Full minutes

Members present

• Vice Mayor Chris Haney, presiding
• Mr. Brown
• Mr. Harvey
• Mr. Hock
• Mr. Kline
• Mr. Scott
• Ms. Simmons

A regular meeting of Ironton City Council was held on Thursday, July 23, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers. Present was Vice Mayor Chris Haney, who presided, and members Brown, Harvey, Hock, Kline, Scott, and Simmons — seven. Also in attendance: John Elam, Mack Anderson, and Mayor Cramblit. All persons stood for an invocation by Assistant Pastor Detweiler with Real Life Ministries Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

Approval of minutes

The minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of July 9, 2026, and the Joint Meeting of City Council and Trustees of July 23, 2026, stood approved as submitted.

Audience participation

Mary Ann Tussey, 1507 Karin Street, said she wanted to ask the Mayor who is going to be making the 2026 forgivable loan determination — is it the same person or a committee? The Mayor said that has already passed. Ms. Tussey asked about the next one. The Mayor said he thinks they are going to restructure a few different things just from things that they have learned. He said a lot of applications they get are very much exceeding the amount they even have in that budget to expend, so he thinks they are going to rework the guidelines for that with the parameters they have to do it, but he has no idea at this point.

Ms. Tussey asked if they were going to be spraying for mosquitos on Karin Street and whether it is on the schedule for next week. The Mayor said he believes so — it will be everywhere throughout town. He said they do not skip areas. They do get people who ask that, but the disclaimer is for individuals not to come outside and not to leave pets outside during that time. Ms. Tussey said she knows they came down that way, and Mr. Pemberton told her that someone said, don’t spray on Karin, so he didn’t — that is why she is asking if it is going to be sprayed. She said the Mayor can ask him — she personally spoke to him and she knows he was with the sprayer on the day that he sprayed. He said they said, don’t spray Cliff, Karin and another street, and they didn’t. The Mayor said he will talk to him about that. Ms. Tussey said they had a lot of water so they definitely need to be sprayed.

Ms. Tussey asked whether everyone still gets a gym membership that works for the City under the new contract and whether that was still approved. Mr. Kline said yes, there is a gym health incentive that is included with that. He said in subscribing to that, the goal is for them to have a healthy workforce, and a healthy workforce means fewer claims on their insurance, which means lower premiums on their end, so it is an investment also. In addition, they freed up some space that was used by the Police Department on the 4th floor that they are hoping to improve, and they will have better facilities to use also. Ms. Tussey asked if, since not everybody is going to use that gym membership, employees don’t get charged for it if they say they don’t want it. Mr. Kline said he believes that the Mayor negotiated it. The Mayor said that it is packaged that way.

Ms. Tussey said someone contacted her about this and this is why she is asking: they went up by the Lombard property and there was a City employee tearing up City sidewalks using City equipment, and they want to know if that developer paid what they paid the City to do that. The Mayor said he isn’t entirely sure but he thinks those are their utilities so it is their right-of-way. He said whenever developers and anybody is doing anything, they are there to oversee that. Ms. Tussey asked if it says that in the ordinance. The Mayor said yes, the Public Utilities Director has to inspect those while they are being done. Ms. Tussey asked whether everybody has that option — that they can call on City workers and equipment, and if they are tearing up sidewalks or whatever, the City will take care of it. The Mayor said that is part of the development so that is something that they would do. They wouldn’t want them putting it in, especially if it’s not done to the standards they want. He said if it is a main, those are differences. Taps and laterals on private property are not things they inspect, but if it’s their water main or their sewer main, they are not letting anyone touch that. Ms. Tussey said but it’s sidewalks — is there anything under the sidewalk they are concerned about? The Mayor said he would assume that’s why they would be doing that part. Ms. Tussey said, but you don’t know. The Mayor said no because he has not… Ms. Tussey said she went up and videotaped it and they were going down 4th just tearing up the sidewalk, and she doesn’t see why the City would pay for that. If the developer who is bringing in all kinds of money to the City, why wouldn’t they pay for it instead of using City employees? The Mayor said he doesn’t think the City is paying for that.

