for Planning Commission,
2:08:04 Architectural Board of Review, and the Board of Zoning Appeals.
2:08:08 It does not represent the multiple times that they may come back one
2:08:15 We have 127 ABR applications, 33 Planning Commission, and 21 BCA.
2:08:25 And then this slide represents what our new employee, Leslie Page, has been
2:08:30 doing with the zoning inspection.
2:08:32 So she was hired within July.
2:08:35 She really started her inspection process in August.
2:08:40 As represented in this chart and graph through November, there were 95 cases
2:08:45 that she opened with 59 cases successfully being closed.
2:08:49 Further, 178 inspections were performed.
2:08:52 The average days from open to close right now is 27 days.
2:08:57 And Commissioner Parmley went over in general what she's doing, but a little
2:09:02 more specifically, she is looking at signage that has never been approved or
2:09:10 She's monitoring the outdoor dining, and she's working on the awnings that
2:09:19 But also, she's taking part in making sure that projects that go through ABR and
2:09:25 Planning Commission are constructed mostly signage to the way that they
2:09:29 That's something that we just really haven't had time to follow up on
2:09:33 So again, she's shown herself to be very valuable, and I think this
2:09:39 position will probably morph a little bit as time goes on, but it's already
2:09:43 helping both of our departments.
2:09:44 As Building Commissioner Parmley discussed, 2025 has been a really busy
2:09:51 year for construction with a total valuation of projects exceeding $169
2:09:57 Two largest projects that construction commenced on in 2025 include the
2:10:05 downtown development project known as Lakewood Common and the very
2:10:08 Buick redevelopment known as the Westline.
2:10:11 So starting with the Westline, I won't go into great detail, but just a
2:10:16 recap of the site plan, having two mostly residential buildings on the
2:10:21 north and south side of Detroit with 124 new residential units and 148
2:10:31 And you can see here the renderings that were approved and the recent
2:10:36 construction, which they're going very quickly on this, so we're very
2:10:41 happy to see the construction moving along so fastly.
2:10:46 The downtown development known as Lakewood Common now, you've all seen
2:10:51 this a million times, so I won't go over the project.
2:10:56 We had the groundbreaking event in September, and CASTO's been moving
2:11:00 forward with the site improvements, and I think the general public's very
2:11:03 happy to see everything moving along, despite the weather as well.
2:11:11 The projects approved that are planned for construction in 2026 include the
2:11:14 townhomes at Thurow Place located north of the tracks between Donald
2:11:18 and Thurow, as well as the view on Detroit East, which will be
2:11:23 constructed at the previous site of the Spitzer business, and we'll
2:11:34 Moving into park projects in general, we continue to make
2:11:37 improvements within our parks with assistance from Public Works.
2:11:41 We're diligently implementing projects within the Madison Park Master
2:11:44 Plan, and we hold public input meetings at the parks prior to making
2:11:49 the improvements and prior to the design.
2:11:53 First we'll go over Madison Park improvements.
2:11:57 So last year I came to you saying this was, we were in the design
2:12:00 process for the Birdtown Connector, and that has been constructed,
2:12:05 and it connects through a vacant lot on Halstead to an existing path which
2:12:09 was expanded to make a loop path within the park.
2:12:14 The farmers market at Madison Park is still very successful.
2:12:20 The North Union Farmers Market was held for 20 weeks from June through
2:12:25 There were 11 farms, 28 food vendors, five artists, six musicians who
2:12:31 Over $5,000 in assistance programs were utilized, and it is estimated that
2:12:36 for every $1 spent, the $1.60 to $2 was generated locally.
2:12:44 For 2026, the Footsall Court renovation is planned, which I
2:12:48 believe Director Gordon spoke to as well.
2:12:51 The public engagement and conceptual design for Beck's Pool improvement is
2:12:56 also slated for 2026, and we'll be working with public works in regard to
2:13:02 the public engagement process.
2:13:09 And then I'm going to turn it over to Assistant Director Boss to talk a
2:13:12 little bit about phase two of the skate park.
2:13:16 Hopefully everybody's familiar with we completed the second phase of the
2:13:19 skate park there in March this past year, kind of highlighted the main
2:13:24 elements that that focused on in that northern and kind of north western
2:13:31 section of the existing skate park.
2:13:34 So worked in close partnership with the City Engineering Division and
2:13:39 Public Works to get this project funded, designed, and completed.
2:13:44 And then while they were finishing construction and the final inspections,
2:13:50 our department worked closely with the Public Square Group to use the
2:13:55 existing, the remaining contingency from the construction project along
2:13:59 with a donation from Public Square Group to purchase the pretty
2:14:04 significant shade element there that was then installed by Snyder
2:14:08 Recreation on the south end of the park.
2:14:11 So glad to have this one done this year.
2:14:21 Moving on to Murrell-Buntz Park improvements, new playground equipment
2:14:26 was installed with the age group in mind of two to 12, provided a
2:14:34 shelter for intergenerational gatherings and shade, drinking
2:14:37 fountain and new picnic tables, benches, and trash cans.
2:14:46 At Niagara Park, we also installed playground equipment, same age group
2:14:50 in mind, ages two to 12 and a swing set for all ages, an accessible path
2:14:55 connecting the park to a public sidewalk and a paved picnic area was
2:14:58 also constructed, new picnic tables, benches, and trash cans were also installed.
2:15:07 Moving on to public art, the 2024 Spectacular Vernacular was the
2:15:12 asphalt art implementation, which did not occur until 2025, but we
2:15:18 believe it was very successful.
2:15:21 Amanda Kramer from our department works really hard at implementing public art.
2:15:26 As part of this process, she engaged the Hayes Elementary School
2:15:29 students for some art ideas.
2:15:31 And again, the purpose of this is to slow traffic and create a safer
2:15:36 space for pedestrian crossings.
2:15:38 Intersections were along Delaware at Woodward, Olive and Caravelle.
2:15:43 The 2025 Spectacular Vernacular included utilizing artistic vinyl wraps on 42
2:15:52 traffic signal boxes, 11 artists were engaged through an RFP process, and
2:15:58 we've heard a lot of good things from the public as well on this project.
2:16:06 I'm not sure how much of the public is aware of our interactive public art map.
2:16:11 So, um, I was going to try to get to that link.
2:16:39 I mean, it's right on our, it's on our website.
2:16:52 So you'll see on there on the left-hand side, um, is all the
2:16:55 different pieces of public art.
2:16:56 So you can search things two ways.
2:16:58 You can either go to the left side and click on the public art and it'll
2:17:01 show you on the map where it is.
2:17:03 Or if you go to the map, you can click on the map and it'll show you
2:17:06 the piece of art and give you some details regarding the artist.
2:17:09 So, um, I think it's, I think it's pretty cool.
2:17:12 I don't think a lot of people know about it.
