Town Council - Regular Meeting

Chief like to call to order the town council meeting Wednesday, March 11, 2026. Stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Does anyone have any remembrances or acknowledgements? We'll go on to roll call. District one, Steve Shoemaker, present. District two, Paul Clary, present. District three, Stacy, present. District 4, Ann restaurant, here. Council at large, Lyanna K. Hughes, happy to be here. Deputy clerk treasurer Lanne, I'm here. Administrative town manager Chris Cook here. Deputy Town Manager Andrea Balomi here. Town attorney Fred. and engineer Drew PL present.

All right. You received the minutes electronically and also in our packets. So, do I have a motion to approve the February 25th, 2026 minutes? So, move. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. We have no scheduled request or comments by citizens. So, we'll go on to new business. Civil Town. Andrea.

Yes. Um so in here is um your statement of qualifications for professional engineering services for the SS4A program. Um the sidewalk committee met and the sidewalk committee made a recommendation to go with Commonwealth Engineering. Um in your in your packet I put an average score sheets uh for structure point and for Commonwealth and Commonwealth having the higher number. So that is why the sidewalk committee made their recommendation. Okay. I need a motion for the approval of the recommendations for professional engineering services. I would so move to approve that. All right. Second.

Second. Any other discussion? All those in favor say I. All those opposed? Motion carries. Chris, approval for the elite line striping.

Yes. Uh we we we got some quotes together. If you recall the historic signs that are uh there's 33 34 locations in the downtown core that we need to have professionally installed with some foundation work and the lowest and most responsive quote we had was to elite and that was for $17,680. Um, we had a quote from Sam Trucking and then a no response from uh from Hummel Electric. Um, the elite could start almost immediately and they their goal with your approval tonight. This is bond money by the way too. Um, that was allocated. We're under budget as far as what was allocated for the project and uh they would be able to start hopefully. Yeah, the budget was 70,000. We spent 29,244. So there's 40 $40,756 available. Uh so this is well under budget and they would almost be able to start weather permitting in the next week or so. The drop dead date to get this done would be by the July 3rd uh festivities, but

they anticipate that it would be done sometime end of April uh pending any unforeseen incidents. So um I would seek your approval for this amount tonight. All right. I need a motion to approve the estimate of the installation of the new decorative street signs. So moved. Do I have a second? I will second that. Any discussion? I have a two questions. Have we as the lead ever done been in contract with the town of Newbury uh subcontractor on uh several projects? Okay. The CCMG they I think you guys have also done striping projects individually. I think last year they did the they did all the crosswalk work last year.

And my other question was the discrepancy in number is so large. Did do you have any discussions with them about either firm on why the the differences are so I didn't share the difference with the the firm that gave us the higher amount. Um, I did not share amounts with either of them and I plan on uh on another project that that'll be coming up hopefully. The the one with the higher amount um they would more than likely be the low bidder on that and depending on your uh your guidance tonight. I would probably discuss that at that time. I don't I kind of gathered that that price was like they didn't really want to do it. It was a courtesy bid.

Yeah. Okay. That's what I was because the the the project they're interested in they were very competitive on. Yeah. And uh because they they usually are. Yeah. But I kind of gathered that they've got a lot of work on their plate. Sure. And uh because that was more than the actual uh signs cost. Yeah, you answered my question. Thank you. Any other discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. All right. Lannne Harding Chammensky. Engagement letter.

It's an engagement letter. We're having to do some special forms for the uh solar refund that we were told about it. It's a little more detailed than what we were told. So, we're reach we've reached out to Harding Chansky. They um Patrick there has done this before for his church. Um he did a lot of research. She said the forms are quite difficult. So when the accountant tells you that then you know we can't do it right and we do not have the software in our financial we don't have that financial software but hoping after he does the first one we'll be able to tackle the next few days. How much in rebates are we getting?

Um I think for the first one it's close to 15. Oh yes. So, in total, so um ideally all three rebates should be around $95,000 for all three buildings. Um the only thing that I didn't know is is there a price for them? Not yet. He wanted to get the engagement letter signed and then he's going to come back with the price, but he said he doesn't see anything over $1,200 at the most. Okay. All right.

