Town Council - Regular Meeting

You want to sign in while you're here? Yeah. And then I have a sign in sheet specific for the public hearing, too. Okay. Okay.

Okay. I'll do it. Have you started your meeting? I thought it was at six. It is. Okay. So, we'll just check for the public. Yeah. Okay. All right. Good. Then I'm not crazy. You take your time. It's question. All right. Are we officially opening it? Are we good? Yep. Are we good to go? Yep.

Okay. All right. Well guys, this has been a little bit of a whirlwind as you know. We got the call from or the email from SRF end of August and it was like let's put on the gas and let's try to make this this live. And then of course we got the notification about well the week of Thanksg the week before Thanksgiving that basically one of the units that we were wanting to go with which was that sear not the seagar it was the other the reliant. Yeah,

that item probably wasn't going to look wasn't looking real favorable on that. And in turn where we thought we might be able around the brim to put in the additional sale, no, we're going to have to get some property. So, this was literally at the 11th hour, which then we were racing to try to get an appraisal and a review appraisal and all of that good stuff and survey and what have you. And then we got thrown into having to do an archaeological dig this. So, anytime we use federal funds, whether that be through state revolving or through Oakrap, you have to do an environmental study. And one of the agencies that we have to reach out to is the state historic preservation office. They review it and they'll either give you a clearance or they'll request additional information. So they requested that we do an archaeological study on that 22 acres. Uh I got that arranged [snorts] the week of things. I mean like we found out on Friday and then on Monday or Tuesday we got the archaeological arranged. They were going to try to get us in and get that done um by Wednesday before Thanksgiving or Friday after Monday. I get an email from after Thanksgiving, I get an email from the archaeologist that said, uh, we weren't able to get out there, you know, as we had hoped because, well, I told him on Tuesday, you know, and he says, "So, I was planning on sending somebody out there today. Unfortunately, we got like 12 ines of snow dumped on us, so we

can't do the the the stud." So, I was like, "Holy smokes." Because Okra has these dead fast deadlines that if you don't have every all your ducks in a row by the time of application, don't submit because you're going to get thrown out on technicality. with that. I um Rebecca and I kind of talked we were running into some other issues with the appraisal and the review appraisal and lo and behold we just last week we're like I think it was probably Monday of last week we were like you know it's it's not going to well it was just churning you know because I mean I know that your project scope has grown, the size of it has grown, the dollars have grown, and although in the grand scheme of things, $750,000 is a small slice, still $750,000 you don't have to borrow,

right? So, I put together an email to Okra on Friday and just kind of explain that, man, we don't have the opportunity to wait until the spring because SRF has put us under this tight deadline to close. And if we don't, you know, I'm not saying that we'll get a war because it's competitive. you don't know. But I said, it sure be nice if we could get at least have an opportunity to throw our hat in the ring and then we will continue to work and then in the event that we score high enough to be awarded, you know, we'll have all of this stuff done by the time because that gives us January and February. And I said, you know, just please any any grace that you can provide blah blah blah blah. Well, they asked me, "Do you have all your other environmental?" I said, "Yeah, I had 15 agencies. I've got 14 responses." I sent everybody updates of the, you know, because we sent out the original environmental. I updated it. Senate, nobody had any issues. I said the only thing is is this arc study which I am 99.5% confident that it nothing's going to be found and then historic preservation is going to basically say okay here's your clearance and so um they were like as far as your property is it really can you I said we have got a willing seller I mean he is willing to sell this if we're willing to pay it. And you know, we got to do this. We've got item on our back. We've got compliance on our back. They said, "Go ahead,

submit the application." It's scores and get us the information as soon as you can. And providing that we have that information documentation before grant awards are made. um assuming that it's scores China will will go we can at least review the application. So I just found that out this morning and so last week I didn't really I mean I kind of put it on the back burner and here we are tonight. So, couple things that I want to go through with you and get and then give you as a task that we've got. We've got a couple things that we're going to have kind of put the go moving forward as soon as and we kind of need all hands on deck. So the first thing I want to do is we have a uh public hearing signin sheet that's specific to the public hearing that I want to go ahead and get circulated. There we are. So, I'll let you guys set in on that.

