Common Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. The time is now 631. I will call the June 1, 2026 meeting in the Common Council of the City of Lawrence to order. Could everyone please rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance 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

Thank you. The next agenda item is roll call of members and the termination of quorum. Let the record reflect that we have nine counselors present and that we do have a quorum. This meeting has been properly noticed in accordance with Indiana's open door law. Copies of the agenda are located at the back of the room. For any citizens wishing to speak during citizens' comments, please make sure to fill out the sign-in sheet. The next agenda item is comments of council members and special recognitions or resolutions. I will let everybody know that our usual voting system is down, so if you want to speak, just please just raise your hand and I'll call on you. Yep, Councillor Giles.

Thank you. Council, I have a prepared statement. that I would like to read regarding what we did in the last council meeting regarding the CBA. I think that the last time we voted, and a little quickly, and I have a couple of clarifying words I'd like to state based on that. So at our last council meeting, we unanimously approved proposal number three, 2025, amending the city code of ordinances to assure that our first responders are given all the leave and related benefits that the city agreed to provide in October of 2024. The council supported this proposal because it proudly stands behind our firefighters and our police officers. We recognize their tremendous contribution to safety and security of the people of Lawrence and support the adjustments to their vacation, holiday, sick, and bereavement leave that will allow them to better serve our citizens, maintain their wellness, and help our city remain competitive as it becomes even harder to recruit and retain professionals to serve in these vital roles. The council also recognized that the mayor and her administration had already contractually agreed to these terms and looks forward to having a seat at the table in future negotiations to avoid any uncertainty that the city will remain good on its word. Long before the council approved the proposal, the administration provided financial data indicating that the city could support these changes in the leave policy. That is why we were deeply concerned when on April 15th of 2026, Controller Terry Faulkner spoke at our council meeting against approval of the ordinance, stating that it would cause the city to become, in her words, bankrupt. She did not provide any documentation or financial information to support this assertion. Notwithstanding Comptroller Faulkner's statement on the very next day in her State of the City address, Mayor Deb Whitfield assured the public that the city is in strong and stable financial position due to sound budgeting and reserve growth. The council appreciates the administration honoring its longstanding agreement with our first responders and Mayor Whitfield signing the ordinance implementing its terms. As always, we thank the men and women in uniform who keeps our city safe. Nevertheless, we are deeply concerned about the controller's statements that any adjustment to our first responders leave policy would bankrupt our city. We remain committed to making appropriate use of our budgetary, legislative, and investigative authorities in the coming months to gain a clearer and more transparent understanding of the city's financial health, fiscal health. We look forward to the Whitfield administration's cooperation. That's my statement. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Jones. Do we have any other comments? Yes, Councillor Freeman.

I wanted to go ahead and thank the administration for doing the health care Sunday that we had. Good job. It seemed like it was a lot of people there, great knowledge of, I believe it was different avenue sections and stuff that the city could use, and also in our Waterville, There's something called Caring Program where installing dialing 911, you can dial the number and they can direct you to the Caring Program where if it's not an emergency, they can tell you where to go. So I hope everybody's reading their mail in the water bill.

I would like to send out greetings to Taylor Stout who will be doing the tree canopy study for the City of Lawrence. Really exciting, really wonderful because it's so important for our health and the economy to have lots of trees. So really happy about this.

Thank you. Yes, Councillor Boyd.

Yes, I would like to echo Councillor Freeman's remarks. Some of the vendors were also hiring, and I had an opportunity to speak with some of those people, and I thought that was great. I wanted to also acknowledge the resolve on the Hill. I think that was a good ending to everything that's been taking place, so congratulations to particularly Jamie for her leadership in the administration. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, Councillor Jennings.

I just want to add to what Councillor Giles said. I think for me, the unions showed up and provided and answered all of our questions, and we asked for data and information. They gave us that. where in return, like the councilor said, there was this claim that the city was going to fall apart, but without any data to back that up. The only option we had was to go with what the union said versus with any counter argument. So I just want to add that to the councilor's statement.