2:17:14 Um, and we've been talking about ways that we could maybe make, make
2:17:18 this more fun for, for the general public, you know, to have some sort
2:17:21 of, um, you know, outings where how many places can you get to something
2:17:25 like that, so I just wanted to bring that to your attention if you
2:17:46 Moving on to implementation of the, uh, climate action plan.
2:17:53 So, um, uh, the plan lists, as you all know, 50 actions to get to net
2:18:00 zero, uh, the net zero goal.
2:18:04 Um, so going through the actions within the plan first regarding
2:18:09 energy efficiency, um, the city purchased electric, electric
2:18:13 jaws of life through NOPEC with NOPEC funds.
2:18:16 Um, the city center, EV electoral upgrades were funded through NOPEC
2:18:20 as well, LED lights for the city center, the wastewater treatment
2:18:25 plant, city garages and city hall conference rooms were
2:18:28 purchased with NOPEC funds.
2:18:30 Um, and then the first phase of the fluorescent bulb recycling
2:18:33 pilot, um, which is, was funded through the, uh, county
2:18:36 solid waste district, um, was, was started.
2:18:40 So, so we, we bought the, um, the bags or the boxes that are
2:18:44 required for, um, the bulbs, but we weren't able to connect
2:18:48 with the service provider to have the, um, to have them recycled.
2:18:53 So we're looking to do that this year, if we can get some funding
2:18:55 for that, and then, and then we installed the EV charger at
2:19:05 Moving on to transportation participated in walking and biking
2:19:09 audit with a bike Lakewood, um, ongoing audits to assess
2:19:13 conditions in the school zones, installed 17 new bicycle safety
2:19:17 signs, uh, funded with donation from village bicycle cooperative,
2:19:22 repainted the Detroit Sharrows, um, partnered with Lakewood
2:19:25 schools and bike Lakewood to facilitate hike and bike school
2:19:29 week up to three times now a year.
2:19:33 Uh, we expanded the tree giveaway in conjunction with public works,
2:19:37 um, to twice a year, um, and moved from 200 trees, given away to 400
2:19:42 trees, education and outreach.
2:19:46 Um, we have had some periodic sustainability sections within
2:19:50 the city's, um, newsletter and what we were awarded recycling
2:19:54 awareness grant through the county solid waste district, which
2:19:57 allowed us to distribute 10,000 recycling education magnets.
2:20:02 Um, extreme emergency management, management, we're
2:20:08 utilizing Cove community center, uh, during inclement weather.
2:20:13 And then I'm going to pass this over to assistant director
2:20:16 boss to talk about the EV charging stations.
2:20:20 Um, so we have, we have 22 ports, uh, available and we just
2:20:25 continue to kind of look at the distribution and access of,
2:20:29 uh, publicly available chargers.
2:20:31 Um, this last year we added a, uh, our second new fast charger,
2:20:37 um, at Kauffman park, uh, which was a good, uh, addition leveraging
2:20:43 We continue to, uh, as we work to expand the infrastructure,
2:20:47 we really only expand the infrastructure as grants are
2:20:50 available to pay for that equipment.
2:20:52 Um, and so Kauffman was funded through no-pec funding.
2:20:55 Um, we are looking to install a, another DC fast charger this
2:21:00 next year using no-pec funds again at city center, which is
2:21:04 one of the, uh, our most popular level two, uh, charging
2:21:10 Um, and so we're working again with engineering and public
2:21:12 works to do the necessary power upgrades with first
2:21:15 energy to that site, uh, which will also benefit a host
2:21:20 of other, um, users of that, that power like layup Lakewood
2:21:24 and some other things, since that is a very challenged,
2:21:27 uh, breaker panel right now.
2:21:29 Um, so that's, that's the next plan station this next year.
2:21:33 The only interpending installation that we have is kind of hanging out there.
2:21:37 We have worked with no WACA and we were awarded a grant in 2024
2:21:41 for four ports and the red circle there at the intersection
2:21:45 of Detroit and West one 17th.
2:21:47 Um, that was a CFI grant, federal grant that came through
2:21:51 no WACA as part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
2:21:54 And I don't know the status of that.
2:21:57 Um, I think that's just kind of hanging out there right now.
2:22:01 Uh, we're ready to work with no WACA if that funding comes
2:22:05 through, um, but that that's the only other piece that's
2:22:08 hanging out there outside of our kind of normal pace of
2:22:12 looking at NOPEC funding to increase the access
2:22:14 to these, uh, this infrastructure.
2:22:24 um, goals for 2026, um, include, um, exploring a sustainable purchasing plan,
2:22:31 um, exploring pilot home retrofit project, um, and then working
2:22:37 with, uh, council and specifically, um, council woman Hamilton Steiner,
2:22:41 um, in regard to increasing our composting, looking back again,
2:22:47 working with the law department on a balloon release ordinance and
2:22:50 then working towards certifications specifically to achieve the
2:22:53 bicycle friendly community designation, the silver Solmart certification
2:22:57 and to attain Arbor Day foundation tree growth award.
2:23:07 Uh, we continued to implement the Lakewood active transportation plan
2:23:12 And as stated before, we're working to implement the complete streets
2:23:15 and, um, the case committee in 2026.
2:23:22 Just a map from the plan, an active transportation plan, showing the
2:23:25 existing and proposed infrastructure improvements.
2:23:29 And then moving back to assistant director boss to talk about the
2:23:32 neighborhood traffic and calming.
2:23:37 Everybody's favorite program, neighborhood traffic calming.
2:23:40 Um, so we can revisit this in greater detail.
2:23:43 I'm sure we will in the future.
2:23:45 Uh, I just wanted to provide a summary, um, of kind of above the,
2:23:50 uh, the, the bold blue line there at the top.
2:23:53 That's, uh, that was kind of the, uh, the initial years of the
2:23:56 program went through 48 streets.
2:23:59 Um, below that would be kind of what we're working through right now.
2:24:03 Um, 46 streets and block were in progress.
2:24:07 Uh, we pushed out 18 determinations, uh, through October of this, this year.
2:24:13 There's still 38 actively under study and we are on pace that we get
2:24:17 about one or two every week.
2:24:19 Um, and so it is, it is something that we actively manage, um,
2:24:24 almost every single day, um, in terms of their, the streets that,
2:24:28 uh, and you can see kind of the map up there, the, those dark red lines
2:24:32 of the streets that actually have, um, speed tables, which is our
2:24:36 preferred kind of, uh, intervention.
2:24:38 If we get to that point in the process, um, there, if you work your way
2:24:43 down on the left to the 18 determinations made and communicated
2:24:46 this year, um, 15 of those had non-qualifying conditions
2:24:51 and we communicated that, um, some of those streets are
2:24:54 receiving, uh, radar signs.