But he did let me know that there are other avenues to get even more of rebate the forms. Yeah. That's why he said it's so detailed that they were actually getting more back than what was quoted. The quote from Morton was just for a 30% IRA which is for government entities and then a 10% as an energy community bonus. So that was what we that's what initially on the um the quotes that we approved. That's where you got the 95. That's where we got that that's so I'm just going off of what they put on that that quote from us. Okay. So, it's possibly more than that.

Excellent. All right. I need a motion to approve the engagement letter for Harding Shamansky and Company. I would make the motion subject to to it being less than or equal to $1,200. Okay. Second. Do I have Oh, second. Do I have any discussion? All those in favor say of the amended motion say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries. So if it comes back a lot more than that then we need to reassess it. One one way to approach it if it comes back more than that is to say we'll cost share uh you know or we'll share in the spoils if you find us more right that's a good way of putting it. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. All right. On to the annual SEOM report.

Yes. SEMA the capacity management operations and maintenance annual report. It's required to be complete every year as a result of the EPA's consent decree with the town that was established in the early 2000s which the utility is ultimately working towards a a closure. U the framework of the util of the report is to help the utility to successfully maintain operate and manage the system. Uh the report, I know it's rather lengthy, but really it's it's short what we're trying to accomplish. It's a it's a self assessment tool that measures the accomplishments and the hard work that goes on behind the scenes of the utility and they've had quite the year. But uh ultimately the the SEOM program over time as we've seen allows the utility to effectively run the system and ultimately lower the risk for NPDS permit violations. That's what we want to uh eliminate. So the utilities embraced that and really really thrived. Um again the the team takes great pride in managing uh the utility and the staff runs it with a very pro-active approach. U and they they understand the value of being really proactive verse reactive. Proactive saves the utility money by running it more efficiently. uh the assets have longer useful lives associated with them by having a replacement program. I know Russell's done a phenomenal job with a rehabilitation type efforts and on on larger equipment. I know the utility has done a lot of hands-on work themselves in house on uh equipment as well. Again, the utilities done a phenomenal job. And just for the record, I know Chris Cook has said this many times that Newberg is

a unicorn, right? Uh the the town only has 30 less than 3,500 uh a population of less than 3500 but the sewer utility serves about 12 thou has about 12,000 sewer connection and serves a greater 40,000 population with many of the great the the business such as deaconist hospital and all those other facilities being in the area. So just to give everybody an idea there's almost 20,000 acres in our uh project limits. That's well beyond the incorporated limits of the town. They maintain 24 lift station, 48 mi of force manes, almost 200 m of gravity sewer manes, 4,500 manholes, and provide treatment with the the large wastewater treatment plant. About 7.36 million gallons per day. So, I gave you those highlights to share what some of the accomplishments are here from the utility. That's worth noting. And I will hit the the the highlights here, but uh uh the preventive maintenance program, they they complete root control projects about three miles uh for the system for the year. They also remove gris grease and grit from the lift station wet wells over 168 times. And then for the inspection and cleaning, they video inspected almost 27 miles of pipeline this year, jet cleaned over 60 miles, and they performed acoustic evaluation, which is a a technology to prevent blockages. They had over 37 miles that they completed. And this was 127% increase from the year prior. Um that was with three less staff members. So they those guys were working very very hard for the year. And a couple other big ticket items I wanted to to mention because a lot of this goes unseen behind the behi behind the closed doors here from what the utility does. But uh they completed 16 mi of smoke testing for the

year which injects smokes in the ground and they try to find inflow and infiltration into the system and that was conducted mainly in the power subdivision basin. But the the ultimate objective is to get less storm water into the system. The less storm water that's in the system uh the the less water that's treated at the plant and that ultimately saves money everybody money right. Uh so the utility done those and found third found 33 areas that needed point repairs. Again they completed that work in the house and afterwards the engineering we we completed a pre and post modeling for the project to see how

what the the benefit was and there was a 30% reduction and that 30% reduction wet weather flows equated to an estimated savings in $3 million in capital improvements.

