City Council - Regular Meeting

[clears throat] Good evening and welcome to our December 1st, 2025 city council meeting. Be the last meeting of the year. We appreciate those of you who brave this treacherous weather to be here with us this evening. Now, if we'll all stand and face the flag, join me and my colleagues in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. remain standing for the invocation. Gracious heavenly father, we just thank you today for this evening, Father God. Even with the weather out there, you're protecting us and we ask that you open all minds and hearts for the business that may come forth this council and for our community. Father God, we just thank you for this opportunity once again. It's Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, our citizens recognition. Who is it this morning? It should be uh Mr. Garrett.

We I have uh one uh that could not come this month. Uh so I'd like to kind of push mine off maybe till next month to where he can be here. So yeah. Okay.

Okay. Moving on. Roll call. Present. Selby present. Macintosh present. Green present. Powell here. Garrett present. Here. Sasham here. Mason here. Yeah. I'd entertain a motion for approval of uh last minute meetings minutes. I'd make that motion, Mr. President. I second it. Okay. Motion made by Councilman Selvi, seconded by Councilman Baskin. All in favor?

I. All oppose. Okay. Appointments to boards and commissions. We have one listed Beach Grove Cemetery Board. Mr. President, I'd like to put that off till next month so we have opportunity to look at more individuals. Okay. Second. Or if does it need a second? Need to be a motion. Your discretion? Yeah, we can we can do it next month. Okay. Cuz there's going to be several others that's going to have to be made as well. Could I say something? Yes.

Is there any way uh uh where's Oh, Mr. Walers. uh that we can find out who has lots or what have you in our nominees or what have you. It's hard to find someone that has a lot. I know that's one of the requirements. So there's so many people there's 50,000 people got lots out there. So it's hard to tell that way. Right. My suggestion would be if you get names, anybody gets names, want to be on the lot to contact myself or office manager and then we can look it up and see if they got them and get back with you. Appreciate it. Thank you. That way we can be for sure.

Okay. Would you conversely would you email councel if you have anyone that you would like to suggest as a member of your board since you know who meets qualifications and you know who would be a good fit etc etc just to give and we options uh I don't know if we've done it yet. We going to put it on our website [clears throat] you know where where it can get out to people that there might be people that don't know that's been had family there for 20 years. Absolutely. uh like to have opportunity to do it. Okay. Okay. Thank you. We can do that.

Okay. Committee reports. Plan commission. Is Kleen Swackhammer or Matthew Nichols here? Good evening. Kylen Swackhammer from the plane commission. We do not have our PowerPoint to put on the screen for you, but we have physical copies for you there. So, indeed. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [clears throat] Thank you. All right.

Well, hello everybody. My name is Matthew Nichols and I'm the project manager of East Central Indiana Regional Planning District's Safe Streets and Roads for All Federal Grant through the US Department of Transportation. Today I have with me the wonderful Miss Kylen Swackhammer who is the director of the Delaware Muny Metropolitan Plan Commission. And today our goal to you is to introduce both of our organizations, this SS4A grant, and how this grant will benefit all of us in our communities. Let me start by introducing my organization. Now, the East Central Indiana Regional Planning District was founded in 2009, and our overall basic goal is to serve the economic development, planning, and grant development needs of Delaware, Blackford, Jay, and Grant counties. Our director is Mr. Bill Walters, who came in around 2016. And I just want to let you know since his administration started, we have put a 14 to1 turnaround back into communities from dues and grants collected. Um, we don't have a presentation with us today, but I'll read our mission statement as well, and it's to serve the local governments of the four counties I just mentioned by fostering a vision of regional economic growth through grant writing, facilitating infrastructure improvement, supporting economic development, simply promoting an overall quality of life. Um, for anybody who wants to learn more information about my organization, you can go to www.ecirpp.org to learn more about the grants we administer and take care of. At this time, I'll now turn it over to Kylen to introduce her organization and the SS4A grant.

Thank you. [clears throat and cough]

So, you guys are already pretty familiar with my office. Um, but we are the planning department for the county and the city of Muny. We also house the building commissioner for the county. Um, he is also the zoning administrator and the flood plane manager um who handles all permitting and zoning ordinance enforcement. We are also designated by the governor of Indiana to serve as the NPO for our area. An NPO is responsible responsible for federallymandated transportation planning and project selection in an area in order to receive federal transportation funds. [clears throat] An work works closely with local governments, state and federal agencies and stakeholders to improve mobility, safety, and sustainability. The Safe Streets and Roads for All or the SS4A grant was established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This grant will appropriate $5 million over the 5-year period of 2022 to 2026. In July of 2024, ECI RPD was awarded the SS4A federal grant. Um, this was a $500,000 grant. Currently, there are still $2 billion available for future funding rounds, and we plan on seeking these funds. The initiative of this grant is to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries. The SS4A program supports the US Department of Transportation's National Roadway Safety Strategy, Vision Zero, and the Safe Systems Approach, which Matthew will talk about. has this

slide. So I'm next.