All right. So, this archaeological study, is there a new date that they're going to come? Do they need to wait till the snow's gone or what's So, the it's Larry Stillwell and I've used him for years. uh he's out of my he told me that as soon as the ground clears and it's you know and they could because what they have to do I don't know exactly but from reading the report apparently they have to go out there and like take a post digger type of thing. Okay. Yeah. and dig it down in several just spor they basically have to grid the property and then do these post digs

sporadically and they pull this stuff up and they go through that ground to see if there's any archaeological Indian arrowheads any I don't know what all they're looking for u but any archaeological signs of something of significance that there was that was where the Native American tribes were. So, I mean, it's supposed to warm up this weekend. I mean, it could have bare ground out there.

So, I am going to email Larry and tell him that we still because you're going to need to do this regardless if okra is in or not because SRF is going to require it as well.

So, both agency, it's not just for one. It's it kills two birds with one stone. So, I will uh reach out to Larry and say, "Hey, Larry, we still need to do this and we need to move forward with it as soon as possible. As soon as he gets it back, I'll get it turned into historic preservation." They'll review it. then they will send a letter stating that they're okay and that there's no historic no significant impact to historic properties which in turn then I have to send a letter back from the town saying that we concur with your concurrence. It's a silly process, but that's the steps. But I'm hoping that he can get in here yet this month to get that and we can get it to, you know, it probably it may be the week after Christmas or the first week in January, but we should be able thanks be able to get that all the environmental stuff done by the end of January. And as soon as I get those letters, I will make sure well actually uh historic preservation automatically CC's um okra the the final letter so they'll get it and then when I get it all off I'll forward it just so that they are aware that that's taken care of. All right. Okay. Sign in sheet done. Okay. Now um I'm gonna use the corn.

Sure. I'm sorry. No, you're fine. Fine. Okay. So, this is the I had you sign this early on, but apparently I used an outdated form.

Uh it's the disclosure report that is indicating that we are uh requesting 750,000 of which if we receive it will go to be utilized for the wastewater project. So, it says um you see that's us D and then where we're getting it from 750. That's our ID numbers. There we go. 750. I need you to sign right there. Perfect. All right. So now I'm going to take it from the back and move forward and go through so that you know what's all happening. Okay. So we have this section called the readiness to proceed. And that in turn has been um you've seen this section a million times. every time we've had it's a standard form. So what it is asking is for us to provide the an update on where we are at on five different areas. They go they go by the acronym of FEPS. The first is F for financial. So it's asking us have you gone through the SRF? Has your peer been approved? Has have you gotten a designated loan number? And do you have a letter of documentation from state revolving fund stating that you've been approved? And the answer to that is

yes. I have a copy of the letter. Yay.

The next the next E is for engineering. Have you had preliminary engineering completed? And to answer that, as you all are well aware, we did the original PER back in 2017. We then tried to revise it in the 1819. Then it kind of set and then we brought it back. We ended up going with Midwestern. they've gone through and they have, you know, it's good thing they they now the guns off of them for a little bit. I mean, but I think they've met with you and they're really fine-tuning that. The problem is is that as you all were aware when we initially talked we were hoping to cap this project at about 4.5 and then it went to six thinking that that was going to be high and then that was on the re that's when we were using reliant and didn't have to get extra property and then appar according to Mark I've talked with him he did come and meet with you all gave you the real numbers and said look we've done everything that we can But this project's jumped up to like 78 I think 7.8 million. So that is the estimate. Keep in mind we can potentially but you've been approved under SRF for like 14 15 million. I know that the engineering people are going to work to try to get that even lower, but at this point that's what's been presented to SRF and to IDM and SRF and IDM talk with Oprah. So I wanted

that story to match this story. So we are looking at a $7,800,000 estimate. If that changes between now and let's say we get the grant award, if that changes and maybe hopefully goes down, it's not going to impact your grant at all because the 750,000 you get points up to providing at least 50% match. you are well providing over $750,000. Even if it comes down to $5 million,

you still have exceeded that. It wouldn't change your match. You know, the points that you received, it wouldn't have changed the outcome. So, you're fine. Okay. Does that make sense to everybody? And hopefully we can find some creative ways to get out of the box. But I guess when you looked at originally $19 million of improvement, 7.8, it's better. I mean, I'm trying to be a little optimistic. In the right direction, so the next E stands for environmental. I gave you the update on that.

