Board of Public Works and Safety and Common Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Good evening. Welcome to the August 10, 2026 Board of Public Works and Safety meeting. Yeah.

Roll call, please.

Here.

Paul?

Here.

Ecker?

Here.

Elner? Here. Morrow?

Here. Thank you. And entertain a motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting. I move. Is that a motion? Second. And a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor will say aye. Aye. And those opposed, nay. Thank you. Okay. Jumping down here to Donnie. Anything to say to him?

I have nothing to say to him.

Ready?

Dan?

So we have entered into some preliminary talks with Drive and Shine. That's the big building on the corner of US 30 and Oak Drive. the talks were about connecting their utilities here in the near future. So they will be probably digging a trench across a fair amount of bulk drive to connect the water main and then also in the sewer, which is underneath the asphalt as well. So those are the two main issues. And then they'll also be rebuilding the curb and doing some driveway shifting. So they are going to be restricting traffic. But we're still in the preliminary phase of that. So when I have more information, I'll let you know.

So they are in charge of taking traffic control during that time period, right?

Yeah, they're going to submit a traffic control plan that meets our liking and we can go from there.

The building out by the roadway, the small shack, what is that and why is it there?

I want to say it's an air compressor. I kind of forgot about that. Am I right?

I think that's a vacuum, enclosed vacuum system. And they did receive a variance for the setback there, placed that in that location. The VCA gave them that close to the roadway? Yeah, there were several items within the plan that needed variances, and that was one of those that worked.

Isn't that going to be kind of hard to get out, turn either direction out when you come out? Because you come out of that. You go to the right and then it comes back to the left. Is that going to block somebody's view?

I don't think it will block anybody's view. I don't think it's that close. There's going to be enough space there to put a sidewalk along the street. So it's back far enough to put that sidewalk in. And it's going to be a fair amount of way, and they do have to park their car to get vacuumed, and then they'll pull out of the stall and then come out the driveway to Oak Drive. So I don't see any issue, but I'll take a look at that on the plans.

Thank you, sir. Anything else you just mentioned moving the driveway in a movement more towards the North.

I think they're moving it slightly to line up to the South.

Excuse me.

I think they're moving it to line up with the private drive that goes to the East. Into all these and all the commercial enterprises, that's actually a private roadway. that the city's not required to maintain because it's not public, but it's quasi-public.

Isn't Andy's easement to the north of the building?

Speak up.

Isn't Andy's that owns the building to the west?

Yes. Isn't that his easement? They wanted to stick with their existing easement after some discussions of trying to get them to cooperate with the new development as far as doing a new easement. He was pretty adamant about keeping his existing easement.

On the south side, I remember there's a line that goes down through there.

It's right on the north property line. Right along the fence.

Thank you. I think that Andy was going to Berm on there or something, right? Or add on to his driveway. That's currently there. Is that right?

You know, as far as I know, it's staying the same other than it's getting curve on the South side of the driveway where. Drive and shine what's up against the east end of line. Okay. Thank you. what is all these uh did you say all these well that's across the street yeah so there's a private driveway which i call it a driveway but it's a private street that the subdivision that all these is a part of owns okay and we are trying to line up the driveway with that street

so that there's less congestion with turning cars oh okay i'm with you now all right so the so the entrance on the south side of the property for driving shine line up with all these i've drive the correct yeah all right very good thank you thank you dan this is not here Office meeting. Yeah.

Did you call me?

I said Chief.

Oh, okay. Sorry. Good evening. First of all, we had a week ago, Sunday morning, we had one employee who suddenly resigned from the department without any prior knowledge. But fortunately, We were in the middle of the hiring process that we were just wrapping up, which we did. We finished the. All the testing and interviews of that. those formalities and um tonight i would like well first of all we were hiring for one now of course we're hiring for two positions we were fortunate to have four very uh good candidates already in process so tonight i would like to ask your permission to offer um a couple people with employment. So one would be Zach Demeser. He is currently a paramedic. He would be a lateral transfer already in the pension. So he would definitely help us out with filling that spot. We did lose a medic with that resignation. So he can immediately step in. That's a big advantage for us. It would just be a matter of pretty much getting the paperwork done and getting him transferred into our employment. The other person is Zach Fisher. He's currently a volunteer for us. He's worked very diligently over the last year to get all of his certifications. He first got his EMT certification through our department, through the classes that we put on there, and then he spent about the last year in a class getting all his Fire 1 and 2 certifications and serving us during that time. So, he did a very good job through all of the hiring process. And so his offer would be contingent on. The 77 pension and getting into that. I would just like to ask permission to offer them both employment.

