Town Council - Regular Meeting

Did you put it or something? I'd like to call to order the town council meeting April 22nd, 2026 of the Newberg Town Council. Let's stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. 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. At this time, we have remembrances or acknowledgements. Does anyone have any? Um Jackie Crowley passed away this morning.

Oh my goodness. She was the uh county historian for War County who followed in K Fel's Lance shoes for several years before her health um she could not go ahead with the the duties. So, she's the one who recruited me to take over the job and um we've spent a lot of time together and she has a wonderful collection of Newberg history. Um her children are here today

and um we'll see what happens. But anyway, she I know lots of people knew her because she was out in the community. She was volunteering at schools. She was uh especially involved with the Kuanas. Mhm. And so yeah, Jack, I didn't know that. That was just this morning. Mhm. Okay. I grew up with her kids. Did you? She was one of the first people I met when we moved here 42 years ago, whatever it was. I'd also like to mention that today is Earth Day and we're having our own Earth Day celebration, which we'll talk about a little bit later, and also professional ad admin day. Okay. Roll call. Nette. District one. Steve Shoemaker. Present. District two. Paul Perry.

Present. District three. Stacy M. Kger. Present. District 4 and Rust Aron here. Council at large K. Hughes. Happy to be here. Clerk treasure Nette Angel. Administrative town manager Chris Cook here. Deputy town manager Andrea Balon is out today. Happy birthday. Edy. Town attorney Christopher Wisher here. Town town engineer Drew Flaming here. All right. Next, the approval of the minutes. I'd like to make a motion to approve the April 8th, 2026 minutes that we received electronically and also in your binders. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I.

I. All those opposed. Uh we have no scheduled request or comments by citizens. So, we'll go on to new business. Civil Town Proclamation. Who wants that? You want me to read it? You can. Would you rather me read it? Yeah. So, it's legal. Is that what it takes to be legal? Are you ready for me to read it? I can't remember how we do proclamations.

Okay. Thank you. Proclamation 20261, a proclamation celebrating patient experience week. Whereas patient experience week is an annual event that celebrates the health care staff who dedicate themselves to improving the patient experience every day, including physicians, nurses, support staff, administrators, and volunteers. Whereas the patient experience is a critical component of healthy of quality health care encompassing all interactions that influence patient perception across the continuum of care. Whereas compassion, communication, respect, and collaboration are essential values that contribute to a positive patient experience and promote healing and trust. Whereas recognizing patient experience week provides an opportunity to honor the efforts of health care professionals who go above and beyond to ensure patients and their families feel heard, respected, and cared for. Whereas the week of April 27, 2026 through May 1, 2026 encourages a continued focus on improving the health care experience through innovation, empathy, and patient centered practices. This the 22nd day of April, 2026. All right. I'll make a motion to approve the proclamation 2026-01. Do I have a second?

I'd like to second that. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. All right. Congratulations, Paul. Because because I got the second. Yes. Because you did excellent patient. Thank you. Thank you. Um, Midstates Recreation.

I have that one in your packet. You saw that a memo from Andrea and Midstates. Uh, basically the project update on the Lud Community Park playground during the site ex excavation. A previously unknown buried concrete from the old batting cage was discovered in the play area. This required full removal to properly prepare the site for the playground surfacing. As the excavation progressed, portions of the area were found to be approximately 2.5 ft below final grade. Once the concrete was removed to correct this, the contractor installed approximately 221 tons of number 53/411 limestone and properly combed this to bring the area back up to grade and create a stable base for the uh the turf surface that's going to be installed. Originally uh as you your packet stated the the work was not to exceed the amount of 50,000. However, the finalized cost for the batting cage removal and associated excavation and stone installation came in at 3200 or 3250 $32,500. Um Midstate Recreation is hoping to have an updated change order um to the next meeting. they had a software change and they couldn't get that into us tonight. So, um we would ask for uh you know the approval of this change uh not to exceed $32,500.

Okay, I need a motion to approve. I'll make that motion. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Any questions? Any discussion? How does this happen? Did we not do corores? Do we not I mean how does it how does it happen?