We're good. We've got a grace period, but we got to still stay on. All right. The next thing, the P stands for permits. Uh, all we have to do at this point in time is identify what permits will be required. I spoke with Andy at Midwestern this morning just to confirm. He indicated that we obviously are going to need an IDM construction permit and more than likely a general storm water permit from IDN, which I don't get. I thought that was the DNR, but apparently it's through item. And he said that those can be obtained within typically are obtained within 60 days of them submitting the plans to item for review. So they've been identified. We're good. Site control, that's what the S stands for. Okay. So what the deal is is that uh SRF requires that you do first of all we we've got to do title search on the property just to make sure that and that has to be a 50-year title search just to make sure that nobody else owns that property. Um so that's something that Annie you can [clears throat] take care of. I know apparently you're going to have to have the property surveyed, correct? And that can't be done until January or February, and that's fine because you're going to need that to write up your legal description and all of that. So, that you're aware of that you've got to do. Did

you get a report back from she you had to do the survey before because the Anita said that way the deed's written or the thing is 40 something acres. It's not just that specific parcels. So it has to be surveyed to be rewritten. Oh, so the title search has to be So this title search is contingent upon that. So between the two, the title search will be faster than a search. Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm hoping that y'all can get that accomplished in January as well. And and you talked to the surveyor, correct? Uh the gentleman that we're on we're on price schedule for January. Okay.

We don't have a second surveyor if there was going to be one. No, just right.

So, the first thing is title title search and then the survey is required for legal description. So, that's kind of I'm going to put that in Andy and Rebecca's hands to do. The second thing that we had to do is that we had to notify the property owner in writing of our interest and give them a copy of the URA, which we did, and we got the handwritten receipt that shows that that's done. So, yay, that's done. We then had to have the property appraised, which we do have an appraisal. Uh, we got that back. Under Oprah's law, under Oprah's regs, you have to have that appraisal reviewed, and there's only so many appraisers in the state of Indiana that can do a review appraisal. There's a lot of them that can do appraisals. So that was one of the things that I said asked Okra if they would give us some grace as far as you know we're trying to meet your time frames and we're trying to meet SRF's time frames. Could we just have a second appraisal completed in lie of doing a review because that would expedite and that's what SRF follows is two separate appraisals and then you uh you know you negotiate based on that. So they said okra did say that they would utilize a second appraisal. So, we're going to And I think Rebecca reached out today to try to get that arranged.

And so, Yay. Good, good, good, good. And then once that's in, then what we have to do is we have to put together a letter that basically, so once we have that second appraisal, just get back in touch with me. What we have to do is then we put a letter offering say to to the the the property owner just saying that in close please find your two appraisals based upon the appraisals this is what the town will offer. Now whether the property owner accepts that or not that's when you begin the negotiations and then you settle on a an amount and then that in turn would be put together in an option. So we need to get that option you know we need to we need to stay on this because we have we really got to have all of this by by you know January.

Okay. But um because I don't want them if we're in that scoring range, I want them to say we did what we said we were going to do. Here's everything. So is the document with the seller an option to purchase or a purchase agreement? It is an option at this time. So you put it it under option because the reason being is that we cannot underra's rules we cannot actually put it under an agreement purchase agreement until grant is awarded and we have advertised the environmental release.

So we're negotiating for the price of the option right? So you can you can but the appraisal is reflects the fair market value, right? So and I I I don't I'm not directing this at you, but No. Why do they think it's important that we wait to negotiate a price of the option if the uh appraisals that we're getting aren't appraisals for the value of the option, they're appraisals for the value of the property. In other words, I agree with what you're saying. We're paying we're paying for an option um upfront. Yes. That you have a negot

is the is the price of the option something they're going to grouse about? We paid too much of the option or is the option not being paid for by grand money so they don't care? So the option will have is basically from doing this and you're the legal demon. So you're gonna [laughter] you're gonna have get a long thing.

