Amberley Village - Council Meeting - September 9, 2024
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Amberley Village - Council Meeting - September 9, 2024
[BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] Going to call the meeting of the Emily Village Council of September 9th, 2024 to order and in five seconds we will call the roll. >> Three, two, one. >> Richard Bardack, Ben Hunt. Here, Adam Frankel. >> Here. >> Keiley Paul. >> Here. >> Bob Rosen. >> Here. >> Jay Shatz. >> Here. >> Dara Wood. >> Here. >> Scott Larmer. >> Here. >> Andy Keke. >> Here. >> Claire Eichner. >> Here. >> Chief Wallace. >> Here. >> Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. >> Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [BLANK_AUDIO] >> The minutes of the council meeting of August 12th were distributed in the packet. Are there any questions or additions or corrections to the minutes? Hearing none, we will assume that those minutes are approved as they were sent out. I'm not calling the manager to give the finance report. >> Thank you, Mayor. The item in the packet is the UAN report. And on top of that is a memo that summarizes the finances. We're talking about the month of July this evening. So for the revenue for the month of July, we collected $235,000 in earnings tax. A year to date is $2.5 million. So it represents about 65% of what we had estimated to collect for the year. So we're estimating that the earnings tax would be about $3.8 million this year. So we're at a 65% rate as of the end of July. For revenue for the month of July, the total was a little over $900,000. A year to date, we're at 4.9 for revenue, so we're sitting at a 71% collection rate on revenue. So we're estimating about $6.9 million in the general fund revenue. On the expense side, the month of July was a lower expense month for us. We spent over $370,000. Year to date, we have spent $4.2 million. Our budget for this year is $7.4 million. So we've spent about 56% of the budget up through the month of July. And we concluded the month of July with a $5.7 million unencumbered general fund balance. And that concludes my report. >> Any questions or comments for the manager on the finance report? Hearing none, we will go to the employee service recognitions. >> Thank you, Mayor. This is an opportunity for us to recognize employees that reached certain milestone anniversaries with their service with the Amberleigh Village. So tonight, we have the opportunity to honor and recognize three individuals. So the first one I'd like to call up is Sergeant Brandon Gering. So I'm going to tell you a little bit about Brandon. Brandon began his law enforcement career at your center stage, Brandon. He began his law enforcement career in Arlington Heights. That would have been in November of 2005. He then served in the Lachlan Police Department, and that was from 2006 to July of 2014. And I'd want to point out that during this time is when Brandon was working on Lachlan about 2009, that he was struck on I-75, nearly losing his life. His probability of recovery, full recovery was pretty dim, but he certainly made a full recovery. And we're certainly thankful for that. And the shield, which you are all very familiar with, was very instrumental in assisting Brandon and his family during that time. So Brandon was recruited to come to Amberleigh Village in 2014. And Brandon served for a few years and became a Sergeant in 2018. And then he was most recently assigned to the Detective Bureau. In 2023, Brandon was appointed the Assistant Drill Master of our Fire Department, and he currently holds the rank of District Fire Chief. He's completed leadership training with the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association. And he also received leadership training through the State of Ohio Supervisors Training and Education Program, STEP. And then he has also completed Police Executive Leadership College. So Brandon has been a captain on the Hamilton County Fire Investigation Unit since 2013. He has also served on the Hamilton County Police Association Mobile Field Force for three years as a certified grenadier. And he's been trained to deploy less than lethal weapons. So we're very thankful for Brandon's service, we're thankful for him being an officer here in Amberleigh. And certainly want to congratulate him on his ten years of service with Amberleigh Village. And the mayor is going to be presenting him with a certificate and then also a service pin and a gift card to thank you, Brandon, for your service to the village. Thank you. [applause] [laughter] [inaudible] Our next employee to recognize is Bobby Williams. Bobby, come on up. Bobby has been a dedicated member of the village for ten years. He has served both as a maintenance worker and also as a firefighter. And you see something on his knee, he has got injured on a recent fire run that he participated in. So he's facing some few challenges coming up. But Bobby serves as a maintenance worker as well as a firefighter. He's married to Mary Williams and together they have five children, sons Chet and Peyton and daughters Ryan, Sophie and Sidney. It