County Council - Regular Meeting

Good morning everyone. This is the Delaware County Commissioners meeting. It's um September 15, 2025. The time is 900 a.m. Let's uh open the meeting with the pledge of allegiance, please. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Ed, could you call the role, please? Uh, Commissioner Rian, present. Commissioner Bran, here. Commission Henry here. Attorney Brook here. Welcome back. Next we have um appointments. You guys have any Yes, I do. I um have good news for the fair board that Mr. Jim Low, who recently few years ago retired from Ball State has agreed to be a board member for the fairgrounds board. Jim Low. Jim Low. Is that Hello. We Is that a motion to nominate? Yes, sir. I'll second.

We have a motion to put Jim Low on the fair board in a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Bran. Yes. Commissioner Reagan. Yes. Commissioner Henry. Yes. Uh on the board of health, uh Jamie Bane's going to reach out to the mayor and see where he is with that final appointment. And civic center authority. I spoke to President Piper. She said they're looking for somebody with legal background or an attorney. So, anybody that is an attorney that would like to serve on the civic center authority board, please reach out to the commissioner's office. And is that one of our boards that has to be balanced? Um, yes, it is. Yes. Yeah. So, do you know which we're looking for? Republican.

Republican. Very good. Thank you. We'll move on to uh tabled business. Is there any tabled business that either one of you would like to remove? No. Um, does it need to be removed later? What the solar? We wanted to Yeah. vote on that today. Um,

that's a solar moratorum. Yes. Commissioner Brand. Yes. Commission Henry.

Yes. Next under presentations we have the uh road right away Ashton's land surveyors. Good morning. I'm sitting there just didn't realize I was so early. I'm so happy to be at early on the agenda. Thank you. Um, okay. I have two parcels. I'm trying to figure out which one's first, but we have one that's on um 5915 North State Road 3, Muny, and that is in the name of um that is the Herbs Plat. We are dedicating the road right away right there in front of the property. It is on North Walnut Street here in it's just outside city limits on old what would be old three. So we have just a little bit of road frontage that we need to dedicate on that one. I have gone through planning or platting process and we do have approval.

Did anybody have any questions or comments? I do not. Entertain a motion of approval. So moved. Second. A motion to approve and a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Regan, yes. Mr. Brand, yes. M Henry, yes. Thank you. And the second one I am I on the agenda both times? Okay. The second one is it. Can you hear me?

Okay. Okay. Uh the 30 3860 East County Road 650 South and here it is has a Muny address. It is in um Monroe Township. It is in the name of Shrout. Um, it is we are dedicating the road right away right at the front of his property to do a subdivision plat for him to be able to sell his house off.

We do have platting approval. I apologize. Sorry. What? I so move. Approve. A second. A motion to approve this request in a second. Roll call, please. M Regan. Yes. Mr. BR. Yes. M. Henry. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have the uh Delaware County Sheriff's Office firearms training facility. Mr. Payne.

Uh good morning. My name is Andy Payne. I'm the training director for the Delaware County Sheriff's Office. We'd like to request um uh to be allowed uh or an ordinance to allow us a fee structure for the Delaware County uh firearms training facility. Currently uh we're looking at a a three- tier pricing system in which local agencies such as Albany eaten Gaston, Selma, Daleville, Yorktown, City Police, uh Ball State, uh the hospital would be allowed to train for free as they currently do. We think that it's critical that uh all of our local agencies have access to a firearms training facility. Currently in Indianapolis, there are only uh three ranges that are available for firearms training. And so we're receiving a lot of influx from departments like Noblesville, Speedway, Carmel, Lawrence, uh that are requesting to use our range. Uh currently in Indianapolis, uh one of the few private ranges is charging almost $500 a day, and that is their law enforcement pricing. Uh we'd like to uh ask that we be allowed to charge outside law enforcement agencies a $100 a day uh usage fee. Uh and then the the third tier of pricing would be for outside vendors. The sheriff's department has uh teamed up with a local training company called MTAC. Uh and in our agreement currently um we're allowed to use their training facilities and they're allowed to use our range. And under our initial agreement, uh we were allowed two spots in any class that they taught at our range. uh because of some changes to their business model, they've been acting as a as an intermediary to bring in some third-party training, which they've indicated they're unable to give us free spots at. Um and so we'd like to

be able to charge a $200 a day fee for those organizations. Uh those include groups like Sage Dynamics, Boyer, Poet Society. They're national uh nationally recognized training uh groups that do provide high quality training to law enforcement, but that currently under our agreement we're not receiving anything from. Um I sent Commissioner Bran uh a copy of our of our kind of annual expenses. Our annual expenses run about $5,000 at the range. Um, those funds currently come from either my training budget, my firearms training budget, or through discretionary use of commissary funds when the sheriff allows that. Uh, by offsetting some of that cost, we'd be able to fund continued range improvements without a burden to the taxpayers. So your fund, all these would go into a new fund

into a or into my current firearms budget. So you're asking for $100 per day for any outside law enforcement agency. Correct. And $200 a day basically for private That's correct. private organizations and zero dollars for anyone inside Delaware County. Absolutely. And that also includes um you know we have uh divisions of the FBI and ATF that will come and help with our training and provide us with uh you know expert advice and training and we wouldn't want to charge them either.