So vision zero, I just want to be clear, is a safe system approach itself. So the definition of vision zero though uh is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries while keeping transportation healthy, equitable, and mobile for all. Uh like she said, the overall goal is to simply prevent all traffic fatalities and collisions. That's a big ask. So I do want to read you a quote though that is really important to go with that and that's each year more than 42,000 people which is the population of a small city and even more than some of our cities here are needlessly killed on American streets and many thousand more are injured and the problem is we call this accident or we call this traffic accidents but the real thing is these are traffic collisions. Notice the change in the word there at the end and then also down here at the bottom I'd like you to look at that visual. This traditional approach is called a conventional approach and how we now put it against a safe system approach. I don't know about any of you folks, but I don't believe saving lives is expensive.

Now, let's talk about a little bit more what is a safe system approach. So, like she said about the national uh highway, this is a system that has been embraced by the transportation community as an effective way to address and mitigate the enormous and inherited risk in our complex transportation system. What it does is it designs a system with minis and redundancies in place to try to protect everyone from happening when crashes do occur because like I said, we're not going to be able to be perfect. They're going to still happen. Uh but hopefully we can prevent the you know the minimizing when they do happen. Um this first came about in 1990s around Europe and it's gaining major population American cities because the data has proven successful. It works. So um what's really important about this too is again like I showed you in the last graphic this is a major shift from the conventional approach now because this safe system approach uh is focusing on human mistakes and vulnerability and trying to again design a system of many redund redundancies in place to protect everyone and like I said again this is adopted by the national roadway safety strategies department uh vision zero So, how does this grant benefit you as council members and our community in general? At the end of this, we said it started in 2024. This was a two-year grant, so we are kind of nearing the tail end of this. Um, and we will hopefully be having our finalized plan in um early the first quarter of next year. Um, we will have a regional transportation safety action plan which will allow us to seek those implementation dollars for safety projects, road projects, um, that type of thing. Fewer serious injuries and fatalities occur with safety improvements. Long-term economic growth is supported by sustainable infrastructure. Mobility and connectivity can be enhanced. Community resilience is strengthened through regional collaboration. and projects in your area can be completed using these

implementation dollars. We need your engagement. Um, local leaders like you possess knowledge of the most pressing concerns in your communities. We are kindly asking for your feedback on key safety concerns specific to your jurisdictions, existing safety initiatives in your areas, opportunities for inner county collaboration, and we are striving to be inclusive of all stakeholders within the four counties of Blackford, Delaware, Grant, and Jay. We have three to four representatives from each county serving on a steering committee. members are collaborating, reviewing data, and providing input and feedback at periodic committee meetings. We have already held three committee meetings this year. Um, and we anticipate having one more meeting um before the end of this year. We also have included a flyer with some QR codes. There are surveys available there. There is a map where you can mark um areas of concern. um and provide your feedback that way. But we just kind of wanted to make you aware of this process um now that it's kind of coming to an end to let you know kind of what we've been doing on this um period that we've been working on this and what the final result will be.

And for anybody else that wants this piece of paper to fill out our survey, you can go to our website again. You can contact me after this. I'd be happy to work with anybody to make sure your voice is heard on this grant as well, too. Thank you guys for your time. Questions from the council. Thank you. Thank you. I'll leave some of these up here too for the public. Okay, moving on. ordinances previously introduced. Did you say so? Excuse me.

Yeah, I'm on here again. I'm going to wear out my welcome. You are on there twice. Never action. [clears throat] Okay. So, Kylen Swackmer, planning commission again. So, I do have another thank you

subject to talk about this evening and that is the together DM action framework. So, I have provided you all with a copy of this document. Um, you all are familiar with your comprehensive plan for Muny and Delaware County which is the together DM. So, that was finished in 2022. Um I am a board member of MAP and MAP took on the project of hey let's take another look at the together DM and see what's sitting there. Um what are some things that the together talk together DM talked about that we need to take action on and let's kind of create a document that kind of outlines those action steps for us. Uh we didn't want the document to just sit on the shelf. Um we wanted to be able to utilize it. So the together action framework was what came out of that process. Um the purpose was to build on the foundation of the together DM um to translate that vision into action. So in 2024 and 2025 a map task forces and steering committees held meetings. We identified existing and potential partners. We conducted outreach um and surveys to so that we could collect a diverse range of skills, resources, and perspectives on the items that the Together DM identified. The three overarching goals of the Together DM or the three big things as we call them are to improve quality of place, to strengthen housing conditions and options, and to expand opportunities for upward mobility. So in looking at those three things, we did some surveys. Um and for quality of place, the things that came out as the top priorities um based on those surveys were to invest in road and street conditions, prioritizing conditions. Um zoning code in need of modernization

for the topic of strengthening housing conditions and options. The prioritizing winners were increased investment in appealing housing, increased investment in existing housing, reduced residential properties that show visible signs of disinvestment. Ensure new housing strengthens existing neighborhoods infrastructure and provide access to diverse housing options and expect and require high quality from private investments. Under the topic of expanding opportunities for upward mobility, the highest priorities were to reduce segregation of low-income families into areas of high poverty, increase lowincome housing options in highincome areas, increase opportunities to build skills and experience, intentional decisionmaking, increase i3 test scores in my community schools, maintain third grade county reading, scores at or above the state average. Update the comprehensive zoning ordinances. Offer affordable residential opportunities in downtown Muny. The next steps after this document was created is for my office to kind of take ownership of this document along with maps and to keep track of progress. um set goals, set timelines that we expect um and kind of provide a continuous feedback loop where we can report on that progress. So we have made we have connected with a lot of stakeholders, a lot of partners, a lot of agencies, individuals, people that are already doing these things in our neighborhoods and communities. Um so that we can keep track of those things and report to everybody all these things that we are working together on. Um, so our next steps, progress reports. Um, keep stakeholders and elected officials

informed of our progress, build on partnerships, and secure some public and private investments. Um, the [snorts] reporting on this will be done at MAP's annual report to the community. So that meeting is usually held in January. We have a little more concrete than tentative date of January 26, 2026 for our next annual report to the community and that will be at 6:00 p.m. at IvyTech. So what I would like from you as elected officials is to please communicate with me if there are any agencies, organizations that you know of that are not listed in this document that you think are doing this work in our communities that we could collaborate with on

any questions. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Thank you. This is fantastic.