looks like maybe they're in the audience. Okay, all right, you want to introduce them? [inaudible] Cool, thanks for coming, girls. Bobby is recognized for his heavy equipment operations in the maintenance department and he represented Amberly Village admirably in 2023 in the Hamilton County snow plow rodeo where he finished fifth out of 52 drivers, five out of 52, that's pretty good. In his spare time, Bobby enjoys spending time with his five grandchildren and participating in fantasy football. Bobby is known for his reliability and for bringing a sense of humor to the workplace, so we've all gotten to experience that. So tonight the mayor is presenting to Bobby a certificate and also a service pin and a gift card for your use. Congratulations and thank you very much, Bobby, for your service. [applause] [silence] And our third recognition is a 15 year recognition pin, so we're recognizing Andrea Alt, so Andrea, are you here? Come on in. So Andrea began her career at the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office in corrections, so she was at the Hamilton County Jail working from 2004 through 2009 and she joined Amberly Village on October 13th of 2009 and later she'd launched Amberly's first K9 program in 2016 with her partner whom we probably know more so than Andrea, but that's Creed, you know, we all know Creed. But both Andrea and Creed are state and nationally certified as a K9 team and Andrea is a certified Ohio State K9 evaluator. Andrea organizes the annual Amberly Bike Safety Fair which I know Keeley is quite fond of and she also serves as the department's Taser and Pepper Ball instructor. She is founded and manages the non-profit K9 Creed Armor program which provides bulletproof vest for K9 units in other departments. And Andrea was recently honored with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office Sheriff's Challenge Coin for her contributions to their K9 therapy program. So we thank Andrea for her 15 years of service to Amberly Village. We also honor her for her two years of service in the U.S. Army as she is a veteran. So we congratulate Andrea and she'll be receiving a certificate and a service pin as well as a gift card. Andrea, thank you very much for your service. [Applause] [Applause] The next item on the agenda we have a citizen who has requested to speak to council. I'm going to call on Rabbi Weinrib who's the Rabbi of Congregation Zuko Nairiezer who wishes to address the council. [Applause] Andrea, thank you council. My name is Avram Weinrib, I live at 60-605 West Bar Makers Drive. I'm the Rabbi of Zuko Nairiezer at 2455 Section Road. I have been president of Emily Village for more than 10 years. During that time, I've helped encourage dozens of young families to move to the village. One of the things that attracted me and many of those families to Emily is the warm and welcoming place that it is. Last council meeting, an updated human rights ordinance is introduced and heard. The ordinance represents many months of work by the committee trying to strike a careful balance. They wanted to issue a clear message to residents in those visiting the village that here we respect everyone. At the same time, they recognized that the best way to do so is through education. At the end of the last committee, a new list of definitions was added to the ordinance and not appeared in the previous version. But the purpose was, we were told, was to educate individuals to the types of conduct that could be deemed to be discriminatory. After viewing the draft of the Orthodox Institutions in Emily and discussing it together, we felt it was important that to maximize the educational benefit, it should be also be clear as to what that conduct is not discriminatory, if it's performed by religious entity, as per current Ohio, and federal law. We therefore respectfully ask that a simple one-line amendment be considered to clarify that the ordinance does not change the current protections enjoyed by religious institutions in Emily under Ohio and federal law. The memo would state nothing provided for in this ordinance should limit the religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society's exemption from anti-indiscrimination laws pursuant to the federal and Ohio law. Thank you for your consideration. I'm happy to answer any questions about this amendment. Any questions or comments for Rabbi Weinrip? We will be taking up the ordinance, the second reading, which is after it'll be and just send it in a little bit. So we will consider the your statement and the proposed amendment at that point. Okay, appreciate that. Thank you. Can I ask a question here? Rabbi, I'm sorry, can you repeat again specifically what you want that you're proposing? So I can read the exact draft that we put together that nothing provided for in this ordinance should limit the religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society's exemption from anti-discrimination laws pursuant to federal and Ohio law. Just to clearly state that it's following that basis. Thank you. Pleasure. Thank you, Rabbi Weinrip. The original finance committee report