Town Council - Regular Meeting

All right, it is 7:00. So, we'll start with the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence. I pledge allegiance 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. All right, start with roll call, please. Maple here.

Ryan Harkley, he's on the screen. Bill Neer here. Terry Reed, present. Chapel here. Moving on to claims. Uh, do I have a motion to approve APVs 28597 through 28650? Make a motion that we approve APVS 28517 through 28650 as they were presented in our backup material. I'll second that motion. Ethan second bill. Are there any discussions or questions? All in favor say I.

I. I. Oppos say nay. All right. Those are approved. Next will be the adoption of minutes. So, adoption of town council minutes from December 17th, 2025. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion that we approve the minutes from our meeting of December 17th, 2025 as presented in our backup materials. I'll second that. Moved by Bill, second by Terry. Any additions or deletions to the minutes. All those in favor say I. I.

Awesome. That passes as well. Next, we've got uh time on our um agenda for public comments. Uh three minutes per person for items on the agenda only. So, these are items that that you see on that agenda in front of you. If you grabbed one, if you so choose, please come to the um mic and state your name and address. Any takers? All right, then we will move on to old business. So, the first thing we've got for old business is the AED memorandum of agreement.

I'll speak to that. Um, so just a couple reminders that we received on October 31st a thousand grant from the Hancock Hancock Regional Foundation and then some of our staff actually majority of them on December 9th we got a and CPR training and then tomorrow we'll actually receive those three AEDs here. They'll install them and program them. And on the next batch, I guess just a forewarning. So, in our January 21st AP batch, you will see an item in there for $5,68110. That's for the three AEDs that we work. So, just a heads up. And then also the agreement is here. It just outline pretty much the terms and conditions and formalizes the transfer from Sugar Creek Township owning those devices to now the town.

Okay. And you guys are looking for an approval for us to approve that based on the dollar amount. I think we've approved it already, but to be good. Good. The only question I had was um Bri, you're on here. Does that need to be one of us or is it okay being to sign a date that? Um the Sugar, it's basically an agreement with Sugar Cream Township, Sugar Creek Township, and they put her name on there as the contact. I think it's just fine. I'm fine with it. I just wanted to make sure we're good there. I think it's just perfect. All right. Um, do I hear a motion to approve the signing and payment of the AEDs and the memor memorandum?

I'll make a motion for what you said. I'll second that motion. So much trouble. No. Uh, any discussion? I'll just say thank you again for the grant. I think um it's great that you're taking initiative and doing that for us. So, I appreciate it. Absolutely. Uh all those in favor say I. I. I. All right.

As well, on to new business. Um the first of the year, there's a time where we have to make some appointments for commissions um that help us run the town effectively. Um we've got a couple that are up. So, the RDC, the redevelopment commission, is a year-long um appointment. Um there are three made by the president, um two by the council, and then um we have a representative nominated by the school board. So, um with that, I think there's a um we'll have to make sure that we address all of those tonight. The appointments that I'll be making are Rachel Strong, Bill Neim, and Mark Havl. There are two council appointments. Currently, they are Ethan Maple and Steve Rainey. I will make a motion to reinstate both of those individuals.

I will second that motion. Motion by Bill or motion by me, seconded by Bill. Is there any conversation around those? Awesome. All in favor say I. I. I. I. And that passes. Congratulations to those individuals. Um thank you

and thank you for your continued service to our town. Um the next one that we have is with um Jenny stepping down off of the board of zoning appeals. We have an opening there. Um that is also a appointment made by let me check. It's you by me. I'm just double checking. Yep. Okay. And um I will be appointing uh Penny Hildebrand.

So I'm excited that she is here with us. Penny, you still agree to be a part of the BZA? Awesome. Okay. Um, outside of that, the only other um, commissions that we have to address are the EDC, which will um, has already been sent up to the county, and we should get a response within the next day or two.

