Council - Regular Meeting

Dennis, you on? I'm on. All right. Aaron, you on? Yep. Time is now 7:03. The Cicero Town Council meeting is now in session. If you could all please rise for this saying of 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. If you could please remain standing, Miss Gary.

Thank you. Could you bow with me? Thank you. Thank you, Father. Thank you so much for this day. Thanks for all these people who are so concerned about our town. Father, I pray you give the council the tools and everything they need to make good decisions for the town of Cicero. It's in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Town council meeting. That's Dan Strong's fault. Miss Gary, if you could please take the role. I can. Joe Cox, present. Eric Hayden, present. Dennis Johnson, present. Jacob Ever, present. Emily Pearson, present. We have a quorum with five members present. Moving on to the agenda. Does anybody have any additions or revisions to the agenda?

I do, sir. I would like to remove my additional appropriation public hearing and my additional appropriation resolution. Okay. So, what's she removed? Additional appropriation under new business. So, both of those A and B items. Yeah, it was advertised for town hall. So, we'll redo it next time.

Any other revisions? Um, so I had under miscellaneous maybe we discussed the ton town truck restrictions. Oh, okay. You're talking about semis through downtown and dump trucks. And I don't know. Do we want to do that this time or do we want to wait? If you want to talk about it, we can talk about it. Yep. Okay. All right. Any other revisions to the agenda? If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended. So moved. Dennis Johnson. Second. Emily Pearson.

Motion and a second. All in favor? Opposed? We have an agenda. Moving along to the approval of the prior minutes. Has everybody had an opportunity to review the minutes from the town c town council staff meeting dated January 15, 2026 and the town council meeting minutes from January 20th? So Rhonda sent out an update. Yep. For a couple clarifications. I'll make a motion to approve both of those sets of meeting minutes. Second, Dennis Johnson. Motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Good to go.

All right. Moving on to the approval of the claims dated 2326. Has everybody had an opportunity to review those claims? Any questions? If not, I will entertain a motion to pay the claims dated 2326. So moved. Emily Pearson. Second. Dennis Johnson. Motion to second. All in favor? I opposed. Go ahead and pay the bills. All right. Thank you. Moving. Is Keith here? Should I just skip over that for right now? Yeah. Okay. All right. Moving on to council committee reports. OTC report. No report. EDC report. No report. Uh Mr. Freeman.

Good evening, council. Uh we have nothing for the storm water right now. However, we did get nine uh bids on our project and they were given to Keith and to Terry to uh look over and pick out which one's more responsive and responsible and I have not heard back from those. They're still kind of in limbo or can you update me on that? Yeah, go ahead. That they are at town hall um because it was stated that bids would be dropped off there. So, they're giving it a period of time before Terry and Keith come here. That's that's a different topic. Not my bids. We're talking about the email that went out today with the bids that were open by the storm. Oh, okay. Water board last week. Sorry.

So, it's still pending. So, we have we haven't decided on Mr. um Mr. Bryant sent a rep of his since he wasn't at the meeting. He sent a rep to pick up those. So, they've taken those under advisement and that's just that's where we are. We we've received them. We have reviewed them. We did get to pick the winning bit. Correct. Thank you. On that. Thank you. Thank you. All righty. Legal council report, Mr. Cole.

Uh, yes. I had several agreements that have gone out to the council. The first one is the expense reimbursement agreement. That is a agreement that the council asked for last time between uh the developer IPA and the town of Cicero. And in that agreement, as I explained in my email sending it out, IPA has agreed to put $200,000 into an escrow account, the town will then have the ability to expend those funds as it deems appropriate on having uh experts review the project. And so we would have sole control over dispersing those to make payments to the experts that we're looking at engaging. And those are the agreements that I'll ask you to approve after this one. But if you have any questions or anything, please let me know. If not, then this is ready for approval.

Okay. And just to be very clear, um this reimbursement agreement in no way obligates the town um to make a decision one way or another regarding this project. That that is correct. It is solely to allow you to investigate the financial, environmental, and safety aspects of this proposal so the council can have its own experts weigh in. Thank you, Mr. Gold. Do you have Oh, we need to Are we going to do them as one or individual? Individual. Individual. Okay. Let me get to that email real quick. Saying work through the agreement and then each Yeah. So, I'll make a motion to approve.

We're doing the this. Yes. the expense reimbursement agreement with HIPPA for aid not to exceed $200,000 that will go into a count that again escrow account. Thank you. Second motion to second. All in favor? I opposed. I was a Yay. I'm sorry I was late. Good to go there.

All right. The next item is a letter of engagement from Barnes and Thornberg for Adam Stirwald to provide services to the town in connection with reviewing the financial aspects of this and advising the town on uh potential the project and the pros and cons. Does anybody have any questions on that? No, most of it was just disclaimers. Yeah. Bold. Make a motion to approve. Bars of Thorberg engagement. Second. Dennis Johnson. Motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. All right.

The next one is for Will Gardner of Taft Law um to provide environmental uh both the safety and regulatory review of the project and advise the town. Has everybody had an opportunity to re view that agreement? Any questions for Mr. Cole? Not I'll entertain a motion to approve the letter of enga engagement with Taff Law. So moved. Emily Pearson. Second. Dennis Johnson. Motion in a second. All in favor? I opposed. Go there.

And then the final one is from August Mack. They are an environmental consulting firm and that is for them to review the project and to advise the town on the environmental and safety issues from the consultant. Do you have any information on the scope of that? Uh, it was covered in that that letter. Is that what I mean? It was very very general. Yeah, it's because they wanted to be able to respond to the questions as they came up. Gotcha. Okay. Any additional questions on that? No. So, so within the scope they've laid out, they will be taking some direction from all of kind of us collectively about what issues we feel is most important for them to Yeah.

Okay. Any other questions? If not, I will entertain a motion to approve the letter of engagement for August Mack environmental. So move Dennis Johnson. Second and Pearson. Motion is second. All in favor? I opposed could go there.

And I I also just want to note that the town's financial advisor, Baker Tilly, is going to be doing work on this as well. Uh we currently have a contract with them if we determine it's necessary to have a separate contract, but at the moment, my understanding is plan to bill us under our normal contractual rates for the work they do doing the financial an analysis on the impact. Gdobi Anything else? That's all I have. All right, good to go on legal council report. Thank you very much, Mr. Culp. Uh, moving along to Cisro Jackson Township Plan Commission report. Frank,

good evening, council. I have here in front of me uh this month's version of the director's report. I sent an email out yesterday with some other documents attached. I hope everybody got that. Um permit revenue for the month of January 2026 was $9,821. That's uh same for the year to date as first year of the month or first month of the year. $9,82186. Uh at the same time last year, January of 25, we were at $2,997 for the month and the same for the year. That's a difference uh for the month of January plus $6,824.86. Same for the year. We issued a total of 12 building permits for January of 26. Nine were for within the corporate limits. No new homes. And we issued another three out in Jackson Township. Uh no new homes there either. Uh estimated cost of these projects permitted was $58,725. Uh in other news, we started using the new system. That was a couple of the attachments that I sent you had those reports. Um I think they look pretty good. Um we're not anywhere near satisfied with the system yet though. So we're still um discovering bugs every time we use it. Um but they are uh they are dealing with it. So we're getting it fixed up and I think it's going to work out nice for us. Um that's my report. Uh I believe Mr. Strong has something to add though.

Correct.

Good evening council. So, as a president of the Cyro Jackson Township uh planning commission, my one of my roles is to uh give the re recommendations to the town council out of the planning commission on any reszone request. So, I have that this evening and the certificate of action. The Cisro Jackson Township Planning Commission did on January 14th of 2026 hold a public hearing for the resoning of a partial from C3 business park light industrial district to a PDC3 plan development district known as nickelplate reviability project PU did yesterday as docket number PC-0126-02-C3 property address was at zero state road 19 here in Cisro Indiana. The Cisro Jackson Township Planning Commission sends a non-favorable recommendation to the town council of Cisro Indiana on the resoning request with six yes votes and three no votes on the non-favorable recommendation motion. So I would like to give that to you President Cox.

Thank you very much, President Strong. That was 63. Is that correct? Correct. All right. Does anybody have anything else on that? Still no Mr. Brian, huh? All right. Well, hopefully soon I'm going to be doing a dance for you all to entertain just in a few minutes, but I guess we will move on to the semi- dump truck through downtown discussion under miscellaneous. Hey, hold on a second. Back up. You're the man. Hey. Hey. town engineer report when you're ready.

I'll let you do that and then we'll jump back to the bid opening just to give you a little break. Maybe you want to do bid opening first. Give them a break. That's true. Do you want us to do the bids first? Last meeting. You need time to collect yourself. Are you ready? I just want to make sure I fire away then. Thank you. Oh, here. I think I had 15 other no good reason. I take it we had no additional bids.

So you said you sent this out to nine, right? Or we had nine potential biders and we ended up with seven. It's pretty good. That's pretty good response. Yeah, if you look at that sheet I handed out there, those are all the plan holders that actually had plans. Okay. Do you have extras? Anybody want to bid tabulation sheet? So, you see up front? So, you can see

you want me to proceed while you're doing that? Yeah, go ahead and go through your engineer report. Okay. Uh nothing to report on water. Wastewater uh sent to P Reynolds has continues work. They've been a little slow obviously with the weather. They did get the sledge press pumps and water booster started up last week. So that's all up and running. Uh we do have a site meeting there tomorrow. So we'll get some more information. But uh we did send up their pay application 19 on the January 28th. So I don't know if it's if you want to discuss that tonight or not. Let us discuss it now. So, I mean, so thanks to the response to the email I sent you as well. Sure.

Um, we'll see where that goes. But, uh, I'll make a motion to pay bid application 19, the total bid application for $344,249.33. I'll second that. Dennis Johnson. Motion a second. All in favor? I opposed. It's getting paid. We did send up Reynolds report um on the 31st when we got it for December. So I don't know if anybody wanted to discuss any more of that at this point.

Okay. Uh community crossings 2024. That's West Jackson. They did get the lights changed as reported at the last meeting. They got the pipe ballards up. They got the ADA parking signs in. So we do have a couple pay apps that they submitted that'll be coming soon.

Okay. Uh but at this point in time they they should be substantially complete and we're waiting for the snow to melt so we can actually see something when we walk it do a punch list. But it should be a matter of just wrapping stuff up for the most part when weather allows on certain things. But we'll try to get that closed out. uh the 2025 CCMG project is done and we're we get we're waiting for a little more contractor information so we can get the paperwork up to close close that out with INDOT, but we're really close with that. They just had a couple things we're trying to get from them.

Then the 2026 CCMG is East Jackson, which is the bid openings that we're talking about opening tonight. So that's that's what that project is. As far as the Morris Landing Drive under drain project, we did get bids last nine bids last week. I send everybody up a bid tab today, but uh basically we got nine bids and we got two or three of the low ones are within budget. So we're reviewing those and then we'll go back to storm water board with a recommendation. So but but that should proceed. So did the stormwater board already go Bruce already approved based on review and approval or are you waiting for a recommendation?

We have tal sheets. I mean, we know who it or what, but you just approved it. No, no, we have protocol and that council they'll give us. We have not approved anybody at this time. Okay. Is that your Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes we'll approve based on review. And there there was no rush with that one like some others with financing. So, we review it. I'd like to take a look at it and then, you know, I'm sure it'll be just a rubber stamp. But uh let let us see the numbers first before we Okay, I got you. Oh, I thought you've already seen them. Sorry.