Every record that we had from this area said it was demolished and every record we looked said it was demolished and when I read demolished in a record I assume it's removed. It was so deep because of the slope. If you remember the batting cage, um it was like most of it was four below 4 foot deep to where even if I took a probe out like I used in my day job for 18 years, I wouldn't have hit this with a probe. Um so a lot of it was below 6 foot deep. And you know when you have a surface and there's nothing on the map, you're not going to pay to core. you know, a project like this where we did do cores. Um, Drew, I forget. We did the cores over to the side for the the geotech work that we did originally on the site.

Oh, for the pool or for the splash pad? Yeah, it would have been outside of those limits.

It would been outside. So, we already had a lot of that information. So, I mean, it's just one of those things, but upon additional investigation, uh, with some folks who were actually here then, they seem to remember all of a sudden that when the town crews were instructed to demolish this, they didn't demolish the pad. They filled dirt over it. And we did, they did not remember that until we hit it last week. So, you know, it's unfortunate that on day three of a project, you hit something like this, but by all the things that we had looked at that Andrea had pulled from the record show that it was demolished 15, 20 years ago. So, I mean, I don't know what we could have done.

Well, seems like as many eyes and hands that have been on this project that somewhere along the way, somebody would have caught on. Do all of our bid proposals have an unforeseen circumstance clause in them? Is that what we're going on here for me? One of one of you guys.

I'm not sure about the civil town projects. Generally, we we do have some adjustment allowance in there. I don't know if there was a clause in this one uh developed, but there certainly should be a contingency. I think Nette usually builds in contingencies usually into projects. Usually 10%. I mean, especially when you do underground work, sometimes you just never know what you're going to encounter as well. And uh in this case, uh there would have still been true cost associated with it. They even if it was still on the plans, the contractor would have had to remove the material and replace it yet. So, it's it's it would have been part of the bid. Um so,

it it was unforeseen. That's unfortunate, but again, it would have been a cost We were we were to to provide a site ready to go and you know we assumed that that was ready to go what we had. So it was a situation created by us in in respect to the town that was there because we did order. Yeah I think it's all it's all on the up and up for the contract

but there are some options to where that that 3250 park house want to see what they can do. So there might be some additional donations that will come into that to get that number lower on the town and then there's a couple other options that we're trying to pursue. So that number could actually go down as to what we would be responsible for with the civil town. But I think when it was originally 50, now it was kind of I thought that was a lot higher than what it should have been and Noah was out there keeping an eye on the whole time. So felt comfortable with what they ended up with and we're just trying to work through it.

My only question is now that we've established that there is the batting cages are still there, is it time that we should do some cores or some uh probes to uh see if there's anything else that's out there because we don't want this to happen every week or something like that. Yeah, I haven't been a part of this the construction on that side, but I mean I I don't I I they probably already got the site taken care of. Prepared, ready to go. There's nothing that would need to be excavated that hasn't been already. Okay.

So, there's no like if we ever put anything farther back, you know, if the record shows that we might want to do that then, but there's nothing in the plans and they they've got everything prepared and the problems been addressed. Um, so things ready to go where they they've started delivering, I believe, today some of the the materials for the installation, so they're good to go now. Good. All right. Any other discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. You're welcome, Drew. Nothing. Nothing this week.

Wow. Okay, no unfinished business we need to discuss. We'll go on to staff reports.

Okay, I'm sorry for the delay on my report. I had a challenge point last week and hopefully this won't happen going forward. If you look at my report, um, one of the things I really want to draw attention to is we had on the, uh, 14th of April, uh, the okra executive director Glenn and regional rep Johnny were in my office. We had a good meeting about several potential open opportunities for the town in the near future. Um to have the executive director down. I thought that was a good sign considering some of the conversations we've been having. He came became familiar with some of the things we're probably going to be applying for and I think we started a good relationship there. So that was good to have that. And then under uh miscellaneous, I will correct my spelling issue. Thank you. Um uh the boat dock, the moorings were completed and um they cleared the plaza. It actually opened up earlier today. So we can take uh the boat ramp is available, but probably early next week they're going to come back and they're going to deploy the dock. I looked at the river forecast for the next three weeks. It's supposed to remain down if not a little lower. So, uh, Twin Lakes is going to come back and work with staff to train them how to hook it up and show them the process. Uh, once I get a date on that, I'll let everybody know via email, but it already had requested be someday next week. And all the voters that I was hearing back, mainly the fisherman, I let them know today that there was availability to get down there. The solar panel installation has started at both town hall and the senior center. They should actually start putting the panels on the senior center tomorrow. So, you'll see a a lift out there putting the plant panels up on

