On the agenda: Springdale Packet — Flock Camera (Sep 16)

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
September 16, 2026 at 7:00 P.M.

AGENDA
1.

Open Meeting

2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Invocation – Mrs. Webster
4. Roll Call
5. Minutes

September 2, 2026 Regular Council Meeting
September 9, 2026 Town Hall Meeting

6. Presentation:

Jason Dudley, ICRC (Intercommunity Cable Regulatory Commission)

7. Committee and Official Reports
A. Civil Service Commission
B. Finance Committee
C. Planning Commission
D. Board of Zoning Appeals
E. Board of Health
F. O-K-I
G. Mayor’s Report
H. Administrator’s Report
I. Law Director’s Report
J. Engineer’s Report
K. Zoning Code Revision Committee

Mr. Coleman – Mrs. McNear – Mr. Dunigan
Mrs. Webster –Mrs. Thompson
Ms. McFarland – Mr. Jacobs
Mr. Hall – Mr. Gleaves
Ms. McFarland
Mr. Anderson
Mayor Hawkins
Mr. Uhl – Ms. Morgan
Mr. Braun
Mr. Riggs
Mr. Gleaves

8. Communications
9. Communications from the Audience (Five minutes each speaker, Springdale Code §30.05)
10. Old Business
11. New Business
12. Meetings and Announcements
13. Communications from the Audience (Five minutes each speaker, Springdale Code §30.05)
14. Recap of Legislative Items
15. Legislation in Development
16. Adjournment

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

President of Council Anderson called Council to order at 7:00 p.m. on September
2, 2026, at the Springdale Municipal Building, 11700 Springfield Pike, Springdale, Ohio
45246.
The governmental body and those in attendance recited the Pledge of
Allegiance.
Ms. Browder took roll call. Council members Anderson, Gleaves, Hall, Jacobs,
McFarland, Thompson, and Webster were present.
The minutes of the August 19, 2026, meeting were considered. Mr. Gleaves made
a motion to accept the minutes; Mr. Jacobs seconded. The minutes were approved
with seven affirmative votes.
Presentation – Commissioner Denise Driehaus
Commissioner Driehaus: It’s so funny. You just did your minutes and I just voted.
Hello. How are you? Thank you for allowing me to come out and say, “Hello” and
present my Menu of Opportunity. I’ve done this now three times. I’m going to all 49
communities. All the jurisdictions in Hamilton County. It’s a lot of fun to get out and
hear what you’re talking about, see some of the residents and so I’m delighted to be
here. The Menu is in front of you. It talks about some of the partnership opportunities
between your jurisdiction in Springdale and Hamilton County. It could be lying salt
together, or maintaining fire hydrants, or economic development. There’s a myriad
of things in there. Since the last time I was here, some of the contacts have changed
and we’ve added some information to the menu. So, I just want to make sure that
you see that. When you talk about Economic Development, I always like to bring my
cheat sheet with me and talk about Springdale and the opportunities that you have
availed yourselves of through the County. On a number of different things, always
getting the solid waste/recycling incentive program dollars, so very exciting that
you’re always participating in the recycling program. We’re trying like crazy to divert
recycling out of the landfill and so thank you for being the answer to the question,
“How do we do that?”. A lot of CBG dollars. You’ve gotten some small event grants;
particularly for Pretzel Fest, which I have yet to get out to. Going to have to come.
And, so, some other revitalization grant dollars for sidewalks. So, total is about
$569,000 over the past few years, so thank you for the partnership. It doesn’t work
unless you guys apply for these dollars that are made available by the County. So,
thank you for that. One thing on your menu, if you don’t mind turning to the back , you
will see that we’ve got the Office of Addiction Response listed there. That is a new
office on the Menu. I bring it to your attention because you have been receiving
distribution dollars from the Opioid Settlement. If you recall, that we all sued the
distributors a number of years ago. We did it collectively, with the State of Ohio. So, a
foundation was set up for a lot of the dollars; the majority. But some of the allocations
are coming directly to your jurisdiction, as they are to all the other jurisdictions in the
County, including Hamilton County. So, some jurisdictions are utilizing those dollars
and pushing them out right away doing various things. Maybe providing them to your

