Town Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, we'll call to order the council meeting for Wednesday, March 18th. We'll start with the pledge of allegiance and a brief moment of silence 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. Okay, we'll start off with roll call. Um, Ethan Maple

here, Ryan Hartley here, Bill Neim here, Chad Melinda absent, and Terry Reed here. Okay, first thing we have is claims. Do I have a motion to approve claims 28863 through 28919? Make a motion that we approve uh our APVs 28863 through 28919 as presented in our backup materials. Do I hear a second? I'll second that. I have a motion. Ethan made the motion. Bill seconded. Any discussion?

All in favor say I. I. I. Same sign uh for Nate. None. Motion passes five to zero or four to zero. Sorry. Next is adoption of minutes. Make a motion that we approve the minutes as presented in our backup materials for the meeting of March 4th. I'll second. Uh Bill made the motion. Terry seconded. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I.

Nays. None. Motion passes. Uh we make some space on our agenda for public comment. This is for things that are on the agenda only. Um we ask just ask that you come up to the microphone and state your name and address. Um and you're welcome to come up uh if anybody has any comments. No comments. We will move on. Nothing under old business and new business. We have ordinance 031826A. It's um amendment to zoning ordinance. This is over the back stops. This went through planning commission earlier. um basically discusses um back stops such as sports goals, hockey goals, those kind of items not to be placed at easements or rightways. Uh nothing permanent or temporary. It's just basically making a uh a change to our zoning ordinance.

Do I have a motion to approve this ordinance? Um, we since it's an ordinance on first reading, we've got to do the unanimous consent to pass on first reading and then we can vote on the Well, do you want to do unanimous consent on first reading or you want to wait till Chad's back so he can have a voice in that? Yeah. Is there any We don't have a reason to do on first reading so we can approve it on As long as as long as you pass it within 60 days of the certification from the planning commission, you're fine. Okay. I feel like we'll hit that. I think we will. I'll make a motion then that uh we approve ordinance this one 0311826A. Do I have a second?

I'll second that. Awesome. Thank you, Terry. I have a Ethan made the motion. Terry seconded. All in favor? I I

none. That passes four to zero. Uh 6.2 ordinance 031826B. This is uh regarding sidewalks. Um I did catch an error on this earlier that I missed. Unfortunately, I went right to the meat of the ordinance earlier um and had reviewed this right to the good stuff and skipped over the part where it it actually called out um some some wrong information at the top, but that's been corrected. Uh is everybody familiar with this ordinance? Okay. Do I have a motion to pass this ordinance?

I'll make a motion. Same thing. Same thing. If you're going to pass on first, Yeah. We're not going to pass it on first. We're going to pass it pass it this time and we'll do it. No urgency, but I'll make a motion that we approve ordinance number 031826B. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thanks, Ethan. No problem. I have uh Bill made the motion. Ethan seconded. All in favor say I. I. Any nays? There are none. Item number 6.3, New Pal Summerfest. Julie Lucas, you are up, ma'am.

Hello, Julie Lucas. Uh oh. Yep. Just here to annual, it's actually our 10th annual PA summer this year. So big celebration and celebration. So that'll be June 26th and 27th, Friday, Saturday. And I talked with Chief Elely to get the road closed early that day on the 26th on Friday. We'll have it reopen by Sunday. Usually we're waiting for that, but have council approval to proceed with that in that closure. 10th anniversary. S anniversary. Can we believe it?

I can. Yep. That's awesome. Do you have anything special planned or you want to let that out of the bag yet? We haven't got that all new things. I do know we're going to add a pageent this year to So that'll be fun. Right now we have a show. Fantastic. I'm looking forward to all ages, Ryan. All all ages. No, no beard competitions. Could be. No, I I'm looking forward to You guys always do a great job. Uh I know everybody looks forward to this event, so thank you for doing it.

Um do I have a motion to approve uh Julie to proceed uh to contact INDOT for the typical closure for Summerfest? I make a motion for Julie to contact INDOT for closure of Summerfest. Fantastic. 52 for Summerfest. We have a motion from Terry. Do I have a second? I'll second that motion. Thanks, Bill. Have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. Any nays? I didn't think so. We have no names.

We have no nays. I think with that I have a couple.

Okay. Oh, well that's a no. all bringing um and then we'll also need to do our permits for all events helping us cooperating that we will now get to have alcohol out into the grass area this year without having chains and police officers standing there. So we will still patrol it. We'll still have our permit, but we don't concrete.