Is that enough? I was wondering what kind of insurance policy maybe

I guess I would seek guidance from you guys on that. I I think that $100 a day is fair for outside law enforcement agencies. I I know that I work with a budget and, you know, I I think that that would be an amount that outside agencies could easily support. Uh whether $200 a day is enough for for third party uh groups. Um, you know, I know that I have been to ranges that range from $500 a day to $1,300 a day, but I also don't want to unfairly burden the students because a lot of them are law enforcement officers that are paying out of their own pocket that are going to absorb those costs. And I I think that, you know, asking every officer that goes to those trainings to pitch in an extra10 or $15 a day is doable, but if suddenly they're paying for the cost of the class plus their ammunition, plus their travel, plus a range fee, I'd hate for it to be um too much of a burden for officers seeking training out of their own pocket.

Any other questions? Yeah. How long is your contract with MTAC? Um, currently it's an open contract with MTAC. There's not a set date that I know of. So, the motion would be to approve the fees discussed today to be deposited back into the training fund for the sheriff's department. Correct. Firearms training. Firearms training. So moved. Second. We have a motion to approve this request and a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Regan, yes. Commissioner Bran, yes. Commissioner Henry, yes. Thank you. And then if something happens, you feel like we may need to bump those up, please get back with us.

Okay. Um, we already have some training scheduled for the year, would that be something I could begin at the beginning of 2026? Yeah, just Yeah, absolutely. Just look at it next year and see make make sure we're charging enough is my thing. All right. Thank you, sir. Will we have to memorialize this in an ordinance? Yeah. Yeah, that's what we'll just we'll we'll draft an ordinance that it goes into that particular fund. Very good. So, in our next meeting, hope we hope to have this memorialized. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. I think we um I think we need to go back to um table business. I see Mr. Howard from the U land bank here. Okay.

And I did not see him. Mr. Howard, I'm sorry. I didn't see you back there. So, let's go back to tape if we Are are you uh are you suggesting we take the property requested by Mr. Howard off the table? Right. You making that a motion? So move. I'll second a motion to remove that from the table in a second.

Roll call. Commissioner Bram. Yes. Henry. Yes. Mergan. Yes. Nate. Uh, one thing that we haven't discussed on these properties that we're offering you at one time we talk about some money being maybe given to us and we haven't sat down and discussed how much maybe what's the minimum bid at a deed sale? These properties are deed sale properties, correct? Our amendment was 8.95.

895. Okay. And the original request was for I can't remember 4753 properties. Something 45 properties. 45 properties. Thank you. And then um some of the properties that you had requested were recently uh transferred to the Muny Redevelopment Commission. And then some of the properties that you had requested, we're still testing if they've received proper service in the deed sale. So, I'm not clear on which properties exactly would be in discussion today. Are you? Um, I mean, I think I I I think they're 13 properties that we're talking about, but I'm not 100% sure. I was

I was thinking it was 13. We need to vet. I I think we need that list of 13. provide us that list and then let us uh give it to um our attorneys and ed and make sure before I think before we can discuss it. Yeah. You agree? Yeah. I don't disagree that just to be fair, there was a little bit of pre-work done, but I I don't know that I'm still clear on exactly which property. So, there were two lists, a list A and a list B. Um that I still think we need to combine those lists or vet those two lists. Do you agree, Mr. Howard, or do you know the addresses of the 13 properties?

I mean, I I think, but if if we need to take uh some time to go through that and make sure that's fine. It would be helpful for me to know what we're what we're asking for, whether they're deeds or certificates, and then if there is some money being um yeah, part of the deal, then I would need to get that vetted with my my board. Um, so I don't know if that's something we do at a public meeting or we we do I think you should vet your board to see if they're interested in potentially paying the minimum bid for these properties. Okay. But we need the list to see if they're even available. Mhm. Right. Okay. Can you provide that? Mhm. Okay. Yeah. Thank you for being here today.

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. I make a motion we put it back on the table. Second. A motion to table this again in a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Regan, yes. Commissioner Bran, yes. Henry, yes. All right, we'll go to contracts and agreements for approval of the strategic energy audit. Commissioner Bran.

Yeah. So talked about this just in passing a couple times about AE agreeing to pay for an energy audit of the county's buildings, specifically the county building here, the justice center, uh the health department, and the highway garage. We'll start there, but we would eventually do all basically this is an approval uh a customer participation agreement. We've met the program eligibility, so all that work's been done. Uh if this board approves the customer participation agreement, then we'll sign it and then uh Mr. Chambers and I will get with American Electric Power and Clare result and get this kicked off. Could we add the fairgrounds, some of the big buildings that have

which building specifically? I would think the Heartland, the memorial and the community. Yeah. So the answer is yes. Would you like those done in the first round? So what we did is we went by a meter and tariff rate and the amount of kilowatts used and the highest bills first and they are this building um the justice center, the health department and then the highway department. So those buildings you mentioned fall just outside the top 10. They they would be very small but one thing we need to help them. I was out there last weekend and they have 17 bills that come in. So if they could if we could get A to even consider consolidating them

consolidating that means they have if they have 17 bills that means they have 17 meters. That's right. So I don't know if that's an IURC deal but I will ask them. Thank you. Yeah. So, I'm asking for approval to uh approve the customer participation agreement that you have in front of you. Second. So, we have a motion to approve this in a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Brand, yes. Commissioner Reagan, yes. Commissioner Henry, yes. Thanks for working on that, Commissioner Brand. You're welcome. We have the uh village parking garage.