Okay. Now, moving on. Ordinance as previously introduced. Ordinance 34-25. Ordinance 34-25. An ordinance to amend the city of Muny comprehensive zoning ordinance from the split zone of the R3 resident and R4 resident zone to the R3 resident zone on premises located at 100 North Hodson Avenue. Is there anyone here to speak on this ordinance? Mr. President, um I I make a motion that we adopt ordinance 3425.

I second that. Okay. Motion's made by Councilman Basham, seconded by Councilman Green.

Roll call. Garrett, yes. Fishman, yes. Selby, yes. Green, yes. How? Yes. Macintosh, yes. Fash, yes. Zillian, yes. Mason, yes. Okay. Ordinance 35-25. Ordinance 35-25. An ordinance for additional appropriations. Muny Police Department.

Councilman Basham or Dishman have any kind of reports, committee reports on this? I can't hear you. No. Anything that No, not since our last meeting. Okay. Mr. President, I make a motion to adopt ordinance 35-25. I second. Okay. Motion's made by Councilman Pal, seconded by Councilman Bash. Okay. All in favor? Is that a roll call?

No public comment. Yeah. Any public comment on this? Hello. Speaking [clears throat] with Muny Police Department. Uh just here in case anybody had any questions and uh I'll let you guys know I stopped a gentleman that just left about the traffic stuff and uh roadway safety. So him and I will be talking hopefully here pretty soon. Yeah. What we can do to assist us. Councilman B. President, Mr. Deacon, will you explain to those present where this money is coming from and what you're going to be spending it on?

Sure. Um, we discussed this last time from our cash balance in our public safety tax dollars that we have. Uh, we intend to use the capital equipment to purchase some vehicles and the PEF ERF's public employee retirement fund. That's to shore up the Perf line item for the rest of the year as we've been more stably staffed this year. little fun police officer. Yes. So, just for clarification, this is coming from your public safety lit that cannot be used for that other departments are unable to use. I'm sorry. Yes, correct. That is

I just want to make sure because people were asking if that's taking away from other departments. I was getting questions about that and I want to make it clear that this is not taking away from any other departments. This is money that is specific for the police department and um is theirs to use. Yeah. And we've done this in years past. Um council's been pretty supportive throughout the years of doing this. Um we budget pretty conservatively and try to maintain through the year. When we get near the end of the year if we have some expenditures that we would like to tackle to get ahead of things, we we don't seek to try to utilize new general fund dollars. We like to use uh public safety dollars that we have available in cash balances. Thank you,

Mr. President. May I comment? And I'd just like to thank Mr. Wright for providing a budget performance report that helps us keep up with a monthly report on how these line items are being spent and what percentage is left. That allows us to make these decisions more easily. Sure. Thank you, Mr. Wright, for that monthly. Anybody else? Thanks. Thank you. Now roll call. Yes. Fashion. Yes. Green. Yes.

Macintosh. Yes. Fishman. Yes. Garrett. Yes. Selfie. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay. Ordinance 36-25. Ordinance 36-25. An ordinance for additional appropriations fire department EMS. Mr. President, I make a motion that we adopt ordinance 3625. Second.

Okay. Motion's made by Councilman Basham that we adopt. Seconded by Councilman Green. No one here to speak on this ordinance. Good evening, council. Uh much [clears throat] like the police department, we're asking for some additional appropriations. Uh this is to cover overtime expenses for the remainder of the year and for the purchase of an ambulance. Um these funds that we're asking for are funds that are in our fund, which is our EMS billing revenue and our fire protection contract with the center township trustees office. Okay. You asking for 260,000 in overtime?

Yes, sir. And 320 329,000 521 requested for vehicles. That's correct. Yep. That's for an ambulance that will be fully equipped um with new power loader and power C as well. President. Yes. Councilman, just for uh the public's just to know um where would that ambulance be based? Uh well, this ambulance that will be coming in would either be at station one, station three, or station seven. So, as they come in, we're we're going through um looking at the mileage, looking at the conditions most at the time. Yeah. Okay.

Anybody else? I have a question. This is not specifically to this if that's okay with you, but it kind of ties with the overtime. Okay. All right. Um, did you did the fire department did you guys have a recruitment open period in the fall? We are currently taking applications. You still are. Okay. And then what are you doing to promote that? Well, we've been using social media is is pretty much where we've been promoting it. working on a promotional video that we should be getting completed fairly quickly that we're going to try to get out here by the end of the week hopefully. Um because our uh application process ends December 31st currently. Oh wow.