So, 1st, 2nd, we have motion in a 2nd, any further discussion. None all in favor will say aye aye. And those opposed a.

you good thank you very much thank you chief weir i have no good night jim i know you're online yes sir um just bring up the thing on emb paving on the paving projects they are working on adam street going to be pouring the new curb weather permitting in the next few days they have a machine set up to do that all the other concrete for the projects are being um, formed up and are going to be put in shortly, then hopefully we'll get paving after that. That's all I have right now.

Very good. Um, Mike Collins.

I have nothing.

Thank you.

Mike. Hi, are you online? I think you are.

Yeah, I felt, I followed Jimmy and so, um, yes. Um, nothing tonight, your honor. Thank you.

Very good. And bill. Oh, thanks. All right. I've done the deny. Okay.

All right. At your last meeting, you approved a request from Tracy from the Blueberry Festival Committee, or Blueberry Festival, sorry, to close Michigan Street on Saturday, September 5th, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tonight, you have a second request from Tracy to close the same streets on Friday to set up the 3-on-3 basketball event. Tracy is here if you have questions, because there is no time this semester.

All right, come on up.

All right, so last Thursday, I was throwing a curveball. The basketball people called me, and we started talking about some other things, trying to line everything up. And they said, OK, we'll just start setting up on Friday. I said, well, my permit's only good for Saturday. And so it takes them at least six hours to set up, if not more, because they clean the streets, they measure the basketball courts, they spray the basketball courts, they set up. It takes time. I know some people had said, well, why don't they start at midnight? I'm like, well, they're humans. So you're asking these humans to work from midnight, set up for six to eight hours, and then run another 10-hour event, tournament, and then load up. So I checked back with some of the records and stuff, and I guess we did used to close down both. On Friday, we would close down to set up. Saturday, we'd run the tournament. So I put the permit in, the permit's already been approved. The permit's approved for three blocks because I added a block just as a backup in case we end up with a million teams, fingers crossed. But the idea is that we're only going to use those two blocks like we originally had and those two blocks to set up. And then again, that third block would be if in the event that we need to.

Has this been discussed with the merchants?

I did talk to the merchants. I know Sandy's on there right now. I mean, they're not super excited about it. But at this point, we are where we are. Next year, maybe we could take some different steps and different ways to do it. I just don't know how to do it to where to ensure there's no one going to be on the street other than blocking it for that day. Because if we even do like start setting a pathway through Friday, then we're gonna have to fight people to get them off the streets. Because even now I know people, they park right in front of the sign that says we're closed on Saturday, and they're still parked there Saturday.

What time on Friday are you looking to?

He's looking to set up between 8 and 10. They're coming from Colorado, so it just depends on when they get here.

So 8 to 10 in the morning?

Morning, yeah.

On Friday? On Friday. So is that closing Adams Street as well now? Is that what you're saying?

I'm just going to try to close just the two.

which is, but you're asking, which is, but you're a team for us to report to Washington, Washington.

Thank you. And then this is the backup. If we end up with 150 teams, we're going to need that extra block.

And you'll know that a couple of days ahead.

We'll know that within a week ahead of the time, because it could be that we only end up with 40 teams and then we have to cancel the event because we just don't have enough.

Here's my concern is the mayor's month of music, getting the traffic, Laporte Street shut off, Garrow shut off, Washington shut off. How are we going to get people out to go to the north? Yeah. And or south, I guess.

Which is something else that came up. And I'm looking to talk to him about keeping this one open. Even, you know, block off both sides if we need to, but then just keep the intersection open so people can drive straight through.

When you say this one, you mean Garrow? This one right here, yeah.

Okay. Or Garrow and then, or potentially Washington. Something, see if we can work it out. I don't know how he's lining up the courts. that makes sense i don't know if he's got to go back to back to back to back to fit within those two blocks but the courts are going to be on michigan they're going to be on michigan street correct so when you say they're oh you're seven in the morning yeah um wow that's good on purpose like

Leave this open and Washington street crossing Michigan.

That's what I'm hoping we can do. I mean, the only maybe closes currently would be if we have 100 teams and he needs that this intersection. So, but then we keep that intersection Washington open.