Yep. So, this uh the agreement you have in front of you, Jenna, put it on the county's letter head is basically a comfort letter that the commissioners are supporting the assessor's office uh in the matter of the village parking garage. I make a motion to approve. Second. We have a motion to approve the letter and a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Reagan, yes. Commissioner Bran, yes. Commissioner Henry,

yes. Next, we have the marathon contract, which um we just received this and I know there was some emails floating back and forth this weekend, but I would uh I'd like to table this so we have more time to review. I agree. I'll make a motion to table and and u it was received on Saturday. I appreciate their effort, but there just wasn't enough time to vet this and I think legal still needs to take a look at look at it as well. Yep. Yeah. Second. So, we have a motion to table in a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Bram, yes. Men, yes. Commissioner Henry,

yes. Is Brad back up here? Brad Pulk. I'm going to pass him and come back if he should. Yeah, he he said he was coming back. So, we'll we'll we'll uh we'll bypass Brad. Uh we don't have any ordinances for first reading of ordinance 25-9, an ordinance to amend the ordinance regulating traffic on certain public streets in Delaware County. So, this was introduced at the last meeting. This is the second reading. I don't have any comments or questions.

I'll move and let me be clear, these are the ones uh concerning truck traffic. um down around 400 South and 67. There's um 600 West, 700 West, 800 West um some of those roads, but it's it kind of revolves around 400 South. Yeah. Basically goes from Cowan Road all the way to State Road 32. Yep. So, we have a motion to adopt and a second. And a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Bram, yes. Commissioner Rian, yes. M Henry, yes.

Next, we have ordinance number 2025-20. uh being a resolution of approval to amend the text of the Delaware County comprehensive zoning ordinance regarding solar energy. So late in the week we received uh some feedback, a couple recommendations from American Electric Power went to uh the planning commission and I think Kylen sent those to us. Is Kylen here? Kylen, do you wish to speak at all on this? If you don't, that's fine.

She she did she did receive those as well as as well as us. Uh Kylie and I have been discussing this. Um I would like to review I'd like a little more time to review this. I would also like um we we still have to work on the property value guarantee language. And quite honestly, before I uh vote on this, I would like all of that in this agreement. I would I would like I would like some language cleared up.

I don't disagree. I want to clarify a few things for the public because a lot of people are here today to to listen to this. The stuff that American Electric Power is wanting is specifically around um substation setbacks, poles and underground wiring fencing and commercial battery energy storage systems. and they basically don't want this ordinance to set the rules for their own projects that are not related to solar projects. So, they're asking to delineate between uh a solar project and uh and their own project. That's number one. And the clarification on the property value guarantee language is not necessarily to change it but to clarify it per I believe moral Hoff was uh spoke at a previous meeting and asked for some clarification on a couple things and it the property value guarantee is only to clarify.

Correct.

Okay. With regard to the consideration of the ordinance according to the statute you can accept the ordinance as written, you can reject it as written. You can modify it and send it back to the plan commission for consideration. Or you can conduct another public hearing and consider it at a later date. You have to do that within 90 days of the date that it was presented to you, which I think was September 5th, if I remember right. Um, so if you want to modify it, you can modify it. You can table it and modify it and send it back to the plan commission for consideration. So, do do we consider September 5th the official certification

date of amendment? That's when I received it. Is that is that the date I asked you, Colleen? Is that the date that you're considering? Yes. Okay. Well, we have time and it's I'll be honest with you, it's not it's not correct or it's not complete in my opinion, right? That's just my opinion, but it's not complete. It's a little fuzzy. Um, and I would like it completed before we I mean we we've we've waited this long. I want to complete it. So, you want a clean copy of the the prop the clarification of the property value guarantee and consideration for American Electric Powers

clarifications. That is correct. I'll make a motion to table. Did you see that? Second. We have a motion to table and a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Rian, yes. Mr. Bram, yes. Mr. Henry, yes. Okay. Uh, we have resolutions for approval. We have a resolution of Delaware County adopting the Delaware County multi-hazard uh, mitigation plan. Uh, Mr. Cino.

Morning, commissioners. John Cino, EMA director. I know you guys adopted this or approved this multi-hazard mitigation plan. And this is just a resolution saying that you did adopt this and have accepted it as a plan for the county. It's it's just from the state side of it. It's paperwork that they need with our inind match if you don't mind. Do we have a copy of that in our packet? I don't see it. It's not in the packet. So, uh, John, did you have you wrote that resolution?

I think John sent us a resolution. It was the the template. Template. Yeah. Correct. Okay. So, um, let's, um, if you can get that ready for next meeting, I will. Let's table this resolution. Okay. And then we'll we'll vote on next meeting. Is that is that okay? Yeah. I think they I have till November 1st to send in all my inind and paperwork for the match portion. So Okay. And that would be one of the pieces that goes with it. So Okay. Yep. We would be okay to table it. Perfect. Entertain a motion for tableing that move. Resolution. Second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Reagan, yes. Commissioner Brand, yes. Commissioner Henry,

yes. Thank you. Um old business we have dispersement request.

Yeah, this is the bot for the mental health facility. This would be the final payment from BW. They had asked us to approve this probably four or five weeks ago and we said we wanted to hold it um until some more things were completed. Um the the last thing we were waiting on was the Comcast and in my opinion uh BW's gone above and beyond to help us get that done. That was really the responsibility of recovery solutions and you know looks like we may potentially be going a different direction there. So I would make a motion to approve this final payment request from BW. Um I'll give you the exact amount. $254,590.37 254590.37 and this is paid out of ARP. That's where we've been paying it out of, right?

Second. We have a motion to approve that request and a second. Ed, do you have that total? Yes. Okay. Roll call, please. Commissioner Ban, yes. Commissioner Rian, yes. Commissioner Henry, yes.