the road. Um, and they hope to be done with both both facilities within the next 30 days. I had a meeting with RA under item 8 and they the trail money that we had talked about for the repair out here. approved on their end. I'm just waiting for the official email in writing. Um, so it's gone through all the processes. So, we should be able to start proceeding with that work soon, but I really want to see what they told me verbally in writing based on how we've, you know, had interactions with them in the past. So, that should be coming. We wouldn't be able to start. The river needs to drop just a little bit more and it takes him 15 days. So, we don't want them to start before the events of May 2nd right out here. So, uh, we'll try to hit them to go ahead hopefully in the next week. And then that was put to potential construction starter depending on river levels sometime in mid to late May, which would I think it was a 30-day window that they had to get it done. So, I'll I'll update you on that on the next meetings. And then um the other thing I wanted to ask item 15 um the Port County BFW wanted permission again this year to do their copy drive on the Saturday before Memorial Day at the intersection of State and Jennings between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon. And I want to remember our our team up there. Sean Sanders from our wastewater treatment plant is the current commander of the post and the council approved a similar request last year and it raised over $500 for war county veterans. So I just seek your blessing on that.

Does anybody have any questions on that? Do we need a motion or can we just approve? I would be happy to make a motion. Okay, go ahead. Uh, I would move that we allow the uh poppy sales to go on on what's the date again, Chris? Saturday before Memorial Day. Okay. And uh that would be at state and general. Yeah. Correct. I'll second it. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries.

The only other thing is you look at the website and social media updates. the playground news really uh caused a spike. So, it's pretty positive. Any questions? I would just comment that um with the new internet that we have down at Lock & Dam Park that was put in. We actually used it this week. We were down there meeting for the another Earth Day committee in the little Red Brick House, which we've been doing that for weeks now. and um everything went fine.

He uh he got the router lined out within the past couple weeks on that and uh when I was down there was functioning, but I'll let no one know. And if you notice anything down there, let us know so that we can tweak it because that is the only location where we added service. The other ones were upgrades, right? Yeah. All right. Anything else, Chris? Not for me. All right. Do you have any questions on uh Andrea, the deputy town manager's report? I have some additions from that that she left me. Okay.

She wanted me to remind everybody that town hall will be closed on Tuesday, May 5th for primary election day. And that she is currently working on uh the spring newsletter. We want to have it out next couple weeks. So if you have an article idea or an article, please send it to her. And we also wanted to congratulate Noah Schmidler on receiving his certified pool and spa operator certification. And this will tie kind of as a certification you have to have for the splash pad. Okay.

So he is now fully certified. We want to remind everybody that library renovations are ongoing including work in the lower level and the installation of solar panels on the roof. So there might be some intermittent noise here at town hall. But we are excited about these improvements and actually the the library has been very uh good to the staff here sending us goodies and stuff and I want to thank them for thinking of us. And then I also want to remind everybody that the groundbreaking ceremony for the Ludenis Community Park playground will be on Friday, April 24th at 2:00. It looks like there might be some weather in the morning, but it should clear out just after 12. So we've got a contingency even if it hasn't. and uh we'll have a nice little program there speakers lined up and u outside of our elected officials here in town there are some from the state and federal level potential coming so be sure to I'm going to see it so make sure to give them let everybody know they're there

Chris when does the library project wind up I think it's summer okay we'll We'll keep that posted. They did Andrew and I met with them and the or Trista from the the director over there and the construction team. There were some things that we learned about foundation wise. There's nothing to be concerned on the building. They just wanted to make us aware of where there was some previous water issues. Um but it was found to be not current and that problems have been solved. But they just wanted to make us aware as they that as they've encountered things, they wanted to make sure that we were documenting it. So that's good.

And it always seems like they seem to know when I'm on a phone call or conference call or person in my office because they they bang right below me. So it's like they know. But no, it's it's exciting. It'll be good for the public once the construction's done. As far as I know, they're ahead as scheduled. Um, I'll try to get an update from them before the next meeting and or if I get an update via email, I'll just send it to you all. Okay. Thank you. Director of Planning and Zoning, I see on her report um the next meeting for BCA is the 27th. So, we'll get into that, but I don't think there's anything else. Manette for treasur.

