City Council - Regular Meeting

Hey, Don Hyde's house is condemned. Where is he? Was that the one where they were?

Good evening everybody and welcome to this regular meeting of the Terote City Council. It's a little bit after 6 pm on Thursday, December 11th, 2025. We have a number of uh traditions, rituals here. And the first thing that we do is a moment of silence and the pledge of allegiance to the flag tonight. The pledge will be led by Elena, a student from Teroot North VGO High School. She's going to approach the uh podium here and lead us in the pledge of allegiance after a brief moment of silence. Ela is from Mrs. Utterback's class at North High School. Thank you.

You're welcome. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which we stand, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Elena. All right. Um, calling up the role, please, Michelle. Council person Azar, present. Council person Bolan, present. Council person Chaos, I am present. Council person Devon here. Council person Dingle present. Council person Hinton present. Council person Loud Milk present. Council person Nation here. Council person Thompson here. All are present.

Thanks Michelle. Um the first 30 minutes. Another one of our traditions is we allow up to 30 minutes for public comment on non-aggenda items. So, if there's anybody here who would like to address the council on an a subject that is not on tonight's agenda, please approach the podium and share us share your thoughts with us. Sign up. Last call hearing. None. Um, corrections to the journal. Michelle, there are none.

Communications from the mayor. Welcome, Mayor Sackman. Good evening, Council President, Nation, and members of the Terode City Council. What a day for democracy. Um, so yeah, interesting things happening just 70 miles away at the state house. But here locally, some really exciting announcements. Remember last year the state changed the community crossing grant formula. They also changed how much money they would give to cities and towns for street paving. uh our good friend a good friend of Teroot was Governor Hulkcom because he made the program $1.5 million and that led to a a lot of paving. It was very helpful for cities like ours. There have been some changes. There is a substantial budget reduction. So my my fellow mayors, my fellow commissioners across the state of Indiana requested $243 million for paving with money to match it. Well, $100 million, which is all they allocated for the program, was issued out. And we are very thankful that we are one of the cities that did not get an an over a zero. Uh we split our application into three and said we know that they're likely going to trim back. So, if instead of denying our entire application, pick one of the three that that you feel doesn't m meet your criteria. I'm proud to announce that we did receive about $650,000. Um, our paving plan for next year has been released. It is available on the city website. A press release was sent out uh to our media partners. $3.1 million in streets will be paved next year. Uh we do monitor the ability to kind of pull some funds in if other projects wind down and we look forward to seeing where we go this next year with paving. Uh I feel confident in our plan that is all outlined online. I'm sure you're going to get several calls from constituents with the classic line, but what about me? And I continue to say we will we will do what we can to be

fiscally responsible and improve our infrastructure in the city of Terode. Um on top of that, I want to give you an update with the warming centers. First, I want to publicly thank the bridge church. The bridge church has been open this week uh especially with the changes in snow and temperature and that is allowing us to finalize ourou with another service provider. Uh pathways we understand their staffing constraints they could not meet the proposed criteria that I briefed you all on the same criteria that I briefed the county council on. We still remain committed to our 30,000 and it looks like Mental Health America uh we've got another formal meeting with them to shake hands, get everything going and then they would be quote the primary service provider. They feel comfortable doing this for one year. Next year it's a different conversation. They are slated to lose a significant amount of money through the federal HUD housing and urban development. So they are going to see some financial challenges moving forward to their operation. So, that's why it is a one-year plan with them. And next year, we'll work with them on some some other projects and other funding concerns. Uh, obviously, it is snowing. Uh, well, I don't quite know. Our our blinds are down, so I shouldn't have said that one, but obviously it will snow tonight. Uh, and with that snow brings uh, not unique, pretty standard challenges for any municipality. Uh, we've been out pre-treating the roads today. We'll be out all night tonight. We'll be out on Friday. And with more snow on Saturday, we'll be out Saturday. going to be a long weekend. I think we're looking at anywhere from 5 to 10 inches of snow across the community. We do have Indiana State University spring commencement. Uh we are aware of that and winter commencement. We are aware of that. Are going to clear that area for them. Uh closing out the year, we've got some budget requests for you. We look forward to doing all of those. Uh but I will not be here in January. I have two weeks of military training. So, one

appropriation that you will see in January is for $6,000 from the animal license non-reverting account. That $6,000 will go towards a lowcost spay and neuter program for residents on fixed income. They will be charged $25 to get a dog um spayed or or neutered in that surgery. The city will pick up the rest of that bill. It is for two zip codes. the two zip codes where we see the most animal problems. Um, I'll I'll bring those up later and I'll send you guys kind of the the overall executive summary. I forget off the top of my head, but what we want to do is we want to start with 20 dogs a quarter, make sure we can actually do this program, make sure that it's flowing with the administrative paperwork and the zip code process, and then expand on it. The Tero Humane Society has been a great partner in this. The Animal Control Commission has been a great partner in all of this. And so next year, they're going to look at a couple of different grants to help that program continue and really grow on top of exploring additional city dollars once we know the program can work. Uh the animal commission is also going to start reooking at some of our animal specific ordinances and provide feedback uh to the council and the mayor's office. And that is a very delicate and touchy subject. Many of our animal advocates rightfully uh you know they rightfully they fight on the behalf of our furry friends, but some of the challenges are with the state laws. However, we acknowledge that we can clean up some of ours locally and and that that quasi governmental board will be doing that for us. If you have any input, please do send it to to that body. Uh with that, I will close out for this portion of the update pending any questions and we can get started on our agenda. Thank you.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you. Reports from city officials. Michelle, I received none. Oh, I'm sorry. Oops.

Welcome, Chief. Council President, council members. I stand before you two years ago. It's about second ever my halfway through my first term as chief but I remember two years ago looking at you guys lowest manpower in the history of Terote Fire Department kind of stressed out but I can sit here and tell you now in the first time in two decades the fire department has not asked for one additional appropriation this year none. We've lived within our budget. We've worked hard. And that happens because of you, the city council, the mayor, and our controller, and my men and women of my department, who've worked very hard to make sure we're diligent on the budget. I can't promise this will happen every year, but I'm really thrilled that I can look in front of you now and say after two years, we've worked hard. I've kept my promise to you guys. We're getting ready to hire 13 more new firefighters probably by January 13th. And I think that's helped us a bunch and I appreciate everything you've done and I appreciate my men and women in my department. So, thank you.

Thank you, Chief. And go Navy. Did he say go Navy? Okay. Uh, any more city officials? Board of Public Works and Safety or Board of Public Works and Safety. Michelle, we received none. Uh, reports from standing committees? I received none. Non-standing committees, we we received none. Items previously tabled, there are none. Tax abatements for confirmation, there are none. Items previously tabled, there are none. Oh, wait a minute. That was I already said that. Um, items on second reading, there are none. Items on first reading,

Mr. President, are you moving resolution 35 and 36 next on the agenda? I am. Uh, at this point, I'd like to move resolution 35 to the next piece of business and then 36 right after it.

Perfect. Um, okay. I'm going to go ahead and kick us off and then I'm going to have Dustin, our re one of our redevelopment attorneys, kind of really fill in the gaps, right? Because, uh, municipal law can be difficult at times. 2019 the state recognizes that there is somewhat of a housing problem which only continued to grow over the last 6 years. They created an economic development tool for that called the like basically a residential housing tiff. So tiffs historically were for larger commercial projects um a number of reasons but this is specific legislation to housing. How can we declare uh consolidated economic development area and an economic development plan and issue bonds with a focus on housing? Uh so through the process these last couple of years, we have seen success with several types of housing projects. Area median income, right, the TWWG development was one of a number that we've done in town. infill housing. We we recently announced a partnership with Indiana State University and Thrive West Central to refill our community's vacant lots and we've seen a lot of success in neighborhood development. In fact, all but one has been sold before that they are finished with construction. Uh this what you're going to see in front of you all today is some conversation and comments around a single family neighborhood that we would like to do uh to help with the infrastructure cost. With that, we have worked with the IFA, remember the IFA was the funding body uh that we worked through several months ago to basically get a low interest loan to help with the infrastructure cost and then the taxes from that home would pay that off and then it would be released back to the other groups uh within VO County. So, I'll let the Baker Tilly team the legal team and the Baker Tilly team is here if you have additional questions uh chat a little bit and then uh if you have any questions on the

specific project itself, we do have the builders on hand.