Seen Well, they they opened the bids and read them and took them under advisement. So So we we would plan to do a recommendation letter and bid tab, go back to the storm water board and have a meeting and make a recommendation and review it. And then I would assume the storm water board because it's a storm water project would make a motion to award and then we'd come back to the council. just as soon as he presents it to us, we'll probably make at that meeting we'll make the choice rather than okay. They're not going to start this spring anyway, but let's get them on the rules as far as material equipment and everything. I don't remember, Mr. C. Council doesn't have to approve them. Is their budget, correct? That's correct. As long as they're just spending storm water funds, it's it's their decision. Yep. That's an effect. So, we just come back and just kind of report to keep the council up to date. So, but I mean, it's their judgment,

their project. Yeah. I think in the past we've had some of our money in with some of the storm water and that's where it's had a two-step process. But we're spending your money. No, we're spending your money. I'm sorry. You're spending your money. We've already separated councils though. You're spending your money. We're spending our money. Yes. That is all that I had. Unless somebody has more questions. Well, under 2026 CCMG, I did receive a copy of the award contract last week. So, I do need I do need approval to sign that document. It's an 8020 matching grant. I'll make a motion to allow President Cox to sign the award document for the 2026 CCMG. I'll second. Motion a second. All in favor?

I opposed. Thank you much. And then are we going to have Mr. Bryant read out the bids? Yeah, we'll go back to that. We'll jump back to that right now. What? You have any more of those left? I didn't want to. Yeah.

Privilege here. They don't let me. May I pick the one? Make sure when you read the bid, you read it twice, please, because I'm slow. And I'm okay with that.

If I break your name, that worker's car. It is indeed. All right, I'll let you work through that and then I'll uh Sorry. So, was there a base bid? There's just one bid on these. Okay. Mine is kind of hard to find.

Total base bid. That's the number we're looking for. Correct. All right. I'll start us off. Uh, Calat Civil Contractors, Inc. has a total base bid amount of $378,000. Yep. $378,000. Thank you. Calat civil contractors. I'm ready. Bombgardner and Company. 473 697.50. Bombgardner and Company. 473697.050.

Thank you. I have uh pace paving a total of 379850. I have ENB paving LLC in the amount of $324,316.

Can you say that number again? $324,316. Thank you. I've got Howard Asphalt LLC in the amount of $321,495. Say it again.

Howard Asphalt LLC $321,495. I have DC Construction Services. The amount is $430,5156. Again, that's $430,5156. And then at this time, I would recommend that we take these under advisement so that they can be reviewed by Mr. Bryant and Mr. Cooper.

We're not done yet. We're not done. I'm sorry. So, we need Okay. Looks like it's in a different than the other one. That's got to be That's it. Uh, this is Grady Brothers, Inc. 391 150 3911 150 Grady Brothers 32 by Do we have any others? Just make sure be clear everybody open everything. Okay.

So, Mr. ult because this is very time sensitive. Does it make sense to nominate the the lowest bid upon your approval and then can we do a second one on the second lowest bid if the first one doesn't meet because this is very time

right? Yeah. What I would suggest is we move to accept contingent upon Mr. Bryants in my review the apparent low bidder which is Howard Companies um contingent upon that review to accept that and move forward with the proviso that if there is a problem with that bid then we would accept the one from EMB paving which is the second low bidder. Good. All right. All right. So, I'll make a motion to contingently approve Howard Company's bid of $321,495 contingent on legal and engineering review and approval. If that bid does not meet the the engineering and legal requirements, um then award ENB paving the second low bid of $324,316.

I'll second that. Dennis Johnson. Motion to second. All in favor? I oppose. Thank you very much. Consider adding one more thing to that mention. We have to get construction contracts signed and all these documents subitted to hand before March to avoid losing the brand. Is that March 1st? First

in light of that in addition to what you did get a motion for Joe to be able to sign another way and get the agreements moving before the next meeting. Okay. Just to make everyone aware, I'm I am out of town from February 25th to March 4th. So, I'll need to sign it before I go. And at our next meeting, you'll have probably have some more info on this for us, too. Yeah. I mean, you at least know probably who who we're moving forward with. No. Yeah, we will know because the plan would be to issue those support to move ahead with somebody before the next meeting. Okay.

But they have to have time to get agreement sign. Understood. So, I'll make a motion to allow President Cox to sign the formal notice of award on final recommendation from Engineering and Legal Council for the 2026 CCMG East Jackson Street Improvements Project. I'll second. Motion to second. All in favor? I opposed.

Thank you. All right, moving along. Okay.

Okay, moving back in. Moving back to new business. Uh, best. All right. So, what this is tonight is a discussion between the council and the petitioners for the best facility out on State Road 19. Um, this is the first opportunity we've had as a council to ask our questions that we've compiled and get further information um, prior to moving on to the uh, the contracted consultant phase of the due diligence. So, if you guys would like, do you have anything to say prior or should we just start firing?

No. Uh, happy to answer any and all questions. Uh, again, Brandon Gman, lead developer for this proposal. I have with me many members of our team as well as a number of our subject matter experts. Um, happy to answer any and all questions and I may tag in some of our experts that can give more specific info where appropriate. And some of these questions probably will tag um on to questions that were asked during the plan commission whether there's uh you know further clarity being sought or uh or any information has changed. I have also brought uh printed out copies of our plan commission presentation that we made at the last public meeting. Uh that's just for your reference.

Thank you. Thank you.

Do you have an extra one more? Our project coordinator is Do you just want to give a quick synopsis of the petition?

Yeah, certainly. U so the nickel play reliability project is a battery energy storage system. This is a standalone battery energy storage system. That means that uh the batteries that are charging off of the grid and then dispatching that energy are just that they are standalone. There are no other facilities involved. There are no solar panels. There are no wind turbines, gas turbines, anything of that nature. Uh the name plate capacity of this proposal is 200 megawws. Uh that's about enough to power about 65,000 homes. Uh we call this utility scale. So through that um our electricity inje injection into the point of interconnection uh must be approved by the midcontinent independent system operator. Uh those are the folks that operate the grid not just here in Indiana but also in 14 other states throughout the country. They do have a big office in Caramel here. Um so with that um we are obviously here uh out of the recommendation from the plan commission uh and here to answer any and all additional questions that you have.

So through the life cycle of this project, do you guys retain ownership and manage the property the entire time? That's correct. We own and operate the asset the entire time. Okay. In the event that IPA should go out of business, sell, what have you, what becomes the status of the the proposal on 19?

Sure. So, we're the uh largest independent power producer that is in the standalone battery energy storage system space. uh standalone best is our bread and butter and we obviously are here with the intention of owning and operating throughout the entire lifetime of the asset. Um the reszone from uh C3 light industrial to the PDC C3 that governs this parcel and therefore governs this project. Uh so nothing about safety or performance standards changes whatsoever.

Is this also governed by the IURC? Yes, we would require a declaration uh from the IURC and then any power purchase agreement which is how the power uh would be offtaken to you know say a local utility for instance that would utilize our facility that would be approved by the IURC as well. Okay.

And feel feel free to jump in here. My questions are all of where you're at. Can you talk a little bit about what happened prior to you even like coming to Cicero in terms of like just like the process with MoSO to even get to a point where you could have a discussion about potentially hooking onto the grid like what's that process look like and how involved is MSO?

Uh quite involved. Uh it's a pretty long process. Uh, I'll keep it brief, but all developers or energy generators, anyone, whether it be BES, whether it be a natural gas fired plant or a coal plant, anyone that wants to inject significant electricity onto the grid, must get into Q. They must apply with MYSO. This is done over a period of clusters. There's generally one per year. Uh, so we submitted this in the 2022 MYSO cluster. And from there, MYSO takes all of the applications and they start checking them for contingencies within their system and they are modeling how each individual project and there are hundreds if not thousands of these applications within each Q cluster, how they would affect the grid, what upgrades may be necessary. For instance, um if there are uh a large number of generators that want to inject in the same place, lines and substations can only withstand and hold so much power. So they may have to uh make adjustments or make additions or make upgrades in that case. So uh this is all culminating in many studies and restudies trying to get a dollar amount figure that MYSO can then send to all the generation uh request uh developers such as IPA power and say you will be responsible for you know X million in network upgrades in order to get your injection onto our grid. Um so that is a yearslong study process. uh we are hopefully uh reaching the end of a decision point two within that 22 cluster of MYSO uh they've instituted a lot of new software changes which will bear fruit over time and make the process more efficient but it's a very very long process so in addition to that uh besides the actual electricity and the math and science behind that they check for site control so the geographic

space that the project would take up uh they check they check for your environmental due diligence um and they check for your preliminary engineering as well. And ultimately the projects that continue with this queue as we hope to do so with our project here, they have to post a number of different deposits on the way to kind of indicate we are still planning on constructing this project. So those are generally in the millions of dollars. Uh they become non-refundable over periods of time like they have for our project. uh and those are all funding these studies and interconnection restudies that MYSO does.

So those aren't sight sight specific is done with the general area you would like to work within. Is that how it's done or No sir. So they are sight specific. So MYSO does a sight specific injection analysis for each and every individual project that is in that Q cluster. So you had this this parcel picked out in 2022. No, not this particular parcel, but this line segment. Okay. So, it's by line segment. Yes. Okay. All right. Could you explain just for the people who don't know what MYSO is?

It's the uh mid-continent independent system operator. Uh there are a number of different grids that make up the United States electricity grid. Uh these are just the governing bodies that determine the power flow between all of the various high voltage lines down to the distribution lines that we have out in front of our homes in Indiana as well as 14 other states in the Midwest. Mso is the grid operator for this area.

Mr. C, kind of branching off of what Mr. Cox stated if whatever agreements are made, if they were to go out of business, how do we protect those agreements moving forward? Well, part of that is you require a decommissioning plan.

No, I'm talking about any other agree decommissionings later. So if there's any financial agreements or or whatever made and they go out or they sell, how do you maintain those those financial agreements? They go bankrupt. So and and that's part of why we have Mr. Stirwald because I have never put together that type of agreement, but typically they include provisions for what happens if they had to terminate or cut it short. Um but there are contingencies in there like if they go into bankruptcy or something like that that would have impact that. Now that is not my area of expertise. So so that's where this legal support will that's correct.

Will you note that please and make sure that we have a clear understanding of what that looks like. So I assume basically it's a bonded project where money accumulates in the event that there needs to be a decommission of the fac or of the site.

Yes. So a requirement of the PD ordinance as drafted uh requires not only a plan for how the site will be decommissioned but also financial shy. So a letter of credit or a bond and that is rechecked every couple of years to make sure that it is still on track. A third party engineering firm does that decommissioning estimate and then IPA power the applicant has to provide those funds. It's held in an institution that's mutually agreed upon I believe the language is. Um, and then those funds, as I mentioned, are constantly rechecked every certain number of years just to make sure that that continues on track. So those funds are already there for us to decommission the project at the end of its life cycle.

Okay. And sorry, have you put together decommissioning plans for other sites? Yes, we have. So, does it typically include complete removal of all aspects of the project and returns the land to normal use? That's correct. There is nothing in a battery energy storage system project that cannot be easily removed above or underground with the construction equipment. Okay. Have you ever actually gone through a decommission? I'm sorry. This is the last one. No, those life cycles uh tend to be about 30 years. So, at this point, we have not decommissioned any of our projects.

Okay. I'm I got a couple more questions. I'll let go back to it. Since we're on the topic of decommissioning, and you brought up the life cycle of the project being 30 years, my understanding is these batteries have um basically a cycle life of two to three thousand cycles. Correct. Uh dependent upon each individual module, but I'll say that's within the ballpark. That's okay. All right. So, at that point in a number of years, how would those correspond?

Yes. So, these containers themselves, you'll you'll note that they are all uh partitioned containers. Inside of them uh is not just a you know, a loose number of batteries or something like that. It looks like kind of a server rack if you're familiar with that where the batteries all the individual modules are placed together into a rack. Those can be removed safely and then new ones can be installed very quickly and easily. Okay. And just for the understanding of this particular um proposal, you know, each individual unit contains a series of batteries within it. What is the typical size of that battery? Like physical size or dimension of an individual battery? It's a question of curiosity more than anything.

Yeah. A an individual module is about the size of an oil can, more or less. Okay. So, we're not talking about one large battery that's contained within that unit. No, not at all. That That's correct. So, the the individual cells inside of a module and then a module. They are aligned in an array into a rack and then those racks are those that can be easily removed. Okay. So, in the event of a failure, you essentially just remove that module and replace it, I assume. Yes. Say for instance uh that our asset management team detects a fault and it auto trips the shut off. Uh then our on&m staff can safely go in there. They can identify exactly which module is affected. They can remove that and replace it. Who's monitoring that and where?

