County Council - Regular Meeting

Yes.

I want to call the Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026 Hamilton County Council meeting to order. Mr. Auditor, can I have a roll call?

Ken Alexander. Present. Brad Beaver. Here. Tim Griffin. Present. Mark Hall. Here. Sue Mackey.

Here.

Amy Maslamany. Present. Steve Nation. Present. Mr. President, you have quorum.

Great. Now we're going to have an invocation and pledge by Amy Maslamany.

Please bow your heads and pray in your own way. Amen.

Okay, we're going to have two public hearings this evening. I want to open the first public hearing concerning ordinance CC05-06-2026-A. I'm opening the public hearing, and it is an ordinance having to do with the issuance of bonds. Is there anybody here who wants to talk about this? This is the second reading of these bonds. Does anyone want to talk about bonds? No? I'm open for a motion. So moved.

Second.

We moved and seconded that we approve these bonds on the second reading. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Anybody here from the public got anything they want to say about these bonds? These are road improvement bonds. Okay. I'm closing that public hearing. open in another public hearing for ordinance CC05-06-2026-B. And again, this is a band bond having to do with road improvements for the amount of $30 million. Anybody want to talk about that one? We're on the second reading. Nobody's rushing the stage.

Move to approve.

Second. Moved and second that we approve this ordinance. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? That one passes also. I'm going to ask for anybody to have a public comment on these bonds. We're going to close this public hearing. So we've got those two ordinances passed. I need a... I motion to approve the minutes of the May 6th County Council. Second. They're moved and second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? That passes. Now we're going to go to committee and officer reports. The only thing I got, I met with President of the Commission, Christina Altman, yesterday. We had a discussion about miscellaneous projects that we've got going on. Nothing earth-shattering come out of that. And that's all I really have to say, Mr. Vice President. No comment. Okay. Finance Committee. We didn't have a Finance Committee in the last month, did we? Yeah, you did. We did have one, and we sent out the memo of what things we went over on that. Kelly sent that out. Personnel.

We did meet, and those items were also shared with Council, and some of which are on the agenda this evening.

Thank you. Major project.

We had information shared with us.

Information shared. Okay, thank you. Anybody got anything under miscellaneous?

Real fast, I was at the Carmel Marathon and my team triumphed. It's a group that pushes special needs individuals for a whole marathon. It was incredible. I got to see the event, saw them do their thing. I reached out and just said, out of all the stuff I saw, probably the most incredible thing during that marathon. And they said, thanks. And they said they'd live in the Hamilton County area and they're going to have five captains racing at the Cicero triathlon in two weeks. So if you see them say something, it's, it's actually incredible. You see the, my team triumph shirts. They wear red worth, worth seeing what these individuals, I mean, super humans, they run a marathon with these individuals. And then at the end, they walk them with them, you know, 20 feet. So couldn't say enough. I was completely like moved by what I saw.

Great.

Yep.

Anybody got anything under miscellaneous? I do want to say that Sue Mackey and myself were privileged to hear Abe Lincoln give the Gettysburg Address on Memorial Day. And it was pretty good. It was pretty good. I was really surprised the Historical Society put that on. And I would say there was, what, two, three hundred people there?

Oh, yeah. There was a lot of people there. It was very well done.

Right across the street, right in front of the... Okay, we're going to go on to unfinished business. I don't see any. Now we're going to go to table business, which is a Parks 144.

Motion to untable for discussion. Second.

Okay. All in favor of untabling, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Now it's untabled.

Motion to approve.

I hear no second. This particular item dies for a lack of seconds. Now we're going to go to New Business. I need a motion for approval of vendor claims. So moved.

Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Vendor claims are approved. Now we have an interlocal cooperative agreement between Westfield and Hamilton County concerning Grassy Branch and 191st.

Motion to approve.

Second. All in favor say aye.

I have a question. Yes, go ahead. I just want to understand why we're giving up fees. On the agreement.

We're doing what?

We're giving up fees. The county's giving up fees to Westfield. I just wanted to get an explanation as to why.

Does anybody know anything about this particular project?

Good evening, Councillors. Yes, the interlocal before you was actually brought to us by the City of Westfield requesting it, so that's what initiated the process. During the negotiation with County Legal and Westfield Legal, the whole genesis of this area that is, if you approve today, will allow the development of that area. There's a significant development plan with Westfield, and it pretty much, in essence, releases the county from all Damage could be incurred why they do this because eventually this will become part of the city of Westville. So in regard to the fees, any part of the negotiation going into this and the whole agreement with Westville is there would not be any expense to the county. all if this is approved today because this is going to be a construction project could be damaged the road all that stuff so this is pretty much releasing this from any liability in Westville my memory isn't this the place we gave five million dollars to this is further west yes that was on the

It's not the same. The 191st Street as a whole is an issue.

It's all part of their master plan, but this is a different part of it. It seemed backwards. We gave $5 million and we're giving up fees now. It didn't feel right.

Yeah, okay, but it's not the same piece. Well, 191st Street needs some help.

Yes, for sure.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. All in favor?

Aye. Opposed?

Interlocal passes. Now we're going to review the CF1 from Beck's Hybrids.

Good evening, folks. Brad Fruth from Beck's Hybrids. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening. We are here to review the abatement for Beck's Hybrids. This is the final year that we are accumulating on this abatement. There were three parts to it, an employment, a personal property, and a real property. So from an employee standpoint, our pledge was to keep 387 jobs and add 40. We actually added 154 jobs onto there. For personal property, we were asked to maintain a personal property level of 43.2 million. We actually spent 94.7 million. And then on the real property, we pledged 61.7 million. We actually did 126 million, so we exceeded that by 64.3 million dollars. We're very, very thankful for the county's support as we continue to support our growing business.