Thank you. Next we have uh department heads of elected officials Kathy uh Butterfield. We talk about the incubers tax. Yeah. Good morning Kathy Butterfield, Chief Deputy Treasurer. It's come to our attention. it. So, when the Delaware County Fair deposits their checks for their camping or whatever they bring in, they usually used to do it in checks or cash. Well, now it's come to my attention because it's coming through EFTs. When it comes through an EFT, it comes across my my email. So, I was looking into it to see if they are supposed to be paying an inkeeper tax so I can keep them in compliance. I reached out to the fair board and they said they were exempt. So if that was the case, they were unaware. I said it I mean we'll need to dig into this because even though you're exempt doesn't mean it keeps you exempt from that tax. So I reached out to the business compliance tax compliance and they responded that if they have camping that that tax needs to be paid. So therefore, I sent it to um to Commissioner Henry and um Eugene Whitehead from the council and had a small conversation with Shannon and he said we would discuss it today. Today also I got a um email from the business tax compliance again and it says depending on the county the types of accommodations may include but not are not limited to cottages, tents, fixed trailers, houseboats, craft with overnight facilities, campsites regardless of the amenities such as water and electricity are included. Space camper parks and trailer parks where spaces are offered for rent for periods more than 30 days. It changes a

lot of things with this. I feel like I do need to get more information, but I do think it's something we need to address. Prairie Creek does charge an inkeeper tax for their cabins, not for their campers. So, I don't know if that will change that as well if we say that the fairgrounds has to pay an inkeeper tax on their campers, but I just want to make sure it's across the board and I'm within my guidelines because in my audit, I want it to show the right way in whatever we decide I want to put it in our inkeepers files. That way, I'm up to date. Mr. Brook, are you aware of any kind of ordinance that addresses this? No, I'm not aware not aware of any ordinance. I did do a detailed response. I mean, yeah,

I don't necessarily agree with the uh state because of the language is real specific in a tax and it doesn't include doesn't specifically include camping as as I read the statute, but so I disagree with the Department of Revenue on their interpretation, but I think it's worth to take a look at as it relates to, you know, the other areas in the county and the city. Um, and the Department of Revenue, you know, I don't think the county is going to sue department revenue to challenge this, but somebody else may. But right now, the Department of Revenue says this has to be part of the inkeepers tax. Yeah. So, there's a question about do we go back? Right. Do we charge them? And then if we do charge them, do we go back?

Yeah. They don't, from what I understand, they do not have a lodging facility. it's they bring their campers for like the dog shows or the any of that and they have their own, but that's the same as Prairie Creek. So, if that's the case, if that's how we're going to hold that standard because if we switch it, then we also need to readress how we do Prairie Creek. What was the last part of what you read from that business tax and compliance response about 30 days? um spacing camper parks and trailer parks where spaces are offered for rent for periods of fewer than 30 days. Fewer than 30 days. Mhm. Yeah.

I don't think it'd be a problem to start doing that, but to go back I think would And also this tax it doesn't come here. It's not it's not ours. It goes to destination my so it's not anything we're imposing on, right? It's just something that's been overlooked in the past and we need to clean it up. What do other counties do? I have emails out. I haven't heard back from them. This all kind of just came up the end of last week. Um I was off on Friday. When I checked my email this morning, I didn't have anything, but I'm going to work hard on it this week to get more information. Yeah, I would hate to impose a tax that cause people not to come to our community and participate in the fairgrounds events. Well, it is,

you know, that may cause the fairgrounds to not be able to host events if they don't have enough participation. So, I'm Well, that would be true. When the car carnifold comes, he has all his workers that stay in a is is there a recommendation of what percentage they would charge? Yeah. What What is the tax? So, they have a tax form. Um, and this is how it works. All the hotels, the motel, the Airbnbs, they all have a tax form that they fill out. And I believe it's is it 7% or 8% of the of what they bring in for the month. And then they have to have that into us by the 25th of every month. We record it, collect it, and then we send it to Destination.

We would need some education on it. That's for sure. How we're going to do it. And you're still gathering information. So do you have a recommendation for the commissioners today? I mean, I would I would let me get some more information and see what the other counties are doing because I mean, like you said, if it if it doesn't need to be there, obviously it doesn't. My thing today is I just want to stay within my guidelines that way when I'm audited, I'm fine because right here it says, but I I mean I don't see I don't know honestly. I don't have a

I don't know if this is the right way to word it, but I don't have a dog in the fight. I just want to make sure I'm within compliance. And I I get it and I we appreciate that. Why don't we Why don't we let you get some more information and um table this get some more information and come back to us and and at that point see what the other counties are doing and maybe make a recommendation. Okay. Okay. Appreciate it. I move we table. I I'll second. And I just want to be clear. So you're looking for the commissioners to either adopt or reject an inseper tax for this so that you can pass a compliance audit. And then you guys, so the commissioners will also be the ones that set the guidelines on how we tax, who we tax. It's not necessarily we tax, it's the state.

Yep. I understand. Could you forward any information you get from the other counties? Could you forward it to us and our council, please? Yep. Thank you. Thank you. And while we're at it, we might look and see what other campgrounds are around here that we need to be. Well, I don't think we're worried about other campgrounds or Well, I'm just saying. The only thing would be is if my question would be is if they're bringing campers in to the fairgrounds and we're charging for the campers. Prairie Creek already pays for their lodges. Do you want Prairie Creek to pay for their campers? Because I don't know. Can you do one over the other? I don't think so. I think it's going to be same across the board. I don't know. I need to study it.