So, Washington. Shouldn't crossing Michigan should never have to be closed probably. right i would love for it to be closed because that means we have 150 teams so we're taking up no i mean just the intersection part that across from you know washington street crossing over over michigan because you would stop the barricade or what kind of how we did the arts in the street festival it stopped there that intersection was open always it never did close and people could get down to river park square by turning left if they're coming south um I mean, I'd be the only one.

I mean, I could work it with him that we keep that completely east to west open. Because it would be east to west, right? This way would be east to west? Yeah. Okay. Keep that east to west open. And then if we have to go into Adams, then we start the next court at the Adams Corner.

These downtown merchants are not going to be happy on Friday.

Well, they weren't. I mean, Sandy's online right now. She was one of the people we talked to. I mean, at this point, it is what it is. I can't ask these people to start at midnight setting up. It's not fair to them as humans. And me getting four or five volunteers that I have to require to help them set up at midnight to... Who's old enough here to remember when we did this 20 years ago?

Oh, Don. What did we... Don, that was rude.

It's true. I didn't care about the truth. Daughters, please.

Well, they also had a go-cut race with FLP. They're both big hits, but to the expense of the downtown merchants.

I mean, if there was a way that you could say, hey, we're going to have all these cars off of the streets by 5 p.m., then they could set out and then have some nap time. But there's no guarantee. I know some of these events that you guys have.

There's been a way we could, you see any feasibility on if we put signs up saying starting at 5 p.m. on Friday, this section is going to be posted on the day before so people know. Especially just the one block.

Couldn't they do it a little bit later based upon if you brought light towers down here and lit it up for them?

Oh yeah, that would be the other issue is the lights because we wouldn't have lights down there. I mean, that would be another expense that we would have to add on to it.

Just during their setup, if it's later on at night, so the downtown patrons could get a little bit later downtown before it got closed down. That was all I was thinking. Yeah.

I think the more issue is their manpower couldn't work overnight.

No, it's not. It wouldn't be. It wouldn't be fair. I mean, I don't know them as humans. They may be the huge, strong men that could handle 24 hours of no sleep.

And I can't give a state from it for Friday also. I'm sorry. Did you get the state permit for Friday?

I've got all the permits. Everything's been approved. Everything's been approved.

Okay.

Signatures where they need to be. It's just me facing you beautiful people.

Well, I'm not, I'm not a favor of an 8 in the morning. No way. The only way that I would even consider this late afternoon or set up.

Oh, I think that's, I like that compromise, maybe not going super, super late, but definitely, you know, I know you initially asked for like 10 o'clock, 10 AM potentially. I mean, I would even say, you know, 4 PM, everyone's gotta be out of there by 4 PM.

So then that would require us to go. There's going to be Carter.

So you're going to have to try it out and then happy next day.

To be able to start for the term.

Yeah, at least 6 hours for set up. It could take 8 depending on how many courts we have. It could take 8. it could take 10 hours to set up.

I mean, the request has changed dramatically. Yeah.

can't do it yeah well it was again this is the first time i've done it so i had your fault tracy and it's an awesome event yeah it's really a good thing at the same time um can we hear from sandy should we see what sandy you got anything to say am i on yeah you want to state your name hi guys hi everybody for the record will you give us your name and address please

Sandy Signs, Simply Stated Gifts, 100 West Garrow Street, downtown Plymouth. Thank you. Tracy did bring this to our attention last week, and several of us have discussed it. We want to do this event in downtown. It's just an unfortunate thing that we did not know that they were going to need friday to do this as as she said um but it's kind of well we want to be supportive of this so we're i think willing do we like it not necessarily i mean it does affect our businesses but also want to be supportive of this event I do understand what you're saying about maybe delaying the street closure. I do kind of like that idea myself, but in thinking about the group's ability to install, I'm kind of wondering if two o'clock would not be too much of an ask.

So really what we're talking, I appreciate your input, Sandy, because that's what this is all about. You know, and Charlotte came up with 4 o'clock. I mean, so 2, 3, or 4 o'clock sounds reasonable. Great. Which one's going to be? Because you don't want to disrupt the downtown business, right? You want to minimize that disruption as much as possible. So what's the sweet hour? Is it 3 o'clock?

Right. What's the sweet hour? Well, here's a thought. Are the kids in school that day? Or do they have that day off or set up?