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

Commissioner Driehaus (continued): Public Health, or Narcan distribution,
whatever it is. Other jurisdictions have chosen to partner with us and leverage their
dollars with ours and so we then push those dollars out to the residents of Hamilton
County. Using them for things like treatment, prevention, law enforcement, public
health, and so if you’re at all interested in partnering with us in that way, Meagan
Guthrie, whose name is on the back of your Menu is the contact information for that, so
please call Meagan. All over the last two cycles, you’ve got about $117,000 dollars out
of the distribution, so they’re going to keep coming. I don’t know how quickly they’re
going to keep coming, but they’re going to keep coming because the amounts vary
from year to year. So, just wanted to put that on your radar. A couple of other things;
I’ve got a very long list, but I’m picking and choosing things that I’m talking about. One
other thing that I think you would be interested in is that we’ve opened our central
campus in Bond Hill, so it’s a little bit closer to get to some of our services, especially if
you live in Springdale, and so the Bond Hill campus is where the Mercy Health Building
used to be. We’ve taken over that building and consolidated many of our organizations
who were spread out all over the County into one place. So, I’m going to tell you who’s
in there. JFS (Jobs and Family Services) is the biggest department. So, think about
children’s services and all the things that they do. Public Health, the Veteran’s Services
Commission, Addiction response. DD (Developmental Disabilities) is in there and
Environmental Services. So, there’s a lot of synergy amongst all those departments,
and so we’re trying to take advantage of those synergies in that building, so just want
to make you aware of that. Lastly, wanted to talk to you about the Children’s Services
Levy. So, we have seven levies in the County that are under jurisdiction of the County
Commissioner’s. Children Services is one, I would argue, the most important of all. And
we’re on a five-year cycle with this levy, and so it expires at the end of this year. So, we
have to go to the ballot, to the voters to request these dollars for the Children’s Services
Levy. This is the levy that keeps kids safe in our community. You’ve heard a lot about
kids in unsafe conditions, whether it’s Vinton County, or some stories here in Hamilton
County, and so, these dollars are the dollars that remove the kids, if need be, from the
home or try to stabilize the family in the home to keep the kids safe there. So, that’s
what the dollars go to. The cost of providing for these kids, we’ve got about 2,200 kids
in care right now. We serve about 13,000 a year, which is a lot of kids. The cost of care
is going up because the needs of the kids have become more acute. And so, the kids
that are coming in to care can all be served in kinship care foster care. Many of them
are, about 80% of them are in that setting, but some of them need more kinds of
treatment environments, more secure environments. The cost of those environments
is extremely expensive, and so that’s driving the cost up. So, the Tax Levy Review
Committee recommended to the board that we go on with an increase. They
recommended about a 75% increase. You all know how people are feeling about
property taxes right now and so we said that’s too high. We don’t feel like the voters
are going to accept that or support that, and so we brought that down to about 38%
increase. It’s about as low as we can go to do what we need to do for kids. We’re filling
the gap between what they recommended and what we’re doing with some one-time
dollars out of our general fund. That won’t last forever, but it will get us through a few
years. And, we think, we hope some property tax relief, God willing, will come our way
from the State because they’re getting a lot of pressure to do that, and so I’m hopeful

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

Commissioner Driehaus (continued): that they will. But, in the meantime, this
increase translates to about $39 a year for somebody in a $100,000 home. So, it gives
you a sense of what will be on the ballot. I’m hopeful that people will vote for this. It’s
a critical need. If we don’t get it passed, the amount goes to zero. It does not go back
to where we started, and so then that money will be coming out of the General Fund.
And it’s about $100,000,000 a year and that will be a huge challenge, and you will see,
not to make it into such dire language, but all of these grants will go away. We won’t
be able to do anything like this because we just won’t have the resources to do it. So,
anyways, I’ve got flyers about the Children’s Services levy and I’m happy to share
them. It has a lot more detail, and a QR code where you can get more information
about that. But it’s one of the biggest things we’re dealing with right now; both on the
property tax side and the Children Services side, so I think it’s important to bring to
your attention. So, that’s what I have. Got a really long list. Happy to answer questions
if you have them about anything that’s on your mind, but, again, I appreciate the
opportunity to come out. I’m going to hang around for a little while and listen to
what’s going on here in Springdale but thank you for your generous hospitality.
Mayor Hawkins: Commissioner Driehaus, thank you for coming out and sharing
with us some of the things that are going on in the County. Just want to take the
opportunity to say, “Thank you so much” for all the support you’ve given to the City;
whether it’s an Opportunity Zone Application or brownfield grant, which is before the
Council this evening. You and the Commissioners have always been very supportive
of the City of Springdale and we really appreciate that.
Commissioner Driehaus: Thank you Mayor. Appreciate it.
President Anderson: I don’t see any other lights, but I do want to say, “Thank you”.
I do appreciate the fact that you come out to all, not just Springdale, but all the
Communities. I think that’s wonderful to see what’s going on. I’m not sure tonight is
necessarily representative of all the great things that we’re doing tonight. I think we’re
talking about a TIF and a brownfield application, but there’s a lot going on in
Springdale, so I appreciate you taking the time to not just visit us, but also just all the
Communities. It’s easy for people to think that the County is just the City of Cincinnati,
but it’s so much more than that and we appreciate that you take the time to come
out and visit with us.
Commissioner Driehaus: Thank you. And I was recently at an event out here in
Springdale, and I will come to the Pretzel Fest. When is the Pretzel Fest?
President Anderson: The first weekend in August.
Commissioner Driehaus: I missed it.