Good evening, President Nation and members of the city council. Dustin Meeks with um Barnes and Thornberg LLP on behalf of the redevelopment commission. Uh it's lovely to be in Terode again uh and on a less exciting Thursday uh than than than last week. Um so there are two approvals before the council this evening and I apologize I haven't seen the agenda so I'm not sure which one is 35 and which one's 36. Uh but um those two approvals are uh first this council's approval of the establishment of a new residential housing allocation area um in the city which will be a portion of the city's 2020 consolidated economic development area. So the consolidated large tiff area um and an approval of an economic development plan for that new um allocation area and um which is a supplement to the plan for the for the economic development area. Um the plan in includes uh what state statute refers to as a residential housing program. Uh which means that that the plan authorizes the the use of of tax increment revenues for purposes of um developing infrastructure and and supporting a housing project. Um the plan um is is is written um intentionally broad uh to to provide a handful of things that that could be done to benefit or service this area. um with a the idea being that the area will exist for 20 or more years. And so we want to make sure that um the city has the ability um to to do projects that are that are needed. Um the second approval is for uh a series of redevelopment district bonds which are proposed to be issued uh so that the city can finance city constructed infrastructure uh in the newly identified allocation area to support the development of uh single family housing. in this location. The max parameters on the financing are are $2.1 million at 6% um with a final maturity

not later than January 15th of 2040. Um and Baker Tilly's current modeling uh calls for about $1.6 million worth of bonds. The $2.1 million maximum um recognizes that there are a handful of funding sources that are involved in uh potentially building out this infrastructure. And in the event that one of those other sources was not available, the city wanted to be in the position to make a decision about whether or not to to step in. Um those other sources, I believe, are state ready dollars. Um and so that the process to get those through is is is complicated and long and and we're working through that as well, but wanted to make sure that you were covered either way. Um whatever happened, happy to answer any questions. I know that I talk through both resolutions at the same time, so we can we can take them one at a time obviously. Um and and I I apologize also for not knowing which one was 35 and which one was 36. Um so thank you.

Thank you. Um President Okay. Resolution 352025 amending I'm sorry approving an amendment to the declaratory resolution for the 202020 consolidated economic development area and the economic development plan. George. Thank you, Michelle. Is there anyone from the audience who'd like to ask a question about resolution 35 2025 hearing? None. Council one time board.

Thank you. Um, we discussed it a a little bit, but I want to ask you again for the sake of sharing it for the public and for the rest of the council under uh permissible projects and the uh resolution 35, which is the amendment to the decol amendment to the resolution. Um, it says permissible um uses.

Mhm. permissible projects, I'm sorry. And it talks about um the tax increment revenues from this allocation area or other sources of funds available to redevelopment commission can also be used to offset payments by developers on promisary notes and uh notes in connection with e economic development revenue bonds. And you gave me a wonderful explanation today and I wanted you to repeat that um for the council's benefit and for the benefit of the public say what that really means.

Yeah. Abs. Absolutely. So we we draft that permissible project section of the plan um intentionally to be broad. It embraces almost all of the full scope of things that the redevelopment commission can do with its tax increment revenues. Uh, one common tool um that is used is is the issuance of what are called economic development revenue bonds. Um, and and we actually did a series of economic development revenue bonds here in the city of Teroot in uh in January. Um, and those bonds are are uh bonds that are payable from from tax increment. Um, and they're used to provide a direct incentive to a developer sort of cash infusion into a project. Um, that is not what is planned for this project. This project is redevelopment district bonds. So the city is issuing um obligations and is going to do the work itself. The money actually will will be spent by the city rather than provided to the developer. Um but it is within the statutory sort of authority of the redevelopment commission to do um and um an economic development revenue bond and we and we try not to take any tools off the table when we go through the approval process. Um about the the payment on on promisory notes. Um, one thing that is is really common, um, just because of a function of, um, federal income tax law, when you give a developer, um, an incentive to to make sure that a project goes forward, uh, they recognize that as income in the year in which it's received, um, and that can pose difficulties for project funding. So, a mechanism we also commonly use um, is we will structure the provision of funds to the developer as a loan um, which is forgiven um, in in as the bonds are paid. Um, so the developer technically has a loan obligation for the life of the bonds and so they recognize the income over the life of the bond rather than all at once and that helps smooth their tax obligations which ultimately helps you get the project done as well. And so that's why that language is in there about offsetting a developer's promisory notes. Um, again, we're not proposing

economic development revenue bonds here. And I would like to note that in the event that in the future at some point during the life of this area, it it became a good idea to do an incentive that was going to use economic development revenue bonds, there's an approval process for that that comes back through the council. So the plan the plan just says the things we're allowed to do, but all of the things that we would do have kind of their own approval processes. Um and so um we would go back through that that we would go through that process if we were going to do that. But this plan allows us to kind of go through that process if it became advantageous at a future point. All right. Thank you. I he Dustin, did you say that we are not issuing economic development bonds for this?

Yeah. So these these are what are called redevelopment district bonds which are which are um under under a different component of of the statute. Um they're a direct obligation of the of the redevelopment commission. Um, and the benefit of of re redevelopment district bonds um when we're when we're doing a smaller financing and when the city is going to actually do the infrastructure work itself um is that economic development revenue bonds um aren't allowed to use well they can but it's very complicated to use um what's called a property tax backup um which is where the payment the source of payment um in name on the bonds is is the special benefits tax that the redevelopment district is allowed to to assess. Um, but we go through the process to document our reasonable expectation that the tiff revenues will pay on it. And the benefit of of using the special the special benefits tax backup is um when we are marketing the bonds to um for example the the the IFA's RIFF program um they get to sort of say that they they're buying stuff with the best credit possible because they they have the the property tax backup and that means that they're not going to ask for some of the stuff that they ask on other projects like a developer guarantee or that kind of thing. Helps us to get the interest rate that we want. Um and um because the city's doing the work and we're not providing an incentive to the developer, we're allowed to to use the redevelopment bond uh redevelopment district bond structure rather than the EDC structure. The EDC structure, you can give the money directly to the developer or you you know, you can put it directly into the project that way, but it it can only be tiff revenues and they're not they're um the credit is just not as well favored by the market. And that's why um because ultimately the the state IFA program is sort of they're managing an investment portfolio. They're looking for developer guarantees on your sort of TIFF backed only deals and we're able to provide them a credit

that gets a very easy approval for them uh here. So, okay. Um thanks. You also mentioned that this is a a maximum 6% and that's reflected in the paperwork. Um what do you expect the rate to actually be? Usually I I understand that these boilerplate numbers are intentionally high.

Yeah, those numbers are intentionally high. Councilman Nation, I was just chatting with Jason Similar. So, we actually did a project a couple months ago, the new Margaret bonds, and had a very strong meeting, good credit rating, and we got 4.5 for this project because we're working with the IFA, and as Dustin mentioned in that very long monologue, which is great, by the way, um because the IFA is so much larger and basically an investment a state-run investment group, right? Our interest on this is 3.5%. So, that coming in significantly lower is how the these projects can really get going. And you also mentioned 20 or more years. Um what's how long do you think uh it'll be? Are we going to be asked to or I I'm sorry. Is a future council going to be asked to uh extend this do you think?

So So the the bond um has a maximum term of of 20 of 2040 February of 2040. Uh which I did not go to math school. Um I was that 14 14 years. Um and I I was I was not like literally I went to law school so I didn't have to do math. Um that's I let Jason do all the math. Um but um the the allocation area as a matter of of state law has a 20-year life from the the time at which you have debt obligations that are payable from that area. So, at the point at which the city um either formally pledges the area or is using this new area as a part of its justification for a reasonable expectation that it's not going to use property tax on a on an otherwise property tax backup backed bond. Um it's 20 years from that point. So um the area you know potent could could potentially extend for for longer than 20 years because its clock is triggered by by when you actually start using the revenues in that very particular way. Um but the area can't be once the clock is running if it runs out um the area itself kind of can't be extended. You could create a new area that has the same footprint, but the effect of that would be that the base assessed value would jump to the base assessed value in January of the year when that new area was created. So, um it is it is finite in a in a sense

and the bonds that are being proposed are 14 years. 14 years 14year bonds. Correct. Yeah. Um Jason, are you do you have anything to add to all this? Sorry, I don't want to break up your presentation. Uh

Jason Simler, a principal of Baker Tilly, serving as financial adviser for the Real Commission. Uh no, the only thing that I would mention is uh one of the reasons that we're structuring the 14-year uh as Dustin had mentioned the bonds are payable secured from property tax advalone property tax of the redevelopment district with the intent to use uh tiff from the existing tiff areas um the downtown tiff area for Harrison um Jad Core um state road 46 area and also the new uh tiff area the housing tiff area that was discussed tonight and those other areas that we've talked about the downtown area that we're very familiar they expire uh in 14 years and we're using that existing tiff because as you know this housing tiff area if it gets developed it goes forward it's going to take a couple years for the houses to get built a couple years for them actually get assessed and start generating taxes and instead of you know funding all that interest during that time period and increasing the bond issue much higher than the 1.6 six, we're using uh some of the city's existing tiff to help keep those costs down and we want to structure that those bonds around your existing tiff.