Okay.

So we don't have to worry about school buses. Okay. Good point. Yeah. Three, somewhere between two to four, I think is that sweet spot, but what is the sweet spot? We don't know. Is it a little bit different?

Is it potentially possible to close down at least one block earlier that day and leave the others open? So at least they can get a jumpstart on one of the blocks, which I'm assuming is probably going to be six courts. That's my, that's my visual guess. And maybe it's only four. I don't know. I don't know.

Yeah, that would be the only concern I would have. I would say, you know, if the downtown merchants are willing to do like 2 p.m., I think that's a decent compromise, you know, 2 p.m. Gets the restaurants through their lunch hour. Yeah, exactly. Gets them through their lunch hour and then

Close it down at 2 and then an officer will go ahead and make sure he tows all the cars that don't get out of the way. You can't wait. I don't want to be that person that, you know, toes because maybe we'll try every effort to contact the owner of the car. Because I think that's going to be the biggest challenge of the later start. sure is getting the card yeah people they don't read no they don't they don't we all know that i mean i saw people ask me what night the fireworks on okay the fireworks have been on sunday night like 100 years well 60 something years but i still think three o'clock here four o'clock is a better better time i would support three o'clock

I'm thinking four, but I'd support three. I think two o'clock.

If you tell them three, by the time they get out of there, it'll be four.

That's what I'm saying. Well, I know. That's what I'm saying, too, is you're pushing it back, and if it's taking them 68 hours to set this stuff up, they're going to one o'clock in the morning, and then they've got to be up again at six. I'm trying to find a nice balance for all the humans that are involved in this.

I would support three o'clock.

Is that a motion?

Okay, go ahead. I will make that a motion, Bill. We allow that to start at 3 o'clock. That should give, like I mentioned before, and you think six hours, that takes you into 9 or 10 o'clock. He said the minimum is six up to eight, if not 10.

Again, it's however many courts we end up with. If we end up with 150 teams, they're going to need all 16 courts.

I think 3 o'clock is still a good time.

Should we include in that motion keeping Washington? Yes. Yeah.

The intersection of Washington that needs to remain open the entirety. I think that's that's good. We can make that and also report.

I don't know if you're thinking about going into that intersection, but no, no, that's it was starting right at the recent coming this way. Because the court was always going to be open and then Washington was going to be open until. Yes, this headache fell on my chair last Thursday.

I'll make that motion. I'll make the motion to approve the request beginning at 3 o'clock with the understanding the report street and Washington street. East and West direction, you know.

And can we start working on contacting vehicles about 2 o'clock? So that way at 3 o'clock, they can start setting up. I'm trying to find that nice compromise because.

If it takes an hour, 2 hours, then the movie cars out in the 1 to always make those little signs up that she was going to get signed.

Yes.

Okay. So. could you post no parking for the entire day no leave the streets opened and hopefully anybody who does redesign maybe wouldn't park there they're going to park anyway yeah yeah they probably are i think they're not going to leave on their own time i i feel we're looking we're finding a reasonable compromise yeah and i i'm going to stick with what my notion is

Okay, so we have a motion.

I need a 2nd, 2nd, and then who's going to be the contact person at 3 o'clock to help you start moving vehicles.

Is that going to be before John? Give me all the information all that out and then.

Okay, we'll figure it out and then maybe we can figure out different steps for, you know. After they know what they're doing and how long it takes them. We'll have a better visual. Maybe we can start at 5 o'clock or something like that, but start playing this month ahead. No, I like the 30-day thing. Well, I don't. I like the stress level it causes me for the 30 days on top of the blueberry.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor will say aye. Aye. And those opposed, nay.

All abstain.

Abstain from the blueberry board member. Yeah. Right? Except the show. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Tracy. Anything else? All right. I'll entertain a motion to approve our claims.

So moved.

A motion.

Second.

And a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor will say aye. Aye. Those opposed, nay. And number nine, acceptance communications. So moved. A motion. Second. Second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed nay. Very good. Number 10.

Motion to adjourn.

you know i'll just follow jimmy i'm i'm here might not hurt it

Good evening and welcome to the August 10, 2026. I was doing the council meeting. I had to switch my paper. Councilwoman Starr, would you please lead us in a prayer?