Okay. So the promotional video is not here and the um process ends December 31st. Correct. It does right now. Yes. Is there a way to extend I mean have you gotten any responses? We have you have Yeah, we currently have I believe it's about 55 applications. Oh that's good. Okay, that's thank you for letting us know. Thank you so much. Absolutely. To extend the process that would take a vote from [clears throat] the merit commission. But that's something we have done and we have done that in the past. And and the number may I Mr. President? Yes. And is the number 55 um like a good number for you. Have you had that? Years ago we had 149 applicants. Okay. So it is down currently.

It is down. Okay. So, is there anything that you can send us council person so we can promote it and you know me? Absolutely. Email you guys a flyer that has all the information on it that we have. Okay. Thank you so much. Absolutely.

Any other questions? I I've got one kind of just kind of a statement and a firsthand uh I got to kind of firsthand see the the CS in action. The the automated power CS is what you would say. So, um I got a phone call about 2:30 in the morning about two weeks ago. My mom was behind me. I had ran behind. She had to get go to the hospital to get her gallbladder out. Well, she couldn't move. She was on the couch and she couldn't move. It was her. She It was very painful for her to get lifted, touched, anything. Well, they brought [clears throat] the power C in from the ambulance, which she has pretty steep driveway. Um some rocks over it too, pavers, all that. It goes over it, picks her up where she's comfortable. um and puts her on the C over the rocks, the steep driveway, pavers, all that back into the ambulance with zero discomfort to my mom. And I did not and I'm not just looking at cuz it's my mom, but to see that in action firsthand was uh pretty eye opening to how important those are um to every call that you would go on that needs the cop. It is uh it was very um eye opening to know that she was not in any pain. Um she got on the c into the ambulance into the hospital um perfectly fine um with that cot. So I got to see firsthand how those are very well needed in in every aspect. So, I just wanted to speak on that to to let everyone know how crucial that is when you're in that pain or you're that call. You know, we're we one of us might be that call one day that we we need that comfort of that cot. So, to see that in action and uh and the you know

the firefighters that came and took care of my mom, you know, and I know that do every citizen in the city. Um I appreciate it. Um, and it was really nice to, you know, I I don't want to hope she's not listening. I don't want to take that discomfort from her, but be able to see that in action to know that all calls that need that that they're they're that our citizens are getting that treatment and to make sure that they're that comfortable from their residents to the hospital in the ambulance and and beyond is uh it's very rewarding and I I thank you and your department for that. So, thank you.

Well, thank you very much for the comment. I appreciate it. And yeah, the comfort of our patients is obviously utmost importance, but uh one of the great benefits of the power CS is the elimination of lifting injuries to our Oh yeah. And I got to see that pay for themselves over and over again just through that as well. So yeah, that firstand when they put her in there and locked it in and lifted it up is just it's it's you know to make sure that we're we're kind of covering all basis of of of what we need to cover with those. So, it's uh it's just nice to know that everyone all around is taken care of with those CS. Thank you. Any other questions? Council myself.

Um I'm going to go back to my question. Is there a way that you can contact or get um you know work with the human rights, not human rights, I'm sorry, my human resources to see how many people applied for other jobs, use that list and send information to them if they might be interested. I mean, is there a data? Could you send um like for people who applied and didn't get it last time, are you sending are you actively sending more information or another letter or reaching out to them through email letting them know the process is open?

Yeah, that is something that we can definitely do. We get do we get applications from the human resources department where people will apply. Yeah. Um and they'll apply for everything. So, they'll click firefighter, paramedics, everything. when we get those we do reach out to them as well and say if you are interested in in being a member of the Muny fire department we have an application process going and we give them information to that link as well but okay so my question have you done that this time around we have been doing that with the applicants that we've been getting through HR and not through our formal application process okay but we can absolutely reach out to those me those people who applied last time and didn't either get employed or make the pass the written exam or their physical agility so that they know that we're in the middle of it Absolutely. So that's a promise you're going to do that before December 31.

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you. Roll call. Macintosh. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. [clears throat] Yes. Yes.

Yes. Okay. Ordinance 37-25. Ordinance 37-25. An ordinance fixing the salaries for the all elected officials of the city of Muny, Indiana for the year 2026. I make a Mr. President, I make a motion to adopt 37-25. Second.

Okay. Motion made by Mrs. Pow to adopt, seconded by Councilman McIntosh. Anybody here to speak on it? Anybody here to speak on ordinance 37-25? Good evening. I just wanted to see if anybody had any questions. So these these three these three ordinances can they all be done that

have to be done separately since they're all the same. Okay. Okay. Roll call. Bash. Yes. Macintosh. Yes. Sie. Yes. Green. Yes. Powell. Yes. Dishman. Yes. Garrett. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Okay. Ordinance 38-25. Ordinance 38-25. An ordinance amending ordinance 16-25 fixing the maximum salaries of each and every appointed officer, employee, deputy, assistant, departmental, and institutional head of the city of Muny, Indiana included herein for the year of 2026. Mr. President, I make a motion that we adopt ordinance 3825.

I'll second that. Mr. President. Okay. Yes. Um I'm going to make a motion that we amend this um title. Um, I believe that the t the page that we have right now in front, I think Miss Jones already put it on top, but the original one has um refers to amending ordinance 16-25, which is incorrect. I'll second that motion. Yep. Okay. Motion made by Councilman Gilliam that this ordinance be amended, seconded by Councilman P. Would you repeat what the amendment is?