So in 2020 when we made the moves to consolidate all of the tiffs into one area um that allowed the money from the tiffs to flow from one to the other and into different projects. Um, so what you're are you telling us that um the payments for these bonds will be made by money from the State Road 46 tip, the downtown tip, the Jadore TIP. Are they actually anticipated to come are the funds actually anticipated to come out of those funds or are they uh out of those tiff districts or is this just a guarantee? uh are they used as like you know

they will they will need to be used for the first few years definitely uh as we're waiting for that tax increment to accumulate and generate from the housing tiff once the housing tiff gets fully developed um there could be subst uh substantial enough tiff to cover the full payment by itself. Do you have an estimate of like at what point in the 14 years uh that we'll hit that mark? Um based based upon the projections of the developer, it looks like full buildout about four or five years and the tax increment depending upon the the selling prices of the house could be anywhere from like $120,000 to $150,000 a year in annual and the bond payments around 150,000 is what we're estimating right now. So it can be very close.

That's the next question. So yeah, very close. Um have we ever done this before for housing? No, but for infrastructure, yes. I mean, it's it's very similar to the bonds that we just sold for New Margaret Avenue. We've issued those bonds for public infrastructure to support that growth that's occurring out there. We're issuing bonds to support the infrastructure for a housing development, right? It's just the development that we're trying to support. So, the is it the Hunt Road and uh State Road 46? Well, New Margaret,

New Margaret that we're talking about. uh the example that you just used. So money from I guess in my simplistic mind I thought of the adjacent tiff uh the state road 46 what we call the Walmart tiff as being the source of those funds but what you're what I think I hear you saying is it's all the tiffs for this one. Yes. For new Margaret we're actually using the new Margaret allocation area and the tiff from the casino to help pay for those. That's right. the one that we formed and at that time did we take the steps to place that in the larger tiff or is that has that been done yet?

They're all co-mingled. So could we say that the casino tiff is going to help fund this work in this infrastructure work in Terra Vista? Is that a fair statement? Or in the same way that you know you could say downtown TIFF or State Road 46. I think the documents that gives you that flexibility, gives the readout commission that flexibility.

And is your intention with this I mean you're looking at all the real numbers and I'm not I I don't have those and I don't track this stuff that closely. Um do we have extra money in the downtown tiff that's actually going to go to build out Terra Vista? Is that what you're telling us or is it like some other tiff? If you'll look on page four, the presentation that I uh submitted before the meeting. Yep.

If you look at that second column from the left, that's the estimated tax increment uh that we're projecting from the downtown tiff area, uh the Jad Core and the State Road 46 or Walmart TIFF area. Uh you can see it's around $4 million a year. As you know, there are bonds that are currently outstanding that are payable from those areas. I have listed those annual payments there, the 2011 bonds, 2015, 2020, 2020 uh refunding bonds. And then you can see after that, the illustrative housing bonds that we're talking about tonight, about $150,000 a year. So, if you add those five bond payments together, it's about $1.5 million. Compare that to the tax increment um from the existing tiff. You can see the amount of remaining for other projects that can be funded by the redevelopment commission. So this doesn't include any of the tax increment from the housing um development. So any tip that would be generated from that is above and beyond what I'm showing right here.

Okay. So what you just I'm I'm a little bit slow. So what you directed us to is the estimated total tax increment that's to be collected in the second column from the left. Correct. And then the remaining is all the way over at the right side. Um what's the amount that's actually going to go towards this project? Is there a a column that illustrates that? The the if you look at the column it says illustrative 2026 housing bonds. It's about $145,000 a year. It's Yes, I see seven seventh column over.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And so, okay. So, to summarize what I think you're hear I'm hearing you say is somewhere between $145 to $150,000 per year for probably about seven years will be taken out of the other tips and put toward this to incentivize this build up. Is that correct? Correct. Thank you. Um, I apologize to everybody in the room for uh for geeking out on this. Um, but this is the way that I get these answers. I It's hard for me to uh see it all um until I get like presentations like this.

Councilman Nation, this isn't for you. This is for those who are tuning in and even members of the media. It's always important to understand that when we discuss this these columns, these charts, these are the tiff districts. So when folks hear property tax, they automatically assume theirs, which is completely understandable. But this is a project that is connected to the TIFFs, not the overall tax base of Teroot and Beo County. So as you were making the connection, theoretically, the State Road 46 tiff or JadCore, the casino could provide value while the developers are still building this neighborhood and pay off the housing tiff while they're still building. You cannot make the statement, someone could not make the statement that their property taxes went towards this. It is the property taxes from within these tiff districts specifically. Uh and I always like to point that out with tiffs because I know, you know, the city doesn't do bonding for the overall city. We just haven't done that the last two years because we are very, you know, we're aware of that tax rate. This is a project that's related to tiffs, not the overall community in terms of taxing.

Thanks, Mayor. And I I hope that my questioning doesn't sound like I'm um uh trying to rain on this project or or cast we asked when we built this. And and I I again I apologize to my fellow council members. I know that most of us don't really uh geek out on this stuff that this hard. Um but I've been doing this for a long time and I'm interested I've always been interested in the downtown TIFF in particular. Um, so I'll stop there and ask if any of my fellow members have how are you going to determine how much you'll take out of each tiff? Is there going to be a formula you use or just that's

oh this one's got so much so we'll use that or

so that's a question that I honestly ask myself almost weekly and the reason being is each week Jessica sends our controller the department statement of activities and I manage every single department within the city of Teroot's spending levels by week outlined with their one three and fiveyear plan. So I could give you an answer today, Councilman Azar, but you could instantly, you know, throw a hypothetical, well, what if something comes to the downtown that would require this or that? So it's it's hard to say which of those buckets. My gut does lean towards saying, well, remember that new Margaret tiff is there. That bond was structured and that bond payment was lower than what we expect from the assessed value of a casino, so that's likely to have one of the healthier balances and not impact the others. I will say our goal is always to protect the downtown tiff because the downtown tiff more frequently than the other tiffs has the public private partnerships. So you have to really prioritize this conversation pretty much weekly because on any given week we have a call about a potential project in the city of Terote. So that's why it's very hard to give you a direct answer on that today.

Thank I yield. Anybody else? Council person uh Thompson. talking. Um I see that uh we have some um drawings or uh pictures from Is that from the developer? Yes. Okay. Um if you could describe a little bit for us um what types of houses you plan on building and also um you look familiar. I I'm sure uh we met with you probably a couple months ago. I was here a couple months ago. Yes. All right. Well, we appreciate you sticking around.

Thank you. I'm Jared Greyel with Global Construction Management. Um, as we look at the renderings that we have over here, it's kind of a of a generic scale. Um, civil drawings are not done or we haven't finished the contract work on that yet. So, housewise, what we're going to build is something very similar that you see right now that is going up in Terra Vista. Uh, the builders that are doing that have done a done a great job. Those houses look nice. Our our product is going to be very close to match that. We want to be really close to about the same size, same price point. Um our goal is more or less just to to close all of that out. Um and and to where that you know the entire project would be done.

And mayor, this matches with um the study that indicated the housing shortfalls that we have in terote

where where this range hits. And we did uh begin to speak with the neighbors. In fact, one of the neighbors is uh in front of you today as mayor of Teraho talking about this project. No, it matches the study. That specific price point is very hard. Honestly, I would I would go as far to say 200 to 375 has been very hard for us as a community. We build it, it's sold. We've got one builder in the audience today who sold I think 11 homes before he'd even completed them within that range. So, we're trying to now get the the upper scale of that range just as quickly as we've hit the lower scale. And it's it's just hard right now to buy a home and to look at one. Uh, and this completes the neighborhood, similar building design, and we we look forward to it.

I will say there's also an HOA that was on phase two. So, we we will have the same covenants and restrictions um that was passed off from the seller to us. So, any other questions? What I just said, how long do you think it'll take to do the product project? I mean, five years or less. Okay. Thank you. I yield. Thank you. Congrat. How many houses, dear? There's 50. 50 50 lots. And mayor, are you the last house off site there on that entrance? Yes, Councilwoman Bolan. I'm the the last house at the start of this project. One thing that one thing that I I wanted to ask.

We're working with his wife right now to pick one of the new ones. I bet you are. Get them a little bit more room. I bet you are. Keep adding the population. You'll have to um so by us supporting the infrastructure, the city support the infrastructure, we won't have um neighbors coming to us with concerns like some other subdivisions have had with what about my curb? What about my sidewalk?

This is an excellent question. I had not thought of that and that is a great that's a great question. Yes, because the city is doing the infrastructure of the project. We won't run into an issue 101 15 years from now when a developer and I understand it's a business has a tight project and makes some poor decisions on the infrastructure that leads to some of the calls that our city engineer Marcus Mau gets pretty much on a monthly basis of why has the city not adopted our neighborhood yet into city limits? Um, yeah, that's a really good question. Yeah, this would help avoid all of that. Thank you.

Okay, my last comment is to Jared. Uh, the last time you were here, you got a lot of feedback that it was the right project in the wrong location. I think that we all agree hopefully this is the right project in the right location. And thank you, as Councilwoman Thompson said, for for sticking with us on this. Well, thank you. No, I I appreciate it. Anybody else? Can we do these together?