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

President Anderson: But, there is another event this coming, I think it’s tomorrow
where we are dedicating our new soccer pitch that we got with the grant through FC
and one of the soccer committees, so we got to build one of those outdoor pitches,
and the drone show that I know the grant actually I think helped fund got rained out at
the end of our last Pretzel Fest, so we’re actually doing that again, or trying to do it
tomorrow night over here at the Rec Center. I think it starts at 6:30? Seven for food
trucks and then there’s the drone show at 9:00.
Commissioner Driehaus: Okay, so a little bit of heat, but hopefully no rain. Thank
you so much. I appreciate that.
President Anderson: Thank you.
Communications

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None

Communications from the Audience
Ms. Messer: Hello. My name is Kara Messer, and I live at 12182 Springdale Lake Drive.
I just wanted to be here today to say, “Thank you” for all that this group is doing to
support our Community. I’ve really seen some amazing advances and when I am
walking around the City, driving around the City, it’s just really encouraging to see things
like the revitalization and beautification of our pool, and I think a big “shout out” to the
Springdale Sailfish mamas and papas and helpers because Springdale hosted
championships this year and that was a major undertaking. I think there was a storm
and they got everyone safely inside and we just did a really good job as a City
managing that and loving on the kiddos. It’s also exciting to see the new and updated
play spaces that are family-friendly and inclusive, and the Pretzel Fest was so much
fun. We had a storm, but we still had fun and I felt like the City really did well kind of
keeping an eye on the weather but trying to get everybody an opportunity to have as
much fun as possible and keeping everybody safe, so I love that balance of fun and
safety that I’m seeing. Tomorrow we’re pretty excited because we’re going to get to
see the drone show because it didn’t just get cancelled; it got rescheduled and the
opening of the soccer pitch. The Messer family is pretty excited about that. So, I’m just
seeing so much and I just wanted to express gratitude and thank you for the work that
everyone up here is doing and another thing too is on social media, I see
Councilmembers just being responsive and considerate and helping residents by
answering questions, by offering suggestions, and I just really appreciate seeing that. I
also wanted to mention, it’s a bit of a sensitive topic, but September is National Suicide
Prevention Month, and I just wanted to come here today and encourage residents to
reach out to friends and neighbors just to check on each other. Something I did today
is I called 988 because if I’m going to tell people, “Hey, there is this Suicide Crisis and
Prevention Lifeline” and I’m going to tell someone and share that with someone, I want
to know what it’s like. And it was amazing. And you don’t have to call if you’re in crisis.
You can call if you’re having a panic attack, if you’re feeling anxiety, if you feel alone.
So, I was able to talk to a real person who is a counselor locally in southwest Ohio in less
than a minute. So, that’s an amazing resource and a question that I have is was anyone

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

Ms. Messer (continued): aware of, or willing to somehow maybe we can put it on
social media local resources that we have access to. I know I’ve talked with some
Councilmembers that have been learning about mental health and awareness and
so I just think that’s really important, so I just wanted to bring that up, so that’s kind of
my question; local resources that we have and anything that the City is doing. I know
we have a Health Department, and mental health is part of our health. And then my
other question would be is are there any things that we’re doing to help support and
encourage and include the Latino community in our City? Do we have volvemos
personas que pueden hablar español? Que pueden ayudar en la ciudad en el centro
comunidad aquí? Do we have people who are able to help at the Community Center
who speak Spanish? Here? On Council? If Spanish isn’t your first language are you
willing to put some time in to learning Spanish? I just think that would be really
important to be aware and include everyone in our Community. Thank you for your
time.
Mayor Hawkins: Ms. Messer, thank you for coming out tonight, and appreciate
the appreciation with regard to some of the evolution of things you’ve seen taking
place in the City. Positive changes. With regard to questions in terms of resources for
mental health specifically, our Health Department does have some things. I can’t
speak to specifically if there’s something with regard to publications or brochures
regarding 988, but we do have a Mental Health Fair that had taken place regularly.
We do have a new Health Commissioner and so as she comes in and gets settled
and situated, I’m sure she’ll be looking at those things as well, but we do have
resources and the Health Fair does a good job of covering a lot of things in terms of
support in different places where people can get assistance. In terms of the question
about inclusivity and specifically folks that are speaking Spanish or other languages,
there has also been some evolution over the last few years with regard to making
sure that when it comes to the Rec Center that we have sign up sheets that are also
in Spanish, publications for newsletters are also done in Spanish, as well as with
regard to the information that comes out on ICRC, there is a big push to make sure
that that can translate and there are I don’t know how many languages, 13, 14, 20?
You can literally go in and change it on the queue and hear me speaking right now
in Japanese, Russian, so, we have intentionally, very intentionally, over the last few
years in particular, tried to make sure that information is accessible for all people. It’s
a process and the last thing I’ll say is shout out to the principal over in Heritage Hill.
She’s done an absolutely phenomenal job with regard to that specific matter, and
she has incorporated within the school and in talking with her, they go through, they’ll
do announcements in English and Spanish. They’ll have kids come up that aren’t
necessarily speaking Spanish but have them try so that everybody gets the same
feeling of trying to work through languages. So, she’s done an incredible job with
regard to inclusivity over at Heritage Hill. Thank you.
Mr. Gleaves: Thank you Ms. Messer for coming down. Your question about the
Latino community. A lot of people don’t know, but we do have a functioning Public
Relations Committee, and I’ve encouraged a lot of people to come forward. They can
call me; they can call Amy Thompson or anybody up here and we can have a

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

Mr. Gleaves (continued): meeting. Our meetings are basically driven by the need.
So, I’m asking people to come forward. If you know anybody in the Latino community
who wants to come to a meeting, we could have that. And it’s not just them. It’s
anybody. Anybody who wants to come, we can have a meeting, and we can get some
community active things together and going. So, that’s all I have for that. Thank you
for coming down again.
President Anderson: I think that’s it. Thank you for coming in appreciate it.
Ms. Messer:
appreciate you.

