PLAINFIELD TOWN COUNCIL
OCTOBER 25, 2010
7:00 p.m. Mr. Brandgard: The Plainfield Town Council meeting for Monday October 25, 2010 is now in session.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Mr. Brandgard: I would like to ask everyone to rise for the pledge of allegiance.
CONSENT AGENDA
Mr. Brandgard: We have several items on the consent agenda this evening.
1. Approval of the minutes of the regularly scheduled Town Council meeting of October 11, 2010.
2. Second Readings of Ordinance No. 14-2010: An ordinance establishing 25 MPH speed limit Providence Estates Subdivision and Ordinance No. 15-2010: Dis-Annexation of the Plainfield Elks.
3. Approval of the Parks and Recreation Director's report dated October 20, 2010, Transportation Director's, Town Engineer's, and Plainfield Fire Chief's reports dated October 22, 2010, and IT and HR Director's reports dated October 25, 2010
4. Approval of September 2010 monthly reports for Department of Planning and Zoning and Plainfield Fire Territory.
5. Approval of the equipment and lighting changes for the new ambulance in the amount of $2,032.00, per the Fire Chief's report dated October 22, 2010.
6. Approval of Change Order #2 resulting in a $1,947.00 decrease to the contract with Gradex Inc. Associated with the Metropolis Parkway Phase II extension project per the Transportation Director's report dated October 22, 2010.
7. Approval to accept resignation of Nathan Poff, probationary firefighter/paramedic effective October 23, 2010.
8. Approval of the following change orders fro US 40 Streetscape Project resulting in a net increase to the Gradex contract in the amount of $52,252.98 per the Transportation Director's report dated October 22, 2010:
● CO#33: The mainline sanitary sewer was extended across Carr Road to the NE corner and a new manhole structure installed. The total cost to do this work $11,150.90 increase.
● CO#34: The traffic maintenance plan was modified to provide for separate left turn lanes at Center and Avon Av at all times. The added cost resulting in a total increase of $29,430.93.
● CO#35: Removal of two additional trees resulting in an increase of $2,448.81.
● CO#36: In connecting the existing storm sewer at Duffy Street additional work was required to separate the presence of sewage flowing in that line. Total cost for the added work $2,244.57 increase.
● CO#37: Added cost for removal and disposal of 4 underground storage tanks discovered in front of the antique repair shop. Total cost $6,062.24 increase.
● CO#38: Two small inlet drains added in alley behind the sidewalk between Center and Vine. The added cost for installation $2,915.54 increase.
Are there any changes or additions to the consent agenda?
Mr. Kirchoff: Clarification, in the HR Director's report, does that include or exclude the recommendation for the changes in the policy? Does not, ok, thank you. I move that we approve the consent agenda as read.
Ms. Whicker: Second.
Mr. Brandgard: The motion is second to approve the consent agenda as read, if there is no further discussion roll call vote please.
Mr. McPhail- yes
Ms. Whicker- yes
Mr. Kirchoff- yes
Mr. Gaddie- I was not here
Mr. Brandgard- yes
Four ayes, one not voting, motion carries.
PUBLIC HEARING: Ballou Annexation
Mr. Brandgard: We do have a public hearing this evening for the Ballou Annexation; do we have proof of proper publication?
Mr. Daniel: Yes we do.
Mr. Carlucci: Thank you Mr. President, the Ballou Annexation is approximately 7.3 acres of land. Some of you probably already know where it is at but I will go ahead and describe a little detail where it is located. It is on the north side of Township Line Road, it is adjacent to the Whitmore Place Subdivision, and actually the access will be at the cul-de-sac to the north to the 7.3 acres. It is basically going to have a zoning on it of R2 low density residential and my understanding Mr. Ballou works for the Avon school system. They are not planning, as far as we know, subdividing that property at all so they want to be on Town water and sewer. It is a request of annexation 7.3 acres mostly farm ground up there and that is what they petitioned from the Town Council.
Mr. Brandgard: Thank you. Is there anybody in the audience that wants to address the Council relative to the Ballou annexation? Again, this is a public hearing for the Ballou annexation if there is anyone in the audience who wants to express thoughts, we'd appreciate it. With nobody coming forward the public hearing is closed. We will deal with the matter at the appropriate time.
BUSINESS FROM THE FLOOR
Mr. Brandgard: Is there any business from the floor at this time?
TOWN MANAGER'S REPORT
Mr. Brandgard: Town Manager's report.
Mr. Carlucci: I have no report tonight. I will report later on the ordinances and resolution that were distributed.
Mr. Chafin: Good evening. In 2009, it seems like a long time ago I was approached by Dana Beard of Duke Energy. They have a work day each year and at that time we will go through the foundation and get $1,000.00 and we will do some work at Friendship Gardens that year, but there was a glitch and the check never came. Today she stopped by my office and gave me a check for $1,000.00. So I told her that we would apply that to Friendship Gardens and we set up a workday next spring of April the 27th, they are going to have a group come down and we will apply that money and do repairs and painting to the gazebo and work on the flower beds in that garden. I just wanted to bring you that good news and let you know that I had gotten this check and we will put it in the Parks fund so we can use that money for those projects for next spring.
Mr. Brandgard: Very good, thank you. Joe, is there anything from Planning and Zoning? Bill, do you have anything from IT? Jason, do you have anything from Public Works?
Mr. J. Castetter: Good evening, I wasn't for sure if I recorded on the auction that we had. The Town was able to bring in $88,000.00 from this years auction. The majority of that was Police Department but we had several pieces of equipment and miscellaneous things were sold. Also the heavy trash weekend two weekends ago, we did improve; we had five dumpsters that were hauled away as well as the recycling center people also took away five or six truck loads, so they improved compared to the week before. That is all I have.
Mr. Carlucci: Jason, before you sit down, I just want to tell you I got a call today and the woman that lives up on Ronald Reagan and 200 South, she had requested the sign be put there for the trucks to turn left. She didn't give her name but she was very nice and she just wanted to compliment you for putting that sign up.