Thank you, Councilor James. Do we have any other comments or recognitions from councilors this evening? All right. We will move on with the next agenda item, which is the approval of minutes from our regular meeting of May 20th, 2020-26. Are there any questions or corrections? I would entertain a motion to approve the minutes from May 20th, 2026.

So moved.

Thank you, Councillor Jennings. Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you. We will now proceed with a vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, please signify by saying nay. I just want to verify aye in the yay. Yes. Let the record reflect that we have a nine to zero to approve the minutes of May 20th, 2026. The next agenda item is the signing of vouchers, approval of claims, and authorizations of payment. Do we have any discussion?

I just want to point out that the fuel spending in the past has been about $45,000 a month, and it's up to $60,000. So just something to keep an eye on.

Thank you. I would entertain a motion to approve the vouchers. So moved. Thank you, Councillor Giles. Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councillor Boyd. We will now proceed with the vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, please signify by saying nay.

Nay.

We will proceed with the roll call vote. Councillor Giles. Aye. Councillor Wells. Nay. Councillor Boyd.

Councillor Robinson? Aye.

Councillor Cramer, aye. Councillor Jennings? Aye. Councillor Freeman? Aye. Councillor Crone? Aye. Councillor Mazur?

Aye.

Let the record reflect that we have an 8 to 1 to approve the vouchers. The next agenda item is the reports of committees. Do we have any reports from committees this evening?

No.

The next agenda item is Unfinished Business, Proposal Number 1, 2026. Madam Clerk, could you please read the title of that ordinance into the record?

Proposal Number 1, 2026, an ordinance of the Common Council of the City of Lawrence, Indiana, amending Title 1, Article 1, Chapter 2, Section 12 of the Municipal Code regarding Common Council approval on expenditures of professional service contracts.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. That proposal remains for the Committee of the Whole for consideration and will be brought back to this council when appropriate. The next agenda item is new business. And under new business, we have rezoning petition 26, LZO 03, 8530 Carroll Road. Madam Clerk, could you please read that petition number and property address?

Petition number 26-LZO-03-8530, Carroll Road.

And just to confirm, Madam Clerk, that petition has properly been advertised and noticed for this hearing? It has. Thank you. The public hearing is now open. Council, before we begin with the hearing, I'd like to ask for a motion to approve the following rules for the public hearing. The petitioner's presentation must not exceed 10 minutes. The combined total time for all members of the public in favor is 10 minutes. The combined total time for all members of the public against is 10 minutes. The petitioner shall have five minutes thereafter for any additional comment. And there shall be a combined five minutes for all members of the public speaking in response to that. Do I have a motion? So moved. Thank you, Councilor. Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you. We'll proceed with the vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, signify by saying nay. Thank you. The rules have passed unanimously. Anyone wishing to speak tonight, please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear to affirm that the testimony that you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Thank you. The floor is now open for the petitioner to present the resulting petition.

Good evening. I own the property at 8530 Carroll Road. Looking to rezone that because I'm going to split it. It's currently zoned DA. I do not reap any tax benefits of DA and I would like to eventually sell the property as residential. So my proposal is to have it split into two residential lots. City of Indianapolis has already given their staff support to do the split. That's contingent upon the council's approval to rezone from DA to D3. And all the homes around there are pretty much in that same lot size within my packet, you know, roughly around an acre to an acre and a half, no larger. The property, as it said, is pretty uncommon to be on three acres and the nature of where it's at right on the right on the corner. If I were to sell it in the the short period of time, having the lot split and having the house further away from the corner would be more desirable once I were to sell that property.

Does that complete your presentation?

Yes.

Thank you. All righty. I would now like to call any administrators who would like to provide public comment in favor of the resigning petition. I would like to call any of our administrators who would like to provide public opinion against the rezoning petition. Madam Clerk, are there any comments from members of the public attending virtually?

There are none.

Thank you. Do any of our counselors have any questions for the petitioner? I would now like to call a representative from the City of Lawrence to present their staff report on the zoning petition.