Excellent. So again, that was a phenomenal job by the the utility and those findings. And few more quick highlights make quick was capital improvements for the year that the utility had four construction projects about 4.7 million in total construction. And the the big project that everybody's aware of is a flow EQ basin which is set to start for uh later this year. Susan Russell and all staff members worked tirelessly on that uh to get the financing, establishing the bond, all the planning, designing and finally implementation that went into that project. Again, the whole team worked very very hard on that. Um and that project will address a large capacity issue that's at the wastewater treatment plant and provide additional resiliency as well. And that's the largest asset that the utility has. And and finally, uh, one last item. I love presenting this part of it. Um, the utility treated approximately 1.395 billion, that's a billion with a B, gallions of gallons of raw sewage for the year. And of that, they had a an overflow of 4,275 gallons. That's it. 4,000. That's impressive. That's 0.00003% of the treated overflow. So again, a testament to the town. And I think that's the lowest I've ever seen in it.

Well, also remember the one Saturday in April, we had 16 inches of rain in about 12 hour period on top of all that.

Yeah. Yeah. So again, Newberg just being an environmental leader of the the local area. And again, just to give kudos to to all those staff members who put all that work into this this report. The report is just a report. It's it's just a shows how hard everybody is and dedicate how hard they work and how dedicated they are. But uh if there's no questions, I'll uh I'd like to make a recommendation that the town council approve the the SEOM report and allow engineering to submit that to the EPA on the town's behalf. And Steve, do you have anything else you'd like to to add?

It's when you're in Indianapolis, when you're on the state house floor, when you're with any of the technical people in in Indianapolis, Newberg is well known for running a spectacular sewer system. And it's, as Drew said, and I can't I can't say this enough, it's not thousands of dollars of savings. It's millions of dollars of savings that go on every year because of the proactive work that as Drew said that happens at the wastewater treatment plant and uh I would be happy to make the motion to approve the SEOM report

and I will second. All right. They do an awesome awesome job. Do I have any other discussion? And I just wanted to say um Chris and I have finished our one-on- ones with all the wastewater plant out there. They had their evaluations at the end of the year with their supervisors. We met with each of them one-on-one. I mean, they do a phenomenal job, but they all are happy. They love out where they work. I mean, nothing but great things from them as well. So, I think it's just overall is an amazing team that we that we have out there. That's excellent. I have a question. Um, Drew, after you submit it, then will we get any feedback from the state? Usually they just um approve it. Okay. You don't want feedback.

No, I don't. That's a I was going to ask if we could if somebody could report to us or something. No, I I know. Thank you. What? So, we're gonna Thank you. Okay. Sincerely. Yeah. So, we're going to sh So, I'm going to make a small graphic with some of like the big highlights that Drew went through because obviously the SEO report is massive, right? So, it'll be on the website like it always is so people can look at it, but we'll do a graphic that shows the highlights and then with the link to the whole report if anybody wants

it'll be in the news the new the news part the the report will be in the website, but it'll also be linked in the news story that we'll probably have up in the next day or so. Here's the reason I asked, Steve. Um, at the meeting, the sewer meeting the other day. It seems like I remember it being said that in years past, there was a different person in charge up at the state and every once in a while she would come down with different things. And I know now she's retired. I just am interested in seeing the difference because I know what we do is phenomenal. But she had little comments every once. Okay. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah.

All right. Any other discussion? I would uh I would like to make a motion that we send a letter of accommodation to both Russell and Susan and to also the department as a whole so that everybody in rank and file gets a accommodation from from the council. All right. Let's let's uh vote on the first motion and then we'll take that as a second motion. Okay. Okay. All those on approving the SEOM say I. I. I. All those opposed. I. Do I have a second on Steve's motion of sending a letter? Okay. Leanne. Then any discussion? I have a friendly amendment. Okay.

That the letters that you send go into their personnel files. Okay. Certainly. A copy. Certainly. All right. with that amendment. Do all those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries. Those typed up for you guys. Okay. Unfinished business. We have none or none that we're going to go through now. Staff reports. Okay. I got my manager.