Mr. J. Castetter: Somewhere we missed that idea of putting the left turn there, we put it at the end of All Points on the south side for when you come out and a lot of the trucks are leaving at the west of All points through the gate and somehow we missed putting that sign up there. So she requested it and I think it was definitely a good move and she said this past weekend you could tell a difference of the truck traffic going to the east and not west.
Mr. McPhail: Jason, I have a question for you. Last week you sent us an email that Patty was going to be off for several weeks with surgery and you had indicated that you were looking for some part time help to cover that spot. I didn't see that on anybody's report, is that something you need to get approval on to move forward?
Mr. J. Castetter: I would like too, this was mentioned for some time about a part time employee. As you recall we never did fill when Helen retired, we never filled that position. I moved a girl we hired into two roles. Now we have been pretty busy, the fact that we are taking this individual away from her job duty that she was hired to do and she's spending time answering a lot of phone calls, dealing with the public, dealing with the salesmen that are coming in, it is taking away from her duties. So the discussion of the part time person has been there for a while, and now with Patty taking off for this surgery in the middle of leaf season and winter season coming up it just brought it to a head that we really need to do something to get some help down there so I can get the duties back to the individual who is answering phone. It also puts my street guys back on the street. I think I've done some calculations and between 25 and 30% of the time with the PTO time, I'm having a street employee come of the streets to answer the phone during meetings and we've got plan reviews which is the Tuesdays after the Council meeting that takes the whole staff, so I have a guy answer the phone as well.
Ms. Whicker: Of course training would take place and when is Patty expected leave again?
Mr. J. Castetter: She is won't be here the next six to eight weeks.
Ms. Whicker: So she is not there to train someone.
Mr. J. Castetter: Shannon is still there and she can train this person for the job that she is doing. This person would be doing basically what Patty was doing, as far as filing, and organizing plans and stuff like that can definitely be done by a part time person.
Ms. Whicker: I think I've seen perhaps a floating description possibly of what, or there has been a description made up.
Mr. J. Castetter: Yes, a job description has been made up.
Mr. Kirchoff: Is it something you need ongoing or could we go to a temp agency and fill in your need for the next few weeks?
Mr. J. Castetter: I think it is a position, a part time position is going to be there forever and there may be a point sometime down the road with this MS Force stuff that is continuing to grow and the inventory that I have to do, I think this position could go into full time down the road. But I just need part time; it may be a year or two years to grow to a full time position.
Mr. Kirchoff: Another thing we need to consider is, do they need to be physically located in your shop or could an IT Director figure out a way to forward your calls to another employee.
Mr. J. Castetter: I think that is a question for the IT Director, but I don't think our phone system currently will allow us to forward those phone calls.
Mr. B. Castetter: We can do it currently with the phone system; it is just a little cumbersome to do that. As you read in my reports we are looking at a new phone system and obviously that phone system would turn out not to be able to do that. We could find a way to do it.
Mr. Kirchoff: Another conversation I had with Jason earlier on was that was there some way through your help and Tim to serve as a back up and if you go to a part time person maybe they can back each other up, because they are somewhat near related if there is some way for that to happen so that they don't have to be physically one place or another if you can use electronic stuff to cover that, it seems to make sense.
Mr. J. Castetter: I think that solves the problems with phone calls which there are numerous calls coming in but it doesn't solve the problem necessarily the residents coming in and things like that. But it does solve one of the problems, yes. So I guess at this time I ask for consent to go out and look out for a part time position that we have a job description for. I believe I do have it budgeted, Wes is not here to confirm, but I believe there is money in the budget, we'd be splitting it like we do other positions.
Mr. Kirchoff: I'd be interested in hearing what kind of schedule you have.
Mr. J. Castetter: I will look at a half day.
Mr. Kirchoff: What would you do on a Tuesday afternoon when you still need help?
Mr. J. Castetter: That would still have to be a street employee at this time at this time, unless the phone system would work in a way at that point and time that we transfer the calls for the four hours instead of the eight hours.
Mr. Brandgard: I'm not big on hiring all the time. I know when we had Helen down there answering the phone and doing everything, she may have been somewhat under utilized down there but I think with the way things are going today and what Jason is telling us having a full time person down there would probably be a good move, somebody that has to be there to greet the public when they come in, answer the phone, and filing. I think that can be done at less cost, than bringing in one of your trained people in off the street or whatever you're going to consider bothers me.
Mr. Kirchoff: Just see, we were fighting budgets and things to authorize full time at this point and time I think is a stretch.
Mr. Brandgard: The other thing is concerning is that if he is going to have somebody part time, that limits them at how many hours that part time person can work.
Mr. McPhail: Tim's got a part time person that other person could fill both positions and be flexible a little back and forth and that certainly has some value if the other person helps that knows the system and you can move back and forth with the flow of the work load and increased in one place and decreased in another.
Mr. Kirchoff: I think I'd rather you consider something like that than having someone all day on Tuesdays; you are going to be short one way or another.
Mr. J. Castetter: I think I can get that together and get that to you and follow that schedule to show you how someone would fill in.
Mr. Brandgard: I think that is something that we need to look at see how we can do that so if you can have a plan for next meeting.
Mr. J. Castetter: Will do. That is all I have. Thank you.
Mr. Brandgard: Ron, do you have anything from HR?
MR. Lydick: Attached to my report was section three of our personnel policy handbook and the subject has been brought up before that in order to encourage our current employees to better themselves or to encourage part time employees to achieve full time status, that we aught to have a mechanism in place so that they would have the first opportunity to apply for a particular position. So I have revised sections three of the employee personnel manual to basically state that the current employees will have the first opportunity to fill any particular position. They will have five days and we will post in each building for a period of five days and then during that period of time if they are interested in that new position that they should apply for it. The department heads would be required to evaluate the credentials of the person and if the person meets the qualifications they will be expected to interview those applicants and if the applicant meets the standards set by the job description then they should be hired if no current employee qualifies for the position then that position will be posted to the public like all of our other positions. I went ahead and included some of those details of how that application process should be followed now. Always before it was pencil and paper applications but now it's all done on a line so the department heads will see this structure and how the recruiting process should proceed.