Thank you.

It was so encouraging to hear those responses.

I

Ordinances and Resolutions
Ordinance No. 36-2026 (Second Reading)
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 35-2018 TO EXTEND THE TERM OF THE TIF
EXEMPTION AND APPROVING ADDITIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT COMPENSATION DURING
THE EXTENDED TIF EXEMPTION
Mr. Gleaves made a motion to have Ordinance No. 36-2026 be read by title only.
Mr. Jacobs seconded.
President Anderson: Mr. Braun, do we need to do a roll call vote for that, or can we
do it by voice? We’ll do a voice vote for that.
Motion to have Ordinance No. 36-2026 read by title only passes with seven
affirmative votes.
Mr. Braun: Since you read it by title only, I just wanted to point out one thing for
you. You may notice at the last meeting there were a couple of questions about there
was some verbiage in Section 3 that referenced Section 5 of the TIF agreement that
did not include the new charter language involving Finance Commissioner. We
updated that. So, in the version that you’ll be voting on tonight in the second reading,
we went ahead and updated that just so there was no confusion. So, I wanted to point
that out. Thank you.
Mr. Jacobs made a motion to adopt Ordinance No. 36-2026; Mr. Gleaves
seconded.
President Anderson: Thank you for making those updates. I think it’s a cleaner
version with the updated language.
Ordinance No. 36-2026 passes with seven affirmative votes.

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

Resolution No. R10-2026
A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING AN APPLICATION FOR FISCAL YEAR 2027 OHIO
BROWNFIELD REMEDIATION PROGRAM FUNDING FOR THE REMEDIATION AND
DEMOLITION OF THE FORMER TRI-COUNTY MALL SITE AT 11700 PRINCETON PIKE
Mr. Hall made a motion to adopt Resolution No. R10-2026; Mr. Jacobs seconded.
Mayor Hawkins: I just want Council to be aware and I singled out Commissioner
Driehaus, but we’ve had a number of other elected officials through the State as well
as the County that have written support letters for this Brownfield Grant and so it’s
very telling that folks are rallying behind the City and this site and they know how
important this is, not just with the City of Springdale, but within Hamilton County and
within the region for the whole State of Ohio and the tri-state area as well. So, I just
wanted to make sure that Council was aware of that. Thank you.
President Anderson: I will say to that end I know recently at Pretzel Fest I had the
opportunity to speak with our State Rep Brownlee and this was one of the things that
we talked about is she had asked what other things that she could do to help and this
was one of the first things that that we talked about and she was certainly supportive
at the time of that. So, as Mayor Hawkins mentioned, there’s broad support for this
change to happen. Anything we can do to keep that project moving certainly is
worthy of our support. Any other questions or discussion? (None)
Resolution No. R10-2026 passes with seven affirmative votes.
Old Business

-

None

New Business – Council Districts Redistricting
President Anderson: We have one item that we carried over from our last
meeting which was Council Districts Redistricting. This was an item that I had asked
that we at least start a discussion on to get Council’s view on the timing and
approach that we’d want to take for this. Based on previous voter registrations, we
are currently right at that limit where redistricting is required before the next district
elections. Now, district elections aren’t due until November of 2029, so why are we
talking about this tonight? There’s a lead time that’s involved in redistricting and
some of it might require some work with the charter too, or Charter Revision
depending on what Council wants to do. Let me explain just to give you a little bit of
background. Right now, we have our four districts, and, in the Charter, it says that
there can be no more than a ten percent difference between the largest and smallest
and Council can, from time to time, adjust the districts or it’s required to when it hits
that threshold. The Charter does require us to make that change by May prior to that
election year. Meaning, unless things change dramatically in a way that we don’t
expect, by May of 2029 we have to implement new districts. Typically this, in the past,
has just meant moving border streets over one either side until it gets adjusted, but
recently with the new developments, both the Array, the Row on Merchant Street, and

