City Council - Regular Meeting

The flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. To the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the opportunity to serve. Thank you for this council, Father, that's chosen to serve. I thank you for the opportunity that they have to serve this community. Father, I pray you give them wisdom and give them best choices in their mind to make for this community. I appreciate your presence. Thank you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.

All right. Call the meeting officially to order for September the 9th, 2025. Let the record show Sarah, I won't say Chris, that we have three members present, two absent. Um we'll jump right into the to the um agenda. First item is the minutes for August 12, 2025. The first item is the public hearing.

Public hearing. Well, there's I'm sorry. Public notice. There's nobody here. We'll open it and close it. Now we'll go into the minutes of August 12, 2025. I'm sure you had a motion to have a motion. Second. Have a motion, a second. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Claims of August 13, 2025 through September the 9th, 2025. Motion to approve. Second. All in favor? I.

Motion carries. Old business. Um, ordinance 2025-08 creating the code enforcement uh, bureau. I don't know if we're supposed to do that on the he wanted to do the final reading on that tonight. Second, third reading. That's what I was going to say without Josh and Granny and Trevor. Maybe we should table it. Yeah, maybe. Motion to table. Motion to table. Have a second. I'll second. All in favor?

Motion carries. We'll table the uh the ordinance. Okay. New business resolution 2025-07 line item reduction on CCI. What does he got on that Sarah?

So basically what that is is where we had to do the additional appropriation on CCI. Um, the way it was explained to me was we made a payment on that, but it wasn't until after the totals came in for June 30. Wasn't paid till July. So, it kind of looked like we didn't spend that money. So, Gail explained it that we had to do the reduction because of that, but it won't necessarily affect it for the next budget. basically because it wasn't appropriated.

Okay. So, you take action on that as well. Motion to approve. Have a motion to approve resolution 2025-07. A second by Mike. All in favor? I I apologize. Let's back up to the old business and I'm going to ask if any council members has any old business. No. I don't [Music] okay now we'll jump in additional's not here we'll bypass the u that for the time being ordinance next item will be ordinance 2025-09 [Music] repeing the fund a transfer of all balances to the park fund [Laughter]

that's from the from the baseball fund baseball fund Stac made a motion. I hear a second. Got a second from Mike. All in favor? Opposed? Carries. I'm assuming I just text him. I'll see. I don't know if we want to get in a minute. Okay. He probably expected the meeting to last longer than 6 minutes. Here. We can sign some stuff.

You can sign some stuff. That would be wonderful. While we're waiting, I'll give a little update. Uh, actually the um the road is pretty much completed on the fuel mark. Looks excellent. Uh, we discussed that in the border works meeting today. We have uh we have bypass the striping of the road. I don't think it needs to be stripes. We're going to save a little bit of money there. And there's a couple other items that needs to be um

Oh, sorry. And the uh John Crawford, the CEO from Billark called me. He actually opened up the Mexican part restaurant last week and uh he to have them do the ribbon cutting for that sometime next month. I've been to right [Music] that's Oh,

okay. And then we've got uh the DG market. You see the progress that's being made over there. I actually walked through it today and u looks like they got to hang lights do some other stuff inside and I don't know had been much activity in the last couple days over there but looks like they're on the road getting her back up have it open before the holidays as far as which holiday stay so I'd say we just kind of stay between and go with that pardon stay between and go with that yeah just

yeah are there any Um they have per uh applied and paid for their permits but they have not given a start date. That was discussed earlier as well. They were saying end of year from end of the year I think was the last that I heard from Tyler and Tyler's going to call them today and see get a start date.

I think the crew that's building it was leaving another store and coming here. And the other thing probably is kind of an important thing you of course we have uh one of our employees is leaving his days the last day is next Friday he'll be going to the sheriff's department and uh so we're going to we opted to do with the uh budget crunch and we don't know what Senate Bill one's going to do for us in the next couple years. We tried, we're going to with a new truck coming in at the arms, we decided to go with a part-time instead of a full-time employee at this time. We'll see how that works out. Hopefully that works out. Um, we do not want to hire employee and then budget crunch has to let somebody go. I think it'll work out okay for now. We'll just have to wait and see. um trying to we got to put some literature together to hand out to pass out for uh missing something. Just the top page of this, but I could have put it somewhere.