Would you please pray with me? Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this city and all of its residents. Just now, we are so thankful for all of the activities that have been in full swing with friends and classmates gathering, and we had beautiful weather and wonderful music and a great celebration in one of our parks. We are also mindful of the presence of our law enforcement and first responders who helped assured us of our safety. We ask now that you will give your protection for the kids and teachers and all school personnel who will be getting to school this week and help all of our citizens to be mindful of those changes and how that we need to watch out for each other. We ask for your wisdom and your guidance and in our discussions and for the decisions that we make this evening that affect us all in this city. We lift up those who are lost or those who are lonely or grieving the loss of loved ones and just those who are needing a special healing. We ask that you be with them all in any way that they need you. Be with us all. Grant us safe returns to our families after the end of this day. We ask that you continue to guide us in the direction that you would have us take. We ask a blessing upon all who are here in a very special way. We thank you. It is in your name we pray. Amen.

Thank you. You'll join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

My Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you.

Roll call please. Thank you. Well, entertain a motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting.

I move that we approve the maps.

Okay, we have motion. 2nd, and a 2nd, any further discussion. All in favor will say aye aye those opposed. Thank you. Anything from our members this evening. I'm looking at you, Linda. What do you got for us?

You said that I'm really pleased with all the activities that are going on in our city and. Not only just in the River Park, but my husband and I were at Centennial Park one afternoon and enjoyed all the people, the families that are playing in the park and just enjoying what we have available. We were very, very blessed.

The park is super busy right now. Most pavilions are rented 100% all weekend long. They're busy out there. Anybody else?

I do, Your Honor. There's a couple things that I want to bring forth before the council and something that we should consider addressing as we move forward for the rest of this year as well into 2027. Basically, the two I have concerns about right now is in regards to animals that are not allowed within the city. Basically, it's in an ordinance. It's already out there. Chapter 92 of it And 92.01, Section A, it shall be unlawful for the owner of any person in charge of any cattle, sheep, swine, or goats and fowl to keep or to suffer or to permit any such animals be kept within the corporate boundaries of the city. Specifically, recently, I've come across a couple of locations that chickens are on the property within the city. And that has been discussed before and has been made clear that is not allowed within the city. And I think it's something that we need to take note of and take appropriate action accordingly. One particular place has a rooster and that is clearly not allowed as well. So this is something that I think that council and hopefully we can get with the building commissioner and figure something out here as well.

And the other one that- To that point real quick, i think we have to be able to see or get a picture of or something in that right john madison harrison there's one run around in that area if i don't know what house that goes to that's running loose you can follow us so that's that's an issue Dennis isn't here tonight, but that'd be something we can bring up to him.

And one location's in my neighborhood, and the rooster goes throughout the day. And so I know that there's other locations in town. Then the other concern that I have is also with zoning district intent, and that is in chapter three. And I appreciate the city attorney has given me some assistance in locating this, but it's parking of vehicles in front yard setbacks. And the parking of vehicles within any front yard setback is prohibited unless the parking is on a driveway that has received city approval. So I think that needs to be explored. uh and maybe i don't maybe spend some time having having it clarified a little bit better but when there's five or six vehicles sitting on a side yard and one sitting in the front yard and then there's other locations where a car is sitting between the sidewalk and the house on lake avenue there's another location where cars sitting in the uh right away between the sidewalk and the street on the grass these are things that i think need some attention and i don't know who you'd want to delegate to have involved in that but i think these are things that we keep talking about fixing things up and trying to make the areas of our city more appealing and i think this is an area that needs to be looked at okay thank you guys thanks thanks dennis was here this evening

I am here.

Oh, you are? Wow. That was out of nowhere. We can look into this. Get some actual addresses so we can take a look.

As far as the chickens go, you are correct. I have to be able to see them from a public view unless a neighbor allows me on their property to be able to see them.

What about if you can hear the rooster?

Somebody could have a recording. I have to visually see the rooster.

Okay.

Okay. But nonetheless, this is a couple of issues that should be addressed.

I agree.

Thank you, Dennis.

Okay.

Anything else, Susan? I will say one thing for the water department. Donnie, I know you hate to hear this, but I've sent you a letter about this, but they happen to be doing a project across from my street, putting in a new water main. And I spent some time watching them and it's pretty impressive to see the profession. These guys know what they're doing. They're really good. And even more importantly, I'm a grandpa and I had my two year old grandson staring out the window and Donnie, In his eyes, all those kids were superheroes. All your guys over there doing that, they were like superheroes to him. But honestly, hats off to your crew. They were in lock sync. They knew what each other was doing without really even communicating. It was really impressive to watch. It went really smooth. So I don't want to mention that publicly, but I did send you a letter today about that.