Communications

Mr. Haney said under Communications there is a Recreation Levy Receipt from the Board of Elections. Mr. Harvey moved, seconded by Mr. Kline, to accept, file and make a part of the minutes the Rec Levy Receipt. Motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Harvey said he also gave the Clerk and the Mayor the resignation of Steve Harvey from the Planning Commission.

Mr. Haney moved, seconded by Mr. Harvey, to accept the resignation of J. C. Medinger from the Civil Service Commission. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Haney moved, seconded by Mr. Harvey, to nominate Craig Thomas to immediately fill the unexpired term of J. C. Medinger’s prior seat on the Civil Service Commission. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Elam asked if Mr. Haney had said that resignation was effective on 7/14. Mr. Haney looked again and said it was actually dated the 13th.

Reports

None.

Ordinances

1. Ordinance No. 26-42 — Prohibiting the acquisition, use, contracts and subscriptions of automatic license plate reader systems within the City of Ironton, Ohio, prohibiting municipal contracts for such systems and declaring an emergency — first reading.
   Discussion: Mr. Scott said he would like to point out that there were some changes made post the Strategic Planning meeting a few weeks ago. He said he appreciates everyone’s input on that draft. He said in Section 4, there are some new changes allowing the City to utilize some information in specific circumstances, such as kidnapping, missing persons, and things of that nature that were discussed. Mr. Harvey said he asked Troy, since he was not at the Strategic Planning meeting, about whether they got input from the Solicitors on constitutionality, Ohio case law, etc., and that opinion is in their emails.
2. Ordinance No. 26-43 — Authorizing the Mayor to enter into the attached contract between the City of Ironton, Ohio and the International Association of Firefighters Local 532 and declaring an emergency — first reading.
   Mr. Harvey moved, seconded by Mr. Scott, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance 26-43 second and third reading by title only. Mr. Harvey also noted that Ordinance 26-43 was given a favorable recommendation by Finance. Motion passed unanimously and Ordinance 26-43 was given second and third reading. Mr. Scott moved, seconded by Mr. Harvey, to adopt Ordinance 26-43. Motion passed unanimously. Adopted.
3. Ordinance No. 26-44 — Authorizing the Mayor to enter into the attached contract between the City of Ironton, Ohio and the Fraternal Order of Police, Ohio Labor Council, Inc. and declaring an emergency — first reading.
   Mr. Harvey noted that Ordinance 26-44 received a favorable recommendation from Finance. Mr. Harvey moved, seconded by Mr. Scott, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance 26-44 second and third reading by title only. Motion passed unanimously and Ordinance 26-44 was given second and third reading. Mr. Harvey moved, seconded by Mr. Scott, to adopt Ordinance 26-44. Motion passed unanimously. Adopted.
4. Ordinance No. 26-45 — Authorizing the Mayor to enter into the attached contract between the City of Ironton, Ohio and Local 771 and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, declaring an emergency — first reading.
   Mr. Harvey mentioned that Ordinance 26-45 received a favorable recommendation from Finance. Mr. Harvey moved, seconded by Mr. Scott, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance 26-45 second and third reading by title only. Motion passed unanimously and Ordinance 26-45 was given second and third reading. Mr. Harvey moved, seconded by Mr. Scott, to adopt Ordinance 26-45. Motion passed unanimously. Adopted.
5. Ordinance No. 26-46 — Amending various sections of Chapter 1484 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Ironton, Ohio and declaring an emergency — first reading.
   Discussion: Mr. Harvey said he wanted a quick discussion on Section 4 specifically. He said he feels like a $400 fine with a $6,400 max may not be incentive enough to help their problem with these properties because they tend to be written off as a loss. He is asking for an open discussion and noted that Mr. Kline was originally the main author of this original ordinance. Mr. Kline said yes, several years ago. Mr. Harvey asked him if there were any ORC restrictions related to that penalty, and if not, he would like to entertain making those a little stiffer to incentivize movement because he truly feels like one of the reasons this hasn’t had any teeth is because people don’t really care about that fine. Ms. Simmons said he is happy with entertaining the idea of an increase as long as it is reasonable. She said she doesn’t know if there are any kind of limits there for what is reasonable. Mack said he doesn’t know of any statutory limits, but someone could challenge if they would become so excessive that they are unreasonable. Ms. Simmons said there is a Part 2 to this that hopefully will be available by next meeting, and it does have fines for individual offenses — such as if you have plywood over your windows, that is an offense charged every week up to $1,000, or if you have a hole in your roof in a downtown building that causes the second floor to collapse. She said she does like the idea of increased fees as long as they are legal. She knows Mr. Brown brought that up as well. Mr. Brown said Ms. Simmons has done so much research on this, and in reading through some of the cities she listed as examples, $6,400 seems to be the highest penalty he could find. He said since there is not a lot of precedent for higher than that on the maximum after the five years, what if they started year 1 at $800 instead of $400 and then arrived at that $6,400 in year 4 instead of year 5, and then they get to that higher number faster, because he agrees, and he thinks the more teeth you can have in terms of incentivizing movement the better. Ms. Simmons said she is comfortable with that amendment. Mr. Brown said or even if they think it would have legal