Okay. So, no changes there. The only other ones are upcoming in August. Um, we have three seats that are coming to term in August for the plan commission. So that takes care of commission for us. All right. The next thing on new business is um 62 uh police incident in Copperstone. I think we have a somebody here to present. Go ahead. Yeah, we've got Mr. Ser here to speak on that. I don't think we finished the motion though. Made the motion BZA for the BCA. You made Penny

BCA is just an appointment by me. Okay. Okay. So, okay. Correct. Yes. Boom. You are correct. On fire. He He doesn't need nor want our help. Nope. Mrs. Desert. How do you say it? Desert. Desert. Um, hello everyone. My name is December 21st. Um, can we can we have you speak in the microphone. That's not a microphone that amplifies the sound. It's just for a record. Yeah, it's on. Yeah, you don't have to worry about it. It's You won't hear yourself on it.

Hello. You guys hear me? Okay. Um December 21st, there is an incident at my home where the cops were called.

It's winter time, so we like to warm up our cars and um we do have a Dodge Charger, so the muffler makes noise. And um our neighbors also have cars that makes noise as well. So, in between our neighbors starting their cars and us, someone called the cops thinking um somebody's going to commit suicide because of the noise in the garage. So, I was woken up out of bed and as soon as I hit downstairs, I seen a whole bunch of cops come to the door and kick the door down. So, I was completely in shock. Um they did complete a police report and we're just asking just to help to get the door uh fixed because it's letting hot air out, cold air in. It's not closing properly and it's not sealed and the whole trim is broken into and even the lock to lock the door to. So, um, forgot his name, but somebody did come to the home and take pictures. Sorry if I forgot your name. Yeah, Jim.

Um, he did come to the home and take pictures of the door and I spoke with our lovely treasurer, too, to see what we can do to get that fixed. Um, so you're in Copper Swan, correct? Yes. And do you rent or own? Right. Okay. You rent there and then um is there a reason that nobody answered the door? I was coming down the stairs. I was sleeping. We the master bedroom is upstairs. So even if you ring the doorbell, it doesn't go to the room, only the downstairs. But when they knock, I have a Ring door camera. So when I checked my phone for the notification, I quickly ran downstairs, put my robe on, and then they if 10 seconds more, I could open the door, but they shut um broke the door down right in front of me

when I was going to open the door cuz all rooms are upstairs. Miss Dir. Yes. Is it DC? Right. Okay. Thank you. Um, do you know whether your renters's insurance or if the property owner's insurance uh would the insurance cover has anyone inquired into the insurance company to see if there's coverage? Um, no. It would be completely on me. Um, so I did get a quote. I did speak to the landlord. It completely on me to get it fixed. So I did get a quote, but unfortunately the quote was too high. So I have to get another quote. But between Monday and today I had to work. So I didn't get time to get the second quote. But I am looking to get

Yeah, I was I because one easy solution is if there was insurance coverage would be to discuss whatever deductible might apply. Right. Um so have you by any chance contacted your renters's insurance to see if there could be coverage? No, I didn't. It's completely to the landlord. So I didn't because your renters's insurance only covers the items inside the home. Correct. Contents. But I'm Yeah, I'm sure that the land or the landlord has insurance. Yeah, when I spoke to him, he told me it's up to me. I'm going to reach out to him again to give him the feedback of what you guys said. But yeah, he's standing. He said it's completely on me.

And you're waiting on a second quote, correct? Okay. You said the first quote was too high. How much was it? 7K. 7,000. Yeah. They came to the home. Wendy Indie Window Depot came to the home and did an assessment. And you said it was too high based on your ability to pay that or I mean you said it was too high. So I'm trying to figure out what the based on what I can report. I feel like it was too high. Yeah. Okay.

Thank you. Um obviously um legally because they were responding to a call in an emergency um and it's within the scope of their duties um there there's not pending liability um for us. I think the the issue that we have at hand is if we are going to reimburse or take care of and then at what amount right so I think that's two separate things that we have to decide as a council um so if we want to parcel those separately in motions so that we can vote on that or do you think it'd be okay if

chief do you want to speak into that incident on behalf of your officers to kind of put that out there as well. For sure.