Ms. Whicker: I just had a question on 3.2, if you could please clarify that for me, the vacancy is a new or additional position a request will be submitted to the Town Manager for approval that is not approval for the position.
Mr. Lydick: It is approval to have the position, not approval of the person for the position. For example if we are going to increase staff members it would have to go through the Town Manager first. Then obviously the Town Council has the final say so.
Ms. Whicker: So submitted to the Town Manager for Council approval.
Mr. Lydick: Right. It would probably be a good idea if I specify that.
Mr. McPhail: Ron, I think it is a real improvement in our policy and I think we have a responsibility to look inward when we have job openings and I think we pretty much do that anyway, but the policy wasn't clear enough to indicate that and so I think good current employees should have an opportunity to improve themselves if they qualify. I think we need to look internally first and have a time period to solve that before we go externally.
Mr. Lydick: I will be glad to revise this policy and present it at the next Town Council meeting.
Ms. Whicker: When the openings are posted is there a certain location that the employees of each department know where to look for an opening?
Mr. Lydick: Each department is supposed to have a bulletin board that they use to post employee announcements.
Ms. Whicker: If this is something new and that they know that they can for the first five days it is just for them and maybe the department head might want to let the employees know of the change so that they know that those first five days if that is something that they were interested in that they would be important for them.
Mr. Brandgard: I would assume anything if we posted that it would say this is for employees for five days on the posting.
Mr. Lydick: We would not post it on the online system until after it is posted for the five days and if there is a qualified person.
Ms. Whicker: Do we by chance have a policy where we must interview three qualified candidates before making a decision? And could that possibly be current employees as well outside employees if we only had one current employee who was qualified then are we obligated also as well to interview two other qualified candidates?
Mr. Lydick: We have nothing in writing that says three candidate interviews.
Mr. Kirchoff: I think we'd have a good strong candidate we wouldn't go outside.
Mr. Lydick: I think one of the things we've got to realize is you could always find different quality people, no matter how good an internal candidate is, you can always find somebody outside that is better, but is that what we want? In other words if we've got a really good outstanding current employee that can do the job and there is only one of them to interview, why penalize that person just because there weren't two other people for that job.
Mr. Brandgard: The key is that the judgement goes against a job description. They have somebody that is qualified to do more than the job description but that is not the person you are looking for.
Mr. Lydick: Just because a person has a college degree and the job does not require a degree that does not necessarily mean that they are the best person for that position. It always has to be a match of the qualifications to the job description.
Mr. Brandgard: I'd suggest if we are comfortable with that one change in 3.2, seeking the Town Manager for approval, we could approve it with that change.
Mr. McPhail: I would move that we approve the change in the policy as amended.
Ms. Whicker: Second.
Mr. Brandgard: I have a motion and a second to approve section 3.0 recruitment selection of employees as presented to us tonight with the inserting the word Council after the Town Manager in 3.2 paragraph. If there is no further discussion all those in favor signify by aye, opposed, motion carried.
Mr. Kirchoff: Good work on that but also I want to thank you again for the work session the other night. That was time well spent and what you and Jeff had done ahead of time was well done.
Mr. Brandgard: That was time well spent. Tim, do you have anything from engineering?
Mr. Belcher: I wanted to give you a quick update; we had that progress meeting today on the water tower just to let you know how that went to day. I mentioned it in my report they do have the inside primed for paint. That will happen by the end of this week there is a lot inside the facility so we have a painting crew that is there and will stay there until pretty much done the top of the tank is not painted yet and that is one of the last things that they do. They also, one thing that I didn't know until today within the job already is a specification of sandblast that concrete pedestal with the steel tank on top. It is in the job because it is not always that concrete comes out the same color so they specify that unless they need it. I've driven by many times and found that to be an excellent looking tank. But the tank makers is so concerned about their tank, they want it to look so good that they want to do that. So we instructed them they can save a little money but it is in the contract already I said if you feel like your experience when you get a better looking tank then make it as good as it can be so they are going to sandblast that with the same paint and they will get that done within the next couple of weeks you will see. I'm not sure you can see it to be much different but it is going to look real different I guess.
Mr. Brandgard: They are not going to paint it, they are…
Mr. Belcher: No, it is just sandblasted to get a continuous similar finish to get all those concrete panels as you know those go up in pieces and every concrete can be just a little bit different so when they sandblast it apparently it allows it to look similar as it possibly can.
Mr. Brandgard: Does that do anything to the skin? Will it allow more moisture in?
Mr. Belcher: Apparently not, it is just the esthetics of it and again I've already specified at the end of the project and we were talking today about possibly taking that out but again. Their concern is it would be a high quality tank because they want to be proud of it as we do. I think they are still projecting possibly February completion date and everything.
Mr. Brandgard: When does the lid go on?
Mr. Belcher: It's on, it's just not painted. All the steel is done; it is just not finished yet.
Mr. Brandgard: The three pictures are really neat. I'm glad he was up there.
Mr. McPhail: I had one of the neighbors ask me why we didn't paint something besides Plainfield on it, he said all I can see is Plainfield every place I look.
Mr. Belcher: What else would he want to look at?
Mr. Kirchoff: I was also approached about a lot of white up in the air and they thought we were going to be a little more creative and artistic. I didn't have a response.
Mr. Brandgard: There are two things; it costs a little more to do it that way but it costs a lot more when you have to go repaint it.
Ms. Whicker: While helping my daughter do a project on our community we went to our website and I was just showing them your video of the rising of the water tower and I didn't realize that you had a camera out there the whole time.
Mr. Belcher: I thought I reported that, I'm sorry if I didn't. It was a four or five hour task, the tape was three or four minutes.
