The Toledo City Council confirmed Sandra Bowen to the Lucas Metropolitan Housing Board on Oct. 21 and heard a wide slate of first readings for ordinances, grants and contracts covering parks improvements, public safety grants, infrastructure projects and other actions.

Clerks read the mayor’s request to confirm Sandra Bowen to a term on the Lucas Metropolitan Housing Board through April 30, 2027. A motion to confirm was followed by roll-call responses recorded on the record; council members who recorded affirmative responses in the roll call included Williams, Jones, Kohlmives, Martinez, McPherson and Morris. The clerk announced: “Appointment confirmed.” The meeting record does not name a mover or seconder for the motion to confirm.

Council members then moved through a lengthy list of first-reading items. Major items introduced included:
- Ordinance 475-25: authorization to enter a Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program grant agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation and accept $1,107,700 for planning, design and community engagement for a multi-use trail along Swan Creek; the ordinance also authorizes a proposed $176,400 community engagement subaward to the Junction Coalition and waives competitive bidding for that subaward.
- Ordinance 488-25: proposed loan agreement and related documents with the Toledo-Lucas County Board of Health to support acquisition, renovation and relocation of its offices; the ordinance authorizes up to $5,000,000 from the general fund and noted a closing deadline that prompted the mayor’s office to request a special meeting the following Tuesday at 1:00 p.m.
- Multiple public-safety and transportation grants and contracts, including state Department of Public Safety selective traffic enforcement and impaired-driving grants (amounts cited in the reading: $52,376.20 and $49,876.20), a Department of Homeland Security Port Security Grant Program award up to $23,500, and a proposed three-year K-9 services agreement with Lucas County (authorizing up to $120,000 annually).
- Several park and capital items presented as first reading, including expenditures to renovate a basketball court at Friendship Park ($80,000) and to install pickleball courts at Fort Meggsertoma Park ($175,000), and an appropriation to accept an additional $22,838.97 from FEMA for the Right Avenue embankment stabilization project.

Council also handled a set of procedural motions with no recorded objections: dispensing with the reading of the city journal for the Oct. 7 meeting and excusing several members from committee occurrences. Councilman McCall Mives moved to refer Ordinance 450-25 (amending TMC Chapter 17.25 to require a dumpster or container for eviction set-outs) to the Mobility, Sustainability and Beautification Committee for further work; council recorded “seeing no objections — so ordered.”

No final votes on the many first-reading ordinances were recorded at the meeting; the clerk read numerous first-reading items to be scheduled for subsequent consideration. Council members also offered condolences to Councilman Mac Driscoll for the unexpected death of his brother and shared local announcements about community events and the Toledo Cup economic-impact data presented during the meeting.

What the meeting record shows and does not show: Sandra Bowen’s confirmation was announced on the record and a roll call produced multiple affirmative responses; many other items were introduced at first reading or referred to committee and require later council action for adoption or funding to take effect.

Attendance on the record at the start of the meeting was seven council members present.