I know. I know. So basically what I have seen in the past is that you basically once you have appraisal review appraisal or appraisal two appraisals we write them a letter and we say Mr. Property owner in closed here are the appraisals based upon the information the town is prepared to offer you X amount per acre and I've got a letter that's just drafted up that you can fill in the blanks. we get that to him then you can negotiate and he can come back and say no I'm not willing or this that in the event that he you know let's say because what they do is that the state will say that if you have two appraisals the state and SRF say you take the average of the two and that is your offer on the other hand says you can't offer for more than the le the the least value of the two. So let's say one was for 10 and the other one's for eight, you'd offer eight. Where under under SRF, if one was 10 and one was eight, you'd offer nine. Come on now. I know it's dealing with these state agencies and they're different interpretations.

And good luck. Good luck sending the seller to appraisals and basing on on the load. Right. Right.

So, but that's where you start, but that's where you also can go and say technically this is what we have to do. You can accept it or you don't have to. And then you can counter it. And then he's probably going to counter and say he wants the higher drugs. Now, what's going to happen on that? And this is where both SRF and Oprah will come into play is if we offer eight and he says uh uh uh uh I want 20. Well, both of those agencies will allow you to utilize your funds, their their funds

to pay for the eight, [snorts] but then the difference you the town would have to pay for out of your own resources. And in the tail end, if there's loan money left through the SRF, they may reimburse you, let you utilize that to reimburse yourself or because like since we passed the reimbursement

resolution, would that cover it back in 2018 on this whole project? How Eric had that? Yes, but you can't exchange any money for Hawaii. So, yes. So, first of all, you're writing them a letter, you're giving them appraisals, you're making an offer, they either accept it, they don't. If they don't accept it, they'll negotiate. They'll tell you how much. And as long as you are aware that hey we may have to come up with the money over and above then you put together a p an option to purchase based upon that price. But Annie in all honesty it's a purchase agreement.

It's a purchase agreement with a very large condition. It is a purchase agreement that has got a condition of like not you know 120 days or this is good for some and instead of a titled agreement it's titled option. Okay. Does that make any difference? Yes. I mean if we get a friendly enough seller who allows us to condition it upon the receipt of the grant. That's exactly what it is. Yeah. Okay. It's receipt of the grant and SRF loan fund. Okay. which you're going to get the SRF loan funds, but it's signed as an option

and you don't and it is conditioned upon those those monies being received prior to the loan closing. We will have to do an the environmental that we've done. We have to publish it. It has to be in the paper for so many days and then Okra and SRF will release the project environmentally. At that point in time, once it's been released environmentally, we take the option, retitle it agreement. We actually sign the option.

We have to sign the option. Then once we have environmental release, we can move the option into an agreement which puts you on the hook of buying it. But you you know you've been awarded the Oprah grant and you know you've been awarded the SRF. So, it's going to happen and it's just a matter and then once you once you sign it as an agreement, you can use your town funds to purchase it and then we can reimburse you with the um SRF loan when it comes. Okay, I know that that's a little convoluted,

but that's why I try to kind of work you into half. So right now what you need to concentrate on title search, survey, appraisal. Once you have those three documents, let me know. I'll put together the next step. Make sure we're all on the same. We'll get that done. We'll get the next step done. So say sound okay? Yes. Okay.