Really the top of the resolution. Yeah, we won't say you lost it. Well, the good news is I can that that's your that one's the that's the minutes. That's the back page of the minutes in your left hand. And that is the one that you That's probably the front page. Yes, it is. Thank you.

So, with the new truck coming in, we got to get some literature compiled. Uh they sent some samples um from Best Equipment. They're going to have the uh toters will be coming in October the 2nd and 3rd be put together. They're going to store them and put them together up here at the Morgan supermarket. Oh, and that was for what? For the toters and then uh they'll be bringing the truck and demo the truck the last of October. So, we need to get some info out to the residents to let them know what's transpiring and try to do it with door hangers and mailers and probably some visuals. You may have just said it. When is the truck supposed to be here?

Supposed to be here the latter guard like the 20some of October. That's what I've been told today. Uh so we want to get the word out there, you know, let know. Hopefully we'd like to try to start at the 1 of November, but it may not be the first, maybe the middle or how quick we can get everything all all notifications out. One, pardon black. Well, How long will it take to get those um to get them distributed throughout the community?

I don't think it take that long once we get get them put together and we get the list compiled which I gave Shane the list of addresses today. So yeah, they're going to put serial numbers on the cans for each resident. So that way we can track them. Is it what color? It's black. I don't know if I put a blue in it. Are the cans blue?

The cans are blue. They're very nice cans are heavy duty cans. So, do the best we can do to get the word out and hopefully it goes smooth. You know, there's always a glitch with something. So,

we'll work through the bugs best we can. That's awesome. I don't know why it's like that, but her name's on the second page, but that's your line. I don't I didn't print that. So, not sure what happened there. Thank you, is what happens here. Mess it all up. What did everybody do? Go celebrate Brandon's birthday. So, do you have any new business?

No. There was something that popped up in my head on old business that I'm trying to remember now what it was. No, you can't have your black trash can. That was it. Um, I'll get back with you. I can't remember. Oh, they are making progress on decorative lights. That's what it was. putting the lights on top of them today and hopefully they'll have them done this week. And do you know when our parking lot might be done? Well, Chris was supposed to send an email today uh to get an answer. So, I don't know if he got that done or not. Do you?

I do not. Cuz if we don't, maybe we can move the concrete and cover the holes for festival or Yeah, we'll have to do something different. But

I was hoping that it would be already installed. Um I think they have one. They're having a difficulty down there at the stoplight where the drugstore was and there's a lot of wiring and stuff and they're trying to work to get that there. They've had some issues. So, we're going to have to go back to the thinking pad and see how they can get that installed. I think the electric is actually run off the pharmacy on the old one. So, and then there'll be a uh ribbon cutting open house, whatever they're choosing to call it at the park on September 25th at 10 o'clock for the DNR grant.

Okay. That'll be the 25th. Did you say 10 a.m.? Mhm. What is it? 10 a.m. 10:00 a.m. The 25th. Fire chief over here is having a uh fireman's festival. 25th 26th and 27th. 26th and 27th. Okay. September. Is the hay ride going to be on it again? I don't know. Did you do a hay ride? I don't think so. I don't

Did you do a hay ride last time? We did a hay ride last time. We did a haunted hay ride with the boys basketball team last time. That was two years ago cuz we we got rained out last year. But we're definitely going to hate. I don't know if it's haunted or not. Just come thinking it might be a surprise. [Music] You said the 25th at 10:00 a.m. for the park.

Park park. Can't think of anything else at the top. Was he talking to someone when he called him? Nobody's here, right? He just pulled in. Well, everybody bear with us a little bit. We'll be We'll be back with you just intermission. I'm sure it's supposed to be brief.