Yes. Council person Nazar. Uh if there's no further questions, I move adoption of resolution 35, 2025. It's been moved by council person Nazar, second by council person Bolan that we adopt resolution 35 2025. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. All right, that one passes. Um, resolution 36, 2022, approving the issuance redevelopment commission bonds. So, we just talked about both of these together, but I still need a petitioner to stand before us and uh summarize.

Good evening, Dustin Meeks, Barnes & LP on behalf of the redevelopment commission. So, uh, Council President, Nation, and counselors, this resolution approves an issuance of, um, redevelopment district bonds, uh, which are, um, bonds payable from the special benefits tax on the redevelopment district. Um, that is just a backup and and there is every expectation you saw in the charts, 260% 267 plus% coverage um, on the TIF. So, these these will be paid from TIFF revenues from the consolidated TIFF area. Um the max parameters are $2.1 million. Um maximum interest rate of 6 6% though we expect 3.5 um and and a and a maximum term of um to January 15th of 2040.

Thank you for that summary. Dustin, is there anyone in the audience who'd like to ask a question about resolution 36 2025? Council President Council. There's no further questions. I move to adopt resolution 36 2025. Second. It's been moved by council person Azar, second by council person that we adopt resolution number 36 2025. All in favor, please say I. Opposed? All right. That one passes too. Thank you everybody. Next order of business, please. Michelle,

preparation 212025. $50,000 from Parks General number 02040020 to YMCA Building Utilities number 0240 00203 436 035. You must vote to take action. Okay, welcome Eddie Council. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Um I I just want to say real quick, I asked for 18 years for Michelle to put me at the top of the list and I was there for about a week and then she bumped me. But thank you, Michelle. I appreciate it. Anyway, I were there. I was there. You were. Thank you. Um, I'm just here to answer any questions for you.

Thank you, Eddie. Is there anyone in the audience who'd like to ask a question about appropriation number 21, 2025, council? Eddie, I see that it says that this is for utilities. Can you speak briefly to it?

Yes. Um, we actually pay for the Wise utilities at this time. Duke Bennett started that back in their uh their contract that we have with them. Um, I'm I'm hoping with a new project going on at the Y that these utilities will go down in the future. So, um, with the work going on, uh, the Deckron unit, which kind of works with the pool area, heating and cooling of the pool, um, that's going to be all new. So, I'm hoping this these utilities go down. It it just looks like we had a tough year over there with the utilities. Thank you, Eddie. Anybody else? Council Council person Letterman.

If there's no further, can I go ahead and make a motion to take action on appropriation 21 and 22? Do that. Second be my motion. It's been moved by Council Person Laudermel and seconded by Council Person Dinkle that we take action on appropriations 21 and 22. All in favor of taking action, please say I. I opposed. All right, we can take action. Council person Laddermouth. Um, I'd like to make a motion that we approve appropriation 212025. Second. It's been moved by Council Person Ladderm and seconded by Council Person Dawn that we approve appropriation 212025. All in favor of approval, please say I. Opposed. That passes. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks.

Next order of business, please, Michelle. Appropriation 22 2025 $1,410 from clerk document perpetuation non-reverting number 0236 to part-time employees number 0236002601412105 for $1,300 and to employer social security number 023600260141310 for $85 and to employer Medicare number 023600260141320 for $25. 5. Are you the petitioner for this, Michelle?

I am. Um, this is a non-reing uh fund that I'm allowed to collect fees by statute from traffic tickets. So, this is not property tax money. And I did pay one of my interns this year from that fund. And I underestimated and he was really great on some projects. If you've ever seen my basement rooms, they were packed full and he organized them. So, he probably needs a bonus. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Michelle. Is there anyone from the audience who'd like to ask a question about appropriation number 22 2025? Council Council Personal. Michelle, I don't know. This one's kind of hard and I'd like to make a motion that we approve appropriation 22 2025. Second. It's been moved by council person milk. Second by council person Hinton that we approve appropriation number 22 2025 for $1,410. Uh all in favor please say I. Opposed. That one passes. Thank you Michelle.

Thank you guys. Uh general ordinance 13205 amending city code chapter 4 article 26 designate uh designated outdoor refreshment areas. You must vote to take action as well. Welcome Michael.

Thank you President Nation members of the city council. Michael Wright to hoot city legal. um what you have before you tonight. If you'll recall, we were here I think exactly one year ago today or not today but one year ago this month when you uh originally approved the DORA ordinance. We have been in communication with the uh Indiana State Excise Department and in coordination with them discovered that some of our original submitt did not have uh exhibits attached. So what you have before you includes all those exhibits for what we believe to be eventual confirmation. So that's the reason for this request is to get reapproval with all the corrected documentation. So you see in your packets a number of signage uh examples, maps. That's what we are referring to. I'm happy to answer any questions. Is there anyone in the audience who'd like to ask a question about um general ordinance 13 2025 council councilar um I've read through this and I read through several ordinances of other communities that have the dora the only thing that there's a couple of things here that I just want to question and hopefully we can change u the the hours of operation I think are a little confusing and I don't know why it's not for the whole week and why it's Thursday through

Friday and why you eliminated Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I think that could confuse not only customers but businesses. Um on Sunday I don't have a problem with like the hours. Yeah, like Saturday 11:00 a.m. And I again I don't know on Thursday through Friday why it starts at 5:00 pm and not 11 a.m. I'm just I'm concerned that it's just the hours are too confusing. Okay.

And people are going to walk out and say, "Well, I thought we could take it out." Well, no, you can't take it out until 5:00. Or, you know, I mean, in my case, it doesn't affect me very much in our business because we're not open half those hours. But, uh, I'm thinking of those places that are open, especially like on a Sunday when maybe there's a ball game, you know, 1:00. Sure. And I don't know if Hullman Centers in the area or not, I I couldn't tell if that part of it or not. No. Okay. But even even if that's not if somebody wanted to walk from the Copper Bar down to the hotel or whatever. Sure. You know, while there's a ball game going on.

Yeah. This is the only concern I have on this particular ordinance after reading other ordinances for other communities where they had a pretty set time for the week and then another set time for Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Well, I don't think it's a major thing that we can't change. No, no, no. I I mean I was going to say I I don't think you know I the majority of the determinations made in that process were done in conjunction with listening to the you know restaurant tours who uh are impacted by it. So there's not strong feelings from the administration's perspective as

Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean if we could just kind of maybe Yes. looked that over and I've talked to a couple of the restaurants downtown and they felt the same way that maybe it was going to be confusing more than anything else. So just making it throughout the week maybe Friday, Saturday, sure you can do that and you can do a special Sunday, but I think Monday through Thursday could be a set hours. Friday and Saturday can be set. Okay. But I think it needs to start earlier than 5:00 p.m. on a weekday. Okay.

Just for those places that are open that may people people may want to walk around downtown or something. You know, sooner or later we're going to have hopefully things for him to walk downtown for. Sure. Okay. Secondly, u on the cups and Yes. is that the responsibility and I don't know the answer to this responsibility of the owners. It is. Okay. Yes. I mean, go ahead. I'm sorry. And I know that you can I know when I read the ordinances from I think Zansville and Fisers there are different sizes. Yes. Of cups.

Yeah. I mean it it there's no uh specifications. The cup has to be it has to be clearly identifiable as a Dora beverage holder. And then um yeah, it can't be taken out of the area that's been I understand that. And and each business has the right of refusal to let bring it in. I understand that. Yeah. Which I think most businesses are going to put that out. But uh

what we had talked about in the early meetings, Councilman Aazar, were like maybe some sort of sticker system or something to where business owners wouldn't have to go out and buy a whole new special cup. They could slap a sticker on a otherwise disposable cup that they already have and Yeah. And and I think from reading the ordinance, not just this one, but others. Yeah. As long as it is identifiable, right, that we could buy stickers and put them on a cup. Yep. You know, which is fine. So, you don't want to have to go buy a thousand cups of something if you're going to use three.

Uh, okay. that those are really the the only concerns I had on on the ordinance was basically the hours and not knowing whether it was a responsibility of the business or what. Now the signage on the streets will be the city. Yes. Okay. Yes. Are they going to put signage on the uh streets as well? I I mean I my understanding was uh signage on you know eye level like street signs. Okay. Uh not on the pavement but um I have seen them on the pavement. I I'm sure that I mean and I'm

I'm sure that's within the street department's repertoire, but at least in terms of my knowledge, I think what I had anticipated was uh signs at the entrances of the DORA clearly delineating that you're entering or leaving that DORA area. That's required under the statute. and then um signage inside that you know has the relevant information about what you can do and what you can't do with regards to the alcohol. I have one other question. This might be a question for the exercise rather than Sure. during special events.

Sure. Use homecoming for an example. people that set up tents. I know that they will have to get a special permit from the exiles for that. If they're set up in the DORA with that special permit, will they be allowed at that point in time to take out like can the students take it and walk through the door area? I mean, there's I agree with your sentiment that that's a question best answered by an excise officer, but there's nothing in the Dora statute that would prohibit prevent it. Yeah. Okay. The only thing that would prevent it be the hours. That's right. So, yeah. Yeah.