holding, they could maybe look at just doubling all of those. Mr. Harvey said he knows this is first reading, he just wanted to make mention of that because he really does feel like they had the right intention years ago when they did it and it has the right intention now, but does it have enough bite to spur on movement, and he thinks that is part of the problem because people don’t care about anything. Mr. Scott said just to clarify for the language, it only says reasonable for the amount of penalty — there’s no figure associated with that. Ms. Simmons said she thinks that if it is over a reasonable amount, they can fight it but she’s not sure on the rules on that. Mack said you can put it to where you think is reasonable. Mr. Brown said that he would be a fan of doubling what is there himself, but he doesn’t know where the rest of them fall on that amount. Mr. Hock said he thinks it needs to be as high as reasonable. Mr. Harvey said we don’t have to amend it tonight, he just wanted everyone to think about it. Mr. Brown asked if they could make a motion to amend that on the floor. Mack said yes, if you know the details of it. Ms. Simmons said so doubling that first annual fee. Mr. Brown said from $400 to $800. Ms. Simmons said and then it will double each year until… Mr. Brown said until a maximum of $12,800, right? Mack said he doesn’t know the math on it. Mr. Haney said yes.
   Mr. Brown moved, seconded by Ms. Simmons, to amend Ordinance 26-46, Section 4, Sentence 1, from $400 to $800, and Sentence 2, from $6,400 to $12,800. Discussion: Mr. Kline said they originally passed something that says all fees and permits are increased by the Consumer Price Index annually, and he wants to make sure that this captures that also. He said he doesn’t know if they need to include that language in here — they could pass that language separately — but he thinks that needs to be accounted for. He doesn’t know if they want to include that or not. Roll call on Mr. Brown’s motion to amend Ordinance 26-46. Motion passed unanimously. Mack said if the ordinance says all fees, it would include… Mr. Kline said he thinks it does, but that is something they need to keep track of. The Mayor asked if that would only include fees that were part of the City prior to that legislation. Mack said no. The Mayor said then it is anything after… Mack said yes.
   Discussion: Ms. Simmons said in Section 2 it talks about graphics that could be made available at low or no cost to vacant businesses to make it more attractive to be downtown. She noted that Ohio State has put requests for graphics that say, Welcome to Ironton, Take a Walk Downtown — just decorative supporting downtown and healthy living graphics that could be offered at low or no cost to vacant buildings in their downtown. She said to Mr. Haney, in that same conversation, ask them for a defined crosswalk and signs for the railroad crossing. She said she forgot to copy him in that email, but they did put in that request for him as well. Mr. Haney asked if they need the property owner’s permission to put those graphics on their windows. The Mayor said he doesn’t think so. Mack said that he wouldn’t think so. Ms. Simmons said it says that there are options there, so that is just an option. Mr. Haney said he likes it. Mr. Brown said he thinks that for the property owner, that is an easy way to get into compliance at low or no cost. Ms. Simmons said it aids the property owner in having to come up with… The Mayor asked if that avoids the vacant fee if they have those graphics. Ms. Simmons said that it doesn’t avoid the fee — it is just saying that they need to make sure that there are graphics there. Mr. Brown said this requires that they are within 90 days even with it vacant. Ms. Simmons said so if it is not rented within 90 days and it is going to stay perpetually empty, they need to have some kind of graphic or window display or something like that, so it doesn’t just read Empty downtown.
   Mr. Brown moved, seconded by Ms. Simmons, to suspend the rules for Amended Ordinance 26-46. Motion passed unanimously and Amended Ordinance 26-46 was given second and third reading by title only. Mr. Brown moved, seconded by Ms. Simmons, to adopt Amended Ordinance 26-46. Motion passed unanimously. Adopted.
6. Ordinance No. 26-47 — An ordinance authorizing the Mayor to enter into a contract with Level and Square Custom Homes, LLC and declaring an emergency — first reading.
   Mr. Kline said he wanted to mention that Ordinance 26-47 received a favorable recommendation in Finance. Mr. Kline moved, seconded by Mr. Hock, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance 26-47 second and third reading by title only. Motion passed unanimously and Ordinance 26-47 was given second and third reading. Mr. Kline moved, seconded by Mr. Hock, to adopt Ordinance 26-47. Motion passed unanimously. Adopted.
7. Ordinance No. 26-48 — Amending the permanent operating budget for the City of Ironton, State of Ohio, for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2026 and declaring an emergency — first reading.
   Mr. Kline noted that Ordinance 26-48 received a favorable recommendation from the Finance Committee. Mr. Kline moved, seconded by Mr. Hock, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance 26-48 second and third reading by title only. Motion passed unanimously and Ordinance 26-48 was given second and third reading. Mr. Kline moved, seconded by Mr. Hock, to adopt Ordinance 26-48. Motion passed unanimously. Adopted.
8. Ordinance No. 26-41 — Authorizing the Mayor to enter into the attached delinquent debt collection agreement with the Ohio Attorney General and declaring an emergency — second reading.
   Mr. Kline made mention that Ordinance 26-41 received a favorable recommendation from the Finance Committee. Mr. Kline moved, seconded by Mr. Hock, to suspend the rules and give Ordinance 26-41 third reading by title only. Motion passed unanimously and Ordinance 26-41 was given third reading. Mr. Hock moved, seconded by Mr. Kline, to adopt Ordinance 26-41. Motion passed unanimously. Adopted.

