Common Council - Regular Meeting

I'm sure every Good evening. It's 6 o'clock. Call to order the April 7th, 2026 meeting of the Auburn Common Council. We'll begin with a moment of silent meditation or reflection followed by the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We'll move on to roll call. Councilman Fincham here. Councilman Brun here. Councilman Webb here. Councilwoman Dwit here. Councilman Williams here. Councilman Bundy here. Councilwoman Proser here. Council in front of you, you have the meeting minutes from the March 17th regular meeting.

Move to approve as presented. Second. Okay, we have a motion, a second to approve the minutes. Any questions, discussions? Hearing none, I'll call for question. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Motion carried. Recognition of visitors. Rick Ring, Denny Ketenberger, Eric Weber, Tamara Weber, Jim Katarat, Michelle Snyder, Jeff Jones, Dan Gabbert. Is it Tony Krauss? Yes. Okay. Shelley Smaltz. Welcome.

Move on to communications. Is there anyone in the public that would like to address the council? Anyone in the public that would like to address the council? Hearing none, we'll move on. We have Jason Semler from Baker Tilly to present the uh annual DLGF tiff management report. Welcome. Thank you, Mayor, members of the council. Um Jason Similar Baker Tilly uh serving as a financial adviser for the readon commission and and I believe you have been presented and have in your packet a report that we had prepared. If you don't have I have copies that I can hand out. Uh,

could I have a cut? Okay, I think everyone has a question. I got it.

This right here are being passed around. I can kind of explain. Uh, I think this is the second year that we've done this for the council. Uh, the read on commission. Uh, there are a number of things that they are required to do throughout the year as statuto requirements uh for the right we don't commissions. You probably heard me the buzz word transparency. This is one of the things that the legislator said required read on commissions to provide information on information from the prior year and report that to uh on gateway just similar to what you guys have to do uh every year. Report your financial information on gateway. Again, this has been in the law for a number of years. Um but last year uh the green commission is required now to present this information uh to the council. So this information has already been submitted on gateway. So now we're just uh meeting uh the statute requirement of presenting it uh to council. So I'll kind of go through this information and be happy to answer any questions that you may have as we go through this. Um this information was presented um at the read on commission meeting um earlier today. So they've seen this as well. Um but uh so starting on page two just before I go into the actual information again just want to disclose there are a number of things that the re commissions have to do each year. um as far as the reporting requirements and you can see here the num uh four or five things that they have to do and you can see the one highlighted in red that's what we're doing tonight and that has to be done by April 15th of each year. Uh there's another uh kind of significant requirement uh if it's at the bottom of the page with annual presentation uh where we invite all the overlapping tax units. We're doing that at next month's meeting. So, um we'll be sending out a letter uh to the council inviting you to that. So, I'm sure the rail commission um welcomes anyone attending that as well as the other uh overlapping tax units. Uh but turning to

page three again uh this is historical information a look back uh for 2025. Uh so one of the requirements uh that we have to sit on gateway is just to list the number of me or the members uh for 2025. So the 2025 members of the regional commission are on this page including um the non-school boarding board member Valer Armstrong. Uh the next page um we list uh each allocation area. Um so as you can see the city has three allocation areas. The first one is the northwest allocation area. Um but you can see there we created it in 2002. We've expanded it twice, 2008 and 2020. And then more recently, uh we created the Auburn crossing and the Westside allocation area. Uh so you can see the names of the areas um kind of what we nickname them or kind of refer to them as and then when they were established and the far right is when they expire. So you can see the first two expired in 2031 2038 and the last three you see the has none beside them and that's because any tiff areas that were created after 2008 uh they have a 25-year clock 25-year expiration date but the expiration date doesn't start until you issue bonds or some other form of obligation. Uh so for those three areas uh we don't have any bonds outstanding. So this 25 year life hasn't started. Page five, uh we are also required to report the amount of revenues and expend expenditures for each of the allocation areas. Uh so you can see the total revenues for each area and then total expenditures. Uh so as you can imagine um just by looking at the prior page as you guys are aware the northwest area has been

around for quite some time. uh generates uh significant amount of revenue. Uh so you can see that there as compared to the Auburn crossing who is relatively new and that revenue is just starting to be uh generated as the developments being built and assessed and starting to pay taxes. Likewise, you can see the maj majority of the expenditures are in the Northwest area. And you can see the $2.3 million of total expenditures in the Northwest area. And then down below we're required to break that out a little bit more to try to explain you know what those expenditures are. So you can see down there majority of them are related towards capital expenditures which again is that just kind of again shows the reump commission you know the goal of tiff areas is to uh identify parcels where there's going to be growth collect the new taxes from that growth put it back in that area to encourage further growth and that shows that's what you're doing you're putting that those revenues in towards public infrastructure and capital projects Uh the next page uh supposed to list any uh grants and loans that you have. So the rent commission has a number of facade grants um that it has for the downtown area uh and then also the $500,000 loan matching grant for the offer development uh project. So we have these listed here for 2025. And then down at the bottom, uh we're also required to list uh account balances um that you have outstanding as of December 31, 2025. So you see there at the bottom uh the ending balance as of that date. Again, so this is just information that the Rome commission is required to file on gateway every year and then also present to the council. So I'm happy to answer