Sure. Um, so I think I sent everybody the call for service and the case report that was sent to you. Um, officers were given a phone call around uh, 15 32 hours of um, the neighbor hearing a vehicle start up in the garage with the garage door completely closed. Um, so officers responded because they felt that possibly the male that had started the car was possibly committing suicide. It's a telltale sign when the garage door's closed and cars running. Common sense that you keep the door open. So when the officers pulled up, they arrived at 15:40 hours, so about 8 minutes after the initial phone call. Um, and you could hear, they said you could hear the car running from the roadway. So they made attempts to knock on the garage door itself as well as the front door um and got no response. They actually went over to the garage door itself and uh two of my biggest guys tried to lift the garage door up. Of course, it was locked. They couldn't get in. So they made another announcement. this time, county deputies rolled up behind them and they all agreed to take the front door to get them out. Because our thoughts is we've got exigent circumstances going, "Hey, somebody's been a house. Somebody's in trouble." And she's right. They knocked a second time on the door and as they preached the door, made entry, she was at the end of the hallway. So unfortunate, but what we were called for was definitely um somebody thinking that something bad was happening and the officers acted um to produce life-saving measures. Do you have did that is can you speak to how much time between the first knock on the front door to the breach?

I mean minutes maybe. Okay. Like I said 1540 is on scene and 1545 is a note here that says property damage. Yeah. That's probably when they related to dispatch. It's probably sooner than that. Yeah. So probably enough time to knock on the door. Both officers walked over, tried to lift the garage door up, had no response. Went back, knocked again, made an announcement, no response. Took a couple steps back and they made entry. So right, I'd say a minute or so, right? Excuse me. I do have a ring camera if you guys also need the video to know the amount of time to

Okay, thank you. Well, and Chad, I just to respond to your question, me personally, I I wouldn't want to bifurcate the do you want to pay and then what amount because to me my decision on do we want to reimburse is contingent on what the amount is. So I see them as greatly connected because you know first and foremost as chief said there were exigent circumstances. Uh and no matter what we do if we decided to do reimbursement. I want to make it very clear that not for one second does anybody think that any of the officers did anything incorrectly or that they should have done anything differently. You know, unfortunately, they have a job where they have to make decisions spur of the moment, right on the moment or at the moment under circumstances that, you know, it's real easy to second guess or think about what could have been differently. But in this situation and I would say in 99.999% of the circumstances, our officers make the right decision. They did here as well. So if the council decides that they want to do a reimbursement up to a certain dollar amount, I want to make it very clear in voting in favor of that type of emotion. You're not saying that anybody did anything wrong. And at the same token, I'm also saying that you didn't do anything wrong. Um, you a lot of different things, whether you have headphones, whether you're sleeping, there's a million reasons. I mean, if somebody came to my front door, we don't use our front door. Now, if you come to

the side door, we'll hear you CEO all day. So, there's a lot of different circumstances. This is not a situation where there's any blame to be assessed at all because that's that's not what I'm thinking. So, Those are my comments. I kind of see the two greatly connected because if it's a reasonable amount, then I'm inclined to go one direction and if it is really not a reasonable number, then I'm inclined to go a different direction. So, I see them as being greatly connected. That's just my thoughts.

Go ahead. It's definitely something we could table until we get the the quote and then the request, right?

And then and then at least we would know what we were making a decision based on. So, and I greatly appreciate that you recognize that first one seems a little bit high and if why don't we do exactly that, table the matter, give you time to get another estimate and then, you know, come back before us and let us know what the number is and we'll be happy to make a vote and decision. The only thing I would add is number one, I would I would caution about warming your vehicle in a closed garage.

I I don't think that's safe and I would worry about your safety upstairs even if you you sleep with a running car makes me nervous for you. U so I I would I would be Yeah, my husband started the car. I was woken up out of my sleep. But yeah, I appreciate that. I would just that worries me for you. Um, and so it certainly worried some of your neighbors enough to call the police and worried the police enough to to to breach the door and do that. The other thing I would say is um please do not wait on our decision to secure your house. I mean whether there's a reimbursement or not, your house and your door need to be fixed.