Yeah. [Music] Okay. What's nice you join us today. I'll be here at 6:00. So, uh, we've been kind of buying a little time here. So, it's your time at the podium. Oh, okay. Uh, let's pull the Can you show the video? I did not. Okay.

Uh, show about show about three and a half minute video and it it'll say a lot more than I could say in an hour and a half. And then I just got a few comments. We're changing the way America thinks about fitness. From his parks and trails and college campuses to high schools nationwide, we're bringing free fitness everywhere. And we're just getting started. Hi, I'm Mitch, founder of the National Fitness Camp. National Fitness Campaign was in 1979 when we opened the first fitness group. Redesigned for the 21st century, the fitness group is the world's best outdoor gym. Our seven movement, seven minute system allows you to use your own body weight to get your coaching workout easier or harder, it will work for you. Our goal is to build healthy communities by making outdoor fitness an essential part of people's lives so that each day is better than the last. Now more than ever before, it is vital that we move fitness outdoors to remain safe, healthy, and strong. Michiganders uh as soon as we can we go outside which is one of the reasons why the fitness world was such an attraction. What impressed us most was their basic philosophy that they want to provide world class fitness for free. Truly anyone can use it. No matter what your age is, no matter what your physical fitness level is, no matter what your skills are, it is very adaptable. This fitness is one of the best things that Sentinel has ever done. Thousands of certified ambassadors will be trained to deliver classes, challenges, and clinics as part of our national fitness campaign. New programs are bringing students outdoors across America. The Fitness Gordon mobile app is your gateway to enroll in these programs. Simply scan the new digital wall with your phone to access a library of free workouts designed to optimize your

experience on the fitness court. Learn the moves and take challenges as we dig deep to create impact for our partners across America. This year we are thrilled to introduce the fitness court studio. The ultimate community wellness hub uniting the power of yoga body fitness and the arts. Fitness court public art continues to grow and inspire across the country as local artists collaborate to bring beautiful one of a kind murals to lifeline fitness sports and fitness court studios. We're proud to have help cities of all sizes millions of dollars from respected sponsors to support free fitness. Wherever fitness is a priority, you can find a fitness. We're partnering with large cities using urban movement data to map the best locations for healthy infrastructure. We're bringing fitness courts to within 10 minutes of population sav.

They provide these wraparound services that from a city's perspective, that's what you want in a partner like this. You want it to come presented to you on a silver platter with a low tire. They're one of the best partners I think that I personally have ever worked with.

We serve almost 1.2 members across Michigan and this partnership really is an opportunity for us to bring scalable free health and wellness opportunities to our community. So I would actually invite cities and organizations big and small to explore the opportunity to invest in sports to be very honest with feedback from different municipalities and different communities has been very positive. We are committed to raise over$1 billion to bring the campaign to 5,000 cities and schools building the largest outdoor industry in the world. Join us. Let's make world class fitness free. [Music] Okay, that's it. Kind of gives you a really good idea, but a couple things uh because they they talk a little bit more uh higher level there's se right now there's 750 of patient solders in the United States okay um and this this is a 2026 grant effort that's starting it they're starting it you know the end of the year um and this year's focus and it's it's top down that's the national fitness campaign that was there and the next level below that is the Indiana association for adult health which is the people I've been entering it and this year's next year's focus fortunately enough is southeastern Indiana which that's uh they are working on doing one in Lburg currently you know got one on the way there u I went up Saturday to IU where they just put one in this year on the IU campus and looked at it and it's just marvelous Like my daughter said, "Dad, they had one of these 20 years ago." Right across the street, that's the