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

President Anderson (continued): whatever happens with the mall redevelopment,
it might require a little bit more than just moving a street or two, so I wanted to make
sure this was on Council’s radar now in case there’s things we need to start doing or at
least agree on the approach. What I’d like to make sure we have agreement on is who
should be doing this work in the short term. Because the election isn’t until 2029, we
have the opportunity right now to decide if we want to stake this out or make those
changes far in advance, or if we want to wait for the next Council to do it. It is possible
for us to have the next at-large election and then have that Council work to make those
changes, or we can do it being further removed from either of those elections to set up
what we think the districts should be ahead of time. So, the first question we need to
answer is when do we want to approach this and who should do that work specifically.
We have the opportunity to; an individual could do it and bring a proposal back to
Council in the day Council would have to vote on that redistricting. It’s not just
something that I or the Administration would just decide. Council has to agree to that.
So, at some point, there will be resolutions or ordinances to change the districts. So, the
question, really, for Council, is does this Council want to start that work or wait for the
next Council to do it. If it’s the next Council, that would be the current district members
and whoever the new at-large members get elected in November of next year. So, it’s
whether or not we want to do it and put it on our calendar, or if we want to wait for the
next one. The other thing I’ll share with you is there is some language that is probably
worthwhile to update inside of our Charter at some point. Our Charter, at least from
my reading and working with Mr. Braun, is a bit out of sync with election law at the State
level and the County level. Right now, we’re one of two cities that has a special asterisk
in the election calendar. Based on ORC, for nominating petitions, they all have to be
submitted 90 days out from the election. Springdale and Norwood it is 75 days which
causes a little bit of conflict with other processes at the Board of Elections, specifically
when they review those nominating petitions. The other thing that makes me want to
address this sooner rather than later is the timing of petitions. If our new districts would
go into place May of 2029, petitions get circulated earlier more and more lately and in
recent elections people have started collecting signatures in January and February.
This creates a situation where somebody who is aspiring to office might collect
signatures from a street that is no longer going to be in their district after we redistrict.
Which causes confusion not just for the residents, but also the people trying to serve
their community. So, with that background, what I want to ask Council as a whole is
really those two questions. Is this something that Council wants to start on with this
Council group, or if we want to kick it and put it on the agenda for the next Council
group, which is fine, I just want to make sure we’re doing that intentionally, and then if
this Council group decides to work on it, we should talk about how we want to do that.
So, that’s quite a bit. Let me stop and take some questions.
Mayor Hawkins: I just wanted to ask Mr. Braun a clarifying question. When it talks
about looking at the numbers from the prior preceding general election, what year are
we going to be talking about for obviously the impact is for 2029, that election. Are we
talking about the general election from 2028, or are we talking about ….

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

President Anderson: While he’s looking at that, what I’ll share is there is a
difference. When we talk about recall petitions, that’s based off prior year. That prior
gubernatorial election. When we look at districts, I believe the language refers to
registered voters at the time of the redistricting.
Mayor Hawkins: Right, but I just want to make sure we’re clear of the election that
they’re going to be looking at for looking at those numbers though. Not for who went
out and voted. I’m saying I want to make sure that when they’re referencing the
previous general election, I want to make sure we’re clear in terms of which election
they’re talking about.
President Anderson: And, we can get that, but I will say that I did speak with the
Board of Elections prior to our last election and they took it, at least the information
they shared, was at that point in time they gave me current voter rolls, not as of an
election date, it’s as of that moment in time and its registered voters. Not people who
have voted.
Mayor Hawkins: Right. I understand that, but if we’re talking about general
elections, we still have to know. I want to be clear if we’re talking about to make sure
things are right for 2029. Does that mean they’re going to be looking at how many
registered voters we have for 2028? If so, that has an impact with regard to the timing
of it. That’s all. I’m asking to clarify a question for that. But I understand it’s not who
went out and voted. That’s for a recall. I get it.
President Anderson: Mr. Braun is that something…you don’t have to do that
tonight, we can get that addressed with the details.
Mr. Braun: My immediate thought on it is the time designated in the Charter is,
“from time-to-time Council shall take up this task”. It doesn’t say it has to be done at
a specific moment in time, so my interpretation of that, and again, I’ll review it more
carefully, but it’s referring back to the moment at which you’re reviewing it you would
look back to the last general election because you may decide “from time to time” is
now or it could be two years from now, but you would definitely need to refer back to
that general election and then you need to look at the fact that the charter talks about
what needs to be out of sync as far as the percentages, and as long as it’s out of sync
and meets those requirements, it’s going to be from the date at which you decide to
do that review.
Mayor Hawkins: So, based on that, my two cents for Council and Council can
obviously do whatever it deems is appropriate, with the Slate coming online fourth
quarter of this year, and being in a position to be completely ready to be fully
occupied, probably more like the second quarter of next year, it would seem as
though it would make sense for Council to see what the registered voters are going
to look like after there’s the opportunity for that to be filled up, which we’re getting into
the 2027 election cycle. So, from the standpoint of whether it’s this Council or the next
Council in 2027, the only thing that you can run into if it’s done too soon is you’re going

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

Mayor Hawkins (continued): to miss that significant increase in population and
seeing where things are with the voter registration. The only other thing I will say is we
were talking about this, I believe the last time was 2013 we did this, and so, back then,
and Ms. Morgan was helping me recall, it sounded like Mr. Knox spearheaded this, and
Mr. Diehl possibly was helping with that, but the important thing that I would urge is that
if there’s a subcommittee that it be made up of the individuals who are “at-large”
members. Not district members and that they should be the ones to take this on
whether it’s two or all three. But that was something that has happened in the past
and that would make sense going forward. Thank you.
President Anderson: I agree. The reason I brought it up now is the question of I
don’t believe that the district members should spearhead an election that they’re
going to be a part of or may participate in. They can. I don’t know that there’s an issue,
but I think it’s cleaner just from the outside the appearance of propriety that the “atlarge” members at least take a leading role in that. The question is doing it now takes
them an entire election away from even those “at-large” members” away from when
the district is redistricted. So, to Mayor Hawkins’ point, it might be premature to actually
do the hard work of redistricting or moving streets while we wait for the growth numbers
to go, but it’s probably not too early to make sure that the charter is current and in sync
with the election and State rules that we’re currently an outlier on because that work
will take six to eight months and has to be voted on. Those changes should happen
before the redistricting group makes the changes, because the rules will change. Does
that make sense? That’s why I’m saying that we might want to put together some prework now to look at do we need to ask Charter Revision to look at some of this to bring
it up to time, up to spec before we do the actual districting.
Mrs. Webster: In the past, we’ve always looked at that redistricting after the
presidential, which would be the end of 2028, beginning of 2029, and that’s what I think
it should be. It has always been where District 4 is top-heavy with apartments and
District 1 has none. Now I never thought that was fair and I still don’t think it’s fair, so
redistricting could be done to put some apartments in District 1 and take them out of
District 4 because you’re going to have more with those over there behind the
Showcase. That too would be District 4. As far as who should do it, it should be not the
District Council people. It should be the “at-large” people, the Charter Revision
Commission, or some other Committee. But not the District Council people. Thank you.
I will share that District Councilmembers will still be a part of that discussion. It still
requires a Council vote to actually implement. It is a Council responsibility so I’m not
sure which role Charter would have in the redistricting process. When I mentioned the
Charter Revision, those requests are more to address some of the outdated rules that
are in our Charter. Specifically, around the day of the nominating petitions being 75
days instead of the State requirement of 90. Write-in language is also out of step with
what ORC requires. So, it’s more in the short-term getting together that list and make
sure that we have the process that’s as clean as can be. My only concern with waiting
until 2028 or 2029 to do that actual redistricting work is petitions can start getting
signatures a year before. They’re good for 12 months before the actual election date.