So I I would encourage you to move forward with that so that your house can be secure and it can be protected from the elements as well. And as we deliberate that, we also aren't holding you up from securing your home. Um, I do not want our officers to feel like they did anything wrong. If I I can see both sides in the sense, um, if my property got damaged, I'd want help fixing my door. I would I also, if my parents, um, had a car running in their garage, I would want that door broken down in a second. So, even if they're asleep or or back in the room or my dad is taking a nap on the couch, I want I want people safe and that's my first priority. And I appreciate our officers acting and from the door and the reimbursement. We can figure that out, but I'd also encourage you to secure your house as well.

And I've been out the house and she came to Yvon and asked because there's cold air coming in. And I I'll take it upon myself. I have no problem because my background, but I can probably help her get that door secure into in the meantime. So, if council's okay with that. Yeah. Y Thank you for that. Yep. Yeah. So, um I would like Ethan said progress with getting it fixed and then once you get that quote, bring it in and then we can get it on the agenda from there. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Now, moving on to continued council conversation. Is there anything that we have not talked about that we need to talk about?

The only thing I would I would bring up and I mentioned it to you Chad, but I would ask Zach as well. I think in previous conversations we've talked about what it looks like to stagger um elections or at least terms and we talked I remember last year because we talked about the beginning of of the year that this would be the year we'd have to take action on that. Do you ha can is that something we can look into so that if if it's possible and legal? Um I we as a council have discussed it previously and have kind of all leaned toward it being a good idea and that not all of the seats forever are turned over at the same time.

I remember when you brought up the first time and Ted and I did briefly chat about it, but it's I'll I'll bring it up to him again and see a better answer for that. So, I'll just speak up on this. Um, this is something that I continue to touch base with Lisa Loft Green on. Um, as the legislature changes, uh, and they have their the election offices have their meetings. Uh, this is something that I I'm going to continue to follow up on, um, once I get information from Lisa.

Okay. I think Zach, as we explore this, uh, one of the things that Ethan and I talked about was doing something along the lines of in the next election, you know, whoever receives the top two highest votes would do a four four-year term and then the bottom three do a two-year or three do four, two, either way. But just do it that way and then that's probably the easiest way to do it. Um, but we're open to however that works out. We just want to do the prep work now. so it doesn't sneak up on us next year. Absolutely. I'll I'll keep it on um continued council conversations and we can just get updates as we progress through that if that's all right. Thanks for bringing that up.

Anything else? Uh just briefly, the memorandum of agreement with the school corporation has been sent to them. Dr. Ple said that she will take it before the school board assuming that they approve it. the school will sign it. We'll sign it. Uh we've already approved it. So just whenever we have it signed by the school, we'll sign it as well and we'll just get that taken care of and we'll get Main Street to sign as well and then that'll be a completed agreement. Awesome. Sounds great. Anything else? Just with the changing of officers, um just an affirmation if you're comfortable with the current roles of kind of projects that we're working on.

Yeah. So Ethan and I talked about this um previously with the wastewater treatment plant. We had Terry continue to be the point of contact. I think Ryan and Ethan have continued to be the point of contact for the town center and the conversations that are going on there. Um my intent is to continue those individuals in that. I think it makes it easier to continue that relationship and they're already into that. Um Ethan does a good job of sharing that information um with the rest of the council and I think if we just continue those processes that we'll be fine there. Okay.

Can I take you back on to that right now? Um Ryan's the one coming to sign the financial paperwork at the end of every month when we reconcile. Do you want to change that? Um who's who am I going to be texting to say they're ready. They're ready. Come inside. Um, first off, I'll say is there anybody that's interested in doing that? I think it was very beneficial for me to go through that. I'm sure Ryan would probably um attest to the same thing. Um, it's once a month. It's not a huge time commitment, but it is kind of an interesting look into the finances for you to ask. I would love to see another council member u get some experience on that. If you're willing to deal with me, I'll absolutely.

You can text me. Okay, sounds good. Awesome. Thank you. You're off the hook, Brian. He's heartbroken. So is Ethan, but anything else that we need to No, I wanted to add that to your little cluster job you got going on.