Mr. Carlucci: One last comment about the water tower, I probably don't have the best eyesight, but I can see that water tower from I-70. It is not that hard to see, I can't read the name on there but I know where the water tower is and it just tells you where the elevation, it is up to 200.
Mr. Brandgard: When you are going by the airport you can see it.
Mr. Belcher: Second thing I would like to talk to you about the water plant and actually the water system improvements we are trying what would be our third project for successful reaching our guaranteed performance contract, we are attempting that with the Swinford upgrade and the filter replacement that we hope to do and hope to be done by next June, which is really short fused and a design build aspect that is the only way we could get there that quickly. So we detected to go this way route and the first step in that is to advertise for those who are interested in our project, we've done that. We received a qualification based proposals today, no dollars on those just the companies themselves have to supply certain information, did that. We have two companies, Bowen and ESG (Energy Servicing Group). Don, Jason, and I evaluated those proposals today for the projects we have and the advertisement we have and find Bowen's proposal to be the best. The main reason I feel like Bowen was the best is because within this proposal again offered the open book pricing method which is something that this industry is not offering. The other vendor we were trying to tell them that this is something that we found extremely important in Plainfield, that they would open their books for us when they were doing a project so that we could check the costs of the project. It is really sooner than they had too. So essentially they are saying they would really like to have this project and again I do appreciate having two firms submit, that means that there are two companies out there who would like to work with Plainfield on this but it would be Bowen to work with us would be the best firm. The next step is I am going to recommend Bowen to you that we accept them as our vendor potentially the next step they have to submit a pricing proposal and that pricing proposal will be based on our preliminary design, we are not 100% done with the design, we are at 30% but take those documents and get us a guaranteed maximum price and that would come back to the Council with the contract before we would do a final selection. If we are unsuccessful with Bowen then we could still go to the second company and talk to them about getting their proposal but there is so many dollars involved in receiving a proposal, especially when something is not even fully designed yet. They have to do so much work that we in the last few projects we didn't think it was fair to have a company go through all that work knowing that one of them wouldn't get it, so we took it one step at a time. So for tonight's meeting and what we are trying to do is stay on a pretty tight schedule to deliver this project by next June actually working which under a typical design bid build we would never get there. We would easily be the end of next year or the maybe the beginning of the following year. So this method of contract with the success of getting a contract with Bowen would allow us to compress that down and again get a good price and also verify that price and deliver in a time frame that we normally couldn't do. I am very hopeful that we can begin and enter in a good contract with them but that would be something a little further in a future Council meeting we would bring back to you. But at this time what I would like to do is recommend that the Council except Bowen as the potential vendor for the water improvements for the Town of Plainfield and allow us to enter into the next phase of negotiations with them on a contract.
Mr. Kirchoff: I would so move.
Mr. McPhail: Second.
Mr. Brandgard: The motion is second to accept the Town Engineer's recommendation to use Bowen Engineering for the water improvements as has been presented this evening. If there is no further discussion all those in favor signify by aye, opposed, motion carried.
Mr. Belcher: Thank you very much; I am looking forward to bringing back a successful proposal later in the next couple of months here. The next item is an ongoing process the project the Department of Corrections I mentioned in previous reports. We are trying again as we try to do a lot of around here is fast track things when the iron is hot kind of thing and I think that the DOC is ready to make a deal and we believe that as soon as we can get to making some kind of cohesive offer to that department that we have a better chance of getting a good deal. Some other things Rich and I talked about and I think we talked when we had a team meeting we had with Mel and others, I'm asking a question and asking how others feel about this is in order to bring this project along to have one or two Council members become part of that initial team giving the authorization to address the Council to help negotiate or at least put that deal together, obviously at some point it has to be fully public with any kind of agreement with the State and Town but at some point it is hard to work through work sessions, especially this time of year as we come up to the holiday season. We just had one, and we are going to have another one soon. It is going to be hard to force some more in there and to much stress on the system so I was going to ask that question tonight, do you think it is a good idea to try and find a couple Council members or at least one that would be willing to represent the rest of the Council until later when we can deliver all of the details to you before an agreement is met obviously. It would help us move along either way you want to do it.
Mr. Kirchoff: Do you think they are meeting to get it done too?
Mr. Belcher: I believe so, the first meeting they had he believed he could do this quickly that in his terms 8-10 weeks, something like that. So we took that as his word and we will see if we can't meet that. There are also some good advantages that we think with the financing the State has said they would bring to this that will also match a project that we want to do here on Main Street and they would like to see us wrap that up by the end of this year.
Mr. Daniel: December 31?
Mr. Belcher: December 31 and it is approaching so quickly that we can see several team meetings and things that will come to the whole Council such as bond issues, rates and stuff that has to be looked at by the whole Council, but to get to the point that we have at least one or two Council members fully understand every detail as it is going through the whole thing it would be very helpful with us but I know this time of the year is tough to get meetings and the times are already stretched thin on a lot of things.
Mr. Daniel: I'd like to add to that Mr. President, I think the only way that this could be done other than having a Council member or two deal with it is you are going to end up with multiple special meetings to deal with, it is going to be an ongoing thing, days, weeks, and meetings and that sort of thing. The Department of Corrections is going to want someone there they are going to feel confident as at least some view as what the Council will be willing to do and of course otherwise we are going to end up with a lot of special meetings as things go along. I think they really want to fast track this thing don't you Tim?
Mr. Belcher: I do, and I think there are some advantages to us and if they feel that way and with the State revolving loan funds, I think that they would like to loan money at a very low rate and the sooner we can do that the more likely they can commit to that because they don't know what happened next January, February, or March if things will go up. It seems like there are some advantages and we may not be able to obtain it but it certainly without it and ongoing sort of involvement with Council it would be very difficult.
Mr. Brandgard: I can make time to do that. I think having two members of the Council there to do it and then you come back is a good way to do it because no decision is firm until Council approves it.