Yes. So in the title should needs to be amended and it should be ordinance 38.2 I'm sorry-25 seeks to establish the salaries of every appointed officer employee deputy assistant departmental and institutional head of the city except police and fire for 2026. That's what the first one is but in the second page is original. Thank you. You can do a voice vote on the amendment. Okay. Okay. All in favor of the amendment of order 16-25 signify by saying I I

oppos. Carries. [clears throat] Okay. Anyone [snorts] here to speak on that ordinance amendment?

Stay up here. Just want to know if you had any questions on on this. Yes. Council Mr. Wright. Um, do we Why do we have a salary ordinance for the assistant director of animal shelter when there's no money budgeted in that line item in the budget? It it's the line the or uh salary ordinance for that. It's just it sets the maximum for each one and it doesn't reflect on the budget. If we took if it's no longer in there on the budget, it's not going to be budgeted for. Okay. So, assistant director of animal shelter, deputy mayor, those are both not going to be filled. I just didn't know if we were going to pay for those out of edit or if that was the plan that the administration had.

Okay. And then, um, as we discussed very briefly, and I'm sorry, I was tra um getting here with snowy mess, so I meant to be here earlier to talk to you. Um, I brought up that animal shelter, Beach Grove, uh, human rights, and the assistant Prairie Creek director were all uh, their salary ordinances put them above what we budgeted in the line item for, uh, for the budget, ordinance 38-25, which we're acting on now. Those salary ordinances will give them a higher salary than the B than the budget that the salary we adopted in ordinance 30-25, which is the budget. And you're saying we don't need to address that?

Well, what that the salary ordinance sets a maximum on it as far as the budgets. I mean, we could you can adjust the budgets during the year. I mean, if you have to make amendments.

And my only concern, May I continue? I'm sorry. My only concern is that we had that same discussion last year that the salary ordinances were the maximum amount. They didn't necessarily mean we were going to pay them amount that amount, but we ended up paying every single one that amount. and on in some cases over. Um my biggest concern is the assistant Prairie Creek Reservoir director, their salary ordinance is $5,615 over our line item budget for that for the I mean that's a significant amount. The others are $1,000 here or there. Uh animal shelter is just $28, but but that $5,000 is is significant. And so we just can be assured that that you're not going to be increasing over and above what we adopted. Okay.

All right. Um may I have two more questions. Um do we have a superintendent of streets? Um it's Adam Leech is the superintendent of streets. Donnie, I'm sorry. So the superintendent of streets is he is the superintendent of streets. He is the one that is earning 32 36 44 every two weeks. That is Mr. Wright. Mhm. He is the superintendent of street. So and so then the does he and he answers to Adam Leech? Okay. And is Adam Leech a do we contract with a company for engineering services or do we contract with Mr. Leech?

It's with the company. So Mr. Leech does not receive a paycheck from the city of Muny. Correct. He receives a paycheck from his Okay. I because I again there was a uh a salary ordinance for street superintendent and it was my understanding that Mr. Wright is not the street superintendent. He is the the um underneath the street and then we have a line salary in for the city engineer. And again, I just was concerned because of the way that it is recorded in the budget. It's just one lump item.

Um just was concerned that we were just concerned that where our money's going. So those are the only questions I had, but I did want to point out that we are we are over on those line items. Anybody else have any questions? Thank you. Thank you.

Roll call. I believe we need a motion to adopt. Yes, I'll make that motion. I'll second that. Okay. Motion made by Councilman Gillian, seconded by Councilman Garrett. Pal, yes. Selby, yes. Go, yes. Garrett, yes. Macintosh, no. Basham, yes. Dishman, yes. Green, yes. Mason,

yes. Okay. Ordinance 39-25. Ordinance 39-25. An ordinance fixing the maximum salaries of each and every member of the Muny Fire Department of the City of Muny, Indiana for the year 2026. Mr. President, I make a motion that we adopt ordinance 39-25. Second.

Okay. Motion made by Councilman Bile, seconded by Councilman Green. Chief here. See if you had any questions about salary. Anyone have any questions? Okay.

Yes. Fashion. Yes. Green. Yes. Macintosh. Yes. Dishman. Yes. Garrett. Yes. Selby. Yes. Powell. Yes. Mason. Yes. Mr. President. Yes. Can I ask our our council a question? Yes. So, since the police department did not do a salary ordinance and it won't be passed before January 1st, will that cause an issue? I mean, you've incorporated money for it. I'm not sure why that wasn't filed. Um, I would think they can continue to pay with the appropriations, but maybe a question for the state board of accounts.

Okay. Because I was always taught they had to be adopted by the 30 the 31st. All right. Thank you. is think it's gone.

Thank you. Okay. No new ordinances, no resolutions, other business. This is other business ready. Yes.