So, the audit is complete. We will close out that next week with them. We had an RDA meeting right before this meeting to catch up on some housekeeping things that I was notified I need to be doing. Um, so we did all that. We copied them for updated them on the town projects that we've got going on, answered questions and all that. We're very grateful for all of our volunteers who sit on these boards because without these boards, we couldn't do half the stuff that we're doing. So, thank you so much, Ivy, Randy, and David for coming and listening to me talk for 30 minutes about all kinds of housekeeping stuff. Um, I will be bringing forward to you at the next council meeting some resolutions requesting I don't know if they're resolutions or ordinances to create funds. Um, we need to create two additional funds. One is going to be moved in this playground because there's grant dollars involved and also there'll be a FEMA grant uh fund that I need to apparently track my expenses and revenue through. So, those will be coming in the next council meeting. Um, and there is a break between council, so we'll have two weeks between council will give me plenty of time to get all this work together for you.

Okay. All right. Chris, town attorney. No report. Drew, town engineer. Yes. Uh, just couple items here. On May 4th, Eller Bush Road will be temporarily closed for up to two weeks to allow for that temporary culvert installation. So, it'll be closed in between Westbrier and Southgate. Okay.

Uh to to through traffic. Uh there will be a slight detour just for the residents to go through the uh subdivision itself. Uh so hopefully they'll get they'll be getting that work done rather quickly. And then also the miscellaneous patching work will be ongoing for the for during that time period as well over that course after May 4th for over the next couple weeks. And I just have a quick question. Um on the Lou Dennis groundbreaking, there is some potential for some bad weather. Do you have like a backup plan? Does anybody do you Yes, we've got a backup plan. Um the the community room. Okay. And then we've got shelters depending on the level. Okay. Well, hopefully we don't have to go to that level. Just get some rain. We all need some rain. But

the like I said in my report that I just gave, um it's said it's scheduled to be out of here by about 12:00 12:30 and then it picks back up that night. So we've got a window that we should be shooting and I'll be monitoring that with DMA. Tell them again. All right. Thank you. Any questions for either Chris or Drew? We'll go on to commission and committee reports. Air authority. No report. BZA an you have the BZA report in hand. Um you see we're getting some things taken care of that have been problems for a while.

Yes. Excellent. Any questions for an fire? Nick, thank you for a wonderful time. Thank you for the fire dinner and the awards. We appreciate it everybody who was able to be there. Yep. We uh appreciate everybody coming and hope the food was good enough everybody standards and really good nice little short time and perfect crowd, perfect weather. So we appreciate you guys coming out. We made uh 119 calls for the year so far. So we're still staying on just that slow and steady which we like. So good. All got this time.

Thank you. Any questions for Nick? Did you have a call during your visit to Newberg's family night? There were some emergency vehicles that went We had two or three during that that time period. They were all outside assistance stuff though. So, one was going all the way out to Yankee Town for a possible structure fire. So, but yeah, I think there was two or three during that span of an hour. So, unfortunately, they had to leave, but that's part of it sometimes. So, and I I don't know if the rest of you saw them today or not yet. You probably will. I liked your photo ops at the senior center checking things out.

Went out there, met with Cindy. She was kind of worried about, you know, fire safety and stuff with her and just one other person there has concerns, especially during high occupancy times as far as getting all the the uh patrons and stuff out um whenever there is something. So, we talked about doing fire drills uh you know, possibly quarterly. Apparently, Friday is their busiest, most visited day. Um, she says sometimes upwards of name are there and she says it's pretty difficult for just her and I can't recall the other volunteers name that is there with her employees name but uh so we're just kind of trying to set her mind at ease. She she seems like she's got a everything's fine. She's just kind of been wanting to make sure that everything's done correctly and Noah met with us too. So, we uh talked about, you know, I'll be honest, she's she wants a parking lot. So, we're have more control to that and that's marking up the wrong tree, but uh we looked at a couple simple fixes that might make the evacuation for for elderly a little easier. A couple just small made ramps uh to get him into a grassy area and possible relocation of the stone tables that sit there along Jefferson maybe the parking lot side and then a little grassy area they park in. So stuff like that just to just kind of set our mind to ease. But the place as far as going in there, fire safety and everything looks looks fine. There's not not not a thing that I think a certified inspector would come in. So