And you could, I guess, if you had to establish special hours for a special event. Event include in this. Yeah. You know, that way you you kind of cover some of these problems because if not, you could have a problem. And I'm specifically talking about homecoming. Sure. Where they're going to think, well, we can walk out. Yeah. It's the area we're going to walk from this restaurant down to this one or this tent or whatever. So, I think that's another thing we may want to consider. And I don't know if we we can do this. I I don't I think it may be a too much of a No, I mean I'm happy tonight. But

you know, take it back and write in these amendments and and does the administration have a problem with us tableabling this for maybe a month to check out some? I think you had to vote to take action anyway. Yeah, I know that. Yeah, but um I mean I'd like to see it get passed as soon as possible. Sure. But I I think I'm fine to have something back to Michelle for with those proposed amendments for your January. Sure. If you take no action, it'll automatically go to January 8. Okay. I yield. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? What What hours did you suggest? I don't know if

Well, I mean, I think maybe like a either a 10 to 10 during the week or and then weekends 10 to midnight. You don't want to I mean, I don't think you want them 2:00 in the morning walking up and down the street. So, there's got to be some kind of a, you know, Yeah. No, I mean, time limit. That was our Yeah. And I agree with that 100%. Yeah. So, every day there will be a time, a start time and an end time. every day, not right. That's my suggestion because I I think it'll confuse people if it's not every day. And hopefully when downtown starts moving, you know, you're going to have more people walking downtown.

Thank you. Anybody else? Um I've got just a couple of questions about the the exhibits.

Yes. Um, you know, I've worked closely uh with the uh people from the Chamber of Commerce on this, Josh also others. And um in the first iteration of it, there was kind of an it is still here uh on 110 I guess it's the third page of the document that we're looking at. There's kind of a long list of different businesses and some of those didn't make it onto the exhibits. Um, and I I don't know that that that they need to be because what really is the most important thing is I guess is that the map is the same as we originally proposed. But the question is, has there been any like for the ones who are dropped, um, Federal Coffee, um, Greeks Pizza, uh, Wise Pies, has there been a taco tequilas? Have have they said, "We're out. We don't want to do this." Is there any kind of back and forth?

I There has certainly been back and forth. I mean I know uh the the chamber and you know there were the administration you know there was in my opinion a very genuine attempt at engagement with anybody who wanted to participate in this process. And um every meeting that I attended centered primarily around the efforts that were going towards trying to engage uh you know the people who would be impacted by the ordinance and I I think I don't think that has been met with any resistance but I think there's you know as George just more questions and I think some maybe with these new hours that might be a more palatable option for them. I could not speak to what justifications they were using to decide that they didn't want to participate. Well, all I'm really asking is is the the exhibit B, the map that we're presented with that has a list of nine participating restaurants, should we I mean,

can we assume that those nine who are listed actually want to do this? Yes. Okay. Yes. And uh when I look at uh exhibit um well uh out door number two uh for the brewery district, I see that um it you know conspicuous in its absence is the stables. Uh but we're we're drawing the map to include the stables,

but they're not on the list. No, I I I think that you know the goal behind the maps was to be inclusive even with those entities that were not initially comfortable with I mean so that they if they want to come in later on they're already in the designated outdoor refreshment area right hey thank you Michael um for answering my questions. Is there does anybody else have any questions about this? Just one thing maybe it'll help answer you and I know that if you're not

if you are part of the DORA you have to put that on your window. Yes. That we are part of that. So somebody that isn't won't have that signage. So the person that walks in that restaurant or bar will know Yes. by that signage that that that particular business does not participate. Right. Correct. Right. Okay. Anybody else? Council person Bullet. So, we did I mean since you're going to amend it anyway. Yeah. Would it be more worthwhile to just designate the area by map instead of including the names of all of the I think we have I have

So, you have some that are already going to fall off and you'll take care of that. I'm sorry I didn't. So, area number one has nine on the map but 12 or 13 listed. So some of those are no longer right interested in participating. So you'll take those off. Yes. And then when a new one would come on we'll continually amend this. Well, to add them I mean that would be yes there would be you wouldn't have to amend the map but you would have to permit that new you would have to amend this particular ordinance then to include them. Okay. I was just trying to figure out a way where we would do that.

I just I'm sorry. I just wanted to clarify the actual ordinance list all the businesses. That's what I'm getting. But they're not all on the map because you mean their their locations are just designated on the map, but it's designated area. There are 1 2 3 4 12 listed in area one, but the map only has nine. That was the basis of my question. And you know, then some have been combined like the Bourbon Scouts are one, so two. So

actually like four or five have dropped off. operator where they just left off the map. I was trying to verb and scout. So there's 10. There's two of them now. They're together. Mhm. That's all I was asking if there was federal. I saw Federal Greeks talk convention center. Did they all have completed an application to participate? We will clarify everybody who wants to participate in the efforts. And not to I you

and not to be uh to make things even more confusing, but I thought from our first go round with this a year ago that the that the council we got was and I might be remembering this wrong, but I thought it was we established this, it has a list of businesses in it, but then that just gets like administratively updated and it never has to come back to the council. It just kind of rolls as businesses. um drop off and and add on as long as they're okay as long as they're inside the map that has been designated. That's what I think I remember. Um but I'd like clarification on that. Of course. U one other question. Um does Homeman Center sell beer now?

They do. I believe so. Yes. And does it make sense to add Home and Center to this list? I I mean I it does not make sense to to add them. The university was happy with the proposed map and it won some it just the college environment. So sometimes we're you know we're looking at it through that lens. Okay. Yeah. Just conversation. Okay. I'll stop. Um, and then I see that the convention center is not on the list either, but it's approach. I mean, they were I know they were engaged. Okay.

In terms of at least having that conversation and um trying to I I mean, again, I was not personally involved in those discussions, but I know there was genuine attempted engagement with getting them to participate. Well, and and they're an example of Yeah, they're listed in the ordinance by name, but not on the map.

Exactly. They're they're listed on page three in the designated in C, subsection C, the designated permites and vendors. Uh the the convention center's on there, but then it doesn't occur on the map. And I'm just reflecting on what I've seen in the time since the convention center opened, which is rather than um have closing down the whole intersection of 7th and Waw Bash for celebrations, we tend to be closing down the intersection of 8th and Waw Bash from 7th Street to 9th Street. And often those celebrations um spill out from the convention center or are headquartered there. Sure.

Um, now that doesn't mean that if there's some beer involved or whatever that it doesn't have to have its own permit or something. I'm just thinking, you know, if they're part of it, can they benefit from the fact that it's outside their door and not have to do a special permit or piece of bureaucracy? Anyway, I I will follow up on that. Anybody else? Thank you, Michael. We appreciate your help. Yep. Thank you.

Next order of business, please, Michelle. Well, wait. Um, so, uh, this one we need to vote to take action on it or not, and we just let it roll to the next one. Next order of business, please. Michelle, special ordinance 42205. reszoning a property located at 2340 uh North 24th Street. I do not have it in front of me, but you should have your area planning uh document as well. Welcome, Richard. Good. Good evening, Mr. President from members of the council. I need to apologize. I've been in bed for the last two days and I'm not feeling the best I've ever felt. I I'm not asking for sympathy, but obviously I will accept all that.

Darn. You mean you can't talk?

Oh. Oh, I can I not as long. Uh, but I'll do my Yeah, I'll that's my Christmas present. Um, this this property is located 2340 and 2350 North 24th Street. Um, it's it's currently zoned um M1 and R1. Uh, you'll see in your packet an amended ordinance. And the reason there's an amended ordinance is we init we originally filed for the reszoning of the vacant lot to the south of this building. As it turns out, because it's two separate parcels, as it turns out, the parcel that has the building on it that if you've driven by it, is an old for sure manufacturing type of of building. Whenever they went into I assume when they went into um Beacon, um they zoned this one parcel that has the building on in two different zoning classifications. The building is R1, which is clearly not an R1, and then the the the fenced in area is the M1. So, like I said, we originally wanting to just reszone um the vacant lot, but as a once we discovered that the building was actually R1, um we filed the amendment to reszone both. Um, you also noticed that in the packet first probably due to my illness I forgot to say I'm Richard Shaggley with Right Shaggling Lowry and I'm here tonight on behalf of Commissioner. I apologize. Um, you'll also notice that we were originally requesting it for a tow company. Um, the day of the last city council meeting, it was I was notified that it is no longer going to be for a tow company. It's going to be I just and

I found this out today uh thanks to council person uh louderm that the proposed buyer of this property is one of the subs of joint who's doing the fiber optics. So this will be a storage facility for both equipment and uh materials. Um so this went through area plan. It had a favorable staff report area plan there was no one in opposition. that went through um uh with no opposition and that was for a tow company and in my opinion um a tow company would be more um intrusive to the neighborhood because the hours of a tow company than a fiber optic in installation company. So I think uh even with had the area plan had the knowledge I think this would have been uh still approved and still would have been um there would have been no opposition to it. Um I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you. Richard, is there anyone from the audience who'd like to ask a question about special ordinance number 42 2025? Council. Yeah. One question. Can we since it says what it it said it's going to be used for a that's on your application page. The actual special ordinance just says your zoning classification. Okay. So you're passing it for the whole classification. So we're okay with what it is. Okay. Thank you. I person

um at the area planning meeting we had a lot more photographs. Um it it doesn't make sense it was ever zoned as R1. um like building's been there I think Martin said it since the 70s or something like that. It's clearly industrial. It's been used for um industry since its conception. Um so that was part of the reason why we gave it a favor though share that. Yeah, they're not tearing down single family homes and building a manufacturing facility.