will go to the public buildings and parks. That would be me. So we had a meeting, August 27th, where we discussed the clubhouse on Amberlee Green. So I'm not sure if people are aware, but just to give you a little bit of background, the clubhouse has not been in use since the golf course goes down. And all the building is structurally sound. So it's not about to fall down. There are a lot of issues with building, and it was largely gutted when the business left. So although it's not about to fall down, it is certainly not ready to be used. We had some interest in the building from groups, however, with COVID, creating long glaze, as well as increasing prices of things, all of the interest in the clubhouse has waned. So no one is interested in the clubhouse at this time. And based on its current state, it would be improbable that anyone would have future interest. So we have been seeking options for the demolition of the building, partially for safety, also for a variety of other reasons. To be clear, we do have people periodically break into the clubhouse. I assume they're seeking tetanus. So we've been seeking opportunities, and I want to thank the village staff, because they have found a Hamilton County grant, which is a revitalization grant, and the potential cost, estimated cost of the demolition is $340,000. And we have secured the option for a grant for $290,000 from Hamilton County for the demolition, which is approximately 85% of the cost of the demolition. And to further that, the village is still seeking additional grant opportunities. So we might be able to procure even more grant funding. So I'm going to propose, in a couple of minutes, a resolution for accepting the grant money for the demolition. But I just, like I said, wanted to give everyone background, especially because we have so many people here today. So the demolition will take less than a month. So if we need to make restrictions for access to that part of the green, they would not be lengthy. The only reason we have concern is we know there is asbestos in the building, but we don't believe that it's a high risk type or form of asbestos. You know more about it than me. He said fiber. So presumably that's the less dangerous kind of asbestos. So we don't know. But if there were restrictions, they would be relatively short. The demolition will actually remove a large portion of the area. So the building, the shed, the pool, the cement, all of that around the clubhouse will be removed. Not the greater parking area, but the all this men around the building. We were concerned about the trees in that area. But many, we had quite a few residents at the meeting, and they assured me that those trees have perhaps seen a better day. And that a lot of the greenery I'm seeing in the trees is parasitic vines versus actual tree. So once the demolition is complete, the area will be filled in with dirt, which will be seeded. We'd like to make a small plan for a little bit of decorative landscaping, but we don't want any permanent plans because since we're seeking development on the green, we wouldn't want to plant trees that might have to be removed. But potentially something beyond just a bunch of grass might be nice. That isn't included in the bid, but it was something that was brought up. The biggest concern during our meeting was the community garden. The walking paths to the community guarding will be pulled up because they are the paths that go immediately next to the building. So there's concerns of how they would get to the garden. How are they, where's water going to come for from the garden? The water currently comes from the run-off and gutters on the clubhouse building. And it's stored in tanks in the shed, which will be demolished. So there's concerns about how they're going to access it, how they're going to water it. And we had some discussion about moving the garden, which was very controversial. That's everything that was talked at the last meeting. We do have a motion that we confirm to the county that we want the grant money. Let me see. All right. So I want to propose resolution 2024-20, which authorizes the Village Manager to enter into a grant agreement for funds to demolish the clubhouse at Amberly Green. So to be clear, this is just that we're going to accept the grant. We haven't bid the project out. We're still at the very beginning stages. So that's my resolution. Is there a second? It's removed and seconded that Council approved resolution 2024-20 authorizing the Village Manager to enter into an agreement, grant agreement for funds to demolish the clubhouse at Amberly Green. Are there any questions or comments? Yes, Council. I would like to raise up the fine work of the Village staff to secure such a large grant so quickly. And it says a lot about the staff's ability to go after money to help us cover those costs. Nice job. I concur. Tonight we recognize the people for service anniversaries, but I think it's important that the staff at the Village, whatever department they might be in, you know, how much we really appreciate their dedication to the Village. Any other questions or