I concur. I live on Angel Street also, and uh you know they communicated with us and uh just and they they did they did work in in real good harmony uh almost like synchronized working and moved right down the street really fast so yeah very good anything else anybody okay moving on down um for city attorney

Yeah, so on your agenda you have Ordinance number 2026-2264R, an ordinance fixing salaries of appointed officers and employees, fire and police personnel of the City of Plymouth, Indiana for the year 2027. This is the salary ordinance. You'll notice that it has an R next to it because there have been some revisions, and all of those revisions are highlighted on the copy you received in your packet. Because of those revisions, and so everyone has time to review those and have any discussions with the mayor and the clerk treasurer we're recommending that you pass it on second reading tonight we'll hold off on third reading until your next meeting i'll make that motion i'll second okay we have motion in a second any further discussion on that i think that's a good plan if anybody has and i encourage you to look it over please reach out

we'll get you with the department head that's you're talking about or whatever, or whatever it takes. Um, I think that's a good plan. So, uh, we have a motion second, a further roll call vote, please. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Thank you. Okay. Then we'll move on unless there's something else in between. Moving on to ordinances for first reading. Ordinance number 2026-2265, an ordinance to amend the Code of Ordinances of the City of Plymouth concerning the aviation world refund. This is just correcting language, bringing it in line with state statute and its first reading, so it requires no action. Ordinance number 2026-2266, an ordinance fixing salaries for the year 2027 for the elected officials of the City of Plymouth, Indiana, also for first reading. Which takes us to resolution number 2026-1207, a resolution of the City of Plymouth declaring certain real estate to be within an economic revitalization area. pursuant to Indiana Code 6-1.1-12.1. This is a request for tax abatement for AK Industries. And we have Greg Hildebrand here tonight to speak on this.

Thank you.

Good evening, Greg Hillbrand with Marsh County Economic Development Corporation, and I'm joined this evening by James Conley. He is the general manager at AK Industries, and he has a little something he'll want to share with you here shortly. But what we're asking tonight is to designate the real estate there as an economic revitalization area. That's the first step in a tax abatement. They are looking to purchase $1.2 million piece of equipment, and he'll explain how that will give them an opportunity to expand their product line. This is a new product line. It is additional jobs. conservatively a minimum of six jobs. And that's something that we counsel our applicants in that to estimate conservatively on how many jobs you're going to create, we would much rather you tell us that you're going to create six and end up with ten than the other way around. You know, tell us you're going to get ten and only end up with six. So they are conservatively estimating 10 or six, I should say. And they are retaining 206 positions, as you know, from their previous applications for tax payments. That's well and above what they had considered they were going to be. So if you don't have any other questions for me, I'll have Mr. Connolly come up and and he can tell you about this impressive piece of equipment they're going to be purchasing.

I'll give you guys a little show and tell piece. If you just state your name and address, please.

James Conley, 11476 Michigan Road here in Plymouth, Indiana. Thank you. Show and tell piece you guys can pass along to each other. This is a mini 3D printed model of a new septic tank that we're going to make with the Rotation wielding machine that Greg had mentioned just a little bit ago. Some brief history, AKA Industries has been around since 1981 and spent its entirety here in Plymouth. He is correct. We have 206 employees. We are looking to add a minimum of six jobs for the machine that we're going to be installing hopefully in December. of this year. I've worked for AK Industries for 25 years. I've spent the majority of those as national sales manager and an engineer and now general manager. The machine is going to be a Ferry 5500 rotational molding machine. So that is a plastic rotational molded septic tank. That is a model of a new 1500 gallon that we're going to do. The molds have already been purchased. We've made that investment. The down payment's been Put on the machine, so we're, we're moving forward and like Greg said, it'll be a minimum of 6 in reality. I know he didn't want to oversell it, but in reality, it takes more like 8 or 9 to be able to run a machine that size. It's to give you an idea and you're all are welcome to come visit anytime you'd like ask for me. I'll take you through the facilities. It's about 480,000 square feet we have in five different buildings there. The machine would not physically fit anywhere in this room, not even height-wise. It takes about 35 feet of ceiling height and about a 40 by 40 working space. It's a very large machine. With the purchase of that, we'll be one of... We actually own one already, but one of six in the United States of the machines that are that size. To give you an idea, this tank here will lengthwise end up being about 13 and a half feet long, roughly seven foot wide and about five foot tall. So it's a very large 1500 gallon septic tank. We made it for the Indiana markets, mainly the Midwest, and that's where we sell a lot of, but... A lot of new construction, because we're based on that, we do a lot of residential selling is happening in the coastal states, North Carolina, South Carolina, along the coast of Georgia and Florida, even over into Alabama and along there. And we've designed that tank to meet their codes because we want to be able to expand that. And we have very high expectations for what that could bring for us long term. So what we're hoping is that we need to buy more machines and more molds, obviously.