Thank you, Counc. I'd also say that that whole area is kind of subject to that kind of business. It's it's got a lot of mixed used up. Yeah. Not that much residential property in there. Thanks. Anybody else? Mr. President, Council President Digle. Further discussion. I move that we take action on special ordinance 42 20225. Second.

It's been moved by council person DLE, seconded by council person Thompson that we take action on special ordinance number 42 20225. All in favor of taking action, please say I. Opposed. All right, we can take action. Mr. President, Council Personle, I move for approval of special ordinance 422025. Second. It's been moved by council person, seconded by council person Thompson that we approve special ordinance number 42205. All in favor of approval, please say I. I opposed. All right, that's approved. Thank you, Richard. Real quick, Michelle, because of the amendment, will they need to approve the amended special ordinance because it has both both parts?

Good question. Thank you. Sorry.

You could just also pass a amended special ordinance. What? Whatever number 40. Yeah, I see. I see what we can. Yeah. Yeah. So, we've passed the original. Mr. Can we passed it? So, you can't take additional action, but you can pass. You can't pass amended 45. No. Withdraw it and then redo it. Withdraw. Withdraw. Okay. Your Mr. They've already heard good man. That's a kind of Mr. President. I respectfully withdraw my motion to pass. To pass.

Okay. Um, Council President Thompson, I will second that. She withdraws her second. I withdraw my second. So then, Mr. President, I move that we amend special ordinance 42 20225 as presented. Second. It's been moved that we amend special ordinance 42 2022 as presented by Council Person Dingle and seconded by Council Person Thompson. All in favor of amending, please say I. Opposed? All right. So, it's amended now, Mr. President. Council person. I move that we approve special ordinance 42,2025 as amended. Second.

It's been moved by Council Person Dinkle and seconded by Council Person Thompson that we approve special ordinance number 42 2025 as amended. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed? All right. So now the amended version is passed. Thank you, Richard. Thank you very much. And thank you for your consideration and approval of the residential tiff. That's a great tool that you're giving developers to put in their tool box. Uh, and I walk through that neighborhood every morning and that's going to be a great addition to our community and um, thank you for your consideration approval. Richard, is that the empty field that you've talked about uh, as being ripe for development? I had I had no idea.

He he had my friend in the back. We had wanted to go down the same path, but fortunately um it was picked up by another developer and um it'll it'll go. And a little side note, Ferndale, which runs into there, my great-grandmother's name was Fern. My great-grandfather developed all that and he named the road after his his wife. So, you're feeling better. You're well. Yeah. I will be leaving now. If I don't see you, have a great holiday. I feel confident you've all been good. So you have nothing to worry about Christmas morning. Some of you may want to buy a present for yourself just to be safe. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next order of business, please. Michelle,

special ordinance 43 20225 resenting a property located at parcel number 840603258002. You should have a request a request to withdraw. You must vote to take action first. Okay. Take action and then withdraw. Present. Council person. We take action on special ordinance 43. Second. It's been moved by council person Azar, seconded by council person Laddermill that we take action on special ordinance number 43 2025. All in favor of taking action, please say I.

Opposed? All right, we can take action. Mr. President, I move that we withdraw special ordinance 43 2025. Second. It's been moved by council person Azar, second by council person milk that we withdraw special ordinance number 43, 2025. All in favor of withdrawal, please say I. Oppos. It is withdrawn. Next order of business, please. Michelle. Special Ordinance 44, 2025 amending special ordinance 19 2024 as amended 2025 city hall salary ordinances. You must vote to take action.

Welcome. Good evening, Mr. President, honorable council. Larry Wet Knight, CIO for the city. Back in January of this year, we hired someone to fill the web administrator uh web administrator position at a salary of 62 62,000. Once he joined the IT department, it became clear that his experience and skill set were actually a much better match for the senior systems administrator role. We went ahead and moved him into that position, but his pay stayed the same. So, the problem is that the salary ordinance passed by council in 2024 lists a senior systems administrator position at 60,500. So, this amendment is just to update the ordinance to reflect the salary that's actually being paid in 2025. And what is that salary again? 61.

It was uh 60,500. Okay. Thank you, Larry. Um, is there anyone from the audience who'd like to ask a question about special ordinance number 442025? Council. Mr. President. Council person, I also see in in this ordinance there's an addition under the section for transportation utility adding a it looks like a $2,500 allowance for training coordinator. Is that that's outside of that would out be out out of scope for this particular ordinance? Yeah, you got that. Okay. Sorry.

So that is um that change is for transit I believe. um they have a guy who's gonna who already works in the office. He's like the number two who's going to step up and be the training coordinator because if a new driver is trained by a current driver, that current driver shipped now has to be filled. Um and so because we're pulling him off of that duty that is a st basically a stipen for the new additional work. I say new additional work because we're about fully staffed to transit, but we anticipate having to to bring in some new drivers and it's a pretty pretty robust group down there that we're we're kind of cycling through. So, this is just a shift in responsibility, new way of Okay, we've not offered this in the past.

Okay. Thank you. I yield. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Anybody else, Mr. President? I move to take action on special ordinance 44. Second. It's been moved by council person Nazar, seconded by council person Dinkle that we take action on special ordinance number 44, 2025. All in favor of taking action, please say I. I. Opposed. All right, we can take action. Somebody got where you started. You have to finish. All right, Mr. President, I move that we approve special ordinance 442025.

Second. That's been moved by Council Person Aar, second by Council Person Digle that we approve special ordinance number 44, 2025. Excuse me. All in favor, please say I. Opposed? All right, it's approved. Thank you, Larry. Thank you. Um, next order of business, please. Michelle, special ordinance 45, 2022, amending special ordinance 21, 2025 as amended, city hall salaries. You do have a proposed amendment before you, and you must also vote to take action. You're on again.

So, Mr. President, honorable council, Larry Wet Knight, CIO for the city of Teroot. For this particular one pertaining to the salary ordinance that was passed for already for 2026. Um, it pertains to two positions, the senior systems administrator as well as the web administrator. And also after we reviewed it, we realized we did not take uh fully account for the 3% increase which was already approved by the council previously. So, this amendment is needed to make sure both positions show the correct updated salary amounts for 2026. Thank you, Larry. Um, I see there are some other there's something from legal and something for engineering. Do you guys want to go ahead and present?

Welcome, Michael. I got I got special 45. I'm a little confused. I have two number 45. Once the special ordinance 45 2025 looks like this one says amended looks like this. The amendment adds the parallegal and intern and the interning engineer. So we just amended just adding these to it too. So it's all going to be one. Is that what we're doing? Okay. Gotcha.

Yes. So, uh, council president, members of the council, with regards to legals, uh, portion of that request, um, we hired a new parallegal in August of this year. Um, when we turned in her 2026 salary, it did not reflect the 3% increase for city hall employees. So those adjustments to the intern lines were made to correct that and get her that 3%. Thank you, Michael. Yep. Marcus, you have something to add.

Good evening. Uh I can cover the engineering side of that. So um we received a tree grant last year and had every intention of following through with that grant last year and that grant included $25,000 for an intern. There was some concerns and questions with federal pass through grants and federal grants last year. So we decided to delay that grant until next year. Um so we're wanting to put that into the salary orders for last year. We I guess we really weren't sure budget time last year what we were going to do. Uh and we may have overlooked this one. So this is an engineering non-reverting fund, but then it's going to be backed by by a forestry grant as well. So it will be recouped as well.

Where does that grant come from again? um state or federal. This was from the state, but it was pass through funds from the federal. This is for um Anna, our forester, worked hard on her uh forestry pocket parks grant, and this is for some outreach internship to go along with it. Thank you, Marcus. Thank you. Okay, so three different departments covered in uh special ordinance number 45 as amended. Uh is there anyone in the audience who would like to ask a question about special ordinance number 45? hearing. None. Council, Mr. President, Council Person Ladderm, I'll make a motion that we take action on special ordinance 45205. Yeah,

it's been second. Second. Thank you. It's been moved by Council Person Ladderm, seconded by Council Person Boland that we take action on special ordinance number 4525. All in favor of taking action, please signify by saying I. I opposed. All right. So, we can take action. Mr. President Council make a motion that we amend special ordinance 45 2025. Second. It's been moved by council person, second by council person Bolan that we amend special ordinance number 45, 2025 as presented. All in favor, please say I. I opposed. All right. So now it's amended. Mr. President, Council Person Ladderm,

I'd like to make a motion that we approve amended special ordinance 452025 as presented. Second. And it's been moved by council person, seconded by council person Bolan that we approve special ordinance number 45 2025 as amended. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. All right. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you. Next order of business, please. Michelle. Resolution 32, 2022, transfer $58347 in the street department budget. Welcome, Brian. Good evening. It's a long day. How's everybody doing?