I got my report for you. under meetings. I want to draw attention that we attended the uh the AIM regional um meeting up in LoTe the round table on the 4th. It was myself, Russell, uh Chris Wisher, and then Drew was up there as well um with his organization. We had a good talk with several of the leaders from around the region and uh gave everybody an update on what we're doing here in Newberg. learned a little bit about the uh the end of the legislative session and I'll send out a reminder that they're going to have a legislative update here I believe on the 19th. It's a webinar in the morning. We'll we'll be in on it, but I would encourage if you have time to sit in as well. Um if you look under my report under miscellaneous um item seven, center point is going to be painting nine. Uh it's not in there this way because I just found out, but I've been working with Centerpoint on various uh street light replacement issues and pole replacements. Uh there were 10 poles in the downtown area, the the taller traditional poles. They ended up having to replace the one at at Preservation Hall. They did that this week. The other nine are going to be painted sometime over the next week or the next month, weather permitting. So, uh everything's going to have a fresh coat of paint. a lot of the silver has turned to rust and they're very thirsty. So, they're going to work on that and we received that confirmation and I emailed you a map uh earlier today, I believe. So, that should be in your email. On item 11, the tree great issues. Um, all the grades were removed that were in an area of concern. But the problem that we're running into, Drew has gotten us some estimates on the uh replacements.

And the reason I don't have those before you is the root balls are so thick in some of those tree wells. Replacements aren't going to sit flat either. So, we we need to like double check to make sure if we try to address that that we're not going to kill the tree. So, I got to do a little more homework. Um, that's why you don't have that in front of you tonight. Also, if you saw the video on item 16, the Veterans Monument Park was professionally cleaned on uh the 4th. I sent pictures and text and there's some video on social media uh with the vendor we've been using the past couple years. The same vendor that did uh old lock and dam building last year after the flood did this. They had a drone before and after too and some some shots. Um we found some maintenance money and a dedicated fund to that area that we utilize for that. So uh we we'll get that on a regular rotation going forward. Um so we're making progress there. I will be attending the Purdue Road School uh Monday through Wednesday of next week. And then at the uh end of April into May 1st, I'm going to attend the uh Indiana Municipal Managers Association conference all the way up in Angola. Um it's some Padawani uh I can't pronounce it. Some Indian what?

Pokeagen. Pokeagen or some uh native name up there in that's supposedly something to see. So, we're going to we're going to adjourn up there, but and then I attached the weekly website reports for you. Is where they have the big what? Bob sled. Pokeagen park. That's where they have the big bob sled or some kind of track. That's very famous. Yeah. I just got my knee fixed. I'm not going to try. Okay. Good idea. Any other questions for Chris? Um, sorry. I was gonna just one quick follow up to Chris. Drew, are you going to road school?

No, I'm going to be going to Alliance conferences, which is the same week. Yeah, gotcha. Sorry. Um, number six on the first page, uh, getting the 1803 entrance sign. Have we made any progress at all on Yes. getting additional engraving done the signs.

He did not feel that we could do that to where it would it would not chip the edge and I'm getting a second opinion, but he is set up to move it. He's going to go ahead and move the base and we're working on seeing about the upper piece that there's any repair work, but he's going to move forward again with the weather we've had this week. Uh he's going to give me a date once it dries out. They're going to move the 1803 up to where the there's one wood stake and one laying down. Uh he's going to go ahead and move that and then remove the foundation where it currently sits and then he'll be able to piece together the upper piece as well for us. He said he's he's not a this isn't a cemetery monument guy,

right? but he said he's a masonry guy and he he was concerned about the width and having to blast that in that close to the edge might flake it. So, I've got another call in to a monument guy that has the sand blasting stuff to see what he says to get a second opinion, but it has been set up uh with sellers was the lowest and most responsive quote that we received and they're going to when the weather permits in the next couple weeks get that base moved uh to its well, monument guys do that every day for a living. So, they should they should have some I don't know what's the issue with the current location of the sign. It's in the Well, I'll let

there's a long story on that. We have time. I don't want Give me the abbreviated version, please. Yeah. Well, it there's I think it dates back even when the original driftwood was going in. Uh there's easement issues with center points within Center Point easement. there's a sight distance issue for turning out and then Center Point would not allow us to relocate farther outside the the road right away. Um so I think fast forward about five plus years later, maybe even more.

Um after a dead end with Centerpoint, we've had some new people at Centerpoint that is now willing to work with the town. The town has a new location that's acceptable to Centerpoint and all other utilities. no sight distance related issues. Okay. So, it'll find a new home. Perfect. Thank you. Yep. All right. Um the the residence portion on the second page, a lot of these have been on here for a long time. Are we making any progress with specifically the storm water problems that some of these residents are having?