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

Mrs. Webster (continued): So, if you waited until 2029 for a 2029 election, you’re
putting the Community in a situation where they might be signing a petition who, at
the time is correct, but when it is actually assessed closer to election, is in a different
district. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with that, it creates the potential for
confusion and conflict and I’m just trying to avoid that.
Mrs. Webster: Every other time this has been done, I don’t know how many
exactly, they’ve always been done after the presidential because you get a better feel
of how many residents there are in the Community and in each district. You do it any
other time you’re not going to get a true feeling on the number of residents. Because
everybody votes in the presidential and everybody does not vote in all the other
elections. We know that for a fact.
President Anderson: The only thing I’ll respond to that as saying that it’s based
off of voter registration, not necessarily voter counts. So, that’s the difference between
a recall, the number of signatures required is based off the number of votes that were
issued in a gubernatorial election. When we’re talking about redistricting it’s about
registered voters and as long as they’re an active registration, that’s how the districts
are defined in terms of count. So, it’s potential voters, not actual voters from a
presidential election, so I’m not sure that analogy fits here as well. And I’d be
concerned again about waiting until January when petitions could already be
circulating, but in either case, the timing of the redistricting, so far everyone has
agreed that what streets move where should wait until at least 2028; that next
Council. I guess I should stop there and ask. Is there anyone on Council that feels like
the actual streets, movement and voter movement should happen with this Council
or wait until the next “at-large”? So, if anyone is concerned about waiting until the
“at-large”, this would be your chance. If you want to do it now, this is your chance to
say that. I’m not seeing any lights. So, it sounds like we want to wait for the actual redistricting work until the next Council is formed with the idea, although not
requirement that the “at-large” members take the first run at the proposal. Is that
fair? Is that what people are saying today? Okay. That’s great. The other question
around that is around some of the language around elections that’s in the charter
that would require a vote and change by the Community prior to that work in 2028.
Is there any desire to at least put together things that should be updated? We’ve
talked in the past about charter changes. There’s some legacy language that’s still
in there. For example, we had to do the work earlier in the year about the Finance
Director and who can hire. There’s a number of other; there’s a list that I know people
are keeping, or at least some people are keeping about things they want Charter to
look at, to clean up. Is this something that Council would like to take a stab at, or look
at to make a recommendation to Charter when they next convene?
Mrs. Webster: As I said, it’s always been done after the presidential. None of
those things in January and all that stuff. That doesn’t matter. People don’t have to
file their petitions until August, and it’s never presented a problem before. I think this
is presenting some problems and confusion, and it should be left alone just like before.

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

Mayor Hawkins: There have obviously been a number of things with regard to
some things are just language clean ups for the Charter that were missed the last time
around that I would hope that Council would allow the Charter Revision Committee to
be able to look at in terms of some of the language we talked about from Health
Commissioner. There’s a few other things that maybe were missed previously, so that
part of things would be good for the Charter Revision Committee to be able to look at
if Council is so inclined and go and do that. The only other thing I’ll say, not to go
backwards on the redistricting is I appreciate Council looking and talking about these
things because they can slip by. I know when the Array went up and when the Row
went up, I had questions in terms of what’s that going to do and impact things, but I
appreciate Council looking at these things as you guys are going through it. But I’d love
for Charter Revision to be able to look at some of those things, language-wise, that we
missed in the past and we need to clean up if Council is so inclined.
Mr. Jacobs: I would agree on the language, addressing that. If there is a “to-do”
list, we should get after it in general, so I agree.
Mr. Gleaves: So, to be clear, Charter Revision would not be meeting until January?
President Anderson: Charter Revision can meet whenever the Chairman….
Mr. Gleaves: Whenever they want?
President Anderson: They have to meet at least once a year.
Mr. Gleaves: I agree with Mayor Hawkins that they need to look at this and get a
meeting together and that will get the ball rolling.
President Anderson: So, to help with that discussion, in the past, Council has in the
past, and Administration has given guidance or requests. Charter is a separate
independent body intentionally. And, ideally, they’re looking at the Charter as they
watch the work that we’re doing and then taking proactive action. From time to time,
Council has asked them to look at specific things like we did in the past with the
language updates when we removed Clerk of Council for example Finance Director.
So, maybe, well I’ll make this proposal then in general is to help with that discussion for
people who have reviewed the Charter and looked at it and lived it and dealt with some
of these challenges like we did for some of the positions in hiring and this. Maybe we
could just agree to consolidate our list. I’m happy to be the central point for Council if
you want to send Charter things that you wish they would update or look at; you can
send those over to me by the end of the month. I’ll consolidate them, and then we can
send that on just like we do when we send things to Planning Commission, right? We’ve
sent them notices and letters saying, “Hey, look at this”. Or “We want help with this.” So,
what I’m proposing is that if anyone has any of those changes, not that you’re required
to; it doesn’t require resolutions, not a motion. But I want to consolidate it so we don’t
have eight different voices going to Charter saying, “Hey, look at this, look at this, look at
this”, and it could be redundant. Just go ahead and send them to me. I’ll consolidate