Good deal.

Who else would like to sign this? Terry's right there. Terry. Terry. I'm right here. She did. Thanks very much. Thank you so much, Julie. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's good to hear. Yes. Um, continue council conversations. Item 7.1, staggering terms of office for town council members. Um, Zach speak on this.

I would be happy to. I don't have any new information. Um, I've not heard from Green. So, we can proceed as drafted. We can wait.

Um, let's wait till Chad's back. But uh I I haven't had any new information either and from my understanding from the conversation I had with Representative Lawson. Um things will probably stay the same. Um, so I don't know if it would be bene beneficial for the town, but we'll talk about that when Chad's back and uh maybe we can try to reach out to Miss Lingering again and get clarification on that and if so, we'll know how to proceed.

Great. Everybody in a agreeance on that employee benefits bill. Well, I know Chief Elely gave me some materials regarding uh the PTO. Um I have not yet incorporated those into the employee handbook, but I will do so before our next meeting. Um so we'll distribute copies so that everybody can see them. You just trying to get away from the different categories. You don't have to come in and say that today's a sick day or vacation day or this type of day. If you need time off for whatever reason, get the policy act.

Fantastic. Sounds like a good plan. So, we'll keep staggering terms and employee benefits on continued council uh conversation for the next meeting. Legal updates. Nothing further than what we've already discussed. Love to hear that. Department reports. Jim.

Uh, no. I just want to we appreciate Congressman Shre's office for coming in last week. Had pretty good turnout. We got a lot of signatures on that. I think it's gained some footing. Uh I I'm very positive that, you know, we're going to get some funding out of this. I appreciate uh Commonwealth for putting this map together so we could demonstrate to him the needs of it. So that's it. You were here. It was It was a good meeting.

It was a great meeting. Y Steve. Uh just two things really. Uh Jake, I sent him to uh Purdue Road School this year. This be his first year. So he's back tomorrow hopefully with a headful of new knowledge. Probably overwhelming for him. What's that?

Probably overwhelming for him. Well, and you just, you know, by the second or third year, you start picking up familiar terms and things start to like hit, you know, makes make sense a little more. And also, the uh just want to say that the uh I think the speed limit uh radar sign that we we put on uh 500 West, I know it grabs my attention if I'm coming up on it and it's flashing 36 or whatever. So, I'm, you know, tapping my brakes and uh I think that's going to be a good thing for the town. We're going to we're going to keep it there for a while and then we'll bump it over to 450 West and then if we get calls in any particular subdivision with complaints of people, you know, speeding through. Well, you know, it's good that it's mobile. So, that's all I got.

I never did get my email to download the app. Did you? That's I didn't. I just text. That's a J. Spam mail goes in the spam. Okay, I'll check that Steve. Um, yes, I know we've talked about this numerous times before and since it was just brought up in the plan commission, the basketball goals, that one's back on the sidewalk. Al, they kept it off for quite a while, but it's it's crept up. I don't know. Maybe the wind blew it. It's getting warmer. Maybe the wind blew it. maybe uh you know we've been dealing with this for

you know a couple couple years honestly. Uh so I guess we could what first thing is send out registered uh mail and then uh if nothing's I don't know have we sent anything to them yet on that or certified mail certified letter.

Town code actually allows you to notify them verbally. If you just want to do a door knock we can certainly also send certified mail. I've I've done the door knock and I've talked to people on the porch and explained that this is actually an 88 ramp that you're blocking here and okay, we'll get it moved and it's moved for a couple weeks and then um you know I check it occasionally and you might just do a door knock because to start with because I've noticed that they have it has been off of the sidewalk and it's an ADA ramp too where it is. So maybe the wind did blow it. Um because I I feel like they had more of a an effort to keep it off the sidewalk

that I had seen it out out of the way of the ADA ramp and but you know if it continues to be a problem you know I don't know are we allowed to load it in the back of a truck and just uh it's not there anymore. If we do send a certified, it may be worth waiting until we officially pass the new ordinance and that way we'll have that to be able to communicate kind of an updated element, but sounds good. Maybe a door knock would uh would suffice for now and then we'll wait for a letter and till we pass that new. Sure. Which will happen next.

