Town Council - Regular Meeting

7:00 we have a please stand for the pledge 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. Thank you. Welcome everyone to the first meeting of 2026. Mr. Morgan, apparently you have some comments. um wanted to make a an adjustment to the agenda that the badge pinning for the fire department. Uh they've asked to move that to February. [snorts] Okay. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Um first item on the agenda is approval of minutes of the December 17th, 2025 meeting. Any questions or comments on the minute? Motion to approve. So motion by Mr. D. Second by Mr. Chadam. All in favor? I. All opposed. Motion carries 4. First, I point out that Mr. uh Herby is not here tonight. He's out. Uh second, any other comments, public comments? Mr. Morgan, I've had no request to speak today.

Thank you. Uh first item on the agenda is appointment of department leaison for 2026. I would point out that the appointment that Mr. Gerald made two years ago this month has worked very well for the last two years. So we propose no change in that. All the council members have indicated they'd like to continue in the same role. So the only change really is a terminology change that Mr. Gerald will no longer be fire department. He'll be fire territory. But other than that, Mr. Herby will be with parks. Mr. Dod with utilities, Mr. Chadam with police and I will stay with streets. I would point out that Mr. Morgan included with the agenda a description of the role of the department leaison and I would ask all of us to be familiar with those and keep those in mind as we interact with department heads and town staff throughout the year. Uh the next item on the agenda is wishes to be heard. Mr. Stevens, if you'd please come forward, state your name and address and make your comments.

Thank you. Thank you. Uh Jim Stevens, uh 392 West Clinton Street, also 2822 East Main Street, uh is is my business. Um first of all, thank you very much for allowing on the agenda. The uh everybody here absolutely appreciates it, wants to be heard. Um, as the agenda stated, [snorts] the um purpose uh of what we want to be heard for is a revolving loan uh that hit the papers handful of weeks ago. Now, um as you can imagine, uh that was essentially the first time that the majority pretty much anybody had heard heard of that what was going on. Uh got everybody's attention. It was uh very unique. Uh it didn't take long of course for phones to start ringing uh text uh messages, emails back and forth. Uh just business owners to business owners, council members. Um I would say pretty much anybody involved probably has some questions being asked of them. Just to point out uh just to make it clear, we are simply here we're not here with anger. We're not here with outrage or anything. We just uh are looking for some clarification on what happened, how it happened, why it happened, what does the future look like. Uh there they're essentially uh after getting together and and again this is also not it's kind of been it's kind of been thrown out there as a as a restaurant topic. there there are business owners you to see man a lot of them that couldn't be here of course because they're running their businesses but from every aspect of business um law firms real estate I mean you name it um this is something that's gotten the attention of of a lot of people um so I I want to make that clear enough just uh to to pinpoint that but there there are kind of two ways of looking at it when

we first got together started talking about it um you have some people saying how did it happen should should it even happen um just a a uh you're talking about taxpayer money and you're talking about a private entity. So you you have that angle and then of course you have the angle of um hey is there money out there? Is there money out there? There's there's a lot of us that have been doing what we do uh for years and uh if there's money out there you know where do I get lines? Where do I sign up? So, um, all along that the the two entities of course that have been, uh, completely, uh, involved in this and and put out there in paper and writing is of course the RDC and then of course the town council. Um, I do have a question. Is do you as a council is this do you consider this an RDC project? Was was this considered an RDC project as went through? Yes. No. Is it I would just answer that as saying I think it's a town project.

I I agree. Okay. I I would conclude it that I I couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more. And and that was what I think a lot of us uh from the get-go. Again, there's no this is what has happened and and what is is going to transpire. I don't know if any of the funds have flowed yet or anything. We're not looking to claw anything back. were simply looking to see how how this came about. A lot of people like say running their businesses for many many years through talking to them. I think there through time there have been a lot of them that have approached people um I can't specific say on the RDC or on the redevelopment or town manager whoever but there have certainly been inquiries throughout the years hey is there is there any money out there can we do this typically have been met with a you know we wish we could but there's really not avenues for it let's join that was a bit of a surprise you know when of course this goes was down. U but the biggest thing is is that I never saw this as an RDC project at all. U just like Ben Commer with the RDC of course had stated there are strict guidelines um in place what the RDC of course can do and can't do. Um but clearly this project um got the attention of the RC uh and that it seems I I don't know I don't know how the communication ever started. I don't know if this uh property owner approached the town, the RDC, the council. I don't know if the RDC approached this property owner, but at some point there was this connection. And I think it was evident from the get-go, it's not an RDC project. It's just it's just not. And I think there's been people that have approached those same people in the past that that was in the discussion.

It's not an RDC project. For some reason, in this case, it it clearly there was u quite a bit of determination to figure out a way to uh get this to continue the this process to figure out a way to get some funds in line for this particular building or building on however you want to look at it. Um our understanding and please please Correct me if anything I say is incorrect or whatever, but our understanding is that it absolutely was a voted on through the town council. It was a project that [clears throat] the RDC ultimately presented to the town council with recommendation, I believe, u with with the pluses and all the benefits. But to do that, there were some creative things that were in place. I'm about creativity that there's not one person here that's arguing anything that was that happened was illegal or under the but it was just there was a lot of effort put into this to figure out a way to get these funds available. Um and we're okay with that. we're we're okay with that if if we're going to figure out those ways to get funds available for other people for for for anybody that we need perhaps. So, we're we're not arguing that um some may uh some may that argue that how how they went about it was uh I wouldn't say shady, but pretty clever, pretty unique. I mean, Ben even indicated, hey, we had some great legal legal help. Um, obviously, ultimately what ended up happening was our understanding, again, correct me if I'm

wrong, RDC essentially is using RDC money for police vehicles. uh that essentially has freed up money I guess is their viewpoint uh for the town council to perhaps have those funds available to pass a resolution that was passed creative legal that that's all fine we just we're just we're trying to figure out why it was why now why why why are we so bent on on getting this done at the end of the uh if that is the way the RDC is going to work or the town as a whole everybody signs that but essentially other business owners all business owners would like to know is that the way is that going to be practice in the future if that's the case where they sign up where do we where do we get in line to um lay out our our needs our wants or our desires

Mr. who does want to cut you off if you could summarize or I'll just make a comment. Um, first of all, I I'm relatively new to Daniel, so I don't have long-term history. Uh, but there may be uh resources and tools available today that have not been available in years gone by. I can't answer that. Uh, I would say that this project was brought to the RDC and town council on more than one occasion. Uh all of our meetings are advertised in advance. The agendas are published in advance. People are invited to come and speak at those meetings. Uh we I think we go overboard at trying to be transparent about what we're doing and making the public having the public having access to what we're doing. So I no one should have been caught by surprise uh because as I say these these this issue was discussed at both RDC and council meetings on more than one occasion and was voted on unanimously by both parties. Uh I would say that if anyone if any business owner or prospective business business uh investor in town has a project that they feel they need support I think the RDC and the council would be willing to listen to whatever offer they have to present. No, I that that's my response. I I don't want to get into debate with you, but I

absolutely and I absolutely appreciate and I I agree wholeheartly with with the the tail end of your response that you uh state that you would perhaps that you would perhaps be open to uh you know concerns or you know requests or whatever. I think that's used to a lot of people's ears. The question is how do we do it? Who do we approach? put together your proposal and bring it to RDC or council. It's as simple as that. So, all right. Thank you for your comments. I appreciate it very much. Thank you. Okay. Am I done?

Unless you if you have another way to summarize it or something, but yeah, I we we try to limit these to three minutes. You've had far more than that. But if you if you have another comment, make please make it. But uh let's summarize it. I think you've been fairly respectful. Um I tried to be as well. I'm sorry if I cross.

No, little little unique approach, but I think I've been fairly respectful. Um, and I'll honor your your time frame, but again, we we didn't come here with an we came here with questions. I I think the uh I think I think there was a bit of an illusion of about what happened and how it happened. I think everybody is aware of that. That's a little frustrating. Um, but we will collectively as a group, we'll uh see what we can do with the with the feedback we've received and we'll go from there.

I think any of us would be happy to talk with you privately as well if you'd like. So, feel free. All right. Thank you very much. Comments. Thank you.

Uh, next on the agenda is board and commission appointments for 2025. We have a number of those. uh some are at the district of the council property owner, some are council appointments. So, let me just start down the line. Uh for plant commission, uh there are five appointments that are uh so I'll start with those that are at the president discretion. Uh one of the appointments is a town employee that is currently help of Barry Loftton. It's a [clears throat] four-year term. Barry has indicated he would like to continue that position. So, I appoint Barry to continue in that role. Second is a citizen appointment. That's a four-year term as well. Lawrence Thompson currently serves in that role and indicated he would like to continue. So, I appoint Lawrence Thompson to continue in that role. Uh, next is another four-year appointment that's currently held by Sue Rbert. That is a council appointment. Uh, Sue is the only person that is interested in that and she would like to continue. So, I'm open to uh a motion to approve appoint Sue Libert to plan commission. So, move

by. Motion members adopt second district shad in favor. I all oppose. No. Motion carries 40. Uh next to plan commission. There are two council members that are members there. Uh those seats are held by Michael Shadam and myself. These are one year appointment. Both of us have agreed to continue in that role. I would say however somebody else wants it. I would be willing to sacrifice my seat on that. But otherwise open to a motion for those two appointments.

So motion by Mr. Gerald second by Mr. Do all in favor I. Motion carries 40. Uh for redevelopment commission uh there are five voting members to the redevelopment commission. All of those are one-year terms. Three of them are council president appoints and two are council appointments. So for my appointments I appoint them commer and Tim McRoberts uh to uh continue. They currently serve in those roles and I appoint them to continue. It' be Ben Culbert, Dave Clever, and Tim McRoberts. Sorry. Okay. I stand corrected by Mr. Morgan. My fine. Uh, and the other two appointments are then who are the other two? Matt Stewart and Brad would be council appointment.

Those are council appointments. So, a motion to approve them for council appointments. So, moved. Second. Motion by Mr. Do, second by Mr. Chad. All in favor? Motion carries 40. Thank you. For that, there are also two non- voting numbers there. uh one from a representative from the Chamber of Commerce, Kelly Dado, currently serves in that role and wished to continue to appoint her for that. The second is a two-year term appointed by the Danville School District and Dr. Schaefer currently serves in that role. He's a he's a school district appointment. I'm waiting to hear back from the school board on that.

Uh next up is park board. There's only one position open there and that is currently held by Mike Corbett but that's a school district appointment and they have designated him to continue in that role. Uh for police merit board uh there is one open position there because uh father uh Fritish had moved out of the area. So we have the two years of his remaining term to appoint and I appoint Lonnie Riley to fill that two-year remaining term. And then there's a four-year position uh currently held by Mr. Lynch. He wishes to continue. We also have another another appointee Ben Williams that applied. Uh but I appoint Pete Lynch to continue in our role but want to point out I appreciate Ben Williams and his willingness to serve. And lastly just to point out the police officer get an appointment of the police merit board and they have elected coordinate lively uh for that role. uh for tree advisory committee. There are three members of that committee. All serve one-year terms. All three of them have asked to continue. But we have one other person that's asked expressed an interest by Jeff Jeffrey May. So Sarah Wolf, Gary Helden, and Steve Mitch offer are the current members and Jeffrey Mace has indicated an an interest in that committee. Uh I would be open to a motion to nominate folks for the tree advisory committee. So,

you need to name your three. But thank you. [laughter] Uh I would move to uh for Sarah Wolf, Gary Degard and Mer to continue serving on the motion by Mr. Tom. Second.

Second by Mr. Chad. All in favor? I motion to carry for quarter zero. Thank you. And I appreciate Jeffrey Mace agreeing to serve. uh remaining we have a number of uh positions are uh committees left but they are all filled by people with a one-year term. Uh they're all folks that wish to continue in the position and they're all council appointees. So I would suggest I just read through those and see if someone would make a nomination and we cover those in mass. Uh there's a Hendrick County re economic development partnership currently uh uh held by Greg Irby who wishes to continue the Hendrick County recycling district uh currently held by Brent Dob who wishes to continue Hendrick County communication board held by Michael Chadam to continue uh the citizens water advisory board by Matt Allison to continue uh the town representative on the chamber of commerce board by Mr. Morgan to continue. Uh downtown Danville partnership, Craig D and Lisa Tray both to continue and the citizen advisory board by Daniel Smith, Will Lacy, Madison Henderson and myself to continue and waste management gets an appointment to that board as well by Hun Kak. Uh and lastly, an economic advisory board which be effective on February one of 2026, Kelly Deandino. So would I entertain a motion to approve all those if that meet your desire?

Move to approve. Motion by Mr. Dob. Second. Second by Mr. Gerald. All in favor? Motion carries 40. Thank you very much. [clears throat] Okay. Next up, fiscal plan for annexation. Made resolution 122026. Good evening. Uh yes, this is a resolution for a physical plan that was prepared for uh property at 1433 10th Street. Um the name of Carly Stewart and if you've had a chance to read it, it does not have any adverse impact on the town's services.

Question, comment to approve. Move to approve resolution one 2026. Motion by Mr. Dot. Second. Second, Mr. Chad. All in favor? I. All opposed. Motion carries. 40. Next up, ordinance 352025. Mr. Nay. Uh, yes. This is the ordinance that uh for the super voluntary annexation on the physical plan regarding the previous uh project at 1433 10th Street. Question, comment. Motion. Motion to approve resolution 1226 that 35 ordinance 35 2025 motion by Mr. Chadam second

second Mr. D. All in favor I motion carries 40. Next up resolution 2206 M tray. Uh yes, this is a physical plan for super voluntary annexation um uh with property located at 11:03 South County Road 300 East. Um Bandon Realy is the petitioner and the fiscal plan did also uh state that it does not have an adverse impact on the town services. Question comment motion move to approve resolution 226. Motion by Mr. Dod second Mr. Gerald. All in favor? I.

All opposed. Motion carries 40. Next up, ordinance 362025. Mr. Nay. Yes. This is the ordinance that uh would adopt the super voluntary indexation um for property the property we just previously discussed realy. Question comment motion to approve ordinance 36 2025. Motion by Mr. D. Second. Second Mr. Chadam. All in favor I. Motion carries 40. Thank you. Uh next up resolution 32026. Miss Alton.

Yes. This is a transfer resolution uh to transfer funds between unelectd accounts to clean up the end of the year for 2025. Question. Motion. Move to approve resolution 32026. Second

motion by Mr. Tob, second by Mr. Chad. All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries more zero. [clears throat] Next up, IMPO appointments. Mr. Morgan come before you tonight to request uh appointments to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization Board. Uh there are two boards. One is the policy committee, the other is the technical committee. I'm recommending that on the policy committee that I be the representative, Lisa Fay be the proxy. On the technical committee, Dave New will be the appointee and Aaron Plunkett be the proxy. Comments motion questions. Motion by Mr. Chadam second. Second by Mr. Gerald. All in favor?

I opposed. Motion carries 40. Thank you very much. Conflict of interest forms. Moft. Yes, these are conflict of interest forms for employees performing services for the town. questions. Can we take each individually?

And do we have to approve the updated CI form of that's a blank form that I provided for all of you in case you needed it for any reason. If you keep on going down, you should see uh there should be [clears throat] loftton and re conflict of interest forms there [snorts] on the agenda itself. I make a motion to approve Loftton conflict of interest form.

Second motion Mr. Chadam, second Mr. J in favor. Motion carries 40 form question conflict of interest motion by Mr. Gerald second Mr. Shadow. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries 40. Approval of the updated blank form. If we need we don't need to do that. Okay. Neptism forms. Min. Yes. I I've got copies here for you to sign of the nepotism forms for each of us.

I don't think that requires a vote. We just saw at the end up at the cleaning contract, [clears throat] Mr. Morgan.

So before you, I've provided four cleaning contracts, uh, proposals, asset cleaning, Cooper cleaning, BL3 and AWR cleaning, and Stratus cleaning. And I'm asking the council to pick one of these companies that we can use for the 2026 uh cleaning of town hall uh clerk's office and the police department. Morgan, I will admit that I did not take the time to review every one of them and compare them detail by detail to see if they are not provided. Nowhere near. Yeah. So, given your position as town manager, do you have a recommendation for us?

Um, I'd like to stay out of that to be honest, but it's one of the few times that I'm going to say I'd rather not. Can I ask this? Has there been any issues with cleaning the last couple years? If there are, I'm unaware of them. Um, let me let me defer to the other two areas that get cleaned. Carrie, is there going to be any issues in your area? Chief Hilton, you said this. Okay. I can't I can't [laughter] see back of my head. Sorry. Thank you.

Um, yeah, correct that if we engaged someone from the outside, there might be security issues and access the building. What how do you how would we deal with that? If you had some outside party, they'd be required to pass all security measures uh both internally and through the police department and then they would be uh granted limited access to the building uh through our what's the system? Proc system. Thank you. And we have cameras.

And we have cameras. based off what you know looking through each proposal it seems like the L3 and AWR that's bang for the buck dollar wise there's no issues the last couple years and I would make a motion to uh approve the L3 and AWR cleaning proposal by Mr. Do second by Mr. Gerald. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries here with Thank you, Mr. Morgan. We're down to staff and council comment. Mr. Morgan, I can't think. [laughter]

I know we've got a community cleanup day coming up. What day is that? March 22nd, I think. Is that 25th? We haven't clean for a while. as a while [laughter] back when we have community cleanup coming up. Um I know that uh it's always taxing to make these appointments and uh sometimes when there there's two people buying for the same position, it's never easy. Uh but I do appreciate your thought behind it and we'll do our best to make sure we continue on for 2026. Mr. committee chief.

Uh I just like to give a kudos to the IT committee. We've got a lot of stuff going on this year and a lot of big changes and um just looking forward to to this year. It's going to be a lot of work, but it should be awesome. Uh I got a notification on Monday that our 1782 was approved. So we're good to go. Mr. Youngs, welcome. Any comments from your end? No comments. Good to be here. Thank you, Mr. Gerald. Welcome, Mr. Doc.

Welcome. Um, hope everybody had, uh, you know, nice holiday season, able to get a little bit of downtime and kind of recharge, gearing up for what I anticipate being a pretty big big year for us. So, uh, per usual, appreciate, uh, all the effort that each and every one of you guys put in day in and day out. and uh you know we don't you don't continue on without all all of your efforts right um appreciate the pack house earlier I appreciate you stepping up and speaking um I know that's a point of frustration for a lot of individuals right now um I don't want to speak for the rest of the council but on on my my standpoint I would like to come up with okay here is a defined process again whether that's lay it out to say bring your proposals to the RDC first, you know, kind of work your way through whatever that looks like. Um, without speaking too far into that subject, I guess my big thought on that property, and I know a lot of individuals have left now, but the big thing that separates this one from a lot of the others right now for me is the the fear of that building potentially collapsing, right, and losing some of the history and character that makes Danville Danville, right? You think Danville, you think Charm, you think small town, you think the square, right? And so for me, investing in that building to make sure that building stays standing for many years to come is uh is well worth it in my mind. But to your point, how do we open that up and get creative for everybody else? So, I'm absolutely on board with trying to standardize some type of procedure there. So, but appreciate the uh the turnout tonight. It was good to see a packed house. So,

Mr. Welcome, Mr. Glad to have you on board. Um, I call the department heads. I know you guys got a busy year. I've talked to a few of you guys big plans coming up stuff that's going to happen in town. Um, so hopefully we can roll that together and make us a better community. Mr. Stevens, thank you, sir, for coming forward. You know, at times I think every council member will tell you kind of wish we had more citizens that did come and engage with us. I really do and I know that takes a lot. So I want to thank you for doing that. I want to thank everybody that did come out. Um and just a quick note, I see Kathy Basset is with us tonight. Um everybody can kind of give her a little condolences. Mike Bass did die recently. So, um, she's a great community partner, runs a great business. So, just kind of wrap your arms around her as a town.

I have no comments other than just welcome to everybody for 2026. Look forward to another great year this year. Clean docket. All right. I'll steal Grace Thunder. [laughter] Move to approve the land docket $1,94,38958 by Mr. Do second by Mr. Chad. All in favor? Motion carry 4. Favor roll. Move to approve. Motion by Mr. Do. Second by Mr. Chur. I'll give you that one. All approved. Motion carry 4. Motion to adjurnn.

Motion by Mr. Second. Second, Mr. D. All in favor? I. Motion carries 4. Meeting is adjourned. Thank everyone very much.