Ellen Whitehead. Hi. Uh, my name is Ellen Whitehead. I'm a Muny resident and I do want to start by saying that my view my views do not represent those of my employer. The council may remember that I spoke at last month's meeting to express my disappointment in how the council voted on ordinance 4025, which would have ensured that the signature of fix to an ordinance or resolution is used with the full knowledge and consent of the sponsoring council member. I continue to be disappointed, but perhaps even more so confused by the council's rejection of this proposal. Ensuring that we do things with integrity and transparency should not be a partisan issue. Given Muny's long history of concerns regarding public trust towards the city government, I would imagine the current council wants to establish establish themselves as on the right side of this issue. To me, this was a straightforward and common sense vote, and I fail to see a good reason why the council voted no. Why would we not want to establish and uphold clear standards for how our city government is run, especially given recent evidence that such standards are needed? Why would we not want to do whatever we can to promote public trust in the council and our city government? As the council can see, I feel strongly enough about this topic that I am returning to this issue. I respectfully ask that the council revisit the proposed the proposal outlined in ordinance 4025. I am asking that the ordinance be reintroduced for the January meeting and that the council vote in favor of this common sense proposal. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Very well said. Alex Kubler Kubler.

Hi council. Uh [clears throat] my name is Alex Kubber. Uh my opinions are my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer. I also want to ask council to reconsider ordinance 40-25 from the November 3rd meeting. Um, I feel that it was a common sense change to the filing procedures and I feel like it makes no sense that it should fall along party lines. Uh, many my residents like myself attend council meetings because it's one of the few ways to get insight into and provide input into how our city government works. We expect that the members of council as our elected representatives act independently of the mayor's office. Um that an ordinance carrying your name has your support in a meaningful way and that you bring it to council in a proactive and intentional way. The change in the council procedure described by ordinance 40-25 would reassure the public that the council is following through on those things. Uh, I don't think Muny residents want council members to take a back seat to the mayor's office in setting the city's legislative agenda. So, I urge you to reconsider ordinance 40-25. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. [snorts] I'm having a hard time reading. I think it's Presley. Uh, okay. Janette.

Janette. Okay. Sorry about that. Hello guys, Janetta Presley. So, I'm here about something totally different from before. So, I have a service dog. You guys all know that. His name is Bernard. And um I have had some issues with some new businesses in town with Bernard. So, he is um not a support dog, is not a pet, is a medical alert service dog for seizures. He came out of a medical alert program out of Greenwood, Indiana called Medical Mut. So, he's licensed. He has a license. Um, you have we [clears throat] have a new business in our neighborhood at the end of Battavia and 8th Street. It's a convenience store and I've been conveniently kicked out of there with my service dog and the police called on me and I waited on them to come. Um, he's licensed. He can come in there. he can go wherever I go. Um, therefore, we had an incident. The gentleman called the police on me. He refused to um give me what I needed from the store and I waited on the police. Of course, the police tried to explain to him. He doesn't speak well in English. And so, there was some issues. So, that is one issue I've had. The other issue I had is Walmart. I went to Walmart to shop for groceries for Thanksgiving and I was approached three different times and all three times. He's too big. He's this. He's that. I'm sorry. He's a service dog. He's trained. He's medically trained and he takes care of me. Yes, he's big because I'm big. And so, you know, if I fall, he breaks that fall. A little dog I would smash to

pieces. You know, I've had Bernard five years and before I had a I had another service dog and he was a St. Bernard also. So therefore, we need to do something and get these people on board that are working out in our public because I know people take dogs in everywhere that are not service dogs. But Bernard has a thing. I wear a tag when I have him with me. I would like to be left alone. I would like to be able to go in and do my business and stuff. Um, so the Human Rights, I've called them here. I've called the Americans with Disabilities Act. I reported it all, but last time Rose sent a letter out and it was resolved. I think that maybe you guys could do that again.

Good, Mr. President. Yes, Mayor. Yeah, we will do that again. I think uh we have uh new businesses that come in and especially uh I mean I'm originally from another country so it takes us a while to kind of learn the rules and and stuff so I think um I would you did you so you did report it then to the human rights commission? Um yeah I left them I mean I had to leave a message I didn't get anybody and now I understand that she's not there anymore so I don't know who took her place. Yes. So, okay. So, if you don't mind, I can talk to Pastor Mitchell, who is the president of the human rights commission, I believe,

and they will send the same letter out and and I anytime the public if this happens, just contact sometimes Walmart has no excuse. I think Walmart needs a little bit more. I don't know if it's an investigation or a serious thing for them because they should know better. Uh, but I would, you know, so I will help you again and I will talk to Pastor Mitchell myself. I mean, I went to when I went to Walmart to do my grocery shopping and that was just recently. I was stopped by three different sets of employees. Do you remember the date of that? Um, so you can send me that information later. It was on Tuesday. Tuesday. 25th. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving. 25th. The 25th.

And that was the South Walmart. Yeah. Thank you so much. You're welcome. But Bernard does have visible. So he wears a bandana that shows a medical symbol on it and it says medical service dog and his name. So yes, he does he wear he has it on when he's here when he's here. But he does not like the vest. Um he never has liked the vest. And so legally he doesn't even have to wear anything as long as I have

the the thing around my neck. But I do have the uh bandana that he wears and he always wears it when we're out in public. So, but he is not a pet. And I and I tried to explain to them that he is not a pet. And you know, um, but they did not want to listen, you know. I mean, I had three different employees. Like I did couldn't even get through the store. I'm sorry. You know that they weren't, you know, and he is a very well- behaved, very well-trained animal. And yeah, you all know him. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry that happened too. Sarah Battel.