comments? Hearing none, all those in favor of the resolution, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Please note that resolution passes with the unanimous vote. That's all I have. Thanks, Mayor. Thank you. Now, call on Council Member Wood for the Health Education Welfare Committee report. Thank you, Mayor. Tonight we have the second reading of Ordinance 2024-9, which is to make changes to the Village Nondiscrimination Ordinance. We had our first reading at the last meeting and shared some of the process with everyone that we went through in the committee to get to the point of this. The version that we have that's redlined, the major changes that you'll see from the original ordinance were including some definitions for discrimination definitions for employment, public accommodations, education, and housing, and also adding where references where complaints should be filed. And while we did not add consequence, we took those parts out because of the liability financially and legally to the Village. We felt that it still recommitted the Village, recommitted us as a Village to saying this is important and in our community. And we want to share our priority of equality and inclusion. So we have, I'm not sure, process now based on Rabbi Weinrib's comments, if we go into discussion or sorry, Bob. Mayor. I would like to hear the solicitor's comments about the proposed language. And yes, I can speak to the rationale behind the committee's decision to remove the religious exemption language. I think it'll be important at some point to explain how that came about. But the committee ultimately decided not to include language exempting religious institutions because for one, the law in the area of exemptions from anti discrimination laws for religious institutions is very nuanced. It is very case and fact specific. And there has been a lot of developments in that law in the last few years. And I anticipate there will be a lot of developments in that in the law as we go forward with a more conservative Supreme Court. So given those facts, the committee thought that it would be very difficult to draft religious exemption language that would encapsulate all those complexities, make people happy, and that might not be in a year or two subject to challenge or need to be changed because of changes in the law. So that was the first reason that we decided to exclude the language. The second and probably more important reason was it's important to remember when this process started, the committee had proposed a complete revamp of the Human Rights Commission and that revamp would have involved establishing a body that would investigate, adjudicate, issue penalties and fines for people who were found the in violation of the non-discrimination orders. However, after I guess a good year of deliberation, the committee decided not to include those mechanisms, as Miss Wood mentioned, there is no enforcement mechanisms contained in the statute. So the committee's thinking was to the extent that there are not enforcement mechanisms in the statute, there really is nothing to be exempt from. So that was the other reason why the language was removed by the court. I'd like to hear from other members of council to weigh on on this. If there's anybody that has anything to say. Question, in terms of Ohio or our city law, what is it currently on the books? So is there something in Ohio law that already includes language as such? Under Ohio law, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission protects and handles claims of discrimination for any employer with four or more complete. So there is law in the books in Ohio that would protect that purportedly protects these classifications. So I think my question is more, is this language such as this already in terms of the proposed language that's being added, does that already exist in some form of Ohio law? Yes. And the rationale for Ohio, including that language, is that different than the rationale of us not including it? I'm confused. Are you talking about the religious exemption language? Correct. There is no express religious exemption language in Ohio or federal law. It's a function of case law. Courts have come out and developed that body of law. And like I said, it is a body of law that's developing now as LGBTQ issues come to the forefront and courts are encountering questions like if you work for a Catholic funeral home, can you, and you're a transgender person, can you address this for the woman? Those are all the kinds of things that courts are now dealing with, and the answers to those questions aren't certain. Got it. Thank you. Councilor Schatz? Yes, Mayor. I just want to clarify what we're addressing. Rabbi Mozart sent us specific wording. Is that what we're talking about? We're having discussion based on what Rabbi Weinre brought up, which was that language, that line. That's why I kind of asked him to repeat that. Yes. I just want to make sure it's the same. And a council, is it accurate that what the to your answer last question, what the Rabbi was proposing is already covered by the state so that, you know, could