Okay. Um, the only thing that I wanted to bring up is the talk around um, commissions. I think gives um heed to us having a conversation around what are expected. We talked last year, I think it's the first year we did it where we preset commission meetings um at a different interval so that we had something in place, but we don't have to have the meeting if we don't have anything there. So, I would ask that we look at that again to see if we can pre-establish, you know, I think we did quarterly was brought up at one point and then that way each one of them has four on the books and then we can um rotate from there so that we don't have days where everybody has to be here for 5 hours. If we need to, we definitely can. Um but I think that may help and I can work with whoever to to set that up. Is that something that everybody's kind of interested in? Jenny, you good with that? Last year.

I think we're good with that. Okay. Cool. All right. Anything else? All right. Moving on to legal updates. No legal updates provide. No. Okay, that's good news, I guess. Uh, department reports. Jim, I just have one. Ethan, I wanted to follow up with you at Depot Street, the the light. I'm meeting with Duke Energy uh uh Friday at 1:30. So, that light is still in the process. So, good. I'm still waiting on a meeting with you to set my That's the one on the for the sign. Yes. No, I I know it's the one across the street. I'm waiting on a meeting with you to set my phone for the app for the the sign. We'll set that meeting. What time do you want to do? I want to be there, too.

Yes. Access. Where are we on that, by the way? I know we did we get it, but we have it. And uh uh Jake's went through it. Uh Steve's waiting on the polls for I think he's ordered some polls for Oh, good. So, I will say it's in the public's best interest that I not have access. Put messages on the side. Yeah. Chief's not excited about any of us access either. I think I think we can put I think we'll table the access to next meeting. I think we keep bringing it up. You know, we might we might bring Yeah, continue conversations.

Okay. Um yeah, for those of you that are not aware or maybe missed the meeting, um we purchased um a speed indicator sign that can also have some messages on there. The intent is um really around Depot Street crossing right into the school. The area is not lit well with the trees and things of that nature. So, um the town purchased a sign that we can put up in that area and it's mobile so we can move it if if we want to track certain areas. So, um, excited that that we have that up and going. Anything else? That's it. All right, Mr. Pool, I have nothing tonight. Outstanding. Chief,

I think you guys got my year end totals for 2025. You guys have any questions on it? Lot of numbers. We got that today, right? And I I haven't had a chance to go through it all. If you got questions, give me Yeah, I'll definitely see our numbers jump from 2024 to 2025 and just see it keep in that direction. So, I think that would be one of the interesting things is does the does the current document have any comparison? No, I didn't. I mean, just a simple hey, here's the the big number comparison would be interesting since like 2017. So, that'd be interesting. The number of runs to 21 East Main Street have decreased.

Good. That's why Mark got the traffic details. You're always welcome. Yeah, it's a lot of good information though. Um, thank you for providing that. Maybe Bri can show you how to turn it. So, it's that scanner, man. I can't. Wow. Anything else, Chief? That's it, guys. This is exciting, guys. You gave me a platform. It wasn't a smart move. All right. Uh, Yvon, we may need to remove the president. Yeah. What What is the process legal of removing

a sitting president who's too excited to be there? Um, excess levy appeal. We um did all the work to get more a larger piece of the pie in the state based on the growth of the town. Uh, excess lobby appeal was finally approved but with modifications. We had requested um an additional levy of $267,000 based on our three-year growth history. Um we got approved $211,000 for this year and then they drop it down to 135,61 for the years 2027 and later. Um a little bit of background on that. Access lovy appeal the legislation wanted to do away with it. already after 2025. Um, somebody convinced them to keep it for one more year, but they made it extra difficult to get anything approved. Um, many towns and cities of course tried to apply for it this year because it is the last chance to to do so. Um, we saw a real trend and them denying flat out or um approving with modifications like ours. It took them a long time to get the information back to us, but we finally did get this approval. Um, I'm disappointed we didn't get the full amount. I understand seeing, you know, seeing the history and seeing the trend that, you know, I'm glad we got something. $211,000 is nothing to sneeze and you're a small town and your budget is not very large. So, I appreciate it very much. The 135,000 that we'll get in 2027