dorm. I was a freshman. It's right in the center of IU's campus, 17th and FT. And then, uh, I came back, posted some pictures, and Josh Spicer goes, "Well, you know, they got one of those in Seymour." So, I went up yesterday to see more. They put theirs in eight years ago, and it's the same exact same one as this one. Same organization, same everything. Uh it has evolved from seven and a half years ago theirs and this one's a lot different. Several people have all the surface is cushion but they call pour and play. Uh seams is just like a rubber carpet but it's nice but it's not a and it's all one piece where these you have a problem if you take it out to another place. U they didn't focus a lot on there's really two pieces to it. There's all the exercise equipment, but then you can also put in a a second section that is just essentially a platform 36 by 38 where you can warm up, do exercises, do Pilates, you know, yoga, whatever, or even have events. Um, neither the IU one nor the single one has that second piece to it. Um, but uh the uh the guy I'm working with, Ryan Hudson from Chicago, uh he coincidentally I think he's really just shouting at me. The second meeting I down Austin over the weekend I said what the heck are you talking about? He said he had family in Louisville and he went to Louisville to visit. He says come up 31. I said Austin one mile. So he got off and he said in about a half mile or so. I said community park. I went over there. He goes, "Here's you got a fabulous facility and it would be ideal an ideal location for this one." He goes, "We don't want to put obviously check. We wouldn't put something like this out at Hardy Lake or Cliffy Falls here." He said, "Because you don't get

the population, you don't get the activity. You really want something where people come to it for other reasons and then see that and use it like our walking park or baseball field or splash park, things like that." Um, it's a four-step process. Where we're at right now is step one, leadership support. And that's what I'm doing. Going around and not not yet holding out my hand. I'm just saying getting a feel. Is this something the community feels would be beneficial to this community? Might I remind you, Scott County is 92nd out of 92 counties in the state of Indiana relative to health. We have the worst statistical health in the state unfortunately. U so right now it's just leadership support. I've met with the trustee. I've met with community foundation. Um I've met with the ARC and now I'm meeting with you all to kind of say what's the community, you know, is this something because like I said, the community doesn't want it. The people don't want it. We aren't going to waste our time. And that's why we take that step first. So if you get that beeping, I've got a follow-up meeting with him tomorrow, 3:30 kind of to touch base on where we're at. The next step is location and health impact. In other words, where would you think you'd like to have it? And obviously, we thought about embedding it kind of in the early part of the walking path so that you can you're not even using the walk, you still park the parking lot, just walk right over to it. Or if you're on the walking path, you can do the exercise on walking. uh health impact obvious and I got more statistical data that we want to read from Jamie Topi on dem age demographics and things like that and the Indiana part is obviously adult health. Uh the third step is to start funding. You know decided yes there's something you want to get a location for

it. Now let's talk about funding. The funding is three tier. There's the national fitness campaign which is these people then Indiana association for adult health and then the the big splattering of all the companies there the health insurance uh they like he said plays a big role uh Seymours was done by snack medical and community I use was done by IU medical so you know if you partner with them you get some support and then the last step you know qualification submitted the grant for approval. It is obviously first come first serve. You don't want to be July 2020 applying for it. He said it would be really nice if we were doing it to have it in place to submit the grant but other year and what I thought was remarkable. It might just be your loan. He said their typical turnaround between the time a grant is submitted and it's reviewed and approved or disapproved two weeks. He said, "We don't take six months because we've already done the ground work. We know they want it. We know what some funding sources are. We know the location. It's ready to start putting the show on the ground." So, they said typically once you apply here about two weeks, they typically turn it around two weeks. Uh, and like I said, 750 nationwide. The people just socializing that I've talked to um just overjoyed. Uh, probably the only constructive question, which is a good question, is do we have to do both pieces? No, you don't. You can do the exercise piece and not do the other piece or you can do the exercise piece and do the other piece later. Just as long as you make sure you got 38 foot of real estate behind it, you know, from that wall, they usually put the other piece behind it. So um and the the cost I I

had a discussion today or yesterday uh with the parks director Seymour u he's relatively new but he went back in archives service has been in seven years they've gone through this is he's the third parks director as they put it in because last person I talked to was a female u couple years ago uh he said based on what he saw all and you know obviously economics and evolution theirs cost about 90 somewhere in the $90,000 range for the single piece 7 and 12 years ago the the data that I've looked through they say and this is the national numbers the uh the exercise could run 160 if you do both pieces it's in the 200s range and people say well my god why is there such a difference that poor and play foundation is extremely expensive. We just put some on the playground, but it's wonderful. You sleep on it, but it is very expensive. Yeah, I can say that. But if you went with something other like a Seymour, that's how they put theirs in for 90. I'd say they probably saved $30,000. It's just it's a rubberized carpet. It's nice, but it's just solid. It's just car. It's the the cushion is just about that much on concrete where the ones those people are bouncing on with her beanies and stuff. It's a little softer. But that's I just want to get your feel for is this something you think your city could utilize means? This is that's all I'm here for.

I like the idea the funding part. Huh? I said, "I like the idea of the funding." Yeah, I love it. I don't want to pay for it, but I love it. Well, you know, like I said,

step we're supporting, but we are kind of poor, which that's fine. U trustee very supportive and he may have an exposure to funds u this next year. and uh uh Jamie Topi, he says, "I'll put together, you know, all the different kinds of grants, you know, that are focused, general, open that you could, you know, shoot at and see what you get. There's all kinds of those." Um, and second, and I'm not since I've been associate, I've not done any quite honestly, everything that's been done in the Austin Parks community, we have never asked a private entity for a painting. We should, huh?

We should.

We should. Yeah. And that's the next step. That's what Brian's going to say. Now that you got community interest, check four or five and and and the argument the case is, you know, healthy employees, makes for better products and and more sustainability. So, uh, you know, he he said, you go after that next. But uh kind of an anecdotal thing when we did the the DNR project at community park everybody bar none said there ain't no way in the world you'll get that much money. I got in three visits I got $450,000 and a person told me after I said ready the grant if I need another 50,000 all I had to do is ask you to give it to me. So, uh, you just got to go ask. You know, people can say, "Thank you, but no," or do I, I, uh, the the grant here could vary anywhere from 60 to 100,000 of them depending upon which health organization buys in with it. Their National Fitness 160, but he said typically we get, you know, you know, the hospital here, Norton, you know, You said an example on the puppy the medical facilities in the community belly up.

So now you're you're halfway home with no more. Do they do that leg work or is that something that

that's something they will help us do? Yeah. They help put together the case. You know the history, the benefits, the statistics u you know so you can go prepared. we don't do the light work but uh yeah and like I said you know the next step is you know and you know it's top down what can national fitness do for us what can the state organization for adult fitness do for us what can community entities do what can the businesses in the area do and then you know and they their strategy is we we don't cast a big net or shoot a shotgun we won't our grant submissions to have a high degree of success. That's why we did this why they do this work up front, not just throw out 14 grants, no one gets approved. They want winners. That's why they work. Any other question?

So when you went to the ARC, you you kind of made a statement that you needed a $30,000 commitment. Yeah. when to to submit the grant, you have to have not the money, but somebody to say in 2026, we would offer up $30,000. So, like if the ARC didn't, you know, didn't have it and could do it in the future or the trustee, it's just they got a commitment. And that's exactly why we did the uh DNR round. We didn't actually get the money for two and a half years after the screw. So, so some of that money could be in kind labor.

Uh, yes. Talk to me about that and some it could because you know the earth moving and and the the thing I want to push him on tomorrow is you know does this all have to come from company X and that's where you all are getting your benefit or can can we shop around? I mean I went over to Salem Monday. They have a something similar to those over there, but it's really just exercise equipment. Nothing nothing nice around it or anything. And no parking for location. U but you know, you can buy the equipment, but this is a whole unit. You know, sometimes you go get a better product. It's all looks the same, acts the same, things like that. Yeah. kind is is another component to prepping the location. I'm sure we dropped the front end front motor. Yeah. Any other questions?

No, I don't have any. I don't care about the favor and just come up with the funny. Yeah. So, I got a thumbs up already. Sure. Yeah. I got to stay around because I got a gift for members. Okay. Not writing the sound. This one didn't sound good. You don't have a gift for all of us. Oh, so it's not me. Okay. All right. Okay. No questions. I guess mot second. All in favor? Motion carries. You think?