we accurately say it's redundant and that in the spirit of compromise or cooperation, if we adopted that language, we would not be setting any new ground. Okay. Well, and from a legal standpoint, I don't think there's anything objectionable about the language that the Rabbi has sought to, it literally just says we're going to be protected just as we were in the Ohio law or federal law. And that's the case regardless of what Amberly Village does and I do want to point out for public record in the email, the Rabbi complimented council, complimented the administration for the manner in the committee, which were a part of in which we've handled these discussions. So the spirit of that, I don't think should be lost on us. I'm on the fanny with Dara. And I wanted to say that I strongly support all the villagers, but also the religious community in the village. And I want to say that this has gone through a lot of drafts and redrafts. And one of the things that we sort of floundered against is, I feel like we would like to put a lot of things into this. It would be great if we could assist people and do arbitration. And I wish that we were in a place where, you know, money and time and personnel didn't come into factor. But a lot of this language had to be trimmed down because we are not, you know, we're not capable of doing everything for everyone. And we needed to realize that our resource was potentially as a source of information. So the UN Rights Commission could definitely have someone contact them with a concern. And they could help that person use the existing state and county resources. So as an individual, you might not know where to go or what to do. But the Human Rights Commission has done so much work and put so much effort into this, that I really applaud them for all their time and energy. And now they've essentially made themselves a great resource so that if a person comes to them with an issue, they know how to direct them, they know how to help them. As an advisor, which is something that we can do, that commission is definitely able to help someone navigate these waters. Like I said, it would be great if we could do everything here at home. And I feel like we really fought against that desire to help people to be there for the village when we just can't be everywhere all at once. So language was trimmed down. And in many cases, it's legally, I've learned a lot, and probably still know nothing that we need to essentially be in agreement with Ohio State Code. Because to go against it then creates, I mean, obviously we are a village, but the minute you go past that to the county, to the state, I mean, our power is very limited. We can actually measure it. So I want to say that I really feel like we've gone through a journey. And I feel like working with the commission, we've come to a place where we've got a strong understanding here. And it's just not necessarily easy to express that to people who haven't been involved in this journey. Thanks. I would like to add just a couple of comments from my point of view. Surprisingly, I actually read the ordinance after the first reading. I read it entirely. And I did question the village manager. And because I did not see any religious blanket exemption in it. And the manager assured me much in the same manner that the solicitor has said about the president of state law and we're subject to state law. And there's no provisions in the ordinance for us to be to have any judgments for lack of a better word or better term. Having said all that, just the fact that it did not say that made me feel uncomfortable. And I will express my opinion that in the absence of anything to the contrary, if there's nothing objectionable to the language, then I would feel personally more comfortable to have that explicit language in that. I don't think I'm going to call for, I'm not going to make call for an amendment to the resolution. But we do have another month because there's another reading of the ordinance that will take place in November. And just maybe we can work together to finally reach some sort of conclusion about this. And I would be interested in other members of council whether they would support that or whether they would not support that. And again, I don't think we have to make that decision today because we have another reading of the ordinance where we can put that language in if everyone deems that it, that to be appropriate. But I would like to just publicly state, again, all those things that I've heard, I understand all that, it would just make me feel more comfortable having that explicit language in there. Because then there's nothing that somebody has to go to. They could just say, here it is, it's in this ordinance. We're not referencing the state ordinance or any other kind of ordinance. If anybody else wants to comment on that, we can well, well, given the fact that case law is evolving, we're not going to stay in front of it. I'm sure we'll revisit this matter in a few years or whenever. I think given the fact that in the spirit of recognizing orthodox neighbors, of making them comfortable with