Uh so IPA power monitors that in-house 247 with our asset management team that's based in Austin, Texas. And then we would have our on andm staffer that reside here and are the eyes and ears and the physical person on staff for the site. Okay. So they would respond in the event of anything. It would be immediately shut down remotely I would assume and then they would respond on site to meet first responders. Yes. And there are also auto uh redundancies kind of a trips uh that that can do so automatically. Sure. Okay. Um I'm going to ask one more question. I'll turn it over to you guys. One of the topics in the plan commission meeting was the sound and the decibel level. And if I remember correctly, it was roughly 75 dB uh produced. Correct. Um I may be going off a cut sheet of a battery I found.

You had 50. Sure. So, so the uh ju just to delineate that the restrictions that the PD ordinance governs uh are 50 dB at an outer wall of an occupied residence, 55 dBA, 50 55 dB at a property line, and then I I would say that somewhere within the range of about uh 60 to 70 uh if you were standing at 1 meter. Okay. So basically based on your description um that would be a cumulative DBA then for all the units in the That's correct. That's inclusive of the entire facility. Okay. Okay. I was that's what I was looking for. I have more questions but they're risk related.

That I mean that's I'm I want to go back to decommission but let's stay with the sound level. So 50dB what I put what I had wrote from the plan commission is at 300 ft or which essentially takes you to a home. I think our noise ordinance prohibits any noise 50 feet. We're going to talk about regular hours, not weekend hours or anything. Prohibits and and you guys please chime in. Prohibits any noise 50 feet beyond the property line. So any noise coming from a facility coming from a facility in a commercial district

in a C in a C3. It's a standard noise ordinance. So that's as it's written today. Correct me if I'm wrong. Like you said during the regular like daytime hours during um t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t typical hours. There's always weekends, but yeah, typical typical hours. is if it can be heard from uh 50 ft away from the property line then it could be a violation of that. So we have to shut down a boat house right? No there no there are there are there are discuss or other time periods where you can exceed that but this is a constant noise right

and that was one of my next questions is it variable depending on the time of the day and the load or is it pretty much just a constant I would I would say that it's mostly constant okay and I'm assumed that's created by the cooling fans right uh the inverters mostly and the fans involved yes gota y I can certainly check uh with our lawyers and see how the PD ordinance interacts with that noise ordinance as well. Okay.

I mean, I'm not saying this is like it, but one of the the major concerns of windmills to say is that humming noise that you hear within close proximity, right? We have these noise ordinances in place that it's not a nuisance to to a neighbor and we know we have homes around this area. So,

right. And those homes are in uh light industrial districts. Uh the three closest residences to our proposed project are in C3 light industrial. Um the way that it is described in the draft of the PD ordinance again is the 50 at the outer wall, 55 at the property line. That 50 is about, you know, it's it's difficult to qualify sound. It's a lot easier to quantify it through dBA, but if you were to qualify it, that 50 dBA is around it's lower than a conversation and around an air conditioner.

Yeah, I think we need to understand understand that a little better. So, as the PD's written that this facility was operating and at the property line, it was 56 DBA, you would agree that you would not be in compliance with the PD. I agree.

I'm going to make a quick note from your ordinance. Uh there are exemptions to your sound ordinance. Number nine is sounds associated with the normal conduct of legally established non-transient businesses when such sounds are customary incidental and within the normal range appropriate for such use. A battery energy storage system would be non-transient and the sound that it generates is the sound that it generates. It's not going to have a variable high or low in the same way that um a farm which is also an exempted use is going to have you know at my farm excuse me when we run equipment it's a lot louder uh in the evening cows are sleeping equipment's off it's a lot quieter battery is going to be consistent but I would assert um subject to your input Mr. ult that the battery energy storage system would fall of our

ordinance. Yeah, give me one second. It's under 9311, which is noise regulations under section E exemptions number nine. Yes. And I and I do agree with that interpretation. Otherwise, most of our businesses that have HVAC and some things like that would run a foul. And that's why it was written that way when it was adopted. I need to look into that a little more.

And I mean, what are you basing the 50dB at at home's wall? I mean, when at plan commission, you said 300 feet. So, what are what what is the 300 feet referencing, sir? I'm just regurgitating what was said during the plan commission. It just doesn't have context. I'm sorry. Well, 300 So the 50dB at 300 ft is is what I wrote down out of the plan commission. I could very well be incorrect in that. You said at a home

I I think and correct me if I'm wrong. He's talking about 50 ft at the wall of any home. We were talking at plan commission about what is the closest home to this particular parcel and it was 300 ft was the answer. The closest home is 630 ft. Okay. So, I guess I'm still not clear. So, we're saying at the the wall of a home, we're at 50 dB. Is that what we're saying? At 600 ft.

Yes, sir. So, the the regulations here, what we're talking about, these are these are uh commitments that are being made here. So the PD ordinance draft can say you know um any number of of DBA. Uh but what we're committing to here and what the PD ordinance draft says now is a regulation that obviously if it does not meet that then it would be operating outside of the the regulation that would it would assert that it was not compliant. What what are these sites operating at? I mean have you guys taken noise measurements from other sites?

Yes. Yeah. at one meter it can be, you know, 70 dBA. But sound being logarithmic, the further you move away from the source of the sound, the quieter it gets. So that's that's why we build in setbacks to account for that.

Okay. I was just going to note that that was the the standard that we put in, but none of the documents that we filed indicated that that is what the sound will be at the home that is 630 ft away. That would be in fact um high for the home that's going to be 630 ft away. But the limit is for any home that's going to be within that area, it's going to be 50. So it's we're kind of mixing what the standard of the ordinance is and then the actual nearest home. To my knowledge, a measurement has not been taken from that home. Just for clarity, no, we we haven't taken any atmospheric noise level test at this time

of any of any of your sites. Uh we certainly have here, right? Because it's not installed but of any Exactly. So I I'm saying that for this particular site, we have not yet gone out. We have not gotten the permission from a land owner for instance and tested what the noise is on average dayto day there. We've not done that yet. I'm more worried about what your what this facility the noise level would cause. I mean it would drive me absolutely crazy if I hear a hum. So I do you have do you have that data from a similar site at 50 100 150 the equivalent noise at 50 to 100 sorry

yeah uh so I've done a lot of noise modeling on these projects and uh could you please state your name? My name is Justice Sawyer, development engineer with IPA power professional engineer. But uh we do noise modeling before and after projects because our layout might change a little bit and then post projects you go and check out where your noise measurements might be 50 55 at uh at property lines, sides of houses, but based on weather, temperature, you'll have different fan speeds throughout different um times of the day, maybe in different states. So, it's not a blanket statement, but we do our noise modeling to account for the local weather, the local running conditions and everything in uh that regard, but happy to answer specifics on this one on what the sound's coming from.

Do you have the data that came out on that at certain distances? They're not apples to apples. One in California or Phoenix is going to run way hotter and produce more noise than something up here might be running at a high of, I don't know, 80 or 90. Do you have the model for this site? I've made a preliminary and we are meeting all applicable standards that we've put together on our agreement. I mean our so I'm not

but uh from a noise perspective yes we have HVAC units and cooling similar to car radiators that are producing noise and then uh you compile all those see how the sound waves propagate through local conditions environmental uh both weather and ground cover based and then you model your buildings at the certain heights and you make sure you're under your threshold you promise. Do you have any context for what like 50 dB is? Uh we've talked about conversations, HVAC units, small outdoor ones. There's plenty of them online, honestly.

Kitchen appliances. Yeah. um typical time neighborhood and there is a note on that in that presentation that we made to the plan commission as well. There's a slide that uh talks a bit about the qualitative uh noise conditions there trying to equate what a number is to what we would perceive. I mean my research said typical homes sit in a 35 to 50 dBA range during normal activity. Okay. But that's is that indoor. Is that indoor? I'm sorry, that's inside. Yeah, you're big. Outside is 40 35 to 45 at night and 45 to 55 during the day. Okay.

So, because the PD says what it says, and correct me if I'm wrong, it's 50 at the outer wall of an existing residence and 50 no more than 55 at the property line. Is that right? That's correct. So I assume because that's in the PD you you guys feel like you will you would be below those levels. That's exactly right. And and if you were not, you would agree that you would be out of compliance with the PD? Agreed. So my question is, is 50 the right level, Jacob? And I I can't I I don't know. I'm not a sound engineer. Yeah, I'm not either. Yeah, I think so. If if Yeah. You're sitting at your home and it's typically 35

and now you're at 50. That's a problem. Well, that's inside and the 50 is measured outside. And I do want to note that the current noise standard in C3 zoning is 50 dBA at the outer wall. That's what our zoning says. Yes. So, it's congruent with the current standard. You got a page on that? Anybody? I haven't found it yet. I got it. It's in It's in our zoning. No, I'm I'm sorry. I was looking at their zoning. I was going to look it up in our No, I don't know. If somebody can tell me what page it's on. If not, I'll look for it. I'm looking it up now. So, while they're doing that, I I do want to go back to decommission a little bit as well. Yes, sir.

Um, if we're good while they're looking that up. Um, so the bond, how is that bond calculated for a 200 megawatt hour system?

So, third party engineer uh does a decommissioning estimate. They take into account all costs associated with the decommissioning effort. It's combined with their decommissioning plan so that they can figure out what steps must be taken. Therefore, what dollars must be spent. Uh so then out of that that is totaled up and uh it is net of the salvage value of any of the materials that are still there. So steel and batteries and then that total uh is then bonded. And when is that set for the initial? Uh so it'll be governed by the PD ordinance uh and that would be prior to any operation of the facility and then that bond has to be put that money has to be put up by IPA power and then that bond number because obviously the value of our dollar changes over time that bond value is then checked a period of every few years by that third party to ensure that it is keeping up with the real world application of decommissioning. So for instance, say that uh decommissioning costs $100 uh and then in the future it is estimated to cost $120. However, the bond is only at $115. IP power would then be required to contribute the additional five to get it up to the current estimate.

So I'm assuming Mr. Culp, we would have all that set, at least that initial value set with in the PD before it was ever approved. Yeah, I I would recommend that when we decide what that amount was, we would build that into the PD and and we could either go into a lot of detail or we could make certain provisions in there and then require a agreement acceptable to the town to be adopted outside the PD.

In my experience, we probably wouldn't have it in the PD itself. we would it would be required before they could go into operation just because there's there would be such a length of time between a possible PD approval and like construction and operation. So in my experience, you would normally have that third party engineer come up with the amount later in the life cycle and like the closer to construction and operation. Yeah. And we could do it today, but if it's not going to be constructed for another two years, like we would almost be on the time to update the number. And I didn't mean so much putting a hard number in there, but putting the requirement absolutely that we go through this process and an engineer comes up with value.

Yeah. I mean that would have to be required um before certainly before operation. Yeah. I mean not so I know I'm asking difficult questions. I struggle with signing up for something I don't know what the answer is honestly. Right. But it's their obligation not ours to fund it. I mean it could end up being our problem though. But we get a call on the bond. That's the way it would work. But does the bond cover the cost to clean it up? Yeah. I mean, that that's what I that was the spirit of my question earlier. And I know I mean the intent and I'm not defending it. The intent would be that that that's why we hired the third party person to say this is what it's going to cost.

And you're right there. That's that's that person. I mean, I I struggle to sign up for anything um before I know what a value is, approve something before I know what a value is myself. Okay. So, I need to I need to Can I ask Mr. Cop a question? Mr. Culp, let's say 25 years down the road, it gets built, I for whatever reason gone. Now, they're not around. So, we have to pull the bond. Um I don't know what other recourse we would have at that point. I guess we can talk about that later. I don't know if there's insurance or other, you know, business interests of IPAs. I mean, I guess that would all have to be fleshed out and

yeah, I I mean that's going to be very specific on the facts at that time. I'm sorry that was a that was a question too complicated of a question. If there's an overage, we do have other avenues and that's assuming that there's money there to recover. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean that's that's my question. How do you make sure that there's enough money there to cover it? Yeah. Yeah. And that's written into the PD ordinance in the requirement for the decommissioning plan. That's why it's reviewed every so few years and period of time so that that estimate can be made current.