Ms. Whicker: I'm thinking working with the State would be a day time meeting and I'm wondering if my schedule is too restrictive for getting to them.
Mr. Daniel: I think their meetings so far are going to be in the afternoon.
Mr. McPhail: The next couple of weeks I'm going to be pretty tied up but after that I would be available.
Mr. Belcher: The next couple of weeks we are still gathering a lot of the field, visiting the field and getting the information to even put together and get our arms wrapped around to even deliver it to the which ever Council member would like to be a part of it or two, so there is some time Kent, if you want to be involved, it will be a couple of weeks to have all the schedules put together to say here is where we are at and what do you think and what do you want to go after?
Mr. McPhail: I just really believe that if we are going to get anything done it is going to be done and finalized before the legislative session starts because once that starts, nothing happens. The time table is pretty short.
Mr. Daniel: There are a couple of holidays in there.
Mr. McPhail: I will be glad to pitch in if you need me. I don't know if Bill is going to be around.
Mr. Belcher: I appreciate your willingness; I wish I could tell you how many meetings we are going to have. I can't yet but hopefully we will limit your time to when we really have something to explain to you and we wouldn't call you in for a meeting every week or something like that but it could get that way maybe towards the end when we really have it, I see going through a memorandum that Mel will help us write that has an offer in it. Getting to the point where we are making the offer and then how they respond, that will be the intense time. Until then, we will be delivering information and say this is what we see that we will gain from this deal for the Town and the rate payers and getting your blessing on that before we make that offer.
Mr. McPhail: I'd say yes, to Robin and Bill take the lead and if they need me or Ed to fill in let us know. Will that work out for you Ed?
Mr. Gaddie: Yes.
Mr. Belcher: That is what we will do then. We will let you know as soon as we have another team meeting and get you up to speed on where we are at and again what is going on today now, the State has been very cooperative in terms of letting us go on site and determine what is there, the problems that are there and issues, the positives of the things that we are finding out of the assets they think they are going to give up. So that is all happening now and so we are making some progress on that.
Mr. Kirchoff: Literally getting on site, inside the fence?
Mr. Belcher: Yes. Not inside the skewer fences, I think they would let us have access to the inside but I'm not sure. Finding out what is there and then determining what the problem is and what the solution is and doing it in a real short time frame.
Mr. Kirchoff: This is water and sewer; it has nothing to do with their steam heat correct?
Mr. Belcher: No, other than the processed water that comes back. The sewer and water too I think that is the thing they finally realized that they can make a good arrangement with us and a more managed system than what they have now at a lower cost to them, but it will also be good for us. So I think that is where we are headed and that is what our goals are. Thank you very much for that. The last thing which is related but not exactly, but it is schedule related and also related to the DOC, the financing is the one piece that could possibly be linked with our North US 40 property. We have just north of US 40 an area there that a gentleman came in a year or two ago with flooding problems, that is a small pocket of combined sewers that we need to replace. Well that area SRS that provides loans, they've agreed to finance. We believe again that if we can move that project forward at the same time frame that they are going to finance the sewer repairs out here by the end of the year, we can package that into one process that saves us on all the process you go through to do any kind of financing. I have that project, or I should say another firm has that project ready to advertise for bidding and I would like your approval to go forward with that, it is called the Main Street Area Drainage Improvement. That is the best we could come up with. But I would like your permission to advertise, the bids on that would come in on the 13th of December, so we have a little bit of time, but essentially the 13th is sort of a critical point to meet some other dates that we have to meet. That is all I have, thank you very much, I appreciate the time.
Mr. Brandgard: Don?
Mr. McGillem: Just a little bit of an update on 40. As I am sure you are all aware they did start putting the black stuff down on the downtown this morning. We had hoped that that would have started last Thursday but we got pushed back until today. They did make pretty good headway today, they got everything covered up downtown except for a couple of street crossings that they maintained to keep open being Mill Street and really the alley that went back along the plumbing facility there back to the cleaners. That was opened today so if you wanted to get from the south side to the north side or vise versa, you had to hunt for a way to get through today and even the accesses that were open were pretty rough. Tomorrow, they went ahead and closed Mill Street this afternoon as soon as they got Center Street opened up and they have already dug out the stone wedging for Mill Street and the Fire Station. Their intent is to be in first thing in the morning and get those areas filled in and then they will come back and start putting the second lift on and that will bring the downtown area up to the same level as the paving that is currently from Avon Avenue to Carr Road. From the point then their intent is to stay in here until they bring the entire north side up to the same level as the south side which will be two more lifts on top of what they need to bring the downtown up too. So hopefully by the end of the week if the weather doesn't really adverse the effect, we should be very close to having the north side all the way up to the same level as the south side which will then just leave the final surface is all that we will have to do to pave the roadway.
Mr. Kirchoff: Estimated completion date?
Mr. McGillem: Estimated completion date is still first or second week in December. My biggest concern is still the final surface. Final surface, we need probably about 2-3 days at probably 45 degrees from now on, it could get tough to have 45 degrees. That is one of the reasons I was so disappointed to see that they pulled out starting last Thursday. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday was three good days that we should have been paving here. They are in, they are indicating they intend to stay and hopefully we will get it brought up and keep our eyes open to get the final surface worked in even if we don't have everything finished behind the curb like we would like too. I'd like to get the final surface in and then we just may have to be a little more cautious on what is left to do behind the curb line. So that is our intent at this point and time and we will just keep plugging along and try to get as much done as we can.
Mr. Brandgard: Thank you Don and I'm just going to reiterate a little bit of our conversation earlier. Reith Riley is a sub to Gradex on this job out here for the paving. Reith Riley did our Perry Road expansion and you know that same thing happened to Perry Road, they did it and they never really concentrated on getting our job done. They was always off somewhere else and the same thing happened here and I told Don, make sure that you express our dissatisfaction mainly in the turns, you know when we put something out to bid and we evaluate, one of the things we evaluate is performance, and as far as I'm concerned their performance in Plainfield this year has not been very good.
