Episode Fourteen - Council Wrap Up (4/2/26) and Reflections

In Episode Fourteen, Matt wraps up Wilmington City Council’s April 2, 2026 workshop and regular meeting. He covers the swearing-in of Officer McKenna Branham, Ron King’s introduction from the Clinton County Veterans Service Commission, the five-year Union Township fire and EMS renewal, the Sugar Grove Cemetery bridge supplemental, surplus police vehicles, and the new cemetery foundation-guidelines ordinance. The regular meeting itself moved quickly, with downtown parking finally passing on third reading, landfill notes advancing, and very little discussion on the floor. Matt also looks ahead to upcoming committee meetings, Planning Commission’s next meeting, and the renewed rec center conversation, before reflecting on O-17-13 and the city’s annual utility-rate review process.  

Transcript

Intro

Speaker 0:06

Welcome back to Wilmington Weekly. I'm Matt Purkey and this is episode 14, a wrap-up of the Wilmington City Council meeting from April 2nd, 2026.

Meeting Review

Speaker 0:17

This was a short night. The public workshop ran about 22 minutes, and the regular council meeting only lasted about 29. That does not automatically make it a bad meeting. Sometimes short means efficient. But on this particular night, most of the explanation happened in the workshop, while the regular meeting itself moved very quickly with almost no discussion once council got into the actual agenda. The workshop opened up with the swearing in of Officer McKennah Branham. Safety Director Eveland offered some praise before the oath, including noting that Branham finished first academically in her class and ranked in the top 5% nationally on physical metrics. So that was some nice praise for our incoming officer and for the police department. After that, Ron King introduced himself as the new outreach and communications coordinator for the Clinton County Veteran Services Commission. His message was that he wants the commission to become more proactive instead of reactive, better connect veterans to the community, and help build pathways into jobs and local collaboration. He mentioned places like Amazon and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as examples of employment and logistics connections. Councilmember Knowles suggested that he reach out to Beth Ellis at Cherry Bend Pheasant Farm because of the great work CherryBend does with veterans each year. So that part of the workshop felt more like relationship building than legislation, but it was still useful. Then council moved into review of new business, and that's where the most practical explanation for the night happened. The Union Township Fire and EMS agreement was presented as a simple five-year renewal with no contract changes. Wells introduced it that way, and Evelyn said the law director's office had reviewed and approved it. He also noted that this arrangement has been in place for more than 40 years. The cemetery supplemental appropriation also got a more useful explanation in workshop than it got on paper. In workshop, service director Crowe explained that the city used a prefab bridge and that during installation part of the head wall caved in, which meant additional roadway had to be repaired leading up to the bridge. And that gives more texture to what otherwise looks like a routine overrun. The surplus property item stayed pretty simple. Council was told City plans to list an old SWAT vehicle and retire cruiser on govedeals.com. The Cemetery Foundation Ordinance may have been the most important workshop explanation of the night. Councilmember Schlabach asked Kirby Keltner from the cemetery to come up and explain it. Keltner said a monument dealer had given the cemetery an update of policy, which pushed the city to take a look at its own. Wells asked for clarification on who handles what, and Keltner explained that the cemetery does the foundation while the monument company installs the monument. He also said there has been some damage in the past and that there is currently no enforceable rules governing monument vendors, which is what this ordinance is meant to change. Keltner asked for second and third reading at the next meeting so the rules can be in place before the cemetery gets busier this spring. Near the end of the workshop, a couple future-facing committee threads surfaced. Wells raised the Civic Services Committee meeting. It was discussed in our last city council meeting. Evelyn noted that they were ready for it, and Wells said it would be scheduled as soon as possible. Then Knowles asked about getting a wastewater meeting together to discuss stormwater rates, and Tolliver said that it does need to be scheduled as well. The workshop then adjourned not long after that exchange. The regular meeting started with a small change. The income tax report was removed from the agenda because it was not available, with the explanation that it is busy season in the tax department. The amended agenda was approved, minutes were approved without correction. The PUCO announcement was what the packet suggested it would be. Osborne read a memo from PUCO regarding the AES Ohio transmission line project and said copies of the full letter were available for review at the public libraries in the county. Public comment had more texture than the legislative portion of the meeting. Dustin Pierce, who has publicly announced a future mayoral run, spoke about the Wilmington Community Recreation Center Fund, upcoming fundraising meetings, and East End Elementary as a possible location for a rec center. That's important because it moves the idea from general fundraising into a specific site conversation with real public implications. Another citizen addressed ethical questions surrounding AI and its rapid implementation into everyday society. Echoing a sentiment from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the point was that just because we can build something does not mean we should. Along with a request to slow things down given time from the recent citizens' referendum. The officials' reports were mostly empty. The mayor, auditor, deputy law director, and service director all had no report. Safety Director Eveland did say that there have been complaints about downtown traffic, and that Chief Gibson had a plan to focus enforcement there. Old business moved quickly and cleanly. The downtown parking ordinance passed on third reading with no questions or discussion and no dissenting votes. So yes, that issue does appear to finally be put to rest. By this point, the questions had been asked, the answers had been given, and council moved through it unanimously. Curtis Drive and North Spring Street both advanced on second reading with no discussion. The landfill notes ordinance moved on second and third readings with no questions, and the planning and zoning amendment creating the minor subdivision review committee advanced on second reading without discussion. There were no dissenting votes on any old business items. New business was just as quick. The Union Township Fire and EMS agreements had its first reading. Cemetery Bridge Supplemental got its three readings. The surplus property resolution got three readings when unanimous passage. The Cemetery Foundation Guidelines Ordinance got first reading with no questions. Near the end, Toliver asked for a meeting to discuss the stormwater rates. All committees reported no action. Wells moved to adjourn. Knowles immediately seconded. People laughed at how abrupt it was, and the meeting was over at 7.29 p.m.