2:24:56 That's kind of at the bottom.
2:24:57 There are nine, we have nine radar signs that we purchased
2:24:59 this year that are waiting installation.
2:25:02 Three of those streets that qualified, um, two of them, we've worked
2:25:07 all the way through the process.
2:25:09 Um, Giel from Clifton to Detroit, uh, went through the whole process
2:25:14 and we got through the final petition there and they'll have their
2:25:17 speed tables installed in the spring.
2:25:20 And I just finished, uh, Woodward this last week from Hillywood to
2:25:24 Delaware, had the block meeting with them in November and I got
2:25:27 the final petition results just before Thanksgiving.
2:25:31 And they, uh, also, uh, were able to document enough support on
2:25:35 there that they will be getting their speed tables installed
2:25:39 Um, I have one street Parkwood between Detroit and Franklin that
2:25:44 I'm currently working through their initial survey on.
2:25:47 Um, and then we'll, we'll pick up with them probably in
2:25:49 the, in the spring when the weather improves.
2:25:52 Um, that's, uh, kind of where we're at with traffic
2:25:55 homing, it is a, uh, it's a constant process.
2:25:58 We work closely with the residents to try to resolve, um, the issues
2:26:03 that they're seeing either through, uh, working them through our program.
2:26:07 They have qualifying, uh, conditions or through close coordination
2:26:11 with Lakewood police department and patrol for increased or focused
2:26:14 enforcement on their street and presence.
2:26:22 Focusing in on, um, housing and community development.
2:26:27 Um, council woman, Kevin wants to interject a quick question.
2:26:31 So I noticed at the bottom, it had, um, $60,000 is the budget
2:26:34 request for the, what, what is that specifically for?
2:26:37 So that's, uh, 60,000 is what we've had, uh, for the past couple of years.
2:26:41 And it is, it's proved to be a good number, um, sufficient for, uh, to
2:26:46 purchase the speed tables for those streets that make it through.
2:26:50 Um, just based on the time and the study and then the working with
2:26:55 residents, it's, it's a long-term process for these streets that do make it all
2:26:59 the way through at average is probably about a year, um, in terms of study
2:27:03 and then, and then working between the block meetings and the
2:27:07 And so it's, uh, looking at Gail Woodward and potentially Parkwood.
2:27:11 That's, that's sufficient for those three streets.
2:27:15 If we needed to get tables for them in 2026, um, as well as kind of
2:27:20 the, um, the radar, any additional radar signs that we worked through that
2:27:25 process, um, that's, it's, it's proven to be a good number and that's
2:27:29 why I've stuck with it each year.
2:27:31 You know about how much a speed table costs?
2:27:34 Each speed tables, it's around five grand, $5,000.
2:27:39 Radar signs are around 2000.
2:27:44 Does that account for any labor or just materials?
2:27:49 I haven't, uh, just have not been asked to include labor based on
2:27:54 just working with public works and streets that we do all the installations
2:27:57 as part of their normal routine work schedule.
2:27:59 Man, I'll hold, I'll hold my other questions for program
2:28:02 and substance related, but, but it does sound as if the planning
2:28:06 department is pre-estimating how many streets are going to qualify
2:28:10 and budgeting according to your, um, predictions rather than.
2:28:15 It's just been through, uh, um, five years of experience.
2:28:20 Let's say the need is higher.
2:28:25 Uh, if the need is higher, I usually would have to push that to the
2:28:29 next year in terms of procurement and installation.
2:28:32 I wouldn't agree with that.
2:28:33 I think you, you gotta bump up safety as soon as possible,
2:28:37 especially in the modest cost here.
2:28:39 But, but I understand what, what I think we're really addressing is,
2:28:43 um, the criteria and whether streets qualify for the existing criteria.
2:28:50 Let's, uh, keep moving forward with the presentation.
2:28:55 The next few slides are really in regard to CDBG and home, um,
2:29:01 and ESG dollars and what, uh, the Division of Community Development,
2:29:05 uh, has been able to accomplish this year.
2:29:07 Um, so I know I'll try to move quickly through this.
2:29:11 Um, so we issued $225,000 in CDBG loans and grants to homeowners and property
2:29:17 owners with low to mod, um, tenants, uh, rehabilitated 25 units of owner
2:29:23 and renter, um, occupied housing, uh, completed 10 CDBG paint rebate program
2:29:29 projects with the assistance of Lakewood Alive, administered the
2:29:33 Lake, Lakewood's fair housing program, uh, processed 14 resident complaints
2:29:39 and conducted 30 fair housing rental and sales audits and staffed the Lakewood's
2:29:44 ADA compliance and reasonable accommodation program.
2:29:51 We, uh, issued more than $125,000 in storefront renovation grants to
2:29:56 eight small businesses, which leveraged $350,000 in private investment.
2:30:02 We issued two Lakewood small business program grants, one to a female
2:30:06 owned business enterprise, uh, totaling $71,550, um, which leveraged
2:30:12 $400,000 in private investment, retained six full-time equivalent jobs
2:30:17 and created 10 new full-time equivalent jobs.
2:30:23 We also provided $700,000, um, in CDBG, ESG and home our funding for
2:30:30 social service programs, um, that serve more than 7,400 predominantly
2:30:35 low and very low, um, income residents.
2:30:41 Uh, the renovation or rehabilitation of 1472 Bell Avenue was completed,
2:30:46 as you know, and we are, um, going to be marketing that, um, to a
2:30:50 low mod income, um, family, um, and that family will also be able
2:30:56 to receive $10,000 for down payment assistance through home funds.
2:30:59 Um, we continued on the Nelson court project, um, initiating phase two, I
2:31:08 believe you're all very aware of this project as well, two buildings
2:31:11 with four units in each being, uh, renovated and a third story being
2:31:16 put on for one additional unit in each, in each structure.
2:31:22 So phase one, um, which was completed as completely, was
2:31:25 completely leased up in 2024.
2:31:30 So moving forward, we're looking to complete at least 14, uh, affordable
2:31:34 housing loan and grant projects in 2026, um, at least 15 storefront
2:31:39 renovation program, either facade or signage projects, complete phase two
2:31:45 of the Nelson court home multifamily affordable housing project partner
2:31:49 with, um, liquid community service center to continue to, um, provide
2:31:55 emergency rent and utility assistance, utilize tax abatement as necessary
2:32:00 to incentivize affordable, um, housing units, support low, moderate
2:32:06 income homeowners and tenants by investing CDBG and home funds into
2:32:10 construction and renovation of affordable units.
2:32:14 And we're going to utilize for the first time this year, a little
2:32:17 over $40,000 in CDBG funds to install public art, which would
2:32:23 be 35 pieces of, uh, public art, um, with the utility box, um, traffic
2:32:30 signal box wraps and five bus shelter wraps, so 30 traffic signal
2:32:34 box wraps and five bus shelter wraps.