it's always good to visit your neighbors. Absolutely. So meeting her, too. No. And I were out there about an hour and a half after you were there. And I've got pictures and we're going to start getting some quotes together on those access the ramps. Those little ramps. Yeah. I mean, I figured that'd be just a simple fix and it seemed to kind of put her mind at ease that we at least talk about it and no one was there to hear it out. So, see what happened, but I did tell her that we'd uh be more than happy to come participate whenever she did. She wanted to presched a fire drill with me, then we'll make sure we have a couple representatives down there to to help out kind of you, give any tips and suggestions. Okay. That's a good idea. Thank you. Thanks. Any questions for Nick?

All right. All right. Thanks again everybody. Thank you.

HBC um we have a meeting on May 14th and there is one COA we might have but I would also ask that you at your leisure read the report uh that Andrea had on HPC about the shard database and the historic houses. We're doing a lot of work with that and getting it cleaned up and realizing the kinds of houses that we've got in the town. Um, so that's just a couple pages. It would be it's very interesting to read. So I would suggest that you do that when you can. Any questions for me?

I appreciated being included in that and getting a copy of what the committee talked about. Um, after talking to Andrea about it, I have identified nine more good potential houses, structures that were identified as historic in the 1976 bicesentennial book. Okay. Um, that are there's still I think there's only one that's gone, but I mean they're still worth looking at, I think. Give those to her. So, I have the addresses for her. Good. And we'll get with her. Good.

All right. Parks p uh Paul.

Yes. So, uh the update on uh parks is that the parks board met on April 9th. Uh obviously, there's a lot of excitement surrounding what's happened at Lud Dennis. So, that's uh that was u you know that was a thing. But what really happened at that meeting, which was um really important, is that Chief Mitchell gave a very extensive security assessment for our park system. And uh it was extremely well done. And I just want to thank you, Chief, for all the work you did for that. And it gave us a nice list of things that we need to be thinking about as it relates to our parks and the safety of our parks. things like better signage that includes the actual physical addresses of the park so that people can be found when they need to be in a in a in a hurry. Um lighting uh along some of the uh areas like the trail. um cameras, uh fencing in some instances, um to increase the safety of the park and you know, ch small children can find a way to getting away from you. Uh call things like call boxes. So, we had uh it was a great presentation. Lots of things to think about. I know Andrea and Chris are taking that information. uh we believe there are plenty of grant opportunities to uh help address some of these uh things that we need to address and so that's uh that's you know that's something we're going to work on.

Go ahead. It was awesome. So any questions for Paul? Not a question but I attended the meeting also and was very impressed with what Eric presented. Um it was well thought out. It was it was easy to understand. There were some things that could be done there were some things that can be done fairly easily and some other things that are going to take more work. But I think you know everything that he presented made sense and some of them are like why didn't we think of that before but it was a it was a great presentation.

Good. Thank you. Any other questions or discussion plan? Uh, we did not have a meeting since our last meeting and our next meeting is on April 4th. Not April 4th, May 4th. Uh, all right. Um, please Paul Police Commission is going to meet this Friday, April 24th, uh, at 3:15. All right. Any questions for Paul? Steve, Stormwater, we'll be meeting on Monday at 4:30. Okay. Any questions for Steve and Street?

Street put up two do not enter signs at State Street and Water Street. They moved a one-way sign to a different pole near the end of Monroe Street at Water Street. They finished mulching flower beds, replaced three no parking signs at Lud Dennis, cleaned up at the shop. They removed four trees and cleaned up the brush at Ludenis. They hauled off concrete and dirt also from Lud Dennis. They cleaned and maintained walkways, cleaned downtown streets and sidewalks, cleaned downtown properties and parking lots, sprayed weeds at downtown properties and other town properties, and went to the weed wrangle for a demonstration on invasive plants. All right, any questions for an Steve utility?

No meeting, no report. All right, any questions for Steve? Go on to standing committees. Finance, no report. personnel. Yes. So, uh, personnel has been working, uh, to fill some positions and I'm prepared to make three motions. Uh, do I, is this going to be a collective or I got to do one at a time? I guess one at a time, right? Do one at a time. Yeah.