Hi. Um I my views don't express the views of my employer. Um and I want to thank um my my friends and neighbors um Ellen and Alex for the comments that they made earlier about um ordinance 40-25. Um, I I too think that this was a this was a softball. Like this was a this was an easy opportunity to show some good faith to the citizens of month of Muny that that you're on our side um that you care about um being transparent and open and clear. Um and the the the partisan element of the vote was confusing. We were surprised. Um it didn't seem like it would go that way. this seemed like one of the kind of easy ones that like, yeah, we want to do the right thing um by folks in Muny. Um and you know what, um I think Alan mentioned the history of some lack of transparency in our city that a lot of you campaigned on um and your goal was to um to [clears throat] rectify that and that you care about. Um and and so did the mayor's office. And so, um, I, you know, I really, um, ask that you reconsider that you, um, bring back this ordinance or, you know, another one that you'd have to give a new number to, um, but in order to, um, to show that that you're committed to us first and foremost, um, and folks who who care about this city and who have made this our home. So, thanks.

Thank you. Thank you, Beth. Beth M. Is that Mson? Can you tell what Mess Oh, okay. There she is.

Hi there. I'm Beth Mesner. I'm here representing the Riverside Normal City neighborhood. Um, my views do not express uh reflect those of my employer. Um, I'm here to kind of do a status check on ordinance 2925, uh, [clears throat] which was, uh, designed to eliminate all parking on University Avenue from the University Village to Wheeling. I do understand and our neighborhood association does understand that this ordinance has been tabled. We are curious about when it might be unt [clears throat] before the council. I believe Councilman Green, you were the person who t

Yes, I'm the one that tabled it. It's good possibility it'll be brought up next month. Thank you very much. You're very welcome.

I also had a second question. Given that there [clears throat] has not been a vote taken on this particular ordinance, we are curious about why striping has been [clears throat] completed on University Avenue down the center of the street, [snorts] which does not appear to accommodate parking, which is currently legal on the south side of the street. If you look at the striping, particularly between Wheeling Avenue and Reserve, you will notice that there are several places where cars uh when the paint was wet, had to veer out [clears throat and cough] around parked vehicles because the striping does not appear to be properly aligned to allow for parking on the south side of the street.

Mr. President,

Council Me. Yeah, I I um was actually hoping that we could ask the administration that uh tonight because I had heard that and seen that too and unfortunately they're not here, but yeah, I think we I think the association can also reach out and find that, you know, and ask them and I think we might do that too. Um, Heather Williams had asked me about that and so I emailed Donnie Wright and he said, "We are just striping the center line as of now, but pending ordinance 29-25's approval of removing parking, we would then add the bike lanes um, markings and that was on November 13th. So, as of right now, it's just the center line. So, it feels a whole lot like the administration is moving forward on bike lanes without the council's approval. And I hope the council is as concerned about that as the neighborhood association is.

This is not what this process is supposed to look like. Well, I don't think that striping it down the middle would give anybody an indication that they were moving forward. U It certainly [clears throat] looks that way to us. Well, that's just striping that they would do anyway. Not in that position. In that position, the striping is there to accommodate a bike lane on the north side and the south side of the street. Mr. President, I I'd like to ask a question. Could you tell me what the width of the road is in that area?

I do not have those measurements with me. We have measured. Uh we did have a resident that went to measure and the striping is down the center of the street. I think there's one foot additional space on the on one side of the street than the other, but it's not striped to appropriately accommodate currently legal parking on the south side of the street. If that had been done, that stripe would have been moved further toward the north edge of the street. Do you have a measurement from the stripe to the north side and a measurement from the stripe to the south side?

I do not have measurements with me. I would be happy to to get those measurements for you, but it looks to us like it's a done deal and that is very frustrating.

It has yet to be voted on so it's not a done deal. So,

okay. I also wondered I have a third question if we have any idea when the curbing will be completed on University Avenue. Currently there are three blocks uh between reserve and Dick Street that do not have curbing. Um the street department attempted to they paved and left a foot of gravel on each side north and south side of the pavement to presumably accommodate curbing. And then last Friday a whole bunch of d dirt dirt was just dumped in the gutters by the street department. I saw the street department doing that. So that means now that anybody who is parking on the south side of University Avenue has to get out of their car and step in mud. Literally four or five inches of mud because what was to be the gutter and which is not yet a gutter was filled with dirt.

Any ideas what's going on there? I know we'd have to check with the street department. knowing we wouldn't have that information unless well obviously all of those things concern us and we look forward to continued conversation about this in the January meeting. What 100 block of university are those curbs missing from? Uh or or ballpark figure. Yeah, I'll I'll send all of that information to them. Okay. Yeah, it's three blocks. Okay. Three blocks. Thank you very much. Thank you, Linda Hans. Oh, there she is. I thought this.