2:32:41 You all are very aware of the citizens advisory committee that we
2:32:44 utilize to, um, recommend budgets for our programs and you also are
2:32:51 aware of what the budget is for CDBG.
2:32:54 Um, so that was a total of $1.75 million, which goes towards streets,
2:32:59 parks, implement housing and art programs, as well as much needed
2:33:03 services for seniors, children, and low mod residents, emergency
2:33:08 solutions grant, um, primarily goes towards, um, homelessness prevention.
2:33:16 We intend to, um, continue to partner with Lakewood alive on
2:33:19 multiple, multiple programs, which, um, council has seen a presentation
2:33:27 And then I'm going to turn this over, uh, for the remainder of the
2:33:31 presentation to assistant director boss.
2:33:40 So I'm here, uh, my pseudo public works had to talk about
2:33:44 when our first ice arena budget request.
2:33:50 So this is an update of the, uh, I believe I was before the council
2:33:55 and June or July with our last update on this project.
2:33:59 So it's largely consistent with that.
2:34:01 I added some slides, so we'll kind of, I can, I can move through
2:34:05 this quickly, but, uh, we have just in terms of our 2025
2:34:10 accomplishments, which I don't really believe I talked about a
2:34:12 whole lot in June or July, um, learn to skate, learn to play
2:34:18 public skating opportunities really this, this past year have, um,
2:34:24 have been put in place at a much higher level than we had, uh, during
2:34:28 our first couple of months and year of, of when we retook control
2:34:34 of the arena, this 2025 was really the first year that we had
2:34:37 full control of the ice schedule, um, and took advantage of that
2:34:42 opportunity to really build in, uh, and lock in, uh, public
2:34:46 skating, learn to skate, learn to play all of those things were
2:34:50 the first things that were added to the schedule and pretty much
2:34:52 all other tenant organizations or other organizations had to
2:34:55 work around those opportunities.
2:34:57 Um, one of the biggest things that have grown, that has
2:35:00 grown this year has been our learn to play, um, in addition
2:35:04 to increasing opportunities to learn to skate and, and the
2:35:07 figure skating club, um, and some of the other sports that
2:35:10 we offer, it has been the learn to play hockey in terms of
2:35:12 our partnership with the Cleveland monsters and the mini
2:35:15 monsters program, um, that has really grown in 2025 and now
2:35:19 looking into 2026, the program has almost doubled in terms of
2:35:24 Um, and for most of that, it is, that is a low or no cost
2:35:30 program, uh, that, that full equipment's provided.
2:35:33 Um, and the benefit of that has been recognized by other
2:35:37 communities, um, so much so that Cleveland heights, uh,
2:35:41 worked, uh, to start their own mini monsters, uh, program this
2:35:46 So it's, it's a good success story that continues to grow.
2:35:49 In fact, this year we are, um, actually based on some
2:35:53 suggestions, uh, I think from our discussion back in June
2:35:56 and July, our partners with men that run the mini
2:35:59 monsters are actually looking to target Lakewood kids and
2:36:02 families specifically, um, in terms of, uh, pulling them
2:36:06 out of wait lists and other things to pump them into and
2:36:09 growing excess capacity to make sure that those kids get on
2:36:12 the ice, um, just as it is a liquid facility.
2:36:17 The, uh, new scoreboards are up and working.
2:36:20 That has been a, uh, an exercise in discovery,
2:36:22 learning, um, for parents and everybody, uh, in terms
2:36:25 of the capabilities of those are, uh, is nearly
2:36:28 unlimited in terms of what you can design.
2:36:29 And those are going to, uh, take a pretty, uh, front
2:36:33 facing role with a lot of the holiday programming,
2:36:35 open skates, there's theme skates and stuff that
2:36:38 there's going to take a full advantage of those ability
2:36:40 to play movies and other things.
2:36:44 I'll talk a lot more obviously about the locker
2:36:46 room and the rink renovation project.
2:36:48 And we did begin, uh, kind of at the initial scope,
2:36:51 scale and engineering work on the HVAC replacement
2:36:54 project, which I'll talk a little bit about.
2:37:01 Um, can I just ask you on the scoreboards?
2:37:04 I don't recall, do those have the capacity
2:37:07 and are we take, if so, are we taking advantage
2:37:09 of for them to be revenue streams in terms
2:37:15 That's, that's one thing that, uh, that that kind
2:37:17 of open up that additional channel that you can have
2:37:19 that, uh, and they, they are, um, in fact, there
2:37:23 was a, um, made the connection over the summer
2:37:27 and they're now building a closer relationship
2:37:29 with the liquid downtown business association, um, to
2:37:33 try to get more local businesses advertising
2:37:37 So that's a good, just a quick snapshot
2:37:43 Um, this was through October.
2:37:45 Um, you can kind of, I think I walked through
2:37:48 this last year in terms of the natural kind
2:37:50 of, um, sine wave or whatever you want to say
2:37:54 of the season and we go into shutdown.
2:37:56 Um, and we have had two shutdowns the last,
2:38:00 you know, one each kind of spring time, which
2:38:02 is a little unusual for Winterhurst that in the
2:38:05 past, uh, it had been, and we, we don't
2:38:08 anticipate shutting down in 2026.
2:38:10 Um, so hopefully there won't be as much
2:38:12 of a dip, um, in there as well as the
2:38:15 expenditures that you normally have when
2:38:16 you take the ice out and, and do without
2:38:18 the maintenance that we did.
2:38:20 Um, but we are, uh, fully back in the
2:38:22 black, um, September, October, and then
2:38:25 November, um, that total at the, the
2:38:29 bottom left, that's the net income kind
2:38:32 of grows as the, as the longer that we're
2:38:35 in the black, it grows in terms of an
2:38:37 operational reserve that we're then able
2:38:39 to pull on for some of those larger
2:38:41 expenses, um, when we get into shutdowns
2:38:44 and other, and those things.
2:38:45 And that's now up to, if I looked at
2:38:47 November's numbers, uh, that I just
2:38:49 received, it's around 57,000.
2:38:51 It's grown from 14 to 57,000.
2:38:54 While we're on this slide, can you
2:38:55 repeat where that operational reserve is
2:38:59 Uh, it's basically that, that bottom, if
2:39:02 you go all the way down to the bottom,
2:39:04 So currently this shows 14, 902, but
2:39:07 that is updated at 57, some thousand
2:39:10 dollars at the end of November, at the
2:39:12 And, um, is that, is this, this is
2:39:16 These, these funds are separate.
2:39:21 Yeah, this is, this is outside of
2:39:23 the city's enterprise fund, right?