Yeah, we we need we need to figure it out. Okay. So, we have a motion at the table in a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Bram, yes. Commissioner Rean. Yes. Henry. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have uh Brad Pulk. We're going back to you. The agreement for tax sale legal services. Okay.

We'll just swap we'll swap spots here. Um, so I had sent out um to the commissioners council um a an agreement for uh Buchanan and Brooker Schmidt. They are tax sale specialist uh attorneys for um coming up on we're coming up on the tax sale. Um and so um we're looking to um get approval of this um agreement for their service for their legal services for the tax specifically for the tax sale. I haven't had a chance to review this. I did I just saw in the packet. Okay.

When I got it today. Is this the same company we've used in the past? We have not. This is a a new company. the um so Alex Brookens Schmidt um has been um doing tax sales or involved in tax sales as legal um presenting um presenting his legal advice and and and working with counties um for 15 plus years. And so that is basically all this company will do uh is is our tax sale. And this would propose the rate of $250 an hour. Yes.

And a county our size, they're they're they're probably looking at about um they said between 50 and 70 hours of work for a tax sale. Um our vendor does a lot of it. They're just, you know, going to be giving advice and and working with that vendor um on on tax sales. Why are we not using the same company we used in the past?

Um, so we've had um some issues as far as like getting getting back information uh in a timely manner. Um, and with tax sales, there are deadlines, specific deadlines um that have to be met throughout the um total time of uh up leading up to the tax sale. And so we've had some um problems with that uh in the past. And uh so that's why we're looking uh at the new new company.

One one concern I have is Mr. Bergen Schmidt does represent uh companies or individuals that buy tax sale certificates and I've I've had occasions where I've had to to go to court representing the county and he's representing an individual. I'm wondered about a potential conflict of interest. Okay. on those. I I think he's got two or three that may be pending now that I'm aware of. That's interesting.

Yeah. So, with we we did speak about that. Um he did let us know ahead of time that he did have a couple um he just would not be able to represent us in those. Um if if we needed to go before the judge, he would not represent be able to represent us. And did he say he would stop? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. If if that's the case, then obviously when those are done, we're looking at next next um you know, for next year, he would not have um be representing any any clients.

I'm going to be honest, I don't feel I don't feel good about that at all. If if Brooke and Strugel can represent the county in the cases where Brooke and Schmidt can't, can they just represent the county in all the cases or or to to do this work? Their their their fee is $200 an hour. This fee is $250 an hour,

right? Um so there are um like I said there there has been in the past um some time time sensitive um answers that we need to get back and and we have not we've had some some issues with that um in the in the past couple years and so you know I don't want to I don't want to have to postpone the tax sale or not have a tax sale because we didn't meet legal requirements. This this allows us to move forward on that and and actually make sure we guarantee that the county will have a tax sale every year. And that's that's what we're that's the whole driving point um is to make sure that we don't end up not having a tax sale because something's not a requirement's not met. I think we've met all of the requirements. I disagree. I mean, uh, we've been doing this for a couple years now and we've had some some problems, but with some of our vendors and, um, but I would like to take a look at this agreement and have a discussion about the the, uh, conflict of interest because it he's he's represented uh, these individuals in these other tax sales before. So, Any comments?

Well, I'm of the opinion that Mr. Carol and Mr. Poke run these tax sales and that we should support them, but I'm good to table it if you want to. I'll second that. You want to table the contract? Is Is there time, Mr. Um there is I mean before our next tax sale is October 15th. So obviously and I will be out of town for the next commissioner meeting. Um so if we push it back the one after that it would be the uh Monday after the tax sale.

When did you want them to start taking over? um they could start whenever the the agreement would be um signed, but obviously if it's going to be tabled, then we would just probably start next next with next year's tax sale. I mean, our legal council is advising us that he wants time to investigate this. I understand that. Yeah. We have a motion to table in a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Regan, yes. Commissioner Bramley, yes. Henry, yes. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Any other department heads, elected officials? Purdue. Oh, there's Purdue. Yep.

Morning. Justin Curley, Purdue Extension. Um, I just wanted to take a moment to come up this morning and introduce you to our newest staff member, Vicky Gaway, joined us last week as our 4 extension educator. Thank you, Justin. Yes. So, some of you know me. My name is Vicky Gway. Um, I'm bringing 18 years of teaching local high school student science here in Delaware County, lifetime member of Delaware County, former 10-year 4 member as well, and two years of former Purdue Extension um, experience to the table. So, welcome county building. Thank you, Sher. Thank you. Welcome aboard. If there's anything we can do, let us know. Thank you. Thank you for your continued support. Thank you.

We need to promote for age more. Matter of fact, I used to have a sign up here because when is the new sign up dates? October. October. Thank you. Come back and Well, do shoot. Thanks, Justin. Any other department heads or elected officials?

Okay, we'll go on to um the weekly and monthly quarterly reports. We have a payment of claims of $4,292,32.80. Part of that's riverboat lit and wheel tax. Commissioner Brand, do you have that broke down?

I do. Um, so wheel tax uh in these claims today, 23,3108. Of that, Delaware County receives $81,999.95 riverboat wagering tax. Uh, all in $317,2352. of that Delaware County receives $80,1324. Uh lit certified shares came in total 1,336,948.92 Delaware County receives $478,958 of that public safety lit $557,62 total. Delaware County share $26,46941 and economic development income tax otherwise known as edit $891,29925 all in Delaware county's portion $481,630 and there were about $43,000 worth of credit card claims with no explanations. But I did notice the descriptions was doing better.