Yeah, we're working on the Well, it's on funding. I mean, a lot of these are going to take bigger projects. We've done minor repairs inhouse at most of these locations that we can do and monitor with our spray department, but I'm working with the engineering department. We're going to have the storm water board look at some of the storm water projects coming up. Um, but it comes down to funding. We've identified a potential grant source, but there's some uh some hoops we've got to jump through. Um and we'll have some presentations to you probably sometime after one of the upcoming storm water uh boards. Um but it there's larger projects on most of these that need to happen um in order to fully put them to bed. I leave them on there. There's been some some some temporary work done in each one, but I leave them on there just so that more of a reminder to myself. Um, but the the one on uh the Copper Creek is the most recent one on 12 and that was just reported recently, but that should be something that we can knock out in house and uh and fix hopefully. Um, but the rest of stuff with the the Monroe the Monroe one on number 11 should come off because the the storm water work's been done. We just need to do the final paving piece. And we've got three locations that we're doing some paving on and we're grouping those and it didn't get in before they turned the plants off at the cold weather, but now that they're coming back online, that should come off in a couple weeks. And then the uh item 10 will come off in the uh next meeting because we've we've addressed that. We've had an update since I made this report on Friday.

Yeah, I have that in the street report. Yeah. So, I mean, a lot of that stuff will come off, but some of these other things like the item one, for example, with the alley, that's going to be a future storm water project to really put that to bed. So, I keep it on there because after every heavy rain, I have to remind the our crews to kind of check that and regrade it because of the slope of the hill and the water that comes down off Main Street doesn't have a clear path to get down to Jennings. So, it cuts a ravine right down the Yeah. So that's why I keep a lot of that stuff on because we haven't put it to bed, but there have been small projects where we can do to kind of address stuff temporarily.

Well, on seven on the last page and 16, the Veterans Monument Park, uh, it looks great. Thank you so much for getting that done. And as far as number seven with the street lights, what went out on Facebook today about painting, that was great. That was great. Great explanation. Um, okay. That was great, Andrea. I'm not the graphic lady. Thank you.

I know how to make it get seen. I don't know how to make the actual graphics. So, but no, and I want to thank Jenna with Centerpoint to really help us. We've been working with her for over a year to get to this point. And then I want to thank Kip with Fresher with Pressure, uh, because they're the ones that did the work. And uh they got some awesome drone footage if you saw the videos online with the before and after as well. I have one question. Okay. Um when did you say that uh webinar is I think it's the 19th of March. I can email it to you.

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for uh for Chris? All right. Andrea, deputy town manager.

Um I don't have much. you guys have my um report with you. The only thing I do want to let you guys know um myself um superintendent of wastewater Russell Powell, your lab your lab supervisor James Muser and um the one of the head um lab techs, Desiree, she we all went to a job fair out at Pathways last night. Um and we kind of divided it up into two sections. you had your lab side and then you had your civil town side with your road work and storm water and stuff and um just got to talk to a bunch of people that came through there. Um we actually had a really great conversation with the principal with some possible pairing ups of either lab going and talking to some of the kids out there or them coming and touring. Um, they were talking about how some of the students out there are working on sidewalks and want to learn more about sidewalks and I was like, we got some projects coming up if they wanna if they want to come out and look. So, we're just really trying to build some relationships um with some of these tech schools on some of these job openings that we have and some of these potential career paths within CivilTown, highlighting PEF and doing all these things to try to bring those in. So, that was actually really fun um that we did last night. But then other than that, if you guys have any questions for me, that's all I got.

Any questions for Andrea? I think it's great that you went to that. Yeah, we got there's some more coming up that we're all going to go to. And um I think it's going to be a good good way to get some people in. I director of planning and zoning. Um you guys have her report. Um if you have any questions, let me know. We have HPC tomorrow. That's a big one coming up. Yeah. Just a question on the historic preservation. 221 State Street front patio. You talking about the patio that would go out onto Grey Street? I think it's behind it.