Mr. Gaddie: Don, I noticed here in the consent agenda it says separate turn lanes at Center and Avon Avenue. Is that Main and Avon Avenue?
Mr. McGillem: Yes, if you recall we from the beginning cut out when we went through Center and Avon Avenue on the south side, we didn't cut all the pavement out in order to keep and maintain those lanes. Then when they came through to pave, we had to come back and cut those lanes out, pave them in and bring them up. Right now what we are doing, we don't have to do anything to any of those center left turn lanes because we did have them fully brought up when we had done the south side. It did create additional effort in order to do so.
Mr. Kirchoff: Ed that is really only Main and Center and Avon and Main. It is two locations.
Mr. McGillem: Center and Avon don't cross so I figured it would be obvious.
Mr. Brandgard: Did I miss any of the staff? If not we will go to old business.
OLD BUSINESS
Mr. McPhail: Mr. President, I have a couple of items on old business. I think that most everybody is aware we had the Chamber annual dinner this past week and we had a good speaker and we were able to purchase a gift for that speaker from Splash Island so he left Plainfield with some Splash Island goodies and passes, so hopefully he will come out and visit the Splash Island at a later date. Then also the Chamber just purchased a family membership to be auctioned off by the Hendricks Regional Heath Foundation in November, so I think that is good cooperation between Chamber and Splash Island and promoting the community. I guess that is on a positive side. On a negative side we've talked in the past about 140 South Mill Street, and those of you may not be aware of the incident down there last week where somebody started a fire behind the old, I want to call it a dilapidating garage and we were fortunate that one of the residents was out early in the morning walking his dog and happened to see it and called 911 and got the fire put out. I have talked to Mel a couple of times and he is still trying to figure out a way we can maybe bring that property to some kind of conclusion. The house is structurally not bad but that old building out back is dangerous. That is an ongoing problem but hopefully it will get resolved in the near future. That is all I have on old business.
Ms. Whicker: I just wanted to make a comment that when you turn on the local news you usually don't hear about Plainfield. That one evening we had our Fire Department was on the news battling the fire out on Clover Drive and the same evening we had our Police Department investigating or an arrest with the daycare worker, while that is not the good publicity that we like to publicize around all of Indiana, but I think it does show and I am constantly reminded that you fire fighters and policemen, you are the 24/7, you are out there always your shifts are always there and everybody else is going on with their daily work and thank you and I hope that next time we get some news out there on Plainfield, we get some good news, something good happening. I just wanted to mention to our Town Manager who I don't see him this evening, but he had mentioned possibly keeping in contact with the citizens via WXRB radio spots and while I read that and see that Brownsburg is currently doing that and looking at their statistics this far is the age groups, what time of day, and how they listen. I guess I was most surprised that most people listen to the radio on the computer more so than in their car. I think that would be an excellent idea and then definitely being able to publicize and market that people would know where to go and what time to listen, and we could practice your radio voice to the Town Manager whenever he shows up. So that is my old business.
Mr. Brandgard: Since Renae brought that up, what is the feeling of the other Council members?
Mr. Kirchoff: I'd like to see us do something but I didn't know that radio station existed, I never listen to it.
Ms. Whicker: Advertising and letting people know.
Mr. McPhail: I got the same situation as Bill, I haven't looked at their demographics and their information, but they have also made a proposal to the Chamber to have a program also and we are evaluating that. I haven't spent much time looking at it.
Mr. Kirchoff: It showed me a percent of mark up but it did not show me listenership. That I saw on it, it showed the demographics and some other stuff, but I'm curious how many people in Plainfield even know that…
Ms. Whicker: We can help them know about it. If they are busy on Monday nights or they don't have a chance to read the minutes that they wanted to know, I think it would be an avenue.
Mr. Kirchoff: I keep looking at some way and we've talked about having Town Hall events but that means that people have to get in the car and drive someplace or whatever. I think it is something we should consider, I'm just not sure that is the right vehicle.
Mr. Carlucci: I will ask them about the listenership and he has also approached Avon he's the only station, he's trying to get more interest in the station and then he can charge more for his advertising.
Mr. Kirchoff: How long ago was it we had the radio station?
Ms. Whicker: It still exists; it is just not located in Plainfield anymore.
Mr. McPhail: I know WZBK spends a lot of time in Plainfield out of Martinsville for sports and that kind of stuff.
Mr. Carlucci: They did put together a little audio, I don't know if you were able to open that audio clip. The one thing I did like about it, it is not a live show. What it is is tape delayed, people will send in emails ahead of the show and go pick some out and it is taped, it is not a live show, because that creates all types of problems.
Mr. Kirchoff: I'm with Renae; I think it is interesting I'm just not sure that is the right vehicle.
Ms. Whicker: I was curious to think thirty minutes seemed like an awful long time. I mean a fifteen minute segment I think what was it, two times a month?
Mr. Carlucci: I was listening to that audio, he's spent a lot of time just chit chatting before they got to some of the questions and trying to answer.
Mr. Brandgard: I looked at that last week. Was there a charge to us?
Mr. Kirchoff: Yes, Forty dollars a month. Wasn't it a month?
Mr. McPhail: I think it was basically the same proposal he gave me for the Chamber, pre-recorded and that type of thing. I was like Renae; I was a little taken back when he told me the high percentage of listeners on the computer.
Ms. Whicker: Which would also be interesting, maybe there are clips that we could post to our website after it has aired if somebody wants to go back and listen, if they would be willing to allow us to have that.
Mr. Brandgard: I'd be interested in knowing how they know how much of their listeners listen on the computer, myself.
Mr. Carlucci: I will give him a call and ask him these questions.
Mr. Gaddie: I was reading the minutes from our last meeting, do we have a work session next month on the 18th?
Mr. Brandgard: Correct.
Mr. Gaddie: Clay, at 6 O'clock? Are you cooking?