Okay. So the first motion is to hire Harley Hansen for the position of wastewater collections on&m at a rate of $23 per hour with a $1 per hour increase contingent upon a positive sixmonth review and subject to satisfactory background check and negative drug screen. So I'd like to make that a motion. All right. Do I have a second? Second. Do I have any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries.

So the second motion is to hire Jacob Trogden for the position of wastewater collections on&m at a rate of $22 per hour with a $1 per hour increase contingent upon a positive six-month review and subject to a satisfactory background check and negative drug screen. That's my motion. All right. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed? Motion carries. And the last motion, all of you should have received personnel document uh 2026-01. I'd like a motion to approve that document. That's my motion. All those in favor say I. You need a second.

I thank you. Do I have a second? I will second that motion. Now, I have a question. Is she still with us? I thought she was Yes. Well, just as of this week, I've asked for her to come to our meeting down at the Red Brook House tomorrow. We I didn't know that she was leaving this. So, what should I do about that? You should vote on the motion.

Honestly, you should vote on the motion. Well, tomorrow is the day I asked for it to come. It'll be okay. We'll work through it. Okay. We'll work through it. Okay. Well, I'll shut up. I'm just All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries. That's the end of those motions. Thank you, Lyanna. Arts Commission. Let's find out about Earth Day.

Yes. Well, um, all the plans are in order. We've gotten some really good publicity. Uh we had uh one segment on channel 14 uh both in announcements as well as the uh the one that Mike Blake does and then today there was one in Henderson with uh Angie Humphrey and uh I thought it went very well. I I was watching and I wasn't in it. Um, and then we've had lots of little posters and flyers and uh it has not been on the radio as far as I know. Uh, we've sent out lots and lots of press releases and those have been picked up. So, I'm really pleased about that.

Perfect. Um, so anyway, we have a little reception with artists uh setting up like an art gallery in Lockam building on the Friday night prior to and we did that last year also. This year there will be a harpist there as background music. Uh, and there will be snacks and uh, not really a speaker, but we might interject something. So, it should be a nice view. And I want to invite all of you to attend uh Friday evening. It's from 6:00 to 8. Uh we are uh just extending the invitation because we want you all to know what what all is going on. So hope to see some of you there. Uh and other than that, the day itself is going to be pretty full. We've got entertainment on the stage up at the top of the hill under the shade tree by the cottages. We've got exercise uh Tai Chi and the guy that's putting it on is called something like Seafood Sam or something. I don't know what that means and I'm probably not even saying it right, but he's he's evidently very well known in the Evansville area. So uh we have a band from 11 to 1 playing on the amphithe amphitheater stage that is Sturgeon Friends and then we have a guitar artist uh by the name of Nicholas Rhodess and he performed last year at our reception. He's uh with the Phil Harmonic. He's very good. Um and then we have a couple of speakers at the log cabin. We have the goat lady coming with her goats um that will be on the lawn at They'll be under control, but

go ahead. At the gazebo. It's not a goat wrangle. Is that what you mean? It's not like a weed wrangle. It's not a No, I don't think it is.

I'm not too familiar with goats, but we're kind of excited about that. The master gardeners will be there. They're giving out um little potted plants and teaching children how to plant these native plants. Um we have several quite a few uh crafters that'll be across the road on the south side. We have a dealer bringing e-cars uh to demonstrate that. Uh we have um renewable resources will be there to put on an exhibit. We have Newberg sewer. And last year, this was kind of a shock to me, but they were one of the hits. Um, our Newberg sewer, they brought the trucks and the kids went crazy over that. They showed them all of that. And Indiana, American Water will be there showing how clean and clear and pure our water is. Um, so it's going to be a fun fun day and it's all it's all free and uh so anyway,

good. Thank you. Lyanna Sidewalks, we met yesterday. Um, Drew, would you mind talking about what went on?

Sure. Um, gave an update on Grey Street. Uh, so we're moving forward with the land acquisition phase. Uh as soon as land is going to be acquired, we can look to bid the project. Uh there's been some movement as an noted. Um there's a Miller pipeline was out there. Uh they're excavating, doing some pothole work. We got some trying to alleviate any potential issues before construction actually progresses. And I think we're also looking at doing a State Street uh crosswalk there as well. Uh Chris has secured a a grant and uh the the committee is going to be looking forward to moving that project along as well.