Good evening, Renee Raffalo, Director of Public Works. I provided you all with a packet earlier. We are in favor of this. As he said earlier, the lots around there are pretty similar in size. This is about three acres right now. He's wanting to split it into two, 1.2 and 1.1 acre lots. And it... meets the properties to the north are D3. The properties to the northeast are going to be D3. The properties behind him to the west are D3. So it makes sense to rezone this into a D3. Do you have any questions for us?

Rene. Yes. Where he's splitting this, is this already divided as far as with the tax assessor's office?

No, that'll happen after this is done. They'll have to have it replatted, which he'll do through Indianapolis. But before it can be replatted, it has to be rezoned.

So your department is okay with this? Yes, sir. Okay, thank you.

I have a question. Going from DA to D3, will that increase the taxing rate for us? That's what I thought. Yeah, I'm in full support.

with the potential of two houses all right good job build a nice one anything else thank you renee prior to closing a public hearing i'd like to provide a final opportunity for the petitioner and members of the public to respond to the city of lawrence's comments regarding the petition all right the public hearing is now closed I would entertain a motion to approve rezoning petition 26, LZ-003.

I'd like to make a motion for approval.

Thank you, Giles. And thank you, Councillor Jennings. We'll now proceed with the vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, signify by saying nay. Let the record reflect that there's unanimous decision to approve rezoning petition 26, LZ-003. The next agenda item is comments from the administration. Do we have any comments this evening?

Good evening, councilors, Jamie Weirich, director of city events. First, thank everybody for coming out on Sunday for the health fair. There were quite a few of you there, so I really appreciate that. It was a pretty good turnout, and we were able to invite the Hill 317 to come out and run during the health fair as well, so they had quite a big crowd out there also. We also had our first film at the Fort this weekend on Friday. We had almost 400 people there, so that was pretty fun. It was good to see kids out running playing tag and swinging instead of being on their phones or in front of tv so that was pretty awesome our first farmers market is this thursday and we will be there until october 1st so please come out and see us um comes to freeman i do believe that if someone calls 9-1-1 And it's found that they can be offered an alternative. So they can still choose to go through with the immersion care, or they can be transferred to the other systems, as far as the care. That one. And that's it. Thank you. Thank you, Jamie. Thank you. Thank you.

The next agenda item is citizens' comments.

Oh, sorry.

I just wanted to remind everybody that the 75th and Oakland intersection will be closing on the 8th, which is next Monday, until about the middle of August.

Will we put something out on Facebook or something we can all share?

It's been out.

I'm very excited for that.

Since I've got you here, that's right outside my door.

it's fine I'm seven houses in but I have like my neighbors catching me since I've been outside since school's been out this weekend asking about that entrance to our neighborhood like is that still going to be an entrance yes okay it's just gonna feed right into it though yeah

That's okay.

I'm down with it. People were just thinking, like, are they just going to shut it down and we'll just have to go up on 75th and not have an Oak Landon entrance?

But you say otherwise.

Okay. Well, no, you will not be able to get through the Oak Landon and 75th intersection. It's going to be closer. No, no, no, no. I'm talking when it's all done. Oh, no, you'll be able to. Yeah. It's just a one lane.

Yeah. Single.

Okay. Very simple.

Very basic.

Very, very basic. One lane.

Got it.

Thank you. A turn on to 75th and a turn on to Oakland.

Fantastic. Thank you.

It'll just move a little bit to the east, and a little more impact back to the east property. I noticed that the fence had been removed.

Yeah, and the trees.

So it shifted just a little bit east and a little bit north. Yeah, that makes sense. And it'll come back around. It'll be connected.

Rock and roll. Thank you. No.

Say what? We bought a little bit of property off of the golf course just right away for utilities to go in. So we're not messing with that.

Yeah, it didn't look like you guys had purchased much from there.

Most of it's on that southeast corner. We bought quite a bit from those parcels that are undeveloped right there.

Yeah, they're undeveloped.

And then we bought quite a bit from Pat McAfee. Yeah.

Cool.

The next agenda item is citizens' comments. Citizens' comments shall be limited to three minutes. Any citizens wishing to speak, please approach the podium and state your name and address for the record.

There are none.

None? All right. All right. We are adjourned.