Mr. McPhail: Mr. President, I have a couple of items, I know Rich mentioned earlier about a left turn sign some place and I didn't catch it completely but I was approached by a couple of folks at Plainfield Christian Church wondering if we could get some kind of a high left turn sign east bound on Township Line Road headed towards the church. Apparently we've had a couple of rear end accidents where people are turning in and I told them I would bring that forward tonight to see if it made sense and had somebody to look at it and see if there is a turning into the west entrance of the church and there is not enough room for a turn lane there. There is a turn lane coming west and you can get in there but when you are pulling east, apparently I was told there had been a couple of rear end accidents there. I have trouble getting out of my subdivision most of the time so there is a lot of traffic there. I don't know if we could take a look at it and see if it makes any sense.
Ms. Whicker: I guess some congregations have looked into possibly some volunteers on the force or volunteers of people with traffic directing during those few peak minutes.
Mr. McPhail: I think the accidents have not been at peak times. It is more of just a traffic flow. Then the other item and I think Bill mentioned this earlier about our work session this past week on typically health care benefits. I really think that was a very positive meeting and we are making headway and I think we have a really good game plan, in fact when we get some employees involved and take a look at that and see what we can do. But as I thought about it the last couple of days, I'm thinking what could we do immediately to start the ball rolling and it seems to me that we talked about one issue that I think is important and we need to address and that is covering spousal's when they have plans available through there employer. I asked Ron today if he could check with our provider and see if they can handle it. I would suggest that we establish a policy if it can be handled and effective immediately any new hires that we would not take a spouse on as a primary if they have a plan available to them. That would not effect any of our current employees but it would get us started on making changes and I think that is one that as we go down the road it will be more and more important. We probably have a more lucrative plan than some of the others. That is taking the other employer off the hook.
Ms. Whicker: It is also just to clarify too as was mentioned at the work session, not saying that would not insure the spouse but they would take on a secondary insurer.
Mr. McPhail: Secondary, and not be the primary.
Mr. Kirchoff: Ron, does healthcare reform act speak to that at all?
Mr. Lydick: The healthcare reform act does not require you to take on spouses, if the spouse has insurance available to them.
Mr. Kirchoff: So we would not be in violation.
Mr. Lydick: I did contact unified today and they acknowledged my question but they have not come back with an answer yet. They are checking to see if we can do it going forward with new employees.
Mr. Kirchoff: Do we have any new hires in the mill right now?
Mr. Lydick: Yes we do. One starts tomorrow and one November 1st.
Mr. Kirchoff: So you will continue to work on the issue for us?
Ms. Whicker: Sometimes and help me, that if a spouse had turned down there employees insurance, knowing that they were primarily insured through there spouses insurance, sometimes they cannot go back and get on their insurance plan unless there is a qualifying event.
Mr. Lydick: That would be true.
Ms. Whicker: So would a change in a spouse's employer's insurance policy be a qualifying event for that spouse to qualify.
Mr. Lydick: Yes it would be, anytime that you lose insurance that that is a qualifying event to qualify for another policy.
Ms. Whicker: Is just being able to claim secondary and not primary considered losing insurance?
Mr. Lydick: That is a good question.
Ms. Whicker: I know there is a fine line there.
Mr. Brandgard: To help answer that a little bit, most businesses have gone to that policy a long time ago. Where if I worked and Jane worked I couldn't be primary on both and she couldn't either. They did that without saying that to anybody, it just happened.
Mr. Kirchoff: In fact I remember filling out claim forms and they would ask does spouse have coverage and they would automatically coordinate.
Mr. Lydick: There is a coordination of benefits, in other words the spouse already has the insurance then unified will make sure that the spouses insurance is primary but we are talking about here, if the spouse has insurance there is no issues that that insurance will be primary.
Mr. Kirchoff: That is already the fact.
Mr. Lydick: Yes, where ever the person is insured as an employee is always primary, so if the spouse is insured as an employee with the school corporation, the school corporation is going to be primary, and the Town would be secondary.
Mr. McPhail: If they are participating in that plan. What if they are not participating in the employers plan and just don't know? That is the issue I've got a problem with.
Mr. Brandgard: Again, you can go backwards on it.
Ms. Whicker: Depending on your employer sometimes they only allow those changes on January 1st.
Mr. Lydick: There is an open enrollment period.
Ms. Whicker: Each spouse's employment would be different so that would be tricky.
Mr. McPhail: I'm not suggesting we back up.
Mr. Kirchoff: Their plan on the renewals is pretty much the same. Duke Energy is this Friday; Medicare is November 15th and December 31st. So that is fixed.
Mr. Brandgard: So then January 1st you start the new program.
Mr. Carlucci: It is interesting that you brought that up, this afternoon a Town employee that I've known for a long time even before he worked for the Town, was asking me questions about this because he and his wife are going to look her policy because she has a separate policy and they want to see what is the best deal for them. That is what they were looking at. I thought that was kind of interesting since just a couple of days ago we had this meeting. So they are looking at it so if we get more employees that are looking at which is what you're telling us, to get better at their healthcare and understanding it. Without much prompting this employee wants to look and see the best combination for them.
Mr. Gaddie: Some companies give you so much money and you buy what you want. About ten years ago, I know one family they went on his policy and she got her money. The insurance was like $300.00 a month and she went on her husbands insurance. I'm sure that has gone by the wayside with the economy.
Mr. Carlucci: There was a time when we run these cycles here for another job I had, that they were paying employees to get off their policies. So it is nothing really new here, it is just coming around again because it is more complicated with the new law and everything, but I think we are all going to get better at this.
NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Brandgard: I will bring this up under new business. I received a letter last week from Eric Ellser; I think it is in our pack of material. He said he quietly requests that a part Brookside Lane between Stafford and Stanley Road be considered for the placement for speed deterrents, specifically in the stretch between Stafford Road where Brookside and Pierce meet. The reason for this request is that Brookside Lane has become a much busier street that citizens utilize to travel to the design of the road being the length allows for vehicles to get up to speeds well above the city speed limits. That is the basic thing and I guess I will look to Chief Mitny and Don to take a look at that and see if there is something that can be done. I'm not sure that road gets anymore traffic than it ever did.