It's just these crazy old. So anyway, what I did here is that I um I've already you I have your signature. So I've signed that we have everything in place. I in turn put together letters that explain each of the circumstances and where we are at on on each site control, environmental, all of that good stuff. So that's what our readiness to proceed. All right. Any questions there? Okay. All right. So now let's get into that is section 10 and then section um nine is the environmental. Section 8 is the public hearings which with the signin sheet we have everything we need there. Yay. I got to type up minutes and then that'll be in the full out relation. Right. All right. All right. All right. So, let me put this where it go. There's a bunch of documents. Huh. That's crazy. It's crazy. Crazy. Okay. Now, this is what you're going to have to do in your actual meeting, but I'm going to leave you the paperwork, but I'm going to explain the paperwork to you. Okay. So that is section seven. So section seven in the public hearing and I made copies of it and because I have your digital signatures. I went ahead and put them on but I want you to do it officially in your meeting. Okay. So here you go and

I'm going to go through this information with you. All right. So what this is is your local match resolution. So it's giving us authorization to um so you'll need to make a motion in the meeting that you are authorizing the application submission to OKRA and providing the local match commitment. So, it should say wastewater utility promp improvement project. It looks like I got everything edited. I tried to do this very quickly today. Um, complete the necessary. And then your local match is $7,50,000. So, that's down in that last paragraph right there. You see?

So, that is a $7.8 8 million project minus the $750,000 grant and that would be the match that you would be supplying if we are awarded. Okay? So, make that motion in your meeting and get that resolution passed and that that number's on there. Now, behind that resolution, we have to put various support documentation. And if you catch any typos, let me know because I can still edit that. I've got to write it. Okay. So, I have to write a letter that says basically just reiterates what we just said, which there's the letter done. And that we do have a wastewater depreciation fund. Is that correct, Rebecca? I think we do, don't we? That a portion of every you put 5% it's built into your rates, is it not? uh

in the rate structure it is because so much of it goes set aside used to for the thing of the bond but it's just now all in our operating okay it's there well it's fine then there's our letter from um state revolving fund and then we you're utilizing ice miller on this project correct

that's what so I reached out this is a copy of the one for uh Turkey Creek. It's just holding because I had reached out to Lisa who is the attorney at Ice Miller last week to get her to write what's called a a bond council opinion letter and it has to be you know they have to have bond council's opinion. Um I didn't ask her to do it for you guys but I did today. So it will be forthcoming. All right. And I'll be replacing Turkey Creek's letter with your letter and it's just going to be different people, different amounts. All righty. Okay. You have a second resolution that you have to adopt tonight. And I have no idea why, but they require it. This one is I went ahead and I just did did it 1215 2025B thinking that that would work perfect is it okay? All right. I was like all right. So what this one is is that the first resolution is submission of the OPRA application and commitment of the local match. This second revolution is that you are officially intend through resolution intend to borrow the money upon in order to move this project forward. Does that make sense?

Okay. So these things need to be in your town approved tonight and in the minutes. Okay. That's the financial. Anybody have any questions there? No. Okay. So, that brings us to the other things. And really, here's the big one. It's not that big, [laughter] but it'll be because you guys are all going to roll your eyes on it. So, uh, when we thought, had I not thought this project was dead in the water, I would have reached out and told you couple weeks, two weeks ago to do this. But hello. So now you've got like a couple days, but if you divide and conquer, you can get this done. You know how Okra loves those letters of support. Each of you need to get two letters of support from residents. All right? I don't care if it's your mother, your brother, your cousin, your neighbor. All of us are here talking council members. I would really like for all of you to try because I can only use seven. So,

so if you all try to get two, then I've got some to choose from. All right. They can be handwritten. They can be emailed. Just have them email them or drop them off here to Rebecca. as Rebecca as you get them, you forward them to me. Okay. All right. So, conflict a thing on this. We can have whoever.

Yeah. As long as they don't for the town and as long as they are a resident of a Those are the only two stipulations. You can't work for the town or be a council person, but you could be married to a council person. Okay, I need you to not be blatant about the you know that you have your wife's Mrs. Sainer sign. Okay, it'd be better if you could go across the street to your friendly neighbor. All right, now what you need to have people write. All right, here's the deal. They don't have to be long and lengthy and all of that, but basically they just need to indicate who they are, how long they've lived in Akran, maybe their address, you know, I've lived in Akran for 15. I'm my name's Jim Smith and I've lived in Akran for 26 years at whatever location. They just need to kind of come right about that, you know, although I mean if they can be as specific that they know that the town has had a longstanding issues with their wastewater treatment and collection. If anybody has had an actual problem where their sewage backup or they've had a sewer line break, it's good to document a few circumstances so that that helps me paint the picture, you know. So, I'd like to have some sort of I either know and if ideally this has happened to me. All right. say that they know that they have, you know, that this has been a problem with the town, that they understand that you're facing challenges, potential fines, and what have you. It'd be good