the action on this, and given the fact we are given the advice that this is redundant to some degree with Ohio law, which already states that I don't have any problem revisiting, inserting the language, the rabbis requested, and I think it's a fine place for us to end up. So whatever the procedure is, I'm in favor of us looking at using that language. I'll just add, based on what the solicitor has said, I don't, because we don't, there's nothing to be exempt from, so to speak, since there aren't, there, we don't have those mechanisms in there, that I don't necessarily find it totally necessary, but I also don't object to the language that they have proposed. I guess that's the thing, yeah, so I don't have a large objection, and from what I understand, if we can, I don't know if it's take a vote or hands with counsel and potentially at the line. And it does not cause us to have to then do three readings again, even if we amend that language. Yeah, I did too. I wasn't sure what that is. So, Can we use the rabbis language as stated so that we streamline, Mr. Kakey said that he was comfortable from a legal perspective with what that language, he didn't feel that that put us at any risk or challenge. So I felt like that made me feel comfortable with the language you suggested. So that's why I asked again because I thought you set a second line when you were in, when you were talking and I just didn't catch it, that's why I asked again what exactly so. But basically, the language just to kind of reiterate, it was nothing provided for in this ordinance shall limit a religious corporation, association, educational institution or society's exemption from anti-discrimination laws pursuant to federal and Ohio law. That's what's being proposed to act. So, yeah. All right, we'll work on that and then we'll, if we can make an amendment for the prior third reading. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Council. Thank you, solicitor. Yeah. Thank you again to Human Rights Commission and for your comments, Rabbi. Okay. Councilman Schatz, do you have anything for the land development committee? Yes, a report from our last meeting mayor. We met a few weeks ago, we had about 50 people in attendance, went for more than an hour. The focus was my resolution to update the conservation study to include discussion and resident survey of a park, the resolution, if approved by the committee council would authorize the manager to hire a firm with expertise in urban planning and urban design to update our study. After our discussion, it was clear that several of my colleagues would prefer some changes in language. And I appreciate your time. We sat there and made some deletions and some changes in language, particularly those related to surveying residents. The resolution will be brought up at our next committee meeting in a week on September 18th at 430 and depending on what happens there, I hope that it will come to full council for discussion at our October meeting. And finally, you have a copy of an email from John Chacon, a former council member given the amount of stuff on our agenda. I hope that we can talk about this in our committee meeting and next month when it comes to council, if it comes to council. Thank you. Any questions or comments for councilman Chats? Yeah, 18th at 430. It piggybacks with the presentation on 2100 section road. Good question. That's okay. Mayor? That's a good question. Good question for him. You have a question? Yes, okay. Go ahead. Just because I know it's been well attended meetings and just want to make it clear, the intent of the next meeting is that to really focus on bringing forth a resolution to explore, not really take any steps further, but just survey the community. Is that the full intent of the next meeting? Yes, it is the resolution that has been revised based on input from my colleagues and from the public, but yes, that is the purpose. Thank you. Anything further for councilman Chats? If not, we'll call on the village manager. Scott Larmer to give the village manager's report. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to highlight three items out of the village manager's report. The first one being we had a very successful ice cream social and thanks to all council members for your participation, certainly your sponsorship and donors, but we pulled this off with a lot of staff members with volunteers and certainly donors who went above and beyond to make the ice cream social a huge success this year. So thank you for that. We are taking critiques because war is looking to do better. So we are interested in any comments from residents if they would like to see something different with the ice cream social. And we've also set the date for next year's ice cream social. It's going to be held on Sunday, August the 17th. So mark your calendars right now. So 1 to 4 p.m. on August 17th next year. You notice when you walked into the building this evening, there's some activity on the building and around the building. We are currently under reconstruction here. We have repairs being made to the roof. Replacement of the roof is