Good. Good. Pretty exciting stuff. Oh yes. Lyanna growth in progress or I'm sorry, Steve. I was going to say so that that grant's on a tight timeline. So that'll the crosswalk will more likely move forward before the sidewalks because it's it's got to be done quickly. Okay, good. We like quickly. Lyanna, growth in progress. Yes, we have a meeting tomorrow afternoon at uh 3. Is it 3:00 that's good for you? It's actually I think tomorrow I can do it at 3, but it's normally at 4:00. Okay. But tomorrow's good at 3. Are you sure? Cuz I know you got stuff going on. No, that's Friday. You've got all this.

Well, you because we moved. Wait a minute. Yeah, I I thought I thought I thought the meeting was Did I say the wrong day? I haven't thought it was next Thursday. It's next Thursday. Yeah. Okay. Cuz I wasn't going to be able to That's one of my count It's on my calendar for next Thursday. Okay. That That's because we March and we But but when we do the third Thursday, I do have a meeting that is at three. So four works better for me. But if you any other Thursday, I can do three. So Okay. Okay. I'll probably have to call in next week because I'll be at the manager's conference and then go. Yeah. Okay. That's So next next So next Thursday. Yeah. All right. NA and approval of claims. Oh, I'm sorry. Miscellaneous.

Miscellaneous. Steve, do you have any miscellaneous? I've got one thing. It was in Riley's report, but uh we kind of went over it and didn't speak to it, but I'd like to ask Chris, well, either Chris, what's the status right now? Next step for one East Main. We won't mean it. I mean, I can give a brief and then you can fill in the details because you've been working on it, too. But is that the feather nest? Yeah.

Building one east main. So the as you all know from uh the report the vacate order was issued because of the condition of the building. Um the details are in that report. Um working with the I know Riley's been working directly with a contractor for the owner um on um a plan. I guess they're looking at and we're talking about getting a structural engineer to take a look at it or somebody with those kinds of credentials to take a look at it. That was my question. Are we going to do that or is that the idea is for them? You're right.

But, you know, at the end of the day, we need to make sure that we can I mean, we're putting a lot on Riley and Chris and everyone to make determinations and decisions. What they would like, I think, is to find a way to to to cordon off part of the building and keep part of it open. And I think that's going to they they may have to provide some evidence of anyway. So, we're working through those. I know those types of issues. There's a public hearing scheduled per statute with BZA at their meeting, uh, which the sole issue there is just a firmer affirm or reject the vacate order. So, um I think that's pretty straightforward as far as that goes. And then, uh but you know, at this point, no, uh even though the you know, Riley had done just I don't know how much detail you have, but Riley had inspections with um Department of Homeland Security officials came down. She then had um City of Evans was nice enough to send an inspector over to meet with her and and view the building. And the consensus was it was endangered. It needed to be uh vacated. So I think she's done a good

quote what was said. Yeah,

I will quote what was said by Evansville. If the building was in Evansville, it would be down within 24 hours. So there's a concern that it may need to that it's it's in such a condition that raise could be a possibility, but because of the the nature of the building and because uh all of that, the the decision was to to take it step by step and vacate first and then work with the owner to try to figure out how to res whether it can be repaired, restored, whatever, so we don't lose it. Uh but um yeah, everyone that looked at it, it's it's been in a bad situation for a long time. Um, and hats off to Riley for for doing what needed to be done. Um, but that's that's what I know about it.

Well, my issue would be I would be very reluctant to have somebody that we we hired put their stamp on it. I I would want I would want somebody that from her contractor, from her engineering firm to to be the one who stamps it, not not us. Because if something happens after we well our purpose of having an engineer would look at it wouldn't be to um to would be to identify and detail the deficiencies and the dangers not necessarily to and maybe give concepts but not to design any kind of remedy. Okay,

that would be what we would need. Now what they would need is someone to put a stamp to design it to certify that it's going to be and it would have to meet homeland security and it would have to mean all of that. So whatever happens is going to have to go through a process where it's not just the town of Newberg that's going to be the approval. But but I do understand the concerns of the owner that you know there it's you know they're not in business at this point. They want to try to get back to where they can open. Not just the business. We thought the upstairs apartment was vacant and it was not. Well, I just want somebody to stamp it that other than us so that they had request