I'm worried about that first one. So it's just something on my mind. So then continuing on that decommission plan, I think I think the site plan at least when we had a previous discussion, you talked about building mounds around the facility. Is that correct? Uh we have a very extensive visual buffer. Uh so trees, evergreen trees. Um would the mounds be for what purpose? Well, I think it was elevate. At least when we had a discussion, it was to elevate those trees. If I remember correctly, maybe I I might have not been involved in that discussion with you. I apologize. But no, the plan is just at ground level to put 10 foot trees. Is that correct? That's correct. Say again. Sorry.

BMS. Yeah. Are you asking if if the plan includes BMS at this time? That's that's the first part. Okay. Does it include BMS? It does not include BMS. It has uh 10 to 12 foot mature trees. Uh if you reference the materials I passed out there that were uh presented in the plan commission meeting, there are visual renderings of what that actually looks like. And that's at the commencement of operations. So I'm not talking about planting three-foot saplings or something like that and letting them grow. The intent here is to serve as a visual or an aesthetic buffer here. 10 foot minimum trees. Yeah. Yes, sir.

Okay. So, so then the decommission plan puts grass back in place of where this facility is. Yes. Nothing that is installed here, whether it be the actual equipment itself or the landscaping. None. I mean, we can leave the trees if so desired. If not, we can log them and take them out. I mean those are all applicable options. Concrete retention pond. Yes. So confirming that any and all aspects of the facility can be and will be removed during decommissioning. What are the structures coming above the tree line?

Uh there a switchyard infrastructure. So at commencement the switchyard that's constructed in order to tap into that 345 KV line. Okay. So, there's always going to be an aspect of it that's visible. Well, depending upon the growth of the trees, they'll likely double in approximately 10 years. Um, there are uh other visual rending renderings we have of a maturation period, I believe it is 7 or 10 years. Uh, I have sent them over previously. Only the ones that are in the packet there from the plan commission meeting, those are from the commencement of operation. So, that's at the beginning. Obviously, the trees will grow taller. Just coming in to comment on the noise.

Oh, okay. So, close that one down. Um, so the C3 standard is a general noise standard. So, it Erin, tell me if I'm wrong. I think it would default to your overall noise ordinance, which we just went through the 93.11, but it does not list its own DBs for C3. We would have to comply with the the 50 and 90. Obviously not 90 because we've prohibited that ourselves in the draft PD. What's the 90? That's something in our zoning ordinance or our sound ordinance. You let the boat house get allowed after dark. 90 dB measured over 10 ft of property line Friday, Saturday. So that's all in 93.11. I don't know what it is, but it's all weekend. Yeah, that's the whole sound ordinance. Thank you.

Yep. Thanks for the There was a question about insurance a second ago. We would be named as secondary insured on that policy. Correct. Yeah. Additionally insured. Additionally insured. Okay. So when you decommission, you do soil testing, I'm assuming. Um which kind of soil testing? Contaminants. Um because the project doesn't have any emissions. Um I don't believe that there are any that are planned. We can certainly build something into the decommissioning plan to require that.

Yeah. I mean, we're pretty sensitive from a project we've just been working working with. Um, certainly. So I would want to see I I would want to see if this was approved soil testing during the after the decommission with some caveat of I mean I don't know what the right thing Aaron is would it be IDM agreement or we don't want to go through yeah I mean so has I'm sorry we can put in there in in the agreement that part of the decommissioning would be some soil sampling now under Indiana law if that soil sampling found contam contamination by law we have to report it to IDM. Okay.

So IDMem would be made aware at that point in time and then if it's discovered and it needs to be addressed in decommissioning then any money for decommissioning would be available to deal with with that. Okay. Along with our insurance policies are there any contaminants contained in the batteries that could theoretically escape the battery casing? Um, not in a fire event. I'm talking just in general. Do do they wear down over time?

No, none whatsoever. So, they're entirely sealed and they are designed to be as such. There is an IP rating as well for water intrusion. Um, but no, there is no leeching of any materials into the ground or outside of that container. All parts of the equipment stay inside of that container. And they're liquid cooled, right? Uh, there are different models. Some can be liquid cooled. Um it's usually like an ethylene glycol mixture. Um and that again is all internal to the container. Okay. Is there plastic housings on this? Yes, there is. Okay.

Kind of along that that um I was going to ask about the monitoring you all do. Um is your is the IPA team getting real time data? Are they getting in certain increments? How's that happening?

Yes sir. instantaneous and real-time data 24/7 every single day of the year at all times. We have an internet uplink to our asset management team. There is also a secondary internet uplink to ensure that there's redundancy. Say for instance, we're to lose internet uh power in in the area. Then we could have a satellite internet to ensure that the data still comes to us and we can still monitor it accurately instantaneously in real time. And because obviously you don't have a ton of people here locally, how do you manage if there is like you said there's a an alarm goes off or something, somebody needs to go come check on this site sooner than later. How do you manage that from a personnel perspective?

Yes. So that would be a collaborative approach that we would delineate with the fire department and their mutual aid partners. So say for instance we received a uh a minor fault or something like that. Now it may be the preference of the chief that they're alerted of that fault and we just let them know. Uh but that's something that is very customizable depending on the locality and depending on the preferences of the chief and then the mutual aid partners as well. Uh say for instance there is a uh temperature um alert that comes on and it automatically shuts down the container. our on andm our operations and maintenance team that is here on site can be the eyes and ears in addition to our remote monitoring there and then we can launch either we can notify folks or we can engage in the emergency response plan which again we have to come up with as required by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security in a collaborative manner. So working alongside the fire department and their mutual aid partners. Random on uh if an alert happens uh how quickly do you respond to it? I know it's electronically instantly

yes alerted, but when's the local person going to do an on-site inspection? How soon after that alert? Well, they would reside here in the area. So, just simply as long as it takes for them to drive to the site if they happen to be working at home. So, I'll estimate about 15 minutes. Can you walk us through the process? So, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I think this is probably where you're going. What occurs once they arrive on site?

Uh, so again, that'll be part of the emergency response plan. Uh, and that's a a little bit more towards the O andM specialty. Um, I can uh kind of give an overview of it, but um obviously they want to make sure the site is secure and then depending upon the alert, say depending upon the location of it, um, we the most important part is just to get a visual inspection. um and to remain at a safe distance which is about 100 foot and just visually inspect and then we can get confirmation from our team at the remote access point our headquarters in Austin and they can say yes it's successfully been shut down for instance and then from there the operations and maintenance staff can go and approach the unit and inspect it.

Hey Brandon when you say shut down uh has the alert already shut down the concern? Yeah, depending upon the alert, yes, it does have the ability to automatically shut it down. Yeah, I can help a little bit more specifics. There's hundreds of different kinds of alerts. Maybe there's one that the uh battery voltage is a little bit out of normal. You just need to go replace a battery module. They respond the next day. Maybe there's another level of alert where uh let me stop you just please continue. But yeah, there's many many difference. If a voltage goes a little bit out, no biggie. Do you let it ride? There's different thresholds. Absolutely. If it's a

maybe I don't want to throw percentages, but if it's a normal operating, maybe a little bit out, you go replace it the next day. It throws an alert to our operations team and they may watch it for another day. But, uh, if it hits a certain threshold where a thermal runaway is possible, then that's when the fire department gets a call. That's when we have our best experts call and run a u lead that emergency response plan, coordinate with the fire department and u take it from there. Would it be possible then upon an alert for the fire department to be notified so they can follow up to make sure you guys have followed up?

Yeah, absolutely. It's uh typically linked to that fire there's a fire department control panel at the front of the site where uh if there's a if they want to be notified for the the little annoyances, I don't see why that would be an issue. I'm not sure that's needed. I'm just saying if there is Yeah, we can concern depending on that threshold and that level of how the chief and how mutual aid partners want to be alerted. Yes, it is customizable and we can provide that and it can be done by text too. I'm sorry. It can be done by text as well. Text like a send out a text message. Yes. To them. Might be typical for a call to go out automatically, but I don't see why text would be an issue.

Okay. along that line. I think I know what you're saying, but just so we have clarity, whether it's an alert that's kind of like you said, minor, or maybe it's a it's a a a more serious alert, our staff, meaning our public safety folks primarily are not going to be showing up to this facility without someone from IPA that kind of has access and knows how knows where things are and those kind of things, obviously. Exactly right. The envir the the emergency plan will also address those so that there is broad knowledge.

But the point of your people coming is because they know the technology, they know access, they know all these things because it's your property. Is that is that accurate? That is accurate. And there would be no case where there is an alert and there is not an IPA O andM staffer there. In addition to that, we have many staff members on our team that reside in the Indianapolis area that would be there as well. Do you have a requirement for the local person that they live within so many minutes or miles of the site? That way you can guarantee they're there in around 15 minutes. I do not know if we have an internal requirement. I I know it's certainly a guideline. I can look into that.

But to that point, Aaron, I mean, they could be on vacation as well. So, yeah, because I just want obviously they would need a backup in that case. Could I could I add one thing? Uh Andrew, I work with but I actually live on the north side of Indianapolis. We in addition to the on and staff member members that we have here locally, we have multiple IP executives that live in the Indianapolis area, myself on the north side, Joe in Zensville, all within 30 minutes. So there's multiple redundancies for somebody to be there really really quickly in the unlikely instance that there was and in case of a real concern you would come yourself absolutely and be able to handle the problem.

We would have all the data available to work with fire chief to address the issue. Does Zipa adhere to the UL9540 and 4A third party verification on their builds?

Yes, sir. So, that is a requirement uh here in the state of Indiana. That is a requirement to obtain uh any of the two permits required by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. Uh it just to be clear, it is not a requirement of the developer. It's a requirement of the actual equipment. So that equipment is put through the 9548 test and the equipment itself is put through uh the certification for 9540. So we are required to use that certified equipment. So I I guess by by transitive property then yes IPA is but just to be clear that standard is on the equipment. So that's like saying when we have um anything with an electrical cord you'll oftent times see a UL logo on it. So we're not saying that Red Bridge Park Community Building is UL certified. We're saying all of the individual components that utilize electricity are UL certified. Does that make sense?

Yeah. Okay. Does uh IPA on this kind of a build use any kind of internal fire suppression? So depending on the model there are I know but depending on the model but in the one being proposed for us right

would there be any kind of fire suppression? So, as Chief Frink had covered during the plan commission meeting with lithium iron phosphate uh and really with batteries in general, putting water, putting liquids on batteries is not the correct way to fight anything like that. And the focus of NFPA 855, which for those that don't know, that is the independent code adopted by the National Fire Protection Agency that specifically governs energy storage systems here in America. that focuses on fire prevention and that is what is mandated and built into any and all models.

So the 8 NFPA 855 code that's currently uh would be utilized in this build uh supposedly it's on its third generation. Correct. The third revision of the code 855. Yes, sir. It's the 2026 revision. And uh supposedly a new one is coming down the Pike 800. I'm not familiar with that. No, 855 is uh it's owned.

That's the current one. But there's something down the road to my whole point in talking about that. If the fourth generation comes around and we're on three, will there be any upgrade to our site to comply to the fourth generation or the fifth? um that may make it a safer operation because of things that it built into the new versions.

Sure. It's pretty difficult for everyone to project into the future what the reality may be at that point. Uh so I don't know if there's specifics that we can commit to. I think we'd have to see what the revision is and then be able to adopt it or we can at least explain what the changes are in those revisions or additions of the code. Does the state actually make that determination? Does the state make the determination on what version of NFPA 855 they're using? It's the most current edition.

Always though. But I mean, you talk about general fire suppression. You know, you've got NFPA13. NFPA25 is out there. Indiana's still working off NFPA13 um by choice. So I I didn't know if it was the same in this regard. So IDHS does require the most current edition of NFPA 855.