Uh I am uh needing to transfer 58347 from our laundry and uniform uh off to office supplies at the end of 2024. Uh we had spent money uh out of the office supplies expecting to pay for it with it with the 24 2024 budget. Uh but it came in late so we had to use 2025 budget to pay for that. So, um, we signed a new contract with, uh, a different uniform company, so we were able to save a little bit more money on that. So, I'm asking that. Thank you, Brian. Yep. Is there anyone in the audience who'd like to ask a question about resolution 32205? Hearing none. Council, Mr. President.

Council person Lettermoke. Um, Brian, you're making this one about as hard as Michelle's. I'd like to make a motion to approve resolution 32 20225. Second. It's been moved by council person milk, seconded by council person Hinton that we uh approve resolution 32 20225. All in favor, please say I. Opposed? All right, that one passes. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, Mr. President. May we move up resolution 392025, which is also the street department. Sure. Yeah. Uh Brian, why don't you stay at the microphone? Let's get you taken care of. Uh resolution 392025, transfer of $218,84929 in the street department budget.

Yeah. Um I mean to transfer this over from our operating supplies to purchase of equipment. Uh the city had entered a state of state clean diesel grant program which involves replacing one of our older diesel trucks with a cleaner version. Uh diesel uh yeah once everything is finalized the grant will be refunded uh 668.885 85 of the cost. The street department has uh auctioned off one of our older ones and it will uh replace with the next it will be replaced with a new one um in purchasing. We uh we still have funding in operating supplies due to not having you know doing different projects saving money with different projects coming up. So

thank you Brian. Did that make sense? Or do I need to do it again? Okay. I'm glad you're pursuing uh grants to have cleaner uh equipment. That's that's great. Is there anybody in the audience who would like to ask a question about resolution number 30 uh 39 2025 council council person chos this is a little side note. You've been doing a fantastic job. Appreciate it. Fifth district's been really clean. This road's been clean. You've been doing great. I just want to say that on the record. Thank you. I appreciate it. So, just want to say that. I know you probably have a busy night ahead of EPA. They're ready to go tonight. I communicate all the time. So, we're ready to go.

With that, I move that we approve resolution 39, 2022. Second. It's been moved by Council Person, second by Council Person Laddermill that we approve resolution 39205. All in favor, please say I. Opposed. That passes. Thank you, Brian. Thank you. Have a good evening. Next order of business, please, Michelle. Resolution 33, 2022, transfer of $12,000 in maintenance budget. Welcome, Jesse.

Thank you, Council President Nation, members of the council. This is a uh transfer within uh the maintenance budget, but it is an outof series transfer late in 2024. City Hall incurred city hall maintenance incurred uh several expenses um that could not be paid for out of 2024 appropriations. um we did have to pay for those within 2025 appropriations. So that kind of put us uh ahead in our spending for 2025. So I'm not here to ask for an additional appropriation, just to approve this out of series transfer within that budget. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Jesse. Is there anyone in the audience who'd like to ask a question about resolution 33 2025? Council, Mr. Council person Dickle. No further discussion. I move for approval of resolution 332025. Second. It's been moved by Council Person Dickle, second by Council Person Laddermouth that we approve resolution 332025. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. All right. That one's approved. Appreciate it. Thank you, Jesse. Next order of business, please. Michelle. Resolution 342025, transfer $15,000 in the controller budget. Welcome, Jessica.

Hi. Good evening. Jessica th city controller. Um this transfer is uh the first one is within two departments. So my department transferring to maintenance department. Um their service contractual line was um somehow forgotten about. I think it was my oversight. So luckily I have plenty in my budget to spare. So everybody needs something. So I'm I'm donating a little money here. So, I'm transferring 15,000 over from my budget to theirs. And then I needed a little extra in my office supplies. So, I'm transferring from my service contractual to my office supplies. And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Jessica. Is there anyone in the audience who'd like to ask a question about resolution number 34, 2022?

Council Nation, I would like to offer one comment. Uh Jessica and her controllers's office has done a remarkable job of growing into their roles and reducing the need of outside consultants. That is reflected with this. As she mentioned, she does not like to brag about herself, but we want to brag for her. By reducing that burden, that services contractual line has gone down significantly, not just in her budget, also in the sanitary budget and even in the redevelopment budget. And it it's really good to have a financial office that's like dedicated to learning and growing and reducing the need of of outside entities. So, we wanted to add that tonight on record. Um, mayor, can you remind us how big the services contractual budget was uh in the year prior to you taking office? Do you remember that number?

I do not remember off the top of my head. Um, 300,000. I've got not just in my department, but it was about 380,000. Yeah. And what was it this year? um 2025. Well, for that particular service contractual zero. Yeah, that's what I thought. We've ended that relationship with that service. Thank you uh very much. And you know, this is this is important stuff that most people don't get or understand, but we understand and we really appreciate what you're both doing, your leadership on it. Um Mr. I just had one quick question. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Did we make sure that we got services contractual for maintenance in 26 or do we need to? We we do. Yes.

Okay. I was going to say otherwise we might want to go ahead and get an appropriation in the first of the year. Okay. Thank you. You I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut anybody else off. Does anybody else want to ask any questions of Jessica? I've lost track. Did I ask for public comment? Yeah, you did. Okay. So, I think we're ready for a motion. Yes. Cool. If there's no further questions, I'll move for approval of resolution 342025. Second. It's been moved by Council Person Bullan, second by Council Person Laddermilk, uh, that we approve resolution number 34, 2022. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. Thank you. It passes. Thank you, Jessica. Um, next order of business, please. Michelle.

Resolution 37205, transfer of $5,500 in the city judge budget. Are you the petitioner for this one, Michelle? Uh, I said I would cover it tonight. Um the judge has uh well the judge and I always work closely together and we between us had had three copers so we're down to two now and hopefully we're going to be phasing one out. We replaced one. So we kind of are sharing it. We have desktop scanners. We don't see the need of three complete copers. So this is purchasing a new copier but it's basically for both of our offices. and he was able to find the money in his budget.

Thank you, Michelle. Is there anyone in the audience who'd like to ask a question about resolution 37 2025? None. Council Mr. President, um if there's no other discussion, I'll make a motion we approve resolution 37205. Second. It's been moved by councel. Second by councon that we approve resolution 372025. All in favor, please say I. Opposed. Next order of business, please. Michelle, we wrote eight. Okay. Yeah, even better.

Uh, resolution 38205, internal control standards and procedures. Do we have a petitioner on this one? Good evening. Welcome back.

Jessica, city controller. Um this is a revision of the original um ordinance. The original ordinance states that every employee should have internal control training. Um, and so when a new employee is hired, they receive um, training by a video and then they watch the video and then they sign a cert certificate to say that they took the training. Um, but we want to change the language in this to to basically just be for anyone who's handling cash because, you know, we don't need our grass cutters to go and and watch these videos. So, um, we actually had a write up on our audit. they caught it this past year. So all these years they've not seen that and noticed that we've only done done this for um employees that handle cash. So we're changing it according to their um their language. So if anybody has any questions

I remember this discussion in the exit report from the audit from the state auditors when you and I and the mayor participated. Yes. Um, is there anyone in the audience who would like to ask a question about resolution 382025? Council, Mr. President. Council person Hinton. If there's no discussion, I move to approve resolution 40 38 38 2025. Second. It's been moved by Council Person Hinton, second by Councilman Bolan that we approve resolution number 38 2025. All in favor, please say I. I opposed. That passes. Thank you, Jessica. Thank you. Next order of business, please. Michelle,

resolution 40, 2022, transfer of $115,500 in the casino budget. You're on, Michael. Welcome back.

Thank you, President Nation, members of the city council. Um what you have before you is a request for transfer in the casino budget from uh 445025 public safety equipment to 41411 grievance pay. Um in the uh continuation of the document, you'll see that this is for a grievance settlement that was entered into with our fire department uh at the end of 2024. um this payment which is tiered based on numbers of service, years of service uh within the fire department. Um is why some of the numbers you see are different and um I'm happy to answer any questions about the nature of this request.

Um Michael, I just have one page. It's a front and back. Uh is there I apologize. Um it's like a schedule or something. Yeah, it's it's just a schedule of the various payouts under um

I maybe incorrectly assume that was turned in with the request, but I'm happy to distribute that tonight. Um, personally, I would like to have a copy of that. The question that that's before us, though, is do we transfer $115,500 uh for it? First, let's do public comment. Um, is there anyone in the audience who would like to ask a question about resolution number 40, 2022? hearing none. Council Mr. President,

council person ladder. If there's no other discussion, I'll make a motion. We approve resolution 40, 2022. Second. It's been moved by council personal. Council, second by council person Bolan. Discussion. Um, Michael, is this $115,500 the total amount of this settlement or is this just the amount that's needed to make up for some other from some other account? It's a total amount. It's a total amount.