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

President Anderson (continued)them and then we’ll send them as one group. I
know in the past Mr. Braun has helped Charter with the process for the meetings and
then also reviewing the language and helping them write the language. That would
still be available to them like before. But I feel like we’ve talked about things like I wish
the Charter had this little update a few times now over the past several months, and
I just want to get those things done, right? So, let’s get them off the board. The election
is just some of the language. Some of the things in there that could be updated.
Similarly, things like some Department hiring and positions. So, good. Any other
questions or discussion about that? Otherwise, I’ll put this back on my calendar to
talk about again certainly after the next Council is formed, so I will still be here for that
since I’m a district member, and I’ll put that as an early item for the next Council to
talk about. That does not prohibit anyone on Council. If they want to take action,
they’re entitled to do that and we would take it up as a body, but in general I agree
that we can take that up at the start of New Business with the next Council group.
Good. Any other questions or comments on that? (None) Good. Any other New
Business anyone on Council or Administration would like to bring forward?
New Business – Flock Cameras
Mayor Hawkins: I just want to make Council aware and the public as well. The
website has been updated and there is a flock transparency portal that is on the
website and that you can go in clicking into the Police Department to go down and
look at. Just went live this week, so still working through some things. This was
something that was initiated by Chief Butler. He wanted to, with some of the
discussions that have been out publicly, to make sure that he made that available.
We’re going to get out a fact sheet to Council as well and as things continue to evolve
with this site, we’ll make updates and changes but wanted to make sure that folks
were aware of that and the public was aware of that too. Thank you.
Meetings and Announcements
Ms. McFarland: Planning Commission will meet on September 8th at 7:00 p.m. in
these chambers. The Board of Health will meet on Thursday, September 10 th at 6:30
p.m. in these chambers.
Mr. Gleaves: There’s a special BZA meeting scheduled for September 8th at 6:00
p.m. There was a variance that came just a tad bit late. It will be added on to the BZA
meeting that we had. So, that’s scheduled September 8th at 6:00 p.m. Thank you.
Ms. Morgan: The next Civil Service Commission meeting will be Thursday,
September 3rd at 2:00 p.m. adjacent to these chambers.

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

Mayor Hawkins: It’s been said by the President, but a reminder tomorrow night,
7:00 p.m. Mini-Pitch opening; orange out. Wear your orange and as well as Drone Show
at 9:00 p.m. and then I hope that folks have gotten these emails from Princeton, but
Community Officials Night, in case you haven’t, October 2nd. I think folks are gathering
at 5:00 p.m. Game starts at 7:00 p.m. The Mighty Vikings, who are now kings of the block
once more, will be taking on Mason that evening. So, hopefully, folks can come out if
they’re free. We always have a nice showing from the City of Springdale. Thank you.
Communications from the Audience
Mr. Webster: My name is Doyle Webster, 12142 Peak Drive. Several meetings ago,
Mr. Vanover came up and asked some questions about Tri County and Mr. President
you said you can’t talk about it because it’s kind of a legal matter or something matter
of fact, and so can I ask you a question about (Resolution No. )R10(-2026) or is that still
the same answer?
President Anderson: You’re welcome to ask whatever question you want. I think
you’re referring to a meeting a couple of meetings back where a member of the
audience, I think it was Mr. Vanover had asked if the City has legal options that we could
pursue in terms of litigation against the developers and what I had shared at the time
is still what I’d share now. If there were legal options or legal options we’re pursuing
around the developers that wouldn’t be something that we would talk about in a public
forum if it wasn’t in the public domain. If your question is about (Resolution No.) R10(2026), you’re welcome to ask whatever questions you’d like.
Mr. Webster: I think his question was just in general about a status update on the
mall, but, anyway, I take it that the City is trying to get potential development funds to
demolish the mall. Is that all the mall or just sections of the mall?
Mayor Hawkins: Mayor Webster, to your question, I wasn’t here. Mr. Vanover asked
his question. I did watch it. I was out of town, but I think, to answer your question in
terms of the Brownfield Grant that Council had the resolution for, the City is not applying
for the Brownfield Grant. That is going to be the developer. But it’s always helpful if
we’re showing support from myself, as well as Council, which I’ve written a letter as well,
Council’s resolution is helpful. I’ve reached out to several elected officials, including
Commissioner Driehaus, including Representative Brownlee have all written support
letters. We have State Reps that have written support letters so that we can funnel
those to the owners of the mall to help them push forward. Obviously, I was not present
when Mr. Vanover asked his question. Here’s what I would say in general. And you know
this as well as anybody, if not better. There are things going on with regard to the mall
every day. Definitely every week, but if not every day, there’s something administratively
that there’s discussions, there’s things that we’re trying to push the developers forward
and the owner forward. If there is something that is concrete and is going to happen,
believe me, it will be made public. I couldn’t be excited more to go make it public, but,
as you know, there are folks sometimes that the follow through with regard to things is
not strong, and so to come out and give a play-by-play of every week things that might