Okay. And again, any developer obviously specifically for our project here, IPA power must obtain a preconstruction permit from IDHS where they go through and they check our plans. They check to make sure that we are complying with all those rules and regulations, state and federal law. And there is a second permit that prior to any operation of the facility, IDHS comes out and they do the same thing to make sure that the plans are matching reality. I have a another it's just a question uh that you rendered Go ahead and because this one's off a

I was just going to note um based off of the last IDHS filing that I I did for these guys. Uh they recently received two permits from the state for other projects. that the the things that I I send um because there's an online application, you can go look at it, but that's not everything the state requires. I have to submit additional documentation. Uh the state just didn't build a big enough form for what is actually needed. So, um I send all of the site plans um the the detailed final site plans uh which are, you know, issued for for permitting. Um, I send everything for the substation. This is both civil and structural. I send everything that is the specifications for the batteries that are going to be used. For the last one, it was the Soulbank 3.0. I send all of the uh compliance specifications for the US ul 950. All of the equipment specifications, not only what it is, but that all of its compliance documents go in.

Sorry to interrupt you. So, so like because you're the compliant, that means you're you're telling IDHS the specific model, the manufacturer, like all that is saying this is the these are the units that will be installed. So they have to see what type of battery it is. So that's the soul bank 3.0. They also have to see the soul bank 3.0's compliance documents. Okay. Thank you. And I'm sorry it's multiple emails. So then uh the HMA report, the hazard mitigation analysis.

Thank you. Uh number six is the NFPA 855 report. It was just proving and cataloging our compliance with the state and federal regulations.

And then for the last two, um, I sent the commissioning document. They don't actually need it for the first permit. They need it for the second permit, but because we have it, it comes with all of the specs for the battery. I just send it in anyway. So, they know that the commissioning test has to be part of the second permit, but we send that um as a standard. It's just what I do. Um because these guys always have it. It's not required. So, if you were to go pull another batteries permit to construct and they don't have that commissioning manual in there, they're not in violation. I just send an extra document because I can. Um, and we received two permits um, quite literally today for the Fletcher and Williams sites from IDHS for permits to construct. So, those will go through construction and then they'll have a permit to operate which I will apply for before they can be commissioned because they have to be tested before they can be hoped in.

So, UL is the only listing agency involved in this. The IDHS is the only compliance for the permit, but they're not the only state agency that issues construction permits. IDM issues the construction stormwater general. I I'm talking about from an equipment standpoint. I'm sorry I jumped a little bit. No, you're fine. IDHS, yes, is the only agency that issues the the equipment permit. Now, they do consult with other state officials, but when the general assembly created the permit two sessions ago, they didn't bifurcate it or split it amongst different agencies. They housed it within IDHS. and IDHS is supposed to consult out as needed.

Gotcha. I I'm just curious. Usually in this type of scenario, I see both UL and FM Global involved. Um and I've not seen FM Global mentioned anywhere, but I do know that they have standard 855 would govern this as opposed to FM Global instead of individual listing agencies. That's right. Okay. And so the required compliance with both NFPA 85 855 and additionally UL 9540. Gotcha. But in terms of state agencies, IDM also has oversight. Right. Do you have any other questions for me related to not regarding that?

Right. And and IP power is obviously excited to provide any and all information to your expert consultants. Um if they have worked on a proposal for battery energy storage systems before, I hope they have this will all be very familiar to them and they will be able to answer your specific questions and provide a lot of that info that we provide. again happy to do it. Now I know there's a lot it's kind of dense information sometimes but that's why you are retaining uh consultants and experts in their field and if they have experience in this they will recognize this.

In an earlier discussion with IPA there was a discussion of a burm around the the site. Uh now it doesn't sound like that's part of the plan and with the questions about noise and DVAs and getting doesn't it seem like a burm might and I even brought up the question as to why not even increase it because it certainly knocks down if you go around the highways they put up these walls that direct the sound from going right into homes. Wouldn't the BM be a similar thing?

So those are all those are all tools to mitigate sound. I think the most important thing is the actual sound level. So we can ascribe all sorts of tools. Uh we could offer them up that specific sound tools could be mandated that that doesn't actually change how the sound is measured. Um I mean they certainly can influence it, but the most important thing to recognize is the quantitative limit on the sound. So that's why whether it be through burm, whether it be through sound attenuation kits built into the equipment, whether it be the, you know, 40 to 100 ft deep vegetative buffer, all of those are working and all of those are tools to achieve the quantitative sound limit, which in this case is 50 dBA.

And I would add that in the PD draft, there is a commitment to BM to supplement landscaping wherever is feasible. You know, there's certainly a certain amount of height that you can add to Burming before it would negatively impact landscaping's ability to survive and thrive. And we want to make sure the landscaping stays nice and pretty and thick. So, you can only go so high, but wherever it would be feasible, that's a commitment that's already in the existing PD. Yes. Thank you. Okay.

I have a question. In the event of a disaster, we're not talking fires. Fires are more likely to happen. But in the event we have an earthquake or tornado damage and several units are damaged, what type of plan do you have in place?

So, we would build that into an emergency response plan for any and all scenarios. Agree with you that uh fires are exceedingly rare, extremely rare events. Obviously tornadoes and earthquakes are too, but the point is to be prepared for anything. Um, so yes, those will be built in. I will note that each and every container is about 94,000 lbs. It's also anchored into the ground, so it's a very secure and stable facility. Okay. Thank you. Absolutely. I don't have

I think the spirit of most of these questions are what can be done in a good neighbor aspect to mitigate any negative effects to the surrounding residents.

Yeah, absolutely. We agree and that's why we've built a lot of those into the PD ordinance. This is a very overall low impact development. Uh when you think about light industrially zoned parcels, uh most of the development that you would think coming out of that they offer traffic and significant noise. Uh they may be unsightly, a junkyard or an asphalt plant or something like that. This is obviously um uh subject to an aesthetic review by the town as well, but we've already put forth our visual renderings and our commitments to making this uh essentially invisible. Driving along 19, there you have a very thick vegetative buffer. At the shortest point in 360 degrees surrounding the entire facility, it's 40 foot deep. So imagine looking through 40 foot deep of evergreen trees. It's some in some places it's as deep as 100 ft. With regards to noise, again that is essentially an atmospheric level of noise, especially along 19. This is not a very quiet area. this uh has about 8,000 cars per day on average that passes that site according to end uh INDOT. Uh so again in a light industrially zoned parcel, this is one of the lowest impact developments that could be on that parcel.

So when you're talking about the chain link fence and I believe you talked about a screen around that behind um is there any kind of camera monitoring that monitors the facility at all times for security purposes? I know there's lighting and stuff built in. Yes, sir. So 24/7 cameras as well as microphones and speakers. So for instance, say there was an unauthorized person that was approaching the fence, we can hear what they're saying. We can also speak out to them, you know, hey, back off. This is an electrified uh electrified facility. You need to leave right now. We also obviously have that 24/7 video monitoring. It's also night vision. I believe we have infrared technology built in as well.

Okay. who's responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of that screen and the fence and what have you and you know any any of the trees that should die I mean during the whole life cycle of this project. Well so ultimately all the responsibility is IPA powers. Um we would love to contract with the local landscaping business in order to do the actual work that is not our field of study. Um but obviously the responsibility to make sure that is kept beautiful as well as clear of debris and such that responsibility relies on IPA. Erin, do we have any mechanism to govern that? Well, that would be something that we would want to build in to and it is currently built into the PD ordinance. It is. Okay. Yes.

And all that would transfer in the event of a a sale of IPA. I know we're talking hypotheticals here, but all that would transfer. Correct. You could sell it 10 times and it would all be specific to this site and this project and be transferable each and every time. Thank you. I had a question about the fence and since that came up, what's the purpose of the fence? Would we see the the fence? And I'm talking about the chain link fence. What's the purpose? Would we see it? And is that mandated by some agency that there be a security fence?

Yes. So, a security fence is mandated. Uh the height, I believe, is part of the mandate is approximately 7 foot. Um, a chainlink fence is not part of our aesthetic plan uh for this. So, the fence serves for security purposes. The landscaping and our very significant buffers around the 360° from the site, they serve the aesthetic purpose so that you don't have to look at a chain link fence. Do you have any installations within 150 miles that have a similar aesthetic to this that could be viewed? Not within 150 miles. How far away is it? I'm willing to travel. That's why I asked.

I'd have to consult and see which of ours are subject to such stringent aesthetic reviews. Most of our uh facilities, I mean, really, we we covered the gamut, frankly, whether they be in urban areas, uh, you know, right downtown, Los Angeles County, for instance, where they're 10 foot next to the other parcel. They could be out in the fields in Texas, or they could be in a a roughly more suburban area. I don't know of any off the top of my head that I can point to and say this is just as an a stringent aesthetic review as as it's being ascribed here in Cicero and that's why we provided the visual renders.

Gotcha. I'm just I'm a visual person and the visual renderings do help but seeing it in person is a whole different situation. So are you aware of a contact and it doesn't have to be of this size but of these type of facilities around this area a contact sir sorry a contact that has a list of doesn't have to be from you but of these battery systems storage systems say in Indiana just like a list of any and all battery energy storage systems that's correct

the Indiana Department of Homeland Security can issue you a list of everyone that holds a permit and I'm happy to put you in contact with them because I don't know what the mechanism is. I don't know if you submit an access to public records request or if you just email them. So, I'm happy to circle up with Mr. Coin, you can get that rolling as soon as tomorrow, but they maintain the database. I know for this year they've issued permits for about 43 maybe in the last month, I think Aaron said. Okay.

Um, but they maintain the database for the state. Would you mind doing that? I'm curious about because I have a I have a sneaking suspicion that there are many of these out there. Maybe not of this size, but many of these battery energy storage systems sitting out there that people just don't even know about. And I'm just I'm kind of curious and I'd like to go visit some and maybe have some additional discussions. It's very possible. They're rather inconspicuous. It's very possible that they could be somewhere and no one would even know. I mean, I've been told there's a few just right around here that I'm sorry. I've been told that there are a few smaller ones, of course, right around this area and a few others coming that that I would never have known. Sure.

So, certainly. Um, and then I have a second question. So, say there is a catastrophic issue and I know this is so call it a fire whatever and I mean, I know it depends on when, so you really don't know what the impact radius is of it.

Incorrect, sir. Um, we can estimate from worst case scenarios that have already occurred. Uh, I don't know if you're familiar with the Moss Landing fire um that was out in California. That was uh pretty much exactly how you do not want to build a best facility. It was all under one roof. It was the legacy nickel, maganese cobalt, those heavy metal uh batteries, and there was water testing, air testing, soil testing. That was all done by the California EPA. I know a few other incidents across the country have done the same thing where they've monitored all of those items. But let's go back to the one in California. What was that evacuation area?

Well, the evacuation area there, from my understanding, was kind of a reaction because there was no real guidance at that time. Uh so I I believe that there was a a thorough evacuation in that area. When we look at the recommendations from NFPA and also the EPA at the United States, the NFPA recommends an evacuation radius of 200 ft from the container and the EPA recommends an evacuation radius of 330 ft. So again, the closest residence to this facility is 630 ft and there would be no need to evacuate. And again, this would require constant communication with the chief and any mutual aid partners. And this would all be delineated in an emergency response plan that we come up with together.

So then that leads to my next point. So if there was an evacuation required of homeowners, I mean, would I be willing to pay for those reasonable relocation fees for that period of time? I imagine that insurance would cover those things during an incident. Yes. So, going back to Moss Landing, I mean, even the air quality test they did on that, it was negligible as far as what they were able to pick up.

What's most important is it never left the actual facility boundary. And I think that's really important to note u because that was again, as I said, probably the worst way to design a facility. It was all indoors. I mean, think of a giant Home Depot all filled with batteries as opposed to partitions that are out on the ground. Again, it was that heavy metal legacy NMC battery uh electrolyte technology. Yes, there was air monitoring uh the entire time uh to my understanding. And that danger area, I believe it was a radius of 130 ft. I'm going to have to go back and check the data to make sure I can provide that to you and provide that to your expert consultants. Uh but it was important to note that it never left the facility. I think I'm done with my questions for for today.