being done as we speak. They started this past week. They actually loaded the materials onto the roof prior to the ice cream social, but we held them off from starting the work until after the ice cream social. So that work is currently underway. The roof on this building is over 20 years old and it's like flat roof. You don't really see it from the from the parking lot or from the street. The flat roof has had a series of leaks and cracks. It has exceeded its expected life. And so council a few months ago awarded a contract to have the have the roof replaced. So we'll be replacing the roof. It comes with a 30 year warranty and was budgeted as part of our capital improvement plan. But as council knows, it cost a little bit more than what we had budgeted. So you had to appropriate some additional monies. While that work is being done, we're also replacing the last HVAC unit on this building. That was another item that was recommended by the public buildings and parks committee and approved by village council. Those two projects are being done hand in hand because there are some savings there by having the crane deliver everything at one time, lifting it up to the roof. While that is going on, we're also dealing with a water main break that surfaced about a month ago. It's similar to the situation we had last year at the end of the ice cream social. This water main break happened right at the sidewalk along the walkway on the southern side of the building. That was a pretty significant water main. So work began today on the water main repairs. That will take a little bit of time to to make those changes. So a lot of activity going on around here. It's been a very noisy day here in the municipal building. So we may not be able to hear you anymore. So the last time I went to mention is our gas aggregation program. You're all aware that residents approved a gas aggregation program over 13 years ago. And that program has been in place. We're dealing with the gas aggregation portion of it. At the last council meeting, council gave me authorization to enter into a contract to set the gas rate. And so the process for that is that we are in a pool of other communities and we bid the gas rate on an aggregate basis. And we were able to get a secured rate of 0.506 CCF. So that is much lower than what we currently have because it is a fixed rate. It is also lower than what Duke is currently charging which is 0.65 CCF. So we're quite pleased that the bids came in well under Duke's rate and it certainly positions us for the for the future. This will be a one year contract because of the fluctuation in the gas market and things change constantly. But it will be a fixed rate. From a resident standpoint, you will receive an opt out letter if you are part of our gas aggregation program. The most important thing to remember from well that I've said about this is that you don't have to do anything if you want to remain within the village gas aggregation program. You need to do nothing. You can totally ignore it. For residents who are not in the gas aggregation program, they will be receiving a letter later this month asking if they want to participate in the gas aggregation program. If they do want to participate in the village aggregation program, they must take action to join that particular the the aggregation program. There will be instructions in the letter on how to do that. So IGS is our provider for for the gas aggregation program. And I would just encourage residents that they have questions about aggregation in any form or fashion. I encourage them to call the municipal building. It can be a very confusing subject, especially with the mailings that you might receive or solicitations that you might encounter. Staff is well versed in dealing with the gas aggregation program. So that concludes my report, Mayor. Thank you. Any questions or comments for the manager? Scott, is there any update on the I just I'm going to call it the code red program? I wish there was good news to report. I intentionally did not mention it because there's not good news to report. We are still doing my question. Sorry? Should I withdraw my question? It's too late, Mayor. We are continuing to work on the issues with code red, but they have not been responsive to my satisfaction. And so we are now shopping for a different provider for our notification system. So the plan is to have that in place shortly because we've lost too much time already with the current situation. So the plan would be to find another provider. Any other questions or comments for the manager? If not, we'll call in Chief Wallace. Real quick, I don't have a lot. I know we want to get going. I want to mention that we recently had another burglary in the village last week, but a week and a half ago, but with some good police work, guys don't extra patrols as well as the resident calling some information in the detective Drake and detective Sergeant Garing, you know, getting evidence at the scene as well as following up with some search warrants. We were able to affect and arrest and recover property not only on our burglary, but burglaries