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

Mayor Hawkins (continued): happen isn’t helpful and it’s disappointing for
everybody.
I’d rather be disappointed by myself versus making everybody
disappointed about when something goes through, but I assure you it’s just like when
you were in office. Every week, folks are trying to push that forward. I think what you
saw tonight with regard to legislation is just one more public example of that, but
privately it’s happening on a regular basis. So, hopefully they get the grant. Hopefully
that’s something that will help. I’m not saying that they have to have the grant to be
able to demo the mall, but obviously any money that goes to them it’s a big help. In
terms of demo of the mall, the hope would be to demo the whole mall and leave the
parking garages. That would be the hope. We will see where that goes. But I think
what everybody saw was a very public opportunity to see what’s been going on, on
a weekly basis behind the scenes.
Mr. Webster: Can anybody share with the public the extent of the demolition? Is
it the whole mall or just a section of it?
Mayor Hawkins: The grant is just money that goes to them. It’s still up to the
owner in terms of what they do with the grant dollars.
Mr. Webster: So, it’s not geared to anything specific? Like the Sears building or
anything?
Mayor Hawkins: Correct. It’s for the whole. They get the money for the whole site.
Whatever they do with it is what they do with it. Obviously, I will publicly say that I
would hope that they would demo the whole mall and leave the parking garages and
that would be a great start moving forward.
Mr. Webster: Okay. Thank you very much.
Mayor Hawkins: Yes sir.
Mr. Vanover: Tom Vanover, 11982 Tavel Court. As a veteran of 11 elections, I didn’t
have any problems understanding what the requirements were. We’re a charter city.
They have to adapt to us, not we adapt to them. If that’s the case, then let’s just throw
out the Charter and fall in line with everybody else. We specifically became a charter
city so that we could at least partly control our destiny. So, if they have to work a little
bit extra, sorry about your luck. We’ve never had issues, whether it was 90 days or 75;
it worked. We did it. They processed it. The Board of Elections has changed some of
our precincts without any of our input. Birds of a feather, well, what is good for the
goose is good for the gander. So, you want to take a look at it, if unless somebody’s
got a crystal ball that can project numbers on how the occupancy is going to go,
then you’re going to have to wait. Because otherwise you may do something and
then the next time around you have to re-do it. So, if you’re going to do something,
do it right, do it once. One thing that is just disturbing to me is the recommendations
going to Charter Revision Committee, I’m hearing a lot of “I”, and not “We”. That’s
disturbing. Thank you.

City of Springdale Council

September 2, 2026

Recap of Legislative Items
Mr. Jacobs: Council, as you review your Legislative Summary, Item I; An Ordinance
Amending Ordinance No. 35-2018 to Extend the Term of the TIF Exemption and
Approving Additional School District Compensation During the Extended TIF Exemption
(Springdale Commerce Park TIF) was addressed by Ordinance No. 36-2026, receiving
a second reading and seven affirmative votes. Item II; A Resolution Supporting an
Application for Fiscal Year 2027 Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program Funding for the
Remediation and Demolition of the Former Tri-County Mall Site at 11700 Princeton Pike
was addressed by Resolution No. R10-2026, receiving seven affirmative votes.
Legislation in Development

-

There were no new items

Adjournment
President Anderson: All that’s left before us is Item 15.
Ms. McFarland: Move to adjourn
President Anderson: We’re adjourned. Thank you everyone.
Council adjourned at 7:57 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,

Nicole Browder
Clerk of Council
Minutes Approved:
Jeffrey Anderson, President of Council
, 2026

City of Springdale Council
Town Hall Meeting
September 9, 2026 – 7:00 p.m.

The Town Hall Meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Springdale Community
Center by Mayor Lawrence C. Hawkins III. In attendance were Council President Jeffrey
Anderson, Council Vice-President Dan Jacobs, and Council Members David Gleaves,
Amy Thompson, and LaVonne Webster. Elected Officials responded to questions from
audience members on a variety of topics. The meeting was dismissed at 8:02 p.m.
Prepared by: Stephanie Morgan
Assistant City Administrator

Respectfully submitted,

Nicole Browder
Clerk of Council
Minutes Approved:
Jeffrey Anderson, President of Council

,2026

11700 Springfield Pike • Springdale, Ohio 45246 • 513.346.5700 • www.springdaleohio.gov