It's warming up too. So I'm gonna be outside for the weekend. But you know, Monday might be snow again. Could be. Dang. Wow. Just let's hope not. Stop. Anything else, Steve? That's it. Okay, Chief,

I emailed council about a 12 got from Dell Computers to update to purchase one new and update one of our computers. Um, our last purchases were about 2020. So they're starting to get a little old and with the technology starting to update our computers are running a little slower than they need to be. So the quote actually sent you actually wrong. I had to upgrade the RAM memory. I know right and I figured it out today. One of the alters couldn't use e because it's just not programs aren't updated now's not fast enough. So how much is it going down?

Can't tell you. Good question, Bill. So, the new price for uh both laptops and that would be the also incar carriers and the power supply units and those are the ruggedized Dell version that last caller. We looking now at $6,224.78 and because of ordinance 29501 I need to ask permission from you to even though we have it in the budget and we did budget for it. We will definitely note that.

What do you do with the old computers? Probably have recycled They kind of like kind of a backup. You still can use the CAD system on them. We just can't do card cameras now that tickets computer any kind of like mobile like my case files. It just slows down so much that the authors can't get any kind of returns. I'm sure technology makes things easier. table the first time. It was fast. Everything's upgraded. So was I, Chief. I was too.

Yeah. Well, I'll I'll make a motion that we approve the uh the quote, the amended quote uh given to us by Chief Elely for the the two computers and docking stations and all the things. I'll second that motion. Thank you, Bill. We have a Ethan made the motion and Bill seconded. All in favor say I. I. Any nays? I didn't think so. Jenny,

um I just have two things. One, Bry, Ivon, and I all went to a conference last week, a four-day conference for clerk treasures. Um it was intense, but we learned a lot. was a little overwhelming, but um and the clerk treasures on a nice vacation for a while. We're welld deserved. So um keep the questions to him. That's all I have. Thank you. Fantastic. Okay. Public comments, five minutes on any topic. We just ask that you step to the microphone, say your name and address, and you can tell us or talk to us about anything you'd like.

Hello, my name is Ted Ostrich. I live at 562 West 300. Spell last name for the record. Yes, please. O E S T E R R E I C. That's not what I wrote down, right? How did I know that? Give me that one more time. Do you want O E S T E R R E I C H? Congratulations. I'm glad your name is I would like to request that the council and the golf carts allow TVs. What kind of UTV do you have?

Yeah. Those are quite expensive. So, u I was contacted about this and when I passed the ordinance out to everybody earlier, Hancock County actually has an ordinance in place covering this topic. Um, to me, this makes sense. Actually, I feel these are honestly probably safer than golf carts. when used responsibly. But Chief, do you have any

No, we've had we've had golf carts played for a long time. The reason that put so many years ago was we had juveniles that were eating on golf carts when parents were away at work and the only way to kind of corral that issue was the permit program and a lot because a lot of people like golf carts use respons. So that kind of put that just kept it under control. Um council at the time never talk about UTVs. Well, they they are coming becoming more possible. I see them go down my road quite often. Yeah. And I will say a responsible one is great. Correct.

Because I do see them coming down my road on 300 at a very high rate speed. Um and now they do need to be registered through the state of Indiana. Um so I had no issue in town as long as again you're like any other vehicle we got by limits. I'm okay. Just don't let a bunch of juveniles riding around have paid.

Yeah. And I agree with that. And I think this the county's ordinance um is very descriptive uh when you read down through it. So, you know, same thing as a golf carts. You have to carry insurance, have to be registered, have to have lights, you know, that whole process. So, I think going through an inspection, um, similar to what we do with our golf carts with the UTVs, going through the application process, getting a permit, um, I don't think it's a bad idea in my opinion, and I believe that we could probably take this UTV ordinance uh, that the county has and probably just edit some language in that to fit the pounds.

Do you see any issue with that? Is there any reason we can't just add it to the golf court? I mean, would there be any regulations that aren't applicable to the golf carts that wouldn't be applicable to this? Unless you just require yearly inspection or, you know, move away from yearly inspection, do a lifetime permit where it's time to be unless you trade off the vehicle. There's all kinds of things you can do. And how what age of the driver? Eight. It's 18. Um I can't remember where. Is it 16 for golf carts? Yeah, is it? Oh, is it? Okay. Well, that's not what goes past my house. Okay.

Aren't we all the person? That's why I'm here because you told me. Oh, there you go. Yep. Look at all the people listening to you. Thanks. Appreciate that. I mean, on on first pass, I don't see an issue of kind of just a marriage of the UTV and golf cart. Um, but I mean, I could get in there and there could be some conflicting issues. Could we ask you to review this the county's ordinance, review our golf cart ordinance, see how we could marry those two, and then come back uh to us with some kind of proposal for this ordinance to merge these two? Yep.