We are getting better. There's zero description on the credit cards. Yeah. I would And did we switch credit card companies? No. Okay. Yeah. I would like to see the buildings on that second line that utilities go to. Which building it was for? Yeah. Yeah. That'd be a big big improvement. Yeah. Um, in the last meeting there may have been some ARP claims in the payment of claims. Do we need to amend the numbers that we approved in last month in the last meeting or are they all still correct? You ask me.

Yeah. Anybody? So, some of the ARP claims were in the payment of claims and the the ARP amount we approved. I'm I'm asking was it was it correct because we approved those numbers in the last meeting. We cured it until we answer our question. Okay, Tanya Dunmore, chief deputy auditor, I thought I got with you later on that day and let you know that all the numbers that you read were correct. Okay, that's good.

Okay, thank you. and if we could get together on the credit card because that's paid out of our office. But what happens with that is all of the departments turn in their individual claims for the credit card, but then one payment is made. So trying to put an explanation on one payment for every single department is impossible. So, if we could invite you in to show you how that's done and maybe we can go from there on a compromise as to what you receive. Can you put Can you put the department? It's going to be all what what account it's coming from

instead of now you have to look at it. You got to go through it. It may be multiple maybe pay for multiple lines. Many multiple. It takes it takes a little bit because you gota you got to look at the number and then you got to go to the back of the page. This is the reason I brought up this issue a year and a half ago about using credit cards for all these different types of payments. Yeah. The resolution is to pay it through the regular claims process, not use credit cards. Right. So, if you want that, that's what has to be done. I got you. I will come I will come meet with you. What I'd like to do is pay our bills on time

and also any anything we're using credit cards for. If we can get a an on call agreement, set up an account at these places so the departments can go direct and pay it pay it through the claims and not have to use a credit card. That'd be ideal. I'll get with you. Great. Yeah. Thank you. Um Okay. So, make a motion to pay the We have a motion to pay the claims. Second. We have a motion to pay the claims and a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Regan, yes. Commissioner Brand, no. Commissioner Henry, yes. Next, we have the payment of ARP claims at $213,28960. That was mostly um

it was cobalt silver civil to the Delaware Regional Wastewater District $45,9857 and the final payment to EMB for the Justice Center parking lot drainage and resurfacing $168,191.3. I would make a motion to approve. Second. We have a motion to approve the ARP claims and a second. Roll call, please. Bram, yes. Regan, yes. M Henry, yes. Next we have the payment of payroll for uh 910 of 251 $1,ion42,48110. So move second. We have a motion to pay payroll in a second. Roll call, please. Regan. Yes. Bram. Yes. Henry.

Yes. Thank you. We will move on to public comment. Um Tommy's got the list. Thank you, sir. Like that t-shirt. Thank you, Tommy. Um, we we'll start public comment. Um, please limit your comments to three minutes. Uh, John, will you keep time for me? And Robert Coaster, the first person that signed up.

Yes. Thank you for your time. My name is Robert Kester. It's I live on West Bernell Drive here in Muny. Uh regarding the solar ordinance, I had a general question which has to do with conflict of interest. Uh I'm wondering about the complications of commissioners that might have family members that have uh farmland that is somehow influenced or affected by the proposed ordinance and if uh in your role as a commissioner you would be wise to recuse yourself from the vote. I'm also wondering if uh with regard to the original task force that was created several years ago and the proposal that they brought forward which is a compromise between advocates and objectors um that was set aside and totally rewritten by a member of the commission. And so I'm wondering if that creates a conflict of interest on that person's part because if they're the author of the document, do they not have a conflict of interest voting on it? Particularly if they also sit on a planning commission. So, uh, it's just a question I'm raising. Seems like there is conflict of interest.

It's not in my family.

Thank you. Next is Cheryl Swingley. Cheryl Swingley, um, Delaware County. Um, as we're still waiting for an ordinance to be passed, uh, I would just like to remind you that if you accept this ordinance, you're probably going to reject some good paying union jobs that I estimate would probably be about $52,000 a year. And I want you to keep that number in mind. 52,000. Um, and you're also getting ready to turn down business from a major industry, and that's the utility solar industry. We want jobs in Delaware County, and I used your favorite tool, AI, this morning, and our jobs are declining in Delaware County, according to AI. So, um I don't know what we're going to do about that when we're turning down a major industry. Uh seems shortsighted. Uh in addition to jobs, I'd like to see good paying jobs. And the kind of jobs that we've attracted are like hotel jobs and those kinds of things. And they pay maybe $10, $15 an hour. That you know, that's 20,000 to $25,000 a year. It's hard to live. I don't even know how people live on that. Again, $52,000. Um, I have from a resource and Jim Mogul called this to our attention. Delaware County is fifth from the bottom in Indiana for median household income, $45,910.

That's our average wage in Delaware County. Randolph County, which I know you hate to hear about, is number 33. Their average income is $53,322. Uh they have a slightly higher, more than $100,000 income, 16.4. We have 16. Not significantly. Uh there's no significance really to that. We're pretty equal there. And our household earning less uh than $15,000 is six 16% in Delaware County and 11% in Randolph County. And that was in 2020. So I don't know what's happened since then. Uh let's see. Finally, uh we want people we want people to move here according to the Albany town hall meeting. Well, it's not happening. even though we had an increase, we still had more people leave. So, we're still down like more than 200 people. Um, and as of July 2020, July 2024, Delaware County ranked 77th out of 92 Indiana counties for population growth. Wow. Okay. Uh, our air pollution is bad here. And mainly it's because of Indianapolis and Carmel. we get lumped into that and our water quality. Um although I I will give kudos to the water company and I promote drinking tap water.