Sure. We'll have additional after we talk to our experts. Yeah, absolutely. And we're happy to provide any and all information to the experts if they have questions. Happy to provide them answers as well. So, as far as the grid benefit, I understand how that works with the releasing of energy and stabilizing rates and everything. And essentially, if I understood correctly in the plan commission meeting, that energy could essentially be transmitted anywhere along that that grid line. Correct.

So the energy from our facility that is injected into that 345 line. Yes. So that serves, say for instance, the 345 KV line is owned by one of the local utilities such as AES or Duke or maybe one of the co-ops or something like that. They are utilizing that for their distribution here in the area. So, in no way is this now, you know, sending power out to uh Chicago or New York or Miami or something. Gotcha. Okay. So, what about locally? I mean, is there any benefit in the immediate area as far as backup redundancy or anything in the event of a power outage? Could do could these serve as a backup generator essentially for the community?

Yeah, they absolutely could. Uh and I think obviously we're we're thankful for all the work that our utilities put in especially in this area and to ensure that the grid is stable that the distribution is stable. Uh but I think even outside of those cataclysmic events on just a dayto-day basis uh there would not be any need to fire up additional plants. There would be cost savings from storing the already generated base load energy and the ability to dispatch it at its peak. So there's not a constant demand of electricity throughout the day. Sometimes there's lulls, oftentimes when everyone's asleep. Oftentimes there are peaks as well and that could be contributed to consumer demand. Everyone's home, everyone has a lights on, television, dishwasher, etc. And then that could also be peaks from manufacturing or I mean even just the beex plant down the road or something like that. So that demand curve has peaks and valleys and that's how the offtaker the utility in this case would be able to utilize our facility to get that power where it needs to go instantaneously.

So that power outage outage we just had this would not help. Well correct. I mean if the line well if a line to your home is severed then obviously no no amount of redundancy can help from a backup standpoint. If the power plant on the river had a hiccup for whatever reason, this would bridge that gap for whatever, but it's more used for load management, I would say. Yes. Not really battery backup. It can be used like that, but again, that's not its primary use. Um, so sorry, I said I was done. I'm not one question. You mentioned the segment that you have to get approval. So, within that segment. Yes, sir. segment runs from the plant to where?

The plant uh on the east. So the Noblesville generating plant to the east to the Hortonville substation to the west.

Hortonville and it's specifically the 345 KB line. Now, when I asked you for the cut sheets on the batteries, you basically said with the continuing changing of technology, you'll always strive to use the most up-to-date technology. Correct.

That's right. And obviously, there's long lead times for the procurement of the technology. So um you usually anywhere from 12 18 24 months in the case of a transformer say um but usually around 12 to 18 months for the battery equipment itself. Okay. Where do the batteries go once you decommission them?

Uh so it will be our responsibility to recycle them and we're collaborating with OEMs in order to define processes there. Uh because there are a lot of different kinds of batteries. uh you know we are to recycle all of our double A and AAA batteries for instance um that is pretty hard to regulate. This is much easier to regulate because we have exact knowledge of who owns these largecale energy storage systems.

So is the technology set for this plan? uh the technology is set in the sense that the lithium iron phosphate and then all of the safety standards that we've discussed here the LIV techn or LI technology is going to be LF LFP yes sir yes sir so as new technologies come out that's not applicable to this project it'll be LFP

this project will be LFP This isn't tied to any kind of federal or state incentive to make the project fiscally viable, right? That could potentially go away. So, the only uh federal incentives that I'm aware of, well, I would say at least outside of those that are general for all businesses, outside those that are general for all energy generation, were specifically tied in the one big beautiful bill act that uh the president really spearheaded this uh just this past year. And the administration identified energy storage as a critical part of American energy independence moving forward. Um, so that's why they support this technology.

My last question, then I'll let anybody else take it or we'll close it down. Um, if this was going into your next to your house, what would you want to see from the site plan?

I would want to see appropriate setbacks. Um, there are times and places to have very small setbacks. For instance, we have a project that is in an urban core in, you know, uh, Los Angeles County. Uh, it's pretty darn difficult to find 600t setbacks in Los Angeles. Um, in Michigan, I believe the state standard setback is 300 foot. Um, I think that by us doubling that here, over doubling it to 630 foot to the closest residence, which again, it's in an industrial zone, but it's still a residence. Um, I think that's important. I would look for that. I personally already have lithium ion phosphate batteries in my house for energy storage. I have a solar generator. Um it is it's had it has its own use. It's a more portable version. Uh if you're familiar with your Generracks, your natural gas fired generators. It's just a generator that I can then move uh for instance we need to get out of the house or something like that. So I have energized LFP batteries that sit about 8 foot from my headboard I would say. Very comfortable with those. would be very comfortable if a site was as selectively cited like ours, if there were multiple safety layers like ours, and if there was, frankly, the enforcement that is applicable to our project through IDHS, then I'd be very comfortable. Well, anything you can come up with in the meantime as we work through this process um that would help mitigate the impact on any of their surrounding residents. Um we'd love to hear it and we'll continue to think of anything that we can come up with as well. So,

absolutely, we look forward to working with the consultants and I I know there's a lot of folks in the crowd as well. Uh look forward to hearing if there are any questions, any comments, any desire to speak with me or any of our team. Uh, we're happy to speak with anyone and anyone, not just here tonight, but I'm happy to give you my business card that has my cell phone on it and we can follow up if you'd like. Okay. Anybody have anything else? I don't. Thank you very much. Very much appreciate it. Okay. Miscellaneous.

All right. Moving on to miscellaneous. Um, Eric, you want to spearhead that? talk about semi and dump truck traffic through downtown.

Yeah. So, Mr. C, um, it was brought to our attention and I know it's been brought up before potentially limiting through traffic through town for semiis and loaded dump trucks maybe. Um, it's it's impacting our pavement that I mean is we we've just spent a small fortune redoing portions of our downtown and how do we protect our investment there? Um, so I mean I think we see and as you sit downtown you see more and more of these coming through as 31 becomes limited access. So what do we need to do to to move forward to to at least investigate? I mean to me I think the truck route which was put into place is 281st Street to 276th Street. It's up by VEX and that's already a thoroughare for semis and and trucks. Um what what would be the next steps that we need to take?

Well, we would want to identify the portion of our roads we don't want the trucks to be driving on. And we would want to set the threshold. Are we talking about trucks over one ton, two ton, 10 ton, whatever that's going to be. And then we'd also want to designate, we'd want to be able to refer them to an acceptable route for them to get. If we're going to block off the east west path, we would need to be able to say where they're going to go. And I think you've already touched on that. Visav the the route through Beex. Are there are there distance limits for that route?

No, not that I'm aware of. I would have to double check, but I think it's mainly if we find there's a compelling reason and then we could adopt an ordinance, you know, and one of the parts of documenting that it's a compelling reason would be talking with um our engineer uh as well as Mr. Cooper from our our street uh department and perhaps um I think I can't remember are you our street commissioner Terry or Terry go? You're you're you're designated the street commissioner too. Yeah. And so having Terry certify about the damage and then we would designate that they need to take an alternative route. But that would basically be going through that process and adopting an ordinance and then posting the signage.

Mr. Cop, could we I assume, but we could make exceptions for things like local deliveries. Yeah. Yeah. You would have to let locals because obviously there'd be somewhere that the only way the truck can get to a site along that corridor, right? Yeah. Would Would you be able to see maybe what some other municipalities have in terms of where they've set that weight limit?

Yes. So, Chief Fred Nau, I'm assuming that means you have to get scales.

Well, a lot of these larger trucks have to be certified in terms of how much the load is they can carry and then what the type of truck is. For example, you'll see the license plates sometimes are tied to the weight of the vehicle. And so some of that you can tie on to that because the truck itself is going to be in excess of of the limit whether it's loaded or not. Right. I mean, I'm thinking some of these dump trucks that are voted as well that come through. Yeah. Yeah. I can come back at the next meeting and report back to you on this or I can send out an email with an update before then.

It's been up. Thank you. I've just noticed the traffic has been there's there's more coming through town and the funds that we have spent trying to make it look nice is concerning and I know it was brought up previously by previous councils as well. All right. Thank you for that. Any comments by citizens? Yep. Moving along. Comments by citizens.

All right. We are going to cap these at two minutes in relation to the best project. We're happy to answer any questions or having a discussion. But as far as a a canned response, we are going to roll with a typical two minutes. Um I know you're out there. You Kimberly, you're up. Prepare to go first. You were the first one to turn the sheet in.

Oh well. Okay. Kimberly Chance 3161 East 246 Street. Um I'm actually not going to address the best facility tonight. Um I've asked some questions at the meeting at White River Township and that sort of thing. So um have tons more questions that I could ask. Um but I can chat with you all later. Um, I did want to bring up two points and then offer a suggestion for the planning board and perhaps the town council as well. And I know some of you are on both. Um, first of all, people obviously don't get to choose when their area becomes redesated on the comprehensive plan to light industrial as well as we do not get to um participate in the election of any of you on this board. So, our only recourse is actually um written or spoken comments. I know at the January 14th planning board meeting there was a suggestion that Mr. Culp made that the um emails be limited to um being part of the record but not necessarily read out loud. And I do understand that you all have an issue because some of the emails go lengthy and we've all sat at a lot of these meetings based on what has happened tonight. Um I have a feeling that the community is going to want to say a lot at some of the projects that may be coming up. And so my suggestion is um I I looked it up and actually the average person speaks 110 to 170 words per minute. I know that there are sites that can limit a word limit when you type things in. You can fill out a form and you you're limited to a thousand words or 500 words or something like that. And I

would strongly suggest that you might limit the word uh per minute to 340 which is at the upper end of that just to give preference to the community that is already a disadvantage of the time limit that they get compared to the petitioner and Frank's a pretty quick reader I think. that um but that may just help solve that issue but still give the community the opportunity to participate the only way that we can because we are limited in Jackson Township. And so that is my my suggestion strongly to you all. I do understand and appreciate the issue that we've all been dealing with. And

so there has been conversation that they and I'm bringing this up because I just went through this in another district actually where they won't be read anymore. So the letters will not be read. There will be a deadline understand that they have to be received so that every member whether it's the BZA the planning whatever board for a submitted letter that they have the ability the time to to read all of those and I personally just went through this. So, I I sent a letter in another district

to the board of zoning appeals and they said it had to be there x number of days before the hearing and that they would put it in a packet and send it to each voting member. And I appreciate that and I understand that. But in those districts, did every person who participated and was being affected by decisions get to vote in or out members that they might not agree with? because we're in a unique situation in Jackson Township. Exactly the same in that district, honestly. So, I I it's a suggestion. It's in Kasiasco County. It's the exact situation. I appreciate that, Eric. I'm just suggesting it as a community member. I'm asking

and I'm appre trying to appreciate the problem that you have, but I'm also asking you to continue to give us a voice because we are we don't feel like we have much of a voice. And when you don't abide by the comprehensive plan, then we have to come to these meetings. And sometimes you all aren't at meetings because life gets in the way, right? Sometimes we can't be. And we just like to be able to still participate in a meaningful way. That camera is on, people can watch if they're not here. And if the letters are read, then anyone in Jackson Township who cannot vote for you and who are very limited because the comprehensive plan can be changed at any point in time. They really I'm just asking you to preserve the right for Jackson Township community members to still be able to participate in a meaningful way. And that and you can choose to do it that way. I'm not saying you can't and other people don't, but I think you all are better than that and I'm hoping that you guys would would just offer that respect to our

I want to make sure I understand what you're asking. So, you're saying 340 words? Yeah, that's what you're suggesting, right? That's two minutes, right? So, if the limit is two minutes to just limit it by the number of words. Correct. Then somebody writes a letter, Frank reads it, and you get a two-minute letter and it's read out loud publicly just like anyone who showed up at the meeting. That's all I'm asking. it does eliminate the 10-minute or 15 minute emails, right? Like it I'm trying to appreciate the problems that you know face you too and just asking for that. That was just my suggestion.