Resolutions

None.

Miscellaneous

Mr. Hock moved, seconded by Mr. Haney, to receive, file and make part of the minutes, the June 2026 financials. Motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Kline said the council has an invited guest this evening, John Haskins, to give an update on the Treatment Plant renovations. Mr. Haney apologized for not including him in Audience Participation. Mr. Haskins said that he appreciated the work done on this and the funding provided for these projects, which will make a big difference in the Waste Water Plant. Mr. Kline said that he would like to have before and after pictures that they are able to show to residents that their dollars are going to reinforce their infrastructure, and said he thinks it would be good for them to see the improvements made. Mr. Haskins said they will put something together.

Mr. Haskins said they will start with No. 1 on the information he passed around. He said during their budget workshops he presented all of these projects. They went through and picked out five of these projects because with the amount of money they were going to require, plus what they still needed for 2026, they came up with the number that the council was able to fund. He said flipping to the next page gives the status of every one of those projects. With No. 1 being the roof projects, two of them are now complete. The third one is in progress and the rest of them will follow. They started that day on the maintenance pump. They also did an addition to the garage. Through the bidding process and the State contracts — he thinks it is called the GIS pricing — they saw some significant savings, which allowed them to do a little bit more. They did some extra work on the garage to allow storage for their new excavator. The highlighted yellow is the balance underneath that item number. Projects 7, 8, 9, and 11 haven’t been started — they are waiting on quotes. They haven’t got to the hydrants yet and plan to be on that in a couple of weeks, to do that in house. On the others, he is waiting on manufacturers for the final quotes. They have to provide a schedule of dates through 2026 and 2027 for the bond, and Nos. 7, 8, and 11 are for next year (2027), so they are on schedule.