any questions. Yes. Yes. uh the area you got three areas. Oops. Yeah, sorry. Three areas and you don't have bonds on Auburn crossing or the west side. Okay. So, you're drawing in 152,000 on the Auburn crossing. So, if you never sell do a bond, you just keep drawing that forever. That's under current statute. I mean, I can't say that the legislation wouldn't change the law sometime in the future, but yes, under current law, in theory, if we never issue bonds in Auburn Crossing, you could collect revenue um forever. Thank you.

Any other questions? Thank you. Thanks, Jason. Appreciate it. Thank you. And now we'll move on to court treasurer. Good evening. The current vouchers for 5,924,5880.

Move to approve. Second. We have a motion to second approve the vouchers. Any questions, discussion? I'll abstain from 98277 in the amount of 59.990 is my place of appointment.

Anything else? Hearing none, I'll call for a question. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Motion carried.

Thank you. You also have, excuse me, 2023 outstanding checks to declare as canled per Indiana code 51 10.5 for $368.7. Um, just a little background on these. These are utility refunds and I am in the process of working to um report these to um Indiana Unlaimed part as part of that process. Oh, we have to fend something. I don't know. Zach, would you like a motion on this? Outstanding checks. Um,

make a motion to cancel the checks per Indiana code 5-1-10.5. Second. Okay, we have a motion to second. Any questions or further discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for question. And all in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. I also have uh February bank reconciliation is complete and on the website for your review. Thank you. Thank you. Move on to ordinances and resolutions.

Ordinance number 2026-6, an ordinance amending chapter 163 entitled Auburn building code fee schedule of the city of Auburn code of ordinances. Summary. This ordinance amends and restates chapter 163 entitled Auburn Building Code Feed Schedule of the City of Auburn Code of Ordinances. I move that we pass ordinance number 2026-6 on second and final reading. I'll second that. Okay, we have a motion to second to pass ordinance number 2026-6 on second reading. Any questions, discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for question. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

Opposed. Motion carried. Ordinance number 2026-7, an ordinance to establish chapter 166, property maintenance code of the city of Auburn. Summary. This ordinance establishes chapter 166, property maintenance code of the city of Auburn, Indiana code of ordinances. Uh, make a motion to approve ordinance number 2026-7 on second final reading. Second.

All right, we have a motion to second to pass ordinance number 2026-7 on second final reading. We're going to suspend the council meeting. Open up the public hearing. Is there anyone in the public that would like to speak in regards to ordinance number 2026-7? I know you know how to do this. Please state your name if you would please.

I don't know. I'm never on this side. Uh my name is Rick Ring, 4080s 9th in Auburn. And a couple of questions about this ordinance. Uh first and foremost, uh because I've debated this with one of your council members, is this on commercial real estate only or is this on private pro private residences? The way I read it, it pertains to everything. The property maintenance code does. Correct.

All right. So, that's uh the other I'd like to point out that there are some issues in here that I think that uh maybe the city needs to address as we're requiring um the owners to maintain parking and driveways and concrete in good condition. Um it it is the city's responsibility to maintain the u alleys and the alleys if you go around town are pretty much in in pretty bad shape. Now granted most of our money needs to go into the actual streets but I know in in my case of of myself and my neighbors we have been maintaining our alley now for about 15 years where we clean it and seal it every five years. uh at no cost to the city. And as we go around and my our alley is so nice, it's become a public street. I'd like to see that the city would address the the alleys uh throughout the rest of the town. So that's my only comments. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak in regards to ordinance 2026-7? Hearing none, we'll close the public hearing, reconvene the council meeting. So, we have a motion, a second. Any questions or discussion by the council? Hearing none, I'll call for question. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed.

Motion carried. Ordinance number 2026-8, an ordinance to establish chapter 167, vacant and abandoned structure code of the city of Auburn. Summary. This ordinance establishes chapter 167, vacant and abandoned structure code in the city of Auburn, Indiana code of ordinances. I move that we pass ordinance number 2026-8 on second and final reading.