Uh it's probably safe to drink water. Um but we've got some problems with some of our ditches. Thank you, Cheryl. You're welcome. Appreciate it. Thank you,

Jackie Sheets. Machets, Dan Barry. Good morning, commissioners. Uh, I'd like to talk about the new solar ordinance. Uh, the biggest problem I have with the solar ordinance is the origination of it, where it came from. It just happened to show up and then all this controversy over getting it adopted. The study group spent a lot of time, their own personal time and energy going through everything on the ordinance and we had a decent ordinance. one that the solar developers that are here now started leasing land four or five years ago and then now here all of a sudden they're wanting to change the rules of the game and all I can say it's very bad for business and Delaware County has had a long history of business not coming to Delaware County being turned away and going to adjacent counties. So, we have missed out on a lot of tax money. And I think at a time when the property taxes are being cut to the city and the county, the solar companies in here are going to start putting some money into the tax reserves. That should help out. Maybe something more serious like a income tax

won't have to be put on the residents of Delaware County to make up the shortfall. So I'm saying that the solar companies will help and also help a little bit on electricity into our grid. I just uh so it's and another thing is time for Delaware County to stop listening to all the nimi people out here that have turned away business for the last 30 years that I think we could have improved on. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dan. Doug Marshall. Good morning, commissioners. Uh, I want to begin by sincerely thanking you uh for the time, effort, and consideration you have given to the issue of of industrial solar development in our county. For years, this has been a complex and sometimes difficult process for you. You have listened to residents, studied the issues, and shown your commitment to protecting farmland while also planning responsibly for the future. I I especially want to thank you for the solar moratorum that you enacted months ago. That was a wise and thoughtful decision. By choosing to pause, you gave yourselves and this community the opportunity to step back, reflect, and carefully evaluate the impacts uh before moving forward. That kind of leadership takes courage, and it showed that you put the long-term good of this county above rushing to meet outside pressures. The time you created with that pause has made all the difference. The planning commission has now thoroughly reviewed uh the proposed ordinance that you have sent them in their strong vote of 8 to one in favor shows both the depth of their work and the broad support uh for this approach. Their decision reflects months of study, public input and careful consideration. I believe their recommend recommendation gives you a solid path forward. uh they recognized your good work and supported and supported it. I encourage you to take their recommendation and approve this ordinance. Uh doing so will safeguard valuable farmland, preserve

the rural character and agricultural heritage that generations have built and provide clear and balanced direction uh for the future. On behalf of myself and many others in this community, thank you again uh for your hard work, your patience, and your leadership. The choices you make today and beyond uh will shape our county for decades to come. And I'm grateful for the thoughtful way you've approached this important issue. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Doug. Joe Russell, Joe Russell, 3501 East 700 North Eaton. Today I want to talk about something you've all noticed that it's been extremely dry lately. uh very little rain since July 3, August 1st. And some counties are starting to put burn bands on. I think there's 11 counties. Our corn is is rapidly turning dry brown and it's at a stage that that it would burn. Commissioners are one group that can put a burn ban on, I believe. And a lot of that's just an educational tool to inform people, don't burn trash, you know, be careful. Um, I would rather have it put on earlier than late. One map I just saw had us spilled over into OI and Illinois as the driest place in the nation with Sanwaqin Valley in California, which is always dry. So, I'm just saying I'd rather be a little proactive on that. Over the years, I noticed most of the fires on our farm, um, they start along a road, someone throws a cigarette out, burns through the side ditch, and then the field catches on fire. Second, people burning trash, spreads into the field, especially on windy days. Third, maybe farm machinery has a hot bearing or something. We're we're putting a tank on our grain cart. We got a tanker ready to go. But, uh, if you want to put a burn ban on it a little earlier, um, it wouldn't bother me a bit. And once a corn field burns, the corn has it it has that smoky

um, even though the ears may still be hanging from a stalk, it really has no use. I mean, animals won't eat it. It's just there just nothing good about it. So, just a just a thought. I save my other speech for next time. Thank you, Mr. John's still here. Cino, are you out in the hall? There he is. Yes. Um, help me refresh my memory. Last the last burn ban we did, didn't the fire chiefs request that? Is that right?

Correct. Yeah, we I can go to and we talked about that uh already this morning just because we're supposed to have still warm long draw of warm weather this week and what rain we had on Saturday was probably not enough to satisfy the ground. So So you have talked with you have spoke with the fire chiefs about that? Uh not all of them yet by can Are they in favor of it? Do you know? Some are, some aren't. Probably. Some probably are, but I can check with all of them today if you'd like and report back. um or include you guys in email correspondence. This is my thing. We we don't have another meeting until uh 1st of October.

I know there's burn bands in place down south already. So So I guess um my question is John, can we approve a burn ban upon the request of maybe the fire chiefs? You can declare an emergency and have a meeting at any time you want to. So if the fire chiefs declare want a burnband then you can declare an emergency have a meeting with as little notice as an hour. Okay. And conduct the meeting that way. Do it on Zoom also. Possibly. Yes. Because you're not you're not appropriating money. So Okay. You guys you guys okay with that? Is there any questions of Mr. Cino? No.

You will you be able to get a hold of them today? Correct. I think. Yep. I can do that. Well, just let let us know what the consensus is and if we need to have an emergency meeting, we'll we can do it. We'll have one. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Joe, for bringing that up. Um, next, uh, Linda Hansen.