Upcoming Meetings

Speaker 7:10

Looking ahead, there's a few things to watch. A City Services Committee special meeting still needs to be scheduled. It looks like a public works committee meeting will be scheduled soon to discuss stormwater rates. Planning Commission is scheduled to meet again on Tuesday, April 7th at 4:30 in Council Chambers. There are a few site plan review items on that agenda, but none related to AWS. So that topic appears to remain in limbo a little longer. And outside the formal city calendar, Dustin Pierce announced Recreation Center fundraising meetings on May 27th and June 24th from 6 to 7 in the city building's community room.

Community Note

Speaker 7:53

I think the Rec Center conversation is one to watch, not because the idea itself is brand new, but because it now seems to be getting organized again in a more public way. There have been previous attempts and previous versions of that conversation over the years, including a countywide ballot initiative. What made this comment notable was not just that Pierce is raising money or holding meetings, it was that he named East End Elementary as a possible site. That gives the conversation a little bit of a different kind of weight.

Reflection

Speaker 8:28

It's not the short meeting that bothers me. It's when a meeting is short and still feels like more should have been said. What stayed with me from this meeting was the sense that Council is content to let major issues keep moving around it without much public discussion until those issues are far enough along that choices feel narrow and the conversation feels later than it should. Council should be publicly orienting the community while these issues are still moving, not waiting until they're nearly settled elsewhere. I I do not mean council has to relitigate every planning commission meeting or solve every public question the moment it appears, but when major issues are clearly moving toward council, council should be using its own public meetings to explain where those issues stand, what is still undecided, and what the public should expect next. That is what feels missing right now. The AWS site plan review is still moving, the referendum is now certified for the November ballot, recycling is still hanging out there, even if parts of the administration seem ready to treat it as nearly finished. Stormwater rates are now surfacing as an issue that needs their own meeting. These are not random loose ends, these are active public matters that either come back to council directly or affect decisions council will eventually have to own. And yet the pattern feels passive. Council seems willing to wait while these pieces move through other meetings, private discussions, administrative channels, and then deal with them only after much of the shape is already there. At that point, public discussion starts to feel less like early governance and more like late stage reaction. That's where 01713 matters. Back in 2017, Council adopted a law requiring the service director's office to prepare a written annual review of utility billing rates for water, wastewater, and sanitation by April 1st of each year, followed by committee and council review later throughout the year. So, at least on utility issues, the city doesn't lack a framework, it already has one. The problem is the framework does not seem to be showing up clearly in public where residents can see it doing its job. If stormwater now belongs in that annual rate conversation too, then the answer is not to keep treating it like a one-off topic that surfaces when someone remembers to ask for meeting. The answer is to amend 01713 in public and make stormwater part of that same regular review. That, to me, is the larger point. Council does not seem to have a lack of process problem. It has a use the process problem. And when Council appears too comfortable waiting for major issues to ripen elsewhere before discussing them in public, people are left wondering whether the real governance is happening in the room or just arriving there at the end.

Closing

Speaker 11:50

That's where I'll leave it for this one. A short meeting, a handful of routine votes, a few useful workshop clarifications, and a larger reminder that if the city already has a framework for proactive public review on utility questions, it ought to use it. Until next time, thanks for listening to Wilmington Weekly.