will then be in perpetuity. So, for, you know, however long you live in the town, you will benefit from this excess lobby appeal. And this is like the I mean, we've done it every year since I've been here. Um, and we've been able to receive some excess lobbying based on the growth of the town in comparison to the growth of the state overall. So, that's good news. I think it's good news. Could have been better, but it is great news. Um, also we got the budget notice which is called the 1782 notice which is the approval from the DLG. Um, after they approved the excess levy appeal took them a couple of days to look at the budget. It's approved as we advertised it. We did find that we had a mistake in there. We advertised the MBH expenses with a wrong amount. It should have said 425,000. Then it was it said on the paperwork 225,000. So they modified our um budget to only be 225. That's not a problem based on the fact that we have enough money coming in. Um we can do ex a additional appropriation. It's just kind of unfortunate because it's a process where we'll have to come up with the pay for we'll have to advertise and do a public hearing but it's a technical error not something that we you know that we did wrong in our plan so we can fix it with an additional appropriation so I'm working with Jared on that for uh February March we'll have that board in front of you additional appropriation and fix that so

that the budget paperwork as you get fund reports or have questions, it's all correct for the year. We could wait until the end of the year, but then you know, if there's a question, there's never a straight answer. It's always, "Yeah, but I don't want to do." So, we're fixing that. Um, and that's all I got. I'll start by saying thank you. I know a ton of work went into that and I hear your disappointment, but I'm excited. Um because there's a lot of towns that did not get anything. Correct.

And um for us not only to get the one time for this year really will help our our budget out and a lot of things that we've got um in the pipeline, but also in perpetuity um we'll receive another 135,000 for the town to be able to to function. Um, just for everybody else, um, this is additional tax money that the state gives us because our growth is more than the average, right?

Yeah. The state establishes a growth rate for the state as a whole, which is 4%. Um, this year, and that's what you'll get in increased tax level. Um however, our town is growing so much faster and we don't have another um census count until another five years from now. So all of our tax income essentially is based on really old information from 2020 when they did the last census. So this growth appeal helps us to kind of you know get us a little bit larger piece of that pie.

Your tax doesn't go up. your rate doesn't go up. It just gives us a little bit larger. And just for everybody's note, in 2024 we received just about 63,000. Last year we received 156,000. So a really large increase that obviously we know of because of the increase that uh growth we've seen. Um so then the this year in 2026 we'll receive 267,000 and then going forward 135,000. So, no, we'll receive 211,000. 211. Sorry, we we requested 167. 267.

267. We got short 50. But either way, at the end of the day, outstanding work by you. Thank you very much. I know that's not easy. There's a lot of technical things that go into that. It's a lot of questions. Yes. And answers, and you have to sit and really come up with a compelling reason why you are different from the rest. And you know it we just cited Ethan Maples on council and they clear understood and showed him the and that's why they shorted us to 50. Is that okay? Oh man. All right. Thank you very much. That's all I got.

Uh next public comments. Uh we um have time for anybody in the public that would like to speak on any topic. Uh this would be five minutes. Just please come to the podium, say your name and address, and we welcome anything that you want to share with us today. I think I have to speak in the mic. Yeah, thank you mic. Yeah.

Hi, I'm Jason Gonzalez. I live in Copper Stone, 2209 Copper Stone. um kind of answered my question about the census, but knowing that Copstone added 243 homes to the new PAL um township, um we did not address the road conditions to accommodate this many homes. Um I do believe we see 200 and 500 being the most car accidents in the new PAL city. I don't know if that's correct, but it is. Um, I know this because I can see all the cars debur down my street pop all the time. My ring camera goes off like crazy. We also see the neighborhood just north of us, which is hundreds of more homes. Um, I don't believe they're in the new power district, but they also drive through the copperstone neighborhood to avoid the intersection at 205. So, um, we do see a lot of more cars going through our neighborhood. Um, one almost hit a child. Um, that did not stop school bus yesterday. Um, I don't think that was reported, but it happened in front of my house. But my question for the town council is I know that we're waiting on the uh the county to do a roundabout, but I was wanting to hear from you guys of how are we going to address the ongoing concern at 200 and 500 until the funds are ready to do the roundabout.