It's in No, that's Yes, I looked. Yes, that's the back backyard. Not front patio, but backyard. So, the front patio is the front is the the entrance to the house where the porch used to be, I think. Okay, I think she showed me a picture of it. Hold on. That's probably the reason why it's going. Hold on. Cuz there was a twotory porch that went all the way across.

She's been She's been doing the bulk of HPC. So, I knew I think I told her that one had to go. I think because it was the front. That's right. Old or old or orchard is the old orchard is the one that's in the back, but it's still an addition. So, it had to go because most things in the back wouldn't have to go, right? If you can't see it from the street because it's a new addition, it had to go. But the front patio, yes, it's front replacement of that. So, she's not doing the upper. I don't believe so. I'll have to double check. That's too bad. That's very much too bad. Yeah. I mean, what's historic preservation about if we can't observe Well, I have to I have to I'd have to look at the packet. I don't have it in front of me. Okay. But yeah.

Okay. Well, because I'll let I'll let you guys know. I'll double check it. Yeah. And I cannot go. I I am not going tomorrow night. Um so if there's anybody that would like to go from council, um you can I I was going to the historic. Well, I'm not even going to that. So Oh, okay. Okay. Clerk, treasure, anything to report at treasures conference. She'll be back tomorrow evening. We've got the uh 2025 annual financial report.

Did anybody have any questions on that? Not that we could answer it, but she said she would discuss it as much as you want when she gets back. Okay. All right. Any questions for Lan? So we have a master copy of the signature page. Yes. So we don't need to do anything with this. No. Okay. Yeah. Have to sign that. Okay. Town attorney. No report. Well, you're getting off easy. Any questions for him? Town engineer Drew.

Uh, no additional report unless you got any questions for me. All right. Commission committee reports their authority no report and BZA no meeting no report and fire. Just a reminder about the recognition dinner that's coming up April 15th. Okay. Do do we need to RSVP for that or how does that work? Do what? Do we need to tell somebody that we're coming or we just can come? I don't think so. But if you do it would be Nick. Okay. Um, unless he's got somebody else. I don't think so. Is that what you said? April 15th. Yes. It's a Wednesday. Yeah. Not our meeting Wednesday.

HPC is tomorrow night and you saw the two COAs that we have going. Paul Parks. Yeah. Parks board uh met last Thursday, the second Thursday of the month. uh a lot of excitement about the ninja course and discussion about when that uh groundbreaking would happen. No decision yet, but stay tuned. Um Andrea is working extremely diligently on the new master plan covering uh 2028 to 2032, so we're getting a head start on that. Good job.

Um the this is sort of been covered uh in Chris's report. Um, but I just want to highlight that the FEMA funds uh for Rivertown Trail have been awarded a little over 50,000, but the total uh estimate on to do the project is closer to 200,000. So, we're working on that funding.

Right. We had a we had a meeting with the E-REP today and I feel real good about some leftover ready money and we should have something um before hopefully at the next council meeting is what we're shooting for to get before you. Um it needs to go to finance first. They're trying to confirm that the because it's all reimburseable money. um we would have to put the the FEMA money up front and that should count as our match and then they would come up with the rest of it and then um SAM trucking has been the lowest bidder so far on that one and they said with the approval and the river level being right um they could probably mobilize in 15 days. Um this part of the ready money has to be spent by the end of September. So, we have a real short timeline and Sam's trucking said that they could work within that and they're going to honor last year's price.

So, uh we should have I got to get with Nette when she gets back and see about getting on a finance committee if that could possibly happen before the next meeting and then get that to you all for the approval. And then there's one approval on the u u side that they just have to get uh one of their committees has to sign off as well. and then we would we would be good to go. But um that's why we haven't really cleaned up the or our partners at H&I haven't done much work with the foliage through there um because it's all going to have to come out to do the fix so that we're resilient the next time the flood happens. If we just take the FEMA money and put the rip wrap back the next time the river comes up, we're going to be right back where we started.

But by doing this project this way, uh we'll be more resilient. I don't want to say everything's going to be riverproof because I've been on the river for 50 years and I know better than to say that. But we're going to incre increase our chances immensely um that that we will withstand the next time mother nature and old May River want to pair up and flood the streets here along Water Street.

