just north of Five Points. There are young children living on the north end of Oakwood and there is currently no playground in this part of the city. City Council and city staff looked into the proposal and worked with the citizens to develop a plan. The citizen proposal called for a significant portion of the project funding to come from grants or private donations. The park improvements will include three pieces of playground equipment, safety surface, fencing, sidewalks, benches, and trash and recycling containers. All of the playground equipment and some of the site amenities will be made out of recycled materials. The project will cost around $70,000, with about $40,000 coming from the Montgomery County Solid Waste District, $7,000 from private donations, $3,000 from the Oakwood Rotary Club and around $20,000 from the city of Oakwood. Construction work is scheduled to begin within the next week or two and will be completed by late October or early November. When completed, the city will conduct a dedication ceremony at the park and will rename the park “Cook Park”, in honor of our former mayor, Judy Cook. More information about former Mayor Cook will be presented at that ceremony.

Joe Braden, Auditor of State – Mr. Braden recognized Oakwood City Council and the Oakwood Finance Department for receiving the Auditor of State Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting. He explained that the Auditor of State’s office audits more than 6,000 entities and less than 10% are even eligible for this award. Entities that receive this award must meet the following criteria: the entity must file financial reports with the Auditor of State’s office within 150 days of year-end; have a clean audit, meaning that the report does not contain any findings for recovery, material citations, material weaknesses, significant deficiencies, Single Audit findings or questioned costs; and, the entity’s management letter contains no comments related to ethics referrals; questioned costs less than $10,000; lack of timely report submissions; reconciliation; failure to obtain a timely Single Audit; findings for recovery less than $100; and public meetings or public records issues. This award not only represents the hard work of every city employee who strives each day to achieve excellence, but also City Council for their excellent job in accounting for the money in the city offices. Mr. Braden recognized Finance Director Cindy Stafford for her outstanding leadership, professionalism and commitment to fiscal integrity. He then presented Mrs. Stafford with the award.

Mrs. Stafford accepted the award on behalf of the city of Oakwood. She thanked the Oakwood Finance Department for all of their hard work. The city takes the money received very seriously and assures that it is properly accounted for.

Mayor Duncan shared that in being a CPA, he knows how hard it is to obtain this award. He said that the past and current Oakwood City Council and Oakwood city staff take very seriously the safeguarding of taxpayer money, and with transparency. He thanked Mr. Braden for taking the time to present the award.

A copy of the ordinance, having been placed on the desks of each member of Council prior to introduction, was read by title.

Mr. Stephens explained that this is an ordinance that relates to the Pointe Oakwood Settlement Agreement that was approved by Council on March 20, 2017, and adopted by the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court on March 21, 2017.

Almost all of the paved roadways in the Pointe Oakwood development are owned by the city as public right-of-way. However, four small cul-de-sacs and Ascent Circle are privately owned by Oakwood Investment Group (OIG). As part of the settlement agreement, OIG agreed to install the final course of asphalt on all streets in the development, and then to dedicate the four cul-de-sacs and Ascent Circle to the city as public right-of-way.

The paving work was completed a few weeks ago, and OIG has delivered a deed to the City Attorney to dedicate the cul-de-sacs and Ascent Circle for public use. This ordinance will formally accept the right-of-way dedication and authorize the City Attorney to record the deed.

Thereupon, it was moved by Mr. Stephens and seconded by Mrs. Hilton that the second reading be waived and that the ordinance be passed this evening.