2:39:28 So this is managed, this is managed
2:39:30 per our contract, our operating
2:39:32 This is managed through Lakewood
2:39:35 So this is their private balance
2:39:37 This is their balance sheet for the
2:39:38 facility that, that we then, we
2:39:44 And so is there, how, what are the
2:39:46 They, they deal with the, all the
2:39:49 income and the, they pay all the
2:39:51 operating expenses, not the capital,
2:39:54 And they then, the contract dictates
2:39:57 that they'll transfer funds to us
2:39:58 annually or monthly or something?
2:40:00 To, they basically hold on to the
2:40:03 reserve and that's just how it's
2:40:04 been worked out over the last year.
2:40:06 It's been more efficient for them
2:40:07 to hold on to the reserve because
2:40:11 But based on the contract, we
2:40:13 could legitimately pull every
2:40:15 cent back every single month.
2:40:17 So that's an option for now.
2:40:24 So they, I think that is my
2:40:29 We just found over the last two
2:40:31 years of operating that this is
2:40:32 the most efficient method rather
2:40:34 than them basically paying us
2:40:37 every month and then us having
2:40:38 to do invoices and everything
2:40:42 So, but what is our contract
2:40:44 I know we talked about this
2:40:45 years ago, but, uh, it's great
2:40:47 that, so we're upgrading the
2:40:48 quality of, of the offerings
2:40:50 We're certainly investing in,
2:40:52 although it's the city that's
2:40:53 paying for the capital upgrades,
2:40:56 operator then would be at your
2:41:01 You would monthly or quarterly
2:41:03 say prioritize X and Y over
2:41:08 And the kinds of things you're
2:41:11 telling them are what staffing
2:41:15 activities or is it cleaning
2:41:18 No, it's pro we work strictly
2:41:20 on like programming priorities.
2:41:23 And then I do review everything
2:41:26 that everything that supports
2:41:27 those programming priorities.
2:41:30 That's how I said another time,
2:41:32 maybe in a public recreation
2:41:34 discussion, I'm hoping city is
2:41:37 getting feedback and it sounds
2:41:39 Boss, that is running point on
2:41:42 So if we're getting feedback
2:41:44 from the parks and rec, the
2:41:52 involved in ice sports, they're
2:41:54 not at all, not involved at
2:41:59 So you're, you're, you, you
2:42:08 So these are the new scoreboards.
2:42:09 I think I showed you this back
2:42:10 in June, new scoreboards, um,
2:42:18 tournaments, um, very pleased
2:42:22 edge controllers specifically.
2:42:25 It is, it is a tablet based
2:42:34 technology instead of 1990s
2:42:43 It's, uh, it continues that
2:42:46 can type in their own names.
2:42:54 Um, so here's our capital plan
2:43:23 our vendor, which is train.
2:43:32 touch a little bit on those
3:01:05 also doing where applicable
3:01:12 priorities shared interests
3:01:38 that we won't in the future.
3:01:56 So yeah it's been a big hit
3:02:04 of cool if we had a dashboard
3:02:08 how we're progressing along
3:02:12 you know how far along we are
3:02:27 and all that you guys are doing.
3:02:33 wearing a lot of different hats.
3:02:34 So we appreciate your work.
3:02:41 with the Lakewood Hospital Fund
3:02:59 loan for downtown development?
3:03:05 they wouldn't have drawn down much
3:03:10 expense for twenty twenty five
3:03:12 I think we've only given them
3:03:13 like six hundred thousand so far.
3:03:17 it was in twenty twenty six.
3:03:28 under the under the hospital?
3:03:33 to manage some of our properties
3:03:44 round of monitoring for the EPA
3:04:10 the community health centers.
3:04:22 and also it is very helpful
3:04:36 ready to rock and roll here?
3:04:45 I think it's most meaningful
3:04:50 coming out of the department.
3:04:52 I think that's the best metric.
3:05:21 having been a police officer
3:05:33 There's no antagonism there,
3:05:41 with the magistrates as well
3:05:58 in discussing items with them.
3:06:02 and they would have a great
3:06:10 But they accept viewpoints,
3:06:14 and I think that just shows
3:06:18 we show the number of cases
3:07:07 of the development industry.
3:07:19 and what they're just trying
3:07:33 that fills an important need.
3:07:46 in saving outside legal fees.
3:07:56 Assistant Director Swallow,
3:08:00 so many years of experience
3:08:24 Others might take a few months.
3:08:47 the experience of the staff,
3:08:52 a satisfactory salary for them.
3:08:58 with these years of experience
3:09:14 You'll see a budget increase
3:09:20 I just wanted to bring them up
3:09:24 We also brought the assistant
3:09:31 with with their experience.
3:09:46 And I'll take any questions.
3:10:02 a great group of lawyers here
3:10:10 The one thing I've always been
3:10:15 management and how we do that.
3:10:20 you know, we have some forms
3:10:30 a contract management software
3:10:39 working with their contract
3:10:44 provision that kind of like
3:10:49 this is when staff notifies them
3:10:50 that they need to look at it
3:10:54 when the automatic renewals
3:11:02 at the same time as finances
3:11:18 has a module for contracts.
3:11:23 we've ever thought about that
3:11:25 and tried to go down that road.
3:11:29 I'm mindful of the contract
3:11:32 the last you brought it up,
3:11:35 budget discussions we've had.
3:12:00 We have probably five times
3:12:07 The agreements, the contracts
3:12:08 that are used by the engineer
3:12:11 is highly technical language,
3:12:15 The law department, we look
3:12:48 that nobody has ever identified
3:13:00 because it's so department-driven
3:13:05 on their specific agreements.
3:13:10 I'd be interested in having
3:13:11 more conversations with you
3:13:13 there are some ways we can do it
3:13:15 that aren't super cost-prohibitive
3:13:26 are you two discussing drafting
3:13:38 I mean, I think it's a lobe
3:13:44 and we have formed contracts.
3:13:53 I mainly do construction contracts
3:14:01 because it's typically favorable
3:14:11 I think there's an argument
3:14:29 we say this is the contract
3:14:36 you need to let us know now.
3:14:38 It's meaningful to our decision
3:14:41 that some administrative tools
3:14:48 But thank you for the dialogue
3:14:53 Okay, other council members,
3:14:55 Yes, Councilwoman St. Baker.
3:15:00 and the personal staffing page.
3:15:22 I believe it's listed that way
3:15:37 I consider this a full-time position
3:15:39 even though it is technical
3:15:43 and legally a part-time job right now.
3:15:50 And I guess then I start to wonder,
3:15:56 anything ever happened to me or George,
3:15:59 that you are the second in line, right?
3:16:04 if there are any implications
3:16:07 or complications as a part-time employee.
3:16:12 I think maybe I can take this.
3:16:16 is the option of being full-time or part-time.
3:16:17 And what the law director is politely saying
3:16:20 is that he's working for more than,
3:16:23 perhaps he's being compensated for.