Thank you. Uh the last thing I had is that the uh April meeting's been moved from the 2nd to the 9th. It's at Lud Dennis at 6 PM on that day. Um the uh parks board had asked and uh Chief Mitchell has graciously um complied to come and present to the parks board a park security assessment at that meeting. So that's all I have for that. That's good. Any questions for Paul? That's good. All right. Plan no meeting, no report, please. Paul, uh no meeting, no report. Uh these meetings have been moved to quarterly and so we'll uh the chief and I will get together with the uh police commission. We'll come up with a meeting for the second quarter.

Okay. Steve storm water. Our storm water board will meet uh on the 23rd of March. We haven't met for a couple months because of lack of activity and I would recommend that we go ahead and meet even if we don't have uh anything on the agenda. Okay. Any questions for Steve? And streets.

Streets been in cleanup mode and are going to continue to be for a while. They cleaned the downtown streets and sidewalks, the town parking lots and town properties. They removed the tree grates that we heard about and replaced it with mulch. They worked on decorative lights downtown and continued to patch potholes. They cleaned inlets, outlets, and catch basins. They cleared debris from ditches. They picked up trash around town and installed a no dumping sign at the end of village lane in response to what we talked about earlier. Also, uh, rip wrapped the shoulder of southwest corner of Sycamore and First Street and continued to clear off the walkway and to clean up limbs after the heavy rain that we've had.

Okay, any questions for an Steve? Utilities utility committee met uh March 6, last Wednesday, and you have the utility motions in your package. Uh I would recommend if you didn't have any questions, I would make a motion to uh approve motions two and three from the sewer utility motions of March 6. Do we have a second? Second.

Any discussion or questions? I'd like Fred to uh our attorney to give a little detailed analysis on mo on number two as it pertains to California versus the board of education in 1936. Looks good. As detailed as he's going to get. Fred's gotten off easy tonight, so I want to throw him one. So So now you got his heart racing. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries.

Uh standing committee finance no report personnel. We met prior to this meeting and uh working on a few things that will come to you at a later date. Lyanna Arts Commission.

Well, we have been very busy. Um, we have made a lot of headway with the summer schedule for concerts at the amphitheater every Saturday night, June, July, and August. Uh, those are set and um I will get you all a schedule soon. I'm going to ask Julie to do something like she did last year so we have a an actual um listing of who is going to perform when. And then in addition to that, of course, we're planning this uh another Earth Day, which is April 25th, uh which is a uh Thursday. And uh it's going together pretty well. We now have started having uh weekly meetings to prepare for that because we're down to the last month and a half or maybe not quite even a month and a half to prepare for it. We've already got several vendors. Um, we have crafters and artists and the whole bit like we did last year. Hopefully.

Like to make one correction. Is it It's not Thursday the 25th, isn't it? Saturday. Saturday. I'm sorry. Okay. I'm sorry. Is it April? April. Yeah. I'm sorry. Okay. Um, so anyway, the um I lost my train of thought. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

No, that's okay. Um, oh, publicity is our one is our one concern. And we had great vendors last year. Great. Not as many crafters as I had hoped for, but we had great vendors. And unfortunately, we just did not have the crowds. But what crowds were what people did attend was phenomenal what they could learn about. Um, unfortunately, I we just didn't do a good job of getting the word out, I guess. We hope to make that better this year. I've talked to different people to do publicity. I've already had my interview with Mike Blake on channel 14. Um he doesn't have a date yet when it'll be, but he's trying to get it in about a week ahead of the event.

Call Gretch and Ross, too. Yes, I have her on my website. All right, good. Lean has done a lot of work on that and also others, too. You would not just Okay, I'm throwing you a kudo. Take it. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Sidewalk committee Lyanna. Um last meeting um we didn't have everybody there so it was kind of difficult but um there was some some conflict. Chris, what was it? You had to go somewhere. You you left BCA. Oh, okay. Okay. There was an issue that that meeting went two hours. Oh my god.

Mhm. Well, and and it was fine. I just knew that we had something going on that we didn't have as many people there. Uh but otherwise, uh things are going well so far as Drew reports. I think we're meeting soon too, right? Next week. Is that correct? Yes. On on the uh 17th and it's at uh 10:30. All right. Any questions for Lyanna? What? St. Patrick's Day. Yeah. And I'm getting teeth pulled that afternoon. So, it's going to be a wonderful day. Um, Lyanna, growth in progress.