Good evening. I'm Linda Hansen, spokesperson for the League of Women Voters of Muny Delaware County, and I'm prompted to speak this evening about transparency and accountability. Ordinance 4025, which you've heard about already again tonight, filed by Norah Powell, failed to be introduced on November 4th by a partyline vote of 54 with council persons Dishman, Salvi, Garrett, Basham, and Green voting no. The ordinance was prompted by a resolution, resolution 1725, filed in October by the mayor's executive assistant without the knowledge of the council person listed as its sponsor, Dale Bashen. Council member Basham had filed and signed a previous version of this resolution which had been withdrawn and the mayor's office reused Basham's signature from the prior resolution. I attended that October meeting and was both baffled and alarmed by the evident confusion. Were there not procedures in place to ensure legitimate action by council members? In November, council member Norah Powell sponsored the ordinance that would require all future ordinances and resolutions to be filed directly by a council person or by legal counsel. The goal was to prevent this same kind of mistake and potential impression of miss of impropriy in the future. The ordinance failed on party lines. Together as a council, however, you are responsible for city government. Allowing others to sign without your knowledge is an abdication of that responsibility. Muny has a history of corruption that has attracted media attention and convictions at various levels. And it appears it doesn't matter which party is

the majority. As my residents, citizens, and voters, we deserve better. Any hint of misdeeds can trigger accusations of corruption. I'm not saying this is, but there's a hint for that. And it would be useful if we could build transparency and accountability into procedures for city business because this recent incident raises concerns and questions of trust. And as a recent headline noted, if you have transparency, you don't get the swamp. So whether ordinance 4025 can be refiled or a new one proposed, the league urges you to revisit the issue for transparency and accountability and working together for the benefit of all citizens of my

Thank you. Thank you. That was it. Okay. Is there anything else? Yes.

Hi. Um, Seth Rollins. Sorry for not signing up. I I got here a little after 7. Um, I uh was just trying to speak because today the Indiana House of Representatives announced a redistricting map for the state of Indiana. Um, it's a I think it's actually particularly bad for Muny. Um, it's a we have a weird alignment where it basically carves out Muny and Albany and puts us all the way north up to Angola in the Elk Park County area. It's it's a very uh I mean [clears throat] it also splits Indianapolis into four separate territories. I think it's a it's ridiculous.

It's it's it's not the cleanest map you ever see in the world. Um, that's it. And this [clears throat] is not in your guys's purview, but I would really recommend uh anybody on council along with anybody in the audience or listening online, please send um some notes to your representatives. Um in in in our area, your representative could be Sue Arrington, Elizabeth Row, or JD Prescott. And our senator is Scott Alexander. Send notes to the office. Please tell them to vote no on legislation that basically carves out the city of Muny and puts us with Fort Wayne and Bola in a weird in a very strange congressional district. So, I just thought that'd be very important to mention tonight. Thank you. Thank you.

Keep doing this. Hi, uh Daisy Dale. Um, I was curious about the opioid advisory committee or the opioid fund advisory committee because I know that three appointments were done by council and there's three. They're supposed to be done by the mayor. Does anybody know if the mayor has made those appointments yet? Yes, I I do know that he has. He has. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Is there anyone else?

Mr. President, may I announce for everyone uh light up my is on Thursday night from 5:00 until 8:00. Um there is a lighted parade that begins at 5:30 that will start at city hall and take us through downtown at Canon Commons performances um um yard. Um, it will be a great celebration lighting up my Thursday night 5:00 to 8:00. Bundle up. Okay. Yes. Come up. [clears throat]

Um, forgive me. This is kind of unserious, but I'm SA Derby and I'm a senior [clears throat] at Muny Central. And um for my AP government class, we are doing a mock presidential election and I'm running for president. And so [clears throat] if anyone is willing to talk to me about my policies and give me an endorsement, like just a photo, I would love it. So [laughter] thank you so much. [applause] Okay. [laughter] Okay. Well, Mr. President,

I'd entertain a motion. Mr. President, before we close the meeting, I'd like to uh make a a comment to everyone uh those that are here and those that are watching tonight. Uh we're coming up on a Christmas season and there are many shutins uh particularly elderly that may not have anyone uh looking in on them. And I would like to ask the community to go out and adopt one of these individuals. uh check them out, make sure they're okay. Take them a meal. Uh maybe even take them a present. Let them know that they do matter. Uh there are a lot of lonely people out there this time of year. Want you to think about that. Uh if you were in that position, would you like someone to do that for you? So, take the time to invest your time into the life of someone else. And don't let it just be at Christmas time, but take it through the whole winter. check on them because I've seen some elderly people out trying to shovel snow. [clears throat] Had no business doing it.

So, I definitely would like to see the youth step up and do things. So, Miss President, uh this may be something that you could [laughter] uh speak to those at the high school level, uh individual students that would get out and invest their time in helping others. I think we'd be a stronger community if we put forth the effort and do so. Thank you. Great. Yes, sir.

Thank you. Uh Mike Sullivan. I live at 2615 West Purdue Avenue. I'm all for transparency. U sorry about my voice. Um and so I I hope you'll call 4025 up and reconsider the vote on that. 45 is a very bad kind of division on a partisan basis. I was initially really impressed with this particular uh group of council persons this council when in the beginning we had this great sense of working together and sharing ideas and it seems like it's kind of dissipating. I don't understand what underlies that, what's behind it, but transparency is essential. Absolutely essential. And I think one thing that would help transparency would be something that seldom occurs in a city council meeting, and that is you vote yes or no. But we never know why you vote yes or no. And I think it would help the whole community if we had a better idea why you vote yes or no for any bill before you or resolution. So that would be just a suggestion I would make. I'd like to hear more about your dialogue and your thinking on the issues and share it with us so that we have a better understanding where you stand.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, there's nothing else. I'd entertain a motion to adjurnn. So move motion made by council Macintosh. Second. Seconded by council. You were breaking because you voted against that. All in favor? I post. outs and terminated.