Uh, this is, as you stated, from the end of 2024. Um, is do we anticipate any further uh payments toward satisfying this grievance? Yes. No, I mean there's uh a payment this year and a payment next year um with both police and no police has one next year. Fire does not have one next year. So yes. No.

Okay. Are those details in the schedule that you'll be sharing with us about the police part two and next year's uh the cost etc. Yes. Okay. Well, I it's not in this packet here, Councilman Nation, but I will happily provide all those details to the entire council on both of those grievances from 2024. Please do uh at your earliest convenience. Okay. So, there's been a motion and a second. Uh, does any more discussion before we take a vote? I have a quick question. Council person, following up with what you said. Did the police already have one, too? You already paid out for this here. That's

Yeah, I mean, that's what I wanted to clarify, Todd. I don't I don't want to drag the whole thing, but there was a settlement with police and police civilians that triggered a grievance from the fire department, which was settled as well. Okay. So, the um nature of the police grievance, I would say, was more substantive than the fire grievance. But in terms of resolving them without an arbitration or a lawsuit, it was uh we were able to do that. So,

okay, it to me and now, you know, I admit freely that my memory is not as good as it used to be, but um I think this is the first time that this has actually come up in a city council meeting. Um I've heard about it but I haven't actually but we haven't discussed it and I haven't seen any actual documents. Uh so again I'd appreciate seeing those. Yes, no problem. So there is a motion and a second on the floor. Any further discussion? All right. So all in favor please say I. I opposed. All right. Thank you Michael. Thank you. Next order of business please. Michelle

resolution 41 uh 2025 transfer of 4,654.17 cents in the police department budget number 02330025. We have a petitioner on this one. Hey, welcome David. Hello. Uh welcome council or hello council. Um sorry to make you wait all the way through the whole meeting until the end.

I've uh I'm used to it. Uh David Thompson with the city police. This is a uh transfer from uh continuing education purchase of equipment $4,654.17 to uh our travel line ran over this year. um classes uh our officers go to. We uh stopped renting cars during the week so they will Uber uh in hopes of saving money and it didn't quite work.

Thank you, David. Is there anyone in the audience who'd like to ask a question about resolution 412025? Hearing none. Council, Mr. President, council personal. If there's no further discussion, I'll make a motion we approve resolution 412025. Second. It's been moved by Council Person Limok, seconded by Council Person Hinton, that we approve resolution 412025. All in favor, please say I. Opposed? It passes. Thank you, David. Thank you. Next order of business, please. Michelle, resolution 42205, transfer of $50,200 in the city clerk's budget. Are you the petitioner for that?

I am. Um, first I would like to thank um whether he wants me to or not as he's walking out. Jesse Tohill and I would also there was a bunch of people who helped me on this. I'm very excited. Um, we did not fill a position in my office. Um, and so we were able to save some money between health insurance and the salary and some other areas. So, in the courtroom, we will be purchasing sound panels for the back area to help reduce the echo. In my office, we are putting some sound panels in the front area only. Um, we have 12t ceilings and uh they start talking, the sound just bounces. We are getting carpet in carpet tiles in my offices in the judge's office and the leaky sinks um in my bathrooms are being fixed and I hope to have them fixed uh before the middle of January. Uh several other projects uh we uh updated all of our technology between it Larry I'm not sure if he's still here but he was a big help. So it's a lot of money. Uh, I will budget will not see this again, but we worked hard. My office pulled together and we saved wherever we could. Oh, and you still like the chairs, right? Because I didn't save for that.

Thank you, Michelle. Is there anyone in the audience who'd like to ask a question about our last order of business, resolution 42,2025? Hearing none. Council Council person Thompson. Um Michelle, how does this tie in with the plans for the remodel? Like this the sound panels. Is that something that would be able to be re

Oh, yes. Those poor gentlemen do not want any more questions from me. I uh I have learned a lot about um whatever. I don't know. They were talking about some sort of rails and clips and then we even got into the discussion of anchors into the wall. So, yes. Um, the carpet tiles, we want the carpet tiles in case anything changes, then they can be pulled up and it won't damage the whole thing. Um, the sinks, the bathrooms could not be gutted in the remodel because of ADA compliance issues. So, we were going to have to do sinks anyway. It's kind of like the lighting I did last year. Everything um was uh installed with the idea it would work for the future. And that's why I did want to publicly thank Jesse, even though he probably ran away, he did take a lot of calls from me about this. But yes,

thank you, Michelle. Anybody else? Mr. President, council personal. If there's no further discussion, Michelle, thank you for saving many. I'll make a motion to approve resolution 42 2022. Second. It's been moved by Council Person Ladderm, seconded by Council Person Boland that we approve resolution 42205. All in favor of approval, please say I. Opposed. It passes. Um, all right. So, we've got a couple other things to do. Next order of business with Michelle. Uh, the city controller will just announced that there are encumbrances for 2025. No motion, no second is needed. And she did give you a copy, I believe. Yeah, I saw that.

Yes. If anybody has any questions, um, I broke it down by the fund and the department. Um, everyone is trying to utilize their their money this year with their invoices and their uh in instead of coming back for additional appropriations. You know, rolling over the money is really the best thing to do. Um, so if anybody has any questions on these and also just like last year at the end of the year when everything has been paid and everything is shut down, I will then reconcile these just to make sure that these numbers haven't changed. and then if they have I will give you guys updated sheets. Yeah. So, anybody has any questions let me know. Okay. Thanks, Jess. Thank you, Jessica.

And unfortunately, I was part of her incumbrances. Michelle, I also saw um a list of proposed meeting dates before you you should have a list of dates. January 1st, which I'm assuming none of you wanted to attend. Um, uh, so I, uh, listed January 8th for the reorganization meeting at 5:45, January 8th at 6:00 p.m. for the first regular meeting, and then from then on the first and second Thursday of every month, you may want to look at the July 2nd meeting

to see if you want to schedule it. And I I just the only other holiday that came up was November 12th, um, which is the day after Veterans Day. You will need a motion. Uh I believe I listed some ideas on your agenda on how to state it. Are you um recommending that we figure this out tonight? Uh you have to. Okay. So, uh discussion. Mr. President, Council Person Diggle,

I move that we have our reorganization meeting for the next year on January 8th, 2026 at 5:45 in the city hall courtroom and regular meetings on the first and second Thursday of each month with the exceptions noted in the schedule before us at 6:00 p.m. in the city hall courtroom. That would be excluding uh the July 2nd meeting. you would hold a meeting on July 9th, but not not on July 2nd, 2026. And did you want to include not holding a meeting on November 12th, 2026? Well, that one

veteran Veterans Day is a Wednesday, and we would be meeting on the following day, Thursday the 12th. What do you think? Is that what you're I would keep it. I'd keep it. I see the map. Yeah, keep that July. And it's also getting near the end of the year, you know, so we start we need to have more opportunities to do business rather than fewer. Does that make sense? We so only excluding July 2nd. No. Yes. Yeah. All right. I'll second that. Okay. So, um, we have a motion from Council Person Dinkle and a second from Council Person Boland as presented. All in favor, please say I. Opposed. All right.

And I'll I'll uh make note right now that I won't be at the reorganization meeting. I'll be with grandkids and Mickey Mouse floating out on the water. A and I will not do the reorganization either. I will be with my daughter and her fiance. I will be here. Okay. As long as we got Is that a Is that a problem? Could be. And if you wanted, we we need um six. Oh, yeah.

Well, um all I'm hearing are the two uh anticipate and that leaves seven of us. So, uh you know, don't get sick. Uh all right. Anybody else for the good of the cause? Hey, um just very quickly, thank you all for uh a good year uh in 2025. I've enjoyed leading this body and I'll just leave it there. Uh thanks for putting up with me. Thanks. Before I can I make a motion now or Michelle's got one more thing. He's got more to do this.

Michelle, please. Uh council person um Dinkle, please go forward. I move that we open applicate the application process for boards and commissions for 2026 for the following vacancies. Information technology board two positions, redevelopment commission, two positions, Thrive Steering Committee, one position, and that the closing date be January 2nd, 2026 at 4 p.m. Second. It's been moved by Council Person Dingle, second by Council Person Hinton. Um, I'd like to ask the clerk to um post these on the website, bulletin board, and in the newspaper. All in favor, please say I. I. Oppos. All right, George.

You're on, George. Really? I already fell asleep. U first before I make the motion, I would like to thank our president who did a great job this year. So, you with that said, I'd like to make a motion to adjourn. Wish everybody a happy holiday, merry Christmas, happy new year. Second. So all in favor of journing, please say I. Opposed. We stand adjourned. See you next year. Thank you, Todd. Thank you.