they had requested this week if they could partially open the building without any of that and I sent them a no. We um the reason we would do is to uh bolster our position and our and our that you know this the dangers and provide that information but not to you know to identify specific issues. The the the Department of Homeland Security inspector and I'm roughly quoting what he said in his professional experience of looking at stuff all over the state of Indiana. You could throw a million dollars at this building and it's not going to fix everything. That's the concern is

that that's what I'm talking about is we don't want any band-aids. We want something that's and it may be one of those situations which I think is unfortunate but we we don't want to prejudge it but is the expense going to be more than the propertyy's worth. Is there something you know what is the solution? And so we have to that's really for them to work through and present to us. We we don't really we identify the problem and order the vacate. Um and we're trying to we we as long as it's vacant perhaps we can avoid something more than that. Okay. That would be the concern is

I mean that's the main property but the other two properties have some different stages of u issues that are going through the process well but nothing to the level of a vacate. That's all I have. Right. Paul, do you have anything? I don't. And you?

I do. Um, last time we met, I talked about the placement of a stone for a Revolutionary War soldier who's buried outside of Booneville. And because of the rain last weekend, that was postponed. And it's going to be this Saturday at 10:00 on Old Rockport Road. So, if you are um still interested in going, it it was rained out. I'm not sure if any of you were able to attend the unveiling of the sign for the time travel on Water Street a couple of days ago. It was so windy they couldn't keep the sign covered up. I mean, it the the sign was that anxious to get going. Uh they tried and tried. They finally I don't know what they did to it, but they finally got it to stay on there long enough to to have an actual unveiling. They had a very nice crowd. Good.

And um some of the people from the museum were stopping innocent citizens walking past and saying, "Get out your phone and come over here. I want to show you something." So, uh I think it will be very wellreceived. And Lyanna, um I probably I hope I speak for everybody. Your efforts on what's going to happen on Saturday, you've been tireless. You've dealt with a lot of things. you may deal with bad weather. Um, but I really appreciate and I think everybody else really appreciates the time that you and your committee have put in to give us a good Earth Day celebration. Thank you. Yeah, that's it. All right, Lanna, do you have anything?

I just wanted to ask Chris a question. Um, you mentioned I think it was maybe the last meeting or maybe two meetings ago about Main Street. There were going to be a couple of meetings. Can do you has that happened yet? We the we do not currently have a Main Street organization. We've met with Newberg, but there there's one in the state, isn't there? Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay. But we're not we don't have a town a town organization that is recognized as a state or federal or state or national main street organization. There's a Okra puts on like a one-day class on all things Main Street organizations. Uh-huh.

There's two or three opportunities and Riley, myself, and Andrea were going to try to attend one of those and we've we've talked to a couple other folks that were interested in restarting a main street. Um, we're going to try to encourage them to attend, but the over reps felt that if the town had a couple representatives there, it would help our understanding of what the program does. Um, but once you start down this road, it's not like because we were one in the past, it's not like you just restart. It's a three-year process just to get a a state accredited Main Street organization. Okay. So, we're starting at square one. Okay. Can you maybe text me the dates? Where where is it in Indianapolis?

One's in Indie and I think the other's in Seymour and then there's one up north. Okay. Um since I was so very active before, um we even won Main Street Merchants of the Year for our business. I was I went to everything they had. I just I would be interested. I'd kind of like to see the difference of what it used to be and what it is now. Okay. So, I'm very interested. I'll try to get that to you tomorrow. Thank you. Anything else? I have nothing. Nette.

Okay. All these claims and I wanted to um tell you thank you so much and bear with me with Louis being out. I was the sole person this week. So, with all the other stuff going on, it was a little bit of a challenge. It's been a while since I've done that, but it all came out okay. Um, all the claims have been provided to you count five days prior to the council. Um requesting these claims plus any sewer adjustments be be approved for payment in the amounts of for civil town 298,526.95 298526.95 for sewer $532,14924 53214924 I'll make a the motion to approve all claims properly signed including any sewer adjustments to be paid Do I have a second?

Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, I will make a motion for adjournment. Do I have a second? Second. Although