Mr. Kirchoff: There is a stop sign; I guess I'm curious how they get up to speeds so quickly.
Mr. Carlucci: There is a stop sign on Jonathon. I'm on that road all the time, either on a bicycle or in a car, and we go down to that intersection where it T's off, if you go to the left, it is very difficult to drive to the left. I mean it's a very sharp curve, it is almost like a traffic calming right there. There are cars parked on both sides so I don't see how the speed gets up there. If you go to the right, it is not the same situation if you go to the right; it is a little bit less.
Mr. Kirchoff: He's saying where it T's into Peirce, between Peirce and…
Mr. Brandgard: Yes, if you are going south it goes into…you can pick up some good speed going down there because you are so inclined because it is a long stretch of a road but it is not much different than any other. I think that is not validated as a residential street anyways.
Mr. Carlucci: It is a 2 way stop, its two way traffic. So you go straight south to where they split there is a stop sign there.
Mr. Brandgard: So if you two could look at it and see if you have any suggestions. They have some young children that they are afraid of getting out in traffic.
Mr. McPhail: I think we talk about putting in speed bumps and that type of thing but there is no end to it and they are not that effective anyway. Then you got problems in the winter time when you are trying to clear those streets.
Mr. Brandgard: That section of Brookside is a wide section of road.
RESOLUTIONS
Mr. Brandgard: Under Resolutions we have Resolution No. 2010-22: Ballou Annexation Fiscal Plan. Rich, do you want to say anything about it
Mr. Carlucci: No, the fiscal plan is part of the process you got to have the fiscal plan before you adopt the ordinance. It is a fiscal plan because it is a residential area of 7.3 acres.
Mr. Kirchoff: I move to approve Resolution No. 2010-22.
Mr. McPhail: Second.
Mr. Brandgard: We have a motion and a second to approve Resolution No. 2010-22: Ballou Annexation Fiscal Plan if there is no further discussion roll call vote please.
Ms. Whicker- yes
Mr. Gaddie- yes
Mr. Kirchoff- yes
Mr. McPhail- yes
Mr. Brandgard- yes
Five ayes, none opposed, resolution is approved.
ORDINANCES
Mr. Brandgard: We have two ordinances for their first reading. First is Ordinance No. 16-2010: Six Points Associates, LLC Rezoning to I-2 Office Warehouse/Distribution.
Mr. McPhail: I move we approve the first reading.
Ms. Whicker: Second.
Mr. Brandgard: The motion is second to approve the first reading of Ordinance No. 16-2010: Six Points Associates, LLC Rezoning to I-2 Office Warehouse/Distribution. Again if there is no further discussion roll call votes please.
Mr. Gaddie: Where is this actually located?
Mr. Carlucci: Metropolis is extended through and that apartment development that was approved. The area on the south side, there were 54 apartments on that side, they are leaving those, and going back to the I-2 industrial zone.
Mr. Gaddie: Thank you.
Ms. Whicker: Could I just have a quick discussion? If this is what we switched the office industrial wouldn't that be abutting the apartment residential right next to across the road?
Mr. Kirchoff: No residential across the street it is just the south side.
Ms. Whicker: Warehouse- apartment.
Mr. Brandgard: That is where we would be if we didn't change it.
Ms. Whicker: Thank you.
Mr. Brandgard: With no curb cut into it off of (inaudible).
Ms. Whicker- yes
Mr. Gaddie- yes
Mr. Kirchoff- yes
Mr. McPhail- yes
Mr. Brandgard- yes
Five ayes, none opposed, first reading is approved.
Mr. Brandgard: Second ordinance, first reading is Ordinance No. 17-2010: Ballou Annexation Ordinance.
Mr. McPhail: So move.
Mr. Kirchoff: The motion is second to approve the first reading of ordinance no. 17-2010, the Ballou Annexation Ordinance. If there is no further discussion roll call vote please.
Ms. Whicker- yes
Mr. Gaddie- yes
Mr. Kirchoff- yes
Mr. McPhail- yes
Mr. Brandgard- yes
Five ayes, none opposed, the first reading is approved.
Mr. Brandgard: Do we want to do the second reading?
Mr. Kirchoff: Mr. President if we could, I would like to move that we suspend the rules and allow for the third and final reading tonight of Ordinance No. 15-2010, the dis-annexation of the Plainfield Elks.
Ms. Whicker: Second.
Mr. Brandgard: The motion is second to suspend the rules and allow for the third and final reading tonight of Ordinance No. 15-2010, the dis-annexation of the Plainfield Elks. If there is no further discussion, roll call vote please
Ms. Whicker- yes
Mr. Gaddie- yes
Mr. Kirchoff- yes
Mr. McPhail- yes
Mr. Brandgard- yes
Five ayes, none opposed, motion is approved.
Mr. Kirchoff: I would move that we approve the third and final reading and adoption of ordinance no. 15-2010 dis-annexation of the Plainfield Elks.
Ms. Whicker: Second.
Mr. Brandgard: We have a motion and second to have the third reading and adoption of ordinance no. 15-2010 dis-annexation of the Plainfield Elks. If there is no further discussion, roll call votes please.
Ms. Whicker- yes
Mr. Gaddie- yes
Mr. Kirchoff- yes
Mr. McPhail- yes
Mr. Brandgard- yes
Five ayes, none opposed, the ordinance is approved.
Mr. Brandgard: Thank you.
ADJOURNMENT Mr. Brandgard: If there is nothing else to come before the Council at this time, I will entertain a motion to sign the documents that requiring signature and adjourn.
Mr. McPhail: So move.
Ms. Whicker: Second.
Mr. Brandgard: All those in favor signify by aye, opposed, motion carried. Thank you.