Well, thank you for Well, you so I mean you you have phone numbers and I hope you feel like we support you. Um, I would almost rather have a written email that I can help parse through because it's hard to get your point across and get all the key points across in 34040 letters. So, for me personally, not sitting up here, but if I'm sitting out there just like I was, I would prefer to provide the email with my keys to the message. So here's so here's another suggestion then if that's what you choose to go with and I apologize I'm taking more time but I am trying to I turned your timer off.

Sorry I am trying to address an issue but if if because my the alternative to that is if you all receive emails ahead of time where you have an opportunity to read them. Is there a mechanism that could be put in place where the community can read those emails ahead of time as well so that we also again I'm just trying to preserve the ability for the community to be able to meaningfully participate in the only way that we can

and we'd like to be able to hear and that would be fine too just somehow it needs to be available so that we do not lose our voice where it's not recorded it's not spoken and all we get is a hidden email that you all alone read that we can't vote for. So, so Aaron, I mean, is that is that acceptable? We read them. Would it be acceptable to make those? Yeah, I mean we could certainly when we put together that packet because I think what the plan commission was contemplating was a cut off on the Monday when their meeting is that that Wednesday that packet in addition to being sent out to plan commission could be posted on the website along with the meeting

you know and in addition even before that they become part of the records and the minutes of those meetings. So those are getting attached to the packets that go out the next month summarizing everything and the entirety of those letters gets incorporated. So Kimberly, I think that's a good suggestion. And if somebody doesn't want it to be read publicly, I guess they would have to note that on their email. Do we run into the same issue that you were talking about last meeting with redacting personal information? If we do that, I was talking specifically about the applications. Okay. I I think we need I think something we can work on.

Yeah, I think we need to look into it. I think that's a good idea, Kimberly. If they were available for public record, would they needed need to be read? No, we're not planning on reading any. They will get provided to that was I was in agreement with that. Yeah. To be clear, he means reading aloud. They all get read by us. Oh, yeah. I think that's a I think that's a good suggestion. Thank you. Honere here. There you are. You get her 27 seconds remaining. Thank you. I'm just joking.

Ponera 652 core court. Uh my subject tonight is the snow removal. We all know that we got a lot of snow. I live in the first kovasac here in the neighborhood core court and for years um what our street department does I don't know if it's all kovasacks but my particular copac where I live is they come through push the snow in and then push all the snow in my front lawn for the most part uh this last snow with large amount of snow is they pushed not only in my front lawn but also the neighbor across the street's front lawn and it stacked it way up high over the years. Uh they've damaged my front lawn every winter and I repaired it. Uh this past snowfall and all snowfalls I plow that cops sack myself and I plow up and down the streets um whenever I wake up and I do my driveway and so forth. So if I if I push the the snow in my cove sack, I actually stop at the curve and raise the plow and slowly raise it up and then push it up on my grass. If not, I come through, push it out and drag it out with so much snow and uh and my particular Kovas sac. I don't know if if we need to remove the snow rather than pushing up in my lawn because every year I cover the cause damage on my front lawn. this past large snowfall and the previous one, the snowfall really damaged my my front lawn. So, I'm going to ask the street

department to repair um my front lawn. But with that said, I'm sure we have plenty of equipment and especially with large uh snowfalls. It I don't know if we can remove the snow rather than pushing up on on our front lawns which is causing damage. And it's not every other year, it's every year. And our our our crews do a great job uh throughout town, but my lawn is damaged every year. And I never asked the town to give me a single penny. I've always repaired it myself, but this time they damaged it really bad. So, I'm going to ask the town to help fix my front lawn. So, if we can have some other snow plan or add to the snow plan uh and and remove large amount of snow rather than pushing it in front everybody's lawn cuz as you know, I'm sure you got big big mounds in front of your house and your grass. Um there there's not really much where to push it at when you have that large amount of snow.

Thank you. Our apologies for the collateral damage. Um what would be the process? I I don't even know this process can as far as

So Mr. Cooper, can you look at the damage to his yard and see what we need to do there? And then I I guess in that particular culde-sac see what options there there are. I I don't know that there are options. Um unfortunately I don't think within a reasonable amount of time that we're able to every culde-sac around town haul snow out of it. I I don't think that's a reasonable request of our of our guys. They're they're working all night long. It's a limited staff trying to to get the roads in shape for everybody to go through. Um, I think what we can commit to is Terry can look at the damage, see if there's something we can do there, and see if there are other options.

Thanks for the feedback. All right, Kim Urban, I know you're out there somewhere.

There you are. Hi, Kim Irvin, 2081 Cumberland Road. Um, again, I'm just here to talk about the best project, but you know, listening to what they were saying and everything, it's really I guess my biggest issue is I don't trust the company and I've listened every single time they've been here to talk to you guys, not just you guys, but the before and I was also at every single time that they talked over at Overdorf as well. And every time something changes and so um just like tonight they were talking about the soulbank 3.0 batteries and you know that the decibel levels are only I forget what they said. I think it was like around 75 or something but the more you add the higher it gets. If you do a quick AI search it's 98.2 dB is what it would be for 210 units which is what they're saying. Um, that's the actual a gas power lawn mower or motorcycle or snowmobile running constantly. If you live somewhat near there um and then it's in the country. I don't know if you know this sounds travel really quickly through the country. I live within a mile of this. I'm really concerned about it. The other thing too is the Soulbank 3.0 batteries. um just look into them when you guys are researching it because they have um ethyl glycol in it which is really highly toxic. Um they also carry lead in them. Um so those are some other things that I as they were talking I kind of made notes and looked into it tonight that kind of concerned me. So just I ask you guys remember you're in charge here. You make these rules. There are no state regulations on this. So hopefully you guys make a good choice. You you heard our discussion about the 55 dB at the property line that that would be part of the PD if it's approved.

Mhm. I did. You're still concerned that we would allow it to be 90. Well, it's saying it's going to be around 90. Well, what's saying when you every time when I did a AI is saying 90?

When I did a research and asked Google, I just asked Google just out of thing. Um what is the average decel of a soul bank 3.0? no battery and it came back that it was around 75. But every time you add additional batteries to it, it continues to raise your decibel is what it said. So, as I'm looking at it and it continues to raise it depending on how many you have. So, then I just said Google 210 soul bank 3.0 batteries. What is the decimal of it? And it gave me the 92 which and then I said 92.4 actually. And then I Googled what is 92.4 dB and that's where it came up to a snowmobile or whatever. I'm just saying there there are some concerns.

I guess I I think it would be a concern if we had a PD in front of us that said we would allow 92 dB at the property line, but that's not what we're talking about. All I'm saying is I'm presenting information to you that was presented tonight in a situation of them talking to you and I'm calling it to the table that again there are things that are stated from this company that I don't trust. And so I'm asking you guys as a board to take everything in to play here on what you're thinking because they're what they're saying is not necessarily what they're portraying when you really do the research. And that's the reason why I spoke because I don't trust this company. I'm not against battery storage facilities right now. I'm against this company.

Okay. And actually what you what you referenced right there with that 75 DBA on the soul bank was what I now I realize where I got that figure what I was asking about initially. I think what Jacob's trying to say, yeah, it does produce that within one meter. Um but the regulations at the required setback wouldn't be that. But we we absolutely will take that into account.

See, I don't see I don't I mean I I think you heard my questions about noise. I mean my my quick search doesn't say it's at that level. But so that's why we I mean you have to parse what you get online. So we need to get with experts and find out what the real data is. look at data sheets, see what those data sheets are, um, and and do our homework. I completely agree. Just be careful what you see online because what I see is at 10 meters, it's 35 to 50 dB. For how many units? Well, that's for one. You said one was 75, right? So, I haven't seen the data sheet. I said one was 75. I didn't say within the meter. I just said that's what it was saying that it gave out and that's what they said to me.

Okay. All right. So, just be careful with the information. The noise is absolutely one of my concerns. So, so we Well, and I'm just bringing to light it's not just the noise, it's also the batteries. Like they were saying a soul bank 3.0 battery. It's only been in existence. It actually was improved in 2025. And I I mean I don't know. I just I worry about the safety of the community because when you look at things that are brand new, there's no research behind it. There's not, we don't know what it can cause and it just worries me. I mean, people live here in the country for a reason. Yeah, it's a valid concern.

So, 100%. So, thank you, Kim, Felicia.

Oh, no. Uh oh. Mom's talking too.

Mom's talking too. Yep. Uh, Alicia Kiioski 8203 East 249th Street, Arcadia. So, I like to sit in these and kind of come up and play devil's advocate, right? You got to approach questions from all different sides. IPA was founded in 2017. So, my question or one of the things I I pose is we're talking about decommission plans with these after 30 years. IPA hasn't been around 30 years. So how we're are we formulating a hypothetical decommission plan because we don't actually know in 30 years what this looks like. So when we have to sit and we have to come up with numbers, we have to do all this, we don't know how necessarily the technology is going to age in 30 years, what site, you know, all these other things, we're locking ourselves into that upfront. So um noise obviously lots of concerns about noise. Um, I would be curious on the noise specs that are presented in the hypothetical situation that they are too high. What happens at that point? The site's already built. So, what do you do? Yes, you're in violation of it, but what's the enforcement of that violation? Can the technology be changed? Can like from a from the town's perspective, what can you do if that actually happens? Because things happen and and once it's already built, then how do you fix it? Can we can we see if he can answer that question real quick?

Yeah. If they are in violation of those, we can issue a notice that requires them to make corrections. If they fail to make those corrections, we can then begin imposing penalties. We can even go into court and and get an order that they cease until they comply. And depending on what's required to fix that, that could be if there aren't BMS, a BM be built or something else be installed to ensure that it meets the sound requirements. And you could even hold the certificate of occupancy, right, if they were not. So, yeah, there's a lot of enforcement options we ever got.

So, making sure that that's something that we've we've adequately taken into effect. Um, likewise, you know, there was some comment about uh natural disasters and, you know, the comment of they weigh 93 or 94,000 lbs and they're bolted into concrete, which is all well and great, but what happens? Like, you know, we can get tornadoes through here. Have do we have quantifiable data of how strong winds can those things withhold? What's their crash rating if they do go airborne and they hit? Is that all data that the you know all the different specialties or um envir environmental and all these people that we are obtaining can give us that information is that specs that need to come from them. But I think that's important. We need to plan for that worst case scenario because once it happens then what I mean the town is now at risk the people are now at risk and we need to know what we're going into when we're going into that situation. So, and then lastly, um my question would be from the from the board's perspective, all of the information that you receive from the experts that you are retaining, how is that information or will it be made available to the public to be able to review and ask questions and follow up because obviously lots of minds put together come up with different questions. Is that information planning on being made available and in what avenue will that happen?

I have no issue making it available. Is there an avenue we have to follow? No, it's up to the it's up to the council what we want to have presented. My my vision for this was that they would actually come to a meeting and make a presentation and answer your question where the public could actually hear what they were saying. That would be ideal if they if they issue a report or something. I would certainly be um yeah fine with you know that being publicly available. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

I want to make one comment on your your decommissioning. I think that's a really important point. that that the point of not only having the decommissioning plan, but having the financial shy is absolutely critical, right? So that that's the whole point of that is that it's a lot of times it's done through a bond, but there is some financial that if I goes away tomorrow and it costs $5 million to pull everything out of the ground or whatever that we as the council have that financial mechanism to pull on that is separate from the existence of of these guys. So again, I totally agree with you. That's like that has to be has to be in there. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you,

Diana Dale. Just please state your name and address. Diana Dale, 121 Tamarak Larch Boulevard, Cicero. Um, thank you board here. I emailed the board on January 16th and thank you for taking my email into consideration. I've heard a lot of things in my email here today. Um, special use. This highly volatile lithium battery on top of a marathon gas line running under this property is a hard no for this project's special use.

Can I jump in real quick there? Um, Mr. Johnson, you want to comment on that?