3:16:25 And we thank you for that civic spirit.
3:16:29 And we'll get your next glass of wine
3:16:34 after me to make sure you're made whole.
3:16:38 But that doesn't speak to the other point you made,
3:16:43 so on the charter succession.
3:16:49 if there are any issues with that.
3:16:53 we have seven people on the personnel,
3:16:56 yeah, on the personnel chart here,
3:17:01 Eight, and I'm missing like the two law clerks.
3:17:07 Although I see them both listed as legal intern status.
3:17:12 Are they paid employees, part-time employees?
3:17:19 They are law students at Case Western
3:17:25 And so they work part-time as law clerks,
3:17:29 supporting the prosecutors principally.
3:17:33 So there are two law clerks part-time then?
3:17:37 And this was the first time we went with two.
3:17:40 That was at the request of our prosecutors.
3:17:42 We had invested in training for one law clerk
3:17:51 And I think the prosecutors out of efficiency
3:17:54 said it'd be good to have just slight overlap
3:17:57 and have two in the event that ever happens again.
3:18:00 because in this budget book, there's only one.
3:18:10 One for me on professional services
3:18:13 that fluctuates over the years.
3:18:15 It's going down pretty meaningfully
3:18:16 in the proposed 2026 level from 146,000 to 107,000.
3:18:24 Can you just give us a sense,
3:18:27 law director Bargo, of what that covers?
3:18:29 Typically it's outside council.
3:18:31 Maybe some of that activity is related to development,
3:18:33 major developments like Lakewood Hospital redevelopment?
3:18:40 The 2025 budgeted amount you're referring to,
3:18:46 That was the budgeted amount.
3:18:48 We are running at about 36,000 as of now.
3:18:52 So I don't expect that to even increase
3:18:54 that much through the year.
3:18:55 So we're way down to 36,000.
3:18:59 The 107 is a very conservative number.
3:19:02 It has been reduced, as you see, by 27%.
3:19:05 And I hope to come in at the same 36,
3:19:10 the $50,000 mark next year.
3:19:13 In an ideal world, I guess the law.
3:19:16 I mean, the finance department doesn't have actuals yet,
3:19:18 but a couple of times we're happy to learn
3:19:21 that the 2025 actual is trending
3:19:26 towards significantly below budgeted.
3:19:29 That's good to know because that way
3:19:31 we're not adding those two columns where,
3:19:35 I think Councilman Keppel had another question
3:19:37 where that was the same answer,
3:19:38 where the current year was coming in under budget.
3:19:41 But what drives that, is that something you can plan
3:19:47 It's all reactive, Chairman.
3:19:50 When we have the executive session to bring you up to date
3:19:53 on the pending litigation, you'll see why.
3:19:56 Those cases, unexpected, and the extension of them
3:20:00 throughout the appellate process was unexpected.
3:20:02 So there could be litigation that we thought
3:20:04 would move along in a calendar year,
3:20:06 and it's actually extended to the next year?
3:20:13 So contractual work or developments with that
3:20:16 fall under your department partly?
3:20:19 You know, for example, we're closing a bunch of contracts
3:20:21 with Casto for the hospital redevelopment.
3:20:24 Is that under planning or your department?
3:20:27 That has been in the planning, Chairman,
3:20:29 but as questions arise, sometimes we'll open up
3:20:33 a purchase order for the same law firm
3:20:35 relating to the development,
3:20:37 we being the law department.
3:20:38 And some of our internal time,
3:20:40 but not outside council will be devoted
3:20:45 to things like that, like Mr. Crossman's time,
3:20:53 Hearing none, I think you're released to go home
3:21:02 We saved the best for last.
3:21:10 Okay, we have a council member
3:21:13 who needs to be time conscious,
3:21:15 So we're eight minutes over.
3:21:17 Director Mahoney, he budgeted for 10 minutes.
3:21:19 So I think we can all work together to keep,
3:21:37 So I just wanted to also introduce,
3:21:39 because I know you guys don't see her too often,
3:21:43 She handles over everything over at the annex for us,
3:21:47 even though we call them the stepchildren sometimes,
3:21:49 but you know, but I'm happy that she's been added
3:21:56 And of course, you know, Jessica Eddie,
3:21:58 she's the budget guru that I couldn't.
3:22:02 Good to meet you in person.
3:22:05 So yeah, just a quick overview.
3:22:08 We kind of already talked about this
3:22:09 in the overview I did a couple of weeks ago,
3:22:13 but just part of our department is tax vitals
3:22:21 And we are actually one less staff.
3:22:25 In the previous, we had been budgeting
3:22:29 but Jessica is the assistant director
3:22:31 and budget manager rolled into one.
3:22:33 So happy to report we have one less staff budgeted.
3:22:40 we do an annual financial report,
3:22:43 and again, happy to report that in 2024,
3:22:46 we received the award from GFOA
3:22:50 and also the auditor of state award,
3:22:52 meaning there was no meaningful issues
3:23:01 Income tax, which Samantha oversees
3:23:05 is responsible for collecting 55% of general fund revenue.
3:23:10 She has a big job over there.
3:23:12 They audit over 30,000 tax returns,
3:23:15 and she keeps up on all the legislative updates.
3:23:20 And their staffing is the same,
3:23:22 has been the same for mainly a lot
3:23:24 of part-time employees over there,
3:23:26 and then some full-time too.
3:23:32 You can see how many tax returns
3:23:35 are filed in-house at the annex.
3:23:39 They're pretty busy in person.
3:23:44 And this is our tax collection history.
3:23:47 Always good to note that the credit
3:23:50 and the tax rate have been the same since 1981,
3:23:55 collecting 30 million through the end of October
3:23:59 on pace to achieve just what was budgeted in 25.
3:24:07 and you can see those have steadily increased
3:24:13 but this year we've already received more
3:24:22 Utility billing, they also have a big job over there.
3:24:25 They collect $31 million a year,
3:24:27 and they send out 14,000 bills per month.
3:24:32 And there's the staff for the utility billing.
3:24:36 Vitals, the one thing to note with them
3:24:38 is that now in 2025 they can issue death certificates
3:24:45 So that has increased their traffic over there
3:24:50 We are only one of three registrar locations,
3:24:52 so it's Cleveland, Parma, and Lakewood.
3:24:58 and sends everyone to Lakewood,
3:25:03 And they just have two people over there
3:25:05 that take care of all the birth and death certificates.
3:25:07 Like I said, the death certificate traffic
3:25:11 has definitely increased because of the new state system.
3:25:17 And I told you I could do it faster.
3:25:19 So my focus for 2026 is, like Mike Colletta said,
3:25:26 is our new payroll finance system,
3:25:29 which is a big, big undertaking.