Second. We have a motion and second to pass ordinance number 2026-8. On second final reading, we'll suspend the council meeting, open up the public hearing. Is there anyone that would like to speak in regards to ordinance number 2026-8? Anyone that would like to speak in reference to ordinance 2026-8? Hearing none, we'll close a public hearing. reconvene the council meeting. So we have a motion to second. Any discussion or questions by the council hearing? None. I'll call for a question. All in favor signify by saying I.

I. I. Opposed. Motion carried. Ordinance number 2026-9, an ordinance to amend the zoning map of the city of Auburn, Indiana. Summary. an ordinance to reclassify the zoning of 703 South Main Street from traditional residential district to institutional district. I move that we pass ordinance number 2026-9 on first reading. Second. Okay. We have a motion and second to pass ordinance number 2026-9. Any questions or discussion by the council?

Sure. I wouldn't want to disappoint anybody. Um, Jim, could you come up podium, please? Because during the public hearing, a question was raised that I thought should be answered. Maybe if this uh this she said that this could never be a home again, can you live in this house with the new zoning? If a decision is made quickly on re on occupying the home, the answer would be yes. If there's a time lapse of 6 months or more, the status of that being used as a residence would not would not continue on. So it's it basically the clause is if the reszoning happens, let's say it's occupied today, it can continue to be occupied as a home indefinitely even though the zoning changed. So it becomes a a non-conforming situation for the use of the property residentially. So if there's occupants in it or if the owner new owner would occupy it within six months, then they would be able to to live there as well as use it as an institutional use. If it becomes vacant for that six bit six-month time period, it has to be only the uses allowed in the institutional. So, it cannot convert back to residential a year from now if nobody's living there.

I just made my wheels turn on that when I heard that question a little bit. Yeah. So, you could apply for zoning back to residential somewhere in the future or whatever and still become a home. Uh, they could. Yes. Yeah. So, it's not totally eliminated from ever being a home forever. No. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Jim. Any other questions or discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for a question. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries.

Ordinance number 2026-10, an ordinance to amend the zoning map of the city of Auburn, Indiana. Summary, an ordinance to reclassify the zoning of 3375 County Road 427 from Decal County low density residential district to institutional district. I move that we pass ordinance number 2026-10 on first reading. Second.

Okay, we have a motion to second to pass ordinance number 2026-10 on first reading. Any questions, discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for a question. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carried. Ordinance number 2026-11, an ordinance establishing the city of Auburn unsafe building fund. Summary. This ordinance establishes the city of Auburn unsafe building fund. I move that we pass ordinance number 2026-11 on first reading. Second.

Okay, we have a motion, a second to pass ordinance 2026-11 on first reading. Any discussion? Question by the council.

Hearing none, I'll call for a question. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed carry. Thank you. You're welcome.

Uh we'll move on to reports under mayor. Um excited to share the news. We did close on the future home of the Auburn Police Department last week. Uh and then also uh well underway with the planning for the July 4th uh fireworks which they're calling America 250. And then we have on the city social media page the Auburn night at the 10 caps which will be I believe it's Friday July 24th 7:05 p.m. game time and the link for discounted tickets can be find on found on the city social media page. Um and then we did have our town hall last week on Wednesday in regards to Auburn Electric. Council President,

no report. Okay. Plan Commission.

So, we do have a meeting next uh next week. There are a couple items under the uh new business part of the agenda. The first one is a Bridgewater section 7 primary plat. Um that is going to be on the south side of Morning Star Road west of County Road 35. It's going to basically extend Virginia Lane from the south part down by um Elaine Street and connect it up so it can connect to Morning Star Road. Um and there are about 43 single family lots located in that subdivision. Um and then also the downtown Auburn revitalization plan will be presented to the plan commission underneath new business as well.

That's it. Thank you committees. Nothing for tax phase in nothing for ordinance and resolution at this time. Uh finance committee uh first meeting is April 23rd 9:00 a.m. in chambers and we are have received the CIPs from department heads. I'm working on scheduling the times to briefly go through those and we'll get those distributed before that meeting as well.

Is there any unfinished business to come before the council? Any new business? I would just like I probably should have shared this under mayor report, but uh Tyler Brandon has been promoted, as you're all aware, to street superintendent as of about a week and a half ago. And anything under new business? Anything under the general good and welfare of the community? Um this Saturday, the Mike Walters wetlands. Um they're going to have a clean up there about 10 o'clock. So

um also on Thursday, I' been made aware the Rotary Club will be cleaning the trail from Morning Star Road uh just north of Decal High School uh Thursday afternoon at 4:00. So if anybody feels they want to come out and get some exercise, feel free to join them. So, I think they're looking at two hours. Anything else under the goods? Next regular council meeting is Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 to 6 p.m. Move to adjourn. Second. Okay, we have a motion to second to adjurnn. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed being adjourned.