And give the council a chance to review that. You got it. Is there a way also to have the owner have the proof of the registration state prior to requesting inspection by us? Because I state to get it. We don't they already have it. I have a registration that actually looks just like a car registration. I get two stickers like rather than a license. Yeah. And it'd be fine to go out and register brand new somebody on our permit. Problem is is once I do that, are they going to contact the state say I'm registered? So I'd like to have that registration from the state done prior to us in I agree. That can be on our form.

Yeah. So make that a yeah a prerequisite to obtaining our permit. Y yeah I have no problem have an insurance card just like I keep in my truck or my car always give it a whirl and see what happens. Okay. It always works till it doesn't. You know that's what I mean. It's it's just like the golf carts. You know when used responsibly and correctly there's no issue unless you're out there acting a fool. Are are there any noise issues with those and I don't but you some sickles two cycles or noisy you know

bill Fort bill allows that okay you read Fort bill rules it has to have stock muffler and a good working quarter they've added that if you looked at fort bill clause you might be able to take some of that too yeah well I think this actually does okay call out that you have to have a working muffler in good you know good working shape all that, you know, all that stuff. So, you're not going to be riding around, you know, obnoxiously. So, do we move any restrictions as far as 400 or 450 West 500? Right now, golf balls are not allowed north. Oh, they're not. Oh, man. Oh, everybody that that's really that's like Okay.

Guilty as charged. hard to get to town one of them. I was going to talk to you about that, Ryan. Yeah. So, you go a short distance then cross over to the sub, but you know, not on because with the golf carts trying to have cars go behind a golf cart on straight north on 450 West back. Now, if you have something go speed, I don't think I would want to go to speed my golf cart. I'm not talking about golf. Yeah. I'll get with Zach. Yeah, let's let's let's see if we can I'll dive in.

Edit the language in that. See see how we can marry these two. And we'll have to talk about 450 and 500. 450 I could definitely see loosening the range a little bit on 500's may be a little too busy. Um US52. Yeah, that's not our road. Yeah. Not our road or Yeah. Yeah. Can they go across 50? They can go across 52. Yeah.

Well, good deal. Well, this is something I think that we're going to dive into. I think it sounds uh realistic. Uh and thank you to to Deborah for providing me with the county's ordinance. That helped tremendously. So, uh appreciate your consideration. Yeah. I'll I'll um I'll get your number. Okay. and um we'll dive into this and that way I can contact you and kind of let you know where this goes. Appreciate it. Does that sound good? Yeah, sounds good. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Anybody else?

Craft 125 East Main Street. Uh two things. The pub had a party on Saturday. I think it went away. I mean, it went okay, but I want to make sure. Were they Did they have to apply for a permit for that? They came in here and asked for permission to hold the event. And then did they tell you exactly what they were going to do? Because last year what we were notified was they were going to have one tent. This year they had two tents away from the building, which if you look at where the tents were, they'd have to take probably a third of the parking away. I just want to make sure you guys are okay with everybody here.

Well, they did give us a diagram uh drawn up and they they told us it was going to be just about like last year. As I understood it, the changes that they made with the configuration was so that traffic flow was safer. Okay. Yeah. I I didn't go to it last year and I didn't go to it this year. So, I I'm not aware of other than a diagram on how it was set up, but as far as people parking here and walking over, I mean, that's public parking.

Yeah, it's kind of I just want to make sure that if we remember, I know this council, but the previous council, we all fought to prevent crossing the highway to go to a function. I just want to make sure that we're we're good with that. Just make sure that the other previous owners couldn't get away with it.

Well, I I think the issue wasn't from parking to the bar. I think it was from the bar back to parking where we're more nervous about I mean, you got to get one to the other. If you go, you have to come, right? I mean, okay. Just just making sure your conditions change when you come back to your park. Yeah. To answer your question, Eric, they came in. They gave us a diagram. I think if I remember the difference was they were pretty much taking the entire back of their and that that was the change from previous year and they communicated a change in the in that parking availability and I know that that they use this as public parking and as far as I know we don't have an ordinance or anything else so that must have been council perspective just kind of

okay and we we haven't had any conversation around I don't think drunk people should you know walk across the highway just making a statement. We didn't allow the per but uh second thing is on the UTV thing uh in are they allowed to drive those in in the town of Greenfield or just in the town? I don't know about the town of Greenfield. I know the town of Greenfield has a golf cart ordinance. Correct. But I do know that the UTVs are allowed in the county.