3:25:32 It's general ledger, accounts payable,
3:25:35 budget, capital assets, cash management,
3:25:38 project accounting, purchasing, HR management,
3:25:42 payroll with employee access, accounts receivable,
3:25:45 cashiering, general billing, utility billing.
3:25:49 And with all rolled into that is a content manager
3:25:53 where you can have the contracts attached to POs
3:25:57 all electronically, nothing that we have right now.
3:26:00 And my big goal is to have a nice payment platform
3:26:07 where they can pay their utility bill,
3:26:10 hopefully incorporate the tax payments into there too,
3:26:17 that they, you know, their estimates or things like that.
3:26:20 And, you know, if they have a sidewalk bill,
3:26:23 if they have a high grass bill,
3:26:25 they can just all go to one spot and see.
3:26:28 If you look at the city of Maumee
3:26:31 and your spare time, they have a nice platform that's Tyler
3:26:34 and you can kind of get an idea of what my vision is,
3:26:41 Thank you, council members.
3:26:43 Did you know what my question is gonna be?
3:26:51 Is that what you're gonna ask?
3:26:52 Well, yeah, the question I'm gonna ask is,
3:26:56 you know, I appreciate the ability
3:26:57 and I think everyone does to pay,
3:27:01 but we eat the transaction fee is what I understand.
3:27:05 And I understand the convenience of that.
3:27:10 And if you ran the numbers, it might be that you,
3:27:12 but I have seen more often,
3:27:15 and actually First Energy just went back on this,
3:27:17 If you do auto pay now with First Energy,
3:27:19 they don't charge you a transaction fee
3:27:22 to use a credit card, but other places still do.
3:27:26 So I believe Enbridge still charges a transaction fee
3:27:31 And the reason I say that is that it's just,
3:27:33 it's 3% we could be getting or 2%,
3:27:35 whatever it is we could be getting.
3:27:37 And then if there is an issue with people
3:27:39 who can't pay because of means,
3:27:43 I'd be okay taking some of that money
3:27:45 and putting it into like some sort of need-based account
3:27:47 to help people with utility bills.
3:27:49 So I just, I have to ask, so.
3:27:55 that council has for consideration.
3:27:57 And we would pass on the exact fees.
3:28:01 With Tyler, they have a payment management system,
3:28:04 and we would only pass on the fees
3:28:05 that they are charging us, which is about 3%.
3:28:14 And I think it's worded based
3:28:17 on the fees charged to the city.
3:28:20 there's a whole bunch of legal things
3:28:22 you can't overcharge someone.
3:28:24 So say you can't charge someone 3%,
3:28:26 and the city's only paying 2%.
3:28:28 So I made it whatever the city's charged
3:28:32 that we can pass on that fees to the residents.
3:28:36 And that will be included in the whole setup.
3:28:43 It's thousands and thousands of dollars.
3:28:47 So your answer is yes to Mr. Baker's question
3:28:50 And we can project, that's not a small amount.
3:29:04 So this will more than pay for my finances.
3:29:12 so the finance system, the first year implementation,
3:29:16 the estimate is about 350,000,
3:29:18 but this is my third implementation.
3:29:21 I'm sure hoping we can be most efficient
3:29:23 and you're only billed for the hours
3:29:27 After that, the annual maintenance is guaranteed
3:29:32 which is not much more than we're paying
3:29:34 for a 25 year old system currently.
3:29:38 So, and now in support of fairness to the taxpayer,
3:29:42 of course, we're gonna need to make clear
3:29:43 that there's a transaction fee.
3:29:45 And I suppose some transaction fee traffic will,
3:29:49 the fact that there's a fee may divert
3:29:51 to other forms of payments.
3:29:52 So we may come in a little less,
3:29:54 but nevertheless, it's a valid point.
3:29:58 I have a couple of quick questions.
3:30:02 And thanks for the quick and informative presentation.
3:30:06 I'm very excited about the new system.
3:30:10 Definitely will make it a lot easier for folks,
3:30:12 everyone internally and externally.
3:30:15 So thank you for your leadership on that.
3:30:18 Page 70 of the budget book on the utility billing budget,
3:30:24 the 12 million in debt service for 2026.
3:30:28 Can you remind us a little bit about-
3:30:32 That is the note principal on the OWDA loan.
3:30:43 lead service, Vice President Baker's suggesting
3:30:56 Yeah, well, I'll have to get back on that,
3:30:57 but it is, it's definitely OWDA loan payments.
3:31:09 Water improvement, yeah, I'll get back to you though,
3:31:13 You're proposing to pay cash for that amount
3:31:16 No, that's just the debt service on that.
3:31:19 I'll have to get back on that.
3:31:23 So I don't get myself confused.
3:31:24 So maybe when we're corresponding,
3:31:27 we could explain, is that 12 million in new debt
3:31:29 that would be paid over time or is that
3:31:33 expenditures that belong just to that fiscal year?
3:31:37 That would belong just to that fiscal year.
3:31:41 Okay, so are we, it's notes and bonds,
3:31:45 one flipping to the other or-
3:31:48 It's from the Ohio water loan.
3:31:50 Oh, okay, it's a pass through in other words.
3:31:53 It's their revenue, it's on our books,
3:31:56 No, no, they loaned us the money for,
3:32:03 The revenue source was them,
3:32:06 and now we're allocating those dollars.
3:32:08 That's what this proposal is.
3:32:09 It would have been to pay for our water improvements.
3:32:22 Yeah, I'll get back down the detail on that, but.
3:32:27 Sorry to interrupt Councilman, anything else?
3:32:28 That's it, it's just, you know,
3:32:31 jumps out at 446% increase.
3:32:34 So I just wanted to, was one clarification on that,
3:32:37 so thanks. Yeah, I'll get that back.
3:32:38 Okay, other Council members?
3:32:41 Quick rapid fire questions for me, and they're easy.
3:32:46 Death certificates, do we charge a fee
3:32:48 and is there an opportunity to make revenue
3:32:50 with that increased traffic?
3:32:57 Birth and death are both set by
3:32:58 the Ohio revised code at $25.
3:33:01 Ohio takes a portion, a large portion of that.
3:33:04 I think Lakewood makes around, it's under $12,
3:33:07 it's $11 at some change, or maybe $12 at some change,
3:33:12 Okay, not that we're trying to make a profit,
3:33:14 but it offsets our costs, is that true?
3:33:18 It offsets the cost of the security paper
3:33:21 that we also pay for from Ohio.
3:33:24 It does, I mean, there's not too much,
3:33:26 the security paper for the death certificates
3:33:29 is the primary expense of that office outside of salaries.
3:33:35 With the death certificates, we have seen a massive uptick
3:33:38 since we've been able to issue
3:33:39 statewide death certificates.
3:33:42 Usually, that department can issue
3:33:44 50 to 80 death certificates a month,
3:33:46 and those are specific to Lakewood-located deaths.