Uh, yes. Our next meeting is the 19th, which is is a Thursday. Okay. All right. Any questions for Leanne on growth in progress? Steve, do you have any miscellaneous business? No, thank you. All do you? I do not.

All right. And boy, do I ever. Uh, we had a meeting last night of the 250 celebration committee. It was well attended. Had some different people there. Still looking for other people to join the committee at any point in time. There's always time for more volunteers. Just a couple of things I want to point out to you. These are to me unbelievable opportunities. Um, the D, War County D is going to have a grave marking ceremony for Corporal Jacob Johnson from Maryland who was a an American Revolution veteran and settled in White County and he's actually buried on the farm that he owned and it's private property, but the people who own the property on South Rockport Road out of Booneville have agreed to allow people to come that day and um put a grave marker out for him.

So, it's Saturday, April the 18th at 10:00 in the morning and the rain date is April the 25th at 10:00 in the morning. I have more information. There is an RSVP to a member of the D if you plan to go. Floral tributes are encouraged. Um, what an opportunity. There are about 20 American Revolution soldiers buried in Mory County, which I had no idea. I'm quite surprised at that. And then going right along with that, Saturday, July the 4th at 10:00 in the morning at the Warry County Courthouse Salon, they're going to be dedicating all they're going to be dedicating something to all of the War County Civil Revolutionary War Patriots. So that's big also for D. Um they are following that with a reception at Main Street Baptist Church on Main Street in Booneville. And then there were lots of things um talks about doing things, craft type things, art things that people could do with with pennies. lots of ideas of what to do with pennies since they're not all that spendable anymore. Um, I don't know if we have any of these here, but if you want this, I can leave it and copies can be made and it can be left out in the in the lobby. This is an application to be in the parade for 250 and that will be July the 3 at 10:00 in the morning here in Newberg. Um, so all the information that we would need, I would like to encourage the council right now to say yes, we want to participate in the parade. We want to do something. We want I've talked to Andrea about it. Um when we participated in the bicesentennial parade, Newberg's bicesentennial parade

in 2003, we the town council was in some kind of a carriage, horserawn carriage and now be nice and we had costumes anyway. Yeah. Do we want to do something like that again? It doesn't have to be a float. It could be it could be something else. So, but I think the town needs to participate in this somehow work and then um the museum T is coming up to spot to support the Newberg Museum and that is July the 12th. And then finally, they passed this around. This is about the parade, an advertisement for the parade. And I challenged the people who were there that if anyone knew who's driving this farm all tractor west on Jennings Street, I would give them a penny. And there actually was a gentleman from Lynville who knew who it was. He's driving that in?

Yeah. Past Pierce's grocery store. Cool. There's the sign that says Pierce is right there. Oh, cool. Which is where Impulse is today. Yeah. But who's driving the tractor? Marshy. Well, let me see. Is that right? Yeah. Oh, for him. By the way, it's the 11th, not the 12th. What's the T? You said July 12th, but that's a Sunday about Oh, no. The T. Oh, we have a wrong date then on all of our on the flyer. Well, no, this is last year. So, forget that. Forget that.

Okay, great. That's it. We had a good meeting and we meet every two weeks at Freriedman and it'll be here before we know it. It will be. I mean, you know, we'll just turn around and Right. It'll be here. They reviewed the parade route, said they had talked to the chief about the lineup and the route and so on. I've spoken to H&I. I don't I haven't spoken to anybody specifically from whoever's hosting that. No. Oh, okay. H&I is helping, but I have talked to Troy about it.

Okay. Well, this came from Ivy. So, Troy committee, so Okay. Lanna, any miscellaneous? I have none.

And I have none. All right. Claims These claims have been provided to council 5 days prior to this council meeting for review. I would like to request that these claims plus any sewer adjustments be approved for payment in the amounts of for civil town 558,2634058263.40 and pursuer 1,184,636.921184 636 92. All right, I'll make a motion to approve all claims properly signed, including any sewer adjustments to be paid. Do I have a second?

Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed? I'll make a motion for adjournment. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion?