Town Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call this meeting of the Newberg Town Council for February 11th, 2026 to order. First item on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance to the flag. If you'll stand, please, and join me. I aliance 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. You may be seated. Do we have any remembrances or acknowledgements this evening? Okay, hearing none. Roll call. District one, Steve Shoemaker. Present. District two, Paul Perry. Present.

District three, Stacy Kger is out. District 4 and Ruston here. Council at large, Nana K. Hughes. Happy to be here. Clerk treasurer Nanette Angel here. Administrative town manager Christopher Cook here. Deputy town manager Andrea Balami here. Town attorney Christopher Wisher here. Engineer Town Engineer Drew Lane present. Next item is the approval of the January 14th meeting. Um we did not have a meeting two weeks ago because of weather and um possible not having a forum. So we're going back to the 14th our most recent menu minutes. Is there a motion to approve the minutes as presented? So moved. Is there a second?

Second. Moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Same sign.

Motion carries unanimously. Next item on the agenda is scheduled requests and appearances and followed by comments by citizens. And we do have three citizens to speak to us tonight. The first one is Troy Wells. Hello. Can you hear me? Yeah. Hi, this is Troy Wells. I'm with Historic Newberg. I'm here today to request three different events. Uh, this would have been in the earlier part of the year's package, but I kind of messed around and did not get some of the facilities booked, so I'm having to backtrack myself a little bit. So, uh, we are looking, we were not able to, uh, secure the, uh, locking down for the wine festival. So, we would like to request that we move it here behind the town hall like what we've done a couple of music festivals before. Um, I've done all the measuring and everything for it. So, it it will all work out there. Um, to, you know, everybody on our side, we all agree that that would work for us also. So, uh, that would be on May the second. It's a dirty weekend. So, um, you we would need to shut the road down. Uh there's this section right here on Water Street and then probably I think Monroe we shut Monroe down u just for the deer in the time of that event but the rest of Water Street stays open. Uh we don't have police coverage that directs traffic uh for our zoo and then uh honeymoon back that way so no one comes through gets through. So uh that is our first request for that weekend. We're also considering doing a um um a 5k uh race walk uh starting at Marita and going all the way down to the beginning of the um overlook and then turn and coming back. Uh all of it would be done on the walkway. So we wouldn't have to we were there needing shutting

roads down at this point. So um you know we're anticipating upwards of 200 people for that event. That event would be early the morning of May the 2nd. Uh, and then the wine festival would start around noon or 2 o'clock. We haven't landed the time on that yet. Can I ask a question? Sure. Sure. Okay. What happened with not being able to use the lock and damn park? It had already been moved. You're kidding.

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, with now online, you know, everything when you go on there, it's it's you're I think you're seeing a lot of success out of the uh online where people can go and sign up for for things now. So, because pretty much everything I was looking for that I've kind of always been kind of a little bit little on, I can't pay that right now. So, um so I've already got with um them for next year to get us secured for next year. So, u but I missed the boat on that right there. Oh, I'm so sorry.

Well, it's I think I think it'll still work out. Honestly, uh if it works, if we're approved it and it works out, I think that we would probably still want to continue to do it here because ultimately it really helps the businesses anytime that we do it within the town limits or, you know, right here. Sure. They all just get something. Even just the shoppers get to use the trolleys, you know, it's not just for people, you know, so it's it's a it's a win for everybody. Okay. And then also um okay if you if you shut down Monroe and you're shutting it from essentially Marita well well honeymoon is where it's shut down because they still need to get in and out of that parking

lot how will the people that live on Water Street between Monroe and how will they get to their places like the condos and the old tobacco warehouse? house. Oh, I think when we did it last time, I think that uh we we gave not notifications to everybody there and then they let us know if they were going to be coming and going. If we did, we saved them parking spots. Oh, okay. Okay. Give them free tickets. Yeah. All right.

Um I have a question also. Last night we had a War County USA 250 meeting and at that meeting on the list of ideas there is a 5K listed for HNI potentially for the 4th of July. Where did you see you saw that from? This is a agenda from last night's meeting. Indiana 250. Yeah. Oh, well Ivy was at the our meeting, so she may have put that on there without Yeah. I mean, these are this is just a long list of things, but it says HNI. And so this this 4th of July probably would not happen in that case that

you would do the Well, we don't have one planned for the 4th of July. Okay. Yeah. The only walks that we have planned are for May the 2nd and a potential one for November the 22nd to tie along with our Grinchman's pup problem. Okay. Well, I just wanted to clarify that to make sure because it's one of the things that u Chris, I think you were gone by the time we talked about that, but um just to be sure that talking about one now the u the 250 committee is coming will be coming to you about a parade. uh on that day on the July 3rd. Yeah, it's on here. Yeah,

it's on here also. It's on here actually that and fireworks. Um so we we're going to work together if that's the firework if the parade is approved, we're going to work with it. So um so there can be activities moving throughout the whole day in the town. Okay. Well, I just wanted to clarify that. Okay. Thank you. All right. So, you're looking for a motion to approve the use of the areas that you mentioned for the Winefest and a 5K on May 2nd. Yes. I I have a question before we do that. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Troy. Have you talked to the chief about this and gotten his input and blessing on it? Yeah, I have. Yes.

Yeah. I'm just all I asked is for Troy to supply us with like a full itinerary. what they're wanting to do. We can obviously accommodate and do whatever. We just need to have that itinerary and we're all good. Let's go. So, thank you. Anyone else have questions or comments? So, this is to use the town hall parking lot and then to close that section of Water Street and Right. Okay. Anything else from anyone? real quick that so the 5K is going to be down here, but there's going to be all kinds of setup for the wine fest are Yeah. How will those two things happen?

The wine fest won't set up until later, but we're still going to block it. Anything from being right here in this section? Yes. U the the walk run will be down in front of Marita. That's where it will start and that's where it will end. And the parking related to that will happen in the same way it would for the wine festival. Okay. Yeah. will uh reach out to um Newberg Elementary and then secure parking that way.

I am not a runner, but you know there was a period of time where neighbor hosted a run just about every weekend and then that that stopped for whatever reason. So, I'm excited about having a rebirth of runs because we have a beautiful place to do it. We do. And I'm very excited to get a run back. So, does that mean you're going to run this time? No, no, that doesn't mean that. I have some good stories about somebody I know who was a runner, though. Oh, okay.

Okay. So, we're looking for a vote uh on the festival, the winefest for May the 2nd and the 5K for earlier that same day. Is there a motion? I would so move to allow H&I access and um for both events within that same day. Are you doing anything on Friday night? No. For the wine fest? No. Okay. Okay. Is there a second? Second. It's moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you.

Thank you. Next. Melinda, come up and give us your name and your address, please.

Melinda Mitchell, 101 Yorkshire Drive. Um, I've got a suggestion because um, well, several times, but a couple days ago, I noticed when I was coming up Jefferson heading towards the post office that um, there was um, someone trying they had to get up basically where Bell Road starts, where the old bell where the uh, Veterans Memorial and the culac right for someone to bike ride or walk or run, they have to um go on to 261 and then go to Bell Road and then continue running or walking or bike riding. Is there a way that there could be a connection from where Bell Road turns into the culdeac now because it's been cut off? Um and making a little trail or sidewalk or something to connect the old bell road um where the culde-sac is to the bell road because it has such a wide shoulders. Um that's where the bike riders and runners actually use. But just to make it easier for them instead of getting up on the highway and trying to maneuver through the light and all that. So it's just just a suggestion for safety reasons and um I don't know. I just think it'd been a little easier for for the people that are trying to use, you know, to stay healthy and stuff. We don't want them being hit or anything right there.

You might want to talk to Lyanna later as chairperson of the sidewalk committee. Okay. That we could take a look at. Okay. The area that she's talking about. I think that's a great observation. Glad to to Drew also. Okay. And I assume we own that all there. all of that to the east of our I or that would be the west of so the so those houses that are along that culdeac those are outside of town I know I know and then veterans is inside of town and then those condos are inside of town so yeah so it' have to be some kind of a coordination but we we surely own the land

at the end of the culde-sac I would think just west of veterans it's a storm water ditch okay the only that I mean there's a storm water ditch that runs through there. Okay. Um that's got a pretty significant slope and there would have to we'd have to get Drew kind of to look at but something we can definitely talk about committee for the next meeting. Yeah. Because it should you know I don't think it would have to be very long just because I'm not for sure this the space but it's only a matter of feet I would think. So okay wonderful. Okay. Thank you. And our next citizen is David MacArthur.

That's a hairy intersection. Yeah. Just trying to drive. You'll state your name and address, please, for the record.

My name is David MacArthur. I live at 11:07 West Phelps Drive. Uh we were thinking of renaming it the raccoon retreat at the suggestion of I don't know who. Uh we've had an infestation of raccoons with mage and they are also carrying round worm. Uh our neighbor's dog was infested with roundorm that can only be transmitted through raccoons for our vet. U and uh it's because the neighborhood people in the neighborhood have been feeding raccoons in mass feedings like buying 50 lb bags of dog food for rural king and bringing it and throwing it into a a a plastic pool kitty pool on their deck and scores records. Um, but at the suggestion of somebody, we had another rabbit or another mangy raccoon at our house. So, we called the police department and Tyler came up. Tyler Brown came up and by the time we got there, of course, the raccoon was kind of loped away, but this was a I forget what time, probably noon time. He was absolutely bald, walking like a drunken sailor, sick, just really sick and sad. And that was After having gone through last week where the temperatures were everybody else tonight, my wife was putting the garbage away in the garage and she turned around and here's another mangy scurvy looking scary raccoon just kind of gambled up. They're friendly. They've been fed. They're hungry. And they're dangerous. They carry diseases. Um

Between the Murphy's and I, uh, we have live trapped and relocated, I believe, 15 raccoons since September 1st. And I've had the unpleasant job of euthanizing now five of these terribly sick animals. As recently as Monday, after Tyler left, I did live trap him. Didn't want to call him back. So, I took care of it myself and it was a really not a fun experience. So, my request is or question is can the town do something like call in a trapper or something to take the burden off the people on Phelps Drive and Link Lane and Williams.

Let me address it. So yeah, and you've I think you've been in you've probably been down here before. We've heard a number. So I'm working on we we've Chris and I have met with health department. We've had several conversations about how to address the situation. Working on an ordinance. Um you know, part of the ordinance would prohibit creating an animal nuisance or feeding animals in a way that creates an animal nuisance or however you want to describe it. Um, but I think also something we may want to talk about and Chris and I have talked about is to give authorize the town through its own personnel or contractors or whatever to be able to enter property and abate the nuisance. If we stop the folks from feeding the raccoons, that's only gonna it's just that's just going to stop them from eating necessarily, but it's not going to I mean

that's why they travel. There's there's a colony there now and only I mean it's not going to eliminate the problem. So, and I know there we we're concerned about what that means as far as going in and trying to eradicate it, but you hear that the neighbors are alive trapping them and and relocating them. And if we could partner with somebody that could do that and we had the authority to do that, it seems like that's what we need to do is to not just stop the we can find the feeding the people that are feeding wild animals and we can do that and that'll be in the ordinance, but it seems to me we've got to take another step. Um, but that's something we need. I'll have a draft to Chris like by the end of the week. And

I've been in touch with several contractors and I spoke with my one that I had the most relationship with and he looked at it and um he said if you're seeing what that's 20 raccoons between the 15 and the five. He said you can times that times four and that's probably what you got in that area. And it's going to get worse.

And he said it's going to get worse. And in his experience, you know, I I know where I came from. There were some nuisance uh contracts that the city of Evansville had on certain animals that I'm not going to talk about in the post, but I had a I had him on staff at the cemeteries and we had to deal with the mangy raccoons from time to time. And it's not fun when you have to relocate them up north, if you know what I mean. And uh I just I feel like we need to do something because I I talked to the uh the lady the other lady on Phelps today and gave her an update via email that Chris was working on it and we were Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Georgie. Uh, sorry the name slipped my mind, but I emailed her a couple hours ago and Chris and I talked earlier today and we hope to have something on the feeding side, but there'll probably need to be like a I'll get some official quotes if we would have the ability because then going and operating. I'm writing it that way to have the ability to abate to enter and abate the nuisance and we could talk through what that looks like, but that's that's how I'm at what the starting point of that ordinance would be. Um, I understand the folks that are doing the feeding are primarily doing the feeding are out of town and have been for a while. And so

yeah, there's a gentleman though that has his trapping license now that I believe lives on Yorkshire um because he he messaged me the other day to let me know that he now has his license. So I plan on reaching out to him as well. I believe he lives uh on Yorkshire over by the trail head area. So, I guess my point was to stare at it. Yeah. He he messaged me on social media and said that he is now a licensed trapper. So, I was going to um talk to him once we get this going and see what a dollar amount looks like.

But, but my point with them being out of town, it just highlights the and they've been out of town for a bit is that you we could stop it. We could find them all day long and it's not going to necessarily eradicate the problem. And so, we got to have that mechanism in there. Um, and uh, and some exceptions and we've been working on that. I mean, you know, when I can get when I do have time to get into it, I mean, there's some nuances and I just need to get a draft to you. We can work through it. But, you know, there need basically prohibiting feeding wild animals. We need to have some exceptions for bird feeders and other stuff. And there are other ordinances we've looked at that have some of that in it. The health department had some language that they wanted us to work in because they want to look at what we're doing potentially here as an example that other municipal agencies in the in the county could piggyback on and that's why we met with them about it. We've I've even had talks with animal control, but for War County, I think they have three people working there full-time to cover the entire county. Right. They've directed me to the DNR and the game wardens aren't going to come down and take out a they're the DNR is going to recommend that the property owners uh you know hire a contractor for their individual property. So, if we can make this change um to give us a little bit of wiggle room when you have a problem that my professional expert that I've dealt with said could be closer to 100 in your area because he said if you're seeing what we've seen, multiply it by about four. And I know in the one video that circulated I counted 26 I think in the video from a while back.

26. Yeah. So you could take that times four and do the math and I'm sure it's thinned out a little bit with the winter we've had. Well, they all communicate with each other. They pass out the diseases and we know for sure that they carry rabies. We know for sure that they carry around. We know for sure that they're mage and uh it it's a real offense. Have we have we talked to the person feeding them? Have we had direct communication with her at all yet? Or them? I don't know. thought that the some of the neighbors had reached out during I have talked personally to them and even admitted to them that I had to put down one of their babies

because I was so sick and you guys you just have to stop feeding you can't and at that point it was September October and we didn't have a president but police didn't have a way to help the bar was just from day I just didn't know. I guess

the other thing that concerns me about the documented case of the dog, I think it was a 13lb dog picked up that one worm that is also spread to uh children as well. So it can pass to children, maybe not an adult, but there is a concern with the amount of fecal matter that I've seen and heard that's been collected from the neighborhood as well that it does create some that's why we got the health department involved because anytime somebody has a child over and they're walking around and you have that many raccoons doing what they do, you have the potential for that. And uh but unfortunately the way the law is in Indiana, the town doesn't really have the the ordinance teeth to to do a whole lot other than to call out law enforcement.

Well, the bottom line is nobody here would like to be living where David's living right now. And nobody would want to go through this and we need to do something. We need to do something about it quickly. And if it's not perfect, at least a start. and we all know what the problem is and we've been talking about this for a while and we need to push forward with it. So, we should have an ordinance for you to uh

we'll get one ready for you to approve at the next meeting. We'll just we'll get it out to you to look at and get feedback and get it ready to approve and then we can go from there. But just if we do abate this on our own, just be prepared because there will be all it takes is one picture, one video to get out and there will be push back from people outside of the area. Yeah.

Um because in my past experience, we went to great length to hide the traps. And when you're in that close of an area, you cannot hide the traps to do what needs to be done. And there could be some potential for some images to get out in public that you know the circus is social media from time to time. Just be prepared for that. Thank you. Have there been concerns from this? No, it hadn't got or

No, it's uh pretty much contested. It's like right there in the Yorkshire, like a book end from the Great Ravine to about the end of Phelps. um kind of where it turns up. It's kind of like right in that little area like on the trail to the north. There's some down on Water Street now too. Okay. Yeah. Because that was the other concern that they would start expanding, you know, is with the high and plus it's kind of the magical time of year when they start multiplying too. I think Melinda wanted to speak about Yorkshire.

Melinda Mitchell Yorkshire Drive. I'm familiar with the raccoons. I actually behind my house, uh, I call it the raccoon trail. Um, because they have worn a trail from, you know, call it a ravine behind my house. I mean, it's there. I used to call it the kitty trail, but it's a raccoon trail now. and probably every all the other wildlife that crosses through their little boxes and different things. Um I'd hate to see a a bunch of animals cuz when you set out traps and or poison or whatever, you're going to could affect all the wildlife that's already there. Is there any way and I don't know if there is, but is there any way to treat them? um you know set out um form of um I guess parasite type killer um and also like and then Chris you had mentioned about bird feeders like I feed birds and but the raccoons will also come in the night the one you know if the bird feeders aren't u empty out then the raccoons will come in and finish it our skunks We do have skunks and it's skunk mating season. So, that's going to be something to address in February and March. Wow. I did have a little raccoon that went under my shed that had mange and I went to Tractor Supply and got some uh parasite killing type medicine and I wrapped it in like bread and within two weeks the mange was going

away. So, like I said, I I really hope it's not so drastic that we wipe out all the raccoons. Just Well, we're not going to poison them. We're not putting poison out for them. That that's that's a non-starter. Okay. But what we don't want to do is just create healthier raccoons. We want we want to limit the number of raccoons who are running wild in our in our neighborhoods. And there I don't think there's anything you can do to keep a wild raccoon from picking up diseases in in a natural.

Well, that's why I said is there a way to treat them? So, we're not there is a way you have my understanding from the vet you have to feed it feed it three times a day with that medicine. And that means we're going to start feeding all the raccoons. I can't see as a feasible way. If I could interject here, you're also looking at there's certain laws in Indiana regarding wildlife rehabers and that falls into the same thing. I mean obviously DNR or whatever is not going to I would think they would never go after like a single individual that was you know

that stuff in their yard or whatever if you start doing it that you're doing in like a mass situation like that I think a microscope would probably be put on you and DNR would probably have a problem that if you're not licensed yeah I'm not talking about you know like an individual taking on that I'm I'm saying yeah there's just there's only a handful of rehabers even in our and vets will not touch this because they're not authorized as well. There is a special license for someone to be able to stuff. So, if that was done, it would have to be in conjunction with someone that's a certified rehab. Yeah, that's what I was a mass like that.

It's not just the diseased ones either. the number of raccoons that we have, even the ones that are healthy, leaving their feces everywhere and and that's that's not a good thing either. So, the number needs to be reduced. Plus, there's nuisance wildlife guidelines with the DNR that you can't we wouldn't even if we passed there's there's restrictions on what our ordinance could do because we can't trump like the state ordinance on that. And that's kind of what we've been working through is our hands are kind of tied on what stuff we can and can't do.

Right now, our ordinance is give us the authority to do what we can do and then we'll figure out what we can do. Putting a a swimming pool full of dog food is it is. Yeah. I mean, it'd be different if it was, you know, like I said, I honestly think that that will stop because we've talked a couple times since my first with them. They get it. But we are where we are right now. We've got an infestation of dangerous animals. They're right. Is the food dogs and kids. So, they're out of town. Is the food out there? I don't know. I don't I mean, are they in their backyard?

Okay. I'm just curious. I mean, we have other we have other nuisances with the agenda. And then if you folks want to stick around. I was just going to say we have other nuisance ordinances, too. If we wanted to get rid of the food, just get on there and get it. So, you're going to get an ordinance done that we'll have presented to us by the next week. Correct. Okay. Under new business, civil town uh energy assessment report agreement. Chris.

Yes. Council members, I have before you two energy assessments. This is a new centerpoint program in partnership with Dyke Brothers where they come out and do an energy assessment on our buildings. These are going to be coming forth uh periodically. But the first two up is the senior center and this is where they come through and they replace all the lights to more in energy efficient versions. And as you can see, it would be about a $12,135 project, but they're going to give us grant money of $6,416 for a cost of 5720 for the senior center. But if you look at the benefit with the annual savings on the energy bill, this program would pay for itself in 7 months after it's done. So, to me, um, it's just a tick over what I can approve, and I bring it before you, uh, for your approval tonight. And I know we'll have these numbers on the senior or, uh, the police and fire and this building eventually, and there there'll be a couple more coming that they're looking at all of our our things. I did a similar version of this program five or six years ago. And anytime you get the payback under three years, it's it's worth doing. Um, and to have it in seven months, uh, it's kind of a no-brainer. But, uh, the the other one is for the trail head as well. And you can see the numbers on the trail head were a little bit different, but I would seek your approval on that one as well. Um, yeah, sorry, that one was I wasn't read the right page. Uh, the labor cost was $1,500. They're giving us 675. So, that would cost us $8.25. and that has a payback in about a year and a half which is still very uh very good for that type of program. So I would seek your approval uh so that we could move forward with these two buildings but bear in mind there will be additional of

our facilities come forth like this in the coming meetings. Is there a motion to approve the energy assessment report for the senior center and the Iran trail head? So moved. Second. Second. moved and seconded. Is there discussion? What keeps us now that we know where we need to change bulbs? What keeps us from just going ahead and changing bulbs? They're giving us they're giving us like a bulk of money to do that. But if we weren't paying the company that's doing that and our own people made the change,

but this is changing fixtures. It's not that the bulb. It's not just the bulb. It's the ballast and Okay. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. And they're they've got the we're paying for their electrician to put new fixtures with. It's not just if it was changing bulbs, we would have already done it. This is changing the fixtures out to get the energy efficient bulb or ballast involved in uh converting a lot of it to LED and um you know, but the savings will be there going forward. So like after seven months or a year and a half, our bills are going to actually go down or our our usage will go down. I don't want to speak about our bills going down. Uh but you know what I mean. Our our our bill theoretically should should be a little less than what it is. Okay. Anyone else questions?

All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Oppos same. Motion passes unanimously. Next item, Drew. This is Driftwood Storm Sewer Ebrosion Repair Project.

Yeah. So, this is one of the town civil bond projects. Um, as a quick update, pending permit approvals, land acquisition. This project should uh set to bid in late spring with construction taking place in uh summer of 2026. But uh this is a permit submitted to the state environmental uh agency requesting a water quality certification as authorized under a nationwide permit for this specific project. It entails an outfall replacement structure at Allen's Ditch. Okay. Thank you. Hearing that explanation, do we have a motion? I I have a question.

Can I do that motion? You want the motion? We need a motion before you have discussion actually. I would move that we uh approve the 401 and WP and RGP notification. Is there a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Discussion. Okay. This is probably a dumb question.

But then this is not my forte with all the trouble that we've been having in Driftwood with the driveways that the developer did that are out of compliance. Is the slopes of the driveways contributing to any of the flooding or whatever of the storm sewers? No, unfortunately in this situation it is not. It is just simply erosion over the uh Allen's Ditch embankment.

Okay. Um, so we're looking to um reduce the erosion by dropping the hydraulic grade down lower and putting in some uh armorament on that ditch so it is not associated with the driveways. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Mid-state bond expense, Andrea.

So, in front of you guys, um, so as you know, I think I don't know if it was the last council meeting or maybe it was the one before that, um, you guys approved the mid-state quote, um, the contractor agreement and the RERP um, subgrantee agreement, all pending legal review. Um, so we went back and forth. Um, the one thing within the midstate contract was the performance bond, payment performance bond. um that was not anticipated as part of the overall quote for Midstates. Um so that was going to cost around $29,985.85. Um we went back and forth with Midstates. Um and then the president of the company agreed that they would split the cost of the bond with us. Um so the O so the cost to us would end up being $14,99143. Um, in your packet, I do not have the updated quote, but they have sent me the updated quote that shows that 14,000 versus that 29,000. Um, this was taken to finance. Finance approved it. Um, this will come out of the bond as part of the overall playground project. Um, so I am seeking your guys' approval for that $14,99143 um for the Midstate bond as part of the overall quote for them. All right. So, we need a motion. I

I'll make that motion that we approve the uh funding of the bond for our contractor $14,99143. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Is there discussion?

I have discussion. Why Why did the uh contractor think that he wasn't going to be responsible for the bond? wasn't part of what I all I know is it wasn't part of so we did this through source well it was quoted in a different way than we would normally do a bid so there wasn't a bid specification that was issued and it's a municipal project but the contractor may not have included in that quote so when I was reviewing the contract I added that to the contract because it's required under Indiana law and that is what started the conversation so it's now whether if he had been thinking about that he would have included that in the quote that he gave us. I don't know. But

I wonder if the other contractors included that. We just we did because this is a specialty project. They did it through the source well same way we did the fire truck. So there wasn't there the quoting was done differently. So it's not apples to apples. Well, at the end of the day we that we have to have a bond. There's there needs to be a performance bond and a payment bond. Yeah. I mean the problem is this is I mean frustrating right to get to the one yard line right and then sort of get three timeouts not one right but we don't really have an option the project's phenomenal you guys all worked hard on this Johnny come lately but I'm we need to do this

right and contractwise and quotewise it was done because Midwest these are the companies that do these projects and so it was this project it was this playground that we wanted and this was a way that we didn't get that done. So, I just think it slipped through the cracks and uh probably would have had to pay some of it anyway.

And just sort of I've never done a source well project before. Right. So, Chris came in. This is kind of how we man, you know, used this and moved forward with this one. Much different than the last time we built a monkey for the splash pad, right? Where we had an architect. It was bid out. It was much different. So, I don't know if just within there it got forgotten, overlooked, um, but kind of came back when everyone was reviewing all those contracts and everything. And Source Wells, the Town Juice Source Well, we used it to buy the fire truck last year. So, I mean, it's a cooperative purchase.

It's a cooperative purchasing deal to where through the source well agreement that's already been cooperative or competitively bid to where you're getting the lowest competitive bid that you want. All right. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Oppose. Same sign. I. Motion passes. 31. And as I told finance, I think this is it. I hope this is so everything I think will be signed. Um, we'll get it all and then hopefully we'll have some start dates and end dates and stuff like that for you guys. We meet with them in the morning. Yeah.

At 9:00. So, um hopefully we'll we'll pass that along and then we'll get the press going and let the public know. Thank you. Uh sewer, the Newberg wastewater treatment plant flow EQ tree removal.

Yeah, I I'll I'll combine five and six and you can make a motion to handle them separately. But uh these have to deal with the uh tree clearing restrictions from the federally protected Indiana bat as uh you can only remove trees from the inactive season from October 1st to March 31st. So a separate contractor was hired Jerry to complete this this work. So item five is for the original contract amount. Uh the invoice of I think it was $78,850. And then there's a second invoice number two uh for $9,700 for additional tree clearing and installation of mulch seating uh to meet the construction stormwater general permit requirements.

Yeah, we have those as two different motions. Yes. Yeah. All right. A motion. Can we combine them? There's two different invoices, so we have Okay. I'm I would move that we uh approve the flowy Q base and tree invoice number one. I would second that. Is there further discussion? Do we know how many trees? It's close to two acres. So, several. Okay. Thank you. Anything else? All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Opposed. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. The next item is um I would move that we uh approve tree removal invoice number two for the wastewater treatment plant flow EQ basin. The amount of $9,700. Yes. Okay. Is there a second? I will second. Moved and seconded. Is there discussion? I'll say one thing just Jerry Igner did a good job with the project. They moved very uh quickly. Uh we were thinking they would actually be done near March and they got it done before the storm. So they done a fantastic job.

And and also don't I know this is the project that we were amazed at his lower price than others that we talked about? Yes. Wasn't that this project? I mean it wasn't a little gap. It was a huge gap. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Further discuss the two acres of trees. Not the sewer plant. Correct. Not the sewer plant. No. May. Oh, it's it was um done before the storm, so it's already done. Okay. Early January late January, wasn't it? Yes.

And I think I think they had a logger that took the wood and that sold it, you know. So, it went to Yes. It went to refurbishing things. It was amazing the difference in the price. I mean, one of them was like oh 280,000 or something. It was just amazing. I I've never seen anything like it. I don't want to speak for those contractors, but I believe they weren't reselling. They were just going to cut it. And because he resold what they cut, he was able to he was able to lower the price. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I

oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. And the last one for sewer is the green drinker contract.

Favored drinker. This is a law firm Indianapolis that we've hired in the past for lobbying assistance. Um we follow legislation. Uh we've had them over the years at different times when it was important. There are a couple bills we've been watching. in particular, House Bill 1348, which deals with fat, oil, and grease and would be probably would cause some problems for our current fat, oil, and grease program. So, uh, we actually have already been working with them. It was approved u I think basically they they agreed to a a flat fee of $15,000 to get us through the legislative session, which between Russell's spending limit and Chris's been we've done it this way before. Um we we got them started. Russell and I went up uh Sunday night, watched a Super Bowl at the hotel bar and then went testified in the morning on House Bill 1348. Russell did a great job explaining our issues with the bill and we'll continue to work on it, but this just gets vague or engaged uh officially for that.

It would cause a significant issue for us. We've already made some changes. We've already made an impact, so that's good. But yeah, we we aren't trying to kill it. We're just we understand restaurant. The issue is the restaurant associations want the more consistency statewide of the fatal and grease programs when an interceptor is required when one's not etc. We have a program that's been in place since 2012 and it's been it's evolved into a fairly substantial but very you know administratively it's it's businessfriendly um it works well and it's environmental

and and it's effective and um we're just trying to make sure that what they do doesn't completely there were also throw you know what we've been doing the uh and Russell was very good at explaining there certain things in the bill when they write them that they they don't work in pract in the practical world. You can't take continuous samples of fatal and grease. You can't if you had to sample every interceptor, you would be busting up concrete to put in system facility to be able to take samples. And he explained that really well. There was also a provision in the bill that was amended in the in the house added to require uh any uh wastewater treatment plant that if you if you had a uh fog permitting program then you would be required to take septage which is the septic tank what's in a septic tank or a interceptor. We don't take it. it would cost over a million dollars, Russell says, to retrofit our plant to accept it. And so we were able to get that scrubbed from the bill. And so anyway, this is and there's a couple other bills we're watching. Um, but this will get us this will hopefully will have a good impact.

Well, we've worked with Mr. Smith from this company for a number of years now and had good results. So, I think this is a good thing. Um I'm sorry. Where are we? Do we have the motion? We do not. All right. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? I have a second. It's moved and seconded. Is there further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Same sign. Motion carries unanimously. Um unfinished business. There is none. Staff reports. Administrative manager.

Okay. you have your report in front of you. A couple highlights that I want to hit on. Um, number 13 under residents, we talked about earlier, but I was going to give you an update on the raccoon issue. We we kind of talked about that. Under miscellaneous, um, some highlights, the what's up 247 workshops has been rescheduled to the 3rd of March. Uh, we're putting that on with Ohio Township at their event center at 1:00. The public, anybody with a this organization is encouraged to attend. And if you recall, that's the apparatus that we use for our calendar and some of our business directories on the new website. Uh the boat dock had great news. They opened up the lower ex esplan today. I contacted all the fishermen. They were after the certain kind of fish. So, they've all been notified. some as far away as two hours into Kentucky. And they're supposed to be here Monday pending how much the river level goes up to start uh redoing the uh anchor points for the new dock and put it in. And then depending on what the river level does, we'll we'll either leave it in or manage that. But hopefully by the end of next Friday, weather permitting, uh we'll have the new boat dock in. So, and you remember that was approved at the last meeting of 2025. So the the request I have under item 11, War County Oxom would like to use the town hall parking lot on uh Saturday. Well, I guess this isn't going to work. I just thought of that. He

may second.

Yeah. Wow. All right. I'm going have to talk to the Wars County Foxcom. Um they want to use like our downtown area. If you recall last year, they do a public display where they set up their truck and they do a demonstration for several hours. We can work with them to get them space um to where they would be done by the time some of this stuff we can get them like a street access or something, but I would just need your all's blessing to let me work with them to give them some sort of uh they only need like two parking spots and we can give them that out front. They just want to be publicly visible and they're going to get a lot of visibility it seems uh where the public can kind of interact um for them to participate in the uh it's a party event where groups like them all around the state are doing these type of public displays on May 2nd.

I mean you might talk to Troy. I mean that's running from their race through through the Winefest. So they could have a spot somewhere down there just Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So, I can work with Troy, but I guess I need your approval to allow them to utilize a space around town hall. What What is it they're showing off? It's an EMA. It's a branch of the emergency management group to where they do radio communications. Okay. And like when the, you know, stuff hits the van, it's a citizen group that comes in and can provide backup communications to an emergency response. Okay.

They have a trailer set up that they once or twice a year they do public events like this. They did it here last year. Okay. On a Saturday. It was in early May. Yeah. They set up right back here along the trail at our uh and people would come in and see what they're doing and they can show them their equipment. Um but they want to have the visibility of being in Newberg for that on the second and it's not something that um our fire department or even police department would wouldn't want them to show it off in their park. No, they want the public to have access to see it. And with the trail right there, okay, they want people coming down the trail and then Okay.

Uh, our EMA director for the county uh asked for support as well. He sent me an email. Okay. And I didn't include it in the packet, but since we had approved it last year, I would just ask for your approval to allow me to work with the H&I to figure out a space for them on that day. I would prefer that you find a different date. I think that's an awful lot to be cramming into a little The other side the other side of it though is there's going to be a lot of people to see it and that's sure. Yeah. But is it is it a ham radio? Yeah, it's like a ham radio group. Yeah. Between taking down for the race and setting up for the winefest. You've also got a lot of stuff going on. A lot of people

I think you'll I think you moving with it's just like a simple trailer to truck. I mean, it's not it's not going to take up more than two spots, if that. And we can find them street access somewhere around town hall if we have to. So, I was thinking you could either do the front two spaces here or use some of this concrete here. I mean, they could actually pull up on this concrete right here and do what they need to do. I just need your approval so that I can allow them to do that. Okay. Is there a motion? I'll make that motion. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Opposed. Same sign. Two quick passes unanimously. Uh, two quick things on the report. The the numbers for the social media website are in there. Mother nature creates clicks. So, I mean, you can see the numbers on that. And also, I'm happy to report that myself and our clerk treasurer spoke to 86 second graders today at Evansville Christian School about how to how government works. And I've never been further out of my comfort zone in my life. He did really, really well. I was very impressed. And I teach kindergarten, so

I broke uh town government down to a pizza party with four classrooms and I gave them that large vote. And then I forgot halfway through that uh those kids might be expecting a pizza party now. So I had to clarify that this is just for discussion sake. But they were more concerned about the snow plows and the weather. Oh, really? They I mean the the the teacher had to step up and say this is the last question about weather because of the recent event. They were more interested in how the snow plows work in town. Oh my gosh. I didn't get too into the weeds on that. Yeah, I've never seen second graders line up and be so behaved and polite and uh

they do good work out there. But if you recall, they invited um us to send a representative a while back and I think Steve had me get with them and when I heard it was going to I thought it was originally going to be 20, but when it was 86, I knew I had to go to the bench and call somebody in with a little experience with children and uh we were able to dial down the storytelling. So that helped a lot. We did good. I taught second grade for three years and it's it's a perfect age. It's a perfect grade. It's they are so interested in everything and it was just really a pleasure. And then the next year I went to junior high and it all

grew to love it. Grew very quickly to love it. Second grade was great. They took some pictures. Uh I'm going to let them share them because I don't know, you know, with the rules right now. I don't know what's allowed. So, they'll make those public and I'll share them with you once they're out there on their site. And that's all I've got unless you have anything for me. I have a couple questions if you don't mind. Nope, you don't mind, Madam President. Is that okay? It's fine. Okay. Um, on the section about miscellaneous on item number six, I I just want to ask you, Chris, do you have enough information that maybe you could talk to us at the next arts commission meeting? You have

Yeah. And I could even probably get him to show up. Oh, okay. He's here local. Okay. But the person he wants to bring in is out of the Louisville area. Okay. And uh it's a national name. If anybody's listened to like a Bob and Tom or something like that, they'll they'll know the name. Okay. And I'll let him do the talking. And then I need to get with you because there's some other opportunities that I got some information on that you might want to discuss at the arts commission. Okay. That sounds great. And then I had one more question or comment. Um the concerns about the electric scooters.

I tell me, bring me up to date. I know you're reviewing it. says the ordinances and signage. I mean, how's that going? Are we It's going well. It was discussed at our last police commission meeting and uh I'll feel free either of you, but uh I've been sitting in on the there's a trail coalition group for the entire state. And there's a lady that's the guru of this that I believe has part of the Monon Trail. They're running and you know the Monon Trail goes all the way across central Indiana. Right. Right. and um they're running into the same problems.

Okay. And the city of Carmel just passed some of the strongest ordinances anywhere in the state and we've given them to Chris and the team that kind of reviewing and I don't think we're ready to bring something forward yet but it's in discussion and hopefully sometime sooner rather than later once we massage it with the group we would take it to the police commission and let them make a recommendation and then hopefully get it to you all. Sounds good. Thank you. That's all I have. Okay,

um you guys have um your report or my report in front of you. Um just want a reminder um that uh we're closed on Monday for President's Day. Um all of our FEMA dollars have been obligated. Um so we're very very excited about that. We've gotten two out of the four checks, two out of the five checks technically. Um we're able to also um send in all of our admin work. keep track of what we do. Um and so then that all goes in at the very end. Um so two of those checks have re have come in. We're waiting for the rest um to come in. And then other than that, if you guys have any questions for me, I did put a year-end review in your guys's packet. I hope you guys read it. We did a ton a ton of work in 2025. Um yeah, that's all I got.

All right. Anybody have any questions for Andrea? Good report. Thank you. All right. Next, um Riley isn't here. Do you have any reports from her?

Um there's a report in the back of your packet. Um she talked about all of her multiple contractor listings. Um she's done a couple of stop work orders. Her and um Gerald have been really going out doing a ton of um driving around neighborhoods looking up properties. They're they've been doing really really well. Um and then I think she's been kind of heavy working in that Novo solutions, that new software. Um other than that, she just has her um boards and committees on there. Thank you, Treasure.

Um I am proud to say that the town's annual financial report is complete. Um I'm just waiting to I'm two weeks early. I'm waiting uh for um sewers to start being put in and that's done by Baker Tilly and then they'll do a final review. Um, we did have a finance meeting today and we've talked about all those things already and we will well one more is pending. Um, and I think we will have a finance meeting before next council to go over the annual financial report. Okay, great. Thank you. Anyone have questions? Town attorney? No report.

Thank you. Any questions for him? Town engineer. No additional items unless you got any questions for me. Nice tie. Thank you.

That would have been a hit with second graders also. Any questions for the engineer. Moving on. I assume we don't have anything from air authority. I don't have anything for board of zoning appeals. We're still on for a meeting at the end of the month, but I don't know that we'll actually need to have it. Fire. I did get a message from Nick before the meeting started. He hopes to be here at the next meeting. He doesn't have anything to report for this evening. Historic preservation, do we have anything further from that? There's a meeting um tomorrow. Um and I don't know if she put anything on She didn't put anything on her list, but I don't I know there's a COA I think on that agenda.

Okay. Um park

the parks board met on uh February 5th and the um major topics of conversation were uh surrounding the ninja course and the timing on that and the the bringing of the bond uh issue here tonight. So, thank you all for uh that. That's going to move things along quickly, I hope. Um there was uh we have we welcomed um uh an auxiliary board member um Elise Bracile which I think is u very welcome her participation is very welcome in a number of ways lifelong Newberg resident she's going to be great uh a couple of things that were brought up that I wanted to make the council aware of is uh contacted well it might have come through economic development. We were contacted uh by E-REP about leftover ready 1.0 dollars. Um I'm not sure the total amount, maybe a couple hundred thousand. And they're trying to uh find small projects that uh uh towns uh in the region might uh uh welcome some help with. So the parks board is uh that's all under consideration and as that uh comes forward here, we'll we'll let you know. And I don't know if you want to add any color to that. So, we brought it up. Um, one project they're looking at that that E-REP wants to focus on, we took to finance. Um, because ERP kind of wants to know if we'll be able to have a match for that because I think it's the same kind of match. It is. It is. Yeah.

Um, so there was nine possible options depending on how we do this this workout course. Um, and it's been taken to finance. Nothing was voted on. It was just kind of a hey, this is possibly maybe you might be coming. Um, and so all those options were out there. It led to discussion about other projects in town and stuff like that. So there's a second project that Rep is interested in if we can't possibly do this first one. Um, but I don't have those numbers yet. So kind of it's evolving. I know REP wants an answer quickly. Um, but we're going to try to get all those numbers together and then if that is the case, take it to finance, figure out if we'll even possibly have a a match and then it'll probably come to you guys if we have that ability.

Should have those passing park or pocket park or Yeah. So, one of them's like a workout course possibly at Overlook Park. Mount Vernon just put one in. So, E-Reep likes it because it kind of bookends the River Vision, right? A workout course here, workout course here. um if that can't come about, their next option was Lou Dennis and helping out with the um tennis courts and the volleyball court. So obviously they want that one, but overlook comes obviously with it's not our property there, you know, all these things that we got. It's more complicated.

It's a little bit more complicated, bigger project. So, we're going to just do what we can do and get them all that information and then let them decide and then eventually the batch component will come down to finance and to to council. So, the next parks board meeting will be March 5th. And just so you all know because we all know her and um she does done so much work on the parks board. Maryanne's going to be kind of down and out with some surgery um coming up in a few weeks. Okay. Any questions for Paul?

All right. Uh plan, you have Riley's report in your packet and police chief.

I can do it. Yeah. U 2025 finally wrapped up. I think all of our numbers kind of settled. So just to hit some of the high marks on the year, uh we were at 11,598 CAD calls. Um out of that, there were roughly,300 traffic stops. Uh we had an approximately 667 total hours of training total with the department which averaged out to about 60 hours per officer which is substantially more than the state has a minimum of which is only 24. Um some of our big parts of the year obviously uh is the Christmas with the cop with the kids and stuff like that. This year we had 10 kids. U I believe nine were from Newberg Elementary, one was from St. John's. Uh we also worked in We did this last year, but we fit in even more this year. We had a total of uh 18 uh residents from nursing homes that we assisted with Christmas. Uh those were split between only two different nursing homes, Cypress Grove and Newberg Healthcare. Um, and I believe we were approximately $11,000 under budget. Uh, and one thing I would add is that our, uh, Newber Police Foundation golf scramble is July 20th this year. So, if anybody has any funds that they're wanting to donate, get some tax credits for u, that's how we're paying for all these things that we're doing at Christmas and also covering our K9 program. So, other than that, I don't know if I hit and tell us what you did today. I would

uh Well, we have today was a we had a huge load of uh dog food, cat food, cat litter and stuff like that that we received a donation from the Dollar General store uh at Sharon 66. U we basically had three full vehicles u and it was a it was a ton. It was actually more than I was even expecting. It kind of blew my mind. Uh but that's the third time I think in the last 12 months we've kind of assisted with work uh humane society obviously they need all the help that they can get. So we try to uh plug that as much as we can and try to donate as much food as we can. U so that was always a good thing that we're able to do and help out there because they depend a lot on uh donations uh and stuff like that. So

if you haven't seen the pictures of the loaded vehicles on Facebook, you need to check it out. is impressive. We had to call the sheriff's office in to assist with transport because we just didn't have enough room with us that were on today. So that's great. I would also say I attended the uh annual police recognition dinner.

Actually, I would like to throw up the slip of my So we did have a uh essentially an appreciation dinner. We used to do this all the time. We've not done this for several years. We're going to try to start getting back into the habit of doing this. We have an appreciation dinner. This is not just for the officers, but it's also for the officers families uh because they have to deal with a lot of stuff. They unfortunately deal with a lot of things that we had to deal with as well. So, uh we had a pretty good attendance. I think it was roughly somewhere around 40. It was between 45 50 people total that ended up attending. Uh we did give out two kind of awards from 2025. We're going to try to start working on this to uh highlight some of the officers. We had officer Drew Decker that basically received an accommodation uh for most traffic stops in 2025 and then officer Jeff Gully, he received an accommodation for the most DUIs on our department for 2025. U so it was a good time and we look forward to maybe expanding in the future as well on that. So,

well, I would I would also say that when you're there and you see both the professionalism and the camaraderie of that police department, you know what a good job Chief Mitchell has done and also what a good group we've got of people being taking care of our town. So, it's a real blessing to the town of Newberg to have the police department we have. Thanks, Chief.

Thank you. I just want to add one thing also uh because it's more of a high level issue. U we continue to have active conversations uh with the schools in town and uh Chris and and chief are really working uh all angles to provide full-time school resource officers to both the schools and I think that's an important uh uh objective for us. So, and unfortunately, the subject of school shootings is back in the news. I mean, it's weekly. It's unbelievable. It is. All right. Well, I could have gotten there. It was cold.

It was Today is the first day that I did not have to back down the alley to get out. And I probably could have gotten there, but I'm not sure I could have gotten home. All right. um storm water. Steve, we'll be meeting this month. We've got a couple things going on and uh next meeting I'll have a full report on what we have going. Okay. And we're working on those shirts that say storm water Steve for you. That'd be good.

Street report. The street team has cleaned drains, inlets, and outlets. They maintain vehicles and snow removal equipment. They plowed snow. You know, that makes it sound like it was really easy. They plowed snow and cleaned the parking lots. They restocked salt and sand bins. They plowed the lift station for the wastewater treatment facility. They worked on the decorative lights downtown. They picked up trash around town. They replaced a gutter guard on the shop and washed all of the snow removal equipment to be ready for the next one. Do we have any idea how how many hours they put in? They're uh they're making a breakdown list because we have to get that DMA. The only one that I have completed so far is from the utility.

Okay. And I'm waiting for some information from John. Arty Arty did give it to me um this morning and I haven't inputed it into a spreadsheet. All this handwritten the only one that we have completed so far is utility, but EMA has asked for that because there is going to be an attempt to go after some state relief, right? Um but this last experience with FEMA. I'm not going to hold my breath. Okay. All right. Utility,

we met last week and uh you all have the uh minutes from that the motions from the meeting on February 4th. Uh I would most of everything was pretty mundane, pretty much just housekeeping. Uh, I would make a motion that we approve utility motions 2 through 10. Number 11, we've already uh taken care of. So, I move that we've approved the utility report from February 4th. Is there a second? I will second.

All right. Um, are there questions? Any? I have one. It's always the same. Three of the motions mention the name of the development, Willow Landing. Yes. Where is that? It's over by It's It's by Pollock Avenue. Pollock. That's what I couldn't think of it. Yeah, it's by what? Pollock. It's on It's just north of Pollock Avenue. Pass Moser. Okay. Past the senior the little senior area on Poll. It's just past that. Okay. On that side of that side of college.

Okay. All right. Thank you. I just like to know where these places. No, that's that's maybe we can ask Rebecca to to include where those We did that for a while. Remember? And I'll I'll I'll make sure that that I actually asked during the sewer meeting because I didn't know where it was either. Yeah. Stury. All right. So, We have a motion on the floor and a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I voting no.

Uh standing committee reports, finance that we met earlier. We've already talked about a majority of the items we discussed and then Paul will have one on the next room, next meeting, next council. Okay. Thank you. Personnel.

Yeah, I'll stand in for Stacy here. So, um the personnel committee essentially met virtually. Um the uh our town administrators have uh done uh extreme due diligence uh to um determine or to recommend somebody uh to um take the position of maintenance supervisor. Uh that person is Noah Schmidler. And so I would like to make a motion that uh the council ratify the findings of the personnel committee and the recommendations of our town administrators to hire uh who by the way Noah works for us now to hire Noah who works for us to the position of maintenance supervisor. His starting salary will be $28 per hour and the date of his uh starting is to be determined pending coordination with the current department that he works in to ensure a smooth transition.

All right. Is there a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Um couple of things. This goes it seems like the title of this job is going back and forth. Is it going to be building superintendent or is it gonna remain maintenance supervisor because I think that's what it has been. Uh maintenance supervisor.

Okay. Okay. Uh I am thrilled that we have a candidate from inside somebody who's already you know decided that this is where he wants to be that this is what he likes to do and and you know wants to grow with the town. And I I am very happy about that. Any other questions, comments? I'm excited too. Yeah, we heard all about it during finance and I think this is this is good. Yeah, me too. That people see opportunities for advancement. Any other questions or comments? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. I.

All those opposed, same sign. Passes unanimously. Special boards, arts, Lyanna. Our next meeting is on the 23rd. That's Monday as usual. It's the uh the at L & B. And it is at 5:30. And we did have to skip the last arts commission meeting because of uh all the storms. So, questions. Lyanna. Sidewalk. Lyanna.

Uh sidewalk meets next week on Tuesday. at 10:30. Um, so it'll be fun. Okay. Growth in progress. Uh, our next meeting is on the 19th, which is, uh, coming up next week on on the Thursday and that is at 400 PM here at town hall. Okay. Any miscellaneous business? Steve? Nothing from me. Paul, no. Nan, no. Lyanna,

no. We did have a meeting last night of the Murray County USA 250 celebration committee and a lot of things were thrown out. Some things are going to be done definitely, but there are lots of ideas about other kinds of things that can be done. Um the committee continues to grow. We have um some members now from North Warick who had not been with us before, but we're thrilled to have them. We're still taking new members and there are a lot of exciting things that are coming up. Some things have set dates that have to be done. Some things are just things that we've brainstormed ourselves that are particular to Wy County. Um so anyway, we are working on having several really big events and then maybe some smaller events and some events in different communities. you know, Lynville may do something different than what Elberfelds or Chandler does, and we may not do any of what they do, but we may do something else, but you know, it's it's coming together. So, we are going to make people aware and hopefully give them a good celebration.

And then, just so you guys know, we're working with the the contacts. Um, but we want to put um some 250 like some bunting on some of the windows, maybe on these banners or on the banners on the balconies. Um, the banners that don't have wayfinding, we're looking to somehow make a banner whether it incorporates Newberg and 250 or just says American 250. So Chris and I are kind of working on some of that to get us geared up in the town decorated for the the

There's an Indian an Indiana womenowned business that has the state contract for flags that I've dealt with in the past and we made contact with them this week to try to get some dollar amounts to see what it looks like and then uh we should have something here soon for everybody to look at. And also on the 250, we've been in discussion with the uh there's a trail a national trail um relay thing that starts on the west coast, ends on the east coast. They're going to be in our area in October. They haven't set the date yet, but they're going to be paddling up the river. Um and they're going to stop ideally tenatively they're going to stop here for a day

and do education. But I don't have the who to what. They can't give me a date yet. But Ivy and I have talked about it to kind of bring it to you all as it gets closer to get that approved. It'll probably be during the week. Um I'm sorry. Hey, you know, no, I just remembered something. I was going to say, by the way, back in uh 2003 when we celebrated our bsentennial, we all had costumes made. We had 1803 period costumes made. Well, that's a little that's a little modern for this celebration. But I but Ivy and I get a top hat.

Ivy and I met with the representative from this. There's different braces and groups that are going to be doing stuff with the river, but this is the coast to coast one and with us being on the main thoroughfare like when they stop here, they want to engage like the elementary schools. Um, and with us having two schools here, there'll be opportunities. Uh, they want to stay at the cottages. They want to utilize our amphitheater and then our our bodoc area for uh festivities and educational opportunities. So, I don't have all the details to bring for you tonight, but I just along that 250, it's not just going to stop the the fireworks. It's going to keep going on throughout the entire year.

Okay. Anything else? It was a good It was a good meeting. There was a lot. Thank you. I have claims. So you what? I have claims. Okay. I know you do. We're going to drag it out though. Okay. No one else. Anything else? Let's have approval of claims.

Okay. There's two sets of um approvals we've got because we've got two meetings and it was just easier to break it down there that this way. So all these claims have been provided to council 5 days prior to the each meeting. And so now I'm requesting that these claims be submitted. These claims were submitted on January the first set was submitted on January 28th for approval for Civil Town $420,56474205647. For sewer was $791,362.96. Now for claims for February 11th, same thing. Um, we submitted civil town $197,813.74.

Can you repeat that? 1,979 97,197,813.74 for civil town for sewer $146,11220. So I'm requesting approval for payment of claims. All righty. So moved. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Is there discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Opposed. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. We've had a very unanimous night. That's that's a good thing. Not totally. Not totally, but a good night. And I again appreciate everybody helping me get through this. Anything else? We need a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Is there a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Is there discussion? If there is just