We defer. Yeah. Right. I feel like Ryan 200500 isn't really town, is it? It's just north of us. We don't. No, we we share with the county now. Okay. It's a county project there. So, but the roundabout's a county project.

Yeah. So So yeah, the roundabouts in the queue. There's nothing, you know, we the countyy's aware that there've been several accidents at that inter intersection. We're watching it. We may end up, and I I want to cautiously use the word may, we may end up making that a four-way stop before we get to um before we get to to build that as a roundabout. You know, we we have to these projects are really expensive. We have to key this money up several years in our pants. Uh there's a lot of engineering and planning that goes into it. Uh but we are aware that there's been an increased accident um at certain times of the year there. cautious drivers, you know. Um, it's posted it's posted there. There's there's signs that's posted there that cross traffic does not stop. Steway intersection uh eastbound, westbound stop. Um, just use caution, you know, uh trying to beat a car out 10 seconds ahead of time. Um, can ruin your day. You know, uh, look twice, take your time. I know we we all know there's increased traffic there. Um, and we we know the benefits of having the roundabouts. Uh, you know, six west and three south, five west, three south. Uh, two west, six uh, two south, six west. Uh, everybody can see the benefits of the roundabouts that that have been installed. Um, we're working on it. We're we've got an eye on it and u it may change before then, but uh, just just use caution. Um, is the only thing that I can advise right now. Jason, I also hear a concern about kind of circumventing that intersection and going through the neighborhood.

Correct. So, I don't know if there's any suggestions on things we could do to help help that. Any signage or anything?

It's I mean, all the subdivisions are and we just took that subdivision over. U every subdivision in town is posted 20 mph speed limits. You know, as long as people are doing the 20 m an hour, they, you know, should be very few accidents and the roads will be safe. I realize not everybody does that, you know, but, you know, made at 20 miles an hour and be fine. Um, I'd also like to note that's something that we may want to look at would be due to the roundabout and knowing that all the traffic would be diverted to copper zone um to when the roundabout is being worked on that road is closed. Um, also I'd like to thank new pal u me and my wife moved here about three years ago from California. Uh, we really love the town. We love the community events. It's topn Uh we're thankful for your guys's sacrifice and your commitment to the town.

Thank you. The weather the weather's a lot better here as well, right? Actually, we've loved the weather a lot better. And so we like the snow. Um the community's been great. U Mr. P's been in our neighborhood. I've talked to him multiple times. We feel very safe from the from the police drive around our neighborhood constantly. So we like that a lot too.

Awesome. Yeah. So to summarize, thank you for all the kind words, but nothing that we personally could do. We don't own that road, but um continued conversation around what we can look at and maybe talk to the county about to try to see if we can um get this higher on their priority list. I I definitely know what you're talking about. Anybody who anybody who drives that area or has kids in sports knows what that that four-way is all about. it usually backs up all the way to the intermediate school, but um yeah, so appreciate you bringing that up. That that helps us understand what to focus on. So, thank you. Maybe the HOA can purchase one of those signs that we just purchased. Yeah.

Well, or there could be a time that we could place it there. I mean, the the advantage of the sign that we purchased, it was intentionally mobile, so it doesn't have to sit at the same place. We want it to be moved around in areas where people just need to maybe pay a little more attention. So, that'd be a great use for it. Would you like access to the app? If you get it though, you have to share it with us. You can share a password. Don't worry. Awesome. Anybody else public comments? Awesome. Council comments. Uh we'll start with our good friend on the video, Ryan.

I'm good. Just uh thank you all for bearing with me through this and I hope to be into the meeting on the 21st, but we'll see how it goes.