Yeah, you know the thing about it. So after this year, you will be paying 100%.

I believe we're not accumulating on it. The personal property, I do believe, goes through 2030, and the real property goes through 2028, but we are no longer able to accumulate on that abatement. Okay. Yes, sir.

Great.

Thank you very much.

Could you talk just a second about the overall economic impact to Hamilton County, just to get something in front of council to understand the magnitude of the dollars that have been impacted to the county as a result of the abatement?

Yeah, so these construction projects, if you've not had an opportunity to drive on 276th Street, we have a beautiful campus up there in the northern part of Hamilton County. So a lot of that $126 million was for all those improvements that were done. One of the newest projects is our East Soybean Tower, which is a beautiful 90-foot building that is serving all of Indiana and Ohio with all of our soybean products. That is a 35- or 40-year project. We're very thankful to be able to reinvest back into, I would say, our core geography of Indiana. As I've had the pleasure of working for BEX for 22 years and seeing the expansion, not every state and every community is happy to see an agricultural company expand. We're very, very thankful for that. We continue to pull a large talent pool as well out of northern Hamilton County, being a big employer that really straddles that Tipton, Hamilton, and Madison County line. So we continue. We have plenty of job openings right now, and so we're hiring across our entire business. We continue to draw them in. We rely on a huge force of contractors, subcontractors, and construction folks to get done what we need to. We're very thankful for some of the other infrastructure products. I know us and Reynolds and the guard are very happy at the investment that's gone into 276th Street. So a big, I don't have a direct number for you, but a huge investment that we continue to make here kind of at home in Indiana. As our business is growing into the Delta area, We have some facilities going on in Minnesota, Nebraska, but this is home, and we continue to make investments here. When you hire those people, make them live in Hamilton County. Yes, we would love to do that. Just keep building homes so that we can have them live there, sir. Thank you. Yes, sir. Any other questions?

No, thanks a lot.

Awesome. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Mr. President, you skipped number seven. What? You skipped number seven.

Did anybody here from the public got anything, any public comment for the county council that is not on our printed agenda? Vice President Sage, thank you, Kelly. We did the abatement review. Let's go to additional appropriations. So we'll open a public hearing concerning additional appropriations.

Amount available for...

Appropriations, the first is the auditor's office is requesting a 144 amendment.

So moved. Second. Just real quick, I just want you all to notice this is one of those that they found efficiencies with how they've implemented it. Really want to praise the auditor for kind of taking that effort. And you know, as you do technology improvements, it's not necessarily about losing staff. It's about putting them in different places so they can continue to be successful. Really applaud you for doing that.

the auditors 144 all in favor say aye aye opposed that passes commissioners office wants a 144 amendment motion to approve second in discussion all in favor aye opposed that passes the commissioners office also wants a transfer of one thousand three hundred and ten dollars Opposed? That passes. Court administration is requesting a 144 amendment. So moved. Second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? That passes. Buildings and Grounds wants an additional $1 million for personal relocation of the judicial expansion. So moved. Second. Discussion?

Do we have specifics on what the relocation actually means?

Is this for relocating existing offices?

Okay.

This is accommodating for new courts that are being added as part of the new construction but need to be in place before the construction is done.

Okay.

Thank you.

Do we already have a vote on this? No. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? That passes. Buildings and Grounds is requesting additional

Motion to table? Second.

Motion to table on the request for the third phase of the sewer plant. All in favor of the motion to table? Aye. Opposed? That's table. ISS is requesting additional $68,372.64. Second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? That passes. Sheriff's Office has a 144 amendment for reclassification that is vacant. Second, Sheriff. So moved.

Second.

Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? That passes. Modification of specialty pay lateral entry program for instructor pay.

So moved. Second.

Discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Surveyors Office is requesting a 144 amendment. So moved. Second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The next two are... The first one is a... Airport capital requesting an appropriation of $403,589.04. And I will tell you that this one and the second one put together about two or three years ago when you loaned the airport. And I talked to Hayden yesterday, the balance is now less than a million dollars. We've been paid back two of the three million dollars. Mr. Hunter, you've got. So moved for discussion. Moved and second. Second. This is the discussion part.

I know we have to do that.

You've got a method for when that gets repaid, it goes back to county general, right?

Yes. To where it came from. Huh? To where it came from.

Yes, it did. I just was thinking about that on the right end. We loaned it to him, and it gets spread out over several years when it comes back. It's an automatic. It goes back to the county general.

It goes back to the county general. I'm glad it did. Which it originated. I'm glad it did.

So we're down to about a million of what we loaned over. Okay.

Great partner.

That was for the capital request, and that motion is seconded. Did we get a vote on that? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The second one is a airport authority grant for $109,038.86. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Kuhn Cap Development wants an appropriation of $100,000. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Emergency operations to request a 144 amendment. So moved. Second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? That passes. The lit dedicated to PSAPs requesting additional appropriation of $1,477,000. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Opioid restricted fund is requesting additional appropriation of $8,375. So moved. Second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. That passes. Fund 4925FSAA is requesting an appropriation of $229,836.66. So moved. Second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. That passes. I would entertain a motion to combine.

I'll make that motion to combine.

It's been moved and seconded that we combine all the grant requests. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Make a motion to approve. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Because I like to stay on the script. Chair, have you got any announcements?

No, thank you.

Council Attorney, do you have anything? No, sir.

Auditor, do you have anything for the... Just going to remind you next time for this public hearing. Okay. I have nothing else. Could you write that down?