He said on item 1A, which was just for the collection system — the excavator, trailer, and dump truck — the excavator and all of the attachments are scheduled to be delivered on Monday. They had a little emergency repair needed at one of their lift stations, and with the savings they had on the excavator, he was able to use part of that money to buy another pump for one of their lift stations. They didn’t have any other capital funds, so they just utilized that. There is still $2,500 there. The dump truck was delivered on June 3rd and they are in possession of it. The equipment trailer was picked up on May 29th. With those same savings, they were having problems with their mower, and through the GIS program and bidding they were able to pick up a mower, and that mower had a $4,400 savings through that program. That was another item that really wasn’t scheduled, but allowed them to go ahead and make improvements. There is still $11,640 there. He noted that with the savings on both of those line items, they would like to look at purchasing a gator, if it’s okay to use those extra funds as long as they are still making improvements and buying extra pumps — he wanted to see what Council’s feelings were on that. They were able to get an extra $5,000 on one line item and an extra $2,500 and an extra $11,000 because of the bidding and the government price.

Mr. Kline asked what the gator would be used for. Mr. Haskins said it would be used for ground maintenance such as spraying weed killer in the pipe yard, all of the fence line, maintaining the above-ground sewer line on N 5th Street, and mowing, weed killer, and in between buildings with the tools — just to make them a little more efficient. He said in the past they have always used pick-up trucks with a trailer and lawn mower. Mr. Kline said he is okay with it; it is reflective of the savings he had for the other things. Mr. Haney said if it is making day-to-day more efficient, he is for it. Mr. Haskins said it is also an employee safety thing too — right now they have a back-pack sprayer that they are packing around, and it gets hot sometimes. They could put a sprayer in the back and go through and spray. They have a tremendous amount of pipe yard, and they have seven lift stations that they spray throughout the City. Mr. Kline asked Mr. Elam if he sees a problem with the bonding and how it was issued. Mr. Elam said he does not see that as a problem. He said the one thing that he and the Mayor just talked about is that they had everything that Mr. Haskins or anyone else requesting in capital equipment listed under fund number 40-005 and then 2026, with everything listed as its own separate line number so they can go back in a future time and know exactly when they got it because it is noted as such. He said if Mr. Haskins is wanting to buy a gator under savings from roofing, he would say to put a new line item in there for the gator and then just do a reappropriation — they can reduce those lines and take those savings from the lines he is talking about and make another line for the gator. Mr. Kline asked Mr. Elam if he could make that reflected in the next amendment. Mr. Elam said yes, he can. Mr. Haskins said the last item is No. 2, which covers the 2026 items they need to finish within the plant — all 14 of them were funded.

He said on the next page you can see where those are. Projects 1, 2, and 3 have purchase orders issued; the first two are in progress. They are currently working in the digestor on the primary sludge and digester sludge, which will finish up that building completely with new pumps, new valves, and two new control cabinets. With the return sludge pumps, they are just waiting for delivery of the last pump, which is due in on August 21st. They haven’t done anything yet with the building heaters because it has been hot enough — they will do that this fall. With the aeration tank, purchase orders are issued and they are waiting for delivery of the equipment; the contractor is also waiting on that equipment. He is the same contractor on site doing the digester. On water flushing, they are waiting on a couple of valves due in any time. The primary clarifier, No. 8, hasn’t started, and 9 and 10 have not started. There are a total of three wells there. He started in August getting things together to order the equipment, and hopefully by the beginning of September or first of October they will start those projects. They haven’t needed a rental pump for a pump-around yet but will be needing one soon. With the flow regulator gates, he had a budgetary quote provided in the spring and is waiting on a final quote. They ordered 2 composite samplers, which are installed and currently in use. They had a situation with chlorine gas — there was $7,000 there, and he made an emergency purchase out of that to replace a smart valve and a gas detector in that building. There is a savings highlighted there of $5,700 that they will also reappropriate. He said they are moving forward and he appreciates Council for all the work they have done on this.