if you could get a few of them to talk about their environmental concerns. You know, I'd love to have somebody write about that. Hey, I've got small kids and they go down and play in that stream at times or fish and the whole thought of having and I know you don't have it often, but think who we're writing it to. We're trying to get $750,000. So, take a real situation and stretch it as far as you can. All right. That you know we cuz what I'm trying to do is the health health and public health and safety. We don't want our kids in the lake or in the creek with nasty stuff.

Uh we don't want the town to have to be dealing with this situation anymore facing these fines and penalties. Third, they can talk about, you know, although we know that the town needs this, we also know that it comes with a big price tag and that the impact to our rates is concerning that, you know, it may cause me to have to pick whether or not I buy hamburger helper that week or filt. I don't know, you know, whatever. But talk about from a financial standpoint, but we can't have them all being financial. I need a couple public health safety things. I need a p and then they can say, "Oh, well, you know, overall the town's done an outstanding job and we're supportive and we really hope that you'll understand our circumstances and we'd appreciate any grant assistance." You kind of with me? Lead your people through that. So environmental financial town's been dealing with this. Yes.

The wetlands whenever they discharge they discharge town lake. Is that actually a part of town? Could I use somebody up there? No. Absolutely. Because I got this whole section whether or not the wetlands stay in here. Hell, I don't know because it keeps changing on me day to day. But talk about that town lake because I've I've talked about it in the narrative. So if you've got somebody at Town Lake that can say, "Hey, you know, based upon what you've heard or the test results and that type of stuff." So each of you, and I'm talking I need these by noon Thursday at the latest. So I'm hoping that each of you maybe can reach out tomorrow to some people

and and get them in. And I would, you know, like I said, email, they can type it, they can write it, just get them to all Rebecca. And then once Rebecca gets them to me, Thursday at noon, because we're supposed to have seven, but I want seven really good ones. So that's where I really need your help. Okay. Other than that, I think we're good to go. I know that were did you have any success today on these MROs or any of that stuff? Working on it. Okay. I got the survey information off that we had like four. So like when we did the water, we only had like 24. I think I had 48. Okay.

Of the wastewater survey. So I printed off those results for us to go over. Okay. I'll be back around 10:30 in the morning. Tomorrow.

What What time are you thinking? I told him around 10:30. Well, around 10:30 because I I'm on board to talk at the county commissioner meeting in Kasco County, which is in Warsaw, at 9:00 a.m. I think that they'll have me close to the top of the agenda, but I can't guarantee it. Um, you know, sometimes they tell me, "Yeah, I'll be there at 9:00 and I'm there at 9:00 and I set till 10:00." So, if I'm running late, I will text you and let you know. Um, but my hope is to be out of there by 9:30, which then puts me in here by 10:30.

Okay? And then we'll work on work on getting that tweaked out. But if you guys can work on the letters and you understand where we're at on everything and you can do these resolutions tonight, you're good. They're done. Okay. All right. [laughter] Don't open my mouth. time to spare. I open my mouth and say, "Please, please help my little community.

Give me some wiggle room." I did. I figured if they email me back, Elm Sand, you know, but I did. I got it at like 8:30 a.m. because they didn't email me back on on Friday. And that's what I was like. At 8:30 this morning, I just jumped out of the shower and I was checking my email and I was like, "Oh, oh, I was like happy, but then I was kind of sick because I was like, oh no, I've like not done anything on this for over a week and now I'm like so then I'm like texting you. I need your and then Nicole says I got that already. Sorry to

shine. Okay. Anything else? Thanks, Shannon. You did a good job. [laughter] We know. We know what we have to do. Um, is there any questions from the audience? Any concerns, questions, anything? Public public. Make a motion to close the meeting. All in favor? I 5:52 p.m. Good. I got an hour to get to 30.