Good morning, commissioners. Uh, Linda Hansen, League of Women Voters, Delaware County. I want to thank you for delaying a vote on the uh ordinance today in order to clarify it. And I also want to comment on a couple of things. At the Albany uh town hall, uh Mr. Brand raised the home rule issue. And so in Indiana, just to clarify, uh we have a home rule statute that grants counties power for any purpose not expressly prohibited by the constitution or statute or granted to another entity. However, this power is uh still subject to state law and a county cannot create ordinances that conflict with state regulations such as those for planning and zoning. Mr. Brand, however, is correct in saying that the legislation establishing the criteria for solar ready counties does not mandate uh counties adopt those criteria and that without the funding that could have been a carrot for adopting the state standards, there's nothing to require that our ordinance meet those criteria except perhaps good sense. Um comment only humans have politics for two reasons. We are opinionated and we are egotistical. We think our opinions are preferable to others opinions. Hence the primary purpose and challenge of politics is to keep the peace among such creatures living together. This ordinance will not achieve that goal. Unlike the ordinance this one replaces, the process for developing this ordinance was not transparent. Despite Mr. grants multiple individual conversations with constituents that he has reminded us about. The document reveals that he has listened predominantly to those opposed to utility solar. Distaste for the process will not abate. The mechanism he has written into the ordinance to negotiate setbacks claiming

that they will be reduced to 100 ft through neighborly negotiations simply sets up for perpetuate for perpetuating bad feelings among neighbors. Setting a reasonable 250 foot setback at the outset rather than an unreasonable setback with an unlikely sweetener would have been more honest. I appreciate your consideration of possible changes in the ordinance and I'd like to know with what you are asking be done on it now, will it go back to the planning commission before it comes back to you? I don't expect it'll go back to the planning commission. It's not my intent. No, I hope not.

Okay. Even though that was requested by a uh an attorney representing a company at the last meeting, they recommended slash asked if it go back to the planning commission, but I don't expect that'll happen. So, any changes that you're making are going to be simply clarifying and um even what a asked for so that the changes are not substantial enough to take it back. clarifying the property value guarantee language that was articulated by Mara Hoff and considering the the changes from a

uh Mr. Steve Hines. Morning, Commissioner. Stephen Hines, 276 South Avenue, Muny. Um, a few things I want to talk about. Um, so the comment about Randolph County having a higher incomes. Well, they don't have a big city and a lot of people actually drive from Randolph County to Muny or Delaware County for their jobs. Um, the burn ban, uh, all of those counties, I saw the map this morning, it was all southern Indiana, very southern Indiana, like the Ohio River. And but I'm okay with being more cautious. Um the uh what else was there? Oh uh conflicts of interest. These uh projects are so large it's rather hard to not know somebody that's going to be affected by them. Um and then the last thing I think I'll say I think it's ironic that or not ironic I think it tells a big story that the public utilities are watching this solar ordinance as closely as they are. Um, Mara Hoff comments last month or last two weeks ago. Um, all of her questions are answered in the first sentence of section B. No permit for construction shall be given by any department until any property until all property value guarantee agreements have been filed with the DMNPC. That answers all of her questions from last meeting. There is no, this isn't a high school elective. You don't get to just check a box and say, "Oh, it's done." Um, I hope you guys uh approve it as is at your next meeting. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay, that was the last p person signed up to speak. You're right. The burn band's really nowhere around here. There is one like Ohio County.

Yeah, there there is one up there, but the rest of them are all kind of southern. Um, okay. Uh, Sher, do you have any final comments? Well, I'd like to suggest that um veterans um attend the standown out at the Heartland Hall tomorrow from 10 to 2. Um they're going to be doing a lot of different um giveaways and lunch is being served. So, any veteran, we thank you for your service and show up to have some fellowship. Yes. Tomorrow. Absolutely. Thank you. Is that all you have, Commissioner Brandt?

Yeah. the no before training. We did really well on that. I would say 100%. We had one person complete it this morning even though late and uh we were able to vet the list. There were a number of people that were no longer employees. We were taking them off the list and I think as of this minute we are 100% complete with the no before training. So thank you for that. Anything else? No sir. Um one more item of business. I am not going to be available um for our next meeting which is October which should be Monday, October 6th. I would request that we move that meeting to Tuesday, October 7th if you guys would.

I'm open. Oh, absolutely. I prefer you be here. So, could we uh we put that in a motion? So, move. Second. Okay, we have a motion to move our next meeting um to October 7th and we have a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Bram, yes. Regan, yes. Commissioner Henry, yes. Also, prior to that meeting on um the 7th, we will have a finance meeting at 8:45 and Jenna will get that um posted and John, you'll post the uh meeting date for the 7th, correct?

Yes, we'll take care of the notices for both of them. Thank Okay, you'll do both. Okay, thank you. I've got you got my staff working on it. Thank you. And I believe we want to have a storm water meeting. Yes, she's working on that as well. 11 o'clock. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Cino, just an update. I spoke with Chief Randy Reid. He's the president of the Delaware County Fire Chief Association. He has a group with the fire chiefs going right now. They're discussing what their options are, what their consensus is for the burn ban, and he will let me know in a couple hours what that is, and if they want to move forward with, they'll get me the language to get with you guys. Okay. Thank you, sir. You're welcome. Okay. No other comments? I would entertain a motion for recess. I'll move.

Second. A motion to recess and a second. Roll call, please. Commissioner Bram, yes. Reagan, yes. Henry, yes. in recess.