You mentioned meet the requirements. Requirement vary by state by state?

They do. Actually, state by state is pretty normal, but you get states like Michigan and it's county by county. So every county is different. And then actually in Indiana, Porter County is different than every other county. They have the minimum state IDOH rules to be able to meet for the septic. And then Porter says, well, we like that, but we want a little more. which is fine, and we meet those two, but every state is different. So these get plumbed, and we plumb them at the factory. They have inlets and outlets, and a lot of it is the air gap is what the minimum state requirement is. So when you're plumbing the inlet, you got to have so much of an air gap for your waste, and that's because you can have a lot of methane buildup, and then you got to make sure you have the proper venting in your home, those types of things. mold. I assume that's for... These are just for 3D printing purposes here. Because they go through, because when you enclose it, the model has to be able to breathe, basically. But now these holes you see here on the sides, those are real for lifting locations so you can have a mini excavator, be able to lift those and set those into the holes. We currently sell and we have approval in 38 states and we're expanding that all the time out of our location. Always looking to expand and this is going to help us.

That's polypropylene material?

Yeah, this is HDPE, but it is polypro. It's in the polypro family. I understand.

Yeah. James, when do you expect to receive the equipment and when do you think you'll be in production?

The equipment will be ready in October, but with how busy we are right now, uh i don't plan on actually telling them to ship it to us uh until end of november uh it'll take about three weeks for the total install uh and once that's done we plan to be completely in production that first working week of january very quick yeah yeah it'll go uh smooth since we've done it once before with that machine we'll be able to uh knock this one out of the park

well thank you do you have anybody have any questions any questions at all okay let me know if you changed it okay thank you we just uh thank you for your time and we uh appreciate your support in this uh resolution and um thank you uh aka has been a wonderful uh a model uh industrial partner within the city we appreciate it thanks

So as Greg mentioned, and you all know by now, this is the first step in the abatement process, declaring the area and economic revitalization area. If you approve this resolution tonight, then at your next meeting, there will be a public hearing and a confirmatory resolution for the actual tax abatement. So we're asking for your approval of resolution number 2026-1207. Motion to approve resolution number 2026-1207. Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further questions or discussion? Roll call vote, please.

Call?

Yes.

Becker?

Yes.

Brad Wall? Yes. Milner? Yes. Morrow?

Yes.

Starr? Yes.

Very good. Okay. Moving on to a one Marshall County update. Just a couple of quick things committees continue to meet. There is an infrastructure committee meeting later this week working on countywide plans to do an engineering study of some of the utility capacities across the county to help with development planning. Also, members of the board have been making the rounds to all of the town council meetings across the county, just like Gary Knight was here speaking to you. I made the presentation to the Artist Town Council. There's a presentation to Culver yet this week. So we're gathering support from other municipalities across the county to share in the planning and the financial support of Whatabarsha County. Have we got any commitments? I can't confirm any commitments that I've heard. What's generally been discussed is that as they're going through the budget process, that they're putting those funds into their budget for 2027. So the commitment, we can't really say there's a firm commitment until after they've approved the budget. But the response has been very positive from what I've seen and what I've been told about the meetings that I was not able to attend. Um, comprehensive plan updates. Um, I don't have an update and ties and I hear it.

So not very good. Thank you. Privilege of the floor. Anybody have anything this evening? Okay. Number seven, acceptance of communication emotions that we accept the commission. Thank you, Linda.

Okay.

We have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Those opposed, nay. Thank you.

And number eight.

Wow, got it without Randy.

No, I had to, you know, make sure I was here for that. Undesignated, yes.