Mr. Harvey said they should be thanking him. He said they get $1.5 million worth of projects done in house without engineering, bidding, construction, or EPA permits, because they already have that in house, and they are doing it for a fraction of the cost because of Mr. Haskins’ leadership. He said Mr. Haskins is saving the citizens of Ironton a million dollars in these upgrades at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Mr. Haney said not only are they saving with him doing the work, but he is also saving on top of savings. Mr. Haskins said he will get together the pictures Mr. Kline asked for, and whenever they want him to come back and give another update, he would be happy to. Mr. Kline said maybe after the first of the year they could revisit that, and would also like to reiterate what they have said — he thinks Mr. Haskins has saved residents millions of dollars.

Ms. Simmons said some residents are getting letters about the water service line identification from the Get the Lead Out program, and there is a line in there that says, if any lead or galvanized pipes are discovered, a plan will be developed to replace them. She asked whether they know if that means a plan will be developed for the City to replace them or the resident to replace them — who does that fall on? The Mayor said the program is grant funded. Erin Edens was present and said they are replacing from the main to the meter pit, but as far as from the meter pit to the house, that is probably going to fall on Council legislation-wise, and basically the time line will be for them to replace it. He said the lead program in Ohio is still 10 years — it is a 10-year plan for them to replace theirs. He said he doesn’t think it would be anything expected for Council to pass something and say they have to do it now, but it definitely needs to be replaced — the health effects of lead lines are very documented. He said from the Ohio EPA meetings, they are supposed to do 10% of their system every year for the next 10 years so they have some time. They actually just did one on Tuesday. Right now they are just really in the discovery phase, and that is why Arcadis is in town — they are trying to do the predictive modeling to try to predict where the lead is. Hopefully after this round of potholing and they get their information, they will have a better idea of where they should look. Mr. Harvey said he knows there has been grant funding for municipalities for Get the Lead Out, but asked whether there is such a program for individuals to apply for that with the Ohio EPA. Mr. Edens said he wasn’t 100% sure. He knows that the Arcadis one is grant-funded for their side, but he hasn’t specifically looked into it for residents as far as what they can apply for. Mr. Harvey asked if that was more of a Kevin Wood question. Mr. Edens said yes, he definitely would have a lot more information on it. He said he thinks Susie is the one he is dealing with on the lead service — she is out of Cincinnati with Arcadis. He said he can get Mr. Harvey her email.

Mr. Kline told the Mayor that at their last meeting in June they discussed the 35 recovery homes and 235 beds that are located in the City posted by the Department of Behavioral Health, and he wanted to possibly request discussion with Mark Dickess as to whether those businesses have obtained a business license, whether those locations are documented, and whether they are in an appropriately zoned area, especially recovery homes with supervised beds in the appropriate zone. He wondered if Mark would be available to attend a Council meeting in the future. He said he knows Mark is busy. The Mayor said he is working on identifying those to make sure those are accurate because it had all of Lawrence County on there. He said maybe it would be better once he has all of that information. Mr. Harvey said (to Mack) he thinks their State legislator just passed something in the last year about registering with OMHAS, so those beds should be registered as well with the Ohio Mental Health services. Mack said they should be. The Mayor said what he was saying is that they have to verify if they have the… because originally there was a registry that died off with the moratorium, then they incorporated the business license so every business that operates in town has to list every property they own. That is what they are trying to verify, that they have all done that.

Executive session

Mr. Kline moved, seconded by Mr. Harvey, to go into two separate Executive Sessions: first, to discuss contracts, with Council, Mayor, Finance Director, Solicitor, and Erin Edens; and second, to discuss real estate, with Council, Mayor, Finance Director, and Solicitor; with no action to follow.

Attestation

Minutes were taken by Marta Leach, Clerk. Signed by the Clerk, Vice Mayor Chris Haney, and Mayor Cramblit.