Yes, I will. Um, hold on just a second. I have reached out to Marathon and I'm going to read a part of the response. It says according to those plans which they received best plans on the facility uh are currently designed with the setback of 100 ft from our pipeline that runs through the parcel. This suffices any concerns the Marathon pipeline would have regarding the type of facility near our pipeline. They took into consideration the technology uh of the fire, the burn rate, the temperatures, the fact that they're put on concrete pads and bolted down. And they took it up to the corporate office to come back and give me an answer. But their answer was, "We're good with the 100 ft. It poses no concern with the pipeline.

And does this include the 25% expansion that they are also requesting? The 25 what percent expansion that APA is requesting out of the PD? Yeah, it's not going to be in there. Okay. That was a if I remember correctly from plan commission meeting, that was just a template item, right? We Yeah, it was removed.

Okay. Thank you. um obsolete te technology. As of today, best battery storage facilities are obso obsolete. So, let's do the research. Maintaining this obsolete technology is concerning because maintaining a 15-year-old truck, you have a hard time finding parts. How are they going to get parts for something that's already obsolete? Um what would end of life cleanup cost? And not in 30 years, today's dollars. Who's paying for that? um they could abandon this site and leave us with cleanup noise pollution which has been going over extensively here tonight. Let's get this assessed um with the um research. APA said that they would provide decibel samples. So, let's get on a field, take a field trip and let's listen to it for ourselves because um hearing noise on paper is not the same as going there live and hearing it. Um, a 48 inch lawn mower has a decibel of 70. Um, the neighboring farm is closer than eight is stating. So, let's do the research there as well and get accurate decibb. Um, I live one mile from the reservoir and I can hear boats on the water. Music at the boat house. Noise travels much further in Cicero because it's very windy and it's very open. My grill has to be anchored down with hurricane anchors. So that tells you how windy it is here. Um, if we can research the fire department hazmat, the Department of Homeland Security is requiring uh the requirements are changing every day for fire stations to handle lithium battery storage facilities. And as a startup cost, it's $4 million to build that fire station, 2 million a year to operate. Who will be funding this? The Cicero Fire Department is not equipped to handle this project. training is not going to cut it or keep our firefighters

safe. Evacuation is two to five miles, not 300 feet. And as windy as it is in Cicory, Cicero, probably more. Uh, another concern, State Route 19 is an evacuation route. A fire at this facility would pose issues on evacuating the community. Also take into consideration the AF Ingram drain. in September 7th, 2022. The drain is in poor condition and in need of reconstruction per Hamilton County Surveyor's Office. So, let's look into that drain as well. It's almost done.

Okay. Um, can we get current water testing for the city for 2025? The website didn't have the 2025 water testing. Chair, are you still here? Yes. Has it been released? probably not yet. Okay. What's the purpose of that? Uh just to get a baseline of our water. Okay. Um so that we know we do that every year, Terry. Yeah. Yeah. By June, by the time we get all

Thank you. All right. Thank you for letting me speak today. Commission meeting. Yes. Well, I wasn't here physically, but I sat through four and a half grueling hours of watching it. So, you heard our fire chief say he didn't have any concerns with his ability to manage.

I did have a I did hear a firefighter say that this is not something that is safe for our firefighters and they are part of our community. And that's really concerning uh since Department of Homeland Security is now requiring um special fire departments. So, let's do our research and find out what the Department of Homeland Security is requesting for any city that has a best battery storage facility so that we're not stuck with a $4 million bill or 2 million to run this fire station because Jackson Township's not going to be able to be liable for that. So the intent of us contracting with outside firms is to collect this information and make sure it's not just by our research. We do want to engage the experts and make sure we do get vetted information. So we are in the process of doing that.

Thank you. And one of our experts is our fire chief. Yeah, he did speak at the plan commission in that regard as well. So I Chris, do you want to are you are you here? I thought I saw you earlier. He's back there.

He's Do you want to make any comment at this point? No, we just did our due diligence. We've been working with the information they provided and kind of going through this kind of get a response objective. It's it's no different than fire battery fire. We know how we know how the whole point of battery is through trial and error making. The key to it is to isolate it. That's the best. We're not doing anything overly then we're not adding anything that's going to be a large scale fire in a house or in the garage burning or the wall battery. We understand how to deal with it. Let's burn that all the time. I actually asked for I've seen it but I have not just combustion what's in the smoke together sampling

and I'd I'd like to add to that. I'm the fire department liaison and the first thing I did was go to the fire department and say what do you guys think? And I was really surprised that four or five of them said you know it's much safer than what you think. So, I did reach out to them and I also reached out uh to ask about training and not only training for the fire departments locally, but updated training at least once a year. And they said they would be willing to fund that and they would be willing to do updated training because personnel changes.

Okay. And is that going to include um Noblesville's fire um station? because in the last meeting that wasn't included that they were notified because they respond to my neighborhood a lot. Um and they're right down the street from this site. So, you know, they need to have um it would be all the local ones because I did ask that as well. They want anyone who would be responding to know you don't shoot water at these type of fires, right? they have to burn.

And and that was my concern too because staff, you know, things happen and and people are gone and staff changes. So, it's important to have a plan in place that everyone's educated at least once a year so the new members won't rush in and do something that they shouldn't. And you guys will always be involved in that annual training, correct? That's correct. Okay.

I just don't want Cisro to become a cancer cluster. I don't want um Miss Brockovich to have to come here to our community. That doesn't look good on us, you know. And we need to we need to find out the decibb before they build. Not Oh, wait. It's really noisy. You're going to get a fine. No, no fines. Let's let's find out what a battery station sounds like. Let's go to California where it burned. Let's find out what their evacuation zone was. What's their evacuation plan? What's their cancer cluster looking like? There's a lot of concerns for the city of Cicero. And there's a lot of money concerns about the impact that we're not going to be making any money off of this coming into our community.

That well, you light, but the city in the whole not. Excuse me. What What do you imply? I'm sorry. I think I think your time's up. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So, so just to take a step second back, I mean, you implied that he might make money off of this. That's a ridiculous statement. We're all sitting up here trying to do the best for our community and work with what we have. So, if comments like that are absolutely ridiculous,

if if that was the intention of that comment, maybe we misunderstood. But to your point, we are doing our necessary due diligence in this. It's a new type project for us. We've never seen anything like this. We're going to take every step necessary to make sure we have that information. So Kim Mike's got Kim Alexander 24592 Point Lane. I just have a few questions just out of curiosity. Who are the beneficiaries of this project? I'm still trying to figure out who wins. Well, we are too.

Okay. Does the board I mean, as you guys look at it, who do you think the beneficiaries are? Well, as we look at it now, I think it's we're trying to figure out if it's mutually beneficial. Was that me or you? I think it was a paper flip. Oh, okay. Never mind. I think we're trying to figure out if it's mut mutually beneficial and how it is beneficial to the town. whether that be financial or utility related, what have you. Okay. So, have we So, we haven't identified yet the benefit through that. Yeah. Okay. Well, real real quick though,

I mean, the power grid is a beneficiary, right? So, theoretically, you don't have to start on those high demand. And I I'm I don't know if I'm for it or against it. Um I am an electrical engineer by trade. the uh the power grid is the beneficiary of this. So instead of starting an additional generator which costs all of us money, this facility is able to leave that off and level those out. So store when use is low and put back when use is high. I mean that's the benefit of this is is it helps sustain a level or low managing at the power plants. That's the benefit of of these systems. Well, and I appreciate that. I know Mr. Ever has I've I've read read several of your articles and one of the things you comment in one of your articles is a project that helps keep the cost of electricity down will have some beneficiaries nearby, but the majority will be residents across the region who live in different jurisdictions. And I think you're right.

Yeah. Locals aren't necessarily going to benefit from this. It's a 14 state region. So I know Can I ask you a question? Sure. So, does that mean in order to improve the grid, we should just make that somebody else's problem? We have a role here. I don't think I need to take on a problem or you need to take on a problem. So, nobody takes it on and the grid never gets improved. That I mean, that's this that's the answer. Or you put these things in industrial locations. Well, that are already set with with boundaries with fences. I mean, if you look at the what Pike County, you look at where some of these others have gone, it's not in a field. So I just who benefits? What is the benefit? And to your article's point, it's not the locals. And

I just completely disagree with your premise that we we in this country have a major problem with our grid. And if our solution in Jackson Town in Jackson Township is we're not going to participate in improving the grid in across this country, that's a pretty short-sighted view. I'm just quoting your article. I'm just quoting you. You said we should only do things here that benefit specifically us and and forget about our neighbors. Are we the ones taking on the health risk if something goes wrong? What health risk? You tell me. What do our due diligence? What benefit is there? I guess I just I just if if we're going to sit here today and say we don't collectively benefit from an improved grid, that's crazy. Well, you said we don't benefit in.

I said locals do. And you're also taking my article a little bit out of context. The point of the article I know you do. I know what I wrote. There are thousands of people that don't know they would benefit from this. So, they're not here tonight. That's the point of the article that you've taken out of context. I just read and I know your job is to advocate for companies who come in and work with public and private to make the best decision for Cicero and not make decisions based on. I'm saying professionally. I'm not sitting here professionally. I'm sitting here as a citizen of

Cicero. But as I read your professional writing, I'm understanding where you're coming from. So I'm just trying to say how specifically if there is a benefit locally for the risk locally, who what is it? Who gets it? And how specifically would we receive it? And I I completely appreciate your statement. I just we're not at a point we can answer it. Yeah. But these are just questions I think that are valuable for us to think about. And then and then also how does the board intend to determine the needs and opinions of the community? What do you mean?

Well, as a board makes decisions, as as you look at criteria for your decisions, I understand fact-based decisions are important, but you're also representatives of your community. So, how do you intend to determine the needs and opinions? I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. So, this is a portion of the community. I will I will tell you that I've had multiple people reach out to me and say that they are in favor of it. Now,

I have too. Now, there are a few that are probably within that industry. So, we were at a council meeting after the Oberdorf one was shut down and a lady came up to me and she was and said she was for she doesn't understand it. However, I discount that part a little bit because her family was part of that industry. But I've had many others that not many I've had several people communicate with me that hey, this sounds like the right thing to do for Cisero. So the people that that argue against it are a portion of the information that we take in. But we also get information from others that they won't show up here. They don't want to waste their time. Right. Yeah.

But we also have to vet that information. A lot of the information being floated out there is based on old technology and it's not accurate. And there's a lot of fear-mongering going on too. But now we are getting people in support of this. They don't post publicly for fear of persecution because as you've seen it can get pretty nasty. Um, but no, we we are doing everything we can. I mean, we're we're putting more due diligence into this than anything we have ever done before. We appreciate it. It's just looking at what's the benefit and who's getting it. If you're taking on the risk, are you getting the benefit? Absolutely.

Mike, Mike Alexander, 24592 Point Lane. Uh, two really quick things. one, I was at the July meeting uh where the project was turned down. One of the topics that was brought up was the pond that was going to be on site and there was discussion about what if there's a leak, they had to put fire on it. uh what happens with if there's any contamination that goes into the pond and the question was brought up is there a lining in the pond anything that would prevent that contamination from leeching into the aquafers and going down into the to the water systems

from the plan commission meeting I believe it was stated that that is pond is lined and also has a

gate that was that was the point I was trying to make was that this seems to be kind of an evolving process. They learned from the last one that hey now I have to line the pond. So now we're lining the pond. So it's like what's the next obstacle that has to be overcome to make things right. So that's that's all on that second topic. Uh I know the community is very proud of the train. I know our families rented the caboose uh for the holidays and had a lot of fun riding up and down the train. Train is elevated. If you're sitting in one of the seats of that train, an eight or a 10ft tree isn't going to block the view of your project. So, how long are we are we going to put a new stop on the train that says, "Hey, here's the battery plant. Maybe we could decorate all those evergreen trees." So, it's nice that you're putting proposing 10-footers, but it's not big enough. It won't block the view of the train. The So, anyway, that's just we're proud of the train. Everybody enjoys it. That's not going to be a pleasant uh stop on the the tour. So, that's it.

Thank you. All right. Anybody else? Any last minutes? If not, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. So move Emily Pearson. Second, Dennis Johnson. Motion to second. All in favor? I opposed. Thank you all.