that occurred in other places. So again, good job to our detective's Drake and detective Sergeant Garing. That'll conclude my report. Questions or comments for the Chief on his report? I do have, if not, I will forego the Mayor's report. I have nothing to report. Is there any new business to come before Council? If not, I'm going to call on Chief Wallace to lead us in the recognition ceremony for our K-9 Creed's retirement, which is probably why most of us are here tonight. If it's okay, I'll just wait till they get in here. She's on her way in. Okay, it's with great pleasure. I get to talk about this back in 2014. I had spoke to the command staff about possibly bringing a dog to the village because of the crime increase that was going on. In early 2015, I had this conversation with Andrea who wasn't on day shift. She was on nights at that time. We had a conversation about dogs and because I knew she had a lot of interest. At that point, she pretty much took it upon herself to put everything together. Initially, we were just doing a little bit of legwork. The next thing you know, once she knew that I was serious about this program, she took it upon herself and was able to get the funding through the Haverkamp Foundation after writing a letter. We were able to get the funding for vet care as well as food and a lot of other things. But also, she brought together a lot of residents and community support that were able to help us fund this program. So, we were able to kick the dog off getting him on the road in 2016. Our dog has been an example dog for this entire county. One of your biggest things as police chief is picking the right people for the right job. And I 100% know that I picked the right person for the right job when it came to the K9 program. Andrea was a newer officer on the road. She had only been on the road at that point for about seven years. Wasn't not exposed to a lot of police things because usually people that come here were a lot more involved in police work. But by Andrea getting the dog, this has really helped her mature as an officer as well as mature as a handler. And now she's recognized all across the county, the state, and the country as being a K9 handler in Amberly Village. So Andrea, congrats to you. And I'll pass this off to the mayor. So, in honor of the occasion, I have the honor of issuing a proclamation. And I will read the proclamation. Be a proclaimed, whereas K9 Creed has dedicated eight years of exemplary service to the Amberly Village community, demonstrating unparalleled commitment, bravery, and skill in the line of duty. And whereas during his tenure, K9 Creed has completed a total of 140 patrol deployments exhibiting steadfast dedication to ensuring the safety and security of our village, including four apprehensions, 61 tracking searches, 31 evidence searches, 17 firearm searches, 24 building searches, 20 perimeter control operations, and the location of seven criminals and two missing persons. Whereas K9 Creed has excelled in narcotic deployments, having conducted 270 deployments resulting in the seizure of significant quantities of illegal substances, including 256 paraphernalia items, 7.7 kilos of marijuana, 31.7 grams of heroin, 36 grams of fentanyl, 67.2 grams of cocaine, 66 grams of meth amphetamines, 92.5 grams of crack cocaine, and $32,954 in currency seized. Whereas on behalf of the residents of Amberly Village, we extend our deepest gratitude and appreciation to K9 Creed for his eight years of dedicated service. His exemplary performance, unwavering loyalty, and remarkable achievements have set a standard of excellence and have profoundly impacted our community in recognition of his outstanding contributions. Let this proclamation stand as a testament to K9 Creed's exceptional service and the high regard in which he is held by the residents of Amberly Village. Therefore, I, Bob Rosen, mayor of Amberly Village, do hereby proclaim September 9, 2024, as K9 Creed did in Amberly Village. [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] Thank you, guys. Council members, for giving me this opportunity. It's been a career change for me, and I wouldn't be able to do this without you guys. We appreciate your support. The village does the police department, and I know Creed and I do. It means a lot to have all of your support, and I truly, truly mean that. Creed has been very successful, and that's because I, my chief and lieutenant send me some great trainings, and I can assure you that with the next dog, we're going to do the same thing. I'm not going to let you guys down, and I can't wait for you to meet armor. It's a female German Shepherd, and I leave Saturday to go train with her, and I'll be back in four weeks with her. Thank you. Okay. Thank you again. [Applause] If the member of some of the police department can come up real quick while we got telling you. Sorry. [Applause] Yeah. Everyone is invited to participate in a reception for Canine Creed, which will be out in a lobby right after our meeting, and if there's no further business, the meeting is adjourned. Thank you, everyone, for coming. [Applause]