3:33:49 Now that we can issue statewide-like birth,
3:33:51 we have done 230 in two weeks.
3:33:55 Guess what I'm saying is when neighboring communities
3:33:56 come and use our office, are we losing money
3:33:59 on that service, or are we even?
3:34:02 It's, yeah, we're gaining money because,
3:34:05 yeah, it's just they're printing more copies
3:34:08 and we're able to serve Cleveland deaths, too.
3:34:10 Even Lorraine, we've gone out as far as Lorraine.
3:34:13 Funeral Home's coming to our office.
3:34:15 So is it cash-neutral to the city,
3:34:20 I don't know how much the paper is.
3:34:25 It would definitely not cost the city.
3:34:26 Yeah, it does not cost the city.
3:34:28 I just wanna understand the concept.
3:34:30 It's a, I mean, the reason we-
3:34:31 It would be slightly positive.
3:34:34 Because it's not $11 per sheet of paper.
3:34:36 We provide this as a convenience, I think,
3:34:38 to our residents, primarily.
3:34:41 or are we required to have this department?
3:34:44 We are not required to have this department.
3:34:46 So we do it, and we've done it for years.
3:34:48 Yeah, I think it comes stemmed
3:34:49 from the hospital being here, too.
3:34:51 There was a lot of more traffic.
3:34:54 But now that they've opened it up today,
3:34:55 why do we have exceeded expectations?
3:34:57 Yeah, thank you for letting answer that question.
3:35:02 is it possible that our package can improve
3:35:06 as part of this new software package?
3:35:07 It is not part of the Tyler package.
3:35:09 They don't have a tax software, but-
3:35:14 We'll just pay it on the portal.
3:35:17 It would just, that's my vision.
3:35:20 Okay, but the calculation of the 1040 easy,
3:35:24 That would still have to be with the tax software.
3:35:27 I mean, it's, we would not be able to,
3:35:29 there's not have it calculated through Tyler.
3:35:32 I mean, I used to be a schedule C employee.
3:35:34 I'm no longer, but I think I tried last year
3:35:37 and I still couldn't get it to work.
3:35:39 I'm a size of one, but my point is that,
3:35:44 perhaps that's worth an investment by the city
3:35:48 if we think that that would improve effectiveness,
3:35:50 convenience or collections.
3:35:52 And I would like to see a more effective e-file site.
3:35:55 It is one of our bigger complaints that we get
3:35:56 besides just having a tax alone,
3:36:00 that it is not the most user-friendly site.
3:36:03 We have built guides to assist people on the phones
3:36:06 and to help them learn it better,
3:36:08 but it is one of our weak points
3:36:11 is the e-files, navigating the e-file site.
3:36:14 We've talked about it over the years.
3:36:15 I think the feedback previously was,
3:36:18 hey, it's expensive to custom code what it would be.
3:36:22 Maybe that's still the case.
3:36:23 But again, we took a multi-year view,
3:36:27 maybe it'd be worthwhile to do that.
3:36:30 And that's my last question is,
3:36:31 if we go back to the slide for revenue collections,
3:36:33 they've been going very significantly up over the years.
3:36:38 In the early years, it was,
3:36:40 this predates a lot, most of us,
3:36:46 and invested in her own tax department collections
3:36:53 And the rationale was we thought we could do
3:36:55 a more efficient and effective job
3:36:57 and that we were improving year by year
3:37:00 on fewer truancies and non-filers.
3:37:05 And is that part of why our tax receipts
3:37:09 That second column says changing collections.
3:37:12 Or is most of what we're looking at
3:37:15 a reflection of rising median incomes in Lakewood?
3:37:20 I would think a big chunk of this rise in collections
3:37:25 but also the switch to work from home.
3:37:29 We have seen a shift in our withholding accounts
3:37:32 where we collect more withholding each month
3:37:34 from residents working from home
3:37:36 and working only in the city of Lakewood now.
3:37:37 They're no longer working in a city
3:37:39 and then having to pay Lakewood.
3:37:41 It's coming right out of their paychecks.
3:37:50 But some of that is other reasons too, right?
3:37:55 Yeah, the median household income
3:37:56 definitely plays a part in that.
3:37:58 And I ran the numbers and it's not included in this slide,
3:38:02 but we have been able to keep our cost of collections
3:38:05 under 4% of the 33 million.
3:38:09 So steadily since we've left RETA in 2005,
3:38:12 there were some spikes, some definitely lower years,
3:38:15 especially during the recession years,
3:38:16 but it has stayed under 4%.
3:38:19 Really good work, thank you.
3:38:20 Maybe use a informational request later.
3:38:23 I know we're out of time tonight,
3:38:24 but it'd be interesting to see the breakout
3:38:28 You know, reduction of truancy, our own internal costs,
3:38:34 the work from home bump and the median increase bump.
3:38:38 Hope that's not a ton of work,
3:38:39 but that would be very instructive information for us.
3:38:42 And then if we're gonna add a new category of income
3:38:45 where we're no longer gonna comp fees,
3:38:48 I mean, it's a good point that Mr. Baker's been making.
3:38:50 It's kind of an industry norm
3:38:51 that even for charitable donations,
3:38:53 you're typically encouraged to pay the transaction fee
3:38:58 So we're doing a stronger and stronger job
3:39:02 of on the revenue side and that's meaningful.
3:39:06 So I personally would welcome the chance
3:39:09 to study up a little further.
3:39:12 That's all my questions, Councilman Keppel.
3:39:14 Oh, I just wanted to mention too,
3:39:16 in addition to being very efficient
3:39:18 by, as you mentioned, saying the cost,
3:39:22 we do actually, I see all the time people complimenting
3:39:25 the tax department, which is really kind of remarkable
3:39:28 because people complain about everything on social media
3:39:31 and then whenever someone's like,
3:39:35 And they're like, oh, just go to the tax department.
3:39:37 So I just wanted to point that out.
3:39:41 It's a tough job sometimes.
3:39:41 Yeah, you wouldn't expect that,
3:39:42 but you know, to make it as painless as possible.
3:39:46 I will share that with the staff.
3:39:51 That's the end of our agenda for tonight.
3:39:53 Council members will continue working
3:39:56 between now and next Monday
3:39:58 on council budget priorities, form submissions,
3:40:03 and drafting with the administration
3:40:07 some potential amendments for consideration.
3:40:09 You should see that before next Monday.
3:40:13 I'll share with the administration and council
3:40:15 so that there'll be a chance to consider options
3:40:21 We don't have time tonight to delve into that,
3:40:24 but we've been having effective
3:40:27 and good deliberations, I think.
3:40:29 So thank you all for your attention.
3:40:31 Hard work and clear presentations by the administration.
3:40:35 Without objection, we are adjourned.