Hopefully you are feeling better and appreciate you joining us from your lovely home. Uh Ethan, um I just want to prayers for Ryan and your recovery. Glad you're well enough to join us this way, but looking forward to you being back at the table. And um just a an echoing of how awesome our staff is and this excess levy. I mean, we have I mean, everyone on our staff and our team is advocating for the town, and it it shows every week. And I know that not every citizen sees it and not everyone is happy with all the decisions and all the things, but I I promise you the team that is working in this building is advocating for our town and I am grateful for the hard work they put in. That's all. Echo everything Ethan just said. Um, I do want to, um, second Ethan and Bill's comments earlier. Appreciate the police department, everything that they do. Um, I know there's unfortunate things that happen in their line of work. So, appreciate um, everything that they do. Obviously, doesn't always turn out the best, but um, knowing that they did the right thing, really appreciate what they've done. Um, uh, one of the things that as I was talking to people about the commissions, um, there's a pamphlet or a booklet that you gave us when we first started here and I keep it and have notes and highlights and all kinds of stuff. I think it'd be really cool if we could get that out because I think it really clearly states what those commissions do and would help a lot in my recruitment and the council's recruitment efforts of trying to get really excited and involved people.

Um because I think there's a lot that's going on in New Palestine and we have a lot of plans to continue that growth. Um, so making sure that we've got interesting people, people that are not interesting people because we already have Ethan, but people that are interested in that and understand exactly what it is, that'd be awesome. I don't know if that's putting it on the website or sending it to everybody that's currently um maybe make it digital. I don't know. Yeah, I'm wondering if we can put it out on the table in paper form and maybe make it available on the I like the website idea as long as we get it in the right orientation. Right. Yes. Correct. So, so if you need help there, I know somebody comedy.

Great. You guys are going to have it upside down when I'm in charge. That's fine. Same clips.

Great book. Um, the last thing that I want to do is on behalf of the council, um, I think Ethan started something that was pretty cool, um, after Terry's reign, um, and gave her a outstanding, um, gavvel so that you can continue to use this at home. Um, thank you very much for everything you did. I think um most people probably don't know, but this position is an an additional duty and there's a lot that goes into it. Um probably not seen by a lot of people, but especially during your tenure with a lot of the things that we were doing um on behalf of the council, we really appreciate everything you did and now you can be official even at home.

Thank you. It works. Thank you. Um and on behalf of Crystal, thank you. Yes. Yeah, it does work. I I would like to hear from Dave before we put that in the record. So, we may make some adjustments on the the meeting notes, but um that's all I have. Bill, you're up. Well, I want to echo everything that's already been said.

Thank Ivonne again and all of the town staff who worked on the excess levy appeal. That is fantastic news. Um, also I want to take a second and thank everyone who volunteers and serves on either a board or a commission because you know we have folks who contact us and ask are there any vacancies or when there's a vacancy would you consider appointing me to have folks that are willing where there are places they can't recruit people and they have vacancies that just remain unfilled and we don't have that issue. because well number one I think there's a lot of really good things going on but because people care to be involved and it shows in every one of those meetings. So I want to thank everybody who serves on any board or commission. And then finally just looking forward to a very productive 2026. I'll stand with Terry.

Y'all don't leave much for me, but I will say what I want to say. Um echoing everybody because we have great lots of echoes.

Lots of echoes. Great staff. Um I al actually um I really want to say how proud I am of the police. Um the officers with the incident that happened. Um they're they do their duties. They do it right. and um obviously you've trained them very well and we thank you for that. Um obviously their first and foremost priority is to save a life. So and the report that you gave us um wow what they go through on a daily basis it's mindboggling. Uh, January birthdays. We have Kyle from the wastewater treatment plant and Bob and Wade from the police department having birthdays this month.

Yeah, it's not that. Uh, speaking of the wastewater treatment plant, uh, I went to a meeting on Oh, that was just yesterday. And, um, they're on target for their construction. They've I think done a very good job of keeping with the timelines and um it's pretty impressive down there if you haven't been there. I mean I know that's a destination to go. Um we're going to get signs.

Ryan wishes recovery and uh Ethan certainly appreciate your leadership in 2025. Great job. Use that gavvel wisely. Wisely. Yes, that's that's a good word. And I think that's all I have. Happy New Year. With that, I will entertain a motion to All motion. I'll second. And Ethan Maple seconds. All in favor say I. I. Do that. We are ajourned.