Correct. There's a difference in having a UTV going down 450 or 5 450 or having UTV going down probably a little different situation. So just if we're going to go with other counties make sure we're on the same page. Yeah. Well yeah. So they they can't take US 52. That's a state road. Right. So Right. And I wouldn't think you would have a few people going down or correct. Correct. But they go down road. You don't see them. You don't see him going to the pizza joint or to the hospital.

And I'm not I think it'd be great. I mean, I want to see him. I mean, I have a four-wheeler. I take off. I don't have a problem with that, but I don't take my four-wheeler or to CVS or the pub or Yeah. It's kind of a little different. Yeah. I mean, I I think the the difference between that, and this is just my opinion, uh, you know, if if it's got the the same operating functions as far as headlights, turn signals, all those things that a golf cart does, um, they can actually get up to a higher speed. So, they they're better at maintaining the speed limit,

and and doing the speed limit and they're actually, in my, my opinion, when operated responsibly, safer because they have roll cages and everything else. So, golf carts are more dangerous to me than UTVs. Um, just my personal opinion, but the fact that you don't see them a lot is I I I can't answer why. You know, I I can't say I haven't seen them. Uh, there was one go through my neighborhood last year on Halloween. It's like a six-seater all lit up with neon lights and everything. So, can't say I don't see them. Um, and as much as they cost anymore, it was like, you know, 30 40 grand for the really nice ones. So, uh,

I just want I for me I want to know what falls under the category. I just don't know that category well enough. I mean, there's a difference between what he has and a thousand crazy, right? I mean, you've seen those Mavericks. Yeah. What? It's a little different than a Yeah. Like the Polaris Ranger, you know, out in Klay County where I where I had Owen County, you know, we we drive them everywhere out there. We drive into town and everywhere and you know 45 50 mph and it's common practice to use them as transportation out there. Just make sure Yeah.

Yeah. We'll have to take that in consideration I guess. You understand what I'm saying? difference between farm and a that will do there is there is yeah thank you y appreciate it council comments

oh my turn um I'll echo Jim's appreciation for Shre's office coming in and being a part of our community and and listening and and having those conversations um also I just want to appreciate appreciate the thought behind our um uh Dr. Pleak and our school board's decision making. I know that our town is affected by uh school changes. Um but I also recognize hard decisions have to be made and and I appreciate them doing their due diligence and making decisions while it affects our town that is is going to set them up to be successful in the future. Um other than that, I don't have anything.

Thank you for that. Uh Chad's not here, so we're gonna skip that guy. Uh Bill, I know that we'll have a meeting on April 1st, but it's never too early to start talking about the Easter egg hunt on April the 4th. So, just want to put the word out at Sugar Creek Park, 10:00 in the morning, 10 o'clock. Is that right, Jim? 11. 10:45. 10:45. So, 10:45. Actually, 11:00 is when it starts. Easter Bunny will be there 10:45. So, the Easter Bunny, Easter, Easter Bunny. Are you going to be the Easter Bunny? The Easter Bunny will be there.

So, I just want to put the word out and encourage people to come with the little kids because it is a fantastic event. And last year, we were rained out. So, we're twice as eager to do it this year. Do we still have the candy from last year? We don't have to. The Easter Bunny ate all of last year's Wow. Yep. That's all. Awesome. Thank you, Bill. Terry, I cannot follow that up. Nothing. Okay. Make a motion that we adjourn. Me. I thought you said nothing. I was saying Okay. Can I make a motion after you're done then? Possibly.

Maybe.

Uh I I want to kind of echo what Jim said. I appreciate Officer or uh Jefferson Shrie for coming and spending time here and um his willingness to hear our concerns about septic issues we're having and willingness to his willingness to work with us. I'm hopeful that we can secure some funds for the town of Palestine and uh appreciate Commissioner Spalding being here and Representative Lawson as well and John our our homeowner that came to speak. He was fantastic. It was good to meet him too. So, um, keep my fingers crossed we get that funding. So, very hopeful for that. That's all I have.

Sorry. I I have one question for Terry. Terry, um, the baskets for our flowers or do you know what our consideration is for those because our time frames coming up, right, for planting? I'll get back to you on that. That's good. Yes. Okay. It's on my list. Yes. Okay. I'll make a motion that we adjourn. I'll second them. I have a motion, a second to adjurnn. All in favor?